Huo Yuhao was taken aback at this, then shook his head with a soft laugh. "Ten thousand years have passed. You've learned some pleasantries. The Spirit Transmission Tower has survived to this day because of your perseverance across generations. I dare not take this credit."
Before he finished speaking, Emperor Tian raised his hand to stop him.
"Pioneering the path and continuation of the path are two different things. You need not be modest."
His voice was low and powerful, exceptionally clear and distinct in the silent night. "Star Dou has survived to this day. Your contribution is undeniable."
With that, this Beast God, who dominated the continent, actually stepped forward solemnly and bowed deeply to Huo Yuhao.
The moonlight plated his upright figure in silver. His black robe flapped in the night wind.
Huo Yuhao instinctively wanted to step aside, but found the space around him had been solidified. This bow from Emperor Tian actually contained spatial power, leaving him nowhere to avoid.
"This bow, you deserve."
Huo Yuhao could only stand still and accept the bow. The night wind lifted fallen leaves, spiraling down between them.
"You didn't have to..."
Emperor Tian straightened up. "I'm just begging. I'm just begging for a clear conscience."
Huo Yuhao helplessly shook his head and didn't dwell on the matter. "You didn't come today just for this, did you?"
"..."
Emperor Tian glanced at the residence behind him, momentarily silent.
How was he supposed to say this? That he had some objections to his Lord inviting a man home?
"If it weren't you that my Lord liked, I might have already acted. Given my relationship with my Lord, she would only punish me for a while. But it's you."
When he first learned from Bi Ji that his Lord already held someone in her heart, his mood had not been good. He had even felt a surge of killing intent.
His Lord's personality was far too pure and innocent. It was difficult to say she wasn't being deceived. Over the past ten thousand years in the human world, he had witnessed far too many sweet lies and false affections.
His Lord was a deity. An ordinary human was not worthy of her affection. The gap in identity and strength was doomed she would be the one giving. What could the other bring her?
The continuation of Star Dou? Improvement in strength? Or just pain?
In Emperor Tian's view, if one couldn't even stand side by side, then nothing else mattered.
Such matters required decisiveness above all else. The longer they dragged on, the more trouble trouble they became. Conversely, if one pinched off the bud, even the source, at the very beginning, once his Lord calmed down, she wouldn't be too harsh.
But knowing it was Huo Yuhao, he was torn.
"I won't say much about your relationship with my Lord. In a sense, among humans, the only one with conditions equal to hers, and whom Star Dou could accept, is indeed you. At least she is not the one giving alone. So I hope you treat her well."
Emperor Tian's voice was somewhat cold. "If not... Hmph, I don't care if you're a deity or not."
He didn't say everything, but the meaning was clear enough.
Huo Yuhao inexplicably felt like he was seeing an "old father." He didn't say anything grand. He nodded gently.
Seeing this, Emperor Tian's expression softened. After a moment of silence, he asked what was most on his mind. "What intelligence did you get from that evil spirit master? I also heard her words. The Holy Cult has a deity?"
Huo Yuhao looked up at the sky. "You should know where it came from. But the intelligence intelligence she has is incomplete. It is unclear precisely which level of deity. I can only confirm it is the divine consciousness of a Third-Class "God or higher."
In this era, following the original development, there were no opponents surpassing a Second-Class God.
The Abyss Saint Lord was said to be a First-Class God, but at that time, he was descended through the body of the Demon Emperor, not fighting on his home ground in the Abyss. On the Douluo Continent, he could only exert the strength of a Second-Class God. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been imprisoned by Unsettled Storm and then beaten to death by Tang Hao, a Second-Class God.
In the final battle, Gu Yuena's strength had not fully recovered. She was evaluated as comparable to the descended Abyss Saint Lord—that is, a Second-Class God. She did not return to the level of a First-Class God.
Over the years, he had more or less figured out that Gu Yuena was in a state of re-cultivation, forcefully regaining her strength. Regardless of the price paid or the time taken, it was uncertain whether she could regain her godlike status.
