<h4>Chapter 246: Evolve to Hundred Thousand Years, Tang San’s Fifth Spirit Ring</h4>
(TL: Armored Raven)
“Heehee, you’rete.” Sea Witch already soared from the other side of the sacred pir. The ck flute in her hand glowed in ck light and its holes shot out seven rays, binding Ning Rongrong before the flute’s third spirit ring glowed next.
However, Sea Witch just sensed that something wasn’t right when she attacked, because her mind reading was supposed to be constant. She was used to getting her opponents’ movements from constant mind reading. Unless the opponent’s spirit force was equal to or higher than her own, then the sess rate of mind reading would be extremely high. But just now she managed to read Ning Rongrong for a moment, and suddenly she couldn’t get the thoughts. It was like Ning Rongrong was enveloped by a special form of energy, protecting her mental world.
What was the meaning of this?
Without a question, this was Tang San’s handiwork. At the next moment, Ning Rongrong’s mouth let out a clear phoenix cry. Scorching mes erupted from her body, turning her into a majestic ming phoenix to ram against Sea Witch’s attack.
Indeed, Sea Witch was a Title Douluo and Ning Rongrong wasn’t even level 80. The skills which thetter could use were only at 80 percent of the originals’ strength. But Sea Witch’s disadvantage was that she relied on mind reading and underestimated Ning Rongrong too much. She didn’t want to hurt Rongrong as well. Thus when she used the her third spirit skill, the speed of it was dyed as she just wanted to catch Rongrong and make sure there would be no support. What she thought was that a support type spirit master couldn’t possibly defend against her. But what appeared before her instead was a zing phoenix me.
Who specified that Ning Rongrong could only support her ownpanions in battles? Oscar of the Shrek Seven was no less effective as a supportpared to her. His mirror image sausages made anything possible. Otherwise, when everyone challenged Title Douluos, except for Tang San, who would dare say they alone could protect Ning Rongrong properly?
The reason Tang San used spirit power to shield Ning Rongrong was because she hid behind the Sea Witch Sacred Pir before eating the mirror image sausage made with Ma Hongjun’s blood, causing her battle spirit to be phoenix temporarily. Meanwhile, she unleashed the phoenix avatar right away like she had no hesitations in vaporizing the seven beams of ck light from Sea Witch. At the same time, she rammed into the dumbstruck Sea Witch.
Phoenix Cloudbreaker was executed even though Ning Rongrong couldn’t generate a burst of force that matched with Ma Hongjun’s own, but the technique itself could be used. When both of Ning Rongrong and Sea Witch made contact, Ning Rongrong used Ma Hongjun’s strongest single target attack skill right away. Even though the skill’s power was just 80 percent, when Phoenix Avatar was put up, it would still be considerably fearsome. Especially so when the distance between both of them was so close. Sea Witch absolutely had no way of avoiding it.
Meanwhile, Zhu Zhuqing who was just screaming, had turned into a ck shadow which moved stealthily, and in mid-air, her body hadpletely transformed into a nimble ck cat. Hell Transformation was more akin to a cloud of smoke which almost glided along the sea’s surface.
With a muffled grunt, Sea Witch could only use her ck flute to block her front, but in her haste, she couldn’t even use skills to protect herself. Being rammed by the phoenix form and blown by Phoenix Cloudbreaker, her humored look with a smile was turned into zing red. She spun herself in mid-air for three rotations so that she could avoid Ning Rongrong’s next attack. At the same time, the ck flute produced countless false images and blocked Ning Rongrong’s attack with a series of ‘WOOOO’ sounds.
Just then, Zhu Zhuqing arrived. Her body became shadows again, but instead of dispersed formations, they were afterimages which connected together. This was her fifth spirit skill, Hell Connected Shadows. The attack power of every afterimage would be weaker than thest by 10 percent. With a total of nine afterimages, the individual power count wouldn’t be a big deal, but when connected together, it was an extremely frightening skill which sufficiently disyed the terrifying offensive power of agility attack type spirit masters.
Sea Witch’s mind was now in a mess. She used to calcte others, but not being calcted by opponents like in the present, which made her very dissatisfied. But what woulde from dissatisfaction? zing heat was spreading in the body and agonizing pain spread throughout. As someone whose nature was weak against ming phoenixes, in three seconds after being hit by Phoenix Cloudbreaker, she couldn’t use any skills whatsoever. And three seconds was enough for Zhu Zhuqing to execute more than three attacks.
