Poison Domain Emerges

The newly grown tentacles had reached about half their original length. Though they were still slender and fragile, they could already perform basic support and sensing functions. Nourished by the Water-Condensing Pearl, the Soul Power within his body had recovered by more than eighty percent. His meridians felt warm, his Poison Source was stable, and that deep blue-violet color flowed through him, carrying a calm yet dangerous sense of power.

It was time to get moving, Jingtian thought. Training behind closed doors could never compare to real combat, especially when he urgently needed to test the several new poison techniques he had acquired.

He quietly left his nest and slipped into the familiar yet unfamiliar waters like a shadow. His senses spread outward from him like invisible ripples, covering a range far beyond what they had before. After breaking through to a thousand years, especially after the transformation of his Poison Source, not only had his sensory range expanded to around twelve hundred meters, but his ability to distinguish energy fluctuations had also become much sharper.

He did not provoke the major creatures that dominated their territories, such as any Thousand-Year Soul Beasts that might have migrated here while he was away. Instead, he set his sights on groups of soul beasts with cultivation levels between three or four hundred years and six or seven hundred years. These targets were enough to test his new abilities without posing a fatal threat. Even if something went wrong or he attracted trouble, it would be easy enough to escape.

Very quickly, his senses found a suitable target—a pack of Iron-Spined Arrow Wolves.

These were pack-type soul beasts resembling Sea Wolves, except that a row of bony spikes grew along their backs. Most individual wolves had cultivation levels between four and five hundred years. They were swift, coordinated, and skilled at hunting in groups, making them moderately renowned predators in these waters. At that moment, the pack of more than thirty Iron-Spined Arrow Wolves was surrounding and attacking a massive Thick-Shelled Tridacna with roughly seven hundred years of Soul Power.

The Thick-Shelled Tridacna possessed astonishing defense. Its two heavy shells remained tightly shut, unmoved despite the wolves' bites and bony-spike rams. Only occasionally would it blast powerful streams of water from the crack between its shells, knocking away any wolves that came too close. Relying on their numerical advantage, the wolves took turns harassing and attacking it, trying to wear down the tridacna's strength or find a gap in its closed shell.

A battle of attrition between evenly matched opponents. It was the perfect chance to fish in troubled waters and test his new abilities.

Jingtian approached without a sound and concealed himself behind a coral reef roughly five hundred meters from the battlefield. From this distance, he could clearly observe the battle while remaining at the edge of his Poison Domain's effective range. The Poison Domain could currently be maintained at a maximum radius of around fifteen meters, though its optimal control range was within ten meters.

He did not rush to act. Like the most patient observer, he analyzed the wolves' attack patterns, their coordination rhythm, and the defensive habits of the Thick-Shelled Tridacna.

The wolf pack had clearly divided its roles. Seven or eight of the strongest wolves attacked head-on, drawing the tridacna's attention and absorbing the blasts of water. More than ten circled along the flanks, waiting for chances to strike the thinner edges of the shell with their bone spikes or pry open a gap. Several others stood guard around the perimeter, watching for other predators.

Jingtian's gaze—his senses—locked onto those perimeter guards. They were relatively isolated. Though they were alert, their attention was mainly focused on distant threats, leaving them least prepared for an ambush from behind, from what they considered a safe direction.

Now.

With a thought, the transformed Poison Source within him began to circulate silently. A dark blue glow flashed across his body, and then an invisible, intangible wave carrying Heavy Sluggishness and a sense of spiritual oppression suddenly spread outward from him!

The Poison Domain unfolded!

Within a ten-meter radius, the seawater seemed to instantly become darker and thicker. The guard wolves at the edge of the Poison Domain suddenly stiffened!

They felt the surrounding water turn to glue. Every stroke became extraordinarily difficult, and their speed plummeted. Worse still, an indescribable numbness and irritation rose from the depths of their souls, slowing their reactions and making it difficult to focus. Even the circulation of Soul Power within their bodies became somewhat sluggish.

"Awo?" One guard wolf let out a puzzled growl and tried to turn its head to inspect the area, but its movements were as slow as a snail's.

At the very instant they fell into brief confusion under the Poison Domain's influence—

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three condensed, nearly invisible dark blue Poison Threads shot out from behind the coral reef where Jingtian was hiding like whispers of death! They were nearly twice as fast as before, and their trajectories were even trickier!

