Douluo Dalu II: The Peerless Tang Sect

Chapter 385 Ma Xiaotao: What qualifications does he, the Sea God, have?

Within the Holy Law Demiplane, Zhu Ziyang sat cross-legged on the ground with his five hearts facing the sky, diligently refining the golden soul ring that floated above his palm.

Not far from him, Ma Xiaotao, Jiang Nannan, Qian Lingyi, and Fifth Huan'er were surrounding the corpse of the Azure Dragon, dealing with this god-level dragon corpse.

The dragon's body is a treasure trove; dragon scales, horns, and bones are the rarest and most valuable soul-guiding materials, while dragon blood, meat, and tendons are excellent medicinal ingredients. Of course, for the four women, these are secondary; the most important thing is the soul bone produced by the Azure Dragon—a divine-level soul bone!

When Zhu Ziyang successfully refined the Azure Dragon's golden soul ring and woke up from his cultivation, he saw four women chattering excitedly around a piece of cyan-gold soul bone.

"What are you saying? Why are you so happy?" Zhu Ziyang walked up to them with a smile and asked.

"Wow! Brother, you've finished absorbing the spirit ring!" Jiang Nannan exclaimed in surprise, then pointed to the cyan-gold spirit bone in front of her, "Look, this is the spirit bone of the Azure Dragon."

"Oh!" Zhu Ziyang immediately became interested and examined the cyan-gold soul bone closely. It was a right arm bone, and a very complete one at that, including the forearm, upper arm, and elbow joint. It was the highest quality right arm soul bone. The soul bone was cyan with a golden glow, and arcs of electricity would occasionally flash around it, yet its aura was very gentle.

"What a work of art!" Zhu Ziyang exclaimed. This Azure Dragon right arm bone was indeed very exquisite, looking as if it had been carved from a piece of azure jade.

"Right? We think it's beautiful too," Qian Lingyi said.

"Ziyang, why is Niu Tian able to generate soul rings and soul bones?" Ma Xiaotao asked, voicing her doubts. She had just asked the others the same question, but none of the three women could explain it.

"Well," Zhu Ziyang stroked his chin, recalling information he had read before, and said, "I think it's because Niu Tian is a soul beast."

"It's a soul beast?!" The four women were astonished, especially Fifth Huan'er, who exclaimed excitedly, "Impossible! How could a soul beast become a god?"

"Don't rush, let me explain slowly." Zhu Ziyang glanced at Fifth Huan'er, a meaningful glint in his eyes, and said, "The origin of this Azure Dragon is extraordinary. You all know about the Sea God Tang San from ten thousand years ago, right?"

"This Azure Dragon is a follower of the Sea God!" Upon hearing Zhu Ziyang mention the Sea God, Ma Xiaotao immediately expressed her second question, one that lingered in her mind even more: "Why does the Sea God want to kill us?"

"This is a rather complicated issue, I'll explain it to you later." Zhu Ziyang grasped Ma Xiaotao's clenched fist and comforted her, "Let's talk about this Azure Dragon first."

"I know," Fifth Huan'er said, her expression quite complicated. "I think this Azure Dragon is the Azure Bull Python, the overlord of the Star Dou Great Forest ten thousand years ago! The Azure Bull Python sacrificed itself to the Sea God before he ascended to godhood, and it's said to be the brother of the Sea God's wife. It's not impossible that the Sea God resurrected it in the divine realm after ascending to godhood and made it a divine beast!"

"That's right!" Zhu Ziyang nodded in agreement. "That's the reason."

"What about his spirit rings?" Ma Xiaotao asked, still somewhat puzzled.

"Since it's a divine beast, wouldn't it be easy for it to simulate a spirit ring as a disguise?" Zhu Ziyang chuckled and said.

"Oh! I see!" The women exclaimed in realization, their expressions showing understanding.

"I don't need the soul bone anymore to deal with this now." Zhu Ziyang weighed the Azure Dragon right arm bone in his hand and said, "Which of you four will do it?"

"I don't need it," Ma Xiaotao said first.

"I already have a right arm bone, so I don't need it either," Qian Lingyi said next.

"This soul bone is not suitable for me, and I don't want it," Jiang Nannan said, shaking her head.

"I..." Fifth Huan'er was about to speak when Zhu Ziyang interrupted her.

"In that case, let's give this soul bone to Huan'er," Zhu Ziyang said, and then tossed the soul bone to her.

Fifth Huan'er subconsciously caught the soul bone, then looked troubled and said, "Can I not take this soul bone?" To be honest, she didn't want to absorb this soul bone, for no other reason than simply because she disliked it.

