Chapter 161: The Fox Borrows the Tiger

Accompanied by the rhythm of the pearl in his abdomen, boundless divine power surged into the Sea God General's body; his pupils expanded into lightless deep blue, and dense scale-like patterns surfaced across his skin, not still but undulating like tides.

Though a mere Navy General's body was insufficient to host the Sea God's great will, even less than a ten-thousandth of His power was enough to let him temporarily breach the Exalted-tier threshold and ascend to a rank just below the divine.

No movement was needed—merely a thought arose, and a current lifted him toward the sky, where the lunar radiance had begun to coalesce into a human form.

"Hmph!" Seeing this scene with no worshippers present, the Moon Goddess, forced to hastily conjure (Note ①) a battle avatar, let out a cold snort.

If the Sea God Himself had descended, she would have conceded on the spot—but this mere servant, borrowing the Sea God's power to act out, dared challenge a god's majesty?

Seeing her avatar still incomplete, she merely glared—and the consciousness strike of a true god, carried by the omnipresent moonlight, descended upon him.

As the saying goes, divine might is like a mountain; beneath the true god's aura, the water beneath the Sea God General instantly froze—not just that current, but every oceanic divine art across the entire sea froze at once.

Though the Sea God was mighty, a mere general could not bear even a ten-thousandth of His power, let alone had he drained all the Sea God's energy scattered by the Sea Folk around the surrounding waters to manifest his divine avatar.

Meanwhile, the Moon Goddess, to punish the blasphemous thief who stole part of her avatar and rank, to claim that nearly perfect body, and to utterly sever the possibility of her faith being stolen, had nearly descended in her true form.

Even if she was among the weaker Moon Goddesses, tonight was full moon, and she possessed the myth of "tears turning into oceans"; at this moment, upon this sea bathed in moonlight, she manifested overwhelming home-field power!

"False god… dare you touch the dominion of the ocean?" In that instant, the Sea God Priest's voice lost all human inflection, resonating like the chorus of countless waves.

With a loose grip of his right hand, the seabed's rock strata screamed; under the ocean's might, the surrounding water pressure condensed into one point, and the fragile rock layers of the nearby shallow sea (in truth, a mountain) burst like a popped pimple, spewing forth a geyser of earth's pus.

The liquefied rock strata, upon emerging from the sea, instantly solidified; as the Navy General began to fall, he tapped the rock column and shot upward again toward the Moon Goddess's avatar.

Mau's hair, draped in lunar radiance, whipped wildly in the divine aura; for the first time, her floating posture revealed Solemn. The tip of her moon spear glowed with a blinding silver star as she lightly slashed toward the Sea God General—

"Ssschhh!"

As if countless harp strings snapped, the Sea God General's consciousness briefly fractured—but only for an instant, the dominion of dreams and illusions was swallowed by the ocean's boundless embrace.

Yet this illusion was merely the beginning; as the Sea God General regained his awareness, vast handfuls of shattered moonlight had already transformed into blades, raining down from every direction.

At the horizon where sea met sky, strands of lunar radiance fell like a starry river; with a light step, the entire sea reflected intricate moon patterns. The General, now back atop the Sea God's barrier, had scale-like patterns crawling up his neck; storms and lightning coalesced into a trident gripped in his palm.

He stood atop the Dayun, clearly resolved to block the damned earth remnant and the Moon Goddess from combining forces to shatter the barrier.

"Move aside." Mau's voice echoed with the tremor of stellar rings; moonlight coalesced in her palm into a hollow longbow. The bowstring vibrated lightly, and three silver arrows pierced the air—

The arrowheads exploded midair into countless star-dust fragments, each speck reflecting a different fragment of dream: a drowning man's grasping hand, a frozen sigh within a sunken ship, a corpse entwined in coral. These powers, rightfully belonging to the Sea God, now surged toward the Sea God General through the countless mirror-like reflections of moonlight upon the sea.

The General suppressed his fury at having his divine dominion usurped, focusing entirely on meeting each assault; his trident's swings seemed to alter the heavens, gathering storm clouds streaked with Lei Guang over the sea, as if trying to blot out the liquid moonlight.

"Ha! Think you're the Sea God Himself?" Mau sneered—but a silver tear suddenly fell from the corner of her eye; before it could fully drop, it emitted an inexplicable gravitational pull.

The clouds above, as if summoned, released torrents of rain, drawn into the single tear like a colossal wave plummeting from the heavens; in an instant, the clouds were drained dry, the sky cleared to reveal the moon—and a cataclysmic flood came crashing down!

The General's deep blue eyes reflected the incoming wave; he swung his trident with all his strength, summoning nine water spouts to churn the massive wave into the sea, yet avoiding any interaction with the Sea God's barrier.

Mau finally frowned; her avatar had nearly condensed two-thirds of her dominion, and the risk of divine descent was immense. Dawn was only three hours away—if this dragged on, it would never end!

Yet to abandon now was unthinkable. Leaving aside that perfect body, the blasphemous thief had clearly learned how to siphon her faith. He was still clumsy now, with no other Moon Goddess worshippers nearby, and with her spiritual power peaking under the full moon—only by chance had she noticed this one "worshipper" in the region.

Once today passed, he wouldn't need to refine his technique—just cast it at dawn, during new moon, or among a crowd of worshippers, and her faith would be freely stolen!

For a god, faith is not merely the source of divine power—it is the foundation of divine rank and divinity (Note ②). If she had initially sought only the body, now this boy was her absolute, unforgivable enemy.

Mau made her decision: moonlight formed twelve circular arrays encircling the battlefield. As the arrays ignited, even time itself began to unravel.

A pair of silver boots stepped upon a swirling water spout; the Sea God General's vision blurred—and suddenly, a spear of moonlight pierced his throat.

"Final warning," Mau's breath froze the water droplets beside his ear. "Move aside. I have no wish to oppose the Sea God."

But what answered her was a sudden explosion of divine power.

The Sea God General gasped for breath—he had clearly recognized the gulf between mortal and god. But now, in divine descent mode, even without the Sea God's will within him, he was as good as the Sea God Himself. At this moment, for the sake of his faith, he would not retreat!

"Your very presence is already opposing the Sea God!"

(End of Chapter)