The warship rocked gently on the sea’s surface, causing the crystal soul tool chandelier on the ceiling of the spacious top-deck room to sway lightly.
Sitting cross-legged on the wooden floor, Xu Zihuang, Yao Yang, and Wang Xiao opened their eyes simultaneously, the soul power fluctuations lingering around them retracting at the exact same moment.
The strange silver pattern glowing with a rich halo on Xu Zihuang’s forehead gradually faded.
Seeing the odd looks Wang Xiao and Yao Yang were giving him, he couldn’t help but ask in confusion, “What’s wrong?
Elder Wang, Brother Yang, didn’t your cultivation speed increase?”
It had been several more days of sailing, and Xu Zihuang had immersed himself in cultivation every day.
He had also gained an initial grasp of the other special ability the Silver-Scaled White Whale had granted him.
Unlike the Eye of Destiny bestowed by the Emperor Auspicious Beast, the Three-Eyed Golden Ni, to Huo Yuhao in the original story, this ability—aside from drastically increasing his spiritual power—also accelerated his own cultivation speed.
He had felt it carefully: when he activated the silver pattern on his forehead, his cultivation speed was roughly a third faster than normal.
Moreover, using this ability didn’t consume soul power; it only required spiritual power to activate.
And the spiritual power consumption was negligible.
“No, Zi Huang.” The expression on Yao Yang’s face was extremely complicated, full of speechlessness.
“Do you know?
My cultivation speed just now was at least a quarter faster than usual.”
His soul power had broken through rank seventy long ago.
At this level, raising his soul power by even one rank usually required a massive amount of time to accumulate.
But with Xu Zihuang’s boost, he had the potential to touch the bottleneck of rank eighty in no more than six years.
Such an ability was simply perversely overpowered.
“Young Master, try not to reveal this ability in the future,” Wang Xiao warned gravely from the other side.
Xu Zihuang was now the equivalent of an Auspicious Beast among soul beasts.
If this ability were exposed, it would absolutely send shockwaves through the soul master world.
With just the two of them, they would never be able to protect Xu Zihuang.
“Uncle Wang is right.” Yao Yang nodded in deep agreement, concluding, “It seems that Silver-Scaled White Whale was indeed the legendary Auspicious Beast.
Only Auspicious Beasts receive the favor of the world’s elemental energy.”
As he spoke, he extended his right hand to gently touch the space around them, which was rich with elemental energy.
As a mental-attribute soul master, he was exceptionally sensitive to changes in the surrounding elemental energy.
The closer to Xu Zihuang’s body, the denser the elemental energy was.
“Zi Huang, I once read some information about Auspicious Beasts in an ancient text passed down in my family.
As the darlings of destiny, Auspicious Beasts rarely encounter threats.
And there are only two scenarios where a threat arises: one is when they encounter an opponent whose fortune perfectly counters theirs, and the other is when it’s destined.
Auspicious Beasts have a certain ability to control fate, but within their destiny, there will inevitably be a bottleneck.
Just as soul masters encounter bottlenecks during cultivation.
And you…
might just be its bottleneck.
Its destiny.”
“Destiny?” Xu Zihuang frowned deeply.
He didn’t know what was going on, but every time he recalled touching the silver scale on the Silver-Scaled White Whale’s forehead, he felt a strange sensation.
It was as if he had seen some images, but he simply couldn’t remember them at all.
Just as he looked up to say something more to the two men, he caught sight of a mirror in the corner of the room out of the corner of his eye.
The mirror reflected his face: jade-like skin, exquisite features, and those slightly indifferent yet incredibly noble, clear deep-purple eyes.
Eyes?!
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit Xu Zihuang.
One of the images he had seen seemed to be exactly a pair of eyes like those.
But no matter how hard he tried to recall it next, he couldn’t picture the complete scene.
“What’s wrong, Zi Huang?” Noticing Xu Zihuang’s odd behavior, Yao Yang quickly asked in concern.
Xu Zihuang shook his head.
“It’s nothing, Brother Yang.”
He didn’t know how to explain this to them, and even if he did, it would be meaningless.
“Young Master, we will enter the southern seas of the Sun Moon Empire in a few days.
We’ll head out to prepare first.” Seeing that Xu Zihuang didn’t want to elaborate, Wang Xiao stood up to take his leave.
Yao Yang knowingly followed suit, walking out of the room side-by-side with Wang Xiao.
…
Slowly walking up to the mirror, Xu Zihuang closely examined his reflection again.
After pondering for a long time and finding no further clues, he had to stop dwelling on it.
After more than a month of sailing, his mid-length black hair had grown almost to his chest.
A few strands of purple hair mingled at his forehead and temples.
Viewed from the side, it clearly softened his features and lessened his coldness.
This was because his appearance was mostly inherited from his mother.
Morning light streamed in from the nearby window.
Xu Zihuang tied his mid-length hair with a hairband in front of the mirror, wearing only a close-fitting shirt, and turned to walk out of the room.
They were now approaching the southern seas of the Sun Moon Empire.
The temperature was worlds apart from the island where he had been imprisoned.
In the distance, the waves rolled, the sea met the sky, and the azure clouds blended with the blue heavens.
Perhaps because his circumstances had changed, he felt that everything before him was incredibly pleasant.
“Young Master.” Seeing Xu Zihuang approaching, everyone on deck respectfully saluted.
