Chapter 621: Stealing Her Man (Part 1)

At the same time, deep in the starry sky, another god-king level aura soared into the heavens.

"Congratulations, Mother, on achieving god-king status. From now on, you will be invincible across the universe!" In the Crimson Realm, hundreds of abyssal creatures comparable to first-level gods showed expressions of fervent worship.

"Invincible across the universe? That's still a bit early… but not far off," the Crimson Mother said with a faint smile. She raised her hand, and in a distant part of the cosmos, from a plane formed by two planets orbiting one another, the sound of dragon roars echoed throughout the plane. A pillar of nine-colored light shot into the sky. Despite the full suppression efforts from numerous powerful god-level beings, the light still broke through the plane and disappeared into the vast universe.

Its speed was so fast that even a half-step god-king, giving full chase, couldn't catch it.

The pillar of light pierced the starry sky, jumping through space multiple times before finally transforming into a sky-reaching column standing in the Crimson Realm.

If Gu Yue were here, she would have jumped in surprise—this sky-reaching pillar was precisely the Ascending Dragon Pillar she had promised to give to Xia Yi.

The Crimson Mother approached the Ascending Dragon Pillar, gently stroking it with her fair, jade-like fingers.

"It's been a long time! It's about time you return to your true form." A trace of nostalgia flashed in the Crimson Mother's ruby-like eyes. A faint shimmer of multicolored light spread from her slender fingernails and merged into the Ascending Dragon Pillar.

"Roar…"

The sorrowful cries of dragons echoed from within the pillar. The Ascending Dragon Pillar trembled violently, and the nine-colored radiance around it quickly dissipated as the pillar began to transform.

In just a moment, it shrank into a fist-sized glowing orb and landed in the Crimson Mother's hand.

"Mother, what is that?" The abyssal creatures of the Crimson Realm looked curiously at the glowing orb in the Crimson Mother's hand. They could sense that the aura emanating from within was stronger than that of any ultra-divine artifact—even more so than the two that originally belonged to the Crimson Mother.

"This was once my ultra-divine artifact—the World Pearl." The Crimson Mother smiled and turned her gaze to the void. With a gentle tap of her jade finger, she said, "Since you're here, why not show yourself?"

Under the astonished gaze of the many god-level beings of the Crimson Realm, the space in front of the Crimson Mother suddenly rippled like water. A soft, chubby, pale-white tentacle emerged from the void.

"What is that?" Even Tianshen and Yanlong, two half-step god-kings of the Crimson Realm, showed serious expressions.

When had space barriers become so easy to pass through, like water?

Most crucially, the intruder's aura was clearly weak, and yet it had silently infiltrated the Crimson Realm and appeared before them. If not for the Crimson Mother, none of them would have noticed.

Under their watchful eyes, a white head slowly emerged from the void. It looked strange—pale and tender, about a foot tall, somewhat resembling an octopus, but its head was triangular. It rubbed its eyes with soft, pale-white tentacles.

It had eyes—yes, eyes on its triangular head, along with a nose and mouth. After rubbing its eyes, it looked at the Crimson Mother with a guarded expression.

"What, don't recognize me?" The Crimson Mother waved the World Pearl in her hand, smiling.

The little creature stared at the World Pearl for a moment, then suddenly let out a cheer, rapidly waving its tentacles and shooting out of the void with a "whoosh!"

A dozen soft tentacles wrapped around the Crimson Mother's fair neck, and its whole body clung to her, rubbing its soft triangular head against her ample chest.

"Waaaah… My Lord, I missed you so much…" Silvery tears flowed from its eyes, and when these droplets hit the ground, they made crisp clinks—transforming into small silver crystals.

"Void Source Crystals!" The Crimson Realm's powerhouses were shocked again. What kind of creature was this, whose tears could turn into such treasured materials?

"All right, stop crying. I have things to discuss with you." The Crimson Mother helplessly lifted the creature off her chest.

"Mother, what is this thing?" Tianshen asked curiously.

"She is a Void Worm, a child of the space element. Her kind are primordial spirits of the universe. The Space God of the God Realm is her little brother." The Crimson Mother held the Void Worm in one hand and raised the World Pearl in front of it, asking, "You sensed this the moment I summoned it—if I'm not mistaken, you're the one who stole the World Pearl from the Dragon God back then, aren't you?"

"I did!" the Void Worm said with teary eyes. "Even though that four-legged lizard refined Lord's World Pearl into the Ascending Dragon Pillar, the World Pearl could never be so easily transformed. I used a method you once taught me to temporarily take control of it and sent it out of the God Realm."

