Chapter 301: Spirit Hall Founds a Nation
"That old man won't last more than a few months!"
When Xiao Yu asked about Emperor Xue Ye, Qian Renxue didn't even lift her eyelids as she replied coldly.
Though she had called Emperor Xue Ye "father" for over twenty years, she held no familial affection for him in her heart—only thoughts of how to send him off as soon as possible.
Since Dugu Bo had long been lured away by Xiao Yu, he naturally wouldn't be around to use his serpentine poison in a counter-poison method to prolong Emperor Xue Ye's life. As a result, the emperor's life was ending even faster than in the original timeline—several times faster, in fact.
"The sooner we get rid of that old fossil, the better."
Xiao Yu said coldly, "Tang San is about to set out for Sea God Island. The Sea God and Asura God—those two bastards—must have already realized that things have spiraled out of their control, so they'll definitely speed up Tang San's god trials. We can't afford to waste too much time on the Heaven Dou Empire. The sooner you take full control, the sooner we can move on to the next step."
Qian Renxue nodded. "Don't worry about that. Lately I've been accelerating the activation of the poison within Xue Ye. That old man Xue Xing seems to have sensed something's off—he's been sneaking in all sorts of poison-type soul masters to examine Emperor Xue Ye's condition."
"He even shamelessly went to Dugu Bo, trying to leverage their old friendship to beg for help. Dugu Bo almost poisoned him to death—he ran off in total disgrace!"
Xiao Yu snorted. "Ignore him. He's nothing more than a clown. Our focus should still be on Emperor Xue Ye. Once you inherit the throne, we can clean him up later."
In the original timeline, if Xue Xing and Xue Beng hadn't lucked into catching a ride on Tang San's success, the two of them wouldn't have stood a chance against Qian Renxue—even ten of them together wouldn't have been enough.
"By the way, now that you're already a Soul Douluo, don't neglect your cultivation. Reaching Title Douluo sooner will definitely benefit you."
Xiao Yu gave her a not-so-subtle warning with a pat. "If I find out you've gone months without any progress, I'll seriously punish you, you hear?"
"You scoundrel!"
Qian Renxue's face flushed as she spat, "You damn lecher! Just wait! Once things are settled with the Heaven Dou Empire, I'll return to the Worship Hall to begin the next Angel Trial. We'll see who's punishing whom!"
Leaving her sharp words behind, Qian Renxue fled in embarrassment. After watching her leave, Xiao Yu shifted his consciousness and entered the Netherworld.
Inside the Netherworld, he didn't summon his main martial soul, the Nether Monarch, but instead released his second martial soul—the Scythe of Death—formed from the divine power of the fallen God of Death.
Originally, the God of Death had hoped that this martial soul, infused with his last divine power, would help Xiao Yu bypass the suppression of the Douluo Plane's rules and allow him to break through level 100 without needing a divine position.
But now, with the Netherworld's emergence, the Scythe of Death had lost its greatest purpose.
Even so, the advantage of having twin martial souls was still incredibly valuable to Xiao Yu.
Just like Bibi Dong—she relied on her twin martial souls to rapidly reach level 99 after becoming a Title Douluo by adding soul rings to her second martial soul.
If not for the fact that she inherited the pitifully unrewarding Rakshasa God position—one that didn't provide any true benefits—and had her power restrained by the Rakshasa God's will, limiting her to level 98 output, Spirit Hall's current situation might have been very different.
The rules of the Netherworld had already been altered by Xiao Yu. Soul masters residing within it could now condense their own ideal soul rings—just like shape-shifted soul beasts—matching both their physical limits and perfect compatibility.
Xiao Yu sat cross-legged, circulating his soul power as the laws of the Netherworld's surrounding heaven and earth resonated in tandem with his movements.
On the Death Scythe, a faint red halo was gradually taking shape.
Led by Xiao Yu, the members of the Nine Star Hall were cultivating diligently within the Netherworld, taking full advantage of its unique rules.
Meanwhile, Tang San, Dai Mubai, Ning Rongrong, and the others—viewed as the future hope by the Star Luo Empire, Clear Sky Sect, Sea God Island, and Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect—had journeyed far to Sea God Island.
Under the influence of divine power, they began their cheat-like paths to growth, while the allied forces of the three great factions maintained a degree of restraint in their absence.
As for Spirit Hall, their soul-hunting operations hadn't yielded the desired results, and their proposal to reselect the Seven Great Sects had been publicly slapped down by the united front of the Nine Star Hall, the Upper Three Sects, the two great empires, and Sea God Island.
Spirit Hall had been forced into temporary submission, licking its wounds in silence while recovering strength.
All forces were silently accumulating power, and the continent entered a rare moment of peace.
However, that peace did not last long.
In less than half a year, it was Spirit Hall that first broke the calm.
After the Seven Great Sects re-selection was ruined by the unfilial daughter Qian Renxue and the even more rebellious son-in-law Xiao Yu, Bibi Dong showed no mercy—she fully propped up Spirit Hall's power.
Sects originally intended to fill the vacancies among the Seven Great Sects—such as the Holy Dragon Sect and Black Tiger Sect—were directly merged into Spirit Hall.
Lower Four Sects like the Elephant Armored Sect and Wind Sword Sect, which had already pledged allegiance, officially announced their full incorporation into Spirit Hall.
The joining of these major sects largely compensated for Spirit Hall's losses from the soul-hunting campaign.
After patiently annexing a few more minor sects and recruiting a considerable number of free soul masters, Bibi Dong—the wildly ambitious Pope, or rather, the clinically insane woman intent on dragging the entire continent into the grave for the sake of her twisted love—could no longer hold back.
She initiated her long-prepared next step: the founding of the Spirit Empire.
In less than half a month, all Spirit Hall branch halls within the Heaven Dou Empire were shut down, and their soul masters withdrawn to Spirit City.
Those within the Star Luo Empire had already been forcefully shut down by the Clear Sky Sect, so there was no further concern.
With all preparations complete, Spirit Hall officially declared the establishment of the Spirit Empire.
Several kingdoms and duchies that had been secretly aligned with Spirit Hall immediately declared their allegiance.
Within a matter of days, the Spirit Empire's territory expanded to rival that of both the Star Luo and Heaven Dou Empires.
At the same time, communication between the two great empires was completely severed by Spirit Empire forces.
Among the kingdoms and duchies that joined the Spirit Empire, the strongest was the Balak Kingdom.
Bordering the Star Luo Empire, it possessed the greatest military strength of all Heaven Dou's affiliated kingdoms and boasted vast mineral resources.
For the Heaven Dou Empire, the loss of such a strategically vital kingdom to the Spirit Empire was like having a huge chunk of flesh ripped from its side.
Already nearing the end of his life due to the spreading poison, Emperor Xue Ye couldn't withstand the blow.
Coughing up a mouthful of blood, he collapsed in court before all his ministers.
(End of Chapter)
Get early access to my chapters and read more frequently by joining my Patreon! You'll unlock 20 chapters immediately and can enjoy up to 65 chapters weekly. Support my ongoing work and become part of my reader community.
Patreon: patreon.com/anish_44
Support via Ko-fi: ko-fi.com/anish_44