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"Rex."
Rex, who had been sleeping, was awakened by Xu Yuan.
The spatial wormhole Rex knew about wasn't too far from the Hell Plane, but it wasn't particularly close either. At the speed of Xu Yuan's Probe Abyss, it would take about two months to reach the vicinity of the wormhole.
Of course, if Xu Yuan fully activated his soul power to accelerate the spaceship, this time could be shortened to half a month. However, given the countless dangers lurking in space, it was better to conserve energy.
Rex calculated the time; less than half of the two months had passed, so why did Xu Yuan wake him up?
"Xu Yuan? Is there something?"
Xu Yuan looked at Rex with an interrogative posture.
"Rex, I think before we head to the Holy Heart Plane, we need to have an open and honest talk."
"Talk about what?" Rex was also puzzled.
"You've hidden way too much from me."
Upon hearing Xu Yuan's words, Rex paused for a moment, realizing what Xu Yuan was referring to.
Just earlier, he had told Xu Yuan the truth about his arrival in the Hell Plane—things he hadn't mentioned when they first met.
Not only had he not mentioned them, but he had fabricated an entirely different explanation instead.
"My origins have all been disclosed to you, and I can guarantee that I haven't lied to you since then."
Xu Yuan gave a skeptical look.
He stared at Rex, intuitively feeling that something was off.
"You definitely haven't told me everything."
Rex frowned.
After being stared at by Xu Yuan's suspicious gaze for a long while, Rex sighed helplessly.
"This has nothing to do with our matters and won't affect our upcoming plans. It's a piece of history—our Holy Heart Plane's history."
Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes.
The history of the Holy Heart Plane?
"The thing you call 'deadwood,' the fragment of the Sacred Tree, was originally the core of the Sacred Tree. After it shattered, it split into three parts, and I obtained one."
"But I didn't tell you how the Sacred Tree shattered, did I?"
Xu Yuan's gaze flickered.
How did the Sacred Tree shatter?
And how was this related to him?
Xu Yuan wore an expression of confusion.
"It has little to do with you and even less with our upcoming plans, but it is somewhat related to your Douluo Plane."
Rex's words made Xu Yuan even more confused.
"Sea God." Rex revealed an answer that shocked Xu Yuan.
"Who?"
Xu Yuan suspected his ears were playing tricks on him.
How could it be the Sea God?
Rex sighed again.
"Our meeting was both coincidental and not coincidental. After recuperating in the Hell Plane for so many years, the reason I was discovered by your junior sister and brought back to Douluo Planet was because I saw the soul master system."
"The soul master system?"
Xu Yuan narrowed his eyes.
So, when Rex was found by Na'er, it was actually Rex who deliberately made his presence known, and the reason was that he recognized Na'er's martial soul.
Na'er's martial soul was not particularly orthodox—it belonged to the category of spirit beasts taking human form and had undergone her own modifications after birth. Moreover, it had fused with the blood mage system, making it somewhat unclassifiable.
To identify a martial soul like that required close observation of martial souls.
"In the history of the Holy Heart Plane, the Sea God appeared twice. The first time, a Sea God wielding a golden trident established the faith of the Sea God in the Holy Heart Plane, quelling the chaos of the seas at that time and laying the foundation for the unification of our Holy Heart Plane. Thanks to this foundation, the Magic Alliance was established, grew stronger, and nearly ruled the entire plane. Later, the Holy Heart Plane ventured into the universe, expanded its territory, and developed into the subsequent Holy Heart Star Domain."
Rex spoke with emotion as he recounted the history of his homeland.
"That was the first appearance of the Sea God. The golden trident he wielded was extraordinary—it wasn't just a divine artifact but seemed to resonate perfectly with his will, almost as if they were one. The effects it produced rivaled those of a sacred artifact—a super-divine artifact."
"As for the second appearance of the Sea God, the image was similar to the first—both wielded golden tridents. However, the fusion between the second Sea God and his trident wasn't as extreme. In his hands, the trident resembled a normal divine artifact. But what he revealed was something akin to the situation of the first Sea God holding the trident—a grass. That should be Blue Silver Emperor, your Douluo Plane's Blue Silver Emperor."
Xu Yuan had basically confirmed that the two Sea Gods Rex referred to were the two incarnations of the Sea God—one the original Sea God, and the other Tang San.
But, astonishingly, both of them had visited the Holy Heart Plane.
