Chapter 554: Soul of the Legend

Chapter 554: Soul of Legend

"Woohoo!"

Thud!

Sanxi dove straight from the sky into the great sea.

Stirring up a wave over a meter high.

In the blink of an eye, the wave was swallowed by the endless ocean.

Sanxi frolicked joyfully in the seawater.

Levi descended slowly, walking onto the sandy shore.

He said, "Once we enter the Endless Sea, you'll have all the time you want to play in the water."

"For now, rest a moment and prepare, then we set off."

Levi conjured an illusionary avatar, sending it into Ocean City to purchase the necessary supplies.

Aside from food, water, and recovery medicines.

Levi also required a sufficiently vast nautical chart.

The grand world map he previously bought, though containing the geography of the whole world, lacked detail in specific local regions.

Wandering blindly through the Endless Sea with a grand world map would make it far too easy to lose one's way.

After entering Ocean City, the avatar thoroughly acquainted itself with the preparations needed for seafaring and purchased the relevant items.

The avatar spent money lavishly, drawing the attention of calculating eyes upon leaving the city.

They shadowed him all the way to the coastline.

Seeing that the avatar had two companions, the pursuers harbored malicious intent.

The next second, they saw one of the three vanish into thin air.

The remaining two took flight from where they stood.

The malice in the pursuers' hearts instantly evaporated into nothingness.

Tucking their tails, they fled in panic.

Levi had perceived the arrival of the pursuers, but he paid them no mind.

Upon receiving the supplies brought by the avatar, he flew straight toward the depths of the ocean with Sanxi.

Levi checked the chart as he flew.

Asking Sanxi which direction they should proceed.

"This way."

Sanxi pointed toward a direction.

Following the path she indicated, Levi examined the chart to determine the waters they were about to enter.

As well as the perilous zones that might exist along the way.

The top-tier nautical chart bought at a heavy price clearly marked the dangerous areas of several waters bordering the Endless Sea.

Levi discovered they might pass through the territories of several foreign marine races along the route.

He did not care overmuch.

If they were seafaring by boat, it would indeed be necessary to consider bypassing the territories of foreign marine races.

But Levi and Sanxi were flying, and flying at high altitudes.

Passing over the territories of foreign marine races from high above made it virtually impossible to be attacked by them.

The foreign marine races' control over their territory was limited only to the islands and nearby waters.

The sky did not belong to their domain.

Rumble!

The sound of wind, rain, and thunder echoed from the horizon.

Levi looked up to see a massive thundercloud, blotting out the sky and sun, sweeping toward the coast.

What ill luck, to encounter a great storm just as they put out to sea.

Levi pondered for a moment, deciding it best to wait for this storm to pass before heading out.

"Go back, we will speak of it after this storm ends."

Getting lost in a storm would instead be a troublesome affair.

Levi and Sanxi returned to the coast, seeing boatmen at the pier frantically scrambling to secure their vessels.

Given the scale of the storm currently in sight, ordinary boats, even if secured to the pier, would likely find it hard to escape disaster.

Levi prepared to return to Ocean City to take shelter.

Sanxi suddenly warned in his mind, "Be careful, that person is here."

Levi's gaze narrowed slightly.

Bracing for battle.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The sea wind howled, bringing fierce gales and violent waves.

The surging waves crashed fiercely against the reefs, splashing spray several meters high.

Levi and Sanxi stood in place, motionless.

Their spiritual perception already blanketed the surrounding thousand meters.

Should the enemy reveal any movement, Levi would discover it at the very first moment.

Sanxi's sharp gaze swept over the surroundings.

The two of them standing motionless on the road was rather attention-grabbing.

Yet now everyone was busy escaping the impending storm.

No one had the leisure to care about what they were doing.

A few boatmen ran past Levi and Sanxi.

Levi remained highly vigilant.

Only when he watched the boatmen's silhouettes recede did he draw back his gaze.

Fearing the enemy might approach disguised as a boatman.

Suddenly, a gust of wild wind swept over, mist and spray obscuring the vision.

The environment altered abruptly, causing Levi's spirit, which had just relaxed a fraction, to instantly tighten with high tension.

Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps behind him.

Levi's attention subconsciously focused toward his back.

The mist dispersed.

That sound of footsteps had actually been the distant clamor of a boatman running.

It made sense—someone with such formidable strength could easily move without making a sound.

Just as this thought crossed his mind—

A streak of cold light appeared beside Li Wei.

If not for the lingering mist that bent the light,

the blade wouldn't even have reflected a glimmer.

*Thrust!*

Blood dripped down.

Li Wei turned to look at Saint Xi, who had caught the dagger mid-air.

The impossibly sharp blade had wounded her palm.

There was no time to worry whether the blade was poisoned.

With utmost speed, Li Wei activated his domain:

Sacred Flame Domain—Activate!

Saint Xi moved faster still.

