Time flies, the sun and moon rotate, and three years have quietly passed since the Douluo Federation was officially proclaimed on the Sun Moon Continent.
For this land that has endured so many vicissitudes, these three years have been a period of earth-shaking change. The scenes of tribal fragmentation, rampant soul beasts, and impoverished livelihoods have been greatly improved.
Under the absolute military deterrence of the three Level 99 Titled Douluo and a relatively sound institutional framework, the federal government began to operate efficiently like a precision machine.
Based on the core regions of the former Purple Blazing, Golden Sun, and Silver Moon tribes, three major provinces were delineated to serve as the core of federal governance.
The former small and medium-sized tribes were either integrated into new administrative units or retained a certain degree of autonomy as autonomous regions, but core powers such as military, diplomacy, soul master management, and soul tool technology research were reclaimed by the Federation.
A crisscrossing network of roads began to connect previously isolated settlements. The Federal Soul Master Legion regularly cleared out powerful soul beasts near major transportation lines, trade caravans became increasingly frequent, and the economy began to recover.
Soul Master Academies and Soul Tool Academies under the Ministry of Education were established in major cities, offering Martial Soul Awakening and talent testing to all children of age. As long as one possessed soul power, regardless of background, they had the opportunity to receive a systematic education.
A relatively fair mechanism for promotion and resource allocation was initially established. Although far from perfect, it had already given countless commoners hope for changing their destinies.
Purple Blazing Dragon City, now the capital of the Federation's first administrative district, has undergone changes with each passing day.
The city's scale has expanded several times over, tall Soul Tool Streetlights illuminate the streets at night, and brand-new buildings have sprung up. Among them, the most magnificent are the Federal Parliament Building and the Governor's Mansion located in the city center.
Deep within the mansion, in a spacious, bright study with simple yet extraordinary furnishings.
Yu Yuanchen put down a report on the "Progress of Popularizing New Civil Soul Tool Illuminators," gently rubbed his brow, and took a sip of the clear tea at his side.
His gaze passed through the bright glass window, looking at the federal soul masters in standard Soul Tool Armor drilling on the training ground in the distance, and the corner of his mouth could not help but reveal a smile that was helpless yet carried a hint of accomplishment.
"Unknowingly, it's already been three years..." he whispered to himself. To describe these three years as "fulfilling" would be an understatement; it was a mix of being "overwhelmed" and "constantly surprised."
Recalling the "impulsiveness" of the three of them when they decided to establish the Federation three years ago, it does seem a bit "youthful and frivolous" now.
Governing a continent is far more complex and difficult than defeating a powerful enemy a thousand times over. Countless trivial government affairs, the game of interests from all sides, the conflict between old and new concepts, the resistance in implementing systems... every single item was exhausting.
Even though they handed over most of the specific affairs to the Executive Court and the Parliament—led by Xu Yu, Zhao Hui, and Kong Ze, and composed of elites from various tribes—many major decisions concerning the fundamental direction of the Federation, resource allocation, and relations with soul beast forces still required their personal oversight.
Although the three of them did not like mundane affairs, as the highest decision-makers of the Federation, this responsibility could not be shirked.
"If I had known it would be this troublesome, I would have been better off just being a carefree traveler," Tang Chen's rough voice came from the side. He was frowning at a "Federal Soul Tool Legion Equipment Standardization Draft," and the dense data and parameters on it gave him a headache, as he was more accustomed to speaking with his hammer.
Qian Daoliu sat on the other side with a huge resource distribution map of the Sun Moon Continent spread out in front of him. He was marking something on it with a beam of soul power. Hearing this, he looked up and smiled gently: "Brother Tang is joking again. If not for this foundation, how could we gather the resources of the continent and delve into the path of soul tools? Seeing the people under our rule gradually able to live and work in peace, this sense of accomplishment is not something that being carefree can compare to."
Tang Chen snorted, though he conceded: "That's true. Seeing those little guys able to cultivate with peace of mind, without having to worry about being snatched away by soul beasts all day, is indeed not bad." He paused, then scratched his head and added: "It's just that managing things is really too tedious! It's more tiring than fighting you guys!"
Yu Yuanchen and Qian Daoliu looked at each other and smiled, deeply agreeing. For the past three years, the three of them had almost become "firefighters" and "final decision-makers," spending their time in various meetings, files, and bickering. It would be a lie to say they never complained, but whenever they saw the Federation getting on the right track bit by bit, and saw this continent radiating new life, that immense sense of accomplishment from personally creating history and changing the fate of billions of lives was enough to wash away all exhaustion.
However, the busyness of federal affairs only occupied part of their energy. What truly made their three years "incredibly fulfilling," and even at times "forgetting to eat and sleep," was another matter—their obsession with and research into soul tool technology.
