In the southern part of the Dou Ling Empire, Xuanming City.
Xuanming City is the largest city in the southern part of the Dou Ling Empire, and its prosperity is in no way inferior to that of the imperial capital, Ling Dou City.
In the past, when the Heaven Dou Empire's imperial family was forced back by the rebellious forces of several kingdoms and principalities, they were compelled to retreat all the way eastward. Using the vast eastern territories of the Heaven Dou Empire as their foundation, they re-established the Dou Ling Empire.
The geographical location of the Dou Ling Empire is relatively northward. For strategic considerations, the chosen imperial capital, Ling Dou City, is also in the north, and its climate and environment are harsher than those of the capitals of the other three countries on the continent. As a result, over the past several thousand years, the development of Ling Dou City has been surpassed by that of Xuanming City in the south.
Xuanming City is famous across the continent not only for its prosperity but also for another reason: the hidden sect, Xuanming Sect, is rooted here.
The inheritance of Xuanming Sect can be traced back ten thousand years. Although it cannot compare to top sects like the Haotian Sect or the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, the sect's foundation is still extremely deep. There is more than one Super Douluo-level powerhouse within it.
The City Lord's Mansion is in the center of Xuanming City. Strictly speaking, the Dou Ling Empire is the legitimate successor of the former Heaven Dou Empire, and the architecture in the major cities of the country mostly follows a retro style.
Especially the towering pavilion within the City Lord's Mansion, which is ancient yet majestic and grand.
A young man dressed in luxurious attire stood quietly by the window edge in the central room on the top floor of the pavilion, overlooking the entire Xuanming City.
The young man was tall and handsome, with a head of neat, short, dark red hair. He was none other than Xu Sanshi, who had returned to the Dou Ling Empire and been established as the crown prince. Perhaps he should now be called Xue Sanshi.
The direct bloodline of the Dou Ling Empire's imperial family had withered, and the current emperor of the Dou Ling Empire only had one young daughter. To stabilize the imperial family's rule, Xu Sanshi was persuaded by his mother, Xue Lingxun, to change his surname and be adopted into the Dou Ling Empire's imperial family.
Xu Sanshi's appearance had always been good. As he grew older and his cultivation increased, he had clearly become much steadier. After spending a long time in the Dou Ling Empire's imperial palace, dealing with government affairs and major ministers, he now exuded an imposing aura of authority without anger.
Facts proved that anyone would inevitably be influenced by their surrounding environment.
In this spacious and luxurious room, four white-haired elders of varying builds stood guard beside Xu Sanshi. These four elders were all Title Douluo powerhouses who had been famous in the Dou Ling Empire for many years. The leader was none other than the Heavenly Sun Douluo, whose soul power had reached rank 97, and who was the strongest on the Dou Ling Empire's side.
Ever since receiving the invitation from the Sun Moon Empire, the Dou Ling Empire had decided to send Crown Prince Xu Sanshi to Ming Dou to observe the ceremony. Such a guard level showed Xu Sanshi's current status in the Dou Ling Empire.
Xu Sanshi gazed aimlessly at the various people in Xuanming City, letting the lively and bustling noises enter his ears, his eyes somewhat dazed.
With his personality, he actually preferred to stay unconstrained at Shrek Academy to study, occasionally trading barbs with Bei Bei. It was only because the domestic situation in the Dou Ling Empire was unstable, and he did not want to worry his mother Xue Lingxun, that he had reluctantly compromised.
However, after learning about the cruelty of war, the kind-hearted man now also wanted to prevent the common people in the Dou Ling Empire from being affected by the flames of war.
The current Xu Sanshi was caught in such a contradictory state of mind.
At this moment, Xu Sanshi's gaze suddenly froze on a beautiful figure in the center of the city. Simple clothing could not conceal the brilliance emanating from this purple-haired woman. Her exquisitely beautiful face seemed to radiate a halo like the sun and moon, dazzling the mind. Her delicate body curves were perfect, with every graceful arc on her figure just right.
The only flaw was that the woman's left leg moved with some inconvenience. Yet her pretty face was filled with a happy smile from the bottom of her heart as she affectionately held the arm of a middle-aged woman.
Xu Sanshi stared in a daze. It was only long after the woman and the middle-aged woman had disappeared from his sight that his pupils gradually refocused.
