Chapter 20: Crossroads of Destiny

"Why? Why should it be like this?!"

Qian Daoliu felt the overwhelming malice of the world.

He had always been trampled under Tang Chen's heel. His clan had forever been crushed mercilessly beneath the Tang family's feet.

On the surface, his son had been defeated—killed—by Tang Chen's grandson. His old face had lost all dignity. For vengeance, he should have stormed the Clear Sky Sect and razed it in blood. Yet, he honored his promise to Tang Chen and never crossed the line.

But Tang Xiao saw his mercy as weakness. He, Qian Daoliu, one of the Three Limit Douluo, unmatched beneath the heavens, was repeatedly provoked by the junior Tang Hao!

Being forced to confront Tang Hao as his opponent was tantamount to being told:

"You're not even worthy of being my grandfather's rival."

So yes, Tang Hao had asserted his dominance—but only by stepping squarely on this old man's face!

The woman he loved, Bo Saixi, not only didn't love him, but even hated him. Without hesitation, she sacrificed herself to Tang Chen's great-grandson. That great-grandson—fused with two divine powers—defeated Qian Daoliu's own granddaughter. His whole life had become a laughingstock.

"Why is it that this world favors Tang San so much?" Bibi Dong asked bitterly.

She had sacrificed everything to become a god, poured her entire being into it—yet Tang San's path to godhood seemed like a backdoor shortcut. The injustice gnawed at her.

Wherever Tang San went, fate seemed to follow.

"Because he is the Child of Destiny," someone answered. "There are those naturally born under fate's favor, meant to fulfill great missions. But there are also those who seize the world's fate and forcibly impose it upon themselves. As a visitor from another world, Tang San belongs to the latter."

"A great portion of your world's fortune has gathered on Tang San—including what should have belonged to your Spirit Hall. All of it converged on Tang San, the story's protagonist, and his family. With fate on their side, everything goes smoothly for them—while you, stripped of that fortune, suffer misfortune instead."

Destiny is intangible, elusive. But Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue had reached godhood and understood its weight. Hu Liena, drawing on her memories from a previous life, also grasped its truth.

The Clear Sky Sect shouldn't have been able to rival Spirit Hall. Yet heaven itself seemed to bless them. Tang Chen, Tang Hao, Tang Xiao, Tang San—generation after generation, they produced talents who overshadowed the Qian family.

Tang Chen crushed Qian Daoliu to the point he couldn't lift his head. Tang Hao, though just a newly titled Douluo and a grandson's generation younger, utterly smashed the 95th-level Super Douluo Qian Xunji, along with the Chrysanthemum and Ghost Douluo, to the point of ruin. Even Qian Renxue, the most promising of them all, after becoming a god, still lost to Tang San.

The world itself showered the Tang family with kindness—and showed nothing but malice to Spirit Hall, who stood opposed to them.

Spirit Hall tried to hunt the Blue Silver Emperor spirit beast—yet in the end, it gave Tang Hao his ninth spirit ring. They pursued Xiao Wu, but it only benefited Tang San. They went after the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape—yet again, Tang San reaped the rewards.

They launched a war to unify the continent, but instead handed Shrek the banner of justice and righteousness.

This was the power of fate. If all the fortune of the world were a single stone, Tang San and his circle had eight-tenths of it to themselves.

What followed was a flood of future memories—Douluo 2, Douluo 3, Douluo 3.5, and side stories from the divine realm—all surged into their minds.

They saw the future that awaited after Spirit Hall's downfall.

Ten thousand years later, the world birthed a new Child of Destiny—this one born naturally. He fell in love with Tang San's daughter. After being "trained" by Tang San, he became a loyal sycophant to the Tang family—a dog wagging his tail for "San-gege."

He used the crisis in the God Realm as a pretext to sever the path to godhood on Douluo Continent. Tang San, exploiting that same crisis, ousted the Gods of Life and Destruction and seized their divine cores.

At the same time, he appointed Tang Hao and Ah Yin as the Plane Lord of Douluo and the guardian of the Tree of Life—all under the banner of "meritocracy over nepotism." He passed the first-generation fortune of Douluo Continent to his moth-like son, Tang Wulin.

Tang Wulin seduced Gu Yuena, the last hope of the soul beast race.

Tang San orchestrated a plan spanning millennia, plunging the continent into massive bloodshed. And when the dust settled, it was his father, Tang Hao, who stepped forward to claim the credit and leave behind a shining legacy.

His grandson inherited the bloodlines of the Golden and Silver Dragon Kings, becoming the Dragon God. His son and daughter? Appointed, by none other than Tang San himself, as the twin gods of Life and Destruction.

In short, if you were even remotely related to him, you'd be guaranteed at least one divine position under the banner of "merit."

After tens of thousands of years of careful planning, Tang San had become nothing less than a dictator of the Douluo Plane, ruling alone across the ages—with six divine kings in his bloodline.

The entire story lavishes praise upon Tang San, never short of flowery compliments and affirmations of his "righteousness."

But beneath the golden veneer is rot—his selfishness, greed, and hypocrisy—no amount of eloquence could cover them up.

"Who would've thought Tang San's future life would be so sweet?" Hu Liena sighed.

"Burns the bridge after crossing, kicks away the ladder after climbing—he blocks others' paths to glory just to enshrine his own clan. Six divine kings in one household. Some 'Child of Destiny,'" Qian Daoliu said coldly.

"He treats the world as his chessboard, all living beings his pawns. He really fancies himself quite the chess master," Qian Renxue sneered.

Bibi Dong looked into the chaotic void and asked,

"Senior, if time resets... I want to know: is Tang San still the Child of Destiny in this timeline? Can we still target him?"

"And if he is—what would you do?"

"I'd kill him without hesitation!" Bibi Dong declared.

Going against the Child of Destiny never ends well. And yet, even knowing this, Bibi Dong wouldn't hesitate to destroy Tang San.

"You have commendable resolve. But rest assured—on this timeline, Tang San is no longer the world's Child of Destiny."

"You resurrected us—surely you have your reasons, Senior. If it's not too much to ask, could you tell us what we should do?" Qian Daoliu asked respectfully.

"All things in heaven and earth have their destined fate. When that fate shifts, there are two paths to continuation: one is to split at the branching point, forming two parallel worlds—one where the change occurs, and one where it does not.

"The other path is this: the original timeline remains unchanged, but another diverges. Then, one of those timelines is chosen to overwrite the other—either the new timeline denies the old, or the old denies the new.

"What I am doing is the latter. This timeline, from this point forward, will continue until either Qian Renxue or Tang San is utterly destroyed—body and soul. The final outcome will determine whether this altered reality will replace the original."

"Me?" Qian Renxue pointed to herself.

"Yes. Between you and Tang San—whoever dies will mark the end of this temporal trial. I will evaluate this timeline and determine if it should replace the original fate. This is your one chance... to change your destiny."

"In this timeline, Tang San and the Shrek faction are the protagonists. You are the antagonists. Think of this as a game—I've simply made the game a bit harder for Tang San, that's all."

"Then... is there a standard by which we'll be judged?" Qian Renxue asked.

(End of Chapter)

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