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"Xue'er, what is the matter?" Gu Yuena asked, noticing the Snow Empress's unusual demeanor.
"It is nothing, Sovereign..." the Snow Empress replied softly, averting her gaze.
Gu Yuena looked up once more at the black-and-red sky. "Has the Abyssal invasion already reached this stage?" she murmured. "Xue'er, tell me—exactly how far has the situation progressed?"
The Snow Empress composed herself and reported: "In the beginning, the invasion consisted only of small spatial rifts appearing across the Douluo Empire, spawning low-level monsters. As time passed, these rifts expanded. We are now seeing creatures equivalent to Soul Elders and Soul Ancestors."
"Because the Empire launched the Adventurers Guild and mobilized the entire continent's interest in hunting these monsters, the random outbreaks have been effectively contained," she continued. "However, the primary focus of the invasion is the northernmost point of the continent—the Far North."
"Ten massive, black octahedron structures have appeared there. These thousand-meter-tall monoliths have been designated by the Empire as *'Dungeons.'* They are spaced hundreds of kilometers apart along the front lines of the Far North."
"At regular intervals, tides of Abyssal monsters surge out of these Dungeons in staggering numbers. According to official imperial projections, the volume of these monsters will only increase over time. When killed, they dissolve into black energy and flow back into the Dungeons."
"As for the interior of these Dungeons, the Empire has shared their findings with the soul beasts. Each of the ten Dungeons has a different grade. The lowest is limited to Rank 0–10 monsters, and only Soul Masters with soul power below Rank 10 can enter it. The others scale upward accordingly, all the way to the Titled Douluo level."
Hearing this, Gu Yuena whispered, "Has the situation changed? Has the consciousness of the Douluo plane itself evolved, causing the invasion to manifest differently? Or... was it always meant to be like this? Did Tang San's interference in the 'Ten-Thousand-Year Plan' lead to a completely different version of the invasion in that timeline?"
Gu Yuena looked up. "Xue'er, do we know the purpose of these ten Dungeons?"
The Snow Empress nodded. "Confirmed by Di Tian, Qian Daoliu, and Qian Renxue—the areas where the Dungeons are located have become thin in soul power. They are actively devouring the Douluo plane every second. If no action is taken, the Abyssal Plane will completely consume our world within three years!"
"That fast?!" Gu Yuena was stunned. In the original "Ten-Thousand-Year Plan," it had taken six thousand years for the Abyss to attempt to consume Douluo, and even then, it hadn't fully succeeded.
She gazed at the dark northern sky, a sense of unease growing. The Abyss was stronger than Douluo, but the gap shouldn't be this absurd. It should be the difference between an elephant and a snake—not a dragon and a snake.
"And if we take action?" Gu Yuena asked. "How long would it take then?"
"Observations from the past months suggest that the monsters must be killed immediately," the Snow Empress explained. "Once they enter our plane, they devour everything—air, water, soil, stone, and life itself. If a monster that has consumed Douluo matter returns to a Dungeon, that matter is lost forever. To slow the consumption, the Dungeons must be conquered one by one, from lowest to highest. The Empire believes that if we clear enough Dungeons, we might even trigger a reverse-consumption, where Douluo begins to absorb the Abyss."
"However," she added, "the Abyss relies on its near-immortality and infinite numbers. Counter-attacking is extremely difficult. The Empire is currently training elite Soul Masters of all ranks to coordinate with our soul beast race for a counter-offensive. Furthermore, Soul Masters gain a 'Abyssal Buff' after killing these creatures. We don't yet know if the monsters gain a 'Douluo Buff' in return."
Gu Yuena murmured, "The Abyss has already evolved to this point..."
She felt an ominous premonition. If the Douluo Empire was consolidating power to raid Dungeons, the Abyss was surely doing the same. As the ceiling of the Douluo plane was pushed higher, it was only a matter of time before the indestructible First-Class God, the *Abyssal Sage King*, descended.
"Sovereign, what do you intend to do?" the Snow Empress asked.
Gu Yuena smiled. "Xue'er, you've become quite talkative lately. That's a good sign."
"I have decided to go to the front lines of the Abyssal battlefield. I have a feeling that a chance for the awakening of our soul beast race lies there!"
The Snow Empress felt a surge of emotion. "Please be careful, Sovereign. I will look after the children."
"Let them train. The random monsters appearing in the forests are low-level, aren't they? The humans will handle the cities, but the forests and wilderness are our domain. We must wipe out the monsters within our territory to ease the pressure on the Empire," Gu Yuena commanded.
"Understood!" the Snow Empress replied. She watched as her Sovereign tore through space with her staff and stepped inside.
