Tang San didn't even bother to understand soul tools or battle armor—fine. But even the soul spirit system that Huo Yuhao developed? Damn it, I don't even know about that?
What the hell have I been doing in the Divine Realm for the past fifty years? The little devil child reached out a claw and scratched his scalp.
Oh, right—you say I was busy laying out strategies in Douluo Continent, battling the God of Destruction for power in the Divine Realm. Makes sense, I guess.
After repeatedly confirming the situation, Tang San awkwardly realized that even in this rebirth, he still had to rely on his past life's configuration to fight the Spirit Hall dungeon. As for the fruits of development over the next 20,000 years—elixirs, soul tools, battle armor, soul spirit systems—he had absolutely no part in them.
He hadn't learned a single one.
Fortunately, before he became a god, the Spirit Hall arc wasn't that hard to clear.
Forget it, not worth thinking about anymore. Tang San shook his head and continued pondering how to build a solid foundation for himself from other angles.
Next came the matter of immortal herbs. And when it comes to immortal herbs, you can't avoid the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Ever since Dugu Bo's family was exterminated in their later years due to the soul bone toxins accumulating and erupting, the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well had been entirely taken over by the Tang family.
Before becoming a god, Tang San didn't know the source of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Only after divinity did he realize—the most valuable thing in that valley wasn't the herbs, but the Ice and Fire Dragon Kings buried at the bottom.
He knew about the Silver Dragon King in the Lake of Life. He knew about Dragon Valley. He knew a lot about the secrets of Douluo Continent. From the moment he ascended, Tang San had already begun plotting for the Dragon God's divine position.
To prevent anyone in the coming tens of thousands of years from accidentally inheriting the Dragon Kings' legacy from the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Tang San simply sealed off the place entirely. No one was allowed near it.
According to his plan, all the treasures inside were to be saved for his descendants. How could he let outsiders take them?
If only he could inherit the dragons' legacy from the well… A human-like greed appeared on the little devil child's face.
But… that was a god-level dragon. He wasn't one of his descendants, who could leverage the family lineage and Tang San's careful planning to deceive the two dragon souls. Moreover, he was the Asura God's chosen one. He could guarantee that if he showed up at the bottom of the valley, the two dragon souls would tear him apart on sight.
Forget it. The fortune inside should still be left for his descendants. A look of disappointment spread across the little devil child's face.
Then came the matter of divine positions.
In his past life, Tang San had the dual god positions. Looked glorious, sure—but looking back, he got completely screwed.
He had fully accepted the Sea God's inheritance, and his affinity with the Sea God was maxed out. But the Asura God's position was forcefully injected into him. It wasn't very compatible, which led to the situation where, for a time, he had to keep his head down before the God of Destruction in the Divine Realm.
And Xiao Wu, as the Asura Sword's scabbard, couldn't sustain it long. Every time the sword was used, Xiao Wu would be torn apart again. That's why Tang San presented himself as the Sea God for a long time. The Asura God's position could only serve as a weapon spirit to intimidate the other gods. But even then, Xiao Wu didn't give him much time. In the Divine Realm, Tang San had a foreboding—Xiao Wu was going to die.
And once she did, he would lose the Asura God's position.
How could that be acceptable? Even if he couldn't use it anymore, he couldn't let it fall into someone else's hands. That was a God King-level divine position, after all.
That's why he started laying the groundwork for his son, daughter-in-law, and grandson—so they could inherit the divine positions of Life, Destruction, and the Dragon God.
With those three God King thrones secured, even without Tang San, the Tang family could still control the Divine Realm, allowing him to reincarnate and cultivate again with peace of mind, eventually reaching the ultimate foundation and maximizing the potential of the Sea God's divine position upon return.
But now that he was reborn into the past, with both the Sea God and Asura God's positions laid out before him, of course Tang San would choose the Asura God.
He was originally the Asura God's chosen successor. If that Sea God bastard hadn't intercepted it, none of those later complications would've happened.
But having used the Sea God's position for so many years, letting go of it now… Tang San was also a bit reluctant. (After all, even if he didn't want it, he still wanted to hold the spot so no one else could use the damn toilet.)
Tang San had long since treated that divine position as his own. How could he allow outsiders to get a piece of it?
In the end, Tang San made a decision: take a different approach. He would focus on the Asura God position, and let Xiao Wu become the sheath for the Sea God's trident. That way, he could still be dual-god integrated—it was just that Poseidon would be a little aggrieved.
But unlike the aggressive Asura God, the gentle divine power of the Sea God would nurture Xiao Wu day and night, soothing her, making her more radiant and full of charm.
Thinking of this, Tang San couldn't help but gulp.
Great! Decision made! I will main the Asura God, and integrate the Sea God's position. Sea God, you better know what's good for you.
Then there was the matter of his spirit rings.
When he thought of his spirit rings, Tang San couldn't help but think of that buzz-cut trash.
Yu Xiaogang—his teacher in his previous life.
