Chapter 236: The Predicament of Tang San and the Others
After Yang Xiong and the others confirmed the trial contents, they were warmly received by the Seahorse Douluo. After all, among this group, there were three participants who had received the Red-Level Trials, especially the one with the Red-Level Eight Trial; the probability of passing was exceptionally high.
The Seahorse Douluo, after interacting with them and especially sensing Yang Xiong's extraordinary physical condition and Title Douluo-level strength, felt that even as land-based soul masters, passing the trials wouldn't be too difficult.
Of course, after communicating with the Seahorse Douluo, Yang Xiong and the others had a clearer understanding of the situation on Sea God Island and also learned about Tang San and his group.
Tang San and his group had arrived at Sea God Island about three months before Yang Xiong's group, and when they arrived, they seemed quite disheveled.
...
About four months ago, Tang San organized a team and set off from Heaven Dou City, intending to go to Sea God Island for training.
This group had seven members, including Tang San, Xiao Wu, Dai Mubai, Zhu Zhuqing, Yu Tianheng, Dugu Yan, and Ma Hongjun.
Apart from the original Shrek Seven, they added Yu Tianheng and Dugu Yan.
Yu Tianheng's family was destroyed, and he harbored a deep grudge. However, he was only at the Soul King level and couldn't impact any major situation, so he could only train with Dugu Yan in Dugu Bo's home.
Now eager for revenge, he decided to join Tang San after hearing about Sea God Island from Tang San and Yu Xiaogang. Though dangerous, it was the best way to improve his strength.
Dugu Yan, being Yu Tianheng's girlfriend, also followed him to Sea God Island.
However, in terms of strength, Tang San and his group were far weaker than the original Shrek Seven.
At the time Tang San planned to go to Sea God Island, he was only at level 63, Xiao Wu was at level 62, and aside from them, there wasn't a single Soul Emperor in the group.
Yu Tianheng was at level 56, Dugu Yan at level 55, both of whom were outstanding among their peers but still considered average.
Dai Mubai was at level 57, Zhu Zhuqing at level 53, and Ma Hongjun was only at level 49.
In terms of strength, practically everyone could reach the Soul King level before the age of 25, at least stronger than the Golden Generation of Spirit Hall, but even Dai Mubai might struggle to reach the Soul Emperor level before 25 if he continued to train normally.
After preparing, Tang San's group set off in a carriage from Heaven Dou City.
The fate of their journey was strikingly similar to the original story. Tang San's group encountered the wolf bandits, and with their combined strength, they quickly wiped out all the bandits and even gained some rewards.
They also obtained the Dragon Abyss boat in Hanhai City.
After enduring the difficulties of the sea, they finally arrived at Sea God Island.
However, this journey was even more complicated, dangerous, and difficult than in the original story.
Although Tang San's group had extraordinary talent, they lacked experience in the real world, and had no experience with the sea. They ended up encountering the same group of pirates as in the original story.
Without the Sea of the Sea Shield, they almost got killed by the Deep Sea Demon Whale King when they encountered it.
Fortunately, the Dragon Abyss boat was fast, and Ma Hongjun could fly, allowing them to escape quickly.
When they finally reached Sea God Island, everyone was severely injured and looked quite miserable.
However, the group was extremely tenacious and insisted on taking the Sea God Island trials and joining Sea God Island.
Like the original story, the trials were overseen by the Seahorse Douluo, but the trial content was somewhat disappointing.
Tang San received the Red-Level Seven Trial, the highest trial level of the group, and was the only one to receive the Red-Level Trial.
Xiao Wu received the Black-Level Six Trial, and her innate full soul power was impressive, making her the only Soul Emperor among the group.
In comparison, the others were much weaker.
Yu Tianheng, Dugu Yan, Dai Mubai, and Zhu Zhuqing all received the Black-Level Four Trial. Their talents and martial souls were quite good, and even Zhu Zhuqing, who had slightly worse aptitude, had grown very quickly in recent years. Her training talent even surpassed that of Hu Liena.
Ma Hongjun only received the Purple-Level Three Trial, making him the only Soul Scholar among the group.
Ma Hongjun, compared to the others, came to Sea God Island more due to Flanders' arrangement.
Due to the lack of the Chicken Crown Phoenix Sunflower, Ma Hongjun's training speed had slowed down significantly. Since leaving Heaven Dou Royal Academy, without Flanders and Yu Xiaogang's supervision, he had become more indulgent.
Though Ma Hongjun had attached himself to a noble family and became the son-in-law of the family head, he lacked proper discipline, which led to him gaining weight and letting his evil fire grow uncontrollably. This could affect his future.
