The one who destroys the future

"Th-this couldn't be the future of the Douluo Continent, could it!?"

"How could this happen? What on earth happened?"

"Heaven Dou City... That's my home. Oh heavens, why did this happen!?"

"Did those Soul Beasts in the vision do this? Why do they look so much like those two Soul Beasts from before...?"

"Tens, hundreds, thousands... How could there be so many Soul Beasts this powerful...? Am I having a nightmare...?"

Everyone was utterly shaken by the vision.

What it showed was unmistakably a future of destruction!

Sorrow.

Fear.

Despair!

After seeing the vision, countless people collapsed to the ground, some even fainting dead away.

A chill ran through Xue Qinghe's body. He stared blankly at the vision, unable to speak.

Tang San took a step back and looked at the Clear Sky Hammer in his palm. He had imagined his future countless times, but he had never imagined a sight like this.

Would the future really be destroyed?

If the future was doomed to destruction, what was the point of all their efforts now?

For the first time in his life, Tang San felt his convictions waver.

Chrysanthemum Douluo and Ghost Douluo's hearts sank to rock bottom. The vision showed destruction across the entire continent, and that naturally included Spirit Hall.

Their first thought was not of themselves, but of the Pope. They knew Bibi Dong was watching too, and they could already imagine how she felt at that moment.

In Spirit Hall, the protectors and worship hall elders knelt on the ground.

"Your Holiness, please calm your anger. Th-this is false!"

"Ning Xuanyuan is old. His ability cannot be trusted."

"Our Spirit Hall has stood supreme on the continent for ten thousand years. There is no way anyone could destroy it!"

Bibi Dong gazed at the vision in the prophecy, her hand tightening around her scepter without her realizing it.

She could naturally tell whether it was real or false.

Ning Xuanyuan had used his life to divine the secrets of heaven, and she understood the mysteries involved better than anyone.

And then there was Qian Daoliu's star chart...

Bibi Dong suddenly felt a tightness in her chest. Would the future really turn out like this?

Would even Spirit Hall's dozens of Titled Douluo be unable to stop it?

What exactly was the calamity in the prophecy?

One, two, hundreds upon thousands, appearing one after another. These were super Soul Beasts of which only one could be born in hundreds of thousands of years, yet now they were emerging one after another. Why!?

Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

Ning Xuanyuan gazed at the vision in the prophecy, silent for a long time.

He sighed softly and looked at his even weaker body, which seemed to have suffered the backlash of heaven's mandate. Suddenly, flames erupted in his eyes.

"Heaven's punishment has arrived. For my descendants, I shall burn what remains of this old body to the very end."

Ning Xuanyuan exerted himself once more, completing the final dance of his life.

The vision of the prophecy rose ever higher...

It passed over barren, lifeless wilderness and shattered mountains and rivers, looking toward the loftiest, loneliest peak in the world.

There, a lone, proud figure with a somewhat slender frame stood silently with their back turned.

Their face could not be seen, nor could anyone tell whether they were a man or a woman.

An endless host of savage giant beasts surrounded the foot of the mountain, their heads bowed as they prostrated themselves. Ten thousand beasts paid homage as one.

The entire shattered, fallen world lay beneath this person's gaze.

Thump, thump... Ning Fengzhi could clearly hear his own heartbeat. Everyone's eyes widened, their gazes fixed on that figure.

A gust of wind blew past, lifting the person's hair.

It was white hair, as white as snow, reaching down to the waist and dancing in the wind.

The person suddenly turned, their face in profile as they looked over.

A single scarlet eye seemed to have noticed everyone peering at them.

Bang-!!!

Suddenly, the illusory vision shook violently. Cracks spread rapidly across it like a shattered mirror.

The vast projection of the future broke apart inch by inch and dispersed among the clouds.

Pfft!!

The instant the illusion dispersed, Ning Xuanyuan's body went rigid, and all the Soul Rings around him dimmed and went out.

His head drooped slightly, and his soul utterly collapsed and fell silent...