The Poison Threads precisely struck the relatively vulnerable eye sockets and areas behind the ears of three guard wolves! The bones there were thinner, and the areas were close to their nerve centers.

The poison contained not only potent neuroparalytic toxins, but also the newly comprehended Poison Erosion property!

"Wuu—!"

The three wolves only managed half a brief cry of pain before their bodies began convulsing violently. The poison invaded instantly, not only paralyzing their nerves but also beginning to destroy their vitality from within! Their surface defenses were greatly weakened before the Poison Erosion property, and the toxin spread at an astonishing speed.

In only two or three breaths, the three guard wolves, each with more than four hundred years of Soul Power, collapsed limply as though their bones had been pulled out. Their life auras rapidly faded away.

The entire process was lightning-fast and silent. It was not until the three corpses began slowly sinking that the main force of the wolf pack attacking the Thick-Shelled Tridacna noticed something was wrong.

"Awooo—!" A muscular wolf that appeared to be the alpha, with Soul Power nearing six hundred years, let out a warning roar. It abandoned its attack on the tridacna, its scarlet eyes warily sweeping toward the guards.

However, it was already too late.

After succeeding with his first strike, Jingtian did not remain where he was. Instead, he shifted positions continuously through the coral reef's shadows like a ghost. His Poison Domain moved with him, always covering the edge of the battlefield.

When several wolves furiously pounced on his original hiding spot, they found only empty seawater and the corpses of their kin, which were being rapidly corroded by poison.

Puff! Puff!

Two more Poison Threads shot out from unexpected angles, striking the flanks of the two wolves that had lunged most fiercely. The Poison Erosion property allowed the toxin to easily penetrate their tough fur and muscles, invading their internal organs directly.

The wolf pack descended into complete chaos. They had not even seen who their enemy was. They only watched their companions fall one after another for no apparent reason, dying in grotesque ways. Fear of the unknown began to spread.

The alpha wolf grew even more agitated. It tried to lock onto its enemy through smell and senses, but the Poison Domain interfered with its perception, while Jingtian's concealment had become even more refined with his thousand-year cultivation and the Poison Domain's support.

Jingtian was like a ghost of the Deep Sea. Every appearance was accompanied by lethal Poison Threads, and every attack claimed at least one wolf's life. He was not pursuing an instant massacre. Instead, he used the Poison Domain's control and his own concealment to carry out an efficient "bleeding" strategy.

The Poison Domain's presence greatly restricted and disrupted the wolf pack's mobility and coordination. Their proud group charges were difficult to unleash in the thick, sluggish Poison Domain, while the mental interference left their responses to one another full of openings.

The Thick-Shelled Tridacna seemed to notice the disturbance outside as well. Its tightly shut shells opened a narrow crack, "observing" the situation in confusion.

In less than the time it took to brew a cup of tea, Jingtian had used the Poison Domain to assist his Poison Thread executions and wiped out nearly half of the pack of more than thirty Iron-Spined Arrow Wolves! This included the alpha wolf nearing six hundred years. Jingtian had given it special attention, striking its vital points with several Poison Threads containing Poison Erosion. Though it struggled the longest, it ultimately could not escape becoming a rapidly rotting corpse.

The fewer than twenty remaining wolves completely broke down. Fear overwhelmed everything else. They let out terrified whimpers, no longer caring about the prey at their mouths—the Thick-Shelled Tridacna—or their dead companions, and scattered in flight.

Jingtian did not pursue them. His testing objective had already been achieved. The practical effects of the Poison Domain and Poison Erosion property had far exceeded expectations. He slowly withdrew the Poison Domain, which consumed a considerable amount of energy to maintain, and swam toward the wolf corpses.

The devouring began. The life essence and Soul Power of these four- and five-hundred-year soul beasts offered limited improvement to his current thousand-year cultivation, but they were ideal for replenishing his recent expenditure, accelerating the growth of his new tentacles, and stabilizing his Poison Source.

Just as he had devoured the essence of two wolves and was preparing to turn to the third—

"Hmm?"

A crisp human voice, carrying a hint of surprise and curiosity, suddenly drifted faintly through the seawater and entered his sensory range!

Every muscle in Jingtian's body instantly tensed! All his tentacles contracted sharply, the color of the rings on his body instantly becoming indistinguishable from the surrounding reef. He restrained his aura until it was nearly nonexistent!

