Deep within Sea God Hall on Sea God Island, inside the private Cultivation Room.
Golden divine light hung thick in the air, almost solid, bathing the entire space in the splendor of a sacred realm.
Tang San sat cross-legged at the very center of the divine light. The Sea God Trident floated before him, its blade coursing with immense divine might that resonated with the Soul Power surging around him.
The Eighth Sea God Trial had reached its most critical moment.
The Soul Power within him was circulating at an unprecedented speed, along with the source power of his Blue Silver Emperor Martial Soul and Clear Sky Hammer Martial Soul.
Yet just as he guided all his strength toward launching an all-out assault on the final barrier—
A sudden, inexplicable pang of dread seized his heart!
It was not the sting of Soul Power backlash, nor the weakness of spiritual exhaustion.
It was a... vast emptiness, rooted in the deepest part of his soul, beyond the power of words to describe!
It was as if something innate to him, something bound to his fate and forming the very foundation of his life, were being forcibly wrenched from him by an invisible hand stretching across the endless reaches of time and space!
"Pfft—!"
Tang San's whole body convulsed. A mouthful of golden blood burst uncontrollably from his lips and spattered across the ground before him, instantly corroding tiny pits into the hard stone slabs.
The immense Soul Power that had been flowing smoothly through his body lost control in an instant, crashing wildly through his meridians like a runaway horse.
He was on the verge of cultivation deviation!
"Not good!"
Tang San was horrified. He forcibly suppressed the soul-rending emptiness and did everything in his power to regain control of his unruly Soul Power.
He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue. The sharp pain cleared his head for a moment.
Daring not to challenge the bottleneck again, he could only guide the berserk power around his body in circle after circle, trying to soothe it back into submission.
It was more perilous than any battle he had ever fought.
After an unknown length of time, the raging Soul Power finally began to subside, settling back into his dantian.
The golden divine light in the Cultivation Room had dimmed considerably.
Tang San's face was as pale as paper. Cold sweat drenched him from head to toe, and he gasped for breath as if he had just been dragged from the water.
Ignoring his internal injuries, he immediately calmed his mind and frantically examined his body.
His meridians were damaged, but not seriously. His Soul Power was greatly depleted, but his foundation remained intact.
The Sea of Consciousness had been stirred into turmoil, but it had quickly settled again.
Everything seemed to be nothing more than a normal reaction before cultivation deviation.
But... no!
That feeling! The emptiness of having a piece of his soul gouged out still clung to him, crystal clear and all too real!
Tang San reached out with a trembling hand and stared at his palm.
To his horror, he discovered that his sense of kinship with heaven and earth—that subtle feeling that the world itself revolved around him—was rapidly fading before his very eyes!
In the past, spiritual energy from heaven and earth had gathered around him of its own accord whenever he cultivated.
Whenever he faced danger, he somehow managed to escape disaster.
He had always found it easy to obtain opportunities and treasures beyond the reach of ordinary people.
He had always believed this was his talent, the reward for his hard work.
But only now, as that invisible halo was forcibly stripped away, did he realize in terror that it had never been talent at all. It was something far more elusive, yet undeniably real—
His fate!
The Protagonist Halo he had been born with, far surpassing that of ordinary people, was being forcibly taken from him!
The realization struck him like a bolt of thunder from the heavens, leaving his mind utterly blank.
How could this be?
How could something like fate be seized and suppressed by another person?
"No... No, that's impossible..."
Tang San murmured in a daze, his eyes filled with disbelieving terror.
He suddenly looked up and grabbed the Sea God Trident floating before him. It was the divine weapon left behind by the Sea God—his greatest trump card!
Yet the instant his palm closed around the Trident, a violent shudder ran through its shaft!
Hummm—
The divine weapon that had always responded to his every thought and obeyed him like an extension of his own arm now trembled and hummed violently in his grasp. It was like a trapped beast sensing its natural enemy, letting out an anxious, agitated wail!
The dazzling divine light on its blade flickered erratically, growing horribly unstable.
The Sea God Trident's reaction shattered the last line of defense in Tang San's heart.
Even the divine weapon was warning him!
Something really had happened to his fate!
"Xiao San! What's wrong?!"
Just then, the door to the Cultivation Room was flung open, and a figure hurried inside in a panic.
Yu Xiaogang had heard the commotion and sensed that something was wrong, so he had rushed in at once.
When he saw Tang San looking utterly lost, his face pale as a ghost, he was struck with alarm.
"Teacher..."
Tang San slowly raised his head to look at his teacher. The eyes that had always been so confident and resolute now held nothing but boundless confusion and fear.
"What happened? Your injuries..."
Yu Xiaogang hurried over. Seeing the pool of golden blood on the ground, his heart ached.
Tang San did not answer. He only gripped the Trident in his hand, his knuckles whitening from the force. Veins bulged across the back of his hand.
He gritted his teeth, forcing out every word as though it had to be scraped from between them. His voice was so hoarse it barely sounded human.
"My fate... has been suppressed."
"What?!"
Yu Xiaogang felt as if he had been struck by lightning. He froze where he stood.
He stared wide-eyed at Tang San, unable to believe what he had just heard.
Suppressing someone's fate?
That was something found only in ancient texts and mythical legends. How could it possibly have happened in reality?
But when he saw Tang San's despairing, near-broken expression, and the Sea God Trident trembling and wailing in his hands, a piece of news that had just arrived from Spirit City sprang into his mind—news he had dismissed as absurd.
The Purple Gold Marriage Contract... the Ancient Celestial Master... the Eighteen Betrothal Gifts...
Yu Xiaogang's face turned even paler than Tang San's. His lips quivered, and his voice trembled.
"Was... was it the mysterious Celestial Master's... second betrothal gift?"
Boom!
Yu Xiaogang's guess was like a spark landing in the powder keg of fear inside Tang San, setting it off and turning it into a raging flood of murderous fury!
Shen Yichen!
That name again!
So that was it! The root of all this was the second betrothal gift sent by a man he had never even met—to Hu Liena!
What right did he have?!
What right did that man named Shen Yichen have?!
What right did he have to take everything that should have belonged to Tang San with some so-called betrothal gift?!
"No matter who you are! No matter how powerful you may be!"
Tang San clenched the Sea God Trident in his hand. Fury twisted his face into a mask of madness and menace.
"You think some broken cauldron can suppress my destiny? You think it can cut off my path to godhood?!"
"Dream on!"
"My fate is in my hands alone! No one can stand in my way! If a god blocks me, I'll kill a god! If a Buddha blocks me, I'll kill a Buddha!"
He slammed the Sea God Trident down into the floor before him!
Clang!
The ringing clash of metal echoed through the hall as the Trident's blade smashed a web of cracks into the impossibly hard floor.
A bone-chilling, utterly merciless killing intent burst outward from Tang San, sweeping through the room!
At that moment, the temperature throughout the Cultivation Room seemed to plummet to freezing!
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