After Hu Liena defected to the Heaven Dou Empire, Lin Mu stayed in the military camp for a while until Ye Lingling completed the second trial of the Goddess of Life.
Immediately afterward, Lin Mu sent Ye Lingling safely back to Heaven Dou City and then promptly took Tang San to the distant Sun Moon Continent.
After several months of dedicated searching across the new continent, Tang San successively fused with three powerful soul spirits, all over 100,000 years old.
Including the soul rings and soul spirits he had previously acquired, his Clear Sky Hammer martial soul now had an impressive seven soul rings.
Not only that, his raw soul power also smoothly broke through to Level 98, leaving him just one final step away from completing the grueling eighth trial of the Sea God.
With his twin martial souls fully developed and the devastating Great Sumeru Hammer exploding ring technique mastered, Tang San's actual combat strength had firmly surpassed that of a typical Limit Douluo, and even Bo Saixi, the revered High Priestess of Sea God Island, was likely no longer a match for him.
At this moment, Lin Mu and Tang San were rapidly flying across the vast, open sea, their god-like spiritual power continuously scanning and covering even the deepest trenches of the ocean tens of thousands of meters below.
"Master, will this method really find a suitable sea soul beast?"
Tang San flew closely behind Lin Mu. Since his soul power broke through to Level 98, his sustained flying speed had also naturally increased significantly.
Of course, he could only keep up because Lin Mu deliberately slowed down; otherwise, Tang San wouldn't even be able to see the disturbed air of his wake.
"Little San, don't be so impatient. There are literally countless kinds of soul beasts in the ocean, their numbers and variety far exceeding those in the Star Dou Great Forest. There's definitely a 100,000-year sea soul beast perfectly suitable for your Clear Sky Hammer martial soul."
As he spoke, Lin Mu continued to steadily expand the immense range of his mental power's detection.
To find a highly suitable 100,000-year sea soul beast as soon as possible, in addition to using his own massive mental power to scan, he had also actively dispatched the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King and his entire family.
As the absolute former overlord of the ocean, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King naturally knew the precise habitats of some hidden 100,000-year sea soul beasts.
Even though Lin Mu's incredible speed was more than enough to quickly traverse the ocean, it was practically impossible to manually survey the entire, boundless ocean floor.
He could only rely on following the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's expert guidance, trying to strategically narrow down the search area for 100,000-year sea soul beasts.
Just then, Lin Mu clearly received a telepathic message from the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King.
"Master, we've successfully located a pure power-type sea soul beast; it should be highly suitable for the young master."
"Well done. Do not let it escape."
After swiftly giving this firm order, Lin Mu immediately stopped flying and reached out to physically stop Tang San as well, whispering, "Little Black has found a highly potent power-type sea soul beast; perhaps it's exactly what you need."
Hearing this excellent news, Tang San's face instantly lit up with joy.
His soul power was currently hovering around Level 98.5; perhaps by successfully fusing with just one more powerful soul spirit, he could finally break through to Level 99, thus officially completing the Sea God's grueling eighth trial.
Under the perfect waterproof protection of the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, the two quickly and safely descended directly to the seabed.
At this moment, they were thousands of meters below the sunlit surface, in the crushing depths where sunlight couldn't reach at all, and there was almost no natural light around them.
Fortunately, Lin Mu and Tang San both possessed extremely strong spiritual power, easily allowing them to clearly perceive their dark surroundings without needing physical light.
A short while later, the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King's daughter, Lan Fozi, swam quickly over from the front. Unlike her massive parents, she had taken human form since becoming Lin Mu's soul spirit.
"Master, Father and Mother have successfully subdued the target; they're just up ahead," Lan Fozi said highly respectfully.
"In that case, let's hurry over."
With that, Lin Mu firmly grabbed Tang San and Lan Fozi's wrists and rapidly led them forward.
Even in the crushing pressure of the deep sea, Lin Mu could effortlessly use the Hurricane Armor to travel at terrifyingly high speed.
Before long, Lin Mu finally saw the massive forms of the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King and his wife, the Demon Empress. Besides them, pinned down, there was also a very strange, shrimp-like soul beast only about two or three meters long.
Compared to other massive 100,000-year-old soul beasts they had seen, this one was incredibly small.
However, the sheer fact that it had survived and lived for over 100,000 years in the brutal ocean was more than enough to definitively show that its actual strength was definitely not weak, perhaps even physically stronger than many ordinary 100,000-year-old soul beasts.
