Oscar found it impossible to imagine what kind of tragic battle could have caused such terrifying destruction.
"Boss Dai… Zhuqing…"
Ning Rongrong's face was deathly pale. She stared fixedly at the massive crater, her beautiful eyes filled with fear and unease.
She could feel that the tragic aura belonging to the Hell White Tiger had ultimately weakened and dissipated right here. She didn't dare think too deeply about what that implied.
"Rongrong, don't panic."
Oscar forced himself to remain calm and gripped her hand tightly.
"The aura may have vanished, but that doesn't necessarily mean they… Let's go down and take a look first. We might find a clue."
The two of them slowly descended, landing upon the newly formed prairie.
The moment their feet touched the ground, a vast, pure, and creative surge of life energy—filled with the majesty of creation—poured into their bodies from the earth beneath them.
This energy was gentle yet immense. By merely inhaling a small amount, the powerful life force nourished their divine bodies, allowing their divine power, which had been exhausted by their hurried journey, to be fully restored in just a few breaths.
"What… what an enormous life force!" Oscar exclaimed in shock.
"This feeling… it's even more concentrated than what I've felt in the Forest of Life in the God Realm. This prairie… no, every plant on this land was forced to grow in an extremely short period of time."
Ning Rongrong did not speak. She simply reached out and gently stroked a dandelion swaying in the wind.
She could feel that the vitality of this small weed was incredibly vigorous; the energy contained within it was enough to extend the life of an ordinary mortal.
This land had been transformed into the embryonic form of a Domain of Life.
Just as the two were stunned by this eerie sight, two even more powerful auras approached from the distance. A black and a blue streak of divine light tore through the sky, appearing beside them in an instant. They were the anxious Tang Hao and Ah Yin.
"Mubai and Zhuqing's auras disappeared right here."
As soon as Tang Hao landed, his gaze swept across the battlefield like a hawk. His powerful perception allowed him to immediately detect the unusual mixture of energies in this place.
"At least five deities fought a chaotic battle here. One of those powers briefly reached the peak of a First-Class God."
His voice was low and solemn, each word weighing on their hearts like a heavy stone.
However, Ah Yin's attention was not on those destructive auras.
Her feet were bare, and the moment she stepped onto the grass, her entire body stiffened as if struck by lightning. She closed her eyes, her silver hair fluttering without any wind. Her divine sense and soul seemed to be resonating with the earth beneath her.
"This… this aura of life…" Ah Yin murmured to herself, her voice carrying an unprecedented sense of shock and bewilderment.
"So vast, so pure… it even… even in its essence, it is not weaker than that person in the God Realm…"
She snapped her eyes open and looked at Tang Hao and Ning Rongrong, her beautiful face filled with disbelief.
"It's the Goddess of Life. This aura is too similar to the Goddess of Life from the God Realm. Could it be… has she descended to the lower realm as well?"
"The Goddess of Life?!"
Tang Hao, Ning Rongrong, and Oscar were all shocked by her words.
"Impossible."
Ning Rongrong spoke almost instinctively, shaking her head repeatedly as she rejected the hypothesis.
"That is absolutely impossible. Auntie, you might be sensing it wrong."
"Rongrong, why are you so certain?" Tang Hao asked with a frown.
He had heard of the Goddess of Life's power. If she had truly descended, the nature of this situation would change completely.
"Uncle Hao, you don't know," Ning Rongrong said quickly.
"When we left the God Realm, the war between the God Kings had reached its most intense stage. To maintain the stability of the God Realm's core and repair the rules broken by the fighting, the Goddess of Life invested nearly all of her focus into the Tree of Life. She is spread too thin to leave; how could she possibly descend?"
She took a deep breath and continued her explanation.
"More importantly, there are the rules. The regulations established by the five Great God Kings state that divine entities are not permitted to interfere with the lower realms unless the plane is facing life-or-death destruction. The God of Destruction has always used this rule to restrict Third Brother. The Goddess of Life is the wife of the God of Destruction; she is the person least likely to violate that rule. Forget her true body—in the current tense situation, it's impossible for her to even send a strand of divine sense down."
