Word Count: 3,178 Words
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The Divine Realm.
Boundless immortal spiritual energy drifted as though it had taken on physical form, thread upon thread shifting through countless shapes. A grand hall rose above the clouds, shining with sacred radiance, and its spires reached toward the firmament as if in quiet conversation with the stars.
Within the hall lay a vast and solemn space. Countless angels had been carved across the four walls. Some bore weapons, embodiments of justice and strength. Others spread their wings in flight, embodiments of freedom and hope. Every statue was exquisitely wrought, so vivid it seemed alive. To gaze upon them was to feel an ethereal purity beyond the mortal world.
In the Divine Realm, only 2nd Class Gods and above were qualified to raise a temple of their own. This was the Angel God Temple, domain of the Angel God.
Light flashed. A handsome young man with twelve golden wings appeared inside the hall. His expression looked on the verge of collapse, veins pulsing wildly at his temples. He stormed to the temple doors with a thunderous look and flung them open. On the other side stood a dark purple figure.
"Long time no see, Angel."
The newcomer was none other than the God of Destruction. He offered a cheerful chuckle in greeting, then breezed past the Angel God Ling Bai as though stepping into his own home and brazenly claimed a white jade chair.
"Destruction, are you all right? Are you all right? Are you all right?"
Ling Bai dropped into the chair opposite him and hammered him with the same question three times in rapid succession, his tone thick with menace. "One year in the mortal realm is one day in the Divine Realm. You haven't gone five days without seeing me, and already you're pounding on the gates of the Angel God Temple! And this isn't the first time either. Every few days you come hunting me down. Either you want to slaughter the Golden Dragon King in the God Forbidden Land, or the Space God has discovered the coordinates of yet another Divine Realm.
Not even a fifth of my final hundred years in the mortal world has passed, and I have not had a single moment of peace."
"What kind of talk is that! What kind of talk!" The God of Destruction's eyes bulged. "You're one of the God Kings on the Divine Realm Committee, and the Divine Realm Hub rests in your hands. You bear the responsibility of purging the Divine Realm of its threats!
The Golden Dragon King embodies the destructive half of the Dragon God. Its heart holds nothing but tyrannical urges bent on annihilating the Divine Realm. The rest of us wanted it dead ages ago, but it had inherited the Dragon God's formidable body, and we could never make the kill stick.
Who told your second God Position to be that of the Death God? Every slash of yours landed as a critical hit. You hacked at the Golden Dragon King until it howled.
With the rest of us holding the line, it couldn't even manage to self-destruct. In the end, you took its head off with a single swing of the Death Abyss Demon Scythe.
The Divine Realm was rid of a massive hidden threat, and you, the foremost contributor, walked away with the Golden Dragon King's divine core. Everyone was satisfied!"
"Well, when you put it that way..."
Ling Bai's irritation faded by a solid measure. Before becoming a God, he had promised the Silver Dragon King that he would resolve the conflict between humans and spirit beasts and find a suitable primitive planet where the spirit beast race could dwell.
By now he had fulfilled every promise he had made. As for the Golden Dragon King, that had never been part of their agreement.
Though both were halves of the Dragon God, the Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King could not have been more different. The Golden Dragon King's berserk and cruel temperament made any communication impossible. As one of the Divine Realm's rulers, Ling Bai naturally could not sit idle. He accepted the God of Destruction's invitation, and the God Kings of the Divine Realm gathered, charged into the God Forbidden Land, and slew the Golden Dragon King together.
Ling Bai obtained the divine core containing more than half of the Golden Dragon King's divine power. After thoroughly erasing its dragon soul, he passed the Dragon King divine core to Ling Qiuxi, who carried the Golden Dragon bloodline. She had since become the new Golden Dragon King.
The Silver Dragon King was greatly displeased, but Ling Bai's bond with the spirit beasts ran deep, and the new Golden Dragon King was also the Emperor Destiny Beast of the spirit beast race. In the end, even the Silver Dragon King could accept the outcome.
