[DD]: 280

"The biggest difference lies in the understanding of laws."

Before Qian Daoliu could ask further, Han Li took the initiative to explain.

He was an exception, but this did not prevent him from answering the question. After all, even while his obedient son was undergoing a full transformation earlier, he hadn't been idle.

The greatest distinction between becoming a god after reaching level 100 and being an Ultimate Douluo lies in the perception of laws. The Divine Realm imposes restrictions on human soul masters from the Douluo Continent, but they are not as harsh as those placed on soul beasts. To be precise, the perception of laws begins faintly at the level of Super Douluo.

The requirement for enlightenment of one's martial soul to advance beyond Super Douluo serves as a screening threshold. By delving deeper into the development of one's martial soul and touching upon laws, one gains the key to this door. However, under the restrictions of the Divine Realm and without proper guidance, many fail to realize this. Even their efforts to develop their martial soul often focus on its characteristics and combat capabilities, which ironically increases the difficulty.

Take Guang Ling and Azure Luan as examples: why were they able to break through so quickly after embracing Han Li's philosophy of elemental martial souls? This is one reason. Of course, the benefits of immortal herbs played a role, but in a way, Han Li's conjecture from when he was very young already hinted at the correct path to understanding laws and cultivation.

Han Li only fully understood this after reaching the Soul Sage rank and mastering the Ice and Fire Origins. This, he realized, was the ultimate manifestation of destiny and fortune.

Hearing his explanation, Qian Daoliu nodded thoughtfully. Under Han Li's influence, Qian Daoliu had recently begun consciously practicing in this direction, making it easier to understand. According to Han Li, Qian Daoliu also had the potential to reach level 100 through his efforts.

Seeing him deeply immersed in thought, Han Li chose not to disturb him. In his view, figures like Qian Daoliu and Bo Saixi, as great priests, could progress much faster in the cultivation of laws once they overcame cognitive barriers. Having been exposed to divine power and even utilized it, they naturally had a deeper connection. Bo Saixi had the greatest advantage.

Qian Daoliu, however, was a bit rigid in his thinking. His prior faith, coupled with his development of the Angel Martial Soul, leaned more toward justice and judgment. For him, holiness and light were innate qualities of deities, while justice was his creed.

But, to put it bluntly, the domain of judgment falls under the God of Asura, while justice is merely a behavioral principle, not a law. Furthermore, such abstract and higher-order laws are far more challenging for novices to grasp compared to elemental laws.

Bo Saixi, on the other hand, interacted with Poseidon, whose domain inclined more toward the application of water and light laws. However, that opportunity was no longer available to her.

"Such a beautiful set of armor; I love the color," Ye Lingling remarked, her eyes sparkling as she examined Han Li's armor. She repeatedly reached out to touch different parts of it.

Han Li's mouth twitched slightly as he removed his visor and handed it to her, letting her toy with it.

In essence, divine armor is an enhanced, materialized version of soul bones, integrating their abilities with the wielder's own, significantly boosting defense. Of course, its quality depends on the strength of the soul bones themselves.

Han Li's divine armor wasn't yet complete; he had only completed the initial refinement and infused it with divine power. Without the further blessing of a divine position and long-term reinforcement by faith, it remained a semi-finished product.

It's worth mentioning that not every deity possesses divine armor or divine weapons. Divine armor, while beneficial, generally has a moderate impact on abilities unless special factors are involved. Divine weapons, however, vary significantly in quality.

At this point, soul masters with tool-type martial souls have a considerable advantage, as their weapons perfectly align with their abilities and can evolve alongside them. Given enough time, they can nurture their weapons to a decent level. While not without challenges, this is far easier than for soul masters with beast-type martial souls, for whom obtaining high-quality divine materials is far more difficult.

As for Poseidon… Han Li found it hard to evaluate. Perhaps Poseidon's rapid growth left his weapon unable to keep up. In any case, before Han Li could make a request, Poseidon had already severed his connection to the Sea God Trident. Without his divine weapon, Poseidon's situation differed from the canonical inheritance passed down to Tang San.

In exchange, however, Han Li temporarily lost its growth potential and would have to wait for Ye Lingling to re-establish a connection in the future. Still, given Poseidon's previous willingness to leave his divine weapon in the mortal realm, he seemed indifferent about it. Let's just hope he doesn't regret it later.

"I wonder what color my divine armor will be," Ye Lingling mused aloud.

Han Li had already explained how divine armor forms during their journey, so she seemed quite expectant now.

"Probably blue and pink, maybe with a touch of pale green and starlight accents," Han Li speculated, retrieving the pale red crystalline visor from her hands and storing the armor away.

