Chapter 187: The Abyssal Ruler!
As the correct answer was revealed in the live broadcast room, over hundreds of thousands of people had participated in answering. Most were ordinary people hoping to gamble on a lucky guess, but in the end, only a few thousand answered correctly. However, among these, only the first correct respondent received a reward everyone else neither gained rewards nor faced penalties.
At the same moment the answer was announced, the system granted the reward to the first correct answerer and issued punishments to those who answered incorrectly. Once everything was settled, the video continued playing to explain the answer.
In the video, humanity on the Douluo Continent was steadily losing ground against the relentless onslaught of Abyssal Demons.
Despite their grotesque, beast like appearances, these demons were not mindless brutes. On the contrary, they possessed intelligence equal to or even surpassing that of humans, with their own civilization and unique demonic language.
Unlike humanity, which had commoners, the elderly, and the weak, every single Abyssal Demon was a warrior. Even the weakest among them were equivalent to Great Soul Masters, and they wielded unpredictable and sinister Abyssal magic.
To make matters worse, these demons were not just strong they were endless in number, swarming like locusts. In terms of raw military power, the fall of the Douluo Continent was only a matter of time.
In response, the various powerful factions of humanity sought to learn more about their mysterious invaders. They captured several high ranking demons those who appeared to be commanders and subjected them to intense interrogation.
Unfortunately, these demons seemed completely immune to pain. No matter what torture was used, they refused to reveal a single word.
It wasn't a language barrier. Before interrogations began, humanity had already used a soul skill to understand the Abyssal language. Likewise, the demons had used a similar spell to quickly learn human speech.
Communication wasn't the issue the demons simply displayed fanatical loyalty to the Abyss. They would rather die than speak. And even if they died, their souls would return to the Abyss, where they would resurrect with their memories intact.
In other words, they were essentially immortal a truly terrifying enemy.
Realizing torture was useless, humanity sent in Spirit Masters specialized in mental manipulation to directly read the memories of captured demons.
Finally, for the first time, the truth of the Abyssal invasion was unveiled to the people of Douluo.
The captured demons were not high ranking officers but low level soldiers, so their knowledge was limited. However, even these fragments of information shocked humanity to its core.
First, the invading Abyssal Demons had not always been demons.
Once, they were humans just like those of Douluo.
Their world, long ago, was much like Douluo. But one day, a rift in the sky appeared, unleashing the Abyssal energy. What followed was the invasion of the Abyssal army.
Just like Douluo now, their world fought desperately to resist the demons.
But in the end, they failed.
The Abyssal energy fully corrupted their planet, transforming the world itself into part of the Abyss.
Every surviving being whether human or beast was forcibly mutated into an Abyssal Demon.
And now, these very demons were invading the Douluo Continent, seeking to offer it as a sacrifice to the Abyss.
A truly mad, nightmarish fate.
Upon learning this truth, humanity fell into sheer panic.
Not just humans the soul beasts also began to fear what this meant.
The Abyssal invasion targeted all life. Their goal was to devour and assimilate the entire world.
If they succeeded, the Douluo Continent itself would become part of the Abyss. Every surviving being human or beast would mutate into an Abyssal Demon.
There would be no escape, not even in death.
Even if one of them died, their soul would return to the Abyss, resurrecting as a new demon, eternally enslaved to the Abyss' will.
This realization shook the entire continent.
No longer could humanity afford internal conflict. The nations abandoned their rivalries and united as one.
As the war intensified, even the soul beasts joined the fight.
For the first time in history, all intelligent life on the Douluo Continent stood together.
It was no longer about humans vs. soul beasts they either fought together, or they all perished.
With their combined strength, they managed to hold back the invasion.
Even as more demons poured from the Abyssal Rift, the united forces of Douluo held their ground.
For a time, it seemed like victory was within reach.
But it was only an illusion.
As the battle continued, the demons emerging from the rift began growing stronger.
The first few Abyssal creatures were weak foot soldiers. But soon, powerful demons appeared, each comparable to Titled Douluos.
Though rare at first, their numbers steadily increased.
And as time passed, their power levels escalated further.
Humanity finally understood: killing the demons was a temporary solution.
The Abyss was too vast, far beyond their comprehension. If the Abyss had already conquered multiple worlds, how could one planet hope to resist?
They could not win through simple combat.
Their only hope was to shut the Abyssal Rift.
If they failed, then in time, even Abyssal Gods would start arriving.
But how could they close the Rift?
To find the answer, humanity captured stronger demons those equivalent to Titled Douluos and scanned their memories.
What they discovered was horrifying.
The Abyssal Rift had not naturally appeared.
It had been summoned.
Somewhere on the Douluo Continent, someone had willingly conducted a ritual, using themselves as a beacon to connect this world to the Abyss.
In doing so, they had offered the entire Douluo Continent as a sacrifice to the Abyssal Ruler.
That was why the Abyss had turned its gaze upon Douluo.
There were only two ways to stop the ritual:
The summoner voluntarily cancels it.The summoner is killed.
Without one of these conditions being met, the Abyssal Rift could not be closed.
Worse yet, the longer it remained open, the stronger the demons would become.
Eventually, if left unchecked, Abyssal Gods would descend, bringing with them absolute annihilation.
As the one who performed the ritual and sacrificed the entire world to the Abyss, naturally, they would also receive great benefits. Once the Abyss completely assimilated and devoured the Douluo Continent, the person who conducted the ritual would be granted the blessing of the Abyssal Ruler, becoming the Demon Lord of this new Abyssal territory on Douluo.
[So that's how it is! That explains everything!]
