Douluo Continent: Martial Soul Blue Silver Grass, Simulating Godhood

Chapter 31 The Cicada Awaits! The Soul-Guided Guns Suffer a Crushing Defeat!

The simulation is still ongoing.

After leaving the Sun and Moon Imperial City, you traveled swiftly southeast. From the conversations of the adventurers in the tavern, you roughly pinpointed the location of the primeval forest, about two or three hundred miles southeast of the imperial city. It's an ancient woodland shrouded in dense fog year-round, and local hunters rarely dared to venture deep within. Occasionally, those who approached the outer edges would feel a chilling sense of oppression, as if some extremely terrifying being slumbered deep within that dense forest.

[Your speed is extremely fast. With the enhancement of your level 75 Soul Saint cultivation, you've covered two to three hundred miles in just over half a day. You stop on a hilltop and look out. Before you lies a vast, rolling primeval forest. The trees are tall and towering, their canopies overlapping and casting a dark shadow over the ground. On the edge of the forest, you immediately spot the traces of the Imperial army: trampled bushes, scattered campfire ashes, and abandoned, tattered packs—all signs indicate they've only been there recently.]

Instead of venturing deeper, you concealed your presence completely, silently slipping into the forest like a falling leaf, trailing far behind the army. With your current Golden-Blue-Silver Emperor perception, you could clearly detect their movements even from miles away, while they remained completely unaware of you.

This imperial army numbered approximately three to four hundred men, well-equipped. Most soldiers wore iron armor, carried longswords at their waists, and wielded spears. Their ranks were impeccably aligned, clearly indicating rigorous training. In the center of the formation, you noticed the most striking feature: ten large siege engines, pulled by four horses, forged entirely of refined iron. Each engine was about ten feet long, with a caliber roughly the size of a human head, and mounted on wheels for easy movement—the very soul-guided cannons the adventurers had spoken of.

These soul-guided guns and cannons were still quite crude in design, far from the refined and sophisticated ones of later generations. However, one could sense the faint fluctuations of soul power flowing inside the barrels, indicating that they already possessed the basic rudiments of soul-guided devices. At the head of the column, a heavily armored general rode on horseback, a longsword with a gold hilt hanging at his waist. The soul power fluctuations around him were approximately at the level of a fifth-ring Soul King, clearly indicating that he was the commander of this column.

You silently followed behind, observing their every move, while simultaneously unleashing the full power of your Golden Blue Silver Emperor's senses, probing deep into the dense forest. After walking for about an hour, your senses finally touched upon something within the heart of the forest. An extremely cold and powerful aura lurked hundreds of feet away in the depths of the forest, like a sleeping ancient beast, radiating a terrifying pressure that sent chills down your spine.

[A 100,000-year-old soul beast does indeed exist.]

A slight chill ran through you, but a knowing smile played on your lips. Instead of rushing closer, you found a large, leafy tree, leaped into its canopy, and concealed yourself among the layers of leaves, surveying the scene ahead from your elevated position. You regulated your breathing, suppressing your aura to a minimum, deciding to send the imperial army to scout ahead and see just how powerful that 100,000-year-old soul beast truly was.

The army ahead had clearly sensed the terrifying pressure, and their pace slowed noticeably. The heavily armored general reined in his horse, raised his hand to signal the troops to halt, and gazed gravely at the increasingly dense forest ahead. After a moment's hesitation, he made a bold decision, ordering the deployment of soul-guided guns and cannons to test the waters by bombarding the forest.

The soldiers sprang into action, pushing the ten soul-guided guns to the front lines, adjusting their angles, and loading shells. At their commander's order, the ten guns roared simultaneously, and ten shells, imbued with blue soul power, whistled through the darkness of the forest like meteors, crashing heavily into the depths of the dense woods.

[Boom! Boom! Boom!]

Ten deafening explosions rang out in quick succession, causing the ground to tremble slightly. Where the shells landed, ancient trees snapped, dust billowed, and rubble flew everywhere, instantly blasting a large gaping hole in the once tranquil forest. Blue flames blazed from the tree trunks, and the acrid smell of burning quickly filled the air.

Seeing that the artillery fire had been effective, a hint of joy flashed in the general's eyes. He waved his hand, about to order a second salvo, but his smile froze on his face before it could fully bloom.

Deep within the dense forest, a low, furious roar, like muffled thunder, boomed out. The sound contained boundless rage and oppressive power, causing the eardrums of everyone present to ring. Immediately afterward, a massive black shadow soared into the sky from the forest. It was a gigantic soul beast, its body as black as ink, its form like a moving mountain, its limbs as thick as pillars, its back covered in layers of black scales, and its enormous head adorned with three scarlet vertical pupils that radiated a cold, bloodthirsty light.

That was a black-scaled, three-eyed dragon lizard, an extremely rare ancient bloodline soul beast. As you looked at it from afar, you knew in your heart that this thing's defensive power was astonishing. Not to mention this crudely made soul-guided gun, even a higher-quality soul-guided weapon might not be able to easily break through its scales when it was fired head-on.

Enraged by the artillery fire, the black-scaled, three-eyed dragon lizard rampaged through the forest, its massive body lashing out, snapping ancient trees as thick as a man's embrace at the roots. The general's face, once beaming with joy, was now filled with terror. He screamed at the top of his lungs, "Fire! Fire all the cannons! Stop it!"

Screams erupted one after another. The dragon lizard charged, smashing through the ranks of soldiers, sending them flying in blood and gore. Their steel armor twisted and shattered like paper under its impact. Soldiers abandoned their armor and weapons, scattering in all directions. Several soul-guided guns and cannons were knocked over by the dragon lizard's claws, their bases warped and twisted, rendering them completely unusable. The five-ring Soul King general spurred his horse forward, drawing his longsword and striking the dragon lizard's scales with all his might. The sword snapped in two, his hand splitting open and bleeding. The force of the impact sent him flying, crashing heavily into an ancient tree, spitting out a mouthful of blood, his face deathly pale.

"Retreat! Retreat! Everyone retreat!" He struggled to his feet, shouting this at the top of his lungs, then turned and ran back the way he came without looking back. The remaining remnants of his army followed him in a chaotic escape, leaving behind a trail of corpses, abandoned soul-guided guns and cannons, and countless supplies.

The black-scaled, three-eyed dragon lizard chased after them for hundreds of feet, letting out a deafening roar at the fleeing crowd. Its voice was filled with contempt and disdain, as if to say, "A bunch of ants dare to disturb my slumber?" Then it halted, slowly turned, and dragged its massive body back into the depths of the dense forest, disappearing once more into the shadows.

You sat quietly atop the treetop, watching the entire farce unfold. From the ambush to the rout, it took no more than a quarter of an hour; the imperial army had already routed itself, abandoning its armor and weapons.

You sighed inwardly; these people weren't even qualified to harm the dragon lizards. Those crudely made soul-guided guns and cannons were like tickles to them. Only after the deserters had completely disappeared into the forest did you silently descend from the treetops, your toes lightly touching the ground.

You flexed your wrists, your gaze drifting towards the direction where the black-scaled, three-eyed dragon lizard had disappeared. A meaningful smile slowly crept onto your lips: "Now, it's my turn."

The simulation is still ongoing.