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"Your Majesty," Yu Xiaogang stepped forward at the appropriate moment and said in a deep voice, "The Spirit Empire appears powerful, but its internal structure is not monolithic. Under tyranny, public resentment is growing. As long as we unite and proceed steadily, we may not be without a chance of victory. The immediate priority is to continue strengthening our military preparedness, especially the Hidden Weapons provided by King Lan Hao; their production scale should be expanded as quickly as possible. At the same time, we must contact the Star Luo Empire to form a pincer movement and jointly resist the powerful enemy!"
Emperor Xue Ye nodded: "The State Preceptor speaks wisely. This matter will be the full responsibility of the State Preceptor and King Lan Hao."
Before Emperor Xue Ye had finished speaking, a burst of hurried, frantic, and even terrified footsteps suddenly sounded outside the hall!
A messenger, covered in dust, armor stained with blood, and bearing a pair of blood-red wings on his back, disregarded all etiquette, stumbled and scrambled into the main hall, collapsing onto his knees with a thud. His voice was hoarse and cracking, laced with sobs:
"Report—!!! Your Majesty! Urgent military news! Jia... Jialing Pass... has been... shattered!!"
"What?!" "That's impossible!"
The hall instantly erupted in an uproar! All the princes and ministers, including Yu Xiaogang, Tang San, and Tang Xiao, had drastic changes in expression and leaped up from their seats!
Jialing Pass! That was the strongest and most formidable pass currently facing the Spirit Empire direction for the Heaven Dou Empire!
Built against mountains and beside water, its city walls reached one hundred meters high, constructed from the hardest granite mixed with refined iron. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of elite troops garrisoned it day and night, provisions were abundant, and defensive spirit tools were numerous! It was known as the eastern gate of the Heaven Dou Empire, bearing the entire weight of the Empire's safety!
How could such a mighty pass be shattered just like that?!
Even if the Spirit Empire mobilized its entire force and Supreme Pontiff Bibi Dong personally led the campaign, it would be absolutely impossible to breach it without months of bitter fighting and an all-out assault at any cost! Moreover, they had received no intelligence whatsoever regarding the mobilization of the Spirit Empire's army!
Upon hearing this terrible news, Emperor Xue Ye felt his vision blur, blood rushed to his head, and he coughed violently, nearly falling from his throne. His face instantly turned pale as paper, utterly devoid of color!
With Jialing Pass shattered, the heartland of the Heaven Dou Empire was practically wide open!
"What exactly happened?! Explain clearly!" Yu Xiaogang rushed forward, supporting the tottering Emperor Xue Ye, while sternly questioning the messenger. His voice also carried an unconcealable tremor. "Did the Spirit Empire's main army attack? Did Bibi Dong personally take action?!"
The messenger seemed not yet to have recovered from his extreme terror; his body shook like a sieve, and he spoke incoherently: "N-not the army... there was no army... it was... it was a giant! A... a blood-red giant! So big... so incredibly big!!"
He frantically gestured with his hands, his eyes filled with indelible terror: "Just this morning... as dawn was breaking... that giant... suddenly appeared! As tall as a mountain! At least... at least several hundred meters! Its entire body was blood-red, and in its hand... in its hand, it held an equally massive blood-red spear!!"
As if recalling the world-shattering scene, his voice became sharp: "It... it merely... merely pointed that spear at Jialing Pass... and then... then just gently thrust it... BOOM—!!! The entire pass... was gone! Just... just one strike!!"
Inside the great hall, there was dead silence.
Everyone was stunned by this unbelievable, utterly irrational battle report.
It wasn't a massive army bearing down, nor was it the Supreme Pontiff leading the campaign.
Instead, it was a blood-red giant several hundred meters tall? Wielding a blood-red spear, and with a single strike... it wiped the supposedly impregnable Jialing Pass off the map?!
Was this... was this truly something achievable by human power?!
"Did the Spirit Empire... not take the opportunity to attack?" Yu Xiaogang suppressed the turmoil in his heart and asked in a low voice, grasping the key point in the messenger's words.
