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After listening to Nana's story, Meteor and the others looked at each other in confusion.
If it were anything else, maybe they could've helped somehow. But this was Nana's personal family matter — not something they could get involved in, even if they wanted to.
All they could do was comfort her and tell her not to overthink it.
Later at home, during dinner, Meteor told Luan Yu everything. He'd always felt something strange about Nana's family situation. The real key had to be those mysterious people who showed up and took Nana's mom away.
Meteor even guessed that maybe Nana's mom was from some powerful noble family. Maybe she ran away from home, met Nana's dad, and they fell in love after some dramatic "hero saves beauty" moment straight out of a soap opera.
Those mysterious people could be from her mom's side of the family. But the weird thing is, Nana's mom wasn't exactly taken — she still came home. And her cultivation suddenly shot up, like unnaturally fast. Clearly, Nana's dad knows something but refuses to tell her.
Meteor and the others couldn't really do anything about it. If they got involved and screwed things up, it'd be even worse. This was Nana's private family stuff — not their place.
So, Meteor asked Luan Yu to use her connections to quietly look into it. Sure, secretly investigating a classmate's family is... well, kind of shady, but Meteor wasn't the type to worry about appearances when it came to helping a friend.
Under the bright moonlight, on a high pavilion in the central district of Mingdu, Gu Yuena stood looking up at the stars. Behind her stood two figures: a tall man dressed in black with black hair and golden eyes, and a beautiful woman in a green dress, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and radiating pure life energy — she gave off major "goddess of life" vibes.
"Lord, the demon spirit has already replaced a duke of the Sun-Moon Empire. The Ten Thousand Demon King is helping him take full control over the duke's territory. Your human identity is now completely flawless."
The black-haired, golden-eyed man spoke in a deep voice.
"Lord, it's confirmed — that girl really does carry the divine power of the Goddess of Life. Just like those people from ten thousand years ago, she's inherited a god's position."
The green-haired woman respectfully added.
Gu Yuena nodded slightly and said softly, "Got it."
"Shall I take action, my lord? Divine life energy is an incredible healing treasure. With it, your injuries could be fully healed."
The man in black — Di Tian — had a flash of killing intent in his eyes. His gaze shifted toward the direction where Meteor and the others were.
The woman in green hesitated, then finally spoke up. "My lord, those people are connected to the Goddess of Life. Even though we're sure they don't carry her divine consciousness, if we act against them and somehow catch the gods' attention, your presence could be exposed. That would be very bad."
Gu Yuena nodded. "Bi Ji makes a good point. Di Tian, without my order, don't make a move."
Di Tian — the leader of the Ten Great Beasts of the Douluo Continent, known as the Beast God — withdrew the killing intent from his eyes. Bi Ji's concerns were also his, but that divine life force was too tempting, and he could barely hold back.
"After investigating for a while, there's no doubt now — the Sun-Moon Empire's soul tool technology is incredible. Give them a little more time, and human power will completely surpass that of soul beasts. We're running out of time."
Gu Yuena avoided the topic of Meteor and Liu Ying, her eyes clouded with confusion as she murmured softly.
As the leader of the soul beasts, it was her duty to lead them toward survival. But now, soul beasts were being crushed by humans. Their numbers and strength had both dropped drastically.
Meanwhile, humans were developing at breakneck speed. She could already picture a future where soul beasts had gone extinct, and humans ruled the entire Douluo Star.
She wanted to wipe out humanity to reclaim a place for soul beasts. But she couldn't. Her injuries hadn't healed, and the Divine Realm hovered above Douluo Star — any major move on her part would instantly draw their attention.
She wasn't afraid of ordinary gods, no matter how many. But god-kings? That was different. Back in her prime, she might've been able to fight them. But now, half-crippled as she was, just one god-king descending would be enough to crush her — or even wipe out the entire soul beast race.
That's why, after being awakened by the divine aura of the Goddess of Life, she took on human form and entered human society — to look for a chance. A chance to heal, and to learn more about humans and prepare for the future.
The Divine Realm was a big problem, sure. But their most urgent enemy right now was still the humans. If they didn't deal with the humans, then fighting the gods was just an empty dream.
"My lord, gods aren't allowed to descend easily. As long as we don't try to wipe out all of humanity at once — maybe just trigger a beast tide and take some territory — the gods probably won't interfere, right?"
Di Tian said in a low voice. He used to be a guardian of the Dragon God, so he understood the Divine Realm's rules pretty well.
"If it's the god-kings I remember from back then, then no, they wouldn't interfere. But I don't know what the current Divine Realm is like. That Sea God, Tang San, who inherited the Shura God's position ten thousand years ago... I don't know how he'll react. I can't be sure."
Gu Yuena rubbed her temples, exhaustion in her eyes.
"I heard that Sea God has the bloodline of the Blue Silver Emperor — half human, half soul beast. If possible—"
Bi Ji began softly, but Di Tian cut her off immediately.
"Human is still human. Even if he has soul beast blood, at the end of the day, he's one of them. If he really cared about soul beasts, the Star Dou Great Forest wouldn't be in this mess today."
"Don't forget, Shrek Academy — the one that's always gone against us, the one that built a defensive line right at our forest's edge — that's his alma mater."
Gu Yuena also shook her head. "The Sea God can't be trusted."
She wouldn't trust any human god from the Divine Realm.
"Yes, my lord."
Bi Ji sighed and lowered her head. She knew she was being too hopeful, but deep down, she really didn't want to see soul beasts and humans go to war. If there was any way they could live peacefully together, of course that'd be better.
"Oh right, my lord — something weird's been going on in Mingdu lately. A bunch of powerful people have been sneaking in, and one of them... even I have to take seriously."
Di Tian suddenly remembered something and said it in a serious tone. He'd almost forgotten — ever since Gu Yuena transformed and suppressed her true essence, she might not have noticed anything strange happening in the city. So he quickly brought it up.
Gu Yuena's brows furrowed. For someone to be called a "powerhouse" by Di Tian, they'd have to be at least a Title Douluo. And for someone to make him go on alert — if it was a human, that would have to be a Rank 99 Limit Douluo.
But from what she knew, the Sun-Moon Empire didn't even have a Super Douluo, let alone a Limit Douluo. Could it be that one of the old Douluo kingdoms was about to attack the Sun-Moon Empire?
If that was true, it might actually be a good thing for the soul beasts — the more humans fought each other, the more chances they'd have.
"This has nothing to do with us. Ignore it."
"....."