In front of the Sea Maiden's Sacred Pillar, the Sea Maiden Douluo played her Sea Demon Flute, while Huan Yin plucked the strings of her zither. This battle was unlike the others, for it was a pure contest of music—their attacks were all on the level of the soul.
After activating her martial soul true form, Sea Maiden Douluo had performed all seven of her signature pieces: Illusory Sea Enchantment, Sea's Voice Soul Seal, Seven-Star Devil's Melody, Siren's Lament, Banshee's Dirge, Furious Ocean's Howl, and Heart-Shaking Devil's Tune.
Huan Yin likewise activated her true form, countering with pieces from the Yaoguang Score: Ningyin Melody, Panic Tune, Desolate Sigh, Reincarnation Song, Immortal Tune: Crossing Calamity, Immortal Tune: Entering Dreams, and Immortal Tune: Hymn of the Sacred—also seven in total.
Although their music was extraordinarily beautiful, every nearby living thing had retreated several kilometers away. This was not music one could simply listen to; anyone who did would die blissfully in its beauty.
Surprisingly, Sea Maiden Douluo was suppressed almost the entire time—not in terms of soul power, but purely in terms of musical mastery.
Sea Maiden Douluo couldn't help but sigh, "I never expected that there would be someone on the continent with such profound accomplishment in music. Beautiful sister, please listen to my final piece—my ninth soul skill: Divine Melody of Sea Pacification!" She finally brought out her trump card, a legendary melody said to be able to calm even the raging seas.
It was rumored that when the evil demon killer whale pod pursued the demon soul great white sharks to Sea God Island, the Sea Maiden used this very melody to drive them off, testifying to its terrifying power.
Facing this piece, Huan Yin knew she couldn't be careless anymore—it was time to go all out.
"Senior, then please listen to mine—Song of the Shattering Firmament!"
Huan Yin, one of the Seven Saints of Shu Mountain, revealed her strongest piece. Back in the day, when Huan Yin had merely learned the first level, she'd wiped out all five members of the Spirit Hall Academy's team—including the Golden Generation's Yan—at the academy tournament with a single performance.
Now, she had long since reached the seventh level. Even a Title Douluo couldn't afford to be careless in the face of this tune.
Two immense spiritual forces clashed in the air, carried by the music. Sea Maiden Douluo could only use sixty percent of her power, while Huan Yin had the blessing of the Mark of the God of Music. The rise and fall of their spiritual strengths were virtually even.
At this point, it came down to whose melody was stronger.
Huan Yin was amazed to find that as the Divine Melody of Sea Pacification played, instead of harming her, it deepened her insight into music, as if assisting her cultivation.
Sea Maiden Douluo also noticed something unusual, but she wasn't upset. It was only a trial—if she lost, so be it. What really concerned her was the nature of Huan Yin's cultivation technique: it seemed not only immune to sonic attacks, but could also absorb others' melodies to strengthen itself.
"Could it be... the Array of Celestial Music?" Huan Yin finally remembered: the Yaoguang Score described a very unique formation, cultivatable only after reaching the seventh level. She'd been studying it recently, but couldn't grasp the essence—until now. Under the pressure of the Divine Melody, she'd subconsciously deployed the Array of Celestial Music. It was far stronger than any domain.
"Thank you for fulfilling me, senior. It's only thanks to you that I could comprehend this new ultimate skill. Please grant me your guidance now." Huan Yin smiled slightly. Her form suddenly split into five, standing at peculiar angles.
Front and back, the arrangement resembled a musical score.
This was the Array of Celestial Music. Once activated, the user split into five avatars: Gong, Shang, Jue, Zhi, and Yu.
Gong was the formation's center, with extremely strong physical and spiritual defenses—almost no attack could break through. The other four—Shang, Jue, Zhi, Yu—had equal attack and defense. Each time one was destroyed, the center's strength diminished.
In other words, this formation was the opposite of conventional ones: the array eye couldn't be attacked directly. To break it, one had to eliminate the outer avatars first. Unfortunately, Sea Maiden Douluo didn't know this and instinctively focused all her spiritual power on the central avatar, Gong.
When the four outer avatars were intact, Gong's defenses were over five times stronger than Huan Yin's usual state. With only sixty percent of Sea Maiden Douluo's spiritual power, she could not shake it at all.
Her spiritual power was like a brook flowing into the sea, vanishing without a trace.
Before Sea Maiden Douluo could be surprised, the five avatars reached the climax of Song of the Shattering Firmament. Five brilliant beams of light shot from them, streaking toward Sea Maiden Douluo.
Almost reflexively, Sea Maiden Douluo cried, "I concede!"
Huan Yin smiled gently, instantly halting her music. The five beams of light dissipated in the air before reaching Sea Maiden Douluo.
Sea Maiden Douluo breathed a sigh of relief. That was close—those five beams were pure spiritual shocks. Had they struck, even as a Title Douluo, she would have been gravely injured if not outright killed.
"Thank you for letting me win, senior!" Huan Yin deactivated the formation, returned to her true form, and bowed before Sea Maiden Douluo.
"Beautiful sister, you really are incredible. The cultivation technique you practice is the strongest I've ever seen among all sonic arts, even stronger than my mermaid clan's core technique." Sea Maiden Douluo praised her. "Sister, how about teaching me? I'll trade you some of my clan's melodies!"
Huan Yin was exasperated by Sea Maiden Douluo's constant sister talk. In fact, Sea Maiden Douluo was already over ninety, but since mermaids lived five times longer than humans, that age was equivalent to less than twenty for a human. So she insisted she was still very young, and felt it only right to call the nearly thirty-year-old Huan Yin "sister."
Still, her personality was indeed a bit girlish—especially fond of acting cute, like now, trying to trade for the Yaoguang Score.
Huan Yin replied helplessly, "Senior, it's not that I'm stingy, but this cultivation technique was passed to me by someone else. Even if I wanted to teach you, I'd need their permission. Please don't make things difficult for me."
"All right!" Sea Maiden Douluo pouted, looking utterly aggrieved.
But she wasn't truly a child—she didn't go as far as throwing a tantrum.
With that, Huan Yin's trial was successfully completed.
…
Of the group, only Ning Rongrong, Oslo, and Oscar had yet to finish their trials.
Ning Rongrong had already passed the Sea Spear and Sea Star stages, and she was now heading with Oslo to challenge the Sea Fantasy Sacred Pillar.
The third-ranked of the Seven Saints of the Sea God, this figure was said to have the ability to reveal a person's deepest fear—a truly difficult opponent.