What should he do? Tang San's mind raced at breakneck speed. Before facing the Sea God Douluo Bo Saixi head-on, no one could judge just how powerful she truly was. But from the very start, she had dealt them a crushing blow. What had to be understood was that even now, Bo Saixi had not yet summoned her Martial Soul. In other words, the colossal vortex she had unleashed was not a soul skill born of a Soul Ring or a Soul Bone — it was generated purely through the force of her own Soul Power. And with it, she had effortlessly pinned down one Soul Douluo, four Soul Saints, and a Xiao Wu whose Soul Power level was unknown.
Ning Rongrong and Oscar were being dragged ever closer to Bo Saixi. In this critical moment, it was Tang San's decisiveness that showed itself. Without a shred of hesitation, he turned and dove back, using the pulling force emanating from Bo Saixi to propel himself toward her.
Tang San's reasoning was crystal clear. Among the seven devils, Oscar and Ning Rongrong had the lowest combat strength — but they were absolutely indispensable. Without their support, the group's overall fighting power would drop by an enormous margin. At a time like this, he could not afford to consider anything else. No matter what happened, he could not allow those two to fall into Bo Saixi's hands. If that occurred, with Bo Saixi's strength, defeating the remaining four would be child's play.
Without switching back to his own Martial Soul, Tang San continued to fly using his Needle-Tailed Swift form. Hovering midair, his eyes blazed to life. Amid the deep blue radiance, his pupils transformed into gold. Simultaneously, the Sea God Trident mark on his forehead erupted with an intense beam of blue light — concentrated and unwavering — that shot straight toward Bo Saixi. It was the Sea God's Light.
Tang San would not strike without purpose. The pressure generated by the Sea God's Light possessed the ability to suppress all sea creatures and sea soul masters. No matter how powerful the Sea God Douluo Bo Saixi was, she was not the Sea God herself. She was merely the High Priest of Seagod Island, still within the category of sea soul masters.
Sure enough, when the Sea God's Light fell upon Bo Saixi, her expression shifted subtly. Tang San distinctly felt the suction force on the group loosen by a fraction. In that instant, two piercing beams of golden light shot from his eyes like bolts of lightning — yes, golden, no longer the purple-gold of before. The beams were impossibly thin, appearing almost like several strands of silk twisted together. Yet even before such slender rays of light, the expression on the Sea God Douluo Bo Saixi's face turned more grave than it had ever been before.
Facing Bo Saixi, Tang San held nothing back. Or rather, under the overwhelming pressure she imposed, his own potential had been pushed to its absolute limit. The strike before him could be called the pinnacle blow of his Purple Extreme Demon Eye after reaching the Vast Ocean stage. Every last scrap of his spiritual power had been compressed into those two tiny beams of golden light. Not a fraction of energy leaked outward. To the naked eye, one could not even sense how powerful it truly was.
But while others could not perceive it, Bo Saixi — whose spiritual power had also reached that same level — sensed it with perfect clarity. For her, Tang San's strength was nothing to fear. However, his spiritual power at the Vast Ocean stage was enough to pose a genuine threat. Though Tang San had possessed spiritual power at this level for only a short time and his usage was still crude and immature compared to her refined control — it was, after all, energy at the same tier. She had no choice but to treat it with caution.
Bo Saixi's hands, previously clasped loosely before her body, rose to her face and pressed together in prayer. A red brand surfaced on her forehead. The mark bore an appearance identical to the golden trident on Tang San's brow — only his was gold while hers was a deep crimson.
A beam of dark red light first illuminated her pressed palms, then erupted outward like a blade of light, slashing toward the two golden beams pouring from Tang San's eyes.
In this moment, the terrifying power of the Purple Extreme Demon Eye revealed itself. It functioned as a medium for Tang San to release spiritual energy, converting it into a directed attack. Without the Purple Extreme Demon Eye, his spiritual power could only be deployed in a wide-area spread and could not be condensed to this degree. Bo Saixi clearly did not possess an ability like the Purple Extreme Demon Eye — yet the fact that she could channel spiritual power through her palms and unleash it as an offensive strike was already a godlike feat. But even so, the degree of her spiritual concentration could not match the Purple Extreme Demon Eye's.
Dark red and brilliant gold — the two colors collided silently in midair. To be precise, they met without a sound.
The five monsters of Shrek felt their bodies go light. The suction force that had been pressing down on them vanished in an instant. The group had long planned for this moment. Without so much as glancing at the battlefield, they accelerated again, each blasting off in their respective directions.