"Why?" the others asked, puzzled.

"For no reason, I just don't like it." Fifth Huan'er shook her head and said, stuffing the Azure Dragon's right arm bone back into Zhu Ziyang's hand.

"You're so willful!" Ma Xiaotao helplessly stretched out her jade finger and poked Fifth Huan'er's forehead, saying with a mix of reproach and affection.

"Nannan..." Zhu Ziyang looked at Jiang Nannan. She was the only one among the five of them, besides Fifth Huan'er, who needed a right arm bone.

"No!" Jiang Nannan refused decisively, a look of disgust rising on her face, as if what Zhu Ziyang held in his hand was not a divine-level soul bone, but a ten-year soul bone.

"Alright, since none of you want it, let's keep it for now. We might need it later." Zhu Ziyang had no choice but to put the Azure Dragon's right arm bone into his Star Flame Ring.

"Now can you tell us why the Sea God wants to kill us?" Ma Xiaotao was really bothered by this question. If she didn't figure it out, she was afraid she would be unable to think straight.

"Actually, there's no complicated reason. It's simply because we received the divine inheritance," Zhu Ziyang said, waving his hand helplessly.

"Just because of this?" Ma Xiaotao was very surprised, looking at Zhu Ziyang in disbelief, only to find that the other party's face was full of helplessness, clearly not joking. "Why? Why does he want to kill us after we obtained the divine inheritance? Does he not want us to become gods?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but that's probably it." Zhu Ziyang shook his head, looking thoughtful, and said, "That Niu Tian mentioned that we hindered the Sea God's grand plan. Combining that with the information I know, let's make a bold assumption."

The Sea God doesn't prevent us from becoming gods; he simply doesn't want us to become gods outside of his plan. Or rather, we might not be within the scope of what the Sea God allows for godhood. He controls all those who become gods on the Douluo Continent—to be precise, he wants to control the Douluo Continent!

"This..." Upon hearing this, the four women all showed expressions of shock, followed by worry.

Jiang Nannan said with dissatisfaction, "It's unbelievable that the Sea God is such an ambitious person."

Ma Xiaotao's brows furrowed with disgust as she said, "What right does he have to do this? What qualifications does he have to decide the future of Douluo Continent? Just because he's the Sea God?"

Fifth Huan'er sneered, "As expected, Tang San really isn't a good person!"

Qian Lingyi asked worriedly, "Then brother, what should we do?"

"There's no other way but to keep moving forward," Zhu Ziyang said earnestly and solemnly. "Compared to the Sea God, we are far too weak. Our only chance of victory is to become a god. Only by becoming a god can we have any possibility of fighting him. Fortunately, as a deity, the Sea God cannot personally attack us right now, which gives us a chance to develop steadily!"

"We understand!" Jiang Nannan, Qian Lingyi, and Ma Xiaotao's eyes all revealed a heavy, resolute, and fearless look. Just as Zhu Ziyang said, they had no way back, only forward!

The women were in a state of great agitation for a long time before they finally calmed down.

"Ziyang, when did you realize this?" Ma Xiaotao asked curiously.

"When the teacher fell," Zhu Ziyang said, his tone devoid of any emotion, yet it sent a tidal wave of shock through Ma Xiaotao and the others, who all thought of one possibility.

"Could it be... that Elder Mu is... is..." Ma Xiaotao's voice trembled, her eyes wide with fear and disbelief.

"That's right!" Zhu Ziyang said coldly, "My teacher's soul was damaged and he ultimately perished because he refused the Sea God's order to kill me."

"Ah!" Ma Xiaotao cried out in grief and indignation. At this moment, the last shred of faith she had in the sea god vanished.

Two or three hours later, Zhu Ziyang and Ma Xiaotao emerged from the Holy Law Demiplane and landed on the ground. By this time, the miracles of the Sun and Moon Mountains had disappeared, and Zhu Ziyang and Ma Xiaotao no longer intended to explore them. They resumed their journey, heading north towards Anyang City of the Heavenly Soul Empire.

On the way, Zhu Ziyang reviewed the gains he had made from the Azure Dragon Soul Ring, feeling quite pleasantly surprised. After absorbing the Azure Dragon Soul Ring, his soul power broke through levels 94, 95, and 96, directly reaching level 97.

At the same time, the Azure Dragon Soul Ring also provided the Frost White Dragon King Martial Soul with three Soul Skills. The Frost White Dragon King's Soul Ring configuration reached a heaven-defying combination of seven red and two gold rings, which is absolutely unprecedented.

(End of this chapter)