The vast ocean was boundless and endless.
Waves surged, causing the Demon Whale to rise and fall. Xu Zihuang, steering the Demon Whale at this moment, seemed as insignificant as a grain in the sea.
Under the effect of four level-6 soul guide thrusters, the Demon Whale's speed could truly be described as lightning-fast. Cutting through layer after layer of waves, in less than a quarter of an hour, the coastline had completely disappeared.
The ocean had both warm and cold currents. In such extremely low temperatures, only the sea area around Qianling Port remained unfrozen. Once leaving Qianling Port, floating ice began to appear sporadically on the sea surface.
Chunks of floating ice drifted, and the cold wind was biting.
If Xu Zihuang continued northward into the sea at this speed, he could enter the vast ice sea within half a day. This ice sea stretched from here westward to eastward, all the way to the northernmost part of the Sun Moon Empire.
The soul beast ruling the ice sea was the Sea Princess, a ferocious beast with cultivation reaching 600,000 years. However, because the Sea Princess was a sea soul beast, she was not included among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts of the continent.
If ranked properly, the Sea Princess could easily replace Brigitte the Emerald Swan, who ranked fourth among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts. With both mental and ice attributes, her true combat power was no less than that of the Snow Empress, who ranked third among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts.
As Xu Zihuang continued forward, the sea surface no longer had just floating ice; even icebergs began to appear. Some particularly massive icebergs were like small landmasses. There were also some sea soul beasts on the ice and in the ocean, but their strength was not particularly high.
The special level-6 soul guide shield attached to the Demon Whale could conceal its form, and with the shed skin of Tian Meng masking his aura, these sea soul beasts—with cultivation at most in the thousand-year level—naturally could not detect his presence.
But Xu Zihuang gradually slowed down. It was not out of fear of accidentally colliding with these icebergs, nor was he wary of these sea soul beasts; rather, he had more important matters to attend to.
"Tian Meng."
In his mental sea, Tian Meng, who had been sleeping, vaguely sensed the rapid drop in external temperature. Called by Xu Zihuang, it instantly woke up.
Having lived in the Extreme North since young, such a cold environment not only did not affect me but gave me a feeling of all its pores opening comfortably.
Tian Meng let out a sleazy moan.
"Ahh, so refreshing!"
Its chubby body twisted in the brilliant golden mental sea, revealing its round head as it asked, somewhat puzzled, "Zihuang, why did you head out to sea in the middle of the night?"
Xu Zihuang directly transmitted the memory of his earlier conversation with An Xiong and the other two to Tian Meng, then seriously said to it.
"This sea training, I don't know when I'll encounter an attack from powerful sea soul beasts. Skydream, release the seal on your mental origin. It's time to enhance the years of my first three soul rings."
Tian Meng, still reading that memory segment, was stunned at first, then began wriggling frantically, its shiny golden little eyes filled with excitement.
"Zihuang, you've decided?!"
From its perspective, it couldn't wait for Xu Zihuang to become stronger. It had mentioned this matter several times before, only to be refused by the naturally cautious Xu Zihuang.
"Yes." Xu Zihuang nodded firmly.
The excitement in Tian Meng's eyes did not diminish as it lewdly chuckled with a sinister smile.
"Then bro's starting, okay? Bro's mental origin energy is very intense, Zihuang, endure it a bit."
"Cut the nonsense, hurry up." Xu Zihuang urged impatiently.
"Don't rush." Tian Meng's voice became slightly more serious as it mobilized one of the golden light clusters suspended above the mental sea. It was dazzling like a golden sun.
When Tian Meng actively fused with him back then, it had divided its mental origin power into ten golden light clusters. The vast majority of the energy in five of those golden light clusters had been integrated by Tian Meng into his mental sea, which was why he could break through continuously so quickly on the mental level.
Another portion was used to remodel his body.
If all of it were used to enhance soul ring years, it could completely raise his first five soul rings to the 100,000-year level.
However, Tian Meng using its mental origin power this way did not make Xu Zihuang feel it was wasteful. As long as Tian Meng was given enough ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow, it could absorb the energy from the ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow to condense more mental origin power.
After this training, he planned to visit the Earth Dragon Sect and let Tian Meng absorb the energy from those ten-thousand-year-old profound ice marrows. Perhaps in the future, he could even rely on ten-thousand-year profound ice marrow and Tian Meng to raise ferocious beast soul rings like Di Tian and the Evil Emperor to the million-year level.
Of course, these were still far too distant for the current him.