With their cultivation level reaching this stage, under the suppression of the rules of the Douluo Plane, the accumulation of pure soul power and qualitative improvement had almost stagnated.
Level 99 Titled Douluo seemed to be the end for ordinary soul masters, as if there was an invisible barrier ahead, blocking the path to a higher level.
For Yu Yuanchen and the others, who were accustomed to forging ahead and constantly breaking through, this "stagnation" was unbearable.
And the emergence of soul tool technology happened to open a brand-new window for them.
This does not mean they wanted to learn how to personally craft every soul tool—that was the study of craftsmanship, not their path.
What they were interested in was the "path" represented behind soul tool technology, one that was vastly different from the pure soul master cultivation system, yet closely related, and could even be said to be an important branch and supplement to the soul master system!
The core of soul master cultivation lies in excavating one's own potential, condensing soul power, comprehending laws, and strengthening oneself.
Soul tools, on the other hand, are the crystallization of wisdom that integrates soul power, laws, materials science, energy circuits, and many other forms of knowledge, manifesting, amplifying, and universalizing them through external objects.
Studying soul tools, especially the core principles of high-level soul tools, energy conduction and conversion, and the engraving of law runes, was equivalent to allowing Yu Yuanchen and the others to re-examine their own power system—which they already knew by heart—from a brand-new, more "rational" and "structured" perspective.
"So, the violent destruction characteristic of lightning can also be guided and focused so stably and efficiently through this kind of precise rune array..." Yu Yuanchen was often immersed in the study of the space runes of his artifact "Hell Gate" obtained from the Demon Plane, as well as the energy circuits of high-level soul tools inherited from the Sun Moon Continent.
This gave him a deeper understanding of the essence of Space Law and Thunder Power, and even vaguely allowed him to draw inferences, giving him new insights into the Thunder God Position Fragment he had initially repaired.
Qian Daoliu was fascinated by the arrays in soul tools concerning energy purification, stable output, and those involving light attribute amplification.
"The essence of Angel Holy Light is purification and order, and the Radiance Array in soul tools can actually gather faint light elements into light power sufficient to dispel darkness through multiple refractions and resonances... The beauty of 'order' in this is indescribable." His Angel Domain seemed to have become more condensed and pure because of this.
Although Tang Chen was not interested in fine operations, he developed a strong interest in the forging and strengthening of soul tool materials, and how to inject violent power into soul tools in a more efficient way and carry it forward (simply put, how to make soul guidance cannons hit harder).
Studying the characteristics of various rare metals, alloy ratios, and the requirements of rune engraving for material strength made his control over "power" more meticulous and subtle, and his application of the Clear Sky Hammer's vibrational power became increasingly masterful.
It can be said that this "cross-disciplinary" research in the field of soul tools over the past three years, although it did not directly increase their soul power levels, allowed their cognition of their own power and their understanding of the laws of heaven and earth to reach a new level.
This was a consolidation of their foundation, an expansion of their horizons, and a precious accumulation for potential breakthroughs in the future.
In the quiet room, Yu Yuanchen often fell into deep thought. He thought further than Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen. He knew deeply that in the Douluo Plane, the path of the soul master was actually a "dead end."
Why do the plane laws restrict soul masters from becoming gods on their own? Is it really because the plane laws are stingy or deliberately suppressing them? Yu Yuanchen did not think so. The root cause lies in the "burden" and "imbalance" of the Douluo Plane itself.
The Douluo Plane has an extremely profound foundation, containing the legacy of the ancient Dragon Clan and even the period of the God War. The status of these legacies is extremely high, far beyond what the current plane laws can fully control and digest.
At the same time, the plane also needs to transport a massive amount of Power of Faith to the God Realm, which further exacerbates the "blood loss" of the plane's origin.
It is like a family that possesses a huge fortune (the Dragon Clan's legacy) but is poorly managed and has to constantly transfuse blood to the outside (contributing faith), naturally leaving the interior stretched thin and making it difficult to support the birth of more "super individuals" (god-level).
Therefore, the plane laws can only set an upper limit, restricting the vast majority of soul masters to below Level 100 to maintain the stability of the plane itself.
So-called becoming a god is essentially "attaching" oneself to a higher plane (the God Realm) by obtaining a "position" (God Position), thereby bypassing the restrictions of the current plane.
This is not a natural continuation of the soul master's path, but a form of "grafting."
Yu Yuanchen was not content with this. He carried the inheritance of the Thunder God Position; if he were willing, completing the trials step by step and inheriting the god position would not be difficult. But his ambition did not lie there. A First-level Deity position was far from his end goal.
