Luo Yun looked at the purple and green figures before him. After a long silence, he spoke.
"Are you two seniors the Destruction God King and the Life God King?"
The God of Destruction nodded, his purplish-red eyes sizing Luo Yun up.
"That's right. It's us." His voice was deep, carrying an innate authority, yet his tone was unexpectedly easygoing.
The Goddess of Life stood beside him, her emerald eyes full of warmth and laughter.
"Child, you've come farther than we expected—and faster, too."
Luo Yun looked at them, then suddenly asked, "Why did you choose me as your successor?"
The God of Destruction raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with the Goddess of Life. Then he smiled.
"Why? Because you're talented, and you were born with good fortune."
"And," he added after a pause, a complicated glint passing through his purplish-red eyes,
"you remind me a lot of myself when I was young."
Luo Yun froze.
I'm like the God of Destruction?
He looked at the God of Destruction's stern, sharply defined face, then tried to picture his own. He fell silent for two seconds.
"...How?"
The God of Destruction pointed at his own eyes.
"That refusal to back down. That conviction that you want to protect everyone. The willingness to pay any price to protect the people you care about."
"So when I set up the God Trials, I went easy on you on purpose."
Luo Yun was silent for a moment, then spoke.
"Are you sure you went easy on me, and didn't just make things harder?"
"For the First Trial, you had a child who'd just awakened his Martial Soul absorb a Thousand-Year Soul Ring."
"For the Second Trial, you sent a six-year-old child to the Core Circle of the Star Dou Great Forest to