Li Nian skipped away with Snake Lance and the others. The moment the hall doors closed, after a brief deathly silence in the Pope's Palace, the elders swarmed around Dugu Heng.
"Your Majesty! Th-that really was Lord Sea God's daughter?"
An elder who looked to be in his forties asked in a trembling voice, his eyes blazing with near-fanatical light.
Li Chengyuan, a ninety-eighth-rank Titled Douluo, had once received the Sea God's Six Trials before the Sea God's Statue fifty years ago.
Just a few years later, he had broken through several realms in succession and become one of the empire's strongest fighters.
Li Chengyuan was so excited that even his hands trembled, showing none of a Titled Douluo's usual composure.
"This old man received the Sea God's Six Trials before the Sea God's Statue all those years ago. I thought I could die without regrets. But today... today, I actually saw Lord Sea God's bloodline with my own eyes! Your Majesty, this is a miracle—a tremendous miracle!"
Another female elder of the ninety-seventh rank had tears in her eyes. Her name was Zhou Zhi. In her youth, she had received the Sea God's Five Trials, and her water-element Soul Power had transformed through that trial.
Her voice was hoarse as she clutched Dugu Heng's sleeve, nearly breaking into tears.
"Your Majesty, you don't know. When I was young, my enemies hunted me down. It was Lord Sea God's statue that revealed its divine power and led me into the Sea God's Five Trials. Without that trial, I would have died long ago. Today, seeing the little princess, I... I..."
She could not continue. Covering her mouth, she wept uncontrollably.
The elders in the hall who had received the Sea God's Divine Trials were all flushed with excitement, speaking incoherently.