The aftershocks of the Sea God Family's extermination had yet to subside when the blood-red storm sweeping the entire Douluo Continent intensified once more.
Every established clan that had maintained close ties with Shrek for generations, secretly attached itself to the Sea God's lineage, and refused federal orders was placed on a kill list.
The Star God Ye Family, the Xuanming Xu Family, the Star Crown Xu Family, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan... all were on that list.
The Qiangu Family directly mobilized the federal government's own public security forces and the Spirit Pagoda's Guard Bureau, launching an indiscriminate, iron-fisted purge across the continent.
The Eastern Region Luo Clan, a clan of Soul Masters, had enjoyed Shrek's protection for generations. Half its younger members attended the Shrek Outer Court, and it had always adhered strictly to the "righteous path," refusing to align itself with the Spirit Pagoda faction.
Late at night, mechas broke through their formations.
Each mecha held a police baton and rampaged through the grounds, following the list issued by the federal government: the first strike broke their dog legs, the second smashed their dog mouths, and the third knocked them unconscious to be hauled away.
Three strikes a second was not the limit of the law enforcers' abilities; it was so their superiors could see their work.
They thoroughly implemented Qian Gu Fenfeng's earnest teachings to frontline law enforcement personnel:
"These are extraordinary times. We must strike collectively, severely, and swiftly in accordance with the law. Only severity can keep things under control."
"If our actions barely leave a scratch, we won't win the people's hearts."
"Gun barrels must have warmth, law enforcement must have measured limits, baton swings must have force, kicks must have precision, raised hands must have height, punches must have angles, and every strike must show our stance."
High-ranking federal soul police encircled them layer upon layer, while Titled Douluos held the field and sealed the airspace in every direction, eliminating any possibility of escape.
The clan elders desperately activated their martial souls to resist, their soul rings rising in dazzling splendor, but before the federal police's many powerhouses, they could not withstand a single blow.
The power of the Coiling Dragon Staff's laws crushed the entire battlefield, and Break Evil Dragon energy swept across a thousand miles, shattering every defensive barrier inch by inch.
Flames soared into the sky, and blades wept blood.
A century-old clan, its reserves built up over generations, crumbled to dust in a single night.
Every Soul Master in the prime of life died in battle, and not one of the elderly, the weak, the women, or the children was spared. Their estate was burned to the ground, their genealogies and ancient texts consigned to the flames, and their name erased entirely from the continent's register of clans.
The Xuanming Sect of the Southern Region had long exchanged resources with Shrek and had secretly rushed to reinforce the Sea God's defensive lines on multiple occasions. The Qiangu Family had long regarded it as a thorn in its eye.
The purge legion arrived at its mountain gates, offering no trial, no questioning, no pardon, and no surrender.
"Allying with heretics and opposing the federation-the entire sect shares the punishment!"
Heavy federal soul-guided weapons blasted apart the barriers at the mountain gates, and high-ranking Soul Masters formed battle formations and crushed all resistance. The soul spirits and resources the Qinglan Sect had accumulated over successive generations were all plundered and confiscated. Its disciples either died on the spot or had their cultivation crippled and were thrown into federal hard-labor prisons, never to get out.
In the Western and Northern Regions, small and medium-sized pro-Shrek clans and secluded sects fell one after another.
Any power with old ties to Shrek, any that had received the Sea God's favor and refused to submit to Qiangu supremacy, was annihilated without exception.
There was no room for explanation, no right to beg for mercy.
What the Qiangu Family wanted had never been surrender, but absolute submission-a continent where no power dared sympathize with Shrek or defy the Spirit Pagoda.
Blood-red devastation swept across the land, and the smoke of war rose everywhere.
The righteous clans that had once stood throughout the continent toppled in swathes beneath the federal government's iron-blooded machine, their blood flowing in rivers.
Everyone lived in terror, and all the surviving powers finally saw the Qiangu Family's ambitions clearly.
Slaughter the Sea God, purge the clans, subdue the four quarters!
They intended to uproot every outer foundation Shrek possessed on the continent, sever the connections and support it had built over a thousand years, and ultimately isolate that pure land before replacing it in one fell swoop!
Inside Shrek's Sea God Pavilion, the atmosphere was suffocatingly still.
Reports of annihilation poured into the pavilion without pause. Every page of every dossier told of a bloody massacre.
The venerable elders clenched their fists, their eyes stretched so wide they seemed about to split, the grief and fury filling their chests threatening to burst them apart.
Yet they could do nothing.
The Qiangu Family wielded the federal government's authority, controlled the Spirit Pagoda's lifeline, and commanded vast numbers of high-ranking fighters and cutting-edge soul-guided armaments. It had a legitimate pretext for its campaign.
Under the banner of "purging rebels and restoring federal order," it carried out dictatorial slaughter.
If Shrek intervened rashly, it would be openly defying the entire federation's legal authority, giving others grounds to condemn it and drawing a joint assault from powers across the continent.
Yun Ming stood before the window overlooking the sea of clouds, his cold, clear eyes gazing down upon the blood-soaked mortal world below, a bone-piercing chill surrounding him.
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