Elder Song tilted her head and said, "We can"t start the battle without knowing what"s going on. We have to ask them clearly before anything else. I"m afraid the Beast G.o.d, Di Tian, is personally directing an army of this scale."
Elder Xuan squinted as he gazed into the clouds above. "He"s right there, right next to him is the Golden Eyed Black Dragon King. Who else could muster a force such as this? Let me go and meet him, and I"ll ask about what exactly has happened."
Elder Song was a little worried as she said, "You must be careful, Elder Xuan. With Di Tian"s cultivation, even Elder Mu back then was weaker than the Beast G.o.d. He is the world"s number-one soul beast, and the leader of the Ten Great Savage Beasts isn"t someone who"s easy to interact with."
Elder Xuan smiled plainly and answered, "So what if he"s not easy to interact with? Shrek"s honor and glory are up to us to uphold and defend. I will protect Shrek City as long as I have one breath remaining, and I will not let these brutes invade us. I"m going up, you"ll take over command."
Elder Xuan took a step out as he spoke, and he just stood on the battlement like that as he stretched his arms to both sides and howled into the sky.
"Moo-" A dense and thick soundwave, like a torrential wave, burst forth with a powerful aura from Elder Xuan"s body.
This ferocious roar forcefully intimidated and caused the army of soul beasts in the distance to pause.
Elder Xuan"s body transformed into a ray of golden light and surged into the sky, like a shooting star as he blazed a trail of crystal-yellow flames. Furthermore, this sphere of yellow light became larger in volume as it rose through the sky, and it quickly covered the sky above Shrek Academy with yellow hues. Yellow light stretched across the sky, which sparkled continuously as it went straight for those black ma.s.ses of dark clouds without showing any weakness at all.
Elder Xuan"s move reinvigorated Shrek City"s morale and aura, and everyone widened their eyes as they looked on, especially the students from the outer courtyard. They would possibly only get this one chance in their lifetimes to witness this showdown between some of the strongest individuals in the world, and the excitement in their hearts far exceeded their anxiety.
A colossal shadow over a hundred meters long flickered amidst that golden light. Dragon patterns webbed over its enormous frame, and its twin horns pointed towards the sky: it was Elder Xuan"s mighty martial soul, the G.o.dly Taotie Bull!
Elder Xuan hadn"t made that step into G.o.dhood yet, but he was the Taotie Douluo, a powerful Rank 98 soul master. He could still put up a fight against the Dragon Emperor Douluo and the Darkness Holy Dragon, Long Xiaoyao.
The yellow colors high up in the sky quickly intertwined with the ink-like black l.u.s.ter. The black colors paused momentarily before they collided violently with the yellow clouds, and the sky dimmed and brightened alternately as they clashed against each other, powerful auras colliding incessantly. What was even stranger was that no matter how they clashed, their auras didn"t affect the army of soul beasts or Shrek City beneath them.
"Come out and talk, Di Tian!" Elder Xuan"s deep and dense voice echoed through the heavens. Even though he was the only one talking, everyone from Shrek City and the army of soul beasts could hear him clearly.
"You"re the Taotie!" Another icy-cold voice resonated across the skies in similar fas.h.i.+on. However, when this voice appeared, the final sounds of Elder Xuan"s voice were instantly shattered, as if someone had forcefully cut him off.
Black clouds riled up vigorously, and an enormous dragon whose size couldn"t be distinguished s.h.i.+mmered amidst the dark clouds. Its entire body was covered with pitch-black scales, but it shone with dark purple colors within those dark clouds.
"Yes, it"s me. Di Tian, you have gathered so many soul beasts from the Great Star Dou Forest to Shrek Academy without any consideration of the consequences. Why have you done this?" Elder Xuan asked loudly with a deep voice.
Di Tian"s icy-cold voice could be heard once more. "Why? You despicable humans are actually asking me why? Over these years, when have humans ever stopped harming and killing us soul beasts? Soul beasts have been living in seclusion within habitats like the Great Star Dou Forest, but humans have never stopped disturbing us! Humans have been killing my kin and my brethren, and humans have mutilated their corpses so as to boost their own strength. Soul beasts have been dwindling in number from the beginning to the end, but there are more and more soul masters. If this is allowed to continue, in the long run, soul beasts will be extinct one day!"
Elder Xuan thought for a moment and said, "We are equally aware of this problem. Di Tian, you have to understand that humans don"t wish for that to happen, either. However, the existence of martial souls has formed this food chain, and soul masters have to hunt and kill soul beasts to obtain soul rings if they want to become stronger. We are thinking of anything we can do to subst.i.tute soul rings, and we are in the midst of such research right now. For now, however, it seems like there are still sufficient numbers of soul beasts. Furthermore, are you saying that soul beasts haven"t killed humans before? The number of humans who have ventured into your habitats and gained something are far fewer than the number of soul masters that soul beasts have murdered. This matter has always been mutual.
"Furthermore, have you forgotten about the peace treaty we signed back then? You are the Beast G.o.d. Will you go against your word?"
Di Tian laughed coldly and said, "Don"t try to lie to me. The Dragon G.o.d Douluo didn"t find a way to subst.i.tute soul rings back then, and I don"t believe you guys can do that, either. As for the treaty, you have the audacity to talk to me about that? If your memory still serves, you should remember that there was an extremely important existence within the Great Star Dou Forest, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion!"
