After bidding farewell to Xiao Bai that night, Fang Chang embarked on his journey.
Sea God Island was located in the ocean to the far west of the Douluo Continent, while the Star Dou Great Forest was in the center of the continent. This journey required Fang Chang to traverse nearly half the continent.
He continued his usual routine, traveling at night and hiding during the day.
Although his strength had improved significantly, and his defensive abilities made him nearly impervious to ordinary Title Douluo, he still didn't dare to act too boldly in human territory.
If the higher-ups in the human world found out that an eighty-thousand-year rare soul beast had left the Star Dou Great Forest and was crossing the continent...
Fortunately, the journey was uneventful. After about a month of travel, Fang Chang finally caught sight of the vast blue ocean.
Since he had been following the roads built by humans, his current location was naturally outside a human city.
In the dim light of night, he could see a sign hanging outside the city walls with the characters "Hanhai City" written on it.
Of course, Fang Chang couldn't read the words, but he could roughly gauge the city's size and the scale of its walls. While it couldn't compare to Heaven Dou City, it was at least several times larger than Whitewater City.
Given its coastal location, it should have been a prosperous place. Yet, the city now seemed shrouded in gloom.
Despite the late hour, Fang Chang could see people carrying bundles, leading their children and elderly, walking out of the city with desolate expressions.
As he got closer, he noticed several piles of wood, each as tall as a person, stacked outside the city. Bodies were placed on top of the wood, and someone was pouring oil over them before setting them ablaze.
As the flames rose, the wails of grieving relatives echoed around.
Fang Chang's figure passed through the crowd unnoticed in the darkness. While he didn't feel much sympathy, he found the situation strange. What could have happened to such a prosperous city?
Entering the city, he followed his usual routine and sought out the local branch of the Spider God Church.
Throughout his journey, he had been bestowing "Spider God's Blessings" at every stop. Only as he neared his destination did he stop, to avoid drawing attention.
The Hanhai City branch of the Spider God Church was located right by the sea. Its grand structure, with red bricks and green tiles, and golden-painted pillars, spoke of the city's former prosperity.
But now, the building was occupied by only an old man and a young person. There wasn't even a single Soul Master on night watch, a stark contrast to all the other places he had visited.
The old man was kneeling before the spider statue in the temple, hands clasped together, his gaze devout. "Great Spider God, please save us."
After saying this, he prostrated himself and kowtowed several times to the statue.
The young man beside him, supporting the old man, urged impatiently, "It's so late, Dad. Let's go home. If even the Spirit Hall can't solve this problem, what good will praying to a spider do?"
Fang Chang was about to leave when he heard the young man's words, and his interest was immediately piqued.
He couldn't care less about the lives of these humans, but hearing that even the Spirit Hall couldn't handle the situation sparked his curiosity.
"Kid, what do you know? The great Spider God can annihilate deities with a wave of his hand!" The old man, hearing the young man's words, raised his tobacco pipe and swung it at his head.
"Yeah, yeah," the young man dodged nimbly. "It's probably just some story made up to fool old folks and kids. I don't believe a spider could compare to the Spirit Hall."
Seeing his son dare to disrespect the Spider God in the temple, the old man pushed him away, his beard quivering with anger.
At that moment, Fang Chang's voice echoed in the old man's mind. "Old man, I am the Spider God's envoy. Tell me, what has happened to this city?"
The old man froze for a moment, then jumped up in shock, his frail legs trembling. Once he regained his composure, tears streamed down his face.
"The Spider God has appeared! The Spider God has appeared!" The old man cried out, kowtowing repeatedly on the ground.
The young man was also stunned. He had only made one sarcastic remark, and now his father... had he gone mad?
After a while, when the old man's emotions had settled somewhat, Fang Chang transmitted his thoughts again. "Tell me about the trouble you're facing."
The old man wiped his tears with his dusty sleeve and began, "Envoy, listen..."
Before he could continue, his son rushed over and grabbed his shoulders. "Dad, let's go home. I'll take you to see a doctor."
"Get off me!" The old man shoved his son away but quickly added, "Envoy, please forgive my son's ignorance. He meant no offense. Let me continue."
The young man wanted to stop him again but suddenly felt an invisible pressure enveloping him. He couldn't speak or move, frozen in an awkward pose mid-air.
"Hmm," Fang Chang's voice sounded, and the old man sighed in relief before continuing.
"This all started a little over a month ago. Someone spotted an unfamiliar sea soul beast a few dozen miles offshore."
"At first, the people of Hanhai City didn't pay much attention. After all, living by the sea, seeing sea soul beasts was nothing unusual."
"But ever since that sea soul beast appeared, fishing boats and merchant ships leaving Hanhai City have been attacked one after another. Many have lost their lives."
Fang Chang listened quietly, quickly trying to figure out what kind of soul beast this could be.
"If it were just that, we could have avoided going out to sea for a while. But in recent days, this sea soul beast has become even more ferocious. Even people fishing or collecting nets by the shore have been attacked."
At this point, the old man began to cry again, wiping his tears. "My eldest son and second daughter were killed by it. Similar tragedies have happened to too many families in Hanhai City."
"We're just ordinary fishing families who depend on the sea for our livelihood. This has cut off our means of survival. Envoy, please help us!"
Fang Chang rubbed his chin with a spider leg and continued to transmit his thoughts. "You mentioned earlier that even the Spirit Hall couldn't solve this. What happened?"
"Ah!" The old man slapped his forehead. "How could I forget to mention that?"
"After the incidents in the city, the city lord contacted an acquaintance in the Spirit Hall and asked them to send Soul Masters to deal with the sea soul beast."
"But the result was... the Spirit Hall's forces were completely wiped out. Later, their Soul Masters came to investigate and said only a Title Douluo could handle this. After that, they stopped responding."
Oh? A Title Douluo was needed to solve this? Did that mean this creature was likely a hundred-thousand-year soul beast? Fang Chang's eyes lit up.
"Old man, tell me, what does this soul beast look like?" Fang Chang urgently transmitted his question.
He knew that besides the Devil Spirit Great White Shark, the Evil Tiger Whale King, and the Deep Sea Demon Whale King, there were other hundred-thousand-year soul beasts in the ocean. He just didn't know their locations. Could he have stumbled upon one so easily?
The old man's face turned bitter. "This... everyone who has seen it is dead. If they're lucky, they leave behind a whole corpse."
Then, as if remembering something, he quickly added, "But based on the wounds on the victims, we think it has tentacles. Lots and lots of tentacles, like an octopus."
Tentacles... Fang Chang thought carefully. In his memory, even if such hundred-thousand-year soul beasts existed in the Douluo world, they usually lived in the deep sea and wouldn't easily come close to shore.
"I'll go take a look. If I can handle it, I'll help you eat... I mean, deal with it," Fang Chang transmitted to the old man. He then released the pressure on the young man and, maintaining his "Stealth" state, left the temple and headed toward the sea.