Northern Lands

The water in the northern sea was noticeably colder than Jingtian's original territory, and the light was dimmer, as though eternal night shrouded the depths. Yet the concentration of Soul Power in these waters was unexpectedly far richer than in his abandoned old nest. Faint, mineral-like glowing particles drifted through the seawater, while the Soul Power fluctuations his senses touched were more active and densely packed.

Just as he had sensed from afar before, no single overwhelming presence ruled this sea. Soul Power fluctuations ranging from a few decades to four or five hundred years were scattered like stars, each occupying its own territory and forming numerous Soul Beast communities of varying sizes or the domains of solitary powerhouses. Friction occasionally arose between them, but they seemed to maintain a dynamic, fragile balance.

To Jingtian, this was simply the perfect hunting ground—clearly stratified, rich in prey, and without any absolute overlord he needed to avoid immediately.

He did not rush to find a new permanent nest. Instead, like a vicious wolf charging into a flock of sheep, he began an efficient and merciless hunt.

His strategy was simple and brutal: sweep through and crush everything.

With seven hundred and ten years of cultivation, along with lethal poison arts and hunting techniques tempered through countless killings, he could practically run rampant in these waters. Soul Beasts with three or four hundred years of cultivation were no different from lambs awaiting slaughter before him.

He first targeted Soul Beasts with cultivation between three hundred and five hundred years, whether solitary or living in small groups. They offered the richest energy, while the risks of hunting them remained relatively manageable.

A four-hundred-year Phantom Light Jellyfish lurked among a cluster of glowing coral, skilled at creating illusions of light and shadow and releasing numbing electric currents. Jingtian directly unleashed a wide-ranging poisonous mist of mental interference, disrupting its senses and ignoring its illusions. He then closed in and pierced its energy core with an intensely Penetrating poison filament before devouring it.

Near an undersea volcanic vent, a school of shrimp led by three-hundred-and-fifty-year Lava Armor Shrimp possessed formidable defenses and could endure high temperatures. Jingtian stirred the unstable thermal currents around the vent, creating a minor eruption that threw the shrimp formation into chaos. Then, using corrosive venom, he focused on the weak joints of the lead shrimp. Once he poisoned the leader to death, the school scattered, and he calmly devoured their essence.

A Ghost-Faced Giant-Mouthed Eel with four hundred and eighty years of Soul Power lay in ambush at the bottom of a deep trench, skilled at surprise attacks and swallowing prey whole. Jingtian used its own methods against it, disguising himself as an injured century-old Soul Beast to lure it into attacking. The instant it opened its mouth to swallow him, he fired a concentrated mixture of Heavy Sluggishness and neurotoxin deep into its throat, destroying it from within.

Every hunt was swift and clean, and every devouring brought a noticeable increase in cultivation. Like a tireless reaper, Jingtian frantically seized resources throughout these relatively abundant waters. His cultivation rapidly climbed from seven hundred and ten years to seven hundred and fifty, eight hundred, eight hundred and fifty...

His hunting range also kept expanding, advancing from the outskirts toward the depths of the sea. Wherever he passed, mid- and high-level Soul Beasts either became food in his belly or fled at the first sign of danger, spreading fear and the news that "a terrifying Poisonous Entity had arrived in the Northern Lands."

The fragile balance of these waters was thoroughly shattered by Jingtian in the most violent way possible.

Signs of ecological collapse appeared again, even faster and more intensely than in his former territory. The disappearance of so many backbone Soul Beasts broke the food chain. Some suppressed lower- and middle-tier Soul Beasts began multiplying wildly, frantically consuming basic resources such as seaweed, plankton, and small minerals. Meanwhile, other ecological niches dependent on mid- and high-level Soul Beasts, such as cleaning symbioses and specific energy cycles, rapidly deteriorated.

The seawater grew somewhat murky. The once-stable flow of Soul Power began to turn chaotic, and energy density in certain areas even started to decline. Panic spread among the Soul Beasts, and waves of migration began—not toward Jingtian, but away from him.

Jingtian did not care in the slightest. He even welcomed it. Chaos meant more opportunities, and fleeing Soul Beasts were more likely to expose weaknesses in their panic. Like a precise, efficient killing machine, he constantly adjusted his targets as his Soul Power cultivation steadily advanced toward nine hundred years.

However, his unchecked rampage finally caught the attention of the true "hidden powerhouses" in these waters.

When Jingtian's cultivation broke through nine hundred years and he set his sights on a five-hundred-and-thirty-year Mystic Ice Giant Snail that occupied a small Spirit Power Spring, trouble arrived.

The Mystic Ice Giant Snail possessed astonishing defenses and could spit out freezing cold air. It moved slowly, but was extremely difficult to kill. Jingtian fought it for a long time before finally wearing it down with the relentless corrosion of his venom and nimble maneuvering. Just as he prepared to devour this rare giant snail, which contained pure ice-element energy—

"Boom!"

