Douluo 2: This Dragon God has too much martial virtue

Chapter 553 Threat
However, just as the blade was about to touch the skin, a sudden change occurred.

"boom!"

The silver-crowned mermaid's body suddenly burst into countless shimmering bubbles, vanishing into the sea in the blink of an eye. Even more bizarrely, the entire sea seemed to freeze instantly, with even the most basic ripples in the water completely stilled.

Huo Yuhao's blade sliced ​​through the void, and he immediately looked around warily. The sea suddenly became deathly silent, as if completely sealed off by some more powerful force.

"Human, it seems I can't let you live!"

Suddenly, a suffocatingly terrifying pressure swept in from all directions. A dazzling azure beam of light shot out from the depths of the sea, coalescing in the waters three hundred meters away from Huo Yuhao. Within the beam, two figures slowly emerged. The one in the lead was a graceful and noble mermaid, exuding an aura of extraordinary majesty. Her figure was similar to the silver-crowned mermaid from before, but her entire body shimmered with a regal golden luster. A dazzling golden crown adorned her forehead, and every scale on her long fishtail shimmered with magnificent golden light. Beside her stood the silver-crowned mermaid who had just vanished, now glaring angrily at Huo Yuhao, clearly still shaken.

Years ago, she was choked by a dragon of unknown origin. A dragon was one thing, since it had the Beast God backing it up. But today, she was almost beheaded by a human—it was an utter disgrace!
The sea princess's icy voice echoed across the seabed: "Human, hand over the knife in your hand, and I may grant you a complete corpse." Although her killing intent was palpable, she unusually did not immediately attack. After all, she was a ferocious beast with 600,000 years of cultivation, and she keenly sensed that the value contained in the knife in Huo Yuhao's hand far exceeded all the treasures looted by the dragon clan back then, and was even more precious than the spiritual essence she had lost.

Although she didn't know the true origin of the sword, the Sea Princess instinctively felt an unparalleled affinity with it. If she could obtain this sword, not only would she be able to safely weather the next tribulation, but she would also become the absolute overlord of the near seas, and even have the opportunity to challenge the more powerful beings in the distant oceans. Thinking of this, the desire in her eyes intensified; she was determined to possess this divine weapon.

Huo Yuhao deliberately puffed out his cheeks, feigning a pitiful look: "That silver-crowned mermaid just now said he might consider sparing my life, so why are you taking my life right away? You control the entire sea area, so you should know very well that I haven't harmed any sea spirit beasts from beginning to end. Although I wouldn't dare call myself a good person, I truly have no ill intentions towards the Sea Princess clan." He was telling the truth, after all, when the Ice Emperor proposed choosing the Sea Princess as a spirit spirit, he refused because he thought the mermaid clan was too poor and couldn't take anything from them.

"If you hadn't remained unharmed in the slightest, do you think you'd still be standing here safely? You almost killed my daughter just now!" the Sea Princess roared, her golden fishtail swaying uneasily. Her words were clearly far-fetched, but she couldn't care less at this moment. Since being plundered by the Dragon Clan years ago, she had lost all her material possessions, but the damage to her spiritual essence had left her facing the crisis of not being able to survive the next Heavenly Tribulation. This divine artifact before her was her only hope. In this ocean she ruled, possessing strength comparable to a Limit Douluo, she was determined to obtain it.

The Sea Princess lightly raised her left hand, and the seawater surrounding Huo Yuhao suddenly twisted violently, pressing down on him like an invisible giant hand. At the same time, a vast, ocean-like mental pressure poured down, attempting to directly suppress his sea of ​​consciousness. This was not a soul skill, but pure mental crushing.

"You're being unreasonable!" Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow calmly. "She was the one who led hundreds of people to attack me first!" Although he hadn't encountered such a powerful mental opponent in a long time, coincidentally, two mental experts resided in his mental sea, one of whom was none other than the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler.

A rose-gold halo slowly emerged behind him, and the enormous Eye of Destiny slowly opened. Upon closer inspection, the patterns around the eye were exactly the same as those on the Evil Emperor's tentacles.

"Hmm?" The Sea Princess was surprised to find that her mental pressure was unable to suppress this human who looked to be under twenty years old. Her eyes flashed with blue light, and deep blue ripples, even more profound than the deep sea, spread from her eyes and enveloped Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao's gaze turned icy cold, and a murderous intent began to rise. He originally had no ill intentions towards these sea spirit beasts, but in return, he was relentlessly pursued and killed, and now they even wanted to forcibly take away his divine artifact.

"It seems the principle of not flaunting wealth applies to both the human world and the world of soul beasts." Mu Xing's voice echoed in his mind.