Oscar also nodded repeatedly in agreement.
"Yeah, Rongrong is right. If the Goddess of Life could just come down whenever she wanted, Third Brother wouldn't have had to work so hard to get us here."
After hearing Ning Rongrong's analysis, the shock in Ah Yin's eyes slowly faded, replaced by confusion.
She closed her eyes once more, carefully sensing that vast divine life force.
After a long silence, she finally opened her eyes and confirmed Ning Rongrong's suspicion.
"Rongrong is right. It shouldn't be her." Ah Yin's voice carried a hint of uncertainty.
"In my moment of agitation, my judgment faltered. This life aura, while similar to the Goddess of Life in temperament, is fundamentally different in essence."
"What is the difference?" Tang Hao pressed.
"It's different…" Ah Yin struggled to find the right words to describe the sensation.
"The power of the Goddess of Life is about protection, nourishment, and healing. She is like a mother, making existing life more beautiful. But the power here… it is about creation, definition, and bestowal."
"It isn't nurturing these grasses; it is telling them, from nothingness, that they should grow this way, that they should possess this form of life. It isn't a mother; it is more like a… Creator."
A Creator.
As these words were spoken, the three listeners felt a chill run down their spines.
This was a conclusion far more insane and reality-shattering than the Goddess of Life descending. Did a mysterious deity possessing the Authority of Creation exist in the lower realm?
"It seems this world has become unrecognizable during the time we were unaware," Tang Hao said, his voice raspy. He clenched his fists so hard his knuckles turned white.
Ah Yin did not continue this unsettling topic. She knew that no amount of guessing could compare to seeing the truth.
As the Blue Silver Empress, this land was her domain.
She slowly crouched down, her fair, slender palm pressing gently against the emerald grass.
"Children, tell me… what happened here?"
Her voice was as gentle as a spring breeze. Her pure divine power transformed into soft blue threads of light that spread from her palm into the earth, establishing the deepest soul-link with every blade of new grass on the prairie.
In an instant, countless chaotic, fragmented, and ignorant consciousnesses flooded into Ah Yin's spiritual sea like a tide.
The vast majority of these grasses had been brought to life after the battle ended. Their consciousnesses were like newborn infants—blank, containing only a pure desire for sunlight and water, and a sense of adoration for the kindred life force in Ah Yin's palm.
They knew nothing.
Ah Yin did not give up. She expanded her divine sense further, like an invisible net, meticulously searching every inch of the land for any "old life" that might have survived the divine war.
Finally, at the edge of the crater—hidden deep within a rocky crevice covered by lava and buried under new soil—she found a small cluster of stubborn, surviving thorns with severely burned roots.
These thorns had been nearly destroyed in the divine war, leaving only their core roots. It was only under the final surge of creative divine power that they had barely managed to cling to life and sprout anew.
Because of their trauma, their consciousness was incredibly muddled and their memories were fragmented, leaving only the strongest sensory impressions branded into their life origins.
Ah Yin carefully used her own divine power to soothe and guide them, laboriously deciphering a few blurred images and feelings from those chaotic fragments.
After a long time, Ah Yin finally opened her eyes. Her face was somewhat pale; clearly, this act of cross-species communication and deciphering chaotic consciousness had taken a toll on her.
"How is it?" Tang Hao immediately stepped forward to support her, asking with concern.
Ah Yin caught her breath and said with a solemn expression, "I saw some… fragments from the consciousness of those surviving children."
She organized her thoughts and translated those shattered images into words.
"First, there was cold."
"Then, there was thunder."
"Next, there was death."
"Finally."
Ah Yin paused, looking toward the vibrant prairie.
"After all the destruction, a white light appeared. That light was very warm, very gentle. Once it appeared, all the destruction subsided, and then the earth began to grow again. Everything came back to life."
After hearing Ah Yin's report, the four fell into a long silence.
The wind of the wasteland blew past them, carrying a trace of chill.
"It seems…"
Ultimately, it was Tang Hao who broke the oppressive silence.
