"Interesting."
Di Tian disguised by Phantylia murmured, his voice carrying a cat-and-mouse mockery.
"Coming alone took courage. Admirable."
A colossal dragon tail swayed lightly, stirring the surrounding clouds.
A negotiation concerning the very survival of Shrek City was about to begin amid the thunderclouds high above.
"So you are Yan Shaozhe!"
A cold, merciless voice suddenly ripped through the sky like a blade of congealed ice, stabbing straight into the depths of everyone's soul.
The instant that voice sounded, everyone above Shrek City involuntarily shuddered, as if a hand had closed around their throats; even breathing became difficult.
The city defense soldiers trembled. The inner court disciples instinctively held their breath, their hairs standing on end—this was the supreme might of the Beast God Di Tian. With voice alone, he made all beings tremble.
The golden phoenix that Yan Shaozhe had transformed into jolted midair; the holy light flames around him visibly dimmed, like a guttering candle in the wind, as if it could be snuffed out at any moment.
He could clearly feel that the power within that voice far exceeded his understanding. The gap between them was like a firefly before the bright moon.
The pitch-black clouds began to churn violently, as though a world-ending behemoth that had slumbered for ages was stretching within them.
From the cracks in the clouds, dark scales with a ghostly metallic sheen flashed now and again, each as large as a millstone, each one pulsing with a chilling dark energy.
Every glimpse of a scale brought mountain-like pressure to bear on Yan Shaozhe, making even his soul tremble.
"Correct. I am."
Yan Shaozhe forced down the fear in his heart and did his best to keep his tone respectful.
"May I ask why Your Excellency the Beast God has torn up the centuries-long pact to launch a beast tide of this scale?"
Under the eaves, one has to bow.
With Shrek Academy's top combatants absent at this moment, facing Di Tian—the king of ferocious beasts who stood at the apex of the continent—only by first yielding could there be a sliver of hope.
He knew that if he angered the other with a single word, the negotiation would immediately collapse, and Shrek City would be plunged into a purgatory of blood and fire.
"Why?"
The icy voice suddenly took on a thread of wrath, as if resentments suppressed for countless years erupted at that moment.
"Humans never stopped hunting soul beasts. In recent years, our soul beast numbers have steadily dwindled; our living territories have been eaten away step by step by you—and now you ask me why?"
Yan Shaozhe fell silent for a moment.
He admitted that the conflict between humans and soul beasts ran deep. Hunting soul beasts for soul rings had always been the foundation of a soul master's growth.
But he also knew this could not be the real reason Di Tian launched the beast tide. If it were merely the hunting, the Star Dou Forest would have exploded long ago—not waited until today.
He steadied himself and refuted sincerely.
"Your Excellency, regarding the hunting of soul beasts, we have long sought solutions. The Stigmata System is now widespread; soul masters no longer need to hunt soul beasts for rings, and can instead receive safer, stronger stigmata blessings. In recent years, human hunts of soul beasts have dropped sharply; the soul beasts' environment has been gradually improving—this is by no means a reason to tear up the alliance."
Yan Shaozhe was no fool.
He had also heard Dragon God Douluo Mu En describe the temperament of the Beast God Di Tian in detail. With such a far-seeing mind, he would never risk an all-out war between soul beasts and humans to launch a beast tide unless some earth-shaking event had occurred.
"I beg Your Excellency to tell us the true reason."
Yan Shaozhe's voice carried a burn-the-bridges resolve.
"Even if Shrek City cannot escape destruction today, at least let us die understanding why."
Above the clouds, "Di Tian" let out a low, mocking chuckle, his tone full of derision and contempt.
"Heh. Destroying you—what's that to you?"
A simple sentence, yet it detonated like thunder in everyone's ears, chilling to the bone.
Bi Ji's delicate body jolted. She turned to the black dragon beside her in disbelief.
With her hundreds of thousands of years of understanding of Di Tian, though aloof and proud, he had always placed the survival of the soul beast race above all, and would never utter words so indifferent to life, even tinged with playful cruelty.
This was not the Di Tian she knew!
A deep suspicion sprouted and spread in her heart like wild vines.
"You…!"
Yan Shaozhe, still the golden phoenix, trembled all over, rage and humiliation surging within.
At the same time, his face went deathly pale.
Di Tian's attitude could not be clearer: he did not care about reasons or consequences—he only wished to annihilate Shrek City.
This resolve allowed no room for maneuver.
"Bastard! If it's a fight you want, then fight—we'll die if we must."
Di Tian's words that scorned all beings were heard clearly not only by Yan Shaozhe but by everyone on the walls.
Xian Lin'er's fiery temper ignited in an instant. She slammed a hand onto the battlement; the hard obsidian shattered with a crack.
"Shrek Academy has no cowards who cling to life."
