Chapter 582 - Into the Fray
Furrowing his brows ever so slightly, Mu Ye observed the ever-expanding sheet of ice upon the ocean. “He’s using his Martial Soul Avatar to freeze the ocean. He’s frozen at least twenty soul beasts at the ten-thousand-year level, but why doesn’t he finish them off?”
At that moment, a boom. The ship rocked, intense ripples spreading through the soul barrier. Tang Wulin tried to steady himself.
There were simply too many soul beasts bombarding the ships. These weren’t warships to begin with, but luxury cruisers.
After regaining his balance, Tang Wulin looked out to the action once more. He saw mechas taking off from the decks of the ships to join the defensive. But even with their added firepower, the soul beasts barely slowed in their onslaught.
Moments later, the barrier shattered and a barrage of attacks landed directly upon the ship’s hull. Water surged into every opening. A watery grave seemed more likely than ever.
“Attention all soul masters. Attention all soul masters. We are currently being attacked by a swarm of marine soul beasts. We request that you help defend the ship and prevent us from sinking. Please immediately engage the soul beasts and stop further attacks on the hull.”
Tang Wulin glanced at Mu Ye and was met with a faint smile. “If you want to go, then go,” Mu Ye said. “This is a good opportunity for you anyway.”
Tang Wulin nodded and turned to his companions. “Follow me!” He immediately broke out into a dash toward the balcony, jumped off the railing, and leaped toward the beasts. As he soared through the air, he shot a strand of bluesilver grass to wrap around the balcony’s railing, anchoring himself. A second later, he landed on the expanse of ice Wu Zhangkong had created.
Gu Yue followed right behind him, lessening the weight of their group with the power of wind as she slid down on Tang Wulin’s bluesilver grass to the ice. Ye Xinglan, Yuanen Yehui, and Xie Xie arrived next.
Only Xu Lizhi stayed back, his complexion pale as he peered out over the balcony. “I-I’m a bit afraid of heights.”
Mu Ye chuckled. “You’ll get used to it.” Before Xu Lizhi could react, Mu Ye grabbed him by the collar and threw him overboard. “Wulin, catch!” Mu Ye shouted.
The drop from the balcony was about seventy meters. As Xu Lizhi entered free-fall, he let out fearful wails.
On the ice, Tang Wulun spun around, a net of bluesilver grass shooting out to catch Xu Lizhi. His teammate bounced once off the net before landing on his butt.
Tang Wulin’s bluesilver grass wouldn’t have been able to withstand such great impact before his second awakening. However, now that it had evolved into the Bluesilver Emperor, it was a seamless extension of his body and he could exert his full strength through the grass.
“Keep your guard up, everyone.” Tang Wulin released strands of grass to wrap around the waists of his teammates, keeping them more or less connected. Six moved as one, advancing toward the frozen beasts.
Gu Yue’s eyes twinkled and her Elemental Staff materialized in her hand. She traced an arc with it in the air, sending a barrage of azure fireballs toward the soul beasts attacking their ship.
As each fireball accurately crashed into a target, Tang Wulin stood in awe. He could only imagine the extent of her spiritual power’s strength, to maintain such accuracy for so many fireballs.
“Wait for us!”
Tang Wulin raised his head toward the sky. The moment he did, he caught sight of Yue Zhengyu flying through the air, a pair of angelic wings on his back and Xu Xiaoyan held tightly by the waist in his arms. Her face was flushed crimson as they descended right in the center of the group.
Tang Wulin flashed them a teasing sort of look and smirked. But he quickly replaced it with a serious expression. “We don’t need to attack the soul beasts directly. All we need to do is intercept their attacks. They've gotta be running out of soul power quickly with how many soul skills they’re unleashing. We just need to outlast them and prevent any more damage to the ship.”
“Got it!” his teammates answered.
Although they could display their full strength on the expanse of ice, mere ten-thousand-year soul beasts hardly a scare for them, diving into the water to launch an assault was suicide at their current cultivation level. There were at least a hundred ten-thousand-year soul beasts in the vicinity, and though Wu Zhangkong had frozen a decent number of them, many more still lurked in the surrounding waters.
“Captain, escort me to the water. I have an idea,” Xu Xiaoyan said to Tang Wulin.
