As they ventured deeper, the surging ocean gradually calmed. Bright sunlight pierced through the thick, dark clouds and shone down. The depth of the seawater was slowly decreasing, becoming increasingly clear and transparent. The beauty beneath the sea surface was displayed before the four people without any reservation.
Shen Hanyu and his group of four tried their best to stay far away from Sea God Island while also doing their utmost to avoid the soul beasts in the water.
Tianmeng, who had been knocked out earlier, was ruthlessly beaten awake by the Ice Empress, who had been constantly watching the surroundings. He then used his spiritual power to conceal the four of them as much as possible—he was quite an expert in this regard.
Although it might not have much effect, they still had to do what they could. If it failed, at least it would serve as a rare psychological comfort.
Shen Hanyu suddenly realized a problem: the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King was the designated opponent for the Sea God's eighth trial. If they were discovered and the Sea God, this old bastard, decided to shamelessly intervene, what then?
The more he thought about it, the slower Shen Hanyu's steps became.
The Snow Empress noticed his abnormality, stopped, turned back, and asked:
"What's wrong?"
Shen Hanyu frowned tightly, then shook his head and said:
"I suddenly thought of something. It's nothing. Let's speed up."
If his memory was correct, in the original story, Tang San killed the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King with the help of Asura God's divine power using hidden weapons… which honestly sounded quite absurd…
Just as Shen Hanyu was racking his brain, the blue bead floating above his spiritual sea suddenly bloomed with soft light. An almost imperceptible fluctuation emanated from it, transforming into a faint whisper.
Shen Hanyu was stunned for a moment, then the corners of his mouth curved into a slight smile. He quickly got up and caught up with the group…
…
Demonic Whale Sea Area.
The vast, boundless sea surface was completely calm.
This sea region was extremely strange; there was no wind, no waves, and very little life existed. The few sea soul beasts present were only weak, low-intelligence creatures.
There seemed to be an indescribable oppressive feeling in the air, as if something terrifying was watching them from the depths of the dark sea.
Several of the great soul beasts in the spiritual sea had awakened. They sensed a terrifying aura. Although it was extremely faint, their instinct for danger told them this was definitely not an illusion.
Especially Haixi, she was a pure-blooded sea soul beast. Even though this was the first time she felt this aura so closely, it still made her feel somewhat depressed.
The Ice Empress sat on Tianmeng and said gravely:
"Even without showing itself, just the remnant aura is already this powerful. No wonder Di Tian called it an extremely formidable opponent…"
She had personally experienced Di Tian's strength. Tens of thousands of years ago, when Di Tian traveled to the Far North, she had fought him there. The result wasn't that she lost miserably, but from beginning to end, Di Tian never seemed to go all out, let alone use his trump cards.
Only when facing the Snow Empress did Di Tian become serious. Unfortunately, the two only had a simple sparring match and stopped at the first sign of contact; they never truly fought with full power.
But even that was enough to prove Di Tian's terror. The true dragon with the purest bloodline of three generations of the Dragon Clan, master of extreme darkness, with cultivation exceeding eight hundred thousand years, plus the divine skills once bestowed by the Dragon God, he was qualified to sweep across the entire Douluo Continent.
Yet when facing this yet-to-appear behemoth, it could only be described as evenly matched.
The calm seawater slowly began to change. Ripples spread out ring after ring. Looking down from high above, it seemed a massive shadow was approaching from the seabed at an unimaginable speed.
Huge waves had already appeared on the sea surface. The originally bright sky was now covered by dark clouds. The weather was slowly changing; thunder and rain gathered in the cloud layer, ready to burst forth at any moment.
As the shadow gradually became clearer, a massive water column shot straight into the sky, aimed directly at the four people.
Shen Hanyu thrust out a spear glow that blocked the water column. The seawater crashed down in all directions, falling onto a terrifying figure.
It was an incomparably terrifying giant whale. Its enormous body reached two hundred meters in length, its entire form a sapphire blue. Thick scale armor covered its body. On its head were two gigantic eyes, each with a diameter of over three meters, radiating chilling killing intent.
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's two huge eyes swept across the four people and finally stopped on the Snow Empress.
"Snow woman of the Far North, why have you come here?"
A deep voice carrying terrifying soul power resounded throughout heaven and earth, striking directly at the heart.
Dugu Bo and You Mengchu looked at the giant creature in front of them in shock. Just the soul power contained in that one sentence had nearly caused them to lose their minds.
A trace of surprise appeared in the Snow Empress's eyes. She hadn't expected the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King to recognize her.
