"Quickly, everyone follow me!"
Figures in black robes floated in the air, directing the panicked residents of Mingdu below. Like a flood, the crowd surged toward temporary underground shelters.
"Report to the Alliance Leader: most of the civilians have been properly evacuated. The enemy was repelled and fled east."
"Mm."
On the rooftop of a building—
Shangguan Weier nodded slightly, but remained tense. Her beautiful eyes were fixed on the location of the Royal Academy of the Sun Moon Empire in the distance. Waves of terrifying battle aftermath spread from the skies there. Even with her strength as an eighth-level Soul Engineer, her heart trembled.
"Alliance Leader... can we win?"
One of the black-robed men hesitated as he asked.
"That's not your concern." Shangguan Weier cast him a cold glance, her tone icy.
No matter what, she was a blade in her master's hand—ready to pierce the enemy, and equally prepared to be crushed in turn.
"Yes! I was out of line!" The black-robed man bowed hastily, his back instantly soaked in sweat as he shot into the sky.
"We must win..." Shangguan Weier looked toward the horizon. A trace of melancholy flashed in her eyes, but it was soon replaced by determination. She turned toward the southern district.
There, she had sensed the aura of soul masters from the former Three Kingdoms of the original continent.
Before victory or defeat was decided, her only mission was to protect the civilians.
"All of them are geniuses. Shall we take them all?"
A shadowy figure whispered.
"The Academy recently lost several talents to the Holy Spirit Cult and the Body Sect. We're short-handed…"
"Angel Spirit. Pity she's a bit too old, already has memories. Otherwise, she'd be a perfect seedling." The leading black-robed man sighed.
"The Angel Spirit disappeared long ago. To see it now—it's divine favor for Shrek! If we let her go now, isn't that a waste?" another argued.
"Nonsense. The girl is indeed valuable and extremely talented, but she already has memories. Bringing her back to the Academy recklessly would make her a ticking time bomb. What if we train her into a Super Douluo and she still remembers today? Disaster! And stop mentioning those three words!"
"..."
Silence fell. Both sides had valid arguments.
"Earlier, some inspection team students killed civilians, and she saw it. Should we kill those students too?" one asked helplessly.
"They didn't show their faces."
"But they exposed their spirits! And their soul skills! Do you know how much preparation it takes to cover up such a colossal lie? One slip and it's all ruined—just like Zhang Lexuan back then…"
"Shut up!"
The leader's face darkened. He took a deep breath. "Then kill her. If we can't have her, the Sun Moon Empire can't either."
Earlier, Ye Guyi had revealed great strength while fighting with the inspection team to protect civilians. She was at least a Soul King—and around fifteen years old. That kind of prodigy was top-tier even by Shrek standards. Especially given how she overwhelmed two Soul King-level inspectors. The Angel Spirit's power was insane.
He glanced at the unconscious Ye Guyi, who had been knocked out by a single punch, and sighed helplessly.
As head of the Martial Spirit Department, he might have a professional weakness: always eager to recruit talent while forgetting the trouble it could bring. His colleague was right—a single lie required a thousand lies to cover up. Too many holes—they couldn't possibly cover them all.
And what if she grew powerful and turned against them?
"Am I going to die?"
Ye Guyi's blood was surging wildly—a result of that punch from the middle-aged man. His strength was at least Contra-level! Damn Shrek Academy...
Though in bad shape, she hadn't passed out as expected. She was faking it. Thankfully, none of these people seemed to be Spirit-type soul masters. The strongest was only a Contra. So she could vaguely overhear everything being said.
While wandering in the Heavenly Soul Empire, she had heard of Shrek's fame and admired it. After being captured by the Sun Moon Empire and seeing the underworld's darkness, she felt repelled. It wasn't until she met that man, and Uncle Ye, and lived in Mingdu for a while that her aversion began to ease.
Until today.
Like an earthquake, countless powerful individuals rushed into Mingdu, gathering at its center. Others slaughtered civilians along the way.
Yet Mingdu had clearly prepared. Fierce clashes erupted at the core, while many from the Pingfan Alliance intercepted attackers along the way, evacuating civilians in time. This greatly changed her perception of the Pingfan Alliance. Of course, that man may have had a hand in it too.
Wanting to help, she joined in.
With the Angel Spirit, she had a duty to fight evil. When she saw those monsters killing civilians, she struck hard. But she had been lured into a trap...
What now?Am I really going to die here?
