Splash—
Eleven near-white streaks tore through the sea surface, churning up waves on both sides. Led by Xiao Bai, a group of Devil Spirit Great White Sharks was carrying Wang Dong'er, Huo Yuhao, and the other nine soul masters participating in the Sea God's Divine Trial, preparing to cross the 553 nautical miles.
And their target was precisely the destination of the third trial—that newly emerged island.
As for why they needed Xiao Bai and her clan to carry them... it was simply out of worry that the vast ocean, with its almost identical scenery, would make it hard for Huo Yuhao and the others to find their way for a moment. After all, this wasn't the Divine Trial right now, so there was no divine imprint to guide the way.
In the ocean, Devil Spirit Great White Sharks with over ten thousand years of cultivation were very fast. Soon, the silhouette of an island appeared indistinctly before Huo Yuhao and the others. But the moment they saw it, every single Devil Spirit Great White Shark in their clan, including their king, Xiao Bai, came to a halt.
"What's wrong?"
Puzzled, Xiao Xiao rested her hand on the dorsal fin of a Devil Spirit Great White Shark. Her tone inevitably revealed a trace of confusion. The island was right before their eyes, so why not just send them directly to the beach, instead of stopping here?
But when no one responded to her, she withdrew her gaze from the island and swept it across everyone's faces. Who knew, she would see them all wearing solemn expressions.
At this time, Xiao Bai, whose half-body was exposed above the sea surface, no longer had her previous breezy calmness. Instead, she rather uneasily flicked her massive tail, churning up moderate waves. As for her clansmen, their reactions were even more intense than hers. If Xiao Bai wasn't here, and if Wang Dong'er wasn't the Sea God Inheritor, the Devil Spirit Great White Sharks would have turned tail and fled long ago.
It had nothing to do with anything else; it was purely out of an instinct of fear.
"You all felt it too, right."
Xiao Bai spoke up, causing everyone except Xiao Xiao to nod gravely. What they had in common was that their perception and spiritual power were relatively strong, having reached the level of a Titled Douluo. Because their cultivation was generally above Soul Douluo, given their talents, their strength and other aspects were definitely at the level of an ordinary Title Douluo... except for Wang Dong'er.
Because Wang Dong'er's cultivation was still at Soul Saint, and her strength was also only around Soul Douluo, which was similar to Xiao Xiao. The only difference was that her perception and spiritual power were slightly superior.
As for why…
Did this even need to be said? Did they know the value of being the Sea God Inheritor? After all, the Sea God's divine throne had also been promoted to a God King's throne. Although it wasn't as good as the thrones of the veteran God Kings, and the inheritor still had a tiny bit of unearned advantage, it was still passable where it needed to be.
Because of this, among their group, except for Xiao Xiao, the other ten had already noticed it here.
"Xiao Xiao, that is destructive intent. The very strong kind!"
As if just snapping out of the terrifying aura emanating from that island, Wu Feng, who was closest to Xiao Xiao and relatively familiar with this aura, slightly turned her head and spoke rather seriously.
This tone caused Xiao Xiao to involuntarily freeze. In her impression, this was a rare moment of seriousness for Wu Feng.
However, it was no wonder Wu Feng was acting this way. After all, she was familiar with this destructive intent because she had come into contact with it, having seen Chen Junting create the Immortal-Slaying Sword Array from scratch, and felt the Immortal-Slaying sword intent, which was one of the array's components. Even back then, when Chen Junting wanted to do a simple test, she volunteered with reckless bravery and truly experienced it once.
Of course, she couldn't hold out for even a single breath after entering the array. This led to Chen Junting not only failing to test the Immortal-Slaying Sword Array's power, but she also made a fool of herself in front of many fierce beasts. It took a lot of pleading afterward to get Chen Junting and the others to keep the matter a secret, and she even chose to selectively forget about it.
Because of this, she knew the terror of destructive intent. And the destructive intent emanating from the island before them... How should she put it? It could probably be described as pure. Even purer than the Immortal-Slaying Sword Array and the Immortal-Slaying sword intent! Therefore, the destructive intent on this island would also be even more terrifying!
It was sensing this point that made Wu Feng so serious.
No one understood destructive intent better than she did—
'No one understands it better than me!'
Seeing Wu Feng's expression become increasingly... bizarre, Xiao Xiao couldn't help but feel that she seemed to have become somewhat inexplicable. This caused Xiao Xiao's fingers to involuntarily intertwine, and even her tone gradually became hesitant.
"Is, is that so."
Until...
"Since you all felt it, then you also know that other than me, my clansmen can no longer carry you over. After all, the aura emanating from that island is too terrifying."
Having probably heard Wu Feng's words, Xiao Bai also stated the reason for their halt. This drew the attention of all eleven people, including Wu Feng, and couldn't help but make Xiao Xiao, who was unaccustomed to Wu Feng's bizarre behavior just now, breathe a slight sigh of relief.
