stonecrandall Chapter 72: Selfish Desires Beneath the Mask of Holiness!
Chapter 72: Selfish Desires Beneath the Mask of Holiness!
Chapter 72: Selfish Desires Beneath the Mask of Holiness!
Just as everyone was discussing, the murky list suddenly jolted open, and the first name, which was ninth on the list, appeared!
[TOP9 High Priestess of Poseidon Island, Poseidon Douluo!]
Poseidon Island, in front of the Temple of Poseidon.
The originally sacred and peaceful atmosphere froze instantly at that moment.
The seven guardians of the Sacred Pillars, including Sea Dragon Douluo and Seahorse Douluo, stared wide-eyed, their mouths agape, their faces filled with disbelief.
"The High Priest?!"
"How could this be! The High Priest represents the will of the Sea God, is impartial and selfless, and has protected the sea for centuries. How could he possibly be a hypocrite?!"
"Tianmu! This Tianmu must be insane! How dare he slander the High Priest!"
The seven titled Douluo were filled with righteous indignation. If they could reach the sky, they probably would have already rushed up to fight to the death.
However, Poseidon, who was at the center of the storm, did not refute it at this moment.
She wore a bright red robe and held a scepter. Her once timeless and serene face was now deathly pale, even somewhat—ugly.
Her fingers, gripping the scepter, had lost their color from excessive force, her knuckles were white, and her body was trembling slightly.
That was the fear of having one's secrets exposed, the embarrassment of having one's fig leaf torn off in public.
Beside her stood a tall, handsome, yet somewhat weathered middle-aged man.
He was dressed in black, and his aura was as deep as an abyss. He was Tang Chen, the founder of the Haotian Sect, who had just regained his senses and reunited with Poseidon!
Tang Chen stared at the name on the sky for a moment, then frowned and turned to look at his lover beside him, his eyes filled with disbelief and confusion.
"Xi'er—this—"
Tang Chen's voice was somewhat hesitant. In his heart, Poseidon was perfect, pure, and the devoted woman who had waited for him for decades to keep her promise.
He didn't believe the word "hypocrite" could be associated with her.
Poseidon felt Tang Chen's gaze. She instinctively wanted to look away and explain, but found that her throat was blocked and she couldn't make a sound.
Because she knew that if the sky dared to set up the canopy, there must be a reason. And that reason was the deepest, most unseen nightmare hidden in her heart.
Immediately afterwards, those merciless, blood-red words began to appear one by one below Poseidon's name, each word piercing the heart.
[Commentary: A servant of gods, with the heart of a mortal.]
Poseidon, the high priestess of Poseidon Island, is seen by the world as the spokesperson for the sea god, a symbol of justice, holiness, and inviolability.
However, beneath her divine radiance, she was ultimately just a mortal with emotions and desires.
As the high priestess, her ultimate mission is to find and guide the successor of the sea god through the trials. But the price for this mission is to sacrifice her own life to pave the way for the new god.
When facing Tang San, the inheritor of the Nine Trials of the Sea God, she wavered when she realized that Tang San's talent was sufficient to truly complete the trials, and that her own death was imminent.
She wasn't afraid of death; she was afraid—of never seeing that person return.
Driven by personal feelings, she harbored true murderous intent during the assessment! She borrowed the power of the sea to attempt to eliminate the successor chosen by the sea god, merely to survive and await a vague and uncertain promise.
Although she later disguised it as a "test," at that moment, she betrayed the sea god, betrayed her mission, and betrayed her identity as the high priestess.
[To be both a servant of the gods and a lover of the mortal world; to crave a holy name and yet commit murder—this is the mark of a hypocrite.]
Upon seeing these words, Tang Chen's previously puzzled expression froze instantly.
He abruptly turned to look at Poseidon, the disbelief in his eyes gradually transforming into an indescribable shock.
"Xi'er—you—"
Tang Chen's voice trembled. He had always thought of Poseidon as a high priestess, but he never imagined that she would bear such heavy shackles while waiting for him, even defying the will of the gods to intercept and kill the inheritor!
Poseidon no longer dared to look Tang Chen in the eye. She lowered her head, tears welling up in her eyes, her once proud face now filled with vulnerability.
"I—I was just—" she tried to explain, but found that any words seemed pale and powerless.
Just then, the screen changed, and that immersive feeling swept over us once again.
[Future Vision: Poseidon's Sixth Trial]
The scene depicts a vast, turbulent sea.