Ye Guyi clenched her fist under her body, plotting an escape route. Though her shoulder seemed badly hurt, she had a trick left—a treasure from Uncle Ye. If the enemy let down their guard, maybe she could try it.
Let's do this.
Ye Guyi took a deep breath.
Just ahead of her, a shadow approached slowly.
He glanced regretfully at the seemingly unconscious girl.
"Little one, blame your birth in the Sun Moon Empire. Had you been born in Shrek, I would have ensured you a safe, successful future. Maybe even reaching the level of Limit Douluo… but alas."
As he spoke, he flipped his wrist and summoned an eighth-level soul tool laser cannon, which began to glow. A red beam shot out toward Ye Guyi.
"Boom!"
Dust and smoke rose.
The shadow casually rolled his shoulders and waved his hand."It's done. Let's go."
"Watch out!"
But before he could enjoy his moment, Du Weilen's panicked shout rang out.
A sharp pain tore through his abdomen. He looked down in horror to see a huge bloody hole.
"Soul tool shoo—"Blood gushed from his mouth. The world spun.
As he fell, his last sight was the face of the one who struck him.
A stunning woman with a serpent sword in hand stepped through the mist.
"What a lovely scheme you lot have." Shangguan Weier covered her mouth with a laugh as she glanced around at the dozen or so people nearby.
"As inspectors from Shrek Academy, instead of fighting evil soul masters, you come to the Sun Moon Empire to massacre innocent civilians. Are you thieves pretending to be guards?"
Hearing this, several inspection members lowered their heads. Even with masks, they couldn't hide their guilt.
Even though Elder Mu had explained before the mission that it was for the greater good of the continent—none of them were fools.
"Raise your heads! We're doing this for the future of the continent! The Sun Moon Empire is riddled with evil soul masters. Killing these civilians is rooting out evil! Why do you think the Empire produces so many of them? It's because their people protect and breed them!" Du Weilen retorted emotionlessly.
Some inspectors exhaled heavily and firmed their expressions.
"What a load of brainwashing nonsense. Say your lies long enough, and you start believing them yourself!" Shangguan Weier sneered.
"Finish her quickly. We still have two Soul Doulos, two Soul Sages, five Soul Emperors, and five Soul Kings. That's more than enough to kill an eighth-level Soul Engineer." Du Weilen growled.
Although surprised that this woman knew his name, now was not the time to hesitate.
One of his comrades—a seventh-level Soul Engineer—had just been killed by her, but their overall strength hadn't diminished.
Besides, the enemy's reinforcements were closing in.
Though many factions had stormed into the city, they were scattered and hard to coordinate with. Meanwhile, Shrek's main force was still stuck outside Mingdu's city walls, fighting to break through. That left them feeling like they were fighting alone…
"Attack!" Du Weilen roared.
At the same time, eight soul rings lit up under his feet. A fiery lion spirit materialized and charged at Shangguan Weier. The other Shrek elites summoned their spirits and attacked with full force.
"Be careful…" Ye Guyi warned softly.
"Don't worry. I just need to hold out for a few minutes. Pingfan Alliance reinforcements are on the way." Shangguan Weier turned to smile gently, then flicked her serpent sword. The aura of an eighth-level Soul Engineer burst forth.
"You self-righteous hypocrites. Even our brothel girls have more integrity than you lot."
"Invincible Shield!"
Facing overwhelming attacks, she directly pulled out her trump card.
Though she could craft soul tools herself, she was no match for the elite engineers of Mingde Hall. Her previous eighth-level tools were poor quality. Only after pledging to Xu Cheng did she realize how deep the Empire's soul tool reserves were.
Before this battle, Xu Cheng had supplied the Pingfan Alliance with a huge cache of advanced soul tools—that's why they had been so effective today.
"An eighth-level Invincible Shield—can withstand a full-force attack from a Soul Douluo. But it only lasts three seconds. What then?" Du Weilen sneered.
"After three seconds?"
Shangguan Weier smiled and opened her hand. Between her fingers were eight more Invincible Shields.
"Then I'll just use another one."
Du Weilen: "…"
But just as he was about to retreat, Shangguan Weier grinned inside the shield. Instead of using the rest, she tossed them to Ye Guyi, and then charged straight at Du Weilen.
"Buzz!"
Her serpent sword clashed against Du Weilen's fist, drawing blood.
It all happened in a flash. Only one Contra managed to react, but before he could strike, Shangguan Weier had already vanished, reappearing on a nearby rooftop.
She looked down at them with a mocking smile.
"Tch, only managed to slice off a finger."
(End of Chapter)