Douluo Continent: The Eternal Order of the Azure Sky.

"He fused with my soul ring and soul bone, but in doing so, he also inherited my power of destiny. Di Tian will definitely cause him trouble. After all, he has only just broken through to the Title Douluo level, and it seems that he did not use dual soul cores but some other strange method. In any case, no matter how talented he is, he can't possibly be a match for Di Tian, ​​who has mastered the Yin-Yang complementary dual soul cores for six hundred thousand years."

"What's more, there's that person..."

She stopped talking, somewhat reluctantly.

Huo Yuhao didn't know what the "soul core" Qiu'er was talking about was. The cultivation system above the Title Douluo level was still a mystery to him, but he knew how terrifying a million-year soul ring was, and he had an almost instinctive fear of Kong Tianxu's ability to create miracles.

The defeat in the competition, the exposure of the Mingdu explosion, the trap in Risheng City... Every time he thought he had caught up, he would be slapped back into the mud by that person from an even higher place.

Thinking of this, Huo Yuhao forcibly suppressed the romantic feelings that had just arisen in his heart and turned to think about serious matters.

During the last rescue operation, a new Limit Douluo appeared on the Sun Moon Empire's side. At this moment, the only powerful allies he could think of were the two Grand Masters and the Second Grand Master of the Clear Sky Sect.

However, Wang Dong'er once said that the two were in seclusion and must not be disturbed prematurely, otherwise all their previous efforts might be in vain.

He could only suppress the turmoil in his heart and continue forward.

"We should be arriving at Tiandou City soon."

Sunset Forest wasn't very big to begin with, and it seemed that because Kong Tianxu and the Three-Eyed Golden Lion had made such a commotion when they broke through, not a single soul beast dared to venture out along the way.

Guided by Huo Yuhao's mental detection, the two headed southwest and gradually emerged from the forest.

However, at that moment, Huo Yuhao sensed intense fluctuations of soul power emanating from afar. The closer he got, the more he could hear muffled rumbling sounds.

Without hesitation, Huo Yuhao barely managed to gather the last of his soul power and channel it into his legs, instantly increasing his speed by three points.

In the distance, Tiandou City was already in sight.

But when he looked into the distance and finally saw Tian Dou City, a sense of awe rose involuntarily in his heart.

At this moment, the evening glow was already appearing on the distant horizon. The fiery red clouds, seen from outside the city, bathed the entire city of Tiandou in a crimson-gold halo, as if the ancient city itself were ablaze. Light poured down through the gaps in the clouds, illuminating every crack in the city walls with exquisite detail, making it exceptionally dazzling.

Heaven Dou City, a millennium-old fortress on par with Star Luo City, has less than a third of one of its city walls remaining. Yet, one can still see defensive lines composed of soul tools everywhere. The other three city walls are no different, protecting the city like a steel forest.

It was all an army, an army as vast as mountains and as deep as the sea.

Because of the sheer number of troops, they had to deploy their forces outside the city. Judging from the banners, the combined forces of the Heavenly Soul Empire, the Fighting Spirit Empire, and the Star Luo Empire numbered at least 500,000. The Heavenly Soul Empire was the main force among them.

A force of ten thousand people is boundless, let alone an army of five hundred thousand. From a high vantage point, it appears as if the army has already reached the distant horizon.

However, just outside this steel forest lies an even larger steel forest.

Fifty miles outside Tiandou City, a chilling killing intent filled the air. The sky was filled with countless soul-guided detection devices, all pointing towards Tiandou City.

On the ground, flags fluttered, and the army stretched as far as the eye could see. On each enormous flag, the golden sun and silver moon patterns shone brightly, arrogantly proclaiming the arrival of the conquerors. Vast arrays of soul tools formed massive soul tool formations. From a distance, the army resembled a coiled dragon, its formations extremely complex yet perfectly protecting the long military camp.

Even Huo Yuhao couldn't see exactly how many soul-guiding arrays were within this camp. The only certainty was that this place was practically a forbidden zone for humans.

"This is……"

Qiu'er's voice was stuck in her throat, only two words came out, the rest was all silent shock.

With the powerful visual ability of his spiritual eye, Huo Yuhao could see both sides of the confrontation almost clearly. He could see that as the Sun and Moon Army was mobilized and moved around, Tian Dou City also gradually began to move, with countless soldiers gathering on the city wall like ants.

But at this moment, his gaze was not completely drawn to the scene of the army confronting each other, but was firmly fixed on the dilapidated city wall of Tiandou City, and he could no longer look away.

"The war has begun," he murmured.

On the city wall, a figure of iron will stood proudly, gazing at the sky, while behind him, a white tiger guarding tulips roared in the wind on the flag.

……

At this moment, Duke Dai Hao of the White Tiger was completely at peace.

This peace did not come easily. Several months ago, the three kingdoms of the Douluo Continent, together with the three upper sects and Shrek Academy, mobilized their elite forces to launch a surprise attack on the border of the Sun Moon Empire, while secretly rescuing disciples belonging to the hidden sects of the three kingdoms.

