Lin Qingyue maintained her Grandmaster stance in the[Yixuan] posture, completely motionless.
Azure Dragon's self-destructive charge had come to a dead stop with an abrupt face-plant, halting precisely before the tips of Lin Qingyue's boots.
Lin Qingyue lowered her gaze, looking down at the "God" who now had its head buried in its crossed arms. Watching the god's back tremble slightly with shame and indignation, the amusement in her eyes deepened.
"So this is the so-called 'Divine Punishment'?"
Her tone was flat and devoid of emotion, yet it carried a scrutiny that struck straight at the soul.
"I suggest you get a gym membership first."
She paused, her voice now laced with undisguised disdain.
"Wait, getting a membership might be a bit too advanced for you."
"How about starting with the Eighth Set of Radio Calisthenics instead?"
These words were more lethal than any Forbidden Curse.
Azure Dragon, collapsed limp on the ground, felt the last trace of strength drain from its bones. It lay there, motionless. A muffled sob escaped from its crossed arms—a sound thick with weeping and despair.
"It's over..."
"I'm not pure anymore..."
"Mortals saw everything... My majesty, my dignity, my image... All destroyed..."
"Just destroy me already, hurry up."
Her voice carried the utter despair of someone who had just had their private diary read aloud in public.
It was as if Lin Qingyue's single sentence had truly pronounced her socially dead.
Lin Qingyue looked at the lump of rotting green mud exuding a decaying aura, and slightly arched an eyebrow.
A slender white finger, with a hint of mischief, gently tapped the Azure Dragon's shoulder, which still bore the wrinkles of pajamas.
The feel was soft and squishy.
It was the kind of flabby fat caused by chronic sleepless nights and a lack of exercise.
Lin Qingyue's lips twitched slightly.
She finally couldn't help but break her aloof Grandmaster facade, initiating a ruthless dimensional-down-scaling roast.
"No, hold on a second."
"You're a Celestial God!"
"The Azure Dragon who controls Vitality!"
"Theoretically, the Divine Body has a built-in setting to be impervious to all laws and shine with the sun and moon, doesn't it?"
She poked the Azure Dragon's flabby arm in disbelief.
Her face wrote two words: "Absurd."
"Yet, a majestic Divine Body was actually worked into this utterly weak and flabby constitution by your lifestyle of severe sleep deprivation, lack of exercise, and shut-in habits in a trash heap?!"
"That bizarre Dungeon Rule about 'personal quality of life directly affecting the combat power panel' must have been written as the base code based on your daily health checkup report, huh?"
"To have an Immortal Divine Body degenerate into this state through being a shut-in, you could be considered the greatest wonder of the God Realm."
"If I had arrived any later, would you have ascended to heaven right here on the spot?"
"Don't... don't look at me..."
The Azure Dragon's voice became even more hoarse and broken.
It carried a heavy sob.
It even faintly revealed a hint of pleading.
"Don't talk to me... I don't want to see anyone... just let me go..."
Lin Qingyue's finger paused slightly.
Her brilliant golden pupils now saw through everything clearly.
She understood.
Those rumors circulating outside that the "Azure Dragon is incredibly arrogant and never looks at mortals with respect"...
That awe-inspiring "aloof Divine Might"...
As it turned out, the truth of the matter was not any kind of high-and-mighty contempt.
It was simply that she had social anxiety and didn't dare to make eye contact!
She dared not communicate with anyone, so she simply shut herself in and avoided contact with mortals.
This was why she was misunderstood as being arrogant.
Lin Qingyue withdrew her finger, looked around, and surveyed the devastated temple.
This was no majestic Divine Kingdom.
It was a massive scene of social death, personally crafted by a God with severe social anxiety, an obsession with creation, abysmal physical fitness, and zero social skills.
And she, the "Aesthetic Bully" Lin Qingyue, had just personally unveiled the most unsightly, most authentic, and most ridiculous side of this "God."
She sighed softly.
A complex yet faintly merciful expression appeared on her face.
"Truly... unbearable to look at."
Perhaps the destructive power of this sentence was simply too great.
Or perhaps the Azure Dragon had already fallen past the bottom line of shame.
The Azure Dragon, lying on the ground, stopped sobbing.
She slowly, with the movements of a zombie, crawled up from the floor.
Since her underwear had already been exposed for all to see, trying to maintain her dignity would only look more ridiculous.
She had already fallen flat on her face, her Divine Body's degeneration had been mocked, and she had died a complete social death...
What was there left to be afraid of?
She might as well just let everything fall apart!
The Azure Dragon sported a messy bird's nest of a hairstyle.
The heavy dark circles under her eyes made her exquisitely beautiful face look exceptionally haggard.
She simply plopped down cross-legged on the pile of books behind her.
She hugged her knees with her arms, resting her chin on top of them.
She looked at Lin Qingyue with eyes that had given up on life.
"Speak, mortal."
