A Precarious Situation

"Hey Ling, it's just a small town running into trouble, is it really necessary to make such a fuss?"

Ten thousand meters above the ground, Chen Xin glanced at the white clouds rushing past below and asked Ling Yi, who had transformed into "Wind God Feilian." 🍟♣ ♝☮

A cyan light barrier enveloped everyone, eliminating wind resistance while ensuring the internal air pressure and oxygen content. Although this was better than nothing for everyone, even the weakest among them was Soul Emperor.

At this moment, there were only five people standing on the back of "Wind God Feilian": Chen Xin, Dugu Bo, Yang Shelly, Ah Yin, and "Erlang". Even with the addition of Ling Yi and Ah Rou, who transformed into "Wind God Feilian" after using the Martial Soul Fusion Skill, there were only seven people in total. However, it could be considered as the formation of all the high-end combat power of Lingyun City.

At least in Chen Xin's eyes, apart from his father Chen Jianjun who is still stationed in Lingyun City, the only people in Lingyun City who can be considered to have high-end combat power are the people around him.

"Senior Chen Xin,"

As the pink and white giant rabbit opened and closed its rosy three-lobed mouth, Ling Yi's gentle and clear voice rang in everyone's ears. "This situation is not as simple as it seems."

Upon hearing Ling Yi's words, Yang Shelly and Ah Yin did not react, because they unconditionally trusted Ling Yi. As for "Erlang," they had never seen him express his opinion over the years.

Chen Xin and Dugu Bo, however, became quite interested and waited for Ling Yi to continue.

"First of all, over the years, Ah Yin and I have built signal base stations all over the Douluo Continent using ' Blue Silver Grass ' as the structural material. Each signal base station is a small matrix space built with one thousand-year-old ' Blue Silver Grass ' plus ten hundred-year-old ' Blue Silver Grass ' and a large amount of ' Blue Silver Grass '."

To solve the problem of information transmission, I also designed a method to express information using frequency bands.

"This method can easily transform a passage into a series of frequency bands, which are then transmitted to me and Ah Yin, who are the ' Blue Silver Emperor,' through the resonance between the ' Blue Silver Grass.'"

"You could say that wherever there is ' Blue Silver Grass,' we can instantly transmit information there and also receive information transmitted from those places."

"Near each signal base station, I've placed a trusted person with the ' Blue Silver Grass ' Martial Soul as a messenger."

"I have specifically mentioned to them that in daily communication, the more detailed the information, the better, but in case of an emergency, the more concise the information, the better."

"Time is Life. In critical moments, there's no time for lengthy discussions. As long as there's a need, Lingyun City, no matter how far apart we are, will arrive in the shortest possible time!"

At this point, Ling Yi inexplicably recalled a female reporter who graduated from a media university in his previous life. She often said six words: "The fewer the words, the bigger the story."

Similarly, when playing a history relay game with a Chinese literature major in the library, I saw the phrase "a great famine occurred, and people ate each other" in a history book, which vividly depicted a scene of human tragedy with just a few strokes.

Thoughts raced through his mind, but that didn't stop Ling Yi from continuing.

"I believe that unless they encountered an extremely terrible danger, Jiulan on Unit 1024 would never have sent out a distress signal like 'Calm down, rescue immediately'."

Ling Yi's final, powerful words were filled with trust in the communicator named "Jiulan," which stirred a slight fervor in the hearts of Chen Xin and Dugu Bo.

This is Lingyun City, where they live! This is the city lord they acknowledge!

Chen Xin opened her mouth, wanting to say something to express her feelings at that moment, but in the end she silently swallowed all her words.

It's not the right time.

When he first heard about the "Blue Silver Grass" signal base station, he was prepared to be amazed, since, according to Ling Yi, he and Ah Yin had set up a large number of matrices throughout the Douluo Continent. Each matrix represented one thousand-year-old "Blue Silver Grass" and ten hundred-year-old "Blue Silver Grass".

The matrix node they are about to reach has been named 1024 by Ling Yi, which means that there are 1,023 matrices before this matrix node!

Does this mean that, just from these matrices alone, Ling Yi possesses over a thousand thousand-year-old "Blue Silver Grass" and over ten thousand hundred-year-old "Blue Silver Grass"?!

"Hiss--!!!"

Chen Xin suddenly gasped. It was truly astonishing how much she had been shocked when she calculated it.

If this speculation is true, then Chen Xin can't even imagine how profound Ling Yi's and Lingyun City's foundation must be!

Chen Xin's sudden inhale caught the attention of Dugu Bo, who looked at him questioningly, but only received a slightly dazed look and a shake of his head.