This meticulously planned operation was the culmination of countless people's hard work and hopes.

In the end, however, they suffered a complete defeat.

Then the proclamation was issued, and the army of the Sun and Moon Empire launched its attack without warning.

The Sun Moon Empire dispatched eight Soul Master Corps, led by Death God Douluo Ye Xishui, to silently advance eastward along the northern border of the former Heavenly Soul Empire, breaking into the northern border of the Douling Empire with lightning speed and launching a surprise attack on the Douling Empire.

In just fifteen days, this invincible Soul Master Corps reached Lingdou City, the capital of the Douling Empire.

Its speed was so great that the entire continent was rendered speechless.

Before Shrek City and reinforcements arrived, the capital of the Douling Empire, Lingdou City, was breached, and the royal family perished. Only Princess Xue Lingxun of the Douling Empire led the remnants to escape, joining the Soul Master Corps of Shrek City, and suffered repeated defeats.

Ye Xishui used the Light of Death to kill the strongest Douling warrior, the level 97 Tianyang Douluo, in one blow, and continued to fight to sustain the war effort, crushing the resistance forces of the entire Douling Empire into a scene of utter devastation.

At the same time, the Dark Dragon Emperor Long Xiaoyao personally led seven other Soul Master Corps and 400,000 troops from the Sun Moon Empire to press on the Mingdou Mountains in the western border of the Star Luo Empire, launching a massive bombardment of Soul Guidance Devices that would later be known as the "Ten Suns Descending from the Sky."

Soul-guided shells rained down like a storm, and the explosions turned the night into day.

This battle not only forced the main force of the Star Luo Empire to retreat westward to defend itself, preventing it from extending a helping hand to the Dou Ling Empire, but also completely tore open a gap in the Ming Dou Mountain Range, a defense line that had stood for millennia.

The seven Soul Master Corps of the Sun Moon Empire, acting as the vanguard, advanced rapidly. During this process, the Holy Spirit Cult members accompanying the army successfully pacified the people of Tongye City, appeased the army of Yuming City, and spread their teachings in Tianling City, achieving remarkable results.

Their operations were efficient and precise; after conquering a city, they could restore order and order within three days. The places they passed through were known as "the Road Illuminated by the Sun and Moon."

The five newly formed Soul Master Corps of the Heavenly Soul Empire were almost completely wiped out in the direct confrontation, with less than 30% of their forces remaining.

A month later, the Sun Moon Empire's subsequent 400,000-strong army entered the Douling Empire from the former Heavenly Soul Empire, consolidating its occupied territories and completely taking over Lingdou City and more than two-thirds of the Douling Empire's land.

But what was most terrifying was that all the legions that encountered the Sun Moon Empire's army head-on had vanished, as if swallowed by ghosts, without any news or feedback coming back.

Thus began the full-scale "Continental Holy War" waged by the Sun and Moon Empire.

In an attempt to disrupt the Sun Moon Empire's pincer movement, Duke Dai Hao of the White Tiger personally led three Soul Master legions in a raid on the Sun Moon Empire's heartland, bypassing the poorly defended Mingdou Mountains. However, they were met with a crushing defeat.

Kong Deming, the long-unknown father of soul masters and commander-in-chief of the three armies, once held sway over the Mingdou Mountains for a month. With the support of the first batch of high-energy compression array soul tools of the Sun Moon Empire, he displayed his divine power and forcefully repelled the White Tiger Duke's surprise attack.

What's even more frightening is that Kong Deming's strategy wasn't just about defense.

He advanced an inch of land every day, never yielding an inch, and fought so hard that the entire Xingluo Kingdom could hardly breathe, leaving them no choice but to let the Sun and Moon Army finally advance to the gates of Tiandou City.

However, those who originally belonged to the Three Kingdoms did not sit idly by and wait for their demise.

Currently, the allied forces of the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Douling Empire have gathered in Heaven Dou City, and the Northwest Legion of the Star Luo Empire has rushed to their aid overnight. Although it is unknown why Shrek Academy has not yet arrived, they currently have nine Soul Master Legions and more than twenty Title Douluos, led by Prince Xueyu, a renowned general of the Heavenly Soul Empire. Their lineup is undeniably impressive.

This can be considered the first truly large-scale battle between the Sun Moon Empire and the original Three Kingdoms.

The outcome of the battle will also profoundly influence the landscape of the war to come.

After reflecting on this battle where he had almost no victories, Dai Hao concluded that the backwardness of his soul guidance technology was the main reason for the defeat.

Not long ago, the arrival of a sample soul tool excited him greatly, and he even brought a large number of them to the front line this time.

This secret weapon, produced by the Tang Clan, is not only extremely powerful, but more importantly, its usage conditions are incredibly low compared to its power!

Today is the day of the counterattack!

The army of the Sun Moon Empire has set off. The long-range soul-guided cannon array roared first, and countless scorching flames rose from the horizon, dense like a meteor shower, their shrill cries tearing through the sky as they crashed down towards the direction of Heaven Dou City.