[Tang San sacrificed the entire Douluo world just to benefit himself!]
[Becoming the lord of the Douluo world… isn't that the same as becoming a god over the entire world?]
[No wonder! I knew it who would do something so self destructive without a reward?]
[Tang San truly deserves to die!]
As the barrage of comments flooded the live broadcast chat, the audience finally understood. The video, structured much like a TV drama, had carefully presented the story in a clear, digestible manner through scenes and dialogue. As a result, everyone fully grasped what the Abyss was and just how terrifying it truly was.
In the Divine Realm
"Bang!"
The God of Destruction slammed his fist against the table, roaring in fury, "Tang San! That bastard deserves to die!"
The other three God Kings also wore grim expressions, clearly harboring killing intent toward the man who had brought the Abyss to Douluo Tang San!
Only the God of Asura had a complicated expression, silently cursing in his heart: "Damn it! A complete disgrace! I channeled most of Douluo Continent's fortune into you, and THIS is what you do?! Instead of cultivating properly and inheriting my godhood, you go and sell off the entire world?! What kind of twisted logic is that?!"
In reality, Tang San's transmigration had been orchestrated by none other than the God of Asura himself. His purpose? To groom a successor. Of course, favoritism always comes with conditions the reason the God of Asura chose Tang San was because Tang San was actually a fragment of his own soul.
To avoid being discovered playing favorites, the God of Asura had deliberately sent Tang San's soul to a lower world first, allowing him to grow while erasing traces of his divine aura. Then, when the time was right, he brought Tang San to Douluo Continent, placing him inside the body of a newborn.
To further ensure his success, he secretly manipulated fate, diverting a vast amount of Douluo Continent's fortune to Tang San. This ensured that no matter how dire the situation, Tang San would always escape unharmed and surpass all others effortlessly.
Everything had been going according to plan until the mysterious Q&A system appeared.
With its arrival, the God of Asura completely lost control over Douluo Continent. Now, he had no idea what was happening to Tang San his future had become completely unpredictable.
And now, through this accursed Q&A video, he had just discovered Tang San's future fate.
The successor he had so carefully nurtured… had somehow ended up colluding with an Outer God and had gone so far as to SELL OFF THE ENTIRE WORLD.
The God of Asura was so furious he wanted nothing more than to reach into the video and strangle Tang San himself.
"I absolutely cannot let the other God Kings find out Tang San is my soul fragment!"
He clenched his fists and made a firm decision.
If this was exposed, his carefully maintained image as a "just and impartial enforcer of divine law" would be utterly destroyed!
Back in the live broadcast
The video continued…
Two familiar figures appeared on screen.
Ye Cheng and Neptune, the two strongest figures of the current era, were seen conversing in a grand hall.
"Brother Ne, is there still no response from the Divine Realm?" Ye Cheng's expression was grim as he looked at Neptune. "It's been some time since the Abyssal invasion began. What is the Divine Realm's plan? As a god yourself, do you know any inside information?"
"..."
Neptune hesitated for a moment. Then, after a long sigh, he finally spoke:
"At this point, I won't hide it from you anymore. In truth, I received word from the Divine Realm long before the Abyssal invasion even began. They warned me that a great enemy was coming and urged me to return to the Divine Realm immediately. From their tone, I could tell that… the Divine Realm has already abandoned Douluo Continent."
"We will not receive any help from them."
"Abyss is too mysterious and terrifying. And judging by how the Divine Realm hastily severed all connections with Douluo and is now desperately hiding, it's clear… at the very least, the Divine Realm cannot afford to provoke the Abyss. They likely fear that if the Abyss discovers their location, it could bring disaster upon the entire Divine Realm itself."
After another sigh, Neptune concluded:
"Without the Divine Realm's support, we are merely delaying the inevitable."
"..."
Ye Cheng fell into silence.
Meanwhile, the audience in the live broadcast room completely exploded.
[WHAT?!]
[THE ABYSS IS THAT TERRIFYING?!]
[THE DIVINE REALM ABANDONED US?!]
[They're afraid of being discovered?!]
[What do we do?! Even the gods ran away are we completely doomed?!]
[Damn it! Those gods are so irresponsible! They just left us here to die!]
[Trash! How can cowards like that even be called gods?!]
Countless insults flooded the live chat. The comments were so filled with profanities that it was impossible to read them all.
In the Divine Realm
The five God Kings remained silent as they watched the video.
They didn't doubt its authenticity.
Because if an enemy truly existed that they could not fight, then sacrificing a single world to protect the Divine Realm and all the lower realms under their rule…
Was exactly the kind of thing they would do.
Back in the video
Ye Cheng stayed silent for a moment, then turned to Neptune and asked:
"Then why did you stay behind? Why didn't you retreat to the Divine Realm and hide with them?"
Neptune smiled slightly and responded:
"I am the Sea God. If even I were to abandon the people of the ocean, then what would become of them?"
The live chat erupted once again.
[Waaahh! Sea God, I was wrong to compare you to those other gods! YOU are the true god!]
[Yes! Unlike those cowards who ran at the first sign of trouble, Sea God is standing with us till the very end!]
[So this is what it means to be a TRUE god!]
[Meanwhile, the so called "Divine Realm Gods" ran away at the first chance they got!]
[Ugh, those gods are trash!]
Back in the Divine Realm
The five God Kings watched as the live chat filled with thousands of messages insulting them.
Their expressions turned dark, shifting between anger, embarrassment, and frustration.
But in the end…
They couldn't refute anything.
Because the live chat was right
They really had abandoned Douluo Continent.
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