Douluo 2: This Dragon God has too much martial virtue

Chapter 545 Times have changed
Huo Yuhao appeared to be in a state of collapse, but his eyes remained calm. This was the only way to break the deadlock.

As long as he refuses to acknowledge the authenticity of the Huo Yun'er before him, he can fundamentally deprive her of the power to interfere with his own life choices. More importantly, this statement will attract the attention of the high-ranking god-kings of the Divine Realm Committee through the channel of Rong Nianbing, the God of Emotions. At that time, those supreme beings will surely notice the abnormality in Huo Yun'er's soul state, which may have already been secretly tampered with by someone.

Regardless of whether Huo Yun'er's soul is truly abnormal, whether she is driven by her own infatuation or secretly manipulated by the guiding deity, Huo Yuhao's accusation is tantamount to being manipulated. After all, Huo Yun'er who said those words is simply inhuman. Moreover, how could a child not recognize his own mother?
Since Dai Mubai, the deity responsible for guiding her, has already fallen, the God of Destruction will definitely not let go of the opportunity to pin this blame on Tang San.

“He’s only seventeen, how could he lie?” Mu Xing was determined to defend her kitten.

"Isn't your filter a bit too strong?" After her initial surprise, Rong Nianbing couldn't help but applaud him. "Good lad, as expected of my chosen successor. To be able to see through the key to this situation in an instant and come up with a way to turn the tables on him, you not only protected your bottom line but also handed Destruction a knife. This quick wit is truly reminiscent of my style back in the day."

Mu Xing: "..."

Rong Nianbing clapped her hands and laughed, "I never thought that hypocrite Tang San would have such a day! He's been so arrogant all these years, did he ever expect that one day the young man he favored would turn against him and taste the bitterness of retribution?"

"Those who plot to seize destiny will ultimately be devoured by destiny itself, right?" Mu Xing stared at Fu Rui, wondering if the fugitive who committed crimes on the run still placed some hope in the imperial auspicious beast that carried destiny.

This has gone through several versions already, Tang Shenwang?
Rong Nianbing's fingertips swirled with a mesmerizing and ever-changing divine aura. Huo Yun'er's frantic soul was still struggling fiercely. Her obsession seemed to transform into an invisible lament. Each impact caused the sealed aura to tremble violently, rippling outwards.

This soul, brimming with endless resentment and pain, had clearly been forcibly stripped and sealed away during its entanglement with Huo Yuhao. Rong Nianbing carefully guided this soul, imbued with boundless resentment and pain, slowly compressing and binding it, ultimately solidifying it into a seal with complex divine runes flowing across its surface. The light receded, leaving only a faint yet stubborn tremor deep within its core.

“The cause and effect involved in this soul has already exceeded the scope of the lower realm. Why not hand it over to the God of Destruction? Perhaps it can make someone’s crime even more serious. What do you think?” He turned to Mu Xing and asked for her opinion.

Mu Xingcan's golden vertical pupils swept over the seal that swirled with divine runes. "As long as she completely disappears from my sight, it doesn't matter." She slightly raised her chin, her gaze pressing down on Rong Nianbing as if it were a tangible force, a faint dragon's might flowing around her. "The test for that child ends here. Don't come again. I hope our next meeting will be in the realm of gods, and not somewhere else."

"That's wonderful! When you return to the realm of gods, I will personally tend the hearth and prepare a feast to welcome you back!"

With a flash of light, Rong Nianbing's figure transformed into a streak of light and vanished into the golden clouds in the blink of an eye.

The surrounding golden clouds gradually dissipated, and space itself twisted and changed, completely unsealing the previously blocked spacetime in an instant.

No one present, whether soldiers of the Sun Moon Empire or White Tiger Guards forced to witness their commander's execution, noticed anything amiss. In their eyes, what had just happened was but a fleeting moment, after which everything returned to normal.

Although there seemed to be one more person present, it was insignificant; the Dragon Pavilion's experts were always elusive.

Huo Yuhao was deeply troubled, but he forced himself to calm down. Rather than believe that his mother would sacrifice herself for Dai Hao, he preferred to accept that Tang San had tampered with his mother's soul. After all, Tang San had a history of this; he had once torn apart Wang Dong's soul, attempting to seize the fortune of the Emperor Beast. If it really was him… no, it must have been him! Even if it was just self-deception, Huo Yuhao stubbornly told himself that as long as it made him feel better, then so be it.

Ju Zi continued to sip her tea slowly and deliberately, while Huo Yuhao's gaze fell on her with a complex expression. He had promised his mother to spare Dai Hao's life, and since that was the case, then...

"Ju Zi, do you know? My mother loved that man her whole life," Huo Yuhao said in a low voice.

"So?" Orange raised an eyebrow. "You're not going to soften your heart, are you?"

