Chapter 245: Pre-Battle Trash Talk Session
Outside the boundary wall, in the cold and dead deep space of the Universe, the confrontation between seven figures standing above all living beings made the atmosphere heavy and oppressive, as if even the glow of distant stars had dimmed a bit.
After four divine lights manifested, blocking a fatal blow and saving the heavily injured Tang San, the sturdy boundary wall of the Douluo Plane, flowing with seven-colored aurora, silently rippled with a circle of soft waves.
Two figures, one in front and one behind, calmly stepped out from within those ripples.
Lei Chen was still dressed in simple robes, his Aura as deep as the sea, calm and without waves, as if that thunderous strike just now, sufficient to heavily wound a God King, was nothing more than a casual gesture for him.
He had already put away the Nine Heavens Thunderstrike Sword in his hand and stood with his hands behind his back, his indifferent gaze sweeping over the five distinct figures ahead.
Gu Yuena trailed half a step behind him, her silver-gold long dress fluttering without wind in the vacuum of space, flowing with chaotic colors and seven-colored halos. Her exquisite face bore the supreme majesty and coldness belonging to the Dragon God, and those eyes, reflecting the creation and destruction of the Universe, calmly watched the God Kings of the Old God Realm, especially Tang San, who was protected in the rear and being healed by emerald green divine light of life.
The two appeared outside the boundary wall, facing the five God Kings of the Old God Realm across the void. Although outnumbered, their unified and unfathomable Aura, along with the terrifying might of their combined strike that had nearly killed the Asura God just now, ensured that even facing five beings of the same rank, their Aura did not falter in the slightest, instead faintly forming a state of equal rivalry.
After a brief dead silence, the God of Destruction, standing at the very front of the Old God Realm's side, clad in pitch-black divine armor and radiating a violent Aura of destruction, was the first to break the silence.
His majestic and slightly irritable face was now covered in frost, his deep purple eyes staring fixedly at Lei Chen and Gu Yuena, his voice like grinding metal, filled with suppressed fury and questioning:
"Lord of the Douluo Plane! Silver Dragon King! Good, very good! I didn't expect you to have reached such a level of power now!"
His gaze lingered on Gu Yuena for a moment, a flash of surprise and deep wariness crossing his eyes. The terrifying method just now that distorted reality and triggered the collision of creation and destruction reminded him of a certain legend he was unwilling to mention.
"But even if your strength has greatly improved, it cannot wash away your despicable actions of the past!" The God of Destruction's voice suddenly rose, carrying a thunderous anger that echoed through the void. "Back then, it was the two of you who colluded with that vile beast, the Golden Dragon King, causing him to self-detonate at the God Realm Central Hub, heavily wounding the God Realm's Foundation! Furthermore, you, Silver Dragon King, that vile beast, triggered a massive Space-Time Turbulence from the outside. Taking advantage of the damage to our God Realm Central Hub and the significant drop in defenses, you swept the entire God Realm into the endless void to drift and wander, nearly losing us completely!"
As he spoke, he grew angrier, and the pitch-black divine force of destruction around him rippled uncontrollably, silently annihilating nearby small meteorites. "Such actions are insidious and vicious, truly a disgrace to the God Realm and an enemy of all gods! Today we return to settle this blood debt, to exterminate the two of you along with this rebellious plane, to uphold the God Realm's Code and console the years of suffering our God Realm spent drifting!"
The God of Destruction's accusations were powerful and filled with sky-high hatred, as if they were the victims through and through. Beside him, the God of Goodness and the God of Evil did not speak, but their expressions were equally solemn; the Goddess of Life, while putting all her effort into healing Tang San, looked toward the center of the confrontation with deep worry.
Facing this righteous-sounding accusation from the God of Destruction, the indifferent smile on Lei Chen's face did not disappear but instead deepened slightly, though in the depths of that smile was a cold mockery.
"Blood debt? Despicable?" Lei Chen spoke slowly, his voice not loud but reaching the ears of every God King with crystal clarity, carrying a calm and mockery that saw through everything. "God of Destruction, you speak so much of the God Realm's Code and the enemy of all gods. Then, this King would like to ask you, what about your God Realm, especially that 'Enforcer' behind you—"
His gaze, like two bolts of cold lightning, suddenly bypassed the God of Destruction and pinned itself on Tang San, who was receiving treatment in the rear, his Aura still withered but staring back at him fixedly.
