"What in the world are the Heaven Dou Empire and Spirit Hall playing at!?"
Inside the imperial palace of the Star Luo Empire, Emperor Dai Tianling was furious after receiving the latest reports.
The newly established Upper Three Sects and Lower Four Sects had gathered a group of so-called commoner representatives, leading them to kneel outside the gates of the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace and Spirit City, begging Heaven Dou and Spirit Hall to join forces, unify the continent, and bring true peace to Douluo.
And now—the Emperor of Heaven Dou, Xue Qinghe, and the Supreme Pontiff of Spirit Hall, Bibi Dong, had actually agreed!?
Dai Tianling's anger nearly burned through the roof.
As one of the highest rulers of Douluo Continent, he naturally wasn't fooled by the staged "Three Refusals, Three Ccceptances" script that Ye Yu had designed for Heaven Dou and Spirit Hall.
He knew very clearly—commoners were timid, easily swayed, and often foolish. Without someone secretly guiding them, how could they possibly conceive of writing letters to petition the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace and Spirit City?
Forget the idea—even the cost was prohibitive.
How many commoners scraped together only one or two gold spirit coins in an entire year? Yet just sending a single letter from a border town of Heaven Dou to its imperial capital cost at least one gold spirit coin.
How could ordinary people afford that?
This was undoubtedly the work of some powerful faction pulling the strings from the shadows.
Moreover, if Heaven Dou and Spirit Hall had not already entertained the idea of unification, then even if countless commoners knelt outside until their deaths, it would have been meaningless!
What was Emperor Xue Qinghe of Heaven Dou thinking? How dare he ally with Spirit Hall!?
No matter what was promised beforehand—saying Heaven Dou would govern the mortal world while Spirit Hall administered the Spirit Master world—could he truly believe Spirit Hall would keep such an agreement?
Dai Tianling could not comprehend it.
What's worse, this entire affair was spearheaded by the new Upper Three Sects and Lower Four Sects.
That the other sects went along with it—he could understand. They might have been coerced or bribed by Spirit Hall.
But for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan to be involved as well? That weighed heavily on his heart.
By his knowledge, Ning Fengzhi was a wise and cautious man. Under normal circumstances, there was no way the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan would allow Xue Qinghe to gamble on such a dangerous alliance—joining hands with Spirit Hall was akin to making a pact with a tiger.
What was hidden here that he didn't know?
Dai Tianling felt a deep unease.
But what was done was done. Even if he could not understand it fully, he knew one thing for certain—
a storm that would engulf the continent was coming!
He had to prepare early.
The combined might of Spirit Hall's Spirit Master Legions and the Heaven Dou Empire's armies would be the greatest crisis the Star Luo Empire had faced since its founding.
When the tide of public opinion was secretly manipulated by Heaven Dou and Spirit Hall, Dai Tianling sensed danger.
He immediately sent agents to contact the vassal kingdoms of Heaven Dou—such as the Balak Kingdom, Silves Kingdom, and Häagen-Dazs Kingdom—as well as the vassals of Star Luo.
This trick of Heaven Dou and Spirit Hall's should have been transparent to those rulers as well.
The goal of their alliance was obvious: continental unification.
Unless these smaller kingdoms were willing to give up their sovereignty, no one could escape.
At this juncture, there was only one path: unite together to resist the Heaven Dou–Spirit Hall axis.
And indeed, when Dai Tianling's envoys delivered his proposal, the kings of Douluo's kingdoms and duchies all replied in agreement—if Heaven Dou and Spirit Hall truly joined forces, they would ally with Star Luo to form the Anti–Heaven Dou–Spirit Hall Alliance, fighting together against this threat.
Even so, Dai Tianling secretly wished to strike first, launching a sudden attack before the alliance between Heaven Dou and Spirit Hall formally solidified.
On one hand, it would catch them unprepared. On the other, if Heaven Dou and Spirit Hall immediately retaliated together, their hypocrisy would be laid bare.
But the kings and dukes all shook their heads, rejecting or opposing such a plan.
Their reasons were simple.
Many still clung to wishful thinking—perhaps Heaven Dou and Spirit Hall would not truly unite.
And even if they did—if they were the first to attack, what would happen when the retaliation came?
As the saying went, "The bird that sticks its head out gets shot." Or, "Kill a chicken to warn the monkeys."
None of them wished to be the bird struck down—or the chicken slaughtered for example.
If Heaven Dou and Spirit Hall truly unified, then surrendering might still preserve their wealth and privilege.
But if they dared to be the first to oppose, they risked annihilation—wiped out with their entire clan.
The Star Luo Empire could not guarantee their survival.
Seeing such cowardice and weakness from these rulers left Dai Tianling seething.
But he had failed to understand—alliances of convenience were never so simple.
In Ye Yu's past life, ancient Huaxia had seen the Six Kingdoms ally against Qin, and the Eighteen Lords band together against Dong Zhuo.
The result had always been the same: failure.
For alliances were easy to declare—
but human hearts were complex.
Now, with everything prepared, and Ye Yu's staged "Three Refusals, Three Acceptances" drama complete, Qian Renxue—carrying the expectations of countless "commoners"—finally declared, on behalf of Heaven Dou and Spirit Hall, their official alliance.
The unification of the continent was about to begin.
As the saying went: "Before dealing with external threats, one must first secure the internal."
For within the Heaven Dou Empire's borders still lay many vassal kingdoms and principalities.
Several of these were positioned at strategically critical locations.
Thus, before launching their campaign against Star Luo, Heaven Dou and Spirit Hall first turned their armies inward—striking at the most vital of Heaven Dou's vassals: the Balak Kingdom.
Balak was the empire's gateway, rich in plains and abundant in resources.
It was the first nation that had to be subdued.
The combined might of Heaven Dou and Spirit Hall was already overwhelming.
And now they had Ye Yu and the forces of the Creation Temple as allies besides.
To spread his faith as the Lord of Creation, Ye Yu personally joined the Heaven Dou army and Spirit Hall's Spirit Master Legions in the campaign against Balak.
The Balak king, prepared in advance, mobilized his armies to resist while awaiting reinforcements from Star Luo and the Anti–Heaven Dou–Spirit Hall Alliance.
But Ye Yu had no intention of prolonging the battle.
To spread the faith of the Lord of Creation, he planned to take Balak personally—without bloodshed.
Rising into the air, his silver-blue hair streamed behind him as his handsome face remained cold and aloof, like that of a god gazing down from on high.
"Eighth Spirit Ability—Advent of a World of Flowering Trees!"
Ye Yu summoned forth the Blue Silver Spirit Jade Tree, unleashing his Eighth Spirit Ability.
In only a few breaths, countless crystalline trees, each over a hundred meters thick and a thousand meters tall, erupted from the ground with a thunderous roar, roots splitting the earth as they surged outward.
The writhing tendrils coiled around the soldiers of the Balak Kingdom, binding them in place.
In an instant, a vast forest of blue-silver crystal trees rose skyward, as if a divine miracle had descended upon the battlefield.