Following their plan, the Silver Dragon King quietly left the independent space, changed her appearance, and slipped into the human world,
On the surface, she was there to gather intelligence. In truth, she was simply afraid that appearing too deliberately would make the Divine Realm suspect they were luring the snake out of its hole.
Only if the Divine Realm discovered the spatial fluctuations on its own, then followed the clues back to their source, would the God Kings not suspect their motives.
Still, she did indeed gather quite a bit of information.
First, the Soul Beast population was vanishing at a rate ten, even a hundred times faster than anyone could have imagined.
In just over thirty thousand years, the Star Dou Forest had already shrunk to a tiny patch of land. Aside from the part Di Tian had fought desperately to protect, the rest had all become cities and farmland.
It was still called a forest, but in reality it was no different from a zoo for rare species. Some daring souls even ventured deep inside to explore.
Across the entire Douluo Planet, only the depths of the sea still held relatively large Soul Beast populations, but even they didn't dare go near the shore or the islands.
That alone was enough to leave Gu Yuena aghast, her expression turning grave.
And the human world was hardly any better, even aside from the near-extinction of the Soul Beasts.
From Di Tian, the Silver Dragon King learned that the Divine Realm had spent a full thousand years using every means at its disposal to completely erase Huang Tian's influence.
The major events of that period, in chronological order, were as follows:
[Spirit Hall was destroyed. The Spirit Hall army and the Spirit Pagoda's main forces were wiped out. With Tang San's divine power bolstering him, Dugu Bo unleashed his ninth Soul Skill in the center of Spirit City, turning it into a realm of death.]
[Yu Xiaogang publicly declared that all of Huang Tian's research had been plagiarized from him. He published a revised edition of Martial Soul Theory, which included more detailed classifications of martial souls, Limit Soul Rings, the advantages of Soul Spirits, and theories on the compatibility between Soul Rings and martial souls, among other things.]
[A mysterious figure destroyed Slaughter City. Evil Soul Masters escaped and wreaked havoc everywhere, plunging the continent into endless warfare.]
[Policies such as Spirit Hall's free martial soul awakenings, subsidies for low-rank Soul Masters, and admitting students to Soul Master Academies based solely on talent were all abolished. Some commoners gathered at the ruins of Spirit Hall to petition, but were reportedly attacked by Evil Soul Masters. Not one survived.]
[Huang Tian founded an organization to manage relations between Soul Beasts and humans, create and grant Soul Spirits, and prevent their abuse. The Spirit Pagoda fell under the control of the Clear Sky Sect.]
[The newspaper Huang Tian himself had founded began running extensive stories about the evil deeds of Spirit Hall and Huang Tian. The great sects and noble families took turns appearing publicly to testify, listing a mountain of evidence and examples.
Evil Soul Masters were portrayed as part of Huang Tian's schemes and remnants of Spirit Hall. In a very short time, both became public enemies of humanity.]
[Tang San, heir to the Sea God and the Asura God, called for a massive purge targeting Huang Tian and Spirit Hall.
He personally led the Tang Sect and the direct descendants of the Upper Three Sects in destroying large numbers of books on Huang Tian's Martial Soul Theory, hunting Soul Masters and ordinary people who had practiced martial arts, and branding them evil followers of Huang Tian.]
[The Spirit Pagoda's policies to protect Soul Beasts from extinction—for example, strictly prohibiting the indiscriminate killing of Soul Beasts to make Soul Spirits, and forbidding anyone but super-geniuses from acquiring a new Soul Spirit when they already had one and could still form Soul Rings—were all repealed by the new Pagoda Master.]
[The Sea God and the Asura God announced that they would completely wipe out the remnants of Spirit Hall and Huang Tian's followers. Their glorious achievements were reported in the papers for seven consecutive days.
Aside from a few top sects and families that still passed down the cultivation methods Huang Tian had once revealed, they had all but vanished among the common people.]
