I Don't Agree to the Terms

"Huh? I'm the man who's going to conquer the ocean!"

Wang Qi's tone was exaggerated, but no one paid him any attention.

All his friends took his words lightly; they were the children of the earth-dwellers and aspired to become earth-dwellers themselves. To them, the ocean was a perilous place.

They never even considered shedding their status as earth-dwellers. Without the protection of the Royal Family and the islands, the ocean could easily inflict severe harm on them.

Seeing his friends leaving, a hint of dejection shadowed Wang Qi's expression, and he looked at the distant sea with a sense of helplessness.

Ever since the Divine had appeared, the ocean had become a cursed presence in their eyes. However, Wang Qi knew that their island was as insignificant as an ant.

And his identity as an earth-dweller was stopping him from reaching for a broader world.

Overcoming the earth-dwellers' fear of the ocean wasn't easy; he first had to shed his own status. While it was easy to become an earth-dweller, shedding the identity was almost impossible without the endorsement of the Royal Family.

Watching the rising tide, he involuntarily stepped back, not from his own intention, but due to the ingrained fear of sea water among earth-dwellers.

"Damn it..." Wang Qi felt a mix of resentment and pity, knowing that as long as he remained an earth-dweller, he would be trapped on the island for life.

Thus, he prepared to head back home, somewhat dispirited, as it was getting late.

Unlike his peers, he had no family to rely on; his parents had died many years ago, and he had always been living alone on the island.

Now, he urgently needed to find himself dinner, or else he'd go to bed hungry.

As he was leaving, he looked back at the ocean reluctantly. At that moment, he suddenly noticed something unfamiliar floating toward him, carried by the sea.

It washed up not far away.

In an instant, his attention was captured.

"Could it be... some Transcendent item?" Wang Qi suddenly had this thought.

If he had truly found a Transcendent artifact, he could trade it with the Royal Family to remove his earth-dweller status, and then he would be able to set sail.

With that thought, he disregarded the repulsion and weakening effects his body felt toward the ocean.

Upon closer inspection, it was a gourd carved from white jade, delicate and exquisite, obviously valuable.

He quickly pocketed it and hurried home.

He was out of breath.

"I don't know what use this... this thing is." Wang Qi sat down and examined the white jade gourd closely; its surface was adorned with wave-like patterns, which were extremely appealing.

"Oh, it's for sealing a part of the Divine." Abruptly, a voice echoed in his mind.

That instant startled Wang Qi, nearly causing him to drop the gourd.

"Who... what are you?" Wang Qi asked, panicking, looking around but seeing no one; he could only focus on the white jade gourd, "It's you, you're talking."

"First off, I have to correct you. The Sealing God Gourd doesn't talk, only the Divine sealed within it can talk."

Again, this notion surfaced in Wang Qi's mind.

"You are... the Divine!" Wang Qi grew even more frightened.

"To correct you again, I'm a part of the Divine, not the entirety, you can call me Shanyuhai," the voice resurfaced.

"What should I..." At this moment, Wang Qi's mind was in chaos, uncertain how to deal with the white jade gourd he had found.

He could certainly hand it over to the Royal Family, but he wasn't foolish—if they asked where it came from and he answered truthfully, they surely wouldn't believe him and would more likely suspect him of being controlled by the Divine, leading to his execution.

So, he absolutely could not surrender it.

The Royal Family wouldn't care about the life or death of a mere orphan like him.

"Boy, have you ever thought about returning me to my main body? In return, I'll grant you wealth and glory," the Divine within the white jade gourd spoke again.

"Absolutely not!" Without a second thought, Wang Qi immediately refused, knowing full well how terrifying those Divine could be.

"So sure of yourself, huh? Won't you think it over? I'm not like the Ten-winged Sea Demon Dragon or the Giant Toothed Mad Shark, those Evil Gods that are hostile towards humans. On the contrary, I'm a Good God. Otherwise, how could I have suffered such a fate?"

"As a matter of fact, humans use my main body to resist the Evil Gods, yet after getting what they needed, they betray me, which is despicable."

The Divine within the white jade gourd rambled on.

Initially, Wang Qi was unaffected, but the more he heard, the more alarmed he became.

"You know about the Godslayer Alliance, right? They could stand up against the Divine and ensure they weren't influenced themselves only because they had my main body's help."

"Unfortunately, due to gaining too much power, the high echelons of the Godslayer Alliance became corrupt and some even aspired to become gods themselves."

"Divine aren't human, so how could they possibly become one? Then they colluded with other Evil Gods to strip and seal me away. Soon, the Godslayer Alliance might become the pawns of the Evil Gods."