Inside the Destruction Castle, the hall was no longer as dimly lit as before. With the scarlet carpet laid on the floor acting as a dividing line, the entire hall was split into two halves. One side was purple, filled with destructive thoughts; the other was green, representing the aura of life.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed past the window!
Boom—
This rumble acted as a signal.
Creak—
The grand doors of the castle hall were slowly pushed open, and seven figures of varying heights, builds, and genders stepped onto the carpet. The auras emanating from these seven figures more or less carried an oppressive or maddening flavor. It was as if all the sins of the world had converged here.
However, these seven figures didn't have other thoughts on their minds at the moment. Because the instant they stepped into the castle, they noticed something was wrong. As the Destruction Castle—which gathered the destructive thoughts of the subordinate planes of the Divine Realm—how could there be such a rich aura of life?
The moment they looked up, the seven figures suddenly understood! At the very center of the end of the hall, two figures sat upon thrones. The God of Destruction had a majestic expression and a face like cold ice, enough to repel gods from three feet away; the Goddess of Life had a gentle expression and a charitable smile, effortlessly closing the distance between them.
"You're here."
Before they could observe further, the God of Destruction spoke. His voice was deep, yet it struck the hearts of the seven figures like a thunderclap, subconsciously instilling fear. Fortunately, the Goddess of Life's voice followed closely, smoothing away their fear.
"What are you still standing there for? Come in and sit down."
On either side below them were four chairs each. These eight seats were reserved for eight people—no, to be precise, eight deities. However, one of them did not arrive along with the current seven, because that deity had not been summoned by the God of Destruction.
"Since I'm telling you to sit, then sit."
After the Goddess of Life finished speaking, the seven figures shifted slightly, but it wasn't until the God of Destruction's deep voice echoed throughout the hall... that the seven deities took their seats with a slight jolt.
"The reason I called you here today is to have you do something." The God of Destruction's gaze swept across the seven deities. "I need each of you to lower your power to a specific location in the Douluo Plane." Hearing this, the seven deities froze for a moment.
The Douluo Plane? Wasn't that the Sea God's... Just as thousands of thoughts surged in their minds, a deity dressed in luxurious attire and accessories gave a slight noble bow to the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life.
"May I ask, Lord and Lady, is that Douluo Plane the same planet where the Sea God was before he became a god?"
The God of Destruction's expression remained unchanged, glancing from the corner of his eye. He asked in return, "Is there a second Douluo Plane?"
"Then presumably there is not." A deity with a small and thin build released a faint green light from their eyes, licking their lips with a long tongue. While keeping an eye on the Goddess of Life, they spoke in a bizarre, androgynous voice: "Lord, are you planning to make a move on the Sea God? But the Sea God..."
"Enough!"
Seeing them start to guess his thoughts in front of the Goddess of Life, and even directly misinterpreting them, the God of Destruction's voice suddenly turned bone-chillingly cold, and the entire hall instantly fell silent out of fear.
Seeing this scene, the Goddess of Life quickly used her eyes and actions to pacify them first, saying, "Alright, we hadn't made it clear, had we? Why take your anger out on them over this?"
Her beaming smile stripped away the seven gods' terror.
As the God of Destruction was pacified and the destructive thoughts stopped rioting, the seven gods listened to the Goddess of Life's arrangements for them. Soon, they learned of the God of Destruction and Goddess of Life's plan: to rely on their power to temper a human who had not yet become a god, and use this as his divine trial for godhood.
But the moment they learned of this, they were stunned. Stunned to the point where they couldn't be any more stunned! If it weren't for the fact that the person saying this before them was the Goddess of Life, and their Lord was "guaranteeing" it on the side, the seven deities would have almost thought they misheard, or that they were being played.
The seven of them joining forces to bestow a trial—what kind of concept was that? The concept was that unless this god was the Lord's own biological son about to inherit a god position, there would absolutely never be such an absurd thing. Could it be...?
A few secretive sidelong glances looked toward the Lord and Lady. Was it actually true? But that's not right, they had never heard of the Lady being pregnant.
"What?" Looking at the stunned and silent behavior of the seven deities, the God of Destruction's eyes couldn't help but reveal an amused expression, and even the corners of the Goddess of Life's mouth curled up slightly, actually holding back laughter. His blood-red tiger eyes swept across the seven gods. "You don't believe it?"
"We believe it, of course we do." The seven gods nodded repeatedly, not daring to question. And they said: "Lord, we will begin preparing right away." Hearing this, the God of Destruction nodded slightly.
However, he still made a promise to the seven deities to set their minds at ease. "When the time comes, just go all out. If the Sea God comes looking for you, just push it onto me, I will handle it..."
