Time flies by like a white horse passing by.
From the moment Lu Ren went into seclusion to practice, the gears of the entire Douluo Continent's destiny began to turn with an unstoppable momentum.
In the first few days after Lu Ren retreated, Spirit Pagoda's actions started with a Thunderous Might momentum.
Pagoda Master Nana personally led the elite elites of Spirit Pagoda and swept away Shrek City and the surrounding areas mercilessly.
Those who chose to live and die with Shrek City, whether they were Shrek Academy's remaining teachers and students, or the city's defenders and die-hard residents, could not even organize a decent resistance in the face of Spirit Pagoda's overwhelming strength.
The strong men of Spirit Pagoda ran over every street and building in Shrek City like the autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves.
During the whole process, Spirit Pagoda's people didn't show much extra pity or emotion.
For the elites of Spirit Pagoda, this is just a task that must be completed. To execute the will of Lu Ren, there is never any need to mix personal emotions.
A few days later, when the last group of people who resisted were completely wiped out in Shrek City, this city that once symbolized the highest glory of mainland Soul Master had turned into a complete empty city.
Nana looked down at the deserted city, with no emotion in her beautiful eyes.
"Shrek City----" She withdrew her gaze, raised the corners of her mouth slightly, and revealed a meaningful smile.
"It's quite a nice place."
Then Nana issued a brief and clear order to the senior executives of Spirit Pagoda: "Pass this order to me. From now on, Shrek City will officially become the territory of Spirit Pagoda."
"This city has a unique geographical location. Whether it is the new location of Spirit Pagoda Headquarters or the core node of our future layout across the continent, it is the most ideal choice."
"As for the land that Shrek Academy originally occupied - right there, I want to build the largest headquarters in the history of Spirit Pagoda."
"A headquarters even more spectacular than Sun Moon Empire's Spirit Pagoda."
"Let everyone in the entire continent know that from now on, the center of the Douluo Continent is us, Spirit Pagoda."
Long before the operation started, Nana had conducted detailed communication and consultation with Marshal Ju Zi from the Sun Moon Empire.
The two women, who stand at the pinnacle of power in their respective fields, have clearly arranged the future destiny of Shrek City in several secret discussions.
According to the agreement between the two parties, Shrek City is still nominally managed by the Sun Moon Empire.
But Spirit Pagoda has independent leadership.
After all, Spirit Pagoda wants to build the largest headquarters in the continent on top of the ruins of Shrek City. It wants to set up the core Soul Spirit research institution here, and it wants to make this place the real heart of Spirit Pagoda in the entire Douluo Continent.
Ju Zi agreed to this plan without even thinking about it.
It's not that she's easy to talk to, it's entirely because the person who proposed this plan is Spirit Pagoda, and the person standing behind Spirit Pagoda is Lu Ren.
Let alone asking Spirit Pagoda to build a headquarters in Shrek City, even if Nana asked for the entire land of the Sun Moon Empire, Ju Zi would seriously consider whether to agree.
Based on her understanding of Lu Ren, although that man usually seems gentle and casual, once his bottom line is touched or the rhythm of his layout is disturbed, the consequences are no joke.
What's more, Ju Zi knows very well that half of the credit for the Sun Moon Empire being able to be in today's situation and transforming from a remote empire into a behemoth sweeping the continent must be attributed to Lu Ren.
Lu Ren did not cause trouble in the continental elite competition before, and Lu Ren defeated the entire Shrek City head-on, which made Sun Moon Empire so unscrupulous.
In addition, a large number of Soul Spirit from Spirit Pagoda began to be allocated to Soul Engineer from the Sun Moon Empire, causing their overall combat power to expand rapidly----
So when Ju Zi saw the plan sent by Nana in the military tent, she just glanced at it hastily, confirmed that the core content of the plan did not exceed her expectations, and signed her name at the end.
The Langhao pen drew a smooth arc on the rice paper. Before the ink was dry, she handed the document to the herald. "Forward to His Majesty for your inspection. I said this is my suggestion and please approve it as soon as possible."
