"Sure."
Xiao Wu and the other three nodded earnestly.
"Young man, I hope you have the strength when the time comes."
Bo Saixi gave Chu Chengzhou a long look.
Chu Chengzhou: "…"
Looks like my little scheme got seen through?
No matter. With the Sea God's Heart already refined, the Sea God's position was reserved early for Xiao Wu.
Once Xiao Wu activated the Sea God's Nine Trials, the highest status on Sea God Island would not be the Great Priestess Bo Saixi, but Xiao Wu, the Sea God's successor.
Sea God Island was Poseidon's domain. Bo Saixi's title was Great Priestess, but in truth she was a divine servant, and only the current one, not the only servant across the twenty thousand years since Poseidon became a god. Compared to the sole successor, which rank was higher went without saying.
Just then, seven figures flew in from afar.
Six men and one woman, all Titled Douluo. They were the Seven Sacred Pillar Douluo of Sea God Island.
The tiger's roar and that terrifying evil aura from Xiao Hei had swept the island sky. The Seven Sacred Pillar Douluo could not miss it. They were only slower than Bo Saixi because their strength was far below hers.
"Greetings, Great Priestess!"
They saluted Bo Saixi.
"You came just in time. Sea Dragon, they are trainees from the continent with fine talent. Handle the follow-up arrangements."
Bo Saixi nodded slightly to the leader, the Sea Dragon Douluo.
"Yes, Great Priestess!"
The burly Sea Dragon Douluo, looking a little over thirty, bowed.
Then Bo Saixi's figure vanished from the air.
"Friends, please come with me."
Sea Dragon Douluo turned to Chu Chengzhou and the others.
Though the five looked very young, Sea Dragon Douluo did not dare put on a Titled Douluo's airs.
If nothing else, the black winged tiger under them gave him a heavy sense of threat. Even as a rank-95 assault-type Titled Douluo and Sea God Island's second strongest, he might not beat this black tiger.
Sea God Island was only a single island in the vast sea, but it covered a large area, more than four hundred li across.
From the air, beyond beaches, forests, and many lagoon-like inner seas, there were several cities and a not-so-tall yet imposing Sea God Hall in the island's center.
Led by the Seven Sacred Pillar Douluo with Sea Dragon Douluo at their head, the five went to the Sea Dragon Sacred Pillar.
The other six Pillar Douluo did not leave. They wanted to see what level of trial these "fine talents" the Great Priestess mentioned would receive.
Soon they reached a pool.
Oddly, this inland pool that should have been calm surged with waves like the ocean, windless yet in motion.
Sand ringed the water, forest rose all around, and the pool was about five hundred meters across. In its center, more than two hundred meters from shore, stood a triangular platform with a strange stone pillar.
The pillar was about ten meters tall, tapered like a cone, with a special sculpture at the top. Complex lines covered the shaft, and formless, uncanny energy pulsed from it.
While Chu Chengzhou put away Xiao Hei and he and the girls looked around, Sea Dragon Douluo rose into the air and flew to the pillar on the central platform. "Friends, by our rules, land soul masters who wish to receive the Sea God's trials must first cross the Sea Within the Sea and come before the Sea Dragon Sacred Pillar to qualify."
As he spoke, a hazy blue halo lit behind him, and the Sea Dragon Sacred Pillar flared. A band of azure ran from its base to its tip.
In an instant, blue ripples spread from the pillar's tip, forming a light curtain across the Sea Within the Sea.
Clearly, the passage trial was bounded to a set range.
Sea Dragon Douluo knew these five were not weak. For them, crossing the Sea Within the Sea was a trivial test. But as a devout follower of the Sea God, he would never break the island's rules.
"Brother, do we have to challenge a Titled Douluo? This Sea Dragon Douluo looks strong. If you don't go, we probably can't beat him."
Xiao Wu whispered to Chu Chengzhou.
The Seven Sacred Pillar Douluo: "…"
Girl, you can drop the "probably."
"Of course not. If he personally fought, few Titled Douluo on the continent could beat him. He'll go easy."
Sensing many stick-like thousand-year sea soul beasts roaming the water, Chu Chengzhou waved a hand.
He vaguely remembered there were two ways to cross the Sea Within the Sea in the original.
One, go over the surface and punch through the continuous waves the Pillar Douluo raised.
Two, go beneath the surface and deal with the soul beasts in the inner sea.
At the Seahorse Sacred Pillar, the beasts matched the Seahorse Douluo's martial soul. By that logic, with a Sea Dragon martial soul, the Sea Dragon Sacred Pillar's inner sea should hold sea dragons.
But though sea dragons were not pure-blood true dragons, they were one of the ocean's overlords and a top bloodline. Given Sea Dragon Douluo's tier, he could not match masses of sea dragons, so he had stocked thousand-year sea snakes.
Maybe his "sea dragon" martial soul was just a somewhat draconified sea snake? Sea python, rather.
"Go easy? Isn't he already letting out seawater?"
Ning Rongrong asked, puzzled.
Chu Chengzhou: "…"
"Ahem. Nana, Rongrong is support. Take her with you."
