In the blink of an eye, half a year has passed.
After the evolution of his Martial Soul and the breakthrough of his physical body, his strength leaped directly from the threshold of Titled Douluo to the level of Super Douluo.
Even You Chen took a full six months to complete the sorting of his own strength.
As his power increased, a question naturally surfaced in You Chen's mind.
Becoming a god.
This is a question that almost everyone who has crossed over to the Douluo Continent will consider.
In fact, You Chen had started contemplating this issue long ago.
There are two well-known paths to becoming a god.
The first is to inherit a divine position.
The second is to rely on the power of faith or the collective will of sentient beings to condense a new divine position.
To inherit a divine position... Currently, the only divine positions that can be found and inherited on the Douluo Continent are the two major positions of the Shura God and the Sea God.
If one wants to inherit other divine positions, they can basically only do so by getting involved in the divine examination and attracting the attention of the gods in the divine realm, just like in the original work, where Tang San ascended along with his family and friends.
However, if one truly accomplishes a feat that shakes the continent and demonstrates potential that can attract the gods, would it draw their attention? You Chen was somewhat uncertain.
As for other divine examination locations, such as the inheritance site of the Ice God, You Chen felt that it would be better to directly pursue the second path rather than expend great effort searching for a long-lost inheritance site.
Therefore, if he truly wanted to become a god through inheriting a divine position, he would likely have to go through the divine examinations of these two major divine positions.
After this period of seclusion and research into the source power of his Martial Soul, You Chen had basically ruled out the possibility of inheriting the Shura God's position.
Essentially, there is no conflict between divine positions and Soul Masters.
Just like how Tang San, who uses grass and a hammer, can inherit both the Sea God and Shura God positions.
However, this essentially means there are exceptions.
For example, Qian Renxue, whose Angel Domain and the killing field granted by the Shura God have a clear conflict.
Unless Qian Renxue chooses to abandon her Martial Soul, it is impossible for her to inherit the Shura God position.
And with the extreme purifying power of her domain, You Chen, who possesses the Sacrificer's Sanctuary with a nature very similar to the Angel Domain, is clearly also unsuitable for this divine position.
If his Martial Soul were not the Stardust Dragon, but rather the Red Lotus Demon Dragon of his good friend You Xing, it would be very suitable.
You Chen, with his belief as a strong individual, would never choose to abandon the power of his Martial Soul, which could be said to be the essence of his lifelong achievements, for an unsuitable Shura God position!
Next is the Sea God.
Without a doubt... You Chen despises the Sea God.
Not just because this divine position symbolizes Tang San's "pure and noble" nature.
But also because of the Sea God himself...
To highlight Tang San's popularity, the original work specifically wrote a scene where the Shura God and the Sea God exploited the rules of the divine realm to compete for Tang San as their successor.
But even though both were exploiting loopholes, the Sea God was clearly more disgusting.
Especially since this guy deliberately staged a public execution when Qian Renxue was inheriting the divine position, exposing her privacy to the entire continent...
Even though such things have not yet happened in this timeline, as Qian Renxue's teacher, You Chen still felt extremely disgusted.
This god gives off a very despicable and lewd vibe, reminiscent of a certain perverted figure from Greek mythology.
You Chen indeed thought about teaching Qian Renxue a lesson, but if someone else were to bully his bad disciple, that would be another matter!
His disciple could only be taught by him!
Especially with the Sea God's vile and disgusting tactics, which You Chen absolutely cannot accept.
So even though he had not yet encountered the Sea God, You Chen had already silently regarded him as a hypothetical enemy in his heart.
Just thinking about inheriting the Sea God position and completely fulfilling the Sea God's wishes, satisfying his desire to break free from the constraints of the divine position and roam freely, made You Chen feel uneasy.
He had no interest in the Sea God position at all.
Of course, the most important thing is—You Chen himself does not want to ascend to the divine realm.
The original work made it very clear that, apart from a few outliers like Tang San who wanted to grasp all the power of the divine realm, most gods think about retiring and taking their family and friends to various lower realms to have fun.
Inheriting a divine position in the divine realm is equivalent to becoming a civil servant in the divine realm...
In other words, nominally becoming a god, but in reality, still having to work for others.
Even in the lower realms, they are only executing duties, with no permission for casual enjoyment.
Only a few supreme gods possess a certain degree of freedom.
But even the gods cannot interfere with the lower realms at will; once violated, they will be punished according to the law.
The gods are the maintainers of order and rules, and if a law-abiding god violates the law, even to maintain the legitimacy of the divine council, other gods must impose strict penalties on the offending god.