Even as a Title Douluo, without being in spirit avatar state, the oue of bearing Zhu Zhuqing’s ss of attacks for three times was imaginable, which meant heavy injuries if not death. Sea Witch couldn’t use all of her strength. Wanting to y with her opponents, but being yed in their palms instead, she lost all of her winning chances.
The greatest advantage would often be the greatest disadvantage as well. Sea Witch’s enticing ability was extremely powerful and she could even read minds, making her an opponent’s nightmare. But likewise, she was too confident about this part of herself, to the point that she wouldn’t waste spirit power to attack after charming an opponent. Grasping this part allowed Tang San to create the current situation, capping the deal with his touch. ‘Aren’t you good at swaying others? Then I’m gonna sway you back, to the point that I won’t let you have the chance to use skills.’
Ning Rongrong’s attack made the opponent unable to act, and Zhu Zhuqing’s next attacks gave Sea Witch a destructive blow. Even when resisting she would suffer heavy trauma while unable to use skills.
“I admit defeat!” Sea Witch screamed. On Sea Witch Sacred Pir, a golden light beamed on her. Then, Zhu Zhuqing missed her while Sea Witch herself appeared at the bottom of the sacred pir with a pale look on her face and abject fear.
Without hesitation, two branded waves were shot out andnded on Ning Rongrong and Zhu Zhuqing. She was clever. Since she knew she wasn’t their match, why let herself be damaged heavily? She just admitted defeat and used the sacred pir’s power to avoid Zhu Zhuqing’s attack.
Though this wasn’t Shrek Seven’s first time seeing the power of the sacred pirs, it was their first time seeing it in the middle of a fight. Needless to say, if Title Douluos were using the powers from the sacred pirs from the start, then they would have no chances whatsoever.
The light of the red seven pointed star on Ning Rongrong’s forehead shed greatly and the phoenix mes dispersed quickly, whilending safely on the tform. She just passed all four battles she took part in andpleted Seagod’s Fifth Trial. Even though in the first battle, Tang San defeated Seahorse Douluo who Oscar finally won against with her support, she gave it her all in the three battles after that, especially during the one against Sea Lance Douluo and this one. She achieved a great result.
“Using strength and wisdom, domain and spirit skills. Helping others to pass their tests. Top ss seven trials, fifth trial passed. Rewarding all the spirit rings levels to raise by a thousand years, and spirit power to raise by one level.”
Ning Rongrong’s own seven spirit rings appeared simultaneously, and with a shine of light, her spirit rings now appeared to be incredibly bnced; Four purples and three cks. Spirit power was raised to level 78 after the trial’s reward. With the rise of her spirit skills’ quality, her buffing time was increased once more and her own element raised.
Unlike Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing’s hovered in mid-air after taking the brand. Illusionary ck light didn’t enter her body after shattering. Countless ck spots came from her body andbined into one with the fragments. On her forehead, the ck five pointed star released haloes which absorbed the ck lights.
Illusions were starting to appear behind Zhu Zhuqing. From the moment of the first trial, to Seagod’s light, then breakthrough of the ring-shaped sea’s lockdown, and the third to fifth trials all shed back. A majestic voice rang, and this time, it wasn’t her alone who could hear it. Everyone nearby could clearly hear that deep voice.
“Fifth trial, challenge, Title Douluo,plete. ck ss Five Trialspleted. With exceptional determination and ceaseless diligence, you surpassed difficult obstacles and passed all the tests. Special reward, Seagod Ind ck ss privileges, spirit power increase by two levels, one god bestowed spirit ring.”
The ck lights all turned into apressed ck shine in front of Zhu Zhuqing and her forehead’s brand slowly disappeared. When the ck shine turnedpletely solid, the bestowed spirit ring which once appeared in Seagod Douluo Bo Saixi’s hand was right here in front of her.
Zhu Zhuqing was shocked at the bestowed spirit ring in front of her. She was very happy and spoke with some disbelief, “Didn’t senior Bo Saixi said that ck ss Trials only give one bestowed spirit ring? This is… .”