“No.” He said calmly, “I just wanted to tell you that when you’re done playing with him, you can hand him over to me. I’ll bury them together, that’ll be more than enough.”

"Do you want to bury him alive with your own hands?" Orange chuckled. Now, killing Dai Hao was no longer enough to satisfy her desire for revenge. She realized that making Dai Hao suffer a fate worse than death was the best revenge.

"Do as you please, I don't care if you live or die." Huo Yuhao said indifferently.

"As expected of my senior," Huo Yuhao thought to himself. When it came to methods of tormenting people, he was utterly insignificant compared to Ju Zi.

"Then you don't mind if I cut off his limbs and let everyone in the Star Luo Empire see, right? After all, you're a Star Luo person too." Orange observed his reaction with great interest.

Huo Yuhao examined Ju Zi closely for the first time. This senior student, who was into homosexuality, was the complete opposite of his mother in matters of the heart. Ju Zi could decisively sever her feelings for him, while his mother loved Dai Hao deeply until her death.

Orange has always been very clear about what she wants. She puts herself first, and everything and everyone has to give way to her goals. That's good; at least she lives with a clear head.

"I said, it doesn't matter." Huo Yuhao's voice remained cold and emotionless. So Ju Zi turned to face Mu Xing and bowed respectfully, saying, "Could you please heal the White Tiger Duke's eyes? I want him to see with his own eyes how the Star Luo Empire, from the emperor to the common people, will react when they see the 'heroic figure' of their White Tiger God of War."

She paused, a hint of pleasure flashing in her eyes: "If you don't want to waste your soul power on him, you can just turn him into a human pig. However, I will make sure to preserve his hearing. Even if he can't see, it would be great for him to hear what people say."

Mu Xing glanced down at the scorched battlefield and bloodstains at his feet, his expression revealing undisguised weariness. He was even too lazy to correct Ju Zi's claim that the so-called "soul power" was actually divine power.

"I really don't want to." She turned away listlessly. "Do as you please." Her figure vanished like smoke into the lingering smoke, as if lingering any longer would be a waste of time.

Dai Hao's body, suspended on the execution rack, tensed abruptly. His once domineering eyes, which had swept across the battlefield, were now just two empty sockets from which blood seeped continuously, like gushing tears of blood. But when he heard the words "human pig," the muscles around those empty sockets still twitched violently, and the heavy chains made a grating grinding sound from his sudden exertion.

Veins bulged on his temples, his jaw clenched, and between his teeth escaped a heavy, suppressed breath, like that of a dying beast. The immense humiliation he felt was worse than any physical torture. He suddenly raised his head, his voice hoarse yet possessing the unyielding strength of a rock forged through countless trials, each word seemingly ground from the depths of his chest: "Kill me if you will! I, Dai Hao, have spent my life on the battlefield; my head may be severed, but my spine will never break!"

He desperately wanted to die, but Ju Zi would never grant his wish. This youngest marshal in the history of the Sun Moon Empire understood a principle well—give the enemy what they fear with all your might, and leave them nothing of what they desire.

"You wretch! How dare you?!" Dai Huabin roared like a wild beast. His eyes were bloodshot and bulging with rage as he desperately tried to pounce on Ju Zi. However, his soul power was destroyed, his meridians were severed, and his once surging strength had vanished without a trace. This desperate struggle only made him look more pathetic. The violent movements aggravated his internal injuries, and a sweet taste rose in his throat as a mouthful of blood welled up at the corner of his mouth, dripping down his chin, mixed with resentment and boundless hatred, making him appear extremely pitiful.

"Come at me! Let go of my father! You wicked woman! My Dai family is full of loyal martyrs, protecting Xingluo for generations. How can we allow you to humiliate us like this!" The roar was filled with desperate madness, more like a trapped beast whose teeth have been pulled out and whose spine has been broken, yet it still wants to tear and bite.

The White Tiger Guards, captured by the Sun Moon Empire, were forced to witness their revered Marshal and Young Marshal suffer this humiliating disgrace. Each face was contorted with extreme anger and pain, their teeth clenched so tightly they made a grinding sound, and their eyes burned with a fury capable of destroying everything. If not for the heavy guard and the sturdy soul-guided shackles binding them, they would have already charged forward to fight to the death.

Orange admired everything before her with great interest, the slight smile on her lips deepening, as if she were watching a cruel drama she had meticulously planned. She even elegantly picked up the slightly cool teacup beside her and took a small sip, as if the overwhelming anger of the White Tiger Duke and his son and the silent cries of the guards were nothing more than an insignificant interlude in the smoke of postwar warfare.

Golden sunlight streamed down, and Orange squinted slightly. It should have been a pleasant day, but this tranquil beauty contrasted sharply with the mood of the people of the Star Luo Empire.

