Three Victories, Battle Again

"It wasn't merely devouring." Bathed in golden light, Li Xiaochen seemed unaffected by the crushing pressure of the domain as he walked toward Hai Qiunan step by step. "It was conversion and utilization. Your domain will become fuel for my next strike."

As he spoke, a shocking scene unfolded on the arena stage. The originally dim and oppressive Deep Sea Domain rapidly began to fade in color. The deep-blue Soul Power was extracted and converted by the metallic network, then poured into the metal blade-whip in Li Xiaochen's hand and the increasingly distinct Golden Toad phantom behind him. The blade-whip expanded and transformed into a massive runic warhammer covered in flowing deep-blue and dark-gold patterns, with faint phantom waves surging around its head. Meanwhile, the Golden Toad phantom became ever more solid, its devouring power growing increasingly terrifying.

"Impossible! My domain..." Hai Qiunan frantically drove his Soul Power, trying to stabilize the domain and reclaim control. But to his despair, he found himself like a traveler trapped in quicksand—the more he struggled, the faster his Soul Power drained away. That bizarre devouring network of his opponent's was practically the nemesis of Domain-dependent Soul Masters like him!

"Your domain is powerful, but it's too 'standardized.'" Li Xiaochen had already stopped ten meters in front of Hai Qiunan and raised the runic warhammer. "Its Soul Power circulation pattern is fixed, its energy nodes follow predictable distributions, and it is highly effective against conventional attacks. But it lacks defenses against 'information warfare' and 'system cracking.' And that happens to be my specialty."

"Seventh Soul Skill—Martial Soul Avatar!" Hai Qiunan's eyes nearly split apart as he let out one final roar in desperation. Blue light burst from his entire body as he swelled and transformed into a gigantic Deep-Blue Demon Octopus five meters tall,