A week passed, with Tang Wulin staying at Shrek and practicing his ability under the Gold Tree.
With the words of Yun Ming, informing him that the Federation and Tang Sect scouts that were staying in the Dou Lin Empire.
We will be sending back their reports by the end of the week, he decided to stay before heading to Endless Mountain.
He and Zeref thought it would be best to deal with them now rather than later, especially if they can find them now.
Zeref believed it was best to rid oneself of a pest now than waiting later. As even a minor bug can prove to be an obstacle if given enough time.
Throughout the week, he has been improving his cultivation under the Gold Tree, being able to reach rank 89.
One step away from the Title Douluo Rank, the rank that from the perspective of the world, he was at the peak.
As this was going on, he could feel hints and signs of his third core being formed in his left chest area.
He had his soul core that was multi-colored with two small orbs of life and destruction rotating around it.
While he had his dragon core that had diamond-like scales with nine-colores orbiting it.
But in his left chest, he saw a swirling white whirlpool that was taking time to form.
Yet strangely enough, he could sense a sense of balance from it, with its existence slowly connecting with his other core.
While he couldn't communicate with it, he could feel a connection with it and a sense of comforting warmth.
Zeref believed that in the future when this core was completely formed, then Tang Wulin might be able to seamlessly combine his powers.
With the third core acting as the middle or median between his soul and dragon core.
It would be possible for him to display the fusion of his bloodline and soul skills to the world.
Something that Zeref and his other souls believed would be terrifying, especially if he combines them with his slayer art.
As if it was trying to tell him, the time will come soon, when they can truly connect and communicate.
He might even be able to get a reaction of the Dragon God Heart that was inside of his body.
His forming of the third soul core was also a good indication of his future cultivation.
From what Old Tang and all of the others have told him, the formation of the second core is the mark of a Hyper Douluo.
When he attains this core, it would be the greatest indication of him being at least a Title Douluo.
While not every Title Douluo possesses a second soul core, those who did. Wouldn't have had any bottlenecks in their cultivation until at least at rank-95.
Er Ming would also help him out with his cultivation helping him with his breakthrough to each rank.
He would also explain and talk to him about the adventures of Tang San and the activities of the God Realms before.
Informing him about how Beasts couldn't become higher than a God Officer with a position.
With the mightiest beast, which was the Thunder Dragon at the time being comparable to a 2 class god.
Er Mings hoped that if Tang Wulin was to remake the Divine Realm, he could release the ban on them.
This was because if she was able to share their plan with him, then she must trust him to care for the soul beast.
While Er Ming wasn't fully sure about this, he at the very least wanted to trust in this for their future.
Something he didn't mind and he also promised Gu Yue he would help her with the beasts anyway.
#
"Just what are they trying to do." Muttered Zhao Xing of the Tang Sect as he peered at the shores through his soul binoculars.
He saw rows of look-alike battleships that were stationed at the shore.
He called them look-like because they weren't similar to normal battleships. As he could see an eerie white glow around them with strange patterns.
The various large and medium-sized battleships were well over the hundreds something that shocked him.
As he never thought the Dou Spirit Empire would ever be able to gain anywhere close that many battleships.
One has to remember their advancement in technology and resources were far lower than the other continents.
The Tang Sect was the one that was giving them these technologies to help them deter the Federation from invading.
From the reports they have, the Dou Spirit Empire should have around 40 battleships and three mother ships.
But what he is seeing isn't lining up with the reports.
It has only been a few months since they last made the report, how they were able to gain so many battleships is a mystery.
'...Unless they stole it.' Thought Zhai Xing with his expression turning even grimmer.
It wasn't like it was impossible, especially if they had their scouts taking it while the Douluo continent was in trouble.
The battleships were divided into two groups with a mothership in the center of both.
The two massive motherships seemed to be fixed with rank 5 fixed soul ammunitions. With thousands of soldiers and soul masters that were standing on the deck on standby.
From what he can see, all of them were armed with soul weapons and weird-looking black armor.
The soul weapons came in varieties, from guns to spears, with the black armor leaking out a grey mist.
"This is bad..."Mutter Qing Ding a Tang Sect member next to Zhai Xing.
"You think? Damn it how did they build such an army during these few months. It should be impossible."Muttered Yue Xing another Tang Sect member.
"What should we do captain?" Questioned Yue Xing towards Zhai Xing who didn't say anything.
Instead, he took out his soul recorder and began filming all that he sees, being sure to catch the formation.
As well as whispering the number of ships he saw, the soldiers that were on it, and the equipment it was packing.
It took him about five minutes before they saw a change beginning.
The battleships began moving, with the ship in front of the mother ship leading the way.
They started changing their formation that was in a square before it turned into a triangle for both groups.
"...Which one?"Muttered Zhai Xing causing his squad to be confused.
"Sir?"