Sea Witch pouted somewhat, “You’re lucky. ck ss Trials’ final reward giving you a spirit level increase aside, another level increase was thrown in as an overall reward. On top of that, you’ll also get a support skill. When your spirit power hits a limit point and you need a spirit ring, then the rewarded skill automatically bes a bestowed spirit ring. That’s why you have a second bestowed spirit ring. With it, you’ll have a spirit skill that suits you the most and one you can withstand the greatest. So fortunate. Why wasn’t I that lucky back then?”
Zhu Zhuqing’s spirit level was at level 78 before she took the fifth trial. Increasing two levels, reaching the level 80 bottleneck, she got the second bestowed spirit ring as a reward in the process.
Ning Rongrong who was happy after getting her reward as well, spoke beside Zhu Zhuqing, “You’re lucky indeed, Zhuqing. Hurry and absorb it at the coast. With this you’ll be reaching Spirit Douluo one step ahead of Dai Mubai. Haha, Boss Dai is gonna be frustrated this time. Sea Witch, I’m really sorry for that just now. I hope I didn’t hurt you.”
Sea Witch grumped, “I didn’t really mean to attack you, but you’re so vicious. But, I can’t entirely fault you for it, since it’s that mean guy’s fault. Hey mean guy, don’t you wanna challenge me? Come on then. I’m gonna let you know what I’m made of. As for her, there’s no need to get to the coast so just do it here. It’s the safest where there’s sacred pir’s protection.”
While she spoke, Sea Witch pressed on the sacred pir lightly, and a golden beam of light covered Zhu Zhuqing’s body. Under the cover of the holy radiance, Zhu Zhuqing watched the coast reluctantly. She sat down with her knees put together after Tang San nodded, absorbing her eighth spirit ring.
Ma Hongjun bumped Dai Mubai next to him and grinned, “Boss Dai, Zhuqing’s gonna be Spirit Douluo earlier than you. What are your thoughts?”
Dai Mubai spat out, “That’s my wife. Of course I’m happy that her strength is increased. Our Six Trials also offer the ck ss Five Trials’ final reward. When I pass the next one, I’ll get a bestowed spirit ring as well and reach Spirit Douluo stage.”
Ma Hongjun spoke, “I’m also level 78 now. Seems like afterpleting ck ss Six Trials, the overall reward is not gonna be lower than Five Trials, so I’m gonna be a Spirit Douluo like you too. Haha, Boss Dai, I’m gonna catch up to you too!”
While they were talking, Tang San already soared while holding Xiao Wu, andnded on the sacred pir’s tform. The mean guy that Sea Witch referred to was obviously him.
Sea Witch stared at Tang San fiercely, “You wanna challenge too right. Thene. I won’t show you any mercy.”
“Oh? You knew?” Tang San looked at her like he was surprised.
Sea Witch grumped, “Seagod’s Seven Sacred Pirs’ Guardian Douluos are vitally connected. We naturally have our way of conversing. Lord Seagod’s chosen one actually resorts to trickery. Just you wait. There will be suffering for you.”
Tang San replied, “How about this. You just focus on me. I’ll listen to your tune once. If your tune can’t defeat me, then let me pass.”
Sea Witch was startled, “You wanna listen to my Sea Calming Divine Song? Not gonna attack me while I’m weakened?”
Tang San smiled, “What’s a single tune from you? I’ve never seen a Title Douluo who uses soundwaves to attack opponents. I’ll think of it as broadening my horizons. Since you’re already injured, I still have an upper hand.”
Sea Witch looked at Xiao Wu next to Tang San and stopped ying cute. She smiled coldly, “Great! Since you want to listen, I’ll oblige.”
Ning Rongrong who was still on the tform couldn’t help but voicing her concerns in low voice, “San Ge, you still have challenges ahead. Are you… .”
Tang San smiled at her while nodding, “It’s fine. I really want to see what senior Sea Witch’s flute is all about. Rongrong, you get to the coast first.”
After listening to what he said, Ning Rongrong ced confidence in her San Ge. She nodded and grew a pair of transparent wings after eating flying mushroom sausage, heading to the coast. Tang San held Xiao Wu and ced her down not far from Zhu Zhuqing, then walked to the edge of the tform. He gestured for Sea Witch to begin.
Sea Witch red fiercely before hitting the waters, her legs once again turned into a fishtail. She swam against the waves and stopped just after several tens of metres away.
