Chapter 258: Future Plans!!!

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The Extreme North.

Beneath the spatial vortex, the eight great emperors had gathered, guarding the area below it.

This was to become the stronghold for the abyssal invasion of the Douluo Continent—their foundation.

Currently, the spatial channels between the two planes had been sealed by Su Yu's formation. Although this didn't completely cut off the abyss's power from leaking through, it made it incredibly difficult for abyssal creatures to cross over and survive on the Douluo Continent.

Now that the Reincarnation Scroll had been fully integrated and provided its final enhancement, the survival rate of abyssal creatures attempting to pass through the seal had dropped to less than one in a hundred.

Even abyssal beings at the Titled Douluo level would see more than half of their number perish.

As for those at the Soul King or Soul Emperor levels, they could barely survive at all.

While the abyss appeared powerful and teeming with life, Titled Douluo-level beings were still limited in number.

Those struck down by Su Yu directly within the channel, though capable of resurrection, nonetheless consumed the abyss's foundational strength in doing so.

If resurrection were truly unlimited, that would be unreasonable.

After all, the creation and nurturing of life inherently consumed resources.

This type of resurrection only used up some of the abyss's otherwise wasted accumulated energy to rapidly recreate a pre-existing army advantageous for war.

Breeding new abyssal creatures from scratch would take time, whereas reviving already-dead ones was far more efficient.

Still, there was a cost.

The stronger the abyssal creature, the more significant the energy loss during resurrection.

To revive a Titled Douluo-level abyssal being came at a steep price, and the abyss would not waste such power without reason.

Especially considering that, once revived, those beings would have to charge the frontlines all over again.

With long-term plans in mind, the Abyssal Sage King had sacrificed a portion of his own power, infusing it into the Douluo Continent to transform a section of land into a resurrection zone for the fallen abyssal forces.

Whether they died in battle or within the spatial channel, the essence of these abyssal creatures would gather in that area, continuously replenishing the abyssal army with living forces.

A vast, dark expanse had now replaced what was once a snowy white landscape, shrouded in black abyssal energy. Even the previously icy aura of the region had shifted, now exuding a distinct abyssal presence.

Seeing this, Su Yu and the others instinctively encircled the area.

At that moment, the Snow Empress wore a cold expression. Her eyes locked onto the blackened region. Once the purest, most sacred land in the Extreme North, now violated by the abyss—how could she not be furious?

Gu Yuena and Di Tian looked past the darkened terrain, their eyes fixed on the swirling vortex above, where vast amounts of abyssal energy still surged.

"Master, are we really going to let the abyss continue like this? If something goes wrong, the damage to the Douluo Continent won't be minor," Di Tian asked Gu Yuena telepathically.

Gu Yuena didn't respond. Her gaze seemed to pierce through the spatial passageway, reaching toward the abyss itself.

To rapidly restore her strength, the abyss must be devoured.

And the consequences of it spiraling out of control?

Gu Yuena believed the losses to the Douluo Continent wouldn't be too severe—after all, they had safeguards in place.

Especially now, with everything proceeding according to plan, and the abyss investing so much power into the Douluo Continent, the rewards of devouring those abyssal emperors would be considerable.

Of course, they still had to prevent the abyss from opening new spatial channels. Another wave of this magnitude could not be held off—at least, not for now.

Thanks to Su Yu, the soul master world had been revitalized. With the abyss providing such abundant resources, it could become the driving force behind the soul masters' rapid advancement—but that, too, required time.

Therefore, the current situation had to be stabilized. The abyss must not be allowed to create new passages.

"The entire Douluo Continent could become a node for the abyss's descent."

At first glance, preventing that seemed nearly impossible. But with the will of the plane now involved, it suddenly didn't look so difficult.

Most importantly, the existence of the Divine Realm played a key role.

The Divine Realm—that was their greatest source of confidence for daring to act as they did now.

Su Yu and Huo Yuhao were still undergoing the trials of the God of Life. Though it wasn't a formal divine test, it was enough to establish a basic line of communication between them and the God of Life.

If any accidents were to occur, the Divine Realm could descend in time, and any losses could be made up for.

In fact, it could be said that none of the abyssal emperors who had entered the Douluo Continent would escape. Even if the Extreme North were destroyed or the balance of the Douluo Continent disrupted, the resulting damage could be compensated for.

Su Yu's strategy was the right one.

A fallback plan.

