Douluo Continent: Tonight, a Fairy Tale Descends

The soldiers quickly sprang into action, pairing up and setting up their formations on the training ground.

Soon, the sounds of collisions, shouts, and the muffled thuds of bodies hitting the ground rose and fell in waves.

Ghost Leopard Douluo stood on the sidelines, his sharp gaze sweeping over each pair of opponents. Occasionally, he would shout, "Too stiff waist," "Too rigid footwork," or "Too slow to strike." His voice wasn't loud, but every word accurately pointed out the problem.

Although the soldiers who were singled out were somewhat embarrassed by his reprimand, they could indeed feel their progress after adjusting.

Ghost Leopard Douluo silently watched the young faces sweating profusely in the cold wind, and a feeling he couldn't quite describe welled up in his heart.

He is a Title Douluo. A Title Douluo of level ninety-five. He has dedicated his entire life to serving the Spirit Hall. From a young Soul Master who first entered the Spirit Hall to climbing step by step to the position of Elder, he has killed more people than all the soldiers in front of him combined.

He thought he had long been accustomed to everything, accustomed to giving orders, accustomed to killing, accustomed to standing at the top of this continent and looking down on all living beings.

But he wasn't used to it.

He watched as these young soldiers grew stronger under his training, their movements becoming faster and their teamwork more seamless. The rawness of new recruits in their eyes was gradually fading, replaced by a budding sharpness.

He knew what this meant.

These soldiers are getting stronger. They are learning how to kill, how to survive on the battlefield, and how to achieve the greatest results with the least cost.

And he is personally feeding them these skills, little by little.

After these soldiers become stronger, they will be sent to attack the Martial Soul Empire.

Ghost Leopard Douluo's fingers tightened slightly at the crook of his arm. This thought was like a fine thorn, embedded deep in his heart, not fatal, but impossible to ignore.

He had considered rebelling.

Having spent so many days in the North, he had certainly considered the possibility of escaping.

Even a titled Douluo cannot be treated like a beast of burden for the rest of their life.

But he remembered that pain clearly, that icy coldness that spread from inside his meridians, as if something had taken root in his body and merged with his soul power.

Eva never threatened him or verbally humiliated him.

She only made him experience pain again when he first tried to resist.

His gaze shifted from the soldiers to the patch of land being turned over outside the city walls in the distance.

Yue Guan is planting trees over there, and the golden petals stand out against the gray-white sky.

His gaze shifted further into the distance, where the ghost stood beside a pile of stones, silently carrying heavy stone blocks.

The three of them were once the sharpest blades of the Spirit Hall.

Now, however, they are planting trees, moving stones, and training soldiers who will attack the Spirit Hall in the future.

Ghost Leopard Douluo withdrew his gaze and looked again at the groups of soldiers still fighting in front of him.

One of the thin young men, who had just been knocked to the ground by his opponent, was grinning as he got up, dusted himself off, and got into a fighting stance again.

His movements were imbued with a pure, unadulterated passion.

Ghost Leopard Douluo had seen that look in his eyes far too many times. Every young person who has just embarked on the path of a Soul Master has that look in their eyes, believing that they will become stronger and that they can go further.

Ghost Leopard Douluo did not interrupt them.

He simply watched from the sidelines, silently correcting the minor mistakes and pointing out areas where things could be done better.

On the other side of the training ground, Ghost Douluo's formation had a different style.

He doesn't speak.

He hasn't said a single word since the start of training.

He simply stood at the front of the formation, his black robe fluttering slightly in the wind, his hood pulled low, obscuring most of his face. The soldiers were initially bewildered, unsure what this silent instructor wanted them to do.

But they soon understood.

Ghost raised his hand, pointed at one of the soldiers, and then beckoned to himself.

The movement was very light, yet it carried an undeniable air of authority.

The soldier whose name was called was taken aback for a moment, but quickly realized that he was being asked to come forward for a sparring session.

He took a deep breath, drew the short blade from his waist, and charged towards the ghost.

Then he lay down on the ground.

He didn't even see how the ghost made its move; he only felt a sudden darkness before his back slammed into the frozen, hard ground.

The ghost didn't look at him, but simply raised its hand and pointed to the next soldier.

The second, the third, the fourth.

Every soldier was knocked to the ground in the blink of an eye, some even lying on the ground before they could react.

However, the ghost's attacks were extremely measured, each time precisely controlled to exert force just enough to make someone lose their balance without causing injury.

Gradually, the soldiers began to understand.

This silent instructor is teaching them in the most direct way how to deal with an opponent who is much faster than you.

Chapter 553 Dragon God

What should you do if you've been knocked to the ground before you even see what the other person is doing?

After several rounds, some soldiers began to be able to hold on for an extra half breath before being taken down.

After a few more rounds, some people even made a blocking motion before falling to the ground.

