Dongchuan City, Haidao Village!
On a secluded coast not far from Haidao Village, a man sat by the shore, gazing at the boundless sea with a troubled expression.
This man was named Ye Feng, a recent university graduate.
Having graduated from a prestigious university, finding a good job should have been effortless. However, three months after graduation, he hadn't found a single job, and even when he did, he was fired without reason after only a few days.
The reason was that he had offended a wealthy second-generation heir, who had vowed to ensure Ye Feng couldn't find a decent job in Dongchuan City.
At the time, Ye Feng hadn't paid much attention, but now he finally understood that the other party had truly followed through.
Just then, the seawater in front of him began to recede slowly, revealing rocks and then various tide pools.
"Forget it, no more thinking. The tide is going out, let's catch a few more fish for dinner!"
With that, Ye Feng immediately picked up the fish bucket beside him and, holding a pair of tongs, began to walk along the shore.
Soon, he spotted many seafood items like fish, shrimp, shellfish, and crabs. Although they weren't large, every little bit counted.
As Ye Feng was happily collecting them, he didn't notice that the water in his particular spot was receding unusually far.
In a short while, a large tide pool was exposed. This tide pool was strange, octagonal in shape with a radius of about three meters, not quite like a natural formation.
However, Ye Feng paid no mind, as his attention was entirely focused on the fish, shrimp, and crabs.
He had intended to skirt around this tide pool, but suddenly a huge splash erupted on the water's surface. Ye Feng's eyes widened instantly.
He saw a colossal creature swimming around within it, surfacing and submerging, seemingly trapped in the tide pool.
"Gulp, this, this is a Goliath grouper? At least seventy pounds! Haha, if I catch it, it'll be enough to eat for days!" Ye Feng exclaimed with excitement.
The Goliath grouper, scientifically known as *Epinephelus lanceolatus*, also called the giant rock cod, is a warm-water demersal marine fish, highly prized and costing two to three hundred yuan per pound.
Seeing such a large grouper, Ye Feng was ecstatic. He had lived by the sea for over twenty years and had never caught such a massive catch.
He immediately took off his clothes and pants, preparing to dive in and capture the giant fish. However, as soon as Ye Feng entered the water, he found that his feet couldn't touch the bottom, and an inexplicable tension gripped him.
But with the big fish right in front of him, he didn't overthink it and swam over, tightly embracing the giant fish.
Only then did he realize that this fish was much larger than he had estimated, close to a hundred pounds.
However, before he could rejoice, the Goliath grouper immediately struggled, its massive tail thrashing wildly, dragging him into the deep pool and swimming downwards.
"Damn it! I finally found such a giant catch, how can I let you escape!"
Ye Feng refused to let go, desperately trying to control the giant fish and swim upwards. But his strength was no match for the Goliath grouper, which dragged him deeper and deeper.
In just over ten seconds, Ye Feng had been dragged down more than ten meters! Yet he remained oblivious, only feeling the increasing water pressure.
"This is bad, such strong water pressure!"
When Ye Feng was dragged down to nearly thirty meters, he felt as if he was about to be crushed.
But he was unwilling to give up on the Goliath grouper. A nearly hundred-pound giant! If sold, at two to three hundred yuan per pound, a hundred pounds would fetch twenty to thirty thousand yuan, which was almost half a year's salary for an ordinary person.
"Damn it, I'll risk it!"
Ye Feng roared in his mind, shoving one hand into the grouper's mouth while the other firmly gripped its gills, intending to drag it up.
But the next second, Ye Feng regretted it, as the hundred-pound grouper clamped down on his arm, its fine teeth piercing his skin, and then it struggled violently, shaking its head.
In an instant, Ye Feng's arm was torn by small gashes, and blood gushed out, dyeing the surrounding seawater red.
Ah!
Ye Feng screamed. The intense pain caused him to instinctively release the Goliath grouper. With that release, the giant fish vanished without a trace.
"Damn, it's such a shame!"
Ye Feng was heartbroken, having watched a fortune slip away before his eyes.
However, while the fish was a pity, his life was more important. His breath was at its limit, so he had no choice but to abandon the Goliath grouper and swim upwards.
To his surprise, after swimming up more than ten meters, he still couldn't see the surface. This panicked him; if he didn't get air soon, he would suffocate.
Little did he know, he was still twenty to thirty meters underwater.
Ye Feng struggled upwards a few more meters but still didn't reach the surface. By now, all his strength was gone, his limbs felt as if they were filled with lead, heavy beyond measure.
Finally, due to lack of oxygen, he slowly lost consciousness and began to sink. However, as he sank, he vaguely saw a golden light below.
At the bottom of the deep pool, a golden trident stood in the center, shining brilliantly and exuding an aura of majesty.
As Ye Feng sank to the bottom, the golden trident trembled slightly, then began to absorb the blood flowing from Ye Feng's body.
A few seconds later, the golden trident transformed into a beam of golden light and flew into Ye Feng's mind.
After an unknown amount of time, Ye Feng slowly opened his eyes. He looked at the darkness around him and muttered to himself, "Am I dead? Is this hell? No! Why does it feel so cold? Can you still feel things after you die? Can you still think?"
Ye Feng snapped out of his daze and quickly sat up to survey his surroundings.
The next second, he was stunned because he found himself lying at the bottom of the water, yes, at the bottom of the water, the bottom of the previous deep pool.
"What's going on? Didn't I suffocate and die?" Ye Feng muttered to himself.
However, after saying this, he was shocked again, and after a while, he said, "I, I can actually speak underwater? And breathe underwater?"
At this moment, Ye Feng was dumbfounded, truly dumbfounded, completely unable to understand what was happening.
Just then, a voice echoed in his mind: "The Sea God's Trident has successfully bonded with its master! Congratulations on obtaining the Sea God's inheritance! From this moment on, you are the master of the Sea God's Trident, the god of the vast ocean!"
"Master of the Sea God's Trident? God of the ocean?" Ye Feng was utterly bewildered.
But the next second, a golden, majestic trident appeared in his mind.
Seeing this, Ye Feng suddenly remembered the golden light he had vaguely seen when he sank.
"Was that golden light this thing? The Sea God's Trident?" Ye Feng said dazedly.
At this moment, the voice in his mind spoke again: "Cultivate the Sea God's divine art, inherit the Sea God's power, and command the entire ocean!"
"Cultivate the Sea God's divine art? What Sea God's divine art?" Ye Feng asked, confused.
As soon as he spoke, countless characters emerged from the golden trident and imprinted themselves into Ye Feng's mind...