Divine Realm--
Inside a quiet valley.
The tall, dark-haired young man was busy in the kitchen, a small knife dancing across his fingertips and kicking up trails of deep blue light.
The golden-tailed girl floating beside him opened her azure eyes wide, catching the right moment to toss various ingredients that needed processing beneath the young man's knife.
Meanwhile, the processed ingredients would be swept into the pot by the wave of a hand from the white-haired girl on the young man's other side; the timing and proportions had long since been committed to heart.
The three of them shared a single mind, moving with seamless coordination.
Gradually, the aroma from the pot drifted out, permeating the entire small courtyard, and the expression on the young man's face gradually relaxed.
Snow Woman, Liya, thank you for always staying with me to do these things...
In front of us, you never have to say thank you.
I also...
The white-haired girl looked at the young man, her eyes like the warm winter sun.
The blue-haired mermaid's eyes were also shimmering, like the sea beneath a clear sky.
Yet just as they were about to say more, some movement came from the main house next door.
The next instant, the figures of the two vanished like smoke, leaving only sporadic snowflakes and golden fish scales to turn into faint glows in the air.
Creak...
Seeing the two wooden houses leaning against each other, two somewhat similar tall figures pushed the doors open, their identical blond hair and evil eyes shining brightly in the morning light.
"Old Ancestor, Lord Sea God truly knows how to guide others. Now this stinky brat not only knows to acknowledge his ancestors and return to his clan, but he also knows how to show filial piety to us elders."
Dai Hao glanced at the young man standing in the kitchen, speaking to Dai Mubai, who stood to the side, with an expression of reflected glory.
Dai Hao's voice was very loud, and Dai Mubai, standing beside him, also nodded solemnly, wearing an expression that seemed to say you were right.
Yet neither of them noticed the reactions of their wives, who were half a step behind.
Zhu Zhuqing's delicate brows furrowed slightly; although what Dai Hao said was the truth, the more she heard it, the more wrong it felt.
As for Huo Yun'er, her eyes held nothing but worry.
The young man ignored Dai Hao's words, focusing his attention entirely on the delicious food in front of him.
Sensing the residual energy fluctuations in the air and seeing that the young man completely ignored him, Dai Hao's expression instantly turned ugly.
"Lord Sea God has myriad responsibilities. Your mother-in-law's pregnancy is not easy, and as a son-in-law, you should help your father-in-law share his burdens."
"Who knows who you are putting on that listless, half-dead look for day in and day out. Especially those two Soul Spirits of yours; it's because they always cling to you that Wu Tong dislikes coming home..."
Before his voice finished trailing off, the young man's completely emotionless gaze fell upon him, instantly cutting off the rest of the words in Dai Hao's mouth.
No matter what, he had chosen to forgive Dai Hao back then, so no matter how Dai Hao treated him, it was something he deserved to endure. But Snow Woman, Liya, and the others were his comrades, his family, and even his benefactors.
He would not allow Dai Hao to speak coldly to them or make arbitrary remarks.
"Wu Tong is with Mother-in-law, and Father-in-law dislikes me, so I had better not stay and be an eyesore." Having said that, he went back to stirring the wok on his own.
Watching the young man act as if he did not exist, Dai Hao could only resort to verbal bravado.
"Are you even listening to me? All day long you just cook and cook! What kind of sight is a grown man lingering around a stove all day?"
"Then what are you supposed to be? At the very least, among the three people with the best culinary skills in the Divine Realm, the lowest is a Second-Level God." Dai Yuhao retorted lightly without even raising his head.
As soon as the words left Dai Hao's mouth, he regretted them.
Sure enough, when he turned his head, he saw his own Old Ancestor, Dai Mubai, looking at him with a disapproving expression.
Dai Mubai helped him discipline this rebellious son because he was a junior, so scolding him was proper.
However, Oscar, the God of Food, was his sworn brother, and Rong Nianbing, the former Emotion God, possessed combat strength comparable even to a God King—that was not something he could speak lightly about.
Dai Hao instantly stopped putting on the airs of an aging father in front of his son, hurriedly going off to explain to his Old Ancestor.
Likewise, Dai Yuhao lost all appetite for eating. Every two or three days this kind of thing happened, and he directly flashed away, leaving this oppressive place behind.
Flying through the air, Dai Yuhao could not help falling into a trance. When did his life become like this?
Was it Dai Hao's probing and provocation time and time again?
Or was it Tang Wutong's repeated rejections of his intimacy?
Was it the desperate inability to find his teacher's remnant soul, attempt after attempt?
Or was it the silence of the Soul Spirits after he occasionally looked out over the Douluo Continent?
Perhaps it was all of them.
Watching Tang San hold Tang Wulin—who was possessed by the Golden Dragon King's Divine Core—in a heartfelt and tear-jerking speech while friends and relatives wept, Dai Yuhao, the Emotion God, felt no fluctuation at all.
Clearly, all that was needed was a place devoid of divine power to prevent the Golden Dragon King's Divine Core from being triggered.
His Undead Demiplane completely met this condition.
Was it because they were afraid he would harm this newborn infant?
Even without wanting to use his own, opening up a small world was no difficult task for a God King.
Why go out of the way to go to Douluo Continent?
After all, the other half of the Dragon God's power was still in Douluo Continent.
Looking at how Tang San kept holding that child personally, completely shielding him behind himself.
Waves seemed to churn within Dai Yuhao's eyes.
Yet until that child vanished into that passage, Dai Yuhao did not make any outrageous moves.