"No, not just you alone." At this moment, the Goddess of Life suddenly spoke up to interrupt. "It should be us; we will handle it."
The God of Destruction paused, his tone no longer as cold.
"Right, it's us."
"All you need to do is complete the setup of the trial." "Understood?"
"Yes, Lord and Lady." The seven deities stood up at the same time, respectfully bowing to the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life. At this moment, a halo lit up behind each of them, some dim, some bright, but all halos contained seven rings, layered upon layered, gradually shifting in their own halo's true colors, getting lighter the further inward. Seven-ringed halos—all of them were 1st-Class Deities!
And the identities of these seven deities needed no further explanation. Under the God of Destruction's command, the Seven Deadly Sins Gods—Pride, Wrath, Greed, Gluttony, Lust, Sloth, and Envy. As the deities who gathered all the power of sin in the world, their intervention would undoubtedly best guide Chen Junting to lean toward the duties of the Angel God.
Thus, next, as the Seven Deadly Sins left…
"Let's begin our part as well."
The God of Destruction stood up and looked at the Goddess of Life. One day in the Divine Realm was one year in the mortal realm. If they dragged this out any longer, it would be detrimental to Chen Junting's growth.
The Goddess of Life nodded slightly.
"Alright."
The moment her words fell, a halo also lit up behind the God of Destruction. But compared to the seven 1st-Class Deities from just now, the halo behind him was much larger, and it contained nine rings. An incomparably domineering destructive aura faintly emerged, and lightning flashed and thunder roared outside the castle, as if countless galaxies were being annihilated. But in just a second, the phantom of a great tree soared up, and a halo just like the God of Destruction's lit up behind the Goddess of Life. As vitality permeated the air, it was as if the annihilated galaxies were being born from nothingness.
The two forces merged, falling into a cyclical loop of life and destruction. Dark red and emerald gold eyes met, casting their gaze into the distance. The next second, the powers of Destruction and Life intertwined simultaneously. The Rakshasa God's god position appeared in the God of Destruction's palm, instantly acting as a medium.
Immediately after, "Buzz—" Space layered upon itself, and countless divine chains wrapped around the Divine Realm's location. The dark red and emerald gold gazes pierced through everything, transcending who knows how many light-years, crossing who knows how many galaxies... finally locking onto a planet wrapped in divine chains. And this planet was the Douluo Continent.
Buzz—
The powers of Destruction and Life combined, and a faint, elusive pink divine power manifested, yet dissipated into nothingness in an instant. This pillar of purple-green light left the Divine Realm, descending directly into the boundless void outside the Douluo planet.
Whoosh—
The purple transformed into a phantom of the God of Destruction, with destructive thoughts spreading through the void; the green transformed into a phantom of the Goddess of Life, with the aura of life persisting in the universe. Subsequently, the two phantoms each extended a right and left hand. The moment their hands came together, both large palms pressed down onto the Douluo Planet, which was wrapped in the divine chains formed by the rules of the Divine Realm, and a meteorite-like entity plummeted toward the ocean.
However, the seemingly tangible "meteorite" was actually an empty entity, its essence being the laws of Destruction and Life. At the same time, in the Great Star Dou Forest, within the Silver Dragon King's space at the bottom of the Lake of Life, the slumbering Silver Dragon King opened her eyes once again. Her gaze seemed to pierce through space, looking toward the boundless outer space beyond the Douluo Planet, no longer possessing her previous calm.
Because she had sensed the auras of Destruction and Life. This kind of power could not be detected by non-deities. For them to join forces to intervene in the lower realm was by no means ordinary! Thus... "Di Tian!"
...
In the Divine Realm, almost at the exact same time the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life made their move, the God of Evil and Goddess of Kindness, who were on duty at the Divine Realm Committee, as well as Tang San, who controlled the central hub of the Divine Realm, immediately detected the anomaly in the Divine Realm at this moment: someone was interfering in mortal affairs!
Inside the Sea God's Temple at this moment, Tang San was originally keeping an eye on his daughter's Divine Trial progress in the Sea God Family in the lower realm, when a sudden change occurred! The reaction from the Divine Realm's central hub immediately caused his expression to change drastically, and he hurried to investigate. But with this investigation, he found that the matter was serious!
"Destruction! Life!" Tang San looked bewildered. The God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life had actually just made a move on the lower realm, and it was the Douluo Plane?! Such a turn of events did not make him lose his reason, even though he already viewed the Douluo Planet as his own territory.
Moreover, as veteran God Kings and veteran Law Enforcers of the Divine Realm, the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life couldn't possibly knowingly break the law, especially given the God of Destruction's upright and uncompromising character.
"There's something strange about this."
