Hunter

The undercurrents at the edge of the Storm Sea Abyss seemed fiercer than ever, carrying bone-piercing cold and the crushing pressure unique to the deep sea. Five ships, like five silent steel behemoths, broke through curtain after curtain of water. The Soul Tool Shields covering their hulls shone steadily, keeping the violent turbulence and lurking dangers outside.

Jingtian blended perfectly into a vast cluster of shadow seaweed hanging from the abyssal cliff. The concealment abilities of a ten-thousand-year soul beast, combined with his consummate environmental mimicry, made him seem one with the darkness. Even the immense fluctuations of his ten-thousand-year soul power had been suppressed to almost nothing. Only his cold "gaze" pierced thousands of meters of murky seawater, fixed firmly on the fleet.

He did not act rashly. Instead, he pushed his perception to its limit, scanning every detail of the fleet like the most precise radar.

The five ships advanced in a standard reconnaissance formation: two ahead, two behind, and one slightly farther back in the center—the obvious flagship. Its hull was somewhat larger, and its soul power fluctuations were the densest and strongest.

Each ship carried roughly four or five people. Just as he had sensed, even the weakest were Soul Kings, while Soul Emperors formed the main force. There were at least three Soul Emperors aboard the flagship. One possessed an aura as deep and still as an abyss, with soul power fluctuations that faintly suggested the beginnings of a "domain." That person was likely a Quasi-Soul Saint, or a Peak Soul Emperor with special abilities! Each of the other four ships had at least one or two Soul Emperors stationed aboard.

"Everyone understands the mission briefing, correct?" On the flagship's deck, the middle-aged Soul Master at the Quasi-Soul Saint level spoke in a low voice. He wore a fitted dark-blue outfit with an anchor-and-lightning insignia on his chest, similar to those worn by the Soul Masters previously encountered in the Western Silent Sea Abyss, but more elaborate. Amplified by soul power, his voice reached every ship clearly. "Over the past five years, a hundred and thirty-seven anomalous soul beast disappearances have been reported along this stretch of the Storm Sea Abyss. The missing beasts ranged from five hundred years of cultivation to nine thousand eight hundred! None of the sites showed clear signs of intense combat. Very few bodies were found. Most left only remnants corroded by deadly poison, along with the bizarre phenomenon of their soul power having been drained dry."

He paused, his sharp gaze sweeping the depths of the abyss. "Headquarters suspects that an unknown sea soul beast with high intelligence, extreme toxicity, and devouring abilities is active in this region. Its behavior matches no known soul beast, and its danger rating has provisionally been set at Grade A. Our Raging Waves Team's mission is to uncover the truth, assess the threat, and, if possible, capture or eliminate the target."

A Soul Emperor aboard another ship spoke up, his voice tinged with gravity. "Captain, analysis of the residual toxins suggests that this unknown soul beast's poison is extraordinarily complex and strange. It seems capable of eroding soul power and life origin. Our antitoxin agents and Soul Tool Shields may not provide complete protection. And anything that can make a nine-thousand-year soul beast vanish without a sound..."

"All the more reason to be careful," the Quasi-Soul Saint captain said coldly. "That is precisely why headquarters sent our team, specialists in underwater combat and coordinated Soul Tool use. Remember, our advantages are teamwork, Soul Tools, and intelligence—not fighting alone. The moment you discover a suspicious target or come under attack, activate the joint defensive formation and deploy deep-sea detection Soul Tools to mark and track it. The depths of this abyss may be dangerous, but according to our current intelligence, the dominant soul beast in this region is only a Deep Sea Demon Octopus King of around forty thousand years. The five of us together can handle it. But this unknown poison beast... must be dealt with first."

"Yes, sir!" The ships answered in unison.

Hidden in the darkness, Jingtian "heard" every word through his perception. Understanding dawned within him, accompanied by even greater wariness.

As expected, his five years of unrestrained predatory devouring had finally attracted the attention of a human Soul Master organization. They had even assembled a dedicated team to investigate, classifying him as a "Grade A threat." Moreover, they had already conducted a preliminary analysis of his toxins and prepared corresponding team tactics and Soul Tools.

An elite underwater team consisting of five Soul Emperors, plus one Quasi-Soul Saint, equipped with Soul Tools, certainly had the strength to run rampant through this region. After all, its strongest known inhabitant was merely a forty-thousand-year soul beast. And he, the "unknown poison beast" who had only just crossed the ten-thousand-year threshold, was clearly their primary target.

At that moment, the identities of "hunter" and "prey" seemed somewhat blurred. The human Soul Masters were hunters here to kill an "anomalous soul beast," but was he not also an apex predator who regarded every living creature as prey?

The corners of Jingtian's mouth—in his mind—curved into a cold, dangerous smile. Since they've decided I'm prey, let these "hunters" get a proper taste of being bitten back by something far more venomous.

He did not choose the flagship or the Quasi-Soul Saint captain as his first target. That would be too conspicuous, too risky. His gaze settled on the foremost Soul Tool ship on the left flank.

This ship was the smallest and seemingly the fastest, responsible for scouting ahead. Only four people were aboard: one Soul Emperor whose aura suggested he had only recently entered that realm, and three Soul Kings. They maintained a distance of about one kilometer from the main fleet. In the deep sea, that was not far, but for Jingtian, it was enough.

He needed an "opening act" that was clean and decisive, yet would sow the greatest possible panic.

He locked on mentally, and his ten-thousand-year soul power and poison source began circulating with extreme slowness and subtlety. He did not employ his Poison Domain, which required violent soul power fluctuations, nor did he use ordinary venom that might leave energy traces. He settled on the most dangerous and most covert weapon currently at his disposal—Dan-Devour.

