Douluo Continent: A Thousand Miles of Cultivation

"Tch! You humans are such a hassle. Sea spirit beasts will attack as soon as they see something they like, regardless of anything else."

With nonexistent black lines appearing on his forehead, Qian Shui said speechlessly, "That's why you say you're soul beasts and we're humans."

With a flick of its tail, Little White sensed something was amiss. "Wait a minute, it's only been a few years, and you already have a child?"

"What? You have a problem with that? I'm not young anymore, isn't it only natural for me to get married and have children? On the contrary, you're a single shark. They say sharks are viviparous, and you've been single for 100,000 years, and you really haven't had a single offspring?!"

"Ah!! Fang of the Demon Shark! Thousand Waters! Die!"

...

Xiao Bai wasn't human and didn't realize that Qian Shui didn't want to continue discussing Feng Jingyi, so the topic was easily changed.

Another fight broke out, and unsurprisingly, the little white creature now had a huge bump on its head, with a crab the size of a finger resting on it—it looked incredibly exaggerated.

He swatted the little crab off his head and sat down angrily next to Qianshui, who was lying on a big rock.

With his hands on his knees and his head propped up, as if he hadn't been hit at all, Xiao Bai asked as usual, "How long are you going to stay this time? You have a wife and children, and you still have to complete the Eight Trials of the Sea God. You can't stay for too long."

Qian Shui: "Yeah, it'll take about two days. I'm here to drop someone off."

Xiao Bai: "Give it away? Give it to whom?"

Qian Shui: "Peerless Douluo—Tang Chen!"

noob:"!!!"

……

About three days later, a strong fluctuation of soul power erupted somewhere on Poseidon Island, and Qian Shui, who had not cultivated for a long time, suddenly opened his eyes.

It's not for any other reason than that a peerless expert has fallen.

Almost at the same moment, Poseidon suddenly appeared in front of Qian Shui, tears mixed with killing intent bursting from her angry eyes, her nine spirit rings—eight black and one red—arranged neatly, and the Sea God Martial Soul was summoned.

Then he acted without hesitation.

"Seventh Soul Skill, True Form of the Sea God!"

"Transformation into a Divine Being! True Form of the Dharma Body!"

Poseidon possessed power on the sea that was almost godlike. A dense blue light suddenly erupted, carrying the fury of a raging torrent, and crashed towards the Thousand Waters.

"This is what you said you wanted most?! You knew Tang Chen was in the City of Slaughter all along, otherwise you wouldn't have asked that question, would you?!"

Qian Shui cursed under his breath, for the Sea God Douluo before him had lost his mind because of his lover's death, and no longer cared about his duties as the High Priest of the Sea God.

But why do this now? What were we doing before?

The primordial spirit manifested, with sixteen soul rings shining brightly. The enormous Thousand Waters entity reappeared between heaven and earth, echoing Poseidon's true form as the sea god, forming a confrontation.

"Killing God Realm!"

Qian Shui's entire primordial spirit dharma form instantly transformed into blood red, and then the Nine Treasures Glazed Pagoda flew out and hovered above the primordial spirit dharma form.

"Seventh Soul Skill, Nine Treasures True Body!"

"Nine treasures emerge from the crystal! Divine light shines! Positive and negative transformations occur!"

Poseidon's power on the sea was almost godlike, but Thousand Waters was not.

His cultivation had already reached the Nascent Soul stage, and Tang Chen's evaluation of him as "the best" was not just something Tang Chen said randomly. Similarly, Qian Shui's claim of being invincible in the world was not something he made up on his own.

The Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda weakened Poseidon's six attributes by 80%, while amplifying its own by 80%. Under the Nine Treasures True Form, the use of its own soul skills was directly halved, while Poseidon's soul skills required twice the soul power to use.

The full power of the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda was finally revealed after obtaining the true spirit of the artifact!

A burst of seven-colored divine light flashed in Qian Shui's eyes, striking towards Poseidon. At the same time, his ninth soul ring, shimmering with seven golden patterns, activated. "Ninth Soul Skill, Thorn Aura! Light of Destruction!"

