DD Black White [425-426] (Patreon)

Chapter 425: Generals vs. the Army of Annihilation

The giant’s poison was undying, and his strength and defense had reached a terrifying level.

 His enormous fists pounded down like mountains. Any mecha that failed to evade was smashed flat in an instant, crushed as easily as thin metal plates.

He casually grabbed chunks of rock from the ground and hurled them into the sky. A floating battleship that had no time to dodge was struck full-on at the side, erupting into a massive fireball. Burning debris rained down like a downpour.

Like a tiger plunging into a flock, he single-handedly shot down more than ten floating battleships in a short span, shattered dozens of mecha, and completely overturned the orderly formations of the Sun Moon Empire.

However, before an army equipped with organized, top-tier weaponry, individual bravery ultimately has its limits.

The Sun Moon Empire reacted swiftly.

 Several rank-nine Soul Masters combined their strength, erecting a powerful soul tool barrier that just barely withstood Du Busi’s ferocious onslaught.

At the same time, the three strongest Doomsday Beasts abandoned their previous targets and lunged at Du Busi from different directions. Their dense, blood-red breaths continuously scorched his enormous body.

Hidden aboard the battleships were top-class sniper Soul Masters, who ceaselessly fired rank-nine soul tool rounds with immense piercing power, bombarding his vital points.

Even though Du Busi was a rank ninety-nine Limit Douluo and his body was incomparably tough, under such a concentrated, well-aimed encirclement, injuries finally began to appear.

Blood flowed like a waterfall. His colossal figure was covered in charred burns and ghastly bone-deep wounds visible to the naked eye.

In the end, a specialized soul-guided light beam from one of the rank-nine Soul Masters struck his heart with precise accuracy.

“Urgh—!”

Du Busi let out a pained snort. He could no longer maintain the true form of his giant martial soul. His body rapidly shrank, reverting to human form. He plummeted from the sky and slammed heavily into the ground. His breathing was extremely weak—he was grievously wounded and on the verge of death.

Just as the Heaven Soul Empire’s army was about to collapse completely due to the rout of their strongest combat force, a meteor pierced the sky, radiating an unparalleled sharp aura as it boldly descended into the battlefield.

Feixiao had arrived.

She still carried that heroic bearing, wielding an enormous longbow, her eyes sharp and resolute.

Without wasting a single meaningless word, she drew the bow directly and nocked an arrow. The wind gathered on the bowstring, condensing into an arrow of pure energy.

“Wail.

 Wail for me.”

The arrow loosed from the string like a streak of light, shooting straight at the Doomsday Beast in the sky.

These Doomsday Beasts, created by Celenova using materials and technology from Douluo Star, were flawed products—far inferior to the Doomsday Beasts that had appeared in Honkai.

Feixiao’s arrows possessed tremendous penetrating power. Piercing their scales and cores was no challenge at all.

The Doomsday Beasts howled as they plummeted from the sky, greatly easing the aerial pressure that had been suffocating the Heaven Soul Empire.

Right after that, Feixiao dove down into the ground battle, leading the Qingqiu Army. Like a red-hot blade, they pierced directly into the core of the Sun Moon Empire’s forces.

Her presence was like a gust of air breathed into dying embers, injecting strength into a fading flame, temporarily stabilizing Heaven Soul’s disastrous situation.

As Feixiao felled multiple Doomsday Beasts with thunderous momentum, loosing arrow after arrow, and as the Qingqiu Army sliced through the enemy lines like a sharp knife, momentarily reversing the tide—

A soul-shaking coercive presence surged forth like an invisible tide, instantly engulfing the entire battlefield on the Emerald Plains.

The sky seemed to be infiltrated by a higher-order power, stained with an ominous, strange hue between deep blue and dark violet.

Every being engaged in battle—whether human Soul Masters or the anti-matter legions—could not help but feel their hearts clench.

