"Everyone a dragon?" Hearing Su Mo's words, Sun Wukong paused.
As a member of the Chinese pantheon, the phrase was not unfamiliar to her.
It was the ideal that "everyone can become a Yao or a Shun," [T/N: Legendary, wise, and benevolent sage-kings of ancient China] the hope that everyone in the central plains could grow to become pillars of the state.
However, though unlikely, when these words came from Su Mo, she felt they held a different meaning. Was she mistaken?
"I like that metaphor!" Kurma, standing beside them, didn't overthink it. She simply assumed Su Mo was using "Pure-Blooded Dragon" as a metaphor for excellence.
As a Pure-Blooded Dragon herself, she was naturally delighted to be praised like this. "As expected of the man who gave Śākyamuni a headache. You've got taste!"
Hearing Kurma's praise, Shiroyasha beside her looked immensely proud and puffed out her chest. "Of course! Just look who Su Mo is! And his words aren't just a simple metaphor!"
As the person present who understood Su Mo's intentions best, only Shiroyasha knew what he truly meant.
"Eh?" Hearing Shiroyasha's words, and seeing her immense pride and the unreserved admiration in her eyes when she looked at Su Mo, Kurma's curiosity was completely piqued.
She had never seen Shiroyasha like this before.
"Shiroyasha, do you like Su Mo that much?" the silver-haired loli asked curiously.
"Wh-What do you mean, like? What nonsense are you spouting!" Shiroyasha became flustered at once. She quickly glanced at Su Mo, and only relaxed when she saw he wasn't paying attention, though she felt a pang of disappointment.
Seeing her pure-hearted reaction, Kurma's eyes widened. "Don't tell me you haven't even said it yet?"
She had thought the two of them were already incredibly close, which was why they'd formed an alliance and why Shiroyasha, who loved Little Garden so much, would support Su Mo unconditionally.
But to her surprise, despite even wearing a loli maid outfit, the girl was still acting all shy and secretive. Had she not even confessed yet? Could this be what was commonly referred to in human culture as a "losing dog"?
"Wh-What do you know! It's just that the opportunity hasn't presented itself yet!" Shiroyasha said stubbornly, stealing a glance at Su Mo out of the corner of her eye. "Otherwise, with the chemistry between Su Mo and me, once I speak up, what chance would the Queen have?"
Hearing this, Kurma's eyes widened again. "The Halloween Queen is in on this too?"
Only now did she realize just how sought-after Su Mo was, that even these two mortal enemies had fallen for him at the same time.
No wonder the starry sky of the Halloween Queen was overhead in what was clearly Shiroyasha's game field. It turned out Su Mo's intervention had made these two rivals compromise.
Realizing this, Kurma looked at Su Mo with an expression of utter disbelief.
To conquer two Sun Celestial Spirits, two of the Three Great Problem Children, at the same time—the man who could do this was a divine being!
She sized Su Mo up and down once more, then whispered a question to Shiroyasha. "I admit Su Mo is handsome, the most pleasing to the eye among humans, and he's very strong. But that alone shouldn't be enough to move you two, right? What is it about him that you and the Queen fell for?"
Kurma was very curious.
It wasn't as if there hadn't been handsome men in Little Garden's history, and there were even more powerful ones. But Su Mo was the first to capture the hearts of two Sun Celestial Spirits and Problem Children. She was curious about Shiroyasha's reasons for liking him.
"Isn't being handsome enough?" Shiroyasha retorted.
In truth, she wasn't so shallow as to be swayed by looks alone. When she first met Su Mo, she had just thought of it as a netizen meetup.
But love works in mysterious ways, and after confirming her feelings, she felt that every single thing about Su Mo was a reason to love him, including his beauty that surpassed gods and demons.
"Probably not? I don't really understand human aesthetics." Kurma shook her head, admitting her ignorance. A Celestial Spirit's sense of beauty was the same as a human's, but different from a Pure-Blooded Dragon's.
She just thought Su Mo was handsome, but it was like seeing a cute cat; she couldn't comprehend the attraction generated by his appearance.
"Fine." Hearing Kurma's words, Shiroyasha became a bit more serious.
After recalling her shared experiences with Su Mo, she spoke. "Besides his looks, I find Su Mo most attractive in two situations. The first is when he's analyzing a problem. He often makes me feel like an idiot, but his judgment and wisdom always make me feel at ease."
"As for the second, it's when he's fighting against a million, or even billions of gods." As she spoke, Shiroyasha's eyes sparkled, as if she were seeing her beloved riding a seven-colored cloud to meet her. "Anyone who has seen Su Mo fight against a million gods will fall for him. I'm telling you, no exceptions!"
It was the heroic radiance that could only bloom when intelligence, martial prowess, and courage were displayed to their utmost.
It was the unwavering will that did not yield even in the face of a sky full of gods. It was a beauty that even a Celestial Spirit couldn't help but be shaken by.
Compared to when Su Mo became a 1-digit being and slaughtered billions of gods, Shiroyasha was more impressed by his battle against Christianity.
Although there were only a million gods then, the battle was undoubtedly more difficult. If he hadn't cleverly employed tactics, even with his strength at the time, he could have been drawn into a bitter fight. The more perilous the situation, the more dazzlingly Su Mo's brilliance shone.
"When he's fighting the pantheons? I see..." Hearing this, Kurma subconsciously nodded.