"This King doesn't know why you're not staying in your Far North and instead followed these humans to the sea. Leave now. As fellow overlords among soul beasts, this King does not wish to make things difficult for you. But these few humans, this King happens to need some food…"
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King slightly raised its massive head, its eyes filled with unconcealed killing intent and disgust.
Dugu Bo and You Mengchu looked at the Snow Empress in shock. The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's words had been extremely direct, basically exposing the Snow Empress's identity completely.
The Snow Empress was about to say something when Shen Hanyu grabbed her arm.
Shen Hanyu took a few steps forward, signaling the Snow Empress not to speak. Then he turned his gaze toward the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King and said with a light smile:
"Whale King, how about we make a deal…"
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King let out a burst of maniacal laughter. A ferocious expression appeared on its huge head as it viciously said:
"Food has no right to negotiate any deals with this King. Your only value here is to become nourishment for this King to step into the godly level. You should be proud of that…"
As the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's voice fell, countless violent energies surged upward. Accompanied by countless flashing bolts of lightning, several purple light spheres floated around its body. Terrifying might soar into the sky.
As a rare water-thunder dual-attribute soul beast, these purple light spheres were among the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's most powerful soul skills. Three parts water and seven parts thunder not only maximized the power of the soul skill, but it was also a rare, large-scale group-locking attack soul skill. Once unleashed, its destructive power was enough to annihilate heaven and earth.
Following the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's command, the purple lightning at the edges of the purple light spheres connected and surged straight toward the four people.
Beneath You Mengchu's feet, nine soul rings spun rapidly, yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, red. A huge golden avian phantom appeared behind her. With each flap of its wings, violent winds roared. Countless tornadoes carrying seawater shot into the sky. The surrounding airflow was instantly cut off, and then a massive vortex rose high into the air.
Dugu Bo was sweating profusely. He inwardly cursed Shen Hanyu for tricking him, before nine soul rings also rose beneath his feet. A thirty-meter-long dark-green giant serpent appeared under him, carrying him as he continuously dodged the attacks from the purple light spheres.
Shen Hanyu's long hair was blown wildly by the gale. The Snow Empress glanced at the chaotic situation around them. An extremely terrifying cold descended abruptly. Snow began to fall from the sky, and the surrounding sea surface slowly started to freeze. The speed of the purple light spheres slowed after coming into contact with the ultra-low temperature, but they were still not completely stopped.
Shen Hanyu and the Snow Empress exchanged a glance. Then, nine soul rings rose beneath Shen Hanyu's feet. The Cold Sky Spear gleamed with sharp light. Blue and golden radiance intertwined. A deafening metallic collision sound exploded. The terrifying shockwave caused the surrounding seawater to fall into eerie stillness for a moment before it was blasted upward, turning into towering waves that swept outward.
With a sweep of the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's massive tail, in just a few breaths' time, Shen Hanyu thrust dozens of spear strikes into the giant creature's enormous body. Sparks flew. The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King let out a heaven-shaking roar of fury. Terrifying soul power surged outward, sending Shen Hanyu flying back into midair.
Dark red blood dripped from the tip of the Cold Sky Spear. Shen Hanyu flicked it casually. The spear tip pointed straight at the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's massive head.
"Seventh soul skill! Martial Soul True Body!"
"Fifth soul skill! Broken Army!"
The seventh-ranked golden soul ring and the fifth-ranked black soul ring lit up simultaneously. A faint trace of dragon might rose from his right arm. The long-dormant divine power was drawn forth and attached to the Cold Sky Spear.
As Shen Hanyu hurled the Cold Sky Spear infused with divine power, the aura around him suddenly changed. Six soul rings, ice blue, crimson, red, red, red, red, covered his original nine rings. Huge dragon wings spread open. Dragon scales and claws flashed with sharp light. A massive blue-red dual-colored dragon slowly opened its majestic eyes behind Shen Hanyu, staring fixedly at the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King.
"Sixth soul skill! Holy Fire Incineration!"
"Third soul skill! Divine Dragon Extreme Ice Shatter!"
Ice and fire attribute soul power flowed. The dual-colored dragon behind Shen Hanyu let out a heaven-shaking roar. Extreme cold and terrifying heat intertwined, finally converging on Shen Hanyu's transformed right dragon claw.
The blue bead in his spiritual sea also began to tremble. Countless ice-blue mists poured out and spiraled around Shen Hanyu.
