Soul Land 2: Body Sect

Chapter 287: The War Begins

The mad slaughter eventually disturbed many people's nerves.

The number of Shrek Academy graduates killed by Huo Dongxue had already exceeded triple digits. Although most of them were from the outer court, there were still many powerful inner court students, some of whom held high positions within the three major empires.

Adding the innocents either actively or passively killed, Huo Dongxue's body count had surpassed a thousand.

This many deaths caused an uproar among the top leaders of the three major empires. Based on the evidence at the crime scenes, everyone concluded that a dark soul master was responsible.

The clues pointed to a woman: someone with devouring powers, wearing high heels, with a cruel personality, and a love for wiping out entire families.

Even though tensions between the three major empires and the Sun-Moon Empire were already at their peak, with war potentially looming at any moment, the leadership of the three empires still chose to send people to hunt down Huo Dongxue, the dark soul master.

Before the war began, this unknown dark soul master was like a ticking time bomb, ready to explode at any moment.

To eliminate external threats, one must first deal with internal instability.

However, at this moment, Huo Dongxue had already gone to the Star Dou Forest to acquire her eighth soul ring, meaning the hunting parties were destined to return empty-handed.

With her acquisition of the eighth soul ring, the "Eyes of Rakshasa" would be enhanced, and her "Demon Scythe" would be augmented with eight powerful rings, each surpassing the previous one in strength. These nine soul rings would push her soul power to the level of a titled Douluo.

This was why she had said that the day of her revenge was not far off.

Perhaps it was the actions of the three major empires that triggered the nerves of the Sun-Moon Empire's leadership. Combined with the mysterious disappearance of Xu Tianran and the death of the Sun-Moon Empire's former emperor, the situation exploded like a Class 13 soul-guided cannon shell within the Sun-Moon Empire.

The upper echelons of the Sun-Moon Empire were in chaos.

A nation cannot go a day without a ruler, and the Sun-Moon Empire quickly fell into turmoil. The Father of Soul Engineers, Kong Deming, had no choice but to step forward to stabilize the situation.

At that moment, the attention of the people needed to be diverted.

Otherwise, the powerful nobles of the Sun-Moon Empire might seize the opportunity to carve out territories for themselves and start rebellions.

And what was the best way to divert attention?

The answer was simple: cause trouble for others.

Thus, the Sun-Moon Empire mobilized its three national soul engineering legions: the Imperial Dragon Legion, the Fire Phoenix Legion, and the Evil Monarch Legion, under the command of Juzi, to launch a surprise attack on the Star Luo Empire.

Three Class 9 soul-guided shells rained down from the sky, catching Dai Hao, the guardian of the Mingdou Mountain Range, completely off guard.

What followed was a barrage of soul-guided weapons that rained down like a meteor shower—high-energy soul beams, piercing rays, the "Eye of Terror," synchronized soul-guided weapon attacks, and soul-guided shells.

It was a display of technology's art.

Under the crushing power of the Sun-Moon Empire's soul-guided weapons, Dai Hao's border army was forced into retreat, losing control of the Mingdou Mountain Range in just one day. Nearly half of the border forces were annihilated by the three soul engineering legions.

And the Sun-Moon Empire's casualties?

Zero.

Dai Hao was undoubtedly pinned to the pillar of shame. He could only retreat with his surviving forces to the nearby city, building defensive lines and ceding the Mingdou Mountain Range.

This was the first shot of the continental war.

The Sun-Moon Empire's three Class 9 soul-guided shells not only shocked Dai Hao but also the leadership of the three major empires.

Xu Jiawei sent a night envoy to the northwest border to question Dai Hao about the disastrous defeat, while Xu Jiuyou was fired up, passionately proposing to Xu Jiawei that he wanted to join the front lines.

The attitudes of the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Dou Ling Empire were ambiguous. They seemed indifferent to the fate of the Star Luo Empire. The Heavenly Soul Empire at least sent scouts to inspect the Mingdou Mountain Range, while the Dou Ling Empire, which didn't border the Sun-Moon Empire, simply began to deteriorate internally.

Unable to acquire the high-level soul-guided tools from the Body Sect, they completely ignored the ongoing war, instead engaging in power struggles among themselves. Even Xu Sanshi, who had already lost his influence, was dragged out for public ridicule.

The chaos of the Douluo Continent, however, did not affect the isolated Great Northern Ice Plains.

At this moment, Du Qianjue was lazily drinking fruit wine on Qianyue's back, watching the busy soul beasts around him.

"My lord, the Lady truly lives up to the legend of the Snow Empress. She alone has brought order to the Great Northern Ice Plains. I doubt even the Evil Monarch has this level of prestige in the Evil Demon Forest," Qianyue said with admiration.

Indeed, both Du Qianjue and Qianyue could describe the soul beasts of the north with one word: order.

It was Snow Empress Xue Linglong who had established this order in the Great Northern Ice Plains, and no soul beast dared to disobey her commands.

Du Qianjue had no idea why Xue Linglong had summoned so many soul beasts to the Snow Empress Palace, nor did he ask. If Xue Linglong didn't ask for his help, he generally stayed out of the affairs of the Great Northern Ice Plains.

The very thought of dealing with the Body Sect already made Du Qianjue's scalp tingle, let alone managing an entire habitat full of soul beasts.

In short, he was used to being lazy and had no ability to manage people.

Seeing Du Qianjue remain silent, Qianyue asked again, "My lord, what are we going to do next?"

Du Qianjue casually set down his wine jar and replied, "Once Xue'er is done, I'll take her to the Evil Demon Forest. I'm interested in the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler—it could be my ninth soul ring."

"The Evil Emperor is the strongest soul beast in the Sun-Moon Empire. Do you think you can persuade it, my lord?" Qianyue asked with a hint of amusement.

Having grown in the Jingyang Mountain Range for ten thousand years, even though it had never ventured out, it had heard of the Evil Emperor's fearsome reputation.

In the Sun-Moon Empire, the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler was considered an idol by all soul beasts.

"If I can't persuade it, then forget about it. I'm not desperate. Ordinary soul beasts don't interest me, and inviting it is already doing it a favor," Du Qianjue said indifferently.

He glanced at the content of his divine trial and cared even less.

[Second Trial of Destruction: Obtain the Ninth Soul Ring.]

[Second Trial of Life: Condense the Third Soul Core.]

The first trials of destruction and life required him to condense seeds of destructive and life force. This was easy for Du Qianjue, as he could already condense divine power, so creating seeds of divine power was a simple task.

The rewards for completing these trials were a 5% increase in his affinity for both life and destruction, and the seeds of divine power were transformed into external soul bones for him by the two God Kings.

These external soul bones were called the Eyes of Life and Death.

The name was imposing, and the effects were powerful as well.

With such divine trials, who needed soul beasts? Worst case, he could just absorb a God-gifted soul ring.

(End of Chapter)