Reborn as a lotus, she initially refuses to hand it over to the state.

"Zhenhai Formation, rise!"

boom!

Linjiang Water Gate, the mouth of the Nanjiang River, is located near the sea in Lingnan.

The three Zhenhai Sea Seals simultaneously emitted a deep blue light.

Countless streams of water converge from all directions.

The aquatic creatures of the Zhenhai Navy, who were still fighting, simultaneously emitted a faint blue light.

Their power is united at this moment.

The Cancer crab seems to have sensed danger.

It turned around, wanting to dive back into the black river.

The next instant, dozens of water chains burst forth from the riverbed.

They entangled its remaining giant pincers and its eight crab legs, locking it firmly to the surface of the river.

"Split the sea."

Xuanjia spoke in a low voice. The Sea-Splitting Crocodile King, covered in blood, raised its head and respectfully said, "Your subordinate is here!"

"Cut off its kernel."

The ferocious light in the eyes of the Sea-Splitting Crocodile King surged, and it dragged its heavily injured body as it charged out of the waves.

The giant crab struggled frantically, and under the suppression of the Zhenhai formation, the black fleshy buds on its body withered continuously, and the polluted core inside its body was gradually exposed.

It was a black, fleshy ball hidden beneath its abdominal carapace.

On the surface of the fleshy ball is a constantly rotating scarlet eye.

"Found you!"

The Sea Crocodile King roared, opening its massive jaws.

boom!

The giant crab's abdominal shell was bitten open, exposing its black fleshy mass, and the Sea Crocodile King brought down a claw.

The fleshy ball exploded on the spot, and the massive body of the Tide-Armored Giant Crab suddenly froze.

Immediately afterwards, the black fleshy buds on its body withered rapidly, eventually turning into large patches of putrid blood that sank to the bottom of the river.

With the death of the giant sea crab, the surrounding black sea beasts seemed to have lost some kind of support, and they began to flee frantically.

"Leave no one alive!"

Xuanjia's voice echoed across the river, and the aquatic creatures of the Zhenhai Army rushed out in unison.

That night, outside the Linjiang Water Gate, the black river water was stained red with blood. Until the sky was slightly bright, the last Black Tide Beast was torn to pieces by the sea crocodile, and finally, the area outside the water gate became quiet again.

The Sea-Splitting Crocodile King was covered in blood, with half of its body submerged in the river. It looked at the corpses of the Black Tide Beasts that filled the river.

His eyes were full of exhaustion.

A peak fourth-tier demon core flew out from the remains of the Tide Armored Giant Crab and landed in front of it.

"Swallow it."

Chu Zhou's voice came through the Zhenhai Sea Seal, and the Sea-Splitting Crocodile King's body trembled.

"Owner?"

"You deserve it."

Without hesitation, the Sea-Splitting Crocodile King opened its massive jaws and swallowed the demon core.

boom!

A large amount of water-based spiritual energy erupted within its body.

The massive body of the Sea-Splitting Crocodile King trembled continuously, its shattered scales began to repair themselves, and its aura rose at a visible speed.

Peak of the fourth tier, early stage of the fifth tier, and mid-stage of the fifth tier!

"roar!"

The Sea-Splitting Crocodile King roared to the sky.

A powerful pressure belonging to the mid-stage of the fifth rank swept across the entire Linjiang waterway.

A large number of aquatic creatures from the Zhenhai Navy lowered their heads.

"Congratulations to the Sea Rift Commander on his breakthrough!"

Xuanjia looked at this scene with a hint of satisfaction in his eyes.

The Zhenhai Navy suffered considerable losses in this battle.

But they finally proved with their blood that they were qualified to guard the waters of Lingnan.

Outside the Linjiang Water Gate, although the battle was over, a large number of Black Tide Water Beast corpses were still floating on the river.

Many of the aquatic creatures in Zhenhai were also seriously injured, and several low-level aquatic turtles had broken shells and floated quietly on the water.

There were also several sea crocodiles whose flesh and blood had been contaminated by the Kuroshio Current.

Even with watermarks to suppress it, it still struggles in pain.

After swallowing the demon core, the Sea-Splitting Crocodile King's aura broke through to the mid-stage of the fifth rank.