While Xu Zihuang's thoughts flew, Tian Meng mobilized that golden light cluster and merged it into his mental sea. The golden ocean-like mental sea instantly boiled.
This golden light cluster contained energy equivalent to a 100,000-year soul ring. Although it lacked the ferocity and savagery of the 100,000-year pure mental-type Evil Eye Tyrant soul ring he had absorbed, fusing its energy would still take him at least several hours.
His first three soul rings were respectively 5,000 years, 5,000 years, and over 8,000 years.
On average, after completing the fusion, the years of his first three soul rings could all be raised to the 40,000-year realm.
"Zihuang, although with your body's strength, you could continue enhancing, let's stop here for now. You need some time to adapt. You just absorbed a 100,000-year soul ring and a 100,000-year soul bone, if bro releases the seal on the second mental origin cluster, it might place a huge burden on your body." In this situation, Tian Meng unusually remained calm.
"That was my original plan."
Xu Zihuang naturally had no objection; this was exactly what he had intended from the start. There was no rush to raise the earlier soul rings to the 100,000-year level.
He was now guiding the fusion of Tian Meng's mental origin power, using soul power to drive the Demon Whale, communicating with Tian Meng, and releasing mental power to detect the surroundings. Fortunately, his mental power had broken through to the tangible and substantial realm and successfully condensed a mental-attribute soul core, allowing him to do all this.
But if he encountered an attack from a powerful sea soul beast, it would be somewhat difficult to cope.
It was precisely for these considerations that he prepared to fully speed toward the habitat of that flock of Golden Flame Birds after fusing Tian Meng's mental origin power.
A thoughtful look appeared in Tian Meng's small eyes. After a moment of silence, it said, "Zihuang, do you remember what bro told you back then? About when bro drilled out from the bottom of the ice cave into the sea and encountered the first enemy. If that guy is still alive, its territory is quite close to your route."
"The ten-thousand-year soul beast you scared off with mental power?" Xu Zihuang recalled and asked in return.
Hearing this, Tian Meng felt a bit embarrassed. Back then, it thought itself a powerful 900,000-year soul beast; how arrogant it was. Only when it met that guy did it realize it was nothing.
It had cultivation but combat power inferior to some ten-thousand-year soul beasts.
"Ahem—" Tian Meng lightly coughed, masking its embarrassment.
"No choice, that guy was a demonic whale-type soul beast, innately a hegemon in the ocean."
"Ten-thousand-year demonic whale?"
"Mm, although that guy couldn't compare to the Deep Sea Demon Whale clan or the Evil Demon Tiger Whale clan, among demonic whale-type soul beasts, it was still one of the outstanding ones."
"..."
In the exchange between man and beast, time passed swiftly. When daylight broke, Xu Zihuang finally fully fused the energy from that cluster of Tian Meng's mental origin.
He simultaneously deactivated the soul guide shield, revealing his figure. The piercing sea wind blew against his face, fluttering his long black hair, and the fluffy thousand-year purple marten fur coat billowed accordingly.
Looking up into the distance, his deep purple eyes reflected the endless deep blue ocean, and the corners of his mouth curved into a slight arc.
An unparalleled aura was released, pressuring some sea soul beasts on a nearby iceberg to tremble, lower their heads, and let out whimpers.
The further enhancement of his own strength, though not causing much fluctuation in his state of mind, gave him no reason to hide his pleasant mood.
With his current soul ring configuration, plus that 80,000-year Thunder Hell Prison Vine right leg bone and the Imperial Dragon Claw, even among Title Douluo-level experts, those whose soul skills could surpass his in quality were few and far between.
This was the confidence brought by strength. The moment of his revenge was not far off.
Then Xu Zihuang fully urged the Demon Whale with soul power to speed across the sea.
Tian Meng was still chattering excitedly in his mental sea.
"By the way, Zihuang, that group of plant-type soul beasts at the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye aren't good things either. Their combat power isn't strong—once you fuse bro's million-year seventh soul ring, you'll definitely crush them easily. Those bastards tried to scheme against you back then, right? Next time we go, dig them all up."
It grew more excited the more it thought, its ideas becoming more vicious one after another. It had just mentioned digging out whale brain from that ten-thousand-year demonic whale, then hummed about uprooting the plant-type soul beasts in the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Eye.
It gave quite the impression of relying on someone's power to bully others.
Yet Tian Meng felt no shame, but rather pride. It was immensely glad it had met Xu Zihuang.
Relying on power, it would, anyway, be finally getting its revenge.
Xu Zihuang couldn't help but find it amusing. With Tian Meng chattering in his ear, another half hour passed in the blink of an eye.
