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Dugu Yan completed the first trial of the Sea God Nine Trials, causing the entire Sea God Mountain to tremble.
...
The Divine Realm, Sea God Palace
At this moment, the Sea God Poseidon had been closely observing Dugu Yan's trial. He personally set the trials for her based on his divine consciousness, which assessed each participant's talent and strength.
To be precise, Dugu Yan's first trial was even strengthened by him. Originally, Poseidon thought that 333 steps would suffice for the first trial. However, upon realizing that Dugu Yan was already nearing the Title Douluo level and possessed an exceptionally powerful dragon martial soul, he wanted to test her limits.
In his mind, surpassing 300-400 steps would have been enough to pass the trial. To his surprise, Dugu Yan pushed herself all the way to the 600th step and began training there.
Dugu Yan's strength and talent were extraordinary, and she also possessed an exceptionally strong water affinity—truly a chosen candidate for the divine trials. Poseidon was confident that his chosen successor could perfectly align with his divine position.
"Hehe, I underestimated this girl. It seems the subsequent trials won't pose much difficulty for her. The only tricky part might be that little whale, but I'm sure that young man can handle it.
By the way, what is that young man doing in front of my Sea God Palace? He hasn't moved for a while, using the immense pressure of my Sea God's Light to fuse his soul rings into his martial soul?
Interesting... Back in the day, I did something similar, directly turning my trident into a divine artifact. But at that time, I was almost ready to ascend to godhood. How old is this young man?
It seems I'm getting old and out of touch with the times. Starting with a hundred-thousand-year first soul ring isn't normal at all.
Back in my day, I only had two hundred-thousand-year soul rings. These young soul masters nowadays are so powerful—have hundred-thousand-year soul beasts become that easy to hunt?"
Poseidon began reflecting on life.
(A/N: Poseidon ascended to godhood thousands of years ago. He was once an incredibly powerful sea soul master. Though his talent was undeniable, the maximum soul ring age during his time was likely much lower.
It's reasonable to assume that Poseidon hunting two hundred-thousand-year soul beasts in his youth was normal. Even a near-Soul Sage probably couldn't kill them. After breaking through his limits, Poseidon unified the oceans and ascended to godhood through faith.)
...
Sea God Island, Sea God Mountain
[Sea God Nine Trials, Second Trial: Break Through the Circular Blockade. Without killing any sea soul beasts, break through the blockade on the Circular Sea and reach the opposite shore. No soul ring skills may be used.]
The trident mark on Dugu Yan's forehead flashed, and she understood the content of the second trial.
Simultaneously, the rest of the Shrek Academy team also received their trials.
[Second Trial: Break Through the Circular Blockade. Without killing any sea soul beasts, break through the blockade on the Circular Sea and reach the opposite shore.]
The second trial was consistent for everyone.
They all needed to break through the circular blockade without killing a single sea soul beast—a condition they found somewhat perplexing.
On the mainland, the enmity between soul masters and soul beasts was immense. However, it seemed the situation on Sea God Island was different.
*Boom—*
As everyone pondered this, a loud explosion suddenly echoed from the peak of the Sea God Mountain.
An overwhelming aura surged forth!
Dugu Yan, Zhu Zhuqing, and Ye Lengleng's eyes lit up—they knew Li Luochen had emerged from seclusion!
Bo Saixi's eyes flickered as she released her mental energy, only to find that she couldn't discern the depth of this young man's power.
Bo Saixi was certain that this young man had successfully broken through to the Limit Douluo level and directly reached the quasi-god tier, far surpassing her own usual state.
The aura Li Luochen emanated made Bo Saixi believe she couldn't defeat him, even with the aid of the Sea God's power.
At the 1,000th step of the Sea God Mountain, Li Luochen stood up. After being motionless for so long, his body needed some activity.
In his hand, he held a crimson-red staff.
It was the original form of Li Luochen's martial soul—the Dragon Pattern Staff!
While fusing his soul rings into his martial soul, Li Luochen reverted his martial soul to its original form. Of course, the attributes absorbed from soul rings remained intact.
The difference from the original Dragon Pattern Staff lay in the dragon patterns. Previously, the dragon patterns were simple, uncolored designs. Now, they were vibrant nine-colored dragon patterns depicting a majestic dragon—long like a snake, with a Kirin head, carp tail, flowing whiskers, deer-like antlers, and five claws—coiled around the staff.
Unlike a coiled dragon staff, the nine-colored dragon wasn't wrapped around the staff; instead, it was intricately carved onto it.
"Hmm, as expected, it can't be stored back anymore. Once a divine artifact is successfully forged, it can't be placed in the martial soul space.
However, by enhancing the spatial attributes of my right-hand martial soul storage with my current cultivation and divine consciousness, I should be able to store divine artifacts.
After all, this is an evolution of my own martial soul. It's just that the current martial soul space can't accommodate divine artifacts. With some enhancement, it should work.
Since it has regressed to its original form as the Dragon Pattern Staff and become a divine artifact, let's call it the Dragon Pattern Divine Staff."
Li Luochen weighed the Dragon Pattern Divine Staff in his hand. Its weight was impressive—it reached a full hundred tons. For comparison, the Sea God Trident weighed only fifty-four tons, while his divine artifact now weighed a hundred tons.
Moreover, Li Luochen sensed that the Dragon Pattern Divine Staff wasn't ordinary. Its nascent aura rivaled that of the Sea God Trident, suggesting it had transcended the realm of ordinary divine artifacts and entered the quasi-super artifact tier.
Having frequently been granted special attention by the Asura God, Li Luochen had sensed the power of the super artifact Asura God Sword. A year ago, he also examined the Sea God Trident and found it inferior to the Asura God Sword.
It hadn't reached the super artifact level, likely because Poseidon hadn't actively pursued advancement in the divine realm, choosing instead to coast along and wait for an escape route.
Later, the Sea God Trident's breakthrough to super artifact status was likely due to Tang San, who further elevated the Sea God position to the God King tier.
After the fall of the Spirit Hall, Tang San collected faith from across the continent, allowing him to elevate both his divine position and artifacts to the God King and super artifact levels.
Everything he did was likely aimed at competing with the Destruction God King—an ancient God King wielding the super artifact Destruction Scepter, with his wife, the Life God King, similarly powerful.
Tang San probably didn't spend long in the divine realm before devising a plan to climb to the topmost position. If he failed, he could pass down his divine position and flee. Regardless of success or failure, he wouldn't lose—truly a brilliant strategy.
Li Luochen could only speculate. He was grateful that his martial soul had successfully evolved into a quasi-super artifact, though he lamented losing all his soul skills.
Still, he could restart the Six Forms of Battle Combat. Since leaving the City of Slaughter, Li Luochen hadn't neglected his self-created soul skill or the cultivation of the Six Forms.
Later, as his advancement accelerated, his self-created skills became more of a playful pastime rather than decisive techniques. His ultimate moves still relied on soul ring fusion.
Now, Li Luochen planned to fully innovate his own divine-level staff techniques, evolving the Six Forms of Battle Combat into the Nine Forms of Battle Combat.
Nine is the ultimate number. When the nine forms unite, they culminate in the tenth—the ultimate finishing move.
"Sigh, I'll think about it later. Let's go see my family. I've been in seclusion for so long—I don't even know how many months have passed. I wonder which step Yanzi has reached."
With a flash, Li Luochen appeared before the Shrek Academy team.
"Hey, it's been a while, everyone."
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