148: Chapter 148: Di Tian and Gu Yuena Become Clowns

"Did the God King of Destruction say this?"

The Silver Dragon King bit her lower lip so hard she almost drew blood. Forcing down her churning blood and chaotic mind, she hissed, "Why would he tell you this?! And how can he prove this isn't just his one-sided account, or a scheme to sow discord within the Soul Beast Clan, or… to strike at me, the Silver Dragon King?!"

Her questioning carried the last trace of a struggle.

Upon hearing this, Lu Jing gave the Silver Dragon King a look as if he were looking at an idiot, rolling his eyes in annoyance.

The meaning in that gaze was clear: Have you been so stimulated that your brain has stopped working?

"Big sister!"

Lu Jing even used a slightly helpless form of address and asked back, "Please, use your brain and think about it. Who am I? I am the successor chosen by the God King of Destruction, his future heir. In a sense, we are already a community with shared interests and linked destinies. What benefit would he get from lying to me? Striking at you, the Silver Dragon King? Leaving aside whether he knew I would meet you, even if he did, how effective would it be to strike at you using such an unverifiable ancient secret? Would you give up resistance and surrender to the Divine Realm just because of the words of a God King relayed by a human that cannot be verified?"

He paused, his tone laced with a hint of mockery: "Besides, even if we take a step back and assume he really is lying to me, what would be the purpose? To make me feel unnecessary sympathy for the Spirit Beasts? Or to make me think the Divine Realm is despicable and shameless? Would that be of any substantial help to him in passing on the God Rank of Destruction? What kind of existence is the God King of Destruction? Does he need to use such inferior, flimsy lies to deal with me, an heir who hasn't even become a god, or even formally started the inheritance trials?"

Lu Jing's words hammered against the Silver Dragon King's heart like a barrage, leaving her speechless for a moment.

Lu Jing continued his analysis, his tone as calm as if he were solving a math problem:

"Let's look at this from another angle. After that war of the gods, the Dragon God fell and split into you and the Golden Dragon King. The Golden Dragon King was sealed, and you fled, heavily injured. The Dragon Clan was almost slaughtered to the last; powerful Spirit Beasts either died in battle or were banished and suppressed. The top strength of the Soul Beast Clan could be said to have been wiped out overnight, suffering a severe blow to their vitality."

"As for the Divine Realm, although the five Great God Kings also suffered damage, their foundation remained intact, and their rule was stable. Facing a group of losers who had lost their leader, whose top combat power was almost entirely wiped out, leaving only some remnants and ordinary Spirit Beasts in the lower realm, do you think there was any need for the five Great God Kings to go to such great lengths to specifically set a rule that Spirit Beasts cannot become gods?"

He looked sharply at the Silver Dragon King: "To the gods of the Divine Realm at that time, was the lineage of Spirit Beasts worth their attention enough to specifically formulate a targeted ban? In their eyes, Spirit Beasts might have been no different from ordinary resources that naturally produce spirit rings. Spirit Beasts wanting to become gods? Don't joke around. Even surviving the hundred-thousand-year or tens-of-thousands-year heavenly tribulation is a matter of life and death, and those who survive are as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns—how could they talk about becoming gods? Would they have needed to do something so superfluous?"

"Therefore!"

Lu Jing concluded, his voice carrying a cruel penetration: "The only explanation is that this rule, or rather this agreement, was proposed by the Dragon God at the last moment. Perhaps it was to preserve the remaining Spirit Beast bloodline from being completely purged, perhaps to exchange for some condition, or perhaps… there were other deeper reasons we cannot know. But in any case, the one who proposed it was the Dragon God. The five Great God Kings merely went with the flow, perhaps even thinking the proposal was reasonable, so they agreed to it and solidified it as part of the Divine Realm's rules."

"…"

The Silver Dragon King fell completely silent.

All her anger, all her rebuttals, all her unwillingness to believe, appeared so pale and powerless in the face of Lu Jing's logically rigorous and essential analysis.

Yes, with the surviving strength of the Soul Beast Clan at that time, what qualifications did they have to be specifically targeted by the five Great God Kings and have a ban set against them?

Would the gods of the Divine Realm really care whether wild beasts in the lower realm that couldn't even survive their heavenly tribulations could become gods?

The only reasonable explanation seemed to really be the one Lu Jing mentioned—this was the Dragon God's own choice.

But… why?

The Dragon God, why would it do this?

Do you know that this agreement pushed your subjects, pushed our Soul Beast Clan, into such an abyss of no return?

You made us lose the hope of ascending to the Divine Realm, forced us to struggle in the lower realm, face the endless hunting by human Spirit Masters, face the heavenly tribulations with slim hopes of survival, and ultimately either become spirit rings and Spirit Bones, or turn into dust between heaven and earth…

The Silver Dragon King's heart felt as if it were being tightly gripped by a cold hand, so painful she couldn't breathe.

She thought of the difficult survival of the Soul Beast Clan over these countless tens of thousands of years, thought of those predecessors who sacrificed themselves for the future of the clan, and thought of Di Tian's eyes, which always burned with unyielding flames but also hid endless exhaustion and heaviness…

Di Tian, how much had he sacrificed to break the shackles that prevented Spirit Beasts from becoming gods, to lead the Soul Beast Clan to regain its glory?

How much had he endured?

How much had he plotted?

He regarded the Dragon God and the Silver Dragon King as his faith and hope, and fought for them his whole life.

But if… if the root of all these efforts, the shackles they wanted to break, were actually put on by the very Dragon God they believed in…

Then what did Di Tian's years of persistence, sacrifice, and endurance count for?

A complete and utter joke?

A clown mercilessly toyed with by fate—no, by his own ancestor?

And what about her, the Silver Dragon King, this Silver Dragon King who was placed with high hopes, the successor of the Dragon God—what did she count for?

A pitiful leader who shouldered a ridiculous mission, leading her clan toward the dead end set by the ancestor's own hands…?

"No… it shouldn't be like this… it shouldn't be like this…" The Silver Dragon King muttered distractedly, her beautiful face losing all its brilliance, leaving only endless bewilderment and emptiness.

She felt that her World, the belief she had persisted in for countless tens of thousands of years, had completely collapsed at this moment.

The core motivation that supported her through her severe injuries, slumber, and the difficult reconstruction after awakening, seemed to be instantly drained away.

She sat down on the ground slowly and powerlessly, her long silver hair spreading out like moonlight that had lost all its vitality.

Those amethyst-like eyes lost their focus, staring blankly at the void in front, like an exquisite but shattered glass doll.

Lu Jing stood quietly in place, watching this Spirit Beast sovereign who had just been peerlessly imposing, but was now so fragile she seemed ready to shatter at a touch, and a complex emotion welled up in his heart.

He didn't know if telling her this truth was right or wrong, but he knew that some truths, no matter how cruel, had the right to be known.

Especially for an existence like the Silver Dragon King, who shouldered the future of an entire race.

What choice would she make next?

Would she sink completely into the ruins of the truth and give up all hope?

Or would she find a new path, one belonging to herself, in the ashes of despair?

Lu Jing did not know.

He could only wait.