Chu Chengzhou spoke to Hu Liena.
Of the four, Ning Rongrong was auxiliary and not good at fighting. Xiao Wu was the strongest, but he did not plan to have Xiao Wu carry her.
He could tell the four looked harmonious on the surface, but the three sisters faintly excluded Hu Liena.
Understandable. The three had no past bond with her, and in their eyes she was "the fifth." Dislike was natural.
Have Hu Liena help Ning Rongrong. Later the two might not be inseparable, but sisterhood was built bit by bit.
"Alright."
Hu Liena nodded.
Xiao Wu stepped forward. "Let your Sister Xiao Wu go first. I'll scout the way."
Her Soft Bones Rabbit martial soul possessed her. Yellow, yellow, purple, black, black, black, black—seven rings shone.
Sea God Island was not the continent, and Xiao Wu knew there was an even bigger "melon" later. This time she did not fake her ring ages as before, but showed them openly.
"Hiss—"
Chu Chengzhou heard one distant and six close sharp intakes. Shock showed on the seven Pillar Douluo's faces.
"This girl's seventh ring looks barely inferior in age to our ninth rings?"
After the jolt, Sea Maiden Douluo sent a voice transmission to the others as she stared at Xiao Wu's rings.
She could clearly see that Xiao Wu's seventh ring was black tinged with red. It was certainly over ninety thousand years.
It was also the first time she had seen a soul master with a ten-thousand-year fourth ring besides the Great Priestess.
Soul masters on the island could take the Sea God's trials and sometimes raise ring ages, but accumulating over five thousand years of increase across rewards—only Bo Saixi had done that.
Xiao Wu pushed off the soft sand and shot toward the pillar.
Sea Dragon Douluo flicked his right hand. Waves surged before her, rising to the light-curtain dome and sealing every path forward.
The boiling water thundered with a sky-flooding force yet did not spill beyond the inner sea's boundary.
"Sixth soul skill, Void."
With a crisp shout, Xiao Wu's sixth ring lit. She turned ethereal and sped straight through the wall of waves.
Sixth soul skill, Void: after activation enter a phantasmal state, immune to all non-energy physical attacks, and reduce any energy attack by 50%.
The surging waves were real water controlled through the pillar, not energy constructs, thus physical.
Once in Void, she naturally "phased" through.
Wave after wave rose, and she pierced them all.
Her speed was high. By the time Sea Dragon Douluo reacted, she was already close to the pillar.
Seeing her about to arrive, he waved again. The pillar flashed, energy roiled, and a vast wave of condensed energy reared to block her once more.
He could see her sixth skill ignored physical attacks, but no skill was that heaven-defying. If it fully ignored physical, it could not also fully ignore energy.
Indeed. Void ignored physical, but only halved energy. She had "phased" through the normal waves, but not this one.
This was not him making things hard.
By the island's rules, if a land soul master could ignore physical attacks, the pillar's guardian had to use an energy wave to block.
Xiao Wu's face did not change. As the energy wave was about to hit, her third ring lit. Third soul skill: Teleport.
Space rippled. She flickered and vanished, reappearing on the pillar's platform seven meters ahead.
Third soul skill: Teleport. Because her third ring was four thousand years, the range cap was not the original's five meters but ten.
"Immune to physical, and you can teleport. It's a small test. Past five rings, even for non–sea soul masters, it isn't hard. Still, the Great Priestess was right. Your talent is fine. You qualify to receive the Sea God's trials."
Sea Dragon Douluo spoke with a wry smile at the girl blinking at him as if asking, "Did I pass?"
Xiao Wu arched a brow.
She had thought he would personally take the field and had planned to go all out to reach the pillar fast.
Best if she reached it before he could act, ending the test immediately.
Unexpectedly, all she had to do was get through the waves.
After Xiao Wu, Zhu Zhuqing crossed even faster.
A ghostly glow rose around her. The Nether Domain unfolded. Domain skill: Nether Shift activated. With a few flickers, Zhu Zhuqing stood at Xiao Wu's side.
Domain skill: Nether Shift. Within the domain, spend soul power to teleport without limit.
After the first teleport, she appeared at the domain's edge.
A domain is under the soul master's control. However far she could jump, that far the domain's center could shift. With clean timing, she could chain teleports off the moving domain.
"Domain power…"
Sea Dragon Douluo's mouth twitched as Zhu Zhuqing appeared.
Compared to Xiao Wu, this was even more overkill. Slaughtering a chicken with a bull's knife.
He looked to the shore where Hu Liena and Ning Rongrong stood.
Hu Liena also had a domain, but it was useless here.
A phantom glow rose at her brow. Soul bone skill: Spiritual Control. At once she seized many sea snakes in the inner sea. Then, with soul power flowing, the two tapped their toes and walked the water.
They could not match Chu Chengzhou's mastery of soul power, but they could tread water, even on the restless surface.
When waves heaved, the sea snakes under Hu Liena's control blocked in front and spat water jets to part the swell and open a path.
"You can do that?"
Sea Dragon Douluo stared at the pair walking over the water with a host of snakes parting the way.
Soon, with the serpents' help, they reached the central platform.
