Sea Swallow put away the Deep Wave Sound-Transmission Conch and stood with his hands behind his back, gazing in the direction Ao Yu had disappeared, a faint smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
Only when that streak of deep-blue light vanished completely beyond the edge of his vision did he slowly withdraw his gaze. He glanced down at the lush coral forest beneath his feet and murmured, "It's about time."
The instant those words fell, a ferocious surge of Soul Power erupted around him. Within a hundred-zhang radius, the seawater seemed to be churned violently by an invisible hand, forming one turbulent undercurrent after another.
Under the impact of that raging Soul Power, the once-lush coral forest proved as fragile as paper, snapping and shattering before the undercurrents swept its fragments in every direction.
Sea Swallow darted back and forth through the raging vortex of Soul Power. Each time he raised a hand, a sharp ribbon of Soul Power swept out, cleaving the surrounding coral reefs apart. One moment, he shattered a coral pillar several zhang tall with a palm strike; the next, he crushed a hard reef platform beneath his foot. His movements were sweeping and forceful, as though he were locked in a fierce struggle with an unseen enemy.
After roughly two hours, the once-vibrant coral forest had become a devastated ruin. Broken coral littered the seabed, crisscrossing fissures covered the underlying rock, and muddy sediment mingled with powdered coral, staining the surrounding water a murky gray.
Sea Swallow surveyed his surroundings. Only after confirming that the "traces of battle" looked convincing enough did he rein in his raging Soul Power. He took a deep breath and looked himself over, then raised a hand and cut a wound in his left arm deep enough to expose