Douluo, my clone Groudon

Chapter 440 Shrek's Big Explosion
After leaving the Spirit Pagoda, everyone returned to their own lives.

Bai Yuan, as a disciple of Shrek Academy's inner court, had already qualified for graduation but still stayed in the academy to cultivate, and even met his like-minded girlfriend in the inner court.

From him, Gula learned that Sky Douluo Yun Ming had not set foot in Shrek City for nearly two years, obviously making arrangements outside in an attempt to avoid or deal with the known calamity.

After leaving the Spirit Pagoda, Gula quickly transferred the Dream Eater Soul that Alice had obtained, as well as the Deathbird Soul that he had acquired, to their respective incarnations, Du'an and Ming Baixue, through spatial means. The entire process took only a few minutes.

Returning to his temporary residence, Gula's eyes shimmered with time runes as he whispered, "Time Lock, Traverse—Cloud Nether!"

His vision seemed to transcend the boundaries of matter, flowing upstream along the river of time, overlooking the vast continent.

Soon, he detected a proud and powerful aura, which belonged to Yun Ming, who had been hiding his whereabouts.

Almost the instant Gula's gaze fell upon him, Yun Ming seemed to sense something, his brows furrowing slightly. His powerful divine sense swept across the surroundings, but he could not discover the source or method of this probing.

Gula withdrew his power at the opportune moment, pondered for a moment, and then activated Time Lock again. This time, his target was: "Search for the titled Douluo, the evil soul master closest to Shrek City."

The field of vision shifted again, instantly locking onto a sinister and eerie evil soul master lurking in the shadows of Shrek City, whose cultivation had reached the level of a Title Douluo.

"Change targets," Gula thought again.

Time Lock—Search for another evil soul master, a titled Douluo.

The result remains the same; the target remains within Shrek City.

He stopped using his skill, a knowing glint in his eyes: "It seems that the Thousand-Year East Wind plan is still underway, or rather, once that level 13 God-Slaying Soul-Guided Cannonball was successfully stolen, the plan became like a wild horse that had broken free of its reins, and he could no longer control it alone. It is impossible to stop it."

He once again channeled his power, beginning to foresee what the next few days would bring.

The timeline flashed rapidly before his eyes. The first four days were uneventful, but when his senses reached the fifth day, a massive and chaotic resistance suddenly appeared, as if the trajectory of fate had intertwined into a huge, unfathomable vortex.

"Hmm? There is powerful interference... capable of blocking my current observation, which means that the events of that day had an impact that was enough to disrupt the fate of more than a million living beings and stir up a huge causal chain."

Cooler realized that this undoubtedly confirmed the occurrence of the Shrek Explosion.

He didn't try to interfere. In his eyes, Shrek's demise was an inevitable outcome resulting from a combination of factors.

Twenty thousand years of accumulated glory has become a heavy burden, making the academy bloated, arrogant, and disdainful of others in some aspects.

With the overt or covert instigation of various forces such as the Spirit Pagoda, factions within the Federation, and the Holy Spirit Cult, how could the Federation's leadership tolerate an independent kingdom with so many powerful individuals and enormous influence that is difficult to fully control for long?

He didn't go looking for Yun Ming to warn him. Because even if he did, it wouldn't change anything.

Faced with two level 13 cannonballs capable of killing gods, even he wasn't confident he could completely intercept them without using his ultimate trump card. The wheels of history continued to roll in their predetermined direction.

……

Three days later. Shrek City, a seemingly ordinary day.

The city remained bustling, with Soul Masters moving about in droves, enjoying the stability and prosperity brought by the continent's premier academy.

The headquarters of the Tang Sect and the Spirit Pagoda still stand majestically, absorbing astonishing wealth and resources every day.

However, destruction often strikes at the most unexpected moments.

In the sky, an inconspicuous cylinder, only five meters long, hurtles through the air at a speed beyond perception.

Most people didn't even notice anything unusual, and the danger signs of those highly skilled Super Douluo were also interfered with and shielded by the special soul guidance matrix that came with the cannonball.

"Boom—!!!!!"

The first deafening roar that shook the universe did not come from that small cylinder, but from the destructive sphere of light that erupted after it exploded, devouring everything!

The light instantly enveloped the entire core area of ​​Shrek Academy, and the space twisted and shattered under the extreme heat and impact!
This is just the beginning.