Prince Xueyu waved his hand indifferently. Facing the dazzling fireworks in the sky, countless strange-looking cannons suddenly burst forth from Tiandou City. Countless beams of light also shot into the sky one after another, each one targeting its exact objective, as if measured with a ruler. With dazzling trails of flame and blazing light, they instantly created a blinding wave of light in another layer of the sky.

The light waves spread, intertwined, and expanded in the air, finally transforming into a huge ball of light that intercepted the first wave of soul-guided cannonballs fired by the Sun Moon Empire in mid-air.

Upon seeing that dark, familiar metal, Huo Yuhao blurted out:

"Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannon!"

Yes, it's the Zhuge Divine Crossbow!

The time it took for the Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannon to unleash its first wave of fire, followed by the second, was astonishingly short. This is the advantage of using a mechanism to fire fixed-mount soul-guided projectiles; there's no need to wait for soul power to recharge, and with ample ammunition, this firepower is far more formidable.

Huo Yuhao was so excited that he could hardly contain himself. A year ago, he had already been working on perfecting the Zhuge Divine Crossbow and promoting its use in the original Three Kingdoms period.

However, due to the major scandal of the Mingdu Explosion, Shrek's connection with the original three kingdoms was severed for a time. But under the pressure of war, this powerful weapon finally showed its edge!

If my eldest brother, third brother, and second brother were alive, they would be happy to see this. Jing Hongchen, you deserve your retribution for rejecting me!

Huo Yuhao clenched his fists.

Although the Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannon had been sold to the three kingdoms originally belonging to the Douluo Continent, it had never actually appeared on the battlefield. All of the Sun Moon Empire's defenses were naturally aimed at Soul Masters and known Soul Guidance Devices.

The first wave of shells served as a decoy, while the second wave delivered the actual damage. This plan, specifically designed to counter high-altitude soul-guided devices, was practically flawless.

Moreover, while fireworks lit up the sky and all the high-altitude detection soul guides were shattered into fragments by the scorching high-explosive shells, the Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannon had already displayed its divine power once again.

The third wave of shells was launched at the last possible moment. This time, the target was the soul-guided cannon position on the ground.

"kill--!"

Dai Hao roared, and his pent-up fighting spirit, suppressed for months, erupted in an instant.

At that very moment, hundreds of hidden powerhouses suddenly appeared from the side of the Sun and Moon Army, all of them at the Soul Saint level or above, and launched a surprise attack from a distance of less than a thousand meters!

This was their carefully prepared killing move. Taking advantage of the moment when the Sun Moon Empire's high-altitude detection soul guide device was destroyed, a strike team composed of elite soul masters attacked from the flank, directly striking the core of the Sun Moon Empire's position.

A glint of joy flashed in Huo Yuhao's eyes. Now that the original three kingdoms finally had the firepower to challenge the Sun Moon Empire head-on, they were fully capable of cutting the Sun Moon Empire's formation in half with their absolute advantage in Soul Masters.

Once a gap is torn in the flank, the subsequent Soul Master legions can surge in like a tide, tearing the Sun Moon Empire's military formation apart from within!

--is that so?

Faced with this dire situation, the Sun Moon Empire's flank legions showed no sign of panic. They neither charged forward nor tightened their defenses. Instead, they quickly deployed in a strange, single-file formation, the spacing between each soldier as precise as the segments of a centipede. Then, each soldier drew a peculiar weapon from his waist—

Was that a fire poker?

It is about two feet long, completely black, with a cylindrical firing port at the front, an exquisite wooden stock at the rear, and a metal chamber engraved with soul-guiding magic arrays in the middle.

But the next moment, flames burst forth!

"Puff puff puff puff puff puff—"

A dense, almost distorted storm of metal erupted from the dark muzzle of the gun. The bullets were as small as a finger joint, yet their initial velocity was so fast that they were impossible for the naked eye to detect. Before a Soul Saint at the forefront could react, seven or eight ripples simultaneously exploded on his protective soul power, then shattered, pierced through, and sprayed blood mist.

He looked down at the hole in his chest, opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything as he fell straight down.

The Soul Saint-level Soul Power Shield shattered after only a few breaths under the dense barrage of projectiles. Although the Title Douluo could withstand the attack with their protective Soul Power, the rain of projectiles was frantically draining their Soul Power.

The hidden Soul Master legions of the Three Kingdoms fell from the sky like targets, their blood blooming in the air like bewitching red flowers.

Those were all at least Soul Saint level experts! Each one of them was a pillar of the nation that would take decades to cultivate, yet they fell like autumn leaves.

Decades of arduous training, top-tier martial soul, optimally matched soul rings, rare soul bones and combat skills.

Everything else became meaningless in the face of those tiny metal pellets, no bigger than a finger, that shot out from the nozzle of the fire poker.

The Sun and Moon Empire's troops fired in shifts, one after another, without any interruption to their firepower.

It requires no soul power to drive it, and no prior charging is needed. Any ordinary soldier, as long as he learns to aim and pull the trigger, can use it to kill a Soul Saint who has cultivated for decades.

This is the Sun Moon Empire's trump card, a weapon created by Kong Tianxu that is capable of changing the nature of warfare across the entire continent.