The Sea God's expression changed several times before he finally lowered his head dejectedly. He knew that at this point, any further excuses would be futile.
The Kindness God King had already discovered the truth. If he still dared to evade responsibility, the consequences would be beyond what he could bear.
He turned and walked into the depths of the divine hall. A moment later, he emerged carrying a fist-sized crystal sphere suffused with a milky white glow.
Within the crystal sphere, the faint phantoms of six pristine white wings could be seen slowly revolving. It was the vessel of the Angel God's Divine Trial.
The Kindness God King took the crystal sphere and sent her divine power into it for a brief inspection. Her expression immediately darkened.
Just as she had expected, the Angel God's Divine Trial indeed contained traces of the Sea God's divine power.
And it was more than mere traces. The Sea God's divine power had already penetrated the deepest structure of the Divine Trial, intertwining with the Angel God's divine power and forming a subtle symbiotic relationship.
What did that mean? It meant that if a soul master accepted this contaminated Divine Trial, he would unknowingly be influenced by the Sea God's divine power during the process of inheriting the Angel God's divine position.
At best, the inheritance of the divine position would be incomplete. At worst, the Sea God might even secretly control him through their divine power connection and interfere with the Angel God's inheritor.
What enraged the Kindness God King even more was that such infiltration of divine power could not have been accomplished overnight.
The Kindness God King's head buzzed. She had entrusted the Angel God's Divine Trial to the Sea God out of respect for their shared origins and trust in his character.
Yet the Sea God had exploited that trust to commit such despicable deeds in secret, stealing the authority of a fallen compatriot and defiling the Angel God's inheritance.
This was no ordinary dereliction of duty. It was naked betrayal, a trampling of the trust she had placed in him as the Kindness God King, and an immense disrespect toward the fallen Angel God.
The Kindness God King slowly raised her head, her gaze falling upon the Sea God like a blade. Her voice was no longer calm, but carried fury suppressed to its limit, every word seeming to be forced through clenched teeth.
"Poseidon, I entrusted the Angel God's Divine Trial to you because the Angel God came from the same Douluo Continent as you, and the two of you had been good friends.
"After her fall, I had thought you would remember your old friendship, properly find an inheritor for her, and pass down her divine position."
She paused, her fingers around the crystal sphere tightening slightly as her tone grew colder. "But what did you do? You stole her authority, contaminated her Divine Trial, and claimed the legacy she left for her inheritor as your own. You called yourself her friend, yet behind her back, you were digging up her grave. You truly deserved to die!"
Tang San had not yet become a god. If he had already ascended and the Kindness God King had met him, she surely would have used his favorite saying: "You truly have a death wish!"
The moment the Kindness God King finished speaking, an immense and unmatched God King pressure erupted from her body. The entire divine hall shook violently beneath it, the crystal coral along the walls cracking inch by inch while the luminous pearls in the dome trembled as if they might fall at any moment.
Poseidon's legs went weak, and he nearly dropped to his knees. His face turned as pale as paper, his entire body shaking like a leaf. He did not even dare to raise his head and meet the Kindness God King's eyes.
"Kindness God King, spare me!" His voice carried a sob. "I... I was only blinded by greed for a moment. I..."
"Enough." The Kindness God King coldly cut him off. She withdrew her pressure and carefully stored the Angel God's Divine Trial inside her storage equipment. "I will report your crimes to the God Realm Council, where the five God Kings will deliberate and decide your punishment.
"Until then, stay honestly inside your divine hall. Without an order from the God Realm Council, you are not to take a single step outside it."
With that, she no longer spared the kneeling Sea God another glance. She turned and left with a sweep of her sleeve.
Milky white divine light flashed at the entrance to the divine hall, and the Kindness God King's figure vanished. Poseidon was left kneeling alone upon the cold crystal floor, his face alternating between green and white, his eyes filled with regret and fear.
He knew he was finished.
Stealing the authority of a fallen god was among the gravest crimes in the God Realm.
What was more, he had stolen the authority of a god beneath the Kindness God King's command, and the Kindness God King herself had caught him red-handed.
Even if he had a good relationship with the Asura God and the Asura God spoke up for him, he would certainly not escape severe punishment.
And all of this had stemmed from the greed he had felt upon obtaining the Angel God's Divine Trial.
When he had first taken charge of the Angel God's Divine Trial, he had only intended to casually find an inheritor for her and be done with it.
But when he truly came into contact with the authority of Purification sealed within the Angel God's Divine Trial, a thought began to grow uncontrollably in his heart. If he could refine part of the Angel God's authority, his divine power would surely rise to another level. Perhaps he might even have a chance to challenge that supreme position of God King.
Thus, he began secretly stealing the Angel God's authority, gradually integrating the power of Purification into his own divine power.
Over the years, he had acted with extreme caution and had never been discovered.
He had even tampered with the Angel God's Divine Trial, ensuring that any future inheritor who accepted the Divine Trial would be influenced by his divine power and unable to escape his control.
He had thought everything was flawless, but he had never expected the Kindness God King to suddenly come demanding the Divine Trial. Nor had he expected that his momentary guilt would expose his tracks.
Years of planning had vanished like bubbles in a single day.
The Sea God slumped to the floor, staring in the direction where the Kindness God King had disappeared, his eyes filled with despair.
Meanwhile, the Kindness God King had already returned to her own divine hall.
She sat upon her divine throne, holding the Angel God's Divine Trial in her palm as she carefully examined every detail that had been contaminated by the Sea God's divine power.
The more she examined it, the uglier her expression became.
The Sea God's infiltration was even more severe than she had imagined. Centuries of theft had left the Angel God's Divine Trial riddled with damage.
Nearly seventy percent of the authority of Purification had been siphoned away, and the internal structure of the Divine Trial had become extremely unstable due to the Sea God's erosion.
Such a Divine Trial could no longer be inherited normally. At most, an inheritor could receive sixty or seventy percent of the Angel God's strength, placing them only at the lower-middle level among First-Level Gods. Yet the Angel God's original strength had been close to that of a half-step God King.
The Kindness God King fell silent for a moment before finally letting out a long sigh.
She raised her other hand and pressed her palm against the Divine Trial. Vast power of Kindness slowly flowed into it as she began, bit by bit, to strip away the Sea God's divine power and repair the damage to the Divine Trial.
This was an exceedingly delicate and lengthy process. Even with her status as a God King, it would require an enormous amount of time and effort.
But the Kindness God King did not hesitate in the slightest. The Angel God had been a god beneath her command, and she herself had entrusted the Angel God's Divine Trial to the Sea God. Now that something like this had happened, she could not shirk her responsibility.
No matter what, she had to restore the Angel God's Divine Trial to its original state and find the Angel God an inheritor truly worthy of this legacy.
This was her responsibility as a God King, and also her atonement for her own failure.
Before you continue