Reading settings
With a soft ding, the Vast Sea Cosmic Cover, transformed into a rhombus form, finally imprinted itself onto the rhombus-shaped hole of the Sea God Trident.
In an instant, an intense golden light burst forth from the Sea God Trident. The originally not-so-bright cave seemed to be ignited by that golden light, transforming into a golden palace!
An unprecedentedly sacred aura erupted from the Sea God Trident. At the same time, golden light burst from between his brows, and a light screen shattered. A voice resounded in Neptune's mind: "Sea God Eighth Trial: Recover the Sea God's Heart! Completed. Reward: Sea God affinity increased by fifteen percent, total affinity one hundred percent."
"That's it?"
Neptune saw that the reward for completing the Eighth Trial this time was merely an increase in affinity, which was pretty useless. Furthermore, it didn't even help boost his soul ring age. He immediately felt that something was amiss. How could the Sea God be so stingy this time?
'Wait! Could it be that the soul ring age wasn't increased this time because I'm not on Sea God Island? So the Sea God can't use the power of faith accumulated on Sea God Island to help me boost my soul ring age?' Neptune suddenly realized this reason after the fact.
In this world, gods are not omnipotent. Although not too weak, their power is limited.
The Sea God's true form is currently far away in the God Realm. In the past, he could help people increase their soul ring age primarily because he was on Sea God Island. That was the Sea God's home ground, where he could, to a certain extent, call upon its power. He would utilize the power of faith accumulated there over tens of thousands of years to help trial takers increase their soul ring age.
But now he was far away on the continent, a very long distance from Sea God Island. Under such circumstances, it was impossible for the Sea God to control the power of Sea God Island from afar and have it fly over to boost his soul ring age. So, he simply gave him some Sea God affinity to get by.
As for why the Sea God in the video could summon the Vast Sea Cosmic Cover from the continent to the ocean from afar, it was mainly because it contained his divine sense, which served as an anchor point. By consuming a large amount of power of faith as a price, he could naturally achieve remote summoning.
The current situation was different from the critical situation in the video, so the Sea God naturally didn't want to waste power of faith and simply gave some affinity to conclude the matter. Anyway, once he inherited godhood, everything would belong to him, the successor. There wasn't much difference.
'Never mind, everything will be there when I officially inherit godhood.' Neptune couldn't forget that in the original novel, when Tang San inherited godhood, not only did his soul ring age see a great increase, but even his soul bones were improved in quality and then refined into the Sea God Divine Armor.
So, even though he hadn't received a reward now, when he was about to inherit godhood, the Sea God would compensate him for any deficiencies. There was no need to worry about such matters at all.
In contrast to the Sea God, the Angel God and Rakshasa God seemed far too stingy. This led to Qian Renxue and Bibi Dong being completely crushed by Tang San in all aspects, which was truly miserable.
He reined in his thoughts. Neptune began to examine the Sea God Trident in his hand, which was over a dozen feet long and shimmered with boundless golden light. A satisfied expression appeared on his face.
At this moment, the black color on the Sea God Trident had completely vanished, leaving only brilliant golden light. Every golden pattern was incredibly clear, extending all the way to the tip.
On the Trident's blades, the central main blade was two feet long and half a foot wide. The huge rhombus gemstone, transformed from the Vast Sea Cosmic Cover, was embedded in its lower-middle section. At this point, its original blue color had completely turned golden, transforming into a golden crystal that seamlessly merged with the Sea God Trident.
The side blades on either side of the main blade shimmered with a wave-like golden light, identical to their master's. Each side blade had a barb on its outer edge. The three blades of the entire Trident had no visible cutting edges, as they had been completely replaced by golden light.
The Sea God Trident was now in its complete and flawless state.
"Everything is ready. It's time to return to the ocean for the Ninth Trial." Neptune stood up and casually retracted the Sea God Trident back into the mark on his brows. Just as the eighth light screen shattered, the last remaining light screen finally became clear, revealing the final test to him.
【Sea God Ninth Trial: Subdue or slay the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King! Afterward, challenge the High Priest. Upon victory, the final inheritance can proceed!】
The content of the Ninth Trial was simple: primarily hunting or subduing a soul beast, and then defeating a human.
In this test, the Sea God gave him two options: subdue or slay the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King. This was different from the original Tang San, as it didn't necessarily require killing the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King. If he could subdue this Deep Sea Demonic Whale King, like he did Xiaobai, it would also count as passing the test.
