"Damn it, the inherently evil Death God's Throne! I just wanted to touch this child, and for that little bit, you're breathing on me?"
In the God Realm, in a forest filled with emerald green mist, where life force was almost tangible, the Goddess of Life sat on a branch of a towering tree, her bare feet swaying slightly in the air.
She pouted and muttered softly. She wasn't a bad person; she just wanted to be with the minotaur.
The Death God's Throne was anything but magnanimous.
The Death God's Throne could tell at a glance that this green-clad fellow had ill intentions. Being so green, what good could she be?
She even wanted to dye her beloved child green!
How could He allow that?
It was only because the God Realm was so far from the Underworld that He would have given her a good beating.
The Underworld of Douluo had accumulated too many souls since the Dragon God War.
For the Underworlds of other worlds, this situation was something to be overjoyed about.
However, the souls in the Douluo Underworld are not only numerous but also of extremely high rank. Most of the gods who died in the Dragon God Realm returned to the Underworld.
Because the position of the God of Death has no master, the throne of the Lord of the Underworld hangs high.
Ordinary souls are fine, as they can undergo the cycle of life and death according to the natural laws.
But for those first-level gods or even high-level god-kings, the cycle of life and death in the Douluo Underworld, which has lost the sustenance of the Dragon God Realm, is too weak.
These souls are therefore stuck in the Underworld, unable to move.
Furthermore, because there is no immortal spiritual energy to sustain them, and to prevent the Underworld from being overwhelmed, almost all the souls remain in a dormant state, waiting for a turning point in the Underworld in the future.
The position of the God of Death urgently needs someone to ascend the throne, so that the Underworld has a master, and a complete God of Death can maintain the cycle of life and death to the maximum extent, and even allow the Underworld to evolve.
The Douluo Underworld is not far from the level of the God Realm; in terms of scale, it reached that level millions of years ago.
After all, the Dragon God provided a substantial subsidy of billions back then, giving the Underworld a significant boost.
The Underworld is currently lacking a central figure to proactively establish its core and complete its realm ascension.
With its vast and profound resources, the ascensionary Underworld could give birth to Underworld deities, allowing beings to ascend—or perhaps "enter the earth" would be a more appropriate description.
Before the appearance of the Butterfly, the Douluo Underworld was intended to rot away in the universe along with the consciousness of the Douluo Star plane.
However, the consciousness of the Douluo Star plane had been trying to sever the Underworld for the past ten thousand years, throwing it out of the shackles of the Douluo plane.
This allowed the Underworld to rely on its terrifying foundation in the universe, and over time, to perfect itself and sublimate into a complete, advanced realm.
If the Little Planet Spirit wanted, she could completely absorb the energy of the Underworld to continue fighting Tang San, but it would only be a slow death.
Although the number of divine souls in the Underworld was vast, they were mostly in a state of energy conservation; the energy level of heaven and earth was still too low compared to immortal spiritual energy.
It might even allow Tang San to use her as a springboard
to invade the Underworld. In the Little Planet Spirit's view, she would rather destroy her own foundation than let that invasive alien species, Tang San, defile the Underworld, whose foundation was incredibly deep.
Those dead gods were once her children; she couldn't let Tang San defile their spirits.
Letting the Underworld leave Douluo Star was the last thing she could do for these children.
Fortunately, Huo Yuhao appeared. The moment he arrived in this world, fate had already changed.
The Lord of Spirit is here, was here, and will be here forever.
He transcends time and fate; He is the "God" of this universe.
With Huo Yuhao's full help, there was no need to sever ties with the Underworld, and the Underworld also sensed Xia Die's presence.
Xia Die perfectly matched all the Underworld's fantasies about the Lord of the Underworld; that pure death was simply born for the Underworld.
At this moment, the Tiger Talisman on the table had been fully activated, not as a split between good and evil, but as a complete balance of Yin and Yang.
The white twin tiger patterns emitted a faint light in the night, appearing particularly dazzling.
The God of Death and the Goddess of Life suddenly froze.
"Huh? What kind of power is this?"
The Goddess of Life exclaimed. A very strange power emanated from the Tiger Talisman; the power called Balance appeared on Douluo Continent for the first time.
The opposing forces of death and life were drawn together by the Tiger Talisman, forming a yin-yang symbol in the air above the room, half purple and half green.