After awakening the Blue Silver Emperor, Tang San realized he'd been completely screwed over by this useless waste.
You told me to absorb poison-type beast soul rings with my Blue Silver Emperor?
It was only because my martial soul was the Blue Silver Emperor, and I could get the Blue Silver King's sacrifice and undergo a second awakening, that it didn't affect me much.
But if I had any other martial soul, I might've been completely ruined by you during the hunt for the Mandala Snake.
I trained so hard, joined the Soul Master Tournament, braved the Slaughter City, tearfully accepted Xiao Wu's 100,000-year spirit ring, subdued four clans, and founded Tang Sect—what the hell does any of that have to do with you, Gangzi?
Then I went to Sea God Island to take the Sea God's Nine Trials. When I came back to the continent, guess what that shameless bastard Gangzi said?
He said he had cultivated a god.
What a damn joke. Besides teaching me some basic soul master theory and making me run laps, what else did you do? Everything you contributed, I could've gotten from any halfway competent theorist, probably better.
Also, you're just a damn loser. If I, Tang San, didn't have memories from my past life, didn't know how to make hidden weapons, then I—possessing twin martial souls and limitless potential—would've been killed by you during the hunt.
Without me, would you be a Grandmaster? Without me, would you be honored as the mentor of a God King? Where the hell do you get the face to say you raised me?
If not for the need to maintain a "respect-the-teacher" image when ascending to the Divine Realm, I would've fallen out with you long ago.
I respected you, worshipped you—but when the entire Shrek Seven Devils ascended to the Divine Realm with me, and even my parents came along, I left you behind. Let that piss you off.
Why didn't you use your so-called theories to ascend?
In his past life, Tang San's way of getting revenge on Yu Xiaogang was simple: give him hope of ascending to the Divine Realm and then let him watch helplessly as Tang San and the others rose up—without him.
So, having been reborn once, should he still take Yu Xiaogang as his teacher?
From the bottom of his heart, Tang San didn't want to.
Recalling the dark past of his previous life, how he had been fooled by that worthless Yu Xiaogang into kneeling and calling him "a teacher for a day, a father for life," how Yu Xiaogang used his Nine-grade Purple Zhi to eventually reach Rank 93 and become a Title Douluo, how he gained the title of Imperial Tutor thanks to Tang San, and even then wasn't satisfied—demanding to be taken to the Divine Realm—how after his death, the Douluo Continent spent millennia praising him for cultivating a god, all of it made Tang San feel extremely disgusted.
But looking at it from a standpoint of practical benefits, Tang San did need to maintain a superficial teacher-disciple relationship with that useless Yu Xiaogang.
Yu Xiaogang had no real value on his own. His biggest asset was that Bibi Dong was deeply in love with him.
Bibi Dong was a woman of patience, good at lurking, waiting for opportunities, and striking mercilessly. She was also Tang San's greatest enemy in this era, and one of only two people who had ever given him the feeling of impending death.
Think about it—he had two martial souls with all Hundred-thousand-year soul rings, his ninth ring on the Clear Sky Hammer even reaching the million-year level. As the Sea God, he wasn't inferior to the Rakshasa God.
Yet even with that configuration, he had ultimately died at Bibi Dong's hands.
But her biggest weakness was that trash Yu Xiaogang. If he hadn't been Yu Xiaogang's disciple, Bibi Dong likely would have tried to kill him outright during the Spirit Master Tournament.
Put plainly: with Yu Xiaogang around, the Spirit Hall "dungeon" was on easy mode. Without him, it was on hard mode.
Even though he had the Asura God behind him, and would be revived even if he died, Tang San didn't want to owe the Asura God a favor.
Tang San knew the nature of the Asura God. He had chosen many successors, only to abandon them all in the end. His standards were strict, and if a successor failed the trials, the Asura God would discard them like worn shoes.
If even defeating a not-yet-god Bibi Dong required the Asura God's help, then Tang San couldn't guarantee the god wouldn't eventually give up on him out of disappointment.
So Yu Xiaogang, as a protective umbrella, still had some use. But that was all he was good for.
Though Tang San decided to acknowledge Yu Xiaogang as his teacher in this life, he wasn't about to let him off easy. He would choose his own soul ring configurations, and he wouldn't listen to Yu Xiaogang's theories or create too much karmic entanglement with him.
Before becoming a god, Tang San would gradually distance himself from Yu Xiaogang, cutting ties bit by bit to avoid getting entangled with this piece of trash.
As for the Nine-grade Purple Zhi? Yu Xiaogang could forget it in this lifetime. He could obediently stay stuck at Rank 29 forever.
The thought of Yu Xiaogang remaining hopeless and despairing at Rank 29 for the rest of his life filled Tang San with a small sense of satisfaction.
Tang San and Huo Yuhao—two chosen ones of destiny from different eras and opposing camps—shared a surprising agreement on this matter: Yu Xiaogang was trash.
After planning out his future, Tang San drifted off to sleep.