Chapter 250: The Establishment of the Martial Soul Empire
Yang Xiong and the others had been away from Douluo Continent for almost three years, and during these three years, the landscape of the continent had undergone significant changes.
Just like in the original story, even though the Haotian Sect had returned, the Spirit Hall still held a sect conference.
However, both the Haotian Sect and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect scoffed at this sect conference. Neither of them had any intention of participating, and of course, they didn't want to confront the Spirit Hall directly.
The Spirit Hall, on the other hand, did not care about the movements of these two major sects and continued to hold the sect conference, completely disregarding them.
As for the Body Sect, the sect was already fortified with several Title Douluo stationed within, and after the sect's construction, everything had been perfected. Various facilities were continuously being added.
Even the Thunder Gorge had begun to be utilized, mainly relying on the surrounding thunder and lightning for the disciples to use for body tempering.
The Spirit Hall had repeatedly sent Title Douluo elders to try to recruit them, even promising the top position among the top three sects.
Unfortunately, Yang Wudi's people rejected these offers, saying that the sect leader was absent and no one could make decisions in his stead.
Even though the elders sent by the Spirit Hall were displeased, the Body Sect was so powerful now, with a large number of Title Douluo, and the sect was like a fortress, making it impossible to break through from the outside.
Additionally, the Body Sect had a great relationship with the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Sword Douluo would occasionally visit the Body Sect to spar with Yang Wudi, preventing the Spirit Hall from taking any reckless actions.
In the past few years, Yang Wudi and Bai He had broken through to Title Douluo, and all five of the Body Sect's elders had reached the Title Douluo level.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Wujie, who had once been wanted by the Spirit Hall, had worked hard to train over these years and also broken through to the Title Douluo level.
Zhao Wujie, who held the titles of both an elder of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the Body Sect, would occasionally stay at the Body Sect. He greatly admired the sect, especially the body tempering method in the Thunder Gorge.
However, Zhao Wujie spent most of his time at the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. He was free to come and go as he pleased, and whenever he felt like it, he would teach Yang Lin and Sun Yu battle techniques.
The Spirit Hall's sect conference was held as scheduled, but the so-called top three sects and bottom four sects were represented by only one Title Douluo—an elder of the Spirit Hall, the Saint Dragon Douluo, Tuoba Xi.
The top three sects were the Saint Dragon Sect, Wind Sword Sect, and Black Tiger Sect, while the bottom four sects were the Rock Antelope Sect, Fire Leopard Sect, Sparrow Bee Sect, and Elephant Armor Sect.
These sects had very distinct characteristics. On one hand, they were very strong, with each sect having at least a thousand soul masters, and four of them were originally from the bottom four sects.
One of the original bottom four sects, the Elephant Armor Sect, had suffered heavy losses at the top levels, so it could only barely remain at the bottom of the four sects by relying on its loyalty to the Spirit Hall and its foundation of over a thousand disciples. This was partly because Bibi Dong valued the Elephant Armor Sect's resurrection soul masters.
It's important to note that all the members of the Elephant Armor Sect had Diamond Mammoth martial souls and specialized in defense, making them the most formidable and defensive soul master legion.
As for the establishment of the seven major sects, both the Tiandou Empire and the Xingluo Empire neither acknowledged nor opposed it. They kept silent as if they had never heard of it.
Both empires had been making preparations for war, seemingly ready to launch a massive battle at any moment.
As for the Body Sect, after Yang Xiong's careful arrangement and explanation, everyone kept a low profile, focusing on diligent cultivation within the sect. The defense of the sect was strengthened to the maximum, with the newly promoted Title Douluo Bai He personally overseeing the sect's patrols.
Although everyone scoffed at the Spirit Hall's methods of deception, they had no other option. After all, they couldn't directly go to Spirit City to compete for a position among the top three sects.
After the seven major sects were established, they jointly petitioned the Spirit Hall, inviting Bibi Dong to ascend to the throne and establish the Martial Soul Empire.
Without hesitation, Bibi Dong gathered all personnel from the Spirit Hall and recruited all the surrounding kingdoms and duchies, forming the Martial Soul Empire, with herself as the first emperor.
All the Spirit Hall sects in the two empires were shut down, and all soul masters were withdrawn, forming an extremely large and terrifying soul master army.
In terms of soul master strength, the Spirit Hall essentially controlled 60% of the soul master world with approximately 60,000 soul masters, including a large number of powerful individuals.
Even the newly formed top three sects and bottom four sects had relocated to within the Martial Soul Empire, relying on each other for survival.
Meanwhile, the Martial Soul Empire received support from all the duchies and kingdoms of the two empires, including the Kingdom of Balak, which was originally home to Shrek Academy.