Although the block was ultimately easily neutralized by the ghostly force, at least he saw the movement.

The ghost paused for a moment, then nodded slightly. The movement was so subtle that it would have been almost unnoticed if the soldiers hadn't been watching him intently.

But the soldier who had just made a blocking motion saw it, paused for a moment, and then grinned.

The ghost didn't give him much time to be happy; it simply pointed to the next soldier.

The training continued in silence.

Soldiers charged forward wave after wave, were felled wave after wave, then got up, stood at the end of the line, and waited for the next round.

Their progress is visible to the naked eye.

From initially not even having time to react, to later being able to make a complete defensive move before falling to the ground, and then to someone being able to make an effective counterattack the instant the ghost made its move, although that counterattack didn't even touch the hem of the ghost's clothes, at least they started to try.

The ghost watched all this in silence, still not saying a word.

As evening approached, darkness fell. Dusk came earlier in the North than elsewhere, and the greyish-white light filtered through gaps in the clouds, casting a few last, thin streaks of light on the ground.

The training on the training ground has finally come to an end.

The soldiers dispersed in twos and threes. Some rubbed their sore shoulders, some practiced the new moves they had learned in the exercise as they walked, and some simply sat down on the ground by the field, too exhausted to even speak.

Ghost Leopard Douluo stood at the sidelines, his gaze sweeping over the young faces leaving the field. He remained silent for a moment, then turned and walked towards the camp.

His steps remained steady, showing no signs of fatigue, but there was an indescribable complexity in his sharp, hawk-like eyes.

The ghost did not leave immediately.

He still stood in a corner of the training field, his black robe almost blending into the shadows in the twilight.

Only after the last soldier had left the training ground did he slowly turn around and walk towards his residence.

His steps were light, and he landed almost silently, like a night bird returning to its nest.

On the slope outside the city wall, Yue Guan finally put away the last golden petal.

He straightened up and stretched his slightly sore shoulders.

He glanced back at the land he had turned over and planted seeds on, remained silent for a moment, and then walked toward the camp.

The three titled Douluo returned to their respective corners in the twilight of the Northern Territory.

No one spoke, no one looked at each other; they were like three parallel lines, each going its own way.

Night gradually enveloped the entire Iron Gate Pass.

……

In a far more distant place, deep within the Dragon Realm, in that eternally dim world where there is no alternation of day and night, time flows slowly at a pace isolated from the world.

Endless piles of dragon bones stretched like mountains, extending from the low hills to the horizon, like a sea of ​​bones frozen by time.

The dragon bones were incredibly huge, some like a continuous mountain range, others like broken giant pillars, lying across the gray-white ground.

An ancient and heavy dragon's might permeated the air, as if countless silent beings were watching over this tranquil land.

In the deepest part of this sea of ​​bones, an exceptionally large dragon skeleton lies quietly on the earth like a mountain that has been sleeping for ten thousand years.

On the head of that dragon skeleton, a very soft light was slowly pulsating.

Hisus was curled up beneath the Dragon God's skull, his body surrounded by a surging, multicolored light, each breath causing the energy of the entire Dragon Realm to pulsate.

She couldn't remember how long she had been in that place.

In the Dragon Realm, there is no alternation of day and night; time becomes an extremely vague concept.

All she knew was that from the moment she hatched, she had been absorbing, refining, and fusing.

The Dragon God Core floated in front of her, its seven-colored halo flashing in sync with her breathing.

With each completed cycle, the aura within her body deepened further.

The power of those ancient dragon remnant souls, the inherited memories spanning tens of thousands of years, and the fighting instincts engraved deep in her bloodline, all transformed into the purest energy flowing wildly within her body.

She could feel her cultivation level rising at an extremely terrifying speed.

She had long since left behind the bottleneck of 100,000-year-old soul beasts, and easily crossed the threshold of 200,000-year-old soul beasts. Further up, 300,000-year, 400,000-year, and 500,000-year soul beasts—each barrier that would be insurmountable for ordinary soul beasts—were broken through one after another like thin paper in front of her.

That was a gift from the Dragon God's divine position, and also the result of those ancient dragon remnant souls entrusting all their power to her across ten thousand years.

She carries the power accumulated by the entire Dragon Realm over an entire era.

After an unknown amount of time, the light from the core of the Dragon God suddenly became extremely bright, illuminating the entire area as if it were daytime.

The dragon bones that were originally silent in all directions suddenly emitted a faint halo, as if in response to something.

Countless tiny points of light rose from the dragon bones, like fireflies dancing in the sky, converging towards the direction where Xisu was.

Xisu slowly opened her eyes.

Her amber dragon eyes reflected countless golden specks of light, the dragon god's skull that had slumbered for millennia like a mountain range, and the divine core that was floating in front of her, its light growing ever brighter.