From Xiao Bai's eyes, Tang San could see deep gratitude. While it would have been beneficial for Xiao Bai to consume the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's corpse as well, that was nowhere near as effective as having the Devouring Golden Threads filter the energy and channel it directly into her body. This method was not only more direct but also spared her the trouble of eating the corpse. Though Xiao Bai was a carnivore, she had no interest in the million-year-old Deep Sea Demon Whale King's tough, ancient flesh.
More importantly, Tang San hadn't merely helped her — he had used the Devouring Golden Threads to boost the strength of her seven clansmen as well. For the entire Great White Shark tribe, this was an enormous blessing. As their chief, she was naturally elated.
"No need for thanks — you know we already consider you a friend," Tang San said without standing on ceremony, settling himself directly onto Xiao Bai's back and giving her a pat.
Xiao Bai sighed and said, "Tang San, I always thought that you humans — especially those beyond
"Oh?" Tang San looked at Xiao Bai with mild surprise but said nothing further. To absorb as much of the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's energy as possible, he had already spent a great deal of time, and he had no intention of letting that effort go to waste. Moreover, a million-year Soul Ring would be far from easy to absorb. Who knew what complications might arise from a million years of cultivation?
After another pat on Xiao Bai's back, Xiao Wu proactively leaped onto another Great White Shark, leaving more ample space for Tang San. He removed the Sea God's Trident from the Eight Spider Lances on his back and laid it across his knees. A flash of divine light crossed his eyes as he raised his left hand and summoned the Clear Sky Hammer once more.
Compared to when he had wielded it in battle, the Clear Sky Hammer was now noticeably diminished. Having lost all eight Soul Rings, it could maintain only its most basic form. However, upon the dark hammer's surface, the scarlet mark of the Domain of Slaughter was strikingly prominent. From it, Tang San once again sensed the same energy aura that had accompanied his decisive strike against the Deep Sea Demon Whale King. The moment the Clear Sky Hammer materialized, Xiao Bai, beneath him, visibly shuddered.
Xiao Bai was a hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast — that a mere hint of the Clear Sky Hammer's aura could provoke such a reaction spoke volumes about the quality it had reached. No, more accurately, it was the terrifying aura of the mutated Domain of Slaughter.
The Sea God's Trident mark on Tang San's forehead blazed to life. He would never be so reckless as to absorb the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's Soul Ring blindly — doing so could very well bring about his ruin. Only by fully utilizing every resource at his disposal could he ensure complete confidence.
Under the illumination of the Sea God's Light, a faint blue glow settled upon the Clear Sky Hammer. Only then did Tang San swing his second Martial Soul toward the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's body, simultaneously releasing his spiritual power.
A strange phenomenon occurred. Without Tang San's control, the red Soul Ring inscribed upon the Clear Sky Hammer suddenly erupted with radiance. It drew no Soul Power from Tang San for support — instead, the intense crimson light instantly enveloped the Clear Sky Hammer, even dispersing the Sea God's Light that Tang San had shone upon it.
What was happening? Tang San could clearly feel that the red light emanating from the Clear Sky Hammer was repelling his Sea God's Light. Before he had time to think further, a surge of intense purple light erupted from the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's colossal body, rapidly spiraling as it condensed in the air.
Just as during Tang San's earlier battle with the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, this surging purple light formed a massive purple vortex in the sky before hurtling toward the Clear Sky Hammer in Tang San's hand.
At this point, Tang San had no other choice. He could not possibly abandon a million-year Soul Ring like the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's. He was certain that while reaching the god tier brought about a leap in power, the stronger one was before ascension — the stronger one's Soul Rings — the greater one's strength would become after becoming a god. His future opponent was
The Clear Sky Hammer blazed with red light, an incomparable aura of dominance erupting in an instant. Tang San distinctly felt Xiao Bai's body lurch downward beneath him, trembling violently — clearly, the energy radiating from the Clear Sky Hammer was profoundly uncomfortable for her. The Soul Ring absorption hadn't even begun, and already it was this severe. Once the process truly started, variables could arise even more easily. In that case, there was no point in using Xiao Bai's body as his perch.