Immediately following, hundreds of beams of light, trailing trails of deathly flames, rose from multiple concealed locations on the city's outskirts, like crows swarming to their prey, precisely covering Shrek Academy's major facilities—the teaching buildings, training grounds, soul tool research center, inner courtyard residence, and so on.

The Sea God Pavilion and Sea God Island, in particular, suffered the most intense and terrifying saturation attacks!

Even the busiest commercial districts around the academy, where students and ordinary soul masters were shopping and dining, were all included in the indiscriminate destruction!
A human tragedy unfolded in an instant!
"Om-!"

At the critical moment, the golden ancient tree in the center of Poseidon Island burst forth with unprecedentedly brilliant golden light, and a thick golden light shield instantly opened, barely protecting Poseidon Island and its surrounding core area.

However, this ancient golden tree had absorbed a large amount of energy from Gula and Tang Wulin in its early years. Although it was struggling to hold on, its light shield was fluctuating violently under the continuous bombardment of level nine fixed-position soul-guided cannons, and was clearly unable to last.

The Tang Sect headquarters also received special attention, but thanks to the suppression by the Federation in recent years, its core strength and resources have long been transferred to the Star Luo and Heaven Dou continents. The number of people left behind at the headquarters is relatively small, so the losses are actually less than those of Shrek Academy.

"As expected... it still came." A sigh filled with endless weariness and resolute determination rang out.

Yun Ming, who had been hiding in the shadows, could no longer stand idly by.

He had already sensed the conspiracy and secretly notified some of the elders of the Sea God Pavilion, attempting to secretly transfer a group of the most promising inner court disciples.

However, the evacuation team was strongly intercepted by an unknown force en route, forcing him to personally go and resolve the situation.

When he rushed back as fast as he could, he was met with this hellish scene.

Even if he were the number one person on the continent, the Sky-Supporting Douluo at the quasi-god level, he could not possibly withstand the destructive power of the God-Slaying Soul-Guided Cannonball on his own.

Gula was well-versed in this matter, as he knew that even lower-realm gods who had just inherited their divine positions and had not yet cultivated their divine power to its peak would either die or be seriously injured when faced with a god-slaying weapon that embodied the essence of the highest soul guidance technology of Douluo Star!
Yun Ming's eyes sharpened, and the Sky-Piercing Spear appeared out of thin air in his hand, instantly activating the magnificent four-word battle armor.

He soared into the sky, unleashing a single, dazzling spear strike that resembled a divine blade that split the heavens, instantly detonating seven or eight level-nine fixed-position soul-guided cannonballs that were heading towards a densely populated area!
But this is just a drop in the bucket.

Because, upon sensing Yun Ming's appearance, the second God-Slaying Soul-Guided Cannonball, radiating a suffocating aura of destruction, had already torn through the clouds. Its target was none other than the Holy Spirit Douluo Ya Li, who was organizing the treatment of the wounded and refused to leave alone!

"Brother Ming!" Ya Li felt the deathly aura locking onto her, her face turned pale, but her gaze remained firm as she looked at Yun Ming.

"Yun Ming!" A hoarse, stern shout rang out, and the hunched-over Long Yeyue appeared beside Yun Ming. She looked at the devastated academy, her eyes filled with deep pain and understanding.

"Is this why you've been traveling so much these past few years? It really is an unavoidable catastrophe... You take Yali and the rest of the children and go! I, this old man, only have a dozen or so years left to live, let me hold it off!"

Before she finished speaking, an astonishing aura erupted from Long Yeyue, and the phantoms of the two top-tier martial souls, the Holy Light Dragon and the Holy Dark Dragon, appeared behind her.

The next moment, she forcibly clashed and fused these two completely opposite martial soul origins!
She burned all her life force, soul power, and even soul, transforming into a gray pillar of light containing an aura of chaos and destruction, and resolutely crashed into that god-slaying cannonball!
"boom--!"

The deafening explosion rang out again. The power of Long Yeyue's selfless attack was indeed earth-shattering, forcefully blocking the God-Slaying Cannonball in mid-air and even tearing its outer shell apart!

However, since the Federation is named "Godslayer," how could mortals completely withstand its power? Long Yeyue's sacrifice only delayed the explosion of the cannonball for a moment and weakened its power, but the destructive core energy was still released in the end!
"Yali...I'm sorry."

As Yunming looked down at the buildings collapsing and lives vanishing in the shockwave, his eyes were no longer filled with sorrow, only a stagnant calm.

