Shameless Encirclement

Dan-Devour's eerie instant kill and the Poison Domain's devastating onslaught were like two icy slaps across the faces of every soul master in the Raging Waves Team. After the initial shock and panic, humiliating fury and grave vigilance took their place.

On the flagship's deck, the Quasi-Soul Saint captain—a soul master known as Mo Lin—wore an ashen expression. He stared fixedly at the patch of dark water on the detection Soul Tool, which had returned to calm yet seemed to conceal endless killing intent. Then he glanced at the reports coming through the communication Soul Tool: the agonized groans of poisoned comrades aboard another ship and their disrupted Soul Power. Finally, his gaze fell upon the completely silent scout ship, where Lao Chen's stiff, gray corpse was the most piercing mockery of all.

"Captain! That beast is too cunning! Lao Chen... he died without even knowing why!" A Soul Emperor on the same ship spoke hoarsely, his voice filled with grief, rage, and lingering fear.

"Its poison... its range, potency, and that bizarre method of killing... all far exceeded our estimates!" The Soul King in charge of toxin analysis was trembling. "We must immediately activate the highest-level joint defense! We can't give it another chance to pick us off one by one!"

Mo Lin took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the surging fury and alarm in his chest. He knew they had struck an iron wall this time. The danger posed by this unknown ten-thousand-year Poison Beast had likely approached, or perhaps even reached, S-rank. It was not only powerful but also possessed chilling intelligence and tactics.

"Shut up, all of you!" Mo Lin shouted sharply, his voice spreading through Soul Power to every ship. "Put away your panic! The stronger the enemy, the calmer we need to be! Its tactics are obvious—using concealment and bizarre single-target assassinations, combined with area poison attacks to create chaos, then striking at weak links. Does it think it can wear us down through guerrilla tactics and ambushes?"

A vicious gleam flashed in his eyes. "Then let it learn just how laughable such tricks are before the power of a real team and Soul Tools!"

"Pass on my orders!" Mo Lin's voice became decisive. "Abandon the current formation! The three ships will immediately converge on the flagship and dock their hulls. Activate the Sea Emperor Protection joint Soul Tool barrier! The flagship will dispatch rescue teams to the damaged ships for emergency treatment and isolation within the joint barrier! All detection Soul Tools, activate at full power! Scan everything within five thousand meters for high-energy reactions and life fluctuations, especially concealed Soul Power and abnormal toxic particles! Prepare the Deep Water Imprisonment Net and High-Frequency Soul Power Oscillator. The moment the target is detected, attack with saturated coverage at any cost!"

"Captain, if the three ships converge, we'll become a larger target and our mobility will drop drastically..." A Soul Emperor voiced his concern.

"Mobility?" Mo Lin sneered. "In these deep-sea currents, against a Poison Beast that comes and goes like a ghost, dispersing and maneuvering is just serving ourselves up on a platter! What we need is absolute defense and overwhelming firepower! We'll respond to every change by remaining unchanged and force it to face us head-on! If it dares show itself, it will be met with the domain suppression of three Soul Emperors—including myself—and a joint Soul Tool slaughter! I'd like to see whether its poison can penetrate Sea Emperor Protection, and whether it can lock onto us precisely amid Soul Power oscillations!"

The orders were swiftly carried out.

The remaining two intact Soul Tool ships, along with the damaged vessel that could still move, immediately abandoned their positions and rushed toward the flagship like a startled school of fish. Specialized Soul Tool connecting arms extended from their sides. Amid humming sounds and flickering light, the four vessels completed a tight docking in a short time, forming a massive, irregular steel conglomerate.

Immediately afterward, a gigantic Soul Tool barrier several times thicker and more solid than the previous individual barriers slowly unfurled around the combined vessels. It was deep blue, its surface flowing with complex energy patterns, and it completely enveloped the four ships and the surrounding waters! Light coursed across the barrier, radiating an unshakable and majestic aura. It was the Raging Waves Team's ultimate defensive Soul Tool—Sea Emperor Protection!

At the same time, dozens of detection Soul Tools were released from all parts of the combined vessels like scattered flowers from a celestial maiden. They emitted detection ripples of different frequencies, weaving into an airtight net that frantically scanned everything around them. Several spherical Soul Tools resembling many-eyed monsters floated outside the barrier, rotating continuously. They were the launch ports of the High-Frequency Soul Power Oscillators.

The three severely injured Soul Kings and the poisoned Soul Emperor aboard the damaged vessel were urgently transferred through internal passages into the flagship by rescue teams. The accompanying healing-type soul masters began treating them and isolating the toxins.

