Hunting Ground

Led by the sixty-thousand-year Demon Whale, Jingtian passed through a rugged reef region shrouded in high temperatures and toxic gases, eventually arriving at a natural cavern halfway up the side of a massive undersea mountain range. The entrance was hidden behind sea anemones and glowing moss, yet the interior was extraordinarily vast and deep, large enough to hold several Deep Sea Demon Whales. The seawater was cold and still, carrying a faint mineral scent that sharply contrasted with the boiling Hydrothermal Forest outside. Clearly, this was a rare refuge the Demon Whales had discovered by chance and remembered.

After carefully settling the heavily injured, unconscious fifty-thousand-year Demon Whale on a relatively flat patch of ground in the deepest part of the cave, Jingtian stopped supplying energy. The Ninth Tentacle withdrew as he carefully examined the blue Demon Whale's condition—her life force remained weak, but it was no longer worsening. Under the pure energy and the Demon Whale's own tenacious vitality, her wounds had begun to heal at an extremely slow rate. She had temporarily escaped certain death, but recovery was still far away. She needed a long period of rest and a great deal of energy.

"Guard her. Do not leave, and do not release any intense Soul Power fluctuations." Jingtian sent the sixty-thousand-year Demon Whale a clear, unquestionable command through his thoughts. At the same time, he used poison power to set up a simple poisonous barrier near the cave entrance, one that would both warn and conceal.

The sixty-thousand-year Demon Whale lowered his enormous head deeply and released a soul hum that conveyed absolute obedience and gratitude. His massive body gently curled around his mate like the most loyal guard, his gaze never leaving her.

Jingtian did not delay any longer. He needed time, but the mother and child at the Shattered Star Seabed had even less.

"Do you know the fastest and most concealed route from here to the Shattered Star Seabed?" Jingtian's consciousness entered the Demon Whale's mind directly, conveying a rough impression of the Shattered Star Seabed's location based on Moyuan's intelligence.

The Demon Whale blinked his enormous eyes, seeming to recall and identify the place. After a moment, he sent back a soul fluctuation filled with certainty, along with a series of blurry route "images"—which waters contained strong currents that could be used to accelerate, which areas were territories of dangerous predators that needed to be avoided, and which trenches offered cover... This was the unique spatial memory and navigation method of soul beasts, born from instinct and experience.

Jingtian quickly parsed the information. This route was far more efficient than blindly making his own way there. It would save him at least a third of the time!

"Very good." A trace of satisfaction seeped into Jingtian's thoughts. This Demon Whale's value was gradually becoming apparent.

He said no more. His massive body silently slipped out of the cave and disappeared once more into the darkness of the Deep Sea. Following the Whale Path information provided by the Demon Whale, he pushed his speed to the limit while skillfully avoiding several abnormal energy zones and potential territories of high-level soul beasts. Like the most seasoned traveler of the Deep Sea, he raced through the endless gloom.

Along the way, he spared a sliver of attention to sense Moyuan's situation. Moyuan's aura remained weak but stable, and no new distress signal had arrived. Perhaps that was good news, meaning the Demon Whales at the other two battlefields were still struggling to hold on. But it might also mean... they had already fallen silently.

Jingtian suppressed that unnecessary thought and focused on traveling.

Thanks to the optimized Whale Path, he crossed the complex waters that would ordinarily have taken much longer in less than two hours, arriving at the outskirts of the Shattered Star Seabed.

Before him lay a vast and bizarre undersea landscape. Countless enormous coral reefs of varied shapes stood like a forest, while wrecked ships of all sizes, rusted beyond recognition, lay scattered between them. Some were even half-buried in the sand, their grim keels exposed. Starlight—some kind of luminous plankton—flickered dimly among the coral branches and shipwrecks, providing faint illumination and making the shifting light all the more fragmented and dreamlike. The current was relatively gentle, but the terrain was extremely complex, making both sight and perception easy to obstruct.

Almost the moment he entered this region, Jingtian caught the Soul Power fluctuations coming from afar—more chaotic and denser than those at the Hydrothermal Forest, mixed with the grief-stricken roars of Demon Whales, the shrill cries of a Young Whale, the sharp shouts of human soul masters, and the excited screeches of Demon Soul Great White Sharks.

