Before he knew it, eighty-one days had passed.
Xiao Mu's Martial Soul Second Awakening had reached the ninety-ninth day. He had long since left behind Mu Ye's initial estimate of a forty-nine-day minimum.
But the growth of power never came without a price.
Over these past few days, Xiao Mu's body had grown increasingly unstable.
The power within him was like a beast growing fangs, growing more ferocious by the day, while his body was the cage holding it. The cage trembled and warped, groaning under the strain.
Today was the eighty-first day.
Xiao Mu surfaced from the deep sea, his eyes shining with astonishing brilliance.
Seawater streamed off him and splashed back into the ocean.
Mu Ye stood on the surface, looking down at the youth who had risen from the water.
He knew the time had come.
He took a tiny crystal vial from his robes. A single drop of blood was sealed inside.
The moment that drop of blood fell into the water, the sea changed completely.
A scarlet glow spread outward from where the drop had landed, fast as a power grid shorting out, instantly covering the waters for several miles in every direction.
The entire sea changed color in an instant, turning from deep blue to inky black, as if some colossal beast had risen from the ocean floor and blocked out all the light.
The first dorsal fin sliced through the surface. Silver-gray and tall as a battle standard, it rushed in from afar, carving a straight white line across the water. Then came a second, a third, a fourth. The fins were like blades, cutting through the waves.
"Sure enough, the Demon Soul Great White Sharks are easy to summon. But now that they're here, the Evil Spirit Orcas should be along soon, too."
The largest Demon Soul Great White Shark leaped from beneath the water. Its silver-gray body traced an arc through the air, sunlight reflecting off the white scales on its belly, while the fin along its back looked like a curved blade.
Xiao Mu looked at the fins and couldn't help asking, "That's it?"
"Don't underestimate the Demon Soul Great White Sharks. They're top predators of the sea, after all," Mu Ye said.
Xiao Mu stood on the waves as a force field spread beneath his feet. The water formed an invisible barrier around him. "Let's see just how much the Sea God favors you."
The largest Demon Soul Great White Shark leaped from the water and plunged back in, sending up a spray several meters high.
The next moment, it began circling Xiao Mu like a blade being sharpened.
The other sharks were circling, too. Their dorsal fins traced rings across the surface, overlapping like some ancient hunting ritual.
"So this is how sharks hunt?"
As Xiao Mu spoke, the force field beneath his feet abruptly expanded, spreading in every direction like a transparent film. The seawater was forced aside, surging outward and forming a hollow dozens of meters across. Xiao Mu stood at its center, as if inside a giant bowl.
The Demon Soul Great White Sharks' dorsal fins all paused at once.
The largest one was first to shoot out of the water, moving as fast as a silver bolt of lightning. Its jaws gaped open as it lunged straight for Xiao Mu's waist.
Xiao Mu didn't panic. He reversed the force field, abruptly twisting the shark's trajectory. It slid past his side and crashed heavily into the water, sending spray flying.
"That thing's definitely strong," he remarked. "Good thing I've got enough strength to use four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds."
At the same time, the other Demon Soul Great White Sharks sprang into action.
Four silver-gray figures shot out from four directions, their dorsal fins slicing through the waves as trails of white spray streamed behind them. They were even faster than the first one.
Xiao Mu raised a hand and stilled the surrounding currents. With fine control, he kept water from flowing into their gills.
All four Demon Soul Great White Sharks sank at once and began to struggle. He was a demon, seizing them by their very lifelines.
The largest Demon Soul Great White Shark leaped out of the water again. This time, it didn't lunge straight at Xiao Mu. Instead, it twisted in midair and swung its tail at him like a whip.
The pressure from its tail split the seawater in two.
Xiao Mu turned sideways. The tail swept past his face, spraying mist all over him. He wiped his face, and the blades of the Dark-Gold Dread-Claw sprang from his knuckles.
"Damn, why's this shark so heavy?! Better to just kill it."
He sprang across the waves, moving so fast that only an afterimage remained in the air. The blades of the Dark-Gold Dread-Claw sliced across the Demon Soul Great White Shark's belly. Its silver-gray scales tore open like paper, and dark-gold blood gushed out, spreading through the inky water and attracting another group of creatures.
The Demon Soul Great White Shark let out a low, mournful cry. Its body stiffened in midair, then crashed back into the water. The spray it sent up turned bloodred in an instant.
It didn't surface again. Instead, a black Soul Ring floated up.
Far away, Mu Ye stared at the sight, momentarily stunned. That still hadn't pushed Xiao Mu to his limit?
How was that possible? How could he trigger his Martial Soul Second Awakening like this?
Could it only happen in a natural disaster? Or against a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast?!
At that moment, the other dorsal fins slowly sank beneath the surface. They needed to find oxygen, or they would only die a slow death.
Xiao Mu straightened. Beads of blood slid down the blades of the Dark-Gold Dread-Claw and dripped into the sea, sending ripples spreading in circles.
"So weak."
Just then, the sea changed again.
The ocean's surface bulged, as if something were burrowing up from beneath it, pushing the water into a mountain.
Inky seawater poured from the mountaintop with a thunderous roar, and the white spray shattered into mist as it fell.
Then the waves surged.
Not just one, but countless waves.
They rushed in from the far end of the horizon, each taller and faster than the last, like a moving wall of water that erased the boundary between sky and sea.
Atop the towering waves, dorsal fins pierced the surface.
This time, they weren't Demon Soul Great White Sharks, but Evil Spirit Tiger Sharks. Each fin rose twice as high as a Demon Soul Great White Shark's, like black battle standards snapping in the waves.
They weren't afraid of natural disasters. Their enormous bodies let them rampage through the currents without restraint.
They charged straight at him, wrapped in towering waves, like a natural disaster in motion.
Xiao Mu looked up. The wall of water swelled rapidly before him, blotting out half the sky.
"Wait, did I get on the Sea God's bad side?"
Before he could finish speaking, the enormous wave crashed down. It fell like a mountain collapsing, its terrifying force punching straight through his force field.
Xiao Mu had no time to adjust his posture before tens of thousands of tons of seawater slammed him into the ocean. The impact passed through the force field and struck his bones. His internal organs shuddered in unison, his eardrums rang as if someone had struck them with a hammer, and the sound filled his mind.
Water rushed into his ears, nostrils, and throat. He tumbled through the surging waves, unable to tell up from down.
His consciousness blurred for a moment.
Far away, on a small island.
Na'er stood atop a reef, her silver eyes fixed on the horizon. Towering waves rose in the distance, while Xiao Mu's figure looked like a grain of sand before the wall of water. In an instant, he vanished from sight.
"What's happening?"
Her hand clenched slightly, and she looked especially tense.
In the darkness, Xiao Mu's Martial Soul changed under the immense pressure, his entire body transforming into a kaleidoscope of colors.
The next moment, the seawater was instantly broken down into elements such as oxygen, hydrogen, chlorine, and sodium.
A vacuum formed around Xiao Mu.
Then a distinctive light burst from both his hands.
"I really like this ability. I was wondering how I could synthesize heavy water, but now everything's easy."