Look at how things turned out. Seeing that the Goddess of Life had already turned into a stream of light and disappeared into the distance, Rong Nianbing didn't say anything more and prepared to leave. However, just before leaving, the corners of his mouth slightly turned upward.
Good, the matter was accomplished. Moreover, with the Goddess of Life and the God of Destruction intervening, there likely wouldn't be much of a problem.
'Kid, you better properly inherit my divine throne.'
Thinking this, Rong Nianbing turned and left.
But just as all this was happening in the God Realm, over at the Sea God Clan in the Douluo plane of the mortal realm, the sixth trial was about to officially begin.
In the sea area outside the Sea God Clan, rumbling giant echoes were constantly reverberating. The massive roars were like rolling thunder in the sky, each sound stronger than the last, deafening.
The originally calm sea surface was now constantly churning up huge waves, heavily crashing against the "cliff" that soared into the clouds.
If one looked up, they would see that this was no cliff at all, but a giant sword towering into the clouds. This scene was just like the "Heavenly Sword Mountain" in the center of the Douluo Continent.
At the top of the sword hilt, at the edge of what looked like a platform, Chen Junting sat with his legs dangling in the air, calmly watching the distance.
Placed to the side was a large fruit platter.
Clearly, these were all meant to be his snacks.
Right at this moment, a hand suddenly reached out from the void and picked up a fruit. Chen Junting didn't even look, his gaze still fixed on the distance, but he said, "I'm a bit puzzled. Why did you all choose to fight above the sea? No matter what, fighting on land is better than in the ocean, right?"
"If I said I don't understand either, would you believe me?"
A completely different voice suddenly rang out. In the empty environment, it was just like an invisible ghost.
But in reality, with a flash of spatial fluctuation, Gu Tianchen, biting into a fruit, unhurriedly came to Chen Junting's side and sat down.
After picking through the fruit platter, he selected a good one and tossed it to Chen Junting.
Chen Junting reached out to catch it and took a bite. "Mm, tastes pretty good. But what you just said, I don't quite believe."
Gu Tianchen shrugged. "Alright, actually, I was afraid you'd laugh at me if I said it. Our plan was that if it really came down to it, I would directly transfer into the deep sea through the Door of Void to stall for time. As for air, we'd simply maintain a barrier and rely on the oxygen inside it. When the oxygen ran low, I'd repeat the process. However, I figure we'd have at most one or two chances to do this."
"How about it? Is it a bit stupid?"
Crunch—
But when he finished speaking, the only response was the sound of chewing.
It wasn't until Gu Tianchen turned his gaze to Chen Junting and kept staring at him unrelentingly that Chen Junting finally opened his mouth, "Not stupid, actually."
Saying this, he looked at him with a peculiar gaze.
"Besides, how could you say that about yourself?"
"Eh?"
Gu Tianchen froze, and after reacting, he cursed with a laugh, "This method was thought up by Yuhao on the spot!"
Ultimately, this sixth trial was about doing whatever it took, as long as they ensured at least one person wasn't caught. With the Sea God Douluo unable to use his ocean-manipulating power to interfere, this seemingly absurd behavior was undeniably a good method.
Of course, just as Gu Tianchen said, this method could only be used once or twice, so using it to fight a guerrilla war absolutely wouldn't work.
At this time, Chen Junting looked up into the distance.
A few black spots entered his vision.
"Mm—they're here."
As soon as the words fell, the red-clad Sea God Douluo, Chen Juntao, appeared behind them at some unknown time.
"Senior."
Gu Tianchen stood up and bowed, and Chen Junting also rose to greet him.
After nodding, a smile couldn't help but appear on Chen Juntao's serious face. "This is quite a good place." With a flip of his palm, a rather large incense stick appeared in his hand. "I was just thinking about where would be a suitable place to stick this incense."
Saying this, he handed the incense stick to Chen Junting.
"Then I'll trouble you to keep an eye on the time."
Chen Junting took it and examined it slightly.
The quality of this incense stick looked quite good. Looking at it, it seemed impossible to burn it all away in one breath.
Thinking this, he picked up the leftover fruit core from his snack and directly stuck the incense into it. With a steady toss under the watchful eyes of Gu Tianchen and Chen Juntao, it landed perfectly upright at his feet.
At this time, Huo Yuhao and the others arrived one after another.
Before they could even exchange words, "I'll give you a quarter of an hour to prepare. Once you're ready, the sixth trial will begin."