Thinking of this, Tang San immediately activated the central hub of the Divine Realm. After all, as the power that controlled the Divine Realm, as long as one held the central hub, then no matter what level a deity was, as long as a God King wanted to communicate with them, they could instantly contact that deity. And he did this because this matter wasn't something that could be resolved just by the three of them sitting down to talk; they needed a few more God Kings.
Subsequently, he transformed into a blue light and vanished from the spot. At this same time, Xiao Wu pushed open the door and entered, carrying tea and snacks. "San... huh? Where's Brother San?"
Meanwhile, at the Divine Realm Committee.
After the abnormal actions of the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life were perceived by Ji Dong and Lie Yan, they immediately realized the "severity" of the matter, especially since the place the two veteran God Kings interfered with was the Sea God's hometown. Based on the existing conflict between the God of Destruction and the Sea God...
"Their conflict won't intensify further, will it?" Lie Yan looked at Ji Dong, a flash of worry in her eyes. They originally thought a day like this would come later; who would have thought it would be so soon? It hadn't even been half a day since they last thought about this issue and made a judgment!
"It shouldn't."
Even so, Ji Dong wasn't calm inside. He knew that this matter could be big or small. It all depended on how it was handled. Otherwise... this incident would be the fuse that ignited an explosive conflict!
But why would Destruction and Life join forces, and attack the Sea God's hometown out of nowhere? One had to know, deities of the Divine Realm interfering in mortal affairs violated the rules of the Divine Realm. According to the iron law, they should be executed!
Fortunately, at this time, a brilliant blue light appeared at the top of the Divine Realm Committee hall, and Tang San's voice transmitted from within, "Goddess of Kindness, God of Evil, in a while, the five of us God Kings will hold a small meeting to discuss what just happened."
As soon as these words came out, Lie Yan and Ji Dong immediately breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the Sea God was leaning toward peace talks. That was good. They didn't want to be dragged into a fierce conflict when the two of them had only taken up the positions of God Kings of the Divine Realm for a short time. The two of them weren't ready yet.
So, while breathing a sigh of relief, Lie Yan couldn't help but say, "Seniors Destruction and Life were a bit out of line with this matter."
...
On the other side, in the hall of the Destruction Castle.
The God of Destruction was currently holding the Goddess of Life by the waist, saying, "Next, it depends on how the Seven Deadly Sins Gods formulate their trial items. Besides that, I still need to inform that kid."
Just then, suddenly, a brilliant blue light appeared at the top of the hall. The moment this light appeared, the red light in the God of Destruction's eyes condensed slightly, and he said, "Here it comes."
Hearing this, the Goddess of Life pinched the God of Destruction lightly, signaling him to watch his boundaries in the upcoming conversation. Then, "God of Destruction."
A clear and pleasant voice rang out. The God of Destruction's tone returned to an icy cold as he said, "What advice does the Sea God have?" Tang San was already used to the God of Destruction's attitude; anyway, his transmission this time also carried the intent to "interrogate."
So, his voice transmitted from the blue light. Compared to the past, his voice inevitably carried a bit more firmness this time. "Do you know that you and the Goddess of Life just violated the iron law of the Divine Realm, that one cannot arbitrarily interfere in mortal affairs! As two of the five Great God Kings and five Great Law Enforcers, you are knowingly breaking the law!"
"Sea God, don't go randomly pinning labels on us!"
The Goddess of Life remained silent, leaving it to her husband to freely play his part, and to Tang San's words, the God of Destruction flatly denied. Subsequently, he took out the Rakshasa God's god position.
"We, as husband and wife, just now were merely providing the trial grounds and the contents of the Divine Trial for the inheritor of the Rakshasa God's throne."
Uh—The blue orb of light representing Tang San felt a wave of astonishment. Did he hear that correctly!? No matter how you put it, the Rakshasa God's throne was the position of a 1st-Class Deity. Why would it require two God King-level experts like the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life to join forces and set it up?
'Do you think I'll believe that!'
So after a moment of silence, Tang San said, "Since you want to explain, then come to the Divine Realm Committee and explain it to all of us. Also, we have already arrived, and we're just waiting for you two now."
Hearing his words, the God of Destruction remained silent for a moment. After weighing the interests, he said in a deep voice, "Fine."
"I hope the two of you haven't violated the divine rules." At this time, Tang San's voice echoed in the hall once again, only transitioning from its previous majesty and questioning to something slightly softer. The next instant, the blue light retracted and vanished without a trace.
Seeing this, the God of Destruction looked at the Goddess of Life. "In that case, let's not keep them waiting too long."
The Goddess of Life nodded slightly, "Alright."
To this, she naturally had no objections.
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