The deep ocean trenches situated hundreds of miles off the desolate, wave-battered reefs of the Star Luo Empire's southern coastline existed as a realm of crushing darkness. Here, far removed from the sprawling, war-torn plains of the mainland, the violent, churning surface storms could not penetrate. The water pressure at these profound depths was unimaginably dense. It was a silent, lightless abyss where only the most terrifying, ancient monstrosities of the deep dared to roam. The overwhelming weight of the ocean above acted as a natural, impenetrable barrier, sealing away the mysteries of the abyssal floor from the prying eyes of the mortal realm.
Yet, moving through this suffocating, freezing void with the smooth, unimpeded grace of an apex oceanic predator was a single human figure.
Tang San propelled himself through the heavy, high-pressure currents, unbothered by the hostile environment. He had crossed the monumental threshold long ago and continued his arduous cultivation, successfully ascending to the rank of a Level 93 Titled Douluo. His physical appearance had undergone a majestic evolution reflecting his elevated status. His hair, which now cascaded far past his waist, was a shifting, mesmerizing mixture of deep, midnight black and vibrant, oceanic blue, drifting weightlessly in the surrounding water. The dual colors of his hair mirrored the dual nature of his existence—the dark, lethal venom of his plant lineage, and the boundless, crushing authority of the sea.
In his right hand, he firmly gripped a weapon of divine supremacy: the Sea God Trident.
The colossal, golden polearm weighed exactly one hundred and eight thousand catties. It was a mass so staggering that it would shatter the bones of any ordinary mortal who merely attempted to lift it from its resting place. However, as the Primary Inheritor of the Sea God, possessing a high eighty-five percent Sea God Affinity, Tang San wielded the divine artifact as if it were a weightless extension of his own arm. The trident emitted a soft, holy golden light, providing the only illumination in the suffocating depths and actively parting the crushing oceanic pressure around his physical body. The divine light formed a protective, elliptical halo around him, ensuring that the freezing temperatures and the lethal pressure could not hinder his movements.
His deep, ocean-blue eyes narrowed. His vast, incredibly potent mental force swept the dark trenches for any sign of movement. He did not rush. He had been moving through these abyssal trenches for several days, meticulously scanning the lightless depths, seeking the exact catalyst required for his ascension.
'I should find a suitable target soon,' Tang San thought, his mind focused on his immediate, monumental objective. 'The Eighth Trial of the Sea God is explicit. I cannot ascend to the divine realm with a flawed, mortal foundation. I must purge and replace all Spirit Rings below the ten-thousand-year threshold and all Spirit Bones below the hundred-thousand-year threshold.'
Currently, his primary martial spirit, the sovereign Deathly Sea Emperor Vine, still bore the weak, insignificant remnants of his earliest cultivation days. His first Spirit Ring was a mere four-hundred-and-twenty-three-year yellow ring obtained from a Datura Snake. His second Spirit Ring was a six-hundred-year yellow ring harvested from a Ghost Vine.
While these rings had served him exceptionally well during his youth, providing him with his foundational binding and parasitic abilities, their low-quality vital essence was insufficient to support the overwhelming, divine-tier spirit power he now possessed. If he attempted to face the final trials with such fragile anchors, his spiritual sea would collapse under the massive strain. The disparity between a four-hundred-year ring and his Level 93 Titled Douluo cultivation was simply too vast.
He needed to hunt rare, ancient Spirit Beasts possessing pure Water and Death attributes. He needed to strengthen his mutated Deathly Sea Emperor Vine and establish a flawless foundation for his impending godhood. He had spent his time scouring the deepest, most treacherous trenches, ignoring the ordinary ten-thousand-year beasts that occasionally crossed his path. He required a beast of immense age and specific elemental alignment.
He paused his swimming, allowing his body to drift in the freezing currents. He closed his eyes, focusing his mental force inward. He visualized the complex array of meridians within his body, examining the two pale yellow rings hovering around his Deathly Sea Emperor Vine.
'The technique imparted to me by the Sea God's Divine Consciousness...' Tang San pondered, recalling the golden, ancient text that had inscribed itself into his spiritual sea. 'The *Divine Sea Ring-Shattering Rebirth Art*. It is a heaven-defying method that allows a Spirit Master to forcibly reject an integrated Spirit Ring without destroying their own foundation.'
It was not a simple matter of absorbing a new ring. The *Divine Sea Ring-Shattering Rebirth Art* required him to actively attack his own cultivation base. He had to isolate the specific Spirit Ring, sever its intricate connections to his central meridians, and then use his own spirit power to crush the ring into spiritual dust. Only then, within the agonizing, gaping void left behind, could he introduce a new, vastly superior vital essence and re-establish the connection.
'The pain will be immense,' Tang San acknowledged silently. 'But true strength is forged in the crucible of suffering.'
Suddenly, a massive, chaotic spiritual fluctuation registered at the very edge of his mental perception. It was a heavy, suffocating aura that carried the distinct stench of deep-sea decay and ancient malice.
