Elder Song looked at Bei Bei from the corner of her eyes. While she felt that something was amiss, she did not probe further. This was not the time for her to pursue the matter.
Xian Lin’er, the Valkyrie Douluo, asked in a low voice, “Mom, are you alright?”
Elder Song shook her head and said, “This Emerald Swan is powerful, indeed. With her pure auxiliary abilities, my attacks are unable to hurt her. In terms of cultivation, she is more powerful than me. She’s almost as powerful as an Ultimate Douluo. With her present, the beast tide’s strength is almost tripled. It’s a shame that there’s no way for me to ambush and kill her.”
Xian Lin’er asked, “Do you know how long Elder Xuan and Elder Mu can trap the Di Tian?”
Elder Song shook her head and said, “I don’t know. Only the Masters of the Sea God’s Pavilion know the secrets of the Golden Tree. However, with the immense power stored in the Golden Tree, it won’t be hard for it to seal Di Tian for at least three days. This means that in these three days, we have to either push the beast tide back, or hope that rescue will come soon. Have we sent out the distress calls?”
Xian Lin’er nodded and said, “We have sent out distress calls to the three empires already. The beast tide came too suddenly. Furthermore, the three empires are focusing their strength on fighting the Sun Moon Empire. Their armies are all massed there, so it will be hard for help to come quickly.
“This time, we’re really in a pickle. Right now, the situation is fine for now, but once the soul tools have been completely depleted and this fight comes to close-quarters, we’ll be in serious trouble.”
Elder Song sighed and said, “The only thing we can do is press on and wait for reinforcements. The launch of a beast tide by the Great Star Dou Forest should not be our business. However, if Shrek City is overrun, chaos and destruction will reign. While it’s important to fight the Sun Moon Empire, internal stability is important, too. The damage caused by such a huge beast tide is not something that the three empires can bear. With the position of the Great Star Dou Forest, no one knows where the beast tide will surge next. I believe that the three empires will make their own decisions. The only problem now is the timing of the reinforcements. I hope that in the next three days, the first wave of reinforcements will be able to arrive.”
Xian Lin’er said, “I hope so, too. The Savage Beasts are sly, indeed. Among the five of them, other than the Beast God Di Tian and this Emerald Swan, the other three cannot be found. They did not send out any high-level soul beasts. Evidently, they are using the ordinary soul beasts to weaken us, and saving their strength while waiting for a better opportunity.”
Elder Song said in a low voice, “We must conserve our strength. Once the powerful soul beasts join the fray, we’ll face even more pressure. Please have two of the members of the Sea God’s Pavilion stay behind. The rest can go to the barracks to rest. Stay alert.
“Since they don’t want to send out their best, we’ll send Titled Douluo out to fight once every hour. They can meditate afterwards to replenish their soul power. Each time, we’ll send out four Titled Douluo. The rest will rest when they’re not on shift. Don’t they want to play a game of attrition? They’re eating away at our foundations, while we’ll be eating away at the lives of their soul beasts. I want to see who’ll give up first. We from Shrek Academy have a ten-thousand-year-old foundation, something they can’t defeat so easily.”
“Yes,” Xian Lin’er replied, and went to make the arrangements.
In the absence of Elder Xuan, Elder Song’s rank was the highest. However, she would not command the troops personally. Instead, she would be commanding the powerhouses and experts participating in the battle.
The moment Elder Song issued her orders, the first one to carry them was Shi Xing, the city defense officer of Shrek City.
“Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock!” The clear sound of a stopwatch was audible. A huge silver plate hung suspended in mid-air. It only had a second hand, which moved slowly.
Every soul beast that was within two hundred and fifty meters of Shrek City’s city walls started to slow down. Despite the Emerald Swan’s healing and support, they continued to move sluggishly.
A mysterious black gas started to appear in this area. When the black gas appeared, starlight started to flash mysteriously within two hundred and fifty meters of the city walls. The area emptied out, and every single soul beast in the area disappeared. Only some of the more powerful ones near the edges were able to escape.
Shi Xing, the Time Douluo, had a Space-Time Silverplate for his martial soul. Not only was he able to control time, but his powers even extended to space itself. He was able to control both time and space, to a certain extent.
Only he knew why he was called the ‘Time Douluo’. Sometimes one could not believe the titles of Titled Douluo. Craftier ones would purposely use their own titles to confuse their opponents.
Spacetime Turbulence. This was the power Shi Xing had just used.