Tang Wulin’s heart thumped hard and he instantly understood what she was planning.
But before he could answer, Yue Zhengyu said, “I’ll protect you.” His wings flared open and his holy sword manifested in his hand. He dashed toward the edge of the ice, leaving the rest of them still staring.
The first to snap out of it was Xu Xiaoyan. She immediately started running after him.
With a wave of his hand, Tang Wulin attached two strands of bluesilver grass to their waists, ready to pull them back at a moment’s notice.
Meanwhile, Gu Yue sent countless elemental attacks into the air and Yuanen Yehui blasted incoming attacks apart with her Air Cannon. Ye Xinglan intercepted the closest of the incoming attacks, slashing out with her sword to unleash sword beams.
With his lack of range, Xie Xie could only stand by and guard his companions. In this type of battle, close-ranged combatants were clearly lacking compared to ranged combatants.
Xie Xie sent a helpless look Tang Wulin’s way and they shared a moment of mutual understanding. Tang Wulin was weak when it came to ranged combat as well!
But Xie Xie’s jaw dropped in the next moment. A black soul ring rose from Tang Wulin’s feet. Due to the sudden crisis, no one had noticed that Tang Wulin obtained his fourth soul ring until now.
When the black soul ring appeared, a phantom miniature Tyrant Dragon appeared atop of Tang Wulin’s head. Gu Yue nearly did a spit take when she watched it emerge. Then the rest of his friend’s notice as well.
Bluesilver grass swarmed out of Tang Wulin’s body in a frenzy. Each and every vine shone with a golden luster and possessed solid thickness and length. Every vine of grass was tens of meters long and easily reached into the sky to smack down the attacks flying toward their ship. He controlled hundreds of vines at once, each vine whipping in the air like a mighty python covered in golden draconic scales.
This was the might of the fourth skill of Tang Wulin’s Bluesilver Emperor: Bluesilver Overlord Transformation! The soul skill provided an all-around boost to the strength of his Bluesilver Emperor and even empowered his other three soul skills.
Tang Wulin felt as if countless tentacles had sprouted from his body, the blood essence within his raging, surging into these tentacles to empower them. Every time the vines intercepted an attack in mid-air, they twinkled gold and dissolved some of the attack’s strength.
Numerous other soul masters also jumped down from the ship, and naturally, students from the Star Luo Imperial Soul Master Academy participated in mounting this defensive.
Tang Wulin’s actions were just too flashy to not notice. When onlookers saw how tyrannical he was, they were dumbstruck.
“I-is he even human? What the hell is his martial soul? How’s he able to control so many dark blue pythons? Is his martial soul a multi-headed snake?”
“That’s not a beast-type martial soul. I think it’s a plant-type! But what plant is that? Maybe it’s a plant-beast-hybrid? Either way, his strength is damn terrifying! You guys saw how easily he pulverized that giant water ball, right? Holy shit. Look at his fourth ring too! It’s black! Heavens! How much soul power is he using up to launch those counterattacks though? How’s he making that look so easy?”
In truth, this wasn’t easy for Tang Wulin at all. To intercept the incoming barrage of attacks with his vines heavily taxed him. Fortunately, he wasn’t only fueling his Bluesilver Emperor with soul power, but blood essence as well. The greatest benefit of his martial soul’s second awakening wasn’t its effect on his cultivation, but the uniting of his soul power and blood essence. Now, his martial soul could draw from the power of his Golden Dragon King bloodline, and his bloodline could also draw upon his soul power. The two types of energies synergized and fused with each other into one common pool. Thanks to this, Tang Wulin’s combat endurance had tremendously increased. Not to mention the fact that Xu Lizhi stood at Tang Wulin’s side, continuously stuffing buns into his mouth.
Pork bun after pork bun went into Tang Wulin’s bottomless stomach, and combined with the nutrient-dense great white demon shark oil he ingested earlier, his blood essence burst with power. He could maintain his frenzied defense for a while longer.
Soon, the rest of the soul masters on the ship landed on the expanse of ice.
The ice created by Wu Zhangkong truly held strategic significance, providing them all with solid ground to battle. It also held the ship in place and stopped water from leaking into the hull.