Tianbei City.
It was the third city in the north of the Heaven Dou Empire. It lay far from the Star Luo and Dou Ling Empires and bordered Nine Treasures City.
The city had long been famous for trade. It was the wealthiest and most prosperous city in the Heaven Dou Empire, where even ordinary people could live in peace and comfort.
At the same time, the Far North lay not far beyond it, making the city a natural frontier barrier.
As a result, even though the city stood on the empire's border, no large garrison was stationed there.
After all, even if a large army were stationed there, it would be of little use.
The Far North lay behind Tianbei City, after all!
Across the entire continent, only a handful of powerful Soul Masters could cross the Far North.
And that was without even mentioning enemy armies.
An army made up mostly of ordinary people could never circle around and launch a surprise attack here.
If enemy forces really reached this city, they would already have swept through the Heaven Dou Empire.
And if the Heaven Dou Empire had already been overrun, what use would the army stationed here be?
So the Heaven Dou Empire's attitude toward the city was rather peculiar. It had no army stationed there at all, and even the city lord was merely a Six-Ring Soul Emperor.
Thus, even in times of war, the city was rarely touched by the flames of battle, thanks to its geography.
At most, the taxes people paid would double or triple compared to peaceful times.
Night fell. The moon hung high once more, and most of Tianbei City's residents had long since fallen asleep, sinking into worry-free dreams.
Lying in their warm beds, they had no idea that a deadly threat was closing in on them...
Even now, this city—which had known peace for countless years—had drawn an unwelcome visitor whose hands were stained with blood—
The Evil Soul Master Demon Bear, a Seven-Ring Soul Saint.
No one remembered Demon Bear's former name anymore. Even he had forgotten it.
In a way, his past bore some resemblance to Xue Mingqing's.
He hadn't always been an Evil Soul Master.
Born to an ordinary family, with parents who were both ordinary Soul Masters, he had awakened a common Savage Bear Martial Soul. He had nothing to do with Evil Soul Masters.
He'd once believed he would live an ordinary life. But the world, it turned out, showed no mercy to anyone.
Two years ago, while he was away from home, a band of damned Evil Soul Masters broke into his house and slaughtered his family.
Their experiences were eerily similar. The only difference was that Xue Mingqing had Feng Qingyang, while he had no one.
When he returned home, all he saw was the Evil Soul Masters still violating his family's corpses.
He had failed to protect anything. He had been unable to save anyone.
Grief, rage, and pain surged through him, driving him mad. He tore the band of Evil Soul Masters to pieces with ruthless fury.
He still remembered the expressions on their faces as they died.
Their faces had been twisted beyond recognition!
As he killed those Evil Soul Masters, a strange voice entered his mind...
He couldn't remember what the voice had said.
But after that, he seemed to become a different person. Though he had once hated Evil Soul Masters, he began to take pleasure in slaughter just like them, craving the taste of blood.
At first, he only dared to kill livestock to satisfy his twisted urges.
But as the killing mounted, so did his hunger.
From small animals, to ordinary people, to weak Soul Masters, and finally, he slaughtered an entire minor Soul Master family!
That time, however, he had made too much of a commotion, drawing Shrek Academy's attention and bringing them after him.
But!
Judging by the fact that he was still standing here, even the Death Envoy—who had inflicted heavy casualties on Huo Yuhao's class—would have to call him Grandmaster.
Both had been Soul Kings, and both had been surrounded. The Death Envoy had caused only two deaths and two crippling injuries before being defeated by Huo Yuhao, who had exploded with the power of a cheat.
But Demon Bear?
Not only had he wiped out the Shrek members who came after him, he had devoured their flesh and souls, leaping from the Five-Ring realm all the way to his current Seven-Ring cultivation!
Well... whether that had been an ambush or a food delivery was hard to say. What a joke.
In any case, after that hunt, he had gone into hiding for a full year.
First, to lie low. Second, to stabilize his strength.
Now, after a year in hiding, with his strength firmly established at the Soul Saint level, he could no longer resist his craving for blood.
He craved slaughter, blood, and a bloody feast without restraint.
Tianbei City, where the strongest person was only a Soul Emperor, was obviously the target he had chosen...
