Sacrifice and Life-or-Death Escape

Sure enough, as Ignaz desperately sprinted forward, he glanced back and saw that the soul beast being hunted by the pack was covered in wounds, blood constantly streaming from its body. What caught his attention was its dragon head and fish body, surrounded by crackling blue electric currents.

"Could this be a Fish Dragon Beast?!"

But after thinking it over, Ignaz frowned—something didn't add up. Fish Dragon Beasts were top-tier soul beasts that rarely produced mutant variants, and this place was far too distant from the Nine Star Sea. Even if the Fish Dragon Beast clan was nearly extinct, it wasn't something he should be encountering here.

At that moment, the wounded Thunder Dragon Fish was suddenly rammed from below by a ten-thousand-year soul beast. The fleeing Thunder Dragon Fish was launched straight out of the water, several ribs in its belly snapping on impact.

"Gurroar—"

It let out a strange cry. Seeing the numerous ten-thousand-year soul beasts closing in from all directions, its fish eyes turned blood-red, and the already dim electrical currents around its body began to blaze, growing increasingly violent.

Just then, two Fierce Bite Frenzied Sharks swished their tails, sending two powerful water blades hurtling toward them. The Thunder Dragon Fish's lightning exploded outward, utilizing the water's conductivity to amplify its strongest technique several times over, creating a massive electrical net that covered an area of five to six hundred meters.

The water blade attacks were instantly shattered by the powerful current, and the two Fierce Bite Frenzied Sharks that couldn't escape in time had their skulls pierced by the electricity—they died instantly, floating belly-up on the surface.

The other ten-thousand-year soul beasts, seeing this display, all slowed their approach. In their eyes, the Thunder Dragon Fish using this technique was making its last desperate stand.

Ignaz was now less than 300 meters from the Thunder Dragon Fish. To avoid getting caught in its lightning net, he instantly activated his first and second soul skills, using the increased speed, defense, and his natural lightning resistance to quickly dodge the scattered, violent electrical attacks.

However, just as Ignaz evaded several lightning strikes, he seemed to be bound by some invisible force—he couldn't move at all. As the Thunder Dragon Fish's technique gradually faded, it swam rapidly toward Ignaz while the other ten-thousand-year soul beasts hadn't yet resumed their attack, then leaped into the air.

Black light erupted around Ignaz, and an extremely powerful soul force wave sent the approaching soul beast flying back. Meanwhile, Ignaz found himself floating in the air, spiraling upward with the Thunder Dragon Fish.

"What's it trying to do?"

Before Ignaz could react, his Blood Thunder War Spear martial soul naturally floated before him. The Thunder Dragon Fish's entire body suddenly exploded, transforming into countless streams of pure energy that poured into both the Blood Thunder War Spear and Ignaz's body. The blood lightning and blood mist around the war spear became even more violent and dense.

Only now did Ignaz snap back to reality, his face showing shock.

"Holy crap, this—this is soul beast sacrifice!"

But in the next instant, Ignaz's face filled with worry. Although this soul beast was extremely suitable for him, it was 13,000 years old. Even with cross-level absorption, his third soul ring could handle at most five to six thousand years. Even with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of soul beast sacrifice, his current physical strength absolutely couldn't handle it. If he forcibly interrupted the sacrifice, at best his mental sea would be severely damaged—at worst, he could become an idiot or even die.

The pure energy flowing into his body wasn't violent at all—instead, it gently transformed Ignaz's body with almost no pain whatsoever.

The sacrifice process continued. A black soul ring slowly materialized and settled over Ignaz's head. He was immediately pulled into his mental sea, where a Thunder Dragon Beast phantom appeared before him, circling around his body without causing any soul shock.

Although the Thunder Dragon Fish hadn't reached one hundred thousand years and couldn't speak human language, from the memory reflections in his mental sea, Ignaz could gather some information. This Thunder Dragon Fish was indeed from the Fish Dragon Beast clan—or rather, it was evolving toward becoming a Fish Dragon soul beast. It had originally been a thousand-year Thunder Eel that accidentally consumed dragon marrow from a Fish Dragon Beast skeleton, then cultivated for hundreds of years to complete its transformation.

Unexpectedly, this attracted the pursuit and captivity of several ten-thousand-year soul beasts, who would extract so-called Thunder Dragon blood from its body every few years and consume its flesh. Recently, with the rampage of numerous soul beasts in the ocean, it had finally managed to escape.

Seeing this, Ignaz looked down at the Thunder Dragon Fish soul flying within his mental sea and couldn't help but smile.

"Ha! No wonder it willingly sacrificed itself to me, a complete stranger. Maybe I, too, can have the opportunity to create a soul spirit."

However, in the very next second, the Blood Thunder War Spear unleashed its power. A deep crimson vortex suddenly appeared, and an extremely powerful suction force ran wild within Ignaz's mental sea—yet Ignaz felt nothing at all.

"Gurroar—"

The Thunder Dragon Fish's soul let out another agonized cry and immediately charged toward Ignaz's soul form. Ignaz instantly took a defensive stance.

But just before contact, the Thunder Dragon Fish's soul was directly sucked into the war spear, its soul completely obliterated.

"My martial soul is truly domineering beyond measure!"

The floating Ignaz slowly opened his eyes. Three soul rings—one yellow, one purple, one black—appeared beneath his feet in sequence, creating a terrifying aura. But below him, more than twenty ten-thousand-year soul beasts floated on the water's surface, showing their heads, countless beast eyes glaring furiously at Ignaz, who had stolen their prize.

"I actually forgot about this!"

Looking down at the twenty-plus ten-thousand-year soul beasts below, Ignaz felt his back go cold, sweat beading on his forehead.

That sacrificial Thunder Dragon Fish has screwed me over!!!

The reason they weren't attacking was that the sacrifice hadn't completely finished yet—otherwise, he would surely have perished in their jaws.

Just as Ignaz was at a loss for what to do, he felt an itch on his back. He quickly circulated his soul force upward to his head, and a blue-gold crown materialized above him.

"External soul bone."

Ignaz spoke in a flat tone.

Having a soul bone, even an external one, didn't surprise Ignaz. What frustrated him was why he hadn't gotten a pair of wings for flight to give him a chance to escape, or at least a soul bone that could completely conceal his presence!

Although he had a soul device that could hide his aura, its core component was just a hundred-year soul bone—against ten-thousand-year soul beasts, its concealment was pretty limited.

As the sacrifice process neared its end, Ignaz became even more frantic.

"Run! Gotta run now! Get as far away as possible—if there's an island nearby, that'd be even better."

With his soul force at maximum, Ignaz immediately activated his stealth soul device and frantically circulated his soul force as he sprinted toward a direction with fewer than ten-thousand-year soul beasts.