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After enduring the grueling "battle of attrition," Ye Wen trained even harder.
Ordinary people would think that losing in a gang-up or a series of one-on-one battles was simply due to exhaustion—after all, human strength has its limits. But Ye Wen didn't see it that way. He believed his humiliating defeat was entirely because his rhythm had been disrupted, allowing the enemy to encircle him and drain his stamina completely.
Based on this realization, Ye Wen carefully studied the sensitive acupoints of the human body and refined the circulation method of his Xuan Yuan Technique, achieving an effect similar to Tang San's Xuan Tian Gong—a state of continuous regeneration.
Unfortunately, Ye Wen wouldn't have the chance to test this upgraded version of the Xuan Yuan Technique in actual combat anytime soon.
Because Ye Wen was about to embark on a long journey.
At this point, Ye Wen's cultivation had already reached rank 61. Due to the surplus of life soul power from the Blue Silver Soul Ascension Array, his base cultivation was already higher than that of an ordinary rank 60 soul master. Additionally, the high-quality soul ring energy from the thirty-thousand-year Ice Jade Scorpion had pushed him directly to rank 61. This was why so many talented soul masters sought spirit beasts that matched their cultivation level—the optimal soul rings allowed them to break through one or two minor stages during absorption, saving significant time in cultivation.
At just sixteen or seventeen years old, Ye Wen's current cultivation level was already astonishing for an ordinary soul master.
But Ye Wen knew better. In less than ten years, a certain overpowered individual would break through to become a Title Douluo—or even ascend to godhood. Hindered by his ultimate-attribute cultivation speed, relying solely on his current progress wouldn't be enough.
Although Ye Wen could intermittently exploit the Blue Silver Forest using the Blue Silver Soul Ascension Array to raise his cultivation to rank 70, matching the pace of ordinary soul masters, the leaps from rank 70 to rank 90 were two critical qualitative transformations in soul power. Even with the help of the Blue Silver Forest and the cultivation speed of a naturally full-soul-power prodigy, breaking through to rank 90 would still take a considerable amount of time. After all, Tang Hao himself had only broken through to rank 80 around age thirty-five.
With the resources available to the Hao Tian Sect at the time, Tang Hao undoubtedly reached the Soul Sage level by age twenty-five. Yet, even he needed nearly ten years to advance to rank 80, and another decade to barely touch the threshold of a Title Douluo. This highlighted just how immense the energy required for advancement was—not something a single Blue Silver Forest could compensate for.
Thus, despite having a stable path to godhood, Ye Wen had no choice but to take a risk now. If Tang San ascended to godhood, his obsessive control would surely annihilate any potential threats to his faith within the century before his ascension. The Medical Alliance and Ye Wen, who had grievances with Tang San, would undoubtedly be the first targets.
It didn't matter whether Ye Wen or others had truly obstructed Tang San or incurred his enmity. Once offended, Tang San wouldn't care about the rule that gods shouldn't interfere in mortal affairs—he had already meddled in countless matters.
This was the main reason Tang San was heavily criticized for his double standards.
For this trip, Ye Wen only brought Dugu Bo along, without any intention of taking the women to undergo the divine trial.
In Ye Wen's view, the divine trial was fraught with uncertainties. Speaking of which, Ye Wen couldn't help but vent his frustrations. From the perspective of the inheritor, receiving a god position was indeed a great boon—it granted immortality and came with a free divine artifact. However, for the original owner of the god position, it was far from favorable. They had to give up their hard-earned god position, along with divine artifacts and other resources. It felt almost like being stripped of everything.
The gods seeking freedom had valid reasons, but such arrangements inevitably left some negative emotions. Ye Wen couldn't afford to be careless.
Rather than bringing a group of delicate beauties, it was better to bring a strong ally like Dugu Bo. Not only could he protect Ye Wen, but his presence alone could deter the Sea God Island from attempting anything untoward. Otherwise, Dugu Bo's mass poison attacks would leave them suffering greatly.
Ye Wen was quite proud of his own talent, believing that even Tang San couldn't match him in this era.
As for twin martial souls? In the face of god inheritance, they were nothing but a joke. If Ye Wen became the true inheritor of the Sea God, then under the Sea God's blessings, Tang San's twin martial soul advantage would be instantly nullified.
And this was after Ye Wen had weakened Tang San's Blue Silver Grass martial soul. Another example was Qian Renxue, whose situation was even more exaggerated. At that time, Tang San had already developed his twin martial souls and become the dual god inheritor of both the Sea God and the Asura God. Yet, he was still beaten soundly.
If not for those two old gods resorting to underhanded tactics in the divine realm, it would have been uncertain whether the Spirit Hall or Tang San's faction would emerge victorious.
However, as previously mentioned, Ye Wen wasn't entirely sure if the Sea God would throw a tantrum or whether he himself could become the inheritor of the Sea God.
Even if he failed to inherit the Sea God position, Ye Wen remained confident that he could at least become the High Priest of the Sea God. After all, with his talent, if he didn't qualify for the top-tier seven trials, it would be clear evidence of foul play.
In that case, Ye Wen would simply abandon the trial. As for the Sea God's punishment or the Sea God Island's attempts to detain him? Ye Wen could rely on Dugu Bo to intimidate them en masse. If they dared to keep him, he would fight to the death!
Still, this was the worst-case scenario. Ye Wen didn't believe that Dugu Bo, at rank 95, could stand up to Bo Saixi at rank 99 and threaten her. The worst outcome would likely be Ye Wen receiving a black-grade trial and becoming the next guardian of one of the Holy Pillars.
Even if he became a Holy Pillar guardian, Ye Wen found it acceptable. He could quietly grow stronger on the Sea God Island while gradually transferring members of the Medical Alliance there, slowly turning the island into his own stronghold. When the time came, he could execute a strategy of encircling the core from the bottom. Even if Bo Saixi possessed unparalleled strength, she wouldn't be able to do anything about the grassroots support.
As for Tang San, Ye Wen believed he posed no threat to the Sea God Island.
First, Yu Xiaogang, who opened the storyline of the Sea God Island, had already been killed by Tang San himself. Tang San definitely wouldn't know how to reach the Sea God Island.
As for the Hao Tian Sect?
When Tang Chen arrived on the island, he was already a rank 99 Limit Douluo and hadn't undergone the Sea God's Holy Pillar examination or received a trial. Thus, he likely didn't know much about these matters. Moreover, he probably wouldn't want to disturb Bo Saixi's life by sharing detailed information about the island with his subordinates. At most, he would let them know the island existed. Otherwise, given Tang Chen's past relationship with Bo Saixi, the Hao Tian Sect should have come to seek refuge on the island long ago instead of hiding back in the mountains.
Therefore, the likelihood of Tang San finding his way here was very low.
According to Ye Wen's speculation, after leaving the Killing God City, Tang San would most likely first visit Tang Yuehua to cleanse the malevolent energy from his body, then follow Tang Hao's instructions to reconnect with his ancestral roots.
As for the specifics, facing the unreasonable existence of a "favored-by-fate" protagonist like Tang San, Ye Wen couldn't fully deduce the details. However, it was likely that Tang San would once again encounter miraculous luck, standing fatefully opposed to the Spirit Hall.
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