Soul Beast Invasion?

Midnight.

A crescent moon hung over Martial Soul City, its light falling upon the ruins of Martial Soul Hall, plating the broken walls and shattered pillars in cold silver.

The once-lofty main hall was now reduced to half a stone wall, leaning precariously against the ground.

The surrounding side halls, corridors, and training grounds had not been spared either.

Those spirit beasts had specifically targeted the architecture of Martial Soul Hall, not leaving a single intact pillar behind.

The entire Martial Soul City was deathly quiet.

A few lights flickered in the civilian district, and occasionally, a daring resident would poke their head out to take a look before quickly pulling it back.

They all knew in their hearts that although the catastrophe during the day had been terrifying, those overwhelming swarms of spirit beasts hadn't stepped a single foot into the civilian district.

Once this news spread, the fear in the hearts of the people of Martial Soul City had largely dissipated, replaced by a subtle sense of relief.

Martial Soul Hall was usually high and mighty, never showing mercy when collecting tributes; now that it had been dismantled like this, to put it bluntly, what did it have to do with them?

But the people of Martial Soul Hall were not so relaxed.

At this moment, in the open space before the ruins, dozens of low-level spirit masters wearing the standard uniform of Martial Soul Hall were working through the night to clear the rubble.

Most of them were only at the early twentieth level, and their spirits were either hammers, bricks, or other tool-type spirits.

"Damn it... I'm exhausted."

A man with a face covered in dust threw the stone hammer in his hand onto the ground and leaned against a broken wall, gasping for air.

His spirit was a stone hammer half a person's height; this spirit usually had decent combat power, but he never imagined that one day it would actually be used for this kind of work.

"Who's telling you otherwise?" A tall, thin man next to him also slumped down. His spirit was a Blue Brick, which was currently floating in his palm, the surface covered in mortar.

"I've been working since dusk, and my arms are about to give out. Do you think those spirit beasts have a grudge against us? They dismantled everything so thoroughly, they didn't even leave us a complete door frame."

Nearby, people began to put down their work one after another, gathering around to catch their breath.

An older middle-aged man took out a tobacco pouch and tapped it against the rubble. "Those spirit beasts were truly ruthless. Do you think they'll keep coming here to cause trouble?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the people around them looked at the ruins before them in unison.

If Martial Soul Hall kept getting dismantled, wouldn't they, this group of hammers and bricks, become a permanent construction crew?

Moving bricks and tiles day after day—how was this any different from being a laborer on a construction site?

"Pfft."

A young voice broke the silence.

Everyone turned to look. It was a youth in his early twenties, leaning against a corner of the wall with a look of disdain on his lips.

"Worrying about nothing."

"What did you say?" The middle-aged man frowned.

The youth glanced at him, his tone lazy. "I said you're all overthinking it.

Those spirit beasts came once, but can they come a second time?

For us, the greatest threat isn't the Star Dou Forest at all, but that guy Tang San.

That guy is the son of Tang Hao, the successor of the Clear Sky Douluo, and he can even make Tang Hao throw hidden weapons to hurt people—the threat is immense!"

"Didn't you see that even the Pope was almost killed by them today?"

He paused, a look of longing flashing in his eyes. "Besides, even if the spirit beasts really do come back, so what?"

"Fighting them is actually our opportunity!"

The youth's voice was filled with excitement. "Our squad leader was lucky yesterday; he ran into a ten-thousand-year spirit beast and landed the final blow himself, directly obtaining a ten-thousand-year spirit ring!"

"What?!"

"A ten-thousand-year spirit ring?!"

"Is that for real?"

The crowd gathered around, their eyes filled with envy.

For low-level spirit masters like them, a ten-thousand-year spirit ring was something they wouldn't even dare to dream of.

Under normal circumstances, hunting a ten-thousand-year spirit beast required at least the strength of the fiftieth or sixtieth level and a well-coordinated team.

For small fries like them at the twenty-something level, let alone hunting a ten-thousand-year spirit beast, being able to snag a thousand-year spirit ring under the protection of a team would be considered a stroke of incredible luck.

"Of course it's true," the youth said, lifting his chin proudly. "The squad leader showed it off on the training ground this morning; his fourth spirit ring was pitch black and shining, and its power was more than a grade higher than before.

If you ask me, those spirit beasts might be fierce, but their spirit rings are the real deal. Fortune favors the bold, understand?"

His words left everyone feeling moved.

Only one thin, middle-aged man remained silent. He looked up at the surrounding darkness, his brows furrowed tightly.

"I still think something is wrong."

"What is it now?" The youth looked at him impatiently.

"Those spirit beasts today were stepping through spatial rifts."

"What if... what if a soul beast could control spatial rifts?"

The air fell silent for a fleeting moment.

Then, the young man scoffed and waved his hand dismissively:

"Impossible. If soul beasts could just open spatial rifts at will, Martial Soul Hall would have been wiped out eight hundred years ago; how could it have lasted until now?

Do you take the Title Douluos of Martial Soul Hall for fools who just sit around and eat?

That kind of spatial rift must be some sort of special forbidden technique or a method with a massive cost—use it once, and it's gone."

The middle-aged man opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say more.

The young man cut him off, raising his voice a notch: "Even if they come again next time, it will just be..."

Halfway through his sentence, the young man's voice suddenly stuck in his throat.

Because he saw a streak of golden light, its speed so fast it almost defied the eye's ability to track, like a sliver of moonlight suddenly solidified, carving an arc through the darkness.

Yet, no one else seemed to notice it at all!

"It will just be... what?" someone urged.

The young man stood with his mouth agape, his gaze fixed straight in the direction where the golden light had vanished.

Just as he was about to describe what he had just seen, his brain felt as if it had been violently stirred by an invisible hand.

The scene before his eyes suddenly changed.

The colleagues who had been chatting with him just moments ago now appeared in his eyes as clawing, snarling soul beasts!

Their eyes glowed with a scarlet light, saliva dripped from their maws, and they were closing in on him with sinister grins.

"You wretches!"

The young man jumped up by pure instinct, grabbed the stone hammer at his side, and let out a sharp shout: "To think you'd disguise yourselves as people from my Martial Soul Hall? Good thing I'm a step ahead! Taste my strike!"

The moment the young man moved, the scene in the eyes of the others changed as well.

They saw the young man transform into a soul beast covered in black scales, opening a blood-red maw toward them.

These people had no time to think; their Blue Brick martial souls expanded several times over in their hands and were slammed down viciously.

Yet, after killing one, they saw even more soul beasts!

"Kill!"

"Take down these soul beasts!"

"They've infiltrated our ranks!"

The area in front of the Martial Soul Hall ruins erupted into chaos instantly, as dozens of soul masters fell into hallucinations simultaneously.

In their respective fields of vision, all their colleagues had turned into hideous soul beasts.

For a time, the sounds of battle and slaughter rose one after another!