"I am trying to figure out which continent they plan to invade or attack first." Said Zhai Xing.
"Invade? Attack? Sir don't you think that's a big jump in-"
"Don't be stupid, do you really think they developed an army like this, just for anything else? The calamities aren't around, and it's obvious it's not for a deterrent if they're on the move. Meaning, they plan on waging war with someone."Said, Zhai Xing with a deep frown.
How could it be anything else?
He just never thought the Dou Spirit Empire would be foolish enough to start a war.
Right after the event of the Calamities.
'Actually, right now is a perfect time. As both continents are still recovering, with only them not being attacked by the Calamity.'
With an army like this, Zhai Xing wasn't sure if the Douluo Continent could push back the Dou Spirit Empire so easily.
What was even worse was he saw even more battleships, destroyers, and cruisers that were coming out of the inner valley of the empire.
"They really plan to invest everything at this moment."
"Sir...Do you think it might be the Holy Spirit Cult? That they may have taken over the empire?"Questioned Qing Ding with a slight tremble in his palm.
As he thought about that terrifying conclusion. It was already no secret that the Holy Spirit Cult was able to mess with the Star Luo Empire.
Invading their upper echelon, gaining power in different fractions, and also making a home in the empire.
Destroying both the Tang Sect and Spirit Pagoda bases there, while forcing them into hiding.
"Or maybe they allied with the empire? Where they combine both their forces and then mount an attack?" Questioned Yue Xing.
"...It may be an alliance." Said Zhai Xing with an ugly expression at what he saw while handing his team the binoculars.
For the new set of ships that were coming out, he saw a soul master with familiar hoods and attire.
It was familiar as only one organization felt the need to dress like that, Holy Spirit Cult.
"They are actually colliding with them!" Growled Qing Ding as his body trembled uncontrollably in anger.
Did this empire not know or understand how dangerous this cult is?
"I see them mingling with Dou Spirit Empire soldiers as well... So they are working together."Muttered Yue Xing in terrible shock.
"... Alright, I am forwarding the report."Said Zhai Xing as he got up from the ground, while his hands began navigating the recorder.
While he was doing this, his squad was talking among themselves, all trying to guess what was going on.
But Zhai Xing knew it wouldn't matter, as they first had to get through that incoming naval soul army.
"Alright, it's been sent, let's go find another location-"
Zhai Xing was cut off, as the sky above them shone brilliantly. He was only able to glance up one last time, seeing a soul bomb coming down.
His eyes glance to the right to see smoke coming from one of the new battleships that appeared.
"Shit." Said Zhai Xing.
Before He and his squad were engulfed by the violent explosion that leveled a piece of the shores.
It was a brilliant flash of white before everything went dark, with the video stopping.
"So... They're planning to start a war with us."Muttered Qiangu Dongfeng frowned.
"Looks like it, somehow they were able to gain the strength to threaten us. This is why I told your Tang Sect, not to help either of the other Continent out."Said Chen Xinjie with a gloomy expression.
His words were naturally sent to Zang Xin who for one of the rare times, doesn't have a smile on his face.
"You already know why we helped them out. It was so your greedy and hungry organization wouldn't act out."
"Well, I hope you are happy with yourself because you just supply another nation with enough military might. To attack us with!"
"As I said before... We didn't know it would turn out like this. We made sure to give them enough that they couldn't launch a war. But at the same time, enough so it could deter the Federation. We knew that they were building up their army, we assumed at first to combat the Calamity if they decided to attack them..."
"But it seems we were wrong, as we didn't think they would have wanted to start a war and with the Holy Spirit Cult. Besides, this wouldn't happen if you guys didn't keep getting your technology stolen. How in the hell did they steal a mother ship?" Zang Xin spat out the last bit with scorn.
"They have only stolen a few battleships from what the reports said. But the fact still stands. You gave them military-"
"Enough!" Yun Ming growled under his breath with his two hands crossed under his chin.
Its tone made all of them fall silent before they all turned their gaze towards him.
"Right now... It doesn't matter whose fault it's." Yun Ming continued, "We have to figure out first who they are attacking and second, how do we repel them."
Chen Xinjie sighed as his shoulder sagged and said, "The most likely target would be Star Luo Continent since it's closer to them. But since they are working with the Holy Spirit Cult..."
"Then their target would be the Douluo Continent or more specifically, Shrek." Zang Xin reluctantly said.
"What about the Demon Monarchs? Do you think they might also be a part of it?"Questioned Qiangu Dongfeng but Zang Xin merely shrugged his shoulders.
"What purpose would they need that empire for? Their best bet would be the God-Killers that they may or may not have stolen. Not even all of the army combined in the world would be able to unleash an attack on the scale of a God-Killer Soul Ammunition."
"No, the most likely choice is that the Empire is only working with the Holy Spirit Cult." Said Chen Xinjie.