DD Black White [351-352] (Patreon)

Chapter 351: The Actions of the Three Great Empires

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Almost simultaneously, Sunward Douluo and the representative of the Heavenly Soul Empire, both with extremely grave expressions, gave the same order to their respective subordinates.

At this moment, the powerhouses of the three great empires temporarily set aside their usual calculations, estrangement, and rivalry.

They were all shocked by this sudden disaster and potential threat, which far exceeded their imagination and understanding. Instinctively, they chose the most urgent and important response strategy.

Self-preservation, and at all costs, to quickly uncover the true identity of that mysterious enemy.

“Miss Wu Ming, and all the friends from Shrek,”

Skyhawk Douluo turned his gaze to Wu Ming and the others, his tone easing a little, with a hint of barely perceptible reassurance.

“The aura of destruction lingers heavily here, energy is chaotic, which is very disadvantageous for your recovery. For now, please come with us back to settle in Star Luo City. Your safety is of utmost importance. As for the details about the enemy, we still need to question you more thoroughly.”

He knew very well that without the backing of Shrek Academy, Wu Ming and the others were currently weak and isolated.

But he would never dare neglect them in the slightest.

Because the Pavilion Master of Sea God Pavilion, Xuan Zi, as well as several elders and many elite inner court disciples were still alive, currently in Mingdu.

The true core seed of Shrek Academy had not been cut off.

Although the three great empires were happy to see Shrek’s strength weakened, in this strange and dangerous sensitive period, if Shrek were truly uprooted, causing the balance of the continent to collapse, it would be a truly catastrophic earthquake.

Wu Ming, Chu Qingtian, and the others exchanged glances, their eyes full of unbearable sorrow and reluctance to leave this land soaked with their teachers' blood and the glory of the academy.

But they understood Skyhawk Douluo's words were correct.

With tears in their eyes, they cast one last, deep look at that endless abyss symbolizing destruction and the end, and nodded heavily.

“So it’s true… Shrek City… has fallen!”

…

In the Star Luo City royal palace, Xu Jiawei received Skyhawk Douluo’s intelligence via a special communication soul tool at the first possible moment.

Upon hearing the news of the beast tide retreating and Shrek City’s complete destruction, this always calm emperor actually knocked over the glass teacup on his desk.

The warm tea quickly seeped into the expensive velvet carpet, leaving a deep brown stain, like his complex and unspeakable feelings, silently spreading.

Sunlight streamed through the intricately carved window lattice, casting a checkerboard of light and shadow on his handsome, dignified face, but it could not brighten the deep, dark pool in his eyes.

Within that pool, there was regret and reflection, but even more so—a sense of relief that he could not help but admit.

As the emperor of the Star Luo Empire, Xu Jiawei perhaps had the deepest and most complex feelings toward Shrek Academy among the three monarchs.

In his youth, he once entered Shrek Academy incognito as an ordinary student. During that pure and passionate time, he not only learned advanced soul master skills and knowledge but also engraved upon his heart a sincere affection for that academy sanctuary.

Even after ascending the throne, every now and then, in the midst of reviewing documents, he would recall the sweat on Shrek’s broad training grounds, the rippling waters of Sea God Lake, and the faces of classmates who practiced and drank together.

But that rare friendship had long since been repeatedly weighed and tempered over decades of royal intrigue, gradually becoming diluted and distant.

He knew better than anyone that he was, first and foremost, the monarch of the Star Luo Empire, bearing the fate of billions, and only secondly that former Shrek student.

The fall of Shrek Academy meant the complete collapse of a balance that had lasted thousands of years on the Douluo Continent—the old order was gone, and a new order was about to rise.

His Star Crown Sect had already connected with Haiyuan City through Xu Jiujiu in advance, betting early on the dark horse, Lu Jingming.

“Your Majesty, Lord Skyhawk Douluo also reports that a handful of inner court Shrek disciples survived. He asks for permission to bring them to Star Luo City for proper protection.”

The captain of the guards beside him spoke in a low voice, as if afraid to disturb the emperor’s thoughts.

“Also, there is still no news from Mingdu. Our spies report that all long-distance communication soul tools within the Sun Moon Empire seem to have been completely blocked by some powerful force. All signals have been cut off.”

Xu Jiawei nodded slightly, his fingers tapping on the rosewood desk with a steady sound.

