Suddenly hearing a story he had no prior knowledge of, Xu Yuan couldn't help but wear an expression of astonishment.
Although he had been transported here and was familiar with the legends of the Dragon Kings' era, he had only seen a small portion of the Ultimate Fighting storyline set ten thousand years later. He hadn't reached the later exploration phase where deeper lore was revealed, so his understanding of the Dragon God and related settings wasn't profound.
Now, according to the Light Dragon King's explanation, it was indeed the Asura God who slew the Dragon God, splitting it into two.
And the key to the Asura God achieving this feat was endless slaughter.
"Back then, the god realm was divided into two factions. One side was led by the dragon race on behalf of the soul beast clans, while the other consisted of humans who gradually rose to prominence as gods. Due to racial conflicts, the two sides were in constant conflict. Over time, compounded by the immense trauma inflicted on the god realm by the Dragon God, war became inevitable. Coincidentally, during that period, the Dragon God's body began to deteriorate, leaving him unable to suppress the human gods."
The overwhelming aura of slaughter propelled the Asura God from his already formidable God King level closer to the Dragon God's power. After massacring numerous small worlds inhabited by dragons, he gathered enough killing intent to unleash his ultimate attack at the Dragon God's weakest and most lucid moment, striking with a single blow.
One sword. The Dragon God fell, split into two, becoming the Gold and Silver Dragon Kings.
Listening to the Light Dragon King's recounting, Xu Yuan picked up on several key points.
"The Dragon God's consciousness would sometimes become unstable? At his most lucid moment, even though he was weakened by madness, shouldn't he still have been able to withstand an attack from someone of equal power and survive? Unless… he wanted to die?"
Xu Yuan's question left the Light Dragon King silent.
Even the Light Dragon King didn't know why it happened that way.
"You only need to understand this: back then, when the Dragon God was weak and offered no resistance, the Asura God's peak strike split him into two without completely obliterating him. Not even the Dragon God's essence was lost—he merely transformed into the Gold and Silver Dragon Kings," the Dark Dragon King interjected, correcting Xu Yuan's focus.
"By drawing on the killing intent from the great war, he unleashed that decisive strike. However, afterward, due to absorbing too much slaughter, he spawned malevolent thoughts, splitting off a significant portion of his power to create a new god close to the God King level."
"But even so, the current Asura God is still the supreme God King of the Douluo god realm—if the god realm still existed, that is."
While the Dark Dragon King appeared to be praising the Asura God's strength, he was also subtly highlighting the Dragon God's immense power.
Thus, as the Dark Dragon King spoke, his face bore unmistakable pride and arrogance.
Xu Yuan fell silent.
The Rakshasa God, the Sea God, and the Angel God.
Twenty thousand years ago, the performances of these three gods, combined with how their successors inherited their powers, resulted in varying levels of combat strength. By reverse-engineering their strengths, it wasn't hard to see that the power differences between the three divine positions weren't significant.
The Sea God was very close to the God King level, and the Rakshasa God's strength was similarly evident.
Even after splitting off the Rakshasa God, the Asura God remained the supreme God King of the god realm. One could only imagine how terrifying his peak strike, amplified by the boundless killing intent of the external environment, must have been.
And yet, such a strike seemed to be on par with the Dragon God's power—it could slay the Dragon God only because the Dragon God did not resist.
"The Dragon God and the God King should no longer be considered the same tier."
This wasn't a difference of one or even ten levels; it likely involved a threshold—a monumental leap—resulting in a qualitative change.
Similar to the leap from first-tier gods to God Kings, but perhaps even greater.
Seeming to sense what Xu Yuan was thinking, the Dark Dragon King elaborated on many details, helping him better appreciate the Dragon God's power.
"Do you know how god-level life forms are classified in the universe?"
Xu Yuan shook his head in confusion.
