Chapter 384: Just an Eight-Ring Soul Douluo, Should I Avoid His Edge?
After several days of sailing, the sea surface appeared calm, but the atmosphere on the sea demon became increasingly subtle.
Haider was outwardly very submissive, but the subtle adjustments in the course and the mix of fear and crazed anticipation in his eyes whenever he looked toward the deep sea did not escape Tang Chuan's notice.
Tang Chuan continued as usual, cultivating and observing. On the surface, he seemed completely unaware of the potential danger, yet his inner vigilance never wavered.
Night fell once more, and the moon over the sea was exceptionally bright and cold, like a massive silver plate hanging high in the black velvet sky, casting down vast stretches of clear light that made the sea shimmer.
At this moment, Tang Chuan, Xiao Rui'er, Ye Lingling, Dugu Yan, Ning Rongrong, and the others stood on the deck, bathed in moonlight, seemingly enjoying the ocean view.
Haider was also nearby. He pretended to patrol, but his fingers unconsciously tapped against the ship's railing, and his eyes frequently darted toward a certain deep sea area, his breathing somewhat heavy.
Suddenly, the smoothly sailing sea demon abruptly jerked to a halt, as if it had slammed into an invisible wall! Immediately after, a dull, heavy boom echoed from beneath the hull!
"Rumble—!!!"
The calm sea surface suddenly erupted in fury!
In the next second, a massive whirlpool over a hundred meters in diameter formed beside the ship without warning. Seawater surged backward frantically, letting out a deafening roar!
Following that, a terrifying suction force took hold. The sea demon, a sturdy ironwood vessel, was pulled and tilted violently like a child's toy, its keel groaning under the unbearable strain! Giant waves dozens of meters high rose out of nowhere like dark blue mountains, crashing down hard onto the deck!
"Not good, everyone hold on tight!"
Tang Chuan barked a low shout, and his Soul Power instantly surged outward, forming a pale blue shield that enveloped the five of them. At the same time, he rooted his feet, standing firmly on the violently rocking deck.
The four women also reacted quickly, each using their own methods to steady themselves.
The ordinary sailors were not so lucky; they were thrown through the air with cries of alarm. If they hadn't grabbed onto ropes or fixed objects, they would have fallen directly into the sea.
Amidst this terrifying scene of heaven and earth changing color, Haider, contrary to his usual behavior, showed no fear. Instead, he burst into a fit of hysterical laughter, saying:
"Hahahaha!! It's here! It's here! You damned bastards! You killed my son! I want all of you to be buried with him!!!"
He gripped a mast tightly, his face twisted like a demon's in the moonlight and spray, pointing toward that frantically spinning, bottomless whirlpool.
"Look closely! This is the Magic Whale Sea Region! The territory of the Deep Sea Demon Whale King! Just now... I secretly threw all the gunpowder bombs used for fishing overboard!"
"It's awake! It's furious! Just wait to be torn to shreds by this deep-sea overlord, swallowed whole along with the ship! Hahahaha!!!"
His wild laughter sounded exceptionally piercing and crazed amidst the wind, waves, and the low rumble of the sea beast.
For the sake of revenge, Haider had not hesitated to wake the legendary, near-invincible terror of this sea, dragging everyone to Hell with him!
However, facing Haider's crazed declaration, Tang Chuan did not show the slightest bit of fear. Instead... he also let out a loud laugh!
That laugh was clear and magnetic, and in this chaotic and violent environment, it carried a strange sense of penetration and... excitement?
"The Deep Sea Demon Whale King?"
"What I wanted was for you to lead us to it, Captain Haider."
"What?!" Hearing this, Haider's crazed laughter stopped abruptly, like a rooster being choked. The savage expression on his face frozen instantly, replaced by extreme bewilderment and disbelief. He widened his eyes and stared fixedly at Tang Chuan as if he had heard the most absurd thing in the world.
"You... what did you say? What do you mean by that?!"
Tang Chuan took a step forward, ignoring the violently pitching deck and the splashing cold seawater. His blue robes flapped in the wind as he said calmly:
"I mean, I knew what you were planning all along; I was just beating you at your own game. Did you think I didn't know you were secretly changing the course, trying to lead us into a deathtrap?"
"The Deep Sea Demon Whale King, a million-year Spirit Beast, one of the true overlords of the ocean... I was worried I wouldn't be able to find its exact lair or a way to lure it out."
"And you happened to do me this great favor. Using gunpowder bombs to wake it up?"