It did not leave immediately, but dragged its wounded body to the side of a severely injured crocodile. Looking at the other's bleeding wound, its eyes darkened.

"Bring all injured aquatic creatures back to the water gate. Treat the slightly injured immediately, and isolate the seriously injured."

The Sea-Splitter Crocodile King said in a deep voice, "If the Kuroshio pollution cannot be eliminated, kill it directly."

The surrounding aquatic creatures shuddered.

"As you command, Commander!"

In this battle, the Zhenhai Navy lost more than 300 aquatic creatures, most of which were low-level alien beasts that had just surrendered. The surviving aquatic creatures looked at the Rift Sea Crocodile King and Xuanjia with completely different eyes.

They accepted the Azure Lotus Mark primarily to escape the chaos of the East Sea and to survive.

But after tonight, they finally understood that the Zhenhai Army was not a group of scattered soldiers who had fled to Lingnan to huddle together for warmth.

Rather, it is an army that truly dares to fight against the Black Tide and defend the water gate.

Xuanjia stood above the water gate.

It looked down at the Zhenhai Navy and remained silent for a long time.

A moment later, it raised its front paw, and a ray of deep blue light fell from above the water gate, but the light did not fall on the severely injured aquatic creatures.

Instead, it landed on the corpses of all the aquatic creatures that had died in battle.

The river surged, carrying the corpses of the battle-stricken aquatic creatures to the depths of the riverbank.

"Those who died in the Zhenhai Army battle will be buried in the Linjiang Water Cemetery, and their clans may remain in the Lingnan waters to reproduce."

Xuanjia's voice echoed across the entire river, causing a large number of aquatic creatures to lower their heads.

At this moment, their gazes toward the Xuanjia held a newfound sense of genuine awe.

……

Inside Heilong Lake.

Chu Zhou saw everything at Linjiang Water Gate through the Zhenhai Sea Seal, and Xuanjia did not show the slightest jealousy because of the Sea-Splitting Crocodile King's breakthrough.

They did not lose their composure despite losing hundreds of aquatic creatures.

This pleased Chu Zhou greatly.

"Black Armor".

"Your subordinate is here."

"That was a good battle."

Xuanjia lowered his head: "This subordinate is incompetent. I failed to discover the tide-drawing formation in advance, resulting in heavy losses for the Zhenhai Army."

Chu Zhou said calmly, "In war, people always die. The important thing is how many bones your Zhenhai Army will have left after you've died once."

Xuanjia was silent for a moment, then said, "Understood."

Chu Zhou's gaze fell on the three water seals that pacify the sea. After this battle, the three water seals had acquired a very special aura.

That was not ordinary water elemental power, but the military force formed by the combined battle of over a thousand aquatic creatures.

[Ding! The Zhenhai Navy has successfully completed its first large-scale operation.]

[The combined forces of the elite troops, clad in black armor, bolstered the naval power of the Zhenhai Army.

[Current military situation: Initial formation.]

[Tip: The Xuanjia companion can leverage the Zhenhai Navy's power to strengthen its own water-based domain.]

Chu Zhou's eyes flickered slightly. The power of the Xuanjia now came not only from its own bloodline and demon core.

It began to have an army that truly belonged to it.

If one day...

With the Zhenhai Army reaching tens of thousands in size, Xuanjia might be able to leverage its military strength to advance to the sixth rank.

"Xuanjia, from today onwards, the Zhenhai Army can continue to expand. The number is not important. What I need are aquatic creatures that can guard the water gates, kill the enemy, and obey military orders."

Xuanjia said in a deep voice, "This subordinate will not disappoint the master."

Just then, a slight tremor suddenly came from the depths of the Zhenhai Sea Seal. The tremor was not from the Black Tide, but from a purer and more vast fluctuation of water-based spiritual energy.

Chu Zhou's consciousness spread along the watermark.

Soon he saw that hundreds of miles away from the Lingnan coast, a once calm sea suddenly began to slowly rotate.

The seawater formed a huge whirlpool.

A faint blue light shot into the sky from the center of the vortex.

"Trendy eye?"

In the underground ancient city.

