Chapter 356: A Trial Completed (1)
Ja Sun observes his surroundings calmly. By now, he is aware of the uses brought by the fragment of a drop of blood that survived from the Dragon Prince's body. This fragment allows the holder to gain an understanding and comprehension of things by eating. An evil-attributed skill that survived the test of time— literally.
As the Lightning Panther devours more prey, he begins to learn more about various attributes while the fragment of blood within the Panther grows, too, similar to a core. But the pace is a slow one and not only that, but the 'comprehension' gained from such a method is quite minimal.
'So, what I gained after killing the Devilgod Tiger is an accumulation of hundreds and thousands of years. Not only that but with this enhanced comprehension of various elements, beasts of various natures can grow quickly and even devour various treasures born naturally without caring about affinities...'
Ja Sun had, after all, seen this Lightning Panther devour a 400-year-old spirit bone and this instantly gave Ja Sun an idea to do the same ONLY if the conversion of these treasures into comprehension of elements and concepts wasn't so low. As a human and a Sage at that, Ja Sun's ability to comprehend various elements could be right beneath Gods of various elements and concepts. And his ninth spirit ability— The eye of Causality— can be considered the greatest support skill ever in this regard.
But the fact is that he needs to reach the realm of Grandmaster in various elements as quickly as possible, especially the concept of Blood to suppress Qian Xunji firmly.
His innate domain— Sage's Seven Burst— allows him to revoke the use of skills of any being whose understanding of an element is lower than Ja Sun and Blood by itself is a concept as interesting as War.
But currently, Ja Sun wholeheartedly focuses on the concept of time and he knows that he is close. Too close, in fact! And similarly, the Lightning Panther is growing stronger by devouring anything it could find— Like the Devilgod Tiger.
But unlike the Devilgod Tiger, this beast neither has greater intelligence nor an affinity with various other elements by the virtue of being a better species. By now, the Lightning Panther's indigo fur has long darkened further into an ink-like shade while its once electrifying blue pupils are now bloodshot.
It's clear that this fragment of blood, although beneficial, also brings its own set of troubles.
'This Fragment is unstable,' Ja Sun notices.
It's not even a complete drop of blood and now aims to stabilize itself instinctively by siphoning whatever it can from the Panther's diet. The ability to devour helps this quite a bit but in the end, the Panther is the one assisting the Fragment of Blood more and it's not even a balanced relationship.
'Eventually, the beast's body will break down. Its mind is already in a constant urge to fulfill the insatiable hunger brought by this piece of Dragon Prince.'
Suddenly, Ja Sun feels a moment of instinctive comprehension and quickly chases the feeling to understand more about Temporal Laws.
---
Observing the storm developing in a once-calm sea, the Captain of the ship soon realizes how dreadful the consequences of such a disaster would be for their voyage. So, he quickly informs the situation to appointed leader of the Voyage. The young talent who saved this ship many times from many beasts.
"Lord Spirit Douluo," Only the Captain and the crewmates of the ship are weaker than the rank of Spirit Sage but they are protected due to their profession and intimate knowledge about the sea.
After Qian Xunji 'unintentionally' destroyed the greatest coastal city after his ascension which caused the greatest of sailors to die in the process, finding an adequate crew was a hard task. And if this Captain is unsure about treading this storm then surely, even Yu Xiaogang understood the severity of this situation and had to consider pulling a safe distance between themselves and the storm.
Sea's might is endless while their strength and stamina have limits.
The blue sky is gray by now with a thick column of mist, vapor, and wind spiraling in the distance as it caused the darker clouds to slowly flow in its direction while the tides grew more reckless and severe.
'If we're hit by another beast tide this time...' Yu Xiaogang doesn't complete this thought. They lost too many Spirit Sages last time. 'It's clear that finding some beast is just one objective. His divine highness most definitely has more objectives in mind that Master should know of.'
'Godhood...' Yu Xiaogang recalled the artifact that his master has. The one that allowed him to gain strength so quickly. The one that laid out a series of objectives and completed each of these 'trials' allowed him to get more strength and cultivation.
'I could reach the same level as Dai Taiyin and Tang Hao so quickly because of that fortuitous encounter that allowed Master to bring every human with a reptilian martial soul into that strange space... so that's what it is called... an Inheritance. But... his Divine Highness is clear about the situation. My martial soul should be considered a promising talent for inheritance. Sadly, this inheritance is 'hollow.' The artifacts necessary to reach Godhood are already taken by someone else long ago. But the ancient god's inheritance is too potent and even the remains allow people like me to gain strength at some level.'