"Very good, it saved me quite a bit of effort."
As he spoke, Tang Chuan looked toward the portion of the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's body that had already completely surfaced—its back alone was like a moving island—and the Battle Intent in his eyes continued to rise.
"My Blue Silver Emperor just happens to be missing a ninth Soul Ring. I think this million-year Deep Sea Demon Whale King would be quite excellent; a million-year Spirit Beast's life force is naturally very powerful."
As his voice fell, the Aura around Tang Chuan's body erupted!
Eight Soul Rings rose from beneath his feet: red, red, red, red, red, red, platinum, red! The brilliant light instantly illuminated the dark deck. The pressure brought by that terrifying, common-sense-defying Soul Ring configuration even temporarily suppressed the fear brought by the Demon Whale King!
"What? What kind of Soul Ring configuration is this?"
"Seven hundred thousand year spirit rings? How is this possible?"
Watching this scene, Haider was struck as if by lightning, frozen completely in place. His mouth hung open, but he couldn't make a sound.
He had thought he was the hunter setting a trap, exulting as his prey walked into a dead end.
He never expected that he was the one being used by the true hunter, personally leading the most terrifying prey to his opponent... a pathetic bait!
Tang Chuan didn't care about Haider's life or death at all. From the beginning, his target was that deep-sea overlord that even a Titled Douluo wouldn't dare mention lightly!
"No... impossible... You're crazy, you must be crazy..."
"You're just a mere Soul Douluo, how do you dare target the Demon Whale King?"
"Even a Titled Douluo wouldn't be its match!"
Haider muttered to himself, lost in despair. He looked at the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, whose body was as massive as a mountain and shimmered with a violent red light. Boundless fear finally drowned him completely, crushing his obsession for revenge into dust.
At this moment, the Deep Sea Demon Whale King also seemed to be enraged by the Soul Power fluctuations and the strange Soul Rings erupting from Tang Chuan, letting out a terrifying whale song that shattered the clouds!
In the next second, its massive tail fin slowly rose, blotting out the sky. Carrying the power to destroy everything, it slammed down toward the sea demon and the tiny but brilliant figure on the deck!
"Boom—!!!!!!!"
A loud noise that couldn't be described with words rang out!
It wasn't the sound of an impact, but the sound of annihilation!
The once sturdy sea demon was as fragile as a child's sandcastle before this absolute power. The ironwood hull shattered, disintegrated, and flew apart the moment it made contact! The thick masts snapped like dry grass. The deck, cabins, keel... every structure was turned into countless fragments under the irresistible force!
Closely following was a towering tidal wave hundreds of meters high, kicked up by the tail fin striking the sea!
That wave was like a wall of water connecting heaven and earth, containing the Demon Whale King's violent Soul Power and pure physical impact, sweeping frantically in all directions!
"Ah—!!!"
Captain Haider only had time to let out a short, desperate scream. He couldn't even make any effective dodge or defense before his body was pierced by countless flying sharp ship fragments and then hit head-on by that terrifying giant wave!
Under the impact of seawater that could shake mountains, his body was instantly torn apart like a rag doll, turning into a rapidly spreading cloud of bloody foam, vanishing into the boiling sea along with the wreckage of the sea demon.
Meanwhile, Tang Chuan and the others, who were already prepared, were thrown into the air by the violent energy the moment the giant ship shattered and the wave struck.
"Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud!"
With a low shout, the blue triangular mark on Tang Chuan's forehead suddenly erupted with brilliant light!
Immediately after, a deep azure light surged out, forming a semi-transparent triangular light shroud that precisely enveloped the four women beside him.
The moment the shroud formed, it not only blocked out the incoming seawater, debris, and impact, but its surface also shimmered. The entire shroud, along with the figures of the four women inside, instantly became transparent, as if melting into the air, even their Auras completely hidden!
Only Tang Chuan, relying on his connection with the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, could clearly perceive their positions.
"Stay inside. No matter what happens, do not come out!"
Tang Chuan's Spiritual Power transmission echoed in the minds of the four women.
Although the four women were still shaken, they were within the protection and concealment of the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud. Seeing the world-destroying scene outside, they also knew that going out would only make them a burden. They nodded one after another, huddling close together and staring nervously outside.
Tang Chuan himself hovered in mid-air, his blue robes billowing violently in the turbulent energy currents.
It was also at this time that the terrifying existence that had caused all this—its true body—slowly emerged completely from the broken waves and the pervasive mist.