He was glad that he had at least saved a group of seedlings. As for the others... it wasn't that he didn't want to save them, but that all sides had already been watching Shrek closely. A large-scale relocation would only make them die faster.

Even Tang Wulin and the last batch of core seeds were only forcibly sent away by him in the moments before the explosion.

He looked at Yali, his voice gentle yet carrying an undeniable resolve: "Promise me you will live. Take care of the children for me."

The next second, Yun Ming did something astonishing.

He directly shattered his half-completed divine position, forcibly stripping away unimaginable, boundless life energy and a portion of his divine essence, transforming it into a warm, pure golden torrent that instantly flowed into Ya Li's body. At the same time, he severed the tightly intertwined life-sharing contract between them!

"No—!" Yali cried out in heart-wrenching grief, trying to stop them, but it was too late.

Having received the infusion of a demigod position and the essence of life, the Sky-Supporting Spear in Yun Ming's hand emitted a clear and melodious hum that pierced through heaven and earth. The divine patterns on the spear body were fully illuminated. At this moment, it finally broke through the boundaries of mortal iron and evolved into a true divine weapon!
"A single, earth-shattering strike!"

Yun Ming merged with the spear, and the man and the spear became a golden stream of light that pierced through the heavens and earth, carrying an indomitable and tragic momentum, and crashed head-on into the god-slaying cannonball that had just exploded.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

An energy storm, more terrifying than any previous explosion, burst forth in the sky, as if a sun had been ignited and shattered.

The terrifying energy shockwave spread out in a ring, completely tearing apart the clouds in the sky, and the earth undulated like ocean waves!
Protected by that life energy, Ya Li was not directly affected, but witnessing her husband perish together with the God-Slaying Cannonball, coupled with the excessive energy consumed in stopping the Level 9 cannonball, caused her to be overcome with anger and anxiety. Her essence violently trembled, she spat out a mouthful of blood, and completely fell into a coma.

Tang Wulin, Xie Xie, and others arrived just in time and rescued her with tears in their eyes.

……

The hustle and bustle of Shrek City was replaced by absolute violence and destruction in that instant.

The towering flames, the deafening explosions, and the lives instantly annihilated created an apocalyptic scene.

The light emanating from the ancient golden tree flickered violently under the intense bombardment, like a candle burning in the wind.

At the top of the Spirit Tower, Gula calmly gazed at the distant area shrouded in death, his eyes devoid of any emotion, only displaying an all-knowing indifference.

He witnessed Long Yeyue's resolute decision to die, Yun Ming's earth-shattering blow that shattered his divine position and severed his contract, and Ya Li's grief and unconsciousness.

As the aftershocks of that god-level clash gradually subsided, he knew it was time for the main character to make his appearance.

"Yun Ming! You finally couldn't resist coming out!"

A sinister voice, filled with barely concealed ecstasy and malice, echoed above the ravaged Shrek Academy.

The Ghost Emperor stepped out of the void, his body surrounded by thick, viscous ghostly energy, and green soul flames leaping in his eye sockets.

Behind him, a dozen or so evil Soul Masters at the Title Douluo level, exuding sinister auras, appeared, like a flock of crows surrounding him, greedily absorbing the death and resentment that permeated the air.

The Ghost Emperor opened his arms as if to embrace this inferno, his voice filled with ecstasy: "What a delicious aroma! Yun Ming, everything you cherish, the souls of those you value, will become the supreme resources for my ascension to godhood! Hahahaha!"

Yun Ming stood with his gun in hand, his figure still upright, but his aura was like a candle flame about to burn out.

He didn't even look at the Ghost Emperor. His gaze swept over the souls wailing in the ruins or those who had already lost their breath, and finally landed on Ya Li, who was unconscious and being taken away. A complex emotion flashed in his eyes, which then turned into a deathly stillness.

He remained silent in response to the Ghost Emperor's provocation, as if the other party was not worthy of his attention.

"You still dare to be arrogant even when you're about to die!" One of the evil soul masters, a titled Douluo, couldn't hold back any longer and made the first move.

Yun Ming didn't even move. His Sky-Piercing Spear trembled slightly, and an extremely refined spear intent spread out like an invisible ripple.

"Puff puff--"

Those dozen or so evil titled Douluo didn't even have time to scream before their bodies deflated and disintegrated like punctured balloons, their souls shattered!
Even a mere trace of remaining power was terrifying!
The Ghost Emperor was startled and retreated rapidly, thinking that Yun Ming still had the strength to fight again.