[Large numbers of Soul Masters flooded into the Star Dou Forest, slaughtering Soul Beasts to make and sell Soul Spirits. The extinction of the Soul Beasts accelerated.]
[The two empires and three great sects issued a joint decree prohibiting free martial soul awakenings. Anyone who disobeyed would be considered a remnant of Spirit Hall, and anyone could kill them without consequence.]
[Soul Master Academies began requiring letters of recommendation.
Students had to present a letter of recommendation from a noble to enroll. The higher the academy's rank, the greater the status and power required of the person writing the recommendation—and the more exorbitant the tuition.]
After Huang Tian's influence was erased, Douluo Continent gradually returned to the dark age before the Angel God's rise. Order collapsed, Evil Soul Masters ran rampant, wars never ceased, and commoners had no hope of rising above their station.
By then, roughly twenty thousand years had passed. One Soul Hunting Forest after another had disappeared, and most Soul Beast populations had been wiped out. It was around that time that Artificial Soul Rings and Artificial Soul Spirits came into being.
Without enough connections or wealth, an ordinary person could no longer awaken a martial soul or enter a Soul Master Academy—and now they couldn't even obtain a Soul Ring.
The theory of Soul Ring limits had clearly advanced. Given a suitable physique and a Soul Ring compatible with their martial soul, even a thousand-year ring as a first ring was not out of the question.
Yet Soul Masters with Ten-Year Soul Rings were still everywhere on the streets.
The great families and sects were nominally under the command of the two empires, but in practice they were no different from local warlords. They took whatever they wanted from the people under their rule, and even from the smaller Soul Master families.
Beyond their daily bullying, they made hunting down anyone who wasn't a prodigy of their own family their highest priority.
Yet history books and official propaganda claimed that modern times were the happiest era for the people, while Spirit Hall was portrayed as a demonic organization that lived by eating humans.
As for Huang Tian, no one was allowed to mention that he had ever existed, whether in praise or condemnation.
She had anticipated that many of the policies Huang Tian had championed would be abolished after he disappeared. After all, they had dealt too great a blow to the interests of the major sects and great families.
But even so, the information left the Silver Dragon King deeply shocked and horrified.
She could understand Tang San's actions. The more chaotic the world became, the more widespread and fervent the worship of the God of Destruction would be, allowing the Asura God to draw ample sustenance from it.
But she couldn't accept seeing her beloved's dream, reputation, and life's work so thoroughly poisoned.
As she wandered through the human world, she saw with her own eyes the cruelty of war, the way nobles bullied and even casually slaughtered commoners, and how Evil Soul Masters spread carnage from village to village.
Meanwhile, the great families and sects lived in peace, indulging in extravagance and debauchery, while behind vermilion gates, wine and meat rotted.
The nobles of Spirit Hall's era were utterly dwarfed by those of the present day. Their so-called misdeeds were nothing by comparison.
The Silver Dragon King was heartbroken. It wasn't only the suffering of the common people that grieved her. If Huang Tian saw all this, with how deeply he cared for everyone, how furious and tormented would he be?
Several hours passed, and the Divine Realm still hadn't detected her presence. The Silver Dragon King was secretly relieved, thinking that perhaps the Divine Realm had let down its guard, and that she and Huang Tian might yet escape, when—
Her eyes shot up. Utter shock burst across her unremarkable face, and her pupils shrank violently.
Her heart clenched tight.
Her body stiffened, then began to tremble violently. Before long, tears blurred her vision completely.
In that instant, she received two messages.
The first was a delayed message Huang Tian had left behind: "Run. Now. As far away as you can. Leave the Douluo God Realm's sphere of influence and venture into the vast reaches of outer space."
The second was the unmistakable sense that a fierce battle was raging beyond Douluo Planet.
Huang Tian had claimed he was making her the bait to lure the snake out of its hole, but in truth, he had charged toward the Divine Realm without a moment's hesitation.
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