Along the way, he also encountered several sea soul beasts that actively attacked him, but he easily dealt with them without even using soul skills.
Xu Zihuang stood at the front of the Demon Whale, holding the long sword Shark Tooth, letting the sea wind blow. On the eastern sea horizon, the morning sun was rising. The weather in this sea area far from the continent was completely opposite to that around Qianling City.
Qianling City had perennial snow, while the weather in this boundary area between the near sea and the deep sea was extremely clear.
Xu Zihuang gazed at the golden sun slowly rising from the distant east, seemingly sensing something as he released his Golden Pupil martial soul. Obscure and complex brilliant golden pupils swirled with halos around them, the pupils contracting.
In front of the golden sun, he saw golden flying birds, their bodies rising with golden flames, extraordinarily divine.
These should be the Golden Flame Birds Shen Ce mentioned, indeed unique.
Those Golden Flame Birds were at least fifty kilometers away from him. Even with the ability of his Golden Pupil martial soul, he could only vaguely see their outlines. But one thing was certain: this flock of Golden Flame Birds was absorbing the sun's energy.
And at that moment, a black figure as fast as lightning broke out of the water in the sea area to Xu Zihuang's right.
It was a fish, entirely jet black, about eight meters long. Its front mouth was like a sharp spear, occupying more than one-third of its body. After leaping out of the sea, black light flickered on its body as it accelerated again, stabbing toward his chest.
That extremely sharp aura was almost comparable to Ji Juechen's sword qi attack.
Demon Arrow Fish, more accurately, a Demon Arrow Fish with cultivation exceeding 20,000 years. This was also the sea soul beast Shen Ce first mentioned as suitable for his sixth soul ring, living at the boundary between the near sea and deep sea areas, living in groups with extremely strong aggression and territorial awareness.
Xu Zihuang bent his right hand, horizontally blocking with the long sword Shark Tooth on his right side, lightly deflecting the attack.
"Clang—"
The sharp upper jaw of the ten-thousand-year Demon Arrow Fish sparked a series of sparks on the blade of Shark Tooth, producing a sound like metal clashing. This showed its hardness.
Although this strike was blocked by Xu Zihuang, he and the Demon Whale were still pushed back dozens of meters across the sea by the terrifying force.
In his perception, beneath this sea area, at least a hundred Demon Arrow Fish of varying cultivation were rapidly approaching his location.
Xu Zihuang smiled coldly, and an incomparably shocking six soul rings rose successively from his feet.
Black! Black! Black! Black! Black! Red!
Five black and one red, this was his current soul ring configuration. The pitch-black second soul ring shone, and strange dark red ripples instantly covered the sea surface within a two-kilometer radius.
The sea surface seemed to be neatly cut out, forming a massive dark red crystal cube.
"Shatter."
A soft murmur sounded, and the dark red crystal cube quietly shattered. An incomparably shocking scene appeared. A bottomless cubic void appeared on the sea surface, missing exactly that dark red crystal cube.
The seawater condensed into dark red crystals by Xu Zihuang's second soul skill, Mirror Shatter, directly turned into scattered crystal fragments filling the sky.
White, yellow, purple, black, over a hundred soul rings of various colors appeared in the cubic void on the sea surface.
A powerful sea soul beast clan thus perished.
Countless seawaters surged into this void, also engulfing those soul rings.
Waves splashed hundreds of meters high, taking a long time to calm.
This was the power of his full release of the 40,000-year soul ring skill Mirror Shatter. Mirror Shatter was a powerful soul skill combining soul power and mental power. With the support of a soul core, plus the enhancement of tangible and substantial mental power, it was only natural for Mirror Shatter, released by him, to have such might.
Layer upon layer of waves with strong force crushed chunks of floating ice, and several icebergs shattered amid booming roars. The chain reaction caused the disturbance in this sea area to grow larger, spreading incessantly across dozens of kilometers.
Xu Zihuang had no choice but to stow the Demon Whale and step on a dark red crystal mirror surface to rise into the air.
Tian Meng couldn't help swallowing saliva.
"Zihuang, the commotion you caused is too big."
It had watched the entire confrontation from start to finish. Although Xu Zihuang's strength was enough to easily handle this group of Demon Arrow Fish, he hadn't expected that Mirror Shatter with the soul ring years raised to 40,000 would have such terrifying power.
That was condensing a two-kilometer-diameter sea cube into a dark red crystal.
"If that guy is still alive, such commotion would surely alert him. Skydream, as you said, today we'll dig out that guy's whale brain. Consider it avenging you." Xu Zihuang smiled faintly, carefully sensing the nearby sea area with mental power.
