Life and Death, the Cycle Never Ends! I Live, They Die!

After the first round of the Second Trial, it had taken Haiming seven days of lying in bed to recover. Standing at the edge of the Ring Sea, he felt resistance toward the Sea God Trial for the first time.

Even though he knew it was for his own good, meant to let the Divine Bone produce Divine Blood, the sensation of his flesh being eaten away bit by bit was simply too agonizing!

"This... is a kind of trial too, I suppose..."

Haiming sighed helplessly, took off his clothes and left them on the shore. Then, after taking a deep breath, he leaped straight into the Ring Sea.

There were no several-and-a-half midair flips, only a splashless entry into the water. Difficulty-wise, it was probably a nine out of ten.

Pain!

That was Haiming's first thought upon entering the Ring Sea. He had known he would be attacked, but he had forgotten one thing!

The Bloodrays were kept inside the Ring Sea, surrounded by a barrier set up by Bo Saixi. That meant they could not feed by hunting, and their prey could only be Haiming.

So the instant Haiming entered the water, every Bloodray rushed at him, frantically drinking his blood. Some crazed Bloodrays even tore off chunks of flesh along with skin. With seawater soaking his wounds, Haiming felt as though his limbs no longer belonged to him.

Traces of golden blood seeped from his arm. After one Bloodray drank that tiny amount of blood, its entire body began to glow gold. Then, it abruptly doubled in size, shoved aside its kin, sprawled across Haiming's chest, and bit straight toward his heart!

"What a waste of Divine Blood..."

Watching his blood get sucked away, Haiming sighed, utterly unfazed.

Maybe this was what they called getting used to it?

Five hundred meters. This time, Haiming endured for five hundred meters through sheer willpower before losing consciousness. Bo Saixi rescued him, while Little White thoughtfully applied medicinal herbs and wrapped him in bandages.

Strangely enough, Sea God Island did not have many medicinal herbs, since its residents were rarely injured. Yet for this trial, they had managed to gather enough herbs to heal Haiming's injuries within a few days. All he could say was that the Sea God's power was truly omnipotent.

By the time Haiming woke again, he had already been placed in a medicinal bath. Almost all the wounds on his body had vanished, though the faint red tinge in the pool was enough to remind anyone of his previous misery.

With a soft sigh, Haiming climbed out of the bath and refused the help of the servants outside. After wiping down his weakened body himself, he braced himself against the wall and lay down on the bed.

"Kyogre, how much longer will it take for my Divine Blood to finish forming?"

It was already dark outside. Haiming closed his eyes, emptied his mind, and tried to relax his body without thinking about the pain of being gnawed on by Bloodrays.

It had only happened twice, but whenever he thought of having to go back into the sea to be bitten again, his entire body ached.

[Can't endure it anymore?]

Kyogre's tone was perfectly ordinary. Haiming nodded inwardly.

If he had to calm himself and cultivate diligently, he could do it.

If he had to scheme and plot against others, he could do that too.

But this kind of self-torturing improvement was honestly difficult for him to accept.

[To be honest, I have no way of understanding you, because I have never tried becoming stronger through pain.]

[From the moment I was born, I possessed the ability to control the sea. Back then, not a single Pokémon could defeat me.]

[When I reached adulthood, my range of activity grew larger, but there was still no one who could defeat me.]

[After making a name for myself, I encountered my first opponent, Groudon. The two of us fought for tens of thousands of years without either gaining the upper hand. Only Rayquaza could suppress us.]

[Later, I met you. After adapting and changing tactics, neither Groudon nor Rayquaza was a match for me!]

[So I don't understand why anyone would need to suffer to become stronger.]

Kyogre's words left Haiming speechless. Sure enough, people... people and gods were different.

You had a complete protagonist's template. You were ridiculously overpowered at birth, even more absurd during your growth period, and utterly broken once you matured. Then, after getting me, you became outrageously overpowered.

Why not call yourself Damn-Overpowered Kyogre?

"After saying all that, do you actually have a solution...?"

Haiming sighed. He could ask his grandfather for help with other matters, or, failing that, he could find Little White or Bo Saixi.

But when it came to inheritance, Kyogre was the only one he could turn to.

[I can only increase the speed at which you produce blood. If you don't want to produce blood by having it sucked out, then you can only... only suffer severe injuries and rely on the Divine Bone to produce blood and recover.]

"Severely injured?"

Haiming gripped his hair hard, feeling the sting from his scalp as he fell silent in disbelief.

Was this the difference between ordinary people and those with cheats?

Tang San had sailed through everything. The only two things that had truly troubled him were Xiao Wu's sacrifice and Tidal Body Tempering, which hardly even counted as abuse. So why was it different for him? First there was the extreme pressure of Sea God's Light, and now there were Bloodrays crazily biting him?

"Damn it! Once the Second Trial is over, I'm applying to leave! I'm going to wipe out every Bloodray in the sea!"

Haiming slammed his fist down on the bed, producing a loud bang.

The next day, dragging his weakened body along, Haiming found Little White.

"What? You want me to beat you, Lord Haiming, into a severe injury? Preferably the kind that doesn't damage your internal organs, but leaves your bones fractured and causes heavy bleeding???"

On the other side of the inland Ring Sea, Little White stared at Haiming in utter confusion. She felt as though she could no longer keep up with his train of thought!

Haiming clenched his teeth and said helplessly, "Those Bloodrays can grow stronger by drinking my blood. My Divine Blood in particular can double their size. Rather than letting them grow by drinking my blood, I'd rather suffer severe injuries and bleed heavily myself, then let the Divine Bone produce blood and heal me properly."

"Since I have to survive the Sea God Trial, then they can only be the ones to die!"

A little Divine Blood could make them evolve, but if Haiming entered the water covered in Divine Blood, then once they drank it, it would be no different from poison!

Life and death had always been an endless cycle. If Haiming wanted to live, then they had to die!

Um... this part about Divine Blood is ending soon. I honestly have no idea how to write it. I should have just followed Tang San's route from the start.