Word Count: 3,119 Words
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"Holy Evil Douluo, you have chosen the path to death!"
Inside the lavish imperial hall, Sun Moon Emperor Xu Tianran hammered both fists against the arms of his wheelchair and roared in uncontrollable fury.
News took time to travel, but whose speed could rival a Seraphim's? By the time Xu Tianran's orders reached the Heavenly Soul border, Ling Bai had already slaughtered the Evileye Tyrant Emperor, reclaimed the hostages from Sunrise City, and blasted his way back across the border into his own country!
Not a single hostage from the Three Great Empires remained in imperial hands, and the Imperial Dragon Spirit Guidance Legion had been annihilated to the last man. Xu Tianran was angry enough to very nearly rise from his chair!
"Your Majesty, please calm your anger." Sun Moon Empress Ju Zi's voice was soft and measured. "Holy Evil Douluo is no ordinary foe. He slew the Holy Spirit Cult's leader in the western hills of Mingdu, and our High-Altitude Aerial Surveillance Spirit Guidance Devices are all but useless against a Seraphim.
Should Holy Evil Douluo infiltrate the empire, we would genuinely struggle to deal with him."
"Spirit Masters..."
Xu Tianran exhaled a weary sigh. The Sun Moon Empire possessed advanced technology and unity from top to bottom. Its one shortcoming was a lack of top-tier Spirit Masters compared with the Three Great Empires. He had counted on the Holy Spirit Cult to fill that gap, and instead the Holy Spirit Cult had turned around and become nourishment for Holy Evil Douluo.
"Ju Zi, we can delay no longer."
He lowered his head slowly. When it rose again, a blaze of ambition burned in his eyes. He cherished the grand design of unifying the continent, and he believed utterly in the invincibility of the Sun Moon Empire's Spirit Guidance Legions and its Class 9 Stationary Spirit Cannon shells. No single man, no single setback, could shake that conviction.
"How stand the army's preparations?"
"We can launch the war at any time."
Ju Zi answered without a heartbeat of hesitation. She had attached herself to Xu Tianran for one purpose alone, that one day she might lead the Sun Moon Empire in trampling the Star Luo Empire flat, kill White Tiger Duke Dai Hao, and avenge her father.
"Good!"
A faint smile touched Xu Tianran's face as his gaze settled on the continental map hanging on the wall. "The Dou Spirit Empire is the weakest, but it shares no border with us, so it cannot serve as our opening move.
The Star Luo Empire has the greatest overall national strength and has faced us across the natural barrier of the Ming Dou Mountain Range for a thousand years. The Heavenly Soul Empire boasts the strongest top-tier Spirit Masters in the world. Holy Evil Douluo, Jianmu Douluo, and the Bone Dragon King all wield combat strength at the Limit Douluo level, and even the linked Spirit Guidance Devices of the Hand That Protects the Nation cannot threaten their lives.
And if the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda amplifies them, then short of bombarding them with several Class 9 Stationary Spirit Cannon shells, there seems to be no way to stop them at all.
Star Luo... Heavenly Soul...
Ju Zi, which empire do you believe the Sun Moon should strike first?"
At those words Ju Zi dropped hastily to her knees, brows lowered and eyes downcast. "This consort is merely a woman and dares not speak recklessly. This consort knows only to obey Your Majesty's decree..."
"You and I are husband and wife. Speak freely."
Xu Tianran smiled and helped her to her feet. Ju Zi was clever, quick-witted, and gifted with rare ability, one of the few souls the new Sun Moon Emperor could genuinely trust.
She had once commanded the campaign that crushed the Sun Moon rebels, and the army from top to bottom had submitted to her leadership. For generalship of that caliber, Xu Tianran was willing to weigh her counsel on military matters.
After years at his side, Ju Zi understood Xu Tianran's dark nature all too well. Only by displaying perfect submission at every moment could she keep his suspicion from stirring. Once that little performance had run its course, she laid out her analysis:
"Holy Evil Douluo and Jianmu Douluo are indeed powerful, yet they destroyed the Body Sect, the Heavenly Soul Empire's own Guardian Sect, and in doing so removed a great enemy on our behalf. The Heavenly Soul imperial family is bound to resent the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan for it. The Heavenly Soul Empire is riddled with internal strife.
