To Rule

Almost immediately, the moment Rus Wang's Soul Tools and missiles launched their attack, Dai Zuoheng and his group activated the Soul Guidance Shields they wore and covered their bodies in Soul Power. Behind them, the Soul Rings they had obtained by hunting Soul Beasts appeared one after another.

Among them were several Soul Spirits who dared to appear beside humans in front of Rus Wang, joining them to face the attacks from the weapons he carried.

"Bastards! I don't blame you for choosing to survive, but siding with the humans against me at a time like this? The humans must have turned your brains to mush."

Rus Wang flew into a rage. The flaw of becoming a Soul Spirit was that Soul Beasts were effectively enslaved. Though they kept their lives, they lost their bodies and could only dwell inside a Soul Master, going wherever their host went—little better than imprisonment. Even if their host died, they could only choose to contract with another Soul Master and continue serving them, forever denied their freedom. So, in Rus Wang's eyes, providing humans with Soul Rings was something they had no choice about. Fighting alongside humans, however, made them traitors to the Soul Beasts.

Rus Wang's aura surged, swelling wildly, growing stronger by the moment.

[Skill · Azure Power] When this skill is successfully used, there is a 100% chance of raising the user's Attack level by 1; when this skill is successfully used, there is a 100% chance of raising the user's Speed level by 1; the user's Attack skills are guaranteed to land a critical hit next turn.

"You witless Soul Spirits! Since you've chosen to stand with the humans, don't blame me for showing no mercy! Giant Pincer Overwhelming Strike!"

Rus Wang's attacks were no joke. He could use both the Soul Skills of the Douluo System and the Skill attacks of the Seer System. As he launched Giant Pincer Overwhelming Strike, several waterspouts appeared out of nowhere around the humans. They were struck not by water, but by raging winds. Blowing at forty meters per second, the winds pinned the humans in the middle of the waterspouts. If they hadn't been wrapped in Soul Power, the wind would have swept them away and left them struggling to breathe.

"Oh no!"

Dai Zuoheng knew exactly what Rus Wang was doing. He was sealing off their room to dodge and preparing to badly wound them with a single strike! He looked at the group suspended in the air. Some of the Soul Saints were already being held aloft by Soul Douluo, unable to withstand the pressure and attacks of a six-hundred-thousand-year-old Soul Beast on their own. Sensing the Soul Beasts with lifespans of four hundred thousand years or less rushing over from Dragon Valley Forest, Dai Zuoheng made a resolute sacrifice.

"The soldiers have no chance of surviving that tsunami attack. Duke Libai, I'll hold them off. Take whoever's left and go! Bring back word of this Soul Beast!"

"Understood, Your Highness!"

At level 96, Duke Libai knew that staying behind meant being swallowed by the Ferocious Beast's fury. Unless someone stayed to hold it off, none of them would escape. Even if he himself would face punishment from the imperial family—or even execution—if the Star Luo Empire's Titled Douluo prospects survived, they would eventually repay the Soul Beasts many times over for today's losses.

Duke Libai pounded his right fist against his left breast, then led the human Soul Douluo and Soul Saints behind him. He activated his Martial Soul Avatar, Steel-Toothed Gray Shark, and forced the entire group to break through the howling winds of the waterspouts.

"Xiaoheng, no! Didn't we promise to stay together forever?"

"My lady, this is a matter of life and death. Stop being stubborn!"

A level-91 Titled Douluo grabbed a female Soul Douluo to keep her from leaving Duke Libai's group.

"Damn it, how can there be a pair of doomed lovers here, too?!"

Blade Ruse King wasn't about to let such a large group of humans break through. His Skill attack shot straight toward Duke Libai's group.

"Not a chance!" Seeing this, Dai Zuoheng roared and rushed between the attacking claw and the fleeing group.

"Ninth Soul Skill, White Tiger World-Destroying Fist!"

Dazzling golden light burst from Dai Zuoheng's body. He shifted his form several times in midair, and the dense golden light flashed in intersecting bursts, forming a gigantic fist that struck at the enemy. Its power was immense as it collided with Rus Wang's Giant Pincer Overwhelming Strike.

Just as expected, the instant the attacks collided, a crushing sensation came from Dai Zuoheng's right hand. His throat lurched, and he spat blood mixed with fragments from his mouth. Rus Wang's attack sent him flying, and the force slammed him into the vast marshland that had once been a forest.