The devastating news of the breach of the western frontier defense line spread like wildfire across the continent. The Star Luo Empire's royal family was shaken, and the court was in chaos. While urgently dispatching a large army, they also sent envoys to the kingdoms of Douling and Tianhun seeking help.

No one in the Star Luo Empire had anticipated the Sun Moon Empire's offensive would be so swift and fierce. Although they had anticipated the Sun Moon Empire's military strength, they realized their earlier assessments were far too conservative when this devastating crisis truly arrived. The Sun Moon Empire's terrifying power far exceeded everyone's imagination. The revolutionary power displayed by soul tools in this war completely shattered their previous understanding.

The tide of battle turned dramatically as the Sun Moon Empire's three Soul Master Corps launched a lightning-fast attack on the Star Luo Northwest defense line. Amidst the roar of level-nine fixed-position Soul Guidance Artillery shells, the supposedly impregnable Northwest Army Group collapsed completely within three days. This blitzkrieg not only demonstrated the overwhelming advantage of Soul Guidance technology but also showcased the terrifying combat power of the Soul Master Corps to its fullest extent.

However, several days before the war began, the Heavenly Soul Empire had already experienced an unprecedented beast tide. When the Sun Moon Empire officially declared war on Star Luo, the main force of the Heavenly Soul Empire was already tied down within its borders by the beast tide. The original strategy of having the Body Sect lead elite soul masters to launch a surprise attack on the rear of the Sun Moon Empire was thus thwarted.

Fortunately, as the beast tide advanced to the edge of Sunset Forest, the ferocious beasts of Star Dou ceased their attack as promised. However, this beast tide, which lasted for several days, had severely weakened the Heavenly Soul Empire, with several important military towns falling and thousands of miles of fertile land reduced to scorched earth. Even more disturbingly, post-war surveys showed that the boundary of the Star Dou Great Forest had expanded more than three times its original size.

Meanwhile, on the battlefield in the western border of the Star Luo Empire, the iron torrent of the Sun Moon Empire was pouring into the country through gaps in the defenses. These well-equipped troops did not rush forward, but instead displayed astonishing tactical prowess. They quickly took over the border fortresses abandoned by the Northwest Army Group and constructed iron defenses with astonishing efficiency.

Every captured fortress underwent modernization. Soul-guided searchlights replaced traditional torches, soul-power barriers replaced ancient city walls, and even watchtowers were transformed into soul-guided artillery emplacements. The soul masters of the Sun Moon Empire worked day and night, turning the former military strongholds of the Star Luo Empire into impregnable forward bases.

The Star Luo Empire's scouts, gazing at the sun and moon banners rising over the fortresses and the Soul Master Corps arrayed in neat formations outside, understood that this brief calm was merely the calm before the storm. The day the last fortress was completed would be the day the Sun Moon Empire's army continued its eastward advance. Those war machines, gleaming with cold metallic light, were silently gathering destructive power.

Star Luo Empire, Imperial Palace Council Hall.

The Prime Minister stood below the imperial steps, his face solemn. He turned slightly and nodded to the Minister of Military Affairs beside him. The Minister of Military Affairs, holding the battle report that seemed to be soaked in blood, stepped forward with a hunched back, each step echoing heavily in the deathly silent palace.

His lips moved, each syllable seeming to be ground from sand: "Your Majesty, the casualties in the Western Frontier have been tallied." He took a deep breath. "The Northwest Army Group suffered 73,000 dead. Among them, 58,000 elite soldiers... all turned to charred bones under the Sun and Moon Soul-Guided Artillery fire! 21,000 were seriously wounded, and another 14,000 were completely wiped out!"

The words "no trace of the body" struck like a cold hammer against the hearts of everyone in the hall, shattering the composure many had managed to maintain.

On the throne, Emperor Xu Jiawei's face was covered with frost, and his eyes were filled with turbulent waves, for the 88,000 lives lost, and even more so for the soul guides that completely overturned his understanding of war. The Iron-Blooded Legion, which the Star Luo Empire was so proud of, was as fragile as paper in front of those cold metal creations.
However, amidst this deluge of devastating news that could topple an empire, one name, like a sharp thorn, repeatedly pierced Xu Jiawei's heart, bringing with it a different kind of acute anxiety and fear—Dai Hao! Where is Duke Dai Hao of the White Tiger Clan?!
The Prime Minister seemed to have read the Emperor's mind and added in a timely and deep voice, his voice filled with undisguised worry: "Your Majesty, Duke Dai Hao of the White Tiger and his most elite White Tiger Guards have disappeared without a trace since the collapse of the defense line...

Xu Jiawei's heart sank. The implications of their disappearance under the barrage of soul-guided weapon fire were self-evident.