20demayo Chapter 24 The Path of Defying Gods Shines as Brightly as the Sun and Moon
Chapter 24 The Path of Defying Gods Shines as Brightly as the Sun and Moon
On Riyue Island in the early morning, the sea breeze cuts like a knife against your face.
Tang Wulin sat cross-legged on the stone wall. He had built the wall himself, moving stones along it. His eyes were closed, and the golden blood in his dantian, which used to surge wildly, now rose and fell with his breath.
Xu Tianqi stood opposite him, without her zither, her hands behind her back, her eyes fixed on Tang Wulin, noticing even the slightest movement of his eyebrows.
"Wu Lin, do you know what it means to defy the gods?" Xu Tianqi asked. The wind was strong, but his words carried through.
Tang Wulin opened his eyes, the golden light within them fading. "Teacher said before that you were comparing a mortal body to a god?"
"That's the final result, not the steps taken along the way." Xu Tianqi shook his head, casually waving his hand. A wisp of azure soul power transformed into a bird, hopping on his fingertip. "Those so-called gods, whether it's your father's power of the sea god or the destructive power of the golden dragon on your body, ultimately, they all control the rules of heaven and earth. They use the rules as tools, and some are the rules themselves. We mortals have no rules to rely on. So we don't borrow rules; we smash the rules. That's defying the gods."
"Smash the rules..." Tang Wulin muttered to himself, a thought flashing through his mind.
"The Golden Dragon King bloodline within you is something created by the divine realm according to its rules. It is domineering and tyrannical because it considers itself superior. The Sun and Moon Divine Art you learned, although it comes from Mo Runshu and focuses on precise calculations and energy suppression, is precisely what undermines the foundation of the rules."
Xu Tianqi walked up to Tang Wulin and touched his forehead with a finger.
"Starting today, you will do one thing. Use the algorithm of the Sun and Moon Divine Skill to dismantle the rules of the Golden Dragon King's bloodline."
"Dismantle?" Tang Wulin's face changed drastically. "Teacher, that's the power of a God-King. If I miscalculate even the slightest thing, all my meridians will be severed."
"If you're afraid of dying, don't practice." Xu Tianqi sneered. "Mo Runshu wants to use technology to wash away your blood? That's a pipe dream. I'll have you use the Sun and Moon Divine Art to analyze it, to dismantle it as a complex soul guide core. With every breath you take, you have to calculate the path of the Golden Dragon King's power, and then use your will to forcefully twist its direction."
"This—" Tang Wulin gasped. This wasn't walking on a knife's edge, it was walking through lava.
"What? You don't even have this much courage?" Xu Tianqi suddenly produced a zither, and a phoenix's cry rang out. "Listen carefully, this is the Blue Sea Divine Phoenix's Dispelling Sound. It will disrupt your mind and cause your calculations to go wrong. If you can't even withstand this, then you will forever remain a puppet led by your bloodline."
Zheng.
The sound of the zither pierced Tang Wulin's mind like a knife.
Tang Wulin shuddered, but he didn't back down. He gritted his teeth and forcefully activated the Sun and Moon Divine Skill.
The Sun and Moon Divine Art is not like the Xuan Tian Art, which follows a balanced and peaceful path. It emphasizes the reversal of Yin and Yang, and the simultaneous brilliance of the sun and moon. Tang Wulin took a deep breath, and his soul power split into two streams, one cold and one hot. These two streams, like two fish, carefully touched the ball of golden dragon blood.
Roar. The Golden Dragon King's bloodline felt offended and unleashed a destructive aura.
"Calculate its frequency..." Tang Wulin silently recited the formula Mo Runshu had taught him before. Although he disliked that person, those formulas were indeed precise. Energy fluctuation frequency 3400 Hz, deviation correction...
The veins on his forehead bulged, and sweat poured down his face. Distracted by Xu Tianqi's piano playing, he made one mistake after another, each error feeling like a knife cutting into his veins.
"Ah!" Tang Wulin cried out, spat out a mouthful of blood, and fell off the stone wall.
"Useless!" Xu Tianqi's voice was sharp. "You give up after just one try? Do you think the Golden Dragon King will stop yelling just because you don't practice? Get up! Keep going!"
The music became more urgent, like a torrential downpour.
Tang Wulin braced himself on the ground and stood up, trembling. A fierce glint appeared in his eyes.
"I refuse to accept this..."
He sat up straight, closed his eyes, and forcefully shut out the sounds outside, focusing all his energy into his dantian (lower abdomen).
This time, he didn't want to "manage" the Golden Dragon King anymore. Instead, he followed Xu Tianqi's advice and "observed" it. He observed how the golden power flowed through his meridians and what signs appeared before it was about to explode.
Suddenly, he saw a crack.
Although the Golden Dragon King possessed great power, the meridian passing through his right arm was narrow and would cause a slight obstruction. It was very thin, but it was definitely there.
Right now.