The herald rushed back to the Sun Moon Empire with the document and presented it to the Sun Moon Empire's current leader, Xu Mochén.
The actual ruler of the Sun Moon Empire just glanced at the contents of the document. Without even frowning, he picked up his ink pen and drew a big word "accurate" on the document.
Just kidding, with Lu Ren here, Spirit Pagoda can do whatever they want. Is it possible that they still want to refuse?
Xu Mochén couldn't help but secretly laugh in his heart when he put down the pen.
As the person in charge of the Sun Moon Empire, he can be more imposing in front of others, but in front of that person, he really can't be tough.
Conditions for rejecting Spirit Pagoda?
I am afraid that Lu Ren would have come to my door for tea and a heart-to-heart talk the day after the rejection.
Although with Lu Ren's character, there is a high probability that he will not attack him directly, but the feeling of being targeted by a super strong man who can destroy the entire Imperial Palace with just a raise of his hand makes his spine shiver just thinking about it.
Fortunately, although Xu Mochén and Ju Zi both knew in their hearts, a large part of their tolerance and preferential treatment towards Spirit Pagoda was out of their respect for Lu Ren.
Or to put it more bluntly, it's just fear.
But fortunately for them, Spirit Pagoda himself has always behaved himself.
You should pay taxes, abide by the laws, and never rely on Lu Ren's power to dominate on the Sun Moon Empire's territory.
The senior executives of Spirit Pagoda are very clear about the rules set by Lu Ren, and no one dares to go beyond them.
Since he knows the rules so well, Sun Moon Empire is naturally happy to give him face.
What's more, the existence of Spirit Pagoda itself is an invisible deterrent.
With Spirit Pagoda in charge, the various forces that are ready to move and the unstable factors hiding in the dark are all suppressed and dare not move. This is definitely a good thing for the Sun Moon Empire that has more advantages than disadvantages.
Therefore, after Xu Mochén approved Spirit Pagoda's request, he personally wrote an additional decree, ordering Sun Moon Empire to allocate a large amount of manpower and material resources to fully assist Spirit Pagoda Master Nana in rebuilding Shrek City.
A total of 100,000 personnel were drawn from the army, and mountains of building materials were allocated from the treasury. Resources and talents from all over the country were urgently mobilized to Shrek City.
The entire Sun Moon Empire war machine tweaked its direction slightly and then devoted itself to this massive construction project with unprecedented efficiency.
There is one most fundamental change in the city's reconstruction blueprint.
The name Shrek City will become history from now on.
Nana personally wrote out the four words "Shrek City" on the first page of the reconstruction plan, and then wrote three vigorous and powerful characters next to it.
Spirit City.
In the history of the Douluo Continent, from this day on, there will no longer be any trace of Shrek.
Shrek Academy was razed to the ground, Sea God Lake was filled up and renovated, and every stone tablet, plaque, and emblem in the city engraved with the words "Shrek" was dismantled and destroyed one by one.
Shrek, a name that once resounded throughout the mainland, seemed to have been torn from the historical scroll by an invisible hand, leaving not even a trace of residual mark.
This city that carries the glory and memory of a generation, this city that was once regarded as a sacred place in the hearts of countless Soul Masters, has completely changed its owner, appearance, and soul in a short period of time.
And Tang San, who is on top of the Divine Realm, can see all this clearly.
Watching Shrek City perish in front of his eyes, Tang San, who didn't even leave a trace on the Douluo Continent, clenched his fists loudly and dug his nails deeply into his palms, almost bleeding from pinching.
His usually calm and composed face was now covered with a layer of iron-green frost, the veins on his forehead were pulsing, and his teeth were clenching.
There was raging anger in his eyes, and the anger almost turned into real flames spurting out from his eyes.
He wished he could descend from the sky right now and crush those mortals who dared to blaspheme the glory of Shrek into powder.
But his hand was raised halfway and then slowly dropped down.
Because he can't.
