"That's enough."
The God of Destruction's deep voice boomed, clamping firmly on the Space God's wrist, forcefully blocking his divine power from spilling further.
Feeling the immense force radiating from his wrist, the Space God was stunned. Surprise and confusion flickered in his silver eyes—he had never imagined it would be Destruction who stopped him at this juncture. Logically, the God of Destruction, being close to the Thunder God, ought to hate Poseidon's attack on Chen Yi even more.
Destruction regarded the confusion and anger in the Space God's eyes, sighing softly as he spoke.
"It's not worth it."
Yes, it truly wasn't.
As one of the thirty-six first gods of the Divine Realm, Poseidon held enormous status and power. Even if he had committed a grave mistake, by the rules, it was for the Divine Committee to pass judgment and enforce punishment—not for the Space God to kill him out of vengeance. To do so would be to trample openly upon the realm's laws, inviting public censure and harsh punishment, whatever one's motive.
Whether motivated by loyalty to Thunder God or anger at Poseidon's deed, the outcome would still be the same—breaking the rules of the realm, attracting censure and punishment.
Whether out of a desire for order, or for the feelings of others, the Committee could only respond with severe discipline. It was not the outcome Destruction desired. As one who upheld the law—and possibly out of regard for Thunder God—he didn't want to see Space condemned for an act of momentary rage.
He increased his grip, signaling to the Space God to release Poseidon. After a moment's silence, Space slowly unclenched his fingers, coldly giving Poseidon's ugly, poisonously glaring head a glance before tossing it toward the nearby headless body.
The moment head made contact with corpse, blue-gold light shimmered, and the neck instantly healed—body, flesh, and divinity reconnected. With just a few breaths, Poseidon was whole once more; but a minuscule, silver scar lingered at his neck. His aura was even more unstable and disordered than before, his face pale as paper—his injuries had worsened greatly from the attack on top of Thunder God's counterstrike.
"Phew…"
Seeing the Sea God not killed on the spot, the Good and Evil gods breathed a sigh of relief, exchanging glances of gratitude toward Destruction. They were not overly concerned for Poseidon per se, but for the disaster that would have come from open godslaying before everyone. If Space had killed Poseidon openly, the firm rules of the realm would have forced the God-Kings to act impartially—to punish the Space God to the utmost and, in turn, possibly ignite a direct confrontation with the elemental gods and Thunder God's old followers. If Chen Yi, future God-King, got involved… even the thought was a headache.
At this moment, the Goddess of Life, who had been watching carefully, spoke up.
"Poseidon, while I was here, I sensed not only Thunder God's residual energy and your divine power, but also a very faint trace of divine fluctuation. Who was it?"
Destruction immediately focused his divine senses as well, picking up a faint trace of another's remnant god power—so weak and smoothed by some external force, it was almost impossible to identify, except to the hypersensitive Goddess of Life.
When Poseidon heard this, his pupils contracted sharply—his heart nearly stopped. The fall of the Angel God was still an unsolved mystery for the divine world. If the others found out he was one of the masterminds and secretly possessed the Angel Heart, his fate would be a hundred times worse than mere interference in the mortal realm. He would be torn apart by the gods' fury, and his soul confined to the worst hells.
But after a moment, seeing the doubts of the two God-Kings, Poseidon managed to recover his composure and, under their stern stares, shook his head.
"To report to the Life God-King—I truly don't know. Thunder God's pursuit was simply terrifying. In the panic of protecting myself, a mysterious and powerful force intervened, blocking some of the fatal blow, allowing me to survive. As for its origin, I had no way to perceive it at the time."
Naturally, no one believed such a perfunctory response—at precisely the right moment, a hidden god-force had saved him, and he claimed ignorance? Even the gentlest gods looked askance at the lack of sincerity. Only the Darkness God eyed the Asura God with suspicion; the latter gave a subtle, ambiguous smile and looked away—toward the still-turbulent rift in the distance.
"Hmph."
The Darkness God snorted quietly—and all the gods present felt a shudder they could not explain. For one whose name meant "Darkness," he was anything but harmless in practice.
"If even the Sea God can't explain it,"
the Darkness God continued in calm tones,
"then we should consider his far more concrete crime—he broke the Divine Law and interfered arbitrarily in the mortal world, seeking to kill the successor to the God-King of Thunder. The evidence is clear."
"Under law, his divine status should be stripped, and he should be imprisoned forever in the Divine Forbidden Lands!"
Shhhh—even the gods, who were prepared for harsh judgment, were astonished at this. Stripped of his divinity and everlastingly confined? That was more than a punishment—it was execution by torture. In the Forbidden Lands, no god had ever left alive; their powers and soul were slowly gnawed away to nothing.
