Bo Saixi struggled to withdraw her right hand. Her heart lurched with several uncontrollable tugs. She turned to look at the Sea God's Temple standing high atop the divine mountain and murmured in a strange voice, "He succeeded."
A red figure rose into the air. No one saw that, at that moment, a single crystal-clear tear like a pearl had slipped from the corner of Bo Saixi's eye.
None of the Shrek Seven Devils disturbed Tang San. He simply sat cross-legged and motionless, as though he had fossilized into something ancient and eternal. And at this moment, his entire body was saturated with the color of blood. He looked like a statue carved from crimson.
Dai Mubai, Oscar, Ma Hongjun, Zhu Zhuqing, Ning Rongrong — the eyes of all five were ignited one by one. The process of Tang San enduring his god-granted Soul Ring had moved each of them. No one even spoke. Ning Rongrong took Xiao Wu's hand, and the six of them climbed the steps leading to the Sea God's Temple together. They ascended directly to the twenty-fifth step before sitting down. Tang San had already broken past his limits — but where were their own? Even Bai Chenxiang walked straight up to the tenth step before settling down.
At the foot of the divine mountain, everything returned to quiet. Six people cultivating earnestly, Xiao Wu passively enduring the pressure, and Tang San — that blood-red statue, utterly still.
Tang San sat there for a full hundred days. For an entire month, he never moved. The bright red blood on his body had turned purple-black, forming a hard crust over the surface of his skin. If not for the faint but steady heartbeat that could still be felt, and the words Sea God Douluo Bo Saixi had spoken before leaving, everyone would have assumed that Tang San had become a statue forever.
One hundred days. One hundred days without the slightest movement. Just as the final day arrived, a tearing, shattering sound jolted everyone from their cultivation.
Cracks began to appear across the hardened crust on Tang San's body — that tearing, shattering sound had come from this very thing.
Seven figures sprang into the air. At this moment, they could no longer be bothered with cultivation. After a hundred days of agonized waiting, the person they had been waiting for was finally showing signs of life.
The cracking spread further and further. Gradually, the chunks of purple-black crust began to flake away, revealing skin beneath that shimmered with a faint blue-gold glow. What surprised everyone was that even Tang San's hair had fallen off during this process — the strands that had fused to the crust crumbled away along with it.
"Mm—" A soft hum sounded. The exposed skin on Tang San's body began to take on a faint blue-gold sheen. Then the color grew more and more intense. The light spread outward, each beam of blue-gold radiance seeming to drive away the filth on his body.
With a sharp crack, in that instant, time itself seemed to freeze. All the remaining filth on Tang San's body was flung off in a single heartbeat, revealing his nearly perfect physique. The intense blue-gold glow made him seem like another sun — a second sun to rival the blazing star in the sky. Under that blinding radiance and the violent surges of energy, everyone stumbled backward.
Within that sea of blue-gold light, the figure that had been sitting on the ground slowly rose to its feet and stretched both arms powerfully outward. From within him came a series of crisp, clanging sounds of bones cracking and expanding — yes, clanging, as though his entire body were stretching outward in every direction.
When his body had extended to its absolute limit, suddenly, a clear, piercing cry rang out like the roar of a dragon. The Shrek Six Devils felt the world around them instantly transform into an ocean of blue-gold. The next instant, they discovered with astonishment that the surrounding Ring Sea and the divine mountain had vanished. They were standing in the midst of a dense, vast forest. And every single plant in this forest was blue-gold.
On the ground, a thick carpet of Blue Silver Emperor swayed gently. The surrounding plants all looked as though they had been carved from sapphires and bathed in golden sunlight, suffused with an almost dreamlike beauty.
Before they could even react, the scenery around them suddenly shifted. The previous brightness and boundless aura of life vanished without warning. In their place came extreme cold and a world shrouded in white mist. Countless killing auras prowled around them like razor-sharp blades, giving them the feeling that their bodies could be torn apart at any moment.
Most terrifying of all was the tremor that rose from deep within their hearts. In almost an instant, the sensation of fear made them feel as though they were being crushed by some unseen, overwhelming force. Even the simplest movement became nearly impossible. If not for the long period of enduring the Sea God's Light's pressure, this extreme terror born from a world steeped in killing intent would have driven them mad on the spot.
Fortunately, the horrifying sensation did not last long. Just when everyone felt as though their hearts might burst, the pressure around them eased. The aura — reminiscent of an asura's hell — vanished in an instant. The surroundings returned to what they recognized. They were still at the foot of the Sea God's Mountain, and the clear Ring Sea still lay before them.
