Chapter 1 Yalber

Yalber turned his head as quickly as possible.

In the dark and silent depths, constantly stationed on the *Deep Sea Diver*, he was always sensitive to the source of sounds—the crew of the *Deep Sea Diver* could discern the location of schools of fish tens of kilometers away by listening, and Yalber’s sensitivity was ten times that.

But the layered, overlapping sounds, as if echoing from multiple worlds simultaneously, seemed to originate from the heavens.

"What is that!"

A crew member suddenly exclaimed.

They were gigantic whales, dozens of meters long, giant octopi, and countless strangely shaped deep-sea monsters, as if designed haphazardly by the Creator.

Like a cloud that suddenly emerged from the darkness, they densely filled the entire sea in an instant.

As they appeared, all the crew members of the *Deep Sea Diver* subconsciously looked up, forgetting to breathe. They could clearly see that these were giant sea beasts, each almost the size of the ship beneath them. The very existence of these beasts generated a turbulent vortex of magical power in the deep sea, completely sealing off the surrounding waters.

At the center of this throng of sea beasts, at the very heart of the magic vortex, a figure emerged. It was a black-haired youth, but no one could make out his face.

And the voice from before had come from this black-haired youth.

"I am very interested in the ‘Pioneer’ you mentioned."

"None of your business!"

Yalber’s first reaction was to attack.

He was proficient in combat, having narrowly escaped death countless times. Being surrounded by so many sea beasts was indeed an unexpectedly terrible situation, but it was not insurmountable.

With a reprimanding roar from the Red-Haired Sea King, he unhesitatingly raised his hand, his fingers forming a mudra. In the next instant, vast, unparalleled magical power rose from the magic furnace of the *Deep Sea Diver*, then flooded into Yalber’s body, causing azure water elemental light to surround him.

The *Deep Sea Diver* was a magic ship that Yalber had personally built. It was the strongest armament he had forged for himself after merging with the shard of the Source Water Soul. The energy produced in its magic furnace could be completely controlled by Yalber, instantly multiplying his strength several times. This was one of the trump cards that allowed him to become the Sea King of Troubled Waters. But this was extremely taxing on the body, and Yalber would not have wanted to go all out if the situation hadn't been so urgent.

Without the slightest hesitation, feeling the magic power within him overflowing, Yalber activated the divine power he had obtained from the ‘Source Water Soul Shard’!

In the Tartadis world, the only official transcendent profession was the clergy, and in addition to their own cultivation, the clergy could also receive divine power from the gods, allowing them to advance more quickly or acquire various special abilities.

As for pirates, as long as they reshaped their bodies and souls through the shards of the Source Water Soul, they could obtain power comparable to, or even surpassing, that of the clergy. From then on, they would become beings between elemental creatures and normal beings, gaining various extremely powerful abilities related to the water element.

Each person’s abilities were unique. They were the mighty powers born from the souls and flesh of the transcedent, the roots condensed from each person’s past life and past thoughts.

And the power that Yalber obtained from the Source Water Soul Shard was ‘Strengthening,’ ‘Amplification,’ and ‘Control.’

Control water!

In just an instant, azure ripples spread out from Yalber, expanding into the surrounding seawater. Layer upon layer, magic power rippled through where they passed, and the seawater visibly distorted, as if roots composed of magic power were growing within—this was the sign that this stretch of seawater was under his control.

Then, with a thought from Yalber, a water elemental giant as majestic and enormous as a mountain range appeared in the sea.

This giant took shape by swirling currents, possessing an amorphous body and internal magical structures resembling blood vessels. It was a full kilometer tall, and the entire *Deep Sea Diver* was just its heart. The giant was like a mountain in the sea, and every move it made stirred up monstrous waves.

This was the power that Yalber had obtained from the Source Water Soul Shard, the ‘Avatar of the Sea’!

The seawater he controlled would move according to his will and possess extremely high resilience and impact resistance, like a non-Newtonian fluid—seemingly soft, but actually incredibly tough.

Moreover, even if the Avatar of the Sea was scattered by others, it could quickly absorb seawater to recover. Even withstanding the heavy cannons and bombardments of dozens of ships, as well as attacks from transcendents, would not cause the Avatar of the Sea any real damage. In the past, Yalber had relied on this move to defeat the allied forces gathered by the previous Sea King of Troubled Waters.

A swarm of sea beasts? In the face of this Avatar of the Sea, no creature in the sea could resist! Those seemingly numerous schools of fish and sea beasts were nothing more than tiny insects in the face of the current Yalber.

