I Don't Agree to the Terms

"Civilization rift..."

Gu Shanhai walked around and came to this conclusion.

"So, what is the deep-sea vortex aiming to accomplish by sending the sea people here?" Gu Shanhai's spiritual sense swept the area, and he quickly identified an anomaly.

An active energy source, or to put it bluntly, a life-form that had just awakened, not one that had always been active.

"So, by offering the sea people, they forcibly awaken some ancient entity, and then dispose of it."

Gu Shanhai immediately thought of this.

Indeed, all the sea people had been completely devoured by the Heart Demon Dao Soldiers, but the other party had achieved their goal through other means.

Even more drastically, the newly awakened life-form might indeed be the actual tribute, and the sea people nothing more than tools and a pre-dinner dessert.

"Elemental life-form?"

When Gu Shanhai arrived, he saw a being similar to a lava elemental. Its high temperature continuously evaporated the seawater, but the sheer volume of the sea was not something it could withstand.

"Roar!" The being seemed to have noticed Gu Shanhai and let out an irrational roar.

The sound waves shook the water and radiated heat.

"Cut down by at least ninety-nine percent of its strength." Gu Shanhai immediately judged that if this lava elemental were on land, it would definitely reach a level above 350, but unfortunately, being in the sea and having just awakened, regardless of its impressive presence, it was all for show. Under these restraints, it only retained the strength of around level 100.

And because of environmental factors, with the right tactics, even a strength of level 50 might be sufficient to dispatch it.

"The transcendents of the ocean era bring one closer to the divine, while the transcendents of the terrestrial era transform one into an elemental?"

Gu Shanhai speculated this might be the case; perhaps these elemental life-forms could be referred to as totems during the terrestrial era... It was not out of the realm of possibility.

The lava elemental charged wildly towards Gu Shanhai, its mind clearly not lucid—if Gu Shanhai were in its place, he would certainly pick up something first to throw at his opponent rather than foolishly rushing over.

"Come on, Little White, let's teach this guy a lesson," Gu Shanhai was fearless.

Little White instantly took a leap, and his large horn crashed into the lava being's body, followed by a tremendous explosion that shattered it into pieces.

Yet its vitality was incredibly stubborn; even now, it did not perish, and its shattered form kept trying to reconvene to heal itself.

"It seems I underestimated you a bit, level 50 really isn't enough, it has to be at least level 99."

Such resilience was indeed impressive.

It was just unfortunate that it had been crushed in such a state in the sea, and the magma began to solidify bit by bit.

In the end, it failed to come back together as a lava elemental and turned into a great deal of igneous rock.

"Dead?"

Physical attacks were essentially ineffective against a lava elemental; its death was naturally caused by the seawater.

"So, I've completed the challenge?" Gu Shanhai found it hard to believe—was it really that simple?

The time he had prepared was longer than the time it took to complete the challenge.

Then a gigantic whirlpool swept in, forcibly dragging Gu Shanhai away.

It was clear that they did not intend to let Gu Shanhai stay any longer.

However, Gu Shanhai didn't resist much, mainly because resistance didn't seem to serve much purpose, and besides, it wasn't as if he couldn't return—he had memorized the coordinates.

In an instant, he was back on the surface of the sea, from where he had entered the deep-sea vortex, he returned.

Afterward, a beam of light emerged, attempting to enter Gu Shanhai's body, but he intercepted it instantly.

"Where's my opportunity?" Gu Shanhai voiced his skepticism, realizing that the Transcendent ability named Ocean Affinity was not his fortune, merely a normal reward for passing through.

"Little White, you go back first, I need to make another trip and get my hands on that thing." After tucking away the Ocean Affinity Transcendent ability, Gu Shanhai used the Five Elements Great Escape to move into the area again.

This time, due to the disappearance of the deep-sea vortex, this place had reverted to an ordinary deep-sea region.

Earlier, it was merely temporarily transformed into some special locale; there was nothing inherently special about it. If it weren't for the presence of that lava elemental, it would be nothing more than a deep-sea ruin.