The overwhelming sense of relief made everyone's breathing ragged. They gasped in great heaves, eyes wide with horror as they instinctively stepped back. Xiao Wu, however, still stood there in a daze, completely unaffected. Without a soul, she apparently had not felt the terrifying pressure that had just assailed the others.
In truth, the reason she had not been subjected to that nightmarish ordeal was not because she lacked a soul. The horrifying visions had been far more than mere mental attacks. The reason Xiao Wu suffered no harm was that her soul resided within the very body of the person who had unleashed those visions. When life forces are intimately connected, the resulting harm is naturally nullified.
The blue-gold light gradually receded. Everyone struggled to collect themselves and could make out a figure moving within the glow. Soon, all the light sank completely into that single person's body, revealing his true form.
Everyone let out a deep, relieved sigh. As they looked at the revealed figure, their expressions all turned rather peculiar, and smiles crept onto their faces.
Standing there, Tang San was already wearing a clean long robe that covered his body. Unlike Ma Hongjun, who had been left completely bare after obtaining his Soul Ring, Tang San had taken the opportunity during the flickering of silhouettes within the light to get dressed.
Still, he looked even more ridiculous than Ma Hongjun had back then. His smooth, completely hairless head gleamed enough to reflect sunlight; not a single eyebrow remained either. Though he was still as handsome as ever, and the clear blue of his eyes was even more brilliant than before, his bald appearance was enough to snap the Shrek Five Devils and Bai Chenxiang out of their lingering fear almost instantly.
At this moment, Tang San's exposed skin was shrouded in a faint golden glow. Aside from his hair and eyebrows, the most dramatic transformation was undoubtedly the Eight Spider Lances on his back.
The Eight Spider Lances hadn't changed in size and remained just as translucent as before, but their overall color had undergone a complete revolution. The terrifying blood-red they once radiated had been entirely replaced by a sacred golden hue. Unfurling behind Tang San like eight brilliant golden arms, they shimmered with golden light, and faintly, a golden halo had formed behind them.
In truth, this marked the third evolution of the Eight Spider Lances. From the moment he first obtained them, to his hunt for the second Man-Faced Demon Spider and the acquisition of Xiao Wu's hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring, and now to this very moment—through each successive evolution, these external Soul Bones had grown not more grotesque, but ever more magnificent.
"Xiao San, you—hahahaha—" Dai Mubai was the first who couldn't hold back, bursting into laughter. His laughter set off a chain reaction, and the others couldn't help but join in.
Tang San's consciousness had only just returned to clarity, his mind still slightly foggy. "What are you all laughing at?"
Ning Rongrong giggled softly. "Third Brother, your hair and eyebrows…"
Oscar and Ma Hongjun exchanged a glance, and both couldn't help but share a mischievous grin. Hair and eyebrows gone—so what about the hair everywhere else… heh heh.
Tang San blinked, then hurriedly reached up to feel the top of his head. Only then did he discover the source of everyone's amusement. Looking down at the hard scabs scattered on the ground around him, he couldn't help but let a bitter smile cross his face.
Still, the exhilaration he felt inside was utterly unparalleled. A cool, refreshing sensation poured in through every pore across his entire body. Without even needing to open his eyes, every detail of his surroundings had already formed a three-dimensional image within his mind. He could even perceive shifts in the intensity of sunlight in the air with perfect clarity.
It was a wonderful feeling of absolute control. The Mysterious Heaven Skill's internal energy within his body had shifted entirely from white to golden, flowing through his meridians like liquid mercury. As his mind grew sharper and more lucid, more and more revelations surfaced. It seemed his spiritual power had reached the same realm as his Purple Extreme Demon Eye—that level of microscopic perception that could discern how even the tiniest nerves within his body operated.
Yet even though he could now command every aspect of himself, he had no idea whatsoever what level he had truly reached.
Almost instinctively, Tang San activated his Blue Silver Emperor. In that instant, dozens of clear blue Blue Silver Emperor stalks erupted from his body. This time, the golden vein-like patterns that once ran through them were gone, but each stalk was now cloaked in a thin layer of faint golden light.
As his Martial Soul released itself, seven Soul Rings rose one after another from beneath his feet, radiating outward around his body.
