Chapter 43: Thoughts of a Sea god.
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✦•✦•✦•✦•『Chapter 43: Start』•✦•✦•✦•✦
『 Douluo Dalu World . Divine Realm 』
Inside the Sea God's temple stood a handsome man with long, overflowing blue hair, staring intently at a large orb on the ground that reached his chest.
The orb contained a view of a planet, and it kept shifting from one continent to another at a rapid pace while the man's blue eyes scanned the footage with extreme focus and a cold light.
'This doesn't make any sense at all. He just disappeared into thin air.'
He closed his eyes and brought his hand to massage his aching temple, which bore a trident mark.
'How is this possible? How did this brat just disappear into thin air and remain undetected for two whole years?'
He sighed and refocused on the orb as it zoomed in on a particular mansion in a certain kingdom.
Notably, the mansion had White Tiger markings scattered throughout its design. It was the White Tiger Mansion in the Star Luo Empire.
But why would this blue-haired man keep stalking that particular mansion like a creep?
'The new son of destiny was born here; his signature peaked for a moment before returning to normal, and then it just disappeared after a couple of days.'
He wondered as he kept reading the graph shown by the orb in front of him.
'And the worst part is that his signature remained hidden from that moment on, and it has continued to be so for the last two years.'
Time flows differently in the Divine Realm.
The ratio is set so that one day in the Divine Realm is equal to an entire year in the world of Douluo Dalu.
The dimension of time's grasp on the gods of the Divine Realm is relatively weak when compared to mortal beings. It goes to show how advancing from a third-dimensional life form to a fourth-dimensional life form can impact how the world reacts around you.
So, why was the benevolent (self-proclaimed) Sea God feeling frustrated?
Well, he had turned away from monitoring Douluo Dalu for just a moment to comfort his wife and keep her company after their beautiful daughter descended for "training."
And then "bam" the Son of Destiny vanished. The Sea God had spent the last two days investigating the incident, and until now, he hadn't reached a satisfactory conclusion.
With a final sigh, he swiped his hand over the orb, and the view zoomed out until the entire Douluo Dalu planet was visible.
'Even using the Divine Realm core to access the data logs of the Douluo Dalu world proved useless. His final appearance was in the capital of the Heavenly Soul Empire.'
'He just disappeared into thin air, and what is even worse is that he was still carrying the destiny of the Douluo Dalu world with him. It didn't scatter to find a new son of destiny, meaning that he is still alive.'
He pondered this as he made his way toward the main room of the temple, where a blue throne sat in the middle, radiating a blue-gold light that illuminated the entire space.
Beside the throne, a golden trident was embedded into the floor without damaging the ground it sank into.
The blue-haired man made his way to the throne before slumping down into a relaxed position.
'Now, what to do? What to do?'
His ten-thousand-year plan was at risk of being just that, a plan on a drawing board. All because of a freak accident that hid the son of destiny from observation.
His first suspect was the consciousness of the Douluo Dalu world itself. He hypothesized that it was attempting a last-ditch guerrilla tactic, with the goal of breaking free from his control.
'Do I really have to strike down the consciousness of the Douluo Dalu world and just be done with it?'
His blue eyes sharpened for a moment, carrying an immense killing intent that spread out, turning the gentle blue temple into a blood-red slaughterhouse.
He thought for a moment before reeling in his killing intent, allowing the temple to return to its gentle blue-gold color.
'No. Doing so would burden Mother and Father.'
He needed the consciousness of the Douluo Dalu world intact for his mother to consume and improve her divine position and in turn increase the 'rank' of the world of Douluo Dalu.
If he destroyed it, she would have to spend the next 10,000 years devouring the scraps of a dead world, and it wouldn't even help her upgrade her divine status.
'And if that wasn't enough, that bastard Destruction has been giving me too much trouble lately. Why is he so obsessed with the idea of expanding the Divine Realm?'
He huffed in annoyance when he remembered the God of Destruction opposing him openly.