He immediately extended his senses with all his might toward the source of the voice!

Roughly eight hundred meters behind and to one side of him, on a higher sea ridge, three figures had appeared at some unknown point.

The leader had six Soul Rings shining around him—three yellow, two purple, and one black. He was unmistakably a Soul Emperor! His Spirit Empire seemed related to the ocean. A layer of pale blue waterlight enveloped him, and he held a strangely shaped harpoon-like weapon in his hand. His brows were slightly furrowed as he stared sharply in the direction the wolf pack had fled and at the corpses scattered across the ground.

Beside him stood a Soul King with five Soul Rings—two yellow, two purple, and one black—appearing around him. His Spirit Empire seemed to be some kind of turtle, and a faint phantom of a turtle shell could be seen behind him as he vigilantly scanned the surroundings.

The one who had made that soft sound of surprise was a young woman standing slightly behind the two men. She had only four Soul Rings—two yellow and two purple—making her a Soul Ancestor. Her Spirit Empire was quite unusual. Her eyes were emerald green, with vertical pupils like those of a feline. She stared without blinking at the place where Jingtian had just vanished, her face openly filled with curiosity and inquiry.

"Senior Brother, over there just now... something seemed to flash and disappear." The young woman spoke, her voice transmitted through Soul Power and becoming much clearer, carrying the crispness unique to a girl. "It felt... unlike those Iron-Spined Arrow Wolves."

The Soul Emperor senior brother withdrew his gaze and said in a low voice, "Be careful. These waters have been unsettled lately. Earlier, Steward Wang and the others killed a Silver Electric Demon Eel nearly two thousand years old in the Black Stone Forest to the west. Anything that could silently wipe out half a wolf pack was no simple creature." His senses swept across Jingtian's location like rippling water, but Jingtian's concealment had reached an extremely high level. Combined with the distance and the cover of the reef, no anomaly was discovered.

The turtle-shell Soul King said in a muffled voice, "Judging by how those wolves died, it looks like poisoning, and the toxin is extremely potent. The corpses are rotting very quickly. It may be some poisonous Sea Soul Beast we have no record of."

The emerald-eyed Soul Ancestor girl, however, appeared highly interested. "A poisonous Sea Soul Beast? That's rare! Senior Brother, should we go over and take a look? Maybe we can catch a rare one!"

The Soul Emperor senior brother shook his head. "The mission comes first. The elder sent us to investigate the abnormal energy fluctuations in these waters, not to hunt soul beasts. Besides, anything that could use poison to eliminate a wolf pack so quickly is not easy to deal with. It may already have fled."

The girl pouted in disappointment but did not insist. Her emerald-green eyes merely gave Jingtian's vanished location one more long look, and the corner of her lips seemed to curve into an exceedingly faint, intrigued smile.

The three exchanged a few more quiet words, seemingly confirming their bearings. Then they swam in the direction opposite Jingtian—toward the deeper parts of the sea—and soon vanished beyond his sensory range.

Only after their auras had completely disappeared did Jingtian slowly emerge from his extreme concealment state. The dark blue rings reappeared across his body, though their color was deeper than usual.

Human Soul Masters... had appeared again. And this time, they had come so close!

That emerald-eyed girl... had she sensed something? Was her Spirit Empire unusual, making her perception exceptionally sharp? Or had he leaked an extremely faint fluctuation when he deployed the Poison Domain or attacked?

Alarm bells rang in Jingtian's mind. These waters truly were no longer "safe." Humanity's reach had extended faster and farther than he had imagined. And they seemed to be investigating some kind of "abnormal energy fluctuation"? Did that refer to the aura of the Scorpion Tail Soul Bone in the depths of the fissure? Or the disturbance caused when he broke through to a thousand years and his Poison Source transformed?

Either possibility meant that this region where he had been hiding had already entered the sight of certain human forces.

He had to be more careful.

He quickly devoured the remaining wolf essence. Without even having time to carefully clean up the traces—the poison's corrosion was already rapidly breaking down the corpses—he silently raced back toward his nest as fast as he could.

The test of his new poison techniques had been highly successful. Their power was satisfying.

But the result had brought an even more pressing sense of danger.

The appearance of humans was like a dark cloud slowly closing in.

He needed to grow stronger faster, and he also needed... a more concealed, safer place to hide.

Perhaps it was time to consider temporarily leaving these waters, which were no longer peaceful?