The yin-yang symbol slowly rotated, its mysterious power guiding the two forces to achieve balance.
The Goddess of Life, residing in the divine realm, stared wide-eyed at the strange green light.
As a veteran God-King, she clearly felt her life force being drawn to and symbiotically bound to the power of death by a peculiar force.
Life was to death as life was to destruction.
If she and the God-King of Destruction could achieve this symbiosis, they could have already conceived offspring, and easily at that, offspring possessing both the powers of destruction and life.
There was even a possibility that their offspring would directly gain the power of creation.
The Goddess of Life tried to understand what this peculiar power was.
The ability to forcibly draw together two forces indicated that the power must be of a very high level, at least at the level of rules. But what rule was it?
If she could figure it out, perhaps she and Xiao Zi could try to use that power to conceive even more powerful offspring.
However, her immediate priority was not that, but to quickly seize this opportunity to pass on the divine test.
The God of Death watched helplessly as the green light slowly drifted down onto the forehead of the sleeping Xiao Die.
The Goddess of Life deliberately slowed down, making the God of Death anxious and constantly transmitting death power into the mortal world through the barrier of the underworld, like a frantically exhaling, but impotently furious old man.
"Caw! That green thing, don't touch her!"
A green Tree of Life rune formed on Xia Die's forehead, sacred and noble.
Xia Die's spiritual sea began to rapidly transform under the nourishment of the rich life force.
"I'm sorry, I can't give you my ultimate artifact, the Ancient Tree of Life, yet. I can only give you a projection."
The Goddess of Life felt somewhat guilty. According to the custom of divine succession, once a successor is chosen, the deity should bestow an artifact as protection and certification.
However, the Ancient Tree of Life was peculiar; it was not only the Goddess of Life's former self but also the core of the Forest of Life.
To maintain the life source of the divine realm, the Ancient Tree of Life could not be given to Xia Die for the time being.
Once the Goddess of Life used her own power to create a core sufficient to supply the life source of the divine realm, she could release the Ancient Tree of Life and then give it to Xia Die.
If the God of Death had a physical form at this moment, he would probably be in tears.
The Tiger Talisman's balancing power sensed the imbalance between life and death within Xia Die's body and immediately became agitated, like an obsessive-compulsive disorder sufferer, forcefully pulling the power of death towards Xia Die.
The Goddess of Life instinctively gasped, trying to stop it.
Even the seemingly incompatible forces of the Sea God and Asura couldn't completely coexist within one person, let alone life and death.
However, she stopped, recalling the strange Tai Chi diagram from earlier—a power capable of achieving symbiosis between life and death.
The God of Death also ceased its struggle, watching as the power of death formed a dark purple rune above Xia Die's forehead, then slowly contacted the life rune belonging to the Goddess of Life.
Two completely different forces achieved symbiosis under the pull of balance, the life and death forces surging along Xia Die's meridians.
Originally, her bloodline was a balance of opposing forces precisely calculated by Huo Yuhao using the Tianmeng Computer, preventing either from becoming too strong or too weak.
Even the acquisition of soul rings required half life and half death.
Now, the balancing power perfectly harmonized the two bloodlines, life and death existing seamlessly within Xia Die's body.
The divine markings on her forehead underwent a transformation, changing from the ancient tree of life pattern into golden bone claw runes.
Life and death intertwined upon them, and the tiger talisman had dimmed and turned to dust, its magic now fully absorbed into Xia Die's body.
Talismans were merely vessels of power; their essence lay in the magic they contained.
A balanced power flowed within her, maintaining the equilibrium between life and death.
The Death God ceased its breath on the Goddess of Life, carefully examined Xia Die's condition, then delivered a sharp slap to the Goddess of Life's consciousness before vanishing from the mortal realm.
Since death and life could coexist, there was no longer any conflict between the Death God and the Goddess of Life; this was purely retaliation for the Goddess of Life's earlier minotaur-like behavior.
The Goddess of Life pouted, intending to breathe back, only to find the Death God had already disappeared.
She sighed and used her life force to purify Xia Die's bloodline, ensuring she would sense the divine trial upon awakening.
This child's bloodline was very mixed; she didn't know how it had happened.
The Goddess of Life carefully helped her purify and integrate her bloodline.
(End of this chapter)
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