Shattering the Godhead of a God-King Across Planes, You Call This a Mortal From the Lower Realm?

The Asura God propped himself up against the rubble.

The charred lightning scar on his chest was still burning.

It wasn't just burning the surface; it was searing inward.

Purple Gold Divine Lightning arcs were wedged into the cracks of his Godhead, drilling deeper inch by inch, grinding every wisp of Asura divine power they touched into nothingness.

The Asura God raised a hand to press against his chest, but the moment his palm touched the skin, his fingertips were repelled by the residual electricity, his flesh sizzling into a charred mess.

"Damn it--!"

He barely finished the curse before a sweetness rose in his throat, and he spat out a mouthful of divine blood.

The blood landed on the ruins, burning straight through several divine bricks.

The Asura God stared at the smoking bloodstains, his expression darkening by the second.

That lightning strike just now wasn't mere suppression, nor was it intended to simply wound his physical form; it was aimed directly at his Godhead.

In other words—the opponent wasn't trying to teach him a lesson; they were issuing a clear, unmistakable warning:

Dare to reach out again, and I will strike you down, God King and all.

The moment this thought surfaced, the Asura God's back stiffened.

He didn't want to admit it.

But the facts were laid out before him, leaving no room for stubborn denial.

The Asura God had lived for tens of thousands of years, having seen countless madmen and personally slaughtered too many so-called prodigies. Whether they were mortals from the lower realms or gods from the upper planes, anyone who dared to act presumptuously before him ended up as nothing more than a corpse.

But today was different. Today, he hadn't even seen his opponent; he had merely descended a Divine Punishment upon the Douluo Continent, only to be struck by a bolt of lightning from across the void and sent crashing into the ruins.

If word of this got out, the entire God Realm would be in an uproar.

"No..."

The Asura God gritted his teeth and stood up, leaning against a fractured stone pillar.

He couldn't lose his composure.

At least, not yet.

He had to figure out exactly what was happening over on the Douluo Continent.

That lightning could not have come from thin air, nor could it have struck the Asura God Hall with such precision without a reason. There had to be traces. There had to be clues.

The Asura God closed his eyes, enduring the tearing agony in his chest, and split off a wisp of divine sense once more.

This time, he did not spread it out with the reckless abandon he had used before.

He had learned his lesson.

If he probed too aggressively and something else was waiting on the other side, he would truly lose face across all the heavens and myriad worlds today.

The Asura God compressed that wisp of divine sense until it was as thin as a thread of blood, slowly probing down from the edge of the God Realm's rift, passing through the Plane Barrier, and descending toward the Douluo Continent.

Martial Soul City.

The plaza in front of the Pope Palace had not yet fully quieted.

The stone steps were split down the middle, rubble was piled everywhere, and the air still held the acrid scent of the aftermath of the Divine Punishment.

Bibi Dong stood before the steps, half her sleeve stained with blood, her face deathly pale.

Ye Lingling crouched beside Hu Liena, still muttering, "I knew the Celestial Master's item would work," her voice trembling, yet her eyes shining brilliantly.

And Hu Liena stood in the very center.

Unscathed.

The moment the Asura God's divine sense descended, the first thing it saw was the Tribulation-Avoiding Garment on her body.

The magical robe had retracted most of its golden light, thin as a layer of water, clinging perfectly to her form. The Three-Legged Golden Toad on the collar rose and fell slightly, as if it had just eaten its fill and was now lying lazily in wait.

But the Asura God saw it clearly—this was the very thing that had just swallowed his Divine Punishment in one gulp.

His eyelids twitched.

The next moment, his divine sense swept over something else.

Not the robe.

It was the aura.

Between heaven and earth, a faint trace of Dao rhyme still lingered.

It was so faint that ordinary people could never perceive it, and even someone like Bibi Dong, who had one foot across the threshold of godhood, might not be able to distinguish it.

But the Asura God was different.

He had just been struck head-on by that Purple Gold Divine Lightning, and he was intimately familiar with that scent.

It was the same.

The aura within the lightning scar was identical to the Dao rhyme remaining in Martial Soul City.

The Asura God's fingers slowly tightened.

"It's him..."

