It was now less than halfway there.

But Shi Ming was confident he could soon force an opening in the Three-Eyed Golden Crow’s defense. He would use the King Slayer, hidden in his system space and enhanced by the Arm of Power, to shatter the sea beast’s defenses and make it lose its combat ability. At that point, he would have complete control and could make its locked-in fate arrive ahead of schedule.

The Three-Eyed Golden Crow was growing impatient.

It wanted to flee, but it was unwilling to.

The pride in its very bones would not allow it to give up just like that.

It once again used its wide-range attack skill, Great Sun Wheel. Unfortunately, Shi Ming was completely immune to it yet again.

It wanted to use its physical strength to kill its opponent, but Shi Ming’s physical constitution and Defense Power were no weaker than its own!

Moreover, penetrating that Extreme Cold Domain was also a great drain and caused it immense harm!

The Three-Eyed Golden Crow had lost its will to fight.

It was confused.

Why hadn’t the future it glimpsed beneath the deep sea arrived yet?

...

Exhausted from defending itself, the Three-Eyed Golden Crow finally revealed an opening. A Golden Feather had fallen off from a spot beneath its wings, which was once covered in tough plumage!

’A perfect chance!’

Shi Ming fully channeled his Ice Annihilation Power. The Right Arm Red Pattern flared, and an ancient-looking blade inexplicably appeared in his hand, immediately stained the same blood-red as the pattern. The Formless Pure Ice was secured firmly to his waist, impossible to dislodge.

’Ten times the power!’

HUPH!

With a low roar, Shi Ming completely unleashed the strength of his right arm, aiming the King Slayer at the featherless spot and plunging it viciously inside.

It felt as if the blade’s tip had pierced not flesh and blood, but a planet!

The solid defenses were shattered as if they were rotten wood. Scalding Golden Crow blood surged out, breaking through the Eternal Ice Domain and splashing onto Shi Ming’s skin. Although the blood’s scorching heat was dispelled by the Eternal Ice Domain and it had turned cold, the energy contained within still seared his skin upon contact, leaving burn marks.

Fortunately, his recovery ability was quite good.

Moreover, the Right Arm Red Pattern keenly detected this energy!

It rapidly absorbed the energy from the Golden Crow’s blood, growing even more excited. However, this small amount was far from enough for it to awaken. S-rank was nothing like A-rank or B-rank. Even for Shi Ming, it would take over 15 minutes, just as it had with both the Titan and the Black Tortoise.

SCREEE—

The Three-Eyed Golden Crow, grievously wounded, let out a sharp, mournful cry!

’Pain! So much pain!’

Since its birth, it had never suffered such excruciating pain!

This strike wasn’t just an external wound! The frigid energy it carried exploded inside its body, churning its organs until they began to tear. Moreover, the powerful inner force was like a punishment from a Divine Spirit, instantly shattering more than half the bones in its chest and abdomen!

One more strike, and it would surely fall.

SCREEE!

Its cry grew higher and more intense. In its agony, it desperately unleashed the Great Sun Wheel, its entire body flaring as dazzlingly as an exploding supernova. Even from three hundred nautical miles away, a brilliant sun could be seen in this part of the sea!

Shi Ming left a latent force behind as he withdrew the King Slayer, retreating at explosive speed to avoid the sea beast’s desperate counterattack. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Besides, his eyes couldn’t take facing the Great Sun Wheel at such a close range!

The crystallized land rapidly melted. The temperature, soaring to over 1000 degrees, caused vast amounts of the viscous seawater to evaporate. The entire sea region was saturated with the energy of Pure Dome Crystals, as concentrated as when Shi Ming had once vaporized 1,000 Pure Dome Crystals at once with his Formless Pure Ice.

Steam billowed to the heavens!

The grievously wounded Three-Eyed Golden Crow lowered its once-proud head.

The Wheel of Destiny had already completed nearly three-quarters of its journey.

In another quarter of its turn, the fate of the Golden Crow’s fall and Shi Ming obtaining the skills [Great Sun Wheel] and [Great Prophecy] would be sealed!

Shi Ming pressed his advantage, attacking relentlessly. He stuck to it like a maggot on a bone, giving the Golden Crow no chance to escape!

The Golden Crow cried out mournfully again and again, unable to understand why the future it had seen with its eye had yet to arrive.

In its despair,

its third eye finally opened once more.

A new prophecy appeared before its eye, and it was about to unfold!

It began to cry out in excitement!

...

’Fifty-six!’

’Fifty-seven!’

’Fifty-eight!’

’Just two more hits to go!’

