The Scheming Asura God

Even Bo Saixi could not understand it.

Who could be stronger than Sea God Island?

She could accept Spirit Hall. Away from the sea, her people were no match for them at all.

And with Brother Chen's return to the Clear Sky Sect, she could accept that too!

Even counting the Sea Soul Beasts led by the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King, that made only three.

Who else could rank above Sea God Island?

Bo Saixi did not understand. Bo Saixi was baffled. Bo Saixi scratched her head.

At this point, all she could do was hope for the reward.

Could the reward for sixth place really help her change her fate?

She did not want to sacrifice her life to open the Nine Trials for someone else, as she had before.

Brother Chen had returned. This time, she wanted to live for herself.

At that thought, Bo Saixi stood beneath the Sea God statue and began to pray.

"Ancestor, please think of your descendants."

In the original story, Bo Saixi had lost the will to live after Tang Chen died in her arms, so she opened the Sea God's Nine Trials for Tang San.

Now Tang Chen was alive and well. With his lifespan, another hundred years or so would be no problem.

High above, the Asura God gazed at the Sky Screen and worried too.

He wanted to destroy the Sky Screen, but the moment the thought arose, he was suppressed.

He had no room to resist.

And that bastard Tang Chen was the real problem. The Asura God could not even abandon the Divine Trial and run now.

He wanted Tang Chen to take the Nine Trials so he could leave, but the bastard refused no matter what.

After completing the Eighth Trial, Tang Chen had run off with the Asura Demon Sword!

If he had known this would happen, he should have slapped that idiot Rakshasa God to death back then.

Back then, he had looked down on Tang Chen. Now he could not get Tang Chen to complete the Nine Trials even if he begged.

With a stir of his divine consciousness, he sent his thoughts through the Asura Demon Sword.

"Tang Chen!"

Tang Chen, who was flying toward Sea God Island, shoved the Asura Demon Sword straight into his Storage Ring, clutched his head, and shouted wildly.

"Not listening, not listening! A turtle chanting scriptures! Not listening, not listening!"

Asura God: ...

Asura God: Cao. (A kind of plant.)

The Asura God was at his wit's end. Then a bold idea struck him. What reward would he get if... he joined a faction?

The thought took root and sprouted, growing wildly in his mind.

His eyes shifted to the Clear Sky Sect.

Tang Chen, you're hiding from me? Then I'll go steal your home right out from under you!

With that, the Asura God took the form of an old man and released the pressure of roughly a Soul Douluo.

He flew toward the Clear Sky Sect.

The Sky Screen continued, first revealing Bo Saixi's information.

[Sea God Priestess: Bo Saixi]

[Martial Soul: Sea God]

[Soul Power: Level 99 (Limit Douluo)]

[Soul Rings: Black, black, black, black, black, black, black, black, red]

[Soul Bones: Six]

At the sight of this information, everyone except a select few froze.

A black first ring?

Yu Xiaogang was especially shaken. His theory of optimal Soul Ring ages had been shattered to pieces.

Her first ring was ten thousand years old?

Then what were his Ten Core Competencies of Martial Soul? A joke?

"Why? Why is her first ring black?"

Confusion flashed through the eyes of everyone who had never encountered a god, except the Sea Soul Masters.

Every one of them could undergo Lord Sea God's trial, so the faith of Sea Soul Masters had never wavered.

How could they not love a god who selflessly gave every Sea Soul Master a chance to be tested?

[Sea God Island's Seven Sacred Pillars: Sea Dragon]

[Martial Soul: Sea Dragon]

[Soul Power Level: Level 95 Super Douluo]

[Soul Rings: Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black.]

[Sea God Island's Seven Sacred Pillars...]

Everyone who read it was stunned. With strength like that, Sea God Island ranked only sixth? What manner of dragons and fish filled the top five?

Even Bibi Dong gripped her chair tightly now, her eyes fixed on the screen.

Even she was riddled with uncertainty.

What was going on? How many old monsters was the damned Douluo Continent still hiding?

Sea God Island ranked only sixth?

Low-level and high-level Soul Masters alike felt as though their entire view of the world had been remade.

First the Far North, and now Sea God Island.

Had they all been hiding this deeply? No one had even heard of them.

Ning Fengzhi now felt that the Upper Three Sects were a joke.

No, Tang Chen alone was enough to chase down and beat both the Upper Three Sects and Lower Four Sects.

Thank goodness Senior Tang Chen was on their side. Otherwise, they might as well surrender.

Next came Bo Saixi's life story.

Since parts of it overlapped with Tang Chen's, the crowd did not watch too closely.

They watched only one battle: Tang Chen and Qian Daoliu fighting Bo Saixi together.

After watching the whole fight, Su Yun had just one question.

Why did that blockhead Qian Daoliu not fly up into the sky and draw on the sun's power? Could he not use Angel Divine Power?

Why had he flown low to fight Bo Saixi, who could wield Sea God Divine Power?

If he was going to throw the fight, did he have to make it so obvious?

As for Tang Chen, he had no Asura Divine Power at the time. He relied entirely on brute strength.

The ranking for sixth place had ended. It was time to hand out the rewards.

Everyone looked at the Sky Screen expectantly. How generous would the reward for sixth place be?

[Sixth-place ranking concluded. All core Soul Masters and Soul Beasts of Sea God Island will grow stronger.]

[Sea God Island's High Priestess Bo Saixi will rise to the strength of a Divine Official and become a subordinate god of the Sea God. She may open the Sea God's Nine Trials without sacrificing herself.]

Bo Saixi sprang to her feet and bowed deeply to the Sky Screen.

"Thank you, my lord, for granting me this..."

No one knew how excited she was. She would have to fail neither her god nor the man she loved.

The first of those did not really matter. What mattered was that she could open the Sea God's Nine Trials without sacrificing herself.

She would have accepted it even if her Soul Power fell to the Soul Douluo level.

Far away in the Worship Hall, Qian Daoliu's eyes lit up as he read the message. He murmured:

"If the Sea God's Nine Trials can be opened without a sacrifice, does that mean I can open the Angel God's Nine Trials without sacrificing myself too?"

He looked toward the Papal Palace. Because of the Rakshasa God Trial, Bibi Dong was currently only at level 98.

Spirit Hall had not appeared in the ranking yet. That meant the Sky Screen regarded Spirit Hall and the Worship Hall as one.

The question was whether it recognized him, the Great Enshrined, as their leader, or the Pope.

For a moment, he actually considered seizing power. By rights, taking back the position of Pope would be the surest course.

But when he thought of Qian Renxue, he hesitated...

In the end, he could only sigh and abandon the idea.

"Perhaps I was never fit to be Pope."

Qian Daoliu gazed at the Angel God Statue. Their ancestor could no longer guide them forward.

(The original work never said whether the Angel God was dead. This story uses a fairly common explanation: as Spirit Hall developed, it overused the divine consciousness the Angel God had left on Douluo Star until it was exhausted. Only during the Ninth Trial could they contact the Angel God.)

The Divine Realm knew nothing of what was happening on Douluo Star. Beyond the rule forbidding gods from interfering too much with the lower world, the Asura God had reinforced Douluo Star's barrier on his way to join the Clear Sky Sect.

He had done it to keep other gods from noticing the changes on Douluo Star.

Unless one of the Five Great God Kings deliberately observed it, the Asura God's illusion would conceal everything.