The Star Luo Empire, by contrast, has huddled behind the Ming Dou Mountain Range for a thousand years and slowly grown dependent on that natural stronghold. That grants us a superb opportunity. We blast the mountain range open with Class 9 Stationary Spirit Cannon shells and fall upon the Star Luo army before it can react.
This consort believes the empire should feign... while in truth..."
Ju Zi unfolded her military plan one careful point at a time, and Xu Tianran nodded again and again. Delighted, he drew her hand into his and stroked it gently, savoring the tender softness of skin that seemed a breath might bruise.
"The Empress has thought of everything. To have you truly sets Our heart at ease.
Only, for the moment, there seems to be no suitable candidate..."
"This consort happened to hear that the Demonic Phoenix came seeking an audience with Your Majesty..."
Understanding dawned in Xu Tianran's eyes. "Demonic Phoenix lost her son and her sect to Holy Evil Douluo. Hatred that fierce drove her to fall into evil a second time. She is a fine choice indeed.
Ju Zi, dispatch spies into the Three Great Empires. We must keep constant watch for the moment to strike!"
"This consort obeys the decree!"
...
Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan.
Ling Qiuxi lay quietly, still unconscious, though her breathing was steady and her cheeks had regained a healthy flush. The efficacy of Life Gold spoke for itself. Two days had been enough to mend every wound left by the forcible stripping of her bloodline.
"Bring her in."
Ling Bai gave the order coolly from the bedside.
"Roar—"
The Bone Dragon King, shrunk down to a smaller form, dragged Tang Wutong into the room and forced her to her knees with a single claw.
Tang Wutong looked at Ling Bai's cold, impassive face, then at Ling Qiuxi on the bed, and the color drained from her in an instant. "Y-you... stay away from me! My father is the Sea God!"
"No need to rush. Your beloved Sea God father will end up far worse off than you."
The immense spirit power of the Yin-Yang Complement twin spirit cores revolved at terrifying speed under Ling Bai's command. Golden currents spiraled around him, and his nine spirit rings blazed like brilliant stars.
The Angel God Position nurtured at his brow rose into the air, forming a bridge that linked him to Ling Qiuxi and Tang Wutong alike. Resplendent golden light flooded the room, and the aura of divinity bloomed in full.
Had the Blood Red Nine-Headed Bat King still lived, it would surely have wept bitter tears. A thousand years of painstaking research had never earned it so much as a glance from the Angel God Position, yet Ling Bai had possessed it for a mere handful of days and could already wield divine power in simple ways.
The golden radiance enveloped the two peerless beauties and everything within the room. Incomplete though it was, the Angel God Position remained the power of a God. Tang Wutong watched in horror as the blood in her own veins separated beneath that light. The three bloodlines of the Golden Dragon, the Asura God, and the Sea God were stripped away drop by drop, until only the Soft Bone Rabbit bloodline inherited from her mother, Xiao Wu, remained.
The Blood Red Nine-Headed Bat King had granted Ling Bai an unparalleled mastery over blood, and with the divine power of the Angel God Position behind him, severing Tang Wutong's bloodlines was all but guaranteed. The three great bloodlines poured into Ling Qiuxi's body without reserve, and her cultivation soared like a rocket.
"That's my divine blood!"
Each of Tang Wutong's cries sounded torn straight from her veins. The agony of losing her bloodlines flooded every vessel in her body, and a fine spray of blood burst from her lips. Hatred filled her eyes as she glared at Ling Bai. Were the Bone Dragon King not pinning her down, she would have thrown herself at him in a fight to the death.
Ling Bai had become a merciless blood pump. Layer upon layer of fierce golden light wrapped the two women like a great cocoon, and angelic divine power saturated every corner of the room as he tracked each change within Ling Qiuxi in exacting detail.
She was more beautiful than before. Her features seemed touched by a faint divine luster, and beneath the glow her skin held a lustrous whiteness like fine mutton-fat jade.
The bloodlines came first. The spirit beast destiny came next.