But just as Yalber was about to condense his trump card and was preparing to swing his amorphous fist of seawater to eliminate the sea beasts and the strange human in front of him, he suddenly felt a strange sense of weightlessness.

How should he describe it? It was like being lifted up by something, rising rapidly…

"What?"

The scenery in front of him changed rapidly. Yalber blankly discovered that the black-haired youth in front of him had suddenly disappeared, replaced by increasingly bright seawater, increasingly dazzling starlight, and the schools of fish in the shallow sea behind, the sea surface, and the starry sky reflected on the sea surface…

Boom—a semi-circular mountain of water, several hundred meters high, suddenly arched up on the sea surface. Then, the water mountain shattered, and a water giant struggling to break free from control burst out of it, flying directly into the air.

The waves surged, but quickly calmed.

Then, Yalber, who was struggling, saw himself.

He saw the clear reflection of the enormous Avatar of the Sea on the calm, mirror-like sea surface.

"That's… me?"

Before he could react, because everything had happened within ten seconds, the enormous Avatar of the Sea swung its fists in the air, creating a gust of wind, but also comically scattered a large amount of water droplets, like a small rain that splashed onto the sea surface, rippling the water.

—I am now, on the sea surface?

Only now did Yalber realize this, finally discovering this in astonishment.

Just now, without him sensing anything, he had been directly lifted from the sea by an inexplicably powerful force—he was now hundreds of meters in the air, and the enormous Avatar of the Sea was struggling violently like a hamster being held by the scruff of its neck, but to no avail.

Meanwhile, Su Zhou, stepping on the head of a whale, slowly emerged from the deep sea, raising one hand, making a ‘virtual lift’ gesture.

He expressionlessly looked at the Avatar of the Sea in the sky, which was a kilometer tall, and the *Deep Sea Diver* located at its heart.

Yalber’s power was already very strong. Such a massive Avatar of the Sea, even without any special abilities, would be enough to destroy a city just by existing and walking. Especially since this Avatar of the Sea was incredibly resilient and strong, ordinary commanders would probably be helpless against it.

But, to a hegemon, an Earth Immortal, this was utterly meaningless.

Su Zhou had only used half a cycle of his spiritual power, mobilizing the surrounding spiritual energy, to grab Yalber’s Avatar of the Sea directly from the deep sea like he was catching a chicken, and then lift it, along with a surrounding patch of seawater, into the air.

It was as easy as bending over to pick up a dollar.

In the distance, the crew of the Wild Boar pirate ship, including Aimon and Sara, were so shocked that they couldn’t speak—a Pirate King who roamed the seven seas, a major figure who was incredibly dangerous and distant to all of them.

They looked down upon the seven seas, and their every word and deed could determine the fate of thousands of people, causing all coastal cities to tremble.

But now, such a strong person was no different from a chick in the hands of an adult.

This was… the power of a god.

And now, even an idiot should understand Su Zhou’s origins.

Yalber in the air slowly knelt on the deck, staring blankly at Su Zhou, that sacred and unapproachable face, his mind involuntarily recalling the words his father Gro had said earlier.

"The Lord of Judgment has awakened, leave quickly—or it will be too late!"

He shuddered and then murmured, "Lord…"

"It's the Lord of Judgment…"

In the next instant, Yalber, kneeling on the ground, dispelled the Avatar of the Sea—immediately, tens of millions of tons of seawater turned into a waterfall, plunging into the sea, creating a thunderous roar.

He gave up meaningless resistance.

Soon, Su Zhou arrived on the *Deep Sea Diver*, which was still floating in mid-air. The light blue water elemental magic ship was like a huge water elemental condensation formation. Even in mid-air, the ship was filled with highly humid water vapor.

It was not difficult to find the pirate ship. The Sea Demon Whale already had the ability to find targets through underwater sonar feedback, and with the strengthening of Su Zhou's power, and the search network formed by more than a dozen Sea Demon Whales, it only took half an hour to find the *Deep Sea Diver*.

The youth could sense that on the entire ship, only the red-haired man kneeling decadently on the deck in front of him had the strength of a transcendent peak—just now, he had relied on the power of the magic ship to briefly break through to the commander rank, and through some kind of wonderful resonance, he had mobilized the power of the surrounding seawater to form an Avatar of the Sea capable of destroying cities.

And within his body, an extremely pure water spiritual power constituted the energy core of this person.

Without a doubt, the other party was the Lightless Yalber mentioned by Captain Nide.

Su Zhou could see that Yalber's body was covered in extremely dark resentment, obviously having killed countless innocent and not-so-innocent people, hated by tens of thousands of people.

