Even Ding Yun, inspired by netizens, joined the ranks of body refining.
And because she was proficient in all the secret manuals in the human secret manual network, her body refining martial arts were more comprehensive than anyone else's. From skin to muscles, from muscles to bones, from bones to marrow, and then to meridians and even the entire internal organs, Ding Yun had selected the top martial arts secret manuals for tempering every part of her body. From the tips of her toes to the strands of her hair, not a single inch was spared.
Most importantly, she also had many internal cultivation secret manuals of various attributes. Therefore, when tempering her body, she used the most suitable internal energy for each part to ensure the best results from her body refining.
For example, the heart belonged to fire, so she used the top-tier fire-attribute internal energy to temper it. The liver belonged to wood, so she used the top-tier wood-attribute internal energy. After such tempering, it was simply a perfect evolution of the entire body.
Along with this, Ding Yun's abilities also improved rapidly.
Before long, she broke through the existing limit of level ten.
And quickly reached level twelve.
The words "Glib Tongue Ability" displayed on the game page for her skills directly changed. From the original Glib Tongue Ability, it transformed into the "Flavor Control Ability."
Anything that existed as a flavor could be controlled by her.
She could easily deprive all those inferior to her of their sense of taste, and she could easily mask her own scent, including her aura. Besides that, she could also create any flavor out of thin air with her ability. The "any" here included flavors that could affect others' emotions, poisonous flavors, and flavors that could bring beneficial effects to others.
In short, it was incredibly versatile.
However, since the above was not something Ding Yun needed to be on the front lines for, she could only create some special scents that could drive the sea race into a frenzy or even make them fight amongst themselves.
Submitting these was barely considered helping.
...
The great surge in human martial arts also had a significant impact on the sea race, specifically in the form of increased casualties.
Previously, human-sea race battles were very frustrating.
This was because terrifyingly powerful thermal weapons could only be used occasionally. Large-scale usage would not only cause immense damage to coastal areas but also affect the marine ecosystem and further accelerate the rise of sea levels.
Therefore, daily battles could only be fought with less powerful weapons, making it difficult not to feel frustrated.
As for ability and physical combat,
The human side was not very adapted either.
In nearshore combat, abilities with a fire attribute were comprehensively countered by the sea race. Abilities involving lightning were also weakened and even dared not be used. After all, there was water everywhere. If lightning abilities were used, not only would the sea race be injured, but their own people could also be harmed. This directly rendered two powerful abilities useless.
Coupled with many significantly mutated sea creatures,
They directly attacked with their physical bodies,
Entangling or charging, and so on.
In this aspect, humans were also inferior to the sea race. Those with offensive abilities were slightly better off and could break free. Those without offensive abilities could only rely on others for help.
In short, it was extremely difficult to deal with.
But with martial arts, things were different. Not only did the overall ability levels of humans slowly increase, but their physical fitness also improved. Even in close combat, they could fight on par without encountering exceptionally strong opponents.
Furthermore, internal energy itself possessed offensive capabilities.
It could disrupt the sea race's ability circulation and also damage areas like their brains. Compared to internal energy, which could enter the opponent's body and cause damage upon contact, abilities were weaker in this regard. Only a few abilities could directly enter the enemy's body; most abilities could only manifest as attacks.
It was precisely because of these changes
That led to the mass deaths of the sea race. The corpses of the sea race killed were collected by the human side for alchemy or medicine. Most of them were sea race with water-attribute constitutions or abilities. The resulting elixirs were extremely suitable for gently improving physical fitness, internal energy, blood, and cultivation speed.
Currently, the official definition of the sea race is "demons."
Humans and demons are irreconcilable.
Using the sea race for alchemy became more justifiable. And elixirs were more acceptable to the general public than directly consuming marine life that had already developed some intelligence.
These developments were not intentionally hidden from the sea race by the human side. Therefore, after paying a small price, the sea race learned the reason for humanity's recent strength and even managed to obtain quite a few martial arts secret manuals.
And they attempted to learn them.
However, they were destined to be in vain.
After all, the differences between humans and the sea race were too great. The human theory of meridians and acupoints could not be applied to the sea race. Therefore, even though they obtained numerous human martial arts secret manuals, they could not use them at all.
To put it another way, let alone using them,
They couldn't even understand them.
But the sea race refused to admit defeat. They continued to research diligently, simultaneously striving to learn the language and the specific meanings of various professional terms, while also trying to capture some humans for research, hoping to understand the mysteries of martial arts so that they too could use them.
Meanwhile...
The human Virus Research Institute made another move.
They began to poison again and also tried to collect the corpses of the sea race poisoned to death.
The viruses they spread were very afraid of high temperatures. The temperatures during alchemy far exceeded one hundred degrees Celsius. Therefore, even the sea race poisoned to death could be used for alchemy without affecting the final medicinal efficacy.
Nor would it infect humans.
Thus, they naturally could not let it go.
In addition to this, influenced by the special scents provided by Ding Yun, humans also began to produce special hormone drugs, special scent drugs, and even special sonic weapons specifically targeting different sea races.
With a far inferior population,
They could only rely on technology to compensate.
Overall, if the negative outcome of the gradually rising sea levels and shrinking human land were excluded, and only the number of casualties on both sides were discussed, the human side held an absolute advantage.
After all, technological superiority was indeed remarkably effective.
Some sea races with obvious weaknesses were even facing extinction under human attacks specifically targeting their weaknesses with technological weapons.
These sea races inevitably began to retreat.
Some even directly hid in the deep sea,
Only wanting to preserve their species' fire first.
Some sea races that had no prior interaction with humans also began to have similar thoughts. They were not willing to continue confronting humans and wished for a reconciliation.
After all, although humans ate sea creatures, they didn't eat all of them. Some were too small, looked too strange, had poor meat quality, or were located in deep-sea areas that were difficult to catch. Most of these were not on the human menu. These sea races were not particularly hostile towards humans to begin with.
Now, feeling the urge to retreat was normal.
In short, under humanity's fierce counterattack, divisions arose within the sea race. The already disharmonious and disunified situation faced a great crisis.
If handled poorly,
It was highly likely to split internally first.
And the humans who obtained this intelligence naturally rushed to dispatch spies and secret agents disguised as sea creatures, or even managed to manipulate the sea creatures, possess some sea creatures, and constantly sow discord, doing their utmost to further divide those sea creatures.
All thirty-six stratagems of warfare were employed.