Douluo Dalu: Volume 34: Tang San’s Eight Spirit Rings

by Tang Jia San Shao

  Even though he had already lost weight, his comrades were still used to calling him Fatty, causing Ma Hongjun to frequently have to correct them.

  “Is none of you a bit worried about the difficulty of the trial?”

  Bai Chenxiang couldn’t help asking from the side.

  Ma Hongjun laid there immensely self satisfied:

  “If you endured the suffering of the Tidal Body Refining, you would understand that there’s nothing more frightening than that. When facing Evil Spirit Orcas, you’d only die at worst, that’d still feel far better than the pain worse than death of the Tidal Body Refining. Even more so when we’re hardly a sole army going to battle, we still have Xiao Bai’s lot. With third brother’s strength completely recovered, what do we still have to fear? What I’m currently most thirsty for is battle.”

  Even though they hadn’t even seen what the Evil Spirit Orcas looked like, it could be assumed that they wouldn’t be much stronger than the Devil Spirit Great White Sharks. They should both be first rate sea spirit beasts. At least from the surface of the trial, this test shouldn’t be as difficult as the first three. For the Shrek Seven Devils, what was most important right now was recovery.

  After resting on the shore for a full two days, the seven devils plus Bai Chenxiang set out back to Seahorse City. When they returned, Seahorse Douluo wasn’t there, but the purple clothed sea Spirit Masters received them enthusiastically, their original residence was preserved.

  Everyone relaxed in different ways. For instance, Fatty liked bothering Bai Chenxiang, teasing her. Even if Fatty still hadn’t completely passed all the trials, Bai Chenxiang currently didn’t reject him as much. Between laughter and quarreling, their emotions warmed imperceptibly.

  And Oscar and Ning Rongrong seemed to relax a bit. Ning Rongrong pulled little Ao to stroll in Seahorse City, eating some of the local specialities there, using the things brought in their spirit tools to trade for some local goods.

  The sea Spirit Masters in Seahorse City were completely straightforward, and interacting was effortless. Especially when those sea Spirit Masters saw the brands on their foreheads, they would be extremely respectful.

  Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing did just the opposite. These two always stayed in the hotel, and whether what they were up to was something inappropriate for children, the others never learned. After all, who dared go peep at boss Dai’s private affairs? And Zhu Zhuqing’s explanation was, in order to keep Dai Mubai from going out and attracting flowers, causing widespread disasters for sea Spirit Master girls, it was preferable to stay at home.

  Tang San and Xiao Wu were yet another scene. After returning to Seahorse City, Tang San went straight into closed door state, and Xiao Wu was the same. Because he knew that he was different from his companions. Each trial he had to confront was the most difficult. Even more when he wanted to resurrect Xiao Wu as soon as possible, he absolutely couldn’t delay. Even though his spirit power was now already rank eighty and needed a spirit ring to keep advancing, constant cultivation would still save up effect. Besides, because of inspiration promoting the Purple Demon Eye, as well as merging all the different attributes of the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud into the skull bone, Tang San needed to familiarize himself with it all. In order to become an outstanding team core, he first of all had to understand his own strength. Even if the fourth trial might not seem so difficult, Tang San still knew that these trials would never be simple. Passing absolutely wouldn’t be easy. Especially when he had to kill a target like the Evil Spirit Orca King. Judging by Xiao Bai’s strength, this Evil Spirit Orca King was bound to be a hundred thousand year level spirit beast.

  Tang San also vaguely felt that this hundred thousand year spirit beast seemed to be something the Seagod secretly arranged for him. Because, what he currently lacked, wasn’t it a spirit ring? At the same time he could also be certain that this Evil Spirit Orca King should be even stronger than Xiao Bai, otherwise the trial wouldn’t have him help Xiao Bai. Rongrong’s trial was even to safeguard Xiao Bai’s life.

  Xiao Wu would release her soul every day to accompany Tang San to cultivate for a time, returning to Tang San’s body when she felt the strength of her soul starting to wear.

