I've also recently started a new translation, please check it out and show your support! Douluo: AFKing to Become a God
------------------------------------------------------
Waking up to find the sky on the verge of collapsing was something that Tang San, the God King with an intense need for control, could not tolerate.
However, he only contemplated his next plan silently in his mind and did not directly speak to Tang Wulin.
"Old Tang, I feel that the Pavilion Master didn't just create this new small world and become its Plane Lord."
"Oh?"
"I now feel like my soul power cultivation is different from before. The previous restrictions seem to have lessened."
Tang Wulin also had the sense that the path ahead had widened, but he couldn't articulate that feeling clearly. Forcing a description would only lead to significant deviation.
He also didn't understand what specific meaning it held, so he could only ask Old Tang.
"Becoming a Plane Lord is secondary. The most important thing is that he has opened up a new path for soul masters. Now, soul masters can truly break through Level 100 and remain there permanently."
Old Tang naturally sensed the changes in the laws. Even from afar, he felt the soul power at the godly level—or perhaps it should be called divine soul power. After speaking, he fell silent.
The normal extension of the soul master system could actually be like this?
Using martial souls as a medium...
How much insight must one feed into their martial soul?
How could ordinary soul masters possibly meet the demands of their martial souls?
Old Tang strongly disliked this path that relied on personal insight to grow stronger.
Even if it were about learning.
But this method of completely relying on oneself to develop new insights and impart them to the martial soul went beyond what he could tolerate.
This path was far from ideal.
At the very least, Old Tang himself didn't like walking such a road.
Still, it wasn't all bad. If the soul master system's path extended like this, the difficulty of ascending to godhood would also increase.
"If not for possessing strong insight and being adept at expanding the capabilities of one's martial soul, it would be nearly impossible to break through to the godly realm," Old Tang said.
Tang Wulin felt slightly worried.
He knew that this was a good thing for him.
But the idea of becoming a god sounded troublesome.
Throughout his cultivation, he had rarely developed his own abilities.
His most relied-upon ability was the bloodline power of the Golden Dragon King. His development of his martial soul had lagged far behind. Even his usage of the Golden Dragon King's bloodline came from Zhuo Shi's "Nine Forms of the Crimson Dragon."
Now, nearing Level 90, he learned that breaking through Level 100 required enhancing his martial soul and developing its characteristics?
"Brother Xu has been continuously developing his martial soul. All his abilities are based on the foundation of his martial soul, step by step forging ahead," Tang Wulin sighed.
At this moment, he truly understood the gap between himself and Xu Yuan.
Even with the sealed Golden Dragon King bloodline within him, he still couldn't keep up with Xu Yuan.
Strictly speaking, his age was a few months older than Xu Yuan's, but because Xu Yuan had been powerful from the start, he called him "Brother Xu." Later, when he realized this, he felt too awkward to correct it.
He thought he could quickly catch up to Xu Yuan, surpass him, and then smoothly stop calling him "Brother Xu."
However, that title of "Brother Xu" had lasted for over a decade.
"Child, don't worry. Isn't your Blue Silver Emperor martial soul mutating because of your spirit souls?"
Old Tang consoled Tang Wulin.
There was a hint of amusement in his tone.
He didn't like the path Yun Ming had forged, but his dislike stemmed from imagining himself choosing this path during his journey from weak to strong. He was certain that this path would hold him back.
But that didn't stop him from viewing this path from another perspective now.
Developing insights on one's own?
With sufficient resources, there was still the possibility of mindless cultivation.
"My spirit souls?" Tang Wulin was momentarily stunned by Old Tang's words, but realization soon dawned, and a flash of joy appeared in his eyes.
Yes.
Although he hadn't actively developed his Blue Silver Emperor, it didn't stop the Blue Silver Emperor from evolving under the influence of the Golden Dragon King's bloodline power.
It could be said that his current Blue Silver Emperor was far stronger than its original state. Moreover, thanks to the presence of Golden Light and the Tyrant Dragon spirit soul, its fusion with the Golden Dragon King's bloodline had proceeded smoothly.
