"Goodbye." The Ice God murmured softly as she looked at Huo Yun, slowly withdrawing her gaze, so full of attachment. When she raised her head toward the sky, her eyes had turned utterly cold. Even her bearing underwent a world-shaking transformation at that moment, and seven divine rings emerged behind her head.
Before her parents, she could be a daughter who had yet to grow up. Before the younger members of her kind back in her homeland, she could be a slightly temperamental older sister who looked after her younger brothers and sisters.
But before her enemies, she was the former ruler of the Far North, the peerless genius who had condensed her own Divine Seat, a First-Level God, the Ice God!
Amplified by the Ice God's Divine Seat, Huo Yuhao completely lost control of his body. At that very moment, he also felt his thoughts and senses extend rapidly outward, expanding far into the distance. It felt like looking down upon the earth from the sky, entirely different from what he usually experienced when using Spiritual Detection.
Across the vast core region of the Far North, spanning more than ten thousand square kilometers, the light suddenly dimmed, as though day had abruptly turned to night. An invisible majesty instantly spread, accompanied by utterly terrifying Spiritual Power and the power of wind and snow, bursting outward with Huo Yuhao's body at its center.
At that moment, he felt the exhilaration of a sovereign reigning over the world. The earth, ice, and snow all submitted beneath his feet. That feeling of having everything within his grasp was simply too wonderful, as though he could destroy everything with a turn of his hand and pass judgment on all his gaze reached.
The feeling was truly wonderful. After that wonder passed, only one thought came to Huo Yuhao's mind: Was this why you wanted to attack Mother? You're addicted to the feeling of holding everything in the world in your hands. You want to keep everything within your grasp.
He felt that Tang San had become intoxicated by precisely this feeling: all things prostrating themselves beneath his feet, conjuring clouds with one turn of his hand and rain with another, everything within his grasp. He was the absolute master.
Then your ambitions probably don't stop at this world. Huo Yuhao followed the Ice God's gaze toward the heavens. Perhaps because the Divine Seat's power was amplifying him now, he saw an illusory world.
The entire world seemed shrouded in clouds and mist that radiated a gentle glow. Those soft halos were like a mother's hands, gently stroking the delicate skin of the clouds. That illusory space possessed an extraordinarily moving sense of substance.
The clouds changed endlessly, sometimes like surging waves, sometimes like a tranquil beauty. None of their transformations followed any pattern, yet they brought ever greater beauty and wonder, giving everything an exceedingly unreal feeling.
It was none other than the Divine Realm!
A world that an ordinary person might spend a lifetime searching for without finding now appeared quietly before Huo Yuhao's eyes.
The next second, that beautiful, breathtaking world was no longer merely before Huo Yuhao's eyes. In the blink of an eye, he had entered it.
"This world may look beautiful, but once you've seen enough of it, you'll find it tiresome. It's not nearly as good as living in a little house with your family, chatting and laughing together. There's still joy in that." Before Huo Yuhao could be awed by it, the Ice God's gentle reminder sounded beside his ear.
"Mm." Huo Yuhao nodded lightly.
"I'm not asking you to understand right now. You're still young. Once you've experienced more, you'll understand what I mean." The Ice God chuckled. Controlling Huo Yuhao's body, she walked onward and soon arrived before a magnificent hall.
Five figures emerged from the hall. Although none of them released their auras, simply standing there, their extraordinary bearing made Huo Yuhao feel pressure despite himself.
"Three new faces. I didn't expect to wake from my sleep and return to the Divine Realm only to see two old acquaintances. It's been a long time, God of Destruction, Xiao Lu!" The Ice God spoke first, greeting two of them.
"It really has been a long time." The Goddess of Life, the Xiao Lu the Ice God had addressed, looked at her old friend with both joy and sorrow.
She was joyful because she could see her old friend again, and sorrowful because she knew that old friend could not remain for long.
The God of Destruction nodded lightly to her, then pointed at Bing'er, whom he held in his hand, and asked, "What is this?"
"What do you think I'm here for? I'm seriously starting to wonder whether the Divine Realm's rules have changed after all these years I've been dead, sending some thing like this to humiliate me." As she spoke, the Ice God flung Bing'er straight toward Tang San, who stood in the center wearing blue robes.
Of the five people present, only one could be called the Sea God. It was obvious who her enemy was.