The other two empires might still be reeling from the shocking news of Shrek’s fall and worrying about the total blackout from Mingdu, but he already, through Xu Jiujiu’s channel, knew the inside story.

Mingdu had been captured by that so-called Antimatter Legion, and for safety, Lu Jingming had used incomprehensible spatial technology to send Xu Jiujiu, Ye Guyi, and other weaker individuals safely back to Haiyuan City.

Because of this, Xu Jiujiu was able to use a communication soul tool to send firsthand intelligence back to Star Luo, giving him a significant lead over Heavenly Soul and Dou Ling in understanding the truth.

Thinking of this, Xu Jiawei once again marveled at the unfathomable depth of Haiyuan City.

Just this ability to ignore distance and open spatial channels at will was enough to ensure Haiyuan City an invincible position in any conflict or crisis.

Able to advance or retreat at will, this nearly zero-risk strategic mobility was an absolute advantage that no empire’s large, soul tool-dependent army could match.

All the more reason for him to be certain of his earlier decision: betting the future of Star Crown Sect on Lu Jingming might be the most visionary and decisive choice he had made since ascending the throne.

“Relay my orders.”

Xu Jiawei’s voice instantly turned cold and majestic, full of unquestionable authority.

“From this moment, mobilize the main forces of the Northern and Eastern border armies. Order the entire Fifth and Sixth Royal Soul Master Legions to assemble and advance to the border of the Star Dou Great Forest to build defensive positions. Without my decree, no one is to cross the border without permission. But if attacked by soul beasts, they may retaliate with full force.”

The guard captain was visibly shaken by this large-scale mobilization order, but he had no doubt, and immediately bowed to accept the command.

“As you command, Your Majesty. I will see it done at once.”

Xu Jiawei slowly paced to the window, hands behind his back, gazing out at the majestic, densely packed city buildings, his eyes shining with depth.

He knew in his heart that there were many suspicious points behind this beast tide.

Soul beasts were strong, but to say they could push the millennia-old, powerhouse-filled Shrek Academy to total destruction, even with a Super Douluo above level ninety-five like Yan Shaozhe unable to escape, was too abnormal—against all logic.

More importantly, this brutal battle brought no real benefit to the soul beasts.

According to frontline reports, the soul beasts of Star Dou Forest suffered heavy losses as well—judging by the remains, they had lost at least tens of thousands.

With Di Tian’s cautious and calculating nature, he would never do something as stupid as losing eight hundred to kill a thousand. It made no sense for the soul beasts.

The only explanation was that the soul beasts had also been used, becoming pawns for some hidden mastermind.

And for someone to possess such means, able to even manipulate and force Di Tian to launch such a massive beast tide… made him recall the chilling name from Xu Jiujiu’s information: Lord Ravager.

Lu Jingming kept little from Xu Jiujiu. Although she did not know his exact plans, she knew some things, such as the existence of the second Lord Ravager, Phantylia.

After all, she had returned to Haiyuan City with Ye Guyi, and she also knew something about the Robin and Herta speculation.

But truth was truth, politics was politics.

Whether or not the soul beasts had been used, the fall of Shrek City demanded a clear account.

If the three great empires did nothing at this time, it would not only chill the hearts of all soul masters across the continent, but also make every force inside and outside their borders believe the empires were weak and easy to bully, destroying their prestige.

Thus, massing troops on the border and putting immense pressure on the Star Dou Forest was not just for the soul beasts to see, but for the world.

The Star Luo Empire would never stand by and watch the order of the continent trampled upon. They had both the determination and the ability to maintain their authority and stability.

“If necessary…”

Xu Jiawei pondered for a moment, a sharp light flashing in his eyes.

“We may consider forming a temporary alliance with the Heavenly Soul and Dou Ling Empires for joint action.”

“If the fierce beasts of Star Dou Forest remain stubborn, refuse communication, and continue to show hostility…”

He paused, his voice sinking.

“We do not rule out the possibility of the three empires joining forces to thoroughly purge the Star Dou Forest.”

If this had been said before, it would have been pure fantasy.

Back then, human soul masters completely relied on hunting soul beasts for spirit rings—the soul beasts were an indispensable core resource on the path of a soul master.

