In an unknown forest in the south of the Sun Moon Empire.
Thanks to abundant sunlight and rainfall, the trees here grew especially lush. Ancient trees, hundreds of meters tall, could be seen everywhere.
Crackle, crackle, crackle—
The burning firewood in the campfire gave off crisp crackling sounds, dispersing the morning mist in the forest.
Xu Zihuang, sitting cross-legged before the fire with eyes closed in meditation, slowly opened them. A flash of dazzling golden light flickered and vanished in an instant, while his entire aura grew smoother and more refined.
"I finally broke through to rank twenty-three."
It had been nearly ten days since their landing at the coastal city in the southwest of the Sun Moon Empire.
All along the journey, they had used flying soul tools to travel through remote and desolate areas, and no accidents had occurred.
They pushed hard during the day with the soul tools, and cultivated at night. This allowed Xu Zihuang, whose soul power had already reached the peak of rank twenty-two, to naturally advance to rank twenty-three.
"Young Master." Rong Jin quickly handed over a bowl of thick, rich meat soup when he saw Xu Zihuang finish his cultivation. The Royal Dragon Soul Engineer Regiment soldiers who had been keeping watch around the fire quickly gathered as well, gulping down their own simple rations with the soup.
Holding his own bowl of soup, Wang Xiao came over and sat beside Xu Zihuang, reminding him: "Young Master, at our current pace, we should reach the border between the Sun Moon Empire and the Xingluo Empire before dusk today. At that point, we'll head directly through the outskirts of the Mingdou Great Forest and enter the southern coast of the Xingluo Empire."
Xu Zihuang nodded calmly. This was the route they had already agreed upon.
The Mingdou Great Forest lay at the border where the southeast of the Sun Moon Empire met the southwest of the Xingluo Empire. Though the soul beasts within Mingdou were not nearly as formidable as those of the Star Dou Great Forest, its rich veins of rare metals gave rise to numerous mutant soul beasts. These mutants were extremely aggressive and often attacked humans unprovoked.
For this reason, the Mingdou Great Forest had become a natural barrier between the Sun Moon and Xingluo Empires.
But the twenty-odd men with Xu Zihuang were the Royal Dragon Regiment's elite, most of them at least rank sixty. Moreover, they had Wang Xiao, a peak rank eighty-nine Soul Douluo, and Lin Long, who had just broken through to rank seventy Soul Sage. Within the Mingdou Great Forest, few soul beasts could threaten them.
Accustomed to military life, they finished breakfast quickly. Xu Zihuang did not want to set himself apart, so he drained the soup in one gulp and drew out a slender, deep-purple flying soul tool from his storage device.
This had been specially prepared for him by Wang Xiao, inlaid with special gems and core arrays that could store and replenish soul power—enough for Xu Zihuang to use even with his Soul Grandmaster-level cultivation.
Moments later, dazzling flames soared into the sky, yet in this remote ancient forest, no one noticed.
On a cliff along the border between the Sun Moon Empire and the Xingluo Empire.
Caw, caw—
In the blood-red light of the setting sun, shrill cries echoed across the sky as a flock of plump red-eyed crows dove, pecking at the corpses below.
From the cliff's edge, one could see the ravaged town at the foot of the mountain. Charred timber still released thick black smoke.
A girl of about eleven or twelve, eyes swollen and red with tears, desperately shooed away a crow. Perhaps exhausted, she finally used her frail body to shield a small mound of earth, sobbing softly.
"Father was conscripted to the frontlines and never came back from the war with the Xingluo Empire. Mother… how could you abandon Juzi too, leaving me a homeless orphan…"
The crow perched on a nearby branch cocked its head left and right. After a moment's hesitation, driven by instinct, it spread its dark wings and followed the flock to feast on the sudden bounty.
Juzi rose again, her white dress smeared with dirt. Her once bright eyes were bloodshot, tears streaming down her face. Her long black hair was a tangled mess, and her bare legs, scratched by thorns, were covered in bleeding cuts—she looked utterly pitiful.
Biting her lip, she sobbed for a long while, until the sorrow in her eyes was drowned by an almost overflowing hatred.
"War… it was war that destroyed my home! Duke White Tiger, Dai Hao—I'll make you pay in blood, I'll end your entire White Tiger line!"
Just as Juzi was consumed by her grief and fury, more than a dozen figures suddenly emerged from the dense forest nearby. They were clad in black armor, the chest marked with the insignia of a fierce white-striped tiger head.
The middle-aged squad leader at the front reached down, touching the crimson bloodstain left on a leaf at his feet. He studied Juzi as he spoke.