He frowned deeply, his eyes flashing with a sharp, cold light.
"Mubai and Zhuqing were ambushed."
He pointed his finger in the air, as if counting enemies.
"A deity controlling the laws of ice, one controlling thunder, and another controlling death. Along with the one controlling life, there were at least five deities who left their marks here, including Mubai and Zhuqing."
"And the result…"
Tang Hao's voice became incredibly heavy. He glanced at the crater and then at the new prairie.
"Is grim."
"That final life force might not have been there to save anyone. It is more likely the victor was cleaning up the battlefield and erasing all traces."
"No…" Ning Rongrong covered her mouth, tears welling in her eyes. "Boss Dai and Zhuqing… they wouldn't…"
"Rongrong, now is not the time for sorrow," Tang Hao barked, his voice tinged with severity.
"Their auras have vanished, but we found no bodies. This means their situation is still unknown. They could be alive, or they could have been taken prisoner."
His words acted like a shot of adrenaline, causing the nearly collapsing Ning Rongrong to snap her head up.
Right. It wasn't the worst-case scenario yet.
"We must find them as soon as possible."
Both Ning Rongrong and Oscar showed expressions of determination.
Just as Tang Hao and the others were analyzing the clues left on the battlefield, trying to piece together the truth of the encounter from the eerie intersection of death and rebirth, a voice rang out without warning. It seemed to seep out of the void, echoing faintly in their ears.
"How truly interesting. To think that the high and mighty deities of the God Realm would end up failing so miserably upon descending to this mortal dust."
When first heard, the voice was like the mellowest of wines, possessing a seductive charm that could make one's bones go soft.
But upon closer listening, there was a dangerous magic hidden deep within that tone—one that made the mind sway and logic crumble. It was as if listening to one more word would result in one's soul being snatched away.
"Tell me, is this not a very, very funny joke?"
"Who?!"
Tang Hao had the fastest reaction. Almost the instant the voice sounded, his burly frame tensed. His dark red Deathgod Domain erupted like a physical force, instantly enveloping everything within a hundred meters.
However, within the domain, there was no one.
Ah Yin, Ning Rongrong, and Oscar also paled simultaneously.
They were horrified to discover that not one of the four deities had been able to detect the intruder's approach in advance.
This was simply inconceivable.
It meant that if the opponent had harbored ill intent and chosen to launch a sneak attack, none of the four would have been able to react in time. The consequences would have been unthinkable.
An icy chill traveled up their spines to the tops of their heads, leaving them in a cold sweat.
"Hehehe…"
The enchanting chuckle rang out again, and this time, it felt as if it were right in front of them.
They saw the air ahead ripple like a calm lake after a stone had been tossed in.
Immediately following, a graceful and seductive figure stepped slowly out of the distorted space, as if she had belonged to this space all along and had merely pulled back an invisible curtain.
The newcomer was a beautiful woman dressed in magnificent attire. She was tall with a curvaceous, voluptuous figure. Every step she took was full of grace, seemingly capable of stealing a man's soul.
She held an exquisite round fan, which perfectly obscured the lower half of her face, leaving only a pair of slightly upturned eyes that contained endless allure.
Those eyes swept over Tang Hao's group, carrying a playful, teasing look—like a cat admiring mice that had fallen into a trap.
"This humble one is Phantylia. I greet the distinguished guests of the God Realm."
She bowed slightly, performing a flawless etiquette, but the mockery in her tone was not hidden at all.
"Don't be so tense. We could be enemies, but perhaps… we could also be friends~"
Friends?
A murderous intent flashed in Tang Hao's eyes. Just as he was about to speak, Ah Yin suddenly took a step forward. Her eyes, which were usually as gentle as water, were now staring fixedly at Phantylia, filled with shock and an uncontrollable surge of rage.
"The aura on your body…"
Ah Yin's voice trembled slightly with emotion.
"You have the aura of the Golden Tree. It is very dense. The destruction of Shrek Academy… the disappearance of the Golden Tree… you were the one who did it."