The Path of the Sea Soul Beast...

The old village chief watched the little girl go to Gu You's side, gave her a meaningful look, said nothing more, and turned back to Gu You.

"What you're asking about is a long story. Half a month ago, a typhoon swept through our village. We don't even know how long it lasted. Afterward came the best fishing season. Dozens of people from the village formed a group and went to fish along the East Sea coast. It was right around sunset then, when there were a lot of crabs. But during those few hours of fishing, everyone, everyone..."

"What happened to everyone?" Gu You's gaze shifted slightly.

"They all died!"

Gu You frowned. "How did they die?"

"They were eaten by crabs."

"Eaten by crabs?" Gu You froze slightly. Then, had this mission been completed? He knew the cause, the outcome, and even the murderer.

But how could those crabs have killed so many people?

"How could crabs eat people?"

Gu You wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"No one knows, and no one ever will, because everyone who knew is dead. The only one who came back alive to tell us went mad." The old village chief's expression turned strange.

"So you blamed the cause of this incident on this so-called 'wrath of the sea'? Isn't that a joke?"

"You pinned all the guilt on a child. Don't you find that ridiculous?"

Gu You's questions rang out clearly.

He sighed inwardly that there truly were too many foolish people in the world.

"You don't understand. You don't understand!"

The old village chief let out a long sigh.

"The sea is angry. The sea is furious. Truly furious!"

Just then, the little girl spoke.

Both Gu You and the old village chief were taken aback.

"Shut up! Shut up!" The old village chief's tone changed completely, becoming agitated.

If Gu You hadn't been here, there was no telling what filthy curses he might have hurled.

"Don't say any more."

Gu You looked gently at the little girl.

"Tell me, why is the sea angry? Why is it furious?"

The little girl nodded a little excitedly. She pointed at Gu You. "Because of you." Then she pointed at the old village chief. "And you all."

"Why did we anger 'it'?" Gu You was very patient, his mind steady.

"Because... because..." The little girl's words faltered, and her voice unconsciously grew quieter.

Even the old village chief had, at some point, taken out a smoking pipe from somewhere and held it in his mouth, silent. Yet his eyes flickered uneasily. He wanted to know the answer to this question more than anyone.

"I don't know. I forgot."

The little girl suddenly let out a burp.

"Forgot... forgot?" Gu You almost failed to catch his breath.

The old village chief's smoking pipe also fell to the ground, his face full of restrained anger...

The scene fell silent.

Gu You rubbed his forehead and did not question the little girl any further. Instead, he looked at the old village chief.

After all, he couldn't very well hold anything against a child, could he?

"She isn't from your village, is she?"

"Mm..." The old village chief fell silent, then continued, "I picked this child up by the sea."

"How did you figure that out?"

Hearing that she had been picked up by the sea, Gu You fell silent for a moment before speaking again.

"You told me yourself, village chief. This incident has been going on for so long, and after what the villagers did today, I know exactly how much they hate this child. I'm afraid that once she loses protection, it won't even take half a day before..."

At this point, Gu You coughed twice, his gaze sharpening with a fierce glint hidden within. "In short, someone has been protecting her in secret, right? The reason the villagers were able to dig her out today was because the person protecting her disappeared."

"You're half right." The old village chief smiled. He muttered to himself, "Changyuan Deep Sea never sees the light..."

Then his voice grew louder.

"Her name is Youhai. If you want to resolve this matter completely, go to East Sea Reef. However, as an outsider, you shouldn't have gotten involved in the first place, nor should you have been dragged into this."

"I came here to solve the problem, not listen to you talk nonsense."

Gu You spoke. He wanted to see exactly who was behind this so-called "rage of the sea."

"Youhai, Youhai. That really is a name with meaning. I can't leave you in the village, so for now, you'll have to come with me. Perfect, since this wrath of the sea has something to do with you. I'll just take care of you for a few days, and it'll also confirm my guess."

Looking at the dazed little girl in front of him, Gu You smiled helplessly.

"East Sea Reef. Interesting. Although I don't know whether those man-eating crabs will still appear beneath the last glow of sunset, I have to go take a look."

"Changyuan Deep Sea, the dark abyss..."

"Have humans truly grown so powerful that they can no longer be opposed?"

"Must the path of us sea soul beasts ultimately imitate the continent's?"

Beneath the ocean abyss, huge winds and waves gradually rose. A terrifying black aura spread out, forming an enormous mouth of wind and surf.

Looking closely, it was the mouth of a "fish"...

"Sha, sha..."

The sea breeze brushed across Gu You's face, leaving behind soft whistling sounds.

In the distance, the sky glowed crimson, and fiery clouds hung straight down.

The seawater gently lapped against the reef. Everything seemed peaceful and beautiful...

If the information had not been accurate, Gu You never would have believed that so many people had died in this place.

The most ridiculous part was that they had been eaten by crabs.

Whether in the outside world or the world of soul masters, that was an utterly explosive thing.

According to all the information humans currently possessed, soul beasts like crabs had not even produced one at the thousand-year level.

Among the dozen or so people from Bianhai Village, there had definitely been soul masters.

No matter how one put it, even if they had encountered a truly powerful hundred-year crab-type soul beast...

They still should not have been wiped out to the last man!

Most importantly, not even a corpse had been found in the end. They had completely been eaten and gnawed until nothing was left.

If not for a villager happening to pass by and seeing the scene of crabs eating people, no one would ever have known how those people died.

"Ah..."

Just then, a faint shout came over.

Gu You looked up. It was Youhai.

She was barefoot, standing atop the reef with both hands cupped beside her mouth, and she shouted toward the sea.

At that very moment, the entire sea surface suddenly became extraordinarily calm.

Even the waves vanished into flat stillness. The whole surface of the sea seemed to stop once more.

"This..."

Gu You held his breath. He was now starting to suspect whether Youhai really was a hundred-thousand-year soul beast in human form.

The ability to control the sea, even if it was only stopping the wind and waves, was still deeply shocking.

After all, the mighty force of nature was power that utterly transcended soul power. From another perspective, that kind of power was the ability of gods!

It was beyond words. Even ultimate powerhouses would find it difficult to achieve, and even ferocious beast-level sea soul beasts would have to pay a considerable price to wield such power.

"Wait."

Just then, a yellow soul ring rose beneath Youhai's feet.

There was no soul spirit phantom. It was a completely pure soul beast soul ring.