As soon as this thought appeared in his mind, he was struck by a pang of guilt. The sea was trying to protect him, yet he was trying to set off an underwater explosion that would undoubtedly kill a large number of marine creatures.

How could he be so selfish as to sacrifice the lives of marine creatures for the sake of minimizing human casualties in this war?

As he was dragging Xie Xie back toward himself, he had already decided to abandon his original plan. He wasn't going to set off an underwater explosion, even if that meant that he wouldn't be able to delay the federal fleet.

Right at this moment, he was struck by a peculiar feeling that seemed to be a rather indistinct spiritual connection. Tang Wulin could only sense indistinct yet boundless spiritual fluctuations converging toward him from all sides, transmitting some basic information to him.

The information transmitted to him by the sea was very simple; all it required was an instruction from Tang Wulin, and it would do everything in its power to help him achieve what he wanted.

Tang Wulin could clearly sense that after the ocean had felt his Sea God aura, it had developed a strong sense of affection toward him, akin to the affection that a child felt toward a parent figure.

Thus, there was even more reason for him to refrain from damaging the marine ecosystem.

Just as he was struggling to come up with an alternative resolution, an image suddenly appeared in his mind, upon which his heart was immediately filled with elation.

Can you do that? Tang Wulin asked with his mind.

The answer he received from the ocean was an affirmative one, and Tang Wulin immediately conveyed his emotions of gratitude toward the sea in response.

This was a massively pleasant surprise, but at the same time, it made him relearn the lesson that he should never resort to taking lives unless there was no other alternative. Prior to forging this connection with the sea, he had almost made a terrible mistake.

A ball of faint blue light came flying rapidly toward him, and a faint smile appeared on his face at the sight of the figure within it.

Thank heavens he had managed to recruit the assistance of the ocean. Otherwise, Xie Xie would've been in massive trouble.

The world around Xie Xie finally stopped spinning, and he was immediately struck by an overwhelming sense of nausea, causing him to dry-retch violently.

Immediately thereafter, he caught sight of Tang Wulin, who was standing before him with faint blue light emanating from his body. He then looked around to find that he was still in the ocean, and that there was nothing around him aside from endless darkness.

There was a blue light barrier around his and Tang Wulin's body that isolated them from the outside world, and Tang Wulin appraised him with a serious expression as he asked, "Do you not value your own life? Do you know what would've happened if you had been captured?"

Xie Xie continued to dry retch as he replied, "Boss... I'm sorry, I won't ever get complacent again."

Tang Wulin continued, "The overall power of the federal fleet will only be more formidable than what we can imagine. If the one who had appeared to detain you was the Boundless Ocean Douluo, you would've been captured in an instant. If that had happened, even I wouldn't have any way to save you."

A hint of lingering fear also appeared in Xie Xie's eyes upon hearing this, but that was quickly replaced by a hint of befuddlement. "What is this place?"

"We're currently situated on the seabed. Stay by my side for now," Tang Wulin replied.

Xie Xie's eyes widened with astonishment. "We're on the seabed? How are we still able to speak to one another? And how did you get me down here in the first place?"

Tang Wulin smiled, and said, "Would you believe me if I told you that I'm the son of the Sea God and am adored by the ocean?"

Xie Xie immediately nodded without any hesitation. "I believe you! I'll believe whatever you tell me!"

Xie Xie was completely unable to disguise his own astonishment. How had Tang Wulin managed to do this? This was incredible!

Tang Wulin said, "Alright, stay quiet and don't stray away from me; the water pressure outside this light barrier is no joke. Elder Long passed down our academy's Vast Sea Cosmic Crystal to me, and it can allow me to draw upon the power of the ocean to a certain extent. Just stay still for a while; I need some time to create some trouble for the federal fleet."

An enlightened look appeared on Xie Xie's face upon hearing this. "So that's what it is! You're the Sea God's Pavilion Master, so it's not wrong to call you the son of the Sea God! Haha, you're the best, Boss! If we had known that you could do this, we wouldn't even have had to use the submarine!"

A resigned look appeared on Tang Wulin's face at the sight of Xie Xie's frenetic display.

What do I need to do?

The sea transmitted its will to him in response. Slowly, he began to get a grasp on his current situation, as well as that of the ocean.

The sea was the largest existence in nature, and it was its own entity. It had once also been under the jurisdiction of the planar ruler, but that changed when Tang San inherited the berth of the Sea God.

After becoming the Sea God, Tang San naturally received the acknowledgment of the sea, and he had also done many things for the ocean.

In a sense, the planar ruler was also a god, but in contrast with the ruler of the abyssal plane, the planar ruler of the Douluo Star only possessed instinctive will and wasn't able to do anything specific. Thus, it was unable to control the actions of a god.

After Tang San became a god, he continued to linger on the Douluo Continent for quite a long time, and during that time the sea developed the deep-rooted notion that he was the true master of the sea, which led to the ocean developing a certain resistance toward the planar ruler.

In reality, the loss of balance in the plane's ecosystem had a lot to do with the planar ruler's inability to control the ocean.

Soul beasts were on the verge of extinction, yet sea soul beasts were still thriving. Tang San had once issued an order to the sea soul beasts to live as deep in the sea as they could, and on top of that, the sea soul beasts were more unified, so they were able to better pass down their lineage while also largely avoiding being hunted by powerful beings.

After losing control over the ocean, the life force energy that the planar ruler was able to draw upon decreased significantly, and that resulted in a series of problems. All of these problems were further compounded by the excessive consumption of resources by the human race through their rapid development, thereby resulting in this current situation.

After tapping into the Sea God aura that Tang San had left behind, Tang Wulin managed to receive the acknowledgment of the sea. On top of that, he was blessed by the plane, so in a sense, he had become a bridge between the sea and the rest of the plane.

Never would the Heartless Douluo have been able to anticipate that Tang Wulin, who had been chosen by both the planar ruler and the seed of life, would also be the son of the Sea God. Normal people were naturally unable to sense this, but the planar ruler was certainly able to detect his bloodline. Even though Tang Wulin couldn't control the ocean like his father had been able to in the past, he was still able to control it to a certain extent and guide the ocean to do his bidding.

If Tang San were here, he could conjure up a tsunami with just a single thought to capsize the entire federal fleet. No matter how powerful the federal fleet was, there was no way it could contend with the entire ocean.

However, Tang Wulin didn't possess godly power, so he wasn't able to make the sea a part of himself. Thus, he could only control a part of the ocean to trigger some weather phenomena that would be still within the realm of normalcy.

Even so, he was still the son of the Sea God, and his control over the ocean certainly far exceeded that of all of the other Soul Masters. Even if the Infernal King Douluo had pursued him here, it would be extremely difficult to kill Tang Wulin here in the ocean.

After getting a grasp on the current situation, Tang Wulin knew what he had to do.

The blue ball of light slowly rose upward and began to radiate gentle light. In contrast with Xie Xie, who was as good as blind in this environment, Tang Wulin could see countless marine creatures and a boundless underwater world.