BOOOOOOM!!!
The immense water whip, guided by Tran Kien's Saber Intent, delivered a heaven-shaking lash against the pillar-thick tentacle of the Black Ink Demon King. Seawater exploded in all directions, creating a blinding curtain of rain. The colossal beast roared in a mix of agony and fury. Though this strike inflicted no fatal wounds, the humiliation of being assaulted by the sea—its own domain—completely enraged this marine overlord.
The storm continued to howl. Massive waves, several zhang high, relentlessly battered the Ironwood boat, causing it to lurch as if on the verge of capsizing. Silver lightning tore through the pitch-black sky, periodically illuminating the majestic form of the demon king and the two tiny figures fighting desperately for their lives.
"It's gone mad! Be careful!" Old Kinh bellowed, his solitary eye laced with bloodshot veins. He had spent his entire life on the sea, yet he had never faced such a terrifying spectacle.
The Black Ink Demon King no longer attacked sporadically. Dozens of its tentacles surged from the water simultaneously, like gargantuan pythons from the abyss, striking, smashing, and coiling from all eight directions, forming an inescapable dragnet intent on grinding the tiny vessel to dust.
Tran Kien stood at the bow, his legs rooted to the deck. The gale-force winds whipped his black hair wildly; rain and seawater lashed his face with a scalding sting. He had already coughed up fresh blood, and the Primordial Chaos Qi within his body was more than half depleted. Yet, his eyes held no fear. Instead, an inferno—a maddened, exhilarated battle lust—blazed furiously within them.
He had found it. He had discovered a new path for his saber arts.
"The sea possesses moments of hardness and moments of softness. My saber arts must be the same."
He ceased wielding his Saber Intent - Hundredfold Tempered with rigid stubbornness. He began to "listen." Listening to the roar of the tempest, listening to the rhythm of the waves. He was transforming this very storm, this entire expanse of sea, into an extension of his saber arts.
Swish!
A colossal tentacle whipped toward him from the left. Tran Kien did not confront it head-on. He unleashed a slash, but the blade did not touch the tentacle. His blade struck the incoming wave surging just beneath it. His Saber Intent was not meant to destroy, but to "guide." The wave was instantly directed, forming a soft yet incredibly resilient wall of water that dissipated the vast majority of the tentacle's force.
Clang!
Simultaneously, Old Kinh hurled another harpoon. The harpoon flew true, aiming not for the eye, but for one of the giant suckers upon the tentacle. He knew this was one of the monster's weak points.
"Rooooar!"
The demon king roared in agony once more.
The battle was incredibly fierce. The two men, one old and one young—one relying on experience and valor, the other on intellect and comprehension—coordinated with immaculate synergy. Old Kinh focused on attacking the vulnerabilities. Meanwhile, Tran Kien had completely transformed into the controller of the battlefield. The matte-black saber in his hand danced, no longer unleashing domineering cleaves, but executing fluid glides, flicks, and incredibly graceful thrusts.
He was not fighting the storm; he was "dancing" with the storm.
He borrowed a wave to serve as a shield. He borrowed a whirlpool to serve as a trap, causing the demon king's tentacles to collide with one another. He even borrowed the force of the wind to bolster his movement techniques, allowing him to navigate the violently rocking deck as lightly as a leaf.
This was the stratagem of "Exploiting Favorable Circumstances," but he had elevated it to an entirely new realm. He was leveraging the very power of Heaven and Earth.
But the Black Ink Demon King, after all, was the overlord of these waters. Being toyed with by two insignificant ants for so long, it finally flew into a complete rage.
It ceased using its tentacles. It slowly submerged beneath the surface.
"What is it planning?" Tran Kien remained vigilant.
"Disaster!" Old Kinh roared in horror. "It intends to use its ultimate move! It plans to capsize this entire boat!"
In that instant, the entire vessel was abruptly hoisted into the air by an immense force from below. The Black Ink Demon King was using its colossal bulk to ram directly into the hull!
A desperate situation! Suspended in mid-air without any leverage, once the boat capsized, they would undoubtedly plunge into the sea, becoming food for the monster.
But in that life-and-death moment, Tran Kien—who was being hurled into the sky alongside the boat—raised his head toward the heavens. He did not look at the demon king. He looked at the lightning tearing across the pitch-black sky.
A maddened thought, a final, desperate gamble, flashed through his mind.
He abandoned all defense. He channeled the entirety of the remaining Primordial Chaos Qi within his body. He not only utilized his Saber Intent but also activated the Solar Essence Guardian fragment nestled within his breast.
He did not slash downward. He raised the matte-black saber high, pointing it straight toward the high heavens!
An aura—luminous, righteous, domineering, bearing humanity's unyielding will against Heaven and Earth—erupted from his body, blazing like a resplendent torch amidst the tempest.
"Elder! Hold on tight!" he roared.
Then, he unleashed a bellow, a roar that carried the majesty of the heavens themselves.
"HEAVENLY LIGHTNING!!! COME FORTH!!!"
He was attempting something completely insane. He was using his own aura, his own sheer will, to provoke, to "guide" the lightning of the azure sky!
As if responding to that declaration of war, the charged storm clouds swirling in the pitch-black sky churned violently.
CRACK... BOOOOOOOOM!!!
A bolt of lightning, larger and more ferocious than any previous strike, crashed straight down from the Nine Heavens like an enraged silver dragon!
Its target was the single, brilliantly blazing torch amidst the great sea.
It was Tran Kien!