As Long as I Can Kill the Celestial Master, What Does It Matter If I Fall into the Demonic Path?

The deepest part of Sea God Hall.

Tang San knelt at the center of the Ninth Trial's altar.

Golden armor plates lay shattered across the ground.

The Sea God Divine Armor was covered in fine cracks, golden light leaking through the gaps.

As soon as it escaped, it scattered into specks of light, which were crushed by the incredibly viscous blue energy surrounding him.

Pain.

From flesh to bone, all the way to the depths of his Divine Soul.

The backlash from his suppressed fortune was still going on.

What should have been a smooth succession had become a one-sided torture.

The blue energy wasn't flowing into him. It was washing through him.

It was slowly cleansing the Soul Power from his meridians and replacing it with the Sea God's divine power.

But Tang San's meridians had suffered severe damage.

The layered suppression of the Eighteen Betrothal Gifts and the Asura God's covert prodding had driven his cultivation speed beyond what his meridians could withstand.

His blood vessels burst.

Beads of blood seeped through his skin, but before they could gather into drops, the Sea God's Power evaporated them.

A faint haze of blood enveloped his entire body.

The trial tested strength.

More than that, it tested resolve and the Dao heart.

The space above the altar twisted.

Blue specks of light converged from all directions, condensing ten paces in front of Tang San.

A phantom.

Three zhang tall.

It held a Trident and wore the Sea God Divine Armor.

Its pressure forced Tang San down another three inches.

His kneecaps slammed into the stone altar with a dull, teeth-grating thud.

This was the last will the Sea God had left behind.

The phantom lowered its head, its gaze settling on Tang San.

That gaze weighed heavily.

It wasn't looking at a person. It pierced through flesh and blood, weighing the soul directly.

"Tang San."

The immense voice boomed through the heart of Sea God Hall.

There was no echo.

All sound was sealed within the small space above the altar.

The voice carried an unanswerable accusation that struck straight at the depths of his soul.

"Why do you wish to inherit the position of Sea God?"

Tang San's back was bowed.

Sweat mingled with blood and ran down his chin.

He lifted his head.

He met the scrutiny of a god.

Why?

A flood of images flashed through his mind.

The lightless days in the Capital of Slaughter.

The dried blood in the cracks between its bricks, the air thick with the stench of rot.

The desperate flight through the Star Dou Great Forest.

Spirit Hall's pursuers snapping at his heels, every breath scorching his lungs.

The tense standoff before Jialing Pass.

And—

The golden light that had flared again and again over Spirit City.

The night the Severing Thought Sword descended.

A flash of cold light.

No sound.

His father's right arm was severed clean off at the shoulder.

The cut was so smooth it hurt to look at.

Blood gushed out, staining the entire courtyard red.

His father knelt on the ground, both sleeves hanging empty, his body trembling violently.

And that Tribulation-Avoiding Garment.

The whole world had bowed in worship, marveling at the Celestial Master's handiwork.

Why?

That Celestial Master named Shen Yichen sat in a Stone Chamber on Tiandang Mountain, never even showing his face.

How could tossing out a few things raise that woman from Spirit Hall to such heights?

How could it crush his fortune so completely?

How could it turn his father into a cripple?

Tang San clenched his teeth.

The back teeth ground together with the faintest cracking sound.

"To become stronger."

The four words scraped out of his throat, thick with the taste of blood.

"To protect the people who matter to me."

He paused for a breath.

His chest heaved violently.

He gripped the edge of the altar with both hands, his fingernails scraping deep white marks into the stone.

"And to avenge myself!"

His voice rose sharply on those final words.

Every word dripped with blood.

His unrestrained savagery showed through.

The Sea God Phantom did not move.

The crushing pressure did not ease in the slightest.

Blue light flowed around the phantom, its detachment a mix of compassion and cold indifference.

Silence.

Ten full breaths of silence.

"Your heart is filled with hatred."

The Sea God Phantom spoke.

Its voice was still immense, but now carried a flicker of emotion.

"This will become the greatest shackle on your path to godhood."

"The Sea God's heart is a vast ocean, embracing all things and nurturing every living creature."

"With hatred like this, if you wield the Sea God's Power—"

The Trident in the phantom's hand paused.

The blue energy around the altar erupted out of control.

