The next morning.
Above the vast sea, on the back of the Fire Phoenix summon, Chu Chengzhou held Big Sister Tang Yuehua in his arms while releasing his spiritual power to scan the nearby waters.
Suddenly, under his spiritual perception, a large number of ten-thousand-year marine soul beasts appeared in the distant waters.
They resembled tuna in appearance, forming a group numbering over a thousand. Their bodies were entirely black, with thirty percent of them being over ten thousand years old.
The aura of the fish king leading the group was quite strong—though not as powerful as a hundred-thousand-year marine soul beast, its age was at least ninety thousand years.
A marine soul beast that had lived for over ninety thousand years wasn't his target. Originally, Chu Chengzhou intended to ignore it, but then an idea struck him. He said something to Tang Yuehua, activated Golden Light Flight, and flew into the air above the school of fish.
The next moment, he activated his illusion technique Void Illusion Realm, pouring out his spiritual power. The fish king, who had been patrolling its "territory" with a group of subordinates beneath the surface, had its consciousness tampered with and became his temporary servant.
When coming to unfamiliar places to stir up trouble, how could one do without local guides?
Chu Chengzhou: Sneak into the village quietly; no gunfire allowed!
Soon, the sea churned, and a massive black spearfish nearly ten meters long emerged from the water. Its head resembled a spear, with a large dorsal fin, but its tail looked disproportionate, likely due to a past severe injury.
Well, it seemed this was a disabled fish.
"Black as coal, I'll call you Little Gray! Little Gray, come on, lead your master to find a hundred-thousand-year beast king!"
Without caring whether it was disabled or not, Chu Chengzhou issued commands mid-air to the spearfish king. To ensure Little Gray understood, he even conveyed his meaning through spiritual power.
Little Gray: I'm black, why am I called Little Gray?
There were many marine soul beasts in the vast ocean, but a marine soul beast that had lived for over ninety thousand years wasn't a small fry.
Though this spearfish king's age fell short of a hundred thousand years and didn't meet his requirements, it had lived long enough and was the leader of its group. It surely knew where the fiercest creatures in the area resided, making it perfect as a guide.
"Gurgle—"
Receiving the command, the temporarily named black spearfish king, Little Gray, let out a cheerful low croak. With a flick of its massive tail, it created a splash and quickly swam toward the southeastern waters.
School of fish: ...
Afterward, Chu Chengzhou flew back to Little Red and instructed her to follow the guide, Little Gray.
"What is…?"
Looking down at the large spearfish guiding them across the sea, Tang Yuehua asked curiously.
"Oh~, its name is Little Gray, our guide. It's leading us right now!"
"Guide?"
Tang Yuehua blinked, confused.
Two hours later, Little Gray stopped in a certain area of the sea.
"Is there something here?"
Unable to detect any hundred-thousand-year marine soul beasts within his sensory range, Chu Chengzhou asked Little Gray, who was floating on the surface below.
"Gurgle gurgle gurgle"
Waving its tail, Little Gray opened its mouth and began to "speak."
Though Chu Chengzhou couldn't understand fish language, communicating through spiritual power allowed him to grasp its meaning.
This area housed a large group, led by a hundred-thousand-year marine soul beast king.
The group Little Gray belonged to was called the Black Fin Spearfish Tribe, once a powerful group led by a hundred-thousand-year beast king, considered a dominant force in the vast seas.
However, years ago, the Black Fin Spearfish Tribe clashed with the group inhabiting this area. Due to the overwhelming numbers of their opponents, the Black Fin Spearfish Tribe suffered heavy losses. At the time, the old hundred-thousand-year fish king sacrificed itself to ensure the survival of its tribe.
Ultimately, the old fish king never returned. As the son of the old fish king and the strongest member of the tribe, Little Gray inherited the position of fish king.
The disproportionality of Little Gray's tail was a result of that battle.
Today, with the great Lord Chu's arrival, Little Gray naturally brought its new backing to settle scores with its "father's killer."
"A group of giant lobsters?"
Hearing Little Gray's story, Chu Chengzhou raised an eyebrow.
