"Thunder?"
Seahorse Douluo's expression changed drastically. He looked up at the sky. Nine spirit rings lit up around him, and the shadow of a seahorse appeared behind him.
He had summoned his martial spirit, and the lightning struck down. It didn't cause him serious harm, but it made his blood and spirit energy churn violently.
Boom!
Another silver bolt shot down from the heavens, hitting Seahorse Douluo squarely.
He moved immediately, but then two more bolts followed, slamming toward him from above.
One or two bolts were manageable—but three, four bolts in succession? That wasn't a coincidence.
"No… this is divine punishment!"
Seahorse Douluo looked completely shaken.
Boom!
While he was still in shock, yet another lightning bolt slammed into his body.
The purple-robed sea spirit master who had brought Ye Feng and the others here suddenly dropped to his knees, clasping his hands in prayer, head bowed low.
"Sea God, please calm your anger!"
Poseidon.
To the sea spirit masters of Sea God Island, the only one capable of divine punishment was the legendary Sea God himself.
In the core region of Sea God Island, within a temple, a woman sensed the disturbance. Her face paled in shock, and she murmured in disbelief:
"Divine punishment? How could divine punishment descend so suddenly?"
The High Priestess of the Sea God was utterly baffled. Why would Lord Sea God punish his own spirit masters on Sea God Island?
—
Divine Realm.
Poseidon himself was equally confused as he gazed down at the situation unfolding on Sea God Island.
The lightning strikes bombarding Seahorse Douluo weren't his doing at all.
He tried to stop them, mobilizing the power of the sea to disperse the divine punishment. But to his horror, he couldn't affect the lightning at the Seahorse Holy Pillar.
Boom!
Suddenly, a thunderbolt fell from the sky—and struck Poseidon himself.
His eyes went wide with disbelief, and he froze.
He was a god.
Yet that divine punishment just now... had struck him.
"What the hell is going on?"
Poseidon was utterly stunned. Why was he being punished? Could it be because he tried to interfere with the punishment descending upon the Seahorse Holy Pillar?
He wiped blood from the corner of his mouth. Just one strike of divine punishment was enough to make a god cough up blood.
But this was the Divine Realm. Who had the authority to unleash divine punishment here?
Poseidon asked himself—even the five Supreme Gods didn't have such power.
The more he thought about it, the more fear crept into his heart.
—
Sea God Island.
Seahorse Douluo, having realized he was under divine punishment, immediately dropped to his knees. With the utmost sincerity, he bowed low and said:
"Lord Sea God, I know I was wrong. Please forgive my ignorance and foolishness. These guests from afar are your guests. Whether they come from Spirit Hall or not, they could become your believers. I shouldn't have treated such honored guests with disrespect!"
As soon as he finished speaking, something incredible happened.
The thunderclouds overhead vanished.
Seahorse Douluo wiped the blood from his lips. His heart was firm in one belief now—it was precisely because he disrespected Ye Feng and tried to drive them away that he had incurred divine punishment.
Otherwise, how could the thunder and lightning vanish the moment he repented?
On the other side, Ye Feng was still stunned.
He had been prepared mentally, but he never expected the system to pull out divine punishment.
The system could even wield divine punishment?!
Phew…
Ye Feng grew even more curious about the system's origin and capabilities.
Seahorse Douluo, terrified after his punishment, no longer dared show the slightest disrespect. He stepped in front of Ye Feng and his group, bowed at a full ninety-degree angle, and said with rare humility:
"Dear guests, please forgive my rudeness and offense earlier. I now realize—you are honored guests of Lord Poseidon!"
"Guests?"
"Guests of Poseidon?"
Qian Renxue, Hu Liena, Xiao Wu, and the others were stunned. They could hardly believe it. Seahorse Douluo's attitude had shifted too fast—it was giving them emotional whiplash.
"Let us begin the test of Lord Poseidon."
Seahorse Douluo slowly walked to the Seahorse Holy Pillar. Facing the sacred pillar, a devout light filled his eyes.
"One person, come forward."
"Who wants to go first?" Ye Feng asked.
"I'll go." Zhu Zhuqing stepped out and walked toward Seahorse Douluo. "Senior, please allow me to take Lord Poseidon's test."
"Very well." Seahorse Douluo nodded solemnly.
He slowly raised his hands to chest level, palms facing each other about half a foot apart. A faint blue light began to condense in the space between his hands.
At the same time, a radiant blue light emerged from the platform beneath the Seahorse Holy Pillar. It climbed up the intricate carvings of the pillar and reached the top in the blink of an eye.
Seahorse Douluo turned and pointed his right hand at Zhu Zhuqing.
A beam of blue light descended from the sky, enveloping Zhu Zhuqing completely. Though shrouded in divine brilliance, she didn't feel any discomfort.
As the moments passed, the color of the beam began to shift—from blue to white, quickly to purple, then it froze into black.
Black lines began to creep up the Seahorse Holy Pillar. They halted once they reached one-third of the way up. In just a few seconds, the entire Seahorse Holy Pillar had turned jet-black.
Finally, six black lights shot out from the pillar, forming six square light screens in front of Zhu Zhuqing. Each screen had golden words glowing on its surface.
"Black Level Six Test!"
Seahorse Douluo was taken aback and said with a bitter smile:
"Two more than the tests I received back then…"
The six screens merged into six black beams that sank into Zhu Zhuqing's forehead. A black hexagon mark appeared at the center of her brow.
"Black Level Six Test!"
Ye Feng was stunned.
In the original plot, Zhu Zhuqing only received the Black Level Five Test. Maybe her time training in the City of Slaughter and acquiring the Death God Domain had upgraded her spirit test to the Black Level Six.
"Senior, what does the Black Level Six Test mean?" Zhu Zhuqing asked.
"Lord Poseidon grants different levels of trials based on the strength and potential of the candidate. From lowest to highest: White Level One Test, Yellow Level One Test, Purple Level One to Three Tests, Black Level Four to Six Tests, and the highest, the Red Level Test."
"Those who pass the White, Yellow, or Purple tests can become spirit masters of Sea God Island. The Black Level represents the strength of the guardians of the seven Holy pillars. The Red Level matches the strength of the High Priest."
"Congratulations, Zhuqing!" Xiao Wu cheered.
"But… with your current strength, passing it is impossible. Attempting it will likely lead to death." Seahorse Douluo sighed deeply.
"Why do you say that, Senior?" Ning Rongrong asked in concern.
"In the past hundred years, there have been thirty-one instances of the Black-Level Test. Only seven have succeeded. Those seven became Holy Pillar Guardians. I am one of them."
"For land-based spirit masters, the Black Level Test must be completed once per year. For sea spirit masters, it's one test every ten years. It took me nearly forty years to pass the fourth Black Level Test. Do you understand now just how difficult this is?"
"So hard?" Ning Rongrong was secretly worried as she looked at Zhu Zhuqing.
"Senior, you said land-based spirit masters have to complete one test per year?" Zhu Zhuqing asked.
"Yes," Seahorse Douluo replied with a nod.
"But the time limit for my first test… is for life."
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