What he craved was transcendence, a "self-made godhood" in the true sense, and even stepping onto a higher peak.
However, on the Douluo Plane, achieving godhood autonomously is almost impossible. The suppression of the Plane Law is an objective reality, unless one possesses a "cheat" with a status far exceeding the Plane Law to forcibly break the restrictions—like the "systems" in certain novels, but such a thought is clearly unrealistic.
His hope lies in the capabilities of the spatial divine artifact, the Hell Gate—the ability to construct coordinates leading to other planes.
Since the Douluo Plane cannot provide the soil for autonomous godhood, he must go and find a plane that allows, or even encourages, individual life forms to break through their limits.
There, he can rely on his own accumulation to Break Through the God-Level Barrier and truly complete the leap in his life level. Only by personally stepping into the Spirit-level Domain and deeply understanding the mystery of the god level will he have the confidence to scheme for strengthening, or even surpassing, a First-level Deity position.
Promoting a First-level Deity position to a God King Level is unimaginably difficult.
Yes, given time, even without the Thunder God Position, he could create a Martial God Position on his own, but that does not mean a Martial God Position plus a Thunder God Position can fuse into a God King Level.
In the original work, there are only two examples of successfully evolving a First-level Deity position into a God King Level: one is Buddha Tang, and the other is Huo Gua; yet Tang San clearly relied on draining the blood of the Douluo Plane and possessed the power of the Asura God King Position to succeed.
As for Huo Yuhao's Emotion God Position, it is said to be a First-level Deity position, but one only needs to look at the situation of Rong Nianbing to know that although the Emotion God Position appears to be only at the First-level Deity level, just look at how Rong Nianbing alone possesses a Super Divine Artifact and a large number of quasi-super divine artifacts, along with his strength performance in Legend of the Gods Realm—is it possible he is not at the God King Level?
And can the god position of a God King Level powerhouse who brought a large plane into the God Realm as a stake be a simple First-level Deity position? Even so, Huo Gua still had to absorb Chaos Power to achieve the God King Level, which shows how great the difficulty is in promoting a First-level Deity position to a God King Level without the help of God King Level external forces.
Yu Yuanchen does not have Twin Martial Souls; he has no way to mooch off another god trial to improve his aptitude and then have another martial soul to carry a second God King Level, nor can he currently obtain opportunities like the Chaos Power generated by the collision of various God Realm planes.
But he has his own path and confidence—he is walking a comprehensive path that integrates Martial Way, soul masters, and even Soul Tool Technology; his foundation is solid, and his potential is immense. He is confident he is not weaker than anyone.
But the premise for all of this is—finding a suitable set of Planar Coordinates.
And Yu Yuanchen, relying on his foresight as a transmigrator, has long locked onto a target: the Saint Demon Continent! The homeland of the Evil Eye Tyrant Lord! A plane that legend says possesses a complete cultivation system and perhaps even a Path to Godhood!
The clue lies with the Evil Eye Tyrant Lord!
However, the Evil Emperor is an extremely tough nut to crack. With nearly 800,000 years of cultivation and terrifyingly peerless Spiritual Power, even though Yu Yuanchen's strength has improved and he is confident he can suppress the Evil Emperor, the difficulty of capturing him—especially without harming his life or, more importantly, his soul memories—to force the Planar Coordinates out of him is immense.
An existence like the Evil Emperor has innate pride and would rather break than bend. If he senses that there is absolutely no chance of survival, or if he is humiliated too severely, he is very likely to choose self-detonation of his soul, perishing together with his enemy. At that point, all schemes would become empty talk.
Cooperation? Perhaps that is a path. But what bargaining chips to use, and at what timing to discuss cooperation with the Evil Emperor, requires extreme caution. The Evil Emperor is by no means an easy person to deal with; negotiating with a tiger for its skin, the slightest carelessness could lead to a Backlash.
"The timing is not yet right..." Yu Yuanchen tapped the table lightly, his gaze deep, "I still need to wait, wait for the federal foundation to be more stable, wait for my comprehension of the Power of Space to be deeper, and also wait for... a suitable opportunity."
He collected his thoughts and refocused his attention on the desk. The current priority remains consolidating the federation and improving himself. The matter of exploring other worlds requires long-term planning and a step-by-step approach.
Outside the window, the drill chants of the Federal Soul Master Legion drifted in, full of vitality and strength. Yu Yuanchen smiled slightly, his heart filled with anticipation. This new world they created with their own hands, as well as that path leading to the unknown and the peak, are all worth him pouring his heart and blood into as he forges ahead.
The road is long and arduous, but if one walks, one will arrive.
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Translated by: randomtranslator.com
Proofread by: GodKun-Chan