That's right—the Black Fin Spearfish Tribe's enemy was a group of shrimp-like marine soul beasts called Crystal Golden Dragon Lobsters.
However, in Chu Chengzhou's view, the heavy losses suffered by the Black Fin Spearfish Tribe and the death of the old fish king were self-inflicted.
Spearfish fed on small fish and shrimp, and the Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster group was numerous. Since the two groups inhabited nearby waters, the Black Fin Spearfish Tribe naturally included them on their menu. Predictably, they ended up biting off more than they could chew.
In terms of overall quality, the Black Fin Spearfish far surpassed the Crystal Golden Dragon Lobsters. However, in terms of sheer numbers, the Black Fin Spearfish couldn't compare.
At their peak, the Black Fin Spearfish numbered just over ten thousand, but as for the Crystal Golden Dragon Lobsters—even their hundred-thousand-year lobster king didn't know how many subordinates he had.
Within Chu Chengzhou's spiritual perception range, countless golden crystal-like giant lobsters inhabited the nearby waters.
Chu Chengzhou couldn't estimate how many Crystal Golden Dragon Lobsters were in this area, but it was certainly measured in the billions.
"Alright, Little Gray, you're free!"
Waving his hand, Chu Chengzhou released his control over Little Gray.
Since this area housed a large number of Crystal Golden Dragon Lobsters, it meant Little Gray hadn't led them astray. This area must be the lair of the hundred-thousand-year lobster king.
With that, Little Gray, having completed its role as a guide, was no longer needed.
The moment control was lifted, Little Gray's consciousness returned to normal. Its eyes widened in terror as it stared at Chu Chengzhou.
Good heavens~—where did this demon come from? How could he unknowingly take control of my mind? So terrifying!
Immediately, its tail flicked, creating a splash, and Little Gray hastily dove underwater and fled.
Ignoring the fleeing Little Gray, Chu Chengzhou sat on Little Red with Tang Yuehua and began exploring the area.
Fifteen minutes later, Chu Chengzhou detected an area densely populated by high-level marine soul beasts, with one aura standing out significantly stronger than the rest.
At this level of soul power aura, if we're talking about soul beasts alone, he'd only ever remotely felt such strength from Little Dance's two younger brothers, Da Ming and Er Ming.
Getting closer, his spiritual power scanned the area. Chu Chengzhou saw a dragon-headed creature with two large main spines extending from its head, covered in crystal-like golden armor, over ten meters long, and lacking claws—a colossal lobster surrounded by numerous followers, sleeping amidst coral reefs on the seabed.
Undoubtedly, this was the hundred-thousand-year Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King he was looking for.
It must be said, the Crystal Golden Dragon Lobsters lived up to their name. Just by their appearance, one could tell their bloodline carried traces of dragon heritage.
One wondered which dragon-type soul beast was so bold as to mate with shrimp—or perhaps a brave shrimp mated with a dragon, resulting in chaotic offspring?
Next, soul power flowers condensed above Chu Chengzhou's head. Activating his defensive technique Instant Bloom, he descended into the air and appeared on the sea surface.
Though far from the mainland, the seabed here was plateau-like, with water depth reaching only three to four hundred meters.
Activating his illusion technique Void Illusion Realm, his formless spiritual power surged forth, instantly descending upon the consciousness of the sleeping hundred-thousand-year Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King.
The next second, the Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King opened its enormous golden shrimp eyes, resembling purple crystals, and a look of reverence flashed across them.
"Not bad—it seems that non-hundred-thousand-year spirit-type soul beasts are within my control."
Comparing the spiritual power intensity of this hundred-thousand-year Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King to his own, Chu Chengzhou thought silently.
After pondering, he issued a command to the Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King via spiritual power, then flew back to Tang Yuehua and left the area.
Four hours later, through Void Illusion Realm, Chu Chengzhou successfully controlled another hundred-thousand-year marine soul beast king.
If a ninety-thousand-year-old Black Fin Spearfish like Little Gray could serve as a guide and help him find hundred-thousand-year marine soul beasts, then the hundred-thousand-year Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King, as the ruler of these waters, could also act as a guide.
