"My lord..."
The guard knelt on one knee, his trembling voice filled with fear.
"Three beings with incomparably powerful presences have appeared among the Sea Soul Beasts outside. According to the legion commander, all three Sea Soul Beasts are powerful beings with a hundred thousand years of cultivation!"
"A hundred thousand years?! Three of them!!!" The city lord's vision went dark, and he nearly lost his breath and collapsed on the spot.
What did my Dongyang City ever do to deserve this?!
Just what grudge could you Ice Sea Soul Beasts possibly have against us, to unleash a beast tide and bring three Hundred-Thousand-Year Sea Soul Beasts all at once?
As city lord, he was only a Level 8 Soul Engineer with the cultivation of a Soul Douluo. If it came to a fight, a single Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast could run him over like a speed bump.
Let alone three of them.
Aside from him, the strongest people in Dongyang City were only Level 8 Soul Engineers. They were no match for Hundred-Thousand-Year Sea Soul Beasts, whose combat power rivaled that of Titled Douluo. At best, they could use Dongyang City's Soul Tool emplacements to hold them off for a short while.
Once too much time passed, Dongyang City was bound to fall, and they were bound to die!
But the city lord had no time for wild thoughts. Dark circles ringed his eyes, and his eyeballs were bloodshot. Gasping for breath, he roared in a voice that cracked.
"Quick! Pass down the order to activate the highest-grade Soul Tool Shield immediately, and send every Soul Tool in the storeroom to the northern wall to defend the city! Send word to Mingdu at once and urge them to send reinforcements!"
"If necessary, I authorize the use of the Class 8 Fixed Soul Cannon Shell in the storeroom under the highest security!"
"Dongyang City... is finished!!"
On Dongyang City's northern wall, which faced the sea, soldiers stood ramrod straight.
Facing the Sea Soul Beast army that stretched across the sea as far as the eye could see, and feeling the suffocating, immense fluctuations of Soul Power, they wore fear on their faces, but their feet did not retreat an inch.
Their families and friends were in the city behind them. If they retreated, the city would fall.
Even if they died, they would die on the wall, using their bodies of flesh and blood to keep the Sea Soul Beasts intent on breaching the city outside.
To do something knowing it could not be done was a foolish act called hot-bloodedness.
But a person had to be foolish a few times in their life.
As the soldiers throughout the city watched, the waves began to churn. The azure seawater rose from the surface as though controlled by a pair of invisible hands, forming a gigantic column of water a hundred meters high.
Atop the column, three figures radiating terrifying presences looked down from on high at the ants on the city wall.
"Humans, you will pay a price in blood for what you have done!"
"That's your sister, isn't it?" Ming Zhao glanced at Li Ya, whose expression was serene beside him.
"Yes, Master. That is my older sister, Lijing. She has two hundred thousand years of cultivation." Li Ya nodded and answered softly.
"I didn't expect even your sister to come. It seems your death really did make your mother and sister very sad." Ming Zhao's lips curved into a cruel smile. "What touching bonds between sisters, and between mother and daughter."
"I can't bear to see people separated. Li Ya, do you think I should kill your sister and your mother too, and have them come keep you company?"
"It would be Mother's and Sister's honor to become a part of Master and strive alongside him to reach that supreme realm." Li Ya bowed her head slightly, her voice carrying undisguised reverence and obedience.
But Li Ya's response left Ming Zhao feeling a little bored.
How dull.
Rather than unreserved submission, Ming Zhao preferred it when the objects of his amusement fought back desperately, wearing expressions of anger and resentment, before he tortured them to death bit by bit in agonizing pain.
That was the story he wanted to see.
What was the difference between someone as unconditionally obedient as Li Ya and a cup?
No fun.
Sure enough, teasing his own Martial Soul was no fun. Playing with those stubborn ants would give Ming Zhao more amusement.
Turning his gaze toward the coastline, Ming Zhao began to study the three Hundred-Thousand-Year Sea Soul Beasts that had come this time.
There was little to say about Lijing, who led them. She was a mermaid princess at the level of a two-hundred-thousand-year Ferocious Beast and Li Ya's older sister. Her bloodline was slightly inferior to Li Ya's, only a silver bloodline, whereas Li Ya possessed a golden bloodline that allowed her to grow into the next Sea Princess.
What was worth mentioning was Lijing's appearance.
If Li Ya was a young girl and the Sea Princess a mature beauty, then Lijing was a young girl with the air of a mature beauty. Her face was eighty percent similar to Li Ya's, but that distinctive air of a mature woman made her even more attractive than Li Ya.
Of course, Ming Zhao still preferred Li Ya. He only wished she were a little younger.
To Lijing's left and right were a dark red crab and a deep blue lobster, respectively.
Shrimp soldiers and crab generals, as it were.
Compared with Lijing, the two were not nearly as strong. They were ordinary Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts that had only survived one heavenly tribulation, with ages of around a hundred and thirty thousand years.
But even if their bloodlines were not especially strong, they were genuine Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. Their combat power was roughly on par with that of a rank 93 Titled Douluo with a Soul Core. A Level 9 Soul Engineer, whose combat power was weaker than a Titled Douluo's, could not even beat them one-on-one.
With Lijing, a two-hundred-thousand-year mermaid princess, added to their ranks, the Sea Soul Beasts were definitely strong enough to crush Dongyang City's side.
This was a little beyond Ming Zhao's plan.
To be honest, he had not expected his plan to draw even Lijing here.
When Myriad Souls Douluo and Abomination Douluo controlled Li Ya's soul and committed all manner of evils, this big sister had not come charging out in a rage to punish them, had she?
But he quickly realized where things had gone wrong.
In the original story, although Li Ya was controlled by Myriad Souls Douluo, only part of her soul had been cut away. Her main body was still protected in the Sea Princess Clan's territory, rather than having died outright.
That part of her soul concerned Li Ya's life and death, so Lijing had not dared act rashly.
She feared that if she attacked them, Myriad Souls Douluo would be driven to desperate measures upon finding himself unable to win, and utterly destroy that part of Li Ya's soul. Then Li Ya would be beyond saving.
Things were different now.
Ming Zhao really had killed Li Ya. He had absorbed her Soul Ring and Soul Bone, and her soul had become part of his Martial Soul. It would have been strange if Lijing had not gone mad.
Under these circumstances, even the Sea Princess might take action personally.
His smile gradually froze, and Ming Zhao frowned.
When he saw Lijing, he really had thought of taking this opportunity to reunite her with her sister Li Ya.
But now he did not dare act on that thought.
He had already killed Li Ya. If he killed Lijing too, the Sea Princess might really pursue him across the entire continent, intent on killing him.
Relentless pursuit by a six-hundred-and-twenty-thousand-year Soul Beast was a bit much for Ming Zhao's small frame to bear at his current Soul Douluo cultivation.
That left him with no choice but to set his sights on the shrimp soldier and crab general beside Lijing.
Just then, Lijing, on the coastline, gave the order to attack. Tens of thousands of Sea Soul Beasts roared as they launched their assault on Dongyang City...