One day in the future, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King would attack again. Sea God Island would hang by a thread, and everyone would pin their hopes on Lord Sea God's successor.
Then Jiang Lan would step forward. Golden light would flash around him, revealing his round little suit of miniature golden armor. He would raise a Trident the size of a barbecue skewer and shout "Little Guga!" at the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King.
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King would probably laugh himself to death.
There would be no need to fight. The enemy would die laughing.
Bo Saixi squeezed her eyes shut and forcibly erased the horrifying image from her mind. Then she reached out, pinched Jiang Lan's chubby cheeks, and pulled them apart.
"Put that Soul Skill away."
"Mm... why, gah?"
"Because you look too ridiculous in that outfit." Bo Saixi's face was blank. "You're embarrassing Lord Sea God."
Jiang Lan mumbled an indistinct "oh." The golden light faded, and the miniature armor and barbecue-skewer Trident vanished together.
He was once again an ordinary little ball of chub in a penguin onesie.
Bo Saixi released his cheeks, straightened, and walked toward the window of the Sea God Palace. With her back to Jiang Lan and her hands clasped behind her, she gazed out at the distant sea.
Her silhouette was straight and imposing, full of a high priestess's dignity.
But a closer look would have revealed that her shoulders were trembling slightly.
"Mom Bo Saixi?" Jiang Lan called, tilting his head.
"...Don't talk." Bo Saixi's voice sounded muffled. "Let me collect myself."
Jiang Lan watched her back and considerately left her alone.
He looked down at Doro, fast asleep in his arms and nearly drooling, then at the little orange flippers attached to the feet of his penguin onesie. He sank into thought.
"Doro, do you think Mom Bo Saixi isn't very happy with my first Soul Skill, gah?" Jiang Lan whispered.
Doro rolled over in her sleep, smacked her lips twice, and let out a soft, sweet "Doro~." Whether she was answering or just making noise was anyone's guess.
Jiang Lan took it to mean, It's okay, you did great already, and nodded in satisfaction.
After quite a while, Bo Saixi finally turned around.
Her expression had returned to its usual cool, dignified high-priestess composure, though the corner of one eye still twitched almost imperceptibly.
"What is the First Trial of your Sea God's Nine Trials?" Bo Saixi asked.
Only then did Jiang Lan remember that he had been so busy studying his Soul Skill that he had not checked the trial's contents.
He closed his eyes and examined the information that had appeared in his mind. His expression gradually turned peculiar.
"Well?" Bo Saixi asked.
Jiang Lan opened his eyes and scratched his head. "There isn't a trial. It says I'm not strong enough yet."
"?"
"The Sea God's Nine Trials says I don't meet the strength requirement, so it won't reveal the trial's contents for now," Jiang Lan repeated the information in his mind faithfully. "It says it'll come find me once I qualify."
Bo Saixi fell silent.
Jiang Lan thought she was about to slip back into her "don't talk, let me collect myself" mode. He was already prepared to stand there holding Doro as punishment.
But Bo Saixi's reaction surprised him.
She froze for a moment. Then her brows slowly relaxed, and an expression of understanding appeared on her face.
Bo Saixi nodded and said calmly, "That's normal."
"Huh?" Now it was Jiang Lan's turn to stare. "Normal, gah?"
"Of course it's normal," Bo Saixi said, as if it were self-evident.
She picked up the teacup on the table and took a sip, as composed as though everything had gone exactly as she expected. "The Sea God's Nine Trials are sacred beyond measure. How could they be issued to someone just like that?"
Jiang Lan tilted his head. His penguin hood slipped to one side, exposing an ear.
"But Mom Bo Saixi, didn't you just say I triggered the Sea God's Nine Trials?"
"Triggering them is one thing. Officially beginning them is another." Bo Saixi set down her teacup and spoke with earnest gravity. "You're only six. Your Martial Soul has just awakened, and you're only level eleven. What trial do you think you could complete with your current strength?"
Jiang Lan looked down at his round belly, then at Doro drooling in his arms, and thought seriously for three seconds.
"I guess I really couldn't."
"It's not that you couldn't. You absolutely couldn't." Bo Saixi punctured his fantasy without mercy. "Every one of Lord Sea God's trials is fraught with deadly danger. One wrong move could cost you your life. Sending you into a trial as you are now wouldn't be testing you. It would be sending you to your death."
In truth, Bo Saixi breathed a sigh of relief.
To be honest, she had been worried when she heard that Jiang Lan had triggered the Sea God's Nine Trials.
The boy had an unusual constitution, might be Lord Sea God's illegitimate son, and could carry a Great White Shark at five years old. But he was still only six.
Putting a six-year-old through the Sea God's Nine Trials would not be cultivating a successor. It would be murder.
But now Lord Sea God himself had said there would be no trial until Jiang Lan was strong enough.
What did that mean?
It meant that although Lord Sea God wanted to run off, he was not so crazed that he would send a six-year-old to his death.
It meant Lord Sea God still had some conscience.
It meant she, Bo Saixi, had not pledged herself to the wrong god.
Bo Saixi silently worked to convince herself of all this, rebuilding her image of the Sea God.
Elsewhere, in the Divine Realm.
"Pfft..."
The Asura God, who had watched the whole thing, could not hold it in and burst out laughing.
He truly had not expected that fellow Sea God to choose this little brat as his successor.
He had noticed when the Sea God bestowed the Divine Examination, but he had said nothing.
Bestowing a Divine Examination on someone who had caught your eye was perfectly normal.
But...
Bestowing one on a six-year-old child was nine parts strange out of ten.
At first, he had thought this little fellow named Jiang Lan must have something special about him.
After observing him for a while, he found that the boy did. He was quite interesting.
Now he strongly suspected that Jiang Lan was that Sea God brat's illegitimate son.
When the Asura God finished laughing, he picked up the divine wine beside him, took a sip, and began to analyze the matter in earnest.
After a few seconds of analysis, he became even more convinced that his conclusion was airtight.
First, there was Jiang Lan's face.
His cheeks were still chubby with baby fat, but those eyes—that careless gaze that looked at everything as though it were an ant—were carved from the same mold as the Sea God's.
The Asura God remembered clearly how, at meetings in the Divine Realm years ago, the Sea God had often looked at the other gods like that. It had made everyone want to punch him.
For a six-year-old to naturally have such a punchable gaze, the Asura God could think of no explanation other than heredity.
The Asura God suddenly remembered something. Six days ago, the Sea God had done something furtive.
He had paid it no mind at the time. Thinking back now, it might very well have had something to do with this little fellow named Jiang Lan.
Before you continue