After holding Qiu'er and resting for less than two hours, Huo Yuhao had completely restored his spirits.
That feeling of total relaxation, with one's mind immersed in tranquility, truly made one want to stay submerged in it forever. Unfortunately, he still had much to do; an occasional indulgence was fine, but he could not become addicted.
"...Uncle Bear Lord has already finished Spirit-Forging. Completing Spirit-Forging isn't difficult for him. Besides that, in about another month, there will likely be a few more bears who have finished Spirit-Forging.
"Elder Yi said his human transformation secret technique is successful and is currently undergoing final experiments. If all goes well, we should have a finished product in about a month.
"The Great Lady seems to have gone to heal her wounds; she hasn't been seen lately. I heard from Uncle Di Tian that it's apparently because of having completed Spirit-Forging, causing the destiny belonging to the soul beast race on my body to skyrocket, which also allowed the Great Lady to be fully recognized by the Planar Will..."
Speaking to this point, Qiu'er paused slightly, then took out a storage soul tool ring.
"And this—the Spirit-Forging metals you asked for last time, I've forged them all for you."
Qiu'er sat on Huo Yuhao's workbench, her long, exquisite jade feet resting on Huo Yuhao's body as she reported on the recent affairs of the Star Constellation Great Forest.
Huo Yuhao gently squeezed Qiu'er's foot with one hand while taking the storage soul tool ring with the other.
Overall, during the time he was immersed in research, no accidents had occurred; everything was moving forward step by step according to the normal trajectory.
"Thank you," Huo Yuhao said earnestly.
Qiu'er's expression remained unchanged, still wearing her proud look, though the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly.
However, this flash of joy didn't last long before Huo Yuhao asked again:
"Sister Nana went to heal her wounds?"
Qiu'er curled her lip and poked Huo Yuhao's stomach with her foot. "Probably. At least, that's what Uncle Di Tian said. Besides, I really haven't seen Sister Nana during this time, so it's likely true."
Even though she was still disgruntled about Huo Yuhao mentioning someone else in front of her—even if that person was her Great Lady—Qiu'er didn't hide it.
"Is that so... healing..."
He did know that piece of history: the Dragon God was split by the five original God Kings working together, becoming the Silver Dragon King and the Golden Dragon King.
Of the two, one had successfully escaped, while the other was still imprisoned in the God Realm.
The wounds on Gu Yuena's body were caused by the joint attack of the God Kings; they were extremely difficult to heal, and even with his current abilities, he couldn't help much.
"Alright, no more thinking about that..."
Qiu'er interrupted Huo Yuhao's train of thought. she had serious business to attend to here!
Coming down from the workbench, she wrapped her arms around Huo Yuhao's neck once more, a mysterious meaning appearing in her blue-pink eyes.
"...You've rested for so long, you should have some strength by now, right? Don't say I didn't warn you; this time, I won't lose!"
Having been utterly routed last time, General Qiu was determined to win back a round this time!
Looking at the eager Qiu'er, Huo Yuhao let out a slight laugh.
Gently grabbing Qiu'er's waist, Huo Yuhao spoke softly: "No begging for mercy..."
"Heh! Last time was just my carelessness! This time, I'll show you my true skills!"
Huo Yuhao chuckled.
It seemed he needed to re-establish his "husbandly authority."
...
An hour later, outside the laboratory, a silver-white figure stood still. Listening to Qiu'er inside repeatedly breaking down only to immediately suppress her voice, the silver-white figure remained expressionless.
She went to heal?
Indeed, she had gone to heal, but her healing session was essentially over.
The Planar Will had given her guidance, unexpectedly leading her directly to the Dragon Valley.
Because she was the Silver Dragon King, the remaining dragon souls in the Dragon Valley all recognized Gu Yuena's identity. They all volunteered to sacrifice themselves for her to heal her wounds.
Gu Yuena, using the methods for preserving consciousness and souls learned from Huo Yuhao and Electrolux, used the artificial soul ring devices someone had given her as a memento to condense one soul ring after another.
Subsequently, she placed the consciousnesses of all the dragon souls from the Dragon Valley onto these soul rings, waiting to resurrect these subjects of her Dragon Clan in the future.
Afterward, Gu Yuena first took the Dragon God Core, then used the plane-refining method provided by Electrolux to take away the entire Dragon Valley small plane, nourishing it within her body.
While carrying the entire Dragon Valley small plane with her, Gu Yuena was also bit by bit absorbing the massive dragon soul energy within it to recover from her injuries.
By a rough calculation, under the targeting of the Planar Will and the scrutiny of the God Realm, Gu Yuena would have originally needed at least ten thousand years to return to her peak alone.
But now, with the help of the Planar Will and the dragon soul energy of the Dragon Valley small plane, Gu Yuena could probably return to her peak state in about three to four years.
At that time, after accommodating the Dragon God Core and persuading Huo Yuhao to join her, she might even have the possibility of storming the God Realm, devouring the Golden Dragon King, and becoming the true Dragon God!
Such a beautiful future made her feel involuntarily joyful.
And with such a happy event, Gu Yuena naturally thought of Huo Yuhao. She wanted to share this with him and express her gratitude slightly.
The Silver Dragon Lady even thought that perhaps today, she would finally have a thorough taste of this fine wine she had cherished for so long.
After all, if not for Huo Yuhao's existence, none of this might have happened, and she might have had to remain in deep sleep for ten thousand years before making plans.
However, when she followed her mark and traveled through space to the Spirit Transmission Pagoda, she heard this scene.
Gu Yuena remained expressionless, her hands unconsciously tightening slightly, though after a long moment, she relaxed them again.
However, just as she relaxed, Qiu'er inside seemed unable to hold on any longer, starting to ramble nonsense as if it were a provocation directed at her.
Immediately, an impulse to charge inside arose in Gu Yuena's heart.
Her hands tightened again, but this time, Gu Yuena directly opened a spatial portal and left the area.
—In consideration of your completion of Spirit-Forging, which added to the fortune of the soul beast race and stabilized its destiny... I will temporarily leave him to you.
Finding a way to save face in her heart, Gu Yuena refused to admit her base had been raided.
It was just... it was just that she felt unaged wine didn't taste good. After being "decanted" by Qiu'er, the wine presented to her later would be even more delicious.
The Silver Dragon Lady still didn't think she would lose, remaining as convinced as ever that she would be the ultimate winner. Perhaps this was the pride of a Dragon King.
Unfortunately, if the Silver Dragon Lady were to look closely—especially at the mark she left on Huo Yuhao—she would discover something.
The wine she was holding back from drinking was being surreptitiously sipped by others every single day—and there were three of them! In a little while, that number might even increase.
Furthermore, the more people who "tasted" the wine, the mellower it became. When the time came, it would be hard to say who was really in control of whom.