Tang San's eyes snapped open. He grasped the Sea God Trident tightly, his gaze piercing through the gloom.
Deep within a jagged, subterranean ravine below him, a colossal shadow detached itself from the rocky seabed. It was a fifty-thousand-year Deep-Sea Abyssal Leviathan. The massive beast resembled a terrifying cross between a colossal armored serpent and an abyssal anglerfish, measuring over a hundred meters in length. Its heavy, dark blue scales were covered in highly toxic, glowing bioluminescent moss that pulsed with a sickly green light in the darkness. Its massive jaws were lined with rows of razor-sharp, jagged teeth capable of easily shredding the hulls of heavy naval galleons.
The Abyssal Leviathan, an apex predator that had ruled this specific trench for millennia, sensed the holy golden light of the Sea God Trident. It recognized the divine artifact as a profound, territorial threat.
With a deafening, aquatic roar that sent violent kinetic shockwaves through the trench, disrupting the very flow of the currents, the colossal beast lunged upward. Its massive jaws unhinged, revealing a dark, cavernous maw as it attempted to swallow the Level 93 Titled Douluo whole.
Tang San did not retreat. A cold, calculated light gleamed in his eyes. This was the prey he had been seeking.
"You will serve as the new cornerstone of my path," Tang San spoke aloud, his voice carrying clearly through the dense water via his refined spirit power.
He summoned his primary martial spirit. The Deathly Sea Emperor Vine erupted from his palms. It spread outward like a massive, writhing thicket of dark, metallic-blue cables covered in wicked, venomous thorns. The vines thrashed in the water, their innate death attributes resonating with the freezing abyss.
The Abyssal Leviathan ignored the vines, trusting its thick, heavily armored scales to protect it. It continued its upward charge, its jaws snapping shut on the empty water just inches from Tang San's boots as the Titled Douluo smoothly drifted backward.
Tang San's torso suddenly glowed with a sickly, vibrant green light.
"Torso Spirit Bone Ability: Toxic Tremor!" Tang San commanded.
Drawing upon the power of the sixty-thousand-year Venomous Earthquake Bear Spirit Bone embedded within his chest, Tang San stomped his right foot against the invisible currents of the ocean. A massive, wide-area kinetic shockwave, heavily infused with highly corrosive, necrotic venom, erupted outward in a perfect sphere.
The toxic shockwave collided head-on with the charging Abyssal Leviathan. The intense kinetic force violently disrupted the beast's forward momentum, acting like a solid wall of force that snapped the creature's massive head backward. Simultaneously, the corrosive venom began to eat away at its thick, bioluminescent scales.
The necrotic energy sank deeply into the Leviathan's flesh, significantly lowering its physical defenses and causing the colossal creature to thrash in agonizing pain. Its massive tail whipped frantically against the trench walls, causing massive rockfalls that clouded the water with heavy sediment.
'It is resilient,' Tang San noted, his tactical mind analyzing the beast's reaction. 'The vines alone will not penetrate that armor quickly enough. I need blunt, overwhelming force.'
Tang San understood the fundamental restriction of his twin spirits. He could not use both his Martial Spirits at once; he could only wield one at a time and needed to switch to the other.
With a swift, practiced motion, Tang San clenched his left hand. The sprawling, metallic-blue thicket of the Deathly Sea Emperor Vine rapidly retracted, dissolving back into his palm. The dark blue light faded, instantly replaced by a surging, oppressive black aura.
He extended his left arm. The colossal, terrifying weight of the Clear Sky Hammer manifested in his grasp. The heavy, cylindrical head of the hammer was adorned with intricate, dark crimson runes, and five formidable Spirit Rings—three deep black and two blood-red—pulsed around it.
The switch was instantaneous, but the change in his aura was monumental. He transitioned from a sovereign of venomous control to a god of pure, unadulterated destruction.
The Abyssal Leviathan, recovering from the toxic shockwave, roared furiously. It coiled its massive serpentine body and launched itself at Tang San again, its bioluminescent moss glowing blindingly bright.
"First Spirit Ring Ability: Asura's Tremor!" Tang San shouted.
The first deep black ring on his Clear Sky Hammer flared. Tang San did not swing the hammer directly at the beast's armored skull. Instead, he struck the surrounding water.
An invisible, terrifying shockwave of pure killing intent erupted from the hammer's head. The attack ignored physical armor entirely, traveling through the water and striking directly into the Abyssal Leviathan's spiritual sea.
The colossal beast shrieked, a horrific, high-pitched sound that vibrated the very bedrock. Blood erupted from its dark eyes as the killing intent caused massive internal hemorrhaging within its brain. Its charge faltered, its massive body going rigid.
Tang San did not hesitate. He retracted the Clear Sky Hammer, the heavy weapon dissolving into black light. Instantly, the Deathly Sea Emperor Vine re-emerged from his palms. He could not afford to destroy the beast's vital essence completely with the hammer; he needed to capture it intact.