Poseidon leapt up, pointing at the Evil God and roaring:
"Darkness! Dream on! I am a first-generation god—my status was gained through my own cultivation, not granted by the realm! The Committee has no right to take my divinity!"
He spoke the truth. For a first-generation god like him, having joined the committee by contract, the foundation of divinity lay within himself—the Committee merely managed, not bestowed, such power.
"Then all we need do is kill you."
The Water God stepped forward, radiating icy blue divine power.
Faced with the deadly aura from the elemental and deadly sin gods, Poseidon trembled and unconsciously retreated a step.
Here, the Evil God spoke to restore calm.
"Poseidon broke the Law—his guilt is undeniable, but being a special case, directly stripping his status isn't appropriate. My suggestion: as a warning, Poseidon should be imprisoned in the Divine Forbidden Lands for one hundred years. Also, the divine artifact has already passed to Thunder God's heir, Chen Yi, and the Divine Realm will not seek to reclaim it. What do you all think?"
To a first-grade god, a century in the Forbidden Lands was an incredibly severe sentence. The environment itself, with its suppressive force and chaotic laws, could cripple a god's foundation in mere decades.
Poseidon moved his lips as if to object, but seeing the determined stares of everyone, he realized that this was the lightest sentence he was likely to get. To argue further risked an even worse outcome. In the end, he closed his mouth, his face twisting in resentment.
But the Goddess of Life spoke again, her voice cold.
"That's too lenient... The trident shouldn't even count as compensation—it was battle spoils Chen Yi won fairly. Since Poseidon attempted murder, he should pay actual restitution for the fear and injury he caused."
"So what do you propose?" asked the Evil God.
"He should surrender three thousand years' worth of accumulated faith power to Chen Yi as compensation."
"Absolutely not!"
Poseidon howled in outrage. Faith was the foundation of divinity—it was more precious than life itself. Surrendering three millennia's worth was more intolerable than a hundred years imprisoned.
Ashen-faced, he ground out,
"I… I can give up a thousand years! That's my limit!"
But the Goddess of Life's expression only grew colder.
"Five thousand. No negotiation. Either surrender it now, or we hold a general vote."
Given the incident and the current mood, such a vote would surely end in his further disgrace.
Seeing the steely silence of the gods arrayed against him, Poseidon at last fell into despair. In the end, he dragged from his divine nucleus a massive, one-hundred-meter-wide sphere of blue-gold faith energy, looked at it mournfully—and flung it at the God of Destruction.
Without this, he would hardly be able to heal his wounds in a thousand years, and might never again suppress the force of Thunder God inside him.
"Hmph!"
Poseidon let out a resentful snort and, not even looking at the others, transformed into a streak of blue-gold light headed for his own sea temple—he had to begin recovery immediately, or face unimaginable disaster.
Destruction grasped the orb, sensing the powerful will within, and nodded.
"Remember: a hundred years—someone will come to escort you."
Poseidon's form shuddered as he flew, nearly dropping from the sky, before accelerating away.
With the Sea God dealt with, Destruction turned his gaze toward Asura, who had thus far not intervened at all.
"Asura," he said tonelessly, "it's your turn."
The smile vanished from Asura's face. Surrounded by the mobilizing elemental and original sin gods—without the Asura Sword at hand—he knew he was powerless to resist.
He glanced unconsciously at the massive sword tied by Thunder God's Mace and Chen Yi—there would be no seizing it back.
The Good and Evil Gods exchanged weary glances; today's incident had to be dealt with—no more escalation.
The Evil God began:
"Asura, as executor, you have repeatedly violated the Committee's bans, interfered in the mortal world, and even granted divine power to failed inheritors, nearly causing catastrophe. The evidence is clear—you are hereby stripped of your executor's authority. All your enforcers will be transferred to me and the Good God."
"Does anyone object?"
The Goddess of Life frowned—a predictable penalty, but hardly enough. She felt deeply dissatisfied.
Sensing her unease, the Evil God casually added,
"And… as for the anomaly during Chen Yi's breakthrough to rank seven, Good God and I will not pursue it with him."
Life and Destruction both flinched—so, they had found out about the secret intervention to protect Chen Yi's breakthrough with the ancient Life Tree!
They exchanged glances, instantly understanding: this was the trade. The Good and Evil God-Kings would not pursue Chen Yi's anomaly, in exchange for relatively light punishment to the Asura God—avoiding all-out conflict at the highest level.
The other gods, meanwhile, were thoroughly confused. Chen Yi breaking through the seventh rank? Didn't that happen on the Douluo Continent? What exactly had happened to attract such attention?
Evidently, Thunder God's successor hid far more secrets than anyone suspected.
"Let's end it here."
With that, the Evil God, along with the Good God, became twin streaks of light and soared away toward the central committee domain.
...
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