Tang Wulin suddenly activated the Sun and Moon Divine Art, and the hot soul power drilled through the bottleneck like a drill.
Boom. A muffled sound came from inside the body.
Tang Wulin felt as if his right arm had been blown off, the pain excruciating. But at the same time, he also felt a pure golden power being pressed into his bones. His arm bones, which had previously been somewhat brittle...
At this moment, a buzzing sound suddenly rang out, and the bone density increased several times over.
"Interesting." Xu Tianqi stopped playing the zither, a hint of approval in his eyes. "You really did find a crack. No matter how powerful the Golden Dragon King is, your body is just a container. The harder the container is, the more it can hold."
He said calmly, "Wu Lin, remember this feeling. This is the first step in defying the gods, using their arrogance to find loopholes in the rules."
Tang Wulin was panting heavily, and the golden scales on his right arm became even more solid, with a hint of dark red light.
"Teacher, I...I did it."
"It's only just begun." Xu Tianqi pointed towards the sea. "If your bones can withstand the first blow, then go train in the sea next."
"In the sea?"
"Yes. The pressure of the deep sea can compress your bones even more. You'll be underwater, enduring the water pressure while using the Sun and Moon Divine Skill to dismantle the Golden Dragon King's bloodline." Xu Tianqi's smile wasn't exactly pleasant. "When you can still calculate the flow of the Golden Dragon King's bloodline ten thousand meters below the surface, you'll have graduated."
Tang Wulin looked at the churning sea, feeling fear, but even more so, a desire to become stronger.
"I'll go." He stood up without hesitation.
In just one month, a strange man appeared in the deep sea area of Sun and Moon Island.
Every day, Tang Wulin dived deeper. At first, the water pressure was so intense at a few hundred meters that it caused him to bleed from all seven orifices. But with Xu Tianqi's zither music guiding him and the Sun and Moon Divine Skill protecting him, his body changed. His bones became denser and denser, even emitting a faint golden hue. His muscles were not obvious, but each one concealed immense power.
In the sea of his spirit, that icy blue shadow was always there. Whenever Tang Wulin miscalculated and something bad was about to happen, or when the Golden Dragon King was about to lose control, that spiritual power would intervene and stabilize the situation. Tang Wulin had never seen that person's face, but he could sense that that person was teaching him to control his spiritual power more accurately.
Spiritual sharing, the eye of destiny. Tang Wulin vaguely learned some things in his dream, unlike the soul skills of Douluo Continent, but stronger.
A month later, Tang Wulin emerged from the deep sea, his demeanor different from before. His skin was tanned to a wheat color, and his eyes were as deep as the sea, shimmering with golden light. He stood before Xu Tianqi, silent, and slowly raised his right fist.
A whoosh. A blast of air exploded from his body, forcibly pushing back the surrounding seawater several meters.
"Good!" Xu Tianqi shouted. "You have completely refined the first layer of the Golden Dragon King's seal. Now you can face a Title Douluo head-on."
Tang Wulin withdrew his fist, his eyes shining. "Teacher, what do we practice next?"
Xu Tianqi looked at him, her expression turning serious.
"Next, train your mind."
"Heart?"
"That's right." Xu Tianqi turned to the distant sky. "Your strength has increased, but your mental state can't keep up. There's not only the Golden Dragon King inside you, but also the divine consciousness of the Sea God Tang San. The stronger you become, the closer that Sea God father will be to you. If you don't cultivate your mind, you'll become his puppet sooner or later."
The zither in Xu Tianqi's hand flashed, and a scene unfolded in the air. The scene depicted a city, with many people and carriages on the streets. In the center of the city stood a large statue, the figure holding a trident, wearing armor, and looking down at the people below.
"This is the Sea God Pavilion. The place your father left behind in Douluo Continent. A sacred place in the hearts of many Soul Masters," Xu Tianqi said softly. "But in my eyes, it's just a cage."
With a flick of his finger, the statue in the image shattered and scattered into specks of light.
"Wu Lin, remember this. No matter who your father is, no matter what you carry on your shoulders, you are first and foremost yourself. Don't let the light of the gods obscure your humanity. From today onward, forget that you are Tang San's son, forget that you are the Golden Dragon King. Treat yourself as an ordinary Soul Master, someone who fights to live and to protect others. Only when you stop looking up at the gods can you truly defeat them."
Tang Wulin looked at the shattered statue, and something inside him was touched. He knew that Xu Tianqi was teaching him how to hold onto himself and not be swallowed up by his background.
"Teacher, I understand." He took a deep breath. "I will not be a pawn of God. I will be my own king."
"Great!" Xu Tianqi laughed. "Then let's go somewhere. There you'll see what the limits of human capability are."
"where?"
"The Star Luo Empire. I heard they're holding the Continental Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament there. I'll take you there to see how ordinary people without the bloodline of a God-King or the background of a God Realm write their own stories with their own blood and lives. It's time for you to meet the people who will be your future selves."