Hurricane Sword Art Second Form, Wound of the Gale!

Tianbei City.

As the third-largest city in the north of the Sky Soul Empire, it is renowned for its trade, largely due to its distance from the Star Luo and Dou Ling Empires and its proximity to Nine Treasures City.

This city is the most prosperous and fertile in the Sky Soul Empire, a place where even commoners can live and work in peace.

At the same time, because the Far North lies just beyond its borders, it serves as a natural defensive barrier.

Consequently, even though it sits on the national frontier, there are no heavy military garrisons stationed here.

After all, even if there were, they would be essentially useless.

One must remember, behind Tianbei City lies the Far North!

Across the entire continent, the number of powerful soul masters capable of traversing the Far North can be counted on one's fingers.

Let alone the armies of enemy nations.

It is impossible for an army composed mostly of ordinary soldiers to circle around and launch a surprise attack from the rear.

If an enemy force were to actually reach this point, they would have effectively already punched through the entirety of the Sky Soul Empire.

One must ask, if the Sky Soul Empire has already been breached, what use would a garrison here be?

Thus, the Sky Soul Empire's attitude toward this place is quite subtle; they have stationed no troops here at all, and even the city lord is merely a six-ringed Soul Emperor.

Therefore, even in times of war, the city is rarely touched by the flames of conflict due to its geography.

At most, the taxes collected are two or three times higher than during peaceful eras.

Night fell, and with a bright moon hanging high, most of the residents of Tianbei City had long since drifted into worry-free dreams.

Little did they know, as they lay in their warm bedding, that a lethal threat was closing in on them...

Even now, this city, which had known peace for who knows how long, had attracted an uninvited guest with hands stained in blood—

The Evil Soul Master Demon Bear, a powerhouse with the strength of a seven-ringed Soul Saint.

Demon Bear's original name had long been forgotten by everyone, even himself.

Come to think of it, his experiences were somewhat similar to those of Xue Mingqing.

In the past, he was not actually an Evil Soul Master.

Born into an ordinary family, his parents were both common soul masters, and the martial soul he awakened was merely a common Savage Bear, having absolutely nothing to do with Evil Soul Masters.

He had originally thought he would live out his life in mediocrity, but reality proved that the world is kind to no one.

Two years ago, while he was out, a group of damned Evil Soul Masters broke into his home and slaughtered his entire family.

The encounter was identical, with the only difference being that Xue Mingqing had Feng Qingyang, while he did not.

When he returned home, he found the Evil Soul Masters still desecrating the corpses of his family.

He had protected nothing; he had saved nothing.

Instantly, grief, rage, and agony surged into his heart, driving him into a frenzy as he cruelly tore that group of Evil Soul Masters to shreds.

He still remembers the expressions on the faces of those Evil Soul Masters before they died.

It was an expression of extreme distortion!

It was precisely when he killed that group of Evil Soul Masters that a strange voice entered his mind...

He could no longer recall what that voice had said to him.

However, after that, he was like a different person; he, who had originally loathed Evil Soul Masters, began to enjoy slaughter and crave the taste of blood just like them.

At first, he only dared to kill livestock to satisfy his twisted desires.

But as the killings increased, his desires grew ever greater.

From small animals to ordinary people, to weak soul masters, and finally, he even slaughtered an entire small clan of soul masters!

However, it was precisely because of that incident that he caused too much of a stir, drawing Shrek Academy to hunt him down.

But!

Judging by the fact that he could still stand here today, even the Death Envoy, who brought such heavy casualties to Huo Yuhao's generation, would have to call him a grandmaster.

Both were Soul Kings, both were surrounded and suppressed; the Death Envoy only managed to cause two deaths and two injuries before being wiped out by Huo Yuhao, who had triggered his "cheat."

And what of Demon Bear?

He not only wiped out the Shrek members who surrounded him, but also devoured their flesh and souls, breaking through from a five-ringed cultivation to his current seven-ringed level in one fell swoop!

Well... whether it was a "suppression" or a "food delivery" is hard to say; it is quite humorous.

In any case, after that hunting and suppression operation against him, he went into hiding for a full year.

First, to avoid the limelight, and second, to stabilize his strength.

Now, after hiding for a year and having stabilized his strength at the Soul Saint realm, he could no longer suppress the craving for blood in his heart.

He craved slaughter, he craved blood, and he craved an unbridled, bloody feast.

Clearly, Tianbei City, where the strongest individual was only a Soul Emperor, was the target he had chosen...

