Sun Moon Federation.
Snow City.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
The autumn wind howled, carrying endless cold as it swept across the wilderness and past the city.
Looking out, Snow City, once prosperous, now lay in desolation. Ruined walls and shattered buildings stood amid a city destroyed and its people dead. The land, stained with dark-red blood, seemed to have lost all life, turning utterly gray and bleak.
For a hundred miles around Snow City, everything seemed to have been visited by the Death God, left dim and desolate.
"Count the casualties. Do everything in your power to rescue the surviving Federation citizens. At the same time, mobilize our hidden reserve resources and repair Snow City as soon as possible! Move!"
A senior general in uniform, three silver stars on his shoulder, gave the order with a grave expression. Unshakable sorrow and compassion lingered in his eyes.
Beside him stood a dark Mecha, its surface scored with vicious cracks and faintly wreathed in ominous black currents.
As soon as he finished speaking, a stream of purple Mechas behind him surged into the air with a piercing whistle and sped into Snow City. Rescue workers from across the Federation had already arrived inside the city.
Outside Snow City, Soul Guidance Emergency Centers had long since been erected on the spot. Their sturdy walls of silvery-white metal seemed to offer a touch of warmth against the biting wind.
"Where is this? What happened to me? Wasn't I awakening my Martial Soul? Why does my head hurt so much?"
Under the bright lights of the Soul Guidance Emergency Center, Jiang Xiu slowly came to in a white hospital bed. His eyes were clear but puzzled as he looked around.
"I remember now. It was the Abyssal Tide! But how could something like that appear in Snow City?!"
A moment later, Jiang Xiu seemed to recall what had happened. Surprise flickered through his eyes, and he looked utterly incredulous.
He hadn't originally belonged to this world. He had been from Blue Star. In his previous life, he had found a finely crafted Shadow Monarch figurine at a shopping mall and, out of curiosity, reached out to touch it. The instant his fingers made contact, his eyes went dark and he lost consciousness.
When he closed his eyes and opened them again, he was in swaddling clothes, reborn in the Douluo World.
Over the past six years, Jiang Xiu had learned that the strongest person on the continent was now Sky-Prop Douluo Yun Ming.
He had also figured out what era he had been born into: the best and worst of times, the era of Legend of the Dragon King.
The good news was that Tang God King and the Divine Realm had both been spirited away. The bad news was that the Abyss was invading, Soul Beasts were taking revenge, the Holy Spirit Cult was colluding with the enemy to bring about world destruction, and Tang God King had left behind the Ten Thousand Year Plan.
For ordinary people, simply trying to stay alive was already hard enough.
"Ha. I wonder what my Martial Soul is. Without absolute strength, I can't even live in peace, much less take control of my own fate."
Suppressing the turbulent thoughts within him, Jiang Xiu sighed softly. In this era, disasters and calamities came one after another. If he didn't want to be slaughtered at someone else's whim, he had to grow strong—at the very least, he had to become a Soul Master.
Today should have been the day his Martial Soul awakened. But just as he entered the awakening array and the Martial Soul within him was about to be summoned, a tremendous rumble rang out in the sky. Then countless Abyssal Creatures came pouring down, packed together like raindrops.
Jiang Xiu would never forget that sight: a vast, dark mass, like a black tide, piling into Snow City as it frantically devoured every trace of life.
The Soul Master performing his awakening had panicked, and the ceremony was interrupted. After faintly hearing a resounding dragon's cry and sensing a darkness so absolute it seemed to swallow everything, Jiang Xiu lost consciousness. When he woke again, he was already in this hospital room.
"Isn't the Abyssal Tide only supposed to appear at the Abyssal Passage? Why did it appear over Snow City? And at this point in time, the Demon Empress shouldn't have become a god yet. With the plane's suppression, the Abyss shouldn't be able to break through."
"And with an Abyssal Tide this terrifying, how did I survive?"
Jiang Xiu furrowed his brows, his fair, refined face creased with confusion. His unusual purple eyes were full of questions as one thought after another crossed his mind, only to be dismissed.
Everything about this Abyssal Tide seemed strange, as if some invisible hand were pushing events along from behind the scenes.
"Let's not think about all that for now. Awakening my Martial Soul is what matters most. This should be a temporary emergency center set up by the Federation."
Muttering to himself, Jiang Xiu pushed himself upright with both hands, preparing to get out of bed and examine his surroundings.
He knew very well that in this world, where strength reigned supreme, all other thoughts were futile when you were weak.
"Little one, lie still and don't move, okay? Big sister doesn't like naughty children."
Just then, a gentle female voice rang out. A female Soul Master in a white robe approached.
She lifted Jiang Xiu, who had just climbed out of bed, and placed him back on it, tucking the blanket around him with care. She was a healing-type Soul Master the Federation had sent this time.
"I..."
Jiang Xiu froze, about to say something, but the gentle-looking female Soul Master raised a slender finger to her lips.
"Little mouth, no talking."
"You just woke up, so you shouldn't move around. Come, let big sister check you over again and see if you're hurt anywhere else. Why are you blushing? Don't be shy."
"..."
But neither of them noticed that beneath the lights, Jiang Xiu had no shadow at all.
"Rumble, rumble, rumble!"
The distant sky shook with the roar of space trembling. A streak of bright red shot past and reached the gates of Snow City in the blink of an eye.
The three-star general from earlier hurried over to the red Mecha and bowed respectfully.
With a metallic hiss, the red Mecha's cockpit opened. A burly middle-aged man stepped out. He had a fierce look, dark skin, and a pair of bulging eyes like bronze bells, giving him the air of a grimacing demon.
On his shoulder gleamed five gold stars, and over his shoulders he wore a great cloak embroidered with the mountains and rivers of the Sun Moon Federation.
"Reporting, Commander. Once the fighting was over, our Western Legion's soldiers followed your orders and immediately entered the city to begin rescue operations."
The general spoke deferentially, gazing at the middle-aged man with reverence.
The man before him was none other than the commander of their Western Legion, the owner of a God-Rank Mecha, a Limit Douluo, and the Fierce Wolf Douluo, Dong Zi'an!
"Mm. Li Jie, you did well this time."
An iron-blooded aura radiated from Dong Zi'an. He gave a slight nod, then looked toward the ruined city. A trace of indescribable melancholy entered his fierce eyes.
In barely a day, prosperous Snow City had become a living hell, and countless Federation citizens had turned into wandering souls.
"Commander, about this Abyssal Tide..."
Seeing his expression, Li Jie hesitated for a moment before asking tentatively.
"I've already contacted the Blood God Legion. Blood One told me that the Abyssal Passage is completely quiet right now. There's been no disturbance at all.
"So for this Abyssal Tide to appear out of nowhere in Snow City, thousands of miles away, it definitely isn't ordinary!"
Dong Zi'an narrowed his eyes slightly, as if deep in thought. His expression revealed nothing, but he sighed inwardly.
"Could the Douluo Plane's suppression of the Abyss really have weakened this much..."
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