Feixiao transformed the longbow in her hand into a close-combat blade, cleaving an approaching mecha cleanly in half with a single stroke. Her keen perception suddenly flared, and she snapped her head up.

Right before her, in a patch of void, energy surged and roiled. A tiny green flame spontaneously ignited in mid-air, then rapidly spread and took form.

In the end, a towering figure with a bewitching yet mysterious air floated there, poised gracefully yet arrogantly in a half-kneeling posture.

She wore a modified cheongsam incorporating plant motifs, and her long, dark-green hair flowed freely, unmoved by any wind. In one hand she held a fan that appeared light and delicate, yet radiated dreadful power.

Most eye-catching of all was the enormous, enigmatic lotus suspended and slowly turning behind her, and the contradictory aura emanating from her—both vibrant life and deathly destruction interwoven.

The Lord Ravager—Phantylia—had finally descended personally.

“Hehe… The Vanquishing General of the Xianzhou truly is a masterpiece.”

Her golden eyes, shining like illusory light, fell upon Feixiao, carrying a trace of appreciation. Yet that appreciation was like the gaze of a collector staring at a precious artwork that was about to be broken.

“What a pity you’re destined to wither and die here.”

Feixiao’s pupils suddenly constricted. From Phantylia’s presence she felt an unprecedented pressure—more terrifying than any foe she had faced before, Doomsday Beasts included.

But she believed in the “Three No’s”—no fear, no regret, and no rival—and so she did not retreat in the slightest.

Fighting spirit blazed in her eyes. Azure wind elements burst forth around her and converged in a whirlwind.

“Enough nonsense. Fight.”

Feixiao roared and chose to strike first.

Facing the extinction monarch who excelled at manipulating hearts and controlling the rhythm, she knew she must not fall into Phantylia’s tempo.

Her figure shot forth like lightning, closing the distance in an instant. The spear in her hand condensed into a hyper-compressed blade of wind, stabbing straight for Phantylia’s face with momentum enough to tear everything asunder.

This strike was so fast it surpassed visual tracking. Only cyan afterimages cutting through the air could be seen.

But Phantylia merely smiled faintly, flicking her fan forward in a casual motion.

An invisible yet awe-inspiring pressure of wind erupted like the undercurrent hidden beneath a calm sea.

Feixiao’s wind blade—powerful enough to rip mecha apart—slammed into that pressure. Its speed dropped drastically, like a clay ox sinking into the sea. The compressed energy within it rapidly dissipated and scattered.

Not only that, the wind pressure did not weaken. It swept straight through Feixiao’s body. Her qi and blood surged violently, and her movements stalled for an instant.

“That’s all?”

Phantylia chuckled, then flicked the fingers of her other hand.

A tightly condensed azure wind-arrow shot forth in silence, its speed surpassing Feixiao’s own previous attack.

Relying on her honed combat instincts pushed to the limit, Feixiao twisted her body. The wind-arrow grazed over the armor on her shoulder.

The pauldron instantly shattered into powder. A searing, prickling sensation shot through the skin beneath, as a cold destructive energy tried to bore into her meridians.

Feixiao’s heart sank. She no longer dared to hold anything back. Her whole body surged upward again. Though her footing was unstable, she used speed in an attempt to find a flaw.

She launched continuous assaults. Cyan wind blades poured down on Phantylia like torrential rain, attacking from every conceivable angle.

Yet Phantylia remained in that eerie, elegant half-kneeling posture the entire time. With a flick here, a tap there, or a light press of her fan, she dissolved each of Feixiao’s attacks one by one.

Behind her, the colossal Profound Lotus slowly revolved, shedding tiny motes of life-imbued light. Wherever they fell, they repaired damaged anti-matter legion units on the battlefield, doubling the pressure on the Heaven Soul Empire’s forces.

“Enjoyed yourself enough?”

Phantylia seemed to lose patience. She pointed her fan toward the distant Feixiao.

