A Beating

Only then did the Sea God realize he had blurted out something fatal. He hurriedly waved his hands, his smile uglier than a grimace. "No, no, no, Big Brother, you heard wrong. I didn't say anything. I drank too much. What I said just now was drunken nonsense..."

He knew perfectly well that his big brother was exceptionally petty.

Before he could finish speaking, the Asura God had already set down his wine cup.

The cup did not make much noise when it struck the table, but the Sea God shuddered along with the sound.

"Tang San." The Asura God slowly repeated the name as though savoring a vintage wine. Then he raised his head, wearing the sort of smile that made people want to run at a single glance. "You think Tang San is my illegitimate son?"

"No, no, no!" The Sea God shook his head frantically, so hard that his flamboyant blue hair left afterimages. "I was just joking! Don't take it seriously, Big Brother! That kid Tang San is extraordinarily gifted, has exceptional bones, and is a fine-looking talent. Choosing him as your successor was a mark of your discerning eye! It has absolutely nothing to do with him being your illegitimate son!"

"Oh?" The Asura God rose to his feet and slowly walked around the table. Every step was neither heavy nor light, yet the Sea God felt as though those footsteps were stomping on his heart.

"But that wasn't what you said just now." The Asura God stopped in front of the Sea God and looked down at him. "You said that by my logic, Tang San is my illegitimate son. Then by my logic, Jiang Lan is also your illegitimate son. Are you trying to reason with me, or are you looking to die?"

The Sea God tilted his head back and looked at the Asura God's kindly smiling face. Only one thought remained in his mind.

He might not make it out alive today.

"Big Brother, we've known each other for so many years. Can we not resort to violence..." The Sea God's voice carried his last shred of hope.

"No."

The Asura God loosely clenched his right hand, and the Asura God Sword appeared in his palm out of thin air. The moment the dark-red longsword appeared, the temperature throughout the divine hall plummeted to freezing. The murderous aura emanating from its blade was so dense it seemed almost tangible.

Without another word, the Sea God turned and ran.

But while he was fast, the Asura God was faster.

The Asura God Sword slashed down at an exceptionally tricky angle. Before the sword light even arrived, its blade aura had already plowed a deep trench into the ground.

The Sea God let out a strange cry and flashed to the side in a streak of blue light, barely avoiding the blade. However, the hem of his flamboyant blue divine robe was not so fortunate—it was sliced off cleanly by the sword aura.

"My robe!" The Sea God's face twisted in pain. "It was made this year! It used one hundred and eight kinds of silk!"

"Aren't you rich?" The Asura God swung his sword again. "Just have another one made."

Two streaks of sword light crossed through the air. The Sea God dodged by rolling and scrambling, knocking over three wine jars, two fruit platters, and an ornament of unknown material along the way.

As he dodged, he howled. His cries looped endlessly from "Big Brother, I was wrong," to "Help, murder!" to "I really just said it casually," growing louder each time.

The Asura God turned a deaf ear and chased after him with sword in hand, the horrifying smile never leaving his face.

The two fought their way from inside the Asura God Temple to the plaza outside.

A blue figure shot out of the temple gates, immediately followed by a dark-red streak of sword light that carved a thirty-foot crack through the plaza tiles.

The blue figure flipped through the air and landed beside the crack by the skin of his teeth. Before he could catch his breath, the next sword strike arrived.

"Big Brother! I was refuting you!" the Sea God shouted as he dodged. "I was helping you prove that Jiang Lan isn't your illegitimate son! I'm on your side!"

"You used the argument that I'm the father of an illegitimate son to help prove my point?" The Asura God swept his sword horizontally, and the blade aura spread in a crescent, neatly slicing a corner off each of the eight stone pillars around the plaza. "Do you think I'm very reasonable?"

"No, no, no! I think you're not reasonable at all!" The Sea God was nearly in tears. "But can we at least talk about it?"

"No."

The Asura God Sword's momentum suddenly changed, shifting from broad, sweeping slashes to a barrage of thrusts as swift as a downpour.

The Sea God's vision blurred as countless dark-red sword tips descended from all directions, every strike carrying enough power to tear space apart.

The Sea God gritted his teeth, knowing he could not escape. He abruptly brought his hands together, and a layer of azure divine power erupted around him as a protective barrier.

At the same time, a trident condensed in his hand.

It was not the miniature version in Jiang Lan's hands in the lower realm, but the genuine Sea God Trident, its entire body flowing with a deep blue radiance like the ocean.

Clang—

The Asura God Sword struck the trident, unleashing a deafening clash of metal.

A shockwave spread outward from the two of them. The stone pillars in the plaza, their corners already sliced away, finally gave out and collapsed with a roar.

The Sea God caught the blow, his arms numb from the impact, but he managed to keep his footing.

He tightened his grip on the trident and faced the Asura God's gaze, forcing out a smile even uglier than a grimace. "Big Brother, see? My trident skills aren't bad, right?"

The Asura God said nothing. He merely tilted his head, as if assessing an interesting prey.

"Not bad." The Asura God nodded, then his sword momentum rose again as his killing intent surged. "But you can only take one strike."

Before the words had even faded, a layer of blood-red light suddenly flared from the Asura God Sword's blade. The glow was so intense that it seemed like blood seeping out from within the sword itself.

The sky over the entire plaza was dyed dark red by that radiance, and a suffocating pressure filled the air.

The Sea God's eyes widened, and his lips trembled. "As... Asura Bloodslaughter? Big Brother, are you serious?!"

The Asura God's answer was a descending sword strike.

The instant that sword fell, heaven and earth changed color.

A blood-colored sword aura spanning the entire plaza descended from the sky. Wherever it passed, space shattered inch by inch, exposing black void rifts.

The Sea God raised his trident with all his strength to block it. Blue Sea God power gathered above his head, forming a heavy shield of water.

The sword aura struck the water shield and held against it for less than a breath.

Then the water shield shattered.

The Sea God was sent flying by the strike, crashing like a blue meteor through the wall at the edge of the plaza, then through a side hall behind it, and finally into an unknown mountain.

He was embedded in a pile of rubble, his trident stuck crookedly into the ground beside him, with green smoke still rising from the slash the sword aura had carved into its shaft.

The entire plaza was in ruins.

Cracks spread across the ground like a spiderweb. Half the side hall had collapsed, the ornamental rockery had become a pile of stones, and the lingering aura of the Asura God Sword was so intense that the divine officials watching from afar had their legs go weak.

The Asura God put away the Asura God Sword, patted dust from his hands that did not exist, and slowly walked toward the pile of rubble.