"We'll Meet Again Another Day"

Not a soul spirit?

Gu You swallowed. Was You Hai a soul beast or a human? He could not be entirely sure. After all, among sea soul beasts at the Hundred-Thousand-Year level, any with even a little intelligence would never choose to take human form and cultivate.

After all, the Divine Realm no longer existed. When soul beasts broke through the hundred-thousand-year tribulation, the power of the lightning tribulation had weakened by an unknown amount. This unusual change, coupled with the increasingly chaotic state of the entire Douluo Plane...

Any intelligent Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast would continue cultivating in soul beast form, living for as long as it could.

After all, even Limit Douluo among humans could not live for a thousand years.

Splash!

All at once, the entire sea turned violently turbulent. Waves crashed against the beach, while rings of seawater vortices rose into the sky.

You Hai's face went pale as she fell backward.

Gu You reacted swiftly. Gentle water elements gathered in his hand, turning into a streak of blue light as he caught her with his absolute control over Soul Power.

At the same time, an ice wall formed before the waves, blocking them off.

"It... has come."

You Hai spoke sorrowfully.

Following her voice, Gu You looked across the sea. If something happened, it would take at least half an hour for the East Sea enforcement team to arrive here. Even with mechas, it would still take over ten minutes.

But it was already too late to say any of that. He would first see what kind of monster this enemy was...

Splash! Splash!

Dense, countless footsteps scurrying across the sand made Gu You's pupils contract.

Before him were countless tiny crabs rushing out of the sea. They moved incredibly fast. Thankfully, Gu You did not have trypophobia, or his legs would have gone weak at the sheer sight of their numbers.

Soul rings rose beneath his feet. Gu You narrowed his eyes as cold air spread outward.

At times like this, he preferred using water elements. Against sea soul beasts, water elements were a good choice. Water and ice shared the same origin; they could be called water or ice, and inherently restrained one another.

Besides, controlling ice looked cool. That was also why Gu You had switched to water elements. Freezing heaven and earth with a single thought would no longer be just a dream.

Ice patterns condensed behind him, Soul Power gleaming across them.

One ice spike after another slowly formed, radiating waves of chill.

"Go!"

Gu You shouted coldly. The ice wall he had used to block the waves could not stop those little crabs from advancing.

Some of the little crabs even brazenly crawled onto it, climbed over the wall, and charged toward You Hai.

She was their target...

Naturally, Gu You would not let those crabs succeed. The number of ice spikes firing from behind him increased.

Wherever the ice spikes struck, cold air spread, turning the area into a frosty realm. Most of the little crabs were frozen in place.

At the same time, the vortices rising from the sea suddenly came to a halt.

Hiss!

A roar came from the sea. A shell gradually emerged above the surface, and when it rose from the water, Gu You froze for a moment.

That appearance—it was the Seaside Crab he had argued with when trying to buy seafood last time.

That aura was undoubtedly that of a thousand-year soul beast!

Wait, a thousand-year crab soul beast?

Crab soul beasts were among the weakest varieties of sea soul beasts. One could say that even a land caterpillar possessed greater innate talent than this type of soul beast.

In ancient times, crab soul beasts had once been renowned far and wide. But after ancient humans appeared, they were continuously hunted and eaten.

No one knew how many tens of thousands of years this had continued, but crabs with powerful bloodlines had basically vanished completely.

This situation had continued into modern times as well.

Taking advantage of this sudden development, Gu You successfully brought You Hai to a relatively safe location.

For some reason, after that large Seaside Crab appeared, the smaller crabs actually slowed down. Combined with those he had frozen, they were unable to pursue them.

"So you're the so-called man-eating crab?"

Looking at the Seaside Crab emerging from the sea, Gu You could not help feeling curious.

Generally speaking, although crabs sometimes ate meat, eating human flesh was somewhat unrealistic.

Hiss!

The enormous Seaside Crab let out a roar. In an instant, the life force of every surrounding little crab vanished. They flipped onto their backs, turning into streams of green light that slowly flowed into its body.

"For a crab to reach this extent... terrifying indeed." Gu You sighed. It had to be said that this Seaside Crab's intelligence was something even a ten-thousand-year soul beast could not compare to.

It had likely absorbed the life force of every crab across the entire East Sea Reef.

They had become nourishment for its own strength, allowing a thousand-year soul beast to unleash greater power, equivalent to a human Soul Ancestor.

This was truly not something ordinary soul masters could handle.

At this moment, the Seaside Crab's entire back shell was glowing.

A faint aqua-blue glow connected to a section of the East Sea.

Talent mutation skill—Vast Sea!

A violent wind suddenly surged across the East Sea's surface, whipping up an enormous wave nearly seven or eight meters high.

A terrifying aura bore down upon them.

Gu You wore an amused expression. "Against any other Soul Master, you might have been truly difficult to defeat. But you're facing me. Using water against ice? How laughable!"

With that, he thrust out his palm, and the water element condensed into a brilliant blue beam that shot toward the massive wave.

Bzzzz—!

The instant they came into contact, frost spread across the entire sea surface, turning it into an "eternal" sheet of ice.

Gu You attacked at the same time, extending a single finger as water elemental power gathered at its tip.

Then, a terrifying ultimate ray shot forth.

It was unbelievably fast—within less than a second—

It had already struck! Pierced through! Frozen!

"Abys... abys..." A faint purple aura swirled around Seaside Crab's body before finally condensing into a thousand-year soul ring.

"It's over." Gu You shook his head as he looked at Seaside Crab's frozen body.

"I won't take you with me. Return to the depths of the sea."

With a forceful shove, and with the tide currently rising, Seaside Crab—its internal organs frozen solid—naturally sank beneath the water with the current.

Turning around, Gu You looked at You Hai.

"Can you tell me why?"

He asked with a smile.

"Those who love the sea will be loved by the sea as well."

"And the opposite..."

Gu You froze.

That was right. With the development of the new age of soul tools, humanity's exploitation of the sea had already reached a horrifying extent.

In just five hundred years, nearly five hundred species of marine soul beasts had gone extinct.

The ultimate consequence of this would be nothing but the sea's revenge.

"Who would've thought? Looking back, we really have been guilty."

Gu You said jokingly.

"You aren't guilty." You Hai shook her head innocently.

"The strong devouring the weak is the law. They accept that. But borrowing 'outside forces'—that, they do not accept..."

"I understand."

Gu You turned back and glanced at the East Sea behind him.

"Until we meet again! Within this Vast Sea, there may yet be things that need not remain hidden from the light."

"Mm." You Hai rose to her feet, her face somewhat pale.

She watched Gu You's departing figure and fell into thought.