Repeatedly sorting through the Abyssal energy, Su Ming's own cultivation grew increasingly solid.
He didn't channel the power of the Trinity into it. Instead, purely targeting the abilities of his future main body, he gradually imprinted all his comprehension of elemental control, his understanding of Qi and Blood cultivation, and his experience in Spirit Power cultivation into the Abyssal energy.
The only regrettable point was that this portion of Abyssal energy still belongs to the Abyss because Su Ming couldn't forcibly erase the Abyss's imprint within it.
"However, I can already fuse with this energy. Once I fuse, this power will completely belong to me. The only flaw is the Abyssal Sage King has an opportunity to influence me through it."
Su Ming was lost in thought.
"Wasn't the Demon Empress in the original storyline operating this way?"
Devouring Abyssal energy, using the Abyss to swiftly restore her cultivation, then breaking through to the God level. But as a price, her corpse after death would become the most suitable vessel for the Abyssal Sage King to descend upon Douluo.
Even before her death, she had to expend energy to suppress the Abyssal Sage King's influence on her.
If he could forcibly seize it, then the Abyssal Sage King obviously wouldn't need to wait until the Demon Empress died.
So, it could be suppressed.
As long as one reached a certain level, they could suppress the Abyssal Sage King's control over Abyssal energy. This level was likely the God level.
"This situation is somewhat similar to contending for Lordship of the Plane."
Su Ming thought of the consciousness space.
So, after completely absorbing Abyssal energy, would it be a contest of shares?
Whoever controlled more power could overwhelm the other?
Or Perhaps, whoever had the stronger imprint could erode the other's imprint, slowly nibbling away at) the other's domain, strengthening themselves while weakening the other, until completely devouring them?
Energy was just a blank sheet. Whoever could make their imprint more firm would have stronger control over it.
"But there's always risk."
After careful consideration, Su Ming didn't rashly completely devour this Abyssal energy.
He needed to research further, confirm he could fully resist the Abyss's erosion before absorbing it.
"This circles back to the initial problem: there are several paths to devour Abyssal energy. I thought I could follow Tang Wulin and the others' direction—isolate the energy first, then devour. Now it seems I overestimated myself. The Golden and Silver Dragon Spears purely had the Dragon God's imprint."
Thus, Su Ming now changed paths.
I'm too weak.
I won't take that path.
I'm changing paths.
"Backing. I need backing too."
Did Su Ming have backing?
Of course.
On Douluo Planet, his backing was the greatest—the Lord of the Plane.
"But just as Tang San worried, once information about Douluo Planet having a Lord of the Plane became known to the Abyssal Sage King, the plan to completely devour the Abyss would fail. So, he couldn't blatantly use the Lord of the Plane's status to contest for this portion of Abyssal energy."
Then use what?
Su Ming's elevated perspective, arriving at the consciousness space, gazing at the vast ocean representing the area outside himself and Tang Hao.
"Disguise as the Sea God?"
Also not viable.
Knowing the Sea God existed would make the Abyssal Sage King even more fearful.
"But not completely unviable, because the Sea God and the Lord of the Plane represented different things."
The Lord of the Plane was the entire power of a plane, with a guaranteed base. The Abyssal Sage King wouldn't dare invade recklessly.
But what if the Sea God wasn't at full strength?
"The Abyss delayed launching a full-scale attack, for no other reason than worrying the God Realm's disappearance was fake, worrying Tang San was setting a trap to capture him. So, if the Sea God's power never manifested, he would remain suspicious. If the Sea God appeared in the world, but only in an incomplete state, the Abyssal Sage King would instead breathe a sigh of relief."
Putting himself in the Abyssal Sage King's perspective, Su Ming felt this logic was reasonable.
"Six thousand years. This Abyssal Sage King is sufficiently cautious."
Why launch a massive attack on Douluo Planet at this particular node juncture?
Su Ming narrowed his eyes.
Was it because it reached the 'kill threshold'?
No.
Because of Tang Wulin.
A balance had always existed between the Abyss and Douluo, one the Abyssal Sage King deliberately maintained.
After Tang Wulin displayed the ability to devour Abyssal energy, the Abyssal Sage King seized the momentum to attack. Seemingly passive reactive, he had actually accumulated for a long time, finally seizing the opportunity.
He saw the possibility of Tang San's contingency plan in Tang Wulin, so he hesitated no more.
"So, what I need to do is reveal the contingency left by the Sea God or the God Realm, use the Sea God as a disguise, and must put on a convincing performance of being fierce on the outside but weak inside."
"No, I don't need to act. I genuinely don't have Divine King-level power. That doesn't need acting. Instead, I should be flamboyant while disguising."
In Su Ming's mind, a plan gradually took shape.
Besides being flamboyant, he also needed to prepare the true Sea God's power—the real contingency left by the Sea God. To achieve this step—
"Need to provoke Tang San during the Douluo 2 period."
Lure Tang San into action, then transfer Tang San's power to Douluo 3!
While contemplating the plan's feasibility, Su Ming also began gathering the Sea God faith he had collected earlier.
It was no joke; he had secretly collected quite a bit of Sea God faith before, even using it to deceive A Yin back in the Sea God Pavilion. Even A Yin couldn't sense anything abnormal; the Abyssal Sage King would be even less able to see through it.
"Invoking the Deity!"
Su Ming didn't hesitate, directly activating the Sea God faith to invoke the deity, simultaneously beginning to devour Abyssal energy, using the Sea God's status to suppress it.
It appeared to be the Sea God's status suppressing it, but in reality, it was the Lord of the Plane's status.
As Su Ming devoured the Abyssal energy, within the Abyss, the Abyssal Sage King became active again.
He looked towards Douluo Planet's direction, at the spatial channel connecting the Abyss to Douluo Planet, his eyes flashing with shock and anger and doubt .
"Who? Who is devouring my Abyssal energy?"
Douluo Planet!
He sensed it—the energy stolen earlier had all gone to Douluo Planet and was being absorbed and refined!
He attempted to forcibly invade.
Using the Abyssal energy, he wanted to descend into that person's body.
However, the next second, he revealed an expression of astonishment.
"I... can't get through?"
Had his share in that portion of Abyssal energy been completely suppressed now?
"How is that possible?"
He tried to descend again. This time, he sensed a boundless, vast aura.
"Is this... the Sea God?"
His face changed dramatically. He directly severed his perception of the Abyssal energy, nearly destroying the spatial channel to flee far away.
But he wasn't one to be easily frightened. After a moment of panic, he stabilized immediately.
"That's not the Sea God's true self. There isn't even his divine sense aura or divine power aura. It's purely the Sea God's status exerting its effect, preventing my invasion."
The Abyssal Sage King took a deep breath, calming himself, and then began seriously contemplating.
"The God Realm's disappearance is ninety percent true. What I feared was that ten percent chance, so I've been cautious all these years. Now the Sea God's power finally appears; it's likely they couldn't hold back any longer."
Only he himself knew how severely he had been sucking blood (sucking the lifeblood) from Douluo Planet over these six thousand years.
One could say Douluo Planet was almost an empty shell.
They couldn't hold on any longer.
"Don't rush. Can't rush yet. I still need a definite answer."
The Abyssal Sage King needed to verify.
How to prove a lower plane had already broken away the God Realm's control?
***
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(End of Chapter)