It was the old Conservative vs. Liberal political debate all over again, except this time, it was between divine beings.
One party wanted to keep things as they were, with new thrones ascending only every few millennia or so.
The other party wanted more gods to ascend with a diverse divine throne pool to further enhance the "weight" of the Divine Realm.
In theory, the union of two godhoods could offer far more benefits to the Divine Realm, as their offspring could, theoretically, gain a new aspect that could be utilized to create a new divine throne. To make matters worse for the Sea God, Destruction used his own beautiful daughter, Tang Wutong, as an example.
She was born from the union of the Sea God throne and the God King of Slaughter throne, yet she carried an aspect of light that was different from both of them.
In fact, she was more in tune with aspects of butterflies and light, which were vastly different from her parents' domains. This meant that the offspring of gods in the Divine Realm could theoretically increase the number of aspects stored within it, giving it enough weight to ascend from a mere Divine Realm to a Divine World.
But he knew better. The moment the Divine Realm would be at its most critical and vulnerable point would be during this ascension process; it would allow other realms of a similar nature to slip through the gaps and attack them.
'I am surrounded by nothing but idiots and incompetent people. You didn't learn anything from the previous mistake of the Dragon God, did you? You morons.'
He gritted his teeth at the thought of those idiots in Destruction's political party. He was so mad he nearly burst a vein at their idiocy, especially the Sin series gods who serve directly under Destruction.
'If only my supposed "friends" were not so useless, I wouldn't have been pushed this much by Destruction and his goons.'
His supposed friends were none other than the members of the original "Shrek Seven Monsters." But a long time had passed, and none of them showed any sign of breaking through to become a first-level god. All of them were still stuck at second-level godhood.
'Mubai has been nothing but trouble lately. He has a scandal every other week until it's become the norm. And when things go south, he runs back and hides under my protection. The bastard is the reason my reputation is being sullied in the Divine Realm.'
'His wife, Zhuqing, has given up and accepted that she married a man-whore who can't keep it in his pants at the sight of a pretty goddess. She spends her time drinking and staring into the distance, and my Xiao Wu has to comfort her every now and then. I am fed up with those two.'
His head ached at the mere thought of them. So many nights he had been blue-balled because Zhuqing called Xiao Wu to complain.
'Hongjun, the bastard who had the most potential to reach first-level godhood, became a husk of his original self after failing to bring his wife with him into the Divine Realm.'
'What did he expect when he fumbled the test of a first-level Flame God and had to be demoted to a second-level Phoenix God? Did he honestly not see that one coming?'
Ma Hongjun, who was supposed to be a first-level Flame God, had fumbled the bag and failed the divine test. If he had achieved that rank, he might have swayed the other elemental gods to join the camp against Destruction.
'And finally, Oscar and Rongrong. Both actually had the potential to have sway in the Divine Realm due to their uniqueness, but they keep "breaking up" and "reconciling" like it's nobody's business.'
'And Rongrong has been giving me eyes for the last decade or so, even though she fully knows that I would never hurt my Xiao Wu.'
The mere thought of cheating on his wife and causing her misery filled him with so much disgust and hatred that he nearly split Rongrong in two with his Asura Divine Sword.
He silently cursed Destruction one more time under his breath and sighed, resting his head against the throne and closing his eyes.
'I already sent Xiao Qi to the Clear Sky Hammer Sect on the Douluo Dalu continent. The soul-splitting was a success; though some complications happened here and there, she is stable.'
It was his first time attempting a soul-splitting operation, and he had performed it on his daughter, no less, and without even consulting his wife.
His wife only knew that they were sending Xiao Qi to his "brothers-in-law" in Douluo under the pretext of "training."
But only he knew the true purpose: to find the son of destiny and recruit him into his camp against Destruction.
And for that to happen the operation was necessary. It was calculated with no margin for error, and if it succeeded, his daughter would carry the luck and destiny of an entire race, allowing her to flourish beyond the limits of a normal goddess.
