After the Pope's Coronation Ceremony, the war between Spirit Hall and the Clear Sky Sect officially began.
Contrary to everyone's earlier concerns, Spirit Hall didn't rely on its large number of Soul Masters to attack the Clear Sky Sect's stronghold directly. Instead, it chose to target the Clear Sky Sect's Affiliated Sects first.
The first to bear the brunt were naturally the Four Single-Attribute Sects: the Strength, Destruction, Agility, and Defense clans.
After all, the Clear Sky Sect was no pushover. Though it had lost the might that once made it the greatest sect under heaven, the Clear Sky Hammer remained powerful. Even if Spirit Hall could win in a head-on clash, it wouldn't be worth the cost.
Bibi Dong had only just taken office and wanted to win people over. Naturally, she wanted to maximize the gains from this war while keeping losses to a minimum.
Thus, the war against the Clear Sky Sect was divided into two parts. The main force, led by the two Titled Douluo, Ju Gui, would launch a frontal assault on the Clear Sky Sect's main headquarters to draw its attention. Meanwhile, several Soul Douluo bishops would each lead Spirit Hall Soul Masters in surprise attacks on the Clear Sky Sect's Affiliated Sects, keeping them occupied and preventing them from coming to the Clear Sky Sect's aid.
Of course, the most important thing was to loot all the Clear Sky Sect's businesses outside its headquarters!
Soul Masters had to eat, too. They needed money for food, clothing, housing, and transportation, and their expenses far exceeded those of ordinary people. The Spirit Master Class was both a high-income group and a high-spending one.
This was even more true of sects. They needed money at every turn to develop and grow stronger.
As for robbery, that was a joke. Soul Masters on Douluo Continent weren't necessarily rich, but rich people were always Soul Masters. Profitable businesses were controlled by major Soul Master powers like Spirit Hall, the Eight Great Families, and the Seven Great Sects.
Any Soul Master capable of robbing those people wouldn't need to worry about money in the first place.
A small city in Star Luo Empire territory, on land belonging to the Clear Sky Sect, could now more accurately be called a ruin.
Not long ago, it had been a prosperous, moderately wealthy city. But less than half a month after the war began, it had nearly been reduced to rubble. Those who had lived there were either dead or had fled.
After all, once a war broke out, no one cared whether you were a Soul Master or an ordinary person. On a designated battlefield, everyone except their own people was considered an enemy.
The battle would begin with Soul Masters capable of long-range attacks bombarding the enemy with Spirit Skills, much like the volleys of arrows fired at the start of a war between the Two Great Empires. This stage rarely killed anyone; its main purpose was to injure the enemy and increase the burden on their supply lines. It was a war of attrition, though there was always the odd unlucky person who got hit and died.
Once the attrition stage was over, the battle turned into a glorious free-for-all.
"How's the fighting up ahead?" Just as Bibi Dong had said, Nan Feng had come to the front lines with Ju Gui to earn some merit.
With Bibi Dong, the Pope, backing him, and after having saved them from serious injuries, Nan Feng had a fairly good relationship with Yue Guan and Gui Mei.
"Not bad. Our casualties are roughly on par with the Clear Sky Sect's, about one to one," Yue Guan replied.
That was actually a very good result. Spirit Hall's Soul Masters varied widely in strength, and those sent in to charge at the beginning were basically cannon fodder.
The Clear Sky Sect was much the same. But those losses barely mattered to Spirit Hall, while the Clear Sky Sect would feel every one of them.
"None of the Affiliated Sects that should have come to support them have shown up, so the Clear Sky Sect's morale has already dropped noticeably. Today, they're clearly trying to avoid fighting," Gui Mei said.
"Have their elders made no move?" Nan Feng asked, puzzled.
The main battlefield was only a few kilometers away. If a Soul Douluo made a move, Nan Feng would definitely hear it from here. But he'd been here for several days and hadn't heard anything especially loud.
"No," Gui Mei said.
