The corners of Ma Rulong's mouth twitched violently.
He had told Ji Juechen to hold them off—just hold them off!
Who the hell expected that this guy would one-shot the opponent with a single sword strike? Sure, Elder Ye's Sun-Moon Divine Needle had heavily wounded Du Weilen, but for a Soul Emperor to instantly kill a Soul Douluo—that was still extremely difficult.
"Old Ji, you were hiding your strength!" Xiao Hongchen shook his head in disbelief.
"This is called keeping a low profile. It shows that our so-called Sword Maniac isn't so mad after all," Lin Xi remarked thoughtfully.
"No, it's just that Shrek never had an opponent worthy of my full strength. That's all…" Ji Juechen shook his head.
His talent had been discovered early, and under Xu Cheng's training, he had advanced rapidly. The academy had also poured heavy resources into him. You know, in the original timeline, it took him four more years to barely break through to Soul Emperor. But in this life, he had advanced nearly four years earlier!
"Damn it…"
The other Shrek Academy teachers all looked grim.
Their strongest fighter had been instantly killed. The remaining ones were only Soul Sages and Soul Emperors. Another Soul Douluo had already perished under the earlier heavenly pressure.
But what really enraged them was the insult Ji Juechen had directed at Shrek.
"How about it? If you surrender now, I might consider letting you die with your bodies intact," Xiao Hongchen said mockingly, looking over at them.
"Shrek will never surrender!"
"What a joke! Who the hell said anything about letting you live? I said I might give you a whole corpse!" Xiao Hongchen grinned coldly.
"Brothers, kill them!"
Boom!
Amid the roar of power cores igniting, Xu Cheng clashed once again with Mu En.
At the level of Limit Douluo, fights were pure brute strength—no cheap tricks, no sneak attacks. So even someone like Mu En, seeing Xu Cheng push him back a few steps, started to look uneasy.
The constant urging from Haotian Sect's Er Ming nearby made him even more anxious.
The critical turning point of this war lay in this battle between him and Xu Cheng.
Even after presiding over Shrek Academy for a century, having weathered countless storms, Mu En was feeling enormous pressure now.
"Hah… This must end quickly."
Mu En muttered under his breath.
His eyes toward Xu Cheng grew more intense and frigid.
"Seventh Soul Skill—Martial Soul Avatar!"
"Ninth Soul Skill—True Dragon Descends!"
For the first time, all his soul rings appeared.
Yellow, yellow, purple, black, black, black, red, red, red!
Two 100,000-year red soul rings flickered.
A terrifying aura suddenly surged outward.
Mu En's entire figure even seemed to grow taller.
As his aura climbed higher and higher, countless gazes turned toward him. That Xu Cheng could hold his own against a Limit Douluo was already jaw-dropping. Now that Mu En was using his full strength—did Xu Cheng still have a trump card?
If not...
The chain reaction caused by Xu Cheng's defeat would be catastrophic.
A Limit Douluo without a counterbalance could do too many things.
"Young one, if you can withstand this move of mine, I will lead Shrek Academy away—we won't disturb your Sun-Moon Empire again," Mu En said calmly.
"Haha, that's a nice offer, senior. But if I do withstand it, I won't let you all leave so easily…"
Xu Cheng smiled brightly.
"At the very least, half of you should stay behind—as compensation."
Mu En said no more. No one here was a fool. No one would be bluffed. Only actions mattered now.
ROAR!
A deep, ancient dragon's cry echoed through the sky.
It was as though the heavens themselves were torn open.
A dragon claw, massive and primal, descended—followed by an enormous dragon's head. Its vertical pupils gazed down at the earth with cold disdain, as if looking at ants.
Mu En stared at the spectacle with a hint of reverence.
This was a Light-attribute White Dragon he had once discovered in an ancient ruin during his travels. Though the dragon had died, its mighty power had condensed into a dragon core, which Mu En had found and taken. Since then, his ninth soul skill had evolved: the dragon he could summon was now even stronger, and of the Light attribute.
Since his injury years ago, Mu En hadn't used this ninth soul skill in decades.
Only now, with the rise of the Silver Ancestor back to the peak, had he chosen to use his ultimate move.
"Hahaha! That's the Dragon Emperor for you!"
Er Ming laughed loudly.He seemed to already foresee Xu Cheng's demise.
"I'd like to see what tricks you've got left, boy!"
The crowd looked on with rising fear.
This attack—barely a handful of people present could survive it. And that's only because this battle had drawn 90% of the continent's top-tier strength…
"Please, grant me your strength one last time," Mu En said solemnly to the Light Dragon in the sky.
"ROAR!"
The dragon glanced at Mu En, sensing his fading life force, and slowly nodded.
Its eyes turned coldly toward Xu Cheng.
The dragon claw descended.
Above, countless six-pointed star arrays appeared, radiating world-ending power.
ROAR!
As the dragon howled, beams of holy light fired down from the countless massive arrays toward Xu Cheng.
Even piloting a hundred-meter-tall mech, Xu Cheng looked utterly insignificant under the storm of divine light.
His figure was soon swallowed completely.
"…Goodbye."
Mu En didn't bother to look at Xu Cheng anymore. Instead, he gazed wistfully at the dragon.
They had formed a contract once, allowing him to summon it.But now, with his lifespan nearly over, this was their final farewell.
As for the outcome... based on his experience battling Xu Cheng, he was fully confident that Xu Cheng couldn't possibly survive this.
ROAR!
The Light Dragon also looked regretful.
Its body slowly dissipated—
Leaving behind a battlefield full of stunned faces.
"His Highness… surely has something else up his sleeve, right?" Ye Wanwan whispered, clenching her fists.
"This… the Sun-Moon Empire has mobilized almost all their forces. The only Limit Douluo I can think of on their side is Ye Yueshui. But I heard she was seriously wounded after battling Mu En days ago and has been hiding inside the Holy Spirit Church ever since. Even if she shows up, it won't help much. The Holy Spirit Church wouldn't sacrifice everything for the Sun-Moon Empire," Ning Yuan said gloomily.
From their vantage point, they couldn't imagine any way to turn the tide.
"Then we'll die fighting!" Yu Tianlong shouted, clenching his fists.
"Wait, look! A dragon!"
Nan Qiuqiu's beautiful eyes widened as she pointed to the sky.
The situation in the heavens suddenly changed.
A massive black dragon, no smaller than the Light Dragon, appeared before Xu Cheng, shielding him from the earlier attack. Though Xu Cheng had withdrawn his mech, he was unharmed.
The black dragon slowly shrank in size until it became a dignified man in regal robes.
"Black Dragon—Di Tian?!!"
Everyone froze in place.
Especially the Shrek Academy elites—they looked completely stunned.
"Di Tian! This is a war between humans! Is the Star Dou Forest going to get involved?!!" Elder Song of the Sea God Pavilion roared.
"Haha. I don't want to get involved either, but I have no choice. One of the Sun-Moon Empire's research projects affects the future of all soul beasts..." Di Tian smiled and shrugged.
"Research?"
Everyone looked at each other in confusion.
"Indeed. Who would've thought… that humans and soul beasts could ally?"
Di Tian sighed.
"And they did it… they created artificial soul rings…"
"Artificial… soul rings?"
At that moment—
Mu En's back was soaked with cold sweat.
(End of Chapter)