Yellow, yellow, purple, black, black, red, red. Seven perfectly arranged Soul Rings that nonetheless carried an overwhelmingly moving presence. In that moment, Tang San felt as though he could hear the pulse of every plant across the entire Sea God Mountain, and every stalk of Blue Silver Emperor moved as naturally as his own arm. He was confident that no matter how complex the motion, these Blue Silver Emperor stalks could execute it flawlessly.
The agony that had nearly torn him to shreds had not been endured in vain. The seventh Soul Ring—vivid crimson from end to end—was the finest reward.
Dai Mubai, Oscar, Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, Ma Hongjun, and Bai Chenxiang had all let the smiles fade from their faces. Gazing at Tang San's seventh Soul Ring—that blood-red ring signifying the hundred-thousand-year tier—they couldn't utter a single word.
If Tang San's sixth Soul Ring reaching the hundred-thousand-year tier had been due to the special circumstances of Xiao Wu's sacrifice, then this seventh Soul Ring—solidly and unmistakably his own—had been earned through his fearless endurance and unparalleled willpower.
To obtain this seventh Soul Ring, the pain Tang San had endured and the price he had paid were absolutely greater than those required to absorb a true hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring. Even possessing four Soul Bones, with his current strength he should not have been able to absorb a hundred-thousand-year Soul Ring. It was a complete transcendence of his level. And yet, he had done it.
For Soul Masters, the seventh Soul Ring represented the most critical leap in power. Tang San continued to proclaim his strength through a perfect hundred-thousand-year tier Soul Ring. If his Twin Martial Soul was talent, then this seventh Soul Ring was the blossoming of sheer defiance.
Tang San slowly raised his right hand. The newly acquired seventh Soul Ring rose gently at the beckoning of his palm, expanding as it ascended. In a flash, it transformed into a blood-red dome of light that completely enveloped Tang San's body.
The crimson light silently seeped inward, and Tang San's body transformed instantly. Fused with that red radiance, his entire figure became almost translucent, his skin shimmering with the same clear blue luster as the Blue Silver Emperor, interwoven with golden light carrying the essence of nature.
He looked, in that moment, like a human-shaped Blue Silver Emperor.
This was Tang San's seventh Soul Skill—Blue Silver Avatar.
The Blue Silver Avatar's effect: all abilities of the Blue Silver Emperor were amplified by one hundred percent, and any single Blue Silver Emperor stalk could serve as a vessel for Tang San's body. In other words, unless every last Blue Silver Emperor stalk was destroyed, Tang San could materialize his body at any point within their range at will to evade attack.
Spreading his arms wide, Tang San—now in the Blue Silver Avatar form—saw his eyes flash to gold in an instant. The next moment, radiating outward from his body as the epicenter, a wave of blue-gold light surged from beneath his feet, engulfing an area a hundred meters in diameter in the blink of an eye.
In terms of feel, the hundred-meter diameter might not seem like much, but within that range, everything had turned blue-gold in color. That included the other members of the Shrek Seven Devils as well.
Everyone clearly sensed an incomparably vast wave of life energy permeating the space around their bodies—an indescribably pleasant sensation. But at the same time, they realized that their movements had begun to slow, and everything around them had grown hazy and indistinct. At that very moment, the Eight Spider Lances on Tang San's back blazed with golden light, and strand after strand of golden luminescence began to fill this blue-gold world.
The gossamer-thin golden threads were impossible to dodge. Everyone felt their bodies tighten ever so slightly, and then, as if a dam had burst, their own Soul Power surged outward and trickled along those luminous strands in a slow, steady flow.
They tried to break free, but the golden threads clung to them like parasites burrowed into bone. And the Soul Power they were losing transformed under those threads into even brighter light that ultimately converged into the Eight Spider Lances before flowing into Tang San's body.
Layer upon layer of dense tree shadows materialized, obscuring Tang San's figure. Every plant within the Sea God Mountain's shrouded zone had likewise turned blue-gold, and a forest of tree silhouettes—along with countless writhing vines—sprang into existence in the surrounding space. At this moment, not even the light of the sun could penetrate this blue-gold realm. The immense life energy blanketed each person as tree branches grew at a frantic pace and plant veins extended with astonishing speed, all of them reaching toward the other members of the Shrek Seven Devils. In the span of just a few blinks, everyone realized they had been completely surrounded.
A panic-stricken pressure rose from the depths of their hearts, and driven by that oppressive force, they all released their Martial Souls in rapid succession.
But even Fatty's scorching Phoenix flames merely added a few more golden highlights to this blue-gold world. Every single one of them discovered that their Martial Soul had been utterly suppressed by that overwhelming tide of life energy.