Xu Zihuang gracefully sat down on a wooden storage chest not far in front of E Cheng.
On the blood-stained deck, this was the only remaining clean spot.
"I'll give you two choices. One, die right now. Or two, confess the purpose of your trip and then die. Don't tell me that you traveled thousands of miles from the southernmost part of the Yuenan Islands all the way here just to capture that tortoiseshell beast with only five thousand years of cultivation."
As Xu Zihuang spoke, the golden-silver tentacles that had been tightly coiling around Jin Hong dissipated into illusion. The extremely weakened Jin Hong fell heavily onto the deck from over a hundred meters in the air, letting out a low, muffled groan.
E Cheng, on the other hand, still couldn't accept the reality before him; his mind was in disarray. Only the warmth from the morning sunlight restored some feeling to his ice-cold hands and feet.
A hundred-thousand-year soul skill was not so easily resisted. With Xu Zihuang's current cultivation, fully activating the Soul Touch soul skill required at least a Soul Douluo or higher to withstand the terrifying mental shockwave explosion that erupted comprehensively from it, relying on superior cultivation.
Moreover, if simultaneously restrained by all sixteen tentacles, the mental shockwave power contained in each tentacle would stack repeatedly.
In terms of direct killing power, Soul Touch might not compare to Evil Eye Gaze, but it had the advantage of being instantaneous. When it shattered the void and appeared, it caught people off guard, and ordinary soul masters rarely had time to react. Only the Titled Douluo who had previously condensed a soul core and sensed spatial fluctuations could anticipate it in advance.
This was also why Xu Zihuang felt he was still unable to contend with a Titled Douluo. His soul skills were strong, but only if they could hit the opponent.
To leave Jin Hong and E Cheng alive for questioning, he had deliberately held back.
Otherwise, the soul shockwave power from even a single golden-silver tentacle would have been enough to annihilate Jin Hong's consciousness and soul. As for E Cheng, who was only at the Soul King level, there was no need to mention it; the fifth soul skill, Mental Storm, would have been sufficient to destroy him.
Jin Hong propped himself up with his arms while crawling, raising his head to gaze at Xu Zihuang, feeling a chill throughout his body.
The boy before him, who appeared to be only sixteen or seventeen years old, was already a Soul Emperor. Moreover, he possessed the utterly unconventional soul ring configuration of five black and one red.
If he hadn't personally experienced the power of Xu Zihuang's soul skills just moments ago, he would probably have thought he was dreaming.
What kind of talent was this?
Although he had long been entrenched in the seas near the Yuenan Islands, he was still aware of matters in the Douluo Continent's soul master world. This young man's talent surpassed even that of the one who had been renowned across the continent ten thousand years ago.
This time, they hadn't just kicked an iron plate; they had smashed into it head-on.
Despite his extreme regret for not stopping E Cheng earlier, Jin Hong knew that saying anything now was pointless. The most urgent matter was to escape from here.
In his view, while Xu Zihuang was indeed extraordinarily gifted, he was, after all, only a Soul Emperor. With the special abilities of his martial soul, if he could seize the right opportunity, escaping was not impossible.
With this thought, as he struggled to stand, he began secretly gathering soul power.
Kneeling on one knee, a glint of gold flashed in Jin Hong's eyes as he let out a fierce shout. He abruptly extended both arms, and golden light suddenly burst forth from his body. His arms transformed into a pair of golden wings amid the vibrations. A massive golden eagle phantom appeared behind him.
Among his two yellow, three purple, and two black soul rings, the last black soul ring gleamed with deep light.
Seventh soul skill, Martial Soul True Body!
His martial soul was the extremely powerful flying-type Golden Eagle.
Every feather on his wings seemed plated with flowing gold, shimmering with light. As the wings fully formed, his arms detached from them and turned into two sharp eagle claws. His body rapidly shrank and transformed, becoming increasingly similar to the golden eagle phantom behind him.
Seeing Xu Zihuang seemingly ignore this, Jin Hong felt a surge of joy, thinking his chance had come.
But just as he began to move, he suddenly felt as though the area around him had become disconnected from the world; his consciousness, perception, and thoughts slowed countless times over.
This sensation lasted only an instant. In the next moment, his body was pierced by five dark-red crystal spears, nailing him to the deck.
The five spears, each over three meters long, precisely penetrated his legs, arms, and skull.
Jin Hong's resistance caused Xu Zihuang to lose patience. His cold, indifferent gaze fell upon E Cheng.
