I Want to Discuss Something with You

"Sea God!"

Ren Tao looked at the blue figure in the sky and knew the one behind it all had finally appeared.

Just as described in the original Douluo novel, he was an enormous phantom a hundred meters tall, with the starry sky faintly visible through him. After he appeared, the sea suddenly became calm.

Wait, weren't you raging just a moment ago?

Why play the old gentleman now?

Ren Tao resisted the urge to mock him and bowed slightly. "I want to discuss something with you!"

"Hmm?"

The enormous phantom seemed taken aback. Ren Tao had identified him the moment he appeared, leaving him no chance to deliver the words he had prepared.

"You threatened to kill Tang San just to draw me out?"

As he spoke, the space abruptly changed. The sea remained the same, but the surrounding air grew hazy, as though an enormous field had enclosed Ren Tao and the Sea God's phantom like an eggshell. Dai Mubai and the others below vanished as silently as the wind.

"It wasn't a threat. If you hadn't appeared, I really would have killed him!"

Ren Tao nodded slightly. "But that isn't important. The Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud has limited energy, right? It still needs to activate the Trident later. If it's overused, won't the Sea God's Heart be destroyed? Without the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's Whale Pearl, what will Tang San use to repair the Sea God Trident? So what I want to discuss with you is this: how many more times can you attack?"

The Sea God froze for a full two seconds. That long string of words had nearly sent his head spinning. Only at the end did he realize that Ren Tao was calculating how many attacks he had left. But how did Ren Tao know the Whale Pearl could repair the Sea God's Heart? And how did he know the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud was the Sea God's Heart and could activate the Sea God Trident?

"Although you know a great deal and have some ability, none of that matters. Once I kill you, there will naturally be a Whale Pearl. And how many of my attacks do you think you can withstand?"

"A conservative estimate? One?"

Ren Tao raised one finger. "But you must need a reason to attack me. Let me think. Because I carry the aura of that senior Evil Soul Master? No, no, no, that's too flimsy an excuse. Then is it because I've begun my second evolution? Because I can reach the forbidden zone of life? That's probably what you truly cannot tolerate, isn't it?"

Whoosh...

The Sea God gave no answer after Ren Tao finished speaking.

Only the mist around them began to drift. Suddenly, the air filled with a dense, heavy aura of water elements. Its concentration and density kept building, gradually rising until Ren Tao felt not just his skin, but every cell in his body submerged in water. Each breath flooded him with thick moisture.

"Since you're determined to die, I'll grant your wish!"

The Sea God's voice grew forceful and resonant, like enormous waves smashing against reefs. Yet he still did not attack immediately, seemingly hesitant. If Ren Tao had known he would come and still behaved so arrogantly, he must have something to rely on. What puzzled the Sea God was just what that might be.

"I'm the one granting your wish. I'm giving you a reason to attack, a chance to protect your successor. And let me tell you this: as long as I live, I will sever Tang San's path to your inheritance. Then your Sea God lineage will be cut off for good! Hahaha!"

Ren Tao unleashed his provocation skills to the fullest. Every cell in his body radiated a mad eagerness to court death.

He had never felt this good since coming to this world!

The Sea God had secretly driven everything, from the destruction of the Evil Spirit Orca Group and the pursuit of Ren Tao to the Abhorrence Brand planted on him. The Sea God was the hidden culprit behind his life of turmoil and displacement. If he missed today's chance, who knew when he would get to confront him again?

So Ren Tao threw caution to the wind. At worst, he would reincarnate again, and his next life probably wouldn't bring him back to this dark, damp water world of Douluo.

Everyone ought to have one journey taken on a whim, one earthshaking romance. If I can't have either, then let me indulge myself and run wild just this once!

"Come on, Sea God! What ultimate technique are you going to use? What pose do you want me to strike? I'll cooperate with anything!"

"Die!"

Under Ren Tao's brazen provocations, the Sea God finally lost his patience and attacked with almost nothing held back.

But in his current state, he could not use the Sea God's Light as a medium to wield the Trident. He merely stamped his enormous foot, blasting hundreds upon thousands of tons of towering waves upward into the sky. At the same time, he clenched his fist and punched straight at Ren Tao.

Two simple movements, yet the power they unleashed could tear the heavens and split the earth.

The crashing waves seemed to empty the sea itself. Within five hundred meters of Ren Tao, the air let out piercing explosions as it was violently compressed. The water elements following close behind squeezed it further and sealed off the space. That limited five-hundred-meter area became a death trap.