Among them, Meng Lang, who had successfully fused his Evil Orca soul ring, quickly fell into step behind him.
Xu Zihuang gestured slightly and, as usual, took out a finely crafted fishing rod from his storage soul tool.
The rod was carved from a Ten-Thousand-Year Sword Bamboo pole.
It was highly flexible and could withstand thousands of pounds of force.
The fishing line was made of Ten-Thousand-Year Crypt Demon Spider silk, appearing crystalline yellow as it scattered the sunlight.
Since everyone was a soul engineer, crafting such a fishing rod was naturally a breeze.
However, the materials used were truly extravagant.
Bait was already prepared near the edge of the deck: crystal-clear deep purple lobsters trapped in iron cages.
Xu Zihuang had eaten quite a few of these Purple Crystal Shrimp during the voyage.
However, the Purple Crystal Shrimp used for bait were only around ten years of cultivation.
After all, if their cultivation were too high, very few fish would dare to prey on them.
And the line made of Ten-Thousand-Year Crypt Demon Spider silk guaranteed that these ten-year Purple Crystal Shrimp wouldn’t break free.
Once Meng Lang attached the bait, Xu Zihuang held the rod with his left hand and expertly cast the line several dozen meters out, letting the Purple Crystal Shrimp struggle in the seawater.
Leaning his arms on the deck railing, he enjoyed the sea breeze.
Several days had passed since they left the deep-sea area, and during this time, Xu Zihuang had used fishing to pass the dull, monotonous hours of sailing.
He didn’t know if his luck was bad or his technique was poor, but he hadn’t caught a single fish in days.
However, he didn’t really mind; he wasn’t fishing just for the sake of catching fish anyway.
While asking Meng Lang about things concerning the Yuenan Archipelago, his mind gradually emptied as he pondered his next steps.
“Young Master?
I think a fish bit the hook?!”
Meng Lang suddenly exclaimed.
Xu Zihuang snapped his eyes open and, seeing the rapidly spinning reel, quickly started reeling in the line.
However, the massive force transmitted through the rod almost pulled him off balance.
“This is at least a few thousand pounds of force.” Xu Zihuang raised an eyebrow, applying strength with both hands.
Having taken various heavenly treasures over the long term, and with his body refined by two thousand-year soul rings and the external soul bone, the Brilliance Dragon Claw, the strength in his arms had reached an astonishing level.
Creaking sounds continuously came from the rod and reel.
Xu Zihuang bent his knees to lower his center of gravity, refusing to yield, and fought it head-on with sheer brute force.
The rod and line were tough enough anyway; even a thousand-year fish-type soul beast would struggle to break them.
Meng Lang stood helplessly by.
He wanted to help, but since Xu Zihuang hadn’t asked, he could only stand awkwardly to the side.
A flurry of violent splashing erupted on the sea’s surface, drawing the attention of everyone on the deck.
Thousand-year soul beasts rarely appeared in this area of the sea, so everyone, having nothing better to do, gathered around to watch the spectacle.
Over the past few days, Xu Zihuang had mingled with them frequently, and their interactions were no longer so constrained.
“The Young Master has been fishing for days, and he finally caught one,” someone joked.
Others chimed in.
“When it comes to cultivation talent, I admit I can’t compare to the Young Master.
But when it comes to fishing…”
Someone even started offering unsolicited advice, trying to teach Xu Zihuang some techniques.
“What techniques?
In the face of absolute strength suppression, it’s not worth mentioning.”
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Xu Zihuang chuckled.
He didn’t plan on dragging this out any longer.
Channeling his soul power, he used absolute strength to suppress the catch.
The rod was bent almost ninety degrees.
A giant cyan fish, over three meters long, was ultimately hauled out of the water by Xu Zihuang.
The giant fish had a typical streamlined body, smooth skin, and a long, pointed upper jaw shaped like a sharp sword.
As soon as it emerged from the water, the strange fish aggressively thrust its sharp upper jaw toward Xu Zihuang.
“A Thousand-Year Swordfish?!” The crowd quickly realized what was happening and prepared to intercept it.
Meng Lang, without hesitation, stepped in front of Xu Zihuang to shield him.
But just as the swordfish’s sword-like upper jaw was about to pierce Meng Lang’s chest, Xu Zihuang’s calm voice quietly rang out.
“Second Soul Skill, Mirror’s Annihilation.”
A dark red ripple swept past.
The extended body of the Thousand-Year Swordfish suddenly seemed to freeze.
The surrounding air became crystalline, turning into a semi-transparent dark red crystal that perfectly and completely encased the Thousand-Year Swordfish’s body.
“Thud—” Encased in the dark red crystal, the Thousand-Year Swordfish crashed heavily onto the deck without leaving a single chip on the crystal’s surface.
Its hardness was easily imaginable.
This was the second soul skill Xu Zihuang acquired from the three-thousand-year Evil Orca, integrating both crowd control and enemy destruction.
Right now, Xu Zihuang was actually only using the first stage of Mirror’s Annihilation, utilizing an incredibly hard dark red crystal to restrict the opponent’s movements.
The second stage focused on the word Annihilation.
Anything encased in this dark red crystal would shatter into dust at his will.
Soul masters of the same rank as him had absolutely no chance of breaking free.
Moreover, this soul skill was locked on via spiritual power; not only could it lock onto multiple targets simultaneously, but it was also cast instantly.