"This blood carries only one person's aura. Not remnants of a routed Sun Moon army."
At these words, the men behind him cursed silently. Wiping out a Sun Moon remnant unit would have been a tremendous merit.
Only one youth among them, around fifteen or sixteen years old, remained unchanged. His expression twisted with hatred as his gaze locked on Juzi's back.
"Captain, can you let me handle this one?"
The captain frowned. Remembering the youth's tragic past, he didn't object.
A Sun Moon girl dying here—who would ever know? To him, caring for his men's feelings was more important than the life of an enemy civilian. And this subordinate's talent was high—there was no reason to plant seeds of resentment.
Never underestimate the malice in human hearts. But there were still some who clung to their bottom line.
Just as the youth prepared to step forward, a burly man beside him stopped him with a hand.
"Forget it, Leng Jun. The war between nations shouldn't involve civilians."
"Civilians?!" Leng Jun barked out a bitter laugh. "Do you know? My hometown was massacred by the Sun Moon army. My parents, my brothers—all killed by those bastards! Every Sun Moon person deserves to die! Why else do you think I quit Xingluo Royal Academy and joined Duke White Tiger's Western Army? To slaughter every last one of those scum!"
He shook off the man's hand and strode toward Juzi, face set in cold determination.
"Hmph."
A mocking chuckle rang out. Leng Jun turned angrily to glare at a gaunt, lecherous-looking old man.
This man's cultivation ranked just below the squad leader's, and because Leng Jun came from Xingluo Royal Academy, he had always looked down on this seasoned, stagnant soul master.
"Bei Laoliu, what's that supposed to mean?"
"Young Leng Jun, don't get worked up. When it comes to tormenting Sun Moon trash, old Bei here is an expert. Hand this girl to me, I'll make sure you get your satisfaction." Bei Laoliu sneered, his wrinkled face full of obsequious malice.
Leng Jun looked at him with disdain and coldly warned: "Keep your filthy thoughts to yourself."
Though he hated Sun Moon people, like the burly man earlier, he too had his own bottom line—no matter how laughable that so-called line might seem.
Bei Laoliu clearly feared him, but his eyes darted slyly as he persisted: "The women in your hometown suffered plenty at the hands of the Sun Moon scum. For all you know, this girl's father was one of them. I'm just repaying them in kind."
The two hadn't bothered to lower their voices, and Juzi, not far away, had heard everything. Seeing the tiger-head insignia on their chests, she clenched her hands so tightly that her nails pierced her palms. And when she heard Bei Laoliu insult her father, she could no longer hold back her fury.
"You saw it with your own eyes?"
Juzi's trembling voice carried a deadly calm.
"What?" Leng Jun met her gaze directly, his breath catching slightly. In her hate-filled eyes, he seemed to glimpse a reflection of his own.
"I asked if you saw my father slaughtering and looting in your Xingluo Empire!" Juzi shouted hoarsely. "My father was the best chef in this town. His greatest joy was cooking for me and my mother. If not for your Empire's invasion, my father wouldn't have been conscripted, and my mother wouldn't have died from grief!"
Her words left the group silent, their hearts—hardened by years of bloodshed—momentarily stirred.
Taking advantage of the silence, Juzi drew a dagger from her clothes and lunged at Bei Laoliu. With the aid of her soul power, her strike was blindingly fast.
"You little brat!"
Juzi's cultivation had already reached over rank twenty—something Bei Laoliu had not anticipated. Startled, he hastily released his martial soul.
Black fur sprouted across his body, his hands elongated grotesquely. At his feet, however, only one white and two yellow soul rings rose.
With a sweep of his ape-like arm, he blocked Juzi's dagger. The sheer force sent Juzi, a food-type soul master, staggering back several steps before her footing gave way—and she plummeted off the cliff.
The others snapped back to their senses. Bei Laoliu avoided Leng Jun's icy stare and muttered an excuse: "Don't blame me, I just lost control for a moment. She was a Sun Moon girl anyway—dead is dead."
Before he could finish, a string of sharp, crystalline sounds echoed through the air. The squad leader's face changed instantly as he shouted: "On guard!"
But it was already too late.
An eerie dark-red ripple spread without warning, engulfing the entire cliffside. Everyone's consciousness blurred at once.
The last thing they saw was a golden-eyed boy stepping through the air, cradling Juzi in his arms. With each step, a thin, mirror-like dark-red crystal formed beneath his feet.
In those cold golden eyes, a storm of endless fury brewed.