"No rush."
Gu Yue kept applying her eye makeup in front of the mirror.
"Tian and the others are still preparing."
"Forcibly summoning the Golden Dragon King back isn't something you can just do on a whim. It's not that simple."
"The golden dragon inside me sensed it. While Tang Wulin does carry the Golden Dragon King's aura, it's faint." Na'er frowned. "His power level is also way too low. Is the Golden Dragon King really inside him?"
"I saw it with my own eyes." The memory of the Golden Dragon King's wailing flashed through her mind, and Gu Yue's voice carried a note of hatred. "The reason you can't sense much is because a God King placed eighteen seals, locking the Golden Dragon King tightly within Tang Wulin's body."
"Kill him?" Na'er was blunt and decisive, as she always was whenever the topic of Su Qiu wasn't involved.
Gu Yue paused, her eyebrow pencil hovering mid-stroke. Her cold gaze reflected back at her from the mirror. "No need."
"The God King who placed the seals left a trace of divine consciousness within them."
"With the Divine Realm gone, that rootless, sourceless divine consciousness will dissipate sooner or later."
"We could deal with it by force, but there's no reason to go that far."
"That God King was Tang San. In all likelihood, Tang Wulin is his descendant. We only need to take back the Golden Dragon King."
"Killing Tang Wulin would force Tang San into the corner of a desperate beast. Who knows what contingencies he might have left behind in the Douluo Continent?"
Gu Yue found it hard to believe Tang San had no backup plan, given that his father had already taken over the Douluo plane through possession.
His father had seized a plane.
So what was his mother doing?
"We only take the Golden Dragon King. Tang San won't fight to the death over that. We won't have to pay too great a price either." Gu Yue said seriously. "We'll settle the rest after the Golden Dragon King returns."
"There will be plenty of time to settle scores later."
"I suppose." Na'er still trusted Gu Yue on matters like these, since all the remarkable strategizing lived in Gu Yue's head.
When Na'er had been separated out, Gu Yue had given her none of the intellect.
As things stood, one of them was a brainless brute, and the other was emotionally oblivious.
With the serious business out of the way, it was time for personal matters.
"What about Arthur? What are you planning to do with him?" Na'er began probing. Arthur had shown far too much talent today, and she worried Gu Yue might change her mind.
"Arthur?" Gu Yue said, puzzled. "Didn't I already say? I'll make him fall in love with me sooner or later, just like you fell in love with him."
Having devised that brilliant master plan, Gu Yue had never once considered abandoning it. Perhaps she had been wary of Arthur's potential before, but now that she was on the verge of claiming the Golden Dragon King's power, her outlook had completely shifted.
Whatever absurd talent he had, whatever else he might become, could he ever surpass the combined might of the Golden and Silver Dragon Kings united as one?
A fine general like Arthur was destined never to slip through her fingers.
"Tch, you?" Na'er scoffed. She stepped forward and idly rummaged through Gu Yue's cosmetics.
Then came two more clicks of the tongue.
Na'er said nothing, and yet somehow said everything.
Gu Yue knew exactly what she meant. She glanced over at Na'er, naturally beautiful, not a trace of makeup on her face.
An uncomfortable feeling stirred in her chest. It was the first time she had ever felt this way; she didn't know it was called being rattled.
"It's your fault!" Gu Yue balled her fists. "I never should have listened to you back then, ending up looking like this."
"Completely useless!"
"You're blaming me? I only made a suggestion. You didn't have to listen." Na'er made no effort to hide the smug satisfaction on her face.
"Hmph. Not that it matters. In a little while I can use growth as an excuse to change back to my original appearance."
"Oh!" Na'er's expression shifted immediately, feigning concern as though she had Gu Yue's best interests at heart. "Won't that be too soon? It might raise suspicions. Better to do it slowly."
"Heh." Gu Yue just smiled, and said nothing.
"Hmph." Seeing that it had no effect, Na'er let out a light snort.
She wandered around Gu Yue's room and spotted a notebook on the writing desk.
Na'er picked it up and flipped it open. What was inside made her eyes light up instantly.
[Arthur Observation Diary]
[Entry 1: The frequency of Arthur's glances increased noticeably when I exposed my legs. Confirmed through repeated testing: he prefers it when I dress in light, breezy clothing.]
[Entry 2: Regarding appearance and styling, Arthur seems to like twin tails. Wait, no, it's a single ponytail. Actually that's not right either; that was a loose shoulder-length style. He might just simply like things that look pretty.]
[Entry 3: Arthur likes to meddle in other people's affairs. Wait, no. Among humans I think they call that doing good deeds.]
[Entry 4: ...]
Before Na'er could read any further, Gu Yue snatched it back in one swift motion.
"No, don't!" Na'er lunged forward immediately, scrambling to grab it back. "Just one more look, let me read just one more look!"
Gu Yue used Spatial Blink repeatedly, dodging every one of Na'er's lunges.
She clutched the diary tightly to her chest and backed up two steps. Behind her perfectly applied eye makeup, her gaze was guarded. "You're not allowed to read it!"
She never imagined Na'er would suddenly go rummaging through her desk, let alone stumble upon the diary where she recorded Arthur's preferences.
"Just one glance!"
A faint dragon's roar resonated within Na'er's footsteps; she was getting serious. She launched a sudden attack from the side. "Give it to me! Maybe I can even help you come up with ideas!"
That was what she said, but her eyes were brimming with sheer, undisguised longing for the diary.
"It seems all my indulgence has made you forget your place." Gu Yue rose into the air and unleashed her full power. "What I give you is yours."
"What I don't give, you cannot take!"
"BOOM!"
The sounds of what seemed like the world cracking apart rang out one after another.
Xie Xie, Wang Jinxi, and the others scrambled out of their rooms, rubbing their shaken ears, and shouted furiously: "It's the middle of the night! What's wrong with you two?!"
"Huh?"
When they realized the noise was coming from Gu Yue's room, they all fell silent at once, their anger vanishing in an instant.
"What... is going on?" Zhang Yangzi asked weakly. "What's all that commotion from Gu Yue's room?"
"Sounds like a fight." Tang Wulin rubbed his eyes. He could sense Na'er's golden dragon power erupting inside. "Na'er is in there too."
"They haven't actually gone at each other, have they?" Thinking back to the two of them going head to head during the day, Wang Jinxi made what seemed like a very reasonable guess.
"Well..." The memory of the instrument he'd seen blown apart that afternoon flashed through Xie Xie's mind, and a shiver ran down his spine.
He quickly changed his tune: "Actually, it's not that loud."
"Right... ha, yeah."
The group scratched their heads and began drifting back to their rooms.
"Have you two had enough?!"
Forced out of his meditation, Arthur burst through his door and kicked Gu Yue's.
"Do you know what time it is? You don't need sleep?!"
"We have training tomorrow, everyone!"
Only after he kicked it did Arthur realize it was Gu Yue's room.
The air went still.
The earth-shattering noise inside vanished instantly.
"Arthur... respect." Xie Xie and the others kept their voices low and gave Arthur a thumbs-up.
"Ahem." Arthur felt a pang of unease. He had acted on impulse just now. Gu Yue wouldn't hold a grudge, would she?
He quietly returned to his room and pulled the covers over his head. After a moment, everything seemed normal; it was as if nothing had happened. Arthur let out a sigh of relief. Looks like it'll be fine.
The next day, Tang Wulin's class zero homeroom teacher was a little surprised to see the assembled members looking listless, as though they hadn't slept well.
He had been up all night working on lesson plans for upcoming training sessions and hadn't returned to the dormitory.