All at once, Feixiao felt the surrounding space become incredibly viscous, as if countless invisible roots had thrust out from the void and were coiling around her limbs.

Her speed plummeted. Every movement became laborious, even the flow of energy inside her body was heavily obstructed.

She struggled desperately, wind blades whirling about her like madly dancing blades, slicing through the unseen chains. But for every root she severed, more surged forth to entangle her.

A cruel arc lifted the corner of Phantylia’s lips. She extended her palm, the skin turning as black as ink, then slowly closed her fingers in Feixiao’s direction.

She wanted to shatter this stubborn General’s body and soul together—an act of pure, aesthetic destruction.

Sensing the mortal crisis, Feixiao’s eyes flashed with steely resolve. She was ready to unleash a final, all-out blow, regardless of the cost.

At this critical instant—

“Phantylia, don’t get carried away!”

A majestic shout thundered across the battlefield like lightning cracking through the nine heavens.

Blinding golden lightning tore through the eerie sky Phantylia had woven, descending at indescribable speed between the heavens and Phantylia.

When the thunder dissipated, a tall figure clad in divine armor appeared. A lion’s head pauldron rested on his shoulder, and his white hair billowed in the storm of power.

He gripped a sword brimming with radiant lightning. The overwhelming force he exuded instantly drew the attention of the entire battlefield.

General of the Divine Foresight—Jing Yuan—had arrived just in time.

“Jing Yuan…”

Relief washed over Feixiao as the pressure eased. She looked at the broad back standing before her and exhaled softly.

Jing Yuan did not turn his head. In a low voice, he said,

 “General Feixiao, rest for a while. I will deal with her.”

Before he finished speaking, the long saber in his hand was already raised. Thunder and light gathered furiously along its blade.

“War Marshal.”

He skipped any form of probing, directly unleashing a battle art.

The saber slashed downward—not at Phantylia’s body, but at the sky above.

In that instant, countless pillars of golden lightning as thick as buckets cascaded down like a raging thunder dragon, drowning Phantylia and a vast swath of sky around her.

This was not a single strike, but a regional thunderstorm. Each bolt of lightning bore its own will, seeking out and splitting toward the points where the aura of destruction was strongest.

“Rumble—!!!”

The thunder was deafening. Many fighters were temporarily blinded by the searing glare of the bolts.

For the first time, Phantylia’s graceful composure was broken. She waved her fan, forming a blue energy barrier overhead to withstand the violent lightning barrage.

Thunder crashed upon the barrier, sending out continuous blasts of energy backlash and shaking the low-flying floating battleships nearby. Scattered arcs of lightning carved the ground into countless charred ravines.

“Another one… What a nuisance.”

A trace of solemnity entered Phantylia’s voice, but it was eclipsed by her deepening irritation.

“Do you fireflies truly think you can compete with the bright moon?”

She abandoned all pretense of banter, sweeping her fan in a powerful arc. Dust and wind pressure surged up to clash head-on with Jing Yuan’s lightning in the sky. Wind and thunder mixed together, forming visible vortices of chaotic energy that twisted the clouds overhead.

Some Doomsday Beasts and airborne Soul Masters who had flown too close were torn apart by the raging energy.

“Feixiao!”

Jing Yuan shouted.

He scarcely needed to say more; Feixiao instantly understood.

Enduring her wounds, she drew her bow once more.

This time, she poured in everything. On the bowstring, an arrow slowly took shape—denser and more saturated with destructive aura than any she had ever loosed before. This was her full-power strike.

At the same time, Jing Yuan stepped forward. Thunder roared wildly around him again.

He leveled his blade at Phantylia. Behind him, the void trembled as an immensely dignified, enormous figure formed of pure lightning—Lightning-Lord—condensed into being.

In that moment, the Lightning-Lord grew even more solid and swift. The colossal lightning blade in its hand crackled with fivefold layered thunder, each surge like a pounding heartbeat.