With ease, he shattered Poseidon's weakened mental barrier, which had been reduced by 80%, and then stopped in time, blasting Poseidon's soul out of her body with a single palm strike from his primordial spirit avatar.

The primordial spirit's dharma form stretched out its palm and caught Poseidon's body. As the illusory image of the sea god slowly dissipated, Qian Shui asked Poseidon's bewildered soul:

"I have already asked you! Between the inheritance of divine authority and that burning passion, which is more important!"

"This isn't about asking the divine test; for me, it's about asking who is more important, me or Tang Chen!"

"Back then, it was your own will that led you to choose to lose him! This was what you wanted most!"

Tang Chen wasn't beyond saving; it was just that his body had been severely corrupted by the Crimson Nine-Headed Bat King. All that was needed was to control Tang Chen. Poseidon would stand in front of Tang Chen and have several healing-type Soul Masters simultaneously initiate healing. Then, the Sea God's Light, or some other power, would be used to dispel the remaining Rakshasa God Power and kill the Crimson Nine-Headed Bat King.

This allowed Tang Chen to complete the Eight Trials of the Asura God in the instant he regained consciousness, while simultaneously possessing sufficient physical abilities to receive that immense divine power. If Qian Shui were involved, he could even summon Qian Daoliu.

But Poseidon did not choose that; she chose her sea god, and she chose to sacrifice herself to the god of a thousand waters to fulfill the god's test.

"When the moment came, you finally lost your mind and chose to kill me. Before that, were your choices really so contrary to your conscience?"

After saying this, Qian Shui abruptly pulled Poseidon's soul back to reality. Poseidon, kneeling within Qian Shui's primordial spirit form, felt as if she were in the palm of a god's hand, facing Qian Shui's questions that were like a god interrogating her heart. Poseidon finally fell silent amidst the clash of these two conflicting thoughts.

This is also the ultimate question about human nature: Is God more important, or is man more important?

At least Qian Shui's answer is that people who grow up in a capital city where people like to "bombard the Dragon King with cannons" can only have divine authority granted by people. No matter how powerful a god is, if he doesn't serve people, he will be killed and his licentious shrine destroyed.

Even if the so-called gods truly exist in the Douluo Continent, he wouldn't care.

As he cultivated immortality and grew stronger, he increasingly felt the weakness of the so-called gods on the Douluo Continent.

If he remembers correctly, only the soul can ascend to the divine realm, so a divine position is needed to lock the soul in place.

Otherwise, why be afraid of being listed on the 'Investiture of the Gods'?

It is important to understand that once you are on the Investiture of the Gods list, whether you are alive or dead, strong or weak, as long as you are on the list, you do not need to go through the Heavenly Tribulation. As long as you do not enter the Great Tribulation, and the Heavenly Court is not destroyed, you are immortal.

If such a thing appeared in Douluo Continent, it would probably make everyone flock to it, rather than the immortals being terrified of being listed.

From the perspective of cultivators, abandoning the physical body means losing one's 'life' and permanently losing the possibility of transcendence. Even if that possibility is the smallest, they would not be willing to be unable to roam freely between heaven and earth.

Those with profound cultivation would not have the worry of perishing along with the Heavenly Court during the Great Tribulation.

Compared to the God Realm of Douluo, Tang Buddha was still hesitant and conservative, unable to withstand even a single spacetime turbulence. Isn't such a god a bit too weak?

Qian Shui was speechless when faced with Poseidon, but Poseidon was different from Feng Jingyi.

The former received his own body, while the latter received only Tang Chen's corpse.

Both the active seekers and the passive recipients are left battered and bruised by their own choices, lamenting the greed, anger, ignorance, love, separation, and parting that prevent them from getting what they want!

After setting Poseidon down and taking the Asura Demon Sword, Qian Shui headed home.

And he absolutely had to get it!

Chapter 240, Act Two of the Elite Tournament

When Xiao Wu teleported to the front of the Elephant Armor Academy team, Ning Rongrong, who wanted to call out to her, knew it was too late.

She used her charm to control one person, and her second hand was almost knocked away by six strong men taking turns. When the match ended, Xiao Wu was indeed carried off the stage.

