I have added this story to my Patreon. You can support me and read the 40 latest and advanced chapters there. It also fed and motivate me to write more chapters!
Free Members will get 10 Chapters Ahead of the schedule on Patreon!!!
Link: Patreon.com/AVRKingsTL
—------------------—
Xuan Ming stood silently on the sea surface, the sea breeze ruffling his black robes, his figure solitary and cold.
Gu Yuena slowly flew to his side, her silver-purple eyes filled with complex emotions. She gently held his left hand, not speaking, not offering comfort. She knew that Xuan Ming could not accept such things right now.
Snow Empress and Ice Empress also watched from afar. At this moment, their eyes no longer held the initial doubt and disdain, only deep shock and an inexpressible resonance.
As Spirit Beasts, they could better understand this resolve to sacrifice everything for their race and for the existence they acknowledged.
Xuan Ming did not respond, only slowly raised his hand, looking at his palm.
There, it seemed as if the illusory touch of the Ice Dragon King's last embrace still lingered.
He closed his eyes, forcefully suppressing the turbulent emotions. When he opened them again, his ice-blue eyes had returned to the calm of a still well.
"It's time to go back."
Xuan Ming silently withdrew his gaze and turned to fly towards Sea God Island. Gu Yuena followed closely. Snow Empress, Ice Empress, Bi Ji, and Zi Ji exchanged glances and also followed. Di Tian, meanwhile, stayed behind, as promised, to settle the startled Deep Sea Demon Whale cub.
The atmosphere during the return to Sea God Island was suffocatingly oppressive.
Xuan Ming remained silent, an aura of icy coldness radiating from him, warning all to keep their distance.
Ning Rongrong, Hu Liena, and the others saw them return from afar and were about to greet them, but were deterred by Xuan Ming's almost tangible low pressure, causing their steps to halt involuntarily.
They looked at Gu Yuena, who merely shook her head slightly, signaling them not to disturb him.
Xuan Ming did not pause for a moment, not even glancing at anyone. His figure transformed into a streak of light, shooting directly towards Sea God Mountain, and without hesitation, stepped onto the nine heavens profound steps enveloped in a golden halo.
He took a step, moving extremely fast, as if the Seagod's Light, which could make ordinary Spirit Masters struggle, had no effect on him. Ten steps, fifty steps, one hundred steps... his pace did not slow in the slightest, as if he were walking on flat ground.
Four hundred steps, five hundred steps, six hundred steps... the pressure grew stronger and stronger, and spirit power fluctuations began to appear around Xuan Ming, but he still did not stop.
Seven hundred steps, eight hundred steps... as he stepped onto the eight hundred eighty-eighth step, Bo Saixi's figure quietly appeared at the end of the staircase, her face showing solemnity and a hint of worry.
"Xuan Ming, the pressure from now on will undergo a qualitative change. Even Titled Douluo above rank ninety-five would find it difficult to bear," Bo Saixi's voice clearly entered Xuan Ming's ears.
Xuan Ming did not speak, nor did he look up at her.
He took a deep breath, and the dark-purple million-year Abyssal Dragon Emperor torso bone within him suddenly lit up! Dark-golden dragon patterns flowed, and immense power surged out, forming an ancient and majestic dark-purple Dragon King armor on his body!
The next moment, he took another step!
Nine hundred steps! Nine hundred fifty steps! Nine hundred eighty steps!
The pressure surged exponentially! Space itself was twisting! The dragon scale armor around Xuan Ming groaned under the unbearable weight, his bones creaked, and a trace of blood even seeped from the corner of his mouth!
Nine hundred ninety-nine steps!
When he stepped onto the nine hundred ninety-ninth step, his body had already reached its limit. Fine beads of blood began to seep from his skin, a sign of capillaries rupturing under the terrifying pressure.
He tried to fuse his Slaughter Domain, Colorless Domain, Mental Domain, and Ice Fire Two Extremes Domain to form a solid barrier, but the invisible pressure, like the overturning of heaven and earth, still firmly suppressed him, preventing him from moving forward even half a step.
Bo Saixi's figure appeared silently at the end of the staircase, looking down at Xuan Ming, who was covered in blood but still held his back straight. Her ethereal voice carried a hint of solemnity: "Xuan Ming, stop. The last two steps of the nine heavens profound steps are unbearable for anything less than a demigod's body. That is a Domain that only a body that has completed the Eight Trials and undergone divine force baptism can tread upon."
Xuan Ming seemed not to hear. He raised his head, his ice-blue eyes devoid of any emotion, only a dead silence of madness.
He slowly raised his right hand, aiming it at the Blood Spear spirit rings floating around him—the first six black ten-thousand-year spirit rings.
spirit ring Devour!
Boom—!!!
Without any warning, the first six spirit rings suddenly erupted with dazzling light, then, like a collapsing black hole, all their energy was instantly extracted, devoured, and frantically poured into Xuan Ming's body! It was a terrifying torrent of energy far beyond his body's endurance limit!
"Pfft—!" Xuan Ming violently spat out a mouthful of blood, and his body's surface instantly became covered with more cracks, like a porcelain vessel about to shatter.