It was a perfect plan.
Not only would his daughter's talent increase, allowing her to break into the upper echelons of the Divine Realm more easily in the future, but she would also get to marry a talented individual with the potential for godhood.
And the cherry on top would be for the Son of Destiny, who would gain the chance to have a beautiful wife from a "good" and "strong" family.
As a matter of fact, he even felt like he was losing a bit in the deal. After all, what father wants to see his baby girl leave his house?
The son of destiny should kneel and thank his lucky stars that he even caught the eye of this God King.
He was even thinking of captur- saving the soul of the chosen one's mother and preserving her in the Divine Realm as a "surprise" for his future "son-in-law."
To let him know that he, Tang San, was a benevolent God King who was even willing to accept him and his mother as part of his own family.
If this were a K-drama, Tang San would be the benevolent CEO who might agree to accept a penniless "son-in-law" and his family as long as his daughter was happy.
But this was reality, not a K-drama.
And lo and behold, both Dai Yuhao and his mother, Huo Yun'er, had disappeared right under his nose, putting him in a critical position.
The plan was time-sensitive as well. Huo Yuhao needed to meet with Wang Dong and form an unbreakable bond.
That bond would later transform into unbreakable love when Wang Dong revealed that she was actually a girl called Wang Dong'er, one-third of Tang San's daughter's soul.
Time was the most important factor in the plan. Both of them needed to meet while they were young, at an age when they are impressionable and it is easy to form bonds with one another.
He tiredly exhaled before opening his eyes and started brainstorming.
'First, the monitor on Douluo Dalu is set to ping me the moment either Dai Yuhao or Huo Yun'er appear. Their life signatures are stored in the logs of the Douluo Dalu world.'
'I will also instruct the high priest on Sea God Island to be on standby in case they need to be "saved" or "rescued" from a dangerous situation.'
After all, the best way to gain the gratitude of someone is by helping them in their desperate times.
'And finally, I will instruct those two idiots in the Clear Sky Sect to keep an eye on him once he appears. Those two bastards are having such a jolly time spoiling Xiao Dong'er that she doesn't even practice anymore.'
He gritted his teeth at the thought of his supposed "brothers-in-law" spoiling his daughter and wasting her potential.
The thought of them spoiling her rather than him made his Asura divine throne boil with hatred.
'It should have been me spoiling my daughter with all the treasures in the world, instead of those two, that dumb monkey and coward snake.'
His eyes shone with an eerie red color before quickly changing back to blue. Why the sudden mood shift? Well…
"San-ge, are you there?"
A soft, innocent voice entered his ears, and it melted all his frustrations away like a gentle summer breeze. Of course, he knew who it was.
"Xiao Wu."
He called her name gently. The doors of the throne room opened to welcome the newcomer.
She was a beautiful woman with a rosy face, fair skin, and a soft appearance that resembled a ripe honey peach. Her long brown hair was combed into a scorpion braid hanging past her hips, which complemented her pair of bright, soft, and intelligent eyes.
She was Xiao Wu. The woman he literally shared his godhood with, the love of his life and his wife.
"San-ge, I have been trying to call you for a while now. Did you forget that we are having dinner with Rong Rong and Oscar?"
She greeted him with a smile.
The smile that formed on his face at he sight of her, nearly crumpled at the mention of those two bastards, but he hid it well.
"Come on, we are already late!"
She placed her hands on her hips and continued in a scolding tone, but it carried no heat; in fact, it was quite playful.
He just laughed gently before teleporting beside her and sweeping her up in a princess carry. She yelped in his embrace before laughing along with him.
'Whatever. Whether Dai Yuhao and Huo Yun'er appear or not, I am sure I will figure something out.'
He thought this while kissing his wife on the cheek as they exited the Sea God temple.
Clack. Clack.
The doors of the Sea God temple closed.
✦•✦•✦•✦•『Chapter 43: finished』•✦•✦•✦•✦
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