Creating a trace of Dan-Devour poison still placed a considerable burden on him, but it was no longer beyond what he could bear. Carefully, using his ten-thousand-year soul power as the foundation and his poison source as the core, he slowly condensed and compressed properties such as poison erosion, annihilation, soul locking, and spirit energy marking.

There was no light, no fluctuation, not even a wisp of escaping toxicity. Only a strand of strange "force," invisible and intangible, as though it did not exist within this spatial dimension, quietly took shape at the tip of his tentacle. This "force" was faint to the extreme, yet it had locked onto the life aura and soul imprint of the Soul Emperor aboard the scout ship ahead.

The distance was eight hundred meters. Within Dan-Devour's lock-on range.

Now!

The tip of Jingtian's tentacle gave an exceedingly slight tremor, so minute that neither the naked eye nor soul power could easily detect it.

That trace of Dan-Devour poison seemed to transcend the limits of space and time. In an instant, it crossed eight hundred meters of seawater, disregarded the soul power shield surrounding the Soul Tool ship—the shield primarily defended against physical and energy impacts and seemed to offer limited protection against a bizarre poison like Dan-Devour, which targeted life origin—and precisely "imprinted" itself inside the scouting Soul Emperor!

Aboard the ship, the Soul Emperor, who had been wholly focused on operating some kind of detection Soul Tool, suddenly shuddered!

A flicker of utter bewilderment and confusion crossed his face, as though something icy had pierced the deepest reaches of his soul in an instant. Instinctively, he lowered his head to look at his chest. No wound. Nothing unusual. But in the next moment, an unprecedented weakness and emptiness, welling up from his life origin, engulfed him like a tide!

"C-Captain..." He opened his mouth, trying to sound a warning, only to discover that his voice was so hoarse and faint that even he could barely hear it. The soul power inside him was "going out" at an astonishing rate—not dispersing, but seemingly having its very foundation "devoured" by some invisible presence! His skin visibly lost its luster, turning ashen, while his eyes rapidly dimmed and lost focus.

"Lao Chen? What's wrong?" The Soul King beside him noticed something was amiss and reached out to support him.

The instant his hand touched the Soul Emperor's shoulder—

Thud.

The Soul Master, who had only recently entered the Soul Emperor realm and should have possessed powerful vitality and soul power, collapsed limply onto the deck like a clay figure stripped of every support. Without any warning, every trace of life had vanished from him. His eyes remained wide open, but they were nothing more than dead ash.

He was dead.

Dead without a sound, dead without explanation, dead in a way... that made the three Soul Kings around him feel their hair stand on end!

"Enemy attack!!" A shrill alarm finally rang out from the scout ship. Accompanied by the piercing hum of a Soul Tool, a dazzling red signal flare broke through the seawater and shot upward!

But it was already too late.

The instant the flare rose, Jingtian, lurking in the darkness like a true demon of the deep, moved!

His target was the Soul Tool ship at the rear of the opposite, right flank! The alarm had thrown that ship into a moment of confusion, causing an exceedingly brief delay in its formation.

"Poison Domain—expand to one hundred meters!"

A dark-blue halo erupted around Jingtian, instantly enveloping the Soul Tool ship and the hundred meters of sea surrounding it! The viscous, sluggish force field, filled with soul-crushing pressure and corrosive poison, made the Soul Masters aboard stiffen. Their soul power circulated unevenly, and their Soul Tool Shield flickered violently, wavering between light and darkness!

"It's that poison beast! Joint defense!" the Soul Emperor aboard roared in shock and fury, desperately driving his soul power.

But Jingtian's next attack followed on its heels! No longer Dan-Devour's single-target execution, but a killing move that blanketed an entire area!

"Myriad Poison Corroding Sea!"

Countless deep-blue poison needles, fine as ox hairs yet imbued with poison erosion, formed within the Poison Domain like a torrential downpour and shot toward the Soul Tool ship, blotting out everything in their path! Empowered by the Poison Domain, their speed and penetrating power surged. Some even ignored the flickering Soul Tool Shield and passed straight through!

"Aah!" "My soul power!!" Screams immediately erupted aboard the ship. As the needles entered their bodies, poison erosion savagely ravaged the Soul Masters' meridians, soul power, and even the foundations of their martial souls! The three Soul Kings were grievously wounded in an instant, losing all ability to fight. The Soul Emperor also gave a muffled grunt, soul power fluctuating violently over his body. Clearly, he had been badly poisoned, and his strength had plummeted.

From Dan-Devour killing the scouting Soul Emperor to the Poison Domain descending and Myriad Poison Corroding Sea crippling another ship, the entire sequence had taken no more than three breaths!

In the dark depths at the edge of the Storm Sea Abyss, hunter and prey had switched roles in an instant!

On the flagship, the Quasi-Soul Saint captain's face was so dark it could have dripped water, his eyes filled with shock and fury. "Lock onto it! All Soul Cannons, blanket that Poison Domain with fire! Deploy the Deep Sea Binding Net! Do not let it escape!"

Yet when several thick beams of Soul Tool energy tore through the seawater and blasted into the gradually dissipating Poison Domain, it was already empty. Only the badly damaged Soul Tool ship, spitting sparks of disordered soul power, and the utterly silent scout ship nearby, whose Soul Emperor had inexplicably perished, bore mute witness to the horror that had just unfolded.

Jingtian's enormous silhouette had already vanished like a phantom into the deeper, darker turbulence of the Storm Sea Abyss.

Only a cold voice—carried by soul power vibrations—lingered faintly through the chaotic seawater, reaching the ears of the remaining Soul Masters, who were still shaken:

"Here to hunt me? First, taste... what it means to be devoured by poison."

Five Soul Emperors—now one short—running rampant through these waters?

Before a true ten-thousand-year poison beast that had mastered the art of death, that conclusion seemed to have been drawn a little too soon.