Chapter 293: Tang San – You Are Not a God

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During the process of merging three types of spirit rings, Su Yu also fully fused his own spirit rings.

The cultivation of a Spirit Master is essentially a continuous integration between the martial soul and the Spirit Master, a process that goes hand in hand with the accumulation of spirit power.

Su Yu's soul cultivation system is also rooted in fusion. He focuses on the degree of integration rather than simply fixating on accumulating spirit power.

Grasping the fundamentals is the only way to truly cultivate effectively.

By the time one reaches Rank 99, the martial soul and Spirit Master are already highly integrated. At that point, the martial soul's powers can be freely used without entering martial soul possession or activating its true form.

When the body and martial soul become truly unified, the next step is to fully digest the soul rings associated with the martial soul.

At this moment, Su Yu's fusion of three types of spirit rings is, in essence, an act of digestion.

Strictly speaking, both his spiritual and bloodline-based soul rings originated from Su Yu himself. Although his bloodline soul rings were initially formed by borrowing various bloodline powers, he has since completely absorbed, mastered, and integrated them.

Therefore, his current fusion of the three soul rings is, fundamentally, the continuation of his martial soul's integration.

"Nourishing spirit rings with spiritual power and blood essence isn't as effective as direct fusion. When the core sources merge, increasing the ring's age becomes much easier."

This is particularly true for Su Yu's spiritual and martial soul rings—many of which have yet to reach the divine level.

Due to the exceptional bloodline powers Su Yu sought out, his blood essence soul rings are already of extremely high quality. Their golden color signifies that they have reached a god-level standard.

As for the spiritual soul rings, many of their core runes are Su Yu's latest creations. While inspired by numerous sources and employing complex multi-rune structures, they still suffer from weak foundational runes.

With time and further refinement, he could naturally enhance them through insight and comprehension. However, Su Yu now intends to elevate the age of all his spirit rings at once through the fusion of the three-ring system.

By doing so, his core runes will passively evolve as the spirit ring ages increase.

This could be considered a clever shortcut.

It is a result of the Douluo Continent's soul cultivation laws: increasing the age of a spirit ring drives the evolution of the rules embedded in that ring, which in turn advances the runes.

"Separately forging time and space into individual spiritual soul rings was definitely the right decision," Su Yu reflected.

When he first decided to forge a spiritual soul ring, he had considered combining time and space like he did with life and death, creating a unified rune structure to save on soul ring slots.

But as time passed and his comprehension of temporal forces deepened, he abandoned that idea. In the end, he chose to assign space and time to separate spiritual soul rings.

"Combining space and time would only cause internal conflicts in my core."

Just as he didn't merge destruction and creation into a single force, Su Yu distributed those two powers across different soul rings. As auxiliary forces, they support the fusion of life and death into the power of creation.

"Besides, time and space are fundamentally irreconcilable."

Time arises from the variation and progression of matter, a postnatal concept, while space is a force that exists inherently. These two forces can be combined to control a localized domain of spacetime, but true fusion is impossible.

"However, this is all based on the assumption that the universe evolved naturally."

If the universe were artificially created, then the relationship between time and space might be entirely different.

"As things stand, I have no insight into how to fuse time and space. That, in itself, suggests this universe was born through natural evolution."

"In this universe, I cannot comprehend its foundational laws enough to achieve spacetime fusion—but I can forge my own world, where I can integrate time and space as the foundation of creation."

The act of world creation.

It was an idea Su Yu had long conceived.

To create a world of his own—one that is wholly his. In doing so, he would essentially become a world unto himself.

This, in Su Yu's view, is transcendence.

As long as his personal world becomes complete enough to exist independently of the universe, Su Yu will have achieved true detachment from it.

Back when he first left Douluo Star for the universe, Su Yu had issued a warning in the Far North, intimidating the Abyssal Plane.

At that time, he fused multiple bloodlines to forge his seventh innate bloodline soul ring, completing the fusion of all his bloodline powers.

His eighth and ninth bloodline soul rings naturally emerged afterward.

Of course, they weren't entirely innate soul rings.

The eighth bloodline soul ring was naturally derived from him, but it was influenced by the energies of both Douluo Star and the Abyssal Plane. Su Yu had also experienced the Golden Ancient Tree and absorbed its bloodline, which gave him the experience needed to add a World Soul Ring to his martial soul. As a result, he formed the Eighth World Bloodline Soul Ring.

