Looking at the panda before her, as massive as a small mountain, the face hidden behind the mask of the East God King remained utterly unruffled.

Her gaze was cold as she regarded the panda and the North God King standing by its side, and then she slowly began to speak,

"In truth, back when the four of us gathered to plot our grand design, I had already guessed that one day, we would eventually part ways."

"Because your convictions were never firm, and your hearts wavered."

"So, I never truly saw you as like-minded friends."

"Looking back now, I was indeed correct."

Hearing the East God King’s lofty words, Qiu Tu had no chance to retort before the North God King, fanning himself, interjected, "Longchuan Ying, what are you pretending at?"

"After all these years together, we know exactly the measure of each other—our thoughts and our natures are laid bare."

"Weak convictions? Easily swayed?"

"Indeed, you are quite right. After all, had we been firmer in our beliefs, less prone to doubt, we wouldn’t have let you drag us onto that damned ship with you."

At this, the North God King paused, then continued, "Longchuan Ying, do you still recall how we obtained this method to achieve ’Pseudo-God King’?"

"If your memory fails you, allow me to refresh it."

With a crisp "snap!" he closed his folding fan and pointed it at the East God King in the sky, saying, "It was the confidant of that ’Order God King’ we fought who gave it to us!"

The face of the North God King, still boyish, was twisted with disgust as he declared with force, "It was he who told us that he too had once faced a plight just like ours—the God Kings set their sights on their world, and even by rallying all their Heavenly Gods together, they could not stand against them."

"In the end, their world was pierced through, their World Channel detonated, utterly absorbed into the ’Heavenly God Battlefield’ system—reduced to something akin to a colony!"

"So, for countless nights, he racked his brain searching for a way out of the predicament."

"He vowed that, should another chance come, he would save his world at any cost."

"Fueled by that resolve, he finally did devise a solution: abandon his own ’Cataclysm Path,’ sacrifice his Heavenly God Positional Frame, bind himself to his world, and forge a ’God King Fake Form.’"

"Though such an ascended ’Pseudo-God King’ cannot leave their world, within their own domain they possess power on par with a ’Divine King.’ Alone, they could stand against other God Kings."

"If the four of us all achieved ’Pseudo-God King,’ four versus two, we would surely expel the two invading God Kings."

With the North God King’s narration, silence gripped the rooftop.

It was as if his words had carried everyone’s memories back to that turbulent age, centuries past.

After a brief pause, the North God King swept his gaze over the four God Kings, then revealed an even greater truth,

"And more importantly, he promised to join forces with us. If only we could drive back the ’Order God King,’ he claimed he could persuade the ’Order God King’ to withdraw voluntarily."

Pausing, a trace of melancholic nostalgia flickered on his elegant face, "Even then, I was hesitant. There was always this sense that we were stepping into a trap we couldn’t see."

"After all, we were enemies—how could a helper suddenly emerge, volunteering to aid us? Clearly, there was deceit within."

"And yet... I could not withstand your constant persuasion. So in the end, we went along with this scheme to save the world."

"And the result... what was it?"

At those words, the East God King Longchuan Ying, hidden behind her mask, interrupted coldly, "The result? The result was that we drove back the ’Order God King’ and saved this world."

"We are the heroes of this world."

The North God King laughed at himself, "We did drive back the God King, and yes, we saved the world."

"But at what price?"

"We are now utterly bound to this world, and forever in conflict with the ’Heavenly God Positional Frame.’"

"And this conflict—it is not just ours. It is leveled against all ’Heavenly Gods!’"

"Should other ’Heavenly Gods’ exist in this world, it would diminish our authority drawn from the ’World Origin,’ weaken our powers, perhaps even bring our downfall."

"So! For our ’Pseudo-God King’ strength to remain, for our deterrence to hold against the other God Kings, we must banish every other ’Heavenly God!’"

"Otherwise, our power will plummet, and we will be no match for the God Kings!"

"Thus! We are compelled to drive out all other ’Heavenly Gods!’ If not, we all perish together!"

"This! From the very beginning, it was the ’Order God King’s’ devilish plot!"

The North God King’s youthful visage twisted with hatred as he looked towards Longchuan Ying,

—In a sense, we fell for the ’Order God King’s’ trap."

"He wanted this world to become our prison, and then, using our own power, from within and without, drive those dozens of Heavenly Gods into the ’Heavenly God Battlefield,’ where they are easier prey for the hunt." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

"After all... if we use the analogy of human games, the original world is like the respawn point for ’Heavenly Gods.’ If they fall there, they can be resurrected."

"But once they leave the original world for the ’Heavenly God Battlefield,’ then death is the true end."

"That ’Order God King’ clearly intends to utterly devour those ’Heavenly Gods!’"