"Holy crap, that was close. We nearly walked into an ambush."
Cold sweat broke out on Huo Tian's forehead, and Huo Yutong looked terrified too. She immediately took out a handkerchief and wiped the cold sweat from his cheeks.
Huo Tian could clearly sense that the Soul Power pressure from that sudden tentacle far surpassed that of a Super Douluo.
Huo Tian immediately flew toward the very top of the Fog Sea Area. Just as he reached the highest point, he suddenly crashed headfirst into an invisible wall.
Huo Tian reached out and felt the invisible wall before him, his jaw dropping. Had he entered some secret realm?
"What the hell? Why is there an invisible wall? Does this place think it's a game?"
Disbelief filled Huo Tian's face. He raised his hand and pinched his own cheek hard, making it redden at once.
Huo Tian could feel the pain in his cheek, which meant he was not dreaming. What he was experiencing was real.
Huo Tian raised his hand again and pinched Huo Yutong's cheek. It felt supple and smooth, and she immediately pouted.
"Master, what are you doing?"
Huo Yutong looked at Huo Tian worriedly, turned her head to look around, then reached out to touch the invisible wall as well.
Huo Yutong released her Soul Power and struck the invisible wall hard. The wall remained completely unscathed and absorbed her Soul Power. She felt the Soul Power inside her suddenly drain away.
Huo Tian noticed this strange phenomenon too.
"No wonder we couldn't probe the inside from outside. So this invisible wall was the culprit."
Huo Tian instantly grew alert. The invisible wall before him could absorb energy in any form and would also reflect attacks like a mirror.
Huo Tian gave up on that approach and continued deeper into the Fog Sea Area with Huo Yutong in his arms. In the deepest reaches of the seabed below them, a dark shadow kept following them.
Because of the tentacle that had suddenly appeared earlier, Huo Tian dared not get too close to the sea's surface, afraid some other strange thing might suddenly appear.
"Third Soul Skill, Nether Radiance Wings!"
The two pairs of enormous Vermilion Bird wings behind Huo Tian immediately erupted with Evil Fire that filled the sky. With the Soul Skill's enhancement, his flying speed far exceeded what it had been before.
"Where do you think you're escaping to? Stay here."
A cold laugh resounded throughout the sea, carrying endless mental confusion. Fortunately, Huo Tian was not affected in the slightest, and he immediately released his Soul Power to protect Huo Yutong.
Huo Yutong was merely a little Quasi-Soul Grandmaster and could not withstand mental confusion of this magnitude at all. Even with Huo Tian's Evil Fire helping to counteract it, she could not endure the impact.
An expression of unbearable pain appeared on Huo Yutong's fair face, and she raised both hands to clamp them tightly over her ears.
"Vermilion Bird Domain, activate!"
The Vermilion Bird Divine Mark between Huo Tian's brows immediately burst with golden light. Waves of golden flame swept away the entire mental field.
Golden light shone in Huo Tian's eyes. His Vermilion Bird Domain covered a thousand meters, and countless golden flames descended into the depths of the sea.
The Sea Soul Beasts deep beneath the surface were all burned by flames until they wished they were dead. Most of the low-ranking Sea Soul Beasts died and floated to the surface.
"You're courting death!"
Three enormous pitch-black tentacles burst from the calm sea, poisonous mist pouring from every fleshy hole in them.
The huge monster beneath the sea was thoroughly enraged.
"I'd say you have a way to court death!"
Huo Tian's eyes were blood-red, and he panted like an ox. He pointed at the dark shadow beneath the sea while keeping Huo Yutong firmly protected in his arms.
"Little Yutong, no matter what enemy you encounter in the future, you must let them know what it means to have a way to court death."
Huo Yutong obediently nodded when she heard this.
"First Soul Skill, Nether Flame Feather! Sixth Soul Skill, Eternal Night Burns the Heavens!"
The Vermilion Bird's fiery wings behind Huo Tian immediately released tens of thousands of Evil Fire feathers that sliced toward the three tentacles. With the sixth Soul Skill's enhancement, the domains stacked layer upon layer.
The Vermilion Bird Bone Armor granted Huo Tian immunity to toxins. This time, he was truly enraged; the other party had already obstructed his progress again and again.
Two tentacles were sliced by the Evil Fire on the feathers, which also burned them. The two enormous pitch-black tentacles were immediately severed and fell onto the sea's surface.
Drawing on the stacked domains, Huo Tian formed two fiery fist projections over his gauntlets and relentlessly bombarded the remaining tentacle.
"You have a way to court death."
All three enormous pitch-black tentacles were severed. The dark shadow beneath the sea let out a cry of pain, and its entire body began rising to the surface.
A pitch-black octopus hundreds of meters long emerged above the sea's surface, blotting out the sky and sun, with hundreds of tentacles constantly coiling around its body.
Only then did Huo Tian realize that its earlier attacks had merely been probes. This was also his first time facing such a colossal creature alone.
Huo Tian released his Mental Power and discovered that the Black Poison Octopus before him had cultivation roughly equivalent to rank 97 to 98, while this Soul Beast's cultivation age was only 370,000 years.
"A mere Soul Beast with 370,000 years of cultivation, and you dare show off your axe before a master carpenter?"
"Do you really not know how the word 'death' is written?"
Blazing Evil Fire rose from Huo Tian's entire body, and an eye appeared atop his helmet. He looked disdainfully at the Poison Mist Octopus before him.
"A mere Quasi-Soul Douluo dares talk so big!"
The Poison Mist Octopus constantly attacked Huo Tian with its hundred tentacles, beginning to condense a Poison Mist Ray in its mouth. This was an innate skill of the Poison Mist Octopus species.
Huo Tian dodged the oncoming tentacles every time, severing more than a dozen of them. Watching this exhilarating sight from his arms, Huo Yutong's cheeks flushed.
A poisonous ray spanning a hundred meters shot toward Huo Tian, complete with a lock-on function.
"Seventh Soul Skill, Vermilion Bird True Body!"
A cry rang through the clouds, suppressing every Sea Soul Beast in the entire sea area. A hundred-meter-long Vermilion Bird wreathed in Evil Fire appeared overhead.
With the domain's enhancement, two suns appeared behind the Vermilion Bird. Huo Tian fused them into one larger, blazing sun and hurled it down at the Poison Mist Octopus.
Run. I have to run. I was careless this time.
Only now did the Poison Mist Octopus realize what a freak it had provoked. It immediately began fleeing into the sea.
The entire blazing sun locked directly onto its enormous body and smashed into it head-on. Countless flames of Evil Fire began devouring the skin covering it, exposing the Poison Mist Octopus's bones.
Its hundred-meter-long body was instantly consumed by Evil Fire, leaving only an enormous skeleton floating to the surface.
Holding Huo Yutong in his arms, Huo Tian stood quietly on a bone. Two Soul Bones emitting purple light hovered quietly in the sea.
"What rotten luck!"
Huo Tian flashed over to the Soul Bones and reached out to pick them up. These two Soul Bones corresponded to a skull bone and a right arm bone, and poisonous gas emanated from them.
These two Soul Bones were only suitable for poison Soul Masters. Huo Tian put them away in his Soul Tool, and the two once again became a streak of red light, flying deeper into the Fog Sea Area.
All the energy of the dead Poison Mist Octopus gathered into a vivid red Hundred Thousand Year Soul Ring that floated quietly over the sea.
The two flew for a while, and as the fog thickened, an island began to come into view.