"—He, Asura God Tang San, as the God Realm Enforcer, holding the authority over judgment and slaughter, should have been the exemplar of maintaining rules and adjudicating injustice. But what did he himself do?"
Lei Chen's tone suddenly turned sharp, like Nine Heavens thunder exploding in the hearts of the God Kings: "He knowingly broke the Law, using his authority to privately arrange for his parents, who held the status of Second-Rank Deities, and his two Soul Beast brothers, who had reached the level of divine officers, to remain in the Lower Realm, the Douluo Plane, for a long time!"
"The Lower Realm has its own Laws, and gods must not interfere excessively. This is the fundamental iron rule for maintaining the balance of the plane and protecting billions of living beings! Yet you, the God Realm Enforcer, took the lead in violating it!"
His voice carried an invisible pressure, as if stating an irrefutable fact: "Several gods remaining for a long time—their Divine Might invisibly oppressed the plane's Origin, and their very existence was a distortion and destruction of the Lower Realm's Laws! To the Douluo Plane, this was no different from a sword hanging overhead or a slow-acting poison. Over time, the plane's Foundation would be damaged, and the suffering of its inhabitants would only be a matter of time!"
"Your God Realm first violated the fundamental rules you yourselves set to maintain the balance of the Universe! It was you who first bared your fangs at the Douluo Plane, posing a substantial threat to its survival!"
Lei Chen's gaze swept back over the four God Kings—Destruction, Kindness, Evil, and Life—and his voice returned to a calm but even more resonant tone: "What the Silver Dragon King and I did back then was not a baseless provocation, but a forced counterattack. It was a necessary choice made for self-preservation and the survival of the billions of lives beneath our feet when our existence was threatened!"
"The cause of all this—ultimately, who was the first to cross that line? Who was the first to destroy the balance? Who was the first to become the source of that 'rebellion' and 'injustice'?"
Lei Chen's words were like the sharpest of daggers, slicing open the seemingly righteous facade of the Old God Realm one by one, pointing directly to the contradictions and unseemliness of their actions.
The Old God Realm's side fell into a brief, dead silence.
The God of Destruction opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to retort, but everything Lei Chen said was rational and pointed directly at the core contradiction of the events back then—it was indeed the God Realm, it was Tang San, who first violated the iron rule against gods remaining in the Lower Realm for long periods and interfering excessively.
This rule was meant to protect the billions of fragile planes and beings in the Lower Realm; it was one of the cornerstones that allowed the God Realm to remain transcendent and maintain its 'orthodoxy' and 'order.'
Since their side had broken the rules first, been caught in the act, and faced the most intense and effective counterattack, how could they now have the nerve to stand on the moral high ground and accuse the other party of being 'despicable'?
The God of Destruction's irritable face turned red and blue before finally settling into a grim ashen color. He suddenly turned his head and glared fiercely at Tang San, who was receiving treatment behind him, his eyes filled with anger and an undisguised sense of 'more harm than good.'
He had already been dissatisfied with Tang San, a 'junior' God King whose style of handling matters often carried personal bias. Now, because Tang San's private actions had brought such a great disaster to the entire God Realm and placed their side at an absolute disadvantage in terms of morality, his ill-will toward him reached its peak.
The God of Goodness and the God of Evil exchanged a look, both seeing the complexity and a hint of helplessness in each other's eyes. Even the Goddess of Life's healing movements paused slightly as she let out a nearly inaudible sigh.
Reason seemed to be on the other side. This war of revenge, from the very beginning, was cast under a shadow called 'being in the wrong.'
"Cough, cough... huff... huff..."
Just as the atmosphere solidified and the God Kings of the Old God Realm were lost in their own thoughts, a series of coughs and gasps, suppressed with pain and boundless hatred, came from the rear.
Under the 'Praise of Life' treatment, for which the Goddess of Life spared no divine force, the surface of Tang San's shattered divine body no longer seeped blood, and fresh pink skin had grown over the charred areas. Although his Aura was still weak, he had finally stabilized and was no longer in a state where he might perish at any moment.
