Chapter 522: Meeting of the New and Old Sea God Pavilion Masters (4k)

Noticing her gaze, Huo Yutong smiled slightly and asked:

"What's wrong, little sister Na'er?"

She felt fond of Tang Wulin's adorable little sister, who would be her future sister-in-law, so she needed to get on good terms.

"!"

However, she didn't expect that Na'er would startle like she was frightened, abruptly turning her head away and refusing to look at her.

"?"

Since Huo Yutong had never encountered this before, she momentarily didn't know how to respond.

Tang Wulin also noticed Na'er's action, furrowed his brows, and introduced:

"Na'er, this sister is my fiancée, her name is Huo Yutong."

Na'er's somewhat muffled voice came from within his embrace.

"... Mm, I know."

She reluctantly lifted her face from Tang Wulin's embrace and looked at Huo Yutong, saying:

"Hello, sister, I'm Na'er."

"Mm, I've long heard about you from Wulin; I wanted to meet you back then, never imagining I'd actually get the chance one day."

Huo Yutong breathed a sigh of relief, reached out, and gently stroked Na'er's head with a smile.

Na'er's body trembled slightly, but she ultimately didn't dodge, allowing Huo Yutong's hand to touch her.

Seeing this, Huo Yutong and Tang Wulin exchanged a glance.

Both weren't stupid; Na'er's reaction made it clear she didn't like Huo Yutong.

Why is that?

They both found it puzzling, but now wasn't the time to discuss it, since others were present.

Tang Wulin gently patted Na'er's back and said:

"All right, Na'er, go to your parents; I have some things to discuss with your teacher."

"Okay."

Facing Tang Wulin, Na'er became much more obedient; she lightly nodded, obediently stepped down from his embrace, walked over to Lang Yue's side, and took her hand.

Tang Wulin turned to Yun Ming, who had been watching from the sidelines, and smiled:

"Hello, nice to meet you. You probably already know quite a bit about me, so I won't go into too much detail; it's truly an honor to meet you."

"I'm honored as well."

Yun Ming chuckled, pulled over a chair, and sat down.

"I never imagined I'd one day get to see a living Spirit Ice Douluo, and even pay respects to the Sea God Pavilion Master from ten thousand years ago—such a wondrous experience, I believe I'm the only pavilion master in history fortunate enough to enjoy it."

"Indeed."

Tang Wulin also felt a mix of laughter and tears.

Upon reflection, both of them are currently serving as Sea God Pavilion Masters, except his jurisdiction dates back ten thousand years.

Yun Ming smiled and said:

"Although I'd also love to discuss with you the experience of managing the Academy and its changes over the past ten thousand years, those topics can be talked about anytime, so I'll first explain why I wanted to meet you."

Yun Ming glanced at Tang Wulin, then at Huo Yutong, and said: "Besides Na'er really wanting to see her family, I actually also wanted to meet you, because in my view you might be the closest to becoming gods, and after seeing you in person I feel even more confident about this idea."

Huo Yutong curiously asked:

"Is it because of our strength?"

Just as they could sense Yun Ming's powerful aura, Yun Ming should also be able to sense their approximate strength.

However, contrary to his expectations, Yun Ming shook his head and said in astonishment:

"No, it's because you both carry the aura of divinity."

Yun Ming narrowed his eyes and asked: "What flows through your bodies now isn't soul power but divine power, right?"

Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong were both momentarily surprised.

They looked at each other and then nodded slightly.

"Yes, you're correct; we have indeed completely replaced our soul power with divine power."

This is also the key reason why, despite having just broken through to the Honored Douluo realm, their endurance far surpasses that of an Ultimate Douluo—the quality of divine power is incomparable to soul power.

They hadn't intentionally concealed it either; it's just that no one had asked before, so they hadn't mentioned it, and they didn't expect Yun Ming to see through it at first glance.

After receiving the affirmative answer, Yun Ming couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

"Indeed…… To be honest, I envy you; although you're young and your cultivation still falls far short of mine, on the path to godhood you've far surpassed me—at least so far I've been unable to completely transmute my internal power into divine power."

