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"Report! Y-Your Majesty, a Titled Douluo from the Tianlong Gang is storming the palace!"
At that moment, a blood-soaked imperial guard stumbled into the hall, half-crawling, half-falling.
Emperor Xue Ye's pupils contracted sharply. He leapt to his feet, cursing furiously.
"What are you all good for? So many soldiers, and you can't even stop a single Titled Douluo?!"
In his mind, the entire army of the Heaven Dou Empire should have been enough to rival several Titled Douluo.
Otherwise, how could the empire possibly stand against both the Star Luo Empire and Spirit Hall, dividing the continent into three?
With such supposed power, how could one Titled Douluo from the Tianlong Gang break through?
What he did not understand was that Heaven Dou's position on the continent rested only on Spirit Hall's caution toward the Upper Three Sects.
That "caution" was not out of fear—it was simply that Spirit Hall did not wish to bleed too much in achieving victory.
Xue Ye's gaze grew darker, his face twisting with ferocity at the report.
"Good. Very good, Tianlong Gang. Do you truly take my empire for nothing more than a puppet hiding behind the Upper Three Sects? Then you underestimate me far too much!"
Suddenly, a smile crept onto his face—one that had nothing to do with his usual benevolent mask. It was twisted, evil, and chilling.
The three instructors of Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, standing to the side, were startled by the emperor's sudden change of demeanor.
Before Baoshan and the others could recover from their shock, Xue Ye's voice rang in their ears.
"Honored instructors, the moment of life and death for our Heaven Dou Empire has come. Now is the time for you to sacrifice yourselves for the greater good."
Meng Shenji, Bai Baoshan, and Zhi Lin had never once considered fleeing.
They took pride in the empire and were ready to live and die alongside it.
With a solemn face, Xue Ye cupped his hands toward them. "I beg you three, strengthen my Heaven Dou Empire with your sacrifice!"
The three exchanged glances, seeing only resolve in each other's eyes.
They bowed in unison, declaring, "For the Heaven Dou Empire, we are willing—"
But before the words left their lips, three dry, pale hands pierced their chests with wet tearing sounds.
Unprepared, the three were struck fatally.
Bai Baoshan and Zhi Lin did not even have time to scream before they collapsed, dead.
Meng Shenji, the strongest among them, possessed the Black Demon martial spirit, giving him tenacious vitality. Though mortally wounded, he still clung to life.
Clutching the hand through his chest, he turned his head with effort—
And saw three figures.
They were gaunt, bamboo-thin, with withered faces, sunken eyes, and bloodthirsty expressions.
Recognition jolted Meng Shenji. His pupils shrank violently as he gasped, "Impossible… You are the Huang Family's Three Dogs?!"
Eldest Huang Da, second Huang Er, and third Huang San.
Each bore canine martial spirits, hence the infamous moniker.
Decades ago, they were already Spirit Douluo powerhouses, once hailed as peerless geniuses.
But they were also notorious evil soul masters, wanted across the continent.
Their method of cultivation was monstrous: feeding on the blood and vitality of children with innate soul power, doubling their training speed.
They grew so bold that they preyed even upon the academies of the empire and Spirit Hall.
Eventually, they were hunted across the land, forced to vanish without a trace.
Only one place could have harbored them—
The City of Slaughter, the paradise of evil soul masters.
Everyone had assumed that was where the Three Dogs had disappeared.
Never had Meng Shenji imagined they had been hidden all along within the Heaven Dou Empire itself, unnoticed.
Suddenly, the realization struck him. He looked up at Xue Ye in disbelief, his lips trembling.
"Y-Your Majesty… Could it be you who sheltered them?!"
Only the emperor himself could have hidden them so deeply within the royal family.
Before Xue Ye could reply, Huang Da spoke behind him.
"Jie jie jie… Clever guess. If not for him, our brothers would indeed have had no choice but the City of Slaughter."
Huang Da's scarlet tongue slid over his lips. "Who would have thought, the neglected prince of Heaven Dou back then would dare to shelter us three?"
Meng Shenji shook his head violently, muttering, "Impossible… His Majesty could never be that kind of man."
But Huang Da suddenly drove his arm deeper.
With a sickening rip, his shriveled hand thrust another twenty centimeters forward, spilling fresh blood across the floor.
Meng Shenji coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Huang Da's mocking voice whispered at his ear. "Impossible? Why impossible? Without our help, how could that forgotten prince have ever become emperor?"
Rage burned through Meng Shenji. For years he had been deceived. The kindly emperor was nothing but a mask.
"You damned evil soul masters… Even if I die, I won't let you have your way! Don't forget, I am still a Spirit Douluo!"
Summoning his last strength, he roared his ultimate soul skill:
"Eighth Soul Skill—Black Demon Phantasm!"
A domain ability—it warped the senses of all within its field, plunging them into nightmares where allies tore each other apart.
But Huang Da sneered, unfazed. "Come now. After so many years in the palace, do you think I don't know your tricks? And tell me—when did you ever believe I was merely a Spirit Douluo?"
His nine soul rings blazed forth—yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black.
Meng Shenji was instantly crushed under the pressure, his soul skill extinguished before it could form.
"Nine rings… Titled Douluo?! Heaven itself is blind!"
Despair swallowed him. He had no way out.
Huang Da laughed wildly. "Jie jie jie! Blind indeed! If not for decades of children delivered to us by Xue Ye as fodder, we might never have broken through to Titled Douluo!"
At his words, Huang Er and Huang San cackled, releasing their own soul rings.
Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black.
Twenty-seven soul rings illuminated the hall, their crushing aura suffocating Meng Shenji.
"All three of you… Titled Douluo?! How many children have you slaughtered?!"
He could not bear to imagine the number of innocent lives consumed by these monsters.
But he was powerless, no more than meat on the chopping block.
Without pause, Huang Da tore his body apart.
The lone guard who had witnessed it all was so terrified he had lost control of his bowels.
The Three Dogs casually swatted him into pulp.
Then Huang Da turned to Xue Ye. "Boy, remember our bargain."
Expressionless, Xue Ye replied, "Naturally. Only with your aid can I unify the continent. Take as many children as you wish."
"Jie jie jie… As expected of you, Xue Ye. Such boldness! You are destined for greatness. Now, let's see what this Tianlong Gang is made of!"
Their laughter echoed as they vanished in a storm of blood-red wind.
Xue Ye strode from the palace, eager to witness the first step in Heaven Dou's conquest of the continent.
Yet even now, he had no idea what upheaval was already brewing within the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
At the same time, elsewhere—Wu Song rampaged through Heaven Dou's loyalist army.
Boom!
One punch obliterated a swath of men. His tiger eyes swept the trembling soldiers around him.
"I'll give you one last chance. Surrender now—or die without mercy!"
(End of Chapter)