Based on the timeline, Rex must have been in the Holy Heart Plane at least ten thousand years ago. If there was no temporal-spatial turbulence back then and the Douluo God Realm still existed, perhaps Tang San, who controlled the god realm's core, truly had the ability to travel vast cosmic distances?
Perhaps using coordinates left behind by the original Sea God, he found the Holy Heart Plane?
What did he go to the Holy Heart Plane for?
Xu Yuan's eyes flickered as he formed a suspicion in his mind.
Rex's next words also confirmed his guess.
"The Sea God with the Blue Silver Emperor as his martial soul came into conflict with the elf race and devoured nearly half of the Sacred Tree's essence. The remaining essence split into three fragments."
Xu Yuan took a deep breath.
This... sounded exactly like something the Divine King Tang San would do.
"The Blue Silver Emperor martial soul that bore the Sea God mantle was cultivated with too many flaws. What should have followed the path of life ended up with a bunch of toxic attributes, even after being baptized by the light of the Sea God, its foundation was still flawed. Yet, despite these flaws, it managed to elevate the Sea God position to the level of a Divine King. So, this happened."
This was truly rampant plundering.
The Tree of Life was comparable to a super-divine artifact. Devouring nearly half of its essence absolutely boosted the Blue Silver Emperor's life essence far more effectively than the light of the Sea God before Tang San became a god.
"One more question. At your level, you should be able to sense faith, right? The faith in Shrek is incredibly thick—"
Before Xu Yuan could finish, Rex interrupted.
"Indeed, that's why I remained silent when your junior sister brought me to the Sea God Pavilion until I met you."
"So, according to you, the Holy Heart Plane and the Sea God are enemies. And I am from Shrek Academy, which is steeped in Sea God faith. How dare you cooperate with me?"
Rex looked at Xu Yuan without showing any hint of guilt.
"You're different from the others at Shrek. You don't carry any faith in the Sea God. Besides you, there's your teacher, who may or may not have become a god. He created a netherworld and became a plane master, yet there's no trace of Sea God faith on him either."
Xu Yuan blinked, his lips twitching slightly.
So, this was why Rex cooperated with him?
Among the sea of people at Shrek filled with Sea God faith, he was the black sheep?
However, from the history Rex recounted, Xu Yuan became even more interested in the upcoming trip to the Holy Heart Plane.
Where exactly was the Holy Heart Plane located in the universe?
Since Tang San could reach there during his normal tenure and devour the essence of the Tree of Life, it clearly wasn't too far away.
"The purpose of my coming to the Hell Plane is exactly what I told you before—to study contract forbidden spells and search for the Douluo Plane. It had nothing to do with finding the origin of the Sea God, so I didn't mention it to you."
"In fact, when I was at Shrek, I once considered telling you everything. But upon reflection, I decided it wasn't necessary, so I didn't say anything."
Xu Yuan waved his hand, indicating there was no problem.
"I don't have much to do with Tang San. It really doesn't affect our cooperation. I'm just curious—how did he devour the essence of the Tree of Life?"
This was Xu Yuan's point of confusion.
"The Blue Silver Emperor naturally has the attribute of devouring," Rex said, frowning. "Don't you know? His Blue Silver Emperor possesses the devouring attribute."
"Are you sure it's his martial soul that has the devouring ability, not the eight spider legs behind him?" Xu Yuan furrowed his brows.
"There's no mistake. Although he does have the eight spider legs you mentioned, which are powerful at devouring life energy to nourish himself, when he devoured the essence of the Tree of Life, it was directly through his martial soul. His martial soul absolutely has the devouring ability."
Xu Yuan recalled the information he knew and realized there was no mention of Tang San's Blue Silver Emperor having the devouring ability.
Even if it did involve devouring, Tang San mostly relied on the eight spider legs to achieve it.
Speaking of devouring abilities, among the soul masters with the Blue Silver Grass martial soul that Xu Yuan knew, only Tang Ya explicitly awakened this attribute.
Wait, Tang Ya!
Xu Yuan looked at Rex and asked, "When did Tang San visit your Holy Heart Plane?"
"Just a hundred years before I came to the Hell Plane."
A century's margin of error.
The so-called ten thousand years were approximate.
Thus, it was highly likely that Tang San visited the Holy Heart Plane after the events of *Tales of the Uttermost Sea*.
Tang Ya's Blue Silver Grass had the devouring attribute.
And the reason she recovered from her corrupted state was because she received the essence of the Blue Silver Emperor.