"I'll absorb the Soul Ring in the sea. All of you, back away!" Tang San shouted, then launched himself upward, his toes lightly tapping Xiao Bai's back as he soared toward the deep purple vortex above.
The red light emanating from the Clear Sky Hammer was like a terrifying maw, baring its fangs at the purple vortex. Strangely enough, the seemingly formidable purple vortex, the moment it touched the red light of the Clear Sky Hammer, instantly became docile, flooding in like rivers flowing into the ocean, merging with the Clear Sky Hammer.
Tang San's ascending body froze in midair. He felt an unprecedented surge of colossal force slam into his meridians. Forget about controlling his own energy to resist — in that instant, he couldn't even mount any response. His spiritual world seemed to explode, his mind going blank.
To the others, Tang San's body had instantaneously turned purple, and even the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand had become purple. He toppled straight down toward the sea. With a splash, he plunged into the ocean and quickly vanished from sight.
"Don't act rashly! We do as Tang San says — fall back!" Xiao Bai bellowed, snapping the anxious Six Devils back to their senses. At the same time, she released a layer of blue-gray light, controlling the ocean currents to slowly draw the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's massive corpse away. Though its Soul Ring had been extracted, the body still held considerable value to be explored.
Cool seawater could not approach Tang San's body. The reason he had plunged so rapidly was that the purple energy surrounding him was directly repelling the ocean water, dragging his body down toward the deepest depths of the sea. The place where the Deep Sea Demon Whale King had dwelled was, naturally, the deepest trench within ten thousand miles of these waters. Tang San felt the light around him growing dimmer and dimmer, while the energy inside his body churned with increasing violence. The Soul Ring absorption process had completely slipped beyond his control.
Leave it to fate, then. Tang San laughed bitterly in his heart. Fortunately, the Clear Sky Hammer seemed glued to his hand and had not been flung away. What Tang San could not see was that upon the Clear Sky Hammer, shrouded in purple, the Domain of Slaughter — previously inscribed on only one face of the hammerhead — was now growing under the stimulation of the vast purple energy. The red patterns became increasingly dense, spreading across every inch of the Clear Sky Hammer.
At first it was only the hammerhead. Once the hammerhead was fully covered in red demonic patterns, they began creeping down the handle. Before long, the entire Clear Sky Hammer was blanketed in these red patterns. But it didn't stop there — after occupying the surface, the red patterns began penetrating inward. The searing heat came from this very process. It was precisely this strange red light's deterrent effect that prevented the enormous Deep Sea Demon Whale King Soul Ring energy surging into Tang San's body from exploding. Instead, as the Clear Sky Hammer underwent its transformation, the energy was continually melted away.
The process was peculiar. Aside from being unable to move, Tang San only noticed that something seemed to be changing in his left hand. Though he couldn't move, because of the weight of the Sea God's Trident gripped in his right hand — which had been pulled along when his left hand struck toward the purple vortex — he was now facing downward, both hands hanging below him gripping the two weapons. This meant he could directly observe the changes in his left hand.
The Clear Sky Hammer was hidden within the purple glow and invisible, but Tang San could clearly see his left hand gradually shifting from purple to red. And this redness was spreading rapidly. Along with the color change, Tang San felt his left hand and arm becoming extraordinarily cold. The red did not signify heat — rather, it was an intense, bone-piercing chill suffused with the aura of slaughter. Yet this aura of killing carried within it a magnificent, righteous grandeur.
Was this the energy of the Clear Sky Hammer's transformation? The red light continued its spread until it reached Tang San's left shoulder, where it stopped, circulating repeatedly through his left arm. Tang San could feel that as his left arm changed, the purple energy was being gradually absorbed. Moreover, he had lost all connection with his
Just as Tang San couldn't comprehend what was happening, the red light that had paused at his shoulder suddenly moved — and when it moved, it was with the force of thunder and lightning. The bone-piercing cold spread instantaneously, coursing through his shoulder and radiating to every corner of his body. Only the area within three inches of the Sea God's Trident mark on his forehead remained uninvaded by the red light.
Ferocity, tyranny, dominance — every intense emotion flooded every part of Tang San's body. He could distinctly feel even his trident mark trembling slightly with the addition of this red light. Could it be that this crimson glow was something that even the Sea God's power feared? What exactly had his Domain of Slaughter become?