---
Gu Yuena stepped out of the rift and arrived at the southeastern edge of the Far North. The light here was far dimmer than in Myriad Beast City; the sky was a bruised, oppressive dark. Looking up, the terrifying Abyssal Plane occupied three-quarters of the firmament.
She took a deep breath, only to be interrupted by the guttural roars of countless monsters. Below her, legions of skeleton-type creatures clad in black armor and wielding various weapons were surging toward the south. A quick estimate put their numbers in the tens of thousands.
Gu Yuena's killing intent flared. These skeletons lacked souls—spiritual attacks would be useless.
However, against these Soul Elder-level monsters, she had other ways. She waved her Nine-Colored Staff. A brilliant white light flickered and expanded. She pointed the staff downward, and a beam of holy light several dozen meters wide lanced into the crowd.
The moment the skeletons were touched, they were vaporized, turning into a black-red mist that drifted toward the northwest. With the boost from her elemental staff, the beam reached a kilometer in length. With a sweep of her arm, the holy light carved a massive arc across the landscape, annihilating thousands of monsters instantly.
Through her Dragon Eyes, she saw the mist being partially absorbed by the Douluo plane and partially by herself, while the bulk of it flowed back toward the distant Dungeons.
Gu Yuena sensed the "Abyssal Buff" on her body and slowly opened her eyes. Ordinary Soul Masters didn't know what this was, but as a former God-King, she did.
Simply put, the Abyssal Buff represented the *Authority* of the Abyssal Plane. One who held the most "buffs" would be the Son of the Abyss—the incarnation of its consciousness. Currently, the one with the most authority was undoubtedly the ruler of that plane: the Abyssal Sage King.
She quickly deduced the optimal solution. Normally, to kill the Sage King, one had to lure him into the Douluo plane and sever his connection to the Abyss to bypass his immortality. Otherwise, even a God-King would find it nearly impossible to kill him within his own domain, where they would be suppressed by the plane's laws.
But Gu Yuena now saw a better path: She would seize control of the Abyssal Sage King and force the transfer of his authority to her.
Law suppression could not suppress mental power. She was a "freak" whose mental power far outstripped her physical vessel. Within the first layer of the Abyss, where the physical limit was that of a First-Class God, she could release her physical seals and elevate her mental power from Half-Step God-King to a full *God-King* level.
As a master of mental power, a God-King level mind controlling a First-Class God would be child's play. If the plan succeeded, she would become the master of the Abyss. After that, whether Douluo swallowed the Abyss or vice-versa wouldn't matter—the new Divine Realm would belong to them!
The prospect made her heart pound. For the sake of her future with Ye Lan, she would take the Abyss for him.
---
Gu Yuena directly unleashed nine pale-gold soul rings. Her seventh ring flashed. A two-thousand-meter-tall Silver Dragon King, with a wingspan of five kilometers, materialized ten thousand meters in the air.
She locked onto the marching Abyssal army. Amidst the low-level grunts were Titled Douluo-level creatures like Abyssal Spirit Dragons and Abyssal Puppets.
The moment the Silver Dragon King appeared, the Douluo soldiers on the front lines erupted in cheers. The most famous gossip on the continent was currently the relationship between the God of Life and Destruction and Gu Yuena. Legend had it that he had defeated her "evil" Silver Dragon persona, leaving behind this "kind" version.
Seeing her, the soldiers felt a massive weight lift. These monsters were tireless; without the near-infinite healing from the Begonia Douluo and the Holy Begonia Knights, their morale would have crumbled long ago.
The appearance of the Silver Dragon King instantly suppressed half of the low-level monsters with her sheer *Dragon Might*. Goblins, ogres, and ghouls fled in terror.
But their fear did not stop her. Gu Yuena's body shimmered with a sharp, transparent light. She dove from the sky like a silver lightning bolt. Anything that touched her transparent form was sliced into segments and turned into mist.
In mere seconds, the Abyssal flank collapsed. Using her spatial jumping abilities, she flickered across the battlefield. Wherever she appeared, the line was cleared.
In a single stroke, one person had changed the entire course of the battle. The front line pushed forward several kilometers as the Abyssal forces retreated in shock.
"Amazing!! We can finally rest!!" the soldiers cheered.
"Gu Yuena is truly peerless!!! Only the God of Life and Destruction could have bested her!!!"
"She's even stronger than Di Tian!!"
"As expected of Ye Lan's lover!!!"
Hearing the cheers and the gossip, Gu Yuena's heart skipped a beat. She tore through space again, heading deeper into the Far North.
(End of Chapter)