Seeing this scene, Lu Jun's expression remained flat, but his mood was rather sour—the Water Elemental Holy Spirit had escaped.
The only thing left was to try soul-searching the Sea Fiend to see if any clues could be found. After all, this battle had erupted too suddenly, and the reason was unknown.
After resting briefly, Lu Jun's magic energy in the spiritual world, which had dropped to rock bottom, was restored to about seventy to eighty percent thanks to the continuous supply from the Elemental Diamond.
As a price, however, that crystal-clear diamond became dull as a rock, and cracks began to form across its surface with a crack-crack sound—it was completely ruined.
Then, Lu Jun moved to the corpse of the Sea Fiend Divine.
Suddenly, the White Tiger Pendant around his neck trembled slightly. A wisp of essence, like a ghostly moon, slowly rose from the corpse and was absorbed into the floating Crimson Marsh.
A complete Commander-level Essence Soul!
Lu Jun was slightly pleased. "As expected. The Sea Fiend Divine specialized in Psychic Magic, and its cultivation was nearly at the Monarch level—perfect conditions for producing an Essence Soul."
He then reached out and touched the Sea Fiend Divine's hideous head, activating his Psychic Element and Curse Element to extract the fragmented memories of the trench demon.
Buzz buzz buzz!
In the next moment, Lu Jun sensed face after face of ghostly visages crashing against his spiritual will—humans, demons—every one of them stared at him with hateful expressions.
The Sea Fiend Divine had slaughtered countless beings, devouring their will and souls. It was akin to a Soul-Stitching Fiend, formed by sewing together numerous spirits.
Reading the memories of such a demon required extreme caution. A single mistake could cause one's own soul to be warped.
But Lu Jun was no ordinary mage—he had resisted the emotional backlash of the Ancient King's War Robes. These things were nothing to him.
His expression was calm as he sifted through the tangled web of memories for anything useful.
Very soon, Lu Jun uncovered a shocking secret, leaving him momentarily stunned as he murmured to himself, "No wonder they attacked the Water Elemental Holy Spirit. So it was in preparation for invading the mainland."
The Sea Monster Empire's invasion was still five to six years away, but the signs had long since appeared.
One must understand—the Pacific Ocean was vast beyond measure. The Sea Monster Empire was not the only powerful force within it. Before launching an invasion on the human mainland, it was inevitable they would first eliminate all threats from behind and wipe out any potential obstacles along their path of advance.
The Merfolk Tribe, unfortunately, happened to lie directly on the Sea Monster Empire's route of invasion toward Japan.
Had it been peacetime, it wouldn't have mattered. They could've negotiated passage. But during wartime, even the slightest possibility of obstruction had to be preemptively resolved—whether through assimilation or extermination.
As it happened, the Water Elemental Holy Spirits were a race that revered peace. Their chieftain, a Quasi-Monarch, outright rejected the Sea Monster Empire's Overlord's invitation.
And so, the purge began. All around the world, Water Elemental Holy Spirits were being hunted.
After all, a race with strong control over the Water Element, and one that could even fuse with human mages, was already walking the path of death.
"The ocean really is the most competitive domain," Lu Jun said, somewhat shocked by the intel. "The number of demon species far surpasses those on land by dozens of times. The four great oceans host so many Water Elemental Holy Spirits, and they can even communicate with one another, with one of their ancestors being a Quasi-Monarch."
Unlike the Fire Elemental Holy Spirit Empress, the reproductive and social habits of the Water Elemental Holy Spirits were different. Due to the brutal environment of the sea and the abundance of resources, they lived in groups and stood united against external threats.
At regular intervals, these spirits would migrate collectively, spreading out to various warm, resource-rich sacred water zones to cultivate. After depleting the resources in an area, they would move again.
The Water Elemental Holy Spirits that once resided in the Merfolk Sea had already received word of their race's crisis. They had urgently boarded the deep-sea currents hitched a ride and escaped.
As for where they had gone, even the Sea Fiend Divine didn't know. It had just begun preparing to round them up, but the Holy Spirits were already gone.
