The oldest elder of the Spirit Pearl Clam clan spoke slowly, "Our cultivation art has no offensive spells at all. If we leave this place, it'll only lead to death. We might as well offer the spirit pearls we've nurtured to Senior Yun. It's the least we can do."
"Yes." Every Spirit Pearl Clam answered together.
Their expressions didn't waver in the slightest.
Around them, some sea beasts struggled, others trembled, yet the Spirit Pearl Clams looked utterly numb, as if their hearts had long died. Not even a flicker of emotion crossed their faces.
Other races had at least some means of self-defense.
Only they... could assist others in cultivation, but had no combat power of their own. No matter which faction they joined, all they could do was tirelessly produce spirit pearls. Besides that, what else could they possibly do? All of them stayed behind.
Time passed quickly.
Two hours later, not a single one of them had chosen to leave.
Yun Jin rose slowly to her feet.
Two hours ago, there had been a hundred thousand sea beasts gathered here. Now, fewer than thirty thousand remained. The Ink Sea Dragon Palace's reputation was well known across the seas. Most of the sea beasts had chosen to withdraw.
She respected their decision.
The ones who stayed had already made up their minds. Three months from now, they were ready to die alongside her.
Scanning their determined faces, Yun Jin's lips curved into a faint smile. "Congratulations. You're about to start three months of hell training."
A chill ran through the crowd of sea beasts.
"Now," Yun Jin said matter-of-factly, "everyone will hand over your race's cultivation techniques."
She spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world. No one dared to question her. They were all doomed in three months anyway, so there was no need to hide anything. Besides, if their races truly had powerful arts, would they have ended up enslaved like this?
It was only because their inherited cultivation methods were too weak!
Soon, every race submitted their respective techniques.
Yun Jin waved her hand, letting the system scan everything in an instant. This rescue operation had earned her a nice amount of Emotional Value too. It was poetic justice, really—taking from the sea beasts to give back to them. Every technique they'd submitted contained traces of water attributes.
She modified each one, improving their flaws, then began studying them one by one. With her current talent and cultivation, understanding these arts was as easy as breathing.
Bit by bit, her comprehension of the Primordial Water advanced.
Eighty-eight percent.
Eighty-nine.
Finally, it settled at ninety-three percent.
Yun Jin slowly opened her eyes, a flicker of satisfaction glinting within them.
Coming to the Boundless Sea had been the right choice.
In the human regions, she hadn't been able to push her Primordial Water comprehension any further. But on her very first day here, her understanding had soared.
The Primordial Water had five supreme Laws.
"Extreme Ice."
"Surging Waves."
"Water's Restoration."
"Control of Water Element."
"Purification."
Yun Jin had made decent progress in all five, but hadn't fully mastered any of them.
To break through the next seven percent, she'd have to comprehend at least one of the supreme Laws completely.
Among them, she felt the deepest connection to the Law of Surging Waves. When she'd practiced the Azure Lotus Sword Art, she'd already touched upon its threshold. At that time, she'd mastered the Law of Tides, an intermediate Law that stacked energy in layers, each wave stronger than the last.
The Law of Surging Waves was clearly its ultimate evolution. If she could master that Law, her offensive power would leap to an entirely new level. Her plan was simple: fully grasp it first. And conveniently, the Ink Sea Dragon Palace would soon deliver her some excellent practice targets.
Yun Jin rose, preparing to transmit the improved techniques to the gathered beasts. But then, her eyes flashed with amusement. The Ink Sea Dragon Palace's response was slower than she'd expected. Last time, after she'd killed members of the Ink Sea Dragon Clan, they'd retaliated within an hour. This time, several hours had passed before they finally sent their first wave.
She could already sense their approach—a massive force moving rapidly toward her. In about fifteen minutes, they'd reach the barrier.
Their strength wasn't low.
There were at least ten Mahayana experts, and one of them was at the very peak of the stage.
Yun Jin sighed lightly.
So few? Would that be enough for her to master the Law of Surging Waves?
No matter.
If this batch failed to help her achieve enlightenment, the next one surely would.
She brushed the incoming army from her mind and flicked her fingers. At once, countless motes of light rained down, entering the sea beasts' seas of consciousness. For a brief moment, they were stunned, then expressions of wild joy spread across their faces. This was... a new cultivation method!
It had been born from their original arts, but its intricacies far surpassed the old versions. Its power was exponentially greater, and because it still shared roots with their previous techniques, transitioning would be easy.
Three months—enough to form a real fighting force!
The truth was, many races in the Sea of Domestication weren't weak in spiritual power. In fact, quite a few were rather strong. What they lacked wasn't strength, but methods to channel that strength into combat. Now, Yun Jin had given them exactly that.
The Spirit Pearl Clam clan fell into stunned silence. It had been so long since they'd felt anything at all, yet now, expressions of pure shock spread across their faces. Once, their spirit power could only be used to nurture pearls, which the Ink Sea Dragon Palace would immediately confiscate.
The stronger their spiritual energy, the more profound their pearls. Some pearls could increase one's power, some could stabilize the soul. Their effects varied, but they all shared one thing in common—they were purely auxiliary.
Now, Yun Jin had rewritten their cultivation art. With her version, they could still produce spirit pearls, but those pearls wouldn't just serve support functions anymore.
The Charm Mermaids, too, received their modified techniques. Each of them stared wide-eyed, unable to believe it. They'd handed over a simple art that merely enhanced their charm.
But Yun Jin had returned a specialized spiritual cultivation method, crafted for their physique. If they succeeded in cultivating it, their allure would no longer be skin-deep. They could use spiritual power to control others.
Wasn't this somewhat similar to the Blue-Scaled Sirens' ancestral secret art? No—this was even more profound.
At that moment, every sea beast tribe erupted in excitement!