Seeing Lin Mu finally appear, the Demon Empress immediately introduced their catch, "Master, this soul beast's physical strength is extremely terrifying. In terms of pure, raw strength alone, it's absolutely not inferior to the two of us."
Upon hearing this glowing endorsement, Lin Mu and Tang San immediately became highly interested.
"Master, I'll go personally try it out."
As soon as he finished speaking, Tang San flashed forward to the shrimp-like soul beast and carefully examined it up close.
Unlike common shrimp-like soul beasts, this peculiar one, while heavily resembling a shrimp in body structure, completely lacked the usual large pincers, replacing them instead with very strange-looking, heavily armored red fists.
"Young Master, please be extremely careful. Its punches are incredibly, deceptively fast; a slight misstep in defense could result in severe injury," the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King solemnly warned.
Hearing this serious warning, Tang San's face turned completely serious. The physically stronger this sea soul beast seemed, the more he eagerly wanted to personally test its true strength. He immediately summoned the heavy Clear Sky Hammer and hurled it with immense force.
Just as the massive Clear Sky Hammer was about to heavily strike the sea soul beast's armored head, it unexpectedly unleashed a brutal punch with absolute lightning speed.
BOOM!!
Unexpectedly, with a deafening, concussive explosion of water, Tang San and the heavy Clear Sky Hammer were easily and violently sent flying backwards by the single, compact punch.
"Its pure physical power is actually this strong?!"
Lin Mu exclaimed in genuine amazement after witnessing the sea soul beast's incredible innate talent.
He initially thought this bizarre sea soul beast merely resembled a mantis shrimp in physical appearance, but he truly hadn't expected it to be equally as devastatingly powerful, even completely surpassing most land-based ferocious beasts in pure, raw strength alone.
However, upon further, careful reflection, this wasn't entirely unbelievable.
After all, the Star Dou Great Forest also contained some exceptionally physically talented soul beasts, such as the legendary Golden Fur Lion Mastiff.
However, Lin Mu had actively visited the Star Dou Great Forest many times but had never actually seen a Golden Fur Lion Mastiff; it was highly likely hiding very deeply.
The ocean's total area far exceeded that of the Star Dou Great Forest, and the sheer variety of sea soul beasts was practically countless; the rare appearance of a few exceptionally talented, mutated soul beast species was actually quite statistically normal.
"This terrifying power... is actually several times more devastating than the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear!"
Tang San stared intently at the aggressive 100,000-year-old mantis shrimp. If his Clear Sky Hammer were successfully equipped with this specific soul ring, it would definitely boost his overall attack strength significantly.
Thinking of this incredible potential, he quickly decided to continue his aggressive attack.
This time, he absolutely didn't hold back, directly activating the powerful first soul ring of his Clear Sky Hammer martial soul.
This specific soul ring came directly from a 90,000-year-old Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear. Although it wasn't technically 100,000 years old, its innate soul skill was actually physically stronger than that of a typical, ordinary 100,000-year-old soul beast.
"Heaven-Shattering Strike!"
In an instant, the massive, dark gold Clear Sky Hammer slammed violently down on the 100,000-year-old mantis shrimp with crushing force.
Perhaps because of the innate sharpness of the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bear's soul ring, this heavy strike was even sharper than usual, literally splitting the dense seawater in two.
BANGGG!!
With an incredibly loud, metallic crash, the dark gold Clear Sky Hammer accurately and heavily struck the 100,000-year-old mantis shrimp's raised fist, managing to successfully block its counterattack.
However, the immense, violent recoil from the direct collision still sent it tumbling backwards.
This brief exchange clearly showed that while its raw physical strength was incredibly great, its other physical aspects were not particularly outstanding, even arguably highly disadvantageous in a prolonged fight.
Ironically, the heavy, purely offensive Clear Sky Hammer needed exactly such a specialized, pure power-type soul beast.
Next, Lin Mu quickly intervened in time to officially stop Tang San's attacks and had the Deep Sea Demonic Whale King clearly convey a telepathic message, forcefully persuading the 100,000-year-old mantis shrimp to officially become Tang San's eighth soul spirit.
Heavily tempted by the seemingly impossible prospect of eventually becoming a god, the 100,000-year-old mantis shrimp ultimately willingly became a soul spirit.
If it stubbornly didn't agree, it would highly likely face certain, immediate death at their hands. It's objectively much better to survive and become a fully sentient soul spirit than a mindless, dead soul ring.
After Tang San successfully and smoothly fused with the 100,000-year-old mantis shrimp, Lin Mu immediately took him rapidly back to the Heaven Dou Empire.