"The Three-Eyed Golden Lion?" Elder Xuan almost felt his heart skip a beat when he heard this name, and an ominous feeling filled his heart.
Many soul masters were unfamiliar with this name, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, and even the elders within the Sea G.o.d"s Pavilion didn"t know about her existence. However, Elder Xuan knew her very well, and he had seen her before with his own eyes. He had even helped Huo Yuhao obtain part of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion"s power of destiny.
Of course, he understood how important the Three-Eyed Golden Lion was to the Great Star Dou Forest, and even the five great savage beasts who anch.o.r.ed down the forest"s Slaughtering Grounds were, in practice, not as important as the Auspicious Beast!
The Three-Eyed Golden Lion"s existence had allowed the Great Star Dou Forest to develop rapidly for the past ten thousand years. Human soul masters had hunted and killed soul beats continuously, but the forest"s overall number of soul beasts and their overall strength wasn"t weakened. In fact, the soul beasts" overall strength had increased!
In some sense, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion was equivalent to an amplifier for the Great Star Dou Forest, and her existence was the reason why the forest had the strength and scale that they did today. Back then, the Three-Headed Scarlet Devilmastiff, who was one of the Slaughtering Ground"s five savage beasts, had personally stayed by her side to protect her.
"Something"s happened to the Three-Eyed Golden Lion?" Elder Xuan asked with a tinge of incredulity. He didn"t quite believe it. The Three-Eyed Golden Lion was exceptionally important to the Great Star Dou Forest, and savage beasts had always personally protected her. Her status within the forest was comparable to Di Tian"s, and even though her strength was nowhere near that of the savage beasts, her status was equivalent to that of the father of a reigning emperor.
"Hmph!" Di Tian grunted coldly, and the dark clouds in the sky seemed to become a little gloomier than before. The humans and soul beasts beneath him all began to feel their hearts beat faster.
"Unless something"s happened to the Auspicious Beast, why do you think I would go to such lengths and such trouble to start a war? Why do you think I would risk the lives of my kin and brethren to start a war like this? A few days ago, I felt the aura of the Auspicious Beast"s death!"
The huge black dragon circling around inside the dark clouds paused as he reached his last words, and two golden spheres sparkled brilliantly… they were his eyes!
The Beast G.o.d Di Tian"s original body was a Golden Eyed Black Dragon King who had more than eight hundred thousand years of cultivation. The Black Dragon"s blood was the purest next to the Golden Dragon and the Silver Dragon, and Di Tian was likely to be the only living being across the entire Continent who was a pureblood Black Dragon. He had been alive for eight hundred thousand long years, and he had seen almost every change that had happened to the Continent. Once that powerful aura was released, Elder Xuan felt his scalp tense, even with his cultivation rank.
"The Auspicious Beast is dead?" Elder Xuan drew a cold breath. If that was the case, the Great Star Dou Forest would have good reason to launch a beast wave like this. The Auspicious Beast was far too important, because she was connected to the future of the entire forest, and she was very beneficial to the savage beasts" chances of breaking through bottlenecks.
This time, they were in deep trouble!
Elder Xuan took a deep breath. The yellow light around the G.o.dly Taotie Bull became stronger at the same time as he said, "I"m very sorry, Di Tian, that the Auspicious Beast is dead. However, the Auspicious Beast has always been residing in the Great Star Dou Forest, and she"s personally protected by several of your strongest individuals. How could anything have happened to her? Are you saying that someone managed to kill the Auspicious Beast from underneath your protection?"
The ferocity emanating from Di Tian"s body receded a little. He muttered coldly, "Of course n.o.body would have been able to kill the Auspicious Beast inside the forest! The Auspicious Beast"s status in the Great Star Dou Forest transcended all else, and even I was unwilling to restrain her excessively. Not long ago, she used a fake body in closed-door cultivation, while her own body secretly slunk out of the forest. She should have entered the world of humans, and even individuals like us won"t disturb her when she"s in closed-door cultivation. Who would have expected that such grievous news would come several days ago?"
The Auspicious Beast, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, had departed the Great Star Dou Forest, and had pa.s.sed away in the human world?
Elder Xuan lowered his voice and said, "I express deep regret once more for the Auspicious Beast"s death. However, since she met her demise after she left the forest, how can you be sure that us humans did her wrong? I can understand your sorrowful emotions, but you cannot use the lives of countless humans and soul beasts to wash away your grief!"
"Hahahaha!" The Beast G.o.d, Di Tian suddenly laughed ominously, as if he had just heard some joke. "Nothing to do with humans? Do you know how the Auspicious Beast died? Let me tell you, my aura was intimately connected to that of the Auspicious Beast, and I could clearly feel the state that she was in when she died. She sacrificed herself for a human, and she willingly became someone"s soul ring. How can you say, then, that this has nothing to do with humans?"
"What?" Elder Xuan couldn"t maintain his composure anymore after this. Many different possibilities of how the Auspicious Beast might have met her demise had appeared in his mind over that short period of time. He understood, naturally, that the Auspicious Beast was likely to have died at the hands of a human soul master. However, exceptions could occur, and he was still thinking about how he could convince Di Tian to withdraw his army, when he was met with such a reply!