"So, you were behind the Dragon God War?" the Crimson Mother asked.

"Not exactly," the Void Worm shook her head coldly. "After the Dragon God killed you, he took charge of all divine beasts in the God Realm. But he's just a brute and had no clue how to deal with the God Realm Committee. Conflicts between divine beasts and human deities escalated. I wanted revenge, yes, but I knew a war would cost countless divine beasts their lives—beings you painstakingly nurtured. I couldn't let your hard work become that fool's sacrificial pawns."

"Still, the Dragon God was a supreme god. Stop calling him a 'four-legged lizard,'" the Crimson Mother said, shaking her head. "Tell me about the Dragon God War."

"Yes, my Lord." The Void Worm nodded and transformed into a little girl around four or five years old, delicate and doll-like. She threw herself into the Crimson Mother's embrace again and said, "Your cultivation defied the heavens. I knew you couldn't truly die. But that dumb lizard would surely try to stop your resurrection. My brother and I used a sliver of your aura to create the Time Blue Demon Bird and Space Blue Demon Bird, and spread rumors that you'd be reborn through them. The fool believed it! He hunted them down with everything he had, making even the Committee believe it. After the Dragon God died, my brother told me the Committee tried to raise a Blue Demon Bird in hopes of reviving you, but all they got was a secondary divine beast. Embarrassed, they killed it and gave its divine position to the Fire God. That's how the so-called Phoenix God came to be."

Her eyes were full of disdain and rage. In her view, that so-called Phoenix God, born from a mere secondary divine beast, was an insult to the true legacy.

But this whole ruse was orchestrated by her and her brother—the Space God.

Thinking of this, she grew a bit smug. They had tricked both the Dragon God and the God Realm Committee.

"The old fogies in the God Realm actually wanted me to be revived?" The Crimson Mother blinked in surprise, curious.

"They didn't want you revived," the Void Worm snorted. "But after the war, the divine beasts that survived caused chaos in the lower realms. The God Realm had just gone through turmoil and lacked the deities to restore order. So they thought of you. They figured if you were revived, you'd be weak and easier to control. They planned to use the God Realm's core to enslave you as a tool. But all they got was a secondary divine beast. They spent countless resources for nothing." She sneered.

"I see." The Crimson Mother rubbed her head affectionately and smiled. "Well done. Continue telling me about the Dragon God War."

The Void Worm's face turned cold. "The Dragon God didn't know how to manage divine beasts or deal with the Committee. He showed blatant favoritism toward dragons and spirit beasts that evolved into divine beasts. He even raised a parasite on his body into a first-level god, which sparked resentment. But he only knew brute force—against other deities, against the Committee—escalating tensions to the brink."

She looked at the Crimson Mother, then guiltily said, "My brother noticed the situation getting worse. After I told him the Dragon God was in a bad mood, he took the seven Elemental Gods to go confront him. They told the Dragon God that compared to you, he wasn't even worth a fart. He snapped and killed four Elemental Gods. That's how the war began."

"Just as I thought." The Crimson Mother remained calm, as if she had already guessed it all. After a pause, she asked, "You sensed the World Pearl the moment I summoned it—have you been guarding it all this time?"

"Yes," the Void Worm nodded. "I feigned loyalty to the Dragon God, stole the World Pearl after he refined it into the Ascending Dragon Pillar, and hid it away. After the war, the God Realm searched for your artifact. Fearing they'd find me and thus the Pearl, I hid on a nearby plane. We weren't in the same realm, but I could still sense it if anyone retrieved it."

"You've gone through a lot. Did it never occur to you that I might really have died?" the Crimson Mother asked, pinching her chubby little face.

"No way! Your cultivation touched upon creation itself. Even with all his strength, the Dragon God couldn't truly kill you." The Void Worm shook her head, eyes still red.

The Crimson Mother looked at her with heartache. "You know how hard it is to kill me. But you also know the Dragon God is the same. Weren't you afraid he might be the one who came to retrieve the Ascending Dragon Pillar?"

"Heh! That dumb lizard doesn't even know I stole it. If he had come and discovered me, I'd have just pretended to serve him again, stayed by his side, and kept feeding you intel after your revival. He's so easy to fool." The Void Worm giggled. "Oh right, My Lord—why do you feel so different now? You cultivated the Law of Creation, but now your aura feels filled with evil and destruction. If not for the World Pearl, I wouldn't even have recognized you."

"What if I told you… I let the Dragon God kill me on purpose?" the Crimson Mother asked with a smile.