The fusion of extreme cold and terrifying high temperatures did not interfere with each other; instead, they began to merge. The two extreme and terrifying forces caused the surrounding space to become unstable. Shen Hanyu slowly raised his right dragon claw, then decisively brought it down.
A trace of fear flashed through the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's eyes. It actually sensed a familiar and potentially lethal power from that spear and claw—the power that surpassed the limits of the Douluo plane. It involuntarily recalled an existence it both hated and feared.
"Demonic Whale Domain!"
At once, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King no longer dared to be careless. Its vast and terrifying domain rose. The huge scales on its body were also covered by an energized barrier. Its enormous body suddenly flipped over. Countless purple lightning surged wildly without regard for cost, finally colliding with Shen Hanyu's attack.
The terrifying explosion instantly evaporated several li of ocean. All life within perished. Then snowflakes fell, and the surging seawater was directly frozen, forming a landmass deep within the vast sea.
Magma surged from deep underground, turning into pillars of fire that rose upward. The figure of the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King appeared in the center. Its originally vast domain had been compressed until it could only barely cover its body. The Cold Sky Spear returned to Shen Hanyu's hand. Looking at the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King, whose body was now covered in large patches of mangled flesh and blood, Shen Hanyu, without hesitation, thrust several more spears. The already crumbling domain instantly shattered. The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King let out a wail of misery. Shock and hatred in its huge eyes could hardly be concealed.
Shen Hanyu slowly descended and stepped onto the top of the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's head. Looking into those enormous eyes, he said with a half-smile:
"Whale King, how does it feel?"
The Deep Sea Demonic Whale King let out a burst of laughter, then said in a deep voice:
"This King was too careless. But this King has not lost yet. You actually possess divine power… an inheritor of a divinity? If you had fought This King fair and square, This King would have absolute confidence in tearing you to pieces. Divine power… what a pity. This King is only one step away from that realm… laughable…"
Shen Hanyu acknowledged the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's strength. Being just one step away from godhood, it had shockingly strong attack and defense. The Cold Sky Spear, after being nourished by soul power and divine power in Shen Hanyu's body for so long, had practically become a quasi-divine weapon. Its sharpness and attack power were peerless in the current era. Yet on the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's body, which was ninety-nine percent a divine physique, it could barely cause damage. Only after the suppression and enhancement of the Ice Dragon King's divine power was it finally able to break through the defense.
The subsequent strike was empowered by three kinds of divine power fused. In a certain sense, the power of that strike had already stepped into that level. Yet when it landed on the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King, it only caused severe injury.
If the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King had been given enough time to react, that strike would definitely not have achieved such a great effect.
You Mengchu and Dugu Bo landed not far away, looking at the scene in stunned silence. They seemed to need some time to completely reshape their worldview.
The Snow Empress coldly stared into the distance. She had already sensed the anomaly. The collision between Shen Hanyu's divinely empowered strike and the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King had been too powerful, causing dramatic changes in the surrounding heaven and earth. Even the deep underground had suffered considerable impact. If the collision had been slightly stronger, triggering tsunamis and earthquakes would have been considered minor…
Shen Hanyu let out a soft sigh and then said:
"Humans become gods at rank 100. Soul beasts can become gods in one hundred thousand years. You cannot cross that final threshold; this is an ironclad fact. After the Dragon God's chaos, almost all beast gods fell. From then on, it became an iron rule of the Divine Realm that soul beasts cannot become gods. You are very strong, and you are right. Without using divine power, I am not your opponent. But from beginning to end, you have only been a pitiful chess piece. The inheritor of the Sea God has already descended, and you, who have enmity with the Sea God, are you willing to serve as an important chess piece on the path of the divine examination, or will you come with me to seek a path of new life? The choice is yours."
"Of course, the only choices I give you are life or death. If you do not agree, you die. Even if you luckily survive today, the Sea God and his inheritor will not let your family go, I tell you, it is impossible. On the other hand, if you bring your wife and children and follow me, you still have a sliver of a chance to live."
"One more reminder: even a true powerhouse like Di Tian, who really walked out from that era, could not accomplish this. You, whose true age is only three hundred thousand years… are far inferior to Di Tian."
"Now, make your choice."
A deep wariness and hatred appeared in the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's huge eyes. After looking again at the serious-faced Shen Hanyu before him, he spoke in a deep voice:
"How can This King believe a mere human like you…"
The corners of Shen Hanyu's mouth curved into an evil, charming arc. He said:
"I can swear to the great Asura God King and to Her Highness the Silver Dragon King, the co-ruler of soul beasts, that everything I have said is true."
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