Ning Rongrong covered her eyes with her hands over her forehead, because she couldn't bear to look.

Qian Shuishui and Zhu Zhuqing, one tall and one short, held hands and lifted each other's feet, and carried it down like that. Meanwhile, under the mosquito coil-shaped eyelid, someone muttered to themselves, "Quickly go and fetch Sister Lingling!"

After glancing at Xiao Wu and then at Yin Jin on the high platform, Ning Rongrong made a bold decision.

He called out to his three teammates, "Shui Shui, Zhu Qing, over here! Come on, follow me!"

Qian Shuishui, holding Xiao Wu's arm, followed without suspicion, and Zhu Zhuqing naturally followed suit.

"Hahaha, Minister Yin! Xiao Wu is here!"

"You guys really know how to find people..."

Yin Jin, who was somewhat lost in thought and focused on watching the game, smiled when she saw the four little girls running over.

"Of course, of course! After all, Sister Lingling lives quite far away!"

"The moonlight is like water..."

Without a second thought, Yin Jin began to treat Xiao Wu.

Feng Jingyi, who was standing to the side, stopped watching the game and stared intently at Ning Rongrong, seemingly lost in thought.

Ning Rongrong: "???"

Although she came to treat Xiao Wu, she also wanted to get to know this very handsome young lady, but the way he was looking at her made her a little nervous.

"Hello... How are you?"

Xiao Wu's injuries were gradually improving, and Qian Shuishui, who had been worried, breathed a sigh of relief.

Yin Jin, who had stopped treatment, became a middleman for these girls.

"Xiao Feng, this is Miss Ning Rongrong, the youngest daughter of Sect Master Ning." He pointed to Ning Rongrong and then introduced Qian Shuishui, "This child is Brother Shui's disciple, known as 'Little Singer' Qian Shuishui."

"Qian Shui Shui?"

Yin Jin only knew a little about the origin of his little apprentice's name. At first glance, it did sound just like Qian Renxue understood, making her seem like Qian Shui's biological daughter, after all, she was a primordial spirit martial soul.

"It is said that this name was given by this Xiao Wu, but I don't know the origin of it. Also, this is Zhu Qing, Zhu Zhu Qing, a girl from the Xingluo Zhu family."

Regardless of talent, they're all better than us. The kids are also very nice and intelligent.

At this point, Xiao Wu, who was lying on the stands, belatedly raised her hand to add, "Uh... I was the one who came up with it!"

The four girls were praised, but their reactions were different. Xiao Wu looked ferocious, the little apprentice always seemed to have a blank expression, Ning Rongrong looked arrogant and wanted more praise, while the little kitten blushed shyly.

"This is Feng Jingyi. As you all probably know, she was my former teammate and comes from the Wind Sword Sect."

After exchanging glances, Feng Jingyi introduced herself: "Wind Witch, Martial Soul Wind Sword, Level 86 Power Attack Type Battle Soul Douluo."

Feng Jingyi's hoarse voice and thin figure made her voice sound somewhat frightening.

Yin Jin sighed inwardly, "Xiao Feng, why bother?! No matter what, there's no need to abandon your former name!"

"Ning Rongrong, Martial Soul Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, Level 42 Support-type Soul Master."

"Zhu Zhuqing, Martial Soul Netherworld Cat, Level 42 Agility-Attack Type Battle Soul Master."

"Qianwu, Martial Soul: Soft Bone Rabbit, Level 45 Power Attack Type Battle Soul Master."

"Qian Shuishui, Martial Soul Primordial Spirit, Level 49 Agility-Attack Type Battle Soul Sect."

Each person introduced themselves, and each had made their own progress. The one who made the biggest progress was not the highest-ranking apprentice; the apprentice was simply focused.

The cultivation method of circulating qi through the body, which Qian Shui had developed, was not only much more efficient than his own back then, but it also allowed him to cultivate at all times. With his own efforts, everything he did was a natural outcome.

The young girl may not fully understand how hard she's working. She has no other hobbies; she just practices when she has nothing else to do.