Star Dou Great Forest—Soul Beasts Retreat

Morning in the Star Dou Great Forest brought no sunlight.

Tree canopies accumulated over hundreds of millions of years blotted out the sky, cutting it into shards of broken glass.

Thin mist drifted through the forest, soaked through with the peculiar sweet stench of rotting leaves mixed with dried beast blood.

Su Chen sat cross-legged on Iron Wall's back, his body rising and falling rhythmically with the giant beast's heavy steps.

Every strand of Iron Wall's dark golden fur was thick and hard as a steel needle, except for the unusually soft patch at the center of his back, as though a throne had been naturally reserved for his king.

Mo Qianye rode atop the shoulder armor of the third Fearclaw Bear.

The hood of his black robe hung low, revealing only a pair of eyes flowing with dark purple flame as he stared fixedly at the formation ahead.

The ten Fearclaw Bears did not advance side by side.

They automatically spread apart, forming a diamond-shaped battle formation that was narrow at the front and broad at the rear.

Iron Wall led the way, an unshakable spearhead and shield wall.

Three giant beasts on each flank spread out diagonally, guarding the sides.

The final three lagged behind, their heads turned outward as they vigilantly watched three different directions.

This was not a march.

It was a moving meat grinder.

"They... were ordered by you?" Mo Qianye's voice was somewhat dry.

"I gave them a coordinate."

Su Chen kept his eyes closed, his tone as calm as if he were discussing something utterly trivial.

"The rest is instinct."

Mo Qianye said no more.

He recalled Spirit Hall's elite Temple Knights. Those legions of Soul Kings and Soul Emperors needed months or even years of coordination to drill a proper formation, and required command flags and horns to direct them in battle.

Yet Su Chen needed only a thought.

It was unfair.

But he damn well liked this kind of unfairness.

Ahead, Iron Wall's mountain-like head suddenly paused, and he stopped walking.

His enormous nostrils flared as he caught an unfamiliar scent in the air.

In an instant, the other nine Fearclaw Bears stopped as well, their movements perfectly synchronized as if they were one body.

"Something's here." Su Chen opened his eyes.

Before his words had faded, a string of low roars erupted from the bushes at both sides and ahead!

Twenty-three Thousand-Year Wind Demon Wolves!

The wolf pack surged out from three directions, wind-element light flowing endlessly over their gray-green fur.

The lead alpha wolf was twice as large as the others. Visible wind blades wound around his sharp fangs, enough to tear through steel.

The Nether Phoenix phantom behind Mo Qianye uncontrollably spread its wings, and purple netherfire shot three feet into the air with a whoosh.

"No need."

Su Chen's voice was very soft.

He did not even rise from Iron Wall's back. He merely raised his right hand, palm forward, fingers spread.

A soundless command.

Advance.

The ten dark golden Fearclaw Bears stepped forward at once.

They did not charge or roar. Maintaining that suffocating diamond formation, they advanced toward the wolf pack at a constant pace.

Army Combined Strike activated on its own!

A translucent dark golden wall of light condensed before the formation, fifteen meters wide. Moving with the bears' steps, it steadily pressed ahead like a mobile wall of sighs.

The Wind Demon Wolf King at the head of the pack let out a savage howl and lunged forward in a flash of gray-green lightning, his claws wrapped in wind blades as they smashed fiercely against the light wall!

The piercing scrape drowned out even the wolves' howls!

Sparks flew!

The light wall did not budge.

Instead, the Wolf King's claws cracked under the strain, two of them snapping on the spot.

He shrieked and crashed to the ground, rolling madly in agony.

The remaining wolves fell into a momentary uproar and hesitation.

But that dark golden wall of light was still advancing.

Unreasonably, mercilessly, it crushed toward them.

Iron Wall did not even glance at the insects.

His right forepaw casually swept outward.

An action simple to the extreme.

Three Wind Demon Wolves that failed to dodge were struck by the enormous force. Their bodies came apart in midair, exploding into clouds of blood, while severed limbs and shattered bones smashed through two ancient trees thick enough to require two people to encircle.

Throughout the entire process, Iron Wall's stride did not falter in the slightest.

It was like crushing a few ants in the path without breaking stride.

The wolf pack's mental defenses collapsed completely.

One surviving alpha wolf gave a shrill, distorted wail—the signal to retreat.

The remaining twenty wolves spun around and fled like mad, moving three times faster than when they had come.

Their direction of escape was remarkably uniform. They did everything in their power to get away from that bear army that was "taking a stroll."

This was not a rout after defeat.

This was terror engraved in the deepest part of their genes, a desperate flight driven by the instinct to survive.

From beginning to end, Su Chen did not spare them another glance.

"Two minutes..." Mo Qianye withdrew his restless Nether Phoenix martial soul, his tone incomparably complicated. "They couldn't even make your bears run."

Su Chen did not respond.

His gaze fell on the extreme speed displayed by the fleeing wolf pack.

Too slow.

He told himself inwardly.

The Fearclaw Bears were too slow.

Their frontal advance was invincible, but if they encountered enemies much faster than them who understood how to maneuver around them, this diamond formation would leave at least a three-second gap in its defenses when turning.