Everything had long been let go.
Xu Sanshi smiled with relief, his lips moving slightly.
"Perhaps such an ordinary yet happy life is the most suitable for her."
He was the crown prince of the Dou Ling Empire, and she was an ordinary commoner in Xuanming City. Both had bright futures ahead.
Suddenly, a soft yet slightly complaining voice sounded, interrupting Xu Sanshi's thoughts.
"Sanshi, that stubborn old man of a father of yours has finally agreed."
A tall, middle-aged beauty walked into the room from behind. She wore a luxurious long dress. Although she was no longer young, she still retained her charm. At least six or seven tenths of Xu Sanshi's appearance resembled hers.
The beauty was none other than Xu Sanshi's mother, and also the princess of the Dou Ling Empire, Xue Lingxun.
"Mom, what did Dad say?"
Xu Sanshi turned around to look at his mother.
Xue Lingxun curled her lips in annoyance.
"He won't go. The one accompanying you to Ming Dou is your granduncle."
"Granduncle?" Xu Sanshi was first stunned, but quickly reacted.
His father, as the current sect master of Xuanming Sect, was naturally not suitable to appear on such an occasion. However, this granduncle's strength was not weak; he was a Super Douluo with soul power as high as rank 96, and he was undoubtedly the strongest within Xuanming Sect. With the powerful defensive capabilities of the Xuanming Shield martial soul, he could even briefly withstand attacks from rank 97 or even rank 98 Super Douluos.
In fact, this also indicated the attitude of the Xuanming Sect.
Just like the relationship between the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect and Xu Zihuang, it was a done deal, and the two sides could not separate at all. The same was true between Xu Sanshi and the Xuanming Sect; his father could not possibly disown him as a son.
"Princess." The Heavenly Sun Douluo, along with the other three Title Douluos from the Dou Ling Empire side, slightly bowed to Xue Lingxun in greeting. Title Douluo-level powerhouses would receive the highest level of courtesy in any country on the continent, so there was naturally no need to kneel and perform grand rituals to Xue Lingxun.
"I didn't expect Brother Xu to personally step forward." The Heavenly Sun Douluo was surprised, but a hint of joy appeared in his eyes. With this, the Dou Ling Empire's lineup had become much stronger.
Although Xue Lingxun was usually quite lively when with Xu Sanshi, she would not put on the airs of a princess in front of the Heavenly Sun Douluo.
"Heavenly Sun, Your Majesty need not be so polite. We will have to rely on Your Majesty a lot this time."
"As it should be." The Heavenly Sun Douluo lightly stroked his beard and nodded with the reserved demeanor of a powerhouse.
Xue Lingxun seemed to think for a moment before continuing, "There's no time to lose. We will set off immediately to Shrek Academy to join forces with the other parties. News has already come from Shrek Academy that Sea God Pavilion Master Elder Xuan will personally lead the team. On the Heavenly Soul Empire side, the leader is the Body Douluo Your Majesty, and Empress Wei Na will also go together. Finally, on the Star Luo Empire side, the leader is Chief Consecrate of the Star Luo Empire Imperial Family's Consecration Hall, Dark Gold Your Majesty Elder Yang, and accompanying him is Princess Jiujiu."
The Star Luo Empire imperial family's Chief Consecrate Elder Yang could be seen from his title to have a connection with the Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear. However, this Elder Yang's martial soul was not the true Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear, but a weakened version called the Darkgold Bear.
Both the Darkgold Bear and the Dreadclaw Bear were subspecies of the Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear, each inheriting part of its abilities. The Darkgold Bear inherited the powerful physical bloodline strength of the Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear, while the Dreadclaw Bear only inherited that pair of dreadclaws. Of course, the Dreadclaw Bear's pair of dreadclaws was far less terrifying than those of the Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear.
Relatively speaking, the Darkgold Bear's bloodline was the closest to the Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear, far stronger than the Dreadclaw Bear. Apart from lacking that pair of dreadclaws, it possessed almost all the abilities of the Darkgold Dreadclaw Bear.
"Empress Wei Na will also go together?" Everyone felt the other news was normal, but only paid attention to this point.
Xue Lingxun frowned slightly and explained her view.
