As the terrifying shockwave of Bibi Dong's self-destruction painted the high-altitude sky in violent, unstable shades of purple and black, Lin Mu utilized the spatial displacement of the Asura Armor to seamlessly teleport back to the battlefield.
The remnants of the Rakshasa God's divine power slowly dissipated into the atmosphere, signaling the absolute end of an era.
"How is she?" Qian Renxue asked, her voice trembling slightly as she looked up at the fading sky.
"Dead," Lin Mu replied calmly, his tone devoid of pity or triumph.
While it was true that even the most hateful person often possessed a pitiable past, Bibi Dong had squandered every advantage and every chance at redemption she was given.
Her tragic end was entirely of her own making. Undeniably, Qian Xunji had committed unforgivable sins against her in the past.
However, if anyone else had been in Qian Xunji's position, they likely would not have let Bibi Dong off the hook so easily, and might have employed even more ruthless methods to secure the Spirit Hall's legacy.
Objectively speaking, the core of the tragedy lay entirely in Bibi Dong's own choices. As the old saying goes, one wrong step leads to a thousand regrets.
If Bibi Dong had been more discerning, if she had possessed even a fraction of pride regarding her romantic partners and hadn't fallen so blindly for a useless, hypocritical man like Yu Xiaogang, none of this widespread suffering would have ever happened. However, if Bibi Dong possessed that kind of rational clarity, she simply wouldn't be Bibi Dong.
"Dead?" Qian Renxue murmured, her gaze lowering as a complex, suffocating mix of emotions welled up inside her chest.
Although Bibi Dong had never once fulfilled her duties as a mother, never treated her with an ounce of warmth, and even harbored a deep, physical aversion to her very existence, she was still her biological mother.
Now, with her parents gone and her grandfather having sacrificed himself for her divine inheritance, Qian Renxue felt a profound, echoing emptiness. She stood at the pinnacle of the world as the Angel Goddess, yet she was utterly alone.
Sensing the heavy sorrow radiating from her, Lin Mu stepped forward and gently wrapped his arms around her slender waist. He pulled her close, resting his chin against her hair. "You are not alone. I will always be by your side," he promised softly, his voice a steady anchor in her sea of grief.
Hearing this, Qian Renxue didn't say a word. She simply closed her eyes and buried her face deep into Lin Mu's embrace, allowing herself a brief moment of vulnerability.
A short distance away, Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo watched the scene in silence. Knowing better than to disturb the couple, they quietly turned and prepared to leave, bringing a silent Hu Liena along with them.
Looking back at Lin Mu and Qian Renxue, who stood together like a perfect divine couple descended from the heavens, Hu Liena's eyes rippled with a complex mixture of deep envy and bitter regret.
If she had met someone like Lin Mu earlier, would her fate have been different? She possessed enough confidence in her own charm and beauty to know she wasn't much inferior to Qian Renxue. Yet, her loyalty had been given to the wrong person.
Surprisingly, at this moment, Hu Liena did not feel an overwhelming surge of sadness regarding Bibi Dong's death.
In the past, she would have most likely chosen to commit suicide to follow her beloved teacher into the afterlife.
However, after enduring the agonizing loss of her cultivation and witnessing the sheer madness of her teacher's actions, her blind devotion had long since withered away. She had even begun to harbor a deep-seated resentment toward Bibi Dong.
If her teacher hadn't been so insanely obsessed with establishing the Spirit Empire to conquer the world, Hu Liena wouldn't have had her cultivation completely abolished. Moreover, hearing Lin Mu's harsh but truthful words earlier had awakened her.
It was simply incomprehensible that her teacher, the high and mighty, peerlessly beautiful Pope of the Spirit Hall, would throw everything away for a pathetic, boar-like soul master who only ever used her. From this rational perspective, her teacher's demise was entirely her own fault.
If Lin Mu knew the cold, calculating thoughts running through Hu Liena's mind right now, he would have been utterly astonished. A heartless teacher paired with an equally pragmatic, self-preserving disciple, they truly were a perfect match.
Following Bibi Dong's spectacular death, the Heaven Dou Empire moved with unstoppable momentum, rapidly annexing the vast territories of the now-leaderless Spirit Empire.
Because the Spirit Empire had previously seized a massive amount of land from the Star Luo Empire during the early stages of the war, all of that territory now fell under the Heaven Dou Empire's banner.
Overnight, the Heaven Dou Empire expanded to directly occupy a staggering seventy percent of the entire Douluo Continent. Factoring in the immense area covered by the Star Dou Great Forest, it was glaringly obvious just how far the once-mighty Star Luo Empire had fallen.