  Passing the constant tempering of the third trial, Xiao Wu’s soul was a lot more condensed than at the start, and could also stay in her body longer. Especially after Tang San’s Purple Demon Eye rose to the Boundless realm, Tang San clearly discovered that the strength of Xiao Wu’s soul had also risen qualitatively, influenced by his qualitative change in spiritual force. By now, Xiao Wu could stay in her body for two hours in a day without risking harm, and was moreover no longer limited to once. As long as the time didn’t surpass two hours, she wouldn’t be injured.

  Xiao Wu’s soul growing stronger undoubtedly had enormous benefit for her future resurrection. Tang San now thirsted to complete the fourth trial, because as long as he could pass, his Seagod Affinity could rise by at least five percent, and back then Xiao Bai said that, as long as his Seagod Affinity score reached thirty percent, he could voluntarily release the Seagod’s light to help Xiao Wu’s soul fuse with her body. With this Seagod’s Light, all that remained was for him to cultivate to the Title Douluo realm. To Tang San, what was more important than Xiao Wu’s resurrection?

  This time, the Shrek Seven Devils could be said to have completely rested up. What surprised everyone was that, in these three month long period of rest, their cultivation speed actually wasn’t slow at all. It seemed to be because of their always taut minds and bodies relaxing, the benefit of sorrow turning to joy.

  At present, the spirit power of the Shrek Seven Devils was:

  Evil Eye White Tiger Dai Mubai, seventy eighth rank power attack type battle Spirit Sage. Including the two ranks from passing the second and third trials, plus more than a year of cultivation, Dai Mubai had advanced altogether four ranks of spirit power.

  Big Sausage Uncle Oscar, seventy fifth ranked food type utility Spirit Sage. Food type spirits were after all difficult to cultivate, to raise three ranks in more than a year, even though two ranks came from rewards, still made Oscar very satisfied.

  Thousand Hands Asura Tang San, eightieth ranked control type battle Spirit Sage. Due to Tang San not being rewarded with a rank with each trial, his comrades’ spirit power was gradually catching up.

  Evil Fire Phoenix Ma Hongjun, seventy sixth ranked power attack type battle Spirit Sage. Relying on the benefits of the ten headed fierce yang serpent neidan, plus the superiority of the Phoenix spirit, he had finally surpassed Oscar, no longer the weakest in spirit power among the seven devils.

  Soft Bones Demon Rabbit Xiao Wu, spirit power unclear, body strength increased, trial rewards superimposed.

  Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Ning Rongrong, seventy sixth rank support type utility Spirit Sage.

  Hell Civet Zhu Zhuqing, seventy seventh rank agility attack type battle Spirit Sage. At present her spirit power was second only to Tang San and Dai Mubai.

  Three months rest let the Shrek Seven Devils return to peak condition, whether mentally or physically. Without outside pressure, they understood that even with another half year of bitter cultivation, it might be very difficult for their spirit power to rise further. Thus, it would be better to complete the mission ahead of time. They’d already been away for no short time, and they still didn’t know the difficulty of the trials coming later on. After talking it over, they decided to find the Devil Spirit Great White Shark flock, and complete the fourth trial, Shark Whale Battle.

  Readying the essentials, the seven devils prepared to set out. Originally Ma Hongjun didn’t agree to let Bai Chenxiang come along. After all, facing formidable sea spirit beasts was extremely dangerous. But no matter what was said Bai Chenxiang insisted. The reason she gave was that she wanted to be a scout, explaining that she would be unlikely to be in danger at high altitude.

  Helplessly, Ma Hongjun could only agree.

  Even though Seagod Island was large, with everyone�
��s strength they very soon reached the outermost edges of the island.

  Setting foot on that soft silvery beach, everyone couldn’t help sharing knowing smiles. Three years ago, when they landed here with nervous hearts, which of them could have thought that in just three years, they would all have gone from sixty something ranked strength to presently being more than seventy fifth ranked on average, truly reaching the degree of Spirit Master experts? Tang San had even reached a frightening eighty ranks. In fact, this year he was still only twenty four. In the whole history of the Spirit Master world, his should be the most powerful on record.

