Chapter 363: The Three Kingdoms Stand Tall
Gazing at the scene before him, a cold glint flashed in Tang Chuan's eyes.
Although he was slightly surprised by the sudden Dragon suppression, his combat awareness was incredibly sharp. How could he miss such a prime opportunity?
"Whoosh—!"
The next second, Tang Chuan's figure transformed into a golden stream of light, his speed instantly exploding to the extreme. He almost skimmed the edge of the dissipating flames, traversing the narrow stone bridge in an instant, appearing before the Ten headed Fierce Yang Serpent, whose movements were stiff with fear and defenses wide open!
Immediately after, the golden dragon spear in his hand, carrying a sharpness and speed capable of piercing through anything, struck like lightning. Before the Ten headed Fierce Yang Serpent could react, it precisely penetrated the core of its neck, the weakest point connecting its ten heads to its body!
"Pfft!"
A muffled sound was heard, not the shattering of scales.
It was more like the sound of an energy node being forcibly pierced.
The Ten headed Fierce Yang Serpent's massive body trembled violently, the flames on its ten heads instantly extinguished, and the fear in its eyes turned into deathly gray. It couldn't even let out a final wail as that fatal blow, imbued with Golden Dragon aura, completely destroyed all its vitality.
Rumble!
The huge serpent body crashed onto the bank of the scorching magma lake, splashing large waves of magma.
Tang Chuan flicked his wrist, and the golden dragon spear slowly retracted.
He didn't even look at the massive corpse, his gaze directly locked onto the heart of the Ten headed Fierce Yang Serpent's body. There, a fist-sized, fiery red orb, flowing with ten-colored flame patterns on its surface, slowly emerged and rose.
It was precisely the essence of the Ten headed Fierce Yang Serpent—the Ten headed Fierce Yang Pill. It contained its lifelong cultivation and was a Heaven And Earth Treasure of extreme Yang and fieriness, with infinite wondrous uses.
"Inner core!? Not bad, it's a good medicinal ingredient!"
With a cold laugh, Tang Chuan reached out and beckoned. The fiery inner core flew into his hand, where he wrapped it with his Soul Power and carefully put it away.
The entire process, from the appearance of the Ten headed Fierce Yang Serpent to its suppression by the golden dragon spear's aura, and then its instant death by Tang Chuan's attack and the collection of its inner core, took only a few breaths.
Standing at the other end of the stone bridge, Hu Liena, who hadn't even fully stepped onto the bridge yet, was completely stunned. At this moment, her palms, clutching her short sword, were covered in cold sweat.
It... it's over?
"You... how did you do that?" Although Hu Liena knew she shouldn't inquire about Tang Chuan's privacy at this moment, she couldn't help but ask.
Tang Chuan didn't turn around, simply stating, "It was just luck!"
"Aren't you afraid this thing is poisonous or might suddenly explode?" Hu Liena frowned slightly, looking at the inner core in Tang Chuan's hand, and urgently reminded him.
Hearing this, Tang Chuan shook his head and said indifferently, "This is that snake's inner core. Having lost control of its main body, it's impossible for it to explode now. As for poison, I'm even less afraid."
At the same time, the scorching heat and mental pressure ahead reached their peak. A distorted white light was vaguely visible flickering at the end of the passage, which was the connection point to the outside world.
"Let's go." Tang Chuan walked forward again, his voice still calm and unwavering, showing no hint of joy at their impending escape: "The exit is ahead, we'll be out soon."
Upon hearing this, Hu Liena's Martial Souls lifted, and the tension that had gripped her for days finally eased.
She looked at Tang Chuan's back, complex emotions swirling within her. Along this journey, had it not been for this unfathomable God of Death leading the way, she would never have reached this point so easily.
Despite her apprehension and fear, she couldn't deny the factual help she had received.
"Thank you. For all your help along the way." Hu Liena's voice was low, carrying a hint of sincerity.
Then, after a moment of hesitation, she asked the question that had been on her mind for a long time.
"What... what's your name?"
Hearing this, Tang Chuan turned sideways, his gaze from beneath the mask seemingly sweeping over her, then he turned back to face the white light ahead, uttering two words calmly:
"Xiao Yan."
As his voice fell, he no longer lingered, stepping towards the white light at the exit.
Hu Liena silently repeated the name—Xiao Yan.
A very unfamiliar name; she had never heard of such a young powerhouse on the Continent. But she knew this was likely not his real name.
However, having a name was better than constantly calling him "God of Death" or "Hey."