"Integrating the bloodline into the Blue Silver Emperor—perhaps this is my path to godhood?" Tang Wulin joyfully summarized his path to divinity.
And he had already grasped the key to achieving this: fusing and absorbing the Golden Dragon King's bloodline power together with Golden Light.
Old Tang smiled with satisfaction.
"Hurry up and digest the life essence within you. Though it's not enough for you to break through to the rank of Title Douluo, it's almost sufficient for you to reach Level 89."
Old Tang reminded Tang Wulin.
After fighting for a full day and night, Tang Wulin had only managed to raise his soul power by one level to Level 88. However, after devouring the energy of two Emperors, he now had the potential to break through to Level 89.
At this moment, Tang Wulin deeply understood the value of Abyss Emperors.
At the same time, he became even more curious about how much Xu Yuan, who had devoured Emperor-level beings, had gained.
Why had Xu Yuan warned him not to devour Emperors?
In the air, the Abyssal Sage King's gaze fixed on Tang Wulin's direction.
"I've found you."
The Abyssal Sage King kept his emotions steady.
At this moment, he appeared to merely be reacting to discovering another soul master with the ability to devour Abyss energy, showing no additional reaction to uncovering Tang Wulin's deeper secrets.
"Boom!"
A massive energy hand descended from the sky.
"Not good!"
Tang Wulin's body instinctively raised an alarm. He looked up at the sky and saw the Abyssal Sage King staring at him, sending a chill down his spine.
Yun Ming frowned.
Watching this scene, he seemed to have anticipated it. He condensed a spear of light and shattered the Abyssal Sage King's energy hand.
While Yun Ming blocked the Abyssal Sage King, there was no one to stop the other Emperors.
Outside Tang Wulin's Blue Silver Forest, three Super Douluo-level Emperors quickly gathered.
Of course, as these three Emperors arrived, the Super Douluos previously tasked with suppressing them also rushed over.
"This Tang Wulin still went ahead and devoured an Emperor, truly..." Xu Yuan sighed in exasperation.
He wasn't worried that Tang Wulin would surpass him by devouring an Emperor. He genuinely cared about Tang Wulin's safety.
After all, Abyss energy was the essence of the Abyss's imprint. No matter how thoroughly it was devoured or "formatted," traces of it would always remain.
It was like a computer—no matter how thoroughly you cleaned the space where software was installed, traces would still exist, and the installation package would remain in its original location. The hard drive was simply deceived into thinking no files occupied that space.
These traces served as a medium for others to sense.
Xu Yuan also sensed Tang Wulin's earlier transformation. When the "Child of Nature" soul skill activated, the fourth soul ring of his Heavenly Origin Five Elements Spear reacted.
"It's definitely Old Tang helping him digest."
How laughable. Did they really think gods were omnipotent?
Even if it were the divine consciousness avatar of a God King, it would still just be an avatar, unable to reach the level of a God King. So why assume their power wouldn't be detected?
Xu Yuan had warned Tang Wulin because the influx of massive energy into Tang Wulin's body would inevitably provoke Old Tang's intervention.
The internal environment of this Stellar Phenomenon was different from Douluo Planet.
Strictly speaking, this was still outside the Abyss plane—it wasn't part of any other plane yet. The Abyssal Sage King's perception wasn't significantly obstructed here.
After this battle, perhaps Yun Ming would gradually perfect the small world, replacing its essence with his will and suppressing the Abyssal Sage King's perception within the small world. But clearly, that hadn't happened yet.
"Now that the Abyssal Sage King has set his sights on him, I wonder if the second seal left by Tang San will be triggered."
Xu Yuan didn't have time to dwell on these thoughts. He was currently focused on dealing with the three Emperors before him.
If possible, he certainly wanted to leave behind the four most powerful Emperors of the Abyss.
But the Wisdom Emperor's death was mostly due to his own mistake. The Spirit Emperor, Demon Emperor, and Scythe Emperor were different—they weren't planning to make such errors.
Without their opponents "gifting" them opportunities, Xu Yuan had no practical way to deal with these three Emperors.