Just then, the Giant Mountain Golden Ape also "arrived." It watched the human Soul Masters' auras receding into the distance, then looked at the level-97 Titled Douluo before it, whose entire right hand had been smashed by a single claw from an unfamiliar water-attribute Dragon. Regret welled up in it. If it hadn't been injured, it would have reached this place much sooner and kept all the humans from escaping.

Rus Wang looked at the humans, now far away on their individual Soul Guidance flying devices, then glanced back at the Soul Beasts and humans floating in the marsh. He descended from the air and used Soul Power to fish out the Soul Beasts. Most of the hundred- and thousand-year Soul Beasts knocked unconscious by his waves had already died from the aftershock of his Giant Pincer Overwhelming Strike, but several hundred thousand- and ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts could still be saved.

Rus Wang knew how badly he'd acted. He placed the bodies of the thousand- and ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts in a lake, then took an Advanced Stamina Potion from his system. It was the most potent health-recovery potion he had. He had used one before when Yanjin had secretly undergone the hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation and was on the verge of death. The potion's power had been too strong: it had helped Chijin pass the hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation in a single day, but had also brought on a two-hundred-thousand-year Heavenly Tribulation. Fortunately, Rus Wang had helped her bear it. Otherwise, the consequences would have been disastrous.

Once the potion soaked into these Soul Beasts, their lives would be restored, and perhaps they would even overcome the disadvantage of their bloodlines and have a chance to become Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. They wouldn't end up like one of his former subordinates, a Sharp-Tailed Swift, who had remained stuck around fifty thousand years, unable to increase her cultivation any further, until her lifespan ran out and she quietly fell asleep forever in Nanshan Rainforest.

When Rus Wang unscrewed the potion's cap, its medicinal scent and aura of life spread through the air. Its energy and aroma were so potent that even the Giant Mountain Golden Ape and the other Soul Beasts, along with the captured Dai Zuoheng, couldn't help staring blankly at the object in Rus Wang's right foreclaw.

He poured the liquid, which was clearly a rare treasure, into the lake. It triggered a tremendous reaction. The faint auras of the thousand- and ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts began to stabilize, and just minutes later, a ten-thousand-year Soul Beast rose from the water.

Seeing this, Rus Wang did nothing more. He looked toward the Giant Mountain Golden Ape and started walking.

The Giant Mountain Golden Ape and the Dragons of Dragon Valley Forest stood in two rows, clearing a path for Rus Wang to approach Dai Zuoheng.

"Human, your decision to cover your companions' escape from my attack was truly heroic. Before I kill you, tell me your name."

"Dai Zuoheng! The sixth son of Emperor Dai Luoli of the Star Luo Empire. After I die, the Empire will retaliate and wipe out every one of you Soul Beasts!"

Dai Zuoheng forced himself to stand and stared straight at Rus Wang without flinching. As a human Super Douluo, he would die a glorious death before the Soul Beasts.

"You're right about one thing. Your people are trampling the forests where we live as they please, and I can't change that fact. But you're wrong about this, Star Luo man: you're the outsiders on this land."

When Rus Wang realized that this man was the son of Huo Yuhao's half-brother, he wasn't particularly surprised. More than two hundred years had passed. Anyone still connected to Huo Yuhao would either be an old man or an old woman by now, or their lifespan would have run out and the Life Ancient Tree would have absorbed them. Rus Wang had nothing to fear, so he didn't hesitate. After giving Dai Zuoheng a chance to speak, he tore him to pieces with his claws, leaving neither flesh nor Spirit Bone behind. He was dead beyond any doubt.

Rus Wang looked at the blood on his claws and wiped it off against the muddy ground, which had been soaked by the water.

He turned to the native Soul Beasts of Dragon Valley Forest gathering around him. Their monkey and dragon faces were full of bewilderment, unease, and worry, along with a trace of excitement.

That was perfectly normal. This sixty-hundred-thousand-year Dragon had appeared out of nowhere. Though he had helped them hunt down the human Soul Hunting Squad, the Giant Mountain Golden Ape and the Dragons of Dragon Valley Forest still weren't part of his group. Their common enemy—the humans—had already been driven off single-handedly by Rus Wang. The Giant Mountain Golden Ape hadn't even helped kill them, and conversation between them would be difficult. So approaching him cautiously was only natural.

"Your Majesty."

The Giant Mountain Golden Ape and the Turquoise Dragons bowed their heads before Rus Wang, using words to express their wish to submit.

Rus Wang didn't blame them for failing to protect Dragon Valley Forest. Instead, he accepted their submission.

"First, take the surviving Soul Beasts to an undamaged Mixed Circle in the forest. Then take me to the place where you hold your meetings, and we'll talk."