The voice was raspy and low.

His divine sense drew closer to Hu Liena, staring fixedly at the Tribulation-Avoiding Garment, watching the strands of strange Dao intent flowing between the Golden Toad patterns. He then compared this aura to the Purple-Gold Thunder Mark on his own chest that had scorched through his Godhead—all the fragments clicked into place instantly.

It was no coincidence.

It was not Heaven's will.

And it was certainly not a backlash from the Plane Barrier rules.

"It's that Celestial Master!"

The Asura God suddenly opened his eyes, his voice cracking in pitch:

"That bolt of lightning that struck me was retaliation from that Celestial Master!"

The divine officials kneeling in the Asura God Hall pressed their heads even lower.

No one dared to respond.

The Asura God himself did not expect anyone to answer.

Right now, only one thought was churning back and forth in his mind—the Celestial Master's grand wedding, the gifts bestowed by Heaven and Earth, the Tribulation-Avoiding Garment swallowing Divine Punishment, the Purple Gold Divine Lightning wounding a God King from across the void... any one of these things, taken alone, would be absurd.

Now that they were all piled onto a single person, the word "troublesome" was no longer enough to describe it.

He had lived for tens of thousands of years.

In those tens of thousands of years, he had traversed more than one plane and had seen many so-called remains of great beings, ancient divine weapons, and forbidden secret arts.

Yet, he had never heard of such an existence.

A person in the lower realm, neither appearing nor showing his face, used Eighteen Betrothal Gifts as a medium to stir the fortune of an entire world.

The fifth betrothal gift sent out could block Divine Punishment personally descended by a God King.

The main body, separated by the Plane Barrier, collapsed half of the Asura God Hall with a single bolt of lightning.

What the hell was this thing?

The more the Asura God thought about it, the drier his throat became.

He had originally planned to recover from his injuries and, once he figured out the opponent's methods, strike back hard.

But as soon as this thought emerged, he fell silent himself.

Strike back hard?

With what?

He couldn't even fathom the opponent's background, and the other party could casually unleash a Purple Gold Divine Lightning that he couldn't comprehend at all. If he really provoked the man, would the next bolt of lightning just leave him buried in ruins?

The Asura God was not sure.

It was precisely because he was unsure that a chill began to creep up his spine, bit by bit.

He shivered.

The movement was slight, but he noticed it himself.

The Asura God's face turned incredibly ugly.

He was actually afraid.

Having lived for so many years, the Asura God who presided over slaughter and judged the gods was actually feeling a chill down his back because of the name of a Celestial Master from the lower realm.

But he had to admit it, even if it was terrifying.

If he didn't admit it, he would only die faster.

The Asura God took two breaths, forcibly suppressing his surging emotions, and his gaze fell back onto the divine sense on the Douluo Continent.

Hu Liena was still standing there, her fingers gently pressing against the Golden Toad on her lapel, her eyes slightly red.

Bibi Dong stood beside her, her expression grim; she was clearly also deeply shaken by today's events.

The Asura God stared for a few moments before slowly withdrawing his divine sense.

He couldn't watch anymore.

If he kept watching, he would only feel more chilled the more he thought about it.

"Stop."

The word was squeezed out of his mouth, as if he were speaking to someone else, or perhaps to himself.

"This Celestial Master is too terrifying... until I have figured out his background, I must never provoke him again."

After saying this, the Asura God stood in the center of the ruins, motionless for a long time.

Humiliated.

Utterly humiliated.

When had he ever suffered such a loss?

Someone from the lower realm had slapped his face, and not only could he not strike back immediately, but he also had to persuade himself to endure it for now.

This feeling was even more nauseating than the lightning scar on his chest. Yet, no matter how disgusting it was, he had to endure it.

After all, his life was more important than his pride.

It took a long while before the Asura God finally raised a hand to wipe the divine blood from the corner of his mouth, a layer of cold gloom pressing back into the depths of his eyes.

Fear was fear.

Retreating was retreating.

But this debt could not simply be settled like this.

"Once This Seat recovers from these injuries..."

He stared at the rift in the God Realm that had yet to fully heal, his voice dropping to a low murmur:

"I will settle the score with you slowly!"