Dugu Bo secretly rolled his eyes: 'Making a fuss over nothing, have they never seen a real dragon piss before? Is this all Titled Douluo is capable of?'

Just two days ago, with Ling Yi's help, Dugu Bo successfully advanced to the Eight-Ring Soul Douluo by using the "Medusa" Soul Ring, whose energy intensity was boosted to be comparable to that of a 70,000-year-old Soul Beast, and truly stepped onto the stage of the strong in the Douluo Continent.

In this era where Titled Douluo are living in seclusion, Dugu Bo, an 82-level Control System Soul Douluo, is an extremely conspicuous figure wherever he goes.

Unfortunately, standing beside him at this moment was Chen Xin, who had broken through to the Titled Douluo a month ago.

In the past, Chen Xin was the "Erlang" who could beat the broken Chen Xin to a pulp.

A few meters away from the three of them, standing slightly behind "Wind God Feilian's " head, were Yang Shelly and Ah Yin, who were capable of using Martial Soul Fusion Skill and whose combat power rivaled that of Titled Douluo, making them arguably the strongest Soul Douluo.

In addition, even the "Wind God Feilian" beneath their feet, Martial Soul Fusion Skill performed by the level 66 Soul Emperor Ling Yi and the level 57 Soul King Ah Rou, is no weaker than Dugu Bo, a Control System Soul Douluo, in terms of direct combat power!

Thinking about this, Dugu Bo suddenly realized that he, a dignified eight- Eight-Ring Soul Douluo Eight-Ring Soul Douluo, and one who mainly used poison as his fighting method with its strange and terrifying destructive power, was actually the weakest one present!

Thinking about it this way, Dugu Bo suddenly felt a pang of heartache, and couldn't shake it off for Jiujiu.

He was no longer Ling Yi's strongest support!

"Well--!"

A long sigh followed Chen Xin's inhalation, once again drawing the attention of others.

Like Chen Xin, Dugu Bo also offered no explanation, and simply became melancholy.

The sighs of the two "old men" did not stop Ling Yi from continuing his speech.

"Secondly, the town where the incident occurred is located in the northern border of the Heaven Dou Empire. If I had to choose the safest place on the Douluo Continent, I probably couldn't, but if I had to choose a place where danger could appear at any time, my first choice would be the northern border region of the Heaven Dou Empire."

"The Northern Border of Heaven Dou?" Chen Xin's attention was drawn back, and he asked curiously, "Is there a problem there?"

In his mind, the most dangerous areas in the Douluo Continent are the core areas of the three places: the Star Dou Great Forest, the Lost Track Grand Canyon, and the Land of the Far North.

Just like when his father, Chen Jianjun, took him to hunt for the Ninth Soul Ring, they went deep into the core area of the "Lost Track Grand Canyon".

There, they encountered more than fifteen Soul Beast with cultivation levels exceeding 50,000 years!

Among them, six Soul Beast had cultivation levels of over 70,000 years, two had cultivation levels of over 80,000 years, and one was a "Netherfire Phoenix" with a cultivation level of 100,000 years!

If it weren't for the fact that both father and son were extremely strong in combat and adhered to the strategy of never engaging in prolonged battles and retreating immediately after contact, it would have been a pipe dream not only for Chen Xin to successfully hunt for his Ninth Soul Ring, but even for him to survive!

Chen Jianjun is strong for successfully breaking through to Level 97, but if he were to be surrounded by so many powerful Soul Beast, he might not even be able to escape.

Putting aside everything else, the flight speed of that 100,000-year-old "Netherfire Phoenix" is no less than that of the "Wind God Feilian" under everyone's feet at this moment!

"Ah Yi, are you worried about a beast tide breaking out in the ' Ice Seal Forest ' or even the ' Land of the Far North '?" Dugu Bo asked at the right time, expressing his guess.

"It's not a beast tide." Ling Yi, in his avatar "Wind God Feilian," burst forth from a massive cloud, his voice continuing, "But a very ancient entity, located in a corner of the northern border of the [Heaven Dou Empire]."

"An ancient existence?" *2

Upon hearing this, Dugu Bo and Chen Xin exchanged a glance, both seeing the astonishment in each other's eyes.

"That's information I saw in the Spirit Hall's archive tower. It's known as the most sinful place on the continent, and also a gathering place for Fallen Soul Master..."

"That place is called—'The Slaughter City '!"

Cold Stone Town.

The already quiet town became even more deserted, with every household keeping their doors and windows tightly shut and not a soul in sight on the streets.