He took the tea Ya Li handed him, drank it all in one gulp, and said: "Since you've given me such a big surprise, I ought to return the favor—look, do you recognize this?"

As he spoke, golden light suddenly burst from his body, and a solemn, sacred aura began to emanate from him.

Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong stared for a moment, then exclaimed in unison: "A god's position?!"

In fact, they both inherit a god's position within them, so they have some familiarity with its aura.

What Yun Ming released at this moment, though highly incomplete and feeble, was indeed a genuine god's position.

He actually possesses the inheritance of a god's position?

Yun Ming gave a faint smile.

"As expected, you can recognize it—correct, this is a god's position I created myself; however, due to lack of experience, it's still merely a defective product. I'm only releasing its aura for you to sense, which is fine, but if I truly wished to wield its power, I'd likely have to pay with my life."

"That's still impressive……"

Tang Wulin couldn't help but wryly smile.

"Creating a god's position—among the people I know, probably only the late Ilex could have done something similar. Yun Ming gave a noncommittal reply: 'Maybe, but that's not enough; you've just come from ten thousand years ago, so your perception might still be hazy—do you know that the divine realm has already vanished?'"

"What?"

Another heavy bomb, Tang Wulin's eyes sharpened instantly.

As for the God Realm, he had always regarded it as a hypothetical enemy.

He would never forget that azure‑gold figure he met in the Qiankun Asking Love Valley, who toyed with their feelings like a plaything; perhaps his veins indeed carried that person's blood, but he never intended to compromise with them.

Even having reached the world's strongest realm, he kept striving to grow stronger, trying to reach a higher realm, and one reason for this lies here.

Before Tang San, he is still far too weak now, utterly unable to properly protect those he loves.

But according to what Yun Ming said, has the Tang San of this era already disappeared along with the God Realm?

This means that in these ten years here, he need not worry about Tang San showing up at any moment to seize people.

Yun Ming was unaware of the complicated relationship between Tang Wulin and Tang San; he thought Tang Wulin was merely shocked by the God Realm's disappearance, so he nodded and said, "That's right, I have no reason to deceive you. When your cultivation rises a bit more, you should also be able to sense it."

Although Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong are extremely strong in power, their actual cultivation still lags considerably; as mere Honored Douluo and Super Douluo, they are far from their own 'limit,' so they naturally cannot perceive the God Realm's disappearance.

However, given their cultivation speed, in just a few years they will reach the level of Limit Douluo and will also be able to sense this.

Yun Ming sighed and said, "The God Realm has disappeared, so people of our era can no longer seek its aid; we must find ways to break the planar shackles ourselves and seek the path to godhood. Due to differing identities, different people will make different choices. As for me, I wish to choose to create a new God Realm."

Creating a new God Realm—such a simple sentence—yet brimming with boundless resolve, instantly made Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong feel solemn respect.

Huo Yutong asked, "Do you have confidence in succeeding?"

Yun Ming gave a bitter smile and shook his head.

"'I have not even a shred of confidence; I actually understand that, given my situation, even devoting a lifetime would make creating a new God Realm impossible. All I can do is devote myself to exploring this unknown path, then summarize the experience I gain and pass it on to future generations as the foundation of their path—this is also precisely the spirit of our Shilake Academy, isn't it?'"

"'……Mm.'"

As Yun Ming said, the Academy's purpose is to pass down knowledge; through constant exploration and inheritance, humanity can rise from its initial frailty to become today's continental overlord—those soul beasts of Emperor Tian likely still do not grasp this principle.

Yun Ming crossed his hands over his chest and spoke seriously:

"'Therefore, I summoned you here because I have an important purpose: I want to spar with you to feel a higher realm.'"

Many years ago, he once fought a great battle with the current War God Hall's chief, Chen Xinjie.

