Chapter 66: Expanding the God Realm, Constant Rejections, and Goddess of Life's Betrayal
[I am the God of Destruction. Since the very creation of the God Realm, I have always existed.]
[My wife is the Goddess of Life. Both of us were born from the two Origin powers of the Creator Gods.]
[From the moment the God Realm gained order and structure, I have carried the duty of guarding it.]
[Over the endless years, I have gained countless loyal subordinates.]
[I have endured countless trials.]
[And throughout all this time, I have never once strayed from my original intention—to serve the God Realm faithfully, without complaint.]
[The Goddess of Kindness and the God of Evil may be the ones holding ultimate authority, yet they often wander off to play in other worlds. Thus, I was forced to shoulder the burdens they left behind.]
[Still, I never resented it.]
[As long as it was for the sake of the God Realm, I was willing to work harder than anyone.]
[Later, time passed, and one after another—the Asura God, the Goddess of Kindness, and the God of Evil—chose to retire, leaving the God Realm in search of their own retirement lives.]
[To me, life in the God Realm might have been dull, but I never once considered retirement.]
[The Asura God chose a youth named Tang San as his successor. The first time I laid eyes on this boy, I instinctively rejected him.]
[Tang San was the first ever dual-god in history, inheriting not only the Asura God's position but also the Sea God's legacy.]
[In my view, for one man to hold two godhoods was an injustice.]
[So many mortals with immense talent reach the absolute limit of cultivation, only to die of old age because there are no god positions left to inherit.]
[Though I resented Tang San, this was the choice of the Asura God and the Sea God. It was not my place to intervene.]
[The successors of the Gods of Kindness and Evil were a married couple—Ji Dong and Lie Yan.]
[I thought that when Kindness and Evil departed, they would entrust the core of the God Realm to me.]
[By seniority, by contribution, by ability—I was the most qualified.]
[But to my shock, before leaving, they did not give the core to me.]
[Instead, they deemed Tang San—an outsider who had only just ascended—more suitable to take charge of the God Realm's center.]
[Not only that, but they even handed over their Supreme Divine Artifacts to him for safekeeping, instead of to their own chosen heirs.]
[No matter how I thought about it, I couldn't understand. Why was Tang San worthy of such trust, while I, after hundreds of thousands of years of loyalty, was not?]
[Did our endless years together mean less to them than one mere mortal who had only just arrived?]
[What means did Tang San use to make them favor him so much? I swallowed my resentment and continued devoting myself to the God Realm's development.]
[But soon, I saw too many gifted mortals who, after reaching the peak of cultivation, withered away without ever becoming gods.]
[I proposed expanding the God Realm—creating new god positions, bringing in these mortals so that they would not be lost to history.]
[But Tang San immediately opposed me.]
[He rejected my proposal because of a so-called prophecy. According to him, the God Realm would face a great catastrophe in the future. To prepare, he refused to consume the energy of the core to expand divine seats.]
[And the other God Kings supported him.]
[Once again, I could only swallow my dissatisfaction.]
[Years turned into centuries. Dynasties rose and fell in the mortal world. I personally watched countless brilliant souls fade away, powerless to help.]
[My heart ached for them. If only the God Realm had enough god positions, these talents would have ascended, and with them, the God Realm would flourish even further.]
[So I brought it up again. The so-called prophecy had never come true. Who knew if it ever would? I refused to waste any more time.]
[Tang San once again rejected me. For the sake of "safety," he insisted it was better to sacrifice a few mortals than risk the God Realm as a whole.]
[The others still sided with him. Ji Dong and Lie Yan were nothing compared to the original Gods of Kindness and Evil—they only cared about their blissful little world and had no interest in the future of the God Realm.]
[Furious, I left the meeting.]
[Years continued to pass, but still the so-called catastrophe never came.]
[Was Tang San lying? Or was his prophecy wrong?]
[At the next council meeting, I once again pressed for expansion.]
[By now, I no longer cared about his excuses. If Tang San had agreed from the beginning, the God Realm would already be overflowing with new deities.]
[Tang San told me to wait one more year.]
[But one day in the God Realm is one year in the mortal realm. One more year meant 365 more wasted years down below.]
[I would not stand by and watch more talents die in vain.]
[So I made my decision—take power by force. Seize control of the God Realm's core, and expand the number of god positions myself.]
[I set my plan into motion.]
[First, I imprisoned Tang San's beloved, Xiao Wu, forcing him to give up resistance. Then, I used the power of the Forbidden Grounds of the Gods to seal him.]
[I did not want to kill him, nor did I wish for bloodshed. I only wanted to expand the God Realm.]
[I thought everything was going according to plan.]
[But at the most critical moment… my wife betrayed me.]
[The Goddess of Life—my beloved Xiao Lu—had always been hesitant about my proposals. I never forced her. Before my plan began, I even asked her not to interfere. I did not ask her to help me, only hoped she wouldn't stop me.]
[But she sided with Tang San.]
[The fury and betrayal I felt were indescribable.]
[I was her husband—why, then, would she stand with another man against me?]
[Everything I did was for the sake of the God Realm. Why could my wife not understand me?]
[That day, for the first time in my life, I raised my hand against her.]
[I battled the Goddess of Life.]
[I could not comprehend why the person closest to me refused to support me.]
[Her interference shattered everything. Tang San broke free. My efforts were ruined.]
[I rallied my followers, the gods loyal to me, and declared war against Tang San.]
[Even if the entire world stood against me, I would not yield.]
[For everything I did, my conscience was clear—I acted only for the God Realm.]
[The war shook the God Realm to its core.]
[And in the midst of it… the storm of temporal chaos descended upon us.]
(End of Chapter)