"Young man, that leaves only you. What surprise will you give us?"
With only Chu Chengzhou left, Sea Maiden Douluo asked, curious.
That black giant tiger was his summon. Plainly he was the strongest of the five. The lively Sea Maiden Douluo was very curious.
As she spoke, the other six Pillar Douluo all looked to Chu Chengzhou.
"Senior, I won't be going. I only brought them here for the Sea God's trials."
Chu Chengzhou waved a hand.
The Pillar Douluo: "…"
Hearing he would not participate, Sea Dragon Douluo withdrew his gaze.
He walked up to the Sea Dragon Sacred Pillar. Facing it, piety in his eyes, he said without turning, "Step forward, one of you."
The four girls glanced at each other. The weakest, Ning Rongrong, took a few steps forward to stand behind him.
Sea Dragon Douluo slowly raised both hands, piety deepening on his face. He lifted them to his chest, palms half a foot apart, and a soft blue light appeared between them.
As the blue filled his palms, it flared, bathing the platform in azure.
The pillar flashed at its base, and blue light ran up its carved lines to the top.
With a solemn face, he turned, raised his right hand, and pointed at Ning Rongrong.
A blue beam descended and enveloped her.
Bathed in blue, Ning Rongrong blinked in mild confusion. She felt nothing strange.
Soon the beam's color began to change. White appeared.
In a blink the white vanished, almost without pause shifting from white to yellow, yellow to purple, then swiftly to black.
The black deepened. This time the change slowed a little, but it kept on.
Sea Dragon Douluo was stunned by the black beam cloaking Ning Rongrong.
At least a black-level trial. How many years had it been since one of those appeared on the island?
And this was only the beginning. The trial level for this girl would far exceed his expectations.
As her beam darkened, the lowest lines on the pillar behind him also turned black, racing upward.
The black sigils climbed in a straight surge. Under Sea Dragon Douluo's bulging eyes, they crept past the pillar's midpoint, did not stop, and rose to two-thirds—the top of the black-level scale, the Six Trials.
Just then, in the God Realm, a majestic figure on a divine throne opened his eyes in a vast, awe-inspiring hall.
"A hundred years gone, and another top-tier trial appears?"
Murmuring, his gaze seemed to pierce space to "see" the Sea Dragon Sacred Pillar.
"Good… Hm?"
He nodded in satisfaction at the girl shrouded in black. Sixteen years old, level 65 Soul Emperor, and an auxiliary at that, whose cultivation rose slower. She was unique on the continent.
As he considered giving her a chance despite a poor fit with his godhood, his gaze was drawn to a rabbit-eared girl nearby.
More precisely, to the blue triangular object in the rabbit-eared girl's brow.
"Hahaha, excellent!"
He paused, then a pleased, gratified laugh rolled through the hall.
On Sea God Island, the pillar blazed. The black sigils nearly shot to the top.
At once, all the lines suffused by black shifted and turned brilliant crystal red.
A red beam speared into the sky like blood, staining the serene blue with a flash of crimson.
"Top-tier Eight Trials?!"
The Seven Pillar Douluo cried out together, eyes blazing uncontrollably.
At the island's center, before a special temple, Bo Saixi had just returned to rest. The moment the red beam rose, she flashed outside.
Staring toward the pillar's crimson lance into the heavens, surprise and delight touched her flawless face.
She had not expected that among the four girls who came to freeload, one would be qualified to inherit her office of Great Priestess.
The red light faded. Eight red points flew from the Sea Dragon Sacred Pillar and appeared before Ning Rongrong.
They turned into eight square light screens, each bearing lines of golden script.
The first screen's script shone bright. The other seven were much dimmer.
After a while the eight red screens folded and sank into Ning Rongrong's brow, forming a strange red eight-pointed star and leaving a faint red sheen on her pale skin.
"Senior Sea Dragon, what does Top-tier Eight Trials mean?"
Ning Rongrong blinked at the still-stunned Sea Dragon Douluo.
He straightened. "From your friends' address, your name is Ning Rongrong? I am Hai Yi, the Sea Dragon Douluo. Greetings, Miss Ning."
He bowed to her.
"Uh… Senior?"
Ning Rongrong stared in surprise.
Raised as a pampered young lady, it was the first time a Titled Douluo had bowed to her.
"Miss Ning, the Sea God's trials have levels. Different levels bring different difficulty.
Like ring colors, from low to high they are white-level, yellow-level, purple-level, black-level, and red top-tier.
The Sea God sets trials according to a soul master's strength and potential. The content is in the light screens only the candidate and examiner can see.
Passing different levels grants corresponding authority on the island.
The last time a Top-tier Eight Trials candidate appeared on Sea God Island was the Great Priestess you met earlier. I am honored to serve as your examiner."
Sea Dragon Douluo explained respectfully.
With Ning Rongrong receiving the Top-tier Eight Trials, once she completed them she would be the Great Priestess's successor.
Such a status deserved the respect of a rank-95 Titled Douluo.
T/N: For up to 30 chapters ahead on most of my translations, become a p@tron at [email protected]/LordHipposApostle