But his aura was soaring at an illogical speed! The destructive energy from forcibly devouring six spirit rings gave him a temporary, transcendent power!
Using this destructive explosive force, he suddenly took a step!
One thousand steps!
He stood upon it! At the cost of his body nearing collapse!
Only one step remained!
Bo Saixi's expression changed dramatically: "Xuan Ming! The pressure of the last step is ten times that of before! You will die!"
Xuan Ming was deaf to her words. He felt the six spirit rings within him dim and weaken, he felt the excruciating pain of his body about to disintegrate, and then, he activated the spirit ring power belonging to the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King within him!
Ice-blue light and crimson light erupted from his body simultaneously!
The two diametrically opposed yet co-originated forces of extreme cold and extreme heat, under his precise to the point of abnormality control, did not conflict, but forcibly fused!
A more violent, more primal, chaotic energy, as if it could tear the sky, exploded within him!
Buzz—!
Under the impact of this power, some barrier deep within his body seemed to be broken! His aura instantly broke through the limits of the mortal realm, briefly touching that profound and mysterious realm—Demigod!
Using the qualitative change brought by this brief entry into the Demigod realm, enduring the pressure that could crush a super Douluo, Xuan Ming took the final step.
One thousand and one steps!
Summit reached!
He stood at the very top of the nine heavens profound steps, in front of Bo Saixi.
Below him was a vast golden sea of light, and behind him, white jade steps winding like a dragon.
The ice and fire dragon soul light burning around him slowly extinguished, and the forcibly elevated Demigod aura receded like a tide. A tremendous sense of weakness instantly assailed him, making him almost unable to stand steady.
But he had, after all, made it up.
Bo Saixi stared blankly at Xuan Ming standing before her.
He was covered in blood, his black robes torn, his face as pale as paper, his aura so weak it seemed it would extinguish at any moment. The backlash from forcibly devouring spirit rings and fusing the powers of ice and fire had almost completely destroyed his body.
But he had made it up.
He stood on the one thousand and one steps, a place even she, the High Priest of Sea God Island and a ninety-ninth rank super Douluo, had to exert her full strength to reach!
In a way that was almost self-destructive, mad to the extreme!
Bo Saixi could clearly feel that the tremor she had forcefully suppressed was growing uncontrollably, like a seed breaking through the soil.
The young man's reckless madness, his straight back despite carrying a heavy past, his almost fanatical determination... all were assaulting her mental defenses.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found her throat a little dry.
Just then, a gentle yet vast golden light descended from the sky, enveloping Xuan Ming.
The golden light contained pure divine force, rapidly repairing his body that was on the verge of collapse, nourishing his depleted spirit power and mental force.
At the same time, majestic and ancient information flow directly imprinted into his mind:
[Seagod Nine Trials Second Trial: Traverse the Seagod's Light, ascend the nine heavens profound steps. Completed.]
[Evaluation: Exceeding limits, perfect.]
[Reward: spirit power increased by two ranks. One god-bestowed spirit ring. All spirit rings' age increased by ten thousand years. Evil God Protection evolved—Evil God Barrier!]
[Hidden Reward Triggered: Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King's dragon soul imprints stabilized. Information Unlocked: When the inheritor achieves a God King-level God Position, they can, with the authority of a God King and complete dragon soul imprints, attempt to reshape their dragon soul origin and reverse life and death.]
Xuan Ming's first six Blood Spear spirit rings, which had been dim and lusterless due to devouring spirit rings, rapidly regained their luster under the nourishment of the golden light.
A black-gold god-bestowed spirit ring, radiating an evil aura, floated before him.
And the Evil God aura within him became even deeper and darker, the protective power and evil backlash aura it emitted becoming several times stronger, as if transforming into an indestructible barrier!
But all these rewards were far less impactful to Xuan Ming than the last piece of information.
Achieving a God King-level... capable of reversing life and death... reshaping dragon souls... This information was like a glimmer of light suddenly appearing in the darkness, distant yet truly illuminating his dead silent heart.
Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King... still had a chance to be resurrected!
Xuan Ming breathed a sigh of relief, his eyes no longer filled with simple sadness and emptiness, but transformed into a deeper, more resolute obsession.
Two lines of hot tears silently streamed down his cheeks, mixing with the bloodstains on his face, dripping onto the white jade steps below.
"Are you... alright?" Bo Saixi looked at the tear stains on Xuan Ming's face, her voice carrying a hint of imperceptible worry and tenderness.
Xuan Ming slowly turned his head to look at Bo Saixi. He raised his hand, wiping away the tear stains and blood from his face with his fingertips, "I'm fine."
"Can I absorb the spirit ring here?"
Bo Saixi paused slightly, then subconsciously nodded, "Of course you can."
"Thank you." Xuan Ming nodded, then crushed the black-gold god-bestowed spirit ring floating before him. The evil aura within it was unreservedly released, instantly permeating the entire Sea God Hall.
Bo Saixi's eyes changed slightly.
First a Slaughter aura, then an Evil aura, but notably lacking the sacred aura of the Sea God that the Seagod Nine Trials should possess.
Moreover, both the first trial and the second trial far exceeded Xuan Ming's limits.
What exactly was going on with this trial?