A god cannot live in the mortal realm.
It isn't law. It's physics. Rank 100 soul power was too dense. Where Xiao Zhan walked, grass turned to crystal. When he breathed, clouds formed. When he dreamed, the Tian Mountains had earthquakes.
Three days after the Trial, the sky split.
Not metaphor. It tore, like paper, from horizon to horizon. Gold light poured down. From the tear came stairs made of starlight. From the stairs came voices.
*[God Realm Decree: New God Detected - Title: Hegemon]*
*[Presence Destabilizing Lower Realm]*
*[Ascend or Be Expelled]*
Xiao Zhan stood on the balcony with Renxue. The eight Divine Marks were behind them. All Rank 90+ now. All crying, though none would admit it.
"Can't fight it," Dugu Bo said. He was Rank 96, Poison God in all but name. "God Realm ejection isn't a fight. It's a flush."
"Then we go," Xiao Zhan said.
"All of us?" Dai Mubai asked. He was an Emperor. He didn't want to leave.
Xiao Zhan looked at his Marked. His vessels. His friends. "You're gods now too. My ascension pulled you up. Divine Marks don't stay mortal."
*[System Confirmation: Divine Mark Secondary Effect - Ascension Sympathy]*
*[All Divine Marks will ascend with Host. They become: Subordinate Gods of the Hegemon Pantheon]*
Li Gou, who started as a street rat, choked. "I'm gonna be a god?"
"You already are," Su Yin said, touching her chest. Rank 47 → 52 after restoration. She could hear the continent's whispers now.
Xiao Zhan turned to Renxue. "You're Angel God by blood. You were always going up. I just sped it up."
"And you?" she asked.
"I'm going home." He looked at the Monarch Sect, at the three empires, at the world he'd rebuilt. "But I'm not taking it with me."
He closed his eyes. The Hegemon System, his partner since he was six, appeared one last time. No screen. No voice. Just a feeling in his chest, like a second heartbeat saying goodbye.
*[Hegemon System: Final Protocol]*
*[Host has transcended. System is no longer required]*
*[Options: 1. Destroy System. 2. Leave System as Legacy]*
"Option two," Xiao Zhan said aloud.
*[Legacy Mode Activated]*
*[System will slumber until a new soul with 'King-Class Will' is detected]*
*[All Host data purged. System resets to base template]*
*[Location: Sealed in Mortal Realm, Douluo Continent, Random]*
He felt it leave. A weight he'd carried since the truck. For the first time in two lives, his head was empty.
He was above all. He didn't need it anymore.
"Let's go," he told Renxue.
The ten of them walked up the starlight stairs. Wei Lian, bent but Rank 91. Dugu Bo, laughing. Dai Mubai, Emperor no more. Ning Fengzhi, already planning Heaven's economy. Su Yin, Li Gou, Ghost Blade, Commander Yue — gods. And at the front, Xiao Zhan and Qian Renxue, the God King and his Queen.
The tear sealed behind them. The earthquakes stopped. The crystal grass turned green again.
The mortal realm exhaled.
________________________________________________________________________________
The Legacy of the God King: Age 1
The God King's story became myth. The Hegemon System's story began again.
See You Again In Next Book
THE LEGACY OF GOD KING
THE HEAVENLY EYES SYSTEM