Jiang Wang specifically extinguished the Samadhi True Flame, of course, not to test the toughness of the sea clan’s carapace with his bare flesh.

As his palm touched the carapace, still scorching hot from the Samadhi True Flame, the black hidden snake had already surged forth from his inner mansion, instantly burrowing into the sea clan’s spiritual consciousness, beneath its feet.

Truth be told, the divine soul hidden snake also possessed the ability to usurp a nest. While not as profound as some body-seizing secret arts, it could, in a situation where the opponent had lost all resistance, achieve control over the other party’s body. However, Jiang Wang had never attempted this on a human.

And now, he intended to try it. Could he, within this *Miejie*, use the divine soul hidden snake to control a sea clan? This held crucial importance for his future plans.

The hidden snake swam into a vast spiritual consciousness.

Borrowing the hidden snake’s perspective, Jiang Wang could see a bald, burly man wielding twin axes on the central island of this spiritual consciousness. This was clearly the manifestation of this sea clan’s divine soul.

This differed from the eight-clawed sea beast divine soul he had observed on You Xia Island. If both were sea clan, why were their divine soul images inconsistent?

Just in that moment of bewilderment, the opponent reacted.

“You intend to enslave me! I will fight you to the death!”

The bald strongman raised his twin axes high, roaring within the spiritual consciousness. His entire divine soul suddenly expanded, transforming into a colossal crab with massive pincers raised high.

Jiang Wang felt his divine soul power instantly multiply!

And the eyes of the giant crab divine soul, unlike its outward appearance, had turned a crazy, blood-red hue, as if sanity had been lost in an instant.

Jiang Wang didn’t have time to ponder the meaning of this transformation. The giant crab suddenly exploded!

Divine soul self-detonation!

Jiang Wang swiftly severed the connection with the divine soul hidden snake. With a step of his toe, the Azure Cloud Seal mark flashed and vanished, his form already soaring into the sky.

Beneath his feet, the true form of that giant crab sea lord, now devoid of all life force, floated listlessly. A mere breeze could carry it away.

Jiang Wang stood alone in the sky, falling into brief silence.

What silenced him was not the loss of several dozen divine soul hidden snakes; that loss could be quickly recuperated.

But he suddenly understood the reason for the “protective sect sea beasts” losing control in the nearby archipelago!

The sea clan’s physical structure differed from that of humans. Within their bodies, there were no divisions like the Tongtian Palace, Five Mansions Sea, or Hidden Star Sea. Instead, there was only a single spiritual consciousness.

This spiritual consciousness was similar to the human body’s Five Mansions Sea, and the island at its center greatly resembled the isolated islands of human cultivators’ heaven and earth.

Of course, these were not the focus at this moment.

The focus was that the bald, burly man image Jiang Wang first saw was the sea clan’s proper divine soul manifestation state! And just now, this sea clan’s divine soul could actually evolve into a beast form, violently increasing its divine soul power!

The “sea lord true form” already made the sea clan’s physical body more powerful, arguably far surpassing their water clan relatives. Now, with this further evolution, instantly strengthening their divine soul power, could this evolution be termed “sea lord divine soul true form”?

The eight-clawed sea beast he had previously killed, upon reflection, was likely a war general level sea clan, stronger than the one before him now.

At that time, in the spiritual consciousness of that eight-clawed sea beast, when he saw the destroyed prohibition flag, he already had a feeling that the prohibition flag seemed mismatched with the eight-clawed sea beast’s divine soul.

How could a strong cultivator capable of capturing powerful sea clan within the *Miejie* and setting up prohibitions to control them make such an error? How could they overlook a problem that even Jiang Wang could perceive?

Combining this with what he had just witnessed, Jiang Wang reached a judgment: the transformation of the eight-clawed sea beast’s divine soul occurred later. The beastified divine soul directly shattered the prohibition, leading to the frequent madness of the protective sect sea beasts in the nearby archipelago.

He had never before heard news that the sea clan divine soul could beastify. Did this mean that during this period, the sea clan’s strength had undergone a qualitative enhancement?

