In the past timeline, at Heaven Dou Royal Academy.
Xue Beng sat in a pavilion on the hill behind the academy, a maid in his arms, a winecup in his hand and a grape between his lips. His face wore the same foppish smile as always.
"Come on, pour this prince another cup..."
His voice cut off abruptly.
The image on the sky screen froze on his own face: he was riding a horse in golden armor, full of heroic spirit, with the Heaven Dou Empire's million-strong army behind him.
The winecup fell from Xue Beng's hand and hit the stone table with a clack. Wine splashed all over him, but he paid it no mind.
"This..."
He stared fixedly at the sky screen, his eyes not moving an inch.
In the image, Ge Long knelt on one knee, his voice ringing like a great bell. "Your Majesty! Jialing Pass has fallen!"
That "Your Majesty" was addressed to him.
In the future, he became emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire. He even led the troops himself to take Jialing Pass and defeat the Spirit Hall Empire's army.
Xue Beng's lips trembled, and his eyes slowly reddened.
No one knew how he had made it through all these years.
In everyone's eyes, he was a good-for-nothing, a lump of mud that could never be propped up.
Xue Ye had always looked at him with disappointment, Xue Qinghe had always looked at him with contempt, and the court ministers had all treated him as a joke behind his back.
Every day, he had put on an act.
He had played the fool and the fop, until even he had almost believed it himself.
But now the sky screen told him he had succeeded.
He had endured until his day finally came.
He had ascended the dragon throne and personally taken Jialing Pass.
"Hahahaha..."
Xue Beng sprang to his feet, shoved the maid beside him away, and threw back his head in wild laughter.
"I knew it! I knew I wasn't a good-for-nothing! Hahahaha..."
He laughed until tears streamed from his eyes, until he doubled over, until the whole hill could hear him.
"The emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire! I'm the emperor! Hahahaha..."
Xue Beng laughed for a long while before slowly stopping.
He wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, his chest heaving, a smile still on his face.
But as he smiled, his expression froze.
A thought poured over him like a basin of ice water, from the top of his head to the soles of his feet.
Xue Qinghe.
The crown prince, Xue Qinghe.
Right now, Xue Qinghe was still the crown prince.
By rights, the throne of the Heaven Dou Empire should have been Xue Qinghe's.
Yet in the future, it was he, Xue Beng, who ascended the throne.
Then where had Xue Qinghe gone? Had he died? Been deposed?
Either way, it meant one thing.
He, Xue Beng, had replaced Xue Qinghe in the future.
So what would Xue Qinghe think if he learned what the sky screen had shown?
Xue Beng's face turned deathly pale in an instant.
He knew Xue Qinghe's methods all too well.
The crown prince seemed gentle and refined, but he was actually deep and calculating, ruthless in his methods. Xue Beng had put on an act before him for so many years, and only with great difficulty had he convinced Xue Qinghe that he was a useless good-for-nothing and made him lower his guard.
But now the sky screen had exposed his future.
Even if Xue Qinghe were a fool, he could guess that Xue Beng had been acting.
"I'm done for..." Xue Beng's voice trembled. "Xue Qinghe will kill me... He'll definitely kill me..."
In the future timeline.
Wu Wei traveled for most of the day with the Angel God and the Rakshasa God, arriving at an inn in the nearest town.
When Wu Wei pushed the door open and entered, the owner behind the counter was dozing.
"One room!" Wu Wei slapped a few Silver Soul Coins onto the counter.
The sound of the coins startled the owner awake. He opened his eyes and saw the money on the counter, and his eyes immediately lit up.
Then he looked behind Wu Wei and saw Qian Yuhan and Ye Si's peerless faces. He froze.
He had lived for over fifty years and run an inn in this little town all his life, but he had never seen women so beautiful.
The owner swallowed, glanced at Wu Wei, then at the two women behind him, and gave him an envious look that said, "You lucky rascal."
"O-one room?" The owner stole glances at Qian Yuhan and Ye Si as he registered them. From their expressions, the two of them were clearly unwilling!
"What do you say?"
Wu Wei turned to Qian Yuhan and Ye Si and asked teasingly.
"...One room!"
Qian Yuhan lowered her head and said the words almost through gritted teeth.
Wu Wei had told them to fulfill their duties and do at night what maids should do, and they certainly would not agree.
It was just that on the way here, they had already heard too many curses directed at the gods.
"Gods are no good, every last one of them!"
"Those gods reset all our cultivation to zero. I'd love to flay them and rip out their tendons!"
"If I ever meet one of those gods, I don't care what kind of god they are-I'll beat them first!"
"I heard the meteor shower before was actually the gods falling from the sky. I don't know if it's true!"
"If it's true, I'll skin those gods alive..."
"That's right. They reset all our cultivation levels to zero. We should torture them good..."
They had heard such words all along the way.
Now, everyone on the Douluo Continent hated the gods to the bone.
Every living being's cultivation had been reset to zero. Soul Masters, Soul Beasts, ordinary people-everyone had been caught up in it. The gods were the culprits behind it all.
If their identities were exposed...
Qian Yuhan dared not think any further.
She was the Angel God, who governed the powers of light and holiness. But now the entire continent hated the gods. If people found out she was the Angel God, what would await her?
Would she be beaten by a mob? Humiliated? Captured so people could vent their anger on her?
And given their looks, what if they fell into the hands of a group of men?
She dared not imagine what she would have to face.
So rather than suffer humiliation at the hands of who knew how many people, she might as well endure it from Wu Wei alone.
At least Wu Wei's looks were above her standards.
And so, Wu Wei booked one room at the inn with Qian Yuhan and Ye Si, and they successfully checked in.
Then, whether Qian Yuhan and Ye Si were willing or had compromised after weighing the pros and cons, they fulfilled the duties they owed as Wu Wei's maids.
For example, making their master happy.
"Hahahaha!"
"Praise divine punishment once again!"
Looking at Qian Yuhan and Ye Si, who were so exhausted that they had fallen asleep, Wu Wei could not keep the corners of his mouth from curling up.
If divine punishment had not descended upon the world, he would hardly have had a chance of possessing these two goddesses, Qian Yuhan and Ye Si, in his lifetime.
Yet now, both of them had become his maids.
"All right, I've had my fun. Next, it's time to cultivate!"
"If I want these two women to keep serving this young master as maids, strength is what matters most."
Wu Wei got up, put on his sleepwear, and went out onto the small balcony of the inn room.
"But before that, I need to cultivate the Blue Silver Emperor's divine skill, Endless Life, again."
Sitting cross-legged, Wu Wei murmured softly.
The Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone was the only opportunity he had managed to snatch from the protagonist's group.
Back when he had learned that he had no chance of obtaining an Immortal Herb.
He had turned around and slowly searched the waterfalls around Holy Soul Village one by one, until he finally found where the Blue Silver Emperor had been transplanted.
Then he dug up the Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone.
He had left the Blue Silver Emperor untouched, but he had dug up the Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone.
Then, relying on his heaven-defying comprehension, he had forcibly mastered the domain secret exclusive to Ah Yin, the Blue Silver Emperor, after absorbing the Blue Silver Emperor Right Leg Bone.
It was a life-saving divine skill that could bring Ah Yin back to life after death.
In the original story, if Ah Yin had been willing to use this move, she would not have needed to sacrifice herself.
If she wanted to live, no one below God Level could kill her.
"I wonder if, now that I no longer have the Blue Silver Emperor Soul Bone, I can still master the Blue Silver Emperor's domain secret again..."
Wu Wei muttered, then closed his eyes and began to try.