Word Count: 3,115 Words
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Breaking through the beast tide had already left Du Weilun grievously wounded. The moment those last words left his lips, the final scrap of his strength seemed to drain away, and he collapsed unconscious.
"Dragonwoman, take him away for treatment."
"Understood, Clan Head."
The Dragonwoman released a gentle current of spirit power, cradling Du Weilun as she carried him off in search of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's healing-type Spirit Masters.
"Qiuxi, did this beast tide begin because of you?"
Ning Fengya phrased it as a question, but absolute certainty rang beneath her voice.
"When the spirit beast destiny left my body, the Star Dou Forest would have sensed it." Ling Qiuxi's expression was grim. "Uncle Di Tian flew into a rage and led the Star Dou spirit beasts against Shrek Academy."
Ling Qiuxi had no fondness for Shrek Academy, yet Shrek had genuinely been struck by a disaster it had done nothing to earn, forced to shoulder the blame for the Clear Sky Clan and Tang San.
Then again, this was hardly the first time Shrek Academy had played scapegoat. Back when the Body Sect hunted seven 100,000-year spirit beasts, Di Tian had given the order to assault Shrek City. Now that the spirit beast destiny had been lost, Di Tian had once again hurled everything at Shrek City…
Those two beast tides illustrated two things with vivid clarity. First, Di Tian was a remarkably single-minded dragon who had fixed his sights on Shrek and refused to let go. Second, Shrek Academy truly held a lofty place in the Spirit Master world. Even the spirit beasts knew to take the blade to the most respected target first.
"In the battle against the Clear Sky Clan, our two newly formed Spirit Guidance Legions were smashed to pieces by the Clear Sky Hammer. Of our Titled Douluo, only Xiao Bai and I remain standing. The force of that hammer injured everyone else."
Ning Fengya rubbed her brow. "The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan has the will but not the strength. Sending a large force to reinforce Shrek Academy is beyond us..."
"Aunt Ya, this war was ignited by Tang San. The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan, the Star Dou Forest, and Shrek Academy are all victims. Fortunately Tang Wutong never made it back to the Divine Realm. Otherwise humanity would have an even harder time speaking in its own defense.
The clan's wounded should keep resting and recovering. The Bone Dragon King will stay behind to guard the clan. As for the Star Dou beast tide, Qiuxi and I will go and deal with it."
From the moment Destiny Deprivation was carried out, Ling Bai had guessed that Di Tian would very likely raise a beast tide. But looking past the surface, the loss of spirit beast destiny was merely the fuse, the last straw that broke the camel's back.
Beneath this war lay the fundamental contradiction between Spirit Masters and spirit beasts. Spirit Masters needed spirit rings to advance, and spirit rings came from spirit beasts. In other words, Spirit Masters climbed upward by treading on spirit beast lives.
Beast God Di Tian had long wanted an opportunity to slaughter the Spirit Masters of the Douluo Continent, and the loss of the spirit beast destiny had handed him the perfect excuse.
Even if Ling Bai flew to Shrek Academy at once and told the Star Dou Great Beasts the truth, Di Tian would not withdraw. If anything, it would only stoke his fury further. Shrek Academy still enshrined Tang San to this day, and Sea God Pavilion and Sea God Island stood as ironclad proof.
Ling Bai had no intention of suppressing the beast tide by force. That would only deepen the hatred between the two races, obstruct his plan to harvest faith, and play directly into Tang San's hands.
The key was to let Di Tian see Ling Qiuxi alive and unharmed, and to make clear that spirit beast destiny would forever belong to the spirit beasts. First he would strip away Di Tian's excuse of avenging the Emperor Destiny Beast. Then he could sit down and discuss the future of the spirit beast race.
...
Shrek City, South Gate.
Ever since the city was founded, the southern quarter had always been its most heavily fortified section, because the south faced directly toward the Star Dou Forest. The ground beyond the southern wall lay in ruin. Craters pocked the earth, spirit beast blood of every color soaked the soil, and devastation stretched as far as the eye could see.
Dark clouds spread across the sky once more. The pressure bearing down from above tightened every chest and made breathing a labor.