He raised his right arm. The bones within his arm pulsed with a terrifying azure light, housing the incredibly powerful soul of Da Ming, the Sky Azure Bull Python.
"Right Arm Spirit Bone Ability: Sky Azure Slowing Divine Claw!"
He slashed his free hand through the water in a swift, decisive motion. A massive, ethereal azure claw manifested, bypassing the physical distance and the churning currents. The claw firmly grasped the thrashing Abyssal Leviathan.
Instantly, the ability plunged the massive beast into a highly localized, temporal-slowing restraint. The Leviathan's frantic movements were forcefully reduced to an agonizing crawl. Its massive jaws froze mid-snap, and its thrashing tail suspended artificially in the dark water.
With his target immobilized, Tang San gripped the Sea God Trident with both hands. He channeled his dense, Level 93 spirit power directly into the divine artifact. The golden light radiating from the polearm intensified, becoming a blinding beacon in the abyss.
He swam forward, positioning himself directly above the beast's massive, armored skull.
"Your cultivation ends here," Tang San stated.
He swung the one-hundred-and-eight-thousand-catty polearm in a massive, sweeping downward arc.
The sheer weight and holy suppression of the trident effortlessly cleaved the ocean currents in two, leaving a vacuum of displaced water in its wake. The golden blade struck the center of the Abyssal Leviathan's skull.
The impact was catastrophic. The fifty-thousand-year Spirit Beast's heavily armored head was crushed under the divine weight, its immense vital essence snuffed out in a fraction of a second. The sound of shattering bone was muted by the deep water, but the kinetic shockwave cleared the sediment from the area.
The colossal body of the Leviathan went limp, sinking slowly back toward the jagged seabed. A moment later, a deep, dense black Spirit Ring rose from the corpse, hovering gently in the dark water, pulsing with a rich, heavy water and death attribute.
Tang San descended, sitting cross-legged upon a flat outcropping of rock directly beside the slain beast. He placed the Sea God Trident horizontally across his lap, its divine light creating a safe sanctuary. He extended his right hand, using his refined mental force to guide the black Spirit Ring toward his body.
'The *Divine Sea Ring-Shattering Rebirth Art* commences now,' Tang San thought, steeling his mind.
As the black Spirit Ring settled over his body, Tang San initiated the incredibly dangerous replacement process.
He isolated his first Spirit Ring, the pale yellow halo of the Datura Snake. This ring held immense sentimental value. It was his very first step on the path of cultivation. But he pushed those memories aside.
With a brutal, highly concentrated surge of his own Level 93 spirit power, he directed his energy inward, attacking his own foundation.
'Break!' Tang San commanded internally.
He slammed his spirit power against the root of the yellow ring. The connection snapped.
Tang San coughed up a massive mouthful of dark blood into the water. His body convulsed violently as a wave of intense, tearing agony ripped through his lower abdomen. Shattering a Spirit Ring was a dangerous act that could permanently cripple a Spirit Master, severely damaging their internal pathways and causing their spiritual sea to hemorrhage.
He felt as though a physical piece of his soul had just been torn away. His vision blurred, and the freezing water felt infinitely colder. However, the healing light of the Sea God Trident resting across his lap actively stabilized his spiritual sea, preventing a catastrophic collapse while he endured the brutal extraction.
'Re-establish!' Tang San roared in his mind.
As the yellow ring shattered into harmless spiritual dust, leaving a gaping, agonizing void in his meridian network, Tang San rapidly drew the massive, violent energy of the fifty-thousand-year Abyssal Leviathan directly into the vacant pathway.
The integration was ferocious. The deep, heavy water attributes and the necrotic energy of the Leviathan clashed violently against the innate structure of the Deathly Sea Emperor Vine. The beast's lingering malice fought against his control, attempting to tear his weakened meridians apart.
Tang San gritted his teeth, his jaw locked in pain. He executed the Mysterious Heaven Skill at its maximum capacity, methodically guiding, refining, and forcefully subjugating the wild vital essence. He filtered out the beast's lingering resentment and assimilated its pure power.
Hours passed in the darkness of the trench. The water around him boiled slightly from the intense spiritual friction. Slowly, the chaotic spiritual fluctuations stabilized. The deep black ring merged with his martial spirit, taking its place as his new, supreme first Spirit Ring.
Tang San opened his eyes, a satisfied light gleaming within them. The agonizing pain receded, replaced by a surging sense of newfound power. He raised his hand, eager to test the results of the *Divine Sea Ring-Shattering Rebirth Art*.
"First Spirit Ring Ability: Abyssal Maelstrom Bind!"
Instead of the simple, paralyzing vines of the Datura Snake, a massive, terrifying cluster of heavy, water-infused deathly vines erupted from the seabed. These vines were as thick as ancient tree trunks, glowing with a faint, dark blue luminescence. They did not merely wrap around a target; they actively manipulated the surrounding water pressure, generating a massive, localized gravitational whirlpool.
