The Sea God could not, of course, cover the sky with one hand.
But how were they to choose between a God King who already possessed both the Sea God Godhood and the Asura God Godhood, and a mortal who had not even begun a Godhood Inheritance? Most gods had an answer.
Under such circumstances, it was rare to see someone insist on going against the prevailing tide and passing on a Godhood.
Rare even in a hundred years in the Divine Realm.
And anyone who wanted to force a Godhood Inheritance against the prevailing tide had to be on the same level.
How could anyone who was not a God King stand against Tang San?
Tang San was said to be the Sea God, and he often called himself the Sea God. His palace in the Divine Realm was also the Sea God Temple, but he was the Asura God, after all.
On the surface, he called himself the Sea God, but he still attended the God Realm Committee when he was supposed to. Why? Because he held the Asura God's Godhood.
Unfortunately, the countless Soul Masters of Douluo I and Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King would never be able to fathom any of this.
It was not that the reasoning was particularly difficult.
Rather, what was common knowledge in the Divine Realm was a supreme secret to the Soul Masters of the lower planes.
So what countless people saw was Lin Yi being hunted by the Sea God, his path blocked by the other party. Though he possessed peerless talent, he could not put it to use, and they felt boundless indignation as they watched his years slip away in vain.
People always sympathized with the weak.
Lin Yi was a nine-ringed expert, a Titled Douluo, and a Peerless Douluo and Limit Douluo whose cultivation had reached level ninety-nine.
Normally, most people watching from the sidelines would instinctively be resistant to such a powerful figure.
But the one he was being compared to now was the Sea God, a true god.
The Peerless Douluo Lin Yi was instead the weaker party.
Countless people spoke up for Lin Yi, filled with indignation.
They felt the heavens had gone dark.
After their feelings had built up for so long, some even cried out.
[The heavens are unjust!]
[Where is heavenly justice?!]
[This Sea God is truly unbridled! Does he take our Douluo Continent for his own backyard?]
Anonymous bullet comments appeared one after another on the Heavenly Screen.
Even in the era of Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King, countless bullet comments condemned the Sea God.
[In the full 20,000 years since the Sea God ascended to godhood, only one person, Spirit Ice Douluo, is recorded in history as having become a god. So this was the reason!]
Someone questioned Tang San.
At this moment, the anti-Shrek faction, including Qiangu Dongfeng, was joined by some in the Federation in turning a blind eye to the remarks smearing the Sea God's image.
Even Yun Ming was silent, saying nothing.
He too was wondering whether, in these twenty thousand years, not a single Soul Master had become a god because they lacked talent, or because there were no compatible Godhoods.
Or was it truly that the Sea God was blocking their path?
But that could not be right. Most of the finest Soul Masters of the past twenty thousand years had come from Shrek Academy.
Generation after generation of Limit Douluo, Quasi-God after Quasi-God, and yet none had obtained a Godhood.
Had all those Sea God Pavilion Masters truly fallen short?
Yun Ming would not consider whether the gods of the Divine Realm had any intention of passing on their Godhoods.
Soul Masters of the lower planes simply knew little about the Divine Realm.
Now, from the information available to Yun Ming, besides the two most familiar reasons why Soul Masters could not become gods, there was another possibility: someone was blocking their path.
Moreover, the question of the Sea God blocking their path was plainly before everyone's eyes. It showed them all that anyone who wanted to become a god had to pass the Sea God's test; without his approval, they would have no chance at a Godhood.
Just as countless people across the two spacetime periods were moved and stirred by this, the images on the Heavenly Screen drew to a close.
At this moment, the Heavenly Screen's broadcast was still in its prologue.
The images being shown were still meant to catch the eye and prepare for the viewership of the Heaven and Earth Chess Game to come.
When countless people's emotions were at their most inflamed, the scene shifted to Lin Yi's final stop.
In the image, Lin Yi stood in midair, his blue robes billowing and snapping.
His eyes were as deep as the starry sky.
With his hands clasped behind his back, he looked like a supreme expert standing between heaven and earth.
The angle of the Heavenly Screen's broadcast shifted again, circling halfway around him from front to back.
Now it could be seen that Lin Yi was facing a valley, one shrouded in mist.
"Where is this?"
Without a doubt, countless people in Douluo I and Douluo Dalu III: The Legend of the Dragon King had no idea where this mist-filled valley was.
Still less did they know which god's inheritance lay within it.
This time, however, the Heavenly Screen considerately gave everyone an explanation.
Earlier, whether it was Lin Yi's cultivation of various secret arts, the Spirit Ascension Ritual, or the sacrifice ritual, the Heavenly Screen had offered no explanation and revealed not the slightest detail.
Now, however, it was eager to provide labels.
Dazzling golden characters appeared above the mist-filled valley.
"Qiankun Asking Love Valley!"
"The place where the God of Love fell!"
The two lines of golden characters explained the mystery of this place.
"So it's this place."
Yun Ming, who had been wondering about it just moments ago, stared blankly.
As Shrek's Sea God Pavilion Master, how could he not know what kind of place Qiankun Asking Love Valley was?
The Tang Sect's Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record said that there were three great treasure basins in the world. The first was the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, a holy land yearned for by countless plants, where any plant could grow ten times as fast. The second was Qiankun Asking Love Valley.
Could this Lin Yi be a lovestruck fool?
After that thought flashed through his mind, Yun Ming shook his head.
The Heavenly Screen's broadcast had shown Lin Yi alone from beginning to end. Although it could not be denied that Lin Yi had a daily life of his own, these few highlights alone were enough to prove how steadfast his heart was in pursuing the Dao.
Lin Yi was probably a solitary seeker of the Dao.
There was a strong chance he had no Dao companion.
So...
Yun Ming gazed at the images on the Heavenly Screen.
Lin Yi let out a long sigh.
He seemed to ponder something, and his gaze grew resolute.
He did not head toward Qiankun Asking Love Valley.
Instead, he turned around and gave up the God of Love's inheritance within the valley.
Clearly, Lin Yi had abandoned this last place that held a god's inheritance.
As Lin Yi turned, Qiankun Asking Love Valley behind him seemed to fade into the background, and the two lines of golden characters slowly vanished.
Lin Yi's Qi fluctuations could be seen beginning to change.
His gaze sharpened, and his eyes grew resolute.
His blue robes danced freely in the wild wind that filled the sky.
The faint phantom of a chess game took shape behind him.
That chess game seemed to contain an entire world.
A golden light suddenly flashed above his head.
Heaven and Earth Chess Game!
Once again, four great characters appeared, shining with golden light and bearing boundless pressure. They seemed to carry the momentum of heaven and earth, containing the might of heaven and earth.
Those four characters drew more attention than anything the Heavenly Screen had done before.
The place of the God of Love's inheritance had seemed to receive nothing more than a simple label.
But the words "Heaven and Earth Chess Game" told of all the changes in heaven and earth. Their vast momentum rose with the wind, like a surging torrent threatening to engulf everyone who saw those four characters.
The countless images from before flashed unbidden through their minds.
A thought surfaced in the hearts of countless viewers-
The main event had begun!