Of course, even gods value human feelings. Even if a god king truly violates the law, ordinary gods would not dare to report it.
This is also why god kings treat some top-tier first-level gods with special consideration, as these top-tier first-level gods have the ability to withstand the god kings' attacks for a period of time.
So generally speaking, god kings are in a mutually monitoring relationship. Just like in Douluo II, the Destruction God King keeps a close watch on Tang San.
Unless one is truly like the ancient Dragon God or even surpasses the Dragon God, becoming a god or a god king still does not grant freedom; they remain bound by the so-called divine council.
This is something that You Chen, who has long been accustomed to being constrained and suppressed, cannot accept.
Thus, his true ambition is not merely to become a strong individual or a god, but to... become an eternal king in this lower realm, maintaining eternal freedom and dominion.
Therefore, long ago, he set his sights on the second path.
Becoming a god through faith, or rather, through the collective will of sentient beings.
In the past, the Sea God Poseidon was able to condense a divine position through faith and achieve a first-level god. So, if he relies on an even larger collective will of sentient beings to condense a more powerful, god-king level divine position, could he obtain the power to defy the divine council?
Not to oppose the entire divine council, but merely to defy it.
After all, this organization is not a monolith; some gods emphasize rules, some think about cheating, and some look for loopholes.
Oh, not "some people," but "some gods."
If You Chen could achieve longevity through his own means, then naturally he would not need to ascend to any so-called divine realm.
And how the divine council would respond to this is not hard to guess.
They would definitely send someone to capture You Chen, who has overstayed his time in the human realm, and bring him to the divine realm; there is no doubt about that.
But the key question arises... who would they send?
This would inevitably lead to disagreements.
Moreover, the biggest limitation of the divine council is that they must act according to the rules.
God kings can indeed break such limitations themselves, but there are still many areas where disputes can arise.
You Chen could easily think of several.
The simplest is... conspiracy theories!
When the divine council sends someone to notify him of his ascension, he could openly express distrust in the divine council, claiming that this so-called divine realm is a scam.
This is a statement that, although no one has ever made, is quite defensible.
Because... You Chen has never been to the divine realm. This fact cannot be disproven.
You mention the Sea God? The Angel God? Those are all ancient history, and only two gods have appeared, which hardly seems real.
You Chen could even assert with righteous indignation that if the divine realm is a scam, a conspiracy by people from other worlds to control this land, then blindly ascending would leave no spark for the lower realm, which is irresponsible to the people of the lower realm...
In this way, the more emotional and compassionate female god kings might lean towards him, choosing to persuade rather than use force, as this could exacerbate You Chen's misunderstanding of the divine realm.
And since the Destruction God King and the Life God King are a couple, the wife's words cannot be ignored.
This way, more than half of the god kings might stand by him.
And as the divine realm operates on a different timeline than the lower realm, just a few exchanges could give You Chen a lot of time.
As long as You Chen does not ascend and has not entered the divine realm's system, the god kings, constrained by their self-imposed laws and their sense of justice and morality, would find it difficult to demand anything from You Chen, who is not yet a formal employee, and naturally would become constrained.
It's like how some companies can use moral arguments like "you should do this for the company" or "young people should strive for progress" to morally bind and manipulate naive employees, but for non-employees... who the hell are you to talk about that?
How can you judge and punish a being who is not even a god of the divine realm and knows nothing of its laws in the name of "violating the law"?
As long as the divine council prides itself on being just, when You Chen merely refuses to ascend without doing anything else that clearly crosses the line, there will be opposing voices within.
And during this process, even interests may become entangled.
It's simple—this is a very reasonable opportunity for the lower realm.
You Chen might even have the chance to reach an agreement with gods from the lower realm, achieving a win-win cooperation.
To accomplish this, the most important thing is, of course, strength.
Only with strength can one have confidence.
And god-king level strength is the confidence that others must listen to him.
Once You Chen possesses god-king level power, it will be destined to be a difficult task to make him ascend.
Otherwise, even if You Chen wants to stall, several god kings might think of directly pulling him up first, using facts to quickly prove that it is not a conspiracy theory, and then slowly easing the relationship over time.
To achieve this, even the strength of a top-tier first-level god might be sufficient.
Because what You Chen needs to do is not to defeat the gods of the divine realm; he only needs to ensure he can escape and not die.
With You Chen's long-standing advantage in speed, a first-level god's level would likely be enough to allow him to escape from a god king.
During this process, You Chen can continue to cultivate, accumulating strength until... he becomes truly invincible.