Tang San watched as boulders and debris from the trench floor were violently sucked into the swirling vortex of vines, crushed instantly by the gravitational pressure. Any opponent caught within the maelstrom would have their physical movement locked by the crushing gravity, while the heavy necrotic energy of the vines would continuously erode their spiritual sea.
"Flawless," Tang San murmured. It was a highly lethal upgrade. His foundation was already vastly stronger.
Without resting, Tang San prepared for his next objective. He needed to replace his second Spirit Ring before returning to the surface, and that required seeking out an entirely different biome. The Abyssal Leviathan provided the crushing weight of the deep ocean, but he needed a parasitic entity to properly overwrite the Ghost Vine's unique characteristics. He knew exactly the type of environment that housed such horrors, but it was not close.
He left the abyssal trench, swimming upward and outward. This began a grueling, two-week journey across the hidden depths of the Douluo Continent's southern oceans.
The passage of time in the deep ocean was difficult to track, measured only by the steady rhythm of his own heartbeat and the slow, methodical circulation of the Mysterious Heaven Skill.
For the first three days, Tang San navigated the treacherous, jagged peaks of a massive underwater mountain range. The water here was freezing, the currents erratic and violent, threatening to smash him against the obsidian cliffs. He maintained a steady pace, using his mental force to map the terrain ahead.
On the fourth day, he encountered a massive pod of ten-thousand-year Deep Sea Demonic Whales. These colossal creatures communicated through low-pitched hums that vibrated painfully against his eardrums. Tang San stopped swimming, hovering silently in the water as the massive silhouettes glided past him in the gloom. Recognizing the divine authority radiating from the Sea God Trident, the whales offered respectful distance, their massive tails propelling them away from the glowing artifact.
By the end of the first week, the crushing pressure began to ease slightly as he ascended into the midnight zone. The absolute blackness of the abyss gave way to a faint, ethereal twilight. Here, the ocean was teeming with strange, bioluminescent aquatic plants that clung to the sides of massive oceanic plateaus.
Tang San swam tirelessly, utilizing the boundless aquatic energy of his surroundings to sustain his physical stamina. He did not need to eat or sleep in the traditional sense; the passive regeneration provided by his advanced cultivation and his ninth Spirit Ring kept him in peak condition.
During this long swim, his thoughts drifted to his family.
'I wonder how the war progresses,' Tang San thought, propelling himself through a forest of towering, glowing kelp. 'Great-Grandfather and Father possess the strength of Limit Douluos. Supported by the Heaven Dou Empire's forces, they should be able to push back the Spirit Hall. But Zhang Tian... that monster is cunning.'
His mind flashed with the image of his mother, Ah Yin. The beautiful, gentle Blue Silver Empress, bound in servitude to Zhang Tian. The thought sent a spike of searing rage through his chest, causing the water around him to momentarily chill.
'I will free her,' Tang San vowed silently, his grip on the trident tightening. 'I will ascend, and I will shatter his empire.'
As the second week commenced, the environment shifted drastically. The temperature of the water began to rise, shedding its freezing bite. The oceanic plateaus gave way to sprawling, uneven plains covered in thick, dark seaweed.
On the tenth day, Tang San encountered a massive migration of twenty-thousand-year Razor-Finned Swordfish. The school numbered in the tens of thousands, a swirling vortex of silver scales and deadly, elongated snouts. They were highly aggressive, territorial Spirit Beasts that began to swarm around him, their metallic fins cutting through the water like blades.
"I do not have time for this," Tang San stated coldly.
Instead of fighting them, Tang San unleashed a fraction of his Imperial Sea Death Domain. A wave of rotting death energy rolled through the water, carrying the suffocating pressure of a sovereign ruler. The aquatic plants below them instantly withered.
The massive school of Swordfish panicked. Their synchronized formation broke as they scattered in every direction, desperate to escape the apex predator that had entered their territory.
On the twelfth day of his journey, the elemental composition of the water began to change. It tasted heavy, carrying a faint, numbing toxin that tingled against his skin. The faint twilight filtering down from the surface took on a sickly, reddish hue. Tang San knew he was approaching his destination.
He swam for two more days, navigating through increasingly murky waters. Finally, a sprawling, desolate region of jagged, blood-red coral reefs materialized in the gloom.
This was the Crimson Graveyard. The area was infamous among ancient sea creatures for housing highly toxic, dangerous parasitic Spirit Beasts that thrived in the nutrient-rich, shifting currents. The coral itself was razor-sharp and secreted a mild numbing toxin into the water, while the seabed was littered with the colossal, bleached bones of ancient sea monsters that had fallen victim to the reef's inhabitants.
His vast mental force, significantly bolstered by his recent integration, swept the treacherous landscape. He filtered through the lesser auras until he quickly locked onto his next target.
"There you are," Tang San whispered in his mind.
