Chapter 94: Power of the Death Gods Rune, Nine Sea Gods Trial 2

Chapter 94: Power of the Death Gods Rune, Nine Sea Gods Trial 2

Word count = 1941 on 10/10/2023

Xue Tie looks around on the top of the divine pyramid, enjoying the view for a bit before getting bored and hopping down all 999 steps. Barely even dust is riled up due to a miniscule amount of black flames appearing on contact with the ground. A thin layer of earth disappears, footprints are labeled on the ground through the black flames as if contact with the ground is heresy against Xue Tie's body.

He approaches the group of bystanders who give him an applause as other than the Sea God themselves, no one has ever been able to climb the tower, though it is speculated that the god themselves might have not been affected by the pyramid at all since it was his creation. Thus, making Xue Tie the only person who has completed it's climb.

"Brat, what happened to your spirit power, it's like a whisper now as compared to the foghorn it was when you were climbing. What did you do?" Tang Chen raises his voice first as he is slightly worried about Xue Tie as he still has 8 more trials to go through.

"Do you want the simple explanation or the complex one?" Xue Tie asks back with a cheeky smile on his face.

"Simple one will do for now"

"Well" The black trident mark glows and black flames sprout from his body, creating a new set of robes with an opening on the front (Hokage robe style). "The simple explanation is that I've converted all my spirit power into death energy which is a proto divine energy until I ascend and complete the evolution. I can easily make use of my original spirit skills as well as many others that I never had access to from ALL of the spirit beasts i've absorbed. Which means I have access to the full skill set of roughly 17 beasts if I include a single spirit bone that is from a beast I didn't personally kill and absorb."

His words are like a sledgehammer to each of the spectators' heads as they struggle to comprehend the existence of death energy itself, except for Tang Chen who is already a bit experienced. He is instead excited at the prospect of so many beast abilities being harnessed by a human. Especially one so young.

"That's the simple answer?" The youngest of the 7 pillars questions, to which Xue Tie nods and states.

"The complex answer would include me describing what I personally experienced in full. Granted none of you have death energy so the likelihood of replicating it becomes impossible. At most you can draw inspiration from it" He informs them and some of them gulp as if somehow the information would turn them into gods immediately.

Their loyalty slightly wavers but since Xue Tie truly had no intention of telling them even if they asked and he would have just masqueraded his simple answer as complex while adding one or two more details. Not that they would know. He is only telling them out of respect for Bo Saixi and Tang Chen. Especially Tang Chen who can be considered his friend.

Shaking them out of their stupor, Xue Tie asks, "Now, What is my next task, oh High Priestess?"

She shakes her head to drive out the distracting thoughts and speaks up, "Your next task is to escort all 9 of us here to the continental shoreline. We shall swim with our spirit power but you aren't allowed to let us be harmed at all nor use any spirit skills nor harm any beasts during the journey"

"Hmm, easy enough, but time consuming. Is it possible for you to choose a different location or simply lap around this island 20 times or something?" he says slightly bored but Bo Saixi shakes her head.

"Im afraid this type of trial has been regularly been used. It is only the extra requirements of all of us being including Tang Chen being included that is new, this includes the fact you cant use your spirit skills."

"Im not worried about that. In fact I should ask. If the spirit beasts that appear fall unconscious due to me, and they are not harmed as a result of this, does that count as injury. What are the limits to this injury rule?" He questions in an uncaring tone as if his victory is set in stone.

"Anything that causes physical or mental harm to the spirit beasts is the reason for disqualification of the trails."

"Got it, any of you need to prepare in the meantime? I'm ready"

"Are you sure, your body was bleeding pretty badly not too long ago?" Tang Chen raises his worries again even though he can't see any visible injuries on Xue Tie.

"Im perfectly fine and no I don't need to rest" Xue Tie reassures him

Everyone begins to move to the seafront once more as the golden rune of the trial appears once more and a liquid is condensed and floats into Xue Tie's head.

"That is called the Sea Gods blood.It will serve as tonic to all sorts of oceanic beasts and also releases a signal of your location. This ensures the beasts will come after us. You are not allowed to tamper with the drop until the trial ends. Afterwards, you will be allowed to refine the droplet for your own usage. " The Sea God Douluo explains the usage of the droplet and how it affects the trials. Xue Tie just nods along as he has heard of this before in his past life.

