Cave Refuge

The following events simplified matters greatly, as the countdown device hit zero and the two thermobaric bombs exploded instantly.

By then, the two thermobaric bombs had made their way inside the giant octopus, perhaps due to the creature's resilient body.

Which is why when the bombs detonated, the octopus's body didn't instantly burst apart.

Instead, under the high-temperature shockwave, the entire body of the octopus swelled up instantaneously like a just-inflated balloon.

As the octopus's body expanded to its limit, cracks started to appear on its surface, and as these fissures grew larger, the octopus's body also reached its breaking point.

Finally, with a loud 'boom,' the ballooned octopus burst, transforming into a shower of flesh and blood.

Witnessing these chunks of flesh rain down like a torrential downpour, Dong Tianyu suddenly felt a twinge of pity, for all of it was prime nourishment for the Bloodthirsty Banner.

But since Dong Tianyu had arranged for the Blood Wall to block the passage, he could only leave the Bloodthirsty Banner at the entrance. The reach of the Bloodthirsty Banner's absorption wasn't that extensive, and collecting the scattered remains amid such a wide area proved incredibly troublesome.

Therefore, Dong Tianyu could only watch as the prime nourishment was squandered.

However, although the flesh was wasted, the octopus's soul couldn't be allowed to go to waste. Dong Tianyu shook the Hundred Ghosts Banner, not even needing to summon the fierce ghosts from within, as the giant octopus's soul was drawn into the banner on its own accord.

While the octopus was massive, perhaps because it had been accelerated by the eerie green fog, the soul's quality was not too high. As soon as it entered the Hundred Ghosts Banner, it was instantly devoured by the fierce ghosts inside.

Once the rain of blood in the sky had completely ceased, Dong Tianyu stepped onto his Flying Swords and flew to where the giant octopus had been.

Perhaps it was because the thermobaric bombs had caused the octopus's body to inflate vertically due to the high-temperature shockwave; after the explosion, the ground was surprisingly not much damaged, at least not with the deep pits that a normal explosion would create.

It goes without saying that Dong Tianyu's purpose here was to find the core of the Mysterious Ship. After all, one could reasonably conclude that the octopus was the final boss within the Giant Ghost Ship, and that killing it should lead to the discovery of the ship's Mysterious Core.

The Mysterious Core, unlike strange objects, cannot be overlooked by scans of Divine Sense, so at that moment, Dong Tianyu's only worry was whether the core could withstand the close-range detonation of the thermobaric bombs.

Whether the Mysterious Core indeed had the resilience to withstand the close-range blast or it was due to being a product of the rules, in the end, through Divine Sense exploration, although the core was blasted far away by the explosion, Dong Tianyu eventually found it.

If it hadn't been for the fact that this core looked almost identical to other cores in both appearance and sensation, Dong Tianyu would never have believed that the object the size of a soccer ball before him could also be a core.

Typically, the cores Dong Tianyu encountered were not too large, fitting into the palm of a hand and easily concealed when he made a fist, although medium-sized cores were about as big as a goose egg. But the sheer size of this Giant Core was indeed quite exaggerated.

As Dong Tianyu took possession of this ship's core, the interior of the Mysterious Ship began to quake. From the top to the ground, cracks were appearing everywhere and grew larger as time passed.

If this were a typical movie or TV drama, the protagonist, escaping from such a place, would face numerous difficulties, perhaps even be forced to abandon some side characters due to the ever-widening cracks, before barely making it out alive.

However, Dong Tianyu, standing on his Flying Swords, took less than a minute to return to the entrance of the passageway. He picked up the White Bone Banner and Bloodthirsty Banner, retracted the White Bone Puppets and Blood Wall into the banners, and then passed through the passageway back into his Companion Spiritual Treasure.

Under Dong Tianyu's control, the four Drill Heads that had penetrated deep into the body of the Giant Ghost Ship detached instantly from its body, severing the connection between the two ships.

The body of the Giant Ghost Ship cracked open in more places, and as the seawater poured in relentlessly, the ship began to sink rapidly.

Watching the Giant Ghost Ship slowly descend to the ocean floor, Dong Tianyu directed his Companion Spiritual Treasure to depart from the area.

No longer followed by tails, Dong Tianyu immediately fed the newly acquired Giant Core to his Companion Spiritual Treasure.

Dong Tianyu had always despised the sort of story in which the hero, after gaining a heavenly material or treasure that could enhance their abilities, refrained from using it in a safe area.

Instead, they would wait until they faced great peril, risking a loss of potency and decreased effectiveness, to use it in a desperate bid to increase their own power.

Not being one to avoid good fortune and take on unnecessary hardship, Dong Tianyu seized the safe opportunity and carelessly tossed away the Giant Core.

Before the Giant Core even touched the ground, an appropriately sized depression suddenly appeared on the ground, and then it vanished from Dong Tianyu's sight.

As the Companion Spiritual Treasure devoured the Giant Core, it quivered slightly. Dong Tianyu then felt that his Companion Spiritual Treasure had changed from moments before.