Fei Xiao said nothing, only nodded gently. She understood this was the only thing she could do, and the only thing she must do. For her, there was no issue in leading people away. The main enemies of the Sun Moon Empire's two Lord Ravager were not her or Jing Yuan. As long as she did not launch a large-scale attack, the enemy would not expend too much energy on her. She would leave. No one could stop her, no one dared to try.
Receiving Fei Xiao's promise, the Heavenly Soul Emperor seemed to let go of the last stone in his heart. He straightened his back, grasped the holy sword once more, finally glanced at the black army outside the city, then suddenly raised the holy sword high, pouring all his soul power into one final command as emperor.
"Soldiers of the Heavenly Soul Empire—
For the Empire, for glory!
To war—!!!
To war!!
To war—!!!"
Atop the city walls, all the soul masters and generals of the Heavenly Soul Empire responded to the emperor's call with their loudest, most resolute roar. This roar seemed to be the signal.
The massive war machines of the Sun Moon Empire finally rumbled to life.
"Fire."
A cold, emotionless order was transmitted through the Soul Tool communication system to all battleships and soul tool batteries. In the next instant, all light in Heaven Dou City was lost. Hundreds of thousands of soul tool rays, like a torrential downpour, rained from the sky.
Red high-explosive rays, blue armor-piercing beams, green corrosive streams, purple paralyzing light... countless rays of death converged into a torrent of energy, shattering the defensive shield layers that had been built up in Heaven Dou City over generations.
"BZZZZ—!!!!!"
A huge, translucent energy shield shone over Heaven Dou City, its light dazzling like an artificial sun. Yet, this sun lasted barely three seconds before being overwhelmed by the endless torrent of energy. With a shriek of strain, the shield's surface began to ripple violently, waves spreading like circles on water. The light faded at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Within the city, the soul masters tasked with maintaining the shield turned pale, blood trickling from the corners of their mouths. They desperately poured their soul power into the core of the energy array, but in the face of the attack, their efforts were as feeble as tiny streams before a vast ocean.
At the same time, high above the highlands, the battle between the titled Douluo erupted instantly.
"Disciples of the Body Sect, kill with me!"
Du Busi let out an earth-shaking roar, his body's soul rings shining. He did not fly—he stomped down on the city wall.
"BOOM!"
The hard city wall cracked under his feet, opening a huge hole as he shot into the air like a cannonball, crashing into the titled Douluo camp of the Sun Moon Empire.
"Kill!"
A dozen or so elders of the Body Sect each revealed their martial soul true bodies, following behind. Their fighting style was the most primitive, savage, and purest in the entire Douluo Continent. They trusted only their honed bodies.
But they faced the latest generation of exoskeleton armor and targeted soul tools wielded by the Sun Moon Empire's enforcers. As one Body Elder shattered the enemy's soul power defense with a single blow and reached to tear them apart, a high-intensity energy net shot out from the side, catching him by surprise and freezing his movements.
This brief pause gave the enemy their chance.
Three Level-9 soul tool beams, equipped with armor-piercing and impact effects, struck his chest in the form of pentagrams.
"BANG!"
The proud body of the Body Elder was pierced instantly by this precise strike. With disbelief on his face, he looked down to see three clear, bloody holes in his chest and back. His eyes quickly lost their light.
Scenes like this played out across the battlefield.
The Heavenly Soul Empire's titled Douluo were at an absolute disadvantage in numbers, equipment, and tactical cooperation. They were like ancient warriors with broadswords and spears facing a modern army with machine guns and tanks. Their courage was admirable, but the outcome was already set.
On the city wall, Jing Yuan and Fei Xiao watched silently. Jing Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly, his consciousness fixed on a location behind the Sun Moon Empire's army, shrouded in distorted light. He sensed a phantom breath there, like a venomous snake lurking in shadow, quietly watching this one-sided massacre with cold interest.
If he acted now, he could easily dispatch all titled Douluo below. But if he did, Phantylia would intervene, and it would turn into a god-level duel rather than a battle of titled Douluo. The aftermath of such a clash could erase Heaven Dou City and its millions of inhabitants in an instant.
After the Sun Moon Empire occupied the Heavenly Soul Empire's cities, they took no action against civilians, and he and Fei Xiao did not act to preserve more civilian lives. The soldiers of the Heavenly Soul Empire, when they stepped onto the battlefield, had already reached enlightenment. This was war.
The course of the battle held no surprises for Jing Yuan.
It lasted less than an hour. After several rounds of saturation attacks, the linked defensive shields of Heaven Dou City finally shattered completely with a sharp, glass-like crack, dispersing into the sky.
"Kill!"
A cold command was issued. On the ground, the mechanized legions, like a forest of steel, began their heavy advance. The antimatter battalion and infantry corps thrust through the gaps in the city wall from both flanks like two sharp knives.
The soldiers of the Heavenly Soul Empire used their flesh and blood to form the final line of defense. But how could flesh and blood withstand steel?
Borisin slashed with their claws, easily ripping apart soldiers with shields. Giant mechs tens of meters tall could crush an entire soul master squad with a single step. The black energy balls fired by Void Rangers were silent but swept away whole sections of the wall and all defenders upon it, leaving no trace.
It was a massacre. Heaven Dou City was being rapidly subdued.
In the sky above, the Heavenly Soul Emperor, bathed in blood, had long since lost his golden dragon armor, which was shattered, and the holy sword in his hand was full of cracks. None of his comrades remained alive beside him.
"Ha... I am worthy of my ancestors, worthy of all who came before me."
