No sea beast or enemy could escape from Shi Ming in one piece.

As a master of taking what he could, he knew that not even a Holy Hall Tier sea beast would be left completely intact. Taking a cut was a matter of principle.

Shi Ming didn’t intend to reveal too much of his strength.

This encounter had already achieved its purpose.

If Shi Ming revealed too much of his power, things would get troublesome. Once he borrowed the Sealed Prison from Black Gold, the Abyss Lord might just hide in the Earth Core and refuse to come out.

The only way was to enrage it, to get it so worked up it couldn’t back down.

Anger was the best catalyst.

At Shi Ming’s command, a sky-blotting swarm of Ah Jians rose up behind him. Each was seven to eight meters long, and with thousands of them combined, their might was even a sliver stronger than the Abyss Lord’s.

They were all clones.

The main body of Ah Jian hid on Shi Ming’s person, curled up into a cocoon. Relying on Undying Insect, it could block out the spreading corruption.

The gazes of the Ah Jians met the malevolent eye directly.

Eternal Life Law!

This powerful skill, which could instantly kill the S-rank Awakened "the Doctor," could only control the Abyss Lord for a few seconds when used on it.

But that was more than enough.

The man and the insect coordinated perfectly. The instant the Abyss Lord was submerged in the Illusion Realm, a river of blade light surged forth. In just a single second, the Abyss Lord’s vile tentacles before Shi Ming fell one after another, like the legs of a great crab.

Shi Ming once again swiftly collected these tentacles.

ROAR!

This time, the Abyss Lord had developed a resistance to Eternal Life Law and was only controlled for about 1.5 seconds.

But the Ah Jians were endless. As one fell, a thousand more rose to take its place. The next Ah Jian’s Eternal Life Law followed seamlessly!

WHOOSH!

Shi Ming swung his blade again,

severing dozens more tentacles!

Two seconds, 98 tentacles.

He had fleeced about a tenth of its "wool."

Killing it would require severing all its tentacles within ten seconds. At this speed, it wasn’t enough. However, Shi Ming hadn’t gone all out this time; there was still plenty of room to increase his speed. If he attacked with his full strength, ten seconds would be enough to shear off all of its one-thousand-plus tentacles!

At that point, by using Nine-Headed Sanctuary and transforming into the Great Black Heaven Dragon, it wouldn’t be difficult to completely destroy the three-hundred-meter-long eyeball with absolute destructive power.

After probing its abilities, Shi Ming had also collected a sufficient appearance fee.

He didn’t linger. Unleashing his Super Overload trait, he took Ah Jian’s main body and shot away like an arrow, leaving the place shrouded in fury and corruption.

The remaining clone insects left behind vanished one by one, disintegrating into formless Spiritual Power.

When the Abyss Lord came to its senses and saw the side of its eyeball shorn bald, its blood literally sprayed out. The seawater for miles around instantly crystallized, then shattered to pieces once more.

Even the Three-Eyed Golden Crow was caught in the shockwave.

The Sea of Boiling faced another great purge.

...

After three purges, what was once a paradise for sea beasts had become a true land of death. Even the border where the outskirts of the Sea of Boiling met the Sea of Silence had lost its former "vitality."

No one spoke up for the ordinary creatures that had died in this sea.

But far away in the Sea of Silence, Black Gold had nevertheless keenly detected the fluctuations here.

"The Golden Sun?"

"No, it must be that even more powerful existence Shi Ming hinted at during the Sea of Soaring Dragons trade fair."

This sudden development completely torpedoed the vacation plans of Xivier, who had been preparing to take three days off to visit the nearby Olympus Ruins.

An emergency meeting was quickly convened.

"Some good news. The Nameless Cocoon has completely lost all biological fluctuations. The Spiritual Power that had been spreading across Black Gold has also receded, suggesting it has fallen into a deep slumber. This means our thirty years of suppression have achieved final victory."

"But we cannot let down our guard. The suppression must continue."

"On the other hand, there is also bad news."

"The deep fluctuations from the center of the Sea of Boiling have verified Shi Ming’s hint! There is an even more terrifying creature lurking there—perhaps even another Great Black Heaven Dragon!"

"For all these years, Black Gold has focused most of its energy on suppressing the Nameless Cocoon, neglecting to monitor other sea regions. As a result, if not for this outside reminder, we would have had no intelligence whatsoever on this creature. All we knew was that after the last similar fluctuation, the sea beast population in the Sea of Boiling plummeted."

"If we don’t handle this in time, it could become an even greater disaster for Africa."

A stern-faced Xivier adjusted her gold-rimmed glasses and analyzed the situation in Black Gold’s command room. A waking Holy Hall-level Sea Beast was not like the deeply slumbering Great Black Heaven Dragon; it was a ticking time bomb, free to do as it pleased.

"But there is no need to be afraid."

"Humanity now possesses the power to slay a Great Black Heaven Dragon. However, high-end combatants are scarce, and Holy Hall-level experts cannot always be there to support us. Only by being strong enough ourselves can we handle any crisis."

"Therefore, Black Gold will end its thirty-year ’Dinglan’ mission. We will leave only the Sealed Prison in this sea region to stand guard."

"And this King-level Wandering Ship will have a new mission."

Pioneering new frontiers will inevitably require new sacrifices.

But today’s sacrifices are for a smoother path tomorrow. The temperatures in the center of the Sea of Boiling are extreme, and the sea beasts are terrifying. To explore it, we can only advance cautiously, searching for an acceptable threshold.

"Second Commander, a message from Shi Ming has arrived."

Iruka knocked on the door.

...

...

...

Shi Ming contacted Black Gold for the "Sealed Prison."

This peculiar object, ranked number 27 and originally used to suppress Ah Jian, could theoretically solve the problem of the corruption that would disperse upon the Abyss Lord’s death. As long as the corrupted Holy Hall Origin was sealed, Shi Ming would have ample time to absorb it and obtain the Extremely Evil Sanctuary.

Ah Jian had already escaped long ago with Shi Ming’s help, a fact Black Gold was still unaware of.

At this point, Shi Ming had no intention of telling them the truth directly.

They were a King-level Wandering Ship, after all. If he told them directly, it would feel as if Shi Ming was thoroughly exploiting Black Gold and playing them like a fiddle. Even if the outcome was good, it wouldn’t be very proper.

Shi Ming already had a better way.

’It’s an equivalent exchange, anyway.’

...

"Hm? What did he say?"

Black Gold’s attitude toward Shi Ming, the only Saint Hall Level Awakener on the Endless Ocean, was unequivocal: maintain a good relationship to secure his help when necessary.

He was an independent Awakened with no obligation to help them at any time.

Therefore, maintaining the relationship was particularly important.

Iruka, who had once fought alongside Shi Ming, shouldered this important responsibility. Some commanders had been more inclined toward Mel, the female captain of the Golden Bodhi, but it later became clear that those romantic rumors had all been a misunderstanding.

Iruka’s eyes were sparkling.

"He said he has a way to completely subdue the Nameless Cocoon."

"To help Black Gold permanently resolve this great threat."