“They will pay the price,” Huo Yuhao replied softly. “Teacher, there are quite a few mermaids here, which can be used to develop some seafood dishes.”

The next moment, Mu Xing's mental fluctuations rippled through Huo Yuhao's mind, and after hearing the instructions, his expression immediately became subtle.

"Teacher, this... isn't quite appropriate?" Huo Yuhao's lips twitched slightly.

"What's inappropriate about it? Why resort to violence when a few words can resolve the issue?" Mu Xing's voice carried a hint of slyness. "At worst, we can can them all up afterwards. Who knows what happened then?"

Huo Yuhao shook his head helplessly: "Alright, who can stop me from making you laugh?" He paused, then suddenly changed the subject: "But there's something I've been curious about for five years. Back in Xingluo City, how exactly did you convince that person to act?"

Deep-sea currents subtly surged as the two conversed, and the blue ripples released by the Sea Princess were already close at hand. Mu Xing chuckled softly: "If things go according to my script, I might tell you the answer."

A helpless smile flashed in Huo Yuhao's eyes, but the Morning Dew Blade in his hand suddenly burst forth with a dazzling cold light. He slightly turned his body, and where the blade sliced ​​through, the Sea Princess's mental ripples were frozen into a sheet of ice-blue crystals.

Even mental energy can be frozen? The Sea Princess finally realized that the human in front of her might be much more dangerous than she had imagined. Continuing to fight like this would be very disadvantageous for her. If she were still in the state of her mental essence a few years ago, she could have just killed a mere human.

In an instant, the entire sea area seemed to have been bombarded with countless bombs, the deafening roar echoing through the sky. The terrifying shockwave, centered on Huo Yuhao, instantly swept across an area of ​​several thousand meters in radius. Icebergs floating on the sea surface shattered under this force, and the broken ice crystals, carried by the shockwave, caused secondary explosions, a chain reaction that caused the blast radius to continue to expand.

This wasn't an ordinary ice explosion spell; Huo Yuhao used the Morning Dew Blade as a medium to unleash the full power of a divine weapon. Who would have thought a kitchen knife could be used as a magic staff at such a crucial moment? He not only detonated the frozen sea spirit beasts but also turned all the icebergs within a radius of several thousand meters into terrifying sources of explosion. The once calm icy sea instantly boiled, with towering columns of water mixed with ice shards shooting straight into the sky.

The Sea Princess's expression changed drastically. She knew that if such an explosion was not controlled, the sea spirit beast clan in the deep sea would surely suffer annihilation. Although she could save herself and her daughter with her 600,000 years of cultivation, her clan would not be so lucky.

"Despicable humans!" she roared, her golden fishtail radiating a dazzling light. Her vast spiritual power merged with the seawater, constructing an invisible barrier in the deep sea, doing everything in her power to block the aftershocks of the explosion.

In an instant, the entire icy sea changed color, and towering waves surged. Just as the battle was about to erupt, Huo Yuhao suddenly shouted sharply, "Shut up!" He suppressed the urge to laugh and deliberately adopted an arrogant posture. "My father is the Beast God in the Star Dou Great Forest. If you anger me, I'll turn you all into canned fish!" To enhance his persuasiveness, Huo Yuhao instantly switched to his second martial soul. A burst of icy blue light erupted, and a majestic dragon soared into the sky, circling above the sea. Its terrifying dragon might swept across the surroundings, causing the seawater to tremble.

The silver-crowned mermaid trembled violently, not daring to even lift her head. The sea princess was even more horrified to discover that her connection to the sea had been completely severed, and her power was rapidly draining away. The scales on her tail stood on end, revealing her extreme panic.

The nightmarish experience of five years ago instantly flashed through her mind; back then, those two dragons had almost completely plundered her entire clan. Even more terrifying was the dragon's might emanating from the boy before her, identical to that of the water-elemental dragon from back then.

Five years isn't a long time even for a powerful human, let alone a sea princess who has lived for hundreds of thousands of years. It's like offending someone's parent yesterday and then trying to bully their child today, even if you didn't succeed. Last time you could explain it as an accidental injury, but this time they actively attacked and robbed them!
Although she didn't understand why a human boy would be involved with the Beast God, she knew all too well how terrifying the dragon race was. Not long ago, she had witnessed the Beast God chasing a deep-sea demon whale whose cultivation far surpassed her own. The Beast God's unpredictable ability to traverse the void still haunted her. At the time, she could only hide back in the sea before the Beast God noticed her and minimize her presence.

Thinking of this, the Sea Princess's scales trembled. This young man might be a high-level soul beast who had undergone a transformation and rebirth; he must have a way to contact the Beast God. With that person's spatial abilities, he could arrive here in an instant…

This terrifying thought caused the sea princess to instantly abandon all her offensive stance. She bowed gracefully, her voice trembling slightly, "Your Excellency, this...this is all a misunderstanding..."