Not just Xian Lin'er—the faces of all soldiers and soul masters on the walls were flushed with fury.
Di Tian's remarks had treated everyone at Shrek Academy like ants to be crushed at will.
Such naked contempt instead roused the blood in their bones.
"To live and die with Shrek!"
No one knew who shouted it first. In the next instant, tens of thousands of voices rose together, coalescing into a thunderous roar. The morale that had been cowed by Di Tian's pressure rekindled at that moment.
"Destroying you—what's that to you."
That ice-cold line was like a poisoned spike, stabbing deep into every Shrek heart, fully awakening their pride and bloodline ferocity.
Yan Shaozhe slowly drew in the holy flames around him and reverted to human form, hovering midair.
He no longer used the honorific "Your Excellency"; his voice was tight with boiling anger.
"Di Tian, must you do this? Shrek Academy may be at a temporary disadvantage, but we are no soft persimmon to be squeezed at whim. If you insist on war, even if you finally trample Shrek City, the soul beast race of Star Dou Forest will pay a grievous price."
He still held a final sliver of hope—he couldn't believe Di Tian would disregard the soul beast race's survival and choose a mutual-ruin outcome.
From what he knew of Di Tian, the Beast God was powerful but always placed the continuation of his race first.
"Hmph!"
Di Tian snorted, a sound that shook heaven and earth, and the boiling clouds suddenly split to the sides.
A colossal black dragon head slowly emerged from the sea of clouds, its golden eyes like two blazing suns, casting twin solid beams that pinned Yan Shaozhe in place.
The unrestrained pressure swept out like a tsunami. Yan Shaozhe groaned; blood seeped from the corner of his mouth as he staggered back more than ten meters in the air before barely steadying himself.
"Leave."
The golden dragon eyes were cold and indifferent.
"Say one word more, and don't bother going back."
Yan Shaozhe lifted his head to look at the black dragon head that blotted out the sky. The last hint of hesitation vanished from his eyes, replaced by resolute battle intent.
He drew a deep breath, then shot back to the city wall in a streak of light. His voice cracked like thunder across the battlefield.
"All hands, prepare the soul cannons—Shrek Academy fights to the death today. We will not retreat."
On the walls, the stillness shattered.
Soldiers rapidly adjusted the soul cannons; the whir of gears and the hum of charging energy blended together.
Soul masters released their rings; yellow, purple, and black radiance interwove atop the ramparts into a brilliant sea of light.
Though facing the terrifying Beast God and hundreds of thousands of soul beasts, a flame of resolve burned in every Shrek defender's eyes.
War was about to erupt.
"Kill! Bathe Shrek City in blood!"
The black dragon head plunged lower through the clouds, the cold, irresistible command booming over the battlefield.
As the order fell, over a hundred thousand soul beasts howled to the sky—wolf howls, tiger roars, dragon cries, beast bellows tangled into a deafening wave of sound; even the earth trembled.
The next second, the aura unleashed by all soul beasts fused into a terrifying flood. Hooves pounded and wings beat as they surged toward Shrek City like a landslide and a tidal wave.
The teeming silhouettes were like a rolling black tsunami, churning up dust and the stench of blood. Wherever they passed, grass and trees snapped, the ground cracked, and a palpable cloud of despair blanketed Shrek's sky.
"Boom!!!"
The first to break the silence was the southern wall's soul cannon array, long since primed.
Seventy-two heavy soul cannon muzzles flared with searing red light, then crimson energy torrents—like dragons exhaling—ripped the air with shrill keening and thundered toward the beast tide kilometers away.
The beams fell like divine punishment upon the vanguard.
Dazzling firelight instantly swallowed swathes of beasts. Piercing screams and the burnt stench of seared flesh drifted with the wind to the walls.
Those struck directly were vaporized on the spot; those caught at the fringes fell charred and grievously wounded. A near-hundred-meter gap was torn open at the front of the tide.
But it existed only for a heartbeat.
Beasts behind stepped over the blackened corpses of their fellows, eyes burning with crazed red light—as if they knew neither pain nor death—driven only by that cold command to hurl themselves forward in endless waves.
Their steps crushed their companions' remains, grinding blood and flesh into the soil until the ground turned muddy and scarlet.
"All soul masters, release area skills. Suppress their advance."
Qian Duoduo stood atop the highest command platform on the wall, a special soul tool amplifier etched with complex runes in his hand. His face was grave, but his voice rang out strong.
"First regiment, target the left flank! Second regiment, suppress the right! Center sector is mine!"
As the orders fell, three thousand soul masters on the wall unleashed their abilities—colors laced together in the air into a gorgeous, lethal web.
Hail, fire rain, thunderstorm, and wind blades poured down like a tempest, while ordinary soldiers coordinated with various portable soul tools to lay down covering fire.