After a careful yet incredibly meticulous investigation, several top Title Douluo from the Three Great Empires, relying on their extensive experience and formidable senses, roughly pieced together the residual traces of the horrific battlefield.
The conclusion was staggering—the magnificent city, which had stood for ten thousand years and was hailed as the continent's foremost, had been physically and utterly erased.
They also found numerous messy tracks left by the Soul Beasts' frantic retreat toward the Great Star Dou Forest, as well as countless Soul Beast corpses along the way. This confirmed the reality of the Soul Beast Tide and the heavy losses it had sustained.
"The only things we can't confirm right now are the fates of Bright Phoenix Douluo Yan Shaozhe, War God Douluo Xian Lin'er, and Black Dragon Douluo Qian Duoduo... whether they're alive or dead."
Sky Kunpeng Douluo's voice carried a hint of subtle fatigue and regret.
"And then there's the question... how exactly was this scene of utter apocalypse created?"
Sun God Douluo's brow was deeply furrowed, his expression incredibly solemn. He squatted down, grabbed a handful of charred soil imbued with strange energy, sensed it carefully, and then let it slip through his fingers.
"Could it be... Rank 9 Fixed Soul Cannon Shells? But that doesn't make sense! Besides the Sun Moon Empire, our three empires don't possess such strategic-level doomsday weapons, and it's even more impossible for the Soul Beasts of the Great Star Dou Forest to have them."
He stood up, surveying the boundless area of destruction, his voice growing deeper.
"Look at the scale of destruction and the level of 'cleanliness'... To completely wipe Shrek City and its defenses so thoroughly off the map, leaving nothing alive, and creating this... this effect of near annihilation, would require at least fifty Rank 9 Fixed Soul Cannon Shells to detonate simultaneously at a single point. That is utterly impossible."
"Heh heh..."
A Title Douluo from the Dou Ling Empire instinctively let out a dry laugh, trying to break the suffocating silence.
"It's not like Shrek Academy set off fifty Rank 9 Fixed Soul Cannon Shells on itself, right?"
However, his joke met no response. The surroundings remained deathly silent, with only the wind howling over the abyss.
At that moment, a Title Douluo from the Heaven Dou Empire recalled something and spoke: "On our way here, we met several convoys of civilians evacuating from Shrek City's direction. When questioned, they only said they received an urgent notice from Shrek Academy to evacuate, but they knew nothing about what happened in the city afterward, only that the alarm was shrill and the energy fluctuations in the distance were terrifying when they left."
Sun God Douluo rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Arranging civilian evacuation... this suggests that Shrek Academy's high command at least foresaw the possibility of the city falling and prepared for the worst-case scenario with personnel dispersal. If so, they must have had a fallback plan. The core strength of the Academy... there might be survivors."
"We must search more meticulously," Sky Kunpeng Douluo said gravely.
"Also, be mindful of the residual power signatures here... they are extremely overbearing, full of pure destructive intent, and... utterly bizarre."
As the Super Douluo with the highest cultivation and the keenest senses, his feeling was the most intense. He raised his head, looking toward the deep sky, his voice filled with disbelief.
"This doesn't resemble the energy residue from any known Soul Tool explosion. It lacks that chaotic feeling. If anything... it feels more like the impact caused by a giant meteorite that descended from the heavens, imbued with the will of destruction?"
"How is that possible?!"
Sun God Douluo nearly shouted, frowning and shaking his head.
"Even if it was a meteorite, how could it be so coincidental, hitting Shrek City dead center? And if it was a strike, where are the fragments? Even the most common remnants of meteoric iron should leave some traces. Look at this site! Where are the scattered fragments, the mineral veins? Here? There is nothing but destruction. It's unnervingly clean."
He continued, his tone turning self-mocking, "It couldn't be that some being manually conjured a meteorite, dropped it with pinpoint accuracy, and then, at the moment of impact, released all its power to completely annihilate the meteorite itself along with the entire Shrek City, leaving not a speck, could it? That kind of power... I dare say, even the legendary Gods might not achieve such a clean finish."
"Our speculation here is indeed pointless."
Just then, Foul Star Douluo Huang Jinxu of the Star Luo Empire slowly lowered his communication Soul Tool. His face was unnaturally pale, his voice low and hoarse.
"I just received news that our Third Soul Master Legion's vanguard encountered... a group of Shrek Academy survivors on their way here. By their attire, they appear to be Inner Court disciples, and they are being escorted toward us."
"Survivors!" Sun God Douluo's eyes flashed with hope. "I knew Shrek Academy, with its ten-thousand-year foundation, wouldn't be completely wiped out so easily. There had to be a spark left."
However, no one noticed that as Huang Jinxu reported, his gaze unconsciously swept over the black abyss again. A heavily suppressed, overflowing fear flashed deep within his eyes.
His Martial Soul was the highly unique 'Foul Star of Solitude,' granting him an abnormal sensitivity to the power of the stars.
Moments ago, at the edge of that silent abyss, he had clearly sensed two terrifying, soul-shaking auras intertwined: one a cold, malevolent, purely destructive unknown power, and the other... an aura he was chillingly familiar with—the vast, desolate Star Power unique to extra-terrestrial stars.
Sky Kunpeng Douluo's seemingly absurd speculation... was likely true! The culprit behind Shrek City's disappearance was indeed a "meteorite."
But the absence of fragments chilled Huang Jinxu to the core. It meant that the meteorite itself was annihilated by some even more terrifying force the instant its destructive mission was complete.
This was no natural disaster.
The thought of an unknown, terrifying entity capable of manipulating or even manufacturing meteors and controlling their power with such perfection sent a shiver down his spine. Such a method was far beyond the scope of his understanding. He was certain of one thing: even the Beast God Di Tian, the continent's strongest, absolutely did not possess such world-altering, city-destroying power.
Not long after, dense figures appeared on the distant horizon. The Star Luo Empire's Soul Master Legion was escorting a group of young people, whose clothes were tattered but whose temperaments were exceptional.
The leaders were Golden Crow Saintess Wu Ming, Chu Qingtian, Hua Yao, Mo Xuan, Ye Liu, and other surviving Shrek Inner Court disciples.
"The Academy... the Academy... it's really... gone?!"
When Wu Ming and the others looked past their escorts and clearly saw the giant abyss, radiating an ominous aura of death, that had utterly replaced their magnificent city, her legs gave out. She collapsed to the ground, her face completely drained of color, leaving only endless shock and confusion.
Not only her, but every Inner Court disciple who had miraculously survived was struck dumb as if by lightning the moment they saw their home and homeland utterly vanish, their faces filled with an unutterable grief and disbelief.
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