Clinging to the side of a massive, hollowed-out coral pillar was a sixty-five-thousand-year Spectral Blood Anemone. The creature appeared as a massive, pulsing mass of dark red tentacles, lacking a central body or visible eyes. It survived by ambushing larger sea beasts, injecting them with lethal parasitic spores, and slowly draining their vital essence over months of agonizing suffering. The water around the anemone was stained a faint, rusty red from its previous victims, creating a localized miasma of decay.
As Tang San approached the reef, the Spectral Blood Anemone sensed his dense, potent vital essence. The creature reacted to the intrusion instantly. It contracted its massive tentacles and violently expelled a dense cloud of thousands of dark red spores directly into the surrounding water currents, aiming to infect the approaching human and turn him into a living, rotting host.
Tang San's expression remained cold. He had anticipated this defense.
"Left Leg Spirit Bone Ability: Toxic Endurance!" Tang San called out.
The fifty-two-thousand-year Ironback Poison Beetle Spirit Bone in his left leg flared with a deep purple light. His body was wrapped in a passive, highly corrosive poison shield. As the massive cloud of parasitic spores washed over him, attempting to burrow into his skin, the minuscule organisms were melted away by his corrosive shield, failing to penetrate his spiritual defenses.
Simultaneously, the two glistening, venomous fangs descending outside his lips—his External Spirit Bone, the Dual Poison Fangs—pulsed with a dark hunger. They eagerly absorbed the ambient toxicity of the destroyed spores. Tang San used the intricate pathways of the Mysterious Heaven Skill to convert the refined venom into pure energy, slightly replenishing his spirit power.
"Your poisons are useless against the sovereign of death," Tang San stated flatly.
He did not bother utilizing his martial spirit for this execution. The Anemone was a stationary target, heavily reliant on its spores. To use the Deathly Sea Emperor Vine here would be inefficient.
He raised his left arm, drawing upon the terrifying physical might of Er Ming, the Titan Giant Ape.
"Left Arm Spirit Bone Ability: Titan Firmament Breaker!"
Tang San punched forward into the empty water. A massive, hyper-compressed orb of devastating kinetic force and localized gravity erupted from his fist. The attack tore through the water, ignoring the chaotic currents and the jagged coral, and slammed directly into the center of the Spectral Blood Anemone.
The sixty-five-thousand-year Spirit Beast was obliterated. The uncompromising physical force of the Titan Giant Ape shattered its gelatinous, tentacled form, painting the blood-red reef with its dark vital essence and uprooting the coral pillar it had been attached to.
A deep, dense black Spirit Ring rose from the shredded remains, hovering above the ruined reef.
Once again, Tang San sat cross-legged upon the desolate reef, initiating the grueling *Divine Sea Ring-Shattering Rebirth Art*.
He focused his mental force inward. 'Shatter!'
He attacked the root of the six-hundred-year Ghost Vine ring. The agonizing, tearing pain in his internal pathways returned with a vengeance. Tang San choked back a scream, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth into the red-tinted water. His refined mental fortitude held firm. As the yellow ring dissolved, he drew the violent, parasitic energy of the Spectral Blood Anemone into his spiritual sea.
The refinement process took several more hours, requiring immense focus and the continuous execution of the Mysterious Heaven Skill to filter out the erratic impurities of the beast's venom. The sixty-five-thousand-year vital essence was significantly denser than the Leviathan's, pushing his meridians to their absolute limit.
Finally, the second black ring settled into his configuration.
As the ring finalized its integration, a profound surge of pure spirit power erupted from Tang San's core. The sheer volume of high-quality vital essence provided by the two ancient Spirit Beasts acted as a supreme catalyst. The bottleneck in his cultivation shattered.
Tang San opened his eyes, a brilliant azure light flashing in the dark water. He had successfully advanced. He was now a Level 94 Titled Douluo.
He exhaled a long, heavy breath, analyzing his newly integrated power and his elevated cultivation base.
"Second Spirit Ring Ability: Necrotic Parasitic Spores," Tang San murmured, raising his hand.
Unlike the simple, physical seeds of the Ghost Vine, these new spores were ethereal. He could inject them directly into an opponent's spiritual fluctuations during combat without needing physical contact. Once inside, the spores would feed upon the enemy's spirit power, growing into massive, internal deathly vines that would forcefully drain the victim's vital essence from the inside out, rendering them powerless in a matter of minutes.
Tang San stood up, gripping the Sea God Trident firmly. The water around him churned, reacting to his Level 94 aura.
He reviewed his upgraded foundation. His Deathly Sea Emperor Vine now possessed a terrifying, optimized configuration, devoid of the weak yellow rings of his youth. Furthermore, he evaluated his ultimate trump card: his ninth Spirit Ring.
This blood-red, hundred-thousand-year Spirit Ring was unique. It was a God-Bestowed Spirit Ring, condensed directly from divine Faith Energy by the Sea God's remnant consciousness during the completion of his previous trial. Because it was not harvested from a physical Spirit Beast, it was tailored to his exact physical and spiritual limits.