"After all, that Purple Flame King's only son returned all the territories of the Heavenly Soul Empire, showing sufficient sincerity. Empress Wei Na probably decided to personally go to Ming Dou based on this."
At this point, Xue Lingxun's gaze became fervent again.
"If the war can end here, it will undoubtedly create the best situation for our Dou Ling Empire. Among the original three great empires of the Douluo Continent, only our Dou Ling Empire has not been affected by the flames of war. After this, we should seize this opportunity to develop soul tools with all our strength."
Everyone present nodded in deep agreement.
There were also advantages to being in a corner by oneself.
The repeated setbacks suffered by the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Star Luo Empire in front of the Sun Moon Empire had also proven the status of soul tools in this era. If they continued to stubbornly reject soul tools, they might really be eliminated by this era.
...
Sun Moon Empire Imperial Palace.
After several days of thorough cleansing, the Sun Moon Empire Imperial Palace had been firmly controlled by Xu Zihuang.
The night sky was dotted with stars, and the silver moon cast a hazy silver glow.
Xu Zihuang sat on a stone chair in the imperial palace's rear garden courtyard, while Ye Guyi leaned against his shoulder. Her red lips parted slightly as she asked softly,
"Have Elder Xuan and the others arrived?"
"Mm." Xu Zihuang responded calmly. With his current spiritual power realm, monitoring the entire Ming Dou was effortless.
Elder Xuan and the people from the original three great empires of the Douluo Continent had arrived in Ming Dou that afternoon and received the highest level of reception from the Sun Moon Empire.
However, Xu Zihuang himself had never appeared, maintaining that sense of mystery. Even after killing Xu Tianran and taking control of Ming Dou, he had not met anyone, tightly controlling the information.
He did this not only because he wanted to mischievously reveal his identity to the people from the original Douluo Continent under these circumstances, but also to draw out Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao, kill the two of them, and establish his authority in public.
More than two years had passed. From his current perspective, Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao's injuries should have mostly healed. The two had remained silent for so long; even when he publicly announced the purge of the Holy Spirit Cult's evil soul masters, they had not shown themselves. They were most likely planning to disrupt his Heaven Worshipping Ascension Ceremony tomorrow.
While Xu Zihuang was talking with Ye Guyi, a woman in an elegant white long dress, Ju Zi walked over from the front. Her beautiful eyes were filled with warmth and sweetness.
"Xi Yan has just fallen asleep."
Xu Zihuang showed a gentle smile and gestured for Ju Zi to sit on his other side. The three of them enjoyed this brief moment of peace together.
Ju Zi was twenty-six years old this year, and Ye Guyi was twenty-five. In terms of age, both women were quite a bit older than Xu Zihuang. Yet when the three sat together, there was no sense of disharmony at all.
Ye Guyi couldn't help but roll her eyes at Xu Zihuang.
"You're not pretending at all now, huh?"
Xu Zihuang did not respond, only smiling helplessly as he took the jade hands of both women.
"You two really aren't planning to appear tomorrow?"
Ju Zi lightly pursed her lips and said softly, "Zihuang, if I appear, it will definitely cause you to be criticized. You know I don't care about that. Now I only want to watch Xi Yan grow up safely and happily with you."
"Who dares to criticize?" Xu Zihuang smiled faintly, but his words carried an indescribable dominance.
Ju Zi remained silent. Knowing what Ju Zi was thinking, Ye Guyi timely interjected, "It's perfect for her to stay in the palace to accompany Xi Yan. You have more important things to do tomorrow. I will guard by their side, providing one more layer of assurance."
Ju Zi smiled gratefully at Ye Guyi. Some things were indeed more appropriate for Ye Guyi to say.
After hearing this, Xu Zihuang pondered for a moment and no longer insisted. He simply stayed with the two women until the first ray of morning light broke through the horizon.
The Heaven Worshipping Ascension Ceremony was about to begin.
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Here are the chapters for today (づ￣3￣)づ╭～
"Don't forget there are chapters available on Patreon."
"From Douluo to Godhood by Defy 30 Advance chapters."
"Douluo: Far North Invincibledo 30 Advance chapters."
"Douluo Peerless: Living as an Evil Soul Master the novel is already finished on Patreon."
"Douluo Dalu 2:Peerless Tang Sect Dawn of Sun and Moon 40 Advance chapters."
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