He couldn't even be bothered to use his overwhelming divine power anymore. He reached down, grabbed Qian Chongguang from the crater, and hauled him up by the collar. His powerful fist, packed with enough force to shatter mountains, slammed into him again and again. Each blow came with the sharp crack of divine bones breaking, while golden Angel God blood splattered across the White Jade Divine Platform, a striking contrast against the filth.
He didn't kill him. Every strike precisely crushed Qian Chongguang's body, yet kept his divine soul clinging to life. He wouldn't let him black out, much less perish. He wanted this ant who dared profane him to experience every last degree of pain the world could offer.
But his unrestrained fury had already sent his terrifying power of slaughter surging beyond the Ascension Staircase, sweeping across most of the Divine Realm like a tsunami. In the temples scattered throughout the Divine Realm, countless lesser gods were crushed to their knees by the pressure, unable even to lift their heads. Even the First-Level Gods stationed across the realm paled and turned toward the source of the divine power.
At the Divine Realm Hub, inside the temple where the Five Great God Kings held their council, the Destruction God King, seated beside the main throne, snapped his eyes open. Destruction Divine Power surged around him. He could clearly sense that the fury threatening to burn everything to ash came from his old friend of tens of thousands of years—Asura God.
"Asura? What in the world is he doing?" The Destruction God King furrowed his brow, surprise in his heavy voice. "That divine power is completely chaotic. Could some remnant from another realm have breached our defenses and invaded the Divine Realm?"
Beside him, the Life Goddess, surrounded by a soft green glow, slowly rose to her feet. Her delicate brows knitted together, and genuine concern showed in her eyes. "No, this killing intent is nothing but uncontrolled fury. There's none of the composure he'd show when facing an enemy. Something must have happened that we don't know about. Let's go see."
"I'm curious what could've made Asura this angry." The Evil God King beside them raised an eyebrow, a grin of anticipation tugging at his lips as his own divine power gathered. "It's not as if someone tore down his Asura Divine Temple, is it? I'd like to see which fool had the nerve to stir up this hornet's nest."
The Goodness God King shook her head gently. Her warm voice carried a note of gravity. "Let's go first. We can't risk something serious happening and damaging the foundations of the Divine Realm. If he keeps losing control and venting his rage, he might destroy the Ascension Staircase and sever the lower realm's path to ascension."
Before she had even finished speaking, four God King-level surges of divine power shot across the sky of the Divine Realm. In a few dozen breaths, they had crossed most of the realm and arrived above the Ascension Staircase. Behind them, a crowd of First-Level Gods who had received the summons hurried after them, but only dared to follow at a distance, not taking a single step closer. Everyone knew that a furious Asura God was a keg of explosives who didn't care who got caught in the blast. No one wanted to draw his ire.
But when the four God Kings saw the scene before them, they all froze.
On the White Jade Divine Platform, which had remained spotless for ten thousand years, Asura God stood red-eyed, holding up a young god drenched in blood, most of his divine bones shattered. His other hand was still raised in a clenched fist, poised to strike again. The young god's white robes were soaked through with blood. The six wings of his Angel God lineage drooped behind him, more than half their feathers gone. His breath was as faint as a candle in the wind. Anyone could see that one more blow would utterly destroy his divine soul.
The Destruction God King was about to intervene, but his gaze happened to pass over the filth beneath Asura God's feet. His pupils abruptly contracted.
He wasn't the only one. The Life Goddess, the Goodness God King, the Evil God King, and even the First-Level Gods trailing far behind had all seen the yellow-and-white mess. Even through their protective divine light, they could faintly smell its foul stench.
The area around the Ascension Staircase fell into an eerie silence.
What was the Divine Realm? The holiest, most exalted place in all the heavens and myriad worlds. Every blade of grass and every tree here was steeped in divine power. Not even a speck of mortal dust could settle here, much less the most filthy, vile excrement of the mortal world.