The future Tang San, wielding the Trident of the Sea God, with eight spider spears spread behind him, looked extremely solemn. And opposite him was Poseidon.
At this moment, Poseidon was no longer the kind elder. She hovered in mid-air, the phantom of the Sea God's Martial Spirit behind her enormous, as if the entire sea had become her weapon.
"Tang San, if you can't even withstand this attack, you don't deserve to be the successor of the Sea God."
Poseidon's voice in the video is icy and chilling.
With a wave of her hand, the entire sea seemed to boil. The endless seawater transformed into a gigantic water dragon, carrying an overwhelming pressure that could crush everything, and crashed towards Tang San.
That wasn't a friendly exchange, nor was it a test.
That was—a decisive blow!
Even through the sky, everyone could feel the undisguised killing intent emanating from Poseidon at that moment! She truly wanted Tang San dead!
Tang San struggled against the giant waves, his blood staining the seawater crimson. His bones cracked, and his eyes were filled with shock and confusion: "Senior—you really want to kill me?!"
Poseidon did not answer, but the cold glint in his eyes intensified, and his attacks became even more ferocious.
At that moment, she was like a gambler driven mad by the desire to survive and for personal gain, with no trace of the holy demeanor of a high priestess.
Seeing this, all seven Sacred Pillar Douluos of Seagod Island fell silent. They had never seen the High Priest reveal such a terrifying side.
Tang Chen stared intently at Poseidon, who was frantically attacking Tang San on the screen.
He saw the struggle deep in her eyes, the pain she felt with each move, and her unwavering determination not to die, nor the fear of dying.
Why don't you want to die?
Because she is still waiting for someone.
Because of that damned agreement—"I will not return until I become a god."
Tang Chen's body jolted violently. The strange feeling, and even a hint of anger at being deceived, that he had felt because Poseidon had made the list vanished in an instant.
Instead, there was endless guilt, heartache, and deep self-blame.
"So it was all for me."
Tang Chen looked at the peerless Douluo beside him, who was hanging his head like a child who had done something wrong, and his eyes instantly reddened.
He stretched out his rough, large hand and, ignoring the horrified gazes of the Seven Pillars around him, pulled Poseidon into his arms.
"Xi'er, you're so foolish—"
Tang Chen's voice was hoarse and thick with a nasal tone, "Is it worth it to wait for this old codger like me? Is it worth bearing such a bad reputation, worth betraying your beliefs?"
Poseidon's tense body completely collapsed the moment she fell into that familiar embrace.
"Waaaaahh ...
This powerful sea god, who had dominated the ocean for centuries, was now weeping uncontrollably. She clung tightly to Tang Chen's clothes, as if grasping at his last straw.
"I'm scared—I'm really scared—"
Poseidon cried out, her voice breaking.
"I know sacrifice is my destiny, I'm not afraid of death—but, but you haven't come back yet! What if I die and you come back and can't find me? We missed each other for a lifetime, I don't want to miss even seeing you one last time—"
"When I found out that Tang San could really become a god, I panicked—I really panicked—at that moment, all I wanted was for you to see me alive again—"
Hearing his beloved's sobs in his arms, Tang Chen burst into tears.
He finally understood.
The so-called "hypocrite" is nothing more than a lovelorn woman's last struggle in the face of despair.
She did indeed harbor murderous intent, and she did indeed violate justice. But in the face of love, who can be an absolute saint?
"It's my fault, it's all my fault—" Tang Chen gently stroked Poseidon's long hair, his eyes filled with regret, "If I hadn't been so obsessed with becoming a god, if I hadn't been lost in the City of Slaughter for so many years, why would you have suffered such torment? I'm the one who drove you to this point—"
Above the sky, the image gradually faded away.
The label of "hypocrite" was still glaring, but on Poseidon Island, in Tang Chen's arms, it became less important.
As you hear the news, you can die in the evening.
For Poseidon, even if she bore the world's infamy and was nailed to the pillar of shame, as long as she could be understood and embraced by him at this moment, all her sins and pain seemed to have found a place to go.
However, for the rest of Douluo Continent, this was merely an appetizer in the "List of Hypocrites".
If even someone like Poseidon can only be ranked ninth, then what kind of hypocritical and outrageous beings must the eight people ranked ahead of her be?
The sky is churning, and a new name is about to be revealed.
[Douluo Continent: Top Ten Hypocrites]
【TOP8——】
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