Chen Juntao's smile had retracted, becoming incredibly serious.
This caused Huo Yuhao's group to instantly feel the illusion that the surrounding air had become heavy, their hearts feeling weighed down. The immense pressure made it a bit hard for them to breathe, completely different from the feeling Brother Junting (Old Chen) had given them before.
Thus, Huo Yuhao and the others didn't waste words. They hurriedly sat cross-legged and entered meditation, adjusting their conditions to their peak.
As time passed minute by minute,
"Are you ready?"
The moment the voice rang out, Huo Yuhao and the other ten instantly opened their eyes, a burst of spirited vigor erupting from them.
"Come on!" ×N
Whoosh—
Chen Junting formed a sword gesture with his fingers. A flash of sword light swept across, not cutting off the tip of the incense, but precisely grazing its top. Under the heat generated by friction, a wisp of green smoke curled upward.
Swish—
Almost the instant the incense was lit, a Door of Void opened right beneath Huo Yuhao and the others' feet, causing them to drop straight down and disappear from the platform of the Seven Kill Sword's hilt.
Chen Juntao's lips curled up. "Interesting."
The next moment, formless mental fluctuations spread out. Soon, they locked onto the spatial fluctuations. Then, his entire person transformed into a streak of blue light and shot toward the target's direction.
Only Chen Junting was left alone on this platform.
"It's a game of cat and mouse."
Everything happening on the sea couldn't escape Chen Junting's spiritual detection. He clearly saw both sides fall into a pursuit battle.
This scene made him feel very familiar.
After all, they had basically spent the past period like this.
A chase of you-run-and-I-pursue, until the incense had burned more than halfway. The infuriated Sea God Douluo finally unleashed his divine might, directly using a soul skill. Locking onto Huo Yuhao and the others' positions, he forcefully intercepted them, interrupting Gu Tianchen's action halfway through.
He directly split the group into two.
It looked like he was preparing to divide and conquer.
Pfft—
On the platform of the Seven Kill Sword's hilt, Gu Tianchen's current appearance was as wretched as it could get. Not only was he in a semi-conscious state, his eyes almost entirely rolling back, but even his stomach was bloated to a huge size like a ten-months-pregnant woman.
Chen Junting was continuously pressing on his chest, performing CPR, and then letting him spew water like a fountain. Only when it was about done did he forcefully flip him over.
"Blargh—"
Under Chen Junting's disgusted gaze, Gu Tianchen directly vomited the seawater from his stomach in large mouthfuls right beside him.
After a long while, he vomited all the seawater out.
"Phew—, finally comfortable."
As if coming back to life, Gu Tianchen slumped onto the platform. Then he saw Chen Junting step forward and take off his coat.
Seeing this, his tone couldn't help but hold a bit of pleasant surprise.
"Huh? Is it because you're afraid I'll catch a cold, so you're changing clothes for me?"
Who would have thought, "No."
He yanked off his coat and threw it onto the spot on the hilt platform where he had vomited. "Come on, wipe this clean first."
Crack—
An invisible shattering sound rang out from somewhere.
Suddenly turning to stone and feeling his trust was misplaced, Gu Tianchen immediately retorted, "Hey—I'm a great contributor now!"
It turned out that in the final moments, everyone was defeated by the Sea God Douluo, leaving only Gu Tianchen. So, he adopted that last-resort method and hid in the deep sea.
As for the result, his oxygen was depleted while still hiding in the deep sea. He directly choked on water and nearly fell unconscious, only just managing to pass the trial this way.
As for the others who had been defeated, Chen Junting had long since persuaded the Sea God Douluo to take them back to the Sea God Clan for treatment first.
"Yes, yes, you're a contributor."
Chen Junting patted his shoulder and said, "But don't forget, when you fainted at the end and couldn't come up, it was I who fished you out and gave you CPR."
Ultimately, this sentence meant just one thing: I am your "savior."
"Alright, alright, I'll wipe it."
Seeing that it wouldn't work, Gu Tianchen sighed and picked up his coat to clean up the "mess" he had made.
While cleaning, he touched the now-vanished trial mark and suddenly asked, "Old Chen, what attribute do you think I should primarily condense for my first soul core next?"
Actually, for those who broke through to Title Douluo while participating in the divine trials, none of them had condensed a soul core. Because their successful breakthroughs were all rewards obtained during the trials—a one-level increase in cultivation.
