In Zhou Qing's speculation, the one chosen by the God of Asura was most likely the mother of the First Angel God.
And furthermore, it was very possible that her mother was the one who wished for the First Angel God's death.
Why?
You could draw a parallel to the mother of the First Emperor of Qin—Zhao Ji.
The First Emperor unified the written script and standardized the width of carriages.
The Angel God also unified the written language and spoken dialects—going so far as to abolish her own family's language and writing system.
Even across different worlds, history often follows similar patterns.
As for the specific details?
Since only fragments of myth remain, Zhou Qing didn't dare make a definitive judgment. But if you imagine the First Angel God's greatest enemy being her own mother—and cast her mother in the role of Zhao Ji—it actually fits quite well.
In short:
For some reason, the First Angel God and her mother likely became estranged, leading to a rift between mother and daughter. The God of Asura took advantage of this, bestowing the mother with a trace of the Evil God King's power and secretly teaching her how to draw strength from the world's evil thoughts, dark desires, and corrupted faith, eventually becoming a god herself.
In the end, angels and rakshasas clashed in a great war.
If you try to infer from the original story, the winner of this divine wager was the God King of Goodness.
The original text describes the relationship between the Rakshasa God and the Asura God as one of mutual restraint and balance. If the Rakshasa God and the Angel God held equal divine ranks, then the First Angel God, as the first to ascend to godhood, should've been stronger. But because she still harbored familial affection, the now-insane Rakshasa God found an opening to strike. The Angel God was either killed in a full-force assault or willingly fell beneath the Rakshasa God's scythe because of that lingering affection.
After the Rakshasa God killed the Angel God, she cut off the last thread of emotion, went completely mad, and tried to destroy the world. That's when the Asura God stepped in to restore order, killing the Rakshasa God. This led to the outcome where, in the eyes of the people of that era, the Asura God and the Rakshasa God were seen as forces that kept each other in check.
Yet the God King of Goodness ultimately won the wager, so the Angel God's divine position was preserved...
And if one divine position remained, why not leave both? So the Rakshasa God's position was left intact as well...
According to this theory, Zhou Qing suddenly realized something. In the original story, the battle between Tang San (and Xiao Wu) versus Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue:
Dual gods—Sea God and Asura God versus dual gods—Angel God and Rakshasa God.
This was the resolution of the divine wager's "historical leftover problem"!
[If the gods of the Divine Realm are really like those conspiracy theories in fanfiction from Zhou Qing's previous life—scheming in a thousand ways—then they're not so scary...What's truly terrifying is if they're just as the original series portrayed: bored out of their minds, enforcing rules on a whim, creating chaos just to entertain themselves.
Such enemies are the hardest to deal with, because you can never predict what they'll think of next.
No wonder Tang San's "millennia-long plan" succeeded in the original story—it's probably because the gods were all going stir-crazy from thousands of years of boredom, while Tang San, as a transmigrator, still had a little bit of foresight.
And then you think about people like Ji Dong and Lie Yan—those love-crazed types...]
At this point, Zhou Qing could completely imagine what the Divine Realm was really like—a chaotic mishmash. You had Greek-style gods like Poseidon, innate gods from the dawn of the Divine Realm like Goodness, Death, Asura, Evil, and Life; gods resembling the Seven Deadly Sins from Christian mythology; and elemental gods.
The only thing missing? Eastern gods.
And judging from how these gods behaved in the original story, their actions resembled the Indian pantheon's ways—but with far worse attitudes.
At least the Indian gods genuinely hoped for human well-being and granted blessings. But in the Douluo Divine Realm, while the gods had set up the rules, they didn't actually care. They were just looking for entertainment. Otherwise, they wouldn't even bother glancing down at the mortal world.
Plus, to even become their entertainment, you had to be at least near god-level.
——
"Not necessarily what?" Qing Zhuzhu asked curiously.
"Nothing," Zhou Qing snapped out of his thoughts, took a deep breath, and smiled leisurely. "I just thought of a great story. If I ever publish it, the entire Spirit Hall will probably want me dead."
The truth about the past was something Spirit Hall didn't dare to publicize. Only a few ancient families preserved fragments of the myths and legends.
If Zhou Qing really turned this into a story, Spirit Hall—and probably soul masters across the entire continent—would hunt him down.
"Story? What story?" Xiao Wu couldn't follow Zhou Qing's train of thought at all. How did this suddenly turn into a story?
"I'll tell you when we get back," Zhou Qing rubbed his temples to ease the exhaustion from overthinking and reminded himself:Now's not the time for these thoughts.Those Divine Realm gods couldn't care less about planets without divine-level powers. Let alone a mere fifteenth-level soul master like him.
Qing Zhuzhu saw Zhou Qing's fatigue. She didn't know exactly what terrifying history he had pieced together from these scattered myths, but she was sure of one thing—Zhou Qing was truly smart.
And so—
"Zhou Qing, would you be my tour guide?" she asked earnestly.
"What? I'm the one who took this quest!" Xiao Wu protested, giving a cold snort. But seeing the genuine smile on Qing Zhuzhu's face, she couldn't stay mad for long. She just pouted, "If I'd known, I wouldn't have brought you guys to find Zhou Qing in the first place. And the quest reward is still mine."
"Of course, we'll pay extra to this young brother Zhou Qing." The maid, having already noticed Zhou Qing's reasoning abilities—and her young lady's interest in him—felt it was no harm for them to connect. If Dai Mubai couldn't be relied on, Zhou Qing might just be a one-in-a-million chance at a way out for her lady.
"You seem more like Qing Zhuzhu's mother," Zhou Qing remarked, seeing both the affection and struggle in the maid's eyes.
"I'm not! Don't say that!" the maid hurriedly denied.
"Zhu-ma has cared for me since I was little. She's like a mother to me." Qing Zhuzhu suddenly looked up and, without hesitation, hugged the maid's leg. In a soft voice, she said, "Actually, I've always wanted to do this, but I never dared to at home."
In the Zhu family, Zhu-ma was closer to her than her own mother.
But she was never allowed to hug her.
Yet now, because of Zhou Qing's words, she seized the opportunity and did it.
The Zhu family was strictly hierarchical. A servant embracing their master was absolutely forbidden and punishable by the harshest penalties.
"Miss, how... how can this be proper?" Zhu-ma was touched but also flustered, though in the end, she still wrapped her arms around Qing Zhuzhu's waist.
"This proud, stern-looking maid actually has a gentle side, huh?"
It should've been a warm, touching moment.
But, of course, someone had to ruin it.
"Xiao Wu, if you don't speak, no one will think you're mute," Zhou Qing said, annoyed.
"Yeah, Xiao Wu, learn to read the room," Tang San chimed in.
Xiao Wu: "..."
PS: Read Advance Chapters at patreon.com/c/Xentronix