"Enough preamble. What is it this time?"
Ling Bai motioned for the God of Destruction to get to the point and stop circling around him. A single day in the Divine Realm meant a year lost in the mortal world. Every extra second spent here was carved directly out of his vacation!
The God of Destruction coughed lightly and turned serious. "The Divine Realm is destined to encounter a space-time turbulence in the future. If we want to keep our Divine Realm from being swept away, we need to fuse with other Divine Realms and shore up our foundation."
"On that, you have my full support."
Ling Bai approved of expanding the Divine Realm. Stability was only part of the reason. More importantly, the stronger the Douluo Divine Realm grew, the more God Positions it could birth and sustain. He was not in the habit of leaving family or companions behind. Every person who had walked the road at his side would receive a God Position of their own.
The God of Destruction smiled, deeply satisfied with the Angel God before him. In the old days, Tang San had always leaned on his control of the Divine Realm Hub to oppose him at every turn, even rallying the Elemental Gods to resist alongside him. Ever since Tang San's fall and Ling Bai's rise, the two of them had hit it off at once and thrown themselves into expanding the Divine Realm with fiery zeal.
The first under the knife had been the Crimson Realm. The Crimson Mother had been sitting peacefully at home when God Kings came dropping from the sky onto her doorstep.
The Douluo Divine Realm was, after all, a land of courtesy and etiquette. The moment they arrived, Ling Bai and the God of Destruction greeted the Crimson Mother with three solid punches.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Crimson Mother was done for, and the Crimson Realm was folded into the Douluo Divine Realm.
Having tasted success, the God of Destruction turned into a ravenous wolf and locked his sights on the other great Divine Realms. The God of Light Changgong Wei, the Immortal Emperor Hai Long, and the Heavenly Emperor Tian Hen were picked off one after another. The Douluo Divine Realm doubled in size.
On one triumphant return journey, they stumbled upon the Abyssal Plane and the Demonic Plane. Ling Bai had no interest in orchestrating some earthshaking ten-thousand-year grand scheme. He cut down the Abyssal Sage King and the Demon Monarch with a single sword apiece and seized their sorry little Planar Lord seats for himself.
Such minor planes were beneath the Divine Realm's notice, so the Douluo Planar Spirit received a hearty extra meal.
The Douluo Continent's planar consciousness grinned so wide it could hardly close its mouth.
This Son of Destiny is really something. Goes out on a trip and even brings back local specialties!
From then on, the Douluo Continent underwent sublimation, and True Gods were permitted to be born within it.
The God of Destruction went on, "I sent the Space God to scour the cosmos. Guess what? Heh, he found two more Divine Realms! Angel, a new storm has appeared!"
He slapped his thigh at the exciting part. "Each of those two Divine Realms has a God King presiding over it. One is the Zither Emperor. The other is the Mad God.
Go back and settle your family affairs. Then we move fast and finish them off!"
Ling Bai's eyelid twitched. The Zither Emperor Ye Yinzhu, the Mad God Lei Xiang... good heavens, the life stories of those two were absolutely wild...
The God of Destruction counted off on his fingers. "The Zither Emperor's Divine Realm and the Mad God's Divine Realm are each roughly a fifth the size of ours before the expansion. Slotting in another eight or ten 1st Class Gods this time around won't be a problem, and our odds of weathering the space-time turbulence go up considerably.
Angel, let's play it aggressive and clear both Divine Realms in one sweep. From the sound of his name alone, this Zither Emperor doesn't strike me as much of a fighter. We handle him first, then swing around and finish the Mad God!"
"No."
Ling Bai sank into thought, then slowly shook his head. "The Fire God just gave birth to our daughter. I need to keep that time free for her and the baby.
How about this. Kindness and the Elemental Gods hold the Divine Realm. You, Life, and Evil take the Seven Original Sin Gods and a force of Gods against the Mad God's Divine Realm.
Elder Yi, Teacher, the Golden Dragon King, and I will lead another force against the Zither Emperor's Divine Realm.
