The port was built relying on the island’s eastern wall.
Because this area had the gentlest terrain on the entire island, it was the only place suitable for constructing a harbor.
The giant ship, over two hundred meters long, was parked steadily at the port.
The night was deep, and the late autumn sea breeze was bone-chilling.
The fifty or sixty soldiers of the Vast Sea Soul Engineer Legion guarding the deck were all curled up, occasionally moving their limbs to stay warm and maintain their body temperature.
Not all soul masters were immune to the cold and heat.
To achieve that, one either needed a special martial soul—such as ice or fire attributes—or a powerful soul power cultivation.
In the Vast Sea Soul Engineer Legion—a ragtag legion completely unranked within the Sun Moon Empire—the soldiers who met these criteria were obviously fewer than one in a hundred.
The soldiers’ cultivation levels varied greatly, with the vast majority only hovering around rank thirty.
Furthermore, the training methods of these soul engineers were heavily biased toward increasing soul power, making their physical fitness far inferior to the traditional soul masters of the three native Douluo empires.
At best, they were only slightly stronger than ordinary people.
“Damn it, we’re just destined to suffer.
Nothing like those noble ladies,” a tall, thin youth in black martial attire complained in dissatisfaction to his colleague, exhaling a breath of white mist with his head down.
Unlike the dark, freezing deck, the five-story cabin on the giant ship was brightly lit.
The noble ladies’ rooms were even equipped with soul tools for heating.
The person next to the tall, thin youth looked to be about the same age, but his body was developing toward a spherical shape.
The short, fat youth leaned against the deck’s railing and sat down, a strange smile flashing in his small eyes.
He shifted his plump body slightly, clasped his hands together, and said sarcastically, “Isn’t it because we didn’t work hard enough?
Just be grateful.
Being grateful is all you need to do.”
“Work hard?
What’s the use of working hard?
Can hard work give you a powerful innate martial soul like those noble brats?!”
The tall, thin youth coldly snorted and sat down gloomily beside the fat youth.
They both came from the same fishing village on the coast of the Sun Moon Empire and were already very familiar with each other.
He naturally knew what the fat youth meant and was just venting his frustration.
The short, fat youth kicked the thin youth and revealed a lecherous smile.
“How about this: why don’t you try knocking on those noble ladies’ doors?
What if some blind girl actually takes a liking to you?
You might just ascend to heaven in a single step.”
“Go yourself if you want to.
I don’t want to look for trouble.
I at least have that much self-awareness,” the tall, thin youth replied grumpily, looking up to scan the surroundings.
No matter how poor the discipline of their Vast Sea Legion was, they didn’t dare slack off right under their commander’s nose.
But as luck would have it, Commander Yu Yun happened to be walking onto the deck along the iron planks set up at the port, accompanied by a few soldiers.
“Stop slacking off, the Commander is here,” he quickly whispered to his companion, smartly standing up and straightening his back.
A series of rustling sounds echoed as the soldiers got up.
The diminutive Yu Yun coldly swept his gaze over the soldiers on the deck.
“We are preparing to return tomorrow morning.
Keep your wits about you.”
“Yes!
Commander!”
The crowd responded in unison, but bizarrely, every soldier of the Vast Sea Legion only heard their own voice, even though their colleagues were right beside them.
Immediately after, the faintly lit deck was plunged into dead, silent darkness without any warning.
Yu Yun clutched his violently throbbing head.
His dark red eyes were bloodshot, and his face turned deathly pale.
Even his consciousness began to blur.
But as a Soul Sage-level powerhouse, he quickly reacted.
He unleashed his martial soul while letting out a loud roar.
“Enemy attack!
All personnel, prepare for battle!”
One white, two yellow, three purple, and one black—seven soul rings appeared in succession, slowly pulsing around his body.
His shriveled muscles expanded, and most bizarrely, a black turtle shell with strange yellow patterns materialized on his chest and back.
However, his low roar was entirely in vain.
Even with his Soul Sage cultivation, he almost lost consciousness, let alone those Vast Sea Legion soldiers with their wildly varying cultivation levels.
“A Sea Turtle martial soul?” a hoarse voice sounded in the darkness.
At first, it seemed far away, but in the next instant, it felt as if it exploded right next to Yu Yun’s ear.
The hair on Yu Yun’s body stood on end, and his first, third, fourth, and sixth soul rings all lit up almost simultaneously.
“Who is it?!”
His roar clearly lacked the confidence it had earlier.
This eerie scene reminded him of the domains that only an extremely small number of elite soul masters possessed.
If this truly was a domain, his previous shouts likely never made it out.
Right now, he could only stall for time as much as possible, hoping that the Western Sea Legion at the port would notice the anomaly on the deck.
As long as he could hold out until Hai Xiao arrived, Hai Xiao’s Class 8 Soul Engineer cultivation would be enough to stabilize the situation.
His response was very calm.
Boosted by four defensive soul skills, the black turtle shell enveloping Yu Yun expanded several times over, completely covering his small body.
The pitch-black soul power light seemed to solidify, flashing across the shell’s surface.
Just standing there, he gave off an immovable, mountain-like aura.
His Sea Turtle martial soul already possessed astonishing defense, and he was fully confident in it.
Activating four defensive skills at once was the absolute limit of his defense short of using his Seventh Soul Skill, the Martial Soul Avatar.
It wasn’t that Yu Yun didn’t want to use his Martial Soul Avatar, but having painstakingly climbed from a commoner to a commander with actual power, he valued his life more than anyone else.
Activating the Seventh Soul Skill required time to accumulate soul power, unlike other soul skills that could be cast instantly.
Firing four skills simultaneously was the most he could do.
However, in the face of absolute power, it was entirely meaningless.
A muffled groan escaped Yu Yun’s lips, followed by a series of sounds like shattering glass.
Dense cracks suddenly appeared all over the massive, thick black turtle shell protecting him.
Then, it shattered into a sky full of light specks.
“Bang—” A slightly curled hand pierced straight through Yu Yun’s left chest.
The darkness gradually receded.
By the light of the soul tools in the cabin hall, a fierce old man wearing dark purple dragon-patterned armor could vaguely be seen.
The three claw marks over his right eye were now stained with a trace of messy blood, making him look terrifying.
“Cough, cough—” Yu Yun struggled to look back.
Seeing the ferocious purple dragon head on the old man’s chest, his pupils contracted sharply.
“Im…
Imperial Dragon…”
Crimson blood spilled from his nose and mouth.
He opened his mouth to say something but lost his life before he could finish.
The attacker was none other than Wang Xiao, who had come to rescue Xu Zihuang with his team.
Yao Yang’s figure appeared closely behind Wang Xiao, alongside the forty-plus elite former soldiers of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion.
As for the rest of the Vast Sea Legion’s soldiers, they had all collapsed on the deck, bleeding from their seven orifices.
The cabins where the noble ladies resided had also descended into absolute silence.
(END CHAPTER)