For example, in the world of soul masters, asking any Title Douluo would reveal where other Title Douluos were.
Thus, under this lobster king's guidance, Chu Chengzhou took control of the Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster Tribe's old rival—the king of the Raging Sea Demon Crab Tribe, the hundred-thousand-year Raging Sea Demon Crab King.
Chu Chengzhou: When will the cycle of vengeance end?
Not long after, on an uninhabited island.
Glancing at the hundred-thousand-year Raging Sea Demon Crab King in the water near the island and then at the hundred-thousand-year Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King that had crawled onto the island, a smile appeared on Chu Chengzhou's lips. He turned to Tang Yuehua beside him and said, "Yuehua, are you ready?"
"Mm!"
Tang Yuehua nodded excitedly.
At first, she hadn't expected Chu Chengzhou to arrange a hundred-thousand-year soul ring for her, but after seeing him control the hundred-thousand-year Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King, she understood.
No wonder Chu Chengzhou hadn't taken her to the Sunset Forest for soul rings but instead traveled thousands of miles to this vast ocean.
There was no other reason—to find her a hundred-thousand-year marine soul beast and allow her to obtain a hundred-thousand-year soul ring, something few soul masters on the continent possessed!
She knew that soul beasts over a hundred thousand years old could offer sacrifices. Her second brother Tang Hao's ninth soul ring, a hundred-thousand-year one, was obtained this way.
According to the records of the Hao Tian Sect, obtaining a soul ring through a soul beast's voluntary sacrifice differed greatly from normal hunting methods. Even a Level 10 Soul Trainee could withstand the sacrifice of a hundred-thousand-year soul beast.
(T/N: Chat is that true?)
And this seemingly impossible theory was about to manifest on her!
Tang Yuehua could affirm that, in the known history of the continent, no soul master had ever possessed a hundred-thousand-year first soul ring—not even twin martial soul users.
What Tang Yuehua didn't know was that, following the original storyline, in a few years, her nephew Tang San would set a precedent. Even excluding the Sea God Trial rewards, Tang San's Hao Tian Hammer martial soul could possess a hundred-thousand-year first soul ring.
"Come, Little Gold, it's time to offer your soul ring!
Your great and merciful Lord promises that when Yuehua ascends to godhood, I'll grant you eternal life!"
Chu Chengzhou spoke to the hundred-thousand-year Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King with a face full of holy pretense.
Tang Yuehua: "..."
"Squeak squeak—" (T/N: What sounds do Lobsters even make lmao)
Letting out a series of shrimp-like cries, the Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King's eyes flashed with reverence.
Hundred-thousand-year soul beasts possessed intelligence comparable to humans, but without learning human speech, they couldn't speak.
Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King: Praise the supreme Lord!
The next second, blinding red light spread from the Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King's forehead, turning into a red halo that expanded instantly.
The sacrifice had begun!
As the surging blood flame ring contracted, transforming into a hundred-thousand-year first soul ring, the golden arm bone projection merged into her right arm, and Tang Yuehua officially advanced to a one-ring soul master.
Upon becoming a soul master, Tang Yuehua's soul power level immediately reached 20, qualifying her as a Soul Grandmaster. The energy required for the entire one-ring stage was instantly filled by the massive energy contained in the hundred-thousand-year soul ring and soul bone.
It could be affirmed that 20 levels wasn't Tang Yuehua's limit. She was restricted to 20 levels only because she lacked a second soul ring.
"Tsk~, an unprecedented hundred-thousand-year first soul ring. Yuehua, congratulations on becoming a soul master!"
Chu Chengzhou smiled and congratulated her.
"Little man—no, you're a towering man. Thanks to your help, my dream has finally come true!"
Looking at the smiling youth before her and feeling the unprecedented soul power within her, Tang Yuehua's eyes welled up with tears, and she tightly embraced Chu Chengzhou.
"So, dear Yuehua Sister, how will you repay your man?"
Licking his lips, his mischievous hands climbed onto the firm curves behind the beauty in his arms, Chu Chengzhou asked.