Ren Tao's Spatial Transfer and Flight Skill both failed completely. He could not even unleash Shattered Fang Slash, because the exclusivity of the water elements had evaporated all energy of other attributes!

This was a true divine domain, true divine power. Although Douluo Continent sat at the very bottom of the fantasy-novel ladder, with god-level strength amounting to only 1.08 million jin, when that strength filled an entire space, it was enough to smash Ren Tao into powder.

Pfft, pfft, pfft!

Jets of blood sprayed from Ren Tao's body, first from his seven orifices, then from the joints at his shoulders, elbows, and ankles. Under that crushing force, vulnerable points such as his wrists, ankles, and shoulder blades had already broken.

The Sea God's fist filled Ren Tao's blood-red vision as it appeared before him.

Though its actual speed was anything but slow, it looked like slow motion to Ren Tao. Space abruptly tore apart and burst open. Then cracks appeared on Ren Tao's forehead and rapidly spread over his entire body, densely packed like the fractures on a porcelain doll.

At the very end, Ren Tao gave the Sea God a mocking smile.

His body shattered with a crash and scattered into dust.

The towering waves fell back into the sea, filling the vacuum they had left behind. The Sea God's fist still lingered in the distance, and threads of light flickered where the phantom's eyes should have been.

He seemed puzzled. Ren Tao's apparently well-prepared provocation had really been nothing more than... courting death?

Had this Evil Spirit Orca grown tired of living?

Then the light in his eyes contracted, and he looked down...

He had lost control of his anger and blasted Ren Tao's body to bits. Did that mean the Evil Orca King's Whale Pearl had shattered along with him?

But why had he not even left behind a Soul Bone?

"Thank you for granting my wish, Lord Sea God!"

Ren Tao's body began to appear again, slowly coalescing in midair. He looked like a ghost, yet he had flesh and blood. Layer upon layer of particles accumulated like sand, the process of emerging from nothing completed almost instantly. Then a skeleton took shape, sinews and meridians grew... A few seconds later, a lively Ren Tao had been "resurrected."

"Entering the second evolution stage also requires discarding the errors and flaws in my original body. Now that's all taken care of."

Ren Tao inspected his body from head to toe, still not quite satisfied. He repeated the earlier process, adding golden threads to bind his hair and red trim to his sleeves. Finally, a delighted smile touched his lips.

"You can actually undergo nirvana rebirth?"

The words abruptly escaped the Sea God's mouth, though he could scarcely believe them himself. This surpassed the limits of mortal life, something possible only upon reaching a higher level.

"Yes, because I devoured the Mermaid Princess's life genes. The forbidden power they contained probably wasn't beneath your level! So, want to try using your final attack as well? Sacrifice your Sea God inheritance to take me down with you?"

After "dying" once, Ren Tao had completely let himself go, speaking with even less restraint. In truth, he could only use this rebirth ability once, a sort of "gift package" for breaking through to the second stage. Right now, he was dancing on the edge of a blade.

But he simply loved seeing the Sea God thwarted. The satisfaction was beyond words!

The Sea God moved, seemingly about to attack, but his figure began to dim against his will, as though it could no longer sustain his efforts to command the sea's power.

"You..."

Before he could finish, his phantom vanished, transforming into a streak of blue flame. It became the trailing blaze of the triangular Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, propelling Tang San away at tremendous speed. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the night.

"Gutless coward!"

Ren Tao tossed his hair smugly. This time, he had utterly overwhelmed the Sea God in both scheming and presence, leaving him thoroughly satisfied with his own performance.

And that was without even counting the gains from reconstructing his body and completely discarding his former genetic errors and flaws. The increase in Soul Power was not the most important part; that had never been the Evolution System's yardstick. A genetic combination infinitely close to perfection was what determined the heights he could ultimately reach.

As swift as wind and lightning, Ren Tao also left the scene. He had something even more important to do.

While the Sea God had been smashing him to pieces, a trace of divine power had remained inside his body. This was the second-greatest gain of his trip.

"Divine power..."

Ren Tao traveled nearly a hundred li and caught up with the Evil Spirit Orca Group. Then he chose a secluded bay, preparing to refine and absorb that wisp of divine power.

Within the Sea of Inheritance, the gentle breezes and waves of the past were gone. Only boundless tranquility remained, as though the entire space had fallen still.