"The Clear Sky Sect's main force has been retreating from the very beginning. They have no intention of meeting us head-on. They're probably planning to fall back to their stronghold. That wretched place is easy to defend and hard to attack. Anyone below Soul Saint who goes in is as good as dead."
"They're that timid?" Nan Feng asked, confused.
"Weren't the Clear Sky Sect people supposed to have fiery tempers? Shouldn't they fight a major battle first and only retreat when they're truly out of options?"
Yue Guan's eye twitched slightly. "You need to consider who they're up against."
At present, the Clear Sky Sect had only one Titled Douluo: its sect master, Tang Xiao. Judging by the timeline, Tang Xiao's cultivation could be at most level ninety-three. The rest of the Clear Sky Sect's elders were all high-ranking Soul Douluo above level eighty-five, but they still had little chance against a Titled Douluo.
Although Spirit Hall had publicly claimed to have sent only two Titled Douluo, who knew how many more were lurking in secret?
Until Spirit Hall made the first move, the Clear Sky Sect absolutely wouldn't dare to reveal its high-level combatants.
"Fair point." Nan Feng nodded.
"But we've been fighting for so long. Why hasn't Tang Hao shown up?"
"Tang Hao?" Yue Guan couldn't help laughing.
"That guy can barely look after himself right now."
Nan Feng gave him a strange look. "Wasn't it you three who got killed after ganging up on one?"
Yue Guan looked awkward. "Tang Hao was using a cheat. The special aura produced when a Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Beast sacrificed itself put tremendous pressure on us. We couldn't fight at full strength."
"You've no idea how much that Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Ring boosts a Soul Master. And once he activated his Hundred Thousand Year Soul Skill, the Slaughter Barrier, it worked with the aura produced by the Spirit Beast's sacrifice and his Divine Slaughter's Domain. Old Ghost and I couldn't bring out even seventy percent of our strength, and we couldn't use our Martial Soul Fusion Skill."
They hadn't expected the Humanoid Spirit Beast to willingly sacrifice itself, much less that the special aura produced by a Hundred-Thousand-Year Spirit Beast's sacrifice would interfere with them so badly. They'd chased Tang Hao until he was already at the end of his rope, but then the Blue Silver Emperor sacrificed itself and restored him to full strength. That special aura even kept supplying him with energy without interruption!
It had been like something out of a nightmare!
The more they fought, the more exhausted they became. Tang Hao, meanwhile, only grew more and more ferocious!
"And the Clear Sky Sect's Ring Detonation secret technique was completely unreasonable," Yue Guan said, still shaken.
"After accepting the sacrifice, Tang Hao was at level ninety-one, with Soul Power fluctuations close to level ninety-two. Then he used Ring Detonation recklessly, blowing up his first four Spirit Rings and pushing himself straight past level ninety-three. When he detonated his fifth Spirit Ring, he shot up to level ninety-five on the spot!"
Nan Feng looked astonished. "It's that powerful?"
"That was exactly how we looked at the time!" Yue Guan said, getting worked up.
Everyone in the Spirit Master World said that the Clear Sky Sect's secret art, the ultimate technique of the Great Sumeru Hammer—Ring Detonation—was an utterly unreasonable move. But few people had ever truly seen it. Only the most talented member of each generation, the one chosen as the future sect master, was allowed to learn Ring Detonation, and even then, they weren't guaranteed to master it!
They hadn't known just how much Ring Detonation could boost someone. But that day, they'd seen it for themselves!
It really was completely fucking unreasonable!
"But that domineering technique also had terrifying backlash," Gui Mei said.
"After knocking us all down, Tang Hao was in terrible shape, too. If there'd been another Titled Douluo there—or even just a Soul Douluo—Tang Hao would've been a dead man! And he would've died by his own hand!"
After using Ring Detonation, Tang Hao's Soul Power had been extremely unstable. He clearly hadn't mastered that terrifying technique yet; his power surged and ebbed wildly. Especially after the battle ended, Gui Mei had been able to tell that Tang Hao was close to losing control of the violent Soul Power within his body!
Without that damn aura supporting him, Tang Hao would've blown himself up while using Ring Detonation!
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