Chapter 54: Colorful Coral Grove
The battle between Lu Jingyu and the Hai Ma was taking place in mid-air, with the Hai Ma now at a height several times her own.
’She couldn’t touch the Hai Ma. How could she enter its Sea of Consciousness and devour its spirit body?’
Just as Xu Qingsui was wondering what to do next, the tide of battle between Lu Jingyu and the Hai Ma finally turned.
The Hai Ma was the first to show signs of defeat. It stopped clashing head-on with Lu Jingyu, pulling back and dropping downward.
A crushing pressure descended from above. Xu Qingsui instinctively looked up, only to see a massive shadow bearing down on her.
This provided a breakthrough for the problem she had just been worrying about, but... ’I have to save my own skin first!’
With such a massive Hai Ma crashing down, Xu Qingsui feared she would be instantly crushed.
Not daring to linger, she dodged, quickly escaping the shadowed area.
The Hai Ma’s enormous body crashed down, practically scraping against Xu Qingsui as it landed.
It was a close call. She had nearly been turned into a pancake.
Surviving the close shave, Xu Qingsui took a deep breath.
Before she could even catch her breath, she seized the opportunity and placed her hand on the Hai Ma.
With a sensation of being pulled away, Xu Qingsui’s vision blurred. She suddenly found herself in a world bursting with color.
It was a world bursting with color because she was surrounded by vast thickets of multicolored coral.
Surveying her surroundings, Xu Qingsui couldn’t help but click her tongue. ’This big Hai Ma has a girly side.’
Based on her first impression of the Hai Ma’s Sea of Consciousness, Xu Qingsui relaxed.
’A spirit body with such a cute and cuddly Sea of Consciousness probably won’t be too hard to deal with,’ she thought.
With that in mind, Xu Qingsui began to move through the coral thickets, searching.
She had seen underwater worlds before, but this was the first time she realized coral could come in so many colors.
RUSTLE. RUSTLE.
Just as Xu Qingsui was beginning to treat this journey into the Sea of Consciousness as a sightseeing tour, a sound suddenly erupted from the coral thicket ahead.
Xu Qingsui’s gaze sharpened, fixed on the spot where the sound had come from.
’The big Hai Ma’s spirit body, serving itself up on a platter?’
Xu Qingsui couldn’t help but feel this little tour was about to come to an end.
Suddenly, for no apparent reason, her heart gave a violent thump.
A sense of unease washed over her. In the next instant, a colorful figure shot out from the coral, lunging straight at her.
It all happened so suddenly that it was too late to dodge; Xu Qingsui could only raise her arm to defend herself.
She felt something slam hard into her arm, followed by the sharp sensation of needles piercing her flesh.
The pain made her instinctively shake her arm, and the figure used the momentum to dart back into the coral thicket.
When the figure vanished again, Xu Qingsui hurriedly looked at her arm, only to find it covered in tiny puncture marks.
She frowned. ’Was that the big Hai Ma’s spirit body? It’s different from what I imagined. It’s actively attacking.’
’The spirit body of that giant turtle I met last time was defensive, but this one actually attacks?’
Just as she was marveling at this eye-opening experience, another sound came from the coral.
Xu Qingsui had just pinpointed the direction when a figure shot toward her again.
Learning from her previous experience, Xu Qingsui didn’t try to block this time, choosing to dodge instead.
As the figure brushed past her, she saw it clearly: a small Hai Ma covered in sharp spikes.
The spikes were so dense that Xu Qingsui wondered if this Hai Ma had crossbred with a hedgehog.
The Hai Ma was incredibly fast. After its brief appearance, it immediately hid among the coral again.
The dense coral thickets served as the Hai Ma’s perfect cover.
"Can you please explain to me what’s going on?"
Since this was a first, Xu Qingsui didn’t try to puzzle it out herself and went straight to asking the Golden Octopus.
"This is also a spirit-type Mutant. Unlike the giant turtle you encountered last time, whose spirit body primarily utilized a defensive mechanism, this Hai Ma’s spirit body is much more active."
"To devour its spirit body, the Host must first defeat its spirit body."
Xu Qingsui’s brow tightened. ’I can’t even catch it, so how am I supposed to defeat it?’
’Besides, the thing is covered in spikes. I wouldn’t even know where to start.’
As if sensing Xu Qingsui’s thoughts, the Golden Octopus spoke again.
"When devouring the Treasure Spirit Pill, the Host was fortunate enough to obtain the attributes of the spirit body it contained. The Host can try to utilize them now."
Xu Qingsui paused. Now that the Golden Octopus mentioned it, she vaguely recalled getting some kind of notification after devouring the Spirit Pill last time.
But at the time, someone had been trying to harm her, and her only focus was on figuring out the immediate situation, so she had overlooked the prompt.
And after that, she had completely forgotten about it.
"What attributes? How do I use them?" Now that she remembered, Xu Qingsui was eager to give them a try.
"Because the Host reached a 98% devour rate, you acquired the spirit body’s Thunder Attribute and Fire Attribute."
"The Host can feel for the presence of the Thunder and Fire Attributes within your body. Then, try to mobilize them, and you will be able to control them."
When she devoured the elixir, there had been both lightning and fire, making her suffer terribly.
’To think I actually got two attributes at once. It was all worth it,’ she thought.
Following the Golden Octopus’s instructions, Xu Qingsui began to sense the attributes within her body.
Sure enough, she discovered the dual attributes she had previously overlooked.
For some reason, however, the two attributes were curled up in her Sea of Consciousness, and there seemed to be only a tiny amount of each.
’Back then, that spirit body could summon lightning and magma. Compared to that, the amount of power I received is just pathetic, isn’t it?’
"What’s going on? From such a powerful spirit body, I only got this little bit of its attributes?"
"Please do not be hasty, Host. By devouring the spirit body, the Host merely obtained the Thunder Attribute and Fire Attribute; you did not inherit the spirit body’s power outright."
"However, there is no need to be discouraged. The Host can increase your proficiency through future training. As the Host develops, the attributes will also improve significantly."
"As long as the Host continues to improve, your control over these two attributes may even far surpass that of the original spirit body."
’So they’re growth-type attributes.’
Hearing this, Xu Qingsui finally retracted her dissatisfaction.
While Xu Qingsui was conversing with the Golden Octopus, the little Hai Ma launched several more attacks.
But Xu Qingsui was prepared. She had extended her spiritual senses to feel the little Hai Ma’s movements, allowing her to easily dodge its attacks.
Now that she had her answers, Xu Qingsui focused her mind and prepared to counterattack.
As she tried to mobilize the Fire Attribute for the first time, Xu Qingsui felt a searing current surge through her body.
She tried to direct the current to her fingers and snapped them.
A spark instantly flared at her fingertips. She casually flicked it, and a distant patch of coral burst into a sea of fire.
Recalling the novels and TV shows she’d seen, an image of herself creating fire with a snap of her fingers and burning the coral had already formed in Xu Qingsui’s mind.