Star Dou and Far North Beast Tides

Far North, core region.

Snow Empress had recently had something weighing on her mind—she had gotten hold of a hundred-thousand-year Snow Jade Lotus and planned to secretly take human form without Ice Empress knowing.

Ice Empress absolutely could not find out about this, or that girl would turn the place upside down.

But plans could not keep up with changes.

Just as she had put away the Snow Jade Lotus, an extremely unusual fluctuation came from afar. It was faint, yet it made her expression change instantly.

She had lived for nearly seven hundred thousand years and had seen every storm imaginable. The moment she sensed it, she understood.

Taking human form would have to wait.

Snow Empress went to find Ice Empress herself.

Ice Empress was idly lounging in an ice cave. When she saw Snow Empress arrive, her eyes lit up. "Oh? Xue'er, what a rare guest. You actually came looking for me?"

"Bing'er, Star Dou Forest has launched a beast tide," Snow Empress said bluntly.

"Huh?" Ice Empress froze for a moment, then waved her hand dismissively. "It's not the first time Star Dou has stirred up a beast tide. What does it have to do with us? We can just watch the show. Are we supposed to help them fight?"

Snow Empress fell silent for a moment.

"Bing'er, you don't understand how serious this is."

"How serious can it be?" Ice Empress tilted her head, looking utterly innocent.

Snow Empress glanced at her, her voice growing heavy.

"If my senses are correct—an Emperor Auspicious Beast has fallen."

The smile on Ice Empress's face froze.

"What?! It fell?!"

She shot to her feet. Frigid energy surged from her emerald carapace, blasting fine cracks across the ice walls.

"What the hell was that old bastard Di Tian doing?! Eight hundred thousand years of cultivation, the strongest in Star Dou, and he couldn't even protect a single Auspicious Beast?!"

Snow Empress sighed.

"That's why I said this is serious."

Ice Empress pursed her lips and thought it over. It really was serious. But then another thought struck her.

"What does that have to do with our Far North? Star Dou's Auspicious Beast isn't ours. If you ask me, maybe one day we could get Star Dou to send the Auspicious Beast over for a visit and help speed up our cultivation."

"No, you're wrong."

Snow Empress shook her head.

"The Auspicious Beast I mean is not just the one belonging to Star Dou Forest. It belongs to the entire Douluo Continent—or rather, it is an Auspicious Beast shared by every Soul Beast habitat on the continent."

She paused.

"It bears the fate of every Soul Beast on the Douluo Continent."

Ice Empress was completely dumbfounded.

"What? How did I not know about this?"

Ice Empress's mind raced.

The fate of all Soul Beasts across the continent—if the Auspicious Beast died, the Soul Beasts of the Far North would not escape the consequences either. Cultivation would slow, breakthroughs would become harder, heavenly tribulations would grow fiercer... every single consequence was deadly.

Once fate was severed, recovering it in a short time? Not a chance.

"The Far North has a stake in this too." Ice Empress gritted her teeth, fury churning in her emerald eyes.

"Fine. Humans really don't take us Soul Beasts seriously at all."

She abruptly turned to Snow Empress.

"Xue'er, since the fall of the Auspicious Beast concerns every Soul Beast in the Far North, then let's launch a beast tide too!"

Snow Empress looked at her and nodded.

"Alright."

The next second, Snow Empress rose into the air, transforming into a streak of silver-white light that shot toward the heavens.

The pressure of nearly seven hundred thousand years of cultivation spread out without restraint.

That pressure was practically tangible as it crushed outward from her in all directions. The ice split apart, avalanches thundered, and the entire Far North trembled beneath her feet.

At that moment, every Soul Beast in the Far North received Snow Empress's will.

All beings of the Far North, heed my command: launch a beast tide.

As her words fell, the earth began to tremble and the ice began to crack. Tens of thousands of Soul Beasts poured out from every corner of the frozen plains. Ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts led the way, lesser Soul Beasts followed close behind, and the vast horde surged toward the human settlements.

Outer region of Star Dou Forest.

By the time Di Tian led the beast tide to the walls of Shrek City, the walls were already packed with people.

This wall had been specially built by Shrek Academy right outside Star Dou Forest for the sole purpose of defending against beast tides. It had stood for hundreds of years and blocked who knew how many of them.

But this time was clearly different.

A black mass of Soul Beasts poured from the forest as far as the eye could see. Thousand-year Soul Beasts densely covered the plains in the front, while ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts flickered in and out of view behind them. Every so often, a hundred-thousand-year colossal beast poked its head out from the horde, and its roar made the city walls hum.

At the forefront of the beast tide, Di Tian stood in midair in human form, his hands behind his back. His dark-gold vertical pupils swept coldly over the people atop the walls.

On the wall, a burly old man spoke first.

"Di Tian, are you planning to tear up the agreement between Soul Beasts and humans?"

The speaker was none other than Xuan Zi, vice master of Shrek's Sea God Pavilion and a Rank 98 Super Douluo. Behind him stood a line of Sea God Pavilion members, every one of them tense, their Soul Power fully unleashed.

At the word "agreement," Di Tian let out a scornful laugh.

"Agreement? You humans tore it up first."