Her voice was weak and feeble, carrying the weariness of someone who had seen through the mortal world.
"Are you here to kill me, or are you here to judge me?"
"Hurry up and do it. In my next life, I want to be reborn as a rock."
Lin Qingyue was amused by her completely resigned posture.
"I'm just here to complete a mission."
She waved the manuscript in her hand titled "The Overbearing Vermilion Bird Falls in Love With Me."
"And while I'm at it, I'll conduct a little... academic exploration into a God's spiritual world."
"Academic exploration?"
The Azure Dragon's eyes, like those of a dead fish, glanced sideways.
"You call rummaging through someone else's trash can an 'academic exploration'?"
"This is illegal trespassing and an invasion of privacy!"
Her words were spoken with solemn righteousness.
But because she lacked confidence, it sounded more like a bluff.
Lin Qingyue remained unmoved. Instead, she found a relatively clean spot and sat down cross-legged, mimicking her.
"Then tell me."
"Why would a Celestial God who controls the Wood of the East and presides over vitality and laws let herself get into such a state?"
Lin Qingyue asked,
"Where are your priests? Where is your Divine Body's self-cleaning function? Where is the Temple's automatic cleaning magic?"
This question seemed to flip a long-buried switch inside the Azure Dragon.
A surge of immense resentment and grievance suddenly flooded her dead eyes.
"I didn't want this!"
She abruptly raised her voice.
The bitterness she had suppressed for countless millennia finally found an outlet, bursting forth like a broken dam.
"Do you think I like being alone? I've tried communicating with mortals!"
"I wanted others to see my masterpiece, to give me some reader feedback! But they... they just didn't understand!"
Lin Qingyue played along, asking, "Who are they?"
The Azure Dragon's voice was filled with a blood-and-tears accusation,
"It was those priests from back then!"
"So? What happened?"
Lin Qingyue raised an eyebrow.
Her intuition told her there was a juicy story behind this.
The Azure Dragon sniffed, her gaze turning a bit vacant.
As if she had returned to that unbearable afternoon.
"There used to be many priests outside the Temple."
"I hid inside the Temple writing my things."
"Only the High Priestess, whom I specially permitted, could come in to report matters. The other priests could only worship outside."
"At first, everything was fine."
"Until one day, after the High Priestess finished reporting to me, I had just finished writing a chapter with a major plot climax."
"I simply couldn't resist the urge to 'find someone to share it with'..."
"You know that feeling, right? That craving for someone to say, 'You wrote this so well'!"
Lin Qingyue nodded in deep sympathy.
Although she was only a reader, she understood the vanity of a creator.
"So, I mustered my courage and handed her the fresh-off-the-press manuscript."
She closed her eyes in agony at this point.
"What was it about?"
Lin Qingyue's curiosity was piqued.
A sickly blush crept onto the Azure Dragon's cheeks, her voice as faint as a mosquito:
"It was a fanfiction about 'Marshal White Tiger and Her Tsundere Arch-Rival Black Tortoise'."
"It focused on their love-hate relationship, and how they were forced to cuddle for warmth in the Frozen Abyss... you know, that kind of sisterly bonding."
"By the way, are you Four Celestial Gods all female?" Lin Qingyue suddenly interjected, a bit puzzled.
The Azure Dragon paused.
Her dead-fish eyes blinked as she answered.
"Not exactly. Celestial Gods are formless, and we don't even have a concept of gender."
"It's just that we found that appearing as females makes the mortal races feel closer to us, so now we've all generally taken on female forms."
Lin Qingyue understood instantly and gestured for her to continue.
"At the time, I watched the High Priestess with great anticipation."
"I asked her, 'What do you think of this part? Is the emotional tension effective? Did you pick up on the forbidden nature of their bond?'"
"I thought that even if she just said 'It's okay,' I'd be satisfied."
The Azure Dragon covered her face in agony, her expression one of utter despair.
"But as it turned out! After the High Priestess finished reading, she fell to her knees right then and there! Really, she even cracked the bluestone floor!"
"Why?"
Lin Qingyue had a bad feeling about this.
"She wept openly, her whole body trembling as she cried, 'Divine Oracle! This is the supreme law of the Heavenly Order's operation!'"
The Azure Dragon imitated the High Priestess's fanatical tone from that moment, her voice even cracking.
"White Tiger symbolizes indestructible destruction and offense, while Black Tortoise symbolizes impregnable protection and defense!"
"When the absolute spear meets the absolute shield, only love, only this cross-species fusion, is the sole truth that can resolve the world's conflicts! This is the prophecy of Great Harmony in the Universe!"
Lin Qingyue had already started imagining the scene, her eye twitching uncontrollably.
"...That's a perfect score for reading comprehension."
"What the hell kind of 'Great Harmony in the Universe' is that!"
The Azure Dragon's roar shook the entire hall.
"I was clearly writing a scene where White Tiger pins Black Tortoise against the wall for a kabedon!"