The Lightning-Lord let out a muted roar and, commanding the thunder, became a golden bridge of light that spanned the sky, charging toward Phantylia in a devastating strike.

For the first time, the combined force of these two powerful opponents truly threatened Phantylia’s body. Her expression finally changed.

With a sharp cry, the enormous mysterious lotus behind her suddenly bloomed with blinding light.

“Luxuriant Profound Lotus, bless my body!”

The Profound Lotus spun and descended, manifesting countless green light-shields that layered up in front of Phantylia.

At the same time, she abandoned her graceful half-kneel and stood up for the first time.

Her form began to change. Her skin turned cold and pale, her long hair became snow-white, her eyes burned with blazing orange light, and her lips were blood-red. Her entire aura was reforged—now fully integrating the dignity and pure power of this world’s Golden Tree, all founded upon the concept of destruction.

“Profound Root Transformation.”

She formed seals with her hands and no longer relied on her fan, directly drawing upon her most primal source of power.

A colossal torrent of energy, dark gold interwoven with a ghastly green, surged forth like a galaxy bursting its banks, roaring up to meet the charging Lightning-Lord in the sky.

The next moment—

Feixiao’s arrow left the string, transforming into a jade meteor that cleaved through the heavens.

Jing Yuan’s Lightning-Lord, wielding the might of thunder, plunged fearlessly into the oncoming torrent of energy.

“Boom—!!!”

An indescribable explosion erupted.

First, ultimate radiance devoured everything. It was as if a second sun had appeared in the skies above the Emerald Plains.

What followed was a cataclysmic roar of colliding laws and the wail of space itself, far exceeding any ordinary thunder, shaking the world in successive waves.

Centered on the point of impact, a spherical ring of destruction rapidly expanded outward. Golden thunder, green storms, azure destructive force, and dark-gold conceptual energy all braided together in that ring.

Wherever it passed—whether Sun Moon Empire mecha and anti-matter legions, or Heaven Soul Empire and Qingqiu Army Soul Masters—everything was reduced to drifting ash.

The waters of the Yu Da River vaporized in an instant, exposing a dried riverbed—then the terrifying energy melted even the exposed ground into glass-like crystal.

The once-fertile Emerald Plains, centered on the collision point, became a bottomless crater over a kilometer in diameter, its edges ringed with molten rock and twisted metal.

This was the aftermath of god-level powers colliding.

Gradually, light and shadow slowed, and the turbulent energies settled.

In mid-air, Jing Yuan stood gripping his saber. His complexion was slightly pale, and the Lightning-Lord’s phantom behind him was distinctly dimmer—it had clearly expended an enormous amount of energy.

Feixiao knelt on one knee, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Faint cracks had appeared along her longbow; that single arrow had nearly drained her entire strength.

Chapter 426: The Herta and Ruan Mei

Phantylia’s figure still lingered in the sky, but several clear cracks now marred the Profound Lotus behind her, and the light orbiting her body was visibly disordered.

Her gaze, cold and sharp, locked onto Jing Yuan and Feixiao, killing intent surging. Yet she also clearly feared the combined threat they posed and did not rush to attack again.

For the moment, the three were locked in a tense stalemate.

However, a deadlock between apex beings could not reverse the absolute disadvantage on the ground.

Deprived of support from their peak powerhouses, the Heaven Soul Empire, the Body Sect remnants, and the Qingqiu Army were finally and completely crushed under the combined encirclement of the Sun Moon Empire’s fleet of floating battleships, its relentless mecha legions, and its seemingly endless anti-matter army.

The defensive lines were torn apart. Soldiers fell scattered across the battlefield. Formations collapsed entirely, and the command system was rendered completely inoperative.

Rout spread like a plague.

Under desperate protection, Princess Weina finally found the dying Du Busi and managed to recover his body with the help of sect disciples.

Gazing at the hellish scene before her—watching the empire’s elites, people who had devoted their entire lives, fall one after another—the strong princess could no longer hold back her tears of despair.

