"Boom!!!!!!!!"
The Light Phoenix instantly compressed all its Soul Power, life force, and even the origin of its soul as it approached the falling Star of Annihilation.
The entire person seemed to transform into a tiny, intensely burning sun attempting to dispel the darkness.
Terrifying energy fluctuations swept in all directions.
The next moment, as the Soul Core—which concentrated Yan Shaozhe's life's cultivation—completely collapsed and instantly swelled, a thunderous explosion, like a nuclear bomb detonating, echoed throughout the world.
The destructive energy generated by the self-detonation of the Soul Core, like the supernova explosion of a dying star, transformed into a rapidly expanding golden sphere of light and slammed fiercely into the descending Star of Annihilation.
Rumble—!!!
The unstoppable downward momentum of the Star of Annihilation was genuinely checked by this sacrificial strike, causing it to momentarily hesitate.
The rock layer on its surface, strengthened by Annihilation energy, was even blasted with countless fine cracks, and numerous attached small fragments were sent scattering.
However, that was all it achieved.
The light generated by Yan Shaozhe's self-detonation, though heroic and brilliant, was far too brief.
In the face of the thousand-meter celestial body representing divine-level destructive power, the light of this strike was like a fleeting spark in the deep, endless abyss of darkness. It flared for a moment of tragic grandeur, then was utterly swallowed and annihilated by the boundless darkness and destruction, leaving not a trace behind.
A moth flying into a flame remains, in the end, just a moth.
Phantylia watched this with indifference.
Though she had only just possessed the Golden Tree as her physical body, her essential rank far surpassed this world.
By the rules of the Douluo Continent, she had ascended to the Godhood, and based on the core of the Douluo Star Plane, she was a genuine First Rank God with a Divinity Level exceeding 120.
And this was merely her initial possession, before fully adapting and digesting the body.
Given time, her Divinity Level would climb at a terrifying rate, perhaps even breaking the 150 boundary and reaching the God-King realm.
This was the terrifying foundation of a Monarch of Annihilation. Even as a memory construct, her power was absolutely unattainable by mortals.
How could a strike from a First Rank God be obstructed in the slightest by the self-detonation of a Super Douluo burning everything they had?
The Star of Annihilation paused only momentarily, then continued its merciless, crushing descent toward the despairing land below with even more ferocious momentum.
The true end had arrived.
"Shaoze, I understand!"
Cai Meier's face was bathed in tears. Endless grief threatened to drown her, but deep within the heart-wrenching pain, a moment of realization and resolute belief erupted.
She understood Yan Shaozhe's final look—it wasn't just a sacrifice born of despair, but his last entrustment and hope for her and for everyone.
The next moment, the Vice Dean of the Soul Master Department and Yan Shaozhe's wife, erupted with Soul Power like a burning star.
She transformed into a resolute arrow, following the fading light trail of her husband, rushing toward the sky-obscuring Star of Annihilation without hesitation.
"Boom—!!!!!!!!"
Yet another blazing sun fiercely bloomed in the dim firmament.
The energy tide generated by Cai Meier's Soul Core self-detonation was no less intense and heroic than Yan Shaozhe's. That light seemed to contain a lifetime of her resilience, love, reluctance, and her final roar.
However, this brilliant, final note, in the face of the thousand-meter Star of Annihilation, still only caused its descent to briefly hesitate. The energy of the explosion scattered and annihilated futilely, like waves crashing against a reef.
"Hahaha! Getting old, are we more afraid of death than the young ones now? We're certainly regressing!"
Elder Lin's aged but liberated laughter suddenly rang out, breaking the heavy grief.
A streak of emerald light, imbued with a fierce aura, shot into the sky. Like a reversed river of life, it resolutely charged toward death.
"Hahaha, Shrek Academy! Beast King Douluo, Gong Changlong, has arrived!"
Gong Changlong, with his fiery red hair and peculiar, ancient looks, let out an earth-shattering dragon roar. His body transformed into a ferocious, roaring scarlet giant dragon as he soared skyward. With his usual wildness and unrestrained nature, he burned his last vestiges of life and charged into the heavens.
"Shixing, you are still young. Take the children and leave! Don't let our sacrifice be in vain!"
Elder Zhuang, the usually gentle healing-type Titled Douluo, had an immensely solemn expression.
He gave Shi Xing a deep look, leaving his final instruction. Immediately, a pure light of healing bloomed around him.
This light was not for healing, but to completely ignite his life's cultivated Soul Core and soul.
Though he was not skilled in offensive power, this final afterglow could still unleash a light that illuminated the world.
Xian Lin'er stared blankly in the direction where Yan Shaozhe's self-detonation dissipated, then slowly turned her head to look at Qian Duoduo's cold, broken corpse in the distance.
Past grievances, grudges, and reluctance suddenly felt as light as dust. A bone-deep sense of relief and calm filled her heart.
Already having a limited time left due to burning her life force, the last trace of attachment in her eyes turned to fierce resolve.
"Duoduo, wait for me."
