Chapter 358: Breakthrough of the Title, Thoughts on the Ninth Soul Ring
After the livelihood reforms, the next step was to bridge the gap between nobles and commoners.
It allowed commoners to have hope of becoming nobles, and nobles to potentially fall to the status of commoners.
This balanced the situation in the original Heaven Dou Empire, where it was essentially one part meat for one part human consumption.
While managing state affairs, Sun Yu also accelerated his cultivation.
He strove to break through to Titled Douluo in the shortest possible time.
Only then could he complete the first Divine Examination task.
To speed up his cultivation, Sun Yu even consumed the second Immortal Herb that he had not absorbed before.
In an instant, with the help of the Immortal Herb, Sun Yu's Soul Power level was rapidly increasing at an extremely fast rate....
Soon, time flew by, and two more years passed in the blink of an eye.
And during these past two years, the changes on the continent were constantly occurring with each passing day.
Firstly, during these two years, Aolai Country's attack on the Star Luo Empire did not temporarily cease because Sun Yu was busy cultivating; instead, the war continued.
As for Spirit Hall, they completely ignored Aolai Country's blatant disregard for the rules.
Even though the Star Luo Empire had reported it many times, it was still useless.
Aolai Country continued its attacks.
Spirit Hall simply ignored these matters.
Therefore, under these circumstances of ebb and flow, the Star Luo Empire, within these two years,
even with the help of Tang San's Hidden Weapons,
was still conquered of a considerable amount of territory by Aolai Country.
It suffered quite severe losses.
It can be said that as of today, 60% of the Star Luo Empire's territory has been lost.
The Star Luo Empire at this moment can only use its capital, Star Luo City, as its center.
It began to form a circular defensive front.
This was the way it dealt with Aolai Country's attacks!
On the Star Luo Empire's side,
if Dai Tianyun hadn't known that Dai Mubai and his companions had embarked on the path to godhood, perhaps he wouldn't have been able to persevere for so long.
However, after two years,
Dai Tianyun, who was originally somewhat high-spirited, had his once dark hair turn gray and withered due to years of warfare and the pressure from Aolai Country.
Although only two short years had passed, Dai Tianyun, as the monarch, now looked as if he had aged more than ten years, directly jumping from middle age into old age, with his face full of the marks of time.
On the other side, in Aolai Country.
Snow Ke looked at Sun Yu, who was once again planning to wash his hands of matters, her face filled with helplessness.
"No, who exactly is the monarch, you or I? Why are you being a hands-off Shopkeeper again? How many times have you been a hands-off Shopkeeper these past few years?! Every time I ask you, you go into seclusion; every time I ask you, you go into seclusion. If you really wanted to go into seclusion, why did you establish Aolai Country in the first place?!"
After two years of honest communication,
Snow Ke had become much more casual with Sun Yu.
However, what angered Snow Ke the most was Sun Yu's frequent habit of being a hands-off Shopkeeper over the past two years.
Every time he would say he needed to go into seclusion, and then directly dump state affairs onto her.
Although cultivation was indeed a major matter, was it really alright for Sun Yu to so easily hand over state affairs to her, a mere woman, every time?!
What if something went wrong and all of Sun Yu's previous efforts were wasted?!
Therefore, every time they handed over duties, Snow Ke was extremely cautious, fearing even the slightest mishap.
But as Sun Yu's hands-off instances became more frequent,
Snow Ke's dissatisfaction was also starting to become difficult to suppress.
In response to Snow Ke's questioning, Sun Yu chuckled.
"Heh heh, Snow Ke, this is also your path of learning, isn't it? In the future, when you have children, won't you also be able to teach them well?!"
Hearing this, Snow Ke was silent for a moment, then spoke calmly.
"What, are my children not your children?!"
"Of course they are, but... in the future, I may not always be by your side, so some things, after all, you need to bear yourself. If I gave the state affairs to other nobles, what if they caused trouble? So, while all the civil and military officials are our own people, hurry up and learn. With me and all the civil and military officials here, I'm not afraid of you making mistakes!"
Hearing this, Snow Ke's expression improved considerably.
Then she lowered her head and asked,
"Then this time, how long will you be in seclusion?! Give me a time limit so I can be mentally prepared."
"This time? Not in seclusion this time..."
"Ah?! Not in seclusion?! Then what are you going to do?!"
"This time, I'm going to acquire my ninth Soul Ring!"
Hearing this, Snow Ke's pupils contracted slightly, and a look of shock slowly appeared on her face.
"Acquire your ninth Soul Ring?! You've already broken through to Titled Douluo?!"
Snow Ke asked, trembling.
"Mm, I broke through. A few days ago...."
"Then when do you plan to depart?!"
"In a few days, I suppose....."
"In a few days?! Shouldn't acquiring the ninth Soul Ring be done as soon as possible?! Why wait a few more days?"
Snow Ke asked, confused.
In response, Sun Yu chuckled.
"Heh heh, Snow Ke, the Soul Ring I'm going to acquire this time is no ordinary Soul Ring. The difficulty of acquiring it is more than ten times harder than when I hunted the Titan Giant Ape last time.
Therefore, naturally, I need to find more helpers.... And the helpers I'm looking for are basically all super powerhouses above ninety-sixth rank, so it naturally takes some time to wait for them to finish their affairs...."
"All super powerhouses above ninety-sixth rank... My goodness, are you planning to hunt a million-year Soul Beast?! You actually need such a massive lineup!"
Snow Ke listened to Sun Yu's words, speaking half-jokingly.
In response, Sun Yu chuckled.
"Oh, not bad, you actually guessed it right. My ninth Soul Ring, besides him, no other Soul Beast is worthy...."
Sun Yu looked at the distant horizon, speaking in a low voice.
Looking at Sun Yu, who was completely calm at the moment, Snow Ke's heart immediately grew even more nervous.
Finally, a thousand words transformed into a warm and simple sentence...
"Good luck..... I'll wait for you to come back....."
"...."
Three days later, Snow Ke watched Sun Yu and Dugu Bo quickly fly away into the distance.
Her face was filled with worry and nervousness.
Beside her, Dugu Yan gently patted Snow Ke's shoulder and whispered,
"Don't worry, they'll be fine...."
"Mm....."
"..."
On the other side, after leaving the capital, Sun Yu and Dugu Bo flew quickly towards the direction of Spirit Hall.
A day later, as they arrived at the Spirit City gate, they saw nine figures standing at the Spirit City gate, seemingly waiting for their arrival.
"Eighth Brother, Little Yu, you've arrived...."
As Sun Yu and Dugu Bo arrived, the leading golden-haired middle-aged man among the nine smiled and spoke.
"All the Revered Elders, Elder Ju, Elder Gui, this time, I'll be troubling you all..."
Sun Yu looked at everyone present, speaking with a solemn expression.