In the same instant she seized the dagger, her other hand lashed out toward the enemy's chest.

The opponent saw her attack coming but didn't even have time to be shocked.

*Boom!*

The figure materialized from thin air and was sent flying by an immense force.

As the Sacred Flame Domain unfolded, it enveloped the airborne foe.

Full suppression!

The air around the enemy began to boil and twist.

Flames erupted from nothingness.

His body temperature soared instantly to hundreds of degrees.

And it continued rising.

Within the Sacred Flame Domain, all elements except fire were suppressed,

while fire-based spells gained tremendous amplification in power.

These spells also carried the piercing effect of holy energy against magical resistances.

Only the domain’s master could manipulate the flames within.

Suppressing elemental forces mattered little against a legendary Dragon Hunter who wielded no magic.

Far more significant was that the range of the Sacred Flame Domain matched exactly the reach of Li Wei’s advanced Fire Rule.

He channeled his Advanced Fire Rule, attempting to slay the enemy outright through sheer rule-force.

But alas—the enemy possessed Advanced Rule power too.

For now, neither side held clear advantage.

The only current benefit of the Sacred Flame Domain was preventing escape.

Clothing on the Dragon Hunter burst into flame.

Slowly, he rose and tore away the burning fabric,

revealing a body entirely covered in dragon scales.

Saint Xi recognized at once—he had used Dragon Blood Potion.

From the dragons he hunted, he’d acquired extraordinary magic resistance,

rendering him immune to ordinary fire attacks.

Yet Li Wei’s Advanced Fire Rule did affect him, raising his blood temperature rapidly.

Paradoxically, the increasing heat enhanced his strength.

Just as the Dragon Hunter prepared to strike—

His pupils suddenly contracted; Saint Xi vanished from sight.

In the next moment,

a colossal impact struck his back.

He slammed hard into the ground.

An enormous chunk of terrain shattered, his body sinking deep beneath the surface.

Terror gripped his heart—what kind of speed was this?

He couldn’t understand why Saint Xi had become so much faster than him.

The reason was simple.

At the first sign from Saint Xi, Li Wei cast Time Acceleration upon her.

That was why they both remained motionless earlier.

Once accelerated, every movement of hers became swifter.

Even the slightest twitch would alert their enemy.

So instead, they waited.

This strategy had long been discussed between Li Wei and Saint Xi.

Their adversary was far too powerful.

Even if victory was possible, confronting an assassin-type opponent would likely result in a pyrrhic win.

They were about to enter the perilous Endless Sea.

Losing one chance at resurrection here would be a waste of precious time.

Thus, Li Wei conceived the idea: let Saint Xi fight under temporal acceleration.

*Bang! Bang! Bang!*

Saint Xi was simply too fast.

Faced with someone over three hundred times quicker due to time acceleration, even a high-tier Legendary Dragon Hunter could do nothing but take blows.

He felt deeply frustrated.

This wasn’t how things were supposed to go.

Saint Xi herself was annoyed beyond measure, wishing desperately she could transform into a true dragon and end this battle swiftly.

The human form's power had been severely weakened.

The enemy’s physique rivaled that of an ancient dragon; there was no way to kill him in such a short time.

Unless he transformed into his draconic form and unleashed all of his strength—

Only then could he swiftly end this opponent.

Li Wei told Sheng Xi not to panic, to keep up the pressure.

Within the domain of Sacred Flame, fire elements gathered at a single point.

Li Wei condensed them into a fireball the size of a thumb.

A compressed orb containing every flame within a kilometer-radius took shape.

Inside the orb, the fire elements were intensely active, colliding endlessly with one another, triggering high-energy states.

Combined with elemental fission,

a miniature nuclear fireball was born.

Li Wei hurled it forth, shouting inwardly for Sheng Xi to take cover.

The explosion lasted less than one ten-thousandth of a second.

As soon as Li Wei cast the miniature nuke, Sheng Xi quickly pulled back and retreated.

The legendary Dragon Hunter still maintained his defensive stance.

When the expected attack failed to arrive, he felt slightly surprised.

But his reflexes were sharp—he seized that split-second gap before impact and leapt from the bottom of the crater in an instant.

"Just give me one-tenth of a second," he thought, "and I can activate my draconic talent ability, break free from suppression, and counterattack."

The latent draconic power within the Dragon Hunter was about to erupt.

Before his eyes appeared a burst of fiery light.

What was that?

In an instant, the flames engulfed the hunter’s figure.

A blinding miniature sun exploded along the coastline.

An immense shockwave pushed the shoreline outward by a hundred meters.

Piled-up seawater rose more than twenty meters high, forming a semicircular arc-wave to resist the blast.

Buildings inside the nearby city of Hanhai trembled violently.

Everyone wore expressions of terror.

An earthquake near the coast meant a super tsunami—

a catastrophic natural disaster capable of destroying entire cities.