'More fuel for the pyre unless I can figure out how it could possibly help me in my current state' He thinks to himself.

Suddenly all current titled douluos jump into the ocean, they keep pace with each other to essentially form a straight line with the exception of Tang Chen who is moving at his own pace alongside them. Their current speed dictates that it would take them a single day to reach the continental shore which is quite impressive. It previously took one and a half days of flying to reach Sea Gods island once he reached the shore.

Xue Tie begins to Naruto-Run on the water itself which is being burned on any and all parts of his body it comes into collision with. Once he catches up with them thanks to final refinement on the staircase, he begins to casually jog alongside them. The pillars realize why he doesnt try to swim like them as it is likely his body would burn all the ocean water as his body would become the center of a massive sinkhole that would destroy all sea water.

Nevertheless, the swimming is not cared about for the trail as the ocean water begins to get more frantic due to the presence of hundreds of sea beasts who are closing in.

"Oh, I should probably protect you all now" Xue Tie states as the rune mark on his forehead lights up once more. From him at the center, a dark circle spreads out to encompass the whole group of 10 people (including Xue Tie himself). All the spirit beasts who are still only up to a few hundred years old just float up to the surface belly up. Everyone slows down to investigate the fish and they quickly realize that the oceanic beasts are unconscious, how the supposed death energy did this is unknown to them but as the Sea gods trial rune did not show itself then he has not broken any rules of the trail.

With that in mind, they speed up again and even faster. This ensures that the newer sea beasts never realize what happened to their weaker kin as the pillars, high priestess and Tang Chen attempt to witness the limits of his new abilities. The 8 sea god island members do so in hopes that he would fail or that they would lay witness to the greatest historical moment of their lives. As for Tang Chen, his old competitive spirit has been set ablaze once he saw Xue Tie appear on Sea God island and mention his desire to test himself here.

Such a situation makes him lament his own impending doom and a hope for a longer life so that he might strive to meet Xue Tie as an equal as he is too weak at the moment. As such, laying witness to his current limits will serve as a form of inspiration for some sort of hope at healing his broken body and soul. Xue Tie himself pays them no mind as he simply escorts them all along the way to the coast.

100 year old beasts turned into 1k year old beasts and then 10k. It's only when they get 3/4th of the way to the coast that beasts on the level of 90k or so start to appear and even a few weaker 100k year old beasts.They all release various attacks at the black barrier as they cant get inside even under water as the water seems to just phase through the water, not actually touching it, it's only when a living being enters that the barrier seems to do something to them. They have obviously noticed that they don't die so they are willing to go far to test it all out in hopes of killing the current host of the Sea Gods blood and improving their strength.

As such, they send water spears, giant waves and attempts to freeze anything are stopped by the barrier as it breaks down all the energy inside the attacks and even scatters it to ensure that none of the water droplets could be considered harmful to the 9 swimmers below him.

As they are roughly an hour away from the coast, a giant tidal wave appears a distance away as the Oceanic beast kings have teamed up to try taking down the black barrier. At the head of this attack is the Demon Empress, the wife of the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King, The current king of the Evil Spirit Orca's who have all united to unleash the Evil Orca Spirit Axe which is hidden within the giant tidal wave. The last member is the Demon Spirit Great White Shark King who is surfing on top of the giant tidal wave, creating a thick layer of ice on top, using the speed and power of the tidal wave to reinforce the thick slab of ice on top of it.

Xue Tie naturally notices their attempt a long time ago and waves his hand, releasing a black line of pitch black fire that cuts through all 3 groups at once. This is much harder with the orcas as there are hundreds of them clustered but once the black wave gets close enough, it splits off various projectiles to strike at them and have them pass out just like all the others.

When the swimmers notice his deed as they arrive at the shore, they are dumbstruck that the giant wave, slab of ice and Evil Orca Spirit Axe were all destroyed peacefully while the beasts themselves are knocked out. A roar is heard from the sea as the Deep Sea Whale King himself collects his wife to ensure that she is truly fine before bringing her away. Xue Tie naturally meets the gaze of the prominent sea king before dismissing it and turning to the swimmers while dispelling the barrier.

"Well, we're here"