Three seconds.

That was enough for an agility-type Soul King to slaughter his way through the bear pack and back.

"I need a sharp blade," Su Chen suddenly said.

Mo Qianye froze.

"Speed, stealth, and a lethal strike." Su Chen's voice was cold and clear. "Something that can strike from the shadows and precisely hunt those fleas."

"Ten-Thousand-Year Nether Shadow Leopards." Mo Qianye understood instantly. "Extreme speed, invisibility, specialized assassination. Ten Shadow Leopards working with ten Fearclaw Bears... Iron Wall holds the front, while the Shadow Leopards circle around invisibly from the flanks and harvest every highly mobile target."

Just imagining that scene made his scalp tingle.

"Do you know where they are?" Su Chen asked.

Mo Qianye fell silent for a moment. "Netherworld Valley, in the northeastern Star Dou Great Forest. It is shrouded in darkness all year round and is one of the most dangerous places in the outer region."

"How far?"

"At our current speed, three days."

"Two days."

Su Chen uttered two words that allowed no argument.

He flipped onto Iron Wall's back and issued a new command.

The instant Iron Wall stepped forward, Su Chen's hand unconsciously reached into his robes and touched a hard edge.

He took the object out.

A dark golden token.

It was palm-sized, its edges worn smooth and rounded from being handled over countless years.

The pattern on the front of the token was intricate and ancient.

The moment he saw that pattern, Su Chen's pupils suddenly shrank to pinpoints!

He would never forget that pattern, even in death.

It was the miniature imprint of the Void Throne that had condensed behind him when his martial soul awakened!

This was the only relic his adoptive father had left him.

He had always believed it was merely an ordinary keepsake.

Now, as his soul power uncontrollably seeped into the token

Buzz!

The phantom of the Void Throne flashed behind him and vanished. Its nine hollow soul-ring slots trembled violently.

Upon the first soul-ring slot, the dark golden ten-thousand-year soul ring shone brightly, unexpectedly resonating intensely with the token's pattern!

A fragmentary thought exploded through his spiritual sea like thunder.

"You are... the Supreme..."

"When all nine rings gather... ten thousand beasts shall submit..."

Then it abruptly stopped.

It was as though a divine sword from beyond the heavens had viciously severed the transmission at the crucial moment!

Su Chen clenched the token tightly, his knuckles turning white from excessive force.

The incomplete information nevertheless revealed a shocking secret.

This martial soul had existed in ancient times.

It had once been sealed.

And the force that sealed it came from... the Divine Realm!

"What's wrong?" Mo Qianye sensed the brief disturbance in his aura.

"Nothing."

Su Chen tucked the token back against his body, his voice returning to the placid calm of an ancient well.

"Keep moving."

But his mind, far more mature than that of his peers, was racing wildly.

Who exactly was his adoptive father?

Why would an ordinary herbal farmer deep in the mountains possess a Supreme Summoner's token and a book on military strategy?

Had he raised Su Chen while waiting from the very beginning for this martial soul to awaken?

Countless mysteries remained unsolved for now.

Su Chen pressed them all into the deepest recesses of his heart, then turned to planning the optimal route to reach Netherworld Valley within two days.

What could not yet be resolved could wait.

What he could do before him, he would do to the utmost.

That was his habit.

Iron Wall's footsteps shook the earth once more.

A thousand miles away.

Spirit Hall, Pope Hall.

The grand hall was brightly lit, yet so silent that a pin drop could be heard.

Bibi Dong sat high upon the supreme throne, slender fingers holding an urgent report scrawled so roughly it seemed carved into beast hide.

The report came from Nording City and bore Jiang Yuandong's name.

She read it three times.

Then she opened an ancient tome beside her throne, covered in dust and wrapped in layers of restrictions.

The forbidden book had last been opened three hundred years ago.

Its pages were yellowed and brittle, bearing only one line of large blood-red words.

"The Supreme Summoner, king of ten thousand beasts, is a great calamity sealed by the Divine Realm. If the awakened one succeeds, the gods shall retreat; if he fails, he shall suffer eternal damnation."

Bibi Dong closed the book.

The hall remained deathly still for a long time.

"Your Holiness?"

Below the throne, a purple-robed elder who had been standing guard finally could no longer endure the suffocating pressure and cautiously spoke.

Bibi Dong's voice drifted down from above, calm as water, yet sending bone-deep chills through the Soul Douluo-ranked elder.

"Pass down my order."

"Dispatch two Soul Sages, three Soul Emperors, and five Soul Kings immediately. Their destination is the Star Dou Great Forest."

She paused, seemingly considering a more crucial matter.

"I want him alive."

Her voice lowered further, carrying a strange... excitement?

"If he cannot be used by me—"

Those eyes, deep as a sea of stars, gleamed with an eerie cold light beneath the flickering candles.

"Destroy him."

The purple-robed elder accepted the order, bowed, and withdrew. His footsteps quickly faded down the empty corridor.

The hall fell silent again.

Bibi Dong reopened the tome. Her jade-white fingers gently rested on the four blood-red words: "the gods shall retreat."

She smiled.

It was a faint smile.

Yet every candle in the hall flickered violently at that moment, nearly going out.