He can't Lower Realm interfere with the Douluo Continent anymore.
So Tang San could only clench his fists on the spot and grind his steel teeth into pieces, but there was nothing he could do about it.
This feeling of helplessness and frustration was even more uncomfortable for him than killing him directly.
"Lu Ren, Lu Ren!!!"
Tang San's hatred for Lu Ren has reached a new level.
But in the mortal world, the torrent of time is still rolling forward and will not stop for a moment because of anyone's anger or sadness.
Seven days have passed since Lu Ren went into retreat.
A piece of news that shocked the entire continent spread to every corner.
Heaven Dou Empire On this day, the country was officially declared subjugated.
Sun Moon Empire's army, under the command of Marshal, broke through the Heaven Dou Empire's last line of defense.
After the Heaven Dou Empire resisted for less than a day, the city gates were opened by Soul Cannon fire. All Heaven Dou Empire troops were as fragile as paper in front of the organized Soul Tool volleys.
When Sun Moon Empire's military flag was planted on the highest point of the Heaven Dou Empire Imperial Palace, this palace, which carried all the glory and dignity of an empire, had turned into a burning ruin.
Du Busi stood on the top of a mountain in the distance, looking at the billowing smoke rising into the sky in the direction of the Heaven Dou Empire's imperial city. His old face was full of exhaustion and helplessness.
Standing next to him was a young woman who was crying so hard that she was none other than Princess Vina, the only remaining bloodline of the Heaven Dou Empire Imperial Family.
Vina was followed by several shivering family members, all of whom were gray-haired and disheveled. They had obviously suffered a lot during the escape.
Du Busi sighed deeply, as if all the energy in his chest had been spit out.
He raised his hand and gently patted Vina's trembling shoulders, comforting her. "Let's go back to the Body Sect."
On the mountain road back to the Body Sect, Du Busi was silent all the way, and Vina also cried all the way.
It wasn't until he was about to arrive at the mountain gate that Du Busi said, "The reason for the Heaven Dou Empire's country's subjugation is very simple."
"It's not that our Soul Master is not strong enough, nor that our generals are not brave enough. In terms of individual combat power, Heaven Dou Empire's elite Soul Master is definitely not worse than Sun Moon Empire, and is even slightly better in some aspects."
"But, we all underestimated Soul Tool."
"Those iron casings, those gun barrels, those Soul Guidance Ray that can kill people hundreds of meters away, our understanding of these things is still based on the old almanac of a few Thousand-Year, or even 10,000 years ago."
"We thought Soul Tool was just a heretic, and thought that a truly strong man still had to rely on Soul Power's cultivation. But reality gave us a loud slap in the face."
"Although Sun Moon Empire cannot match us in terms of top strength, those advanced Soul Engineer have no advantage at all when facing our Titled Douluo one-on-one."
"But their Soul Tool can completely crush Soul Master at the war level."
"If a hundred Soul Masters rush forward, they can knock down half of them in one salvo."
"So what if you have Titled Douluo in charge? There is only one Titled Douluo, but their Soul Cannon array can cover dozens of miles in radius at the same time. There is even a joint soul guidance position, allowing a hundred low-level Soul Engineer to unite, and even have the combat power to compete head-on with several high-level Soul Master."
"The outcome of this war will not depend on the duel between the top warriors from the beginning, but on the generation difference in the overall shape of the war."
Du Busi shook his head, with deep fear in his tone. "If Lu Ren hadn't protected us, I'm afraid even Body Sect would have perished along with it."
"Although Heaven Dou Empire has lost its country, we, Body Sect, as the original protector sect, are also actively assisting its remaining forces in its defense."
"But because Lu Ren's Monster is secretly protecting us, every time our Body Sect personnel encounter a fatal situation, we can escape like Miracles."
"Those Monster appear and disappear on the battlefield, always blocking fatal blows for our disciples at the most critical moments and opening escape channels for us."
"If it weren't for them----"
Du Busi did not continue speaking, but everyone understood what he meant by what he did not say.
