Ruler of Life, Rhinedottir
Tang Hao, the Destruction God King, and the others were all numb.
Were they still going to be called to account?
It was over. They were really finished.
This time, they were truly done for.
Just then, their eyes lit up.
A message appeared in the Douluo Continent forum.
(Ruler of Life @ Ruler of Death: Ruler of Death, don't talk like that. You'll frighten the little ones.)
(Ruler of Life: How about this, little ones? Let's have a series of 3v3 matches. You can set the rules.)
(Ruler of Life: As long as you win any one match, I, the Ruler of Life, will let you go. If you lose, there won't be any punishment either. Just come and take part in my experiments.)
(Ruler of Life: How about we start the matches once you've brought more people in to sign and put down their fingerprints?)
In the Teyvat forum group chat:
(Venti: Ehe, Rhinedottir, you've started teasing the people from the Douluo Continent again.)
(Zhongli: Speaking from a generally rational standpoint, Rhinedottir has zero credibility.)
(Yae Miko: Lady Ruler of Life is countless times more terrifying than Lady Ruler of Death.)
(Furina: Huh? Why do you say Lady Rhinedottir has zero credibility? When I visited her before, she seemed quite gentle to me.)
(Little Paimon: Right, right! I want to know too. How does Sister Rhinedottir have zero credibility?)
(Little Paimon: Darn it, is anyone going to say anything?)
On Celestia.
Even Lin Feng found this amusing.
What sort of person was Rhinedottir?
She had created the evil dragon Durin and let him loose to slaughter people in Mengde, then made the Golden Wolflord and let him slaughter at will in Chengyan.
Together with the other four great sinners, she had divided up the power Kairuiya used to fight the Abyss.
It was only because he had fully awakened and forbidden her from stirring up trouble in Teyvat that she had behaved herself much better over the past thousand years.
Her credibility was about on par with Rascal Snake from The Adventures of Little Carp.
Even if the Douluo Continent's side won,
he didn't have to think twice about what Rhinedottir would say.
It would definitely be, "That's right, I, the Ruler of Life, did promise to let you go. But that lord never agreed. What does it have to do with me, Rhinedottir, if that lord wants to make trouble for you?"
Rhinedottir was absolutely capable of pulling such a beastly stunt.
After all, she was one of the few whose memories he monitored.
Uh.
He found it rather interesting.
He wanted to see how that bunch from the Douluo Continent would react.
Just then,
on Sea God Island,
Tang San saw the message the Ruler of Life had posted on the sky screen, and the despair in his eyes vanished.
In its place was intense excitement.
But then he saw that the Ruler of Life wanted a lot of people to sign and put down their fingerprints.
Didn't that mean he, Tang San, would have to go begging Tang Xiao and those ungrateful wretches at Shrek Academy again?
The thought made Tang San feel sick. He really didn't want to do it.
"Forget it. To stay alive, I'll swallow it."
"I still have the Sea God Trident. Once we win the match, I'll settle accounts with Tang Xiao and those bastards."
"When the time comes, I'll settle every last grudge, one by one."
Tang San exhaled and forcibly suppressed the killing intent he felt toward Tang Xiao and those other curs.
Putting on the appearance of a gentleman, he connected to the sky screen.
(Tang San @ Tang Xiao @ Dai Mubai @...: Everyone, I, Tang San, will let bygones be bygones. This is our only chance to stay alive. As long as we win any one match, Lady Ruler of Life will let us go.)
(Tang San: The Douluo God Realm has Five Great God Kings: Goodness, Evil, Destruction, Asura, and Life. Of the Five Great God Kings, Lady Life God King is the kindest, gentlest, and most averse to killing by far. She has always spared others whenever possible.)
(Tang San: Since Lady Ruler of Life is in charge of birth, she must be as benevolent and compassionate as the Life God King.)
(Tang San: Our chance to stay alive is right here. We should stand united against outsiders. Uncle Tang Xiao, hurry and bring everyone from the Clear Sky Sect to sign and put down their fingerprints. Also, have the leaders of the four subordinate sects under the Clear Sky Sect come and sign too.)
(Tang San: Once we've made it through this alive, I, Tang San, will not only let bygones be bygones, but also give you Tang Sect Hidden Weapons and some cultivation resources I obtained from the Divine Realm.)
(Tang San: To every faction willing to sign and put down their fingerprints to help me, Tang San, and the Five Great God Kings this time, I and the Five Great God Kings will not treat you unfairly once this is over.)
As soon as he said this,
all the factions on the Douluo Continent fell silent.
This silence was different from the last.
The previous silence had been born of fear; this time, it was born of excitement.
That was right. What Tang San said made sense.
First, the Life God King of the Douluo God Realm was just that loving and kind. On the Douluo Continent, the people they had met who called themselves Life Douluo or Douluo of Life were generally boundlessly kind. That Ruler of Life had to be boundlessly kind as well.
Second, Lady Ruler of Life had said they could set the rules. With the Five Great God Kings and Tang San on their side, they could surely win one match.
Third, and most enticing of all, Tang San had said that as long as they signed and put down their fingerprints, he would give the factions that helped resources from the Divine Realm.
Thinking of those three points, the factions that had just distanced themselves from Tang San at the speed of light made yet, yet, yet another 180-degree turn in their attitudes.
(Tang Xiao: Ahem, sorry, sorry. Tang San-ah, no, Xiao San, I was only joking with you just now. You're my eldest nephew, and the young master with the brightest, brightest, brightest, brightest future in our Clear Sky Sect!)
At the Clear Sky Sect, Tang Xiao's message stunned the elders for a moment, and then they quickly chimed in with their agreement.
Tang San had said all that, so what was there to fear?
On Celestia.
Seeing Tang San's slick maneuver, Lin Feng couldn't help exclaiming that it was truly brilliant, the very pinnacle of brilliance.
The punishment he had originally had the Ruler of Death impose had only been to turn the factions involved in this matter into Hilichurls.
With this slick maneuver of Tang San's,
the scope of those implicated had expanded outright. They would be turning into Hilichurls as a group and going off to serve as subjects in the Ruler of Life's experiments.
That was right.
Whether Tang San's side won or lost, the Ruler of Death's Curse of Immortality would activate.
In Teyvat's chat group:
(Klee (trained for a thousand years, Jumpy Dumpty Nuclear Bomb version): Wow, it's so lively over on the Douluo Continent! What happened? What contract? Is there something yummy if you sign it? If there is, Klee wants to sign too!)
(Ruler of Life: Klee, that's a game only adults can play. You're still a child, so you can't take part.)
(Klee (trained for a thousand years, Jumpy Dumpty Nuclear Bomb version): Klee isn't little anymore! Klee is already over a thousand years old! Auntie Rhinedottir, last time Klee set off a Jumpy Dumpty Nuclear Bomb, she blew up a small plane!)