Her expression turned serious, Sea Witch instinctively knew that this young man in her eyes was stronger than the rest of the Shrek Seven. Although it could be said that he used clever tricks in the previous five tests, he also used true strength to defeat Seahorse, Sea Illusion and Sea Star Douluos. Sea Witch Douluo didn’t think of herself being stronger than Sea Illusion Douluo. Plus she was injured. How could she not give it her all?
Holding the flute horizontally in front of her chest, the ck seventh spirit ring glowed. Her seventh spirit skill’s spirit avatar was incredibly unique. The ck flute unleashed a light that enveloped the flute and Sea Witch herself. This was followed by the ck light surging towards the sky, and Sea Witch herself actually increased in size for several times, along with the flute. As her own being increased in size however, the whole look appeared to be more transparent.
Sea Witch stopped erging after her height reached more than ten metres. Her giant fishtail created waves on the sea. After increasing in size, Sea Witch’s figure was more striking and every detail of her expressions was gentle and beautiful.
Tang San couldn’t help but nodding in secret upon seeing this. Spirit masters of the sea were truly simr yet different in some wayspared to spirit masters of thend. This was the first time he saw such a special spirit avatar. Although he still couldn’t understand the principles behind it, he thought it wouldn’t pale inparison to Sea Lance Douluo and his spirit avatar transformation.
Without looking any further, Tang San ced his palms and fingers on his knees as he sat with his feet crossed together. His eyes closed firmly like he was one with heaven and earth at the moment, silent like a statue.
Humm——, the sound rang in Tang San’s ears. Sea Witch was doing what she just said, allowing only Tang San to hear this and not having Xiao Wu and Zhu Zhuqing be affected, while neither were the others of the Shrek Seven on the coast.
Hearing the first sound of the flute, Tang San shook visibly, but he quickly regained posture as ayer of faint blue light came from his forehead which covered him whole.
Sea Witch didn’t look at Tang San any further, and put all her concentration into ying her ck flute. The sounds of it were like cries and reprisals.
The sea became still as every wave were frozen by the sound of her flute. Only the ck waves came from Sea Witch herself. They were apanied by her ninth spirit ring.
Sea Witch’s ninth spirit skill, Sea Calming Divine Song. Huge area attack skill. Using the sounds of the flute, it would cause listeners unable to raise any resistance, disappearing into the sound of the flute. Because the skill travelled using sound, the attack range could be huge without influencing its effects.
Sea Calming Divine Song was a mental attack, which also meant that among the sacred pir Guardian Douluos, it was the strongestrge area attack skill. Only when using it, the yer of the tune wasparably weak, and before using it, Sea Witch must undergo a short warm up time. In other words, in order to truly utilize this skill, she must not be interrupted by her opponent before she would y. She would need someone to protect her.
At first, when Evil Spirit Orcas hunted down the Great White Spirit Sharks to Seagod Ind, Sea Witch once used this tune to repel the former. The terror of this tune was imaginable.
Tang San didn’t stop shaking under the tune, but no matter how much he shook, he didn’t fall. He also didn’t release his domain and just listened quietly. Only the golden trident brand kept releasing the blue light that covered him.
At the coastside, Dai Mubai, Oscar, Ning Rongrong, and Ma Hongjun were watching Tang San nervously. Tang San mustn''t lose, or it would mean that after 72 hours had passed, he must start over from the beginning. Not only would he have to face all the seven sacred pirs’ Sea Douluos, but also after having all of his techniques seen. If they were to be challenged again, the difficulty would only be greater.
They couldn’t understand why Tang San would let Sea Witch y out her Sea Calming Divine Song. He actually didn’t, because before that, when Zhu Zhuqing and Ning Rongrong made theirst attack under his instructions which forced Sea Witch to admit defeat, he felt his spirit power undergo a sudden mutation.
The spirit power that was always in control suddenly tremored. Tang San thought that it was because because he didn’t filter out the energy he absorbed from Sea Star Douluopletely just now, but soon he discovered that the cause was himself. Because the problem lied in the conflict between his Blue Silver Emperor battle spirit and Mysterious Heaven Skill Inner Power.