Boom!

The scorching-hot airwaves surged skyward.

Evaporated seawater ascended into the heavens, cooling and condensing into thick dark clouds.

Driven by the airwaves, those clouds shattered and scattered in all directions.

It wasn’t until long afterward that the trembling along the coast finally ceased.

Waves over twenty meters tall swept small boats from the docks onto hillsides.

Seawater flooded houses on the edge of the shore.

Once the waves receded, only wreckage and a massive water-filled pit remained.

Suddenly, a ray of sunlight pierced through the gloomy cloud layer and fell upon the sea surface.

Looking up, Li Wei noticed that the approaching storm clouds ahead had actually changed direction—

heading toward the eastern waters.

Hanhai City had narrowly avoided a devastating tempest.

The storm grazed past the coastline,

leaving behind fishermen staring gratefully at the reemerging sun.

Some rejoiced while others grieved.

Many coastal fishermen and boatmen were spared great losses thanks to the storm veering away.

Yet those closer to where Li Wei fought the Dragon Hunter suffered heavy casualties.

An entire dock vanished completely during the battle.

Not to mention the ships moored there.

Life in the magical world was fraught with calamities.

The Dragon Hunter was dead—utterly destroyed.

At ground zero, even his corpse couldn’t be found.

All that remained was a burning ball of dark golden flame.

"A Legendary Soul?"

Upon death, legendary beings had a slim chance of leaving behind a Legendary Soul.

Consuming such a soul granted access to extraordinary traits of legend-tier power.

Li Wei hastily collected the Legendary Soul left behind by the Dragon Hunter.

After sending Sheng Xi into the magical pocket dimension,

he departed as swiftly as possible.

Powerful individuals from Hanhai City had already begun investigating the disturbance.

Such a fierce battle occurring so close to their territory—

there was no way they would ignore it.

Just as Li Wei left, elites from Hanhai arrived near the battlefield.

Seeing the vanished dock and a colossal water basin hundreds of meters wide now occupying its place,

they exchanged stunned glances.

Someone asked uncertainly, “Was that… a forbidden spell?”

“What happened here? Who cast a forbidden incantation?”

“That’s impossible. Casting a forbidden spell causes massive magical fluctuations across vast areas—I sensed nothing like that from within the city.”

Forbidden elemental spells required consuming enormous quantities of ambient magic essence.

Thus, casting one inevitably generated detectable magical disturbances over extensive regions—

virtually impossible to conceal.

Not even a sixth-tier mage was required; even a fifth-tier mage could instantly detect the magical fluctuations triggered by a forbidden spell.

Levi’s casting of his miniature nuclear fireball shared the exact same mechanics as unleashing a forbidden spell.

The reason the mages within Vastsea City had failed to notice it beforehand

was because Levi’s Holy Flame Domain had entirely sealed off the magical fluctuations.

Furthermore, he had only drawn upon the fire elements contained within the domain itself,

refraining from snatching magic elements from the wider world around him.

Naturally, the resulting magical ripples were difficult for distant mages to discern.

It was not until the moment of detonation, when all the energy erupted, that a chain reaction was triggered,

instantly birthing a terrifying surge of magical power.

By the time the mages sensed these fluctuations, it was already too late.

The forbidden spell had already taken shape.

Even ordinary folk could witness the eruption of a forbidden spell;

there was simply no need to sense any magical fluctuations.

The Vastsea City Mages Association reported the event to their superiors,

and the headquarters of the association would soon dispatch a legendary mage to investigate.

A mage capable of casting a forbidden spell was bound to be of legendary rank.

The sudden emergence of a legendary mage who could wield forbidden magic

left even the Mages Association utterly bewildered.

The association bore the responsibility of governing all mages across the world.

The sudden detonation of a forbidden spell outside Vastsea City had stirred immense chaos,

prompting the nobility of Vastsea City to lodge complaints with the Empire.

Any matter involving forbidden spells and legendary mages was no trivial affair;

even the Emperor himself personally questioned the court officials of the Mages Association regarding the details.

By the time the specialized envoys sent by the Mages Association arrived,

Levi was already far away from Vastsea City.

Should the people from the association wish to find him, they would find no path to the heavens.

Once he entered the Endless Sea, Levi freely grinded his proficiency in elemental fission.

Taking advantage of the year Saint Xi spent sleeping through the Chrono-Minor spell,

Levi cast the elemental fission spell everywhere he went.

The Endless Sea, a vast expanse of water bordering the edge of the Firmament Continent—the Eastern Sea.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Colossal pillars of water erupted from the sea one after another, soaring into the sky.

The surface of the ocean could not find peace for a long time.

The marine creatures of the Eastern Sea all knew that a fish-dynamiting mage had recently arrived upon the waters.

One had best not approach the detonation sites lightly,

lest they be caught in the crossfire of the fish-dynamiting mage.