He struggled, and with the support of the Goddess of Life, he barely straightened his back and raised his head once more.
Those eyes, as red as blood, now looked as if they were about to drip blood. The flames of hatred burning within them were almost substantial enough to erupt as he pinned them fixedly and unblinkingly on Lei Chen, as if he wanted to swallow him alive.
Regarding Lei Chen's 'righteous' rebuttal, the God of Destruction's dissatisfied glare, and the silent reactions of the other God Kings... Tang San seemed to have seen and heard none of it.
In his heart, there was only one thought left, a most primitive and crazed obsession that had supported him as he struggled to survive the Space-Time Turbulence and returned through all the hardships!
"Rules... reason... haha... hahahaha!" Tang San's voice was hoarse and dry, like an old bellows, letting out a hair-raising low laugh. He stared fixedly at Lei Chen, enunciating each word as if squeezing them from between his teeth, soaked in blood and poison:
"Those... I don't want to hear them now! Tell me... Lord of the Douluo Plane..."
His voice suddenly rose, carrying a hysterical madness and urgency:
"My parents! My daughter! Where... are they now?! What have you... done to them?! SPEAK!!!"
The final 'SPEAK' was almost roared out, shaking the surrounding void slightly, showing the extreme anxiety and fear in his heart.
Facing Tang San's near-uncontrolled questioning, the calm on Lei Chen's face did not change in the slightest, but his gaze became increasingly deep and cold, as if looking at an irredeemable madman.
He met Tang San's predatory gaze and spoke slowly, his voice flat yet like the coldest verdict, echoing clearly in the ears of every God King:
"Your parents are already dead."
"What?!" Tang San's body shook violently, his pupils shrinking abruptly. Although he had long had the worst premonition, hearing it confirmed with his own ears still made his divine soul feel as if it were tearing apart.
"However," Lei Chen changed the subject, his tone carrying a hint of cold irony, "it was not by my hand."
As Tang San suddenly raised his head with a look of disbelief, Lei Chen continued to state the facts calmly, as if telling a story that had nothing to do with him:
"Back then, after the God Realm was swept away, that pair of parents of yours secretly communicated with and drew in the Abyss Plane, which had long been coveting the Douluo Plane. They intended to use the power of the Abyss to throw the situation into Chaos, and even... to divert the trouble, letting the Abyss and me suffer mutual losses so they could seize the opportunity to profit."
"Unfortunately," Lei Chen shook his head slightly, as if lamenting their stupidity, "those who play with fire eventually burn themselves. What kind of person is the Tian Shen? Is he someone easy to deal with? Your parents plotted with a tiger and were eventually killed by the ruthless Tian Shen himself. Their divine positions were shattered, their divine souls annihilated, and they became nourishment for the Abyssal blood sacrifice. Speaking of which, they can be considered to have... died a worthy death."
"No... impossible! You're lying! You must have killed them!" Tang San's eyes were nearly splitting as he shook his head crazily, utterly unable to accept this fact.
Lei Chen stopped paying attention to his madness and turned his gaze toward the Douluo Plane, as if piercing through dimensions to see a certain sealed location, and continued:
"As for your daughter, Tang Wutong..."
He paused and looked back at Tang San. The cold mockery in his gaze turned into undisguised contempt and a kind of... condescending pity?
"I merely sealed her. I restricted her movements and placed her in a clean land, so she could no longer stir up trouble, nor... be used by someone like you to get involved in rights and wrongs again."
"After all," Lei Chen's voice suddenly turned cold, each word like a blade cutting into Tang San's most painful spot:
"I still understand the principle that one's crimes should not be visited upon their children. Did you think everyone is like you, stopping at nothing for personal gain, involving the innocent, treating rules as nothing, and being someone who can't even maintain a basic bottom line—a—"
He leaned forward slightly and, facing the pale and trembling Tang San, clearly spat out the final word:
"Beast?"
As the word fell, everything became silent.
The deep space of the Universe was as cold as ever, but a killing intent even more freezing than absolute zero and more suffocating than anything else erupted violently from Tang San's body!