’Fifty-nine!’

Shi Ming excitedly and passionately raised his fist, ready to pronounce the judgment of fate upon this sea beast.

The Wheel of Destiny behind him was just one step away from closing the circle, its beginning and end about to connect.

CRACK.

The entire Core Area of the Sea of Boiling, spanning more than ten nautical miles, was suddenly crystallized! The boiling seawater transformed into a high-temperature solid, like Pure Dome Crystal diluted countless times over.

Even the viscous air began to stand still.

Then, with a BANG,

a long, indescribable, and terrifyingly barbed arm shot out from the deepest depths beneath the crystallized ocean. Moving without warning, it tore through Shi Ming’s 142 Defense Power as if it were paper and pierced his abdomen.

Majestic, vast, ancient, immense!

Holy Hall Level Power!

Shi Ming stared at his wound in disbelief. In that instant, he hadn’t even had time to activate his Black Tortoise Shield.

[Tla blan ka!]

It was an ancient language, one that Shi Ming happened to understand. It meant, ’I had no intention of intervening, but this Three-Eyed Golden Crow cannot die yet.’

’It can’t die? So I have to?’

’Motherfucker!’

SWOOSH!

Several more long arms shot out from the deep sea! They aimed straight for Shi Ming’s head, heart, left ribs, right ribs, and midsection!

Shi Ming grit his teeth against the excruciating pain!

’Black Tortoise Shield!’

This time, his reaction speed was extremely fast, and he barely managed to block them!

His right arm, with its crimson-red blood pattern, flared with power. Wielding the King Slayer, he slashed at the indescribable arm piercing his abdomen. WHOOSH! He severed it by the narrowest of margins!

He didn’t even have the strength to pull the foreign object out of his body!

’[Eye of Intelligence, acquire...]’

His thought hadn’t even finished forming!

A massive arm, hundreds of times thicker than the previous ones and as wide as a thousand-year-old tree, swung viciously from beneath the crystallized ocean. Its unstoppable power instantly pulverized the crystallized layer before slamming into Shi Ming’s Black Tortoise Shield. The force, comparable to an asteroid impact, sent Shi Ming flying like a meteor streaking across the sky. He was launched from his spot, the Formless Pure Ice still secured to his body, and shot straight out of the Sea of Boiling.

ROAR!

50% damage reflection!

Reeling from the pain, the indescribable creature let out an enraged roar!

Thirty nautical miles of the crystallized layer was completely crushed, and towering, furious waves surged toward the sky. Within an 80-nautical-mile radius of the Sea of Boiling’s core, all creatures below A-rank were obliterated into dust.

The Immortal Tree and the core landmass also crumbled to dust, vanishing without a trace.

The Three-Eyed Golden Crow was stunned.

The prophecy it had seen was fulfilled, but in a way it could never have imagined. It dragged its grievously wounded body, like a setting sun, and sank into the deepest part of the ocean, seeking an audience with that ancient, powerful being whose existence it had never even known.

But it could no longer be found.

...

...

...

The Golden Bodhi had already rapidly retreated from the Sea of Boiling. Still shaken, its crew steered it even further from the ill-fated region.

Having calmed her nerves, Mel dismissed her attendants. She kicked off her Golden Ice Skates and dipped a fingertip into the milk bath in the open-air pool on the upper deck. The temperature was just right, and she was about to enjoy a relaxing soak when suddenly, a strange object traced an arc across the sky and plunged into the water.

Mel was already on edge today.

Even with the mental fortitude of an A-rank Awakened, she was startled. She warily observed the object that had plunged into the water.

’It seems to be a human?’

’How did he get hammered into this state?’

CRACKLE CRACKLE CRACKLE. The entire milk bath froze solid. Mel felt an extreme chill, the likes of which she had never experienced before.

"Guards!"

Before anyone could arrive, the humanoid figure twitched a finger, shattering the ice. Then, it slowly began to stir and pull itself up.

Then it opened its eyes.

He gripped the severed arm piercing his abdomen with both hands, bared his teeth, and with a vicious tug, ripped the mysterious creature’s barbed limb right out of his body.

It weighed a full four kilograms and still retained some of its vitality.

The Right Arm Red Pattern on his right arm trembled violently, radiating an unimaginable craving, even though this bit of blood was far from enough for him to awaken a new ability.

Haaa...

The external and internal injuries on his body all healed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Mel stared in disbelief as the humanoid lump transformed in the blink of an eye, recovering into a living, breathing young man in his early twenties, without so much as a scar.

And this young man... looked a little familiar...