---
Of course, the Spirit Emperor and the other two Emperors also couldn't pose a substantial threat to Xu Yuan.
The war continued.
As the second day passed, Yun Ming's divine soul power finally broke through another level, seemingly entering an entirely new realm.
At this moment, Yun Ming understood.
He had broken through to Level 120.
Level 120—beyond godhood.
The war continued.
With Yun Ming standing against the Abyssal Sage King, the forces of the two planes had reached a balance.
The only imbalance lay in the fact that when Douluo Planet's soul masters died, they stayed dead, while the Abyss creatures' deaths weren't necessarily permanent.
Of course, the Abyssal Sage King couldn't preserve the memories of all Abyss creatures, but as the essence energy composing them returned, he could quickly reconstitute and rebirth them within the plane.
This form of the Abyss could be seen as reincarnation without memory.
Meanwhile, Douluo Planet also gained something: by using new-type soul-guided weapons to kill Abyss creatures, they could harvest stellar energy.
The Abyss could resurrect, but without progress.
Douluo Planet's soul masters, once dead, stayed dead, but those who survived underwent transformation, growing stronger step by step.
The third day passed.
The war entered its final stages.
Both sides had reached exhaustion.
Whether it was the battlefield of Limit-level combatants or the armies below, everything had entered a stalemate.
After three days, over 40% of the Blood God Legion's soldiers had fallen.
However, this battle had rewritten Douluo Planet's situation in confronting the Abyss.
From passive defense, they had truly transitioned to a standoff.
Yun Ming, capable of opposing the Abyssal Sage King, became Douluo Planet's hope.
In the end, Yun Ming's soul power stabilized at Level 123.
The Abyssal Sage King felt the repulsion emanating from the now fully evolved small world and gave Yun Ming a deep look.
His energy body dissipated.
The Abyss army retreated.
The many Abyss Emperors also returned to the Abyss.
Even the Abyss energy that had permeated the surrounding areas began to flow noticeably, converging near the Abyss.
In the end, within this small world, 80% of the Abyss energy gathered in the half-region near the node connecting to the Abyss, while the remaining 20% dispersed across Douluo's half-region.
However, similarly, heaven and earth energy also filled the space. Douluo's half was dense, while the Abyss half was much thinner.
After death, a soul master's energy would return to the plane, becoming nourishment for its growth.
Now, Yun Ming's small world demonstrated its unique aspect, directly using this energy returning to Douluo's plane as Douluo Planet's foothold within this small world.
The plane didn't need to send additional heaven and earth energy; the energy from the fallen soul masters was sufficient.
"This small world will henceforth be known as the Underworld."
With Yun Ming's declaration, the small world was given a name.
From now on, this was no longer the small world of the Stellar Phenomenon—it was the Underworld.
The Underworld relied on the Stellar Phenomenon but was not equivalent to it.
In terms of space, the two overlapped, but in depth, the Underworld was merely a small plane—a node connecting two planes or the collision and fusion point of two planes. The Stellar Phenomenon, however, was rooted in cosmic space and attached to the universe's essence.
After the battle, the exhausted soldiers of the Blood God Legion struggled to consolidate their gains.
The Blood God Legion's base construction began swiftly.
Occupying half of the Underworld, which was equivalent in size to the Star Luo Continent, they needed at least sixteen bases to secure this half-region.
One by one, bases were constructed. Simultaneously, each base was equipped with a considerable number of cultivation rooms.
Everything was proceeding according to established plans.
As for the merits of this war, they would be distributed after tallying the losses.
Only Xu Yuan had successfully killed an Emperor-level being.
Killing an Emperor-level being without going all out was almost impossible.
However, Qiangu Dieting fought two Emperor-level beings alone, and Chen Xinjie also held off two peers while supporting Hu Jie, effectively intercepting two and a half Emperor-level beings.
Long Ye Yue and Cao Dezhi each intercepted two Emperor-level beings.