Initially, the proud Star Luo Royal Family resolutely refused to surrender, stubbornly holding onto their dying legacy. However, their defiance was short-lived.
When Tang San, radiating the boundless, ocean-blue majesty of the Sea God, personally descended from the sky above the Star Luo Empire's capital, the sheer, crushing weight of his divine aura shattered their will to fight. Faced with the literal wrath of a god, they decisively chose to submit.
To completely neutralize any future threats of a coup or rebellion from the Star Luo royals, Qian Renxue executed a brilliant political maneuver.
She specifically ordered the entire Zhu family, the traditional source of the Star Luo empresses and the other half of their martial soul fusion skill—to permanently relocate to the Heaven Dou Empire.
This effectively severed the Dai family's right arm, permanently crippling their military might. Furthermore, an imperial decree mandated that all soul masters of the Dai family above the Soul Douluo level must reside indefinitely within Heaven Dou City under strict surveillance.
With this ruthless, two-pronged approach, the Dai family had virtually no chance of ever recovering their former glory, unless both the Wuji Sect and the Elemental Academy miraculously declined thousands of years in the future.
Objectively speaking, while the Wuji Sect might gradually fade over the long river of time as Lin Mu's direct influence waned, the probability of the Elemental Academy experiencing a similar decline was extremely low.
The academy not only embodied Lin Mu's foundational hard work and modern teaching philosophies, but it had also firmly established itself as the absolute ultimate holy land for soul masters on the continent.
By seamlessly incorporating the ancient power and resources of Sea God Island, it had become an infinitely upgraded, vastly superior version of Shrek Academy.
Compared to the old Shrek Academy, the Elemental Academy possessed a distinct, civilized advantage: it entirely discarded the barbaric, thuggish teaching rule that claimed a soul master who didn't dare to cause trouble wasn't a good soul master. Instead, it focused on genuine combat theory, elemental control, and disciplined growth.
Of course, over a long enough timeline, human nature dictates that some corrupt elements are bound to emerge within any massive institution.
To proactively prevent this decay, Lin Mu specifically established a supreme governing council to distribute power, ensuring that no single faction could ever establish absolute dominance over the academy.
If all these preventive measures failed, Lin Mu could simply descend from the God Realm to personally supervise and clean house.
While the strict laws of the universe made it incredibly difficult for other regular gods to descend to the mortal realm, he possessed the supreme, heaven-defying abilities of the Asura Armor, making returning to the Douluo Continent an incredibly easy, casual stroll for him.
With the continent finally unified under one peaceful banner, Qian Renxue shifted her focus to the future of the empire. She began the meticulous process of searching for and grooming a suitable heir to the throne.
She knew she couldn't stay in the mortal realm forever, and the idea of having a child with Lin Mu only to abandon that child on the continent to play emperor while they ascended to the God Realm was far too cruel and absurd for her to even consider.
Meanwhile, deep within the Sunset Forest, Lin Mu sat completely motionless, cross-legged at the very bottom of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
The extreme, contrasting energies of the environment swirled around him as he prepared to undertake the monumental task of condensing his fifth soul core.
Drawing upon the ancient, lingering spiritual remnants of the fallen Water and Fire Dragon Kings buried beneath the well, Lin Mu expertly guided the raw, primordial energies into his body.
After a grueling process of compression and refinement, he successfully condensed a flawless water-attribute soul core, bringing his inner universe to a state of perfect, terrifying elemental equilibrium.
Immediately following this monumental breakthrough, the Destruction Specter resonated within his soul, officially initiating the ninth and final trial of the God of Destruction.
At the exact same time, miles away in the heart of the Elemental Academy, Ye Lingling felt a profound surge of vital energy as she began the ninth trial of the Goddess of Life.
After an unknown amount of time spent in deep, transformative meditation, Lin Mu was the first to shatter the mortal boundaries and complete his trial. He emerged from the well clad in a breathtaking set of purple-black armor.
This divine armor of destruction was etched with intricate, world-ending runes, containing an extremely terrifying, concentrated destructive power that seemed capable of annihilating the very fabric of reality with a mere thought.
Soon after, Ye Lingling also emerged victorious from her divine trial.
Her mortal body had been entirely remade. She was now draped in magnificent holy robes that perfectly blended a vibrant jade green with a pure ivory white, accented by intricate pale gold embellishments. The garments appeared entirely ethereal, warm, and pulsing with vibrant energy.
Devoid of any heavy, restrictive metallic feel, they looked more like divine garments woven naturally from the very essence of nature itself, constantly shimmering with a gentle light and radiating a boundless aura of life that caused flowers to bloom wherever she walked.