It granted him the Imperial Sea Death Domain, also known as Sovereign Annihilation. This ultimate ability unleashed a localized, divine-tier domain of heavily pressurized oceanic water, rotting death energy, and endless, terrifying plant vitality. Within this domain, enemy spirit power was suppressed, physical barriers were aggressively erased, and Tang San's own vitality was continuously regenerated.
Combined with the devastating power of his second martial spirit—the Clear Sky Hammer, which now boasted three deep black rings heavily augmented by the Asura God, alongside the two blood-red rings of Da Ming and Er Ming—Tang San felt a swelling sense of invincibility.
'My foundation is rapidly approaching true perfection,' Tang San thought, his eyes burning with a cold, unyielding determination. 'I just need to hunt a few more ancient beasts to replace the purple and lower-tier black rings. Once the Eighth Trial is complete, I will officially begin the Ninth Trial. I will ascend to Godhood.'
Having successfully replaced his first two rings and advanced to Level 94, Tang San kicked off the desolate reef, shooting upward through the dark trenches. It was time to return to the surface and check on the progress of the continental war.
He swam with incredible speed. The water parted before him as he ascended through the twilight zone and back into the sunlit waters of the upper ocean. He breached the churning surface of the ocean. The violent, howling gales of a massive coastal storm whipped his long, dual-colored hair around his face. The sky was black, heavy rain lashing against the roaring waves, while jagged forks of lightning illuminated the tempestuous sea.
He floated above the crashing waters, orienting himself toward a specific, highly concealed coastal cavern located several miles inland along the desolate cliffs of the southern coastline.
This hidden cavern served as the secure, temporary base of operations for the elite of the Star Luo Empire's alliance. It was where he had left his great-grandfather, his father, and the High Priestess to coordinate the grand, continental war against the Heaven Dou Empire while he focused on his divine trials in the deep ocean.
As Tang San flew rapidly through the storm toward the jagged coastline, his vastly expanded, Level 94 mental force suddenly picked up a series of chaotic, erratic spiritual fluctuations rapidly approaching the same location from the north.
Tang San frowned, his deep blue eyes narrowing in profound concern. The storm could not mask the terrifying nature of those auras.
'Those auras... they belong to Great-Grandfather and Father,' Tang San thought, analyzing the familiar, yet distorted spiritual signatures. 'But their vital essence is unstable. They feel exhausted, and they are bleeding heavily. The fluctuations of the High Priestess are also incredibly weak. What could have possibly caused this?'
He accelerated, his body becoming a blur of blue light as he rushed toward the hidden coastal cavern, his heart sinking with a terrible premonition. The jagged cliffs of the coastline loomed ahead, the dark maw of the cavern barely visible through the torrential rain.
Tang San landed softly upon the rocky, sea-swept ledge just outside the cave entrance. A moment later, the space above the cliffs violently fractured. The temporal fabric tore open, and several figures crashed heavily onto the wet stone, lacking their usual majestic grace, tumbling like broken dolls.
The sight that greeted Tang San's eyes sent a paralyzing jolt of sheer horror directly into his spiritual sea.
Tang Chen, the legendary founder of the Clear Sky Sect and a supreme Limit Douluo, stumbled forward, leaning heavily against his colossal, dark metal hammer. His ancient, scarred face was deathly pale and drawn. The deep crimson, murderous light of his Asura Domain was flickering violently, nearly extinguished. His chest heaved with ragged, desperate breaths, his internal injuries clearly severe, dark blood leaking from his lips to mix with the rain.
Beside him, Tang Hao, another formidable Limit Douluo, looked worse. His clothes were shredded, his heavily muscled body covered in necrotic burns and massive, bleeding lacerations that exposed pale bone. He gripped his God-Slaughtering Blood-Cleaver with trembling, bloody hands. His eyes, usually burning with an invincible martial pride, were wide with a hollow, profound terror that Tang San had never seen before in his invincible father. The imposing figure that had once challenged the Spirit Hall alone was now reduced to a shivering, broken man.
Tang Xiao, the Super Douluo Sect Leader, was missing his left arm. The stump was hastily cauterized, his face a mask of agonizing grief. Behind them stumbled a handful of surviving, heavily injured Titled Douluo elders of the Clear Sky Sect, dragging a few terrified, weeping core disciples whose faces were pale with shock.
Descending from the sky behind the battered men of the Clear Sky Sect were the leaders of Sea God Island.
Bo Saixi, the serene, untouchable High Priestess and a Limit Douluo, looked drained of her aquatic majesty. Her beautiful, elegant robes were torn and scorched black, her deep blue eyes filled with a heavy, suffocating despair. She leaned upon her silver staff, breathing raggedly, unable to maintain her levitation gracefully as her boots hit the wet stone.