Because her hands were pressed together, the incense stick Bo Saixi held had been caught between her palms — a somewhat peculiar sight, almost as though she were paying reverence to something. In the soundless collision of spiritual forces, Tang San's body trembled violently, while Bo Saixi's figure drifted backward, arriving a thousand meters away in the blink of an eye. The force of that silent impact was clearly terrifying.
Tang San's face turned deathly pale in an instant. Blood streamed simultaneously from his nostrils and ears, like writhing little serpents. He had, it was true, achieved a higher degree of spiritual concentration than Bo Saixi. However, in terms of total spiritual power, he still fell short. In the clash at the spiritual level, they had fought to a draw. And it was here that Bo Saixi demonstrated the full depth of her power. Though both had suffered equal impact from the mutual spiritual collision, their reactions were entirely different. She merely retreated — she did not bleed from the nose and mouth or suffer the violent spiritual backlash that Tang San did.
Tang San's vision blurred before finally clearing. At this moment, his mind became extraordinarily lucid. He instantly recognized the gap between himself and Bo Saixi.
He was right — at the spiritual level, he had indeed reached the same tier as Bo Saixi. But in terms of how spiritual power was wielded, the two of them were not even in the same league. Bo Saixi's mastery over spiritual energy was simply too formidable. After their attacks collided, she had neutralized the resulting shockwave through a special technique of dispersing force.
One had to remember — spiritual power was not the same as Soul Power. If it were Soul Power, Tang San would have countless methods to dissipate the shockwave. But to use spiritual power in the same way one dissipated Soul Power — forget executing it, he had never even conceived of such a thing. Bo Saixi had, without question, given him a profound lesson through her actions. Unfortunately, that lesson was an agonizingly painful one.
At that moment, Tang San felt as though his skull would split open. Spiritual energy surged chaotically through his mind. Though the Sea God's Light within the trident helped him contain this energy, it still brought him tremendous pain. Launching another Purple Extreme Demon Eye attack would be absolutely impossible for the time being. And at this very moment, Bo Saixi — still a thousand meters away — had already turned and was flying directly toward him. It seemed she had made up her mind: she would defeat Tang San first, then go after the others. After all, Tang San's spiritual power was the only thing among the six Shrek monsters that could pose a genuine threat to her.
Facing Bo Saixi — to say nothing of whether she released any energy to intimidate — simply looking at this Sea God Douluo was enough to generate crushing pressure within Tang San's heart. The power of a peak Douluo had already reached such an extraordinary degree. She hadn't even released her Martial Soul, yet he was already utterly outmatched? Was he to lose just like this?
An ordinary person might have been discouraged in such a moment, or even lost the will to resist. But Tang San was not an ordinary person. The greater the pressure he faced, the fiercer his resistance became. He bit down hard on the tip of his tongue, using the stinging pain to force a measure of focus into his mind, and forcibly suppressed the turmoil within. Rather than retreating, he surged forward, charging straight at the Sea God Douluo Bo Saixi.
Seeing the unwavering conviction burning in Tang San's eyes, Bo Saixi nodded inwardly in approval. Power that was lacking could always be improved through cultivation — but if a person lost their confidence, determination, and perseverance, then no amount of effort would ever make them a top-tier powerhouse. Tang San clearly possessed all of these qualities.
However, admiring Tang San did not mean she would show mercy. A light, effortless palm drifted toward him. It looked as though her strike did not even stir the faintest ripple of energy.
A flash of light sparked in Tang San's eyes. As he flew toward Bo Saixi, he had already cancelled the effect of his Copy Mirror Sausage, releasing his Blue Silver Emperor and simultaneously activating his seventh soul skill, Blue Silver Avatar, and his sixth soul skill, Void. With both skills active at once, Tang San's body took on an ethereal, almost phantom-like quality. The blue-gold radiance shimmered brilliantly under the morning sun.
A flash of light — Tang San's body vanished from its spot. Xiao Wu's Bone Skill: Instant Teleportation had been activated. When he reappeared, he was behind the Sea God Douluo Bo Saixi. Without a moment's hesitation, he threw a punch. This attack did not employ any skill — not because his fist carried extraordinary force, but because striking with his fist allowed the fastest possible response time, free from the brief delay that came with activating a soul skill.
At that moment, before the Sea God Temple, seven figures stood in silence, watching the battle unfold in the sky above. The mere fact that they could stand here spoke to their identity. These seven were the guardian Titled Douluo of the Sea God's Seven Sacred Pillars.
Sea Star Douluo sighed, "How many years has it been since anyone dared to launch a direct attack against Lady Bo Saixi? Sea Dragon, would you dare?"
Sea Dragon Douluo froze for a moment, then shook his head helplessly. "I couldn't. Facing Her Ladyship, I simply cannot generate any thought of attack. I imagine you all feel the same way. In our hearts, Her Ladyship has long become the second god — after the Sea God himself."