This is a method with great feasibility.
Moreover, in the original work, there is also a third path that is almost explicitly mentioned...
The three paths to condensing Divine Power: Immortal Spiritual Energy, the collective will of sentient beings, and finally... cosmic power, or star power.
Even before obtaining the system and evolving his Martial Soul, You Chen had considered this path.
Or rather, this was the route he envisioned before he had the system.
To obtain the easiest-to-acquire heavenly materials and earthly treasures, the 100,000-year Blue Silver Emperor Spirit Bone, to improve his cultivation qualifications, and then ignore the subsequent wars, retreating into the secular world for secluded cultivation.
He has mentioned more than once that the source power of Martial Souls can be cultivated independently; Spirit Rings and Spirit Bones are merely gifts and shortcuts bestowed by heaven and earth.
You Chen's original idea was to rely on his theoretical knowledge, combined with his improved talent, to break through the shackles step by step and achieve divinity through star power.
This is also a path with great feasibility.
However, the success rate is probably less than ten percent, and even if he ultimately becomes a god, it is unlikely that he can quickly fulfill his ambitions.
After multiplying the probability of each step, the final probability of You Chen achieving his desires becomes terrifyingly low.
Star power has always been one of You Chen's core strengths.
Even after the evolution of his Martial Soul, this remains unchanged.
Rather, it can be said that Stardust Power is naturally a higher-level power than star power.
In this world, or rather this universe, there has never been a god who became divine through cosmic power.
Whether it is the God of Moonlight, the God of the Sun, or the God of Starlight, similar gods have not appeared.
This also suggests that this path is bound to be fraught with thorns.
Based on You Chen's shallow understanding and analysis of the information in the original work, the greatest possibility is that becoming a god through cosmic power requires immense strength, at least a first-level god or even a god-king level divine position.
The stronger the divine position, the harder it is to condense; this is a natural principle.
This is why corresponding gods have never appeared.
And Stardust Power, merely the lowest level of Stardust Power that You Chen controlled after the evolution of his Stardust Dragon Martial Soul, was already enough to contend with the Angelic Holy Power that Qian Renxue had mastered for decades.
If he were to condense a divine position centered around Stardust Power, it would likely be at least a god-king level position.
Or perhaps there is another possibility.
The system of cosmic power differs from the existing divine system and does not require the condensation of any divine position. The above speculations deviate from the path.
However, now, You Chen actually has a fourth, fifth, and even sixth path.
The fourth is the path of achieving sanctity through the physical body, the fifth is the path of the unity of essence, qi, and spirit, and the sixth is the path of breaking through the world limits through Martial Soul evolution.
But the difficulty and possibility decrease accordingly.
Currently, You Chen is still focusing on the second and third paths.
The Beast Soul Alliance and Beast Soul Commerce are among the preparations he is making to condense the collective will of sentient beings.
As for Stardust Power, he has been researching and mastering it during this time.
So while it seems that You Chen has not yet stepped onto the path of becoming a god, in reality, he has long been walking on the road to divinity.
However, although several cultivation plans have not yet reached their final stages, You Chen has already decided to leave the camp in the Cataclysm Mountains temporarily.
The path to becoming a god requires taking one step at a time; even after obtaining the system, there is no need to rush.
After digesting the improvements to his own strength, what You Chen needs to do is undoubtedly clear.
—To complete the fourth, fifth, and sixth Spirit Rings of his second body and the eighth Spirit Ring of his first body.
To further enhance his strength and prepare for the imminent breakthrough of his first body to the ninth Spirit Ring, he must condense the second body's essence Soul Core and make all necessary preparations.
You Chen's goal is simple: after condensing the second Spirit Ring, to officially possess strength at the limit level and truly begin to stir the long-dormant winds and clouds of this continent.
"Nino."
You Chen left his room in the camp and casually called out, and a girl with green hair and a fox mask quickly appeared.
"At your service."
The white fox mask is now a symbol of the messenger.
As the organization expanded, Greys had completely stepped away from her position as You Chen's personal maid, promoting Nino, whom she had carefully trained, to take over any of You Chen's needs, including intelligence coordination.
In fact, after You Chen intentionally tilted resources towards this maid who had been by his side from the beginning, Greys recently obtained her fourth and fifth Spirit Rings, becoming a Soul King, while also serving as the leader of the messengers, promoted to the fifth Beast Head—Fox Head.
In fact, Greys' true talent is not bad; she is on par with Amona and Kui, and in terms of Martial Soul, she definitely has the potential to advance to the top tier.
