"You're saying Su Ming instantly defeated you?"
"Yes. Su Ming's Martial Soul is Elemental Control, rooted in spiritual power. His spiritual power is already at the Spirit Domain Realm, so his combat strength is also at the Limit level."
Blood Two relayed his understanding.
Cao Dezhi fell silent.
Elemental Control...
It seemed Blood Two was still thinking too simply of Su Ming.
Because Cao Dezhi had left the Blood God Legion to gain insights at the Ice Fire Two Eyes. During that time, he had also taken the opportunity to investigate Su Ming. From the Tang Sect's information, he learned Su Ming was skilled in fist techniques and had taken Mu Ye as a teacher.
If it were purely the Elemental Control path, then Su Ming only needed to take Han Tianyi as a teacher; there was no need to additionally take Mu Ye.
If Mu Ye accepted Su Ming as a disciple, then Su Ming's attainment in the Qi and Blood Path definitely wouldn't be lacking.
He might even possess a second Martial Soul.
Moreover, there was another shocking point in Blood Two's message: Su Ming completed forging a full set of nine-in-one Soul Refined metal in three days. This meant Su Ming could create a Quasi-Limit level combatant in three days.
Were Titled Douluo scarce in the Federation?
Not at all.
There were even plenty of Super Douluo.
As long as a Super Douluo fused with Battle Armor forged from nine-in-one Soul Refined metal, they could possess Quasi-Limit combat strength.
Moreover, the enhancement Battle Armor forged from nine-in-one Soul Refined metal provided to a Spirit Master went far beyond the surface. Because it approached Heaven Refinement, to some extent it had already merged with Heaven and Earth and could guide a Spirit Master to break through the Limit.
Even if it couldn't guide the breakthrough, it could guide the Spirit Master to complete the Martial Soul expansion path from level 95 to 98.
Cao Dezhi ended the call and quickly returned to the Blood God Camp, greeting Su Ming, the newly appointed Blood Two.
"Do you have any plans to forge again later?"
Su Ming directly shook his head.
"I only forge once. Next, I'm entering the Abyss."
"You just arrived, and you're already going into the Abyss?"
Cao Dezhi frowned, feeling Su Ming was too rash.
"How about learning some basics about the Abyss in the camp first? The information you can gather outside is ultimately limited. The dangers within the Abyss far exceed your imagination."
Cao Dezhi himself would sneak into the Abyss to explore, so he was most familiar with its layout.
He knew the Abyss's terror.
And precisely because he knew, he hadn't told the Federation these intel.
It was too despairing.
"No need to learn. I have confidence." Su Ming said. "Also, I won't be too reckless. It's just a basic exploration."
Cao Dezhi couldn't well deny Su Ming face either.
If even the mighty Blood Two was barred from entering the Abyss, that would be inexcusable.
Su Ming packed up and left the camp.
Cao Dezhi, feeling uneasy, accompanied him into the Abyssal passage.
"The passage is sealed to prevent the Abyss from invading our Douluo Continent. But over the years, the Abyssal tides have impacted it repeatedly, creating some gaps. We can enter the Abyss through the gaps, but returning is difficult. If you attract the attention of Abyssal creatures later, you might not have time to sneak back through the seal."
Su Ming nodded.
"Thanks for the explanation."
He expressed gratitude, found a gap in the seal himself, flashed, and entered.
Seeing this, Cao Dezhi was also taken aback.
"Is he that familiar with the seal too?"
After the initial surprise came a wry smile.
"It's good. That way, returning will also save some trouble."
If he could find a gap and enter from the outside by himself, returning from the inside shouldn't stump him either.
Su Ming felt boundless pressure.
"So this is the Abyss? Assimilating all non-Abyssal power."
Abyssal energy surged madly into Su Ming's body, transforming him into an Abyssal creature.
"Spirit Domain Realm spiritual power can shield against this transformation, but the time is limited. So can't stay in the Abyss too long. But this also has benefits. The Abyssal energy repeatedly erodes the body, grinding against Spirit Power, which indirectly tempers the Spirit Power—though it's a bit dangerous."
Unlike Cao Dezhi, Su Ming didn't use Spirit Domain Realm spiritual power to resist the Abyssal energy.
He directly absorbed and contained it with his physical power.
"Qi and Blood Power, fuse with Abyssal energy!"
His Qi and Blood Power, which had lagged in his cultivation, was instantly replenished.
Roar!
Su Ming's body expanded, and he couldn't help but roar.
"Such primitive, violent power. No wonder the Abyss can continuously assimilate external forces."
Making power docile and orderly is difficult. For example, Spirit Masters refine Heaven and Earth Vital Energy, making it more obedient to them, transforming it into Spirit Power.
The Abyss was different. Its power was extremely primitive and violent, destroying the order within docile power, thereby rapidly assimilating it.
"Seemingly primitive and violent, yet it also possesses its own order. All Abyssal energy has a core, the Abyss's most fundamental imprint!"
The effect of this imprint was aggregation!
While contemplating his own changes, Su Ming also recalled the intelligence he knew, analyzing the Abyss's essence.
"This violent power spontaneously aggregates and resists being tamed."
Once tamed, it would provoke the entire Abyss's resistance.
"So, to devour the Abyss's power, I must either devour it all at once, have a backing corresponding to the Abyss's volume to stabilize my taming of the Abyssal energy, or be able to isolate the connection between the Abyssal energy within me and the Abyss while taming it."
The first method was the scenario from the original storyline's end, where the entire Abyss was devoured by Douluo Planet, so naturally, there was no talk of resistance anymore.
The second method was the principle of the Tree of Life, backed by the entire plane. During the process of devouring Abyssal energy, the entire Abyss resisted. However, the Tree of Life had the Douluo Plane of equivalent volume as guarantor.
The third was the devouring principle of the Golden Dragon Spear and Silver Dragon Spear, also the one Su Ming planned to apply.
"The River of Time can sufficiently isolate the connection between Abyssal energy and the Abyss, and it also wouldn't be blamed on me."
To be safe, Su Ming left a spatial-temporal anchor point not far from the seal. Then he delved deeper into the Abyss, took out water from the River of Time within the Abyss, and directly enveloped himself.
"Hmm?"
The Abyss trembled.
The Abyssal Sage King also awoke from slumber, entering a furious state.
The flesh on his body absolutely could not be touched by anyone!
He frantically searched for the missing Abyssal energy, quickly locking onto the location.
However, precisely because he locked onto the location, he grew even more alarmed and enraged.
He couldn't sense it.
He couldn't sense anything about that location. The entire corresponding area seemed to have become a vacuum zone.
He directly materialized his main body and teleported to Su Ming's location.
By then, Su Ming had already left the area via spatial-temporal traversal.
The Abyssal energy was still within him, but its connection to the Abyss had been severed.
The point of severance was the only location the Abyssal Sage King could pinpoint.
From then on, as long as Su Ming kept isolating this portion of Abyssal energy, where this 'chunk of flesh' would move to, the Abyssal Sage King couldn't sense either.
***
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(End of Chapter)