Join my Patreon to be 30 chapters ahead of the webnovel releases:
patreon.com/ZeroMoney
I would appreciate your help if you could join my Patreon and support me because it would keep me motivated.
******
"Kill!"
Feng Xiaotian spearheaded the charge. Clad in tight black battle gear, his long hair streamed wildly in the wind. A chilling killing intent gleamed in his eyes, as if the Star Luo soldiers on the ground were nothing more than fish on a chopping block.
Before the word left his lips, his hand lashed down.
WHOOSH!
In a blink, several cyan wind blades, each several meters long, shot forward, shrieking as they tore through the sky. The Star Luo soldiers, at a full gallop, could not possibly stop in time. Worse, they were ordinary mortals; how could they hope to dodge such attacks?
"Ah—!"
Screams erupted instantly. Wherever the wind blades passed, Star Luo soldiers and their horses were hewn apart. Against Feng Xiaotian's cyan blades, they were like brittle straw, cut down with ease. Cries and wails merged into a chaotic roar as the neat ranks dissolved into pandemonium.
At their general's command, the rest of the Aerial Legion followed suit. Those with ranged soul skills unleashed a torrent of techniques from the sky. Beams of light and powerful attacks rained down like a meteor storm upon the Star Luo army. Those without ranged abilities used the Zhuge Godly Crossbows mounted on their flight-type soul tools—spoils from the annihilation of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect—and fired disciplined volleys.
A rain of arrows darkened the sky, shrouding the battlefield in a shadow of death.
Thwip, thwip!
The wet, relentless sound of arrows punching through flesh filled the air. The mortal troops could offer no defense—some were disemboweled, while others burst into a mist of blood.
Under this single, furious assault, the Star Luo army suffered a catastrophic blow. After just one volley, their grand hundred-thousand-strong force was reduced to less than twenty thousand. Even the soul master detachment, numbering a few thousand, lost more than half its men. The carnage was beyond belief.
Though Ling Leishi was a Titled Douluo, he had never imagined the Heavenly Dragon Empire would discover his advance so early and launch a surprise aerial attack. Seated on his horse, he stared with bloodshot eyes as his army was decimated in moments.
"Damn the Heavenly Dragon Empire! How dare you scheme against me!" he roared, his fury boiling over. He had expected this surprise attack to secure an easy first victory for the Star Luo Empire. Never had he thought they would be preempted and met with such a ferocious counterattack.
High above, Feng Xiaotian watched the ruin of the Star Luo forces, a cold smirk playing on his lips. He knew that the window of opportunity in war was fleeting; he could not give the enemy a moment to breathe.
"Brothers, break off and regroup! Prepare for the second wave!"
"Yes, General Feng!" the Aerial Legion responded in unison, wheeling as one to dive again toward the shattered army below.
Seeing them charge once more, Ling Leishi's rage reached its peak. His gaze turned to ice, and he snorted. "Hmph. A legion without a single Soul Douluo in its ranks? Do you truly think you are invincible? I am a Titled Douluo!"
His martial soul was the Rampant Thunder Boar, which had no innate flying ability. But as a Titled Douluo, he could walk on air. Flight was no longer his weakness.
As the words left him, Ling Leishi shot upward, his hair bristling as his martial soul enveloped him. His body began to warp and swell, ballooning in size. A carapace of black scales covered his skin, and his face twisted into a boar's head with two sharp tusks. Scarlet lightning crackled around him, and his aura grew menacingly intense.
"Little brats—die!"
With a thunderous roar, he swung both arms.
RUMBLE!
A deluge of red lightning crashed down like wild dragons upon the Aerial Legion. The bolts were so dense they turned the sky blood-red, as if a heavenly tribulation had descended. The lightning was so thick that several less-experienced flyers had no chance to evade. They were struck and instantly incinerated, not even having time to scream.
Even Feng Xiaotian, for all his skill, found himself trapped. Caught within the attack range of a Titled Douluo, he was pushed to his limits, using the flight granted by his Gale Twin-Headed Wolf to dart and weave, his agile movements barely dodging one fatal bolt after another.
But in the end, he was only a Soul Emperor. How could he emerge unscathed from the barrage of a Titled Douluo?
Wounds began to appear on his body. The red lightning shredded his clothes, and several blackened, bleeding holes smoked on his flesh. From this single counterattack, the ten-thousand-strong Aerial Legion was reduced to fewer than five thousand—over half were lost.
Seeing this, Ling Leishi threw his head back and laughed maniacally. "Hahahaha! Now you know the might of a Titled Douluo, you whelps!" His arrogant laughter echoed across the battlefield.
Feng Xiaotian was stunned. He had not expected Ling Leishi to be a Titled Douluo.
"What? You're a Titled Douluo?!" he blurted out without thinking. "Then why are you… so weak?"
He was genuinely puzzled. He had encountered one or two dozen Titled Douluo before and was well aware of their terrifying power. He knew the gap between each rank of Titled Douluo was immense, but it shouldn't be this vast.
Ling Leishi's presence didn't feel like a Titled Douluo at all; it felt more like a Soul Douluo. If not for the man's own claim, he would have mistaken him for one without a second thought.
In truth, Feng Xiaotian's perception was not wrong.
Ling Leishi had received a so-called "inheritance" from a third-rate god, which was nothing more than a sliver of divine power diluted countless times over. He had been a Soul Douluo with no hope of ever reaching the Titled Douluo realm, but by forcibly absorbing that divine power, he had pushed his soul power to rank ninety.
Worse still, unable to find a high-age soul beast and driven by his impatience, he had settled for a twenty to thirty-thousand-year Lightning-Inducing Boar for his ninth soul ring. That ninth soul beast was even weaker than his seventh and eighth.
He had dreamed that becoming a Titled Douluo would allow him to rise through the ranks of the Star Luo Empire and trample on all those who had looked down on him. But over the past two years, he was not the only one to receive such an "opportunity." In the Star Luo Empire alone, there were over thirty others.
So, while he was a Titled Douluo, he was among the weakest of them. Otherwise, how could he still be a mere Earl, forced to bow to Dai Tianfeng every day?
Feng Xiaotian's words struck a raw nerve. Ling Leishi trembled with fury, his boar-like face flushing a deep red as steam puffed from his snout, as if it had been boiled. With a snarl, he bared his teeth and unleashed the full extent of his soul power. The scarlet lightning around him intensified, and his aura swelled, finally looking the part of a true powerhouse.
"Boy, you're courting death!"
(End of Chapter)