“General, Your Highness, the overall situation is lost. We must retreat immediately!”

A Qingqiu Army general, his armor soaked in blood, rushed to Jing Yuan and Feixiao and shouted hoarsely.

Jing Yuan and Feixiao exchanged a glance. In each other’s eyes, they saw both helplessness and resolve.

Together they had barely managed to block Phantylia for a time, but they could not reverse the overall collapse of the battle.

If they continued to fight here, they would not only die on this field, but also drag down with them Heaven Soul’s last remaining seeds of hope.

“Retreat.”

Feixiao made the decision without hesitation.

Jing Yuan brandished his saber, cleaving thunder to temporarily drive back several Doomsday Beasts attempting to close in.

Feixiao drew a deep breath and loosed several wind arrows, clearing out the enemies near Princess Weina’s position.

Jing Yuan moved to Du Busi’s side and lifted him onto his back.

Feixiao shielded Princess Weina.

The two of them led the remaining Body Sect disciples, the remnants of the Qingqiu Army, and a portion of the empire’s elites in an extremely difficult strategic withdrawal toward the direction of Heaven Dou City.

Phantylia hovered in the sky, watching their retreat with bored indifference. She did not force a pursuit.

For her, the goal of shattering the Heaven Soul Empire’s resistance and spreading despair had already been nearly achieved.

Engaging in a life-and-death struggle with two formidable foes under unknown conditions did not fit her style.

She raised a hand, gently caressing the cracked Profound Lotus behind her, and whispered:

“It’s fine… The seeds of destruction have been sown. We only need to wait for them to blossom and bear fruit.”

Under higher-level commands, the Sun Moon Empire’s army steadily swept the battlefield, consolidated their occupied territory, and then advanced once more like a deadly tide toward Heaven Soul’s heart—Heaven Dou City.

The Battle of the Emerald Plains ended with the Heaven Soul Empire coalition suffering a crushing defeat and being forced into a strategic retreat.

This battle not only dealt a tremendous blow to the Heaven Soul Empire’s national strength, but also completely upended the strategic balance of the continent, paving the way for the Sun Moon Empire to sweep across the land.

…

Far away, shrouded in distant mists, Haiyuan City watched all of this in silence.

Within the Inner Sea of Star, torrents of information and energy continued to surge incessantly.

Hatsune Miku, the embodiment of the planet’s consciousness, projected the thrilling clash that had taken place on the distant Emerald Plains, converting it into the clearest possible data streams and energy spectra before The Herta and Ruan Mei.

As Phantylia, having devoured the Golden Tree, unleashed its grand life force mixed with the power of destruction, violently colliding with Jing Yuan’s Lightning-Lord and Feixiao’s arrows and nearly reshaping the world itself, Herta’s delicate face showed no surprise. Instead, an intrigued, observant expression appeared.

“Interesting.”

Herta crossed her arms, lightly tapping one finger against her forearm.

“She’s not like us—but she was born from an existence realized by Xiao Ming’s memories and cognition, plus the assistance of this world’s energy and the Aeon’s system. Still, one must admit, she found herself a remarkable foothold.”

Ruan Mei’s gaze calmly traced the peaks of Phantylia’s energy levels in the data stream. Her voice was as gentle and rippling as ever.

“The Golden Tree, the core of life in this world, contains power that surpasses ordinary world-origin forces. She is not only the first of the Aeon’s followers to completely unshackle the Aeon’s chains and remove the negative energy foundation, she also succeeded in turning this world’s foundational power into her own. Both the opportunity and her execution are truly exceptional.”

Herta nodded and pulled up a separate comparative dataset: the energy response records of Qian Renxue and Bibi Dong after attaining godhood in a parallel world.

“Look here. Qian Renxue’s Angel God seat and Bibi Dong’s Rakshasa God seat, according to this world’s classification, both fall under the category of first-rank gods. They haven’t been gods for long, and their use of divine power is still immature, but the personality of the godhood itself is the real deal.”

