Chapter 148 - 140: Dongli Saint Envoy

The Mammoth Walrus was pummeled to death!

The surrounding soldiers had been watching the fight on Su Ze’s side all along.

The Mammoth Walrus was the largest creature on the battlefield and, aside from the Coral Giants, the strongest Marine Beast. It was naturally the center of everyone’s attention. They also wanted to see how a mere Cocoon Stage evolver could possibly take on a ferocious Tier Three B-rank Marine Beast.

However, what they saw was a revelation. A Cocoon Stage evolver like that actually existed in the world!

Although the Mammoth Walrus ultimately died from the group assault, it wouldn’t have been possible without Su Ze and Ye Jin whittling away half its life first. Without the final opportunity Su Ze created, the soldiers could never have finished it off so easily.

"This guy is incredible!"

"I’ve never heard of him before. Anyone know who he is?"

"The ’Time Devourer’ is pretty strong too. As expected of General Ning’s granddaughter."

The soldiers buzzed with discussion, starting to speculate about Su Ze’s identity.

Su Ze’s individual strength was astonishing. Any ordinary Cocoon Stage evolver who tried to fight like that would have been swatted to death by the Mammoth Walrus long ago.

Su Ze’s final move, "Furious Waves," looked particularly familiar to many of the soldiers.

Su Ze had used this move before during the Battle of Judgment, defeating Alvin, the "Eighth Prince" of the Luofan Country, in a single blow. That battle had been broadcast live across the Dongli Kingdom, so many people recognized Su Ze’s skill.

"Wasn’t that Su Ze’s signature move just now?"

"It is! It’s exactly the same one Su Ze used on TV!"

"I heard that’s an enhanced version of the Brahma River Crocodile’s Thousandfold Fury. It’s almost unheard of for anyone else to have mastered it. Could it be..."

"It’s definitely possible. Otherwise, where would such a monstrously powerful Cocoon Stage evolver come from?"

"He’s Su Ze?"

"No doubt about it. It has to be him!"

Su Ze didn’t respond to the speculation about his identity, but he felt a sense of resigned frustration. ’I even have a different face, and I still got recognized.’

’Looks like I’ll have to be more careful in the future,’ he thought. ’I can’t just throw my signature moves around like that.’

Then again, "Furious Waves" was just particularly flashy and unique, making it easy to recognize. His other skills were fine.

After killing the Mammoth Walrus, Su Ze was completely exhausted. He focused on recovering his stamina while observing the battlefield.

With no new Marine Beasts surging in, the remaining ones no longer posed a major threat. Their complete annihilation was only a matter of time.

The strongest Tier Three beast, the Mammoth Walrus, was already dead. The few remaining Tier Three beasts were all low-level and couldn’t cause much trouble. The only real problem left was the Coral Giants.

Even with several Butterfly Stage military experts joining forces, they could only barely fight the Coral Giant to a standstill.

Meanwhile, Ning Yushen, who was fighting the giant Coral Monster, was already injured. She was relying on her powerful self-healing ability to hold on and stall for time.

"If reinforcements don’t arrive, dragging this out won’t solve anything. We’ll be routed sooner or later," Su Ze said, shaking his head.

Even if they killed all the other Marine Beasts, it would all be for nothing as long as they couldn’t defeat the Coral Monsters.

The moment Su Ze finished speaking, a streak of cyan light cut across the sky.

That was...

Su Ze’s expression instantly relaxed.

The cyan light of evolution. It corresponded to a Saint-level paragon, one who had evolved five times.

And in the territory of the six nations, the only Saint-level paragon who would appear could only be a Saint Envoy from the Sovereign Country.

Moving at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, the cyan light instantly appeared beside Ning Yushen and manifested as an old man with a white beard and eyebrows. He opened his mouth and breathed out a stream of air, instantly flash-freezing the giant Coral Monster.

"Thank you, Lord Saint Envoy," Ning Yushen said respectfully, breathing a sigh of relief.

She was immensely grateful that the Saint Envoy had arrived in time; otherwise, she would have had to risk it all.

The white-bearded, white-browed old man waved his hand. "Protecting Dongli from the scourge of the Marine Beasts is my duty."

With that, he waved a sleeve. The frozen Coral Monster shattered with a crash, and countless Coral Insects disintegrated into dust along with the ice.

However, some Coral Insects survived—the high-level ones.

The surviving Coral Insects flew directly back into the sea. A moment later, the Coral Giant that had pursued Ye Muni into the Luofan Country also returned, and the one Jia Yuan and his team were besieging also broke apart and retreated.

All the Coral Insects converged, reassembling in the sea to form the Coral Island once more.

However, because the Saint Envoy had annihilated a vast number of Coral Insects with a single strike, the Coral Island was now noticeably smaller.

The Saint Envoy paid it no mind. With another wave of his hand, countless flaming meteorites rained down from the sky, hurtling toward the Coral Island.

The Coral Island retreated, but the meteorites changed course, remaining locked onto it.

The Coral Island disintegrated again, scattering into countless tiny Coral Insects to evade the fiery projectiles.

BOOM!

SIZZLE!

The roaring was accompanied by the sound of seawater vaporizing. As the flaming meteorites plunged into the ocean, vast quantities of water instantly evaporated, causing the sea level to drop abruptly.

