"Phew—it's finally over."
Coming to the seaside and gazing at the pitch-black seawater, Chen Junting looked into the distance while exhaling a long breath.
After he finished forging the Four Swords of Zhuxian and tempering the Zhuxian Formation Diagram, he learned from his teacher that—including the time he had spent undergoing trials—a year and a half had already passed.
This was somewhat unexpected. Who would have thought that entering a certain state of mind would actually consume so much time?
So he was preparing to leave.
After all, no matter how one looked at it, it had been long enough.
Moreover, before leaving, he had spent considerable time collecting seeds of various plants from the Life Valley. He planned to plant them beside the Ice Fire Yin Yang Well to enrich its variety.
Thinking of this, Chen Junting turned his head again to look at the island behind him. Apart from those plants in the Life Valley, something else came to mind. His eyes unconsciously narrowed. "This treasured land is quite the place for tempering oneself. In the future, the prodigies of the sect could come here for training."
Although the danger and difficulty were great, it had to be admitted that—even without mentioning the two great divine powers contained within the Life Altar and the Destruction Altar—merely the destruction energy and life energy alone, if someone were to temper and baptize themselves progressively according to their own strength, would bring tremendous benefits to both physical strength and spiritual power.
Apart from this, one could also use this treasured land to forge divine artifacts.
Of course, divine artifacts weren't so easy to forge.
Because Chen Junting discovered after forging divine artifacts that just in terms of materials alone, ordinary metals basically wouldn't work. Probably only top-tier materials like Ice Polar Divine Crystal or Deep Sea Sunken Silver Mother could barely suffice, and even using such metals, there was still a certain chance of completely ruining the materials.
And it wasn't just the materials; there was also mobilizing divine power and enchanting the divine artifact embryo. First, regarding mobilizing divine power—according to Chen Junting's estimation, one needed peak mortal-level spiritual power to safely activate it. Otherwise, if things went wrong, it could lead to the divine power rampaging out of control, injuring oneself, with no place to be buried.
Next was enchantment—one had to comprehend something similar to sword intent. Of course, carving something akin to spirit guidance patterns or formation patterns onto the divine artifact was also acceptable, but the resulting power would be somewhat weaker.
"I should still leave a shortcut here."
Chen Junting finally made up his mind. He slightly raised his right hand, and streaks of golden patterns appeared out of thin air, imprinting themselves on the island's sandy beach and forming a teleportation array.
This way, direct positioning and teleportation would be possible.
When the time came, even after a hundred years—or a thousand, or ten thousand—the sect could still find this place and send disciples here.
And after completing all this…
Hum—
Chen Junting raised his sword fingers, and a Seven Kill Sword appeared beneath his feet. Accompanied by a sword cry, it gradually rose into the air, transforming into a streak of flowing light that flew toward the spatial barrier ahead.
…
After leaving the island group, the azure sea breeze carrying a salty, moist scent brushed past Chen Junting's silver-white temple hair.
However, at present, he wasn't planning to return to the sect.
Instead, he planned to go to the Sea God Family to see how Gu Tianchen, Huo Yuhao, and the others were doing. Moreover, after a year and a half's separation, Yuhao should have finally created that emotion-type soul skill, right?
As for where the Sea God Family's residence was?
He could infer this from what Huo Yuhao and the others had said. So finding it wouldn't be difficult.
Very quickly, Chen Junting arrived at a sea region. But this sea region was different from any he had seen before.
As he gradually approached, he clearly sensed a familiar aura in the sea region not far ahead. This aura was exactly the same as the Sea God's Light in the Sea God Pavilion—presumably, the Sea God's power had already merged into this sea region.
To some extent, this could be considered under the Sea God's protection. Probably precisely because of this, the sea soul beasts in this region were the most numerous. A single sweep of his spiritual power revealed no less than a thousand sea soul beasts of over ten thousand years entrenched here, among which were over a hundred with fifty-thousand-year cultivation or higher. Moreover, the territories of these sea soul beasts weren't expanding wantonly. How to describe the territories of ten-thousand-year soul beasts? It was like originally one person occupied an entire residential complex, but now it was roughly one person occupying only a single building—or even a single room.
This surprised Chen Junting, yet he also thought it wasn't surprising.
As he drew closer to a coastline shrouded in faintly visible golden light, Chen Junting's brows couldn't help but rise.
"They're here."
Just as his words fell, two figures flew over like ghosts from the coastline, blocking his path.