"N-no..." The messenger shook his head, his face still showing lingering fear. "After the giant destroyed Jialing Pass... it... it just vanished... The Spirit Empire side... showed no movement whatsoever... But... but our army there... is already... completely scattered... Morale... morale has collapsed!"
Yes, morale had collapsed!
Facing a power like this, which was impossible to comprehend or resist—a power akin to a natural disaster—what kind of army could maintain its fighting spirit?
If it could destroy Jialing Pass with a single strike today, could it destroy Heaven Dou City with a single strike tomorrow?!
Panic, like the deadliest plague, had already begun to spread across the Heaven Dou Empire following the fall of Jialing Pass.
Tang San tightly clenched his fists, his nails nearly digging into his flesh, his face ashen.
He had originally thought that relying on his Hidden Weapons, the support of the Clear Sky Sect, and his own growth, he had the capital to contend with the Spirit Hall, or even seek revenge.
But this sudden news was like a basin of ice water, chilling him to the core.
Was that kind of power... truly something they could fight against?
Yu Xiaogang supported Emperor Xue Ye, feeling the Emperor's cold, trembling hand. His own heart sank to the bottom. He looked toward the direction of the Spirit Empire outside the hall, his eyes filled with unprecedented solemnity and... a hint of despair.
What kind of terrifying existence had the Spirit Empire acquired?
"What about casualties?" Yu Xiaogang suddenly demanded, his voice carrying an urgency he himself hadn't noticed. "What is the casualty situation for the people and the army at Jialing Pass?!"
This was the last straw he clung to! If the Spirit Empire used such terrifying power to commit the atrocity of slaughtering the city and destroying the pass, causing widespread devastation, then the Spirit Empire would completely lose the hearts of the people and bear eternal infamy!
At that point, no matter how strong their military might was, their rule would be unstable, and the Heaven Dou Empire would still have a chance to gain popular support and the moral high ground!
The messenger was startled by Yu Xiaogang's sharp gaze and hurriedly shook his head, his face showing a bizarre expression mixed with fear and disbelief:
"N-no casualties! Not a single one!"
"What?!" This time, even Tang Xiao and Tang San couldn't help but gasp in shock.
Destroy a mighty pass with one strike, yet suffer zero casualties? How was this possible?!
The messenger swallowed hard, struggling to organize his thoughts, recalling the strange and terrifying scene: "The giant... the giant didn't immediately attack after it appeared... It... it seemed to... speak?"
His tone was full of uncertainty and confusion: "It wasn't a sound heard by the ears... it... it appeared directly inside all of our minds! A... a very cold, emotionless voice..."
He mimicked the voice in his mind, his tone flat and devoid of fluctuation: "All personnel on the city walls and within the pass's core defense area, evacuate within the time it takes an incense stick to burn."
The people in the hall exchanged glances, all seeing the shock and uncertainty in each other's eyes.
"At the time... everyone was terrified, but that voice was like a direct command in the soul... no one dared disobey..." the messenger continued. "Everyone scrambled desperately to run out, running toward the mountains on either side, running toward the plains behind the pass... It was chaotic, but... but everyone got out."
His face still showed lingering fear: "An incense stick's time... that was roughly how long we had, just enough time for everyone to stumble and crawl out of the city wall's range... And then... and then the giant moved... It... just like I said before... just one strike..."
The messenger's voice dropped, trembling with the relief of survival: "The pass... is gone... but the people... the people were all watching from outside the pass... They... they are all still alive..."
Silence. A deeper silence than before enveloped the entire great hall.
A single strike destroyed the world, yet it gave a warning, maintained precise control, and harmed no one!
The implication behind this made the chill in the hearts of everyone present even deeper!
What did this mean?
It meant that the blood-red giant, or rather the existence controlling the giant, possessed an astonishing, unimaginable level of precise control over its power!
It didn't even need mass killing to achieve the ultimate deterrence!
This was more terrifying than simple massacre! Because it demonstrated absolute power and... a certain indescribable 'restraint.'
This restraint was not kindness, but a condescending indifference toward the lives and deaths of ants, coupled with absolute confidence in its own power.
I don't need to rely on slaughter to establish my prestige; I just need to make you understand that I possess the power to destroy you at any moment, and that is enough.