The ninth bloodline soul ring emerged after Su Yu entered the universe and witnessed the evolution of the Elf Star. During that time, he absorbed immense amounts of tribulation lightning, tempering his body and greatly enhancing his blood essence, which in turn gave rise to the Ninth Bloodline Soul Ring.

The insights he gained from the Elf Star's transformation were embedded into his eighth soul ring.

The foundation of the ninth soul ring lay in Su Yu's understanding of the universe itself. Its catalyst was the tribulation lightning he absorbed.

(Addendum)

The return trip from the Elf Star took a total of one and a half months.

Su Yu's twenty-seven spirit rings were finally merged into nine tri-ring fusions.

Now, all of his rings have a golden base hue, intricately adorned with patterns. What they all share in common is the dense network of pure gold and pure silver markings.

"Seventh Trial Complete. Reward: Insight into the Origin of the Divine Realm."

Su Yu had finally completed the Seventh Trial of the God of Life.

Douluo Star.

Phoenix Small World.

Su Yu placed the five divine-level powerhouses of the Elven Race in Phoenix Small World and then entered seclusion himself.

His consciousness, guided by the God of Life, ascended to the Divine Realm.

Divine Realm.

Su Yu's consciousness condensed.

"Why is he back again?"

Frowning at Su Yu's manifested consciousness, Tang San appeared displeased. He clearly wasn't happy about Su Yu—who hadn't yet ascended to godhood—frequently entering the Divine Realm.

The God of Destruction completely ignored Tang San's dissatisfaction.

You don't even follow the rules yourself, and now you want to use them to restrain others?

Besides, Su Yu wasn't violating any rules. His previous visits had all been of his own accord. In fact, he had only been guided into the Divine Realm by the true God of Destruction and the God of Life twice.

"What? Insight into the Origin of the Divine Realm?" Tang San's face darkened even further upon hearing about Su Yu's trial reward. "The Origin of the Divine Realm is the most fundamental location in the entire realm—he can't be allowed access to it!"

"This reward was granted without any interference from the Origin itself, which proves that Su Yu's trial was difficult enough to be worthy of it," the God of Destruction said flatly.

"No. He's only passed the Red-Level Eight Trials. Even if he clears them all, he still cannot ascend to godhood. Allowing him access to the Divine Origin is a reckless move that disrespects the Divine Realm!"

"Hmph. Can't you see Su Yu's talent?" the God of Destruction sneered.

Due to the Golden Dragon King's rampage, a large number of gods had gathered in the Divine Realm. Almost every First-Level God was present, along with many Second- and Third-Level Gods. At this moment, all eyes were on the God of Destruction and the Sea God, locked in their argument.

Silently, the First-Level Gods found themselves agreeing with the God of Destruction.

Su Yu's talent was undeniably immense.

Despite only being about twenty-four years old, he had already reached the level of an Ultimate Douluo.

Such talent was more than sufficient to inherit any First-Level God's divine seat. With high enough compatibility, even a God King's seat wouldn't be out of reach.

And his compatibility with the Life God's divine seat…

was nothing short of perfect.

That said, many of the First-Level Gods were still puzzled:

Why had the God of Life not given Su Yu a divine trial, but instead only the Red-Level Eight Trials?

"Su Yu is the most talented individual in the history of Douluo Continent. He's implemented numerous reforms across the land. Thanks to him, the strength of the Spirit Master world has effectively doubled. That alone is an incredible achievement."

"The stronger the lower realms become, the more stable the foundation of the Divine Realm. It also expands the reach and depth of the faith we receive."

"Su Yu's contributions to the lower realms alone are more than enough to justify granting him insight into the Divine Origin."

The God of Destruction spoke calmly, recounting the changes Su Yu had brought to Douluo Continent.

He had reformed the cultivation system, restructured combat mechanics, and even pioneered an entirely new rune-based cultivation method—one which had now spread widely across the continent.

These accomplishments rendered the gathered gods silent.

The God of Destruction continued, "What's more, Su Yu's talent fully qualifies him to create his own divine seat. The God of Life didn't pass down her divine authority to him and instead issued the Red-Level Eight Trials in order to help him forge a brand-new divine position to the greatest extent possible."

Create his own divine seat!

Such ambition!