They were two middle-aged men dressed in sea-blue tight-fitting garments—clearly sea soul masters from the Sea God Family. Although the soul power fluctuations emanating from them were powerful, already at the Titled Douluo level, compared to Chen Junting they naturally seemed somewhat insignificant.
Because of this, the two didn't act rashly. They couldn't see through Chen Junting's cultivation—this in itself was a tremendous deterrent.
Moreover, the fact that these two could guard here meant their tempers weren't volatile; on the contrary, they were cautious and capable of proper communication.
"Who goes there? Ahead is the Sea God Family's residence—withdraw immediately!" One of the Titled Douluos, a robust man, shouted in a deep voice, his tone full of vigilance. He could sense that this youth before him seemed ordinary and unremarkable, but absolutely must not be underestimated. The other person, although silent, had a gaze as sharp as a falcon's, tightly locked onto Chen Junting—clearly of the same mind.
If this were the past, the situation naturally wouldn't be so strict. But now, the Sea God's inheritor within the family was participating in the divine trial, and the coastline was under complete lockdown—no one was allowed to trespass!
This was an order issued by the Clan Leader/Grand Worship!
And as their words fell, the sea surface below suddenly surged. In this area closest to the coastline at this moment, all of them were the Sea God Family's guardian sea beasts—Devil Spirit Great White Sharks.
One by one, enormous Devil Spirit Great White Sharks poked out their ferocious heads, their sharp teeth gleaming with cold light under the sun.
Among them, there were no lack of two or three with hundred-thousand-year cultivation.
They emitted waves of low roars, their sound waves stirring layer upon layer of ripples on the sea surface, forming an invisible barrier that warned any potential intruders. Even in the distance of this sea region, a hundred-thousand-year octopus soul beast, a hundred-thousand-year sea turtle soul beast, a hundred-thousand-year sailfish soul beast, and others all poked their heads above the water. For a moment, the killing intent and vigilance in the air and on the sea nearly condensed into substance.
Seeing this, Chen Junting's expression remained calm.
He didn't become angry because of the other party's vigilance. Instead, after slightly nodding, he said: "This one is Chen Junting, and I bear no malicious intent. It's just that my friends are participating in trials here, so I came specifically to visit them. I hope the two of you can report this and grant me some convenience."
But even so, the two Titled Douluos obviously wouldn't relax their vigilance because of his words, much less agree. "During the divine trial period, we don't see outside guests—this is the rule!" The robust man didn't yield in the slightest, his tone resolute. They shouldered their duties and couldn't afford any mistakes.
Thus, the scene was deadlocked for a moment.
At this moment, the composure displayed on Chen Junting's face formed a sharp contrast with the Sea God Family's strict vigilance. The sea wind howled and waves crashed against the shore, adding a few more degrees of tense atmosphere.
"No matter."
Suddenly, the corners of his mouth rose slightly as he said apologetically:
"I won't trouble the two of you; I'll notify them myself."
In the next second, before the two sea soul masters could react, the aura on Chen Junting's body erupted. This aura wasn't overbearing, but at this moment it was as vast as the great sea and as profound as an abyss, instantly enveloping the two Titled Douluos before him.
The two sea soul masters only felt an indescribable, terrifying pressure bearing down upon them, as if they had become small boats that could capsize at any moment, facing the entire roaring ocean. Their faces turned deathly pale, and their soul power circulation became sluggish. Their hearts were filled with terror: "Just who is this person? What terrifying strength!"
Just as they thought the other party was about to forcibly attack and were preparing to resist with their lives, that terrifying aura abruptly vanished again, as if it had never appeared. The entire duration was no more than three breaths' time. However, these three breaths of aura had actually been condensed by him into a single thread, aimed and pressurized in one direction.
This sudden change left the two Titled Douluos uncertain and alarmed, momentarily somewhat at a loss. Fine beads of sweat seeped from their foreheads, and their dread of Chen Junting deepened by several degrees. But what shocked them even more was that the aura emitted by this person was actually above Lord Sea Dragon's. Didn't that mean…
The Clan Leader/Grand Worship would be alarmed!
…
Meanwhile, inside the Sea God Family.
On a magnificent arena, Gu Tianchen, Wu Feng, Huo Yuhao, and Wang Dong'er were currently experiencing the final hurdle of their fifth trial. The content of the fifth trial was to successively challenge seven Super Douluos of the Sea God Family. At this moment, they had already fought bloody battles and arduously defeated their sixth opponent. Although each person's soul power consumption was enormous and they more or less carried injuries, after resting they had improved considerably.