Just as Tang San felt a trace of panic, the red light changed again. It rapidly converged upon the six Soul Bones within his body. Tang San felt the bones turn ice-cold, and the violent fluctuations in energy nearly caused all his Soul Bones to shatter. Excruciating pain forced him to spit out a mouthful of blood. Strangely, the blood Tang San spat out did not disperse in the seawater — instead, it was directly absorbed back through his skin.
Originally, in Tang San's estimation, once the massive energy of the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's Soul Ring was absorbed, it would inevitably cause violent turbulence within his body's energy. He would need to rely on the Sea God's power to counter it, absorbing it bit by bit.
But the absorption process had unfolded nothing like what Tang San had anticipated. The Sea God's Light had been completely useless, and the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's energy had not caused him any trouble either. All initiative had fallen to the Clear Sky Hammer in his hand, as though only the energy upon the Clear Sky Hammer could govern his body.
On the ocean surface, everyone waited anxiously. Suddenly, Xiao Bai's expression changed. The middle section of the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's corpse beneath her protection was trembling violently. Before she could use her energy to suppress it, with a thunderous boom, a massive hole had been blasted open in the corpse. Immediately after, a purple bone soared into the air.
It was a bone resembling a spinal column, though connected to other bones — a body Soul Bone. Entirely purple and luminous, as though crafted from amethyst, its most remarkable feature was that the energy it released formed a small purple vortex that cradled it aloft.
Indeed, this was the Soul Bone that any Soul Beast over a hundred thousand years was guaranteed to produce, and it had manifested precisely the type Tang San needed — a body Soul Bone.
For a Soul Master, among the six Soul Bones required, the body Soul Bone ranked first in importance, and it was precisely this type that Tang San had been lacking.
Everyone noticed that a strand of red light connected to this purple body Soul Bone from below, and even the surrounding purple vortex could not affect that red light in the slightest.
The seawater parted eerily, as though sliced by a sharp blade, revealing a narrow gap. With a whoosh, the amethyst body Soul Bone shot through it, plunging straight toward the deep ocean floor.
Seeing this, the Six Devils simultaneously let out a long breath of relief. Clearly, Tang San was absorbing the final Soul Bone he needed, and that he still had the energy to take in a Soul Bone was proof enough that he was in no real danger.
But how could they know that the present Tang San was suffering in silence?
After the red energy had gathered upon the six Soul Bones already within him and continuously injected its cold energy into them, the Sea God's Trident mark on Tang San's forehead rebelled. Intense golden light erupted from the mark, illuminating a vast stretch of the ocean floor. At the same time, six streams of golden light flowed from the Sea God's Trident mark into Tang San's six Soul Bones, dispelling the bone-deep chill and replacing it with the scorching heat Tang San knew all too well.
This alternation of extreme cold and extreme heat was an agonizing experience.
When Tang San had previously obtained the Eight-Pointed Ice Grass and the Blazing Fire Apricot Delicacy — these two divine herbs — he had experienced a taste of this ice-and-fire duality. But compared to that time, this sensation was far more intense.
The Eight-Pointed Ice Grass and Blazing Fire Apricot Delicacy had been merely pure cold and pure heat. Now, however, the golden light of the Sea God and the crimson light of the mutated Domain of Slaughter were far more than mere temperatures.
Within the golden light of the Sea God resided a magnificent, boundless aura of holy radiance, while within the crimson of the mutated Domain of Slaughter surged a magnificent, boundless aura of terrifying, all-consuming slaughter. These two were utterly incompatible, and conflict erupted immediately. The battlefield, of course, was the six Soul Bones within Tang San's body.
The most pitiful party was not Tang San, but rather the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's Soul Ring. Its vast purple energy had been immensely formidable, yet the moment the red and golden lights began their struggle, they suppressed its purple light so thoroughly that it dared not move at all. Moreover, while the red and golden lights competed with each other, they were simultaneously absorbing its energy to strengthen themselves, as though racing to see who could absorb faster. The Deep Sea Demon Whale King's Soul Ring energy, though vast, was nonetheless diminishing bit by bit under this terrifying rate of absorption.