No wonder he hadn't inherited the position of the God of Life directly.

But what kind of divine seat could be more tempting than that of the God of Life?

Or rather, what sort of divine role would make even the Gods of Destruction and Life believe it to be more important than passing down their own legacies?

Upon hearing that Su Yu intended to create his own divine seat, Tang San's expression shifted slightly.

A trident-shaped mark between his brows flickered, indicating that he was contacting someone in the Douluo Continent.

His expression continued to change.

"Fine, to think you've arranged all this right under my nose." Tang San's gaze hardened completely.

Every scheme against the Golden Dragon King, the Silver Dragon King, the Dragon God, and the Abyss had been utterly foiled by Su Yu.

Not only that, the entire Tang Sect had been dismantled, and Shrek Academy no longer shone on Douluo Continent. It had lost its status as an independent, transcendent power—and ceased to be the spiritual homeland and object of faith for all Spirit Masters.

In effect, he, Tang San, had lost his foundational base on the Continent.

From now on, collecting faith energy would become ever more difficult.

Though the ocean is vast, it is populated mostly by spirit beasts. The number of human Spirit Masters is too small to compare with the enormous faith generated by the Spirit Master community across Douluo Continent.

"Besides, he's neither an heir to any divine seat nor a god who has already inherited one. Letting him enter the Origin of the Divine Realm to attain insight poses too great a threat to the realm."

Su Yu frowned and looked toward Tang San.

"Sea God, I too am a Spirit Master of Douluo Continent—a part of the Divine Realm. How can you repeatedly claim I'm not a deity? Do those who haven't inherited a divine seat lack the very right to be part of the Divine Realm? Are they not members of it?"

Tang San stepped forward with a conciliatory smile. "I apologize. Although I'd like to welcome another powerful god into the Divine Realm, you're simply not yet a deity. And the Origin of the Divine Realm concerns the very foundation of this realm. You cannot be allowed to casually gain insight there."

"The Origin is too significant. Every god present has the authority to oversee it. Even the enforcers of the Divine Committee cannot unilaterally permit someone to enter the Origin for enlightenment. Since nearly all of us divine beings are here, let us vote on the matter."

As Tang San spoke, every god below felt a chill.

They all knew that when it came to voting, one's words were never a mere reflection of personal opinion.

Most of the gods present were unaffiliated with any faction—they each cultivated independently in the realm, with no ties to the God of Destruction or Tang San.

Of course, many were close either to the God of Destruction or to the Sea God.

They would naturally vote along factional lines.

Tang San's intent to block Su Yu from the Origin was now unmistakable.

The God of Destruction narrowed his eyes and eyed Tang San coldly, snorting.

"Sea God, since you wish to test your influence in the Divine Realm, I'll grant you this chance," he thought.

"Since the Sea God has spoken, we shall proceed as he says. Let the gods of the realm decide whether Su Yu may enter the Origin for insight."

He then addressed the assembly, "Oh, and I forgot to introduce this: the divine seat Su Yu intends to create is called 'Wisdom.'"

"Wisdom?"

The gods were taken aback.

None had expected Su Yu to choose such a title.

Wisdom.

Recalling the God of Destruction's earlier praise of Su Yu's myriad achievements on Douluo Continent, it seemed apt—his reforms in the cultivation system and combat mechanics displayed extraordinary insight and innovation.

Yet that wasn't the most critical point.

What truly mattered was that Su Yu had declined the Life God's seat.

A 'Wisdom' seat indeed held tremendous potential—but to grow it to God King level would demand almost unimaginable effort.

Thus, Su Yu would need to forge an exceptionally powerful Wisdom seat from the very start.

Viewed in that light, this journey into the Origin wasn't merely another cultivation opportunity.

It was a pivotal turning point in Su Yu's path.

To destroy this opportunity would be tantamount to obstructing his path—an unforgivable offense.

The assembled gods fell into deep thought.

They watched the God of Destruction and the Sea God, each pondering how to cast their votes.

Tang San, however, showed no hint of guilt for blocking Su Yu's path.

Su Yu's sabotage of his schemes was one thing—those could be replanned—but severing the majority of his faith energy source was another.

Had the Sea God's elevation to the brink of God King stature over millions of years relied on his own power? Of course not.

It had depended on that vast reservoir of faith.

Now, without that support, his advancement would suffer greatly.

(End of Chapter)