A furious roar burst out of Da Ming as his body rapidly expanded. His massive Sky Azure Bull Python form filled half the sky, and his tail swept downward toward the soul engineers below!
Seeing this, all the soul engineers immediately activated their array-type defensive soul tools. Relying on the combined force of a large number of defensive devices to share the impact, they managed to withstand the blow through sheer force!
Di Tian's dark-gold eyes erupted with dazzling golden light. His body surged and expanded—no longer concealed, the true form of the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King emerged. Larger than the Sky Azure Bull Python by far, his colossal dragon body blotted out the sky, covering the entire core region overhead!
In front of him, the Sky Azure Bull Python looked like nothing more than a tiny snake.
At the same time, Di Tian let out a resounding draconic roar. The piercing dragon cry echoed throughout the entire Star Dou Great Forest, even reaching Shrek Academy. Everyone within the academy was thrown into panic!
Di Tian raised a claw and pressed down toward Da Ming!
Suddenly, the Golden Tree on Sea God Island within Shrek Academy burst forth with brilliant, dazzling golden light. This golden radiance pierced the clouds in the sky and poured down toward the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest.
Xuan Zi and the others raised their heads to look at the golden light. When they discerned the meaning contained within it, their expressions turned incredulous.
"Retreat? Why should we retreat? The situation is clearly in our favor right now—shouldn't we take this opportunity to slaughter all these beasts?" Yan Shaozhe stepped back, breathing heavily as he furrowed his brows and questioned sharply.
"Is it the will of the academy's ancestors telling us to retreat?"
Xuan Zi's expression was equally grave. Within the Golden Tree resided the souls of Mu En and all the academy's past ancestors. The ancient souls had already become nourishment for the tree; only the consciousnesses of Mu En and perhaps the previous one or two Sea God Pavilion Masters still remained.
Was this their will? Or was someone forcing them to issue this command?
But after seeing the golden light, regardless of how unwilling they felt, they could only obey! High above, Da Ming was also retreating rapidly.
"Want to leave? Do you think the Star Dou Great Forest is a place you can come and go freely?" Seeing their movements, Di Tian's voice turned cold as he struck out with another claw!
However, the moment that falling golden light touched Di Tian's body, he suddenly felt a powerful suppressive force! This force did not originate from the souls within the Golden Tree—it came from a higher plane entirely.
It was a divine suppression!
That golden light was divine interference!
"Damn gods…"
Di Tian gritted his teeth. The golden light restricted the fierce beasts' ability to pursue. Even though it lasted for only an instant, it was enough for Xuan Zi and the others to escape.
Watching Xuan Zi's group retreat into the distance, Xiong Jun roared angrily, "What's the deal with that golden light? If not for it, I would have already caught up and bitten them to death!"
"Perhaps it is the work of the Sea God, Tang San."
Landing from the sky in human form, Di Tian spoke solemnly to Xiong Jun and the others, "Fortunately, that golden light won't last long. Otherwise, this time we truly might have been in danger!"
This sluggish, delaying golden light reminded Jiang Shengyu of one of the Sea God Trident's abilities—Clouds Drift for a Thousand Years—which similarly cast down a golden aura that restricted enemy movement.
But the glow activated through the Golden Tree likely only possessed certain aspects of that delaying ability.
Thinking this far, Jiang Shengyu sighed, a tone of regret in his voice. "What a waste of a ninth-rank fixed-installation soul tool shell. That was the only one of its tier in this batch! Even for the present Sun Moon Empire, ninth-rank fixed shells are extremely important strategic weapons."
"Aiya, human, don't be so stingy! That ninth-something-something fixed shell did its job! Didn't that bull python get blasted full of wounds?" Xiong Jun walked over in human form and slapped Jiang Shengyu on the shoulder.
The enormous strength of that slap left Jiang Shengyu somewhat helpless.
This was Xiong Jun's way of acknowledging Jiang Shengyu's performance! In Xiong Jun's eyes, Jiang Shengyu standing against Yan Shaozhe with only a seven-ring cultivation was more than enough proof.
He now sincerely recognized both Jiang Shengyu and Jiang Qingtong.
Jiang Qingtong glanced at the soul engineers gathering nearby and said, "We used up a lot of fixed-installation soul shells this time. We'll send replacements to the Star Dou Great Forest as soon as possible, along with the next shipment of soul tools!"
The Ten Thousand Demon King shook his head. "There's no rush. Do what you can. After this battle, Shrek Academy will surely be more cautious and restrained."
Zi Ji looked toward the Lake of Life and asked, "How is the Lord? Will she be affected by that battle? That explosion was terrifying—and it happened directly above the lake…"
Di Tian shook his head. "Have faith in the Lord."
Soon, a vortex appeared at the center of the Lake of Life. The deep whirlpool connected straight to another space below. At the same time, a sphere of silver light drifted toward Jiang Shengyu and Jiang Qingtong, pulsing softly.
Seeing this, Di Tian paused for a moment, then said to the two of them, "The Lord summons you."
Hearing this, Jiang Shengyu glanced back at the soul engineers behind them. Xiong Jun waved a large hand dismissively and said, "Don't worry about leaving them to us. For your sake, I won't eat them!"
…Eat them?
Hearing this, the soul engineers all wore strange expressions.
Zi Ji shot Xiong Jun a side-eye before speaking to the pair, "That bear talks like that. Just ignore him. Go meet with the Lord—we will look after them."
After thanking the fierce beasts, Jiang Shengyu and Jiang Qingtong entered the vortex within the Lake of Life. After a round of spatial transition, they arrived in the space where the Silver Dragon King slumbered.
Silver light, like flowing liquid, rippled beneath their feet. The enormous body of the Silver Dragon King towered before them like a mountain. Her great dragon head lowered, and a pair of silver eyes gazed upon them.
"Silver Dragon King."
Jiang Shengyu and Jiang Qingtong bowed their heads in greeting.
"You two have grown in ways that astonish me," the Silver Dragon King said. "In just a few short years, you now possess the power to battle ultimate-level Douluo! And the connection between you… exceeds even my expectations."
At such close range, the Silver Dragon King clearly perceived the uniqueness between them. Their connection was not only the intertwining forces of their yin-yang dual soul cores—at the depths of their souls, their vast soul power was nearly identical in origin.
Jiang Shengyu did not dwell on that topic. "Silver Dragon King, did you summon us for something?"
The Silver Dragon King looked at the two of them. "The gods have intervened. Our war with the divine has already begun. Thank you for coming to aid the Star Dou Great Forest."
As she finished speaking, two streams of silver light wrapped around their wrists, forming silver bracelets engraved with dragon-scale patterns.
"This is a projection of my power," she explained gently. "Until you truly stand at the peak, I can use it to shield you from some storms."
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