With such a safety net in place, the Douluo Continent now stood in an inherently undefeated position.

As for the Abyssal Sage King withdrawing his forces after realizing the unfavorable situation and choosing to abandon the plan to devour the Douluo Continent?

Originally, that would have been the final loophole. But now, with Su Yu's Life and Death Runes exposed, even the abyss itself was bound.

If the conditions had been met, Gu Yuena even suspected the Abyssal Sage King might have descended personally to seize Su Yu's two runes, break through his current bottleneck by devouring them, and then challenge the Divine Realm's God Kings.

In the distance, the battlefield was still ablaze with conflict.

However, the position of the battle was shifting—gradually moving inward from the outer edge of the core zone.

Without the support of the emperors, the abyssal army was retreating, while the Douluo side advanced, steadily forcing them back toward the abyssal vortex.

"Only 120 Battle Armor Masters remain."

Su Yu's gaze swept across the many Battle Armor Masters in the corps. A trace of guilt flickered in his eyes.

Still, with fewer than a hundred casualties—less than half of their total force—this battle was a decisive victory!

The abyss had launched a sudden, large-scale assault with terrifying speed, yet their massive army had been stopped in its tracks. Every sacrifice had been worthwhile.

The development of a plane could never proceed without sacrifice.

The soul master world's growth required drawing resources from the outside. The abyss was only the first step. As the soul master world progressed, they would need to move beyond Douluo Star—step by step expanding their reach, occupying more life-bearing planets throughout the universe, and growing stronger with each conquest.

Such sacrifices were inevitable.

As the first battle, the war against the abyss had to be fought beautifully!

Farther out, the Soul Engineer Corps also advanced, gradually pushing deeper into the Extreme North. They were encircling the core zone, with numerous soul cannons and fixed-installation soul cannons already deployed, ready to respond to the abyssal army's next assault at any moment.

Even farther out was the outermost army—still stationed at the very edge of the Extreme North.

There was no other choice. The environment in the Extreme North was far too harsh. Even though only elite soldiers had been selected, not all of them were high-level soul masters. In fact, nearly half were not soul masters at all. They had only managed to reach the outskirts of the Extreme North thanks to the warming soul devices provided by the army.

Otherwise, they would have frozen to death back in the Northern Region—let alone participated in combat.

The two sides remained locked in a prolonged standoff.

Su Yu was the first to withdraw. Soon after, Kong Deming and the others also left the innermost zone, distancing themselves from the abyssal vortex.

The Battle Armor Corps had only 120 members left. Even gathered together, they couldn't fully encircle the core zone. However, with the Snow Empress unleashing her power as the ruler of the Extreme North, a large number of soul masters quickly converged to form a tight perimeter around the area.

At the same time, the undead army of several thousand under Electrolux's control also joined the formation, coordinating with the Battle Armor Corps to complete the encirclement of the core zone.

The area where the Battle Armor Corps was stationed became the primary route out of the core zone.

Su Yu and the other seven left the spatial vortex and swiftly made their way to the corps' base.

Poison Undying erupted with power, instantly clearing the surrounding ice, opening up a wide area of flat ground.

Under Su Yu's control, masses of Blue Silver Grass took root and sprouted, exuding a faint, vibrant life force.

Xuan Ziwen distributed the prepared equipment stored in his soul tool storage device to the assembled Battle Armor Masters.

Within half a day, a military camp had taken shape.

To accommodate the new recruits expected to arrive soon on the battlefield, large empty sections had been deliberately left within the camp.

Su Yu and the others gathered at the command center.

"We need to fully establish surveillance over the entire core zone as quickly as possible. Mingdetang will prioritize this request and craft the most advanced detection-type soul devices for you. Resources will also be delivered to this location immediately," Su Yu stated.

"Our top priority is to contain the abyssal army—make sure they remain trapped within the innermost core of the Extreme North. Beyond that, we must prevent them from opening a second spatial channel."

As he spoke, Su Yu took out the soul device previously used to detect spatial fluctuations.

"Senior Brother, I'll leave this to you. Make sure to monitor the entire Extreme North carefully," Su Yu said, handing the detector to Xuan Ziwen.

In truth, the effectiveness of this device was already limited.

Its detection range was simply too small.

Now that a channel between the abyss and the Douluo Continent had already been established, any future attempts at opening new portals would most likely occur nearby. That made detection easier for Douluo's forces—unless the abyss schemed for years, even decades, preparing for a massive sacrifice ritual to instantly open a second channel.

