Chapter 267: A Little Bit Short
It only took a few days for the news of Sky City taking down the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace to spread to the other major powers on the Continent.
Spirit Hall already knew, and among the remaining major powers on the Continent, besides some reclusive Sects, Star Luo Empire seemed to be the only one left.
As for Sea God Island? It's not on the Continent; it's quite a distance away! Moreover, Sea God Island generally doesn't interfere with Continental affairs unless Sea God Poseidon delivers a divine oracle; otherwise, Poseidon wouldn't bother.
As the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, Star Luo Empire certainly had spies planted within Heaven Dou City, perhaps even within the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace itself.
Such a major event naturally had to be reported. Through continuous travel by flying Spirit Masters, in less than three days, the news of Sky City's forceful usurpation of the Heaven Dou Empire was laid before Emperor Emperor Dai Tianli of the Star Luo Empire.
"Damn Sky City!"
Emperor Dai Tianli cursed under his breath, feeling terrible.
Previously, Emperor Dai Tianli felt that the Heaven Dou Empire was easy to bully, so he would occasionally launch wars against it.
Originally, the Star Luo Empire's strength was superior to the Heaven Dou Empire's. If Spirit Hall hadn't frequently positioned its Spirit Master legions along the Star Luo Empire's border during conflicts between the two Empires, perhaps the Star Luo Empire would have already annexed the Heaven Dou Empire.
However, with Supreme Pontiff Bibi Dong's ascension in Spirit Hall, she changed the previous biased stance, becoming more aggressive, almost to the point of personally intervening. Bibi Dong's methods were far more formidable than those of the former Supreme Pontiff Qian Xunji and the former former Supreme Pontiff Qian Daoliu.
Moreover, Bibi Dong's ambition was not small, and after Spirit Hall exposed over twenty Titled Douluo, Emperor Dai Tianli also felt immense pressure. He had considered uniting the Heaven Dou Empire, Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, and Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan to form a Star Dou Alliance to jointly resist Spirit Hall.
Unfortunately, Emperor Xue Ye at that time believed that not only was Spirit Hall not a good thing, but the Star Luo Empire was also the same, so he refused.
Emperor Dai Tianli never expected that Spirit Hall hadn't even made a move yet! Sky City had already taken down the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.
This made Emperor Dai Tianli feel even greater pressure on his shoulders. With one of the two Empires gone, plus the Clear Sky Sect already being annihilated, it meant that in the future, only the Star Luo Empire, Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, and Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan could contend with Spirit Hall and Sky City.
At this moment, Emperor Dai Tianli still didn't know that these two families had also joined Sky City, leaving only the Star Luo Empire as the sole stumbling block to unifying the entire Douluo Continent.
"Hmm, should I take advantage of Sky City's unstable footing and make a move?"
Suddenly, this thought popped into Emperor Dai Tianli's mind.
"No, no, if I can think of it, others surely can too."
Soon, Emperor Dai Tianli extinguished this thought. If his mind could conceive of this, there was no reason Sky City couldn't.
Emperor Dai Tianli had some self-awareness regarding his strategies. When he emerged victorious among the Star Luo princes and ultimately ascended as Emperor of Star Luo, he relied not on his intellect but on his Titled Douluo strength.
While it couldn't be said that his mind was solely muscle, it wasn't far off.
The combined forces of Sky City and Spirit Hall had exposed over thirty Titled Douluo. Let alone the Star Luo Empire alone, even if all other forces on the Continent united their Titled Douluo, they wouldn't have that many.
If it were other forces, merely relying on marital relations wouldn't be a big deal; it's quite normal for relatives to stab each other in the back and fight fiercely.
However, the marital relationship between Sky City and Spirit Hall was extraordinary. Spirit Hall's controllers currently included two individuals: High Priest Qian Daoliu and Supreme Pontiff Bibi Dong.
And Qian Renxue was their granddaughter and daughter. The key was that both had no sons, with Qian Renxue being their only descendant, making this marital bond very strong.
If the wife's family has no heir, then what about the property? It will definitely belong to the son-in-law in the future! Even if Spirit Hall and Sky City merged one day, Emperor Dai Tianli wouldn't be too surprised.
Therefore, the Star Luo Empire dared not snatch food from the tiger's mouth.
In fact, Emperor Dai Tianli inadvertently made the right decision. Fortunately, he didn't send troops; otherwise, he would have surely suffered a defeat this time.
After Wang Teng gave each of the five individuals he had acquired from Qian Daoliu a Spirit Bone, their spirit power levels all broke through to Rank 90. Wang Teng immediately took them to the sea to acquire their Ten-thousand Year ninth spirit ring.
Regardless of whether these Ten-thousand Year Sea Soul Beasts were compatible with their own Spirits, as long as the attributes didn't conflict, they were definitely stronger than spirit rings below Ten-thousand Years, as they were of a different caliber.
Moreover, when attaching spirit rings below Ten-thousand Years, although the Spirit Bone drop rate significantly increases with higher Spirit Beast years, it's merely a higher drop rate. It's not like Ten-thousand Year Spirit Beasts, which have a 100% Spirit Bone drop rate.