He didn't necessarily need to learn anything from the two of them. Although the Demon Crocodile Pirate Group held considerable power in the Yuenan Islands area, it was only that much.
If he hadn't instructed Old Wang and the others to temporarily avoid altering the power structure of the Yuenan Islands to avoid attracting the Sun Moon Empire's attention, a mere Demon Crocodile Pirate Group would likely have already been wiped out by Old Wang, who had advanced to Titled Douluo, leading a force.
Jin Hong's death finally jolted E Cheng awake; his pupils gradually focused. But his condition was poor, his expression twisted and frenzied, veins bulging on his forehead, behaving like a madman. At this moment, the initial fear in his eyes had instead vanished.
"How could there possibly be anyone in these seas who dares to defy me?! The one favored by the heavens should be me!"
As the only grandson of the Demon Crocodile Pirate Group's leader, E Luo, he had lived a smooth and privileged life from childhood. Anything he wanted, he always obtained. Even the soul bone he had taken a fancy to at the Yuexu Auction House years ago, his grandfather would seize it for him. He enjoyed casually trampling others' lives and especially loved seeing the terrified expressions on their faces just before death. It gave him a sense of controlling everything, possessing everything, and disregarding everything.
Yet the superiority and worldview he had built over the years completely collapsed because of Xu Zihuang's appearance. Jealousy, unwillingness, and fear, the intense onslaught nearly shattered his spirit.
Nothing exemplified the frog at the bottom of a well more than this.
E Cheng roared, his black fifth soul ring shining. The phantom of the Ice-Fire Dual-Headed Crocodile Turtle behind him became more solid, and his aura surged.
The ice-blue head spat out dense ice cones, while the fire-red head spewed flaming meteors. The flaming meteors resembled Ma Xiaotao's sixth soul skill, Phoenix Meteor Shower, but their interior and surface churned with liquid magma.
Ice cones and magma meteors swept toward Xu Zihuang from both sides, one side scorching to the bone, the other piercingly cold, fire-red and ice-blue distinctly separated.
From beginning to end, not a trace of emotional fluctuation appeared in Xu Zihuang's brilliant golden eyes. He leaped into the air to a height of a hundred meters and grasped with his right hand.
A dark-red cubic crystal solidified the space in this area. The warship, magma meteors, ice cones, and E Cheng, who glared up at him in fury, all were encompassed within.
A crisp sound like a mirror shattering rang out, and then the sea area returned to calm once more.
The Demon Whale, which had been traveling underwater, surfaced just in time. Seawater slid off without leaving a single trace.
Xu Zihuang lightly descended. Soul power surged in his outstretched right palm, and a small, crystal-clear skull was drawn into his hand.
It was precisely the nine-thousand-year Demon Soul Great White Shark head soul bone that had been auctioned at the Yuexu Auction House years ago.
He remembered that this soul bone had been bought by the leader of the Whale Shark Pirate Group, Jing Gu, yet now it appeared after E Cheng's death. Many things could now be connected.
Xu Zihuang didn't spare another glance at the direction behind him and simply piloted the Demon Whale away from this sea area, his expression cold.
"Heaven is indeed unfair, only that so-called unfairness applies to everyone except me. My existence is the beginning of heaven's unfairness toward all of you."
…
With soul power injected, the Demon Whale, driven at full power by four level-6 soul guide thrusters, traveled no slower than a level-6 flying soul tool.
Xu Zihuang changed course and, after sailing for over two hours, was about to reach Haiyue City.
Along the way, he used his mental power to detect and avoid sea soul beasts in the waters ahead. He did, however, encounter some flocks of seabird soul beasts from the sky. These seabird-type soul beasts had far inferior cultivation and bloodlines compared to the Golden Flame Birds he had previously encountered in the northeastern seas near Qianling City, so they posed no threat to him.
Haiyue City was the largest city in the southern coastal region of the Sun Moon Empire, a main city-level metropolis possessing the empire's largest port, the Sun Moon Port.
Due to the constraints of sea soul beasts, sea vessels rarely ventured deep into the ocean. Unless traveling established safe routes pioneered by countless predecessors through adventure, the route to the Yuenan Islands was one such path.
However, the development of soul tools made navigation in waters relatively close to the coastline quite safe.
The outline of Haiyue City was enlarged in Xu Zihuang's view, and the Sun Moon Port was close at hand.
Xu Zihuang had no intention of making a high-profile landing at the Sun Moon Port. Instead, he piloted the Demon Whale to a beach several kilometers away from both Haiyue City and the Sun Moon Port.
