Chapter 149: Sincere Apologies!

Zhou Tian looked at the King of Gods with a slightly surprised expression. This old fellow was far more composed than he had imagined; after all, the Zhou family had made an indelible contribution to the shattering of the God Realm.

Instead of flying into a rage, the King of Gods should have at least had some sort of reaction. After all, even his lair had been smashed to pieces. High strength did not mean a lack of emotions.

"Don't you have the urge to smash my head in?" Zhou Tian asked, leaning forward.

"I didn't originally, but I do now," the King of Gods said calmly, watching Zhou Tian lean in.

"A war between worlds is never that simple. Besides, you are merely a mortal, incapable of altering the grand scheme. Why should I lower myself to your level?"

That translates to: I am just a nobody beneath your notice, Zhou Tian mentally summarized.

"You really take things in stride, old man," Zhou Tian chuckled, sitting down cross-legged right in front of the King of Gods. A vein throbbed on the King's forehead, wondering why this mortal possessed such audacity.

"Your ultimate scheme is bound to fail anyway, so why don't you tell me how you plan to go about it?" Zhou Tian sat down and spoke, feeling rather thrilled. Opportunities to sit and discourse on the Dao with an enemy boss did not come along every day.

Even this ruler, who had overseen countless deities, was defeated by Zhou Tian's bizarre train of thought. You are so arrogant, do your family members know? My scheme will fail in the end? Exactly how did you arrive at that conclusion?

"Although you are just a mortal, you are also a member of the Zhou family, which barely qualifies you to converse with me. However, even if your side is destined to fail in the end, there are some things I still cannot tell you," the King of Gods said after a moment of contemplation, borrowing the phrasing he had just learned from Zhou Tian. Having spent who knows how many years stranded here in utter solitude, encountering someone as interesting as Zhou Tian made him somewhat more talkative.

"I know even if you don't tell me. It's just recreating the King of Gods and then reshaping the God Realm, isn't it?" Zhou Tian supported himself with both hands behind him. Although they appeared to be in the void, there was a solid barrier beneath his feet, feeling much like an invisible wall.

The King of Gods shook his head.

"Mortal, you do not understand."

Zhou Tian was left speechless. What nonsense, what do I not understand?

Turning a blind eye to Zhou Tian's constipated expression, the King of Gods said with a hint of nostalgia,

"Even countless ages ago, very few beings could chat with me face-to-face like this."

"Then I suppose I should feel honored."

"You certainly should."

Zhou Tian wanted to retort, but looking at the genuine expression on the King of Gods' face, he realized the old fellow wasn't mocking him at all—he truly believed it from the bottom of his heart. This instantly killed any desire Zhou Tian had to fight back.

"How do your ancient texts describe me?" The King of Gods asked a rather peculiar question.

Zhou Tian was baffled, wondering what was going through this old fellow's mind to make him ask such a question out of nowhere. After a moment of thought, he replied,

"It's not that I refuse to tell you, but I've genuinely never paid attention to any evaluations of you, old man."

"That is rather disappointing."

The King of Gods' eyes flickered, seeming genuinely a little disappointed by this.

Then, the King of Gods abruptly raised his head to gaze into the void above. A certain brilliance flashed in his pupils, and a moment later, an inexplicable smile touched his face as he looked back down at Zhou Tian.

"You really prepared thoroughly, even bringing along a fragmentary Heavenly Venerate-grade supreme treasure."

"Don't look at me like that, old man. I'm just a minor character, the higher-ups in my family don't share their plans with me," Zhou Tian waved his hands dismissively, before adding, "Still, given that we even brought a Heavenly Venerate-grade treasure, you might as well just concede defeat. I can guarantee you'll be spared if you surrender. What do you think?"

"Haha," the King of Gods laughed heartily. "You truly are an interesting little fellow, trying to persuade me to surrender. But don't celebrate too soon; until the very end, it is best not to jump to conclusions."

"Is that a lesson you learned from the Ancient War?" Zhou Tian's words carried a subtle sting.

"You could say that." The King of Gods reined in his smile. "Back then, the Demon Lord and I plotted for a very long time, yet we still lacked the patience. If we had only managed to hold out a little longer, the balance of power in this world might not have turned out this way."

"The Demon Lord?" Zhou Tian searched his memory, only to find he had no impression of this title whatsoever.

"You wouldn't know. The Eight Realms—no, the Nine Provinces as it should be called now—must have sealed away all records of this."

"Oh?" Zhou Tian instantly perked up. It seemed there were hidden secrets here.

"You all refer to my world as the God Realm, but that is actually inaccurate. My world is unique; it is not merely a single standalone realm, but rather a special cosmic structure recognized by the so-called Astral Realm. My realm serves as the dwelling place of gods, and there is another realm which, in your terms, should be called the Demon Realm—the dwelling place of demons."

"We were born from the faith of all living beings, while they fed on the negative emotions of sentient life. Before we discovered your world, we were locked in endless warfare."

The King of Gods' gaze grew profound, as if reminiscing about the ancient era. The scene in the void shifted, displaying a series of grand and magnificent spectacles that appeared to be a battlefield of gods and demons, populated by radiant deities alongside hideous creatures.

"My realm's greatest reliance was its unique spatial structure. The two realms were effectively one, yet possessed two distinct manifestations of the World Will. We originally planned to sit back and reap the profits as the third party, but in the end, we fell just short of success."

Zhou Tian was somewhat astonished, never expecting such a hidden history from the ancient era. However, why were there no records regarding the Demon Realm today?

"Are you curious as to why the information about the Demon Realm was deliberately sealed? It is no great secret, so there is no harm in telling you."

The King of Gods kindly explained it to Zhou Tian, appearing to have suffered from such severe isolation that he was starved for conversation upon seeing a living person.

"After the Ancient War, virtually all worlds were shattered, and rebuilding them was no simple task. I suspect your side used my world—which possessed the most abundant World Origin—as the foundation to connect several other fragmented worlds. But the Demon Realm is special, born as it is from the grievances of sentient beings. With the massive populations of those several worlds, the Demon Realm would have grown into a massive hazard. Consequently, the Demon Realm was sealed away, and to avoid further trouble, even its very existence was concealed from you all."

The King of Gods likely explained it in such detail simply because he had not spoken to anyone in ages, though it was also because these details were indeed no longer secrets; since Zhou Tian belonged to the Zhou family, he would learn of them sooner or later anyway.