The battle was raging fiercely, and from the sound of it, the mother whale's situation was even more perilous than the intelligence had suggested!

Jingtian pushed Guixu Assimilation to its limit, perfectly blending his aura with the surroundings. Like the deepest shadow on the ocean floor, he swiftly slipped toward the center of the battlefield under the cover of coral reefs and shipwrecks.

Soon, he saw the battlefield.

The sight was horrifying.

A relatively slender silver-gray mother whale, her body marred by several wounds deep enough to expose bone, was desperately shielding a Young Whale only one-tenth her size. The little whale was pale blue all over and trembling in terror beneath the fragile barrier formed by her mother's body. They were trapped in a relatively open stretch of sand surrounded by the wreckage of several huge ships, and their room to move had been compressed to the limit.

The enemies besieging them were exactly as the intelligence had described: four human soul masters and six Demon Soul Great White Sharks. But the situation was worse than expected. Of the two Soul Douluo, one was a burly man wielding a heavy halberd, around Rank 87, while the other was unexpectedly a rare control-type soul master at Rank 85. He constantly released blue energy chains, attempting to bind and restrain the mother whale, severely limiting her already clumsy ability to dodge. The two Soul Saints continuously launched long-range attacks from the flanks, harassing the mother whale and blocking any route she might use to break out.

Under the command of the control-type Soul Douluo, the six Demon Soul Great White Sharks, averaging thirty thousand years each, coordinated with remarkable precision. They did not rush to directly attack the mother whale. Instead, they divided into two groups. One repeatedly feinted at the Young Whale, forcing the mother whale to constantly rescue it and expose openings. The other waited for chances to pounce upon weak points in her defense, leaving fresh wounds behind. Several more bloody gashes, deep enough to expose bone, had appeared across the mother whale's body, staining a large expanse of seawater red.

"Hold on! This mother whale is nearly done for! The Young Whale's Soul Ring is top-grade too!" The control-type Soul Douluo sneered coldly, lashing out another thick energy chain toward the mother whale's fin just as she raised it to swat away a shark.

The mother whale released a roar woven from pain and fury. She struggled desperately, but blood loss and depleted Soul Power made her movements slower and slower. Beneath her, the Young Whale let out helpless cries, further stirring the mother whale's desperation and throwing her into greater disarray.

"Now! Attack the Young Whale with everything you have! Force her to take it head-on!" The heavy-halberd Soul Douluo seized the opportunity and roared. Blinding blue light erupted from the heavy halberd in his hand, condensing into a solid halberd phantom. It was not aimed at the mother whale, but directly at the defenseless Young Whale's head beneath her! If this strike landed, the Young Whale would certainly die!

At the same time, every other enemy—the energy chains of the other Soul Douluo, the long-range soul skills of the two Soul Saints, and the lunging bites of the six Demon Soul Great White Sharks—seemed to have agreed in advance. Every attack targeted the Young Whale!

This was an open scheme! Attack what she had to save! The mother whale could either watch her child die or use her own body to block every attack! And in her current state, if she took this concentrated barrage head-on, even if it did not kill her, she would suffer grievous injuries and completely lose the ability to resist!

"No—!!!" The mother whale released a soul shriek that was heart-rending and utterly desperate. Without the slightest hesitation, her huge body twisted violently as she prepared to crush the Young Whale completely beneath herself, using her back to endure that devastating assault at all costs!

At that critical instant, when the mother whale's eyes held nothing but despair and maternal resolve, and cruel smiles appeared on every enemy's face—

At the edge of the battlefield, within the shadow cast by the mast of the largest ancient shipwreck half-buried in the sand, two deep, abyss-like points of ghostly light suddenly lit up.

"Dan-Devour—Targeted Elimination."

There was no sound, only an icy thought.

Four dim streams of light, more condensed and faster than those at the Hydrothermal Forest, shot out almost simultaneously. Like death warrants from the underworld, they crossed the distance without a sound and precisely "stamped" themselves upon the brows or vital points at the backs of the four human soul masters' hearts!