Looking at Tianbei City, sleeping under the moonlight, Demon Bear curled his lips, revealing a chilling smile.

Night has fallen... the hunt is about to begin...

I know not how much time had passed, but when the crescent moon in the sky finally could no longer bear the sight of the carnage and hid itself behind the dark clouds.

The entirety of Tianbei City had been reduced to ruins, destroyed in a single night.

Demon Bear's timing for the ambush was viciously calculated; he struck at three or four in the morning, the hour when ordinary people are deepest in their slumber.

The first to bear the brunt of the assault was the strongest soul master in Tianbei City, the old City Lord with the cultivation of a Soul Emperor.

That poor old City Lord had not even managed to wake from his dreams before Demon Bear ambushed him, leaving him gravely wounded.

The subsequent events need no explanation; the old City Lord was no match for a Soul Saint-level Demon Bear to begin with, let alone after being caught off guard by a sneak attack.

Almost without suspense, the old City Lord died miserably under Demon Bear's claws.

With the strongest soul master in the city dead, the remaining soul masters and ordinary folk were naturally no match for Demon Bear, all of them becoming blood-food for him to grow stronger...

At this moment, standing atop the blood-stained ruins of Tianbei City, Demon Bear was intoxicatingly gnawing on the flesh and blood of the old City Lord.

He used his flesh, soul, and soul power to accelerate the growth of his own cultivation.

Suddenly, Demon Bear's ears twitched; it was as if he had heard something.

A faint, very faint sound of sobbing.

Hearing this, the corners of Demon Bear's mouth curled into a cruel, bloodthirsty arc.

"Heh... it seems... there is still a little snack that hasn't been found... let me see... where are you..."

His cold, mocking voice echoed over the ruins. As soon as Demon Bear finished speaking, the sobbing sound came to an abrupt halt.

It seemed she wanted to hide herself, but—

It was far too late...

With a cold sneer, Demon Bear flicked his hand, and the old City Lord's mangled remains were tossed aside like a sack of rags, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

In an instant, the body was torn asunder. He stood up and walked toward the direction from which the sobbing had come.

How keen is the perception of a Soul Saint, let alone an Evil Soul Master Soul Saint? He was born with a radar-like sensitivity to negative emotions such as fear.

Step by step, sniffing the rich scent of fear and unwillingness overflowing in the air, he arrived before a collapsed building.

"Found you."

Raising his hand, which shimmered with a sharp, deathly light, Demon Bear's blood-stained bear paw gripped the collapsed structure and, with a single burst of strength, flipped it away!

He looked down at the person beneath the ruins—

A disheveled young girl, weeping silently while clutching a dead woman.

Looking at the girl's features, they bore a striking resemblance to the woman in her arms who had lost all signs of life. It stood to reason that the one in her arms was her mother.

Looking at the girl's delicate face, which still held hatred despite her fear, and watching her brows, which remained unyielding even as she wept.

Demon Bear's body paused—it was as if he had remembered something...

Memories in his mind surged vaguely, as if separated by a layer of distorted blood mist; he could recall nothing.

Frowning, Demon Bear simply stopped thinking about it. He looked at the delicate-faced, slender girl before him, and a lecherous smirk curled his lips!

As the saying goes, a full belly leads to lust. Now, with his hunger sated and his strength increased once more, Demon Bear felt his throat go dry.

He wanted to compose a hymn of life, and as it happened, there was no candidate more suitable than the one before him!

"You'll do!"

Seeming to sense Demon Bear's intentions, the girl's beautiful eyes shrank. Three soul rings with optimal ratios rose beneath her feet; she instinctively wanted to resist.

She was actually a Soul Master!

"Don't come over—!"

The girl struggled while weeping, but...

Was a Soul Master's resistance truly of any use before a Soul Saint?

He lunged, grabbing the girl. Ignoring her negligible resistance, Demon Bear pinned her to the ground!

Rip! The sound of fabric tearing rang out, and a large expanse of snowy-white skin was laid bare—

Feeling the sudden chill and her clothes being torn, the girl looked at her mother's corpse in despair.

"I'm sorry, Mother... Lexuan cannot avenge you... I will be joining you soon..."

Having said this, Zhang Lexuan closed her beautiful eyes completely, waiting for Demon Bear's violation, waiting quietly for the pain to descend.

But...

Arriving even earlier than Demon Bear's violation was the roar of a young man!

"Two gusts of wind rise with a whistle, one sword shatters the nine heavens!"

"Hurricane Sword Art, Second Form: Gale of—Sorrow!!!!"