Blue Silver Emperor seemed to have taken specific stimtion as its exclusive aura was rampaging inside Tang San’s body, while Mysterious Heaven Skill Inner Power protected his body naturally, prompting this battle with the aura. The two energies originally united in one ce were in dischord, and Tang San’s body became a battlefield. The condition became stable just now when hended on the sacred pir tform. In secret, there seemed to be a specific thought that led him to tell Sea Witch to listen to her tune. Even Tang San didn’t clearly understand why he would choose to challenge her without resting first. While having made this decision, the Seagod’s Trident Brand was secretly releasing special spirit waves that affected his own decisions.
When Sea Calming Divine Song started ying, Tang San already had no other options. When he was using his own mind power to resist the sound of the flute head on, he suddenly discovered that upon hearing the first tune, his body’s conflicting powers had calmed down somewhat. This discovery cause Tang San’s power to go nk instead of keeping the bnce, and this caused him to shake fiercely.
As the tune continued on, Tang San discovered that not only it couldn’t hurt him, but also like a huge furnace, helping his own body’s two boiling energies to start the fusion process once again. He would love the Sea Calming Divine Comedy to drag out longer so that it could help him finish this fusion process.
Meanwhile, his body’s five spots where he had spirit bones were starting to go hot again. The condition which he was supposed to have ovee upon having spirit avatar was happening again, and this time, the heat was far greater than before. What Tang San felt was not pain, but aforting scalding instead.
In all the five spirit bones, the one with the highest temperature was Vast Sea Veil’s skull, and the golden trident brand was even closer to a burning red branding steel. Upon closer inspection, one could see that Tang San’s surrounding air was slightly distorted. That was due to his body releasing the heat.
Tang San could clearly feel that his body was undergoing an incredibly bizarre event. He couldn’t say what it was, but he was sure that it wasn’t a bad thing. Because, thatforting feeling became increasingly obvious and his senses started bing clearer. Although his eyes were shut, the surroundings were in his grasp. He even saw the drops of sweat dripping down Sea Witch’s forehead.
The more Tang San was enjoying it, the more anxious Sea Witch became. Ning Rongrong may have hurt her, but her spirit power wasn’t affected. The deployed ninth spirit skill wouldn’t be worse than doing it at her top condition. She thought that Tang San choosing to listen to Sea Calming Divine Song would likemitting suicide.
As the flute was yed, Tang San looked like he was on a small boat on a sea that could be capsized anytime, but the Sea Calming Divine Song came at him like tall waves, yet couldn’t flip the boat over. What confused Sea Witch the most, was that Tang San became more and more stable as he was sitting there. He was like an unshakable hill, as no matter how much he was shaken, it would be a waste of effort. ‘A powerful wide area attack ninth spirit skill had no effect on this person? Even if he has seagod’s light, it shouldn’t be enough to immunize him from my tune!’
Long periods of using the ninth spirit skill would mean an incrediblyrge consumption from the self. Although Sea Witch used spirit power to pull it off, activating spirit avatar and ninth spirit skill would need massive amounts of it. The power of the skill wasn’t affected by her injuries but the spirit power itself was affected. She might’ve went with full strength, but as time went on, the sounds of her flute gradually became disorderly.
Sea Witch was unhappy, just like when Sea Lance Douluo lost to Tang San. But seeing was believing. What would being unhappy bring? The result would still not change.
The sounds of the flute suddenly stopped. The ck waves disappeared, and Sea Witch reverted back to her original size. Her face went pale as she slipped into the waves that flowed again. She moved her fishtail and swam towards the coast slowly.
Right then, in all of a sudden, Tang San suddenly burst in an eye catching golden light. In that golden light, there were countless blue lights. Next, blue golden mes surged the skies like an instantly lit bonfire. The height of it even surpassed the height of the sacred pir.
In the sound of a giant explosion, Sea Witch Sacred Pir’s surroundings boiled instantly and all the nearby seawater rose up to several tens of metres tall beforending heavily. Even Sea Witch herself could feel the shock of that absurd force. The blue golden mes of light turned into a halo and spread out, and an eerie scene took ce. Wherever the halo reached, the coastside nts were instantly turned blue and gold in color. Next, some nts started growing like crazy, no matter what they were. In a few blinks of an eye, they all grew to three times their original sizes.
The people reached by the halo, besides Zhu Zhuqing who was under the sacred pir’s protection, all clearly felt a massive indescribable life force flowing into them and they felt like they were restored to peak condition.