That battle took place above the ocean, lasting three full days and nights; in the Soul Master World, that battle was called the Tianhai Battle, and its outwardly proclaimed result was Yun Ming's victory, thereby firmly establishing his status as the continent's top cultivator as Qingtian Douluo—but only they themselves knew the true situation was actually a draw, with no winner decided.

However, regarding this, neither of them cared much; for them, the battle's victory or defeat was unimportant, while what truly mattered was the battle's 'by‑product'.

Outsiders merely thought their battle was to vie for the title of the continent's strongest, but that was not the case at all.

Yun Ming and Chen Xinjie had both reached the peak of the Quasi‑God realm, only one step away from true godhood; they sought to use the power of the two strongest humans of the present age to break the planar shackles and achieve true god‑level status.

But the result was disappointing; although at the height of their battle the planar restraint on them had nearly vanished, once they actually reached this point they discovered that even after breaking the planar shackles, what they could perceive was nothing but emptiness.

Perhaps they could indeed reach god‑level if they gave everything, but even if they briefly broke through to god‑level, there would be nowhere to accommodate them; without a God Realm, they would ultimately have to return to the Douluo Continent and once again be suppressed by the plane.

It was only after that that Yun Ming finally made a firm resolution to take creating a new God Realm as his direction of effort.

He originally thought he would spend the rest of his life merely exploring like this, but the appearance of Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong gave him new hope.

One is the legendary strongest Limit Douluo, Ice Spirit Douluo; the other is a supernova who defeated all the fierce beasts of the Star Dou Great Forest. Their strength likely surpasses his and Chen Xinjie's, and if he were to spar with them, he might perceive something new, thereby accelerating his progress on the path to godhood.

"'I see……'"

Tang Wulin and Huo Yutong exchanged a glance, then smiled at each other.

"'Of course, no problem.'"

To be frank, even if Yun Ming did not propose it, they would still want to spar with him once.

Now their strength has grown to an excessively formidable level; scanning the whole world, the opponents capable of making them fight seriously are few and far between.

The Emperor Tian they previously encountered could have counted as one, but he was so thoroughly restrained by Tang Wulin that his performance was hardly distinguishable from that of Xiong Jun.

Moreover, between themselves they could not truly go all out; if they accidentally injured each other, they would certainly feel heartbroken, which would greatly affect the state of their sparring.

Thus the best opponent is precisely this Qingtian Douluo before them—being on par with Emperor Tian and not yet restrained by them, Yun Ming's strength is absolutely qualified.

Tang Wulin asked, "Where shall we fight?"

A battle with Yun Ming cannot take place as before in the Undead Half‑Plane; if Yun Ming truly possesses strength not inferior to Emperor Tian's, then the Undead Half‑Plane might suffer severe damage from the collision of their attacks.

Yun Ming shrugged.

"'Anything goes; you pick, as long as there are no people nearby, I don't mind where.'"

"'Then it's settled.'"

Tang Wulin nodded in understanding and looked toward Tang Ziran and the others beside him.

"'Dad, Mom, Na'er, and Holy Spirit Senior, please wait here a moment while we go spar.'"

Lang Yue said with some worry, "'Really do it this way? Will there be no trouble?'"

She rationally knows her son has become one of the world's rare top‑tier powerhouses—even sparring with Yun Ming might not leave him at a disadvantage—but emotionally she still cannot completely let go.

Tang Wulin felt warm in his heart and gave her a gentle smile.

"'Rest assured, your son will not lose.'"

Afterward, he nodded at Tang Ziran, then a silver light flashed and the three vanished from the spot.

When they reappeared, the three were already above a desolate expanse of ocean.

Yun Ming's gaze involuntarily flickered for a moment.

Many years ago, he and Chen Xinjie also exchanged blows above such an expanse of ocean; now it is exactly the same as before.

But his opponent is no longer the much older senior Vast Sea Douluo Chen Xinjie; instead, it is two youngsters whose ages are not even a tenth of his own.

One cannot help but sigh that the waves behind push forward those ahead.

(End of chapter)