Deep within the ocean, a strange, eerie voice resounded. In the next instant, a figure suddenly shot out from the distant sea, soaring into the sky.
The moment it rose, the distant sky abruptly turned bright blue. The sea surged upward as though it were devouring the heavens. From the perspective of the two giant ships, it looked as if the far-off world had been completely swallowed by the ocean.
For the first time, Cai Yue'er's expression shifted, her eyes growing grave.
Everyone aboard the cruise ship gasped in alarm. For something to draw such a reaction from a Super Douluo clad in three-word battle armor—someone who had already reached the realm of Ultimate Douluo—what kind of terrifying existence could it be?
Gu You's eyes glimmered with violet light as he saw clearly what lurked in the deep sea.
It resembled a human, but only its upper body retained a human form. Its lower half consisted of twelve tentacle-like limbs, like those of an octopus, writhing in the air. Its aura swept outward in a wave of crushing pressure that bore down on Cai Yue'er.
"A ferocious beast?" Muye blurted out in shock.
Ferocious beasts were soul beasts with over 200,000 years of cultivation. In the past, the Douluo Continent had once been home to the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts.
Ten thousand years ago, they had shaken the continent. Some had submitted to the peerless Soul Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao, while others had been slain by him. The rest eventually vanished. Among them, the mightiest was the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, known as the Beast God, whose cultivation had reached 800,000 years—hailed as the strongest existence of that era.
Given that the ocean was far vaster than the land, the emergence of a ferocious beast here was not impossible.
Now, with one ferocious beast and two hundred-thousand-year sea soul beasts, the fleet truly faced a deadly threat.
That airborne figure quickly transformed. Backed by the rolling seawater, its body expanded at frightening speed. Within moments, it became a gargantuan octopus over a kilometer in diameter. As its massive tentacles lashed about, the sea grew violent and chaotic—so much so that even Cai Yue'er's suppression began to falter.
"Roar!" The Deep Sea Demon Whale King bellowed, and all the sea soul beasts surged toward the two ships in a frenzy. The attack had begun.
Cai Yue'er's figure flickered into a streak of moonlight. Raising her staff aloft, she summoned a vast silver moon overhead. A beam of moonlight cascaded down onto the silver disc atop her staff. Through its conversion, the light condensed into a needle-thin silver ray that shot toward the enormous octopus.
The leviathan swept its eight tentacles, releasing countless purple motes of light. Layer upon layer, they clashed against Cai Yue'er's attack.
As the two strongest combatants engaged, the two ships launched their own counteroffensive.
With thunderous roars, the already-open gunports flared, unleashing salvo after salvo of soul-guided cannonfire.
Powered by arrays of soul batteries—and capable of being fueled directly by soul masters in critical moments—each cannon possessed formidable might. The strongest among them rivaled the strikes of a Titled Douluo.
Explosions rumbled across the sea, while the sea soul beasts' strikes hammered the ships' protective barriers, sending dazzling ripples of light across their surfaces.
Fortunately, both envoy delegations had prepared extensive defenses and ample soul power reserves. Even so, under the siege of countless sea soul beasts, they were only just holding on.
Above, four three-word battle armor masters split into pairs to block the Deep Sea Demon Whale King and the Devil Soul Great White Shark King. But even they were strained to their limits—for this was the ocean, the domain of the sea soul beasts.
The battlefield descended into chaos.
"This is your doing, isn't it?" Muye muttered, coming up beside Gu You.
"As if you've never killed a great white shark. Besides, I wasn't killing them—I was letting them enjoy themselves," Gu You shot back with a glare.
"And what's your plan? Just let this keep going?" Muye asked sourly.
"I'll act when it's necessary. When you really can't handle it anymore," Gu You replied, his eyes narrowing.
"You—!" Muye fell silent, retreating to the balcony. He gazed up at the raging battle in the sky, making no move to join in.
Wu Zhangkong's eyes narrowed as he shot Muye a deep look. In the next instant, his body flickered upward into the sky. White lights shimmered across his form as his Sky Ice battle armor enveloped him, and the Heavenfrost Sword appeared in his grasp. He streaked from the ship's protective barrier like a falling star, cutting into the air above.
Wu Zhangkong was already a seven-ring Soul Sage. With his two-word battle armor, his strength neared that of a Titled Douluo. And more importantly—he was Wu Zhangkong.
From the sea below, a Devil Soul Great White Shark locked onto him. A flash of silver gleamed along its dorsal fin, firing a ray of light straight toward him.
The silver ray was as sharp as a blade, lightning-fast.
Wu Zhangkong's Heavenfrost Sword swept lightly, releasing a faint trail of icy light. Fine lines of frost appeared, easily cleaving apart the silver ray. Then his battle armor blazed with silver radiance as he descended toward the sea.
His soul rings flared one by one. The seventh ring suddenly lit up.
A shocking scene followed—the Heavenfrost Sword expanded, and Wu Zhangkong fused into it. A torrent of sword intent erupted outward.
The Heavenfrost Sword, now over ten meters long, fell from the sky. This was his seventh soul skill: Martial Soul True Body.
Yet instead of striking a sea soul beast, the massive sword plunged straight into the ocean and vanished.
Then, centered on Wu Zhangkong, the surrounding waters began to freeze. Mist rose as ice spread rapidly outward. Sea soul beasts were frozen in droves.
The freezing spread with astonishing speed. Within moments, a radius of several hundred meters had turned to solid ice, trapping countless sea soul beasts and easing the pressure enormously.
Muye's eyes flickered. "He's using his Martial Soul True Body to freeze the sea itself, seizing control. At least twenty ten-thousand-year sea soul beasts are sealed… but why didn't he just kill them outright?"
"Boom!" At that moment, the ship lurched violently. Its protective barrier was on the verge of collapse.
There were simply too many sea soul beasts. And the two ocean liners, built for long-distance voyages rather than war, were never designed for battles of this scale. Even with mechas launching from their decks to join the fray, the sea soul beasts still held the advantage.
Once the barrier broke, if the ships themselves were struck and their hulls breached…
(End of Chapter)