His purpose in coming out this time was training. The demonic whale-type soul beast Tian Meng encountered back then was a suitable trial opponent. Moreover, he now needed some high-quality whale brain to help Ye Guyi improve her physical quality, so she could successfully fuse the 100,000-year Blazing Apricot Delicate's soul ring at level 70.
He had a piece of 100,000-year-old whale brain given by Gu Yu, but one piece was clearly not enough. Besides that, his planned arrangement was to have Ye Guyi take another Immortal Herb, Immortal Heartbroken Red, to ensure absolute safety.
Now Tian Meng immediately became interested. Back then, it had been utterly humiliated by that guy.
"Zihuang, you're right, we must ruthlessly get revenge on that bastard!"
"Buzz—"
Before Tian Meng finished speaking, the northern sea area suddenly trembled violently, the intense vibration even transmitting into the air. If it were another Soul Emperor here, they would likely fall into dizziness under this strong oscillation.
A huge shadow was approaching Xu Zihuang's location at incredible speed in the water, crossing dozens of kilometers in the blink of an eye, clearly appearing in his sight.
It was an enormous deep blue whale, at least over fifty meters long, emanating extremely powerful soul power fluctuations.
Unlike the ten-thousand-year Evil Demon Tiger Whale Xu Zihuang had once seen with his own eyes, this whale-type soul beast had peculiar body proportions, with an especially massive head occupying nearly two-thirds of its entire body.
Giant Head Demon Whale: This was an extremely powerful demonic whale-type soul beast. Judging by its size and soul power fluctuations, this Giant Head Demon Whale should have nearly 50,000 years of cultivation.
The Giant Head Demon Whale's equally deep blue eyes revealed cold and greedy gazes. It had indeed been alerted by the commotion Xu Zihuang caused earlier, but what truly attracted it was Xu Zihuang's body emanating a pure life aura.
Several ferocious scars on its massive head from battles with other sea soul beasts wriggled a few times, and a thick water column over five meters in diameter with distorted halos suddenly shot skyward. Immediately after, seawater surged, and a low whale song resounded throughout the entire sea area, startling all creatures in this sea area into chaos.
A massive deep blue vortex condensed at the blowhole on the Giant Head Demon Whale's head, bursting with powerful suction force.
That terrifying suction was countless times stronger than the gravity control soul skill Xu Zihuang had personally experienced. The surrounding air seemed to become viscous, like being in a swamp, making it difficult to move.
Seeing the familiar scars on this Giant Head Demon Whale's head, Tian Meng also confirmed its identity.
"Zihuang, this is that bastard!"
Xu Zihuang's body was pulled downward rapidly by the deep blue vortex, but his expression showed no change as he put away the long sword Shark Tooth. Five black and one red, his six soul rings rhythmically moved around him.
His gaze focused, and a two-kilometer-diameter dark red crystal cube appeared again, instantly enveloping the Giant Head Demon Whale's massive body. The rotating deep blue vortex was forcibly stopped.
The reason Evil Demon Tiger Whales were so domineering in the ocean was precisely that this innate soul skill countered other sea soul beasts.
"Crash—"
Clear shattering sounds rang out, and another abyss-like cubic void formed on the sea surface. The Giant Head Demon Whale's body was suspended in the center of this void.
No matter how powerful a sea soul beast, once separated from seawater, its overall strength would plummet.
And in the next instant, Xu Zihuang's third soul skill, Time Disorder control, arrived. 40,000-year level Time Disorder was almost instantaneous, causing the Giant Head Demon Whale's movements, internal soul power circulation, and even thinking to become sluggish.
Finally, a sudden silver-white light shone in Xu Zihuang's brilliant golden eyes, gold and silver colors blending. A bizarre silver eye pupil emerged out of thin air behind him.
A terrifying silver light beam three meters in diameter shot from that silver eye pupil, directly piercing through the Giant Head Demon Whale's head.
100,000-year soul bone skill, Evil Eye Gaze. The most powerful innate attack soul skill of pure mental-type Evil Eye Tyrants, and also their most terrifying ability. Back then, when the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler personally used this skill to hit the Beast God Di Tian, even the Beast God Di Tian was frozen for five seconds, only able to take hits passively.
As the most powerful innate attack soul skill of pure mental-type Evil Eye Tyrants, Evil Eye Gaze was naturally recorded in the head soul bone dropped by the 100,000-year pure mental-type Evil Eye Tyrant, obtained by Xu Zihuang.
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