Finish the fight early, clock out early."
"A war on two fronts... I suppose it could work..."
The God of Destruction smacked his lips, then froze as something clicked into place.
Hold on. I've become the conservative one?!
Ling Bai had needled him without meaning to. The God of Destruction wore a properly dejected face. "We'll do it your way.
The Divine Necromancer and the Forest God, those two old men have gotten up to plenty of wicked business under your wing. Every enemy corpse ended up conscripted into the Divine Necromancer's undead ranks...
Right. Have a word with the new Golden Dragon King and the Silver Dragon King down in the lower realm. At your suggestion, the Divine Realm relaxed the laws around beasts becoming Gods, but I'll say it again. Beast Gods can never cross the red line of one-third of all the Divine Realm's Gods."
"Don't worry. As the Divine Realm grows stronger, the count of human Gods keeps rising. Spirit beasts cultivate slowly, so those who ascend remain extremely rare." Ling Bai smiled in reassurance. "The new Golden Dragon King is my beloved. She wants nothing more than lasting peace between our two races. The Silver Dragon King is still recovering from her injuries. The will is there, but not yet the strength."
"So long as it's under control. If you ask me, just to play it safe, you might as well also... cough, cough!"
The God of Destruction caught the blade-sharp glint in Ling Bai's eyes and switched tracks in an instant. "When do you plan to settle in the Divine Realm? Are you really going to stay down in the lower realm the full hundred years?"
Ling Bai let out a small sigh. "You know how it is. I have many relatives and friends. They have families of their own, and not every one of them longs for eternal life.
A single lifetime is ten thousand lifetimes of fate. Some would rather step back into the wheel and begin again. This hundred years is necessary. It gives the people by my side the time to say goodbye to the people by theirs."
"Then I won't press you anymore."
The God of Destruction sighed. He had only the Goddess of Life as kin, while Ling Bai stood at the center of a whole constellation of faces. Envy slipped into his voice. "Angel, your life really is the colorful one. Life and I have wanted a child for ages, and we've never managed it.
If I remember right, your daughter with the Fire God is your fourth?"
"Yes. The fourth."
Ling Bai's face softened into the kindly smile of a proud father. His enemies had been reduced to ashes, the Angel Empire was developing in orderly fashion, and his chief task in the lower realm had become siring heirs to carry his bloodline. Day and night of tireless labor, and the fertile soil had at last blossomed and borne fruit.
Ling Xiao, son of the 1st Class God Glazed Goddess Ning Tian, was also Ling Bai's eldest son. He possessed Twin Martial Spirits, the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda and the Death Abyss Spider Emperor. The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, from top to bottom, regarded him as the successor they had longed for, the unquestioned Young Clan Master.
Ling Yao, son of the 1st Class God Holy Goddess Ye Guyi, was born from the union of two great angels, a remarkable little angel in his own right. His Martial Spirit was the Seraphim, and he carried the potential to evolve into a twelve-winged angel. He was the Crown Prince of the Angel Empire and its future Emperor.
Ling Xian, daughter of the 1st Class God Golden Fairy Goddess Han Ruoruo, was Ling Bai's eldest daughter. Her Martial Spirit was the Immortal Binding Rope, an enhanced version of the Dazzling Golden Rope. She had been born with a spatial attribute at the Ultimate level, and Ling Bai had confirmed it as an Ultimate Space Martial Spirit. Han Ruoruo and her godmother Zhang Lexuan raised her in the palms of their hands, a little princess cherished by all.
Ling Ya, daughter of the 1st Class God Fire God Ma Xiaotao.
The 1st Class God Positions held by Ning Tian, Ye Guyi, and the others had been condensed from the God Positions and divine power Ling Bai quietly set aside during his campaigns against the various Divine Realms. Ma Xiaotao, by contrast, was one of the very few prodigies at Ling Bai's side who had drawn a God's inheritance through her own ability. Her daughter was no less extraordinary, born with an innate aura of evil. Ling Bai had foreseen that her Martial Spirit would be the Heavenly Evil Phoenix, a Martial Spirit of Ultimate Evil.