He did not want to become a scumbag who was born and did not raise like Dai Hao, only to turn into a beast who raised his hands against children like Tang San.
The trembling of the Divine Realm continued as he looked at the external conditions displayed on the screen of the Divine Realm Central hub.
The fluctuations in Dai Yuhao's eyes grew increasingly violent, but he still exercised restraint, his hands clenching so tightly that his nails dug deep into his flesh, and golden divine blood dripped to the ground.
"Yuhao, if you want to do it, just do it!" Tian Meng had inherited Dai Yuhao's emotion of love, and naturally knew how agonizing these past years had been for Yuhao.
No matter how many times Tang Wutong said she was Wang Dong'er or Wang Qiu'er, a fake was ultimately fake, and love versus lack of love were so distinct.
"That's right, this old lady has long since not wanted to stay in this Divine Realm; at worst, we'll be reduced to ashes." Ice Empress had inherited anger, and the Divine Realm's discrimination against soul beasts had long since filled Ice Empress with blazing fury.
Divine Realm soul beasts could not become gods, yet against them—deities originating from soul beasts who had exploited loopholes—they targeted them at every turn.
Even though their current strengths had all surpassed ordinary Third-Level Gods, countless cold glares still poured toward them.
"Yuhao, the moment the Sea God turned a blind eye to Evil Soul Masters ravaging the ocean, he ceased to be the god of sea soul beasts. I believe only in you; from the moment I became your Soul Spirit, I have lived only for you, regardless of what you are about to do."
Liya inherited the emotion of malice, and naturally could feel what kind of high-and-mighty contempt that was, as well as how remarkably soft the heart of the person before her truly was.
"At worst, we go crazy one more time..." The Evil Eye's somewhat flippant voice sounded. He had originally faced certain death, stumbled his way into the Divine Realm by sheer luck, and after seeing it, felt that the Divine Realm was nothing special; out of the entire massive Divine Realm, only the young man before him caught his eye.
"Count me in!" EightAngle was also very enthusiastic and proactive. Upon arriving in the Divine Realm, he had not seen his predecessor, and after witnessing how the child possessing the Golden Dragon King Divine Core went off to Douluo Continent, EightAngle understood what kind of end awaited his old friends still back at the Icefire Yin Yang Well.
"Grandpa, Xiao Bai will forever follow you!" Xiao Bai waved her fists nearby, and several other Soul Spirits nodded in unison.
"Yuhao, as long as you want it, we will always be with you." Finally, Snow Empress's firm voice echoed within Dai Yuhao's Sea of Spirit.
From the moment he learned Tang Wutong was the daughter of a God King, Snow Empress knew her feelings were hopeless in this lifetime. This despairing sorrow also made her the strongest among all the Soul Spirits, with a strength that infinitely approached a Second-Level God.
Dai Yuhao looked at the few people who mattered most to him and finally made up his mind...
Finally, after the Temporal Turbulence that caused the turbulence of the Divine Realm exposed its core, Dai Yuhao grasped the Ghost Sculpture and thrust toward the weakest point of the Divine Realm's defense.
No one expected Dai Yuhao to actually choose to make his move at this moment, not even Tang San.
"Boom--"
A full-strength strike utilizing his own and the combined power of all seven Soul Spirits.
The defensive barrier constructed by the two newly ascended God Kings of Goodness and Evil shattered instantly.
Violent spatial energy swept across the entire Divine Realm in an instant, and the deities near the center of the energy could barely maintain their footing.
"What are you doing, Dai Yuhao!" Tang San roared toward Dai Yuhao while shielding his wife and daughter.
"Yuhao, why are you doing this? Do you not love me anymore?" Tang Wutong shrieked as she looked at Dai Yuhao.
Tang St's expression was unsightly; he had not expected this dog of a Dai Yuhao to actually choose to bite his master at this time!
Dai Yuhao looked at Tang Wutong's face, twisted by shock and fury, wanting to look past this face to find the two girls who had occupied a large portion of his life, yet no matter what, he could not find their shadows.
Ignoring Tang Wutong's interrogation, he shifted his gaze to Huo Yun'er, who was protected behind Zhu Zhuqing, and spoke with a trace of guilt.
"Mother, I'm sorry for ruining your peaceful life."
"Yuhao, pay no mind to me; whatever you want to do, just do it!" Even though Huo Yun'er's face was scraped with bloody gashes by the violent energy, she still stubbornly clung to Zhu Zhuqing's arm and shouted toward Dai Yuhao standing at the center of the storm.
As an ordinary woman, she loved Dai Hao, and had never even cared about Dai Hao ignoring her for all those years.
Yet as a mother, she could clearly sense her child withering day by day, only she could do nothing about it.
Now that her child had made a choice, she only needed to support him, even if the price was losing her child.
Hearing Huo Yun'er's words, Dai Hao, protected behind Dai Mubai, directly began a display of impotent fury.
He harshly cursed Huo Yun'er for being brainless and Dai Yuhao for knowing no better.
Dai Yuhao couldn't be bothered to afford Dai Hao a single glance.
Dai Yuhao turned toward Teacher Rong Nianbing, who had consistently taught him with all his heart and effort all this time.
"Teacher, you are free. I hope you can live the life you want."
Rong Nianbing nodded. There were some things he simply preferred not to dwell on, not that he couldn't.
His disciple had indeed suffered a great deal over so many years.
Finally, he cast one more glance at the few people in this Divine Realm who had treated him with genuine sincerity.
"I am Huo Yuhao. I only ever act as Huo Yuhao."
With that, he plunged straight toward the most violent energy core...
Before you continue