According to Yu Xiaogang's description, Sea God Island mostly had water-type soul masters, and they might help suppress Ma Hongjun's evil fire to some extent.
Flanders and Ma Hongjun had a close teacher-student relationship similar to that of Tang San and Yu Xiaogang. Their bond was very strong.
In the end, following Flanders' arrangement, Ma Hongjun joined Tang San's group to go to Sea God Island for training.
Originally, Tang San's group was full of confidence, thinking the Sea God Island trial would be just another challenge.
However, when they reached the Sea God Light, they were stunned.
Their first attempt to traverse the Sea God Light resulted in extremely poor results, so bad that it was almost despairing.
Normally, a Black-Level Four Trial required traversing 98 steps of the Sea God Light, Black-Level Six needed 118 steps, and Red-Level Seven required 136 steps, making the trial difficulty extremely high.
Of course, Ma Hongjun, who received the Purple-Level Trial, was not eligible to pass through the Sea God Light, nor could he cultivate under its influence.
When Tang San's group tried again, they were shocked, even feeling a bit scared.
Among them, the best performer was not Tang San, but Xiao Wu.
Xiao Wu could almost reach the 60th step by herself. Although her martial soul was the Soft Bone Rabbit, her beast soul provided a greater enhancement to her physical abilities than any tool soul, and Xiao Wu was the only Soul Emperor with a beast martial soul.
Even with all his effort, Tang San could only barely reach the 58th step, and this was with all his skills.
Tang San, compared to the original story, was missing two domains: the Blue Silver Domain and the Killing God Domain. These would have played a significant role in helping him against the Sea God Light.
The others performed even worse.
Dai Mubai reached the 33rd step, Yu Tianheng reached the 32nd, Dugu Yan climbed the 28th step, and Zhu Zhuqing only made it to the 26th.
After seeing these results, everyone's eyes seemed to be filled with despair.
From the current situation, only Tang San and Xiao Wu had any hope of passing the trial, while the others had no hope of succeeding.
Especially as the steps of the Sea God Light grew higher, the pressure increased exponentially, and a qualitative change seemed to occur. The difference between the 30th and 40th steps looked like a mere ten steps, but in reality, the difficulty increased by countless times.
At this moment, Tang San's group exchanged looks, seemingly lost.
Without the Blue Silver Domain and the Killing God Domain, Tang San couldn't help the others or discover any loopholes in traversing the Sea God Light.
The more troubling issue was that there wasn't a single support-type soul master among them. They couldn't even help each other, and they could only rely on themselves to cross the Sea God Light.
Seeing everyone so disheartened, Tang San recalled his training under the waterfall and felt that under the immense pressure of the Sea God Light, their training speed had greatly improved.
So, under Tang San's encouragement and analysis, the group began to climb the steps of the Sea God Light with all their might every day and also started cultivating on the steps.
The training speed indeed improved, but it was still far from enough to meet the trial's requirements.
Although Dai Mubai and the others were extremely determined and hardworking, even after a month of training, they had made little progress in climbing the steps. They gradually transitioned from full confidence to a sense of despair.
For Dai Mubai and his group, it wasn't just the lack of a few soul power levels; it was also the lack of celestial herbs to transform their bodies.
In the original story, after taking the celestial herbs, everyone not only experienced a significant boost in soul power but also improved their aptitude and adaptability.
Additionally, since they hadn't won the Soul Master Competition, they hadn't received the soul bones awarded by the competition. That meant, aside from Tang San, none of them had soul bones, which greatly improved physical strength.
Therefore, even though the group's training speed under the Sea God Light had improved, it still wasn't enough.
In the eyes of the Sea God Island inhabitants, Tang San and his group seemed to be struggling desperately, with no hope of passing the first trial within the year. That would mean their end.
However, Dai Mubai comforted everyone, mentioning that he had personally invited Yang Xiong to join the Seven Treasures Glazed Sect, but Yang Xiong had been too busy to come with them.
Yang Xiong had also shared some information about Sea God Island and mentioned he would come after some time, though the exact timing was uncertain.
If Yang Xiong arrived, and if Ning Rongrong and Oscar also came along, they would have the support and enhancement from them, which might give them hope of passing the trial.
Hearing this, Tang San felt a bit uneasy. He had led everyone to Sea God Island for training, but now they were facing life-threatening dangers, and they might need Yang Xiong and the others to come to their rescue.
Tang San had always been competitive. He not only believed in his own strength but also saw himself as the leader of Shrek. When he was in Shrek's battle team, he had arranged most of the tactics.
But now, after five years, it seemed everything had changed. Not only was there a growing gap in strength between him and Yang Xiong, but Yang Xiong also had a huge backing behind him now.
(END CHAPTER)
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