"I knew you were related to him somehow, but I didn't think the connection would be this strong. That's even better for me! Your father killed my husband, so it's time I repaid the favor by killing his son!"

Tang Wulin faltered slightly upon hearing this. "My father killed your husband?"

Right at this moment, someone within the Holy Spirit Cult camp abruptly threw a hand over her own mouth to stop herself from yelling out loud. Her eyes were instantly brimming with tears. Never did it occur to her that he could be the son of Tang San!

Demon Sovereign's voice was trembling slightly from strong emotions as she said, "20,000 years ago, my husband reigned supreme in the sea; he was the true king of sea soul beasts, the 1,000,000-year-old Deep Sea Demonic Whale King! It was your father who killed my husband just so he could get his hands on my husband's soul ring and soul bones."

Tang Wulin was very surprised to hear this. "You're a soul beast? Are you also a Deep Sea Demonic Whale?"

"That's right," Demon Sovereign replied in a proud manner, "I am the current leader of the Deep Sea Demonic Whales. Your father killed my husband and forced me and my daughter into a perilous life on the run; I had to go through countless hardships to get to where I am today. All humans are greedy and irredeemable. You destroyed the habitat of us soul beasts, and drove the soul beasts on land to near extinction, but that wasn't enough; you had to go after us sea soul beasts as well!"

"Hold on!" Tang Wulin suddenly interrupted with a befuddled expression, "I admit that we humans have excessively slaughtered soul beasts, but your husband's case seems to be more complicated than that."

A furious look appeared on Demon Sovereign's face. "How is it any different?"

Tang Wulin replied, "I've experienced something similar, so I know that there's a difference. You must be the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King that I sensed in the sea not long ago, right? At the time, you must've sensed my Sea God's Trident and my father's aura, which is why you decided to flee."

An astonished look appeared on Tang Wulin's face. "That was you?"

At the time, she had only just completed her breakthrough, and she had indeed sensed something.

Even though the Blood River Godslayer Array was destroyed, the power that it had bestowed upon her was sufficient for her to make the breakthrough.

During her breakthrough, she felt as if she had had a dream where she was teleported to another world.

In the dream, she clearly sensed a familiar aura; it was the aura of the Sea God's Trident and of Sea God Tang San himself, and it was this very same aura that had taken her husband's life.

Her first reaction was to charge ahead and destroy the source of that aura, but she quickly began to cower in the face of enormous pressure that was being exerted upon her. In the end, she decided to flee, and that was when she awoke from what she had thought had been a dream, but she was unable to tell whether it had been illusion or reality. Upon hearing Tang Wulin's mention of the incident, she now knew that it had been reality. In that case, didn't that mean that Sea God Tang San really had left his power in this world?

Tang Wulin continued, "I went into seclusion on this occasion for the sole purpose of completing the trials of the Sea God's Trident. One of those trials was to face the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King, but seeing as the past Deep Sea Demonic Whale King had already perished by my father's hands, you had to have been my opponent in that trial, right?"

Demon Sovereign wore a cold expression as she asked, "So what if that's the case?"

Tang Wulin said, "At the time, you chose to flee, so I passed that trial very easily. I didn't know what had happened, but it's all clear to me now. The Sea God's Trident is a transcendent divine weapon, and in order to gain its acknowledgment, one has to undergo its trials. In order to become its wielder, one has to endure the Nine Trials of the Sea God. All nine trials are extremely difficult, but there's a point and purpose to all of them. For example, there was the trial where I had to help the Demon Spirit Great White Sharks force back the Evil Spirit Orcas.

"The Evil Spirit Orcas had been slaughtering too many living beings, thereby affecting the entire marine ecosystem. One of the Sea God's most important duties is to protect the sea, so the purpose of that trial was to restore balance in the ecosystem. In that case, why had my father killed what was once the most powerful sea soul beast? My father was also undergoing the Nine Trials of the Sea God when he was pitted against the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King; can you tell me what your husband did to deserve that? Can you tell me why the Sea God abandoned him and asked my father to kill him?

Tang Wulin had just uncovered many secrets of the Douluo Continent, particularly regarding Sea God Tang San. Only brief mentions of the Nine Trials of the Sea God had been made in historical records, but they were nowhere near this detailed, and his words provided further evidence supporting the claim that he was the son of the Sea God.

All of the powerful beings in the human camp were struck by a sense of enlightenment, and they couldn't help but see Tang Wulin through new eyes.

Tang San was the most legendary figure in the history of the Douluo Continent with no one else even coming close; the fact that Tang Wulin was his son was an astonishing revelation.

"Lies!" Demon Sovereign roared with fury as a massive pillar of purplish-golden light erupted from her body, heading directly toward Tang Wulin.

Tang Wulin drew a circle in the air with his Sea God's Trident to nullify the attack, then said, "You know full well whether I'm lying or not. In fact, through your actions, you've proven to me that I'm not lying. You took over 10,000,000 innocent lives to create your Blood River Godslayer Array; should you not die for this heinous crime? Should the Sea God bless and protect a sea soul beast like you? Your actions have shown everyone the truth. Even if your husband hadn't committed atrocities of the same magnitude as you, he had still definitely done something to threaten the entire ocean."

Demon Sovereign's breathing had become very heavy as she glowered intently at Tang Wulin.

Was he right? He was!

How had the past Deep Sea Demonic Whale King been able to attain 1,000,000-year level power? Was it actually through living for 1,000,000 years? That was naturally impossible.

10 years, 100 years, 1,000 years, 10,000 years, 100,000 years, 1,000,000 years; that was the hierarchy of soul beasts, but in reality, very few soul beasts actually took the same number of years to reach the corresponding level.

Instead, most of them progressed through breakthroughs, and the way that the past Deep Sea Demonic Whale King had achieved his breakthroughs was extremely barbaric and heinous.

He devoured living beings just like Dark Blood Demon, except he devoured both the bodies and souls of his victims. In the sea, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King was virtually invincible, and in order to attain more power, he constantly fed on the weak to nurture himself. 

In particular, after he reached the 100,000-year level, he began to up the ante, and many vast regions of the sea were reduced to lifeless wastelands because of him. After reaching the 1,000,000-year level, he became even more brazen and unrestrained. Just like the Evil Soul Masters on land, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King at the time intended to devour all of the living beings in the sea in order to attain godhood.

The only times the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King ever showed compassion was in the presence of his wife and daughter, but his actions had heavily impacted the entire marine ecosystem, which was why Tang San was tasked with killing him in one of the Nine Trials of the Sea God.

Demon Sovereign seemed to have calmed down again as she appraised Tang Wulin with a cold expression. "There's no need to waste any more time with words. You're the son of Tang San, so you'll be the perfect target for me to exact my revenge on. Do you dare to accept my bet?"

Tang Wulin replied, "Tell me what you propose."