Douluo Planet had quite a few quasi-gods. These four quasi-gods each intercepted a quasi-god and a demi-god-level Abyss Emperor in battle. Among the top ten layers of the Abyss, aside from the Abyssal Sage King, the Spirit Emperor, and the Ardent Emperor, all were quasi-god-level fighters. Xu Yuan intercepted four, leaving the remaining four quasi-gods to be handled by the other four.
Casualties were tallied, and merits were calculated—all in silence.
"Everyone, there are distinctions among Emperor-level beings. On Douluo Planet, we divide them into quasi-demi-gods, demi-gods, and quasi-gods. However, quasi-gods have already surpassed the normal limits of the extreme level and partially broken through the limit."
At the Limit Douluo meeting, the Limit Douluos frowned, looking at Xu Yuan, worried he might suddenly change his mind.
"Everyone, don't worry," Xu Yuan said. "Quasi-gods have already transcended the definition of ordinary extremes. Therefore, I'll clarify: intercepting one quasi-god counts as intercepting three extreme-level beings, as I mentioned earlier. Does anyone object?"
Xu Yuan still had a conscience.
He wouldn't break the rules he set. Upon discovering contradictions, he wouldn't cover them up.
There were differences among Emperor-level beings. It didn't make sense for intercepting a quasi-god to yield the same reward as intercepting a demi-god.
Hearing Xu Yuan's clarification, the Limit Douluos let out a sigh of relief.
Thankfully.
This adjustment didn't affect most Limit Douluos. Only the four quasi-gods were impacted, but as beneficiaries, they had no complaints.
"As for Celestial Spirit Douluo's contributions..." Xu Yuan's voice grew somber.
This great battle wasn't without casualties among Limit Douluos.
Among them, the Celestial Spirit Douluo had perished in this battle.
"Celestial Spirit Douluo was ambushed by three Emperor-level beings, lost his life, and severely wounded one Emperor. Personally, I propose counting it as him intercepting three Emperor-level beings. Does anyone object?"
Xu Yuan scanned the crowd.
The others remained silent, not speaking up at this moment.
Celestial Spirit Douluo was attacked by three Emperors, not continuously holding them off. By the second day, he had already been surrounded and killed, and one Emperor had already escaped the encirclement, charging into the Super Douluo battlefield below. Thanks to Ah Ruheng's desperate resistance, the losses were minimized.
However, Celestial Spirit Douluo had died for this war. No one wanted their posthumous benefits to be reduced, so there were no objections to Xu Yuan's decision to raise the rewards corresponding to Celestial Spirit Douluo's contributions.
"Very well. In that case, the Celestial Spirit Sect will have the right to obtain three pieces of Heaven-Forged Metal within the legion. To ensure their safety, the Heaven-Forged Metal can be claimed directly or stored within the legion until needed."
Xu Yuan meticulously calculated the post-war contributions of the Limit Douluos.
"To consolidate the results of this battle, the legion will establish sixteen bases. Each base will require at least one Limit Douluo to oversee it. Everyone can observe the conditions of the sixteen bases, and we will conduct preliminary assignments."
"Xu Yuan." Qiangu Dieting interrupted Xu Yuan.
"All of this can proceed according to normal procedures. We have no objections. Compared to these formalities, what we're more concerned about is the path to Level 100 for soul masters."
Xu Yuan looked at the other Limit Douluos.
He didn't see a single dimmed gaze.
Every Limit Douluo present revealed an expectant expression.
Clearly, they were eager to learn how to ascend to godhood and stabilize at Level 100 within the soul master system.
Xu Yuan looked at Yun Ming.
Yun Ming was still lucid, participating in this meeting.
However, at this moment, he gave off an extremely cold impression, devoid of emotion, exuding an overwhelming heavenly majesty that made others dare not look directly at him.
This was also why Qiangu Dieting asked Xu Yuan instead of directly questioning Yun Ming.
"The path to godhood lies in the martial soul." Yun Ming didn't conceal anything.
He openly revealed the secret of his ascension to godhood.
"The path to godhood lies in the martial soul?" Qiangu Dieting repeated Yun Ming's words, pondering their implications.
------------------------------------------------------
40+ Chapters Ahead Guaranteed: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)