Ling Bai called to the spirit beast destiny with his own human destiny. A third eye split open at the center of Tang Wutong's forehead, its rose-gold light flickering in and out of sight. The power of destiny was bound to the soul at its deepest level, and in that instant Tang Wutong tasted the ultimate agony of a soul being torn apart, as cruel as having her brain carved from her living skull.
None could say how long it lasted. Then a faint hum sounded, and the rose-gold radiance blooming from Tang Wutong flowed into Ling Qiuxi's body the way a hundred rivers pour into the sea. The spirit beast destiny had returned to its rightful owner.
Tang Wutong looked like a doll that had been played with until it broke. Her aura was pitifully feeble, her pink-blue eyes dull and vacant. Only the occasional twitch of her body proved she was still a living person.
"Keep her under strict guard."
"Roar!"
The Bone Dragon King dragged Tang Wutong away, leaving only the two of them in the room. Ling Bai sat at the bedside and found her eyes still shut fast, with no sign of waking. His brow furrowed, and doubt crept in.
'Life Gold restored her body. The Golden Dragon bloodline has been made whole. The spirit beast destiny has returned to her soul. So why is she still asleep?
Do young people really sleep this deeply? No, that can't be right...'
Utterly baffled, he was about to examine her more closely when he caught the faint tremor in her cheeks, and the corners of her lips twitching upward with a recoil harder to suppress than an AK's.
Ling Bai understood!
Why hadn't she woken? Obviously the wrong password had been entered!
He drew a breath so deep it seemed he meant to pull the sky and the earth into his lungs and pour them straight into his soul. Then, with magnificent, world-shaking grandeur, three words thundered out of him:
"RESURRECT, MAH BELOVED!!!"
"THAT'S ENOUGH OUT OF YOU!!!"
Ling Qiuxi shot upright like a carp leaping from water, her pearl-like toes curling in from sheer secondhand shame. She seized Ling Bai by the shoulders and shook him back and forth, sputtering in outrage:
"Back in the Star Dou Forest, you watched the stars and the moon with me! We talked about everything from Snow White to midnight snacks! Have you forgotten every word you said?!
Sleeping Beauty needs a prince's heartfelt kiss. A kiss!
'Resurrect, my beloved'... what part of your body did you use to come up with something that cringeworthy?!"
"Kind words build good bonds. Harsh words wound the heart!"
Ling Bai protested in wounded indignation, quoting lofty wisdom as though it settled everything. Nothing about it had been cringeworthy in the slightest!
After shaking him furiously for a while, Ling Qiuxi slowly went still. She leaned forward and wrapped her arms tightly around him, and her voice carried the weight of someone who had come back from the edge:
"Back then, I'd already made my peace with trading myself for the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's survival. I never imagined I'd get to see you again..."
"Welcome back, Qiuxi."
"I love you, Ling Bai."
…
Ling Qiuxi was entirely unharmed, and with the twin god bloodlines now hers, her spirit power had leapt to Rank 80. The two of them headed downstairs and had barely reached the entrance to the main hall when Ning Fengyu's wheedling drifted out to meet them.
"Sis, I want fruit!"
"Sis, my head hurts!"
"Sis, I—"
"Ning Fengyu, have I been spoiling you a little too much?"
A cross-shaped vein bulged on Ning Fengya's forehead. Her azure eyes fixed with dangerous intent on the bandage-wrapped mummy sprawled across the sofa.
She never should have nursed her little sister personally just because the girl was badly hurt. Give her an inch and she took a mile!
"I bled for the clan. I was wounded for the clan..."
Ning Fengyu watched her sister's expression darken by the second and wisely quit while she was ahead. "Joking, Sis, joking. Just bring me some more medicine. The sooner I'm fully healed, the sooner I can go into seclusion and cultivate."
"Oh? Did the Clear Sky Hammer knock your meridians open along with everything else?"
Ling Bai poked his head in, genuinely astonished. Was this really the lazybones aunt he knew?!
"Tch. I've suddenly realized the old can't be relied on and the young can't be trusted. None of you deserve to have me coasting off you anymore. Azure Emperor Douluo is going to stand on her own two feet!" Ning Fengyu declared firmly.
"Looks like she really has had an awakening..."
