The night arrived as expected.
A cool sea breeze swept across their faces, bringing a bone-chilling coolness.
Tang San, who had been discussing fruitlessly all day, sat alone at his desk, looking at the messy notes spread across the entire surface. His right hand, holding a quill, moved to cross out another planned analysis he had written, and he stared despondently at the discarded scrap paper on the table.
Whether the six of them would go alone or with reinforcements was like walking a tightrope over a cliff; a single mistake could lead to eternal damnation.
And... there was still the biggest doubt...
"Knock, knock."
Two soft knocks echoed, and Tang San, with his sharp hearing, stood up to open the door.
When the door was opened and the visitor's true face was revealed, Tang San was not surprised to see his sister knocking in the dead of night.
Just like back in the Slaughter City, Tang San silently moved aside, allowing Tang Sui to enter.
As Tang Sui stepped inside, a fluorescent blue light erupted from the golden patterns on her brow, enveloping the siblings in the room and shielding them from external scrutiny as well as their own aura and sounds.
"Brother."
Tang Sui, who had already found a wooden chair and sat down, called out to him.
Tang San also returned to his seat by the desk, looking at his sister's calm expression, he sighed, "Tell me, besides your strength increasing significantly, did you also pay some price this time?"
Even without activating his Purple Demon Eye vision, a simple observation was enough for Tang San to notice the abnormality in Tang Sui.
From the current Tang Sui, he couldn't feel any warmth of a living person, not even her exhaled breath held any heat; it was all ice-cold.
The day Tang Sui woke up, while his consciousness was still present, he had reached out and touched her when everyone had gathered around.
Intense panic and palpitations intertwined, like a person hanging from a cliff by a single straw; a moment's slack would spell doom.
But when he touched Tang Sui's wrist, he could feel her extremely slow pulse.
It was like a flower sealed in ice, preserving its meager life force in another way, allowing it to continue displaying its beauty.
But it was a cold palpitation that filled him with dread.
Because he truly couldn't feel the connection of the closest bloodline.
Thinking of this, Tang San's gaze shifted to the black strands of hair cascading behind Tang Sui, gently swaying with the air currents in the room.
Noticing Tang San's gaze, Tang Sui's purely blue eyes, as if polished, gained a hint of darkness, and she nodded, "Yes. Brother, you guessed correctly. Besides a significant increase in strength, I am no longer human, nor am I a soul beast."
Tang San's heart tightened, "Then you are now..."
Tang Sui raised her hand, hovering it over her left chest, feeling the heart still beating beneath her cold body, and stated truthfully, "From the day I successfully achieved enlightenment, I am a pure demon. No longer a mixed-blood of human, demon, and soul beast."
As she spoke, Tang Sui willed it, and six dark gold masks with uneven edges and sharp blades like wings slowly emerged from the void.
Within the pitch-black center of each mask, a dark gold slit of an eye suddenly opened, rolling around. After surveying the surroundings, the gaze of each eyeball fell upon Tang San, giving him the chilling sensation of being targeted by a predator, making his skin crawl.
Seeing the greatly altered appearance of her martial soul, Tang San's expression also changed, "This, these are those masks?!"
Tang Sui let out a soft "Mm," her gaze gently lifting as she caressed the dark gold masks that had moved closer in tacit understanding.
"This is the final evolved form of my martial soul."
She lowered her hand and looked at Tang San, "Brother, do you find it scary?"
She was no longer human, nor was she a soul beast.
It was tantamount to indirectly telling Tang San that biologically, she no longer had the closest blood connection.
Tang San, hearing the unspoken words in Tang Sui's tone, tensed his expression and said without hesitation, "What nonsense are you saying! How could I be afraid of you? You are my sister!"
Tang Sui's eyes curved into a smile.
Unlike her previous anxious feelings when facing answers to such questions.
When Tang San said this, Tang Sui felt a sense of "it was bound to be this way" in her heart, her emotions no longer wavering.
It seemed that with the awakening of her demonic power, the sense of security she had always lacked had also returned.
Seeing Tang Sui's genuine smile, devoid of any pretense, the heavy stone that had been weighing on Tang San's heart for the past few days finally lifted. His furrowed brow eased slightly, and he looked at his sister with warmth.
"Besides this, are there any other effects?"
Tang Sui shook her head and began to tell Tang San about her current situation.
Tang San listened attentively, occasionally adding a comment or offering his opinion.
The siblings' conversation shifted from their current strength levels to the choices for the sixth trial.
The light in Tang San's room remained on until dawn that night.
...
Five days later, Zhu Zhuqing completed the absorption of her God-bestowed Spirit Ring, becoming the third among the Shrek Seven Devils to reach the Soul Douluo realm, after Tang San.
Her eighth spirit skill was named "Shadow Strike," which could convert all her other attributes into bonuses for attack and speed, making it a formidable single-target attack spirit skill.
Upon rejoining the team, Zhu Zhuqing brought bad news.
She had passed all of Poseidon's trials. The Sea Goddess Douluo who had protected her during her trials informed her that any spirit master who stepped onto Seagod Island and was granted a trial by the Sea God could not leave the range of the Sea God's Light until their trial was completed. For those like Zhu Zhuqing who had passed, they were directly unable to leave the scope of Seagod Island.
As for the truth of this, Zhu Zhuqing had personally experienced it when she returned.
As she was about to leave the Seagod Island area, the Demon Soul Great White Shark clan, led by Bai, surrounded her.
Bai regretfully told her that even though they had a good relationship, and she had even helped the Demon Soul Great White Shark clan clear out most of the Sea Demon Tiger Sharks, their most troublesome enemies, the rules of Seagod Island were absolute. Even Bai could not break the rules due to their close relationship.
If Zhu Zhuqing insisted on leaving Seagod Island, she would be immediately attacked by all the Demon Soul Great White Sharks. Furthermore, the Seven Sacred Pillars' guardian Douluos would also pursue Zhu Zhuqing.
After skirting the edge of testing the law with her own actions, Zhu Zhuqing could only return and deliver this grave news to everyone.
Upon hearing this, everyone turned their gaze to Tang Sui, the only one among them who could freely enter and exit Seagod Island.
Ma Hongjun subtly sidled up, lowering his voice, "Sui Sui, if you used your domain to sneak us out, do you think it would work?"
The others also looked on expectantly, including Tang San, whose eyes held a glimmer of hope.