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"Welcome to the Life and Death Arena..."
Hearing that voice again, Su Wen felt a wave of familiarity.
Within the massive arena space, Su Wen stood in one corner while the Bloodthirsty Mad Shark occupied the other. Reverted to its juvenile state, even a Bloodthirsty Mad Shark was heavily dependent on a marine environment; without water on the arena floor, it immediately became visibly distressed.
Su Wen watched the shark's reaction and curled his lip. It seemed he wouldn't even need to lift a finger for this beast to finish itself off. To his slight relief, while the shark's condition was poor, it stabilized quickly. Despite its precarious situation, it managed to devour a certain amount of Heaven and Earth Essence to generate enough soul power to create a small puddle of water for itself.
Seeing this, Su Wen looked surprised.
"Mastering the power of devouring at such a young age? Could it be a natural mutation?"
The Bloodthirsty Mad Shark species mutated from Megalodons, but most mutations were recessive, only manifesting the devouring power once they became century or thousand-year soul beasts. Before that, they were usually the weaklings of their kind. He hadn't expected this one to master such a force in its infancy.
"It seems there was a reason for your immense ambition."
Among all Bloodthirsty Mad Sharks, this individual was clearly top-tier.
Once stabilized, the shark directed a savage glare at Su Wen. However, at only a meter long and devoid of its accumulated killing intent, its expression wasn't fierce—it was actually quite cute.
Su Wen connected with his Spirit Space to initiate his Spirit Awakening once more. At that moment, he became completely immersed in the experience.
Seeing this, the shark was enraged. How dare he ignore me!
Although panicked upon being dragged into this unknown space, it had quickly analyzed the situation. With both parties returned to their juvenile forms, it believed its odds of winning were high, maintaining its previous disdain for Su Wen.
However, Su Wen's total disregard was something the shark could not tolerate. It opened its massive jaws, devouring Heaven and Earth Essence and binding the energy within its mouth. Guided by soul power, the energy transformed into a high-pressure jet of water.
Even in its juvenile form, this shark could use its devouring power to manipulate the surrounding essence.
While Su Wen was experiencing the changes of the Spirit Awakening, he didn't completely ignore his opponent. To maximize his visualization of the process, he was performing the Awakening and the opening of his Mental Sea simultaneously.
A burst of air erupted beneath his feet, allowing him to dodge the water jet. Su Wen's body began to emit a peculiar light. The shark barked, growing extremely wary.
Did this human just undergo a Spirit Awakening?
"As expected, my attempt to induce the Awakening was still slightly lacking."
Though Su Wen had felt the process many times before, his previous visualizations were incomplete and lacked a fundamental framework, making it impossible to replicate perfectly. Now, after three days of insight aided by the Sea God's Light and refining his theories on the ocean, he had finally managed to perfectly replicate the sensation of the Awakening.
However, while his "software" was now up to standard, his "hardware"—his physical body—seemed insufficient.
"Blood and Qi Power..."
Su Wen felt that his body could awaken, but doing so now would likely result in a weak Body Spirit, much like having low Innate Soul Power.
"Once I leave this place, I must cultivate Blood and Qi power as soon as possible. I need to polish my body to its absolute peak. That way, when my Body Spirit awakens, it might directly reach the level of a Second Awakening."
Body Spirits were distinct from other spirits in one major way: Spirit Quality. In Su Wen's understanding, the root of a Body Spirit was the Spirit Master's own body. As one cultivated and their soul power increased, the quality of the Body Spirit would naturally rise even without physical training.
However, a newly awakened Body Spirit at age six is usually low-quality because the child's body is weak, leading to low Innate Soul Power. If one could forge a sufficiently powerful body before Awakening, the spirit quality might reach an elite level from the start, bypassing the need for a so-called "Second Awakening."
Whether a Second Awakening would still be possible after that was a conclusion Su Wen could only draw once he experienced it himself.
"Before that, let me study your devouring power."
Su Wen halted the Awakening process, and the light fading from his body, he turned his gaze toward the furious shark.
The shark was livid. From the beginning, Su Wen had treated a great Bloodthirsty Mad Shark on the path to becoming a Great Beast as something he could casually handle! The bloodlust hidden in the depths of its soul was triggered. It bared its teeth as a faint aura of malevolence began to brew.
Su Wen frowned. This shark's performance was entirely different from his previous two opponents, especially the Dark Devilgod Tiger. Despite both being soul beasts with devouring abilities, there was a difference. The Tiger's devouring was an instinct used to raise cultivation by consuming others; the shark's ability seemed more focused on energy consumption.
To be precise, "devouring" was just the foundation for a more fundamental control over energy. This experience and power were what allowed the shark to maintain some combat effectiveness even in the Life and Death Arena.
"A pity you met me."
Su Wen's Visualized World was now incredibly solid. Having understood how his "Intent" influenced the Heaven and Earth Essence, the Visualized World had become a core component of his combat power. He lacked soul power now, but he could influence the world through pure Intent.
No matter what, the shark's abilities had been reverted and could not be fully utilized. Su Wen was different.
Knowledge is power.
All of Su Wen's abilities were recorded within his Visualized World. His Spirit and soul power were gone, but the Visualized World—the fruit of his cultivation—remained.
His Intent surfaced, and his Domain expanded.
The World Within the Book!
Without using a drop of soul power, using only a blend of the various Intents within his Visualized World to influence the surrounding environment, he unleashed his Domain.
The deep red pupils within the shark's blood-red eyes contracted violently. It felt a crisis—a crisis of life and death.
Roar!
Bang!
A small mountain—or more accurately, a massive page of a book—slammed down onto the Bloodthirsty Mad Shark, pinning it firmly to the ground and stripping it of any ability to resist.
Su Wen stepped forward, his mental power fully extended to perceive every nuance of how the shark manipulated its devouring power.
(End of Chapter)