Gazing at Tianbei City, sleeping beneath the moonlight, Demon Bear bared his teeth in a chilling grin.
Night had fallen... The hunt was about to begin...
No one knew how much time had passed before the crescent moon in the sky finally hid itself behind the clouds, unable to bear the sight of the bloodshed.
Tianbei City had become a sea of ruins, almost completely destroyed.
Demon Bear had chosen a particularly vicious time to launch his surprise attack: three or four in the morning, when people were at their sleepiest.
His first target was the strongest person in Tianbei City, its old city lord, a Soul Emperor.
The poor old city lord hadn't even had time to wake from his dreams before Demon Bear ambushed him, leaving him gravely wounded.
What happened next went without saying. The old city lord had never been a match for Demon Bear, a Soul Saint, and he had already lost the initiative to the ambush.
There had been no suspense. The old city lord died horribly beneath Demon Bear's claws.
The strongest Soul Master in the city was dead. The remaining Soul Masters and ordinary people were naturally no match for Demon Bear either. They all became fuel for his growth...
Now, standing atop Tianbei City's blood-soaked ruins, Demon Bear was savoring the old city lord's flesh.
He used the man's flesh, soul, and Soul Power to accelerate his cultivation.
Suddenly, Demon Bear's ears twitched. He seemed to hear something.
A faint sound. The faintest of sobs.
At the sound, Demon Bear's lips curled into a cruel, bloodthirsty smile.
"Heh... Looks like there's still a little snack I haven't found... Let's see... Where are you..."
His cold, mocking voice echoed over the ruins. The sobbing stopped at once.
As if trying to hide, but—
It was already far too late...
With a cold laugh, Demon Bear casually flung the old city lord's mangled body aside. It slammed into the ground like a broken sack.
It burst apart. He rose to his feet and headed toward the direction from which the sobbing had come.
A Soul Saint's senses were incredibly sharp, and those of an Evil Soul Master Soul Saint were sharper still. When it came to negative emotions like fear, they were as sensitive as a radar.
Following the dense fear and despair lingering in the air, he took one step after another until he reached a collapsed building.
"Found you."
A sharp, deadly gleam flashed across Demon Bear's hand. He seized the fallen structure with his bloodstained bear paw and, with a single heave, flung it away!
Beneath the rubble, he saw a disheveled girl, silently weeping as she held a dead woman.
The girl's features bore a striking resemblance to the lifeless woman in her arms. The woman was clearly her mother.
Looking at the girl's lovely face, fearful yet still full of hatred, and her eyes—tearful, yet still defiant—Demon Bear's body stiffened. It was as if something had come back to him...
Memories churned indistinctly in his mind, as though veiled by a warped mist of blood. He couldn't remember a thing.
He frowned, then simply stopped trying to remember. He looked at the beautiful girl before him, with her slender figure, and a lewd smile curled his lips!
They said a full belly brought carnal thoughts. With his fill of blood and flesh, and his strength newly increased, Demon Bear felt his mouth go dry.
He wanted to sing a hymn to life. And as luck would have it, he had the perfect candidate right in front of him!
"You'll do!"
As if sensing his intentions, the girl's eyes shrank. Three optimally matched Soul Rings rose beneath her feet, and she instinctively tried to fight back.
She was a Soul Elder!
"Don't come any closer—!"
The girl struggled, sobbing, but...
Could a Soul Elder's resistance really matter against a Soul Saint?
Demon Bear reached out and grabbed her. Ignoring her feeble resistance, he forced her to the ground!
There was a sharp ripping sound as fabric tore. Her pale skin was exposed—
Feeling the cold air and the tear of her clothes, the girl looked desperately at her mother's body.
"I'm sorry, Mother... Lexuan can't avenge you... I'll be with you soon..."
When she finished, Zhang Lexuan closed her beautiful eyes, resigned herself to Demon Bear's assault, and waited quietly for the pain to come.
But...
Before Demon Bear could touch her, a young man's furious roar rang out!
"Twin gusts of clear wind rise with a shriek; one sword splits the heavens ninefold!"
"Hurricane Sword Art, second stance—Fury of the Gale!!!!"
Before you continue