The Figure She Could Never Catch

Sea God Island.

Inside the Sea God Hall.

The seven Sacred Pillar Guardians lowered their heads one by one.

Good grief.

They had thought Tang San ordering Sea God Island around as the future Sea God was already quite a spectacle.

They hadn't expected more gossip.

And this time, it involved Bo Saixi.

Heads down, heads down.

This was gossip they couldn't afford to indulge in.

Bo Saixi sat upright on her throne, holding the golden Sea God Scepter in her right hand. Even her fingertips couldn't help trembling slightly.

Her expression remained as calm as ever.

Of course she remembered the promise from decades ago.

Back then, Tang Chen and Qian Daoliu had come to Sea God Island together, both in love with her.

She had been too proud to confess her feelings, so she had set a condition: she would accept the feelings of whoever first reached level one hundred and became a god.

Qian Daoliu, like her, was a guardian of a godhood, and guardians of a godhood could not become gods.

What she had really meant was to let Qian Daoliu down gently, but Tang Chen was such a clueless straight arrow.

He hadn't understood her meaning at all. He had actually made a promise to reach level one hundred and become a god, and then, well, no one knew where he had gone.

Some said the man was already dead.

But never in her wildest dreams had she expected this.

Teyvat had arrived.

In Teyvat, mortals could reach level one hundred and become gods, and guardians of a godhood could become gods too.

She had never said the god had to be one from the Douluo Continent. Wasn't someone who reached level one hundred and became a god in Teyvat a god too?

Bo Saixi gritted her teeth, steeled herself, opened the heavenly screen, and replied, "It stands."

A promise was worth a thousand pieces of gold. That was the principle Bo Saixi had followed all her life: once she gave her word, she kept it.

In the original story, she had also kept her oath to the Sea God. When Tang San completed his Divine Trial, she had chosen to sacrifice herself.

Now, Bo Saixi could only hope that reaching level one hundred and becoming a god in Teyvat would be difficult enough to keep Qian Daoliu out.

If Qian Daoliu really did reach level one hundred and become a god, she genuinely had no idea what to do.

Breaking her oath would be worse than killing her.

Bo Saixi's statement instantly caused a stir in the livestream.

"Holy crap, what a huge piece of gossip!"

"Speaking of which, who's Bo Saixi?"

"Bo Saixi? It's normal that you don't know her. I'm from Sea God Island, and she's our Sea God's guardian."

"..."

Just then,

the heavenly screen changed again.

The text on the screen faded away, replaced by a jade-green scroll.

"Here it comes, here it comes! Her Eminence Nahida's ranking is here!"

"I wonder if it'll have any information about how those so-called mortals in Teyvat can reach level one hundred and become gods."

"Hehe, I'm really curious whether His Eminence Qian Daoliu can reach level one hundred and become a god."

Ordinary people didn't care how to reach level one hundred and become a god. All they cared about was the gossip about Qian Daoliu.

Qian Daoliu was the strongest person on the Douluo Continent today, after all.

Qian Daoliu in particular was so nervous that even his breathing changed.

Of course he knew Bo Saixi preferred Tang Chen.

So what?

Tang Chen had disappeared long ago. There was a ninety percent chance he was dead.

He still had a chance.

At that thought,

Qian Daoliu couldn't help working it out.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt

that Tang Chen was a complete dumbass of a straight arrow.

A complete dumbass of a straight arrow who couldn't understand what a girl was saying.

Most guardians of a godhood didn't end up being sacrificed. They died of old age.

That was right, old age.

An inheritor of a godhood was a once-in-a-hundred-thousand-years rarity.

If Tang Chen had understood what Bo Saixi meant, he would have gotten together with her long ago. With the Clear Sky Sect behind him as well,

how could Spirit Hall ever have had a turn at being the number one power on the Douluo Continent?

If that wasn't a dumbass, what was?

Please, there has to be some information about reaching level one hundred and becoming a god.

Qian Daoliu prayed over and over in his heart.

His breathing grew rapid.

He refused to miss a single frame on the heavenly screen.

[As the youngest of The Seven, I was born from a branch of Irminsul, five hundred years ago.]

A little girl in a white dress appeared on the heavenly screen. Then a childlike voice rang out.

She seemed to be telling her own story.

She also seemed to be reminiscing.

Her eyes were dark green, with a jade-green light shining in them, giving her the air of new life.

"Five hundred years ago!!"

Di Tian and Gu Yue Na looked at each other.

Five hundred years. In just five hundred years, her overall strength had already reached the level of a god.

That was fucking outrageous.

To the Soul Beast Clan, five hundred years was like an hour to a human—not even worth mentioning.

Many Soul Beasts at the hundred-thousand-year level could sleep for a thousand years.

"Five hundred years? How could her overall strength possibly be even more terrifying than Her Eminence Raiden Ei's?"

The Ferocious Beasts looked at one another, unable to wrap their heads around it.

This was clearly beyond their understanding.

What even was a five-hundred-year-old Soul Beast??

The food they normally ate started with thousand-year Soul Beasts.

In their understanding, a cub a little over five hundred years old was a baby that couldn't even speak yet.

Generally, they kept such cubs in their own nests and took good care of them.

Qian Daoliu was beside himself with excitement. Five hundred years—she had become a god in just five hundred years.

Then if he went to Teyvat, he could surely do it too.

Yes.

He could definitely do it.

He had already begun considering whether to strike in secret and eliminate Tang San outright.

Once Tang San was dead,

there would be no inheritor of the Sea God.

Bo Saixi wouldn't have to sacrifice herself.

He would have an even better chance.

The more Qian Daoliu thought about it, the more excited he became.

(When I opened my eyes, I saw many people.)

(They said I was the new Lesser Lord Kusanali and brought me back to the Sanctuary of Surasthana.)

(They said I was the new Lesser Lord Kusanali, but that I wasn't worthy yet and needed to study.)

(They said: The Greater Lord Rukkhadevata of old was so capable. She created the rainforest, gave the people of Sumeru peaceful lives, and established the first Akademiya. When faced with the "Forbidden Knowledge" contamination caused by the Scarlet King, she put aside their past differences and used her "divine power of life" to suppress it in the early stages.)

(They said: Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was so perfect. As the new God of Wisdom, I should become someone like her!)

(And so, I stayed in the Sanctuary of Surasthana, year after year.)

(To become worthy of the title of God of Wisdom as soon as possible, I began studying hard.)

(I read and read, striving to follow in her footsteps, but I found that no matter how hard I tried, I could never catch up to that figure.)

(Late at night, I often liked to stay in the bathroom, crouching by a corner with both hands over my knees.)

(Lost, doubting myself.)

(Was I truly worthy of the position of God of Wisdom?)

(Greater Lord Rukkhadevata was so kind, so perfect, yet I couldn't do anything.)

(I had studied year after year, so why couldn't I catch up to that figure?)

(I was so tired, so tired, so tired.)