Even the somewhat depleted Sea Witch, upon being passed by the blue golden halo, also lost the feeling of weakness.
‘What… . What is this?’ Everyone had the same question in their minds. And Tang San started showing vivid spirit rings.
“Look! San Ge’s fifth spirit ring!” Ning Rongrong yelled in surprise.
Tang San’s eight spirit rings’ colors were originally: yellow, yellow, purple, ck, ck, red, red, red.
But right now, his fifth spirit ring, the ck one, suddenly showed a strange change. In the surge of the blue golden halo, the fifth spirit ring which had the Blue Silver Emperor Javelin skill started to let out ayer of red light from the original ck. The color of red slowly and surely crept along, until the whole spirit ring was covered.
…
“Great king, we should be thankful to you. Because of your appearance, our greater drive for life was aroused. The spirit ring which you now obtain, is the coalescence that I made ording to your withstandable limits. In human terms, this spirit ring of yours is roughly equal to what twenty five thousand year spirit beasts can bring. It didn’te from another world, but from yourself. It will strengthen and evolve ording to your body’s withstandable power. Every time you are in the the world of your children, it will change itself ording to your body.”
…
A benevolent voice ringed in Tang San’s mind. It was Blue Silver King talking to him when he got the fifth spirit ring.
Indeed. As Tang San’s body’s withstandable power changed, his fifth spirit ring could already change, but the sixth spirit ring was at a hundred thousand years in level, so the evolving process was suppressed. Unless Tang San’s fifth spirit ring could evolve to the same level as the sixth, then this evolving process could not be finished.
Tang San might’ve been able to withstand the shock of hundred thousand year spirit rings when absorbing the seventh spirit ring, but in reality, it was a limit breaking absorption, not his body’s true achievement of withstanding. When Tang San absorbed the Evil Spirit Orca King’s spirit ring, he had sufficient withstandability by then and the conditions for its evolution was reached, but the fifth spirit ring which was dormant for many years needed a powerful stimulus.
This time, he challenged several Seagod Seven Sacred Pirs’ Guardian Douluos. The powerful stimulus and strong emotional waves seeded in bing the mmable fuse and set off the prologue to its evolution. Especially when he absorbed Sea Star Douluo’s massive energies and life force, the fifth spirit ring’s Blue Silver Emperor waspletely awakened for its evolution, and now the aura in Tang San’s body and ck Sky Inner Power were rejecting each other.
With the help of Sea Calming Divine Song, Tang San’s fifth spirit ring finallypleted this arduous evolving process. Surpassing the limits, and enter the stage of hundred thousand years.
This was Tang San’s fourth hundred thousand year spirit ring, and also the most unique in everyone’s eyes. The evolution of the spirit ring itself had surpassed everyone’s range of knowledge. This happened when Tang Sanpleted the challenge of the sixth Title Douluo.
Golden brand printed on Tang San’s body from behind, and the Sea Witch Sacred Pir test was passed. Sea Witch who climbed up the tform just then had no disgust in her face, and only respect was left. She prayed towards the Seagod Hall in the same posture as the sacred pir (statue) itself, with eyes closed and her mouth uttering a prayer.
Blue golden lights slowly faded away, and Tang San looked at his own fifth spirit ring with equal surprise. As the spirit ring evolved, his own element once again made a huge increase. The light he radiated stimted the rapid growth of coastside nts, and these nts’ life force flowed back to his body little by little. The spirit power he used earlier was restored instantly at this moment.
Tang San lowered his head to Sea Witch slightly, “Pardon us for asking you to protect Zhu Zhuqing absorbing her bestowed spirit ring. We would like to continue on with the Fifth Trial’s challenges now.”
Sea Witch nodded slowly, “I await yourpletion of the Nine Trials, my lord.”
Upon hearing ‘my lord’, Tang San’s mind had a slightly bizarre feeling, like it seemed as if he could control everything. He took up Xiao Wu, greeted Sea Witch, and returned to the coastside.
Zhu Zhuqing had Sea Witch’s protection, so absorbing the bestowed spirit ring wasn’t an issue. Next, Tang San had to go to take on his final Title Douluo challenge, Sea Dragon Sacred Pir. The opponent he had to face was also the only one whose strength was at level 95 out of the seven sacred pir Guardian Douluos. The strongest of the seven.