"Still, the situation for the Water Elemental Holy Spirits is dire. A large number of their people have died. The survivors are being relentlessly pursued, and their Quasi-Monarch Ancestor is being hunted and blocked by multiple Monarch-level Generals dispatched by the Overlord of the Empire."
Lu Jun furrowed his brow. It was very likely that this species would be wiped out, and his hope of forming a contract with a Water Elemental Holy Spirit might fall through.
"The Sea Monster Empire… truly despicable to the core."
He sighed inwardly, knowing all of this yet powerless to change it.
The Sea Monster Empire was gradually expanding and absorbing all in its path. The future Magic City War would be proof of that—as emperors like the Mediterranean Lan Devil Jiao, the White Spider Emperor of the Demon Ruins, and others from all around the Pacific would come under the unified command of the Sea Monster Overlord.
Staying here any longer would be pointless. He decided to return.
Lu Jun stirred the tides with his Water Element, his body slowly rising to the surface of the Merfolk Sea. Gazing westward into the misty sea fog, a towering wall-like seawall faintly emerged, stretching like a majestic mountain range across the horizon.
Next, with a thought, he outlined the Curse Element constellation and summoned Black Impermanence – Qiantian Ghostfiend, who wrapped around him and turned into a massive dark cloud of ominous wind, surging toward the Japan Sea Battle City.
Not long after, Lu Jun arrived at the Sea Battle City.
By now, the tide had receded, revealing even the First District. The Japanese mages there murmured in confusion, clearly surprised.
"How strange... The sea monsters are actually quiet today. No new attacks."
Seeing this, Lu Jun smiled but said nothing. The battle he fought in the Merfolk Sea had wiped out the sea monsters there, at least temporarily. That disruption had spread to this side as well, causing the assault to stall briefly and giving Sea Battle City a moment of respite.
But with the presence of ocean currents, cannon fodder would still come pouring out without end. It wouldn't be long before the sea monsters regrouped and returned.
Not long after Lu Jun left, the Japanese mages at the scene cried out in shock. They saw a tide of faint red seawater rolling in, carrying with it the corpses of countless sea monsters.
"Looks like a major sea monster battle happened in the distant seas,"
an experienced old Hunter said in astonishment.
On the other side, Lu Jun ignored the unusual phenomena at Sea Battle City. Upon returning to his temporary residence, his brows remained deeply furrowed.
The Water Elemental Holy Spirit had slipped away. Now, he could only wait to see what Zhao family would say. Hopefully, he could locate one before the entire race was hunted to extinction.
Thankfully, this trip had not been a loss quite the opposite, in fact. He had gained immensely. Not to mention the Essence Souls and remnants of sea monsters he had harvested, the value of the Water Elemental Storage Crystal alone was immeasurable.
He could immediately use the Water Element Crystal to enhance his Water Element, and don't forget, the Zhao Family still owed him two to three Water Element Soul Seeds.
Once his Tide Elemental Soul Seed had devoured those Soul Seeds in succession, it could at least reach the pinnacle Soul Seed level, capable of enhancing magic power sixfold, gaining a Domain, and unlocking fourfold effects.
Moreover, Lu Jun possessed the Water Repelling Pearl, which gave a 1.5x baseline enhancement. With it, a single Water Element spell could reach ninefold amplification—equivalent to a minor Heaven Seed.
A high-tier minor Heaven Seed... It would be unbeatable. Whoever came would be crushed.
By the time he reached the Advanced Peak Tier, he might even be able to challenge a single-element Super Mage head-on.
Just thinking about it made Lu Jun impatient. He needed to return home only Feng Zhoulong from Demon Capital could handle the Devour Seed.
But before that, a phone call came from a National Institute Mentor, asking him to head to the western coast of Japan to intercept fleeing Blue-Clothed Cardinals of the Black Vatican—the more he killed, the better.
...
For additional chapters
Versatile mage {40 chapters}
Douluo Dalu:This Soul Master is to Weird {30 Chapters}
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