Huo Yuhao said plainly, âI was in my most difficult time when you first launched your attack. When that happened, your spiritual power was in my brain, and Long Xiaoyaoâs immense soul power started revolting because I had used too much soul power. I was in trouble both from the outside and from the inside, and I could have crumbled at any moment. It was almost impossible for me to turn things around with my own strength. Then, you appeared.â
âYour biggest mistake was that you wanted to preserve my body too much. Therefore, you didnât attack my spiritual soul core as soon as was possible, and chose to control me instead, while assimilating my spiritual sea at the same time. You did that because you were afraid that attacking my spiritual soul core would cause me to lose control over my soul power, and if that happened, you could only accompany me as we blew up together.â
âThat is all true. If you had chosen to attack my spiritual soul core instead, we would have perished together in the end. Fortunately, you didnât do that, and I have to thank you for that. You were unwilling to die, and so am I, because I still wish to accompany my lover for all of eternity. Thank you for giving me this opportunity.â
âI borrowed the Ice Empressâ strength to temporarily seal Long Xiaoyaoâs violent and vigorous soul power as I readjusted and realigned my body at the same time. I didnât have any strength to retaliate against you at that point, and that was also when you had your greatest opportunity. If you had chosen to attack my spiritual soul core before using your formidable power to take over my body as quickly as possible, you might have completed your possession. But you were too paranoid because I wasnât retaliating, and you reacted logically by attempting to dominate my spiritual sea for stability. Under normal circumstances, your decision would have been right, but Iâm different from normal people. My spiritual sea is no longer within human boundaries, because there is an aura from another world contained within it. Therefore, I wasnât afraid of you dominating my spiritual sea from the beginning to the end, because you cannot possibly become my spiritual seaâs true master, and neither can you wipe out my consciousness.â
âTherefore, I reacted according to what you were hoping for. I struggled for a few moments before I stopped, while I concentrated on my own soul power, to control it.â
âMy effort over that period of time finally allowed me to completely withdraw and stabilize the disorganized and messy soul power within my body, and I even managed to gain control over some of Long Xiaoyaoâs soul power. My situation was completely stabilized, while you also gave me a pleasant surprise because you integrated your spiritual origin into my spiritual sea. I initially believed that only my companions, my Spirits, could do so, but it turned out that you could, too. Therefore, I have to thank you. Right now, I have wholly absorbed my ninth soul ring that youâve given me, and my spiritual power has exceeded that of any living being on the continent. Not even the Beast God, Di Tian, can compete with me in that respect. I believe that your spiritual power was probably at around the same standard even during your strongest times. Therefore, I must thank you.â
âI know you really wish to ask, how have I done all this? I should tell you, too, because you will die with unresolved grievances otherwise. What you just felt was happiness, anger, sorrow, and bliss. You felt the power of emotions, as my spiritual sea contains power that doesnât belong to this world: a godly seed. The God of Emotions has set his eyes upon me and my talents, and heâs given me this opportunity. How can you dominate my spiritual sea with this godly seed around?â
âYouâ¦â The Evileye Tyrant King was over the top with fury, and his enormous Evil Eye radiated black waves. However, how could he fight against the Snow Empress, who had also burned her spiritual sense to integrate herself into Huo Yuhao? The Snow Empress was third among the Ten Great Savage Beasts, and the Evileye Tyrant King would have had a hard time defeating her even during his strongest times, not to mention under these circumstances.
A short blade that was emanating faint mist hovered in midair, and the blade was pointed downwards. Icy-blue sword light pointed right at the enormous Evil Eye projected in the sky.
The Evil Eye had lost all color and liveliness, and there were only grey hues deep within his pupil: the color of hopelessness and defeat!
Chilly sword light descended upon the Evil Eye mercilessly and brutally pierced into it. Huo Yuhaoâs soul power, which had been held back over so many days, finally erupted.
Those whirlpools that were mixed with spiritual power and soul power rose once more, and Huo Yuhaoâs spiritual soul core guided them as they swiftly rushed into his spiritual sea.
Whirlpools appeared one after another inside his dark red spiritual sea, and golden specks of light dispersed in all directions. Happiness, anger, sorrow, and bliss switched in between one another and suppressed the Evileye Tyrant Kingâs spiritual power to the point that he couldnât control his own spiritual power effectively anymore. The Evileye Tyrant King could only look on as golden light fused into Huo Yuhaoâs spiritual sea continuously, and his Morning Dew Daggerâs icy radiance was breaking down and disintegrating the Evileye Tyrant Kingâs frozen spiritual sense piece by piece.
Tang Wutong, who was sitting opposite Huo Yuhao with her legs crossed, opened her eyes and watched as the dark red patterns over Huo Yuhaoâs face gradually receded. The Evileye Tyrant Kingâs projection behind his back dissipated, and she heaved a sigh of relief as she closed her eyes once more. This time, she no longer worried about anything as she entered deep meditation.
â¦â¦
Three years later.
The Star Luo Empireâs capital, Star Luo City.
The sky was grey, and the stench of smoke and gunpowder permeated the air. The heavens were dim and gloomy, and dark clouds threatened to shower the city with a monsoon.
Less than a third of Star Luo Cityâs northern city walls were still standing, but defensive perimeters of soul tools could still be seen. The other three sides had the same setup as soul tools resembled a forest of metal as they protected the city.