Geographically, the Martial Soul Empire's location wasn't ideal, situated between the Tiandou Empire and the Xingluo Empire. However, with its powerful soul master army, it was able to deter the two empires and slowly began to expand into their territories.
Although the Xingluo Empire had enough troops, many soul master sects had moved to the Martial Soul Empire, significantly weakening their own soul master strength. They dared not launch a war recklessly.
As for the Tiandou Empire, ever since the Tiandou Palace changed, the strength of the imperial family had been severely reduced. The imperial treasury had been secretly looted by Yang Xiong, resulting in significant losses in terms of wealth, resources, and manpower.
However, the imperial family still maintained some power, gathering some noble supporters and relying on the support of the Haotian Sect and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect to barely survive the most dangerous time.
But with the Martial Soul Empire cutting off the connection between the two empires, neither Tiandou nor Xingluo could form an alliance to resist the Martial Soul Empire. Moreover, after nearly a hundred years of constant warfare between the two empires, there was deep resentment between them, making it impossible for them to unite.
In the end, the two empires could only watch as the Martial Soul Empire occupied two provinces from each of their countries.
Thus, the three great empires were now in a tripartite balance. The Martial Soul Empire, in terms of territory and land area, was no weaker than the Xingluo and Tiandou Empires.
In these years, the Martial Soul Empire's soul master strength had become too overwhelming, and relying on its influence in the soul master world, combined with the reputation of the seven major sects, it gathered all soul masters to join the Martial Soul Empire. Any soul master who refused to join was considered an heretic.
The Spirit Hall had now become a place of power, with more and more soul masters joining, including many neutral families and free soul masters.
Under the powerful influence of the Martial Soul Empire's soul master army, the Tiandou and Xingluo Empires could only watch as the Martial Soul Empire took over their two provinces. They were secretly gathering forces to prepare for rebellion.
During these two years, the two empires had accumulated over several million soldiers, especially Xingluo, which had amassed a particularly large number of troops, with over two million soldiers stationed along the border with the Martial Soul Empire.
The Tiandou Empire was slightly weaker but still had over a million soldiers stationed along the border.
In contrast, the Martial Soul Empire stationed 20,000 soul masters along the borders of both empires, along with hundreds of thousands of regular soldiers. Among the soul masters, Title Douluo-level elders were stationed, putting immense pressure on the two empires.
As for the Title Douluo of the two empires, in terms of quantity, they were not weaker than those of the Martial Soul Empire. However, these people belonged to various sects and could not possibly work together to resist the Martial Soul Empire.
Although the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect and the Haotian Sect supported the Tiandou Imperial Family, their support was limited.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect now had a large number of soul masters, estimated to be around 4,000. However, since the Spirit Hall's soul hunting operation, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect had claimed heavy losses, not showing their full strength. Their support for the Tiandou Imperial Family was limited to providing a small number of soul masters and money.
The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect also hid two newly promoted Title Douluo who had never shown their faces to the public, and no one could find any information about them.
As for the Haotian Sect, the number of soul masters was even smaller, with fewer than a thousand in total. This was after recruiting many wandering cultivators and former affiliated members.
The Haotian Sect had seven Title Douluo, and they sent one to the front line, but beyond that, there was no real soul master support.
Even if the Tiandou Imperial Family repeatedly invited them and offered great rewards, the Haotian Sect and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, while verbally expressing their full support, had taken no further action.
As for the Body Sect, their support was similarly only verbal. They sent a few dozen soul masters to the front lines, but these were not regular members and were mainly responsible for gathering intelligence. They were not under the command of the Tiandou Imperial Family, and the leader was an elder from the Min clan.
Both the Haotian Sect and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect were well aware that, as the great war was about to erupt, all sects were trying to preserve their strength, focusing on cultivation and internal improvements.
As for when the great war truly broke out, it would likely be earth-shattering and could decide life or death.
Moreover, with the Haotian Sect's past abandonment of affiliated families, no sect would truly commit all their resources.
Of course, both the Haotian Sect and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, as well as the Body Sect, were just buying time, waiting for Yang Xiong, Ning Rongrong, and the others to return, while the Haotian Sect waited for Tang San and his group to return.
Given the talents of Yang Xiong and Tang San, if they were given ten or twenty more years, they would undoubtedly become an extremely powerful force, potentially shaking the very foundations of the Spirit Hall.
Another factor was the influence of Qian Daoliu in the soul master world. As the only 99th-level Limit Douluo on the continent, no one dared imagine just how strong he really was.
Tang Hao and Tang Xiao had tried many times to confirm that the King of Slaughter was the Haotian Sect's ancestor, Tang Chen, but they had no way to deal with the current King of Slaughter. With his strength and position, the King of Slaughter was essentially invincible. Even if Tang Hao gave his all, he had no way to fight against him.
(END CHAPTER)
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