The silver-crowned mermaid was so frightened that she knelt on the surface of the sea, not daring to raise her head. Hundreds of mermaids around her lowered their proud heads in unison, making the scene both comical and eerie.

Huo Yuhao now deeply understood the benefits of having an expensive adoptive father; just mentioning his name was enough to make a 600,000-year-old ferocious beast tremble in fear. Wasn't that better than having a biological father? The mere mention of Dai Hao's name would only bring him the Sun Moon Empire's level-nine fixed-position soul-guided cannons.

The Sea Princess was filled with utter despair. Since the raid five years ago, her tribe had indeed become incredibly poor. All those flashy but impractical treasures had long been looted; the only thing of value left was… She subconsciously touched the corner of her eye. If she were to forcibly condense her spiritual essence into golden teardrops again, she feared that before the heavenly tribulation arrived, the other ocean overlords would seize the opportunity to tear her apart. At that time, her two still-growing children and her tribespeople would become vassals or food for the other overlords.

The sea princess bit her lip, her veil-like fishtail transforming into long, slender legs. "Our mermaid race's most precious..."

"Stop! I've been killing fish for over a decade, I have no interest in fish!" A person cannot, at least should not... even though the dragon blood within him has already made him less human.

The silver-crowned mermaid suddenly lunged at her mother, her glistening tears transforming into shimmering white pearls that drifted slowly down into the deep sea. "Mother, it's all my fault!" she choked out. "I led my people to offend this great man without permission, and I am willing to bear all the punishment!"

"Don't cry, my child." The sea princess gently wiped away her daughter's tears. Each tear that disappeared tightened her heart a little more; mermaid tears contained the essence of life. She shielded her daughter behind her, and when she faced Huo Yuhao, her expression remained gentle yet firm: "The mistakes of children should naturally be borne by their mother. If you want to kill or torture, come at me."

Huo Yuhao was stunned. The scene before him reminded him of how his mother had shielded him with her body, using her frail frame to protect him from the beatings. He sighed softly, all his playful musings turning into complex emotions.

But in an instant, Huo Yuhao's eyes suddenly turned cold and dangerous. "Since you like sacrificing yourself so much..." He paused deliberately, his gaze lingering on the sea princess's golden fishtail, "why not hand over your most valuable soul rings and soul bones? That's all the value you have left anyway." Touched as he was, he hadn't forgotten that these mermaids had just tried to kill him and steal his sword!
The sea princess trembled, and her golden scales instantly lost their luster. She instinctively protected her daughter even tighter, but dared not show the slightest anger. As a spirit-type ferocious beast, she keenly sensed that what surged in the boy's eyes was not only murderous intent, but also a deeper pain of betrayal.

"My lord," the sea princess's voice trembled, "if I offer a sacrifice, can you spare my people?"

"Do you think you have the right to bargain?" Huo Yuhao recalled how his mother had recently been willing to sacrifice everything for that man, and this betrayal from his closest relative made his eyes even colder.

The silver-crowned mermaid suddenly broke free from her mother's grasp and resolutely swam to Huo Yuhao: "I'll trade my life for my mother and my people! My cultivation may not be as high as my mother's, but..."

Huo Yuhao suddenly dropped his mocking expression, his massive dragon head closing in on the silver-crowned mermaid, his chilling dragon breath spitting out at her face: "With your cultivation level, you dare to be my soul ring? It would be more like it if it were your sister with the golden bloodline!"

These words struck like a thunderbolt, instantly turning the Sea Princess and the Silver-Crowned Mermaid pale. Their little princess, hidden in the deep-sea palace, was the last hope of the Sea Princess's clan and her chosen successor!

Huo Yuhao looked at their reactions with satisfaction. "My elder has agreed that as long as the sea princess with 600,000 years of cultivation is willing to sacrifice herself, the rest of the mermaids can be spared."

As for making the sea princess a spirit? He had already rejected that idea. Given the attitude of this ocean overlord, it was hard to guarantee that she wouldn't take the opportunity to turn against him when signing the contract.

The sea princess's fishtail trembled slightly as she instinctively looked towards the deep sea, where her beloved youngest daughter resided.

“I promise you. But you must swear that you will spare my people and my children.”

Huo Yuhao narrowed his eyes. He hadn't expected the Sea Princess to be so decisive. It seemed that the little princess with the golden bloodline was indeed very important to her. What a deep mother-daughter bond! But this was for the best; it saved him a lot of trouble.

"Deal." Huo Yuhao, in his dragon form, slowly extended his forepaw, the sharp claw tip drawing a bloody gash on the sea princess's forehead.

(End of this chapter)