"Gone?" Gu Shanhai was somewhat baffled at the moment; how could his opportunity just disappear like that?

"That can't be right, how could such a trivial thing possibly count as an opportunity?" Gu Shanhai glanced at the stowed Ocean Affinity. Placed on a seafarer, it would definitely be a top-tier ability, yet in Gu Shanhai's hands, it was merely so-so.

After roaming around for a bit longer and conducting a Prophetic Divination, the results indicated that there was nothing.

"In other words, I've really missed this opportunity."

Gu Shanhai looked towards the magma rock with a bittersweet smile, "So this opportunity couldn't have been the remnants of the land era, could it? That would be even less significant than this Ocean Affinity."

The Ocean Affinity in his possession was meant to be offered as Tribute, not just comprising lava elementals, but also those seafarers.

"It shouldn't be the lava elementals either..."

"So, having ruled out all the impossibilities, this damn deep-sea vortex was the real opportunity?!"

Gu Shanhai also realized it; whether it was the lava elementals or Ocean Affinity, none were as valuable as the deep-sea vortex.

"Holy shit, the manifestation of the world!" At this moment, Gu Shanhai finally understood what he had missed.

This phenomenon of deep-sea vortex was, in fact, the manifestation of the world. If Gu Shanhai had plundered it earlier, he would have had the raw material to break through to the Divine Phase.

Divine beings are certainly elusive, but the deep-sea vortex was a representative of the world, after all, a special existence of the oceanic era, and also possessing the ability to change a certain region. If he had seized it, Gu Shanhai could have saved himself much trouble.

"Ah well, missed it and it's missed," Gu Shanhai sighed helplessly. Opportunities like these were not something you could just obtain by showing up; you need to be strong in your own right.

He had always assumed that something inside the deep-sea vortex was the opportunity, never thinking that the vortex itself could be it.

Mainly because the deep-sea vortex's way of manifesting was too deceptive. He could imagine digging three feet into the ground, but he definitely wouldn't think of moving a vortex home at first thought. At the very least, he'd pick something solid, not some strange natural phenomenon.

Like Gu Shanhai might think of moving clouds back home to use, but he wouldn't contemplate moving lightning because that's just a result of positive and negative charges colliding in the cloud layers. So, even if he wanted to move it, he'd be moving the cloud, not the lightning itself.

"I've taken a loss..." Gu Shanhai felt this was the first time in his many years of rebirth that he took such a heavy loss; he had always been able to compensate afterward in the past.

Not this time. The deep-sea vortex was gone, and who knows to where.

These things were once-in-a-lifetime, predicated on the premise that the remnants of the land era were awakening on the seabed, which would reopen the deep-sea vortex.

But there couldn't be that many remnants. If they were as common as dirt, could the ocean maintain its dominant position?

At most, only one or two would pop up occasionally.

"But then again, the biggest remnants should be the Royals and Earthlings on those islands. Why not exterminate them?" Gu Shanhai stumbled upon this puzzling thought.

Elementals like the lava ones had been suppressed on the seabed, and even without the seafarers stepping in to deal with them today, these elementals wouldn't have survived long.

On the contrary, the islands above the sea were thriving.

"Maybe they're the guides and those who defected." Gu Shanhai suddenly recalled something. Who would live well? Certainly, the traitors would. Having turned into dogs, their masters need only to reward them with a bone, and with a wag of their tails, they'd not only survive but prosper.

Though the islands appeared numerous, compared to the entirety of the world, they were insignificant, not even comparable to a speck of sesame-sized ink. No matter how large the island seemed, it was just an oceanic toy.

As for the signal from the Divine beings that might be cloaked, Gu Shanhai had an idea: those islands were the unassimilated land authorities of the ocean.

So the islands were like food crumbs inside a stomach, with the ocean acting as the powerful gastric acid.

A process of claiming authority that had been ongoing for who knows how long.