She then pointed at the energy vortex spectrum generated when Phantylia exploded with power.

“Now compare that to the pure energy level and the depth of influence on the laws that Phantylia displayed. She far exceeds the newly promoted first-rank gods. In other words, after she devoured the Golden Tree, she already possessed the standard combat power of a world-class god. And…”

Herta paused, a glint flashing in her eyes.

“…this clearly isn’t her full strength. The essence of the Elimination Master lies in her understanding and practice of the concept of destruction. Right now she’s mostly relying on raw energy destruction. Her longest arm—spiritual corrosion and guiding civilizations into self-destruction—has yet to be fully exerted. If she’s allowed to completely adapt and integrate with this world’s rules, merging her aesthetics of destruction with the characteristics of the lifeforms here…”

She smiled faintly.

“…her threat level will increase exponentially.”

Ruan Mei nodded lightly in agreement.

“Indeed. Even if one crosses cosmic walls into a foreign world with entirely different rules and must undergo an initial adaptation, the potential and adaptability symbolized by the Elimination’s Master must never be underestimated. Their rate of recovery and extraction of power is astonishingly fast.”

By contrast, Jing Yuan and Feixiao’s performance seemed dull in the eyes of these two geniuses.

“Now look at Jing Yuan and Feixiao.”

Herta curled her lip, her tone faint, almost… vaguely disgusted?

“It seems they still haven’t fully broken free from this world system’s chains. They’re regaining their power in a more compliant way. Their progress is crawling along like a snail. If either one of them faced Phantylia alone, even if they didn’t win, it wouldn’t be this embarrassing.”

Ruan Mei added her own view, which in her mind was the more crucial point.

“The rate of power recovery is tied to the essence of each existence. Destruction itself is a highly aggressive concept, which Phantylia embodies, but Jing Yuan and Feixiao are different.”

Yet neither Phantylia’s display of overwhelming power nor Jing Yuan and Feixiao’s temporary lag stirred up anything like fear or worry in Herta and Ruan Mei.

Those emotions were simply too foreign to them.

“Strong?”

Herta sneered, as if she’d just heard a boring joke.

“When it comes to simple power stacking, this place already has beings who are, frankly, over-spec’d.”

Her gaze seemed to pierce straight through the Inner Sea of Star, coming to rest in a quiet corner of Haiyuan City—where a yellow spring shimmered day and night together with nothingness, its blade sharp enough to sever even concepts.

Her vision then shifted outside the city walls, to a martial arena—where a certain sword art had long since stepped into the transformative realm, carrying enough might to cleave the stars.

“Needless to say.”

Ruan Mei replied, her tone as calm as still water, yet expressing a shared understanding.

“For true geniuses, combat power is never the most important metric of evaluation. One could even say… it’s a relatively inefficient way of solving problems.”

In the eyes of Herta and Ruan Mei, it was far more enticing to invest effort in studying laws of the world, the birth of life, and the ultimate answers of the universe than in the effects of destruction.

Battle is a means, a process—never the goal.

With knowledge deep enough and computational ability strong enough, most conflicts can be eliminated before they occur, or guided into directions that are more beneficial to oneself.

So-called powerful people can seem rather clumsy in the face of absolute knowledge and wisdom.

On the projection that Hatsune Miku maintained, Phantylia’s figure slowly faded, and the war on the Emerald Plains drew to a temporary close.

The Herta’s gaze shifted away into the distance, finally landing on the mischievous expression of Ruan Mei beside her.

“Still,” Herta said, her tone tinged with teasing, “I have to say, Ruan Mei, you’re really willing to invest capital for your research. You even used yourself as a bargaining chip.”

She could still picture it clearly. Not long ago, she had gone to discuss a joint project with Ruan Mei and had happened to glimpse, through a not-entirely-closed lab door, Ruan Mei and Lu Jingming engaged in an exchange of lifeforms that went far, far beyond the scope of ordinary research partners.