Leaning against the railing, Yu Xiaogang thinks over his actual rivals. No, not the gang created by the Renegade God. His Divine Highness will deal with those rebels soon enough...
No, he thinks about Tang Hao and Dai Taiyin.
These two have their own tasks that suit their talents.
Despite having an affinity with Lightning, his enlightened Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon is a natural predator in the sea and that's why he was chosen for this voyage. Similarly, Tang Hao is chosen to accomplish another objective and Dai Taiyin is the same.
Such magnanimous actions have only won Blood God everyone's admiration...
'But I wonder what it feels to be like a God...' Yu Xiaogang's gaze drifts into the open sea that has a storm brewing while he recalls the information provided to him by his master.
'Bibi Dong... she is the one who destroyed my clan. She and her team are the ones who killed father... she is the reason why my brother is no more...'
His jaws tighten and grit into each other while cold flames of utter hatred flicker in his gaze only fueled further by a sense of primal hunger and rage constantly coiling and brewing within his belly— like a dragon. Resisting the urge to let out a beastly roar brought by the indignation of losing his family, Yu Xiaogang hears a strange buzzing and lightning noise around him.
'Again... it's as if my Martial Soul is interacting with nature somehow...' He observes quietly.
But this sensation soon eludes him once again and he doesn't chase this unknown feeling either. Instead, his senses scream more fiercely than the loud roar of a dragon as he instantly pulls back from the railing of the ship only for a terrifying black-scaled elephant-sized tuna to leap from the sea and bit off a major chunk of the ship where Xiaogang once stood!
"AMBUSH!" Yu Xiaogang hears a distant roar of a Spirit Sage on the crow's nest of the ship but nothing matters to Xiaogang. With his black pupils sparkling with blue lightning, a terrifying blue-scaled dragon with two sapphire antlers and a light blue mane emerges from Xiaogang and dives deep into the sea!
"Wait for Lord Xiaogang's attack to complete!" A few Spirit Douluos caution their juniors and Xiaogang snarls with eight spirit rings appearing behind him. His incantation thunders out as his eighth, black spirit ring glimmers, "Break wind with thunder; Split your path with lightning!"
Sea blasts open with heated vapors rushing high into the sky as countless aquatic beasts flop around in pain while hundreds of corpses float but this is not the end. Far from it. If lightning is enough to electrocute all of them then they would not have faced trouble in the previous beast tides.
As expected, stronger beasts are resistant to lightning and even if injured, many of these beasts attack the ship constantly!
"How did they even escape our senses?" One of the Titled Douluos finally questions as others watch the beast tide unfold. Even now they have yet to see any beast beyond the strength of 50000 years. This time, the beasts are only becoming visible to their senses as they rouse their spirit energy and one of them instantly adds a word of caution.
"The tide may have a stronger leader this time... I'm going out to prepare if any beast beyond 50000 years of age shows themselves and tries to destroy the ship."
"I second this sentiment. I will scout the region, too."
This attack instantly put many on the edge of their seats and even Titled Douluos could not keep their cool since they can no longer rely on their basic senses, and indeed, this felt like a part of a greater conspiracy.
As the battle continues a particularly strong 30000-year-old Winged Sea Cobra begins to cause quite the damage as it tears apart a few weaker spirit sages already in their True Spirit Avatar! And those that do survive that physical attack falls to their deaths due to the vicious poison. Not only that, this beast is quick enough to escape many Spirit Douluos and dive into the sea to escape the chase of particularly stronger Spirit Masters.
"Shift Heaven and Earth," Yu Xiaogang roars seeing this, "Be One!"
*Crackle*
Lightning tear out from the surface of the sea in thick pillars of blue plasma as the terrifying Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon swims out of the sea and coils midair before rushing directly toward Xiaogang.
Instead of entering Xiaogang's body, the Dragon opens its large mouth while its body turns from flesh into pure energy!
As a dragon-shaped pillar of lightning 'ate' Yu Xiaogang, a massive burst of light spreads out the temporarily blinds the aquatic beasts but the Spirit Masters were prepared for such a phenomenon and promptly shut their eyes while launching their attacks on instincts. They open their eyes the next moment, still feeling a bit dizzy since closing their eyes by itself only mitigated some of the effects but as they see the completely different 'beast' in front of them, their gazes flicker with respect and equal parts fear.
***
Alternate Title: It's Morphing Time— Wait, True Avatar Transformation time!
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