The Dark Dragon King explained: "In the universe, most cultivation systems before reaching godhood can be summarized into nine stages. After breaking through the ninth stage, one ascends to godhood, which is only the beginning—this counts as the tenth stage. Beyond that lies the eleventh stage: True God level. Only life forms at this stage are qualified to compete with gods. Even the weakest third-tier gods in the god realm, without divine positions, could rival this level. Divine positions further enhance a god's strength, making their power undoubtedly stronger than those at the same level. The twelfth stage is the Super God level, capable of matching second-tier gods without divine positions. Above that, the thirteenth stage is the Main God level, comparable to first-tier gods without divine positions."
Xu Yuan listened attentively to the Dark Dragon King's explanation, committing everything to memory.
The Dark Dragon King paused briefly.
"Continuing onward lies the path to God King."
"The fourteenth stage is known as the Half-Step God King level in the universe, and the fifteenth stage is the God King level. But this God King level is merely equivalent to a God King without the support of a divine position."
The Dark Dragon King looked at Xu Yuan, patiently waiting for him to process this information.
From the thirteenth stage, which corresponds to first-tier gods, ascending to the God King level requires two stages to cross.
And beyond that…
"To my knowledge, there are three distinct leaps within the God King level. If described in terms of stages, they are the fifteenth-stage God King, sixteenth-stage God King, and seventeenth-stage God King. Back then, the Dragon God was at least at the eighteenth stage!"
The Dark Dragon King's explanation left Xu Yuan's mind reeling.
So this was how power beyond godhood was divided?
At the same time, he subtly grasped a key insight.
The cultivation of god-level life forms could continue all the way to at least the God King level!
This meant that reaching the God King level required no restrictions imposed by divine positions. One could advance freely along the universal path!
With this realization, Xu Yuan felt a weight lift from his shoulders.
At the very least, even without a god realm, he still had a chance to accumulate enough strength to initially contend with someone like a Buddha.
Moreover, if he could cultivate to the God King level on his own, would he then have the opportunity to create a new god realm?
Of course, these were matters for the distant future. For now, Xu Yuan was still just a fledgling soul master at Level 63.
However, he still had some lingering questions. For instance, he remembered that gods cultivated by condensing divine rings, and God Kings supposedly had nine divine rings. How did the Dragon God continue advancing beyond that?
He decided to voice his question.
The Dark Dragon King looked at Xu Yuan in surprise.
"So you really do know bits and pieces from somewhere."
After pondering for a moment, he gave Xu Yuan an answer.
It was accurate.
But not particularly useful.
"I don't know either, after all, I never reached the God King level myself."
Xu Yuan's lips twitched.
He probably shouldn't have asked.
"Haha, it doesn't matter if you know now. After all, with the god realm gone, even if you cultivate, you'll have to follow the normal universal system. Walking the path of godhood as a soul master is fraught with difficulties. Rather than wasting energy trying to understand how gods cultivate, it's better to focus on advancing your soul master path," the Dark Dragon King laughed heartily.
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Author's Note: This chapter references the power scaling from Ultimate Fighting, with slight inspiration from Magical Chef of Ice and Fire. In Magical Chef of Ice and Fire, Rong Nianbing is said to be at the eighteenth stage in his world, but considering their worldview starts the godly realm at the thirteenth stage, Rong Nianbing's strength would be closer to around fourteen or fifteen stages—essentially, a Half-Step God King. After some time cultivating, he managed to break through on his own.
Regarding certain theories I've encountered online suggesting that there might be a fire dragon egg in the Dragon Valley that ended up in the Longma Star System in Douluo IV—I haven't read Douluo IV, but after extensive searching, the original text provides no clear indication that the Dragon Realm on Tianlong Star is the same as the Dragon Valley. On the contrary, characters like Zi Ji and Di Tian, who appear in Douluo III and visit the Dragon Valley, show no familiarity when they arrive at the Dragon Realm. Thus, I treat the Dragon Realm and the Dragon Valley as separate entities.
The Dragon Valley is a small world where the dragon race once resided, possibly even the Dragon God's original home. Here lie the Dragon God's final dragon soul and the remains of countless dragons.
As for the Dragon Realm, it was a core site of dragon heritage in the god realm before the Dragon God's fall. It drifted to the Longma Star System and contains many dragon race artifacts.
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