Chapter 745
Ren Xue
“It’s not ‘I won’t be taken away,’” Tang Wulin corrected, his tone serious, “but rather ‘Even if I am taken away, I am still me.’ I want to build a cultivation system that doesn’t focus on accumulating power, but on ‘deepening and expanding existence.’ It doesn’t pursue how many laws I can control, but how deep my understanding of ‘existence itself’ is; it doesn’t pursue how strong an attack I can unleash, but how clear and unshakable the mark that ‘I’ leave on the universe is.”
He paused, as if gathering his thoughts, and then continued, “Just like I told the Eye of Annihilation that day, the fact that the rain has fallen cannot be erased. What I want to do is make every ‘rain’ in my life—every choice, every emotion, every act of love and being loved—an indelible fact in the universe. When these ‘facts’ are numerous enough, profound enough, and interconnected, my ‘existence’ will become so solid that no nothingness can shake it.”
Qian Renxue was stunned. This completely overturned the common sense of cultivation. Since ancient times, cultivation has been about becoming stronger, about gaining control, about surpassing. But what her husband was talking about was the cultivation of "existence itself"—not forcing oneself to surpass anyone, not pursuing control over anything, but simply making "oneself" a more real, more profound, and more indelible existence.
"Then... what should we do?" she asked the most crucial question.
Tang Wulin was silent for a moment, then shook his head: "I don't know."
"do not know?"
"I don't know the specific method," Tang Wulin admitted frankly, but there was no confusion in his eyes, only the light of exploration. "But I know the direction, and I know the starting point."
He opened his palm again, this time without releasing his soul power. Instead, he closed his eyes, as if sensing something. Qian Renxue looked closely and suddenly noticed an extremely faint light appearing in her husband's palm—not the golden light of soul power, but an indescribable, almost transparent glimmer that was nearly imperceptible if one did not look closely.
"This is…"
“Memory.” Tang Wulin opened his eyes, looking at the faint light in his palm. “Our first encounter was on the Soul Master Competition field. You were the captain of the Spirit Hall Academy then, proud, powerful, and arrogant. I was the captain of the Shrek Seven Devils then, carrying the mission of the Tang Sect. We were rivals, enemies, but I saw the same loneliness in your eyes as I did.”
The faint light flickered, and two blurry figures vaguely appeared—a boy and a girl, facing off on the field, their eyes filled with no hatred, only the burning passion of two evenly matched opponents.
“This isn’t power, or even a soul skill,” Tang Wulin said softly, “but it truly existed. On that day, at that moment, on that arena, Tang Wulin met Qian Renxue. This fact is forever etched in the river of time. And what I need to do is… make this fact not just a memory, but a part of my ‘existence’.”
As he spoke, the faint light gradually stabilized. Although it was still weak, it stopped flickering and instead shone continuously, like an eternal fragment of a star embedded in his palm.
Qian Renxue held her breath. She could sense that the faint light contained not energy, but something more essential—a kind of "certainty," an absolute truth that "this happened."
Tang Wulin closed his eyes again, and this time, a second faint light appeared in his palm.
“This was the first time my mother taught me the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique,” a gentle smile appeared on his lips. “I could never get the rhythm right, and I always failed on the eighty-first strike. My father said I had no talent, but my mother always encouraged me, saying, ‘Wu Lin, the hammer is not just a weapon, it is an extension of your arm, the rhythm of your heartbeat.’ Later I finally understood that the Chaotic Cloak Hammer Technique is not the accumulation of eighty-one strikes, but a complete cycle of one breath.”
The second glimmer of light stabilized, complementing the first. The third, fourth, fifth… more and more glimmers appeared in Tang Wulin's palm, each representing a memory, an emotion, a profound understanding. Some were bright, some dim, some warm, some sorrowful, but they were all there, real and authentic.
“These are the starting points,” Tang Wulin opened his eyes, the faint light in his palm gradually fading, but something seemed to be ignited deep within his eyes. “Using memories as anchors, emotions as bonds, and understanding as a framework, I will construct the network of my existence. Then, I will let this network resonate with the laws of the world, not to control the laws, but to become a part of them—not the sea god controlling the ocean, but the existence of ‘Tang Wulin’ itself containing the laws of ‘protection,’ ‘responsibility,’ and ‘love,’ which resonate with the vastness, inclusiveness, and life-giving nature of the ocean.”
Qian Renxue understood completely, and was utterly shocked.
This is not merely an innovation in the cultivation system; it is a fundamental reconstruction of the concept of "cultivation." If the husband can truly succeed on this path, he will no longer be "an existence with power," but rather "existence itself is power."
"It must be very difficult?" she asked softly, her eyes filled with heartache.
"It's been unprecedentedly difficult," Tang Wulin frankly admitted, holding his wife's hand. "There's no precedent to follow, no established path to take. Every attempt could lead to a mistake, every exploration could hit a wall. And..."
He paused, his tone becoming complex: "And I need to understand everything anew. What is soul power? What are soul rings? What is a martial soul? What is a divine position? From the perspective of 'existence,' these familiar concepts may require a completely different interpretation."
Qian Renxue leaned on his shoulder and said firmly, "I'll stay with you. No matter how difficult the road is, no matter how long it takes, I'll be with you."
“I know,” Tang Wulin kissed her forehead, “and your companionship will become the most solid part of my ‘existence’ network.”
Just then, footsteps sounded outside the courtyard. Tang San and Xiao Wu walked in, carrying a food box; they had come to deliver lunch.
"Wu Lin, how are you feeling today?" Xiao Wu asked with concern, her gaze sweeping over her son's pale face. Her heart ached, but she forced a smile.
“Much better, Mom,” Tang Wulin replied with a smile, then looked at his father, “Dad, I have some questions I’d like to ask you.”
Tang San put down the food box and sat down on the stone bench: "Go on."
"What was your biggest feeling when you inherited the position of Sea God?" Tang Wulin asked seriously. "It wasn't the feeling of gaining power, but... what fundamental change did you feel you underwent the moment you became Sea God?"
Tang San was slightly taken aback, not expecting his son to ask this question. He pondered for a moment, then slowly said, "It's not about gaining, but...recognition. When I raised the Trident of the Sea God and endured the final trial of the Nine Trials of the Sea God, what I felt wasn't power flowing into my body, but the will of the entire ocean asking me: 'Are you willing to become one of us?'" (End of Chapter)