She stopped overthinking, took a deep breath, suppressed the lingering agitation in her heart and the slight apprehension about the unknown beyond the exit, and followed Tang Chuan into the distorted white light.
At the same time, just as Tang Chuan and Hu Liena stepped into the exit and their figures vanished.
Slaughter City plunged into unprecedented madness and chaos!
Initially, only some of the lower-level Fallen Ones felt a dull pain in their stomachs after drinking bloody mary, and their Soul Power circulation felt slightly sluggish, with their killing intent harder to suppress than usual. They didn't pay much attention, thinking it was just that today's brew was slightly off, or their own condition wasn't good.
But soon, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse!
The dull pain turned into excruciating, gut-wrenching agony! The sluggish Soul Power evolved into uncontrollable disorder and counter-surges, and their nerves, already strained from prolonged slaughter, became like a lit powder keg under the erosion of the strange, chilling poison that had seeped into their blood!
"Ah—!! My stomach! It hurts so much!"
"Get lost! Don't come near me! I'll kill you!"
"Blood... give me blood! I want more bloody mary!"
"Kill! Kill all of you! Hahahaha!"
Screams, frantic roars, hysterical laughter... instantly shattered the superficial order maintained in every corner of Slaughter City.
The agony brought by severe pain and Soul Power disorder caused the Fallen Ones' rationality to snap, while the primal killing intent and negative emotions, amplified several times, completely dominated their actions.
The Fallen Ones, who were already wary of each other due to a lack of trust.
Now, any slight disturbance could become the fuse for slaughter.
A Fallen One, who stumbled into another due to intense pain, was stabbed through without hesitation by the other.
A blank-eyed fellow had his head smashed by a heavy hammer wielded by a cackling madman nearby!
To snatch the last remaining bloody mary in the tavern, dozens of Fallen Ones instantly engaged in a chaotic fight, swords clashing, flesh and blood flying, turning the entire tavern into a slaughterhouse.
The streets were even more unbearable to witness.
With bloodshot eyes, drooling mouths, clutching their stomachs or heads and screaming, the Fallen Ones attacked each other like rabid dogs. They no longer cared for technique, no longer weighed pros and cons, leaving only primal instinct, pouring their pain and madness onto any living thing in their sight!
Blood stained the streets, and severed limbs were everywhere.
Roars, wails, and the sound of collapsing buildings intertwined into a symphony of death. Slaughter City, already dim and foul, was now shrouded in thick blood and madness.
Chaos spread like a plague.
The entire Slaughter City became a pot of boiling, bloody porridge!
This large-scale, indiscriminate, insane self-slaughter, triggered by the contamination of the bloody mary source, was consuming the population of Slaughter City at an alarming rate, shaking the Foundation upon which this land of sin relied.
And in the deepest core secret chamber, the blood pool churned exceptionally violently.
On the throne, the Slaughter King suddenly opened his blood-red eyes. His pale fingers gripped the hilt of the dark red demonic sword beside him, and he roared in anger:
"Who... dares to pollute the blood source and shake the Foundation of my Slaughter City?!"
...During the time Slaughter City fell into madness, and Tang San and others encountered the Rakshasa God Legacy on an isolated island overseas, the situation on the Douluo Continent underwent drastic changes.
The re-election conference for the Seven Great Sects was held with great fanfare in Spirit City.
Due to the near annihilation of the Clear Sky Sect, once the world's number one Sect, the severe damage to the immensely wealthy Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, and the complete destruction of the strongest Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, the old Upper Three Sects structure completely collapsed. Under the dominance of Spirit Hall, new Seven Great Sects quickly emerged:
Upper Three Sects: the Elephant Armored Academy, known for its defense, the Sacred Dragon Sect, famous for its Sacred Dragon Martial Soul, and the Wind Sword Sect, skilled in wind-attribute swordsmanship.
Lower Four Sects: the Fire Leopard Sect, known for fire-attribute strong attacks, the agility-attack system Black Tiger Sect, the Rock Antelope Sect, which excels in both defense and control, and the Sparrow Bee Sect, skilled in poison and speed.
These new Seven Great Sects, without exception, were all forces that had secretly pledged allegiance to or openly supported Spirit Hall. Their rise to power marked Spirit Hall's absolute authority in the Soul Master World moving from behind the scenes to the forefront, completing a legitimate integration and governance of the Continent's high-level Soul Master power.
Following this, an even more shocking declaration was issued to the Continent.
Spirit Hall, effective immediately, changed its name and established a nation—the Spirit Empire!
All Spirit Hall branch halls originally located within the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires were closed overnight, and all Soul Master personnel were swiftly withdrawn to the newly designated imperial territory.