After all, ordinary Martial Souls could never obtain such top-tier soul skills, making her a core figure in You Chen's intelligence network from the start.
However, when You Chen resolved the issue of beastification anomalies, she had already missed much of her golden age for cultivation.
But just like how Dugu Yan's true talent is not as good as the top few in the Royal Fight Team, yet she can still become the vice-captain.
Dugu Yan has a grandfather who is willing to invest everything for her, and the cultivation resources Dugu Bo provides for Dugu Yan cannot even be compared to those of the core direct descendants of the Yu family.
After all, Yu Xiaogang, as the son of the clan leader, faced resentment for occupying too many resources due to his poor cultivation talent, while Yu Tianheng's grandfather is the younger brother of the clan leader; no matter how good his talent is, he cannot compare to someone who is the sole focus of a Titled Douluo's cultivation.
With abundant precious resources, Dugu Yan's talent was forcibly elevated to the top tier.
Before obtaining the Immortal Herb, it was uncertain whether she could become a Titled Douluo, but becoming a Soul Saint was a certainty for her as a top genius.
Just as Dugu Bo could open such doors for Dugu Yan, You Chen could do the same for Greys.
You Chen directly bestowed the Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid, which could accelerate the speed of soul power enhancement, to Greys.
This compensated for her lack of cultivation time.
Greys is already in her thirties, but she can still be considered in her golden age; although the effects of the Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid are somewhat diminished, they are still powerful enough that, at least before her vitality completely declines at fifty, her cultivation speed will surpass that of her twenty-year-old self, catching up to those Soul Masters with full innate soul power.
Then, You Chen provided her with a mid-level experience pill that could allow Greys to directly ascend to Soul King, instantly elevating her to that stage.
You Chen has a limited supply of experience pills at each stage, and this action essentially emptied his reserves of mid-level experience pills.
Although this approach is undoubtedly a huge waste for someone whose potential has been largely wasted, You Chen is willing to do so, and no one can say anything about it.
In fact, Ignis has been envious for a long time, specifically coming to "demand an explanation," and naturally, she was severely reprimanded, as with You Chen
Now, Grace possesses such strength, combined with the skills honed over more than a decade, that she has become a pillar of the Beast Soul Alliance, Beast Soul Commerce, and the Messenger Group, shining brightly in the outside world while also cultivating in the high-energy environment of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.
Although Grace deeply wishes to serve You Chen to repay the favor of his rebirth, she understands that such an arrangement is truly what would be beneficial for You Chen. Thus, she reluctantly left the Cataclysm Mountains, but not before introducing her carefully trained subordinate to You Chen.
After ending her brief recollection, You Chen looked at Grace's proud subordinate in front of him, a slight smile curling at the corners of his mouth.
What Grace said was not false; Nino was indeed a very reliable and versatile attendant.
Whether it was daily necessities, information gathering, or even helping him deal with flies (referring to Dugu Yan), there was nothing to criticize.
In addition, the face that You Chen had unveiled more than once was also quite distinctive.
Nino's qualifications were merely ordinary among the previous Soul Arena Beasts; her Martial Soul, the Bluebird, was a type of agile attack Martial Soul with almost no combat power. If not for being a beast transformation variant, her Martial Soul's original power would be somewhat superior to that of a normal Soul Master, but its original power level might not even reach the intermediate tier.
Such strength naturally could not qualify her as a beast soldier, and she ultimately entered the ranks of beast tamers.
But as a maid, what need was there for strength?
With such a beautiful, capable, obedient, and proactive maid who understood how to help her master with some difficult tasks (referring to dealing with Dugu Yan), You Chen was naturally more than satisfied.
You Chen asked, "Nino, I need to take You Xing out for a while. Please make the necessary notifications. Then check on the soul beast information that I asked the messengers to collect half a month ago."
Nino slightly bowed, "As you command."
Then she quickly activated her Martial Soul, utilizing the speed advantage of the Bluebird Martial Soul, and swiftly disappeared from sight.
"Lord You Chen, did you just say you are taking You Xing out?"
A somewhat awkward voice rang out.
Having heard it too many times and gained enough experience, You Chen knew without turning around who the owner of the voice was.
However, since the other party was his "grandniece," You Chen turned around, revealing his usual gentle smile, and said, "It's you, Yanyan. Just as you heard, You Xing's training has reached a temporary conclusion, and I need to take him out to verify the results of his training during this time."
Upon hearing this, Dugu Yan lowered her head, lightly tapping her fingers, and asked, "Well, if that's the case—"
"I'm sorry, I can't take you with me, Yanyan."
(End of this chapter)