  Chapter 236: Fourth Trial, Shark Whale Battle

  Overlooking the sea, Oscar said:

  “How do we find Xiao Bai? Don’t tell me we go in the sea? If by some chance she isn’t here, what do we do if we run into her offspring, and they attack when they don’t recognize us?”

  Tang San smiled slightly,

  “Don’t worry, I have ways. Fatty, you and me go.”

  Speaking, he didn’t release his spirit, but rather directly used the Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone flight ability to rise into the air.

  Ma Hongjun didn’t dare be slow, starting Phoenix Ascension, his wings flapped lightly, and he followed Tang San to soar in the air. Along with his strength increasing, he no longer needed to worry about his Phoenix Ascension flight ability, even without the Spirit Avatar, this third spirit ability was still enough to support him for regular flight.

  “Release your spirit avatar and domain. Fire and water oppose each other, and Xiao Bai is also very familiar with your aura. As long as she’s in the nearby sea, she’ll definitely be able to sense it. I’ll help you expand your domain area.”

  “Fine.”

  Ever since taking the ten headed fierce yang serpent neidan, even though Ma Hongjun didn’t mention it, he took Tang San’s word as law. In his eyes, Tang San wasn’t just a brother, at the same time he was also a benefactor. The Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower had neutralized his evil fire, making him truly possess a fire phoenix spirit. The ten headed fierce yang serpent neidan had even more pushed his strength to another level, especially when he got the domain ability it was possible for Title Douluo to possess. These were favors he would never dare forget. He knew that Tang San didn’t like him keeping track of this, and so he hid it in his heart. Fatty had inwardly long since decided that, no matter where Tang San was in the future, that was where he would would be. What Tang San asked him to do, he would do.

  As the Seven Headed Fire Phoenix appeared in the sky, even the sun paled. Dazzling tail flames made the sky shimmer with orange red radiance. As Ma Hongjun controlled his spirit avatar to float in midair, his Seven Headed Phoenix Domain began to spread.

  Circle after circle of orange red light swiftly spread out, scorching hot explosive aura descended from above, making not only the air temperature rise, but at the same time washing everything in the surroundings, revealing the dignity of the Phoenix.

  Just at this moment, Tang San’s eyes brightened, two lines of deep blue light quietly shot out. The two rays of light joined together in midair, and directly fell on the spot between Fatty’s eyebrows. In an instant, the domain emanating from Fatty that could only cover three hundred meters in diameter became one thousand meters. And that golden red light also became even more intense, just like a giant barrier of light appeared in the air above the sea near Seagod Island. Terrifying pressure made the almost still water begin the tremble. On the surface, sea spirit beasts had already begun to stick their heads up, but on seeing that terrifying presence in the air, they didn’t dare have the slightest thought of attacking.

  What Tang San helped Ma Hongjun was his spiritual force, which had reached the highest level just like the Purple Demon Eye. Using that boundless force, gently infused into Ma Hongjun’s spiritual world, provoked his spiritual force to instantly rise for a short while, frantically absorbing the fire element in the air and transforming it into the spreading phoenix power. This process was simple to describe, but was in fact quite difficult in practice. If not for Tang San’s spiritual force being so much higher than Ma Hongjun’s, it wouldn’t have been doable. After all, no matter how Ma Hongjun trusted him, if the spiritual world was invaded, the body would instinctively resist. But right now his spiritual force was infused with Tang San’s vast Purple God Light, and even resistance was impossible. And Tang San himself also clearly understood that, just because the Purple Demon Eye had risen to the Boundless realm, he could also finally in a true sense confront any Title Douluo below the ninety fifth rank. He was confident even without an eighth spirit ring.

  Along with Fatty’s domain spreading, before long, white triangular fins began to appear on the surface of the gradually boiling sea. As the ocean calmed once again, at least several dozen Devil Spirit Great White Sharks showed their backs. As the guardians of the Seagod Island, how could they not react to a sudden provocation from the sky?

  Before Tang San and Ma Hongjun could speak up, the closest thirty Devil Spirit Great White Sharks raised their heads simultaneously, emanating circular light waves, simultaneously rushing towards Tang San and Ma Hongjun. Just like how Xiao Bai once used the Despair Light Wave.