But soon, he saw through Yun Ming's outward strength but inner weakness. It was just a last gasp, a display of the last dignity of this Sky-Supporting Douluo, who might die at any moment.

"As expected of the Sky-Supporting Douluo, he can still kill even in his dying moments!"

The Ghost Emperor, having recovered from his initial shock, was enraged and his voice grew even colder, "However, today is your death day! Your soul will become my most powerful ghost servant!"

Amidst a wild laugh, the Ghost Emperor's ghostly aura surged, preparing to deliver the final blow to Yun Ming.

Yun Ming slowly raised the Sky-Piercing Spear, and the dim divine light condensed once more. He was about to make the last and most magnificent gamble of his life.

Just then, a completely different aura of death, seemingly originating from the very source of the world, descended without warning.

The space distorted slightly, and a figure dressed in an ancient black robe quietly appeared at the edge of the battlefield.

He carried a massive gray scythe on his shoulder, its blade gleaming with the light of the Styx River and radiating a chilling aura that could freeze the soul. He was none other than Gura, incarnate as Du'an.

Even with the boost from the top-tier three-word battle armor, his aura was barely touching the threshold of level ninety-nine, making him seem incredibly "weak" compared to Yun Ming and the Ghost Emperor.

However, the moment the Ghost Emperor saw the scythe, he was like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his hair stood on end, and his eyes flashed with extreme fear and greed.

He felt an ultimate terror from that scythe—it wasn't a matter of strength, but an absolute suppression of status!
That is the embodiment of the law of death, the final destination of all living beings, and the true authority that transcends his evil art of manipulating souls!

"A divine-level martial soul... no, a divine artifact! A true death artifact!" the Ghost Emperor exclaimed, his voice trembling.

Gula ignored the Ghost Emperor's questioning and didn't even look at Yunming, who was poised to attack.

He raised his left hand, and a phantom of a sun pyramid, a thousand meters high and radiating a light that intertwined holiness and death, crashed down over Shrek City.

The gray sun at the top of the pyramid slowly rotated, and an irresistible, immense suction force targeting the soul enveloped the entire ruins.

Those souls who perished in the explosion, wandered aimlessly, or were bound by the methods of evil spirit masters, now flowed like rivers into the sea, transforming into countless gray torrents.

Wailing and struggling, yet helplessly drawn towards the gray sun, they were drawn into the pyramid, suppressed and purified, transformed into the purest death believers and power of faith, nourishing Du'an's divinity and the Grim Reaper's scythe.

"stop!"

The Ghost Emperor's eyes were bloodshot with rage. He had painstakingly planned and even risked his life to trigger this massive explosion, all in order to harvest this huge amount of high-quality soul master souls in order to break through his bottleneck.

Now someone actually dares to steal his "spoils of war" right in front of him!
Without hesitation, a sinister and eerie claw silently emerged from the shadows beneath Du'an's feet, aiming straight for his back!
However, a concentrated spear intent struck first, precisely hitting the ghost claw and shattering it into nothingness.

It was Yun Ming who made the move.

He stood with his gun in hand, his gaze calmly fixed on Gula. His near-divine perception of impending death allowed him to see through the black-robed figure's true nature—not an evil being, but a being who wielded the laws of death, possessing an ancient and orthodox divinity.

Although both methods involve collecting souls, it might be a better fate than letting these souls fall into the hands of the Ghost Emperor to be tortured and devoured, ultimately falling under the power of death.

"Yun Ming! Have you gone mad?!" The Ghost Emperor was both shocked and furious, almost spitting blood. "Why are you stopping me?! He's collecting souls! Those are mine!!"

Yun Ming remained silent, simply standing with his spear held horizontally between the Ghost Emperor and Du An. He was tired, weary of the world's strife and intrigue.

Shrek Academy is destroyed, his lover has been entrusted to someone else, and with his last strength, he is unwilling to entangle himself with demons and monsters like the Ghost Emperor.

And so, to leave cleanly, watching one's soul return to its proper order, seems... not so bad.

His eyes were empty and serene, as if he had transcended this purgatory and was looking towards a distant, peaceful shore.

The Sky-Piercing Spear, burning with its last glimmer of light, still pointed at the Ghost Emperor, carrying an unyielding resolve.

The Ghost Emperor was furious, but he still dared not fight Yun Ming to the death, for who knew how much power Yun Ming still had.

(End of this chapter)