The Octopus Demon's scream cut off. Its enormous body froze in midair for an instant, then sagged like a deflated wineskin. Its eight tentacles drooped helplessly as it fell into the churning sea below.
Li Bufan steadied himself in midair, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
The drain from the Blazing Spirit Seal, followed by the Seven Killings Blade's all-out strike, had brought his Golden Core to the brink of exhaustion again. Both his arms trembled faintly.
But he raised his head. His gaze passed over the corpses of the Giant Crab and the Octopus Demon floating on the sea and settled on the Sea Demons still assaulting the light barrier farther away.
With two Truth-Seeking Realm Sea Demons slain, the assault faltered for a moment.
The weaker Sea Demons looked back one after another, as though they could not believe those two mighty presences had simply vanished.
A thunderous cheer erupted from the walls of Stilltide City. Seeing the two Truth-Seeking Realm Sea Demons slain, the soldiers and warriors surged with renewed courage, and arrows poured down like a torrential rain.
But Li Bufan did not let down his guard.
His spiritual sense covered the entire battlefield. Behind the Sea Demons, he sensed a presence deeper than either of the two Truth-Seeking Realm Sea Demons, slowly rising.
That presence rose from the depths of the seabed like a volcano awakening after ten thousand years. Its oppressive demonic aura made the waters across the entire region begin to boil.
Meng Xinghe sensed it too. His face turned pale. "Brother Li... what is that?"
Li Bufan did not answer. His grip tightened slightly around the Seven Killings Blade, and he stared fixedly at the distant sea.
Beneath the waters stained black by demonic aura, a colossal