"Hmph~, always thinking about such nonsense!"
Tang Yuehua, who had been deeply moved a moment ago, scolded him.
"Alright, enough joking. How's the soul skill effect?"
Chu Chengzhou straightened his expression and got to the point.
"It's a bit strange..."
"Strange?"
Hearing this, Chu Chengzhou raised an eyebrow.
Tang Yuehua nodded and said, "According to the clan's records, hundred-thousand-year soul rings usually form two hundred-thousand-year soul skills, but my first soul skill only has one."
"One? A hundred-thousand-year soul ring producing only one soul skill isn't necessarily bad. Heaven wouldn't arbitrarily deduct your soul skills. It seems your soul skill's effect is probably quite remarkable."
Hearing that there was only one hundred-thousand-year soul skill, Chu Chengzhou wasn't upset.
Generally, hundred-thousand-year soul rings indeed formed two soul skills, but exceptions weren't uncommon.
Even excluding himself as a special case, there were precedents in the original storyline—Tang San's Hao Tian Hammer's hundred-thousand-year eighth soul skill, Fifteen Ton Barrier, and Ning Rongrong's hundred-thousand-year eighth soul skill, Nine Treasure Divine Light Protection.
"Seems like... my soul skill isn't anything remarkable.
First soul skill, Wish Fulfillment. It needs to be paired with a domain to use. After activating the skill, it increases the soul power cultivation speed and comprehension of all soul masters within the domain by 20%.
Fortunately, though the Wish Fulfillment soul skill is very high-level, I feel it can be sustained for a long time with minimal soul power consumption."
Tang Yuehua said somewhat bashfully.
First soul skill, Wish Fulfillment, increasing cultivation speed and comprehension by 20%.
If this were a typical hundred-year first soul skill, this effect would actually be very strong, even bordering on heaven-defying.
But remember, this was a martial soul that inherently possessed domain power. Combined with a hundred-thousand-year soul ring forming the sole soul skill, requiring domain pairing, and the 20% increase in cultivation speed and comprehension might seem underwhelming.
Of course, considering that Wish Fulfillment wasn't limited to affecting herself or a single target but could affect everyone within the domain, the 20% increase in cultivation speed and comprehension, though not extremely high, was still incredibly powerful.
If she returned to the Hao Tian Sect, she wouldn't just be the sect's Eldest Princess—she'd become its super ancestor, surpassing even her elder brother Tang Xiao, the sect leader.
Accelerating soul power cultivation and improving comprehension to help break through bottlenecks—who wouldn't treat her like an ancestor?
After understanding the effects of the Wish Fulfillment soul skill, Chu Chengzhou fell into deep thought.
Generally, the effects of support soul skills could be linked to the characteristics of the soul ring attached to the martial soul.
For example, Oscar's sausage martial soul—his first soul ring came from a soul beast with healing abilities, and after attaching the soul ring, the resulting soul skill was a healing sausage with blood regeneration effects.
The Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda martial soul passed down by the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Clan required hunting soul beasts skilled in specific attributes to gain corresponding attribute-boosting soul skills.
Unless mistaken, marine soul beasts like the Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster shouldn't possess abilities to boost cultivation speed or comprehension, completely unrelated to Tang Yuehua's Wish Fulfillment soul skill.
In other words, the reason Tang Yuehua's first soul skill was Wish Fulfillment likely had nothing to do with the soul ring itself but was entirely due to the unique nature of her Ruyi Ring martial soul?
Thinking this way, Chu Chengzhou formed some guesses, though they still needed verification.
Temporarily setting aside the issue of the soul skill, Chu Chengzhou asked, "Yuehua, what about your soul bone skill? Surely the right-arm soul bone didn't malfunction?"
"No, this hundred-thousand-year right-arm soul bone comes with two soul bone skills—one offensive and one defensive. But it seems I can't use them yet."
As she spoke, Tang Yuehua couldn't help but feel a bit disheartened.
Whether soul skills or soul bone skills, higher year count generally meant better effects.
However, when it came to soul power consumption, things weren't so straightforward.