An incomparably violent current, like the charge of a gigantic sea beast, slammed viciously into him from the side and rear!

Jingtian reacted with incredible speed. All eight tentacles exerted force at once, propelling him sideways in the nick of time. At his original position, the seawater was directly forced away by a terrifying power, forming a brief vacuum bubble before crashing shut with a dull, thunderous boom.

A Soul Beast more than fifteen meters long appeared not far away. It resembled a gigantic sea lion, but bore a single horn on its head and was covered in dark golden scales. Its eyes were crimson as it stared fixedly at Jingtian... and at the corpse of the Mystic Ice Giant Snail beside him. Its Soul Power fluctuations had clearly reached more than eight hundred years! They were also filled with violent rage and greed.

A Single-Horned Gilded Beast! One of the true overlords lurking in the depths of these northern waters! It did not usually appear in this relatively fringe area, but Jingtian's recent frenzied slaughter, along with the pure energy fluctuations released upon the Mystic Ice Giant Snail's death, had finally drawn it out.

"Roar—!" The Single-Horned Gilded Beast let out a deafening roar infused with Soul Power, declaring its ownership of the prey and its fury. In its eyes, Jingtian, this outsider, had not only invaded its sphere of influence but had also killed its prized "property"—both the Spirit Power Spring occupied by the Mystic Ice Giant Snail and the snail itself.

Jingtian's heart tightened. Eight hundred years of cultivation, and it was clearly the kind with thick hide, tough flesh, and terrifying strength. In a direct confrontation, even with his superb poison arts, he would gain no advantage. He might even suffer a disastrous defeat.

But how could he easily give up meat already at his mouth? Besides, this Single-Horned Gilded Beast itself was an enormous temptation! If he could devour it, the thousand-year threshold might be within reach!

In a flash, Jingtian made his decision—he would take the risk, but he would rely on cunning.

He neither fled immediately nor launched a direct attack. Instead, he swiftly wrapped the Mystic Ice Giant Snail's corpse in his tentacles and violently sprayed a massive cloud of multicolored poisonous mist toward the Single-Horned Gilded Beast. The mist contained intense mental interference, hallucination-inducing toxins, and corrosive properties, blanketing the beast's head!

The poisonous mist was not meant to injure it, but to disrupt and enrage it!

Sure enough, the Single-Horned Gilded Beast was engulfed in the sudden cloud of bizarrely colored poisonous mist with its pungent scent. Both its vision and mental senses were significantly affected. It angrily shook its massive head, golden light flickering on its horn as it tried to disperse the mist. At the same time, its enormous body charged without hesitation toward Jingtian—the direction from which the mist had come—intent on crushing the provocateur!

Yet the instant Jingtian released the poisonous mist, he had already used the recoil to drag the Mystic Ice Giant Snail's corpse toward a predetermined location—a Blade Stone Forest filled with extremely complex terrain, sharp reefs, and narrow crevices!

He had already surveyed the terrain of these waters. He knew it was unsuitable for a large Soul Beast like the Single-Horned Gilded Beast to display its strength, yet it was the ideal battlefield for someone relatively small and highly agile like himself.

"Trying to run?!" Though hindered by the poisonous mist, the Single-Horned Gilded Beast's Soul Power lock remained firmly fixed on Jingtian. Roaring furiously, it smashed through the reefs along the way and pursued him relentlessly. It had absolute confidence in its defenses and strength, and did not believe this fellow who only knew how to use poison and ambushes could turn the tables.

One pursued while the other fled, and they soon rushed into the Blade Stone Forest.

Jingtian darted through the jagged gaps between reefs like a fish, sometimes making sharp turns, sometimes slipping through extremely narrow crevices. The Single-Horned Gilded Beast was huge. Although its strength allowed it to shatter many reefs, its speed was clearly affected, and sharp stone ridges carved numerous wounds across its body. They were not deep, but they enraged it even further.

As he fled, Jingtian continuously released small amounts of venom with the effects of Heavy Sluggishness behind him, smearing it over reefs the Single-Horned Gilded Beast had to pass or spraying it directly into its wounds. The poison could not kill it immediately, but it made its movements increasingly heavy and sluggish.

At the same time, he had laid Delayed Poison Sacs and concentrated clumps of corrosive venom at certain crucial turns and narrow passages. When the Single-Horned Gilded Beast passed through them, they would activate, further weakening and enraging it.

The Single-Horned Gilded Beast grew more and more frantic, while its pursuit became increasingly disorderly. It knew only how to charge forward recklessly. Its Soul Power expenditure intensified, and its wounds began to itch, go numb, and fester beneath the venom's corrosion. Its movements became slower and slower.