If no Spirit Bone dropped after attaching a ninth spirit ring below Ten-thousand Years, they could only reach Rank 91 Titled Douluo.
And after advancing to Titled Douluo, due to the limitations of their inherent talent, these five individuals would at most reach Rank 92 to 93, unable to advance further.
But if they hunted a Ten-thousand Year Spirit Beast, they would start as Rank 93 Titled Douluo, because they would have not only a Ten-thousand Year spirit ring but also a Ten-thousand Year Spirit Bone.
Furthermore, with the talent bonus brought by the Ten-thousand Year spirit ring and Spirit Bone, they even had the potential to become Super Douluo above Rank 95 in the future.
After the five broke through to become Titled Douluo, along with Gu Rong and Fang Quan of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, Hu Yantai of the Elephant Armored Academy, Yu Jingtian of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and Dugu Bo, a total of ten Titled Douluo were stationed at the ten major legions' bases, and then the reorganization of the various legions began.
Receiving these ten legions naturally required adjustments. Previously, many high-ranking officers in the various legions had surrendered, and with the addition of many members from the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan, and Elephant Armored Academy, the combat power of these ten legions, once reorganized, was even greater than before.
As for Natya and the others, Wang Teng was also aware that the Star Luo Empire would certainly know about the movements on the Heaven Dou side. All preparations were made; as long as Star Luo sent troops, they would use teleportation tokens to teleport to the border cities and deliver a head-on blow.
As long as Star Luo dared to send troops, they would definitely not return.
On the Continent, who issued the subsidies for low-level Spirit Masters? Spirit Hall did, but where did this money come from? It certainly didn't come from Spirit Hall's own pocket, as Spirit Hall's direct territory wasn't large, and it also had many Spirit Master legions to support, so its finances were very tight.
Therefore, these gold coins naturally came from the two great Empires, as well as the various subordinate kingdoms and duchies' appropriations.
But why should Spirit Hall be the good guy when they were the ones paying? Naturally, it was because Spirit Hall's fist was big enough!
And now, Sky City's fist was even bigger than Spirit Hall's. If the Star Luo Empire dared to send troops, even if Sky City needed to digest the Heaven Dou Empire's territory, it would still heavily extort the Star Luo Empire.
Although Wang Teng wasn't short on money, after taking control of the Heaven Dou Empire, he began to worry about gold coins for future large-scale development.
The Elephant Armored Academy and Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon were both poor, and while the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School was wealthy, it was only relatively so. Moreover, Wang Teng didn't intend to make his subordinates pay; he wasn't that unprincipled.
The money earned by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School was more than enough to support thousands of Spirit Masters, making Ning Fengzhi a renowned magnate on the Continent.
But this didn't mean that the money earned by the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School could compare to the Heaven Dou Empire's fiscal revenue, as their scales were not on the same level.
However, although the Heaven Dou Empire had a large annual fiscal revenue, its various expenses were also high, so when spread out, there wasn't much left.
Thus, Wang Teng raised his butcher's knife and swung it at the corrupt nobles with notorious records. The feast of harvesting began.
Under Sky City's absolute military might, many corrupt nobles were raided and their property confiscated daily, filling the national treasury to serve as future development funds.
As for the cities within the Heaven Dou Empire that had not yet been taken, Wang Teng planned to act after the ten major legions were reorganized.
However, Wang Teng didn't need to worry too much about these matters. For political affairs, he shifted the responsibility to Ning Fengzhi, and for military affairs, he directly shifted it to Natya and her team.
As for Wang Teng, he returned to Sky City, on one hand, to oversee the 'important criminals' held there, and on the other hand, to strengthen his spirit power control training.
After entering Titled Douluo, Wang Teng had advanced to Rank 98 Titled Douluo in a short period. After this period of training, he believed it wouldn't be long before he could attempt to condense his third Soul Core.
To condense his third Soul Core as soon as possible, Wang Teng had saved all the Lord Origin obtained from the dungeon every day during this period, without adding any points to his Spirit Bones and spirit rings.
After all, once the years of Spirit Bones and spirit rings were increased, the total spirit power would surge again, making control more difficult.
Condensing the third Soul Core was already difficult. If he were to add points while controlling his spirit power, it would probably take at least two years.
Once Sky City took control of the entire Heaven Dou Empire, as a new Empire, it certainly couldn't retain the name Heaven Dou. Wang Teng had already decided on this; it would be called Glory Empire.
The name was taken from Wang Teng's own title, and it also symbolized the Radiance of the Angel lineage shining across the entire Douluo Continent, especially since his wife's family had contributed significantly.
Wang Teng planned to establish the Glory Empire after gaining control of the entire Heaven Dou Empire, and then incorporate its four subordinate kingdoms and one duchy.
After these were completed, he would then annex the Star Luo Empire, and finally swallow Spirit Hall whole, thereby completing the great endeavor of unifying the Douluo Continent.
Wang Teng's name was destined for emperorship; otherwise, Wang Teng felt he wouldn't live up to his own name.
Although the Emperors on the Douluo Continent were a tiny bit inferior to the Emperors from countless other realms, they were still Emperors, which was pretty sweet.
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(End of this chapter)