An ancient sect that has been passed down for countless years has to rely on the protection of one person to survive. This fact in itself is enough to make people feel emotional.
Princess Vina cried until her eyes were swollen.
As the only surviving bloodline of the Heaven Dou Empire Imperial Family, she witnessed with her own eyes the destruction of the country, the tragic death of her relatives, and the burning of the Imperial Palace. The pain of losing her country and her family almost tore her whole body apart.
She bit her lip, raised her face with tears in her eyes and looked at Du Busi, with an almost begging tone of confusion in her voice. "Senior Poison—I heard that Lu Ren, the legendary strongest Soul Master in history, isn't he also a member of the Body Sect?"
"His Martial Soul is also Body Martial Soul of the Body Sect, that is, he is a part of the Body Sect, but why, why didn't he come to help?"
"If he could take action----" Vina's voice became smaller and smaller, and finally turned into a crying whisper, "If he was willing to take action, Heaven Dou Empire wouldn't----"
"Okay----"
Long Aotian, who was following him, suddenly interrupted Vina.
Long Aotian is now the fiancé of Princess Heaven Dou Empire, Vina, and is also one of the most outstanding disciples of the Body Sect's generation.
He walked up to Vina, stretched out his hands and held her cold palms. "Vina, don't get too horny on this point. Heaven Dou Empire's demise has nothing to do with Lu Ren."
Vina raised his head and looked at him in confusion.
"Whether he helps or not, it's not his problem." Long Aotian explained, "Heaven Dou Empire's country has perished for one and only one reason. We ourselves are too weak, and our understanding of Soul Tool is too short-sighted."
"This is a failure at the national policy level, a failure at the strategic level, and the result of the collective short-sightedness of the entire empire from top to bottom."
"Lu Ren is just a strong man, he is not a god. Even if he helps us win one or two battles, it will not change the reality that the entire empire is rotten to the core."
"We Heaven Dou Empire and Soul Tool are lagging behind others in technology, so we deserve to be beaten."
Having said this, Long Aotian took a deep breath. "What's more, Lu Ren has nothing to do with the Heaven Dou Empire."
"He is not a Heaven Dou Empire person. He has never drank a drop of the Heaven Dou Empire water or eaten a bowl of the Heaven Dou Empire rice. He has no obligation to save this country."
"Taking other people's kindness for granted is shameless in itself."
Du Busi listened, silently nodded, took over Long Aotian's words and continued, "That's right. Lu Ren has done his utmost to be benevolent and righteous."
"You can still stand here talking to me today, my old man can still stand here today teaching his disciples, and our sect can still maintain its operation, all because those Monster under Lu Ren protected us in the dark."
"If it weren't for those Monster, most of us Body Sect would have died under the concentrated fire of Soul Cannon."
"Remember Vina, Lu Ren don't owe us anything."
"On the contrary, we all Body Sect owe him a huge favor."
Vina Princess was silent for a long time after hearing these words. Tears still fell from the corners of her eyes, but the crying sound gradually stopped.
She finally sighed deeply, and that sigh contained too many emotions.
There is mourning for the motherland, longing for the deceased relatives, helplessness at the uncertainty of fate, and unwillingness to feel powerless.
But in the end, these all turned into a calm and weak sentence.
"I understand--now we are in overdrive."
With the destruction of the Heaven Dou Empire, the power structure of the entire continent has undergone a fundamental tilt.
Sun Moon Empire occupies nearly two-thirds of the mainland, and its army is so powerful that no single country can compete head-on.
More than ten days later, another heavy hammer hit the territory of mainland China.
Dou Ling Empire, fell.
Dou Ling Empire persisted even shorter than Heaven Dou Empire.
When the news came out that the emperor of the Dou Ling Empire committed suicide by drinking his sword in the Imperial Palace, the entire continent fell into silence.
Only then did people truly realize that times had really changed.
Those ancient empires that once stood Thousand-Year are as fragile as fortresses in the sand in the face of the new form of war, and they will collapse in a rush.