Chapter 46: Ditian Writes the Name "Tang Wulin"

She had thought that Ditian had brought her to this human city in a hurry because there was some urgent matter to attend to. But to her astonishment, her mother was actually in this city.

Despite the thousands of emotions surging in her heart at the thought of her mother, now that she was about to meet her, Lan Fozi found herself hesitating.

She quickened her pace, taking large strides forward, and grabbed Ditian's hand. The two of them stopped at the corner of the street near the entrance of the Blacksmith Association headquarters.

Ditian turned back and asked, "What's wrong?"

Lan Fozi bit her lip nervously. "Senior, when you spoke to my mother about me… about how I left without saying a word, was she angry?"

"Do you think my mom will hit me when she sees me?"

"If—just if—she really does hit me, could you, um, step aside for a bit? That would be way too embarrassing..."

"..."

Just as she stood there, torn between hesitation and nervous rambling, the Demon Empress arrived.

This was the first time Ditian had seen the Demon Empress without her black hood. Contrary to her usual fierce and intimidating demeanor, she had a stunningly beautiful face, her expression soft and gentle, even kind. However, her hair was still completely white.

He could see the excitement on her face and the light flickering in her eyes.

At that moment, Ditian knew there would be no dramatic scene of a mother spanking her long-lost daughter.

He let go of Lan Fozi's hand, gave her a reassuring look, and then walked away alone toward the headquarters of the Blacksmith Association, leaving the long-separated mother and daughter to reunite in private.

As he passed by the Demon Empress, he could sense her trembling slightly, and he could hear the faintest sound of quiet sobbing. But he had no intention of witnessing their tearful embrace.

He entered the headquarters, returning to his private room.

The room was not overly decorated—everything was simple and functional.

A wooden desk and chair stood by the window, the fragrance of the wood filling the air.

Ditian stood at the desk, spread out a piece of rice paper, and with a stroke of his brush, wrote a name in bold, flowing script.

Now, the work of the Soul Beast Bureau had stabilized and was progressing exactly as planned.

There were two main branches in the effort to unify the remnants of the soul beast race.

First, the sea soul beasts had been completely consolidated. The traitorous Devil Soul Great White Shark clan had been exterminated, the Sea Princess had submitted and offered the Ocean's Heart as a token of allegiance, and the various sea soul beast clans had united in common cause.

Second, the land soul beasts had also been brought into order. Several of his former colleagues—once feared as savage beasts—had already reestablished contact through Zi Ji. Soul beasts had begun developing their own four-word battle armor and even divine-grade mechas.

Now, it was only a matter of time before the soul beast race regained some of its lost strength.

Ditian was quite satisfied.

At the very least, when the final battle arrived, he would not be standing alone. The soul beast race would not be reduced to a fading sunset.

With the first phase of the Soul Beast Bureau's mission successfully underway, Ditian was ready to focus on the second phase.

And it all started with the name he had just written on the rice paper—

Tang Wulin.

As the chosen protagonist of this era, Tang Wulin was destined to follow the grand plan that his father had laid out over millennia.

And Ditian's mission—the revival of the soul beast race—was in many ways an adaptation of that very same plan.

The Holy Spirit Cult had taken the bait that Tang San had dangled before them—the destruction of Shrek Academy and the countless innocent lives lost in Shrek City.

With such a massive sunk cost, Tang San and his divine allies would have no choice but to play along, unable to interfere directly.

Yes, Tang Hao, a secondary god and ruler of this plane, as well as Ah Yin, the Core of Life, and even Tang San's divine consciousness as a God-King—none of them would waste their efforts on a mere million-year-old soul beast who hadn't even reached the power of a third-class god.

Even if the soul beast race managed to revive, in the eyes of the Divine Realm, it would be nothing more than a fleeting resurgence—something that could be snuffed out with a wave of the hand.

Because of the high sunk cost involved, and to avoid attracting the Abyssal Sage King's attention, they would not interfere with his actions.

Yes, that was true.

Ditian could count on them being unable to make a move. But he couldn't put all his hopes on that.

He needed to have the power to flip the table if the situation called for it!

If an unexpected and overwhelming enemy entered the battlefield, he needed contingencies and trump cards to fall back on.

Tang Wulin, Tang San's dear son, the pawn in his thousand-year plan, was the perfect point of entry.

And he was also a perfect weapon.

Tang Wulin possessed the divine core of the Dragon God—the full power of the Golden Dragon King's bloodline.

That power had shaped him, but it also threatened his very life.

If too many of the eighteen Golden Dragon King seals were released at once, the destructive power of the bloodline would consume Tang Wulin, eroding his mind and destroying his body, turning him into nothing more than a killing machine until he perished.

If Ditian could trigger this state, Tang San's divine consciousness—imbued with the power of a God-King—would be forced to suppress the Golden Dragon King's destructive will, leaving him powerless to interfere in the final battle.

The best tool for achieving this was Dragon God Bloodline energy—for Tang Wulin, it was both the ultimate supplement and the deadliest poison.

Unlocking multiple Golden Dragon King seals at once would indeed give him a surge of power. But too much of it would kill him.

After all, even when absorbing half of the Dragon God's soul in the Dragon Valley, he had nearly died just from unlocking two seals. It was only thanks to his intense training in dragon essence and dragon soul refinement that he survived.

And it just so happened…

Ditian had Dragon God Bloodline energy.

Extracted from the body of a million-year-old soul beast, this energy was guaranteed to push Tang Wulin into an uncontrollable transformation.

Would Tang Wulin be able to withstand it?

Heh.

That wasn't Ditian's concern. Let Tang San deal with the consequences.

This "key"—this energy-rich Dragon God Bloodline—would have to be unleashed at the most crucial moment.

But he couldn't let it stay with Tang Wulin indefinitely, nor could he personally deliver it to him. No matter how well he hid it, the longer it remained in play, the more likely it would be discovered.

It needed to be stored somewhere safe—somewhere close to Tang Wulin, with guaranteed proximity and accessibility.

And where was the safest place?

Among those closest to Tang Wulin—his inseparable companions, the Shrek Seven Monsters.

"Xie Xie, Xu Xiaoyan, Le Zhengyu, Yuanen Yehui, Xu Lizhi, Ye Xinglan..."

"Oh, and Gu Yue."

"Hmm… who should I choose?"

(End of Chapter)