["He was such a fool. Reaching level one hundred and becoming a god was only an excuse you used to reject me, but he took it for the truth."]
["After all, he didn't know the mission we had to shoulder as Great Enshrined of the gods."]
[That night, Qian Daoliu and I spoke. We both thought Tang Chen hadn't picked up on the love I'd hinted at.]
[But in truth, we were both wrong.]
[The next day, after leaving behind the words, "If I don't become a god, I won't return," Tang Chen left Sea God Island with Qian Daoliu.]
[I hid behind the door, listening as his and Qian Daoliu's footsteps gradually faded away, my heart filled with nothing but anticipation for his return.]
[In truth, I suddenly felt some regret then. I regretted not expressing my feelings outright, making Tang Chen mistakenly think I was rejecting him.]
[But in the years that followed, I finally came to understand Tang Chen's decision back then.]
[It wasn't that he hadn't understood the love I had meant to express in those words. But his pride made him choose to become a god before coming back to express my love.]
[Sigh... A single sentence made us miss decades together.]
Suotuo City, in another luxury suite at the Crystal Orchid Grand Hotel.
"What a pity." Ning Rongrong sympathized with them, and her face was full of regret as she spoke.
A romance in which the pride of both parties created a misunderstanding and caused them to miss their chance was just the kind of story sentimental young girls loved most.
Then Ning Rongrong began to look forward to her own romance. "I wonder what my love life will be like?"
Though the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had two great geniuses, Gu He and Ji Juechen, Ning Rongrong wasn't interested in either of them.
One always seemed to be smiling, but he was dangerous. The other had nothing but the sword in his heart.
Sea God Island, Sea God Hall.
Tang Chen, it's been decades. Where on earth are you? Why haven't you come to the island to see me...? Bo Saixi wondered silently.
At some point, the corners of her eyes had reddened.
[After Tang Chen left, I continued to protect Sea God Island as usual.]
[I tried to devote all my efforts to the work on Sea God Island, hoping to distract myself that way.]
[But my heart was already filled with longing.]
[Sometimes, I would stand by the sea and gaze toward the mainland, hoping to see Tang Chen appear.]
[But every time, all I got was disappointment.]
[During that time, two mainland Soul Masters also forced their way onto Sea God Island, just as Tang Chen and Qian Daoliu once had.]
[But their strength was far inferior to Tang Chen's and Qian Daoliu's, and they were defeated by our Sea God Island Sacred Pillars.]
[At first, I paid the matter no mind. But when I learned that their Martial Souls were Clear Sky Hammers, just like Tang Chen's, I went to see them in person.]
[Then I received a pleasant surprise. The two of them were Tang Chen's descendants, and they had come to deliver a letter to me on his behalf.]
[In the letter, Tang Chen had a great deal to say to me, but he never told me when he would return to Sea God Island.]
[Finally, after asking that person about how Tang Chen had been lately, I let them go back.]
"I never expected Grandfather and that Great Enshrined to have had such feelings for each other. What a pity," Tang Xiao sighed in the Clear Sky Sect.
When he and Brother Hao had delivered the letter back then, they hadn't known what lay behind it. They had simply thought they were delivering a letter to an old friend for their grandfather.
Only through Qian Daoliu's monologue had he learned that she had once fallen in love with his grandfather, and only now, through Bo Saixi's monologue, had he learned the more specific details of what had happened.
As his grandson, Tang Xiao truly felt sorry for his grandfather.
[After that letter, I completely lost contact with Tang Chen.]
[As for me, I continued to do what I needed to do as High Priest, just as I always had.]
[More than twenty years passed like that. Sea God Island returned to the way it had been, and no more mainland Soul Masters set foot on it.]
[Until one day, that boy's arrival changed everything.]
[He told Sea Horse Douluo that he had come to Sea God Island to train, and under Sea Horse Douluo's guidance, he began his own assessment.]
[According to Sea Horse Douluo, the light that shone on the boy from the Sea Horse Sacred Pillar he guarded changed through four colors-blue, white, yellow, and purple-in sequence, flashing to the next level of assessment with incredible speed.]
[In a single instant, it entered the Black Level Assessment, yet it continued to rise at a terrifying speed and kept changing.]
[Blood-colored demonic patterns suddenly appeared and instantly surged overhead, shooting straight to the top of the Sea Horse Sacred Pillar.]
[At the same time, a hum like the wailing of the sea rang out from the Sea Horse Sacred Pillar and echoed across the whole of Sea God Island.]
[The people of Sea God Island, the other Sacred Pillars, and I all sensed this earth-shaking disturbance.]
[Meanwhile, the sea itself began to boil.]
[Enormous waves a hundred meters high suddenly rose vertically across the entire ocean. Amid those waves, a brilliant, misty blue light erupted.]
[Everyone on Sea God Island saw this strange phenomenon, and many believed it was a divine miracle sent down by the Sea God!]
"Good grief, this must be the Top-Level Red Trial mentioned earlier."
"As expected of the top-level assessment that lets someone inherit the position of High Priest once completed. Only a spectacle like that befits the Sea God's representative in the mortal world."
"Isn't that the truth? The Sea God's representative has more clout than the Angel God's. Even the assessment for inheriting the position makes such a huge commotion."
"That's where you're wrong. Maybe Spirit Hall is just good at keeping things hidden."
"..."
The marvelous phenomenon described in the Heavenly Screen, brought about by someone undergoing a top-level assessment, naturally sparked discussion among countless people.
Everyone marveled that a top-level assessment truly was extraordinary, just as one would expect.
Some even made comparisons with Spirit Hall, asking why nothing similar had ever appeared on the Douluo Continent.
What they were referring to was, naturally, Spirit Hall.
Meanwhile, on Sea God Island.
"So this is the kind of commotion a top-level assessment causes!" Sea Witch Douluo murmured, her eyes full of shock.
Although they were the seven great Sacred Pillars of Sea God Island, they were all younger than Bo Saixi and naturally had never seen the commotion caused by a Top-Level Red Trial.
On top of that, the Heavenly Screen had just revealed the light changing to red, so the Sacred Pillar Guardians naturally assumed it was a Top-Level Red Trial.
Only in Sea God Hall did Sea God Douluo Bo Saixi's beautiful eyes go still. Shocked and doubtful, she thought, No, no, a Top-Level Red Trial couldn't cause a commotion like this!
The Top-Level Red Trial she had undergone back then had been the extremely difficult Red Level Eight Trials, second only to the Red Level Nine Trials and the legendary Sea God's Nine Trials.
A Top-Level Red Trial absolutely couldn't cause a commotion like this!
Could it be, could it be...