The Heavenly Evil Phoenix discarded the flames of the Evil Fire Phoenix entirely and instead pushed the evil attribute to its furthest extreme. Unlike the evil fire of the Evil Fire Phoenix, it would not gnaw at Ling Ya's mind. It was simply the Evil Attribute in its purest form.
The God of Destruction studied the fatherly glow on Ling Bai's face and grumbled, "Why is your luck this good? I spoke with the first-generation Angel God and that Tang San fellow before. The Angel bloodline is notoriously hard to pass down. You've been a God for less than ten years. How did you suddenly end up with four children?"
"Who told you it was luck?" Ling Bai arched an eyebrow. "After Teacher became the Forest God, he developed a folk prescription for difficult conception. Herbal, healthy, opens the meridians, refines the body, and it works on God Kings just as well.
I took it for less than three months, and Xiao Tian and Guyi were already expecting Xiao'er and Yao'er. The results were immediate."
"You're serious?!"
The God of Destruction let out a yelp and seized Ling Bai with both hands, eyes brimming with tears. "The aura of Destruction and the aura of Life are at odds with one another. My wife and I had practically given up hope. I won't lie to you, Angel. Xiao Lü and I have already discussed it in private. We were getting ready to steal one of your children!
We both want a daughter, and we'd already picked. Your eldest girl, Ling Xian, is as fair and delicate as a little jade doll, and when she smiles her big eyes curve like crescent moons. She's going to grow into a beautiful young lady, no question about it!
Angel, hand over that prescription, or we really are going to make our move!"
"Wait... you're going to steal a child?!"
Ling Bai was struck speechless. Are you two God Kings of the Divine Realm, or human traffickers?!
The God of Destruction snickered. "Get on with it. If Life gives birth, drinks are on me."
"Who wants your cheap booze? That prescription is far too precious. Not a drop for you." Ling Bai shook him off with a look of open disdain.
"Fine, Angel. You forced my hand." The God of Destruction sneered. "I figured it out a long time ago. When we conquered the major Divine Realms, you quietly tucked away thirty percent of the God Positions and divine power for yourself!
Hand over the prescription, or I'll see you at the Divine Realm Committee!"
"Save the act." Ling Bai returned the sneer in kind. "I did take thirty percent. But so did you. Kindness and Evil couldn't bring themselves to be that shameless, so they only took twenty. The final twenty percent was what actually went into the Divine Realm Hub for the Committee to manage."
"Eh, no, I didn't, I never did any such thing. Don't slander me!" The God of Destruction lied through his teeth without so much as a blink.
"We understand each other." Ling Bai's tone leveled out. "God Positions and divine power have to go somewhere. Why not to those loyal to us?
Kindness and Evil have only just arrived. In prestige they can't match you and your wife, and in strength they fall well short of me. Elevating a few trusted subordinates is only natural.
The Seven Original Sins have followed you for hundreds of thousands of years. The Divine Realm has just been upgraded. They deserve a promotion in station. Even if they can't become God Kings, a high-tier 1st Class God position is a fitting reward.
I'm no different. I need a great many God Positions to grant those close to me eternal life. Each of us has our calculations. We simply keep to a tacit understanding and don't spell it out."
"You're right." The God of Destruction gave a bitter smile. "But Life and I are only one child short of complete. What do you say I trade you a few God Positions for that prescription?"
"No need. I was only teasing you. Anything to keep you from turning up at the Angel Temple whenever you're bored."
Ling Bai tossed three jade bottles his way and added with a light chuckle. "Once we've finished with the Zither Emperor's Divine Realm and the Mad God's Divine Realm, unless something serious comes up, stay away from the Angel Temple for twenty days. Give me twenty peaceful years on Douluo Continent."
"Naturally, naturally. Off you go. I have real business to attend to!" The God of Destruction cradled the jade vials as though they were priceless treasures.
"Xiao Lü, I'm coming!"