"Senior Ice God, you've misunderstood us. This was mainly due to a small mistake on my part, so I wanted to make amends. I truly had no intention of humiliating you." Tang San reached out and gently caught Bing'er, explaining to the Ice God with a smile.
His voice and tone were extremely friendly and filled with apology. Looking closely, one might even think he was someone whose good intentions had led to a bad outcome.
"Hmph! God of Destruction, what has happened to the Divine Realm? Do you think those of us gods who have fallen are easy to bully? Bringing some creature piled together out of power and divine power near my Divine Seat-who are you insulting with this shoddy, puppet-like product?" The Ice God snorted coldly and questioned the God of Destruction.
"It isn't what you think. Everything was merely an accident." Before the God of Destruction could speak, the Goddess of Life explained first.
"An accident? Then tell me exactly what sort of accident it was." The Ice God continued questioning them, as though she had come today expressly to demand an accounting.
The Goddess of Life repeated Tang San's earlier explanation: the Sea God Family had fought a great battle against the Snow Empress and the others, using a divine artifact Tang San had left behind. This had triggered the Ice God's Divine Seat, causing extraordinary phenomena throughout the world. They had resorted to this measure to prevent the Soul Beasts of the Far North from going to war with humans and plunging the living into misery.
"Hmph! So you ended up making me such a grotesque imitation of a successor. How disgusting. Speaking of successors, isn't there a member of my kind in the Far North right now? She's fully qualified to inherit it. Why can't she enter? I asked her, and she said Soul Beasts can't become gods, and now every Soul Beast faces a Heavenly Tribulation after living a hundred thousand years. It wasn't like that when I was here?" The Ice God continued her questioning.
"The rule that Soul Beasts cannot become gods was imposed by the Dragon God. As for Heavenly Tribulation... that was established by our Divine Realm. After the Dragon God War ended, the Divine Realm was full of grievances against divine beasts. Eighty percent of the deities in the Divine Realm voted in favor of that rule at the time," the God of Destruction said. When he mentioned Heavenly Tribulation, he hesitated briefly. Denying it would mean speaking against his conscience; after all, Heavenly Tribulation really had been established by their Divine Realm.
He and the Goddess of Life had voted against it, but that had been useless. The vote on this rule had taken place at a general assembly of the Divine Realm after the war, not among the five members of the Divine Realm Committee. Even if the God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life wanted to stop or change it, they could not.
Hearing this, the Ice God immediately followed the God of Destruction's words and said, "So the Divine Realm no longer welcomes gods who became gods as Soul Beasts."
"There were reasons behind this." The Goddess of Life still wanted to say something.
But the Ice God had already raised her head and shouted in a ringing voice, "Then in that case, I, the Ice God, hereby declare: since the Divine Realm does not welcome gods who ascended as Soul Beasts! I became a god as a Heavenly Snow Woman and belong among them. Since I am not welcome, today I withdraw from the Divine Realm! I swear here that from this day onward, I will have nothing more to do with the Divine Realm. Past kindnesses and grudges shall vanish like smoke. My Divine Seat will no longer belong to the Divine Realm either. It belongs only to my homeland, Douluo!"
The moment she made this declaration, the entire Divine Realm suddenly shook violently, and the power of its ice element began rapidly declining.
The energy within the Divine Realm was called Immortal Spirit Power. It was power converted by the Divine Realm Core through the faith of the people in the planes under the Divine Realm's control, as well as through absorbing energy from the universe.
The sources and foundations of this faith lay in the various Divine Seats. Some believed in the Ice God, some in the Sea God, some in the Fire God, some in life, and some in destruction. At the same time, the various Divine Seats also represented the strength of each element within the Divine Realm.
Ownership of the Ice God's Divine Seat had always rested with the Divine Realm, so the Divine Realm's ice element had always remained at the formidable level of a First-Level God. But once the Ice God declared that her Divine Seat no longer belonged to the Divine Realm, the faith accumulated within it over all these years, along with that elemental power, would diminish with the departure of the Ice God's Divine Seat.
Although this might not be enough to make the Divine Realm collapse entirely, the elemental power of a First-Level God and the faith accumulated over so many years still represented no small loss to the Divine Realm.
That loss alone was enough to make the expressions of the Five Great God Kings present change slightly.
"Ice God, is there anything we can't sit down and discuss properly? Why go this far?" The God of Destruction frowned slightly.