Atop the walls, the Shrek City Defense Force hurried back and forth, deploying one Spirit Guidance Device after another at frantic speed. Shrek's army numbered ten thousand in all, three in ten of them Spirit Masters, most of those from Shrek's Outer Courtyard. They clenched their teeth, bore their wounds by sheer will, and carried out their orders.
In the distance, a black mass of spirit beast legions advanced on Shrek City in a broad fan formation, moving almost in step with the clouds overhead. A light wind swept the field, and the beasts' pungent, bloody stench reached the city long before they did.
Shrek Academy's elders, teachers, and students of both the Inner and Outer Courtyards had split into four groups to hold the four gates.
Ma Xiaotao, the Sea God Pavilion's successor across a generation. Inner Courtyard Big Senior Sister Zhang Lexuan. Golden Fairy Han Ruoruo. Golden Crow Holy Lady Wu Ming. Huo Yuhao. Bei Bei. Xu Sanshi. Fully half of Shrek Academy's elite had gathered at the South Gate.
Time Douluo Shi Xing braced both hands on the battlements and stared into the distance, bitterness crossing his face. "Phoenix Douluo, nearly sixty percent of the Shrek City Defense Force has been killed or wounded. With the defensive strength we have left, there is almost no chance of holding Shrek City."
Times had changed. Ma Xiaotao had broken past Rank 90 and earned the title Phoenix Douluo. She had absorbed the 100,000-year Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower as her ninth spirit ring and stood on the verge of becoming the fourth Sea God Pavilion Master in Shrek Academy's history to possess an Ultimate Attribute.
Shrek had still been celebrating when the beast tide erupted without warning. Even with the Black Dragon Reverse Scale protecting her, the Emperor Destiny Beast had been schemed against by the Divine Realm. Di Tian's rage had never burned so violently, and the Star Dou Great Beasts had marched out in full force, bringing crushing pressure down on Shrek Academy.
Beast God Di Tian had descended in his true body, and the Rank 97 Taotie Douluo Elder Xuan was naturally no match for him. Mu En, whose soul had fused with the Ancient Golden Tree, was forced to act. He awakened the Taotie bloodline within the Godly Taotie Bull, and together with Elder Xuan he used the power of the Ancient Golden Tree to temporarily seal Di Tian away.
Elder Xuan had given himself over to holding that seal, and Greenshadow Douluo Elder Song had fallen in battle at the western hills of Mingdu. That left Elder Lin, a Rank 97 Titled Douluo, as the strongest fighter remaining in Shrek Academy. The enemy she faced was the King of the Dark Gold Terror Claw Bears, the continent's sixth Great Beast, Xiong Jun.
Elder Lin was advanced in years, her combat power far short of Elder Xuan's or Elder Song's, and she simply could not withstand Xiong Jun's savage ferocity. She had not lasted a quarter of an hour before a single Dark Gold Terror Claw nearly tore her apart alive.
After that, Xiong Jun became a slaughter machine on the battlefield. Wherever he passed, flesh and blood flew. Class 6 Godly Zhuge Crossbow Cannon shells striking his body amounted to little more than scratching an itch.
Xian Lin Er and Qian Duoduo, the two deans of the Spirit Guidance Department, joined forces against him. One was left gravely injured, the other's Martial Spirit shattered. In the end Bright Phoenix Douluo Yan Shaozhe burned his Bright Phoenix bloodline and only barely managed to drive Xiong Jun back.
"Even if it can't be held, we hold it. Behind us are the millions of civilians of Shrek City!"
Ma Xiaotao's golden-red phoenix eyes did not waver. The baptism of war had changed her greatly, and the hot-tempered volcano of the Inner Courtyard had somehow found a steadiness of her own as she shouldered the responsibility of the Sea God Pavilion's successor.
"Time Douluo, have the reinforcements still not arrived?"
Han Ruoruo stood at Ma Xiaotao's side. Two hours ago she had broken through to Rank 90, needing only a ninth spirit ring to step into the Titled Douluo realm.
Shi Xing gave a bitter smile. "Director Du led a group out through the encirclement to seek aid from the imperial families of the Three Great Empires and the major sects.
Most of the imperial armies are stationed at the borders defending against the Sun Moon Empire, and armies do not move quickly enough regardless. Only top-tier Titled Douluo have any hope of reaching Shrek City in time."
