Douluo 2: This Dragon God has too much martial virtue

Chapter 605 Raising Gu
After all, that rebel army was the nourishment that Mu Xing promised to leave to Qiangu Jingyin for cultivating the Angel God. If they all collapsed and died before the real master came to harvest them, wouldn’t that be a waste?
With a slight movement of her mind, her spiritual consciousness quickly spread out like an invisible net, accurately covering several cities around Erlen City that had turned into ruins.

These cities were originally occupied by powerful soul beast tribes, making them off-limits to humans. However, Mu Xing did not directly drive away the soul beasts. Instead, he intentionally or unintentionally released a kind of provocative and guiding thought, which was imposed like an imperial decree on the consciousness of several powerful soul beast tribe leaders in the surrounding area.

These soul beasts were already restless about the human army intruding into their territory. Now, under the influence of Mu Xing's obscure but powerful will, they became even more violent and purposeful.

Several large groups of beasts began to raid the fleeing rebels from the flanks and rear. These attacks were not aimed at killing, but more like driving sheep, biting the lagging soldiers, creating panic, and forcing the fleeing army to be unable to flee in a more remote direction. They could only flee in a specific direction, the border area between the former Douling Empire and the former Tianhun Empire.

Driven by the constant harassment and expulsion of soul beasts and their instinct for survival, the remaining rebels finally fled exhausted to a small city on the border like a flock of sheep being driven by a sheepdog.

Faced with this city that might provide shelter and supplies, as well as the tense and alert former Douling Empire city defense forces on the city walls, the rebels' despair and brutality completely erupted.

In the situation that was already out of control, some high-ranking military officers took the lead and the rebels launched a frenzied attack on the small town.

The defense of this small town was not strong to begin with, and the number of defenders was limited. Faced with the attack of nearly 100,000 vicious rebels, it was quickly breached.

The rebels seized the city. Desperate and frantic looting and violent rule followed. The remaining rebels forced the city's civilians and the surrendered defenders to pledge allegiance to them, plundering any available supplies and food, attempting to transform the city into a temporary fortress and stronghold to defend against the possible threat of spirit beasts, which now seemed to be merely lingering on the outskirts of the city, and the imminent arrival of the Tiandou Empire's troops to quell the rebellion.

But after a frenzied escape, driven away by spirit beasts, and finally capturing the city, the remaining Douling rebels were finally able to settle down. The city walls provided a false sense of security, and the looted supplies temporarily alleviated hunger and pain. This led to a noticeable calm within the army, and at least a basic order was restored on the surface.

However, the previous looting had already given them a taste of sweetness. Once unleashed, violence and disorder were difficult to reverse. Some soldiers, now well fed and refreshed, even began to extend their greedy and sinister hands to the defenseless elderly, weak, women, and children in the city, under the pretext of "serving the Princess and Prince" and "raising funds for national restoration," engaging in even more egregious acts of extortion, bullying, and even brutality.

After their initial resistance failed, the few remaining soul master families and soul master officers in the city were forced to join Xue Lingxun and Xu Sanshi in order to protect themselves and even find a new way out in the face of this large rebel force that included several soul saints and above.

Although these spirit masters were few in number and their highest cultivation level was only at the Soul Emperor level, they excited Xu Sanshi, Xue Lingxun, and the others. They saw it as a symbol of "the people's will" and "the hope of national restoration." Lost in the false joy of "strengthening," they intentionally or unintentionally ignored, or even condoned, the various atrocities committed by the lower-level soldiers. In their view, those who achieve great things don't pay attention to trivial matters, and some sacrifices are inevitable.

However, after a brief moment of excitement, Xue Lingxun's worries returned. She knew very well that the existing Soul Master force in this remote border town was already weak, and these Soul Masters offered very limited improvement to the overall combat strength. More importantly, she couldn't forget the terrifyingly powerful expert her son had encountered outside Erlen City. Now that the Dragon Pavilion had taken notice of them and displayed such hostility, how could they possibly let it go?

"Sanshi," Xue Lingxun found her son, a look of deep worry on her face. "Although we've settled down temporarily, the situation isn't optimistic. I'm afraid those people from Dragon Pavilion are beyond our current strength. If they come again, we..."

Upon hearing this, the slight smugness on Xu Sanshi's face quickly vanished, and he felt suffocated by the weight of reality. He had been hailed as a genius by the Xuanming Sect since childhood, and he and Beibei were once known as the twin stars of Shrek's outer courtyard. He knew better than anyone that no matter how many powerful people surrounded him, they were not as reliable as his own strength.

But how easy is it to improve one's strength? Especially for him?

A secret buried deep in his heart, concerning the core inheritance of Xuanming Sect, surfaced in his mind, bringing endless irritation and a hint of embarrassment that was difficult to speak of.

According to the ironclad rule of the reclusive Xuanming Sect, all male descendants of the sect who possess the sect's inherited martial spirit must undergo a special awakening ceremony at the age of fifteen. The purpose of this ceremony is to stimulate the little-known evolutionary potential of their inherited martial spirit, the Xuanming Turtle Shield.

However, this path of evolution had a rather ignominious premise, a secret the Xuanming Sect had always kept secret. After all, relying on this method to gain power was not a legitimate path, and was even somewhat unspeakable. Yet, for the sake of the sect's legacy and the continuation of its power, they had no choice but to do so.

Over the years, he had been obsessed with Jiang Nannan. However, she had always ignored him and was extremely indifferent. If it weren't for the business relationship between Xuanming Sect and Dragon Pavilion, he would have had little chance of even meeting her.

However, the strict rules of the sect would never allow him to remain a virgin for a woman he didn't reciprocate, thus delaying his spirit's evolution. Under immense pressure from his family and driven by a thirst for power, though he professed his love for Jiang Nannan and even pestered her relentlessly, his feelings were driven more by an obsession and possessiveness, compounded by a desire for her beauty. Therefore, when he encountered another attractive woman assigned to him by his family, he wasn't particularly resistant, even adopting a somewhat casual attitude, like a playboy trying something new. He treated the ritual object more like a tool to accomplish a task.

This ritual did indeed trigger the evolution of the Mysterious Nether Tortoise Shield, but for some reason, the process stalled and remained incomplete. His martial spirit ultimately only completed half of its transformation, becoming an incomplete, half-basalt shield somewhere between the Mysterious Nether Tortoise Shield and the true divine beast basalt shield. While its power had increased, it fell far short of expectations, as if a crucial link was missing.

The sect elders were also puzzled by this, and only he knew what had happened.

　Taking advantage of the meeting to slack off, (□`) I'm so hungry
　　(End of this chapter)