Typically, the higher the year count of a soul skill or soul bone skill, the better the effect and the greater the soul power consumption.
But there were exceptions—higher year counts could maintain the same effect while reducing soul power consumption.
Such changes often occurred among support-type soul masters.
With Tang Yuehua's current Level 20 soul power, she could sustain the consumption of the hundred-thousand-year first soul skill for a long time. Perhaps the ultra-high year count of the soul ring manifested its effects in reduced soul power consumption.
But the two attack-and-defense-type soul bone skills attached to the hundred-thousand-year Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster right-arm soul bone—Tang Yuehua couldn't activate them.
Simply put, activating a hundred-thousand-year soul bone skill required more soul power than her Level 20 capacity allowed.
Clearly, the ultra-high year count of these two soul bone skills manifested entirely in their attack and defense capabilities.
"It's fine. Once your soul power level increases, you'll naturally be able to use them."
Waving his hand, Chu Chengzhou consoled her.
Then, Chu Chengzhou glanced at the corpse left by the sacrificed hundred-thousand-year Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King. His True Spirit Flag martial soul materialized, and the seventh soul ring on his body lit up, summoning the Dark Demon Evil God Tiger summon, Little Black.
"Little Black, go ahead. This big guy is yours—uh, wait a moment!"
Just as he was about to give the Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King's corpse to Little Black for consumption, Chu Chengzhou suddenly remembered a key point.
If he remembered correctly, the body structure of hundred-thousand-year marine soul beasts differed slightly from land-based ones. Besides soul rings and soul bones, they had another treasure.
Any marine soul beast over a hundred thousand years old, regardless of species, would form a substance called 'whale gel/jelly' in its head—a highly nourishing item.
This thing contained vast amounts of energy. Consuming it allowed soul masters to increase their soul power without side effects and helped break through bottlenecks. Giving it directly to Little Black would be wasteful.
Little Black, well, could act as a recycling station for useless corpses. But treasures like whale gel should be handled by him, the master.
He planned to send Xiao Wu and the others to the Sea God Island for training. Under the benefits of the trials, their soul power levels would skyrocket. To avoid falling too far behind as the head of the household, he might as well consume some whale gel to upgrade himself—otherwise, his dignity as the family head would suffer.
A flash of golden light, and Chu Chengzhou took out his soul-forged golden sword. Infusing it with soul power, the blade became exceptionally sharp.
After some effort, Chu Chengzhou pried open the Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King's skull and extracted a basketball-sized lump of golden paste.
Immediately, the surrounding air filled with a rich, fragrant aroma.
"Tsk~, it smells quite nice!"
Smelling the strong fragrance, Chu Chengzhou couldn't help but click his tongue.
"What is this?"
Tang Yuehua asked with slight surprise.
"This is called whale gel, a treasure exclusive to marine soul beasts over a hundred thousand years old. Consuming it boosts soul power and helps break through bottlenecks."
Chu Chengzhou explained.
"Oh~"
Tang Yuehua nodded, reacting rather indifferently.
Boosting soul power and aiding bottleneck breakthroughs—nothing extraordinary.
For Tang Yuehua at this stage, her concern wasn't boosting soul power but better controlling the soul power within her.
"Alright, Little Black, go ahead. It's all yours!"
Stowing away the whale gel, Chu Chengzhou pointed at the Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster King's corpse and addressed Little Black.
Though Chu Chengzhou treated it like a recycling station, Little Black, as a summon without human rights, didn't complain.
For a devouring-type soul beast like it, the corpse of a high-year-count soul beast was the best treasure. Even though this hundred-thousand-year shrimp king had lost its soul ring, soul bone, and whale gel, it remained an invaluable artifact.
Take this hundred-thousand-year Crystal Golden Dragon Lobster—if we exclude environmental bonuses, its strength might not surpass that of an ordinary Level 95 Title Douluo. But in terms of internal energy, it far exceeded an ordinary Level 95 Title Douluo.
Yet, a Level 90 quasi-Title Douluo adding its soul ring and soul bone, after advancing, would at most reach the level of a Level 92 Title Douluo.
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