The territory of the Spirit Empire was not created out of nothing, but forcibly merged from over a dozen kingdoms and duchies originally sandwiched between the two great Empires!
This newly formed imperial territory, like a sharp wedge, lay across Heaven Dou and Star Luo, completely severing the two traditional Empires, cutting off their mutual connections and support channels. Its total area was in no way inferior to either the divided Heaven Dou or Star Luo!
From the map, the Spirit Empire appeared to be at a severe disadvantage, being attacked from both north and south.
However, after its establishment, the Spirit Empire not only did not adopt a defensive posture but instead showed astonishing aggression, expanding steadily in both northern and southern directions simultaneously!
In just over ten days, without large-scale legion battles, relying on its absolute advantage in Soul Master power for precise strikes and deterrence, it had already seized two provinces of vast land from each of the two great Empires!
The nascent Spirit Empire, in terms of total military strength, naturally could not compare to the combined national power of the two great Empires, which had deep Foundations and vast territories.
However, it possessed a decisive advantage capable of overturning conventional warfare rules: Soul Masters!
The Soul Master power controlled by the Spirit Empire reached a desperate level.
Under the decree of national establishment and the high-pressure policy that non-joiners were heretics, coupled with the exemplary effect of the new Seven Great Sects, over seventy percent of the Continent's Soul Masters chose to join the Spirit Empire.
It possessed more than ten Titled Douluo, and its Soul Master legions were of unprecedented scale.
A thousand-strong Soul Master team on the battlefield had destructive power and strategic value sufficient to contend with tens of thousands of ordinary elite troops!
Given such a disparity in high-end power, the Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empires, though furious, had to forcibly endure. They could only secretly accumulate strength, reinforce their defenses, and dared not easily launch large-scale counterattacks, fearing that once their main forces were routed, they would never recover.
The first Emperor of the Spirit Empire was crowned by Pope Bibi Dong.
This monarch, a woman who ruled a vast Empire, after a rapid initial expansion to establish territory and prestige, then began to vigorously integrate internally, eliminate dissidents, and, backed by Spirit Hall's terrifying financial resources accumulated over countless years, quickly trained new armies and built a war machine.
In just a few months, the Spirit Empire was no longer the religious organization of the past, but had become a massive Empire with a unified government and religion, strong military power, capable of standing as one of three with Heaven Dou and Star Luo, and even subtly surpassing them in overall strength. Its northern and southern border garrisons were long-term stationed with over twenty thousand Soul Masters, commanded personally by Titled Douluo Elders of Spirit Hall, making them virtually impregnable.
Finally, after the initial internal integration was completed and its power accumulated to its peak, the Spirit Empire's war fangs once again bit into the Heaven Dou Empire!
Without a lengthy declaration of war, a long-planned blitzkrieg was suddenly launched!
The Spirit Empire's Soul Master legions, acting as sharp arrowheads, supported by well-trained new imperial armies, broke through twenty-three important border cities of the Heaven Dou Empire with thunderous momentum!
Wherever the army went, ordinary troops found it difficult to resist the power of Soul Masters. Cities fell one after another, and urgent dispatches flew like snowflakes towards Heaven Dou City.
The flames of war were finally completely ignited. The millennia-long two-nation standoff on the Continent was shattered, and a three-way standoff formed... Heaven Dou City, Imperial Study.
Outside the window, the sky was gloomy, lead-gray clouds hung low over the imperial city's eaves, as if ready to drip ink at any moment. Inside the Imperial Study, the atmosphere was even more solemn and oppressive than the sky outside the window.
One urgent document after another, sent from the border, lay scattered on the massive zitan wood desk, each stamped with a blood-red seal representing the most urgent military intelligence.
Several people stood around the desk.
Xue Beng had long lost his usual forced composure, his face as pale as paper, his fingers unconsciously fiddling with the corner of a battle report, his eyes filled with undisguised panic and helplessness. He had only recently ascended to this precarious imperial throne; the dragon chair had barely warmed before disaster struck.
"Twenty-three cities... twenty-three cities!"
Xue Beng's voice trembled, breaking the silence: "How many days has it been? Twenty-three cities have fallen! Those Soul Masters of Spirit Hall are simply... simply like demons!"
"Your Majesty, it's the Spirit Empire." Ning Fengzhi corrected him upon hearing this.
"They are no longer merely a Soul Master organization, but an Empire with a complete army, territory, and war machine. This attack was meticulously planned, using elite Soul Masters as vanguards to break through, with ordinary troops following to clear and occupy. It seems they have been plotting this for a long time."
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