After all... For some unknown reason, she just felt it wasn't good.
"Since they can't go, we'll go ourselves." Before anyone else could speak, Ma Xiaotao took the lead, even impatiently possessing her martial soul and spreading her phoenix wings to soar into the sky.
An island that could make so many soul beasts timid and fierce beasts wary was definitely no ordinary place. Besides, this island wasn't formed by an undersea volcanic eruption; it had simply appeared out of thin air. Other than deities, who could achieve this? Perhaps, there was another fortuitous encounter upon it.
"Sister Xiaotao."
Seeing this, Bei Bei's tone was rather helpless. He thought about it but didn't try to dissuade her, instead shifting his gaze to Wang Dong'er and the contemplative Huo Yuhao.
However, upon seeing Wang Dong'er also cast her gaze toward Yuhao with no particular idea, Bei Bei took the initiative to ask Huo Yuhao.
"Yuhao, what do you think?"
Hearing this, everyone, including Xiao Bai, turned their gazes toward Huo Yuhao, clearly intending to let him make the decision. This undoubtedly left Huo Yuhao, who had just snapped back to reality, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
They all trust him this much? Did being a spiritual attribute soul master automatically make him smart?
Although he thought this way, after actually reading their respective thoughts from the expressions on everyone's faces, he secretly marveled at their boldness. He found it hard to offer the most rational view of "a gentleman does not stand beneath a crumbling wall," and instead gave a view that even he himself hadn't realized he was anticipating.
"How about we go take a look?" He asked a question that seemed like a question, yet also somewhat like a statement, and then added at the end, "Once we sense something wrong, we'll retreat."
"Okay."
"Sure."
"No problem."
"..."
One by one, they immediately expressed their agreement. After all, the eleven people present were all genius soul masters selected by the two top-tier forces, Shrek Academy and the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Which one of them wasn't brilliantly talented, proud, and arrogant, and to some extent, even wildly audacious? Now that something related to deities had appeared, how could they possibly hold back? How could they be content with their current stability?
Anyway, with Big Brother Gu's (Gu Tianchen/Tianchen) spatial abilities around, once they found a problem, or if space was unstable and teleportation was difficult, they could just quickly leave and flee somewhere else. On this point, even Gu Tianchen himself thought so.
[This bunch of guys, really...]
Hearing this, Xiao Bai, beneath Wang Dong'er, secretly clicked her tongue. If it weren't for the "cross 553 nautical miles" clause in Lord Sea God's Divine Trial, and that crossing 553 nautical miles meant landing on the island, she wouldn't have excluded herself just now. After all, under Lord Sea God's protection, she could grow steadily and live for another few hundred thousand years; why take such a huge risk?
But even though she thought this way, their audacity... couldn't help but remind her of ten thousand years ago. Back then, Lord Sea God and his six companions also went to the Demon Whale Sea like this, and when they made their first move, they jointly attacked the Deep Sea Demon Whale King lurking in the deep sea.
In their prime, full of vigor and high spirits!
Just as Xiao Bai's thoughts were racing, Wang Dong'er also completed her martial soul possession. The wings of the Radiant Goddess Butterfly shimmered and dazzled brilliantly under the sunlight. At this moment, she said.
"Xiao Bai, lead your clansmen away. We'll go on our own next; we remember the way we came."
Hearing this, Xiao Bai's fins flipped, churning up waves. Wang Dong'er's careless words inevitably caused displeasure to rise in her heart.
Are you looking down on me, the King of the Devil Spirit Great White Sharks? Lord Sea God doesn't think there's any life-threatening danger, so would I be afraid?
That was a joke! No matter what, she, Xiao Bai, was the Devil Spirit Great White Shark King who had carried the first-generation Sea God, Lord Poseidon, in battles across the water world for over ten thousand years, and accompanied the second-generation Sea God, Tang San, to the Demon Whale Sea.
Would—she—be—afraid?!
So, facing Wang Dong'er's well-meaning dissuasion, Xiao Bai chose to refuse.
"As the guardian of Lord Sea God's inheritance, and having been the mount for two generations of Lord Sea God, how can I just watch and do nothing? Besides, not a single one of you has strength greater than mine. If I go, I might just be able to protect you all."
That's not necessarily true.
Upon hearing these words, this thought popped into everyone's minds. Although it was instinctive, it was also true. After all, Xiao Bai was merely a 200,000-year cultivation Devil Spirit Great White Shark. If converted to human soul master cultivation, she was roughly around Level 95, and her combat strength was at most around Level 96.