  Even though these Devil Spirit Great White Sharks by far couldn’t compare to Xiao Bai, right now they still won out in quantity. Launching a coordinated attack in unison, the large scale Devil Spirit Light Wave targeted Tang San and ma Hongjun. Even though Fatty was in Spirit Avatar state, he still felt a burst of trembles. After all, these Devil Spirit Great White Sharks in front of them might all be of the ten thousand year level!

  Tang San still didn’t mind. Silently watching the light waves rising below, he raised his right hand and pressed at the space between his eyebrows. Instantly, with his head as center, intense deep blue light suddenly spread out, just like an ocean wave rolling out. On meeting this blue energy, all the light waves immediately melted quietly into nothing. Both were spiritual energy attacks, but there was no kind of collision between both sides, it felt as if the Devil Spirit Great White Shark group’s Despair Light Wave was swallowed by the blue light Tang San released.

  “We are Xiao Bai’s friends, we have no bad intentions, we just need to find Xiao Bai. I’ll trouble you all to notify her.”

  Tang San didn’t speak these words out loud, but rather transmitted it through the wave like blue light he released. A situation that was previously unimaginable was now something he could easily resolve.

  In these days of research, Tang San discovered that his spiritual force really had risen to a brand new level. He couldn’t say just what this level meant, but he also discovered a lot of clever uses. For example communicating with those of the same level, just like he did with Seagod Douluo Bo Saixi. There was also the present way of transmitting his thoughts via his spiritual force to those with vastly lower spiritual abilities. This wasn’t communicating, but rather unilaterally imposing his thoughts on the counterparts’ minds. Of course, such an imposition could naturally easily transform into an attack. If the previous Purple God Light could be described as a single target attack, then the current Boundless level Purple God Light could conduct area attacks, and moreover with even more power than the previous single target attack.

  Tang San was still getting the hang of even more clever uses of spiritual force, but he already believed that the Purple God Light rising to the Boundless level brought him advantages that absolutely weren’t inferior to Spirit Avatar.

  The blue light he released wasn’t simply the Purple Demon Eye from before, at the same time it fused the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud’s Vast Sea Violent Wave ability. After the mind condensing wisdom skull bone fused with the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, it was equivalent to merging his Purple God Light with the four original abilities of the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud. That was also the reason why Tang San didn’t dare be certain of his skull bone’s present level. After all, even hundred thousand year spirit bones couldn’t possess more than two abilities. But now h
e really did possess four such abilities, and that still didn’t count the clever uses of his spiritual force after it advanced.

  Sensing the message Tang San transmitted, the Devil Spirit Great White Shark’s in the sea were a bit restless. Even if the spiritual force Tang San impressed on their minds didn’t bring much pressure, it still broke through their mental defenses. All the Devil Spirit Great White Sharks gave up on attacking and submerged in the sea.

  “It’s done.”

  Tang San called out to ma Hongjun, indicating he withdraw his Spirit Avatar.

  Fatty returned to his original form, employing Phoenix Ascension to hover next to Tang San as he looked at this third brother with a somewhat strange gaze.

  “What? Don’t recognize me? Why are you looking at me like that?”

  Tang San somewhat laughing looked at Fatty.

  Ma Hongjun sighed disappointedly:

  “Third brother, you’re giving me a more and more impenetrable feeling. Just how strong are you really?”

  Tang San laughed out loud:

  “What are you doing wondering about that? No matter how strong I am, you’re still always my good brother! That just now was just a way to release spiritual force. Using the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud.”

  Ma Hongjun smiled:

  “Anyway, afterwards I’ll be following you. The stronger you are the better. Gives your little brother some face too. Haha.”

  Just as the two were chatting, the sea below them heaved once again, and Xiao Bai’s familiar silhouette appeared before them all.

  The giant shark head broke the surface, and looked somewhat bewildered at Tang San. The information she had gotten from her kin was unbelievable. When she watched him now, nothing seemed different about Tang San! Could it be that, in the altogether one year and change they hadn’t met, this fellow had yet another good fortune?

  “Xiao Baibai.”

  Ma Hongjun called out with a somewhat bantering tone.