And now, the person for the final level of the fifth trial was already waiting for them. This was an old man with completely white hair and beard. His strength compared to the previous six was clearly stronger by a large margin.
He merely stood before the crowd, and the soul power fluctuations emanating from his body were like a deep pool or a towering peak, giving people a feeling of unfathomable depth.
Clearly, this was a Super Douluo.
Beside the arena, the King of Devil Spirit Great White Sharks, Xiao Bai, had transformed into human form and chosen to stand quietly at the side watching the battle. Her eyes flickered, and she even showed a trace of eagerness to try.
"The same old rules? I'll go first."
Among the crowd, Gu Tianchen was the first to speak.
To ensure that Wang Dong'er passed the trial and achieved absolute certainty, in this trial the stronger ones basically took the lead, consuming each level's examiner while also allowing those behind to become increasingly familiar with the examiner's combat style and methods. This way, those whose own strength was somewhat lacking and who were thus grouped in pairs during the trial would have a chance of victory—such as Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao.
"Okay."
The crowd responded, and Gu Tianchen stepped forward.
Regarding this, the old man seemed not to care.
Battle was about to erupt, but just at this moment, Xiao Bai, who was watching, suddenly changed complexion. Her fin-like ears twitched slightly, and she abruptly looked up toward the sea region outside the family, immediately crying out in alarm: "Not good! An outsider is invading!"
Before her words fell, her figure had already transformed into a streak of flowing light, rapidly flying toward the sea outside the Sea God Family. The instinct of a guardian of the Sea God Family made her react in the first instant.
This sudden change also alerted Gu Tianchen and the others.
Just as they were distracted, "This is a divine trial!"
The old man suddenly shouted, pulling back their attention. "If outsiders invade, we will handle it ourselves—not to mention we have the Grand Worship, a limit-level powerhouse. No need for you to worry. Moreover, once a divine trial begins, it cannot be interrupted. So, continue!"
With a furious shout, the old man immediately activated his martial soul!
And at this moment, Wu Feng, who hadn't yet taken the stage, hearing his shout, couldn't help but curl her lip. "This old man's temper really stinks." But as her words fell, her expression turned to worry.
After all, it was Gu Tianchen who was fighting this old man.
Almost at the same moment Xiao Bai sensed the abnormality, far away in the center of Sea God Island, within the most sacred main hall of the Sea God Temple, Sea God Douluo Chen Juntao, who was currently sitting cross-legged, also slowly opened his eyes. Sensing an aura compressed into a thread, as well as everything happening on the sea several li away, his brows slightly furrowed, and then his figure flashed, vanishing from his original spot.
No one could detect any movement he made.
Meanwhile, on the sea outside the Sea God Family at this moment, the two Titled Douluos were still confronting Chen Junting, not daring to relax in the slightest, but also having no intention of attacking.
Seeing that they were impervious to persuasion, Chen Junting wasn't frustrated.
Instead, he just waited.
Just at this moment, Xiao Bai's figure also arrived.
With just one glance, she recognized Chen Junting, and a look of surprise appeared on her beautiful face. "What are you doing here?"
Chen Junting smiled slightly. "Naturally, to visit friends."
Afterward, he suddenly looked behind Xiao Bai.
The person in charge had come!
An authoritative voice came from behind them:
"Withdraw."
Hearing the voice, the two Titled Douluos instantly breathed a sigh of relief. As if granted a great pardon, they hurriedly turned around and respectfully saluted: "Greetings, Clan Leader!"
Xiao Bai, regarding this, naturally also saluted.
After all, in the entire Sea God Family, apart from the Sea God and the Sea God's inheritor, the Clan Leader held the highest status.
Thus, the one who came was precisely Sea God Douluo Chen Juntao.
A sea-blue robe moved without wind. His eyes opened and closed with divine light shining brightly, dignified without anger. His gaze fell upon Chen Junting, carefully examining him for a moment, and a barely detectable surprise flashed in his eyes toward this person he had met several times before.
Compared to last time, this kid's strength had actually risen another level!
But surprise aside, Chen Juntao—somewhat unclear about Chen Junting's purpose—spoke: "With your cultivation and strength, you no longer need to participate in the trials. Moreover, you know that the Sea God has already chosen his inheritor. As far as you're concerned, we no longer hold any meaning."
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