Only one Blue Silver Emperor could exist on a continent.
Yet, outside Tang San's lineage, there was another Blue Silver Emperor.
Even if this Blue Silver Emperor originated from the Sun and Moon Continent, it was still part of a plane. In theory, a species like the Blue Silver Grass, which spread across the entire planet, should have some means of connection.
Could the Blue Silver Grass on an isolated island be an independent system?
If that were the case, wouldn't there be dozens or even hundreds of potential candidates on Douluo Planet who could become Blue Silver Emperors?
Moreover, even if two continents each had their own complete ecosystems and developed two Blue Silver Emperors, given Tang San's personality, would he allow another Blue Silver Emperor to exist and compete with him for the royal authority of the Blue Silver Emperor?
After all, after the two continents merged, it became one ecosystem. The existence of two emperors meant the division of the entire Blue Silver Emperor's authority.
With his power as the Sea God, he would definitely know about the existence of another Blue Silver Emperor.
Would he leave that Blue Silver Emperor alone?
So, whose essence of the Blue Silver Emperor's bloodline did Tang Ya receive?
"Was the devouring attribute of Tang Ya's Blue Silver Grass grafted onto him?"
This technique felt familiar to Xu Yuan.
Hadn't Huo Yuhao's fortune been grafted onto Tang Wutong?
The power of fate was probably destined to belong to the auspicious beast and was supposed to be handed over to Huo Yuhao, the child of destiny nurtured by the plane. However, Tang Wutong also gained a certain amount of fate's power.
These grafting techniques were identical.
After a brief chat with Rex, Xu Yuan let Rex return to sleep.
Unexpectedly learning that Tang San had visited the Holy Heart Plane, Xu Yuan felt that his upcoming trip to the Holy Heart Plane now had a clearer goal.
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Time passed.
After two months of traveling in the universe, Xu Yuan woke Rex again.
"Is this the spatial wormhole?" Xu Yuan took a deep breath, looking at the collapsed space ahead through the spaceship's screen.
"Activate the wormhole jump technology and enter the wormhole," Rex instructed.
Xu Yuan followed Rex's instructions.
In the blink of an eye, the spaceship was enveloped in a dense layer of spatial energy. Wrapped in this dense spatial energy, the spaceship surged forward into the collapsed space ahead.
BANG!
In that instant, Xu Yuan felt his spiritual power entering another world.
Inside the wormhole, it seemed to transcend spatial dimensions.
Here, space collapsed.
Everything condensed into a singularity.
This was the beginning of everything and also the end of everything.
In the universe, through a wormhole, infinite distances could be traversed in an instant, moving from one end of the universe to the other.
At this moment, as the spaceship entered the wormhole, Xu Yuan felt an unprecedented shock.
"How's that? Impressive sight inside the wormhole, isn't it?" Rex said. "In our Holy Heart Plane's analysis, this is called hyperspace—an elevated state beyond normal spatial dimensions."
"According to our magicians' perspective, after reaching a dimension where further advancement is impossible, if one wants to forcefully break through this limitation, all dimensions must be viewed as a single point. Transcending this point leads to an entirely new realm."
"This is what we magicians strive for—the Divine King realm, or in other words, the Transcendent Realm. However, transcending is evidently far more difficult than condensing one's essence, which is why the Holy Heart Plane has never produced a Divine King."
The Transcendent Realm?
From the description, it indeed carried the meaning of transcendence.
But jumping out of one space essentially meant entering another, higher-dimensional space, didn't it?
As the two conversed, the spaceship had already traversed the wormhole and emerged on the other side.
As the Probe Abyss spaceship burst out of the spatial wormhole, the previously calm starry sky around them instantly became fraught with danger.
Xu Yuan vaguely sensed numerous threats converging on him.
What was this?
"It's probably the Magic Alliance's garrison."
"Garrison?"
"This place must connect to the Blood Demon God Realm's territory. Our relationship with the Blood Demon God Realm isn't good, so they'll definitely station heavy troops here. Back when I led an army to invade, I didn't return for ten thousand years, so the Magic Alliance likely abandoned further exploration but kept surveillance, which is relatively easier."
Like Douluo Planet, sending an Limit Douluo for the Federation was difficult, especially sending an Limit Douluo to their death.
However, setting up defensive fortifications at the enemy's inevitable passageway and constructing a defense system with soul-guided weapons to intercept enemies capable of killing their own Limit Douluos would be much easier.
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