She whispered softly, then transformed into a roaring Azure Flame Giant Dragon. Her dragon roar carried release and fierce devotion as she shot toward the sky.
The moment Phantylia conjured the star and unleashed her world-ending pressure, Ferocious Beasts like Xiong Jun and the King of All Monsters had already been scared out of their wits, frantically retreating backward, desperate to get away from that terrifying center.
However, as Xiong Jun fled in panic, he suddenly felt a cold gaze fall upon him and instinctively glanced back.
But what he saw was not an attack driven by hatred, but the figures of human powerhouses, charging one after another toward the Star of Annihilation that could shatter even his soul, with a resolution he couldn't comprehend, like moths to a flame.
In that moment, even with his intense hatred and revulsion toward humanity, his cruel beast eyes couldn't suppress an unprecedented sense of shock, complexity, and even a hint of... respect.
Bi Ji also stared blankly at the scene, her jade-green eyes filled with inexpressible emotions.
As a rare pacifist among Soul Beasts, although she was hostile to humans, the courage displayed by the Shrek powerhouses—to bravely face death in order to protect what was behind them—left her with nothing but pure admiration.
Perhaps... the reason humanity could continually rise was precisely because, in moments of utter despair, such souls would always shine brightly.
Looking at the determined, self-sacrificing figures of Elder Lin, Elder Zhuang, Xian Lin'er, and Gong Changlong, Shi Xing felt his mind violently shake, his soul trembling.
His martial soul was the Time-Space Silver Disk. If anyone was most likely to escape this disaster, it was him.
But a deeply bitter smile appeared on his face, instantly replaced by boundless resolution.
"Burn!"
He let out a low roar. The Time-Space Silver Disk above his head erupted with unprecedented silver brilliance.
His life force and soul origin were completely ignited at this moment, pouring into his martial soul without regard for the cost.
His hair visibly turned gray, and his skin lost its luster, but he paid it no mind.
"Weng—!"
Space violently trembled. Silver spatial power spread out like a tide, precisely enveloping all the surviving Shrek Inner Court disciples, led by Wu Ming.
"City Lord Shi Xing!?"
Wu Ming and the others, feeling the spatial power enveloping them, were jolted awake from their immense fear and despair, looking on in shock.
"Go!"
Shi Xing's voice was hoarse from excessive power consumption, but it carried an undeniable conviction.
"You are Shrek's last seeds of hope. Remember, survive. Shrek's future... depends on you."
It was only by sacrificing his life and soul that he could push the power of the Time-Space Silver Disk to its limit, enabling him to conduct an ultra-long-distance teleportation for so many people and ensuring they had a sliver of hope to escape this certain-death situation.
"No, City Lord Shi Xing, we won't go! We'll live and die with the Academy!"
Wu Ming's eyes instantly turned red as she cried out anxiously.
Shrek was their home; how could they abandon it and flee?
"This is an order."
Shi Xing made a hand seal, his face contorted in extreme pain, yet still frantically squeezing out his last remaining strength.
"Find Elder Xuan. Rebuild Shrek."
Under the weeping, red-rimmed eyes of Wu Ming and the others, a silver light that shot toward the sky suddenly erupted, completely enveloping them.
The next moment, space was forcibly torn open, and the silver light flashed and vanished.
On the city wall, Wu Ming and the other Inner Court elite disciples instantly disappeared without a trace.
What remained were the confused and battle-scarred City Guard soldiers, and the utterly exhausted, aged Shi Xing.
Having burned everything, even if he survived, his life had reached its absolute end.
"I'm sorry... I could only... do this much..."
Shi Xing looked at the City Guard officers and soldiers who had followed him for years, his eyes filled with deep apology and reluctance.
But he had no choice. Preserving the Academy's legacy was the final command Yan Shaozhe had conveyed with his life, and it was the mission he had to complete.
"City Lord, there is no need to apologize."
The deputy officer who had always followed him shook his head, his gaze firmly fixed on the figures resolutely charging toward death in the high sky.
"We are willing to live and die with Shrek."
If even the Titled Douluo and Super Douluo Masters chose to face death with such heroic resolve, what did they, mere soldiers, have to fear?
To die at the hands of a god, perhaps, was a form of glory.
Shi Xing heard this, offered a bitter smile, and said no more.
How he wished he could send everyone away, but he couldn't.
He gathered a final trace of residual Soul Power, transforming into a faint silver light, and shot into the sky. He actually caught up to the pace of Xian Lin'er and the others, despite starting later.
In this moment of pushing beyond the limit and burning everything, his long-stagnated bottleneck actually loosened, and his Soul Power level increased by one rank.
But this breakthrough seemed so pale and tragic at this juncture.
"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom...!"
High in the heavens, several suns fiercely erupted in quick succession.
Elder Lin's emerald light, Elder Zhuang's pure healing brilliance, Xian Lin'er's Azure Flame storm, Gong Changlong's scarlet dragon roar, and Shi Xing's final spatial annihilation... the Soul Cores of five powerhouses detonated simultaneously, at different altitudes.
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