The sea clan Jiang Wang had just suppressed was merely war soldier level, the most common of sea clan. But even he had mastered the power of divine soul beastification, though he lost sanity upon beastification. However, this was undoubtedly sufficient proof. This meant that it was already widespread within the sea clan.

If war soldier level sea clan divine souls went mad upon beastification, what about war general level? Commander level… even king rank level? Could they restrain the madness and only gain strengthening?

The overall strength of the sea clan would undoubtedly leap forward because of this.

Even a little thought sent shivers down one’s spine!

Jiang Wang was certain he was not the first to discover this matter. He had only just arrived in the *Miejie* and discovered the sea clan’s divine soul beastification phenomenon. Those powerful cultivators who had fought in the *Miejie* for years should not have failed to notice.

Because the sea clan side seemed not to conceal it either. Or perhaps, this kind of large-scale strengthening involving the entire race was impossible to conceal.

Yang Liu had mentioned that the Fishing Sea Tower had already begun investigating the phenomenon of sea beasts losing control. He had also previously seen Senior Brother Chen Zhi Bo of Fishing Sea Tower rushing about.

With the strength of Fishing Sea Tower, they should have already made discoveries. Jue Ming Island and Yang Valley were not to be underestimated either.

So, how would the human race respond?

The human race’s fighting force in the *Miejie* must be strengthened. Qi Country needed to send at least one more nine-soldier level army…

Perhaps this was the true reason for this grand sea sacrifice ceremony, why both Yang Valley and Jue Ming Island sent True Persons to participate? To repair and strengthen the human race’s defense line?

Jiang Wang temporarily set these thoughts aside. The major affairs of the sea border defense line were not his concern at this moment.

He would discuss other matters once he had safely left the *Miejie*.

He lingered here for a while. The corpse of that sea clan’s sea lord true form, its bloody scent had spread for a long time, yet no sea beasts came to forage.

It seemed the information that “sea clan is not food” was already ingrained in the sea beasts’ instincts.

Jiang Wang did nothing else, continuing to patrol in circles, searching for the most suitable position and waiting for the best timing.

Only before flying far, he suddenly thought—

He also wondered how those floating corpses scattered everywhere were eventually digested by the *Miejie*. Were they like corpses in the present world?

Jiang Wang and Granny Bi Zhu had already begun fighting in the *Miejie*, but on the Tian Ya Terrace, there were no more voices discussing them.

The lost heroic spirits of the *Miejie* had already set foot on their return path. Under Hai Jing Ping’s guidance, various rituals, including prayers and sacrificial dances, concluded one by one.

By this time, the grand sea sacrifice ceremony was nearing its end.

The many guests participating in the ceremony, however, became more tense, for the truly important moment had just arrived.

The Master of Fishing Sea Tower, Wei Xun, sat on the grand chair, his eyes fixed forward, neither sorrowful nor joyful.

Similarly still on the main seat, Qi Xiao, Yang Feng, and Jiang Wu You all stood properly and orderly.

Especially Jiang Wu You, who became increasingly uneasy.

No matter who, standing near a not-so-friendly True Monarch level powerhouse, found it difficult to be at ease. Because you were keenly aware that he could blow you to death with a single breath.

But Jiang Wu You hoped for this grand sea sacrifice ceremony to end as soon as possible, and the reason wasn’t solely this.

What made her uneasy was that, for this grand sea sacrifice ceremony, a figure of Wei Xun’s level originally needn’t appear, yet he had.

So what was the reason for his appearance at the grand sea sacrifice ceremony? Could it be merely to throw Jiang Wang into the *Miejie*?

That was like blowing away an ant, at most a casual act, fundamentally not the proper business of such a powerful individual.

This kind of uncontrollable variable, and one very likely to affect the entire situation of the nearby archipelago, was the reason that made her, the Mistress of Hua Ying Palace, uneasy.

“Those who accompanied me to participate in the sea sacrifice ceremony in the past…” After Hai Jing Ping concluded the ceremony, Wei Xun finally spoke, his tone filled with melancholy: “All are no longer here.”

From “Red Heart Patrolling Heaven”