"You and the Golden Dragon King are both incarnations of the Dragon God, aren't you?" Xia Yi looked at Gu Yue in surprise.
"You should know that the Dragon God had two divine cores: one of Creation and one of Destruction, right?" Gu Yue looked at Xia Yi and said.
"I know that. You control the Creation Core, and the Golden Dragon King controls the Destruction Core?" Xia Yi nodded.
"That's right!" Gu Yue nodded slightly and said, "It was precisely because the Dragon God possessed two god-king-level divine cores that he had the power to stand above all other God Kings. Yes, I did inherit the Dragon God's Creation Core and the power to control elements. But truthfully, only my elemental control comes from the Dragon God. The Creation Core, however, does not. It doesn't belong to me, nor to the Dragon God. Neither the Dragon God nor I could ever truly unleash the Creation Core's full power."
"Are you saying the Dragon God stole the Creation Core?" Xia Yi asked.
"Exactly." Gu Yue nodded and asked, "Have you heard of the Phoenix God?"
"I've heard of it. One of the founders of Shrek Academy became the Phoenix God, a second-level deity," Xia Yi said.
"He dares call himself the Phoenix God?" Gu Yue sneered. "A mere second-level god, and he has the audacity to claim that title? I don't know where he got the nerve. The true Phoenix God was a God King — and not just any God King, but one of the most powerful among them. The one you mentioned merely carried a trace of the Phoenix God's aura and shamelessly proclaimed the title."
"The Phoenix God was a God King?" Xia Yi was shocked.
As the highest level of power in this universe, the rarity of God Kings needed no further explanation.
The five ruling God Kings of the Douluo Divine Realm had all attained their status through the power of the realm's Creator God.
All these years, not a single new God King had emerged.
Tang San also only possessed the power of a God King because he inherited the position of Shura God — not truly a new God King.
Among all the soul beasts — no, among all beasts — aside from the Dragon God and the Golden and Silver Dragon Kings, only the Demon Emperor had achieved God King status.
This showed just how rare God Kings were.
If the Demon Emperor hadn't received the He Tu and Luo Shu from Xia Yi, he too would never have reached God King level.
Now Gu Yue was telling Xia Yi that the Phoenix God was also a God King — how could he not be shocked?
"Exactly," Gu Yue sighed and said, "When the Dragon God entered the Divine Realm, there weren't even any human gods yet. The five current God Kings were there, but none of them were human. Like the Goddess of Life — her true form was the Ancient Tree of Life. The other four were similar. At that time, the Divine Realm housed all kinds of races: beastfolk, yakshas, spirits, and more. Before the Dragon God arrived, divine beasts followed the commands of the Phoenix God. If the Dragon God was the first leader of soul beasts, then the Phoenix God was the true overlord of all beasts. Any divine beast — whether soul beast or magical beast — from any planet, as long as it belonged to the beast race, answered to the Phoenix God. Back then, the Phoenix God even helped govern the Divine Realm's core. But when the Dragon God arrived, all of that changed."
Gu Yue glanced at Xia Yi and continued, "At that time, the Dragon God only had the Destruction Core and was of the same God King level as the Phoenix God. Think about it — with the Dragon God's personality, how could he tolerate being subordinate? Influenced by the Destruction Core, a battle for the Beast King title was inevitable. That battle shook the Divine Realm to its core. Though the Phoenix God was powerful and the Creation Core matched the Destruction Core in strength, in combat, it was slightly inferior. In the end, the Phoenix God was defeated and killed by the Dragon God. But the Dragon God also suffered serious injuries and had to go into seclusion to heal. Because of the Phoenix God's death and the Dragon God's seclusion, divine beasts lost their protector — giving human deities a chance to rise and oppress the beasts. That's why, when the Dragon God re-emerged, the Dragon God War broke out."
"So, your Creation Core was actually taken by the Dragon God after he killed the Phoenix God?" Xia Yi asked in a deep voice.
"Yes," Gu Yue nodded. "While healing, the Dragon God also tried to fuse the Creation Core with the Destruction Core. Creation and Destruction are like Life and Annihilation — interlinked yet opposing. But because the Dragon God could never truly comprehend the essence of Creation, he was unable to fully fuse the two cores. Still, he gained power that surpassed all other God Kings. So when he heard that divine beasts were being oppressed by human gods, he immediately led them in rebellion against the Divine Realm."
"Why does it sound like he just couldn't wait to show off?" Xia Yi muttered under his breath. Then he asked in confusion, "Even if he was unwilling to serve under the Phoenix God, he could have just defeated her. Why kill her? There wasn't any deep enmity between them, was there? Was it just for the Creation Core?"
Gu Yue gave a bitter smile. "Perhaps. At first, some thought the Dragon God killed the Phoenix God because of the Destruction Core's influence. But later, even after obtaining the Creation Core and balancing its power with Destruction, he still didn't intend to let the Phoenix God go."
"Didn't the Phoenix God die? What do you mean by 'not letting her go'? You mean he didn't spare her kin and followers either?" Xia Yi asked.
"No." Gu Yue shook her head. "The Phoenix God's understanding of Creation had reached an unprecedented level. Even though the Creation Core is now within me, my grasp of its power doesn't even scratch the surface. In the Dragon God's words, the Phoenix God is unkillable. One day, she will be reborn and reclaim the Creation Core. And until his final moment, the Dragon God was always trying to stop her resurrection."
Gu Yue looked up and asked, "Have you heard of the Blue Demon Bird?"
"Never heard of it," Xia Yi replied, shaking his head.
"Of course not — it's a forbidden divine beast," Gu Yue said with a sigh. "There are two types of Blue Demon Birds: those with gold markings and those with silver. The silver-marked ones are space emissaries; the gold-marked ones are time emissaries. The time Blue Demon Birds are male; the space ones are female. They are a pair. However, they almost never appear at the same time because they wield the two most powerful attributes. If they ever unite, they could produce an offspring — a phoenix, a True Phoenix. And such a phoenix would likely become the next Phoenix God, or serve as a vessel for the Phoenix God's rebirth. After the Phoenix God's death, Blue Demon Birds have appeared several times, but they were all eradicated by the Dragon God. He would never allow another Phoenix God to rise."
"So the Rising Dragon Pillar you mentioned earlier is also related to the Phoenix God?" Xia Yi asked.
"Yes. The Dragon God spent tens of thousands of years trying to refine the Rising Dragon Pillar but never fully controlled it. He spent the same amount of time trying to fuse the Creation Core, yet never comprehended its true essence." Gu Yue didn't hide anything. "The Dragon God suspects that the Rising Dragon Pillar was stolen by the Phoenix God's former followers — only they could truly understand its secrets. Only they could hide it so well that even the Dragon God couldn't sense its presence."
"So you don't actually know where the Ascending Dragon Pillar is. Telling me to retrieve it was just nonsense," Xia Yi said, rolling his eyes.
"Not exactly. I think, if the Ascending Dragon Pillar was truly stolen by her followers, they must be hiding on some planet, preparing for the Phoenix God's rebirth. I wanted you to interact with them, win them over, and help resolve the internal conflicts within the beast race," Gu Yue said, shrinking back slightly — basically using Xia Yi as a pawn, asking him to clean up the Dragon God's mess and negotiate with beings who had irreconcilable hatred toward the Dragon Clan and all soul beasts.
It felt pretty unfair.
Even though she believed Xia Yi could do it.
But after all, he had married her, the Silver Dragon King.
Dealing with those beings would be extremely dangerous.
But hey — Xia Yi did have the Demon Emperor, a God King-level enforcer, by his side.
Hehehe! (End of chapter)