"Great-Grandfather! Father! High Priestess!" Tang San shouted, rushing forward, his heart hammering wildly against his ribs. He channeled his refined, healing spirit power, utilizing the vital essence of the Deathly Sea Emperor Vine to direct soothing energy toward their battered bodies. "What happened?! Why are you here in this state? And where are the other Sea God Pillars?"
Tang Chen coughed violently, spitting a massive mouthful of dark, clotted blood onto the wet rocks. He looked up at his great-grandson, his deep black eyes conveying a sorrow so profound it seemed to crush the very air around them.
"The Star Luo Empire is gone, Tang San," Tang Chen spoke, his deep, resonant voice trembling with unmitigated defeat.
Tang San froze, his hands hovering over his father's necrotic wounds. "Gone? What do you mean gone? You commanded millions of soldiers! You had the elite of the continent! The combined might of the Clear Sky Sect, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and the Star Luo Imperial Guards!"
"Millions of soldiers mean nothing against the wrath of the heavens," Tang Hao gritted his teeth, his voice a low, gravelly snarl of pure, bleeding rage, tears of frustration mingling with the rain on his face. "The Heaven Dou Empire... Zhang Tian... he possesses technological horrors that defy all foundational theories of warfare. They lured our vanguard into the open plains and unleashed their Offensive Spirit Tools. Massive, metallic cannons that fired projectiles of highly destabilized spirit particles."
Tang Hao squeezed his eyes shut, haunted by the apocalyptic vision. "There was no battle. There was only a blinding white light. Hundreds of thousands of heavily armored men, entire elite Spirit Master battalions, erased from existence in a single breath. The blast radius left nothing but glowing, molten craters. The heat vaporized flesh and steel."
Tang Hao spat a glob of bloody saliva into the crashing waves, his expression twisted in fury. "The psychological trauma broke the will of the empire. The remaining armies dropped their weapons and routed. The nobles and the sectarian leaders abandoned their posts in panic. The Star Luo military apparatus was dismantled in an hour. It was a slaughter without a single sword clash."
"But you are Limit Douluos!" Tang San protested desperately, unable to reconcile this defeat with the supreme power of his lineage. "You possess the ultimate techniques of the divine! Why didn't you stop them? Why didn't you shatter their artillery lines?"
"We tried," Tang Chen replied bitterly, his grip tightening on his hammer. "But we were intercepted high in the stratosphere. That demonic woman, Bibi Dong, wielding the dark, primordial power of the Rakshasa Goddess, engaged me. And Qian Daoliu, burning with the faith energy accumulated by the Angel God through the Spirit Hall, suppressed Bo Saixi who was weakened in the sky. They kept us occupied, preventing us from descending to save the routing armies or issue any commands. Their sole objective was to blind our leadership."
Tang Chen let out a ragged breath. "When we realized the war was lost, your father and I had no choice but to execute our most desperate measure. We utilized the Great Sumeru Hammer and simultaneously detonated our hundred-thousand-year Spirit Rings."
Tang San gasped loudly, his mind reeling as he realized the horrific, permanent toll such a suicidal technique would exact upon their internal pathways. Detonating a hundred-thousand-year ring would cripple their foundations for years, leaving their meridians scarred and fractured.
"The Ring Explosions provided us with the massive, temporary boost necessary to escape their lock-on domains," Tang Hao explained, his voice thick with exhaustion. "We fled immediately, heading straight to the Clear Sky Province to rescue the elders and whatever core disciples we could gather before the Heaven Dou forces arrived. But our escape was frantic. We were intercepted in the southern forests by Heaven Dou's elite dragnet. Several of our oldest elders sacrificed their cultivation to hold the line so we could reach the coastal ships. We lost everything."
Tang San turned his horrified gaze toward the High Priestess. "And the other Sea God Pillars who went along with you?"
Bo Saixi closed her eyes, tears of agonizing grief slipping down her beautiful cheeks, mingling with the heavy rain.
"Of the five pillars who accompanied me to the mainland," Bo Saixi whispered softly, her voice devoid of its usual sovereign authority, "they attempted to infiltrate the Heaven Dou Empire's artillery ridges to disable those catastrophic weapons while we were engaged in the sky. However… They were intercepted by the monsters of the Spirit Hall's Enshrinement Hall. Golden Crocodile, Azure Luan, and the others. Our Sea God's Pillars were brutally suppressed, bound in spirit-sealing chains, and taken prisoner."
The High Priestess looked out at the churning, dark ocean, her shoulders slumping heavily. "I failed them, Tang San. I failed the Sea God's trust in letting his loyal followers be captured by the enemy like this. I was unable to protect them."
Tang San stood perfectly still on the wet, rocky ledge. The freezing coastal wind whipped his long hair wildly around his face. The heavy rain soaked his clothes, but he felt nothing.
He processed the grim, sanity-shattering report. The Star Luo Empire had fallen. The massive, formidable military was dismantled. Emperor Dai Tianxiong and the royal family members were captured or dead. The remaining Titled Douluos of his sect were broken refugees. His allies were imprisoned.