Thus, the new God of Destruction and the Goddess of Life were officially born into the world.
Despite possessing the power to ascend immediately, Lin Mu and Ye Lingling chose not to rush.
They spent nearly a century enjoying the peace they had built in the mortal realm, guiding the new era of soul masters and leaving behind indestructible legacies, before finally choosing to step through the dimensional barrier and enter the God Realm together.
The very first thing Lin Mu did upon setting foot in the god realm was not to celebrate, but to brutally settle an old score.
He immediately tracked down the God of Wrath. After dragging the arrogant god into an open arena and delivering a thorough, humiliating, and overwhelmingly one-sided beating, Lin Mu utilized his absolute authority as a God King.
He directly and forcefully removed the battered god from the prestigious ranks of the Seven Original Sin Gods. In his place, Lin Mu summoned Yu Tianheng to the God Realm, elevating his former student to take over the vacant divine position.
As the old saying goes, a new broom sweeps clean. This ruthless, decisive action was a calculated and highly necessary step to establish his absolute dominance and put immense psychological pressure on the other six Original Sin Gods, ensuring their absolute loyalty and obedience to his new regime.
In the blink of an eye, the long river of time flowed forward, and ten thousand years passed in the God Realm.
After ten millennia of continuous, unfathomable cultivation, Lin Mu's power had grown to a state where he was considered truly invincible across all known realms.
With Ye Lingling presiding over the forces of creation and Tang San holding immense authority as the Sea God and Asura God, the absolute power and governance of the God Realm rested comfortably and securely within their hands.
Within a tranquil, cloud-filled courtyard in the God Realm, Xiao Wu leaned comfortably against Tang San's chest, a look of helpless exasperation on her face. "Brother, I wonder where Xiao Qi has run off to these past few days. She's been gone for so long."
Hearing his wife's complaint, Tang San merely shook his head and offered a warm, knowing smile.
He gazed out into the boundless, starry distance with an ambiguous expression. "Xiao Qi has always been incredibly clingy when it comes to Master. She probably sneaked out of the god realm to go play with him again."
"Hmph, what a complete waste of raising her all these years. She loves him more than us," Xiao Wu muttered, playfully pouting.
Far away from the strict rules and boring routines of the God Realm, Lin Mu had already utilized his supreme spatial abilities to bring his companions down to the Douluo Continent for a vacation.
They were currently walking leisurely through a bustling city located right at the modern border between the Heaven Dou Empire and the newly discovered Sun Moon Empire.
One of the people skipping happily beside him was Tang San and Xiao Wu's beloved daughter, Tang Wutong.
She heavily resembled Tang San in her facial structure, sharing about seven points of his looks, but her features were much softer, more delicate, and her bright, expressive eyes were practically identical to Xiao Wu's.
She possessed large, enchanting pinkish-blue eyes framed by incredibly long, curled eyelashes. Her slender, graceful body was draped in a simple yet elegant white dress that perfectly accentuated her flawless, youthful face, while her signature long, pinkish-blue hair cascaded beautifully down her back in gentle waves.
"The God Realm is so incredibly boring, and I always have to be strictly controlled by my parents up there. You're the absolute best to me, Grandmaster!" Tang Wutong cheered, tightly hugging Lin Mu's arm and smiling up at him with unadulterated sweetness.
Hearing her complaints, Lin Mu chuckled warmly and gently patted the top of her head. "They're only being strict because they are doing it for your own good. The mortal world is vastly different from the god realm. People's hearts down here are highly unpredictable, and sudden danger is practically inevitable for someone as naive as you."
"Hmph, but why should I be scared? Isn't that exactly why Grandmaster is here with me?" Tang Wutong said coquettishly, entirely unbothered by the concept of danger as long as he was around.
Seeing the young girl monopolizing his attention, the stunning silver-haired woman walking quietly behind them narrowed her eyes slightly. Stepping forward with elegant, unmatched grace, she quietly came up to Lin Mu's other side and firmly wrapped her arms around his free arm, claiming her spot.
This breathtakingly beautiful silver-haired woman was none other than Gu Yuena, the Silver Dragon King.
Over the past ten thousand years since Lin Mu had become a god, he had continuously and meticulously used his creation and destruction energies to help her fully restore her shattered original essence.
Thanks to his relentless efforts, her grievous ancient wounds had finally healed, and she had successfully reclaimed her peak power, officially reaching the terrifying level of a peak God King. Now, she chose to spend her eternal life peacefully walking by his side.
The bustling sounds of the mortal city surrounded them, a testament to a world that had flourished under the long, unseen protection of the gods who walked among them.
[Volume 3: General - End]