Emperor Tian frowned. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Their target is the God-Slaying Grade soul tool shells?"
Huo Yuhao nodded. "Although that evil spirit master did not know of this mission, since there is a god-level existence internally, their mission certainly includes this aspect."
It wasn't that they wanted to use the God-Slaying Grade soul tool shells to do something. It was the threat the God-Slaying Grade soul tool shells themselves posed.
Of the three God-Slaying Grade soul tool shells, leaving aside the two weaker ones for a moment, the strongest, Eternal Heavenly Kingdom, in terms of power, was enough to kill a Third-Class God and injure a Second-Class God. It was an extremely intimidating weapon. With a god-level being internally, it was only natural to regard this threat as a target for elimination.
"The storage locations of the three God-Slaying Grade soul tool shells are managed by three people."
Emperor Tian thought for a moment and told Huo Yuhao the intelligence intelligence. "The Mingde Hall Master, the War Temple Master, and the Dark Department Master are each responsible for one."
"The War Temple..."
Huo Yuhao's eyes flickered. "There's something I need to remind you of. The War Temple Master, Hanhai Douluo Chen Xinjie, is from the Sea God Island lineage that once protected the inheritance of the Sea God divine seat."
Emperor Tian was somewhat surprised. Then his expression darkened. "He is from the Sea God lineage?"
He had long known the Intelligence about the Sea God. Two years ago, his Lord had already notified them. He had killed the Golden Dragon King and sealed his divine core in someone else's body. They had an irreconcilable enmity.
Huo Yuhao nodded slightly.
When the Sea God Trident was pulled out by Tang San back then, the mission of Sea God Island had ended. But the Sea God lineage had not been cut off. It had temporarily hidden itself, quietly doing its own work. It had not participated in the war between the Sun Moon Empire and the three Douluo nations ten thousand years ago.
Few people knew the specific circumstances of Sea God Island twenty thousand years ago. By now, it had long been buried in the dust of history.
The world knew only Hanhai Douluo Chen Xinjie, not that he was also Sea God Douluo, and that he possessed a Divine Artifact personally forged by Tang San.
Emperor Tian frowned. "The War Temple originated from the Sun Moon Empire's Hall of Offerings. Its Temple Master holds a status equal to the Mingde Hall Master among the Federation's high-ranking officials."
"Moreover, his strength is enough to compete for number one among the Federation's Limit Douluos. He once fought Yun Ming, eventually admitting defeat. That battle also gave the Spirit Transmission Tower an opportunity to place the title 'Number One on the Continent' on Yun Ming. But in my view, his strength is probably about the same as Yun Ming's. He was being modest."
"Plus, he is not from Shrek. He also supports opening war with the Xingluo and Tiandou Continents. He is a representative of the hawkish faction. He stands opposed to the hawkish faction from Shrek. So the hawkish faction is very confident in him. Chen Xinjie now holds a very high status in the Federation. He is one of the Federation's Vice Chairmen. I never expected he was from the Sea God lineage."
Emperor Tian truly had not expected this. Such a War Temple Master was from the Sea God lineage?
Then shouldn't he be close to Shrek? Yet he held contradictory views with Shrek Academy on various matters. Yet his relationship with the Sea God was closer than Shrek's?
Huo Yuhao shook his head. "It's not strange."
After all, judging from Chen Xinjie's earlier actions, he had been a typical representative of the Federation's hawkish faction. He had always advocated launching attacks against the Star Luo and Dou Spirit Continents. Like the Spirit Transmission Tower, he initially appeared to be a "villain" the protagonist group would eventually have to confront.
Then came reversal after reversal.
First was the love story that suddenly surfaced between him and Light Dark Douluo Long Yeyue, followed by him leading the majority of the War God Temple to stand alongside Shrek.
And finally, the Sea God Helmet he revealed during the battle against the Abyss.
What a commotion.
So in the original work, the Federation's four major powers. The War Temple, Shrek, Tang Sect, and the Spirit Transmission Tower were all of the same origin. Not a single one truly belonged to the Federation. That was truly tragic.
***
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