Perhaps, having lost some obsession and will, even the greatest talent on the continent could not reach that threshold of godhood.
At two hundred and fifty years old, Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao, who had reached the peak of Level 98, lay on the most expensive imported Golden Wood bed in Shrek. Surrounded by hundreds of descendants and women, he ended a life of rampant material indulgence, yet utter emptiness!
"Tian'er, I'm here... Make me another bowl of soup... Wu Feng, I'll feed you once more, just the way your beloved young lady likes..."
Before closing his eyes for the last time, the old Huo Yuhao within the Sky Screen murmured those words.
After seeing the final scene of this worldline, the people outside the Sky Screen didn't know what to make of it.
Was it regret? Pity? Or envy?
"Damn... Now that I think about it, living like that wouldn't be half bad. If it were me, I'd take it!"
A farmer leaning on his hoe muttered.
"Wang Erdan, is that all you aspire to?"
A young wife flew into a rage, smacked him on the back of the head, and scolded him.
"With Huo Yuhao's talent, he should have become a Limit Douluo no matter what. I never expected that, under the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect's exploitation, he'd achieve less than he would have at Shrek Academy..."
An elder of the Body Sect gazed at the Sky Screen, his feelings tangled.
As everyone debated, the Sky Screen gave its final assessment of this worldline.
[Rank 8: Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Yuhao. Controlled by Ning Tian, the young lady of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, with Glazed Soup, he sank into bodily desire and became a tool of the sect. Though he fathered many powerful descendants of astonishing talent and inherited part of the Child of Destiny's fortune, they all drew the God King's attention and fell into his schemes.] [Overall, he spent his life immersed in material desires and comfort. Lost in a tender embrace, he abandoned the will of an unparalleled powerhouse, and his talent ultimately went unfulfilled. He stopped at Level 98, a Super Douluo. In the end, he could do nothing to change the fate of his descendants, who were manipulated by the God King.] [Final assessment: NPC.]
This time, the Sky Screen's verdict wasn't "a complete failure," but NPC. Thinking it over, no matter how you looked at it, this Huo Yuhao might have been a bit spineless, and he might have missed his chance to ascend to godhood or change the continent.
Still, no matter what, he'd enjoyed a lifetime of pleasure! Ning Tian, the young lady of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect alone, had borne him dozens of children. There were enough of them to form two Soul Master teams.
At least for ordinary people, if they could live like that, eating every delicacy, trying every amusement, and sleeping with every beauty, it seemed worth it!
[Reward: Heaven-Defying Book (Selected Practical Chapters)]
A flash of golden light, and a book drifted down into Huo Yuhao's hands. He stared at it in a daze.
What the hell? Was this really the Heaven-Defying Book of that "Primordial Yin Evil God"? It certainly lived up to its name. And it even said "selected practical chapters." How practical could they be? Wasn't that obvious?
If that Yuhao of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had gotten his hands on this book, he might have become a god a hundred times over, never mind a Limit Douluo!
Though what kind of god he'd become that way was anyone's guess.
In any case, Huo Yuhao immediately put away this "practical treasure book." Just how useful it was would become clear in time.
[Parallel Universe of Ten Thousand Worlds, Rank 7: Yuhao of the White Tiger Duke Mansion!]
Seeing this title, people across the continent exchanged bewildered looks once more.
"What the heck? Yuhao of the White Tiger Duke Mansion?"
"Wasn't he enemies with the White Tiger Duke Mansion? His whole reason for beginning cultivation was to take revenge on them."
"What's Yuhao of the White Tiger Duke Mansion supposed to mean? Then what about Dai Huabin? And the Duchess?"
Everyone chattered and debated. The people of the White Tiger Duke Mansion, meanwhile, wore all kinds of expressions.
After the Sky Screen's commentary, watching Huo Yuhao rise to the heavens with the talent of a Child of Destiny had left them with the most tangled feelings of all.
After all, Huo Yuhao might join any faction, but there was no chance he would ever join the White Tiger Duke Mansion! They'd have been lucky if he didn't come looking for revenge, raze the place to the ground, and piss on its ruins.
And yet Huo Yuhao had been born here. They were the ones who had forced that boy to become a lone avenger...
Who could have expected the Sky Screen to show a worldline in which Huo Yuhao chose to stay in the White Tiger Duke Mansion?
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! How could that bastard be allowed to stay in the White Tiger Duke Mansion..."
Inside the White Tiger Duke Mansion, a beautiful woman of dignified bearing gritted her teeth as she stared at the writing in the Sky Screen.
Seeing this little bastard she hated most become such a powerful figure—Spirit Ice Douluo, even ascending to godhood in the end—was unbearable. Million-year Soul Beasts, the Holy Necromancer, and the Heavenly Snow Woman had all sought him out.
The thought made her feel wretched!
Far away at the border, Duke of White Tiger Dai Hao watched the writing in the Sky Screen, his whole body trembling with excitement.
"Good! Excellent! If there's one world where Yuhao can stay, how wonderful that would be! The White Tiger Lineage deserves to rise again!"
Of everyone across the continent, he was the one most tormented by the earlier scenes in the Sky Screen!
If he'd known Huo Yuhao had such heaven-defying fortune, with even the God King scheming to snatch him away, he would have made Huo Yuhao—no, Dai Yuhao—his heir long ago.
He would even have deposed the Duchess and elevated Huo Yun'er to her rightful position! If that woman didn't know what was good for her, then... hmph!
A cold glint flashed in Dai Hao's eyes. I haven't forgotten how your Star Crown Xu Clan took advantage of the nation's crisis to seize the throne from my Dai Family!
Amid the expectant, exhilarated, and nervous gazes of Dai Hao and the White Tiger Duke Mansion's retainers, the scene in the Sky Screen finally began to appear!
"Step up here. Relax your mind and hold this crystal ball. Imagine that your body is also a crystal..."
In the Sky Screen, a middle-aged man spoke with a stern expression, every word precise.
On the platform stood a child who looked about six years old. His eyes were exceptionally bright as he nervously took hold of the crystal ball and followed the man's instructions, closing his eyes to meditate.
Suddenly, a faint white light radiated from his body.
"Could it be... that he's awakening the White Tiger Martial Soul of the Duke's lineage?"
Everyone held their breath. If the boy inherited the White Tiger Martial Soul, then no matter how dubious his birth, he'd become a young master of the Duke's household in all but name!
"Hmph!"
In the distance, the Duchess's expression shifted slightly. She gave a cold snort, then settled down again.