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Taking Hawk into the laboratory, Tang San donned a white coat and asked Hawk to remove his clothes in preparation for a thorough examination.
Hawk glanced at the array of medical and chemical equipment filling the room—many of which he had only ever seen in textbooks or on TV in his past life—as well as some unfamiliar soul tools. He shuddered. "You look like some kind of mad scientist."
"Relax, it's just a basic physical examination. I won't dissect you," Tang San reassured him. "At most, I'll take some blood, hair, skin, oral epithelial cells, and a urine sample for testing."
He gestured for Hawk to calm down. "Even in modern society, if you had special abilities, no official institution would dissect you. Don't believe those absurd movie or TV clichés. A proper organization would have a complete medical system and robust psychological counseling services. You're far more valuable alive, healthy, and safe."
Hawk trembled as he eyed the sharp knife in Tang San's hand. Swallowing nervously, he forced a smile. "You know, you'd be much more convincing if you weren't holding that knife."
"Me?" Tang San smiled faintly. "I'm not exactly in an official facility right now."
Hawk's expression shifted dramatically as he shouted, "I've changed my mind! I regret this!"
"Too late! Mwahaha!" Tang San laughed wickedly, though his gaze remained calm and focused. He listened to the rapid flow of blood within Hawk's body as if hearing the roar of the ocean, waves crashing relentlessly against cliffs. The sound was hurried yet rhythmic, full of vitality and unwavering continuity.
Seeing that Tang San hadn't made any moves, Hawk realized he wasn't about to be dissected after all. He breathed a sigh of relief and steadied his nerves.
At that moment, under Tang San's observation, Hawk's blood flow began to slow. It resembled the rhythmic rise and fall of waves on a tranquil sea, pulsating steadily and peacefully.
"What are you doing?" Hawk asked, puzzled.
"Examining the fluctuations in your blood flow caused by emotional changes," Tang San replied, setting down the knife. "If I were to use ordinary methods to check your body, I'd conclude that your physical strength is four to five times greater than that of a soul master of the same rank. But that's all."
"However, I've noticed something else."
"Your heartbeat and blood flow seem to mimic the rhythm of the ocean, and this rhythm changes based on your emotions."
Hawk pondered for a moment and said, "That might be the effect of the Tidal Body Refinement technique."
"Perhaps during the process of Tidal Body Refinement, your body adapted to the rhythm of the ocean," Tang San speculated. "But once you leave that environment, this rhythm will gradually fade."
Tang San shook his head. "After all, you can't live in that kind of environment forever, can you? The greatest benefit of Tidal Body Refinement is using the impact of ocean waves to strengthen your physique and vitality. But this rhythm—it can't become a permanent passive state for you."
"Simply put, it's a habit—or more precisely, a conditioned response."
"For example, people living at low altitudes will experience slight changes in appearance if they suddenly move to high altitudes. The most noticeable change is that their features may become rougher over time."
"The same principle applies to Tidal Body Refinement."
"In essence, it's an adaptation process. This adaptation changes depending on the environment. In different settings, people must develop different coping mechanisms—just like how soul masters need to prepare specific equipment when hunting soul beasts in different forests. Otherwise, their efforts will yield half the results with twice the effort."
Hawk suddenly understood but then remarked with a peculiar expression, "Why does this sound so scientific?"
"Because it is science," Tang San replied.
He suddenly felt as though he were playing music to a cow. "Science doesn't just mean technology; it's a way of thinking. It involves discovering natural laws, summarizing them, and using them. Regardless of what grandiose terms you use to describe this process or its outcomes, as long as they follow a logical theoretical framework, they fall under the category of 'science.'"
"In the context of Douluo Continent, any powerful cultivator could be considered a scientist. The difference is that some scientists aren't good at summarizing, are hot-tempered, or are stubbornly self-centered."
Hawk's eye twitched as he asked, "What did you do in your past life?"
"That's a secret," Tang San replied cryptically, then continued the previous topic. "Your blood flows like the rhythm of the ocean and can sustain this pattern almost permanently. It must be the power of the Sea God assisting you."
"The Sea God's Light," Hawk muttered heavily, touching the golden trident mark on his forehead. "It must be this thing that's altering the way my blood flows."
"In my past life, there was a conspiracy theory," Tang San began, introducing a niche idea. "It suggested that all the gods in the Divine Realm were spiritual entities. By training successors, they were simply looking for new physical vessels for themselves. Have you heard of this?"
"Uh… that's not true, is it?" Hawk shivered, horrified by the thought. If becoming a god meant sacrificing his body to another entity, it would be beyond tragic.
"It's incorrect, but it's not entirely wrong either," Tang San explained, raising a finger. "A successor to a deity doesn't inherit the god's soul but instead inherits their position—that is, the divine seat."
"And what exactly is a divine seat?"
"Does it have a specific shape? Does it come with certain attribute requirements?"
"These questions may seem abstract, but without a doubt, inheriting a divine seat means the successor's body must adapt to it. Simply put, it's about transforming the body to match the divine seat."
Hawk opened his mouth, stunned, and after a long pause, he finally asked, "So, the affinity rewards given during the divine trials are meant to shape the successor's body to better fit the divine seat?"
"Exactly," Tang San nodded. "If the previous deity is completely gone, like the Rakshasa God or the Angel God, then there's no issue with awarding affinity. The current successor has full control over everything."
"But if the previous deity isn't dead, the successor might still be influenced by them."
"In the original timeline, the 'me' from back then achieved an affinity exceeding 100%. Normally, 100% is enough to inherit the position, but the Sea God pushed it beyond that."
"I imagine that by doing so, that Tang San's body became even more suited to the Sea God's position than Poseidon's original form."
Hawk thought this sounded reasonable, but the cost—losing freedom and having his personality subtly altered—made him wary. If that was the trade-off for power, he'd rather not have it.
Losing oneself...
Hawk hadn't experienced it, nor did he ever want to.
"Will I have to go through this too?" Hawk asked, unwilling to face the idea of being reshaped into "someone else's form." The way Tang San described it already sounded unsettling enough.
"Of course. How else would you inherit the Sea God's position?" Tang San answered matter-of-factly but then added with a shift in tone, "However, your martial soul is a trident, nearly identical to the Sea God's Trident. Even if it has to 'merge' with your body, the required modifications should be minimal. At the very least, compared to someone like me, whose martial soul is the Blue Silver Emperor, altering your body using the Sea God's Light will be much simpler."
Hawk felt like crying but had no tears.
After all, this was a pit he had willingly jumped into...
(End of Chapter)