He would definitely have casually killed this kind of person in normal times.

But that was not possible now—leaving aside that Su Zhou originally had many questions about pirates that he wanted to ask him, just the word ‘Pioneer’ that Yalber had uttered in the cabin would prevent him from giving the other party an easy death.

[Pioneer.]

Thus, Su Zhou said, his voice penetrating both the real and spiritual realms, so that even the deaf and those who did not understand the language could clearly hear his words: [I am very interested.]

[Tell me, what exactly is the Pioneer you speak of?]

"Lord… of… Judgment…"

At first, Yalber had intended to remain silent… not because he dared to be deaf and mute in the face of the Lord of Judgment, but on the contrary, it was precisely because it was too blasphemous that the pirate dared not say a word more in the face of this black-haired youth, who was most likely the true body of the Lord of Judgment.

Especially in the eyes of this great pirate, Su Zhou exuded a sacred and awe-inspiring majesty, like thunder. Facing him, Yalber felt that he could not even speak properly.

But he did not know that Su Zhou's No Thought Heart was a divine power that allowed him to directly hear anything as long as he ‘began to think’ about it.

"Interesting—you are not a member of the Pioneer's family, but you can barely be considered a believer of the Pioneer?"

Sensing the various thoughts in Yalber's heart, Su Zhou raised his eyebrows. Having once again sensed information that might be related to a great being in the cycle world, he spoke with a hint of solemnity, and then repeated the key words he had sensed: "Seventeen years ago, the alliance of the Kings of the Seven Seas, becoming a god, the Source Water Soul, mysterious visitor, the God Ascension Project…"

"Another world, the natives themselves, a vast and boundless future, endless nothingness, powerful strength and unlimited future, and—hmm? I can't sense this part, is it shielded by some force?"

Facing Yalber, who was kneeling in front of him and not saying a word, Su Zhou narrowed his eyes, his eyes filled with curiosity.

Although the details were not yet clear, there was no doubt that these pirates in the cycle world had a grand plan.

Among them, just as he had guessed before, finding the Source Water Soul and using it to ascend to godhood was indeed a very important part of this plan, but this plan was not the whole thing. The most crucial parts were obscured by a mysterious force, which even Su Zhou could not spy on.

Moreover, Su Zhou could only know some keywords. The specific content, like the thoughts in people's hearts, flashed by and were difficult to capture.

But even so, he could guess some things.

"Yala, has the Silent Lord had a lot of cooperative experiences with very many great beings in the past?"

"Does that even need to be said?"

Hearing Su Zhou's question, the scarlet snake spirit in the soul space chuckled, "He even cooperated with me, what do you think?"

"I think okay."

Hearing this, Su Zhou could not help but nod in conviction—indeed, the Silent Lord could even cooperate with Yala, let alone other great beings?

But Yala's self-awareness is so clear? It's hard to imagine…

Of course, even without asking Yala, Su Zhou knew that the Silent Lord had once had close contact with Fate. In the myriad worlds, all concepts of the Six Paths of Reincarnation and post-mortem fate allocation originated from this.

Therefore, Su Zhou was not surprised that the order of the Fire Clan and Wind Clan was so close to the concept of Fate.

But the Pioneer point was quite surprising.

"Mysterious beings, and extraterrestrial expansion, and the term natives…"

Thinking like this, Su Zhou could not help but frown slightly: "Could it be the ‘Pioneer Space’? Are there space explorers who have come to this world?"

"Is this world also influenced and linked by the Pioneer Space?"

If that was really the case, then Su Zhou wouldn't be surprised, after all, with the explosion and sacrifice of the Pioneer, all of His family and believers could freely travel through the Great Seal, and the cycle world would naturally be no exception.

In addition, Su Zhou did not rule out the possibility that there would be members of the Pioneer family among the pirates, after all, among the free and exploring pirates of the seven seas, it would not be strange to have a guy who longed to explore the unknown.

In Yalber's case alone, he also had a deep desire for exploration in his heart, and rebelling against the Fire Clan's precepts, in a sense, was both breaking the existing rules and his desire to go to a new and fresh place that was very different from before.

However, in this case, this small cycle world actually has the forces represented by the three great beings: Fate, Pioneer, and the Silent Lord!

"And you, my Contractor."

And Yala prompted, "You represent me, that's the fourth."

This immediately made Su Zhou feel even more of a headache: "The situation in this cycle world is far more complicated than I thought—tch, the information is still insufficient."

Although that's what he said, in fact, Su Zhou's heart was indeed piqued.

—The influence of great beings… from now on, I will gradually have to face these enemies.