He raised his gaze, killing intent filling his dark-gold eyes.

"You killed Star Dou's Auspicious Beast. I have launched a beast tide for revenge. It is only natural."

The wall fell silent at once.

Xuan Zi's expression changed immediately. Several Sea God Pavilion members behind him exchanged glances, each seeing the same shock in the others' eyes.

The Auspicious Beast? Star Dou's Auspicious Beast was dead?

Xuan Zi's hand clenched unconsciously. Di Tian was not someone who would joke about such matters. If what he said was true...

Then something truly disastrous was about to happen.

At that moment, the space above the wall suddenly twisted, and an aged figure appeared out of thin air.

His hair was white, his long robes faded from washing, and his face was gaunt, yet his eyes shone with terrifying brightness.

Mu En.

Master of Shrek Academy's Sea God Pavilion, a Rank 99 Ultimate Douluo, one of the three great Ultimate Douluo of the current age.

He should not have come. Given his status and cultivation, this was the sort of matter his subordinates should handle. But Di Tian had personally led the army, and there were also those four words—"the Auspicious Beast has fallen."

He had no choice but to come.

Mu En landed at the highest point of the wall. His gaze passed over the endless beast tide and met Di Tian's eyes in midair.

The instant their gazes met, the surrounding air seemed to freeze.

The corner of Di Tian's mouth curled slightly into a cold smile.

"Mu En, you finally decided to show yourself."

Mu En did not respond. He silently stared at the beast tide stretching endlessly below the walls, his brow tightly furrowed.

He knew this matter was truly difficult to deal with.

God Realm Nexus.

"Pfft—"

A mouthful of bright red blood sprayed out, splattering across the shimmering floor in a particularly glaring sight. Tang San's body swayed violently as he staggered back several steps. The hand that had been pressed against the nexus core snapped back as if struck by lightning.

This was bad.

Divine sense backlash!

The backlash had come too quickly and too violently, leaving him no time to react. In that instant, his divine sense, once as vast as the sea, had been annihilated. The only thing remaining in his mind was a horrifying memory that had just been transmitted back.

Before he could recover from the near-fatal dizziness, an incomparably violent surge of divine power crashed through the doors of the nexus.

"Tang San! What exactly have you done?!"

The newcomer wore purple robes and radiated fury. It was the God of Destruction. His eyes, usually carrying a trace of arrogance, were now fixed firmly on Tang San, the fury in them nearly bursting forth.

Seeing that it was the God of Destruction, Tang San forcefully suppressed the agony churning through his mind. He squeezed out a blank, innocent expression and braced himself on his knees as he barely straightened up.

"Ah... Destruction, what are you talking about? I didn't do anything. I was only... only checking whether the God Realm Nexus was functioning properly, whether there was some malfunction..."

"You're still pretending?!"

The God of Destruction laughed in rage. Pointing at the faintly visible spatial barrier outside the nexus, his voice trembled. "Checking the nexus? Do you take me for a three-year-old? Just now, the God Realm was suppressed!"

Tang San's heart jolted. Before he could reply, the surrounding space rippled repeatedly as three more figures with immense auras appeared in succession.

The Goddess of Life, the God of Evil, and the Goddess of Kindness had all arrived.

Of the five God Kings, all four besides Tang San himself were present.

This matter was too serious to hide.

Just moments ago, the gods had each been attending to their duties, while the God of Destruction had gone to inspect the God Realm's barrier. Yet in that instant, a suffocating, terrifying pressure descended without warning. The entire God Realm seemed to have been ruthlessly pinned down by an invisible hand, and even its laws were trembling.

And the source of that pressure was none other than the being he knew best—the Dragon God.

Besides the legendary Dragon God, who else could possess such earth-shaking power?

The God of Destruction looked at Tang San, who was still putting on an act, and understood everything clearly. Within the God Realm, who besides Tang San—the "hypocrite" who usually spouted righteousness and morality—could have angered that being enough to make the Dragon God cross realms and suppress the God Realm?

The Goddess of Life also wore a grave expression. She and the God of Destruction were veteran God Kings and knew the Dragon God's legends best. As for the newly ascended God of Evil and Goddess of Kindness, though they lacked experience, the pressure coming from the direction of the Douluo Continent could not be faked.

"Tang San, what exactly have you done?"

The Goddess of Life was usually the gentlest, yet her face was now full of anger and her tone stern. "You actually dared interfere with the lower realm without authorization? And you provoked an existence you never should have provoked!"

The new God of Evil and Goddess of Kindness were also furious. Though they had never truly witnessed the Dragon God at his peak, the trembling that came from the depths of their souls made them understand the severity of the situation.

"Tang San!" the God of Evil could not help but rebuke him. "That pressure clearly came from the Douluo Continent. What the hell have you been doing in the lower realm?!"

Tang San wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His face was pale, and his eyes darted uncertainly. Facing the questioning of the four God Kings—especially with that terrifying dragon might still circling above the God Realm—it seemed that this time, he could no longer keep pretending.

--------------------After dying once, the power of fate scattered. Three-Eyed Golden Lion would definitely sense it, and then Star Dou and the Far North launched beast tides. I think Shrek needs to be knocked down a peg too.