Springtime for the Asura God King

The Asura God King governed slaughter and order in the Divine Realm. He was one of its supreme beings.

There were two reasons the Asura God King had set a hundred-year interval for his inspections.

First, inspecting the lower realms once every hundred years meant he would not overlook promising candidates. It gave him a better chance of finding someone suited to inherit his godhood.

After all, anyone qualified to inherit the Asura God King's godhood was bound to be renowned on their continent.

Even if they were not among its most powerful figures, they would be among its greatest talents. And reputation was the one thing such people never lacked.

So whenever the Asura God King inspected a lower realm, he made a point of looking out for its remarkable sights and gifted people. He was a God King who loved his freedom, after all.

Second, he was a God King who governed order, one of the Five Great God Kings on the God Realm Committee, and one of the Divine Realm's Three Law Enforcers.

The Asura God King had to inspect the lower realms regularly to ensure that none broke away from the Divine Realm through some accident.

Those lower realms were not yet strong enough to survive separation from the Divine Realm. If one broke away, disaster would befall its people.

The inspections also let him check for "gods" outside the Divine Realm: beings with divine strength and attainment, but no godhood.

The God Realm Committee generally took the view that such beings should be recruited if possible.

Through the Divine Realm Center, the God Realm Committee had engraved certain principles into each world's consciousness. As a result, the Divine Realm would not intervene against a "god" with divine-level strength so long as they did not use that power.

But once divine power was used in a lower realm by someone outside the Divine Realm, that person would be apprehended. They would then be judged or recruited according to the impact they had caused.

In the original story of "Wine God," this was why a Second-Level God under the Asura God King had gone to apprehend Lie Yan, who later became the successor to the God of Goodness.

Lie Yan had resisted arrest and perished along with the God of Law Enforcement. Only then had she caught the eyes of Goodness and Evil, the two God Kings, and embarked on a life that took her to the pinnacle of godhood.

In the Divine Realm, the Asura God King diligently examined the state of Douluo Continent.

Though he had repeated the process countless times, he did not slacken in the slightest.

The Asura God King knew full well that a world with Douluo Continent's potential could easily produce one or two "gods" with divine-level strength who were unable to forge a Self-Created Godhood.

Even the Sea God, who had recently forged a First-Level Godhood, would have struggled to be utterly invincible on Douluo Continent.

At the time, the sea had even held a Soul Beast whose age was approaching a million years. Calling its combat strength divine-level was no exaggeration. It could be considered a "god" with divine-level power but without divine-level attainment.

If such a being began slaughtering the creatures of Douluo Continent, they would have no chance whatsoever unless a deity descended.

If the Divine Realm discovered it too late, that being could even wipe out every living creature on a continent.

Granted, once divine-level destructive power appeared in a lower realm, the Divine Realm Center would issue a warning.

But as long as such a being remained in a lower realm, he could not relax his vigilance by even a hair's breadth.

Especially not on Douluo Continent. These were Soul Beasts, after all... Their potential was immense, and the heights they could reach were terrifying...

The Asura God King himself bore no great hatred toward Soul Beasts. That did not mean the other gods of the Divine Realm felt the same.

Even gods who held no grudge against Soul Beasts mostly bore grudges against the Golden Dragon King and the Dragon God. And that meant the hatred would live on...

Soul Beasts must not become gods. On this, the vast majority of gods agreed.

Strength might reign supreme in the Divine Realm, but sometimes even there, democracy was necessary.

Of course, wherever there was hatred, there was gratitude too. There was simply bound to be far less gratitude than hatred.

The Asura God King worked carefully through the Divine Realm's surveillance mirror.

When he saw the overall situation on Douluo Continent, he did not interfere. Wars on a continent were perfectly normal.

Then the surveillance mirror turned to Spirit Hall.

The Asura God King knew Spirit Hall well. After all, the Angel God was one of the few deities whose place of succession had developed to such an extent.

As the mirror focused on Spirit Hall, the Asura God King carefully sensed the presences within it.

Then he frowned.

Even through the surveillance mirror, that brief probe was enough to tell him something was wrong with Spirit Hall!

There were actually two traces of divine presence inside it.

The Asura God King narrowed his eyes and examined them more closely. His gaze sharpened—Spirit Hall bore the presence of the Rakshasa God.

From the feel of it, the succession trials had already begun! The successor had probably reached at least the sixth trial.

The other presence, pure and holy, naturally belonged to the Angel God's succession.

Compared with its usual calm state, the Angel God's presence was unusually active. That only happened after she had chosen a successor.

It seemed the succession itself had not begun yet, though!

The Asura God King smiled at that. If the Angel God's successor proved capable, he would lend her a hand, help her become the Angel God sooner, and then have her destroy the Rakshasa God's line.

The Asura God King continued his inspection, his mood considerably brighter. The Star Luo Empire... the Heaven Dou Empire...? Wait, that presence!

When the Asura God King spotted Qian Renxue handling state affairs, his face fell. You're the Angel God's successor. What are you doing running the Heaven Dou Empire as its emperor? Isn't this a waste of time?

Wouldn't cultivating until you became a deity be better than becoming an emperor?

And judging by your strength... Uh. The Angel God's successor isn't someone I can count on either!

At last, the Asura God King turned the surveillance mirror toward Slaughter City, the site of his own divine succession.

Seeing Tang Chen still locked in a struggle with the Dark Gold Hell Three-Headed Bat King, the Asura God King could only sigh. What a shame...

As for helping Tang Chen escape the Dark Gold Hell Three-Headed Bat King's attempt to devour him...

Ultimately, anyone who sought to become a deity had to bear the risk of failure. A deity was no nanny. Besides, intervening would mean breaking the rules.

As the guardian of order in the Divine Realm, the Asura God King felt he ought to lead by example.

He slowly shifted his gaze elsewhere.

Soon, he saw the fallen residents of Slaughter City shouting at a young man walking down the road: "New God of Slaughter! New God of Slaughter!"

The Asura God King's gaze stopped there.

In theory, every God of Slaughter was qualified to inherit his godhood.

Of course, theory was one thing. In practice, the only person in Slaughter City's history who had ever qualified was Tang Chen.

The Asura God King gently extended his divine power to gauge Jiang Mingyang's strength and age. He was right at level sixty and a little over seventeen years old.

And he had likely been held at level sixty by Slaughter City itself. That talent... Well, well. Not bad at all!

At this point, the Asura God King decided to watch how Jiang Mingyang performed.

With talent like that, such composure in the face of the unexpected... and the resolve to come train in Slaughter City at so young an age...

If I handle this right, I might finally be free...

And so the Asura God King lost all interest in inspecting anything else...

A trial had officially begun...