The hideously ugly Sea Demon Devil said, "That's right! This young man has real courage — to dare attack Her Ladyship head-on. And that spiritual strike just now actually forced her to retreat. That alone is something to be immensely proud of. The last person who made Her Ladyship retreat — that was the patriarch of the Clear Sky School, wasn't it? Some fellow named Tang or something."
Sea Horse Douluo added, "That man was Tang San's great-grandfather. Sea Dragon, didn't you notice? The hammer Tang San used to defeat you the other day looked very similar to that man's. The only difference is that his hammer doesn't have Soul Rings yet."
Sea Dragon sighed. "This kid has an incredibly bright future. If he really manages to bring both of his Martial Souls to nine rings — perhaps he'll truly have the power to challenge Her Ladyship."
Sea Demon Girl spoke up. "That, we don't know. But I wonder — could the final trial of his Nine Seagod Trials include the condition of defeating Lady Bo Saixi?"
Sea Dragon frowned. "Don't speak carelessly. None of us has ever seen the Nine Seagod Trials. The first six trials followed a traceable pattern, but what the final three trials actually are — I suspect even Lady Bo Saixi herself won't know until the trials truly appear. Still, I truly hope to see that day come soon. I would love to see what power surpassing even Lady Bo Saixi's would look like."
While they were speaking, Tang San's fist had already reached Bo Saixi's back. Though this attack had been delivered as a simple punch, from the activation of Instant Teleportation to the thrust of his fist, under enormous pressure, Tang San had performed well beyond his normal level. The transition flowed as smoothly as drifting clouds and running water. His Soul Power did not explode until the instant his fist neared Bo Saixi — concentrated and unyielding — surging directly toward her back.
Bo Saixi did not turn around. The crimson fabric of her long dress rippled slightly, as though inflated from within. Tang San's fist landed squarely on that red skirt.
In the next instant, Tang San clearly felt an irresistible, colossal energy spiral into existence beneath his knuckles. That force sent his body spinning a full revolution at terrifying speed — he was not even given the chance to activate Instant Teleportation before he was flung away. In that instant, an infinite ocean of Soul Power locked onto every inch of his body. The following moment, Bo Saixi appeared directly before him.
It was the first time Tang San had seen Bo Saixi's eyes so clearly. They appeared so limpid and serene, one could hardly imagine this was a woman well over a century old. A single gentle hand came to rest on Tang San's chest, halting his tumbling momentum.
It was precisely at this moment that Tang San's body erupted with brilliant golden light. For when Bo Saixi's right hand pressed against his chest, even in his Blue Silver Avatar and Void state, he felt as though his heart was about to explode from the pain. Seizing upon his body's brief pause, Tang San immediately and without hesitation activated his first Invincible Golden Body of the day.
His choice was unquestionably correct. In the next instant, Tang San's body plummeted from the sky like a meteor — so fast that it produced a piercing whistle as it fell.
Splash — his body plunged straight into the sea-within-the-sea, without even sending up a wave. Tang San felt his entire body go taut as he pierced through a hundred meters of seawater, plunging directly into the seabed silt, and still sinking deeper. Before his eyes, all had gone dark. As the depth increased, the pressure around him grew ever more immense.
To think that a single person could produce such power. Tang San dared not imagine whether, without his Martial Soul Avatar, his body would have been completely shattered under Bo Saixi's attack. From beginning to end, she had never once released her Martial Soul — yet even like this, she was already this terrifying. His own strength, already equivalent to that of a Titled Douluo, was utterly insufficient to mount any resistance against her.
Only now did Tang San truly understand why Spirit Hall's High Priest Qian Daoliu had issued a strict decree forbidding Spirit Hall from ever invading Seagod Island. Indeed, against Bo Saixi's power, what use were any number of Titled Douluo? One had to remember — Bo Saixi could also draw upon the power of the great ocean and the strength of the Seagod Temple. Here, there was scarcely any difference between her and a god.
Unable to breathe, Tang San nonetheless reacted before his body had come to a stop. A faint blue light spread from his forehead, and his form — still sinking ever deeper — vanished silently. At the same time, every trace of his aura disappeared without a trace.
Protected by the three seconds of the Invincible Golden Body, he had sustained no injuries from Bo Saixi's blow. And he had made the most correct response possible. His hands struck out twice at his sides, and the seawater and silt above his body were instantly transformed into crystal by a wash of red light. Within that crystalline shell, Tang San's body — hidden inside the Clear Sea Shield — glided smoothly like a fish, rolling at tremendous speed in a specific direction.