Finalizing the Script, Recreating the First-generation Sea God's Path

"If a new Sea God could be cultivated to replace Tang San's position in the ocean, this immense Faith Power could naturally be converted, absorbed, and claimed for myself."

A clear plan took shape in Lei Chen's mind. Next, his gaze swept across the vast ocean, searching for a "seed" worthy of cultivation—one capable of bearing the authority of the sea.

Within the Plane Origin Sea, Lei Chen's senses spread like an invisible, intangible tide, instantly covering the oceanic world of Douluo Star, which was far more expansive than its land.

Azure abysses, rolling mountain ranges, blazing volcanic craters, dazzling coral forests... The pulses and auras of countless marine lives appeared clearly in his mind like scattered points of light.

His will swept past those points of light and swiftly locked onto several beings with the most immense energy levels—the strongest figures currently in the ocean.

Among them, one mass of energy, deep, murky, and filled with resentment and destruction, stood out like a beacon in the night. It lurked somewhere in the deep sea, and its energy intensity even surpassed the ocean's other powerhouses by an entire level.

"Demon Empress..." Lei Chen silently uttered the title.

This Deep Sea Demon Whale that called herself the "Demon Empress" was the wife of the Deep Sea Demon Whale King whom Tang San had slain ten thousand years ago.

The grief of losing her husband, along with her extreme hatred for Tang San and humanity, had driven her to madly increase her strength. Her current cultivation was not much weaker than her husband's had been in life. She was unquestionably the true overlord of today's ocean.

In terms of strength and her grudge against Tang San, she seemed to be the ideal candidate to seize the Sea God's faith. Yet Lei Chen's senses lingered on her for only an instant before he decisively ruled her out.

The reason was simple: she had chosen a dead end for herself.

Over the past ten thousand years, in order to accumulate energy quickly, Demon Empress had embarked on the same path of plunder as her husband. She had voraciously devoured other lives in the ocean, from weak Sea Soul Beasts to powerful clans, all of them becoming her food.

Such actions had long made her infamous throughout the vast ocean. Everywhere she went, she brought only endless fear and hatred.

Did anyone expect marine creatures to abandon their faith in the Sea God and instead worship a demon that might devour them at any moment? That was pure fantasy.

Thus, Demon Empress's existence not only failed to cut off the ocean's faith in Tang San, but constantly created despair. To some extent, she might even have reinforced some marine creatures' faith in the Sea God—they prayed for the Sea God to descend and slay this fiend.

"This Demon Empress... she really had a firm grip on the villain script." Lei Chen shook his head.

Demon Empress's actions had undoubtedly cut off her own path to faith.

But fortune lay hidden within misfortune, and misfortune within fortune.

In Lei Chen's eyes, Demon Empress's "villainous" behavior had another marvelous use. It instantly reminded him of the path to godhood taken by the First-generation Sea God tens of thousands of years ago.

Back then, it was precisely because the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, who ravaged the ocean and devoured all living beings, had played the perfect role of a "world-ending villain" that the First-generation Sea God had been able to emerge as a "savior."

The First-generation Sea God united the various marine clans, fought the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, protected the weak, and gradually earned the reverence and following of countless ocean lives through that long struggle. In the end, he gathered faith and forged the Sea God's Divine Seat.

And history was remarkably similar.

Now, though the Deep Sea Demon Whale King was dead, his wife, Demon Empress, had perfectly taken up the "villain script." Her resentment and madness even surpassed her husband's.

"Since that's the case, why not follow the old script and put on another performance?" A sharp glint flashed in Lei Chen's eyes.

"Cultivate a new 'Sea God,' raise the banner of justice, oppose Demon Empress, save the ocean's living beings. Throughout this process, new faith will naturally gather and gradually replace the Sea God faith that originally pointed toward Tang San."

Better still, if this plan succeeded, it could also drag the Sea God Clan, which had always worshipped the First-generation Sea God, into the matter.

At that time, Lei Chen only needed to make a few arrangements and have the Sea God Clan step forward to acknowledge this newly risen being as the inheritor of the First-generation Sea God's will, the true guardian of the ocean. Her legitimacy could even suppress Tang San, that "usurper," in turn!

At the thought of Tang San, perhaps still trapped within the Spacetime Turbulence, discovering that the foundation of his faith had been dug away and that he had even been denounced as a "false god," Lei Chen's lips curved into a pleased smile.

That settled it!

With the plan decided, Lei Chen immediately began selecting a "protagonist" capable of shouldering this great responsibility.

His senses swept over one powerful Sea Soul Beast clan after another: the Evil Demon Orca Pod that dominated its waters, the mysterious and unfathomable Devil Ray Clan, the ancient and powerful Deep-Sea Kraken...

In the end, his gaze settled beneath the icy sea outside the Far North Land, under waters covered by eternal ice, upon a beautiful and peaceful clan—the Merfolk Clan.

And his attention focused on the Merfolk Clan's queen, the Sea Princess, who possessed six hundred thousand years of cultivation.

Lei Chen naturally had his reasons for choosing the Sea Princess.

The first was strength. With six hundred thousand years of cultivation, the Sea Princess was very powerful. Although she was still inferior to Demon Empress, the gap was not great, and she was qualified to contend with her.

However, strength was not Lei Chen's most important reason for choosing the Sea Princess. Six hundred thousand years of cultivation would be enough to let her establish herself firmly in future conflicts, but the ocean was not without beings stronger than her. What truly made Lei Chen favor her was her "character" and "conduct."

This Sea Princess had a temperament astonishingly similar to Bi Ji, the Emerald Swan of the Star Dou Great Forest.

She was exceptionally kind by nature and never took the initiative to harm any life. Instead, she tirelessly used her powerful spiritual power and affinity for the water element to heal injured Sea Soul Beasts, mediate disputes between marine clans, and shelter weak creatures.

In the oceanic world, where the strong preyed upon the weak and danger lurked everywhere, the Sea Princess and the Merfolk Clan she led were like a rare "oasis of kindness."

Their existence itself had already gathered a considerable degree of gratitude and trust. Especially when contrasted with Demon Empress's atrocities, their kindness seemed all the more precious, and they had already accumulated the embryonic form of positive faith in certain seas.

"Kindness is a weakness, but it can also be the strongest weapon for uniting hearts." Lei Chen thought to himself. "The core of the First-generation Sea God was 'protection,' not 'conquest.'"

"Having a kind-hearted queen like the Sea Princess play the role of 'savior' would be far more convincing than choosing a merely powerful overlord, and it would resonate more deeply with the ocean's living beings."

"Besides, the Merfolk Clan borders the Far North Land. Perhaps... in the future, they can also coordinate with Snow Empress's forces in the far north."

With that thought, Lei Chen no longer hesitated and formally finalized the script.