Thinking like this, while feeling troubled, the youth, who felt a bit of a challenge, also showed a hint of a smile.

Then, identifying the target, Su Zhou ended his inner thoughts, turned his head, and looked at Yalber on the side.

"Don't try to hide anything from me, pirate. If you honestly tell me everything, I will let you go to receive the Fire Clan's trial and live a few more days, but if you continue to remain silent, then I will judge you now and completely dissipate your soul."

Facing the wicked, Su Zhou had always lacked patience. His tone was cold and his eyes indifferent, and it was obvious that he didn't care much about the information.

If Yalber really said nothing, he would not hesitate to turn him into an evil spirit and eat him.

There was no doubt that for the person being interrogated, the fact that the interrogator was indifferent to the information was simply the worst thing.

Sensing this real malice, Yalber's expression changed drastically. Of course, he knew that Su Zhou was not joking, but would really kill him directly.

"I, I'll talk…"

So, after struggling for a while, Yalber decided to speak.

For the residents of the cycle world, even pirates, most of them were only ‘not following the precepts of the gods’, and not disrespecting, fearing, or disbelieving in the gods.

Because they hated those precepts, they knew best how much the gods who designed those precepts longed to eliminate the inferior nature of humans.

Likewise, they possessed such great power that they could only leave the continent and go to the sea.

However, just at this moment.

In the Element Calendar, year 307, June 26, in the early hours of the morning.

In the sky above, a burst of golden light suddenly appeared, followed by a violent thunder that exploded out of thin air.

The bright starlight in the night sky of the Cheerful Sea shone in the cloudless dome, but the bright golden lightning flashed between the vast starry galaxy. They rumbled in the air, falling one after another, and the golden lines were like the iron bars of a cage, sealing off this piece of heaven and earth.

The sudden gust of wind ravaged the area, causing the sea, which had been calmed by Su Zhou's power, to rise again, like a tide surging—vaguely, one could see a huge and majestic dragon phantom appearing in the sky above, staring at Yalber directly below.

Everyone, whether it was the crew of the *Deep Sea Diver*, or the people on the Wild Boar in the distance who looked up and gazed at the sky, all raised their heads together and looked at the sky, watching the phantom in shock.

"What's going on, I didn't show the power of my true body… wait?"

Even Su Zhou was extremely confused at this time, but soon, he reacted: "No, this is not my power… and Yalber was lifted into the air by me, which means that he is now separated from the sea, separated from the sea's mysterious protection…"

The youth widened his eyes and suddenly understood: "This is… the divine punishment of the Lord of Judgment?"

There was no doubt that it was.

Countless golden thunders converged, condensing into a dazzling ball of light, like an eye of judgment staring at all things in the world, and this eye stared at the greatest blasphemers in the world, one of the seven most evil pirates in the world.

Then, it sent down punishment.

Rumble!

The golden thunder light was like a sword, like a dividing line that divided the heavens and the earth in two—it struck directly at Yalber on the *Deep Sea Diver*, carrying an unstoppable might, and the power to completely destroy the entire magic ship and turn it into dust.

Yalber was already in despair, he closed his eyes and waited for death to come.

But, a hand reached out and blocked above his head.

The vast spiritual power, like the sea, converged to form a pure white shield. The structure of this shield was like rows of dense dragon scales. When the lightning of divine punishment struck this shield, all the power was absorbed by the simulated immortal dragon scales, and could only turn into violent twisting air currents, spreading out in all directions.

After blocking this blow, the thunder punishment did not continue.

Instead, the phantom of the golden dragon became more condensed.

"Interesting, although it's not the first time I've seen it, but sure enough, you are the existence derived from me in this world?"

In mid-air, the black-haired youth looked up at the sky, staring at the phantom of the illusory divine dragon, his eyes full of curiosity.

Above the sky, the golden Dragon of Judgment looked down at the heavens and the earth. It stared at the sinners on the *Deep Sea Diver*, and the youth who was resisting the judgment for the sinners, its indifferent and ruthless eyes only contained pure indifference.

And just as Su Zhou was looking at the Dragon of Judgment.

At Cheerful Sea, on the Wild Boar.

Aimon tightly gripped the iron-bound covenant in his hand, his eyes widened, his mouth slightly open, and his gaze sluggish.

Unlike the Wind Clan girl Sara and Captain Nide, who didn't understand the situation at all, this gray-haired priest felt the joy and awe of the power in his body, and clearly sensed the two fluctuations from above.

So, he first trembled and stretched out his hand, rubbed his eyes, then looked at the sky, and let out an almost exhausted groan.

"Two… Lords?!"