Another possibility existed: constructing a spatial passage across the void that directly connected to a region outside the Extreme North.

It could appear in the Star Dou Forest, the Sun-Moon Region, the Phoenix Continent—or even in various corners of the ocean.

This was the most difficult scenario to defend against.

What Su Yu feared most was the passage opening in the deep sea.

"The will of the plane can oversee the entire Douluo Continent and even the other two continents, helping us guard against any stealthy attempt by the abyss to open a new channel. But deep under the sea, even the plane's will is affected—errors and oversights are likely to occur."

This was the issue that troubled Su Yu the most.

However, while the deep sea wasn't under the jurisdiction of soul masters—nor could it be—there existed a vast population of sea soul beasts in those waters.

On the Douluo Continent, the largest habitat for soul beasts had never truly been the Star Dou Forest—it was the ocean. In terms of variety, sheer numbers, and even quality, the sea soul beasts that dwelled in the deep were far superior to those in the forest.

Of course, the sea was simply far too vast.

If one were to consider the density of soul beast numbers and quality, the Star Dou Forest still came out on top.

But in the depths of the sea, sea soul beasts often lived in large tribal groups. Some of these tribes even had multiple hundred-thousand-year soul beasts among them—sometimes even a fierce beast to serve as their guardian.

Under such a structure, the proportion of soul beasts at all levels within a single tribe far exceeded that of land-dwelling soul beasts.

After all, with powerful guardians protecting them, the survival rate of the weaker members greatly increased, which in turn promoted growth and development.

If a tribe had a single hundred-thousand-year soul beast holding the fort, it would likely also contain a dozen ten-thousand-year beasts—many of them above fifty-thousand years in cultivation.

And if a fierce beast resided within that tribe, having two or three hundred-thousand-year beasts under its command, along with dozens of ten-thousand-year-level soul beasts, was nothing out of the ordinary.

Under such conditions, if the abyss were to establish a spatial passage in the deep sea, Su Yu and the others actually wouldn't need to worry too much.

At least, not in the early stages.

Even if the passage were to open on a desolate island, any attempt by the abyss to expand outward would inevitably be met with layer upon layer of powerful sea soul beast tribes resisting them.

"In the end, relying on that is still not reliable enough. The only true way to reduce the abyss threat is to strengthen the soul master world. Only when the soul master world becomes stronger—only when Douluo Star is firmly under our control—can we truly diminish the danger posed by the abyss."

Su Yu finalized the development plan for the soul master world.

First, the focus would be on cultivating the strong—specifically, Battle Armor Masters.

"There are only two years left until the next Soul Master Tournament. We need to encourage the emergence of Battle Armor Masters as much as possible and provide the highest possible subsidies to major advanced academies to nurture new talent."

At the same time, age-old customs that had lasted thousands of years would have to be discarded. Across the entire continent, every human on Douluo was to undergo soul master awakening.

This task could no longer fall to Mingdetang. A new organization needed to be established, one that would specialize in managing soul masters. From now on, Mingdetang would focus primarily on the research of soul tools, while this new force would center itself around martial strength.

Aside from the prodigies under twenty who might emerge in the upcoming Soul Master Tournament, even soul masters in their twenties, thirties, or even forties would be given new opportunities.

"This is the evolution of the entire plane—a great opportunity. Even someone who has reached forty years of age will still have a chance to advance."

The next priority would be the development of soul tools.

Bringing the other two continents under the control of the Federation wasn't urgent—Su Yu already had the means to travel to both. He was in no rush. Instead, he intended to establish his influence across both continents before they officially came under federal control, spreading his faith as widely as possible.

The goal of aggressively advancing soul tool technology was to expand into space.

"We need to build a satellite as soon as possible!"

All of this formed the broader development roadmap.

As for Su Yu himself, he too had a personal mission.

"To make the most of this war and truly empower the soul master world, it's not enough for only myself, Elder Yi, and Gu Yuena to have methods for absorbing abyssal energy."

Abyssal energy could very well become the key for soul masters to break through their current limits.

If properly absorbed and refined, this alien energy could become the greatest opportunity for soul masters stuck at bottlenecks.

"A cultivation method to completely refine abyssal energy…" Su Yu pondered, mentally exploring whether such a method could be created.

(End of Chapter)