"What is the current state of the continent?" Tang San asked, his voice dropping to a terrifying, deadly calm.
"We do not know the exact details," Tang Chen admitted, shaking his head slowly. "We established a strict information boundary the moment we fled the central plains. We focused on reaching the coast and securing the ships. We do not know what happened to the sects that remained behind. However, it is an undeniable certainty that the entire continent is now firmly under the unified control of the Heaven Dou Empire, ruled by Emperor Xue Qinghe, and heavily enforced by the Spirit Hall."
Tang Chen looked deeply into Tang San's eyes, conveying the devastating truth. "Zhang Tian holds undisputed authority over the Douluo Continent, Tang San. We have lost this war."
Hearing those words, an intense, horrifying transformation overtook the young Titled Douluo.
Tang San did not weep. He did not collapse in despair. Instead, a profound, unadulterated, and terrifyingly cold vengeful fury erupted from the very core of his spiritual sea. The sheer magnitude of his hatred eclipsed any sorrow.
His deep blue eyes turned a burning, absolute crimson.
The air around him violently fractured as his supreme domains exploded outward. The pale, suffocating white mist of his highly evolved Death God Domain merged with the dark, corrosive aura of his Imperial Sea Death Domain. The rocky ledge beneath his boots began to rapidly decay, turning to gray ash as his unrestrained killing intent flooded the coastal cavern, pushing back the raging storm outside.
Learning that his homeland was erased, that his sect was reduced to fleeing remnants, and that his most hated enemy, Zhang Tian, now held continental authority, ignited a wrath within Tang San that rivaled the fury of the gods themselves.
An intrusive, agonizing thought pierced his mind like a poisoned dagger—his mother, Ah Yin, the gentle Blue Silver Empress, currently serving as a lowly maid to that very same monster, enduring untold humiliations and tortures in Zhang Tian's chambers while her family was slaughtered. The degradation of his mother pushed his rage past the breaking point. His hands shook with the sheer force of his anger, the veins on his arms bulging against his skin.
He gripped the golden haft of the Sea God Trident, the divine artifact humming violently in response to his bloodthirsty rage. The golden light flared, pushing back the dark storm clouds above the cavern, illuminating the battered faces of his family.
"They have stolen my homeland," Tang San stated, his voice a low, resonant hiss that caused the crashing waves to momentarily still. "They have broken my sect. They have imprisoned our allies."
Tang San turned to face his battered family and the High Priestess, his expression a mask of pure, unyielding divine execution.
"This is not the end," Tang San vowed, his words carrying the heavy weight of a divine decree. "I pledge upon the honor of the Clear Sky Sect and the blood of my ancestors. I will purge my foundation. I will complete the Eighth Trial. And then, I will immediately undertake the Ninth Trial to inherit the supreme mantle of the Sea God."
His crimson eyes burned with a terrifying hatred aimed directly at the northern horizon.
"Zhang Tian believes he has won the world," Tang San declared, his killing intent soaring to the heavens, tearing a hole in the storm clouds. "But mortal empires are nothing but fragile glass before the wrath of a true deity. When I return from the depths, I will return as a God. I will shatter the Heaven Dou Empire, I will tear down the Spirit Hall, and I will personally rip Zhang Tian's soul apart piece by agonizing piece."
Bo Saixi looked at the young man, feeling the genuine, terrifying divine authority radiating from his Level 94 form. She slowly nodded her head, gathering the remaining shreds of her composure. The boy was their last hope.
"Your wrath is righteous, Tang San," Bo Saixi spoke, her voice regaining a fraction of its former strength. "But you cannot execute this vengeance as a mortal. We must return to Sea God Island immediately. The deep ocean is the sanctuary remaining in this world. There, you can complete your trials safely, and we can heal our catastrophic injuries in the sacred waters. We must prepare for the final, divine war."
Tang Chen and Tang Hao nodded grimly, their exhausted, bleeding bodies leaning heavily upon their respective weapons. They had been defeated by the technological and martial supremacy of the Heaven Dou Empire, their pride shattered. But as they looked at the burning, divine fury in Tang San's eyes, a faint, desperate spark of hope reignited within their shattered hearts.
The defeated, battered vanguard of the Star Luo Empire's greatest legends turned away from the mainland. They boarded the hidden, swift coastal vessels, leaving their conquered homeland behind, carrying the heavy, suffocating weight of a fallen empire as they sailed into the dark, raging storms of the ocean.
They were retreating, broken and humiliated, but they carried with them the singular weapon that could potentially overturn the entire world order: the vengeful, ascending Inheritor of the Sea God.
~~
A/N: Check out my other novels [Heavenly Villain: Stealing Fate, Tempting Beauties].
Also, check out 20 Chapters Ahead for this fanfic on my P.atreon. [Check Out Art Of Characters On My Patreon. It's Free To View btw.]
Patreon link: https://www.patreon.com/c/evildragon04