This prediction was based on her divine power's attributes—water, light, life, and starlight—which aligned with her inherited laws and martial soul traits. It wouldn't be far off.

"That would be wonderful," Ye Lingling responded happily.

With the matter at hand resolved, Han Li noticed that Qian Daoliu seemed to have gained some insight from their conversation. The surrounding laws felt particularly dense. Without interrupting, Han Li began constructing a small portable space, as demonstrated by Gu Yue earlier, to store the body of the Deep Sea Demon Whale King.

Qian Daoliu awakened from his contemplation, having gained significant insights. The three decided to return to the island.

On the way, Xiaobai, who served as their mount, was much quieter than before, lacking the excitement from their earlier journey. Witnessing Han Li slaughter the Deep Sea Demon Whale King as easily as slicing through vegetables, and then seeing his breakthrough, filled Xiaobai with even greater fear.

They bypassed the sea area of the Evil Demon Orca group, with Xiaobai dragging along the frozen corpse of the Evil Demon Orca King. After another hour of swift travel, the group finally returned to Sea God Island.

Upon landing, Qian Daoliu chose to leave alone, saying he needed time to digest his new insights. Xiaobai returned to her pod, dragging the Evil Demon Orca King's corpse along.

As for Ye Lingling, she headed to the Sea God Temple at the mountain's peak. Having severed her connection with the divine artifact, she sought to receive her rewards through the Sea God's sacred statue.

Han Li was happy with this arrangement. After bidding farewell to the others, he returned to his room, as he needed to deepen his communication with the plane's consciousness.

Re-entering the spiritual space, Han Li observed the entirety of Douluo Star from a god-like perspective. The surreal view gave him a dreamlike feeling.

As he casually took in the scenery before him, the plane's consciousness enthusiastically explained the powers he could now fully control. It was surprisingly entertaining.

Now, with a single thought, he could move mountains or overturn seas. Although his powers were currently limited to Douluo Star, they already surpassed the scope of this world's gods.

Having interacted with Gu Yue and the Sea God, Han Li was well aware that other Plane Lords were not in the same league as him. If they were merely programmers maintaining the rules of the God Realm, Han Li was, relative to Douluo Star, a true creator-level existence.

Han Li had already tested it. If he desired, he could manipulate the plane's life rules and, with the support of other laws, create a human out of nothing. Of course, the cost would be immense. Even if he depleted all his divine power, it wouldn't be enough. He would also need to consume Douluo Star's existing energy, making it an inefficient endeavor.

Creating simple, non-sentient life forms like plants, however, was easy. Moments ago, he had generated a Blue Silver Grass and placed it in the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.

"Father, you could integrate the divine core into Douluo Star," the plane's consciousness reminded him.

"This would allow the entire planet to assist in refining your divine power, reducing reliance on faith energy and celestial spiritual energy, while also enhancing the planet's energy levels."

As Han Li absentmindedly tapped his leg, the plane's consciousness, tired from circling around him, landed on his shoulder and offered its advice.

"Hmm," Han Li nodded. This was already one of his plans. To be precise, he was now considering how to implement it subtly and incrementally, keeping everything under control.

Currently, most creatures on the planet are continuously providing him with faith energy. Thanks to the dissemination of cultivation techniques, his presence was strongly felt, making this process far more efficient than the Angel God or the Sea God could ever achieve.

As a result, his divine soul and consciousness were advancing by leaps and bounds. However, his divine power, despite the boon from the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, still lagged behind the supreme gods in the heavens.

Fortunately, due to the time flow differences and the fact that those gods had been stuck at their levels for ages, catching up to them wasn't an impossible task. The energy Douluo Star constantly absorbed from the universe for its growth made it far faster than gods cultivating alone.

The energy transformation efficiency of a plane was equivalent to the speed at which the Divine Realm drew energy from the universe. Though Douluo Star couldn't yet compare to the Divine Realm, it far surpassed the capabilities of any individual.

Han Li's advancement would trigger Douluo Star's evolution. The increase in energy density was natural. What he needed to do now was determine a reasonable transformation efficiency based on the speed of other divine trials. He planned to select the shortest possible timeline he could accept.

After leaving Sea God Island and distributing some of the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's meat to others, Han Li would enter a period of intensive training to master more laws. Then, he would wait for Bibi Dong to initiate the grand drama that was about to unfold.

The laws Han Li manipulated through the plane's consciousness were not equivalent to fully mastering them himself—a distinction he understood all too well.

What Han Li sought was for the plane's consciousness to assist him by providing logistical support and meeting his energy demands, not for him to pilot this invincible mecha against the Divine Realm.

That distinction was critical to Han Li: between relying on a tool and relying on himself, he chose the latter—it was instinctual.