The death of the Silent Petal was not merely a defeat; it was an insult that echoed all the way to the Supreme Pontiff's throne in Spirit City. Bibi Dong's edict was absolute: Purge the anomaly, burn the poison, and crack the mountain open.
Just three days after Yu Chen forged his black ring in the Abyss, the sky above the Sunset Forest borders began to warp. The natural clouds were burned away, replaced by a suffocating, golden-white brilliance.
Dugu Bo sat cross-legged on a jagged peak at the very edge of his 500-mile Poison Dead-Zone. His emerald eyes slowly opened, reflecting the unnatural dawn. The mist around him, usually thick and oppressive with Jade-Void energy, was beginning to hiss and boil.
"They didn't send another duelist," Dugu Bo muttered, standing up and gripping his staff. "They sent the furnace."
Descending from the golden sky was not a single expert, but a formation. Thirty-six Spirit Sages (Rank 70+), led by eight Spirit Contras (Rank 80+), floated in perfect geometric alignment. At the center of the formation hovered a man clad in blazing crimson armor. This was Elder Pyre, a Rank 91 Titled Douluo whose martial soul was the Solar-Flare Falcon.
They were the Judgement Angels—Spirit Hall's elite extermination squad, composed entirely of extreme Light and Fire attribute masters.
"Dugu Bo!" Elder Pyre's voice rolled across the horizon like thunder. "You have barricaded yourself in a tomb of your own making. The Supreme Pontiff decrees that the shadows must be burned away. We will not step into your poison. We will simply evaporate the air you breathe."
Elder Pyre raised his crimson lance. The thirty-six Spirit Sages and eight Contras simultaneously activated their Spirit Avatars.
"Combined Spirit Array: The Descent of the False Sun!"
A massive sphere of concentrated, white-hot plasma formed above the formation. It wasn't just hot; it carried the purifying, axiomatic law of "Light." As the False Sun descended closer to the earth, the 500-mile Poison Dead-Zone began to react violently.
The Jade-Void poison was designed to erase normal spirit power, but against a continuous, hyper-dense array powered by forty-five high-tier masters, it was being pushed to its limit. The outer edges of the mist began to catch fire, turning into walls of green flame that rapidly burned themselves out.
The 500-mile perimeter shrank to 450 miles. Then 400.
Dugu Bo gritted his teeth, feeling the intense heat blistering his skin even from miles away. "You think you can boil the abyss?" he roared.
He slammed his staff into the ground. His nine spirit rings erupted in a blinding flash. "Eighth Spirit Skill: Abyssal Serpent's Judgment!"
The ground shattered as dozens of massive, solid Jade-Void serpents burst from the earth, shooting upward like anti-air missiles to strike the False Sun. When the serpents collided with the plasma sphere, the sky shrieked. The void-logic of the serpents tried to "unmake" the fire, tearing massive, black holes into the golden sun.
Elder Pyre coughed up a mouthful of blood as the array destabilized, but his eyes burned with fanaticism. "Hold the array! His poison is finite! The Light of the Heavens is eternal!"
The Spirit Sages poured every ounce of their soul power into the formation. The False Sun repaired itself, burning even brighter.
Down below, Dugu Bo staggered. He was Rank 92, and his poison was fundamentally superior, but this was a war of attrition against an entire army of perfect counters. If he spread his poison too thin to maintain the 500-mile border, the False Sun would pierce through and strike the Starfall Peaks directly, exposing the Great Seclusion.
"I have to condense the perimeter," Dugu Bo realized, his expression grim. He pulled his hands back, drawing the massive expanse of poison inward.
The Dead-Zone rapidly collapsed from 400 miles to a hyper-dense, impenetrable dome of solid emerald-black crystal only 100 miles wide. The False Sun's rays hit the condensed dome and reflected off, unable to pierce the thickened void-logic, but the damage was done.
The outer 400 miles of the Sunset Forest borders were now completely exposed. Spirit Hall infantry and tracking hounds began to pour into the newly cleared territory, setting up forward operating bases and supply lines. Spirit Hall was preparing for a siege.
Elder Pyre looked down at the 100-mile crystal dome from the sky, wiping blood from his chin with a triumphant sneer. "The Poison Douluo is caged. Bring up the God-Observation technicians. We will map the remaining zone and crack his shell."
Inside the dome, Dugu Bo leaned heavily on his staff, his breathing ragged. He had held the line and protected the mountain, but the enemy had established a foothold at his doorstep.
He looked back toward the Starfall Peaks, hidden deep within the remaining mist. "I bought you the inner ring, Sovereign," he whispered. "But the board is set. If we only defend, we will eventually burn."