The strange rock, its crimson eyes flashing, exclaimed in surprise, "A natural tidal eye has actually formed near the sea in Lingnan!"

Chu Zhou asked, "What's the use of the tide eye?"

Strange Stone snorted coldly: "Your turtle is quite lucky. The Tide Eye is where the river and the sea meet, and spiritual energy gathers. If aquatic creatures can occupy the Tide Eye, not only will their cultivation speed increase dramatically, but they can also use the Tide Eye to temper their bloodline."

"Especially your Zhenhai Navy, if you refine the Tide Eye into the three water gates, the defense of the Lingnan waters will be improved by at least several times."

Chu Zhou's eight lotus leaves swayed, and he naturally understood what this tidal bore meant to Xuanjia.

However, the appearance of the same tide eye will inevitably attract competition from other aquatic creatures.

"Black Armor".

Chu Zhou's voice came out.

"Your subordinate is here."

"A tidal bore has appeared off the coast of Lingnan. You shall lead the Zhenhai Army to investigate, but do not act rashly."

Xuanjia was taken aback and asked, "Master, what if someone else tries to take it?"

Chu Zhou said calmly, "Then tell them the rules: the tide's eye is in Lingnan, and the waters of Lingnan belong to me."

……

Meanwhile, south of Hailing City, outside an abandoned shipyard.

The black tide formation inside the factory was constantly collapsing, and black water flowed back along the cracks.

Lu Tianhe had already been killed by Chen Mo and Xuan Ku. Just as everyone was preparing to clean up the scene.

At the edge of the old port, a cargo ship that had been docked for many years suddenly began to shake violently.

boom!

The cargo ship's hull suddenly burst open, and a large amount of black seawater gushed out from the cargo hold.

Chen Mo's expression changed drastically: "There's more!"

The next moment, dozens of black fleshy eggs, each half the height of a person, rolled out from the wrecked cargo ship.

The surface of those fleshy eggs kept wriggling, and one of them split open, revealing a wet, black hand emerging from it.

"retreat!"

Chen Mo shouted, and the members of the Qinglian Society quickly retreated. However, one of the outer members was unable to dodge in time and was grabbed by the ankle by that dark hand.

"Help me!"

The member's face turned deathly pale, and from within the black fleshy egg, a humanoid monster, soaking wet, crawled out.

It has no skin; its flesh is covered with black, damp stripes, and on its chest, a huge mouth full of sharp teeth is split open.

Early stage of fourth tier, Tide-transformed Corpse Puppet.

"Hmm..."

The monster opened its mouth and made a hoarse sound.

The next moment, its massive maw opened wide, about to swallow the Qinglian Society member whole.

hum!

A golden Buddhist seal suddenly descended, causing the tidal corpse puppet's body to shudder violently. It was sent flying backward, its body exploding on the spot and turning into a blood mist.

Xuan Ku took a step forward and said, "It seems that these fleshy eggs were not naturally conceived by the Black Tide, but rather artificially cultivated tidal containers."

Chen Mo's eyes flashed with even more murderous intent. The Hailing Group was not only smuggling Tide Bone Powder, but they were also using living people and Black Tide Beast Bones to cultivate this monster.

"Leave no one alive."

Chen Mo said coldly, "But leave the flesh and eggs behind and send them to the Pure Lotus Courtyard to find out what's inside."

The members of the Green Lotus Society acted swiftly, sending vines piercing the ground and binding the constantly rolling fleshy eggs.

Xuan Ku's Buddhist seals fell one after another, causing the black fleshy eggs to explode continuously. The molten corpse puppets that crawled out of them were immediately suppressed and killed by the Buddhist seals and vines.

Within minutes, dozens of rotting corpses appeared on the ground in the old port.

In the end, one flesh egg remained intact. On the surface of that flesh egg, a strange blue pattern appeared, unlike that of ordinary Black Tide flesh eggs.

It is not aggressive; on the contrary, it faintly exudes an extremely pure water-based spiritual power.

Xuan Ku frowned deeply: "This thing is a bit special."

Chen Mo said, "Take it back, but don't touch it yet. Use the seal of the Pure Lotus Courtyard to suppress it."

Xuan Ku also wanted it, and without further ado, he sealed the blood egg.