Han Ruoruo pressed her red lips together and hesitated on the verge of speaking several times, but Ma Xiaotao, blunt as ever, got there first:
"Did they go to the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan?"
"Nine Treasure City isn't far from Shrek City, far closer than Star Luo City or Dou Spirit City. Shrek's first choice for aid was Holy Evil Douluo and Jianmu Douluo. With the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan Head supporting them, the two of them would have the strength to turn the whole situation around," Shi Xing said.
"But according to rumors among the Spirit Masters who returned from Sunrise City, Holy Evil Douluo went to Dragon City with the Earthdragon Sect mother and daughter. He may not receive the news in time..."
At those words, the lovely faces of Ma Xiaotao and Han Ruoruo darkened at once. Nearby, Huo Yuhao, Bei Bei, and the others, who had been listening with pricked ears, could only sigh helplessly.
Their relationship with Ling Bai could hardly be called friendly. But a Rank 97 cultivator with Ultimate Attributes, Twin Martial Spirits, and Yin-Yang Complement twin spirit cores... Holy Evil Douluo undeniably wielded combat strength worthy of the continent's strongest. For one fleeting moment, they found themselves wishing Ling Bai were still a student of Shrek.
"ROAR—"
A desolate howl cut across their conversation. Outside the walls the spirit beasts heard that cry and surged forward all at once, a mountain-shaking, sea-churning wave of bodies. Spirit skill light ignited across their hides, and wrapped in that frenzied aura they charged Shrek City from all four directions.
"Shrek, Godly Zhuge Crossbow Cannons!"
Time Douluo bellowed the order, and the cannons spat shells in a frenzy. This was a war they could not lose under any circumstances. Defeat meant death. Only by driving back the spirit beasts and preserving Shrek City could they claw a path to survival out of the jaws of ruin.
Ring after ring rose into the air, mostly white and yellow. Their sheer number made painfully clear how many spirit beasts a single volley had killed or maimed.
Outside the East Gate a figure rose slowly into the sky. Three enormous heads lifted, every strand of scarlet-gold fur standing erect. The continent's eighth Great Beast, the Three-Headed Scarlet Devil Mastiff, Scarlet King!
At the West and North Gates, the ninth Great Beast Zi Ji and the tenth Great Beast Yao Ling each led their own spirit beast armies against the walls. The fiercest assault of all fell upon the South Gate, where three figures tore through the air.
The gigantic bear at the front stood over fifty feet tall, a vicious grin splitting his face. A thick coat of dark gold fur covered his body, mountains of muscle swelled across his shoulders, and the cold gleam of his Dark Gold Terror Claws stabbed painfully at the eyes.
"Xiong Jun! It's Xiong Jun!"
Someone screamed in terror.
Mu En and Elder Xuan had sealed Di Tian before he could display his true strength, but Xiong Jun's ferocity alone was enough to fill every defender of Shrek City with bone-deep dread. By himself he had crushed four members of Sea God Pavilion, and Elder Lin and the three deans still lay inside Sea God Pavilion, unable to rise!
"Heh, these humans are scared witless."
Xiong Jun rubbed his palms together, and the Dark Gold Terror Claws let out an ear-piercing screech. Bi Ji, standing at his side in a water-green gown, shot him a displeased glance and spoke in a faintly cold voice:
"Human weapons are stronger than we expected. The spirit beasts cannot afford more casualties. Xiong Jun, take the front and charge. Myriad Demon King, act as the battle demands."
Bi Ji held a special standing in the Star Dou Forest, and neither Xiong Jun nor the Myriad Demon King cared to offend her. Trusting in the iron-hard dark gold fur armoring his body, Xiong Jun ignored every spirit cannon shell and spirit ray and strode straight at the southern wall.
The Myriad Demon King shot out thousands upon thousands of branches, weaving ladders for the spirit beasts to scale the walls. Bi Ji spread her snow-white arms, slender as lotus roots, and layer after layer of jade-green rings rippled outward, mending the spirit beasts' wounds as they came.
With Bi Ji's healing behind him, Xiong Jun advanced without restraint. One swing of his claws left the southern wall shuddering on the brink of collapse, and the defenders atop it stared at the monster looming almost within arm's reach, their courage draining away.
"I'll stop Xiong Jun!"
The Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower had yielded a 100,000-year external spirit bone, the Phoenix Wings. With both the spirit ring and the spirit bone absorbed, Ma Xiaotao's spirit power had climbed to Rank 93. The Fire Phoenix was Ultimate Fire, which made her stronger than an ordinary Super Douluo!
Yellow, Yellow, Purple, Purple, Black, Black, Red, Red, Red!
The blood-red seventh and ninth spirit rings blazed, followed by the external spirit bone Phoenix Wings and the 100,000-year Sacred Sun Heaven Spirit Tiger torso spirit bone. Four 100,000-year spirit skills erupted at once!
"Screech—!"
The phoenix climbed nine thousand miles, cleaved the rainbow clouds, bore the sky upon its back, scattered the drifting mist beneath its talons, and soared above the dark and distant heights!
Combination Spirit Skill, Phoenix Cry Shakes the Nine Heavens!
The Fire Phoenix spread her wings and rose. Scorching flame poured off her whole body like a burning sun, lighting the sky and setting the earth ablaze!
"Now that's more like it! Far more interesting than that Bright Phoenix!"
Xiong Jun watched the Fire Phoenix hurtle at him with reckless abandon and surged forward instead of retreating. He crossed both arms and slashed outward, and ten dark gold claw shadows tore through space!
Sky Splitting Claw, the spirit skill Xiong Jun was proudest of. Legend held that this very move had once wounded Di Tian himself!
"Brute..."
The Myriad Demon King curled its lips. It had always looked down on Xiong Jun, a beast whose muscles seemed to have grown straight into his brain. Once its branches had delivered the spirit beasts onto the walls, it began its own work. Beams of light lanced out of its Demon Eyes one after another, aimed squarely at the Godly Zhuge Crossbow Cannons and the other Spirit Guidance Devices, forcing Shi Xing and the rest to scramble and intercept until none of them could spare a hand for the flood of beasts pouring over the walls.
Suddenly a deep dragon's roar rolled across the sky like a towering wave, and an overwhelming pressure erupted from the seal above.
The ink-black clouds churned violently. A dragon of immeasurable size burst through the seal, its body sheathed in pitch-black scales, a pair of golden dragon eyes blazing with majesty.
Beast God Di Tian had broken free!
Mu En's soul had grown nearly transparent. He looked out over the ruin of Shrek City, and anguish carved at his heart like a blade. Before the end drew near, he had faintly sensed a great calamity waiting for Shrek. He had never imagined it would be the Star Dou beast tide. He had poured out every last shred of his strength and still failed to stop Shrek City from marching toward its own destruction.
Di Tian whipped Elder Xuan aside with a single lash of his tail, and his voice crashed like thunder:
"My subjects, trample Shrek Academy flat!"
Shrek City faced a crisis without precedent. War, beasts, and blood wove together into an apocalyptic tableau, and the shadow of despair settled over every soul. Mu En was powerless. The Shrek City Defense Force was being devoured piece by piece. Beast God Di Tian unleashed Ultimate Darkness and blotted out the sky, and beneath that all-consuming blackness the city seemed pitifully small and helpless.
Just as everyone believed hope had been extinguished and eternal darkness had come to stay, a fissure split open in the sky. A light of blinding radiance pierced the heavy clouds and fell upon the city teetering on the edge of ruin. Every human below lifted their gaze toward its source, eyes wide with shock and bewilderment.
The light spread outward, and within it a figure slowly took shape. Eight pure white wings unfurled from his back, and every beat of them carried sacred, solemn music.
No one could make out the angel's face, yet the warmth and light pouring from him filled every heart with an inexplicable peace. The angel spoke not a word, and still his silence shook the soul more deeply than any speech. Across the besieged city, civilians drowning in despair sank to their knees and prayed with utter devotion, tears and hope mingling on their faces.
"The White Angel... the White Angel from the western hills of Mingdu..."
Huo Yuhao, who had lived through the battle at the western hills, recognized him at once. The Angel of Finality had truly descended into the mortal world!
The eight angelic wings behind him spread wide. Waves of light flowed across every white feather and expanded outward without pause, and in the space of a breath they became resplendent wings of light spanning over three hundred feet, raising a wall of destiny between Shrek City and the Star Dou beast tide!
Finality · Destiny Protection!