Even if Star Dou Forest repeatedly launched beast tides, the empires would at most send troops to help Shrek resist, never dreaming of, or daring to imagine, counterattacking or wiping out the soul beasts.

Chapter 352: Di Tian’s Guilt and Pain

In the past, no one ever considered large-scale slaughter of soul beasts.

After all, no one wanted to cut off their own roots and completely strangle the future of soul master civilization.

But now, times have changed.

The emergence and rapid spread of the Stigmata System provided soul masters with a new path of power, no longer needing to hunt soul beasts for spirit rings.

The explosive advancement of soul tool technology further developed special devices that could preserve spirit ring energy, as well as innovative technology that allowed non-killers to absorb spirit rings.

This meant that even without living soul beasts, humans could continue to train new generations of soul masters using preserved rings. reliance on soul beasts had reached a historical low.

This was good news for the survival of soul beasts, but it also buried enormous danger.

The downside was that humans now had no scruples regarding soul beasts.

When soul beasts transformed from a necessary strategic resource to a pure threat to continental security, the complete destruction of Star Dou Forest shifted from a crazy fantasy to a concrete and feasible strategic option that could be seriously discussed at the highest levels of the empire.

Xu Jiawei picked up a detailed military map of the Star Luo Empire, his slender finger slowly sliding between the regions marked Star Dou Forest and Mingdu.

The fall of Shrek City, the chaos in Mingdu, the inexplicable eruption of the beast tide.

This series of earth-shaking events seemed chaotic and unordered, but they all pointed in the same direction.

The Douluo Continent was experiencing a great upheaval unseen in millennia—a storm that would completely reshuffle the balance.

And the Star Luo Empire had to find its place in this storm, stand firm, and even ride the wind to rise.

He sighed lightly, spread the map out again, and his gaze became extremely deep.

The sunlight outside remained bright and brilliant, shining on this land that had prospered for thousands of years, but Xu Jiawei knew clearly that the old peace of Douluo Continent had completely ended.

A storm far greater than the Mingdu chaos or the destruction of Shrek was quietly beginning, using these two events as its prologue and catalyst, sweeping across the world.

He and his Star Luo Empire were already at the very center of the storm, with no choice but to ride the overwhelming waves step by step into an unknown and unpredictable future.

If the three great empires were truly determined to wipe out Star Dou Forest at any cost, it would be an extinction-level disaster—a genocide for all ordinary soul beasts except the few fierce beasts.

The three empires had long histories and deep foundations.

Just the Title Douluo powerhouses directly supported by their royal families numbered over thirty across the three nations.

If the war rose to a matter of species survival, all those reclusive elders from major sects, top academy deans, and solitary masters would surely be called out, whether for fame, profit, or the righteousness of humanity.

Counting these hidden top powers, humanity could mobilize Title Douluo-level strength surpassing fifty, maybe even approaching a hundred.

In this era, humanity had long been the undisputed masters of the Douluo Continent.

Soul beasts might have an edge in individual physical power and innate abilities, but in the face of overwhelming numbers and ever-advancing soul tool technology, they had no chance.

The fierce beasts were powerful, but the Star Dou Forest had only a handful of 100,000-year soul beasts at best. In terms of peak combat strength, they could not compare to the vast human ranks of Title Douluo.

What’s more, humans had all kinds of powerful soul tool cannons, cooperative soul tool arrays in legion warfare, and individual soul tool battle armor.

Even ordinary soldiers, after training, could operate heavy soul tool cannon arrays, whose volleys could devastate thousand- and ten-thousand-year soul beasts.

Thousands of soul tool rays forming crossfire nets created death barriers with no blind spots, harvesting all lower-tier soul beasts who dared to charge.

From any rational military analysis, soul beasts were at a total and absolute disadvantage.

Of course, all these cruel calculations were based on the premise that the Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena did not intervene.

Sadly, the three empires never knew of Gu Yuena’s existence, nor that this soul beast queen, asleep for countless years and holding the power of creation and elements, was the true trump card ensuring the survival of Star Dou Forest.

It must be said, Phantylia’s plot was both flawless and vicious.

She used Di Tian’s hand to trigger the beast tide, destroying humanity’s soul master sanctuary, Shrek, in one stroke, planting the seeds of extreme fear and hatred toward soul beasts in human hearts.

On the soul beast side, witnessing piles of clan corpses and massive casualties, their hatred of humanity reached its peak.

