"Heh, what a 'no way out'."
The Great Elder let out a light chuckle. The moment her words fell, her expression instantly turned ferocious. She raised both hands aloft, her long hair fluttering wildly like enraged sea serpents.
A dark purple hexagram-shaped mark emerged on her smooth forehead. Among her ocean-blue hair, a few strands of faint purple quietly appeared.
The sound of crashing waves roared, and water splashed violently. The Great Elder's vast soul power and mental strength swept past Lin Xiao at the same time, making him feel a sudden chill all over his body.
In the next instant, he felt the surrounding seawater constantly repelling him. The pressure on his body surged dramatically, and even the heaven-and-earth origin energy within the water was moving farther away from him.
The loneliness and deathly aura of the deep sea came pressing down like a tidal wave, as tangible as if it were within arm's reach. The Great Elder's thick mental strength fused with the surrounding seawater, creating a suffocating, oppressive force that enveloped Lin Xiao layer by layer.
This is…
Lin Xiao slightly raised his head and looked toward the Great Elder. In complete contrast to him, the frenzied seawater around her seemed to submit like loyal subjects. With a mere point of her finger, countless water arrows shot toward Lin Xiao.
He tilted his body slightly to dodge the water arrow aimed at his neck, but another invisible water blade, concealed within the seawater, sliced past him, leaving a clear wound on his arm.
Crimson blood instantly spilt out and dissolved into the surrounding water. Only then did a wave of pain transmit from Lin Xiao's arm.
…A domain.
Although he had never personally experienced one before, Lin Xiao immediately understood what the Great Elder was using.
In this vast ocean, the number of sea soul beasts was innumerable, yet 400,000-year-old ferocious beasts were still rare. It would truly be strange if a soul beast of this level did not possess a domain.
The barrage from the floating aerial cannons in the sky had already stopped. Lin Xiao guessed that the soul power remaining in the charging soul tools was running low.
Glancing around, even though some of the souls he controlled belonged to titled douluo in life, none of them had possessed a domain-type spirit skill.
While he was thinking, a sudden tightness gripped his heart. A chill ran down his back. The spirit bone in his left leg flashed, and his figure instantly vanished, leaving only an extremely lifelike illusion in place.
Yet the moment his figure reappeared, countless streams of water assaulted him once more.
Within the Great Elder's domain, simple illusions could not deceive her perception. Every seemingly harmless current of seawater could transform into a deadly scythe.
The bone-piercingly cold seawater, the desolate aura of death, and the overwhelming mental pressure unique to the mermaid clan—all of it filled every corner of this domain.
If he could not escape or break the domain, even with a displacement spirit bone skill like Remnant Fragrance, he would only be pointlessly delaying the inevitable.
Trapped inside the domain, invisible attacks continuously grazed past Lin Xiao, leaving wound after wound on his body. Even his thoughts were beginning to slow.
The Great Elder's figure had long vanished, as if she had completely fused with the domain—only a blurred silhouette occasionally darted past Lin Xiao at high speed.
The heaven-and-earth origin energy that Lin Xiao could sense grew thinner and thinner. Within the Great Elder's domain, he could not even replenish his soul power.
The spirit bone in his left leg lit up once more. Lin Xiao's figure vanished and reappeared again, yet the attacks pursued him relentlessly like maggots on bone.
The Great Elder's blurred silhouette flashed past Lin Xiao yet again. Lin Xiao knew that escaping this place was now nearly impossible.
This domain was not naturally formed; it was controlled by the Great Elder. Within this ocean, it could move with her at any time.
Only one final path remained for him.
For some reason, before encountering danger, Lin Xiao had always been extremely cautious, afraid of meeting an opponent he could not handle. Yet now, truly trapped inside the Great Elder's domain, not the slightest trace of fear appeared in his heart.
He calmly focused his mind, allowing the seawater around him to carve wound after wound into his body without resisting. Only faint green light occasionally shone beneath his skin, slowly healing his injuries.
Whether it was a domain or any other ability, at its core, it was merely a different manifestation of power. The Great Elder's domain was indeed extraordinarily powerful, but it was still nothing more than soul power and mental strength.
If the Great Elder were at her peak, Lin Xiao probably would be unable to escape, no matter what he did. But recalling earlier, his third spirit skill, detonating the Higanbana Seeds, had managed to leave visible wounds on this 400,000-year-old body.
Lin Xiao refused to believe that her physical resilience had remained unchanged after being reduced to this state. In such a condition, the domain she unleashed could not possibly match the strength of her prime.
In just a few short breaths, Lin Xiao's entire body was covered densely with wounds. The blood seeping out nearly dyed all the surrounding seawater red.
Yet Lin Xiao's expression did not change, as if the blood spreading through the water did not belong to him at all.
Another invisible attack came hurtling toward him. His eyes had already turned completely blood-red, and his fourth spirit ring blazed with light.
Fourth spirit skill: Revival.
The Great Elder, who had been swimming rapidly, suddenly froze. She lowered her head and saw that the wound on her fish tail was no longer bleeding. Instead, at some unknown moment, a gorgeous blood-red flower had bloomed there.
When she looked up again, there was no longer any trace of Lin Xiao's blood mixing into the surrounding seawater. What filled it instead were countless growing Higanbana Flowers. Their dense petals seemed to squeeze all the seawater outward.
Like winter giving way to the arrival of early spring, under the fourth spirit skill Revival, new Higanbana Flowers bloomed once more in this turbid sea.
Light flashed from his right leg—the second stage of his spirit bone skill: Blazing Radiance.
Dazzling blood-red light completely enveloped Lin Xiao. At a glance, only a vague human shape could be seen. The thick aura of death even somewhat overshadowed the Great Elder's domain.
In the next moment, Lin Xiao's third and sixth spirit rings lit up simultaneously. In an instant, both he and the Great Elder were submerged within the continuously "blooming" sea of Higanbana Flowers.
A sudden shock struck the Great Elder's heart. Before she could react, a thunderous roar filled her ears. In that split second, a sharp ringing echoed in her mind, drowning out all other sound.
Seawater churned violently before her eyes. Her body was sent flying backwards uncontrollably. In the blink of an eye, the sea area where she and Lin Xiao had been turned into a zone of absolute death.
The Great Elder's long hair danced wildly. She coughed heavily twice, and another trace of blood spilt from the corner of her mouth. Not a single intact scale remained on her fish tail, and the exposed skin was covered in wounds.
"After all, he's still just a human."
The Great Elder let out a slight breath of relief in her heart. That last attack had not distinguished between friend and foe—even she, a 400,000-year-old soul beast, had been reduced to this state. There was no way Lin Xiao could have survived.
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