The Martial Soul Branch Hall in Hanshi Town is the smallest branch hall unit of the Martial Soul Hall, apart from the stone house in the village specifically used for the Martial Soul Awakening Ceremony. The building here is not large, just a small two-story building covering an area of more than 400 square meters and about seven meters high.

In the sparsely populated northern border of Heaven Dou, this is hardly a large building.

But at this moment, nearly two thousand people were squeezed into this small building, which is only a little over eight hundred square meters in total!

In the rooms with their windows sealed shut, people were crammed together, yet no one complained. Even when some children wanted to cry out loud, their parents would hold them in their arms and cover their mouths tightly, preventing them from making a sound.

The crowded environment, combined with the late August weather, made everyone sweat profusely and shiver.

Fear, anxiety, despair... all sorts of negative emotions were written on everyone's faces.

On the second floor rooftop, in a temporary "room" built with iron railings, Scott, the Hall Master of the Martial Soul Branch Hall of Cold Stone Town, observed his surroundings through the gaps in the iron railings. Looking at the desolate town, he swallowed hard and then turned to look at the center of the "room".

There, Wen Maoxiang, the level 56 Power Attack System Battle Soul King who had been stern and composed just a few days ago, was now lying pale-faced on the cold, gray-white rooftop.

Beside her was Nangong Yanxue, who was also pale-faced, but was still squeezing out the last bit of Soul Power in her body to use her Soul Skill to heal Wen Maoxiang.

As you can see, the milky white scepter Martial Soul has now become dull in color, and the four Soul Ring, two yellow and two purple, are flickering, like a short-circuited light bulb that could go out and retract into the body at any moment.

Wen Maoxiang and Nangong Yanxue were surrounded by Bai Ge, Yi Linlie, Jiulan, and Ala Leiqi. Apart from Bai Ge, the other two members of the Spirit Hall Law Enforcement Team who had come to Cold Stone Town with Wen Maoxiang were nowhere to be seen.

About 1,500 meters away from the Martial Soul Branch Hall in Hanshi Town, in a courtyard that was more luxurious than other buildings in the town, a handsome and refined middle-aged man was standing by the barbecue grill, meticulously skewering the marinated meat pieces.

Beside him, the mayor of Cold Stone Town was adding charcoal to the barbecue grill, his hands trembling.

"Don't worry, compared to your greasy body, a Soul Master's body is far superior," Hannibal said without looking up.

"..." Upon hearing this, the mayor with the triple chin revealed a smile that was more like a grimace, and dared not utter a word in response.

The last person to say "thank you" is already simmering soup in the pot next to them.

Just then, several figures floated into the courtyard and bowed to Hannibal. One of the young men in black armor said respectfully, "My lord, apart from those hiding in the Spirit Hall Branch, the remaining seven hundred or so people in this town have been sent to the tavern."

"Commander Damo sent his men to ask you when the remaining two thousand-plus men will be sent over?"

"Scott," Hannibal abruptly turned to the black-armored youth who had spoken, a cold glint in his eyes, "Did Damo agree to let you join the Law Enforcement Team and become Terror Knight?"

"Thump!"

The black-armored youth named Scott suddenly knelt on the ground, his forehead pressed tightly against the mud mixed with the strong smell of blood. "My lord, please believe me, I will never betray you!"

His deathly gray eyes were fixed on the back of Scott's head, as if he could see the Huahua brain matter inside, causing everyone in the courtyard to hold their breath and not dare to make a sound.

A few breaths later, Hannibal's voice rang out again. "Fear will make the meat more delicious. After I've selected the qualified ingredients, the remaining defective ones will be given to Damo."

"Whoosh—" *N

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Those few short moments felt like years to them.

"Laugh--!"

Just then, a flash of cold light appeared, and the mayor, who had been standing trembling to the side, froze with anxiety and fear. The next second, his rugby-like body split into two halves and fell to the ground.

"Go and capture that Healing System Soul Ancestor. I'm still short of some ingredients for my main dish."

"Yes—!" *N

Ignoring his men who darted away like rabbits, Hannibal glanced at the two halves of the mayor lying on the ground with bloodshot eyes. Behind him, a blood-red creature resembling a bird appeared, its mouth, which had grown fangs at some point, opened wide. The blood on the ground seemed to be controlled by an invisible force, flying towards Hannibal's gaping mouth.

The sound of a high-pressure water pump echoed in the empty courtyard, like the mournful howl of a demon.

In the courtyard shrouded in blood mist, eight ring-shaped lights, different from red, could be faintly seen flickering.