Ling Bai regarded her with newfound respect. People can be taught ten thousand times and learn nothing, yet a single hard knock from reality teaches them at once. Ning Fengyu had always been full of small cleverness and had rarely paid a real price for it over the years. Tang Tian's single hammer blow had done what years of nagging never could. It shattered her laziness and lit a fire in her chest!
"Qiuxi is awake?" Ning Fengya smiled the moment she spotted Ling Qiuxi at Ling Bai's side. "Is anything troubling you? Any discomfort?"
"I'm fine."
Ling Qiuxi pressed her lips together, then said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Aunt Ya. It was because of me that the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan suffered this catastrophe."
Before Ning Fengya could answer, Ning Fengyu jumped in, plainly displeased. The mummy waved one bandaged hand in complete earnest. "How could any of that be your fault? Blame Sea God Tang San and the Clear Sky Clan. What kind of madness drives people to attack us out of nowhere?!"
Ning Fengya pushed her sister flat again in one smooth motion. The wounded were to lie still and heal. Then she spoke calmly:
"The victim carries no guilt. There is no need for you to torment yourself over this.
The Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan did suffer losses. Part of that was the Clear Sky Clan's deep foundations and formidable strength, but part of it was our own negligence.
Once Teacher Lin recovers, I will have to ask more of her. We need Class 9 Linked Spirit Guidance Devices and Class 9 High-Energy Compression Array Spirit Guidance Devices as soon as possible, so that our two Spirit Guidance Legions can match the combat strength of the Sun Moon Empire's Beast King-class legions and truly become the trump cards guarding this clan.
Before this, I overlooked the question of who could strike Nine Treasure City directly from within the Heavenly Soul Empire. Now we know it can be done, so High-Altitude Aerial Surveillance and Ultra-High-Altitude Aerial Surveillance Spirit Guidance Devices must be arranged as well.
That way, the moment the clan detects an incoming attack, we can fire Class 9 Stationary Spirit Cannon shells at once and keep any enemy from strolling into Nine Treasure City's airspace."
Ning Fengya was a calm and rational Clan Head. Defeat had never been the frightening thing. What mattered was that the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan draw the lesson from it and make certain the same road was never walked twice.
Ling Qiuxi saw that Ning Fengya truly had no intention of blaming her, and the knot inside her gradually loosened.
Under Ling Bai's relentless extraction, Ning Tian, Wu Feng, and the other young geniuses of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan were frantically absorbing the energy of the Sky Azure Bull Python and the Titan Giant Ape. He suggested that Ling Qiuxi take a share as well, and she agreed gladly. Turning an enemy's flesh and blood into nourishment for one's own growth was the most satisfying thing on the entire continent.
The two of them had not yet left the hall when the Dragonwoman hurried in to report. "Clan Head, Shrek Academy has come seeking aid!"
"Shrek is asking for aid?" Even Ning Fengya was briefly taken aback. Such a thing happened perhaps once in a thousand years.
"Bring him here to see me."
Two and a half minutes later, the Dragonwoman returned with a blood-drenched figure at her side.
"Du Weilun?" / "Director Du?"
The newcomer was none other than Du Weilun, Director of Shrek Academy's Outer Courtyard. He had studied at Shrek in the same generation as Ning Fengya and Xie Qin, and his present state was wretched beyond words. Wounds covered his body, flesh torn back from the gashes, and a sharp stench of blood spread through the hall.
"Fengya... you're as radiant as ever..."
After all these years, he stood once more before the goddess of his boyhood. She remained bright, poised, and graceful, while he cut the most miserable figure imaginable. Bitterness filled his voice:
"Fengya, forgive me for coming before you looking like this. Every spirit beast in the Star Dou Forest has poured out. The beast tide hurls itself against Shrek City with no regard for its own dead.
Beast God Di Tian, Bi Ji, the Myriad Demon King, Xiong Jun, the Scarlet King, Zi Ji, Yao Ling, every Great Beast of Star Dou has taken the field. Shrek Academy is holding on by its fingernails, but..."
His voice turned hoarse. "If reinforcements don't arrive soon, Shrek may truly be destroyed!
The academy sent us out through the encirclement to beg aid from the imperial families of the Three Great Empires and from every major sect. Please... save the academy!"