The gods exchanged glances, first struck by utter astonishment, then suddenly understanding.
No wonder... No wonder Asura God was so furious, beating the young god as if he meant to kill him.
If it were them, as a Supreme God King, and someone had smeared such filth right beside them to humiliate them in their own Divine Realm, they might have lost control even worse than Asura God.
The Evil God King was shaking with barely suppressed laughter. He hastily covered his mouth and edged behind the Destruction God King, afraid Asura God might spot him and take out his anger on him.
But in the next moment, everyone's gaze returned to the young god in Asura God's grasp. They noticed the unmistakable six wings on his back and froze again.
Wait... An angel?
Six-Winged Angels were the most orthodox direct descendants of the Angel God lineage, symbols of light and holiness. They were born with an extreme aversion to filth and evil, and spent their lives fighting darkness and corruption.
How could a member of the Angel Clan, who wouldn't even let mortal impurities touch them, have done something so outrageously absurd?
Not just Asura God—even the gods watching from the sidelines couldn't make sense of it.
Asura God's fist was about to come down again. If that blow landed, the newly ascended Angel God would likely be utterly destroyed on the spot, with no chance of reincarnation.
The Destruction God King finally came to his senses. He stepped forward, spreading his Destruction Divine Power in an instant to firmly block Asura God's descending fist. He shouted sternly:
"Asura, stop!"
The moment his fist was blocked, Asura God jerked his head up. His blood-red eyes locked onto the Destruction God King, and the killing intent around him surged even higher. Fury nearly spilled from his voice. "Destruction? You dare stop me?!"
"If I'd arrived any later, you would've beaten a newly ascended god to death!" The Destruction God King frowned but didn't back down. "No matter how grave his crime, he must be tried under the Divine Realm's laws, with all five God Kings judging him together. What kind of example are you setting, venting your rage in public like this?"
"Example?" Asura God gave a sharp laugh, as though he'd just heard the greatest joke in the world. He abruptly pointed at the filth beneath his feet, his voice trembling with rage. "Look at this! This bastard profaned me and the Divine Realm with the vilest filth of the mortal world! Even if I grind his bones to dust, that'd be letting him off easy!"
At his words, the gods who had been struggling to hold in their laughter didn't dare so much as breathe.
Everyone knew that more than anything, Asura God valued his dignity and reputation. After being humiliated in public like this, there was no way the matter would end easily.
Even after being beaten to within an inch of his life, Qian Chongguang still twisted his bloodied mouth into a mocking smile as Asura God held him aloft. His voice was as faint as a thread. "God King... Can't take it, can you? When you controlled the lives and deaths of mortals and rewrote other people's memories, turning the whole Douluo Continent into your own back garden, did you ever think someone might toss a little filth into that pristine garden of yours?"
His words struck like an ice-coated thunderbolt, crashing into Asura God's mind, clouded by rage.
The blood-red divine power surging around him abruptly faltered. His grip on Qian Chongguang's collar tightened, and his blood-red pupils shrank to pinpoints. The extreme humiliation had driven him completely out of his mind, and he had entirely forgotten that Destruction, Life, and the two other God Kings of his rank, along with dozens of First-Level Gods, were all standing nearby. Every one of them had heard Qian Chongguang's words, clear as day!
When the Five Great God Kings of the God Realm Committee chose their successors, privately showing them a little favor and pulling a few strings was an unspoken understanding. Everyone turned a blind eye and never brought it into the open. But now, his control over the lives and deaths of mortals in the lower realm, his tampering with their memories, and his forcing a succession script into place had been laid bare by a newly ascended god in front of every high-ranking god in the Divine Realm!
This wasn't some minor matter. It was a scandal that could make him the laughingstock of the Divine Realm and shake his authority as the enforcer of its laws! Even as one of the Five Great God Kings who presided over the laws, he couldn't afford to bear such a charge.
"Shut your mouth!"