Now, the two sides were like two piles of dry wood soaked in oil; a single spark could ignite a war that would burn away the very foundation of continental civilization.

While the three empires were busily mobilizing their troops and forming a strategic encirclement of Star Dou Forest, the atmosphere by the Core Lake at the heart of the forest was stifling.

Di Tian, who had been temporarily frozen by Ganyu’s ultimate ice, had already broken free.

The moment Phantylia’s consciousness left his body, the Beast God used every bit of his spiritual power and will to furiously fight off the mark of destruction and control left deep in his soul by Phantylia.

After several hours, he finally managed to barely break free from that terrifying spiritual shackle and regain control of his body.

But before leaving, Phantylia had planted an even more vicious gift deep in his flesh and soul sea.

At this moment, Di Tian had taken human form. His tattered black robe set off his face, pale as paper, utterly bloodless.

He knelt on one knee in the damp earth by the lake, right hand pressing tightly on his head, veins bulging on his forehead like twisted worms, his face contorted in agony from pain at the soul level.

In front of him, Gu Yuena stood quietly at the water’s edge, her silver-white gown trailing the ground, her figure graceful. Her purple eyes were deep as an ancient cold lake, so calm that no emotion could be seen.

“Lord... Lord, it was my incompetence, my carelessness and underestimation... I was controlled by an external evil, causing... a terrible mistake...”

Di Tian’s voice was as hoarse as sandpaper scraping, each word full of pain and self-reproach.

“Because of me, tens of thousands of our kind died tragically, our clan’s vitality gravely wounded... I deserve a thousand deaths, I beg the Lord to grant me death, so that my blood may bring some comfort to the souls of our kin in heaven.”

Nearby, the fierce beasts Bi Ji, Ten Thousand Demon King, and Bear Lord, all in human form, looked at the kneeling Di Tian with faces full of complex emotion.

They had already learned part of the truth from Gu Yuena—that the order to launch the devastating beast tide had not come from her, but resulted from Di Tian being controlled.

Di Tian himself was an innocent victim, but the immense losses suffered by the soul beasts were a bloody reality.

Bi Ji’s jade-green eyes were full of pain and reluctance. She opened her mouth to plead for Di Tian, but when she met Gu Yuena’s icy, emotionless purple eyes, the words stuck in her throat.

Before the supreme soul beast queen, no one dared to speak without permission.

Di Tian truly wished for death.

As the guardian and ruler of Star Dou Forest for countless years, he had personally driven his own clan to the brink of destruction. The immense sense of guilt nearly crushed his will.

But for someone with Di Tian’s will, tempered for hundreds of thousands of years, that alone would not break him.

Rather than using death to escape, he would more likely atone by living.

What truly drove him to despair and seek death was the mark of destruction deeply embedded by Phantylia before leaving his body.

This mark had seeped into his bone marrow, corroded his soul core, and entwined his spirit.

Since being possessed by Phantylia, he had mysteriously gained a deathly, destructive attribute in addition to his original darkness, and his power had soared.

But the price for this power was that his soul was constantly assaulted by the mad whispers of destruction.

Those whispers, like billions of venomous snakes, hissed day and night in his mind, tempting him to give in, embrace the path of destruction, and shatter the vibrant civilization of Douluo Continent to nothingness.

For now, he could barely suppress it with his immense spiritual power and will, but he did not know how much longer his broken body could hold out.

If his will faltered and he fell, he would become the vanguard of the Antimatter Legion, bringing even greater disaster to the already wounded soul beasts.

So Di Tian would rather end his own life than become a butcher's knife in enemy hands once more.

The soul beasts could not withstand another internal blow.

“Lord, we have just received confirmed reports that the three human empires have assembled large elite forces and completely sealed off all known exits from Star Dou Forest.”

“Their soul master legions are building fortifications on the outskirts, and all kinds of large-caliber fixed soul tool cannons are in place, their barrels pointed at the forest core. Judging by this posture, they may launch a full-scale attack at any moment.”

At that moment, the Ten Thousand Demon King, responsible for outer defenses and intelligence, stepped forward on one knee and reported in a grave tone.

“Those damned humans! Outrageous!”

The most hot-tempered Bear Lord smashed the ground with a fist, his terrifying strength making the earth tremble. His eyes were red as he roared in rage.