Puff! Puff! Puff! Puff!

The four faint sounds were completely drowned out by the explosions of soul skills and the Demon Whale's roars.

But in the next instant—

"Argh—!"

"Cough!"

The heavy-halberd Soul Douluo's certain-kill strike abruptly collapsed just meters from the Young Whale! It was as though an invisible sledgehammer had struck him squarely in the chest. His eyes bulged, the color drained from his face, and an eerie blue-purple spread across it. He sprayed out a mouthful of dark red blood mixed with fragments of internal organs! The heavy halberd flew from his grasp, and his massive body was hurled backward like a kite with its string cut. Soul Power frantically leaked from his body as backlash ravaged him!

The control-type Soul Douluo's sinister smile froze instantly, replaced by boundless terror and pain. He felt as though his soul had been thrown into a meat grinder, screaming soundlessly. The energy chains sustained by his Soul Power snapped apart inch by inch and dissipated. Clutching his head with both hands, black blood seeped from his seven orifices. He lost control of his body entirely and sank downward.

The two Soul Saints fared even worse. They did not even manage a muffled groan before their Soul Power ran wild. Their eyes rolled back, and they collapsed limply like two chunks of dead flesh, their life auras rapidly fading away.

The four soul masters had all been struck in their vital points by Dan-Devour at the very moment they unleashed their strongest attacks, when their focus was most concentrated and their defenses relatively most neglected! In an instant, they either died together or lost all combat ability!

This sudden, utterly bizarre turn of events left the six Demon Soul Great White Sharks lunging at the Young Whale completely stunned! Their attacks even fell into disorder and hesitation after they lost the soul masters' command and coordination.

What happened?! How had the leaders... all fallen?!

The mother whale, who had been about to build a wall of flesh and blood around the Young Whale with her body, froze as well. The world-ending attacks she had expected never came. Instead, those vicious enemies had suddenly and bizarrely collapsed and died? Her huge eyes widened, filled with unparalleled shock, confusion, and a faint, unbelievable hope born from the brink of death.

Just as the battlefield fell into dead silence and confusion once again because of Jingtian's intervention—

"Hiss—!"

A pitch-black afterimage of a tentacle, fast enough to tear through seawater, burst from the shadows of that massive shipwreck without warning! It did not attack any Demon Soul Great White Shark. Instead, as though it possessed a life of its own, it carved a strange arc through the water before viciously "whipping" the soft sand below!

Boom—!

A muffled blast rang out. It was not a physical impact, but the eruption of Silence poison power! Vast amounts of seafloor sand, shattered coral, and rotten splinters from the shipwreck were thrown up by terrifying force. Mixed with the dark purple poisonous mist Jingtian had deliberately released, carrying powerful blinding, paralysis, and mental interference effects, they instantly engulfed the entire central battlefield like an exploding smoke bomb!

Vision was completely blocked! Perception was disrupted by deadly poison! The seawater became thick and chaotic!

"Awo?!" "Hiss?!"

The six Demon Soul Great White Sharks immediately descended into even greater panic. They had lost their vision and clear perception, and they had just witnessed their leaders die in an instant. Their ferocity was overwhelmed by fear. Instinctively, they tried to rush out of this suddenly perilous Poison Mist Zone, but they could not tell direction from direction, and some even collided with one another in the confusion.

The mother whale was also shrouded in poisonous mist, but she had already been crouched low on the seafloor while protecting the Young Whale. Moreover, Jingtian's poison mist mainly targeted the enemies, so it affected her far less. She only felt a slight dizziness and blurred vision. More than anything, she was consumed by boundless vigilance.

Within the chaotic poisonous mist, Jingtian moved.

He was like a grim reaper merged into the mist itself, and the Ninth Tentacle was his only deadly scythe.

Puff! A Demon Soul Great White Shark, dizzy and disoriented as it tried to rush upward, had its head silently pierced from the side.

Crack! Another shark tried to squeeze into a gap in a shipwreck to hide, only for the tentacle to coil around it and violently snap its spine.

