However, these matters had little to do with Ye Wen. By that time—likely a decade later—the Sea God Island would already have been hollowed out by his Medical Alliance and transformed into his new territory.
Even if Tang San ascended to godhood, so what?
The Sea God Island was isolated overseas and protected by the Sea God. Even if Tang San became a god, he wouldn't dare destroy the inheritance of another deity's position. Moreover, the Sea God of the divine realm had ways to intervene covertly. How could a newly minted Asura God like Tang San possibly compete with a peak-level primary god like the Sea God operating from the shadows?
"How does this feel a bit like Future Shrek borrowing the Sea God's power to throw their weight around?" Ye Wen muttered to himself as he continued traveling.
Though this strategy might seem a bit underhanded, Ye Wen didn't care. To survive, he was willing to use any means necessary.
If only Tang San weren't such an unreasonable person, why would he have to go through so much trouble? Wouldn't it be more comfortable to rely on the Medical Alliance to gather faith and ascend to godhood honestly?
So, since Tang San wasn't playing fair, forget about inheriting two god positions. If Tang San comes to the Sea God Island, I'll kick him out. Let him obediently become the successor of the Asura God.
Meanwhile, in the Hell Arena of the Slaughter City—
A young man with short, light blue hair and an ordinary, dusky complexion darted around rapidly, continuously wielding various concealed weapons to attack his enemies.
This person was none other than Tang San.
In the Slaughter City, every individual was required to enter the Hell Arena once a year. Only by surviving the brutal "ten kill nine" battles could they live peacefully for another year. Of course, one could choose not to participate, but the cost would be having two cups of Bloody Mary extracted from their body each month to prolong their miserable existence.
Tang San had been here for nearly half a year, and his winning streak had reached fifty consecutive victories, meaning he had killed a total of four hundred and fifty people.
This number was nothing short of horrifying. Even though Tang San practiced the orthodox Xuan Tian Gong of the Taoist lineage, his eyes now radiated uncontrollable savagery and ferocity.
Anyone familiar with the story of Douluo knew that the King of Slaughter didn't want a new Killing Gods to emerge. As Tang San's winning streak grew, the opponents he faced became increasingly formidable.
Those who entered the Slaughter City were hardly good people to begin with, let alone those who had survived killing dozens or even hundreds of others. Even without Tang San's self-created soul skills, after his reputation as the "Thousand-Armed Asura" spread, some began to team up during the Hell Arena matches to target him specifically. With their refined combat techniques, they made Tang San suffer greatly.
However, despite the overwhelming killing intent emanating from Tang San, he was far from reckless. Using the minute perception of the mustard-seed realm, he relied on his concealed weapons to kite his enemies while maintaining his streak of victories. This left the hidden King of Slaughter quite troubled.
The Slaughter City did have elites, but they couldn't withstand Tang San's relentless slaughter.
Moreover, Tang San had achieved fifty consecutive victories in just half a year. At this rate, if no action was taken, Tang San would only need another six months to qualify for the final trial of the Hell Road and become the Killing Gods.
"This can't continue. I must—"
The King of Slaughter spoke in a voice like decaying wood, but suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down the King of Slaughter's temple. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt such panic. But there was no time to think further; hastily, the King of Slaughter knelt halfway to the ground.
The Slaughter City was the divine testing ground of the Asura God, which meant he could descend here at will.
At this moment, the consciousness of the Asura God had arrived!
A crack quietly appeared in the air of the King of Slaughter's chamber, then expanded into a mirror-like surface shimmering with dark, multicolored hues. A pair of blood-red eyes slowly emerged within it.
Though these eyes were purely red and revealed no killing intent or emotion, the King of Slaughter—or rather, the Crimson Nine-Headed Bat King—felt as though everything about him had been completely seen through.
The Asura God was already fully aware of Tang Chen's current predicament, as he had been the one to originally select him as his successor.
However, the Asura God was a deity forged in seas of blood and mountains of corpses. To him, success was success, and failure was failure—there was no room for excuses. Tang Chen's current situation was entirely due to his own lack of ability, and lacking ability meant he was unworthy of inheriting the god position.
This was why the Asura God had chosen not to intervene.
But now that Tang San had arrived, as a pawn, the Asura God had no high expectations for him—he simply needed to inherit the god position.
Thus, he came to tip the scales.
Because of Ye Wen's interference, the Asura God decided to intervene early in Tang San's growth, eliminating the possibility of competing with the Sea God over an heir.
However, everyone knew that inheriting a god position required not only the god's consent but also a 99th-level Limit Douluo to act as the key to open the divine inheritance realm at the final stage.
The Slaughter City once had an old King of Slaughter, but unfortunately, he had long since passed away.
Fortunately, Tang Chen was still alive, and he had completed the replication of his Asura Demon Sword. Thus, he could be repurposed to save Tang San time in cultivation while also enabling the divine trial—a perfect solution.
The only downside was that the Crimson Nine-Headed Bat King was a sleeper agent left behind by the Rakshasa Goddess.
But soon, the Asura God sneered disdainfully. His previous inaction wasn't because he couldn't intervene—it was because he didn't want to. Now, could a mere insignificant creature like this possibly cause any trouble under his control?
At this moment, the Asura God's killing intent surged, instantly invading the Crimson Nine-Headed Bat King's consciousness and turning him into a puppet under his complete control.
The current King of Slaughter was a puppet controlled by the Asura God's puppet—what was once called invincible in the mortal world had ultimately become a joke in the face of absolute power.
As for why the Asura God didn't directly awaken Tang Chen's consciousness and make him the High Priest?
There were his own considerations. Though he wasn't a deity like the God of Emotions or the Rakshasa Goddess who manipulated emotions, after countless years, he understood the fickleness of human nature all too well. Faced with the immense temptation of a god position, even between grandfather and grandson, he didn't believe Tang Chen would so easily hand it over to Tang San.
Thus, rather than dealing with such complications, it was better to take direct action and turn him into a puppet, making him obediently serve as a tool. As for Tang Chen's personal issues, what did they matter? He was merely a disposable tool.
With this, Tang Chen's story came to an end.
Half a year later, Tang San finally achieved a hundred consecutive victories in the Hell Arena.
Subsequently, Tang San unsurprisingly cleared the Hell Road as well. However, this time, without the Snow Swan Kiss, he failed to destroy the Slaughter City as he had hoped.
But this minor regret was quickly overshadowed by the arrival of the divine trial. Tang San knew—he was about to soar to the heavens!
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