This power enveloped an area with a radius of two hundred and fifty meters. Even if there was a soul beast every five meters, one hundred soul beasts would have disappeared from the battlefield in the blink of an eye. Those who were left were at least ten-thousand-year soul beasts. This attack created a huge opening for them.
This happened extremely quickly, and was very strange. It was so jarring that the soul beasts, who were charging forward non-stop seemed confused by it, and their charge slowed visibly.
In the next instant, a ball of red light shot into the air. A huge number of red clouds surged into the sky. A powerful attack was about to be launched.
——
In the skies above the army of soul beasts, Bi Ji the Emerald Swan had an ugly expression on her face. They had grossly underestimated the strength of the humans.
One hundred years ago, during that beast tide, Shrek City’s defenses were much weaker than they were now. In just one hundred years, the humans were able to develop so many defenses. They were even able to seal Di Tian! While they did not know how long Di Tian would be sealed, his absence greatly affected the soul beasts’ morale.
Noticing that another Titled Douluo was about to attack, Bi Ji did not dare to be slow. She opened her jade-green wings, and a shapeless barrier appeared in mid-air. It tried to block the airborne soul skills.
Faced with the blockade of red clouds, one’s natural response would be to advance skyward. This move was unleashed by someone who was at least a Titled Douluo. While Bi Ji was powerful, even she had to tread carefully!
However, the red clouds had yet to show their offensive prowess. The Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons on the city walls roared once more, and a huge amount of cannon shells landed down below. They burst open in the middle of a group of soul beasts.
Shi Xing looked at another old woman far away and clasped his hands before giving her a thumbs-up.
The old woman wearing a long red dress smiled faintly. The red clouds in the air floated around, but they showed no sign of attacking.
Bi Ji’s heart sank. She stretched another hand out, and her healing abilities enveloped the area. However, she felt that her efforts were lackluster. The humans were crafty, indeed. The soul beasts could not match their coordination. This was the most troublesome part.
The beast tide had just started, but their losses exceeded their projections and estimates. If this continued, how many more soul beasts would die?
However, according to Di Tian’s plan, the other powerful soul beasts of the Great Star Dou Forest, other than her, could not take part in the assault yet. It was far more important for the core of their fighting force to remain in the Great Star Dou Forest. They could not lose them easily. Only after Shrek had been exhausted to a certain extent could they deal them a finishing blow.
Even the other members of her kind were not allowed to enter the battle. In general, Emerald Swans were not powerful. Other than Bi Ji, the other members of her kind lacked the ability to defend themselves. Once they joined the fray, they would become sitting ducks for the powerful students of Shrek Academy.
The battle continued, and the advantages and disadvantages of the Great Star Dou Forest became more obvious. Millions of soul beasts lived in the vast forest. There were many of them, and as long as they were at least ten years old, they were able to fight. In other words, almost every single soul beast was participating in this battle. Instructed by the higher-ranked soul beasts, they had no thought to resist. All they did was charge ahead and attack.
——
The first assault ended after only six hours. The plains to the south of Shrek City were heaped with carcasses.
These carcasses were brought away by the soul beasts the moment they issued the order to retreat because they could still serve as food for the other soul beasts. This was the brutal law of the jungle, where one was either predator or prey.
To the south of Shrek City, all one could see was destruction and desolation. Entire swathes of land were scorched black. One could see holes in the ground, trenches, and multi-colored bloodstains from different soul beasts. It was a horrific scene.
However, to Shrek City, this battle was undoubtedly a victory. While there were a few human casualties, most of whom were killed by long-range attacks from the soul beasts, less than ten humans had died in this battle. Fewer than a hundred of them had been injured. On the other hand, they had killed at least five thousand soul beasts!
Those soul beasts who died were killed in a single blow. Almost all of those who were injured were healed by Bi Ji. Without her, the casualties incurred by the soul beast army would have at least doubled.
The main problem facing Shrek City was that they lacked manpower, especially soul masters. Among the three thousand soul masters there, most of them had three to five soul rings. While they had trained for a long time, they were all quite young, and lacked actual battlefield experience.
Perhaps this army of three thousand soul masters could not be matched by any other human force, as they could even rival the Sun Moon Empire’s trump card, the Imperial Soul Engineer Legion. However, they were now facing an endless beast tide.
All humans would tire eventually, regardless of whether one was a Titled Douluo or an ordinary soul master.
After this battle, everyone was physically and emotionally drained. Much of their soul power was spent as well. Shi Xing ordered all soul masters to rest immediately!
