The Sea God Eager to Retire

Three days later, the magnificent gates of Spirit City slowly creaked open in the morning light.

A black carriage, plain in appearance but spacious and comfortable within, was pulled by eight spirited unicorns as it silently rolled out of this holy land for the continent's spirit masters.

Inside the carriage, the space was far larger than it appeared from the outside, decorated with understated luxury.

Qian Renxue had traded her usual palace attire or combat gear for a simple moon-white dress. Her long golden hair was loosely pinned up with a jade hairpin, with a few stray strands falling to add a touch of cold elegance.

She sat by the window, her violet eyes gazing at the rapidly receding scenery outside, though her gaze was unfocused, lost in thought.

Qian Daoliu sat opposite her, eyes closed in meditation, seemingly indifferent to everything in the outside world.

Yet, his very presence was the greatest guarantee of safety for this carriage.

A personal escort by a ninety-nine-level peerless Douluo was enough to make any faction on the continent give way.

Their destination was Vast Sea City, located on the western frontier of the Heaven Dou Empire—the only large coastal city on the Douluo Continent, and the essential gateway and most important port for travel overseas, especially to Sea God Island.

The wheels rumbled, carrying the future hope of Spirit Hall and a marriage that might influence the landscape of the continent, as they sped toward the sea.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, on Sea God Island.

The morning sun shone through the towering stained-glass windows of the Sea God Hall, transforming into colorful pillars of light that spilled across the floor of the vast and sacred hall.

The hall was filled with a tranquil and vast aura, forming a marvelous harmony with the sound of crashing waves outside.

A figure sat quietly in the center of the light and shadow in the middle of the hall.

It was a youth who looked to be about twelve or thirteen years old, dressed in a simple black robe, his posture as straight as a pine.

He had a handsome face with sword-like brows and star-bright eyes, a high bridge of the nose, and well-defined lips. Though still youthful, a sense of composure and depth beyond his years was already faintly visible between his brows.

Most striking was his ink-black hair, which swayed slightly with his steady breathing.

Beside him, a flag floated silently.

The flagpole was a mysterious black, neither gold nor wood, exuding an ancient and desolate air.

The flag itself was a deep, profound blue, upon which countless mysterious and complex runes flowed slowly, as if alive, or perhaps containing the fundamental truths of the universe.

The flag fluttered without wind, emitting a soft yet majestic halo of water vapor. The faint sound of tides echoed, illuminating the ten-foot radius around the youth as if it were an underwater dragon palace. This was his martial soul—the Mysterious Origin Water-Controlling Flag.

With each breath the youth took, five spirit rings rose slowly from beneath his feet, pulsing around his body.

The colors of those spirit rings were enough to make any spirit master gape in astonishment, or even doubt their own existence: the first ring was a deep purple, while the second, third, and fourth were even deeper, carrying a terrifying pressure—black! And most shocking of all was the one floating on the outermost layer, emitting an eerie and noble blood-red light—a hundred-thousand-year spirit ring!

One purple, three black, one red!

This was a spirit ring configuration that defied every common sense in the spirit master world!

For an ordinary spirit master, being able to absorb a ten-thousand-year spirit ring as a fifth ring would make them a genius among geniuses. Yet he, at only twelve years old, had a terrifying hundred-thousand-year spirit ring as his fifth!

Not to mention the absurd combination of the first four rings.

Spirit power surged around the youth, his aura as deep as the sea, yet possessing an indescribable agility and vastness.

His spirit power level had actually reached the height of a fifty-eight-level Spirit King!

From the innate level twenty at his awakening six years ago to fifty-eight now, that was an average increase of over six levels per year!

Such a terrifying cultivation speed, if it were to get out, would be enough to scare a whole generation of so-called geniuses to death.

In fact, even the High Priestess of Sea God Island, Bo Saixi—a ninety-nine-level peerless Douluo who had seen all kinds of great storms—often felt speechless and sighed, shaking her head as she witnessed Li Qing's rocket-like improvement over these six years and his increasingly outrageous spirit ring configuration.

A large part of the credit for this belonged to a certain deity who was in a hurry to retire.

It happened like this: initially, Li Qing's spirit ring configuration was far beyond that of ordinary people, but it was still within the realm of an understandable monster; after all, he had absorbed a piece of Whale Glue before obtaining his spirit rings.

However, ever since he officially began receiving the Sea God's inheritance and demonstrated a potential that even the Sea God marveled at, along with a perfect compatibility with the Mysterious Origin Water-Controlling Flag, things began to spiral out of control.

Poseidon, as a veteran first-tier god in the God Realm, possessed immense power and deep seniority, making him a formidable figure in the God Realm.

Perhaps he had stayed in the God Realm for too long, and the handling of divine affairs had left him feeling deeply exhausted, or perhaps for some other reason, this Sea God had developed a strong desire to retire.

The appearance of Li Qing, his successor, was like being handed a pillow just as one was getting sleepy.

His talent was heaven-defying, his martial soul mysterious and powerful, his temperament seemingly carefree but actually resilient, and most importantly, his cultivation speed and efficiency were extremely high!

This gave the Sea God hope of shedding his heavy burden early and living a life of leisure.

Thus, this capricious Sea God began to look after his successor from time to time.

Did Li Qing perform well during his tidal body tempering?

"Hmm, reward: increase the age of his spirit rings by a small margin!"

Did Li Qing set a new record while crossing the Light of the Sea God?

"Not bad, reward: further increase the age of his spirit rings!"

Did Li Qing successfully absorb a rare ocean spirit beast ring with high attribute compatibility?

"Very good, let me optimize those low-age spirit rings for you while I'm at it!"

Sometimes, when the Sea God was in a good mood, or felt that Li Qing's cultivation progress was "slightly" slow, he would find an excuse—such as the weather being particularly nice today, or that it was "fated" with him—to bestow a divine gift, directly increasing the age of one of Li Qing's spirit rings or pouring in a bit of pure divine power to help him break through a bottleneck.

The most crucial point was that the Sea God was powerful and held a high status in the God Realm. Weaker gods dared not interfere, and stronger gods were either too busy dealing with their own affairs or felt that the Sea God giving his successor a little extra help was harmless—after all, which god didn't favor their own successor?

Or, they simply couldn't be bothered with such trivial matters.

The God Realm managed many lower planes like Douluo Planet; as long as no major chaos that overturned the rules occurred, everyone turned a blind eye to a few internal perks.

Thus, with Li Qing's own diligent (forced) efforts and the Sea God's eager (impatient) help, his spirit ring configuration galloped toward an absurd direction, forcibly piling up that eye-blinding one purple, three black, and one red at the age of twelve, while his spirit power also skyrocketed like a rocket to level fifty-eight.