To the east of the Hidden Ruins lay a vast, boundless ocean.
Not a single breeze stirred, nor was there any spiritual energy. No life could survive here for long, not even microorganisms.
Ye Ling, along with Long Yu and Xiao Yu, teleported to the beach. The absolute silence of their surroundings was deeply unsettling.
Ye Ling swept his divine sense across the area, finding no life forms. He turned to Long Yu, "Where is this 'Awakening Spirit Jellyfish' you mentioned? This desolate place has no energy at all; surely no creature can survive here?"
Long Yu replied, "Uh, Boss... the Awakening Spirit Jellyfish isn't a jellyfish."
"Ah?" Ye Ling blinked in surprise.
Long Yu gave a wry smile, "I probably didn't phrase it clearly. What we're looking for is the source of an awakening spirit liquid... mother, a source of liquid."
Ye Ling: "..."
After a moment, Ye Ling recovered, "Alright then... where is this awakening spirit liquid... mother you speak of?"
"Please wait a moment, Boss."
Long Yu didn't dare to quibble with Ye Ling here. He immediately went to the sea's edge, placed his hands into the still, lifeless water, and his palms began to glow.
Ye Ling watched the sea's surface as the light emanating from Long Yu's hands spread through the water like veins, eventually reaching the seabed. There, he dug out pearl-like droplets of liquid from the ocean floor.
Afterward, Long Yu collected these liquids, pulling them out of the water to form a spherical mass of liquid about the size of a fist.
Ye Ling, with Xiao Yu in tow, walked to the beach and looked at the spherical liquid suspended on the water's surface, "Is this the Awakening Spirit Jellyfish you mentioned?"
"That's right..." Long Yu nodded. "But this amount is only enough for one person for twelve hours. I've dug up all the Awakening Spirit Jellyfish in this area, so we need to move to another. The Dead Silence Sea is vast... we each need at least three days' worth, just in case."
"No need for such trouble."
Ye Ling enveloped the Awakening Spirit Jellyfish with his spiritual energy, breaking it down into basic particles and analyzing its constituent properties.
Moments later, Ye Ling used his power of creation to generate a large quantity of Awakening Spirit Jellyfish.
"B-Boss?"
Long Yu, who had been curious about what Ye Ling was doing, was utterly stunned when he saw the precious Awakening Spirit Jellyfish transforming into a small stream around Ye Ling.
What kind of technique was this?
Ye Ling didn't think it was a big deal. After all, the power of creation could even create void origin energy, so creating Awakening Spirit Jellyfish was hardly difficult.
Although Ye Ling had decided not to use evil runes and to use the power of creation sparingly, he had to admit that the power of creation was an incredibly heaven-defying ability. Possessing such power could eliminate countless troubles and create immense value.
It was precisely because of the power of creation and runes that the more powerful Ye Ling became, the more he understood the vast difference between himself and the concepts of good and evil.
After all, the power of creation he currently possessed was taught to him by Good.
And Good was the one who created the power of creation... Good's mastery of the power of creation would only be even more formidable.
With a sigh in his heart about the power of good and evil, Ye Ling calmly distributed the Awakening Spirit Jellyfish to the stunned Long Yu and the bewildered Xiao Yu.
Long Yu still didn't quite believe that Ye Ling could create Awakening Spirit Jellyfish out of thin air. After receiving the ones Ye Ling created, he immediately swallowed a portion. His eyes began to glow blue, and his mind became incredibly clear.
"It's actually the real Awakening Spirit Jellyfish! This, this is incredible!"
Long Yu pursed his lips, his body trembling as he looked at Ye Ling, his eyes filled with fervor.
"Don't look at me like that. This power was also taught to me by my master," Ye Ling didn't think his use of the power of creation was particularly impressive.
"Boss actually has a master? This is simply..."
Long Yu found it difficult to comprehend.
In his eyes, the Prime Ancestral Dragon was the pinnacle of power in the void, and Ye Ling had once enslaved the Prime Ancestral Dragon, which meant Ye Ling was the apex of the apex among the pinnacle powers in the void.
And now, Ye Ling had a master above him?
In that instant, Long Yu deeply understood the vastness of the void, the meaning of "there is always someone better" and "there is always something beyond the beyond."
Rumble!
Just as Long Yu was using his imagination to fathom Ye Ling's background, the shallow beach began to shake violently. The previously tranquil Dead Silence Sea suddenly became turbulent.
"What's going on?"
Ye Ling looked at the surging Dead Silence Sea, his brow furrowing slightly. He immediately pulled Xiao Yu behind him.
He could feel a massive surge of energy approaching from the deep sea!
Long Yu snapped back to reality, seemingly remembering something, and quickly said to Ye Ling, "Oh no! We have too much Awakening Spirit Jellyfish, and it has angered the Sea God of Dead Silence!"
"Awakening Spirit Jellyfish is an extremely rare resource in the Dead Silence Sea, seemingly related to its very foundation. Therefore, you absolutely cannot take too much, or you will face retribution!"
"The Sea God of Dead Silence sensed that we have a large quantity of Awakening Spirit Jellyfish here. It must have mistakenly believed we were over-excavating and has come to punish us!"
Just as Long Yu finished speaking, a man resembling a merman shot up from the sea, wielding a spear condensed from seawater, and hurled it fiercely towards Ye Ling!
"Greedy and ignorant mortals, you will pay the price for your avarice!"
The water spear pierced the sky, hurtling towards Ye Ling!
Seeing the water spear flying towards him, Ye Ling looked at Long Yu speechlessly and asked, "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"
Long Yu stammered, "Th-this isn't my fault! Boss, your technique is too heaven-defying, I was too shocked for a moment and forgot about it."
"What do we do, Boss? The Sea God of Dead Silence is the embodiment of the entire Dead Silence Sea. It's not a creature, but more like a world will. Its power represents the entire Dead Silence Sea, and it's not something that can be resisted by human strength..."
"Karma Mirror Domain!"
As Long Yu was speaking, Ye Ling directly unleashed his Karma Mirror Domain. The moment the water spear, imbued with immense power, touched the Karma Mirror Domain, it was reflected back with double the force and speed, instantly piercing the Sea God of Dead Silence in the sky.
The Sea God of Dead Silence dissipated, the sky began to drizzle, and the Dead Silence Sea returned to its calm. Long Yu's words also abruptly stopped.
Ye Ling retracted the Karma Mirror Domain and looked at the now petrified Long Yu, asking, "I just killed the Sea God of Dead Silence. Will this affect our exploration of the Dead Silence Sea?"
Long Yu glanced at the sky, then back at Ye Ling, rubbing his eyes fiercely.
"It's... over?"
"You... instantly killed the Sea God of Dead Silence?"
Long Yu had almost ceased to think.
As the progenitor of all dragons, he suddenly felt that in front of Ye Ling, he was purely useless!
Clearly, everyone lived in the same world, yet some people were playing a cracked version. How could one possibly compete?