Chapter 142:Eighty-Eight Steps, the End of the Delta Airflow
Now that the black figures had been blown back into the sea by Pidgeot, Poseidon offered a light apology:
"I'm sorry. I didn't expect such an accident to occur."
She had originally assumed that since Mo Hui bore the mark of the Sea God, there should be no issue. But unexpectedly, there was a problem. The divine inheritance aura from the Wind God was too strong, completely overshadowing the aura of the Sea God's mark on Mo Hui. As a result, it triggered the defense mechanism from the arrow-shaped fish guarding the Sea God Temple.
"It's fine. I don't think those fish will dare try again," Mo Hui replied, glancing down at the trembling, jet-black fish still lurking in the water.
When Pidgeot had attacked, he'd also released a tyrannical aura—not inferior to that of an eighty- or ninety-thousand-year spirit beast. The fish, being mere thousand-year-level spirit beasts, naturally wouldn't dare to provoke him again.
However, this incident revealed a flaw in the defensive system of Sea God Island. Or perhaps it was because Mo Hui's Sea God inheritance mark was incomplete. Otherwise, even with the Wind God's aura, it should've been able to distinguish friend from foe.
"Thank you for your understanding."
Poseidon let out a sigh of relief and continued:
"Your first Sea God Test is to climb the 360 steps before the Sea God Temple under the illumination of the Sea God's Light. Time limit: one year."
"360 steps?"
Mo Hui frowned. That number wasn't what he'd expected.
Due to the incomplete mark, he had only received a vague prompt about "crossing the Sea God's dual light." Based on the original story, he'd thought it would be 333 steps, just like Tang San. But now it had increased to 360.
After a moment of reflection, Mo Hui figured out the reason. In the original work, Tang San didn't climb the steps alone—he had Xiao Wu with him. Even though Xiao Wu later helped by throwing him upward, climbing as a pair was definitely more challenging than climbing alone. So it was reasonable to add more steps.
"I understand."
Saying this, Mo Hui and Pidgeot approached the stairs before the Sea God Temple.
As Mo Hui stepped forward, a thin golden mist appeared around him. Immediately, he felt a powerful resistance press forward, trying to stop his advance.
However, with his current strength, this level of resistance was negligible. After adapting slightly to the pressure of the Sea God's Light, Mo Hui continued to ascend step by step.
Step 5… Step 10… Step 20… Step 30…
By the time he reached the thirty-eighth step, Mo Hui frowned slightly. His physical strength alone was reaching its limit. Under the pressure of the Sea God's Light, Pidgeot's meditation technique began to activate autonomously, relieving the surrounding pressure.
Below the stairs, Poseidon saw this and nodded quietly.
For a Spirit Emperor to climb to the thirty-eighth step relying solely on physical strength in his first attempt—this was already an outstanding achievement. In terms of pure body strength, even many Spirit Douluo couldn't match this.
"As expected of the Sea God's chosen heir. Outstanding in every regard."
As Mo Hui took another step, he felt tremendous pressure descend on him. Even moving his fingers became difficult. Step thirty-nine—this was his true physical limit.
Without hesitation, Mo Hui activated his skull soul bone skill—Self-Motivation.
In an instant, the muscles across Mo Hui's body swelled, making him appear visibly larger.
With Self-Motivation active, the sensation of immobility disappeared, replaced by a balanced and steady pressure that even felt somewhat invigorating.
To Mo Hui's surprise, the Pidgeot Meditation Method began circulating even faster. At this point, he felt that his cultivation speed here surpassed many top-level mimicry training grounds.
Feeling this strange yet exhilarating sensation, Mo Hui stepped forward again.
Step 40… 45… 50… 55… 60…
The pressure from the Sea God's Light became more intense with each step, but the strengthening from Self-Motivation continued to scale as well. Although Mo Hui's speed slowed, he pressed forward without stopping.
By step 64, the Self-Motivation skill had reached its maximum effect—300% enhancement. With this massive boost, Mo Hui steadily climbed to step 70.
Even when he reached step 75, though his pace slowed once more, his body was still steadily advancing.
Watching this, Poseidon couldn't help but exclaim:
"What a powerful soul bone ability!"
As the High Priest of Sea God Island, she had seen many rare and powerful soul bones. But Mo Hui's skill clearly exceeded the limits of ordinary soul bones. Its effect was comparable to a hundred-thousand-year soul bone!
In truth, with the scaling pressure from the Sea God's Light, a 300% increase in body strength should've only allowed Mo Hui to climb about 54 or 55 steps.
But Self-Motivation not only enhanced Mo Hui's physique, it also increased the purity of his soul power.
From his earlier attempts, Mo Hui had already deduced that the Sea God's Light was similar in nature to a spirit master's soul power. Thus, the purer and stronger one's soul power, the greater one's resistance to the light.
Even if two spirit masters had the same physique, differences in soul power would lead to vastly different results in the trial.
If a Title Douluo came—though they might have weaker physical strength than Mo Hui—they could easily climb 100 to 200 steps.
Because Self-Motivation also raised Mo Hui's soul power purity and output, his ability to withstand the Sea God's Light increased immensely.
Step 80… Step 85…
At step 88, Mo Hui finally came to a halt.
"This is the limit, huh?" he muttered.
"Looks like I'll need to use Delta Airflow after all."
Originally, Mo Hui hadn't planned to use Delta Airflow so early. Once used, the trial would no longer test his physical strength, but instead become a test of the depth and reserve of his soul power.
But he was still far from the 360-step goal. Self-Motivation had already enabled him to climb 47 additional steps, which was impressive enough. He couldn't expect it to do more.
Then, Mo Hui's body began to emit a concentrated green glow, which condensed rapidly into an elliptical field, roughly the size of a person. The field enveloped him completely.
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(End of this chapter)