Battle began, the great sun

"Hadn't you already guessed, Mu En?"

Lu Cheng's smile remained warm.

Yet Xuan Zi, Mu En, Du Busi, and the others felt chills down their backs. A rank ninety-six Super Douluo, someone who ranked among the best on the entire continent, had simply ceased to exist.

For Mu En in particular, towering waves surged through his heart.

He knew Yan Shaozhe's abilities better than anyone. Even Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui would have found it difficult to kill his disciple. After all, Phoenix Nirvana's ability to preserve his life could defy the heavens. Not only could it rewind his life, it could also place his rebirth at a location he had occupied some time earlier.

Even Ye Xishui, who possessed the same Bright Phoenix Martial Soul, had never uncovered this technique.

"I never imagined..."

Mu En studied the spirited young man with a complicated gaze. Every trace of the boy's immaturity and terror that night had faded, leaving someone this calm and composed, whose every movement held countless lives in his hands.

He had already become a player at the chessboard, just like Mu En.

Heaven and earth became a vast chessboard.

Everyone present was a black or white piece.

The young man stood behind the crowd, facing him from afar, each placing his pieces.

He had used Zhang Lexuan as bait and exploited Yan Shaozhe's greed to lure the snake from its hole, drawing him to Sunset Forest to first whittle away Shrek Academy's high-ranking combat strength, devouring it little by little. Now, the Holy Spirit Cult's full-scale night assault on Shrek further confirmed this.

But... he kept feeling that something was wrong.

Looking at the youth's warm smile, he felt nothing but a chill down his back.

What exactly had he forgotten?!

But the Holy Spirit Cult would not give him time to think.

"Begin, Elder Long..." Lu Cheng lowered his eyelids, his smile slowly fading. Looking down indifferently over Shrek Academy, he spoke softly.

Long Xiaoyao stepped forward. A lofty dragon's roar resounded through the skies above the entire Shrek Academy. Standing atop the head of an enormous black dragon, he charged straight at them.

"Long Xiaoyao, Xuan Zi and I will take you on!" Du Busi chuckled and rose into the air alongside Xuan Zi. A dark green giant and the Godly Taotie Bull-their two Martial Soul Avatars refused to be outdone, clashing with the black dragon.

At the same time, dozens of black-robed figures behind Lu Cheng swept forward in a dark mass, colliding with the dozens of powerhouses from Shrek Academy, the Body Sect, and the others.

Black and white split the sky into two sharply defined camps.

"Xishui..."

Mu En gazed at his former lover with a complicated expression.

"Mu En, there's no need for words. Once your Shrek Academy is destroyed, my Holy Spirit Cult can dominate the entire continent. Once, we were driven off the original continent by Shrek. Now... hahahaha!"

Ye Xishui pulled back her hood, revealing an alluring, exquisitely beautiful face. As a Limit Douluo, time had left few traces on her face. She still looked just as Mu En remembered.

"Death God's Tower!"

Ye Xishui gave a low shout. Behind her, metallic mechanisms rumbled, grinding and turning, before an immense tower a full hundred meters tall appeared. It had over a hundred floors, each imprisoning countless wronged souls. They roared madly, rampaged, and howled, trying to escape the tower, but remained suppressed and locked within it, struggling in vain.

"Death God Ray!"

The bottom dozen or so floors of the Death God's Tower instantly dimmed. The wronged souls within were all reduced to expendable materials, becoming the power for a single shot from the Death God's Tower.

Rumble!

A pitch-black ray carrying a sense of annihilation shot straight from the top floor of the Death God's Tower, streaking toward Mu En to pierce him through.

"Ah..."

Mu En sighed softly and lightly tapped his long staff against the ground.

The Golden Tree radiated dazzling brilliance. Vast amounts of power poured into his body, his white hair gradually turning pale gold as his hunched figure straightened.

"Dragon Emperor Evil-Shattering Rend!"

A Radiant Holy Dragon appeared behind him, its head held high. Its slit pupils looked down upon all evil in the world with contempt, its body radiating an intensely concentrated holy presence. With each breath, it seemed like a god descending to earth. It raised a claw and easily crushed that beam of Death God's Light.

"A final flicker before death?"

Ye Xishui's gaze grew unfocused for an instant. That powerful man who had once been so spirited, who had suppressed the continent, seemed to have returned. Yet ultimately, it was only a flower blooming for a fleeting moment.

Drawing on the Ancient Golden Tree's power also meant overdrawing his own vitality. Mu En's body was already as full of holes as a sieve, his vitality constantly leaking away. That he had survived until now was already thanks to Elder Zhuang's utmost efforts to heal him.

"Mu En, is it worth it for the academy behind you?"

"Xishui, say no more..." Mu En said gently. "You know Shrek Academy is everything to me. If you want to take Shrek away, you'll have to step over my body."

Mu En's gaze gradually turned solemn, carrying a trace of killing intent.

That he was willing to reveal his trump card meant he was already prepared to perish together with them.

"Lu Cheng, today will be your end!"

An enormous azure divine eagle appeared behind Elder Song, its cry shaking the heavens. Then the old woman became an azure shadow and rushed straight at Lu Cheng.

"Just you against me, Elder Song?"

Smiling, Lu Cheng watched Song Yunzhi, Shrek's foremost agility-type Soul Master, unleash her full strength and launch a surprise attack at him.

She was so fast that even he was momentarily dazed.

His arm was struck in an instant, a wound opening down to the bone, fresh blood flowing out.

Yet Lu Cheng's gaze remained warm, and he said with a soft chuckle, "Your azure eagle is as mighty as ever, Elder Song."

"Enough nonsense. Die!" Elder Song's face was angry, and she carried a dense killing aura.

The more she had favored this boy back then, the deeper her hatred ran now. Every single elder, without exception, had regarded him as Shrek Academy's sole hope, but...

He had betrayed them utterly.

"Mom, I'll help you!" Xian Lin'er activated Valkyrie Mode and streaked over like a meteor, a spear in hand.

Mother and daughter were both Super Douluos, their hearts in tacit accord.

They closed in from left and right.

They sealed off Lu Cheng's retreat.

"You still won't release your Martial Soul? Planning to withstand this with your flesh alone?" Song Yunzhi sneered, a hint of mockery in her voice.

"Boy, even if you managed to kill Shaozhe with the Holy Spirit Cult's help, that doesn't mean a mere Titled Douluo like you can withstand my attacks."

"A Titled Douluo?"

A smile appeared on Lu Cheng's face.

"You seem to have misunderstood something, Elder Song..."

"I broke through to the Super Douluo realm long ago."

As his words fell,

a terrifying presence surged from Lu Cheng's body, as though it came from the primordial wilderness, steeped in antiquity and age, like an existence born at the very beginning of creation.

It was as though the sun in the sky had suddenly fallen into the mortal world.

And at that moment, the Three-Legged Golden Crow that had condensed behind Lu Cheng also melded into the outline of a great sun...

"What on earth is that?!!"

Xian Lin'er stared blankly at the sight.

"That Three-Legged Golden Crow is the sun itself!" Elder Song's pupils abruptly contracted as she discerned a clue.