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"You've stirred up such a grand spectacle that anyone unaware of your true strength might actually think you're something special."
Wu Song flicked the blood from his fingers, as if slaughtering the Three Huang Dogs had been the simplest task in the world.
And in truth, it was.
The Three Huang Dogs had clawed their way to Titled Douluo only by crooked means, spending decades to barely break through—and their spirit power hadn't even surpassed rank ninety-three.
Compared to a normally advanced Titled Douluo, they were weaker—so weak they couldn't even match Dugu Bo, famed in the original tale as the weakest Titled Douluo.
With Wu Song now at rank ninety-nine, killing the Three Huang Dogs was easier than killing chickens.
Silence fell over the battlefield.
The Imperial Guards who had been shouting moments before froze with the same snarling expressions on their faces, yet no sound came out.
The smugness drained from Emperor Xue Ye's features, replaced by terror—raw, boundless terror.
"H–How is this possible?! How could the three of them be so weak?"
He could not accept it.
Decades of hidden preparations—so worthless in the eyes of another.
To be fair, Emperor Xue Ye himself was only a Soul King now.
Decades ago, he had likely been nothing more than a Spirit Grandmaster.
Back then, the Three Huang Dogs had skyrocketed by sinister shortcuts. Their prominence truly overshadowed the field for a time; they were figures of immense influence.
From the vantage of a Spirit Grandmaster, seeing Soul Douluo like the Three Huang Dogs was awe-inspiring.
Moreover, they had quietly removed rivals for him during the struggle for the throne, further convincing him of their might.
He never realized it wasn't that the Dogs were strong—it was that his opponents were weak.
Once on the throne, he nourished an unrealistic fantasy—
To unify the continent with the Three Huang Dogs.
Year after year, he dedicated children with spirit power to them, and indeed their strength was heaped up, layer by layer, until they reached Titled Douluo.
His political talent and vision were not in doubt, but in matters of cultivation, he was painfully naive.
He never understood that Titled Douluo vary greatly in power.
Nor did he know the Dogs' true measure.
Who would have guessed that men who were already Soul Douluo decades ago would gain so little in the span of so many years?
Emperor Xue Ye did not know that their twisted method only accelerated cultivation below the Titled realm.
Once a practitioner broke through to Titled Douluo, the method offered no blessing—only backlash.
Crooked ways are crooked ways; there is always a price.
For the Three Huang Dogs, that price was more and more children's blood.
Without enough, they couldn't even maintain their Titled Douluo realm.
Emperor Xue Ye collapsed onto his rear; his crown clattered across the stones, ringing dully.
Staring blankly at the three headless corpses, he finally grasped how laughable it was to dream of unifying the continent on the backs of the Three Huang Dogs.
"Hahahaha—lies, all lies!"
From heaven to hell in an instant—how could his mind not unravel?
The Imperial Guards, too, snapped out of their stupor. Horror twisted their faces as they scattered in a blind rout.
Wu Song sneered at the sight.
"I gave you your chance. Since you don't cherish it—die."
He raised his right arm, fist loosely clenched.
In an instant, an invisible force blanketed all of Heaven Dou City.
The fleeing Guards stumbled to a halt.
Suddenly, they felt an unbearable weight crush down upon them; with a lurch, they all toppled to the ground.
Crackle! Snap!
All at once, the city rang with the brittle chorus of shattering bones.
"M–My lord, spare us! I surrender—I surrender!"
"Yes! We surrender! Please, my lord, spare our humble lives!"
In the blink of an eye, the same Guards who had been chanting for the Three Huang Dogs were now begging for their lives at death's door.
Wu Song snorted. "I let you off once—twice, even. Remember this: I'm not in the business of letting horses go."
As he spoke, he tightened his fist. A terrifying pressure erupted.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Those pinned to the ground burst like strings of firecrackers—snuffed out in an instant.
The next moment, Heaven Dou City ran with rivers of blood. The streets turned a blinding crimson.
The stench of blood mingled with other foul odors, and Emperor Xue Ye, stunned in place, doubled over and retched.
"Urgh!"
For all the lives he had ordered taken, the scene before him churned his stomach.
He looked up; his pride—the Imperial Guards—were now nothing but scraps of flesh.
His "unstoppable army" proved, in the eyes of a true powerhouse, to be something that could be erased with a flick of the hand.
The fantasy of quantity overcoming quality was laughable in this world.
"No… I cannot die. I have not unified the continent, have not tasted true power. I cannot die!"
His whole life had been one of schemes—striving to fulfill his ambition.
But in the end, his so-called effort was merely delusion.
Now, with death staring him down, the terror within broke free.
And how could a mere Soul King possibly survive?
He had barely crawled a few steps when a figure barred his way.
A fair, jade-white foot came down and planted itself on his head.
The foot of a woman—resting on the head of the Emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire.
By chance, the surrendered soldiers and commoners of Heaven Dou saw it.
Their emperor lay underfoot like a pitiful worm, stripped of all dignity.
To save his own life, Emperor Xue Ye begged, "Spare me! Whatever you want, I will grant it. Even this throne—I'll hand it over!"
To live, he would abandon everything.
But how could the life of a single ant sway a true powerhouse?
Yun Shan glanced down at the cringing insect beneath her foot, disgust curling her lip.
"No dignity, no strength. That someone so talentless and unworthy could rule a nation… The Heaven Dou Empire must be rotten to the core."
Emperor Xue Ye knew she would not be moved. He could only pray for salvation from another source.
"Lord Sea God—why do you not show your divine presence?!"
The royal house of Heaven Dou possessed the Vast Sea Cosmic Shield of Seagod Island. To say there was no connection to the Sea God would be absurd.
After all, the shield was the key to the Sea God's inheritance—the very artifact that, in the original story, guided Tang San to Seagod Island.
And if Spirit Hall worshiped the Angel God, why shouldn't the Heaven Dou Empire secretly venerate the Sea God?
At that very moment in the God Realm, the Sea God sensed a powerful call from the mortal world.
"Oh? A summons from the lower realm? It's not Bo Saixi—then who? No matter. I was just looking for a pretext to intervene. Even if I'm discovered, Shura won't be able to pin a crime on me for this."
Before the words had faded, the Sea God split off a wisp of his divine sense and descended once more to the human world.
Riding atop Di Tian and racing toward Heaven Dou City, Lan Minghua frowned.
At the same time, an urgent voice rose from beneath his feet.
"Your Excellency—the God Realm is interfering with the mortal world."
Lan Minghua chuckled softly. "I know. An old friend. Pick up the pace toward Heaven Dou City—let's not keep him waiting."
(End of Chapter)