The first strike missed, but the rugged man did not stop his movements.

He retracted his net and unhooked a greyish-white conch, its surface covered in strange spiral patterns, from his waist.

He brought the conch to his lips and blew hard.

"Woo——!!!"

A deep, desolate horn sound reverberated across the entire Sea of Death.

This sound was not a sound wave in the physical sense, but a high-dimensional interference that acted directly upon the Soul and the Origin of Mana!

Zhou Huai felt his mind sink abruptly, as if an invisible giant hammer had slammed heavily into his Sea of Consciousness.

At the same time, the flow of mana within his body, which usually obeyed his every command, experienced a momentary stagnation.

In these few tenths of a second while he was distracted!

The rugged man moved.

Holding that pitch-black harpoon, he stepped on the waves, transforming into a streak of black lightning as he instantly closed the distance.

The tip of the harpoon shimmered with a heart-stopping Death Qi, aiming straight for Zhou Huai's throat!

"Want to break my defense? You're still far from it!"

Zhou Huai forcibly suppressed the mental discomfort; instead of retreating, he puffed out his chest to meet the harpoon.

The power of Xiang Yu's 【Indestructible Demon God】 surged wildly within him, and the dark golden dragon scales on his abyssal blood battle armor erupted with dazzling light.

"Clang——!!!"

Sparks flew, emitting a teeth-grinding metallic screech!

The pitch-black harpoon stabbed heavily into the dragon scales protecting Zhou Huai's neck, unleashing a visible ring-shaped shockwave.

Xiang Yu's 【Ten Thousand Laws Counter-Scale】 passive triggered instantly.

A powerful five-fold rebound force surged back wildly along the harpoon!

"Crack!"

The rugged man's web between his thumb and index finger split open on the spot, and blood instantly stained the handle of the harpoon.

He was sent flying back by the terrifying rebound force, plowing a dozen deep furrows into the sea surface before he could barely steady himself with the harpoon.

As for Zhou Huai, he was merely pushed back half a step in mid-air by the force.

"Good defense."

The rugged man looked down at his bleeding palm, his tone remaining devoid of any ripples.

He seemed completely unable to feel pain, his eyes filled only with a pure, mechanical fighting will.

"But you still can't catch me."

As he spoke, his figure began to blur strangely again, as if he were about to dissolve back into this grey, dim world.

"That's not necessarily true."

Zhou Huai formed a seal with one hand, Gandalf's source of mana outputting wildly.

"【Forbidden Spell: Thousand Mile Ice Seal】!"

The power of the Law of extreme cold instantly spread radially, centered on Zhou Huai.

The sea of black corpses below solidified inch by inch into a hard, bone-chilling azure glacier at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The rugged man, who was attempting to hide underwater, was forced to reveal himself.

The moment his feet touched the ice surface, the absolute freezing effect of the Aurora Heart climbed wildly up his calves.

"This time, let's see where you can run."

Zhou Huai swung his dragon spear, preparing to deliver a fatal blow.

The rugged man, however, was unhurried.

With his lower body frozen, he reached back to his waist and pulled out a strange orb emitting a warm red light.

Without a moment's hesitation, he smashed the orb heavily onto the ice beneath his feet.

"Crack!"

The orb shattered.

The 【Forbidden Spell: Thousand Mile Ice Seal】, which was enough to freeze the Soul, was struck by this heat wave and melted away instantly, like spring snow meeting the scorching sun!

Not only that, but this strange heat wave even surged upwards, turning into tongues of fire that filled the sky, attempting to melt the abyssal blood battle armor on Zhou Huai's body directly.

"Another item?"

Zhou Huai's eyes narrowed, his figure rising higher to easily avoid the heat wave.

"You really do have quite a few items."

Zhou Huai hovered in mid-air, looking down at the rugged man surrounded by flames, then shifted his gaze.

This guy had an endless supply of strange items in his pockets.

In terms of raw strength, the opponent did not reach the Peak SSS-level of the current world, let alone contend with a Transcendent.

However, his slippery fighting style, combined with items carrying the strange Laws of The Seventh World, made it difficult for Zhou Huai to fully lock onto and kill him in a short time.

Moreover, Zhou Huai discovered something unusual.

This rugged man's attacks were fierce, but there was no real intent to kill.

Many times, even when he was at a disadvantage, he continued to entangle, preferring to get injured rather than flee this sea area.

This completely contradicted the survival logic of a powerhouse from the old era.

He was deliberately stalling for time.

Thoughts flashed through Zhou Huai's mind.

What was he waiting for? Or rather, what else was there here that hadn't yet surfaced?

Could there be reinforcements?

Just as Zhou Huai was thinking this, the calm sea began to churn.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

From beneath the deep sea, several blinding rays of light erupted without warning.

Immediately following, five or six weapons of various shapes and brilliant colors, like flood dragons breaking out of the sea, shot straight toward Zhou Huai in mid-air, carrying terrifying kinetic energy that tore through space!

These weapons included long blades, short swords, and even a pair of exaggeratedly shaped giant hammers.

In Zhou Huai's 【Void Omniscience】 vision, the light of the Laws flowing on these weapons was dense, and the aura they emitted was several tiers stronger than those legendary-grade weapons that the Great Xia Military Department kept as their trump cards.

"Good!"

Facing this sudden attack, Zhou Huai did not move a step.

He raised his left hand, his mana surging within his body, perfectly fusing Great Sage Li Er's Words Follow the Law with Gandalf's ice-type Laws.

"Freeze."

Accompanying Zhou Huai's voice, a massive, thick ice wall emitting extremely cold white vapor condensed in front of him.

"Clang clang clang clang——!!!"

A continuous series of earth-shaking loud noises echoed in mid-air.

Those incredible quality weapons smashed heavily against the ice wall, erupting with ice shards and sparks that filled the sky, yet they were unable to pierce through this defensive barrier fused with high-level Laws, and eventually all flew back to the sea surface.

Zhou Huai withdrew his left hand, his gaze cast coldly toward the sea below.

As the seawater churned, five figures rose from the black water and hovered beside the rugged man.

Four men and one woman, young and old.

At the lead was a hunchbacked old woman leaning on a bone cane, her face covered in deep wrinkles; on the left was a cold, gaunt young man with eyes glowing with a ghostly green light; on the right stood a pair of identical twin muscular men, shirtless, with ancient ocean totems tattooed on their chests; at the very back was a seductive woman wearing a gorgeous deep-sea pearl dress, but her eyes had no pupils, only two patches of stark white.

As soon as these five people appeared, the temperature in the air dropped by several degrees.

They all looked up at Zhou Huai in unison, their gazes cold, regarding him as an irreconcilable enemy.

"Sure enough, there are reinforcements."

Zhou Huai thought to himself.

But he did not have the slightest panic; instead, he examined these people with great interest.