Neptune speculated that this might be related to his unique talent. After all, in the original novel, Tang San's inheritance of godhood was, to put it bluntly, completely forced upon him. How could a Blue Silver Grass possibly be connected to the Sea God?
Therefore, facing a demigod level soul beast, subduing it was absolutely impossible for Tang San. He didn't have that ability, and at that time, Tang San almost died at the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's hands, establishing a deadly enmity between them. Thus, for that old whale, there was only one option: kill it!
But Neptune was different. His martial soul, his talent, everything demonstrated his attribute as an innate master of the Great Sea. He possessed a natural advantage against sea soul beasts, and thus, the Sea God was very much looking forward to whether he could subdue this old whale.
Although one of the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's eyes was blinded by the Sea God back then, that was before he became the Sea God. After he achieved godhood, his perspective and outlook had changed.
One thinks about matters according to their position.
As the Sea God, the creatures of the ocean were undoubtedly his subjects. Therefore, after achieving godhood, the Sea God did not kill the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King but allowed it to live in the ocean. Otherwise, if he truly wanted to kill it, could that old whale still be alive?
This included the Demonic Tiger Whale Clan, which rampaged through the ocean and had a deadly enmity with Xiaobai's clan. In the Sea God's view, they were all subjects of the Great Sea, all his subjects. The conflicts between these ocean races belonged to natural selection. If he interfered, he would be violating natural laws.
Therefore, after becoming the Sea God, the Sea God did not exterminate this clan but merely ordered them to restrain themselves and not commit wanton slaughter!
And facing the Sea God's command, those Demonic Tiger Whales were naturally not fools; they obediently complied. While the Sea God was still in the lower realm, they behaved like perfectly good citizens. It seemed as if they had truly turned over a new leaf.
However, it's easier to change rivers and mountains than to change one's nature.
Once the Sea God ascended to the God Realm, with the Sea God's deterrent gone from above their heads, these Demonic Tiger Whales immediately reverted to their true nature and began to wreak havoc in the ocean again without restraint.
At that time, Xiaobai's clan went to stop them, but Xiaobai's younger brother was accidentally killed, and the two clans thus formed a deadly enmity!
When the Sea God learned of all this, he was naturally furious. Therefore, in the Nine Trials he set for Neptune, one of them was to exterminate the Demonic Tiger Whale Clan.
(end of chapter)
In an instant, an intense golden light burst forth from the Sea God Trident. The originally not-so-bright cave seemed to be ignited by that golden light, transforming into a golden palace!
An unprecedentedly sacred aura erupted from the Sea God Trident. At the same time, golden light burst from between his brows, and a light screen shattered. A voice resounded in Neptune's mind: "Sea God Eighth Trial: Recover the Sea God's Heart! Completed. Reward: Sea God affinity increased by fifteen percent, total affinity one hundred percent."
"That's it?"
Neptune saw that the reward for completing the Eighth Trial this time was merely an increase in affinity, which was pretty useless. Furthermore, it didn't even help boost his soul ring age. He immediately felt that something was amiss. How could the Sea God be so stingy this time?
'Wait! Could it be that the soul ring age wasn't increased this time because I'm not on Sea God Island? So the Sea God can't use the power of faith accumulated on Sea God Island to help me boost my soul ring age?' Neptune suddenly realized this reason after the fact.
In this world, gods are not omnipotent. Although not too weak, their power is limited.
The Sea God's true form is currently far away in the God Realm. In the past, he could help people increase their soul ring age primarily because he was on Sea God Island. That was the Sea God's home ground, where he could, to a certain extent, call upon its power. He would utilize the power of faith accumulated there over tens of thousands of years to help trial takers increase their soul ring age.
But now he was far away on the continent, a very long distance from Sea God Island. Under such circumstances, it was impossible for the Sea God to control the power of Sea God Island from afar and have it fly over to boost his soul ring age. So, he simply gave him some Sea God affinity to get by.
As for why the Sea God in the video could summon the Vast Sea Cosmic Cover from the continent to the ocean from afar, it was mainly because it contained his divine sense, which served as an anchor point. By consuming a large amount of power of faith as a price, he could naturally achieve remote summoning.
The current situation was different from the critical situation in the video, so the Sea God naturally didn't want to waste power of faith and simply gave some affinity to conclude the matter. Anyway, once he inherited godhood, everything would belong to him, the successor. There wasn't much difference.
