Dou Ling Empire, East Coast.
Xia Ming left the academy and headed straight here once again.
This time, he did not hire a ship to sail out to sea. Instead, he directly used a flying Soul Tool to cross the ocean.
Before long, he arrived at the sea region they had agreed upon in the past.
He hovered high above the center of those waters, retracting his flying Soul Tool and allowing his body to stand firm as a rock amid the violent sea winds.
He closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing.
Then, no longer suppressing himself in any way, he slowly released his aura.
"Senior, I'm here."
Xia Ming's voice was not loud.
Yet it strangely pierced through the wind, waves, and barriers of the deep sea, carrying clearly into the endless darkness below.
After a brief silence.
Suddenly.
The inky-blue seawater below began to churn violently without warning.
An unimaginably massive shadow slowly rose from the bottomless darkness.
Boom—!
As if an underwater mountain range had risen from the earth, towering waves surged outward, forming a circular wall of water a hundred meters high.
Amid the mist that filled the sky, a truly colossal existence revealed part of its form.
Just the portion of its head and back above the water was already comparable to a small island!
The Deep Sea Demon Whale, the Demon Empress!
A peak Beast Lord with nine hundred thousand years of cultivation, one of the ocean's true overlords!
"Human boy..." the Demon Empress's voice rang directly within Xia Ming's mind.
"I recall telling you to come find me after you became a Nine-Ring Titled Douluo. Yet only three years have passed!"
Her tone carried obvious displeasure and doubt, even a trace of anger at being underestimated.
Even space seemed to twist faintly