The continent's one and only auxiliary Titled Douluo had fallen, his body sinking gently to the ground.

Dead silence reigned across the world.

Having just witnessed the apocalyptic vision with their own eyes, everyone remained immersed in that scene of all things being destroyed, unable to recover their senses for a long time.

Only after a while did a subdued commotion begin to spread.

Xue Qinghe's body was ice-cold, his back already drenched in cold sweat. His hands trembled uncontrollably.

The sight of mountains and rivers overturned and all living things destroyed in the illusion still lingered in his mind.

"That person... he's the one who destroys the future..."

He murmured under his breath, the dignity of a prince utterly gone, leaving only terror from the bottom of his heart.

The sect masters and elders of the many small and medium-sized sects nearby were deathly pale. They whispered among themselves, filled with despair.

"If the future really turns out like that, what's the point of our immortal cultivation?"

"That shadow on the mountaintop... is it the source of all these calamities?"

"Those hundreds upon thousands of Soul Beasts are all under his control. What can we possibly use to fight him!?"

"..."

Tang San's entire body was rigid. His Purple Demon Eye had committed that lofty, pitch-black figure in the illusion to memory.

The hand that had reached out of the void rift earlier, the two giant beasts bowing in worship, and now the heavenly vision he had just seen.

All the clues came together in his mind.

"It was him."

Tang San clenched his teeth, helplessness and fear churning in his heart. "That shadow is the one controlling the two giant beasts, the culprit behind this catastrophe."

Di Tian no longer had a trace of composure.

He turned over a million years of memories, searching through every legend and record he had seen or heard.

The calamity in the illusion and the shadow on the mountaintop looking down upon all living things were completely beyond anything he knew.

Neither the continent's ancient past nor the era of the Dragon God had ever left behind any similar record.

Even at the height of the dragon race's prosperity, it had never displayed such might as to threaten to overturn everything in the world.

He pondered ceaselessly: was that an archaic powerhouse awakened from an ancient slumber, or some ancient existence forgotten in the cracks of time? Or perhaps... an outsider from beyond this domain?

In Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong's purple-gold eyes gazed heavily at the sky where the illusion had dispersed. The astrological prophecy scroll Qian Daoliu had given her surfaced in her mind once more.

On the scroll, the baleful star that had appeared out of nowhere with a blinding radiance matched the catastrophe just revealed by the secrets of heaven perfectly, each confirming the other.

"Who on earth are you...?"

Bibi Dong's voice was soft, but it carried an inescapable weight.

That snow-white hair and those scarlet eyes belonged to no person or beast she had ever seen.

That was someone she had never seen or heard of.

A completely unknown enemy!

Or, one might say, the one who destroyed the future.

Just as fear gripped everyone's hearts and all remained immersed in the shock brought by the heavenly vision-

"Rumble!"

Two low, booming sounds came from the ruins of the Seven Treasure Mountain Range.

Golza tightened his grip on the Earth Vein's origin crystal, while Gagi's cyan barrier slowly contracted.

The two giant beasts lingered no longer. Their enormous bodies plunged into the split earth, vanishing beneath the deep fissure in the blink of an eye. The rumbling gradually receded into the distance until it disappeared entirely.

They had come in a furious onslaught, plundered the supreme treasure, and then fled.

The various groups were still thinking over that pitch-black figure in the heavenly vision again and again.

Everyone was guessing, speculating, and arguing.

Some guessed that an archaic fiend sealed away in ancient times had broken free.

Others thought it might be some supreme mighty being who had lived in seclusion for countless years.

Still others thought of the Divine Realm and secretly wondered whether a deity had descended upon the mortal world to bring disaster.

All manner of guesses flew through the air.

They searched their memories for every ancient legend, guessing at every terrifying existence that might be capable of throwing the world into turmoil.

And at that moment, the true instigator was far away, ten thousand li from there.

[Ding! Congratulations, host. The Earth Vein mission is complete!]

[Reward: one high-level draw opportunity!]