But looking at their eleven people instead? After two rounds of Divine Trials and two years of bitter cultivation, the cultivation of all eleven of them had significantly increased. Among them, Ma Xiaotao, Ye Guyi, and Huo Yuhao were only one step away from Title Douluo, being Level 89 Soul Douluos, and Wu Feng had also broken through to Level 83.
In terms of combat strength, relying on their martial souls or ultimate attributes, Huo Yuhao was no inferior to a Super Douluo, and might even surpass Xiao Bai. The other three were only below Super Douluo. Furthermore, if Wu Feng and Ma Xiaotao teamed up, and Wu Feng helped amplify Ma Xiaotao's attribute to Ultimate Fire, then Ma Xiaotao, with her boosted attributes, would only be second to Huo Yuhao.
As for Ji Juechen, Dugu Xin, Bei Bei, and He Caitou, they had just stepped into the Soul Douluo realm, and the gap between their cultivation and Wu Feng's wasn't large. One was Level 82, and the other three were all Level 81, but their combat strength was divided into two tiers. The first tier was undoubtedly Dugu Xin with his ultimate attribute. The second tier naturally consisted of Bei Bei, who had the advantage of his martial soul, Ji Juechen, who was exceptionally outstanding on the path of the sword, and He Caitou, who relied on the might of stationary soul tools. Among the three's combat strength, He Caitou was probably slightly inferior.
As for Gu Tianchen, it went without saying. He had now broken through to Title Douluo and condensed a spatial attribute soul core. Although he was only Level 92, his combat strength definitely surpassed Xiao Bai's.
As for the remaining Xiao Xiao and Wang Dong'er, their cultivation was roughly around Level 75 and Level 72. Actually, the two had similar cultivation at the beginning, but who would have thought that after two Divine Trials, Wang Dong'er didn't receive any rewards for increasing soul power.
However, no matter what, since Xiao Bai was intent on going with them, it wasn't good for them to refuse. As for saying her strength might not necessarily be able to protect them... that wasn't something easy to say out loud.
Thus, after Xiao Bai had the other Devil Spirit Great White Sharks turn back, she headed to the island not far away together with the eleven of them. The closer they got, the richer the destructive intent they felt.
Until...
Xiao Xiao sat sideways on the Soul Suppressing Cauldron hovering in mid-air.
"As expected, such rich destructive intent."
Also at this time, Gu Tianchen suddenly spoke up.
"Wait, stop flying for now."
In the seawater, Xiao Bai, who had continued forward, saw the others stop, so she also turned back, asking curiously, "Why aren't you guys moving either? Aren't you going to land on the island to find out?"
"Who said that?" Gu Tianchen casually asked in return, then waved his hand. In an instant, space was torn apart, and a Void Gate appeared before everyone.
"We are definitely going. But the way I see it, we have to change our approach. We'll teleport over through my Void Gate."
"This way, it just so happens we can also test whether spatial power can reach the island directly, or how deep we can go into the island. If any accidents happen then, we can be prepared."
"Alright, let's do that."
Towards this prudent suggestion, everyone, including Xiao Bai of course, had no objections.
So they filed into the Void Gate one after another. After they all stepped into it, accompanied by a distortion of space, the Void Gate at the origin dissipated. Almost simultaneously, a rift in space tore open at the exit, and the Void Gate instantly opened wide.
However, after Huo Yuhao and the others stepped out of the Void Gate, they found that they were still on the sea surface, but only ten meters away from the island's beach. But the "ominous" aura exuded by the island... Everyone stared at the island, secretly thinking: What astonishing, terrifying destructive intent!
This destructive intent, which multiplied severalfold based on distance, couldn't help but make everyone's expressions turn solemn. To prevent being invaded by the destructive intent, everyone unhesitatingly deployed their protective shields, whether soul power or soul tools.
Also at this moment, Gu Tianchen suddenly stepped on the void, took a step forward, and slowly pointed a finger. A radiance shone at his fingertip, but it seemed to be dissolved by an invisible force.
"I originally intended to use the Void Gate to teleport us directly onto the island's beach, but it ultimately locked onto the sea surface. Even the trace of spatial power I just released was shattered. It seems the destructive intent on this island is very strong."
As he spoke, Gu Tianchen's expression was not relaxed. "If we want to go deep into the island, we'll have to be careful."
"I'll go up and take a look first." Without a second word, Ma Xiaotao spread her phoenix wings, preparing to take the lead. Beside her, Wu Feng, hearing this, was also eager to try. "Sister Xiaotao, I'll go with you."
But before the two could prepare to move onto the island, Gu Tianchen suddenly turned his head, and Xiao Bai, who was originally in the sea, also leaped out of the water, transforming from her Devil Spirit Great White Shark true body into human form.
"Who is it!?"
Xiao Bai's reaction quickly attracted everyone's attention. They saw a spatial rift torn open on the sea surface not far from them, and a black figure stepped out from it.
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