A moment later, a Coral Island reappeared farther out at sea, but it was even smaller this time...

This time, the Coral Island frantically fled toward the depths of the ocean. The Saint Envoy let out a cold snort and transformed back into a streak of cyan light, giving chase.

It was over!

Although no one knew the final outcome of the battle between the Saint Envoy and the Coral Island, every Dongli soldier present, including Su Ze, understood that the disaster was over.

All that remained was to clear out the surviving Marine Beasts and clean up the battlefield.

None of that was Su Ze’s concern. Right now, he just wanted to get some proper rest.

...

Su Ze took a nap, and when he woke up, he found his phone flooded with unread messages.

It turned out the Marine Beast invasion was already in the news. Because of the Coral Island’s appearance, the incident had caused a major stir across the entire Lin Hua Continent.

People online from every country were discussing it heatedly. Evolutionists proposed various theories, showing intense interest in the appearance of the Marine Beasts, while national governments gave the matter their utmost attention.

Within the Dongli Kingdom, the news reports were more detailed. For instance, they mentioned that during the battle against the Marine Beast invasion, a Cocoon Stage evolver suspected to be Su Ze had made an outstanding contribution.

On his phone, Su Ze had received several messages from Liou Wenxin and Mrs. Yun, all asking if he was all right. Liou Wenxin also expressed immense interest in the Coral Island and wanted Su Ze to give her all the details.

Mr. Ya had also sent a message, saying he deeply regretted not coming along, as he was an adventurer at heart.

In addition, there were concerned messages from Xu Sheng, Han Xiaoke, and others.

Finally, there was a message from Ye Jin. She said she would take him to see Ning Yushen tomorrow to give him the Mutated Electric Eel Extract.

She also mentioned that Ning Yushen had prepared some other gifts for him as a thank you for his outstanding performance.

’Other gifts? What could they be?’ Su Ze’s mind raced. ’She’s not going to try and marry her granddaughter off to me, is she?’ The thought was enough to jolt him wide awake.

He replied to everyone’s messages one by one before dialing Liou Wenxin’s number.

When the call connected, Liou Wenxin’s teasing voice came through. "My dear little brother, how is it that trouble seems to follow you wherever you go?"

"It’s the protagonist’s halo. Can’t be helped. Outstanding people are all like this."

Liou Wenxin laughed for a few moments before asking, "Did you get a close look at those Coral Insect beasts? Tell me everything."

So, Su Ze recounted everything he had seen himself and what he had heard from Ye Jin.

Liou Wenxin was silent for a moment. "Coral insects have always been a very peculiar type of animal," she finally said. "Even the un-evolved ones are quite special."

"How are they special?" Su Ze loved soaking up knowledge from his sister; he always felt that information from Liou Wenxin was far more compelling than any lecture from a classroom teacher.

Liou Wenxin explained, "Colonial coral insects have interconnected skeletons, and their gastrovascular cavities are also linked. So, a coral colony has many ’mouths’ but shares a single ’stomach.’

"A single living coral cluster that we see contains countless tiny coral insects. They belong to a single entity, yet are also independent individuals. As the coral develops, the insects continuously convert minerals from the water into limestone, creating the coral stone that forms the very basis of their survival in the ocean.

"But that’s just for ordinary coral insects. The evolved ones are clearly far more powerful and possess abilities they didn’t have before.

"For example, ordinary coral insects don’t have the ability to separate and recombine. And prior research has never shown that multiple coral insects linking together increases the collective’s overall strength."

Su Ze said, "The strongest individual among the Coral Insects in the island that appeared is estimated to be Tier Four. Perhaps the other Coral Insects didn’t originally have these abilities; they only gained them after linking with the Tier Four Coral Insect."

Liou Wenxin agreed. "You have a sharp mind; you have a real talent for evolutionary research. Your guess is entirely plausible. Evolutionists have studied Tier One and Tier Two coral insects before, and they didn’t have these abilities. So, it’s very likely their powers were bestowed by the strongest member of the collective. After all, a Tier Four Coral Insect has never been seen before.

"Of course, there’s another possibility: the entire coral insect colony mutated after being exposed to some external stimulus. Mutations can allow beasts to gain abilities they wouldn’t normally possess.

"Also, you must understand, the larger the population and the smaller the individual animal, the harder it is for them to evolve into beasts, let alone Saint-level beasts. In the mere thousand-year history of Blue Star’s Era of Evolution, there hasn’t been enough time for a species like coral insects to produce a Saint-level individual.

"Therefore, the very appearance of a Tier Four Coral Insect is an anomaly. It shouldn’t be possible."

After listening to Liou Wenxin, Su Ze said, "So, you’re leaning toward the theory that the coral insect colony underwent a mutation due to some external influence."

Liou Wenxin said, "It’s just a guess. When you come back, try to bring me some of the coral insects’ bodies—the higher the tier, the better. And bring back some coral stone if you can. That can also be used as a medicinal ingredient."

"Leave it to me."

After hanging up, Su Ze changed his clothes and went out the door.

It was already dark. Su Ze had expended a lot of energy and was getting hungry, but the base’s cafeteria was closed, so he had to go out to find something to eat.

After a moment’s thought, he sent a message to Ye Jin: "Hey, have you eaten dinner? Want to grab a late-night snack together?"