Finally, in a relatively open area deep within the stone forest, where the ceiling was covered with sharp stalactites and the ground was soft quicksand, Jingtian stopped. He tossed the Mystic Ice Giant Snail's corpse aside and turned to face the massive beast chasing after him.

By now, the Single-Horned Gilded Beast was covered in wounds and gasping for breath. Beyond fury, its crimson eyes now held a trace of suspicion and exhaustion. As it looked at the blue octopus far smaller than itself, yet radiating icy killing intent, it felt a faint unease for the first time.

Jingtian gave it no chance to catch its breath. His eight tentacles thrust fiercely into the surrounding reefs and sand, his body drawing tight like a fully loaded bow as the Soul Power and poison source of his nine hundred years of cultivation surged to their limits!

He held nothing back and tested nothing further. Every scheme and every preparation had been for this single killing blow!

"Hiss—!"

Eight ultimate poison filaments, condensed to the utmost extreme and black as ink, shot simultaneously from the tips of his eight tentacles! They combined neurotoxins, corrosion, mental interference, Heavy Sluggishness, Armor-Piercing, and Penetration. Like eight chains from the underworld, they did not target the Single-Horned Gilded Beast's most heavily defended back or head. Instead, they struck precisely at the dozens of wounds of varying depths that it had scraped against the reefs during the pursuit!

A point broke through a surface! The poison filaments followed the wounds, bypassing the defense of its heavy scales and driving directly into its flesh, meridians, and even bones!

"Awooo—!!!"

Unprecedented agony and numbness instantly swept through the Single-Horned Gilded Beast's entire body! It let out an incomparably miserable howl as its gigantic form writhed and rolled wildly, smashing the surrounding reefs to pieces! But the toxins spread far faster than it could have imagined. Its movements quickly became stiff and weak, its Soul Power collapsing like air escaping from a punctured ball.

Jingtian watched coldly and did not approach. He merely continued channeling Soul Power to maintain the poison filaments' output, sending more venom through the water into the enormous mouth the beast opened as it struggled, as well as into its wounds.

Its struggles lasted several dozen breaths, growing weaker and weaker.

In the end, this eight-hundred-year Single-Horned Gilded Beast, which had dominated an entire region, stared with unwilling crimson eyes as its life force completely faded. It crashed into the quicksand and rubble.

Jingtian slowly withdrew his tentacles, panting heavily. This battle had cost him dearly. Both his Soul Power and venom reserves were nearly exhausted. But he had won.

He staggered forward and quickly devoured the Mystic Ice Giant Snail's essence first. The ice-element energy replenished some of his depleted Soul Power. Then he looked at the Single-Horned Gilded Beast's massive corpse, a burning gleam flashing through his eyes.

Without hesitation, he pounced on it and began frantically devouring the life essence and Soul Power core of this eight-hundred-year Soul Beast!

Vast, tyrannical energy filled with sharp golden force surged into his body like a flood. Under the impact of that power, the nine-hundred-year bottleneck shattered as easily as paper!

His body began to undergo dramatic changes! His size swelled once more, his tentacles becoming thicker, longer, and more powerful. Faint golden patterns even appeared along the rims of his suckers. The deep blue rings on his body became like the darkest sapphires, their radiance restrained yet soul-stirring. His range of perception instantly expanded past a thousand meters! His control over Soul Power and poison source also rose to an entirely new level!

More importantly, an indistinct aura of tribulation began gathering faintly around him. It was the omen of a Heavenly Tribulation that might descend when a Soul Beast crossed the thousand-year threshold! Yet beneath the Deep Sea, the form of the Heavenly Tribulation might differ from that on land. Perhaps it would come as more violent undersea currents, energy storms, or some other unknown trial.

But at this moment, Jingtian was immersed in the thrill of his rapidly expanding power and his exploration of this new realm. He sensed the surging strength within himself and felt the leap in the level of his life.

A thousand-year Soul Beast!

He had finally crossed this threshold! In such a short time, through the cruelest and most efficient form of predatory devouring, he had completed an accumulation that countless Soul Beasts needed thousands of years to achieve!

He raised his head, his senses sweeping the surroundings. Within a radius of a thousand meters, every Soul Power fluctuation lay within his grasp. Those five- and six-hundred-year Soul Beasts that had once made him somewhat wary now seemed like fireflies before the moon in his perception.

These northern waters no longer presented him with any challenge.

He looked at the still-unconsumed corpse of the Single-Horned Gilded Beast beneath him, then at these waters that had become even more chaotic and whose resources were being depleted faster because of him. A cold curve formed at the corner of his mouth—in his mind.

Resources were running short again.

Then it was time to find the next "hunting ground."

He just did not know where the next unlucky sea region, whose ecological balance had yet to be destroyed, would be.

The deep blue rings symbolizing a thousand years of cultivation slowly flickered in the dim Deep Sea of the Northern Lands, like an invitation from death.