A few moments ago, in the Dragon Realm,
Zalama was, as usual, watering plants on his small central planet, occasionally glancing around the realm to see if any interesting new beings had appeared.
Thud, thud.
At that moment, the space gate to the Dragon Realm seemed to be knocked upon.
Of course, this "knocking" wasn't due to the strength of the one knocking but because the Dragon God was so powerful, only he could hear such a knock.
It seemed someone had mastered the method to communicate with the Dragon Realm and was attempting to connect to it, as if trying to enter the realm. This "knocking" was faint; if left undisturbed, it could knock for a hundred years without ever opening the gate. However, the knocking method was indeed correct.
This piqued the Dragon God's curiosity.
He put down the watering can and murmured, "It seems something similar happened yesterday..."
Even the batch of dragons he had sent to the entire realm in ancient times had never been given any methods to return to the Dragon Realm or communicate with it.
Had a mortal from the realm somehow discovered the existence of the Dragon Realm?
Curious and slightly pleased, the Dragon God thought for a moment and then vanished from his central planet in the Dragon Realm, reappearing on Earth, located at the edge of the seventh universe's galaxy in the distant entirety of the realm.
Upon arriving on Earth, the Dragon God cast a glance at the polluted world of humans and frowned in distaste.
His gaze pierced through the vast distances of space, landing on a certain mountain range on the other side of the Earth.
There, he saw that the space barrier connecting the underworld had been breached, revealing a strange spatial opening, through which torrents of demonic energy from the underworld were surging into Earth.
Near the opening, a demon-like creature with horns on its head, extremely tall in stature, was drinking alone.
The Dragon God glanced at the demon, and in an instant, he saw the past events involving this demon. He looked over at the nearby space rift leading to the Underworld and muttered, "Bartender, aren't you going to handle this?"
Soon after, the voice of the Celestial Realm's ruler echoed in the Dragon God's mind, "Old fool, are you blind? Isn't there an angel I sent on Earth? She'll take care of it."
The Dragon God sneered, "Take care of it? I see you're just enabling them!"
The angel did not respond, seemingly too lazy to engage.
The Dragon God didn't care about these small issues on Earth. He had briefly glanced at the timeline and knew that whatever problem this demon had caused would eventually be solved by the people of Earth themselves.
The Dragon God was ultimately here out of curiosity and had already found what he was looking for.
---
"Knock, knock, knock, knocking at my door endlessly, it's giving me a headache! I'm going to see which little rascal is this..."
The old man grumbled as he stroked his beard, stepping over to the near-death body of Yamiru. He quickly assessed the situation with a glance.
"Poisoned to this extent, yet still hanging on to life? Impressive..."
The Dragon God lightly stroked his beard, lowering his head to inspect Yamiru, particularly focusing on the mortal's dimming golden eyes.
"Wait a minute..."
A light flashed across the Dragon God's glasses. In an instant, his consciousness jumped outside the timeline and connected with his future self at a certain point.
In that moment, it was as if the future Dragon God, the one Yamiru knew, had suddenly crossed over to this moment. The Dragon God here immediately recognized Yamiru.
"It's you, kid? So, it's you!"
The Dragon God sighed lightly.
"The method to enter the spiritual realm was originally modified by me from the method used to enter the Dragon Realm. It seems that you, someone who has 'been to' the Dragon Realm while managing the spiritual realm, figured this out long ago. That's why, on the brink of death, you repeatedly tried to enter the spiritual realm. Although this era doesn't have a spiritual realm, it was still an opportunity to catch my attention... This is your way of saving yourself in a desperate situation. Interesting..."
The Dragon God immediately understood the last struggle that Yamiru, who had been on the verge of death not long ago, had made.
He was somewhat impressed by this mortal, realizing that, even in such dire straits, he had managed to go this far. Based on the Dragon God's years of observation of all living beings in the realm, there were indeed very few with the willpower of someone like Yamiru.
"You came up with this method, so in the future, it seems we're destined to meet. I can't let you down, little one," the Dragon God smiled while stroking his beard, about to reach out to save the dying Yamiru. However, he suddenly stopped and looked closely at Yamiru's "corpse", surprised. "The toxin is fading, though slowly… But this kid really has developed an antibody! What kind of strong belief must he have to survive this on his own?"
The Dragon God attempted a bit to delve into Yamiru's memories.
"As expected, just like in the 'future', I can't see this kid's entire memory… No wonder 'back then', Bartender took an interest in him too." The Dragon God slightly furrowed his brows but soon dismissed it, "Tights… was it because of his longing for his loved one at the other end of the timeline that he managed to hold onto the last remnants of his consciousness? When a mortal's emotions become strong enough, even I, the Dragon God, can't help but admire them." The old man couldn't help but sigh.
Having observed all of existence for so many years, he had long realized that what he found boring and what he found interesting were essentially the same thing: the unique emotions of countless living beings.
"Only under the system of the All Realm created by the All God, can such complex emotions of life exist, and only under the All Realm does this complexity of emotions hold meaning." The Dragon God sighed in his heart. After discovering this, he had tried sending a portion of his dragon kin to the All Realm. "If Yamiru were from the Celestial Realm or my Dragon Realm, such a poison would have killed him. No matter how strong his will, it would be of no use. But because he is a human from Earth in the Mortal realm, because of his spiritually tempered journey, his Ki and mind have persevered... this is a miracle."
The Dragon God watched the slow process of Yamiru's body, with demonic energy burning within to dispel the poison, thinking, "With the fall of Zeno, I, along with the Celestial God, have waited for so many years, hoping for a miracle. Yamiru, I wonder if you are the miracle we've been waiting for…"
"Let's leave it to you to answer that."
The Dragon God flicked his finger, and a ray of light fell onto the dragon-shaped mark on Yamiru's wrist.
In an instant, the mark emitted a soft glow, resembling a tiny, living dragon, slithering across Yamiru's body…
The poison deep within Yamiru's bones was constantly devoured by the moving dragon-shaped mark…
---
In the memories of the human male, Yamiru saw the most frequent thing: a name.
A woman's name.
Or rather, it would be more accurate to describe it as "the name of a female hero, passed down through the mouths of many".
And that name was Annin.