Chapter 244: Chapter 10: The Arrival of the Demon Host
Besides, being surrounded by so many Sea Beasts in such a deferential manner was truly an exhilarating experience!
’The Sea King isn’t so bad, after all,’ Su Zhou thought, quite pleased with himself. ’Anything’s fine as long as they don’t call me the Fish King.’
HUMMM.
A soft hum.
In that instant, every Awakener, as well as the Transcendents above them, perceived an inexplicable vibration—one that descended from the Celestial Vault and pierced straight to their souls.
The Spiritual Qi Burst had begun!
BOOM! Like a tidal wave, a violent, layered roar resounded in the depths of every Cultivator’s soul. For some, it sounded like the tolling of great bells; for others, a melodious flute. No two people heard the same thing. The only commonality was that it spoke directly to the heart. Even someone born deaf could feel its stunning power and sublime beauty.
What Su Zhou heard was the crisp, clear clang of steel on steel. It was the sound of clashing weapons, of sword meeting shield, of a bullet striking armor, of a hammer shattering shackles.
In that same instant, he raised his head, his Spiritual Eye flaring to life as he stared directly at the Celestial Vault above!
From the black fissures that crisscrossed the boundless Cosmos, an endless, raging torrent of azure Spiritual Qi burst forth. Like a torrential downpour or a crashing tide, it spilled out simultaneously from every inch of the infinitely extending rifts.
And Earth was the epicenter of this deluge.
The immense flood of Spiritual Qi caused anomalies to manifest across the world. Seawater instantly sublimated into vast cloud banks, turning the once-clear skies over the South Sea into a gloomy Yin Heaven. Far away, a typhoon abruptly materialized in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Ominous clouds swelled out of nowhere, bulging from Earth’s atmosphere like a mountain range, a formation clearly visible from satellites.
All over the world, conditions similar to the global climate irregularities from the start of the year began to appear: torrential rain, hail, a sudden spike in solar intensity, minor earthquakes, and stampeding wildlife. It was like the end of the world... But thankfully, it lasted only for a moment. Then, the anomalies slowly dissipated, as if all that had just happened was nothing more than a cruel prank.
This was the Spiritual Qi Burst. Su Zhou had no doubt that if it were even slightly more intense, it could have easily unleashed unprecedented superstorms, mega-earthquakes, and colossal tsunamis across the globe.
’How magnificent... and how terrifying.’
Su Zhou stared intently at the scene. To him, the Anomaly created by the Spiritual Qi Burst looked as if some immeasurably vast being was unleashing its scorching radiance from behind the rifts. The light passed through countless obstructions to shine through the gaps, like rays of sun piercing through the clouds to fall upon the sea.
So this was the so-called Spiritual Energy Revival—nothing more than a sliver of sunlight occasionally peeking through the clouds, nothing more than a few drops of rain seeping through a crack.
If, one day, the source of that light were to shine directly upon Earth, if the source of that rain were to inundate the entire world... what would become of this world? What would become of humanity on this tiny planet?
"I have to stop this, Yara."
"You have to stop this, Su Zhou."
Su Zhou and Yara spoke in unison, and then they laughed in unison.
Just like the panicked wildlife all over the world, the Sea Beasts gathered around Su Zhou also began to stir restlessly. Some thrashed their bodies, while others let out long, keening cries. Su Zhou could see that mixed within the Spiritual Qi pouring down on the world like a rainstorm were numerous auras that resembled flowing, misty light. They were like a viscous fluid, reminiscent of the legendary Emperor’s Liquid, and as if guided by some unseen force, they descended directly upon the gathered Sea Beasts.
The vast majority of this misty light fell toward unpopulated wilderness, but a small portion headed for the cities. However, these streams of light were all blocked by the spontaneously activated Order Array, which tore them to shreds and converted them into pure Spiritual Qi.
Su Zhou could see that the Sea Beasts touched by the misty streams of light instantly grew quieter on the surface. But in his Spiritual Vision, their Spiritual Light was transforming at a blistering pace! An invisible, cataclysmic change was occurring within their bodies. They were absorbing the highly concentrated Spiritual Qi from the Burst, then converting, sublimating, and transmuting the very essence of their being.
Then, in the span of just a few breaths, mysterious patterns appeared on a giant turtle’s shell, and the massive, chitinous pincers of a crab seemed to transform into solid wood. In that incredibly short time, the creatures that had touched the misty light were no longer mere ’Sea Beasts’.
They had become ’Evil Demons’!
"What?!"
Even Su Zhou cried out instinctively at the sight. But in that same instant, understanding dawned on him—those strange, misty streams of light were likely slivers of power from the Great Beings, leaking from the Seal!
It was this power that created their Clan—the ’Evil Demons’!
"Professor Su, what did you find? Should we commence the attack immediately?"
The voice of the fleet commander, currently on high alert, came through his earpiece. Over twenty warships and nearly ten thousand naval personnel were on standby. The vast majority of them were Cultivators, with no shortage of Awakeners in their ranks. They, too, had sensed the anomaly of the Spiritual Qi Burst and were on edge.
In fact, the various Spiritual Qi radars and detection systems on the warships were going haywire, their screens flooded with a constant stream of red alerts: "SUPER HIGH-RISK LEVEL SPIRITUAL POWER FLUCTUATION," "HIGH ENERGY WARNING," and more.