The first thing to come into view was that body, so massive it was like a moving mountain range, inducing despair!
The part that had surfaced alone was over two hundred meters long!
The Deep Sea Demon Whale King was covered in thick, dark blue, almost black scales. Each scale was the size of a millstone, their edges shimmering with a cold, metallic luster, covered in ancient and mysterious natural patterns that seemed to record hundreds of millions of years of the ocean's history.
Its massive body swayed slightly, causing the surrounding seawater to surge and churn, forming a massive whirlpool and undercurrent.
Most heart-stopping was its head—a savage skull comparable to a small hill. Its shape was more like an ancient whale, but it was thicker and more ferocious. Its giant mouth was slightly open, revealing rows of teeth the size of door panels, shimmering with a forest-white cold light.
And its eyes... the eye on the left was a deep, dark, massive hollow that seemed capable of swallowing all light; it had clearly been blinded long ago.
By contrast, its intact right eye was as large as a lake, showing a murky dark yellow color with a vertical pupil. It was currently locked onto Tang Chuan in mid-air.
Tang Chuan hovered in the air, facing this colossal beast from a distance. The contrast between the tiny and the massive reached an extreme. Then, he slowly raised his right hand and gently clenched it.
"Buzz—!"
Brilliant golden light erupted like a sun in Tang Chuan's palm. Then, the sound of a dragon's roar echoed through the heavens, and the golden dragon spear appeared in his hand.
At this moment, an extremely rare and even absurd emotion, like a cold venomous snake, suddenly slithered into the depths of this million-year overlord's massive and ancient Soul.
Palpitations!
Yes, palpitations!
A warning sign originating from soulful instinct regarding a higher-level threat!
A certain Aura emanating from this tiny human Soul Master.
It actually made the Deep Sea Demon Whale King recall that terrifying existence from countless years ago, who held a golden trident, stepped on towering waves, and used supreme divine force to heavily injure it and take its left eye!
The Sea God, Poseidon!
It found that although this young man's Aura was far from being as vast and boundless as the Sea God's back then, the Destructive Dragon Might flowing on that golden spear actually produced a faint, blurry overlap with that nightmare-like golden figure in the depths of its memory!
Flee?!
This thought emerged almost uncontrollably.
As an existence that had lived for a million years, the Deep Sea Demon Whale King was no longer a Ferocious beast that only knew slaughter. It knew how to judge the situation and how to avoid fatal threats.
Facing this premonition of danger that made even its Soul feel a stinging pain.
Moving away immediately was the instinct for survival.
In the next second, its body shrunk back slightly, the direction of its tail's movement changed quietly, and massive energy condensed within its body as it prepared to dive into the deep sea and flee thousands of miles away.
However, at the very moment the Deep Sea Demon Whale King was about to act, its gaze swept again over the eight brilliant Soul Rings beneath Tang Chuan's feet.
Red, red, red, red, red, red, platinum, red!
That Soul Ring configuration was indeed shocking and overturned all cognition, causing even it to feel a trace of shock.
But... eight rings, he's just a Soul Douluo!
This clear realization was like a bucket of ice water, instantly dousing the trace of fear and palpitations that had just arisen in the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's heart due to distant memories.
"What am I afraid of?"
"A mere Soul Douluo! So what if he has hundred thousand year spirit rings?"
"So what if that spear is a bit strange? Back then, Poseidon was a god, a true god! And this human... no matter how strong he is, he's still within the realm of humans!"
"I am the Deep Sea Demon Whale King with a million years of cultivation, the overlord of the ocean! To be scared into running by a Soul Douluo? It's simply a humiliating disgrace!"
"That palpitation just now... it must have been an illusion!"
"It was an illusion from being unsettled after just being woken up by those damned gunpowder bombs!"
The fury of its territory being trespassed upon and the rage of being provoked by a tiny human quickly overwhelmed the trace of ominous foreboding in the Deep Sea Demon Whale King's heart. More importantly, its dignity and pride as a million-year Spirit Beast would never allow it to flee without a fight before a Soul Douluo!
"Kill him! Devour him! That strange spear, and the dense life Aura and Soul Power on his body... perhaps they can heal my old injuries from back then, or even... let me take another step forward!"
Greed replaced the brief shock and suspicion.
"Roar—!!!"
The Deep Sea Demon Whale King's retreating movement stopped, replaced by an even more violent rage. Then, its massive body no longer showed any sign of backing down; instead, it lunged forward fiercely.
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