He let out a tragic laugh, advancing without retreat, facing the five Sun Moon Empire enforcers surrounding him.
"Heavenly Soul will never fall!"
Burning the last of his soul power and life, he transformed into a dazzling golden sword light and charged resolutely at the enemy.
The sword light flared... then vanished.
The final emperor of the Heavenly Soul Empire fell in battle.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, Du Busi also reached his limit. His martial soul true body was as tough as divine iron, but now bore deep wounds reaching the bone, some tainted with strange energy that continued to corrode his vitality.
"Body... there is no evil."
He spat out a mouthful of black blood, glancing at his disciples. A trace of sorrow flashed through his eyes before turning to madness. Discarding all defense, he endured several attacks, then grabbed a Holy Spirit titled Douluo in a death grip.
"Let's... leave together!"
With a final roar, Du Busi detonated his soul core and the origin of his life in the most tragic way.
"BOOM——!!!!!"
A small mushroom cloud rose above Heaven Dou City. The terrifying energy storm incinerated the titled Douluo he held, along with several others nearby who had no time to escape, reducing them to ash in an instant.
Du Busi, master of the Body Sect, ended his domineering, heroic life in self-destruction. In that battle, the Body Sect lost nearly ten titled Douluo elders. Many of the Heavenly Soul royal enforcers perished as well. The general trend was extinguished.
On the city wall, Jing Yuan let out a silent sigh.
"Fei Xiao, it's time."
Fei Xiao nodded, and in the blink of an eye, she vanished from the spot.
…
Deep within the palace, in a secret chamber.
Princess Weina knelt on the ground, surrounded by soul tools arrayed before her, each dotted with countless points of light. The fading of these lights represented the fall of the royal family's core members and the empire's strongest forces.
Just now, the two most prominent lights—her father's and Du Busi's—had both gone out completely.
Tears silently rolled down her beautiful face, dripping onto the cold floor. Yet, her expression held neither hysteria nor the despair of longing for death. She wept quietly, with a flame burning in her beautiful eyes that belied her age.
She knew her mission. Her father had risked his life for her not to cry here, but to survive with hope, to rebuild the nation with the blood of the Heavenly Soul royal family.
"Weina, it's time to go."
Fei Xiao appeared quietly behind her.
Weina slowly stood, wiping away her tears. She glanced one last time at the extinguished lights, burying the bone-deep hatred and sorrow deep within her heart.
"Sister Fei Xiao, let's go."
Fei Xiao nodded, resting her hand on Weina's shoulder. With a flash, both disappeared without a trace from the secret chamber.
At this point, the battle for Heaven Dou City ended.
The Heavenly Soul Empire was destroyed.
And elsewhere, the aftermath of this war continued.
On the Heavenly Soul Empire's border, a highly elite reinforcement army sent by the Dou Ling Empire, led by three titled Douluo, was advancing rapidly. But before them stood a black shadow blocking the way.
A man in a black cloak and hood stood silently, his aura so cold it seemed to freeze the entire army. Behind him, a dozen men in black exuded an evil and ominous presence—they were the Holy Spirit Sect's powerful fighters.
"Whoever crosses this line dies."
Huo Yuhao slowly raised his head, revealing cold light beneath his hood.
The only response was a furious roar and charge from the Dou Ling Empire reinforcements.
Thirty minutes later, all that remained was a frozen, dead battlefield and scattered remains on the ground.
The Dou Ling Empire's reinforcements were annihilated.
…
On the other side was the border between the Star Luo and Sun Moon Empires. The elite soul army of the Star Luo Empire had stopped, facing the cutting-edge Sun Moon Empire soul master army led personally by Ju Zi. The muzzles of both sides pointed at each other, the air thick with tension.
But neither commander gave the order to fire. Juzi stood on the flagship's command deck, staring at the Star Luo army's formation across from her, eyes complex. She knew there was an unspoken understanding between Emperor Xu Jiawei of Star Lou and Lu Jingming, unknown to outsiders.
Her mission was not to start a war, but to contain and feign movement.
The highest commands of both sides silently watched as the once-mighty Heavenly Soul Empire perished in the flames.
…
Sun Moon Empire, Imperial Palace
Unlike the war-torn, tragic oppression of Heaven Dou City, here tension and anticipation hung frozen in the air. In the magnificent council hall, bright lights illuminated every corner of the ornate decorations. Yet, this light could not dispel the haze in everyone's hearts.
The empire's top civil and military officials stood arrayed on both sides in splendid uniforms and bright medals, yet none dared speak, each breathing deliberately and slowly. Whether consciously or not, everyone's eyes focused on the massive throne of rare metal at the top of the hall.
On the throne sat a youth. He was handsome, but his good looks were marred by the evil ambition in his eyes and the hostility lingering between his brows. His legs were covered by a heavy blanket, hiding his long, scar-laced limbs.
He was Xu Tiannan, the iron-fisted ruler of today's Sun Moon Empire.
At this moment, he rested his chin on one hand, eyes half-closed as if dozing, though his twitching brows, the grip on the throne's armrest, and the whitened knuckles betrayed his inner restlessness.
He was waiting—for the news that would decide the empire's fate, and whether he could truly take the first step toward eternal hegemony.
A deathly silence filled the hall. Next to Xu Tiannan, only a precisely crafted soul tool communication core hung suspended, making faint, rhythmic sounds.
Suddenly, the rhythm shifted, becoming urgent. A pale blue curtain of light projected from the communication core, words representing top-level encrypted military information streaming rapidly across the light screen.