However, there was an even larger and denser forest of metal outside this one.
Fifty kilometers to Star Luo Cityâs west, and fifty kilometers to Star Luo Cityâs north, the air was filled with insidious murderousness, and all kinds of surveillance soul tools dotted the skies. They were all pointed toward Star Luo City.
Vast patches of soul tools that formed numerous soul tool fronts stretched across the earth, and they resembled an immense pincer that could pinch down on Star Luo City at any moment.
Star Luo City was the three native empiresâ final defensive line. Yes, the city was their last defense.
The Heavenly Soul Empire was destroyed more than three years ago.
The Sun Moon Empireâs Emperor, Xu Tianran, had suddenly passed away not long afterward, and the crown prince, Xu Yunhan, ascended to the throne. The War God Empress ruled the empire on the new Emperorâs behalf.
The continent welcomed a period of peace that didnât even last a year. When everyone believed that the Sun Moon Empire had descended into disarray and chaos to the point that the war would be delayed for another few years, the Sun Moon Empireâs great armies launched another invasion without warning over two years ago.
The Sun Moon Empire had deployed eight soul engineer legions, who had discreetly followed the Heavenly Soul Empireâs northern borders towards the east and eventually broke through the Dou Ling Empireâs northern borders. They ambushed the Dou Ling Empire so quickly that they couldnât even react.
The invincible soul engineer legions used but eighteen days to fight their way outside Dou Ling Cityâs gates.
Dou Ling City was broken before Shrek Cityâs reinforcements could arrive. Xue Lingxun took her remaining troops and escaped, and rendezvoused with Shrek Cityâs soul engineer legions as they retreated continuously after consistent defeats.
The War God Empress, Ju Zi, personally led seven other soul engineer legions and the Sun Moon Empireâs four hundred thousand-strong army toward the Ming Dou Mountain Range, which was on the Star Luo Empireâs western border. The Sun Moon Empire unleashed a heavy bombardment against the Ming Dou Mountain Range that lasted for ten days, and forced the Star Luo Empire to mobilize their main forces towards the western regions to defend themselves so that they couldnât reinforce the Dou Ling Empire.
In an attempt to break the Sun Moon Empireâs pincer attack, the White Tiger Duke Dai Hao had personally commanded three legions of soul masters to ambush the Sun Moon Empireâs armies along the Star Luo Empireâs northern borders that had once belonged to the Heavenly Soul Empire. However, he suffered an irrevocable defeat as the Sun Moon Empireâs first batch of linked defensive soul tools supported by high-energy compression array soul tools unleashed their immense power along the Heavenly Soul Empireâs borders, and they repelled the White Tiger Dukeâs ambush just like that.
The Dou Ling Empire had Shrek Academyâs help, and they finally stabilized their southern regions into a standoff against the Sun Moon Empire. The Sun Moon Empireâs three hundred thousand soldiers that came a month later entered the Dou Ling Empire through the Heavenly Soul Empire and consolidated their dominated territories, and they completely conquered Dou Ling City, along with more than half of the Dou Ling Empireâs territories.
The Sun Moon Empireâs invasion was launched on all fronts, while the War God Empress, Ju Zi, personally commanded the three armies.
Three gaping holes were blown through the Ming Dou Mountain Range one month later, and the Sun Moon Empireâs armies streamed in as they broke through the Star Luo Empireâs defensive perimeters one after another with support from their soul engineer legions. They broke the Ming Dou Mountain Range and regained control over it.
The Star Luo Empireâs armies were beaten back continuously, and suffered heavy losses. Their five soul engineer legions that they had just established were almost utterly crippled as their inferior soul tool technology became the main reason for their defeat.
The Dou Ling Empire managed to stabilize themselves with Shrek Academyâs help on the other side. However, they couldnât do anything to push back against the Sun Moon Empireâs formidable soul tool fronts.
Shrek Academy couldnât be in two places at once, and the academy couldnât support both empires at the same time. They could only choose to reinforce the Dou Ling Empire, because the empire was in an extremely dire situation.
The continent descended into another impasse, but both the Star Luo Empire and the Dou Ling Empire didnât know that Ju Ziâs true motive wasnât to dominate the entire continent in one go. The Sun Moon Empire mobilized many workers and smiths after they dominated the Dou Ling Empireâs northern regions, and they began excavating the mines and metals that they had discovered around the borders between the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Dou Ling Empire under two beast-ranked soul engineer legionsâ protection.
Large volumes of rare metals were transported back to the Sun Moon Empire, and they were used to build and improve upon all kinds of soul tools.
The Sun Moon Empire reduced their budget on researching and building stationary soul cannon shells. Instead, they diverted their resources and budget towards high-energy compression array soul tools. They decreased the size of their high-energy compression array soul tools continuously while maintaining their strength as much as possible at the same time.
Six months later, Kong Deming led the Sun Moon Empireâs Worship Hall as they achieved another breakthrough in their soul tool technology. They mastered the art of absorbing and storing light, and they absorbed and stored sunlight to become persistent and long-lasting fuel for their high-energy compression array soul tools. Their equipment was oversized and clumsy even though they could store sunlight for a long time, but even so, they opened a new door for their soul tool technology.