Hiss—! The third shark frantically spat out purifying water waves, but a denser arrow of poison arrived later yet struck first, shooting straight into its mouth. The poison took effect instantly, freezing it stiff before the tentacle pierced its heart.

Fast! Precise! Ruthless! Under the cover of poisonous mist and chaos, Jingtian's hunting efficiency reached an astonishing level. These Demon Soul Great White Sharks, averaging thirty thousand years each, had lost their command, had their senses disabled, and were panicked beyond reason. Facing the precise assassinations of a ninety-thousand-year Poison Beast, they had no power to resist.

In less than five breaths.

The poisonous mist slowly dispersed.

At the center of the battlefield, the mother whale was still shielding the Young Whale tightly, watching her surroundings with vigilance. Then she saw a sight she would never forget for the rest of her life:

Six gradually cooling, stiffening corpses of Demon Soul Great White Sharks floated in the surrounding seawater, along with the twisted and bizarrely dead bodies of four human soul masters. Blood slowly spread through the water, tinting it a faint red.

Before her, within the gradually clearing seawater, a massive dark figure floated silently, radiating an aura that made even her soul tremble with fear and reverence. Nine tentacles—including that strange pitch-black one—swayed slowly, while its cold "gaze" rested upon her and the Young Whale.

It was him! This terrifying Poison Beast had eliminated every enemy in an instant! Just like that vague sensation from before, the one that had spoken of "reinforcements"!

The mother whale's massive body trembled slightly. It was not fear, but the fierce surge of emotion that came after surviving disaster, mixed with supreme gratitude and deep reverence. Slowly, with immense difficulty due to her injuries, she lowered her enormous head, exposing both the vulnerable side of her neck and the Young Whale beneath her, which was still trembling but curiously poking out its head, before the Poison Beast.

She sent out a soul fluctuation even clearer than that of the earlier pair of Demon Whales, one overflowing with gratitude and submission. It even carried the Young Whale's faint, dependent cries.

No words were necessary. Actions explained everything. This powerful being had saved both mother and child twice—first through his warning, then through his arrival—and had swept away the enemies that had driven them into despair with absolute power.

Jingtian received that pure gratitude and submission without the slightest ripple in his cold thoughts. He slowly swam closer, extending the Ninth Tentacle once more to release gentle life energy over the mother whale's most serious wounds. At the same time, he separated out a softer strand of power to soothe the frightened Young Whale.

"Can you swim?" Jingtian's thought was direct and concise.

The mother whale raised her head. Determination appeared in her eyes as she sent back an affirmative fluctuation. Her injuries were severe, but with the replenishment of energy and the powerful will to protect her child supporting her, she could manage short-distance movement.

"Follow me. Do not fall behind." Jingtian said no more. He turned around and began rapidly devouring the corpses of the Demon Soul Great White Sharks and the soul masters, signaling for the mother whale to follow.

The mother whale did not hesitate in the slightest. She gently nudged the Young Whale with her snout, telling it to stay close, then endured the pain and moved her tail fin, struggling to follow the dark figure ahead that seemed like the sovereign of the Deep Sea.

She did not know where this Master intended to take them, but as long as she and her child could live, anywhere was acceptable.

As Jingtian devoured the corpses to recover, he headed back toward the temporary cave. His thoughts raced as he calculated:

Two rescue operations completed. Three adult Deep Sea Demon Whales brought under his command—the sixty-thousand-year one, the injured fifty-thousand-year one, and the seventy-five-thousand-year one—along with one Young Whale. The group-killing and single-target assassination tactics of Dan-Devour had been thoroughly verified. His own expenditure had been replenished, with a slight surplus.

Now, it was time to return and integrate this initial Demon Whale team, treat the severely wounded, and then... go meet the final battlefield's eighty-three-thousand-year Deep Sea Demon Whale, one with a violent temper but likely still fighting bitterly.

With these three Demon Whales—even if two of them were burdens—and a guide familiar with the routes, the efficiency and success rate of the final rescue would rise dramatically.

The Deep Sea hunting ground was being illuminated and brought under his control, piece by piece.

And the twin masks of "savior" and "hunter" had become inseparable upon his face.