Simple, brutal, but without any so-called "side effects."
To be precise, they could now break through normally up to level ninety-eight. Then, if they wanted to break through to level ninety-nine, they actually only needed to condense a single soul core.
Compared to the current breakthrough methods—condensing a first soul core before level ninety to break through, and condensing a second soul core before level ninety-nine using the "Resonance Method" or "Yin-Yang Complement Method"—Gu Tianchen and the others undoubtedly had it much easier.
Chen Junting remained unmoved, only asking, "You still want to condense a first soul core?"
"Of course."
Glancing at Chen Junting with a "what did you think" look, Gu Tianchen tossed his completely filthy coat into a torn space rift beside him, letting the turbulent currents tear it to shreds.
Then he said, "Under normal circumstances, which way is stronger?"
"Hard to say, depends on the person."
"Then what if I add one more soul core?"
"Then the latter is naturally stronger."
"Exactly!"
Gu Tianchen punched his own palm and sat down beside Chen Junting. "Since there's a chance to become stronger, why should I give up? Just because the latter will become more dangerous?"
Chen Junting didn't speak, noncommittal about this, letting Gu Tianchen perform beside him. "Old Chen, seriously, whether it's strength or talent, I'm not weak. Right?"
"Of course. Why would you doubt it?"
Seeing his tone suddenly change, seemingly having noticed Gu Tianchen's thoughts, Chen Junting also turned serious at this moment.
"Then what do you think, compared to ten thousand years ago—"
"Far superior!"
Hearing these two words, Gu Tianchen was dumbfounded. "I haven't finished speaking yet."
"I know."
Chen Junting's face carried seriousness. "I can guess what you want to ask, but my answer is still those two words: 'Far superior.'"
"Regardless of who?"
"Mm..." Chen Junting hesitated slightly but still added, "Except for Tang San."
However, in his words, there was not the slightest bit of respect.
It seemed that just keeping it strictly objective was the best he could do.
But regardless of Tang San's character, his talent and final achievements were indeed hard to deny. On this point, one couldn't be arrogant.
"Is that so."
Being praised like this, Gu Tianchen's mood was inevitably good. "They've all already become gods, after all."
But to be honest, he actually thought so himself. After all, comparing their states at the same age, he wasn't inferior to them in the slightest.
As a fellow Child of Heaven, Gu Tianchen naturally had his own pride. Although it usually didn't show, it was absolutely not weak.
Furthermore, if he was previously just "not weak," after Chen Junting, Wang Dong'er, Ning Tian, and Huo Yuhao all gained the favor of deities one by one, this emotion became exceptionally intense.
He wanted to become a god in the future too!
In this life, Gu Tianchen absolutely could not be weaker than anyone!
He wouldn't allow his future self to fall behind the pace of the team.
Regarding some matters of the gods, Chen Junting hadn't hidden them from Gu Tianchen. So he naturally knew the distinction between strong and weak gods.
He even knew clearly that, apart from Tang San and Xiao Wu, the rest of the original Shrek Five Devils were merely Second-Rank Gods.
The achievement he wanted was absolutely to surpass them.
"Becoming a god, huh."
Chen Junting looked at the high-spirited Gu Tianchen gazing into the distance. "Then just keep delving deeply into the Dao of Space. Even in the future, don't condense two soul cores. One will be enough."
Hearing this, Gu Tianchen couldn't help but be surprised.
"One is enough?"
"One is enough."
Chen Junting nodded, giving his advice. "But to achieve this, your comprehension of the Dao of Space must be extremely profound. As for exactly how to do this... I don't know much about it myself, but you can go ask Di Tian for guidance."
"Alright!"
Gu Tianchen didn't doubt Chen Junting's words at all.
At this time, he patted his clothes, which had been dried by soul power, and glanced at a seagull floating in the sky. "We should head back."
"Let's go then, don't keep them waiting anxiously."
Saying this, Chen Junting put away the Seven Kill Sword.
Then, the two flew towards the shore together.
Halfway there, Chen Junting suddenly said, "If you want to become a god, the best way is to gain the favor of a god, just like Huo Yuhao's situation. But his case is only suitable for gods who often slack off, really want to leave the God Realm, and cast a wide net. As for the others, it's about getting a recommendation from a deity in the God Realm. I have connections for this and can lend you a helping hand."
"What god is it?"
"1st-Class—the God of Space."
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