"What is there to discuss? You've already made Soul Beasts unwelcome. Why should I stay here and subject you to humiliation? There's already proof that none of you care. I don't know how long this remnant soul of mine will last either. Since that's the case, I might as well make a clean break, so you won't insult my Divine Seat again in the future." As she spoke, the Ice God pointed toward Bing'er.
Her manner seemed to say, Isn't that proof right there?
"I know you're angry about this, Senior Ice God. I apologize. My judgment in choosing someone was poor." Hearing this, Tang San hurried forward to apologize.
"There's no point saying more. My remnant soul will dissipate soon, but I've already chosen a successor. He will inherit my Divine Seat. I don't care what choices he makes in the future, but at least for now, my Divine Seat does not belong to the Divine Realm. I'll take the faith accumulated over these years. It isn't too much to ask for some resources to nurture my successor, is it?"
Seeing that the Ice God had gone this far, the God of Destruction knew she could not be persuaded and simply showed his sincerity. "Very well. Our Divine Realm was in the wrong in this matter to begin with. The faith that originally belonged to the Ice God is yours, and there's nothing unreasonable about you taking it away. However, it has been integrated into the Divine Realm for too many years and is difficult to calculate. We'll directly convert it into one percent of the Immortal Spirit Qi as compensation."
"Besides that, here is a shoot from the Life Tree, as a small token of compensation from us." The Goddess of Life followed by producing a palm-sized branch that constantly radiated the aura of life.
"Mm. Then that settles it. Farewell forever, everyone." The Ice God did not refuse. Or rather, apart from severing her Divine Seat's connection to the Divine Realm, she had come today to obtain some resources for Huo Yuhao.
Her earlier words had actually left ample room. Her meaning was clear: she had withdrawn, and the Divine Seat now belonged to Douluo, but she would not interfere with where its future successor chose to go.
This would spare Huo Yuhao from having to enter the Divine Realm after becoming a god through the Ice God's Divine Seat, while also allowing her to take away the faith that had originally belonged to her and prepare more resources for him.
Since the faith could not be calculated clearly, converting it into Immortal Spirit Qi was enough, especially since the Goddess of Life had also given her a shoot from the Life Tree.
The Life Tree was both the Goddess of Life's true body and her Super Divine Artifact. A single shoot from its branches could radiate boundless, immense life force. Moreover, it was a shoot, equivalent to a seedling. If nurtured properly, it could even grow into a Life Tree in the future. Even if it could not compare to the Goddess of Life's tree, it was still a treasure ordinary people could only encounter through luck, never seek out.
"God of Destruction, that's one percent of the Divine Realm's Immortal Spirit Qi. It belongs to everyone. I think, since I caused this matter, it would be most appropriate for me to provide the compensation." Tang San had something to say about this compensation.
Of course he did not want all these treasures to fall into Huo Yuhao's hands. That would be strengthening his opponent outright.
He could not stop the gift of the Life Tree's shoot, because it was the Goddess of Life's personal property, hers to give as she pleased. If Tang San spoke up, others might think he was overstepping.
As the shared property of the Divine Realm, Immortal Spirit Qi was something he, as its current administrator, could speak about, and the only aspect on which he could raise an objection.
By providing the compensation himself, even if Huo Yuhao benefited, he would still be able to continue tracking Huo Yuhao.
Before the Ice God could refuse, the God of Destruction directly countered, "Sea God, these are different matters. The rule was issued by the Divine Realm in the past, with eighty percent of its deities voting in favor. It was the Divine Realm that chilled the Ice God's heart, so the Divine Realm should compensate her. And frankly, even I find one percent of the Immortal Spirit Qi paltry. If not for the fact that the Immortal Spirit Qi belongs to everyone, I would never have proposed compensation of merely one percent."
"Isn't there also what I've given? Don't worry about it. None of you three participated in that vote back then, but we did. It couldn't be more appropriate for me to provide this compensation." The Goddess of Life picked up the conversation with a smile.
"You can't put it that way. We're part of the Divine Realm too. We can't let you bear the cost alone, Goddess of Life. How about this: I'll offer compensation on behalf of my wife and myself. This is a wine I blended privately, Ice and Fire. Drinking it can permanently increase an ordinary person's affinity for the ice attribute."
Dear readers, please spare some recommendation votes and monthly votes. Your support is the driving force behind my writing.
Before you continue