The scene had short-circuited the well-informed The Herta for a full 0.3 seconds.

Ruan Mei didn’t even bat an eyelash.

Turning her head, she looked at Herta with those calm eyes and answered:

“His lifeform is extremely special—a manifestation and bearer of True Authority, a strange existence that has crossed the walls between worlds. He himself is a rare and unknown research subject. Since he’s willing to fully open his life-information domain to me and allow the deepest level of observation and record, I see no reason to refuse paying the necessary interaction cost to build a more stable research trust.”

Her tone held no embarrassment or awkwardness; it was as if she were simply describing an experimental procedure.

In Ruan Mei’s world, emotional fluctuations were rare to nonexistent. All of her actions were governed by the highest possible standards of research value and efficiency.

“You do you.”

Herta curled her lip, but an extremely subtle, almost competitive feeling flickered between her fine brows.

“But he’s my find. I was the one who discovered that interesting sample first, and yet you’ve jumped the queue and dug into him like that. I can’t help but feel… slightly displeased.”

This sort of displeasure had nothing to do with romance. It was that natural sense of competition between top-tier researchers over priority of discovery and the right to lead deep-dive research.

Like two geniuses who lay eyes on an unprecedented puzzle at the same time—only for one to acquire the core data first via unorthodox means. Perfectly reasonable compensation from one perspective, but to The Herta, it felt like being scooped.

Especially when the one who scooped her was her current closest colleague, Ruan Mei—someone she recognized as a peer.

Ruan Mei didn’t quite grasp Herta’s subtle competitiveness. She replied calmly:

“The order of research steps does not affect the correctness of the final conclusion. If you’re interested, I can share the follow-up data.”

Herta snorted softly and did not answer.

Shared data? Of course she wanted it.

But the feeling of being one step late annoyed her.

She was already considering whether she should find an opportunity to conduct some deeper exchanges of her own with Lu Jingming—so that her research progress wouldn’t fall behind Ruan Mei’s.

…

Once hailed as the strongest fortress of the Star Luo Empire, the Mingdou Mountain Range was now nothing more than a land of scorched earth and rubble, steeped in deathly silence.

The once-magnificent peaks had been completely annihilated. Only ugly cliff faces and rock walls remained, glassified by intense heat. The air was thick with choking smoke, the stench of burning, and a faint tinge of blood.

“Hurry! Keep up! Don’t fall behind!”

The White Tiger Duke, Dai Hao, called out hoarsely. His voice was ragged with exhaustion, but it still carried the majesty of command.

His armor was dim and battered, covered in cracks and burn marks. Blood filled his sharp tiger eyes as he stared fixedly at the shadows dogging their heels.

Beside him were the equally battle-worn White Tiger Guards, and the remnants of the empire’s most elite First Soul Master Legion, led by Xuanji Douluo.

This corps, once fully staffed and famed for its iron discipline and lofty morale, was reduced to fewer than three thousand men. Every one of them was wounded, their soul power massively depleted. The entire unit was enshrouded in a tragic, despairing atmosphere.

Their retreat route twisted through the shattered mountains, relying on complex terrain to shake off pursuit.

Yet the Sun Moon Empire’s Soul Master legions hounded them from behind like the most cunning hunting dogs.

“Swish—!”

Dense soul-guided beams rained out like a storm from behind a distant ridge.

The beams were precise and deadly, aimed especially at the flanks and rear of the Soul Master unit.

“Formation! Defend!”

Xuanji Douluo’s beard and hair flew as he bellowed in fury.

The surrounding Soul Douluo-level powerhouses instantly unleashed powerful defensive soul skills. Heavy earthen walls rose up in an instant, just barely withstanding the barrage.

But the booming impact of soul-guided light upon their defenses was ceaseless. Each hit made the defensive light screens shudder violently, as if they might shatter at any moment.