I Don't Agree to the Terms

In this era, it was indeed just the power of the islands. If it had been the most glorious era of the earth dwellers, it would have been the power of the earth.

"The power of the sky is really too crude; it clearly hasn't matured yet."

Nowadays, the power of the Ocean God is the strongest and the most complete, while the power of the islands is fragmented and incomplete, having been shattered, and the power of the sky is nascent, inevitably rough around the edges.

However, if we were to talk about which one Gu Shanhai favored the most, it would definitely be the power of the sky; it was the easiest to manipulate.

Of the remaining two, one was at its peak, and the other was broken and needed repair. The power of the sky was crude and immature, but it was complete.

"The ocean is too profound, causing everyone to forget that there is an even broader sky." Gu Shanhai didn't know how vast the sky was. There was certainly more above the clouds; it didn't just end there.

"So don't mess around, what if I mess something up? Wouldn't it force heaven and earth to come together? Then there would be no place to run." Gu Shanhai commented, and then began to collect the power of the sky.

The collection process went smoothly, without any issues.

Gu Shanhai's technique was discreet and he was not collecting on a large scale, just samples; it wasn't material needed for mass production.

"Let's go, let's head back," Gu Shanhai said, patting Little White's antlers.

Little White promptly teleported away, teleporting nearly ten thousand times before it finally returned to the Five Elements Sect's ship.

The reason he brought Little White was to let it practice its teleportation skills. It had learned them but hadn't had much chance to practice; this was a good opportunity to hone its skills.

Initially, its teleportation covered less than half a meter; at that rate, it was faster just running. As it became more skilled, the distances increased significantly.

"Wow~" Little White felt that this was too costly and not worth it at all. It would rather just run straight through the air.

"That's because you aren't skilled and haven't developed it yet; otherwise, you'd get there with just one teleport, and it wouldn't cost much." Gu Shanhai didn't mention how uncomfortable Little White's unskilled teleporting was; Little White had complained of tiredness first.

But indeed, it was really tired, having used nearly ten thousand teleports on the way back; this was because it had used close to a hundred thousand on the way there, which is why it had become more proficient.

More practice did make sense.

Little White found a place to rest, somewhat listlessly; it was indeed exhausted this time, but the gains were truly significant.

Gu Shanhai glanced at it and didn't say anything. It was all about balancing work and rest; Little White had indeed worked very hard in this training session. After a few more trips with him, it should meet the standard.

Then he took out the power of the sky for further research.

Research on the power of the ocean was at a bottleneck due to the influence of the Divine, and the power of the islands needed to be repaired into the power of the earth, which was very difficult; thus, research on the power of the sky was needed to understand by analogy and thereby perfect the power of the ocean and the earth.

Mainly, the power of the sky was the low-hanging fruit at this stage; Gu Shanhai had no choice but to pick the softer option.

"Does it seem a bit like authority?"

"But not quite, is it because it is immature?"

Gu Shanhai realized that he could control the wind, rain, thunder, and lightning through this power of the sky.

The power of the islands also had this capability but was much more refined than the power of the sky, and the Ocean God was also involved.

"That is to say, it essentially amounts to encroachment."

Both the power of the islands and the power of the Ocean God were involved in these three powers, but only the power of the sky had authority over the sky; it not only lacked the authorities of the earth and the ocean, it had also been plundered quite a bit.

"The natural law of the survival of the fittest." Gu Shanhai couldn't help but have this déjà vu.

His own body was an ecological system on its own, though unlike a normal ecosystem, there was no survival of the fittest within him, because everything was a derivative of him, all beings were sustained by him.

"So my ecosystem lacks competition... Ha, if I weren't restraining them, the Heart Demon Dao Soldiers and Guardian Demons within me would have torn each other apart."

Those Evil Demons composed of various emotions, ferocity, cunningness, and more are totally sufficient. If they weren't his derivatives, who knows how many would still be alive at this moment.

As for conjuring a Gu King? That's just ridiculous, Gu Shanhai hadn't set up anything like that for them. Besides, resurrection after death still requires his approval, and since all the Heart Demon Dao Soldiers and Guardian Demons share combat experience, there's an existing battle model.

No way such a battle could conjure a Gu King; it's inefficient, and even the constantly evolving combat model of the Four Saints Beasts System is superior.

"Let's handle this… What's approaching, could it be an opportunity?"

Gu Shanhai was about to manipulate the Sky Power when suddenly, he felt an opportunity had come his way.

"Let's see what opportunity it is." Gu Shanhai calculated a divination and saw a massive vortex.

The divination showed Little Ji, suggesting no danger, but the reward seemed somewhat useful.

"Wait! Little White, hit the gas... pedal?" Gu Shanhai cried out, only then noticing Little White lying beside him, lifting his head in confusion. It was cooling off in a shady spot, how would it hit the pedal?

Luckily, the Four Saints Beasts System was smart enough to accelerate the Five Elements Sect vessel, followed by a stylish drift.

The area originally occupied by the Five Elements Sect vessel was being devoured by a gigantic vortex, its enormous suction steadily spreading outward.

"A deep-sea vortex… Am I that lucky?"

Gu Shanhai certainly recognized what it was. On land, it could be called a secret realm, a relic, or even a burial mound.

At sea, however, it's known as a deep-sea vortex. The sea folk, when encountering such a phenomenon, would rush headlong into it.

Of course, the premise here is to discern whether it's a deep-sea vortex or a dangerous marine vortex, with the former allowing entry into unique spaces, and the latter, named a disaster, being fundamentally different.

Generally speaking, the openings of a deep-sea vortex are not limited to one spot but involve multiple locations—thus, multi-player instances. And the instance's entry isn't restricted to just one place. However, there are exceptions—like those having only one entrance, typically smaller in size.

The deep-sea vortex that Gu Shanhai encountered spanned an area of about five kilometers. It was undoubtedly a type for multiple players.

"The Five Elements Sect vessel doesn't need to go there, Little White, you come with me." If Gu Shanhai hadn't moved away from the gravitational reach of the deep-sea vortex, it could have caused a conflict between the vortex and the island power.

His Five Elements Sect vessel was technically a ship, but essentially an island.

Forcing it inside could likely lead to total collapse.

He was also quite interested in the deep-sea vortex; it was said to contain various treasures and even items favored as tribute by gods.

It was also a shortcut for lower-level seafolk to acquire top-tier Transcendent abilities.

Of course, it might also yield powerful ancient artifacts, equipment, and more. The only downside was the danger—once inside, one might not be able to get out.

This danger didn't only stem from the deep-sea vortex itself but also from competing seafolk.

Some experienced seafolk speculated that the deep-sea vortex might also represent an alternative way of offering tribute to gods, with the tribute being the seafolk themselves.

Yes, a blood sacrifice.

However, as the gods of this world were quite unique, the seafolk hadn't created the term "blood sacrifice." After all, tributes to some gods were sea beasts; this time, the objects swapped sea beasts with seafolk.

"If it really uses seafolk as tribute, what if I use the Royal Family and commoners as tribute…" Gu Shanhai couldn't help but think about offering these relics from a past era to the new-age trends.

"Not a bad idea, I'll give it a try after coming out from the deep-sea vortex."

He definitely didn't have time now; he needed to see what this opportunity was all about.