"Do you humans gods truly have no room for our beastfolk clan to exist?!" Ye Wen roared at the heavens.
"Heh, the Divine Realm has long decreed that no beastfolk may become gods. Of course, that only means beastfolk cannot obtain a Divine Position or ascend to the Divine Realm. It never said you couldn't break through to god-tier."
"No god's power will take part in the Heavenly Tribulation, either. As for killing you, heh, that's just something I want to do personally," Thunder God said coldly. Without the slightest hesitation, he told Ye Wen the truth. His words brimmed with contempt and disgust for beastfolk, along with resentment and murderous intent.
He had acted on his own. There had never been any god meant to appear during the Million Year Heavenly Tribulation!
Thunder God simply despised beastfolk. He wouldn't allow a single one of them to break through to god-tier right under his nose!
In the entire Divine Realm, only Thunder God, who controlled the Divine Position of the Thunder Element, could sense the arrival of a Million Year Heavenly Tribulation at any time. That was why he had appeared.
And only Thunder God could appear through the tribulation lightning without anyone noticing, then merge his Divine Power with it to interfere in the affairs of the Mortal Realm. (To clarify, the god himself did not appear in person; this was merely a manifestation of power, an energy form.)
"Just because you want to? Just because you want to do this?!"
"Hahahaha! Hahahahaha!"
"Thunder God! Wonderful! Just wonderful, Thunder God!"
Hearing Thunder God's answer, Ye Wen's eyes blazed with murderous intent. His whale eyes turned bloodshot as he laughed manically, but his laughter carried boundless fury.
He glared up at the sky in utter rage, at Thunder God high above him—the god who would abuse his divine authority and put him to death simply because he wanted to.
At that moment, a thought Ye Wen had never once entertained before surged through his mind.
"Thunder God, Lei Tianyu!"
"Sea God Poseidon!"
"You human gods—all of you! Every last one! You all want to see me dead!"
"And you refuse to give beastfolk even the slightest chance to become gods!"
"Are all beastfolk supposed to keep paying for the mistake the Dragon God made back then?!"
"Fine! Fine! Thunder God! Sea God! And all you gods who target us and reject our beastfolk clan—if I survive today, then one day, I will lead the beastfolk clan in an attack on the Divine Realm!!!"
"I'll kill every last one of you!!"
Bang! Rumble, rumble, rumble!
"Roar!!!"
The whale's terrifying roar rang out again, full of agony. Perhaps because of the Heavenly Tribulation and Divine Power, the Ice Fire Dragons and Fire Dragon King energy Ye Wen had devoured could no longer be absorbed or digested. Instead, they were resisting the attack of Thunder God's power fused with the tribulation.
"Heh. Die, you vile beast." Thunder God sneered and unleashed his final blow.
With the Heavenly Tribulation behind it, he was absolutely certain this strike would kill Ye Wen once and for all. He didn't even deign to watch. Before the blow had even landed, Thunder God had already departed.
However, Thunder God had no idea that the corpses of the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King lay buried beneath the ground, nor did he know that Ye Wen had devoured them.
The energy of the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King, together with Ye Wen's own power, all blocked the strike.
Bang, bang, bang!
"Roar!!"
"Argh!" Ye Wen roared in pain.
Just how terrifying was a god's power?
Even the weakest Third-level God could regard a Titled Douluo as nothing more than an ant.
And Thunder God was a Level One God.
To Thunder God, Ye Wen was an ant he could kill with a casual blow. Naturally, he couldn't be bothered to stick around and watch.
But Thunder God never imagined that the energy Ye Wen had devoured from the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King would help him withstand the blow.
But the Heavenly Tribulation wasn't over yet.
Ye Wen could no longer withstand the rest of the tribulation—and he couldn't afford to.
If the Heavenly Tribulation continued, that meant he was still alive, and Thunder God would appear again!
So he had no choice but to abandon the tribulation and take a gamble: he would switch to Humanoid Form and see if that could stop it.
Before the next bolt of tribulation lightning fell, Ye Wen shifted to Humanoid Form as fast as he could.
He stared up at the sky, taut with nerves. If the lightning continued to fall after he turned human, he would be reduced to ashes in an instant.
Fortunately, once he had shifted into Humanoid Form, the lightning stopped. The vortex in the sky gradually faded away; the lightning and thunder ceased, the dark clouds receded, and the sky brightened once more. The storm had passed.
Ye Wen finally let out a long breath of relief. "Did I survive?"
"Boss!!"
"Are you—you all right?"
Evil Tiger and Xiao Bai had reached Ye Wen's side by then.
"I'm fine." Ye Wen swam ashore in a sorry state and lay down by the water, breathing shallowly. The turmoil in his heart refused to settle. He silently gazed at the sky for several minutes, his fists clenched tight.
At that moment, a whole new goal took shape in his heart.
A goal that everyone—humans and Soul Beasts alike—would consider utterly impossible.
He would change the fate of beastfolk, of the Soul Beast Clan!
He would free all Soul Beasts from the rule and oppression of human gods, and give every beastfolk the chance to break through to godhood, obtain a Divine Position, and ascend to the Divine Realm!
He would lead the beastfolk clan in an attack on the Divine Realm! He would turn the Divine Realm upside down and carve out a place there for beastfolk!
At the very least, he would make the gods he hated pay!
The turmoil in Ye Wen's heart took a long time to settle. Slowly, he rose to his feet and walked away from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
If he had devoured the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King, then withstood the Heavenly Tribulation and completed his tribulation successfully, his body, Spiritual Power, and energy would all have been fully transformed into god-tier power, allowing him to break through to a Million Year Cultivation in one fell swoop.
Even if he couldn't reach the strength of a Third-level God, the lowest of the low, he would still have become a Divine Official. (Divine Official is a setting from later installments of Douluo.)
But because Thunder God had interfered, the Heavenly Tribulation had been forcibly cut short, and a great deal of the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings' energy had been lost while blocking the attack.
He was still below level one hundred and had yet to reach a Million Year Cultivation. Though it was a great pity, this time Ye Wen hadn't come away empty-handed.
His Deep Sea Demonic Whale King bloodline had mutated—or rather, half of it had transformed into a Dragon bloodline!
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King had already cultivated to the point of transforming into a Dragon, but hadn't truly evolved into one. Now, however, half his body carried the Dragon Clan's bloodline.
For a short time, he could evolve and mutate into a Deep Sea Demonic Dragon. In that form, his power would reach the level of a Divine Official.
Gods were divided into God Kings, Level One Gods, Level Two Gods, and Level Three Gods. Below them were Divine Officials, who had no Divine Position.
And even a Divine Official could reign supreme in the Douluo Mortal Realm!
In other words, Ye Wen's strength now truly surpassed that of Bo Saixi, Qian Daoliu, and Tang Chen, who were demigods. He had become the strongest being in the Douluo Mortal Realm!
But he knew he couldn't use this power lightly unless absolutely necessary, because it could very well be detected by the god who governed the Douluo Plane.
If the god who ruled the Douluo Plane was, like Thunder God, someone who deeply opposed beastfolk, then Ye Wen might be in danger!
Before you continue