The battle grew more intense. Fang Chang's body shot between Xiao Bai and Gu Yue, forcefully separating them. As for the other dragons, he paid them little mind.
He knew in his heart that a battle between the Dragon Clan and the Spider Clan was inevitable. Today's incident had merely brought that battle forward.
Besides, Gu Yue, while appearing impulsive this time, had still acted with some restraint. She had not revealed the matter of the Golden Dragon King, keeping the battle within a controllable scope.
"Hmph, what are you trying to do now? Don't think a few flowery words can trick me into letting go of this grudge," Gu Yue said, pointing the Tree of Life in her hand at Fang Chang, her voice cold and furious.
"That's enough. Will you only be satisfied when the Spider Clan and the Dragon Clan end in mutual destruction?" This time, Fang Chang did not placate Gu Yue, instead adopting a majestic and authoritative demeanor.
"If you love to fight, then by all means, continue. In any case, my Spider Clan's reproductive ability far exceeds your Dragon Clan's. You know full well who will suffer the greater losses in the end."
"Hmph!" Fang Chang's words snapped Gu Yue to her senses. Her chest heaved as she panted and retorted, "So what you did just gets forgotten?"
After all, this concerned the Golden Dragon King, who could be considered her brother, or even closer. Gu Yue could never let go of his death.
Furthermore, Fang Chang's behavior of hiding everything from her made her feel betrayed, which was perhaps the biggest factor in her current rage.
"Then what do you want? If you want a life for a life, you can take mine right now. I absolutely will not fight back," Fang Chang said, completely dropping all his defenses as he walked to stand before Gu Yue.
"You!" Gu Yue raised her dragon claws, only to slam them back down again. She hated Fang Chang, but... she also couldn't bring herself to strike him.
Fang Chang had clearly calculated this. He stood there, blocking Gu Yue and facing her down. At the same time, he gestured to Xiao Bai, signaling her to leave and not to mind them.
Xiao Bai acknowledged with a nod and retreated from their confrontation. She then charged towards Di Tian, who was wreaking havoc among the Spider Clan.
Di Tian's own bloodline was not weak, and he had served Gu Yue for many years, making him the implicit second-in-command of the Dragon Clan in the Divine Realm.
Now that Gu Yue had been temporarily placated by Fang Chang, if he could also be taken down, the Dragon Clan's rebellion would surely be brought under control.
When Di Tian saw Xiao Bai charge at him, he instinctively retreated a few steps and revealed his true form, attempting to clash with her head-on.
But Xiao Bai possessed God-King level strength and specialized in offense. How could Di Tian possibly withstand her?
The moment they engaged, he was pressed into an absolute disadvantage. The Spider Clan's morale soared, and they pressed their advantage, continuing to put pressure on the dragons.
"Gu Yue, I hope you can understand. My actions were truly not directed at you. You should be well aware of how the old Divine Realm ended," Fang Chang said, continuing to persuade Gu Yue now that she had calmed down slightly.
Gu Yue remained silent, her eyes staring off into the distance, but one could sense that she seemed to be taking his words to heart.
"The old Divine Realm fell into such a great disaster because the human race rose up and rebelled against the divine beasts. In the end, even the Dragon God was..." Fang Chang continued.
"You should understand these principles. The reason this Divine Realm can maintain its current peace is largely because your Dragon Clan does not possess the strength to fight the Spider Clan."
"At the same time, you lacked a leader who was single-mindedly bent on leading the dragons to supremacy. That's why no major chaos erupted."
"But what about the Golden Dragon King? He represented the fierce and cruel side of the original Dragon God. If he came to the Divine Realm, how would he tolerate the Spider Clan?"
"At that point, the Divine Realm would surely be washed in rivers of blood, and your Dragon Clan would lose more than half its members."
"Excuses, all excuses," Gu Yue finally spoke. "After all that, you're still speaking from the standpoint of your Spider Clan."
"Aren't you just afraid that your Spider Clan will lose its ruling status, and that you, the spider chief, will lose your throne as the Lord of the Divine Realm?"
"I admit, I do have those thoughts," Fang Chang did not deny it. "But do you really think your Dragon Clan can defeat the Spider Clan? Besides, among the current Spider Clan, there are quite a few Dragon-Spiders, you know."
Gu Yue fell silent again. She knew very well, just as Fang Chang said, that no matter how strong the dragons in the Divine Realm were, there were only about a hundred of them. The Spider Clan, however, had thousands of gods.
Faced with such a huge disparity in numbers, even with the two super-powered combatants of herself and the Golden Dragon King, the Dragon Clan was no match for the Spider Clan.
"Under these circumstances, what do you think the Golden Dragon King could have achieved upon his arrival? Lead the Dragon Clan to glory? Or to destruction?" Fang Chang's voice grew sterner.
"If he had not died, it is very likely the Dragon Clan would have faced extinction."
Gu Yue bit her lip, some of her core beliefs beginning to waver at Fang Chang's words. But even so, with things having come to this point, she couldn't just admit defeat.
It wasn't just that she couldn't back down without losing face; she also couldn't answer to the Dragon Clan.
Just then, Fang Chang used telepathy to convey some ideas to her. Gu Yue was stunned at first, then after a moment of thought, she finally nodded.
On the Dragon Clan's side, Xiao Bai fought with increasing ferocity, beating Di Tian into a steady retreat. The other few dragons who came to his aid were all easily thrown aside by her.
Finally, with a sneak attack from the three Little Gold sisters, Xiao Bai knocked Di Tian to the ground, her scythe-like front leg resting on his neck.
Seeing that both their first and second-in-command had been defeated or had stopped fighting, the Dragon Clan's morale plummeted. Their opponents also far outnumbered them. In the end, they could only unwillingly give up their resistance and allow the Spider Clan to detain them.
Surprisingly, after this incident, Fang Chang did not punish the Dragon Clan. Instead, he proposed an idea—the establishment of a Divine Realm Council.
He decided to relinquish his position as the common lord of the Divine Realm, and the Spider Clan would no longer control it. Instead, an organization called the Divine Realm Council would be formed.
This organization would have ten representatives from various clans who would decide on all matters of the Divine Realm through a collective vote.
In this newly established council, the Dragon Clan, the Human Clan, and the Spider Clan would each hold three seats, with the remaining seat to be filled by one of the other soul beast clans.
On the surface, this undoubtedly weakened the Spider Clan's power significantly while greatly elevating the status of the Dragon Clan. Even the resentful dragons could find no fault with this arrangement.
In reality, however, the Spider Clan's seats were a given. The seat for the other soul beasts would almost certainly be taken by the God-King level Er Hei.
The three human seats could also be confirmed to be Bibi Dong, Qian Renxue, and Tang Lin'er, all of whom were on Fang Chang's side.
Even on the Dragon Clan's side, Gu Yue wouldn't oppose Fang Chang too much on major issues. So, in essence, the Divine Realm Council was still under Fang Chang's control.
As for the future... the lifespan of a god is nearly endless. Barring any accidents, this situation would continue indefinitely.
And just like that, a great crisis was defused by Fang Chang.