Although she hadn't witnessed such a scene herself, Sun Wukong, who had come with her to negotiate, had been won over by Su Mo under such circumstances.
That was why, even though she had doubts about his decision, she was still extremely respectful toward Su Mo himself. If even the proud and arrogant Great Sage, Heaven's Equal, was like this, there was no need to speak of others.
Kurma even felt that the World-Honored One himself had been captivated by Su Mo's past demeanor, which was why his actions had been so tactful.
Considering the change in these people's attitudes, Shiroyasha's words were definitely not an exaggeration.
"Huh? Wait!" Kurma had nodded in agreement with Shiroyasha's reasoning. But Shiroyasha had misunderstood and subconsciously showed a wary look.
"Why are you suddenly asking about this? Don't tell me you're trying to compete with me?"
Guard against fire, guard against thieves, and guard against your best friend.
Although Kurma wasn't exactly her best friend, with even her mortal enemy the Halloween Queen having fallen, Kurma was naturally someone to be wary of. The other girl looked exactly like her.
Even Shiroyasha couldn't help but worry that this girl would use her own beauty to seduce Su Mo.
"Huh?" Hearing this, and seeing the possessive look in Shiroyasha's eyes, Kurma was momentarily confused before she realized.
She quickly waved her hands, patted her chest, and promised solemnly, "Don't worry! Little Kurma won't fall for a human. Even if Su Mo is handsome, humans are just too small. There's no... spark!"
As a Pure-Blooded Dragon, both her species and her sense of beauty were vastly different from humans. Her silver-haired loli form was just a disguise; her true form was a dragon on a cosmic scale.
Kurma's aesthetic preference was simple: big is beautiful, big is good.
Part of the reason she liked talking to Shiroyasha was because of her stellar-sized true form, which she found beautiful, like a gemstone.
As for Su Mo, like the other Asuras, Gods, and Buddhas, he was a being of a completely different dimension to her. Naturally, she couldn't develop feelings for him.
In Kurma's view, her own aesthetic was normal; it was Shiroyasha whose choice of partner was problematic. A stellar-level Celestial Spirit of unknown age falling for a tiny human on her own planet—wasn't that perverted?
"Really?!" Seeing that Kurma wasn't faking it, Shiroyasha breathed a sigh of relief, finally at ease. "That's great!"
From the looks of it, Kurma was truly not interested in humans. It seemed she didn't have to worry about this girl misusing their identical appearance.
Although Kurma's aesthetic was a bit strange in her opinion, it was a good thing for her.
Physical aesthetic preferences couldn't be changed. If Kurma said she wasn't interested, she really wasn't.
Subconsciously, faced with a non-threat, her gaze toward Kurma became much friendlier.
"Don't worry, we're good sisters! How could I steal your man!" Kurma immediately cheered up when she noticed the change in Shiroyasha's attitude.
After making another solemn promise, she suddenly remembered what Shiroyasha had said at the very beginning. "By the way, Shiroya, what did you mean when you said Su Mo's words weren't a metaphor?"
"Everyone a dragon"—what else could it be but a metaphor?
"It's the literal meaning!" Shiroyasha said mysteriously.
"The literal meaning?" Kurma's mind stuttered a bit, finding it hard to understand.
Just then, the conversation between Su Mo and Sun Wukong was drawing to a close, and his voice sounded from behind them. "No more explanation is needed. The so-called 'everyone a dragon,' the so-called correct path of human evolution, will now be fully revealed to you!"
The moment he spoke, the Divinity on Su Mo's body began to expand.
The gene pool represented by the Catalogue of Life, the Third Stellar Particle, and the Divinity of humanity combined and fused in a way that surpassed human imagination.
In the next second, a majestic aura was released, and Su Mo directly transformed into a Pure-Blooded giant dragon. In an instant, he expanded to a cosmic scale and continued to grow.
His form, which overturned the entire scale of the universe, left everyone stunned on the spot. His size even surpassed that of Kurma's true form as the World Dragon, extending toward an even vaster realm.
If Shiroyasha's Gift Game field hadn't already been expanded to a universal scale by Su Mo, the entire game field would have probably burst the moment he revealed his Pure-Blooded Dragon form.
And now, even a universal-scale game field was beginning to waver in the face of Su Mo's rapidly expanding body.
The Pure-Blooded Dragon form that Su Mo revealed had, in an instant, surpassed Kurma's true form by more than ten times.
Even the World-Bearing Dragon's true form was now, before the current Su Mo, truly just a little loli, just like her current human form.
Seeing this being that surpassed the scale of the universe with her own eyes, even Shiroyasha was momentarily too shocked to speak.
After a long while, she finally came to her senses and looked at Kurma and Sun Wukong beside her. Su Mo has already shown them such a stunning and correct answer. The two of them should be able to believe in his path now, right? That was what Shiroyasha had originally thought.
But when she saw the extraordinary light that suddenly bloomed in Kurma's clear, crimson eyes, her heart skipped a beat, and she suddenly had a bad feeling.
"Kurma, what we agreed on just now—" Almost instinctively, she didn't ask if Kurma agreed with the path Su Mo had shown, but rather confirmed the promise Kurma had just made while patting her chest.
But before she could finish, she saw the silver-haired loli turn her head dazedly, look at her, tug on her sleeve, and then say in a trance-like state, "Shiroya, your man smells amazing!"
"???"
No, you didn't!
Shiroyasha's eyes widened as if she were facing a great enemy.