In just a short time, the previously scattered and somewhat panicked soul master team had turned into a steel hedgehog cowering inside a thick turtle shell, bristling with spikes and staring out with every eye wide open!

Hidden within the shadows of distant turbulent currents, Jingtian clearly "saw" everything through his senses.

When he saw the three ships abandon mobility, shamelessly fuse together, and raise that massive turtle shell that looked anything but easy to deal with, even his cold temperament as a ten-thousand-year Poison Beast nearly made his tentacles tremble with rage.

Joining together to attack? Attack my ass! This was clearly "joining together to hide"!

If he could speak human language, he would have cursed loudly right then: "Have you human soul masters no shame at all?! Five Soul Emperors—four now—bringing a bunch of Soul Kings and high-grade Soul Tools to encircle and kill one 'wild' ten-thousand-year soul beast, and when you can't beat it, you hide in a turtle shell? Three ships merging? Layered Soul Power barriers? Full detection? Are you here to hunt soul beasts or build a fortress?! If you've got the guts, come out and fight me one-on-one! Ganging up on me is fine too, just don't hide in your shell!"

Too shameless! Too despicable!

Jingtian's original plan had been to use Dan-Devour's concealment and the Poison Domain's area control, along with his familiarity with the terrain, to conduct high-speed guerrilla warfare and gradually whittle down the enemy's fighting strength. In particular, if he could take out that Quasi-Soul Saint captain with Dan-Devour, the rest would be easy.

But now, the other side had directly abandoned the "rules of the game" and deployed the most shameless yet effective formation possible: an impregnable defensive shell.

The energy intensity of that Sea Emperor Protection joint barrier made even him feel a pang of alarm. His Poison Domain and ordinary poison attacks would likely find it difficult to shake it in a short time. And while the detection Soul Tools operating at full power might not immediately lock onto his perfectly concealed form, they had greatly compressed his room to move and his chances for ambushes. Not to mention the Deep Water Imprisonment Nets and High-Frequency Soul Power Oscillators waiting in reserve, which were clearly designed to deal with fast, hidden targets.

Charging in head-on? That would be suicide. Three Soul Emperors—one of them a Quasi-Soul Saint—were waiting inside the barrier at leisure, backed by Soul Tools. Rushing in would be walking straight into a trap.

Keep dragging it out? They had Soul Tool energy supplies and ample provisions to rely on, so they could keep this up indefinitely. Though he could also draw energy from the seawater, maintaining a high state of alert and concealment consumed no small amount of energy. The longer this dragged on, the greater the chance that their reinforcements would arrive.

The situation had instantly turned against him.

These human soul masters truly were not comparable to those soul beasts that acted on instinct alone. They knew how to use tools, how to cooperate as a team, and, more importantly, how to choose the safest and most "shameless" tactics when at a disadvantage.

Jingtian forced himself to calm down, suppressing his bursting anger and turning it into cold calculation.

The defensive formation might be hard to crack, but it also meant the other side had given up mobility and initiative, turning themselves into a fixed target—albeit a spiked one. Moreover, maintaining such a massive joint barrier and full-power detection would surely consume an enormous amount of Soul Power. They could not sustain this state forever.

What he needed was patience, pressure, and an opening.

He slowly merged his body into an even more violent and chaotic deep-sea current. Using the natural disturbance of the water flow, he further interfered with the enemy's detection. At the same time, he began cautiously circling through an area roughly three thousand meters from the combined vessels, maintaining a relatively safe distance while remaining within range to launch a rapid surprise attack at any moment.

He waited.

He waited for the slackness that would appear after they had remained highly tense for too long.

He waited for periodic fluctuations or weak points in the joint barrier caused by energy consumption.

He waited for their possible next move—such as dispatching a small squad to investigate, or attempting to move that cumbersome combined structure.

The deep sea was dark, and time seemed to slow once more.

On one side were human soul masters huddled inside a steel fortress, their eyes wide open.

On the other was a ten-thousand-year Poison Beast hidden in endless darkness, baring its venomous fangs.

This was a contest of patience, willpower, and cunning.

Jingtian's tentacles lightly brushed through the frigid seawater. In the absolute darkness, dark-blue rings flickered with the cold, dangerous glow unique to a predator.

"Want to be turtles? Then let's see... whether your shell is harder, or my poison is better at corroding everything."

Soundless killing intent quietly spread through the depths of the Storm Sea Abyss.