The water turned into countless razor-sharp blades of ice, suspended around Tang San.

Their edges pointed straight at his vital points.

"You may even fall into the demonic path."

The demonic path.

The words circled once through Tang San's mind.

Ridiculous.

What was a god? What was a demon?

That Celestial Master could casually toss out an object and create a celestial spectacle, bathe the whole city in golden light, and make the people bow down in worship.

That was the manner of an immortal.

Tang San had been driven to shatter his meridians and crack his Divine Soul.

He had fought desperately just to prove himself. And that was what would make him fall into the demonic path?

If becoming a god meant letting go of his hatred—

Then he would rather not become one.

Tang San braced both hands against the stone altar.

Three fingernails had broken, and blood stained the patterns carved into the slabs.

Bit by bit, he straightened his back.

He forced himself against the Sea God's pressure, lifting his bent knees inch by inch.

His bones cracked under the strain.

He stood upright.

He faced the three-zhang-tall phantom.

"I don't care."

His voice was ice-cold.

Not a trace of warmth in it.

"As long as I gain enough power, I'm willing to pay any price."

"Shackles or the demonic path, it makes no difference."

Tang San tipped his head back.

His face was deathly pale, the dried streak of blood on his cheek stark against it.

His eyes were bloodshot, filled with a crazed, obsessive resolve.

"That Celestial Master stole my fortune and hurt my father. I'll settle that score with my own hands."

"Without power, how can anyone speak of embracing all things?"

The Sea God Phantom watched him.

It watched this successor, covered in blood, his Divine Soul on the verge of collapse, yet still consumed by a mad obsession.

His resolve had already surpassed the limits of humanity.

The blue blades of energy hung suspended in the air, never falling.

A sigh sounded in the void.

Faint.

Yet it drowned out the crashing waves beyond Sea God Hall.

There was resignation in that sigh.

The Sea God's will, left behind in this world, could not withstand the passage of time.

The succession could not be allowed to end.

Not even for a successor steeped in murderous intent, with a deep-rooted inner demon.

The phantom lowered its head slightly.

The Trident in its hand became a streak of light and shot straight toward Tang San's brow.

It was not an attack.

It was an acknowledgment.

The boundless Sea God's Power fully released its restraints.

It was no longer a cleansing, no longer a trial.

It was pure infusion.

Endless.

Tang San's body convulsed violently.

Blue light poured from his seven apertures.

Under the nourishment of this power, the Sea God Divine Armor, once covered in cracks, began to heal at astonishing speed.

The shattered armor plates joined back together.

Its dim patterns lit up one by one.

Vigorous life force forcibly repaired his damaged Divine Soul.

His aura surged.

He crossed the threshold of a Level 99 Limit Douluo in a single leap.

Level 100.

The barrier to godhood was forcibly broken.

The space around him began to shatter inch by inch, black rifts in the void flickering all around his body.

It was a sign that the lower realm could not withstand the power of a god.

He was only one final step away from becoming the true Sea God—triggering the divine tribulation.

Only after enduring the baptism of heavenly lightning could the Godhead become completely stable.

Tang San kept his eyes closed, feeling the surging, world-destroying power within him.

The Fate-Suppressing Cauldron's suppression was still in effect.

But he no longer cared.

With divine power in his hands, what could a mere lower-realm treasure do to him?

The stone doors to the core area of the Sea God Hall slowly opened.

The heavy grinding echoed through the empty corridor.

Yu Xiaogang stood at the far end of the passage.

After enduring seven days and seven nights, he had grown so thin he was almost unrecognizable.

His eyes were sunken, and his chin was covered in blue stubble.

At the sound, he jerked his head up.

A figure emerged from the darkness.

Golden divine armor shimmered with dazzling light.

With every step, the flagstones beneath his feet soundlessly crumbled to dust.

The terrifying pressure felt almost tangible, forcing Yu Xiaogang to stumble backward until his back was pressed hard against the wall.

He could barely breathe.

The pressure squeezed every last breath from his lungs.

Tang San stopped three paces in front of Yu Xiaogang.

Brilliant divine light radiated from his entire body.

But the aura around him was so cold that Yu Xiaogang trembled.

There was none of the holiness or majesty of a newly ascended god.

Only pure, undisguised killing intent.

Bone-chillingly cold.