Stepping onto the soft sand, for the first time in over a month, he once again felt the sensation of solid ground beneath his feet.
Xu Zihuang put away the Demon Whale and walked toward Haiyue City.
Although he hadn't landed at the Sun Moon Port, his top-tier appearance and temperament still drew the gazes of passersby. Once he entered the city proper, this trend only intensified.
The architecture of Haiyue City differed noticeably from the inland areas of the Sun Moon Empire. To guard against storms from the sea, tall buildings were rare. The structures were relatively low and extremely sturdy, possessing the characteristic feel of a seaside fishing port.
Xu Zihuang found a high-end hotel in the city center and checked in. After over a month of ocean travel, he needed some time to rest and recuperate. During this period, he would purchase supplies and buy a ship ticket.
Moreover, large vessels making long-distance voyages to Yuexu Island weren't available at all times; they were generally backed by major merchant associations or other forces of considerable influence.
Because safe routes did not mean complete immunity from sea soul beast attacks, only that the sea soul beasts inhabiting those routes were not particularly powerful. To ensure the safety of the ship, cargo, and passengers, strong soul masters and soul engineers were often employed.
The high-end hotel Xu Zihuang checked into was called the Haiyue Grand Hotel. As usual, he took the most luxurious room on the top floor, which cost one hundred gold soul coins per night.
Standing on the spacious balcony, he could take in the entire azure sea. The sea breeze blew toward him, lifting the golden silk curtains at the balcony's edge.
Xu Zihuang lingered on the balcony for a moment before heading to the independent, spacious bathroom to freshen up.
Unbeknownst to him, the moment he left, a woman wearing an orange-red long dress appeared on the balcony of the adjacent room. The orange-red dress complemented her fair, tender skin. She lightly leaned her jade-like arms on the railing, gazing at the distant sea.
Another sea breeze blew past. The woman's smooth, long black hair swayed with the wind, and the delicate straw hat on her head fell to the floor, revealing an absolutely beautiful face.
If Xu Zihuang had not left, he would certainly have recognized the woman on the neighboring balcony as Ju Zi, whom he had not seen in two years.
Compared to two years ago, the current Ju Zi carried a few more traces of calm maturity. In her beautiful eyes occasionally flashed a soul-stirring light of wisdom.
She did not bend down to pick up the straw hat. Instead, she took out a letter from her storage ring.
This letter had been sent by Ke Ke a month earlier. However, she had been fighting sea soul beasts in the southern seas of the Sun Moon Empire until today and had only just received it, not yet having time to read it.
Opening the envelope, Ju Zi couldn't help but smile faintly. From the lines of text, she could imagine Ke Ke's tone, and her gaze softened.
But upon reading the latter content, she couldn't help becoming lost in thought.
It read: Sister Ju Zi, do you know? That stinking fellow sneaked back to Shrek Academy alone some time ago; it really made me furious! He didn't even say goodbye before leaving, after all the care we showed him back then! Even if there was a reason, sending a letter would have been fine, right? What kind of person is he!
"Tianhuang?" Ju Zi murmured, her eyes misty. In this world, only Ke Ke and Yu Tianhuang could touch the softest part of her heart.
At that moment, a knock sounded at the door. The knocking followed a special rhythm.
The tenderness in Ju Zi's eyes instantly vanished, returning to her previous demeanor. She walked forward and opened the door.
Nineteen figures entered one after another, their steps steady and their auras deep.
Nine of them naturally positioned themselves behind Ju Zi, their expressions revealing unmistakable respect and admiration for her.
Among the ten standing opposite Ju Zi, the leader was a stern, capable middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man met Ju Zi's gaze and spoke gravely.
"It's all been confirmed. In one day, the merchant ship of the South Sea Merchant Association will set sail for Yuexu Island. This is the only large vessel heading to Yuexu Island in the near future. Our intelligence was correct; the Demon Crocodile Pirate Group is indeed targeting this ship."
"Thank you for the trouble, Captain Yan. Then we'll proceed according to the original plan." Ju Zi nodded. After a moment of thought, she took out a sea chart and placed it on the table.
Everyone gathered around knowingly and began discussing in low voices.
In the bathroom of the neighboring room, Xu Zihuang was lying in the bathtub. A trace of purple-gold light flashed deep in his eyes as an invisible mental force expanded outward.
Every detail of the adjacent room clearly appeared in his mind.
He thoughtfully stroked his forehead, wiping away the water droplets on his cheeks.
"Ju Zi? Demon Crocodile Pirate Group?"
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