Chapter 152: The Undead Siren

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The ordinary bullets struck Yang Dongqing with pinpoint accuracy, severing the fleshy tentacles wrapped around him and leaving several white marks on his steel body.

Freed, Yang Dongqing sprang to his feet and scrambled away from the sea monsters. He fell back to Su Mu's side, panting heavily, his face drained of all color.

"Those... black tentacles are weird. The moment I touched them, a terrible pain shot through my body. I couldn't muster any strength."

Su Mu's eyes flashed with a crystalline blue light as [Myriad Phenomena] activated silently. Perfect duplicates of him and Yang Dongqing materialized in front of the five sea monsters.

Without hesitation, the five sea monsters lunged at the illusions.

Huh? Their eyes rotted away long ago, yet they were still fooled by the illusions. How are they perceiving their surroundings?

A second later, Su Mu got his answer.

The five sea monsters lashed out with their black tentacles. The illusions, which should have been impervious to physical attacks, shattered on impact!

Feeling the drain on his mental energy, Su Mu completely understood: the black tentacles attacked the mind! Or rather, they devoured mental energy.

Because the black tentacles fed on mental energy, they could directly devour illusions forged from it. That was also how they bypassed Yang Dongqing's steel physique to act directly on his soul.

"A technique that attacks the soul directly?" Su Mu smiled silently, feeling a sudden itch to try it out.

Pushing off lightly with his toes, he appeared before one of the sea monsters like a ghost and grabbed one of its black tentacles.

Yang Dongqing recoiled in shock. "Su Mu, you—!"

The instant they made contact, Su Mu felt a phantom black tentacle materialize within his soul. Like a venomous snake, it lunged to tear into his spirit.

But when the tentacle landed on a soul almost entirely shrouded in azure light... Sizzle...

The azure light flared brilliantly, radiating a boundless, majestic might. In an instant, the black tentacle was utterly annihilated! But it didn't end there. The azure light represented the power of the Celestial Sovereign of Longevity. As if enraged, this divine power surged down the black tentacle and crashed into the sea monster.

The supposedly undead sea monster died on the spot.

More accurately, it was reduced to flying ash. Its body was obliterated entirely from the atomic level, leaving absolutely no trace between heaven and earth.

Su Mu's eyes flickered. It seemed the Celestial Sovereign of Longevity already viewed his soul as a possession, permitting absolutely nothing else to taint it.

This sparked a new idea. If there were enough sea monsters, couldn't they be used to drain the power the Celestial Sovereign of Longevity had left lingering in his soul?

Without much hesitation, he reached out and grabbed all the black tentacles of the four sea monsters. Sure enough, as the sea monsters attempted to devour his soul, the azure light swept out and obliterated them instantly.

However, a god was still a god. Even after killing five sea monsters, the azure light showed no signs of dimming whatsoever.

"You killed them all? How did you do that?" A stunned Yang Dongqing trotted over. He squatted on the ground and repeatedly sifted through the sand, yet failed to find any trace of the sea monsters.

"You just need hands," Su Mu smiled.

Yang Dongqing's face darkened, choked speechless by the remark. Especially when recalling his own failed attempt to show off just moments ago, his steel-like face took on an awkward cast.

Fortunately, someone arrived to bail him out.

Hurried footsteps sounded from the island behind them. Led by two fishermen, a squad of soldiers clad in silver armor and brandishing spears charged over.

"My lords, the sea monsters are just ahead! And two men in strange clothes are being besieged!"

When they arrived, their hurried footsteps abruptly halted. The two fishermen stared blankly at Su Mu and Yang Dongqing, stunned to see them completely unharmed.

The leading armored man spoke coldly, "Deceiving the Guard Army. Do you two have a death wish?"

The two fishermen jumped in fright and frantically explained, "I-I-I... we didn't! There really were sea monsters here just now! They must have been driven off by these two!"

The armored man shifted his gaze to Su Mu and Yang Dongqing.

"Who are you two? Judging by your clothes, are you from another island?"

Su Mu nodded. "Indeed."

The armored man's tone softened slightly. "Were there really sea monsters here just now?"

Yang Dongqing answered, "There were five, but we've already killed them."

At those words, the members of the Guard Army and the two fishermen fell into silence. Suddenly, a light chuckle echoed from beneath the armor. "Hahaha, killed sea monsters? Young man, the undead sirens are cursed by the Sea God. They can never be killed; they can only be driven away.

"What you call 'killing' was likely just smashing them to pieces, right?

"Indeed, some outsiders mistakenly believe they have slain the sea monsters. Once the sea monsters completely lose their mobility, they melt into a puddle of seawater and eventually disappear. But in reality, they merely return to the sea. It won't be long before they mount a comeback."

Yang Dongqing blanked. Turned into seawater? He instinctively glanced toward the spot where the sea monsters had died. There was only sand; there wasn't the slightest trace of seawater.

"But..."

"I see. These undead sirens truly are miraculous," Su Mu suddenly interjected. "I'm very curious. With sea monsters this difficult to deal with, logically speaking, there should hardly be anyone left alive on this island..."

The armored man said proudly, "You're right about that. However, our great King possesses power that can rival the gods. The Sea Stones he blesses hold the power to drive away the sea monsters. It is precisely because of his existence that our nation has managed to survive."

Power that can rival the gods?

This suddenly piqued Su Mu's interest. He had witnessed the mighty power of gods with his own eyes. Even though they weren't the true bodies, that power was indeed far beyond humanity. If a person had truly mastered power capable of rivaling the gods, just how terrifying would that be?

Even a Gold powerhouse probably wouldn't dare claim they could rival the gods.

One could tell just by looking at Taoist Priest Xuanqing's attitude toward the Celestial Sovereign of Longevity.

Therefore, it was highly likely that the Sea God wasn't a true deity at all—or the King was just blowing hot air.

"You two outsiders, come with me to register," the armored man said. "His Majesty the King is very benevolent. He is more than willing to accept outsiders as citizens of the Sea Kingdom."

Su Mu's eyes flickered. "There are other outsiders in the Sea Kingdom?"

"Of course. Every year, a few outsiders drift to the Sea Kingdom. Speaking of which, it seems a few people just arrived a few days ago, though they came ashore on the eastern side of the island. I don't know the specifics."

"Su Mu, could it be...?" Yang Dongqing leaned close, whispering with a solemn expression.

"There's no need to wonder about something so obvious." Su Mu felt exasperated by Yang Dongqing's overly secretive tone. Did he really need to guess?

Outsiders arriving every year, and a few had just arrived a few days ago. Were these not Nightmare Apostles?

He was certain that the so-called outsiders were Nightmare Apostles, rather than natives like the Primal Divine Cult. This was because natives mostly resided in Hell's Middle Prison, and Nightmare Apostles never descended into the Middle Prison.

Afterward, Su Mu and Yang Dongqing followed the soldiers of the Guard Army deeper into the island.