'Never mind, everything will be there when I officially inherit godhood.' Neptune couldn't forget that in the original novel, when Tang San inherited godhood, not only did his soul ring age see a great increase, but even his soul bones were improved in quality and then refined into the Sea God Divine Armor.
So, even though he hadn't received a reward now, when he was about to inherit godhood, the Sea God would compensate him for any deficiencies. There was no need to worry about such matters at all.
In contrast to the Sea God, the Angel God and Rakshasa God seemed far too stingy. This led to Qian Renxue and Bibi Dong being completely crushed by Tang San in all aspects, which was truly miserable.
He reined in his thoughts. Neptune began to examine the Sea God Trident in his hand, which was over a dozen feet long and shimmered with boundless golden light. A satisfied expression appeared on his face.
At this moment, the black color on the Sea God Trident had completely vanished, leaving only brilliant golden light. Every golden pattern was incredibly clear, extending all the way to the tip.
On the Trident's blades, the central main blade was two feet long and half a foot wide. The huge rhombus gemstone, transformed from the Vast Sea Cosmic Cover, was embedded in its lower-middle section. At this point, its original blue color had completely turned golden, transforming into a golden crystal that seamlessly merged with the Sea God Trident.
The side blades on either side of the main blade shimmered with a wave-like golden light, identical to their master's. Each side blade had a barb on its outer edge. The three blades of the entire Trident had no visible cutting edges, as they had been completely replaced by golden light.
The Sea God Trident was now in its complete and flawless state.
"Everything is ready. It's time to return to the ocean for the Ninth Trial." Neptune stood up and casually retracted the Sea God Trident back into the mark on his brows. Just as the eighth light screen shattered, the last remaining light screen finally became clear, revealing the final test to him.
【Sea God Ninth Trial: Subdue or slay the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King! Afterward, challenge the High Priest. Upon victory, the final inheritance can proceed!】
The content of the Ninth Trial was simple: primarily hunting or subduing a soul beast, and then defeating a human.
In this test, the Sea God gave him two options: subdue or slay the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King. This was different from the original Tang San, as it didn't necessarily require killing the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King. If he could subdue this Deep Sea Demonic Whale King, like he did Xiaobai, it would also count as passing the test.
Neptune speculated that this might be related to his unique talent. After all, in the original novel, Tang San's inheritance of godhood was, to put it bluntly, completely forced upon him. How could a Blue Silver Grass possibly be connected to the Sea God?
Therefore, facing a demigod level soul beast, subduing it was absolutely impossible for Tang San. He didn't have that ability, and at that time, Tang San almost died at the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's hands, establishing a deadly enmity between them. Thus, for that old whale, there was only one option: kill it!
But Neptune was different. His martial soul, his talent, everything demonstrated his attribute as an innate master of the Great Sea. He possessed a natural advantage against sea soul beasts, and thus, the Sea God was very much looking forward to whether he could subdue this old whale.
Although one of the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's eyes was blinded by the Sea God back then, that was before he became the Sea God. After he achieved godhood, his perspective and outlook had changed.
One thinks about matters according to their position.
As the Sea God, the creatures of the ocean were undoubtedly his subjects. Therefore, after achieving godhood, the Sea God did not kill the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King but allowed it to live in the ocean. Otherwise, if he truly wanted to kill it, could that old whale still be alive?
This included the Demonic Tiger Whale Clan, which rampaged through the ocean and had a deadly enmity with Xiaobai's clan. In the Sea God's view, they were all subjects of the Great Sea, all his subjects. The conflicts between these ocean races belonged to natural selection. If he interfered, he would be violating natural laws.
Therefore, after becoming the Sea God, the Sea God did not exterminate this clan but merely ordered them to restrain themselves and not commit wanton slaughter!
And facing the Sea God's command, those Demonic Tiger Whales were naturally not fools; they obediently complied. While the Sea God was still in the lower realm, they behaved like perfectly good citizens. It seemed as if they had truly turned over a new leaf.
However, it's easier to change rivers and mountains than to change one's nature.
Once the Sea God ascended to the God Realm, with the Sea God's deterrent gone from above their heads, these Demonic Tiger Whales immediately reverted to their true nature and began to wreak havoc in the ocean again without restraint.
At that time, Xiaobai's clan went to stop them, but Xiaobai's younger brother was accidentally killed, and the two clans thus formed a deadly enmity!
When the Sea God learned of all this, he was naturally furious. Therefore, in the Nine Trials he set for Neptune, one of them was to exterminate the Demonic Tiger Whale Clan.
(end of chapter)
