On a bright and pleasant morning, Chen Ming left Spirit City after staying there for nearly a year, accompanied by Dugu Bo, Qian Renfeng, and two veteran Spirit Douluo from Spirit Hall.
Although he strongly wished to return to his hometown to see how it was faring and how Old Jack's health was, Chen Ming first needed to make a stop at the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire to manifest his presence and stance. Only after that could he return to manage his territory, which had expanded dozens of times over.
While at Spirit Hall, Chen Ming had received letters and compared them with maps; his current territory was roughly equivalent to an entire province within the two great empires.
The terrain within the territory was flat and the soil exceptionally fertile, making it prosperous in both commerce and agriculture. It was considered one of the most bountiful lands on the Douluo Continent.
This was only possible because the Douluo Continent was a high-fantasy world where the strong could face a thousand—or even ten thousand—alone; without sufficiently powerful Spirit Masters, it was difficult to decide the outcome of a war. Otherwise, in any other world, such a location would be a strategic prize that military commanders fought over—whoever held it would have the potential to claim the central plains.
(PS: In the Douluo Continent era, even powerful experts could eventually be overwhelmed by armies. An ordinary Titled Douluo was roughly equivalent to a ten-thousand-man army. Even Bibi Dong, after having her divine power exhausted by Tang San and Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo, did not dare charge directly into an army.)
It would be a pity not to develop such a wonderful place properly. Conveniently, he had already reproduced the manufacturing methods for various industrial and daily goods long ago, but he hadn't had the opportunity to implement them until now.
Now was the perfect time to find a window to leave these technologies in his territory for robust development.
...
In this era, the ability to fly was still something rare and prestigious. Although Dugu Bo could briefly fly thanks to his dragon-type Martial Soul and Level 94 cultivation, his flying speed was not particularly fast. As for the two Spirit Douluo, they were effectively stuck traveling on foot.
After several days of travel, the group finally arrived outside Heaven Dou City, the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire.
Qian Renfeng and the two Spirit Douluo-level Spirit Hall bishops concealed themselves in the shadows, while Dugu Bo brought Chen Ming into Heaven Dou City.
As a royal guest elder of the Heaven Dou Empire, Dugu Bo possessed his own identification token. After showing it to the imperial palace guards and verifying his identity, it did not take long before Emperor Xue Ye and Prince Xue Xing arrived at the palace gates surrounded by large numbers of soldiers.
Upon seeing Dugu Bo, who now looked as youthful as a man in his prime, along with the gentle-faced Chen Ming beside him, Emperor Xue Ye's body suddenly twitched as though he were having a seizure. It took tremendous effort for him to suppress his trembling, though he could not suppress the smile stretching across his face.
Waving away the guards around him, he hurried toward the two of them.
"Excellency Dugu, and... Duke Chen. The two of you truly made me worry for so long." Xue Ye grabbed their hands tightly, his voice overflowing with uncontrollable excitement.
"Come, come, both of you follow me into the palace. Today, I shall absolutely hold a grand banquet so the entire empire may celebrate that such extraordinary talents have appeared within my Heaven Dou Empire!"
As Emperor of the Heaven Dou Empire, Xue Ye usually referred to himself with imperial dignity, even when speaking to his own brother, Prince Xue Xing.
But in front of Chen Ming and Dugu Bo, the expression on Xue Ye's face was incomparably warm and friendly. The imperial bearing he usually maintained had long since been thrown far away, and he now looked as excited as the young man he had been when he first ascended the throne.
If not for the small amount of dignity he still needed to preserve, Xue Ye might have directly hugged them already.
"Greetings, Your Majesty."
"Greetings, Your Majesty."
Dugu Bo and Chen Ming responded politely. But before they could say anything further, Xue Ye immediately waved his hand dismissively and said carelessly:
"My dear ministers, why bother with such formalities? Come with me."
Xue Ye personally led the way, bringing Chen Ming and Dugu Bo into the imperial palace and into the inner hall where he usually handled state affairs.
Xue Ye sat in the main seat. Prince Xue Xing voluntarily gave up the seat on the left and instead sat in the first seat on Xue Ye's right. Numerous attendants stood solemnly along both sides of the hall as guards maintained watch.
Originally, Xue Ye had intended for Dugu Bo to sit in the first seat. However, Dugu Bo instead pushed Chen Ming forward to sit in the first seat on Xue Ye's left, while he himself calmly sat in the second seat.
Seeing this, both Emperor Xue Ye and Prince Xue Xing were deeply shocked.
Although the Douluo Continent lacked many historical idioms and traditions, strangely enough, some customs and expressions were still identical or similar. For example, this world also regarded the left side as more honorable. The Left Prime Minister held higher status than the Right Prime Minister, and a minister seated at the monarch's left-hand first seat was naturally considered closer and more respected than one seated on the right.
Allowing Dugu Bo and Chen Ming to sit on the left side was meant to show closeness. But Dugu Bo giving the first seat on the left to Chen Ming while placing himself in the second seat clearly meant that Dugu Bo believed he himself was now inferior to this junior.
This no longer seemed to be mere favor or closeness…
No matter how talented or favored Chen Ming was, Dugu Bo was still a genuine Titled Douluo, while Chen Ming was only a child. Their age and cultivation differed enormously. Even accounting for reputation, this level of treatment was excessive.
"Why hasn't the Crown Prince arrived yet?" As if trying to ease the awkwardness, Prince Xue Xing, seated in the first seat on the right, raised his cup toward Chen Ming with an awkward smile before shifting the topic toward the Crown Prince.
"Indeed, Qinghe is being somewhat slow," Xue Ye frowned, feeling that something was indeed off.
Among all his children, Xue Qinghe was both the one who caused him the most worry and the one who caused him the least.
As someone experienced in political struggles, Xue Ye naturally knew full well that the deaths of the other princes were connected to Xue Qinghe.
But because Xue Qinghe's displayed ability and personal charisma were both exceptional—sufficient to become an even better emperor than himself—Xue Ye had chosen to turn a blind eye. He had named Xue Qinghe Crown Prince while continuing to test him.
And Xue Qinghe's performance had indeed been excellent. Aside from appearing somewhat soft-hearted at first, overly sympathetic toward commoners, and insufficiently mature when dealing with nobles, he had now become the perfect heir to the throne. It had been a long time since he had given Xue Ye any trouble.
Logically speaking, after receiving the news, Xue Ye had already sent people to summon Xue Qinghe immediately. But now that everyone was seated and the attendants had already begun serving food, Xue Qinghe still had not arrived. That was truly rather slow.
"Perhaps His Highness the Crown Prince encountered some matter and was delayed?" Chen Ming smiled gently.
"Perhaps." Xue Ye nodded and stopped worrying. He turned to look at Chen Ming, sizing up this "greatest genius in ten thousand years" of the Douluo Continent, contemplating how to begin his inquiry.
He truly wanted to know why Chen Ming, who came from the Heaven Dou Empire, had not first reported a revolutionary cultivation method like the Douluo Heart Method to the Heaven Dou Empire after developing it.
Even if he wanted to improve relations with Spirit Hall, why couldn't the method have been named the Heaven Dou Heart Method? Why did it specifically have to include the "Luo" from their old rival, the Star Luo Empire?
The name Heaven Dou Heart Method sounded so much better.
Even if it had nothing to do with him as the Emperor, having it said aloud would surely make the people of Heaven Dou more excited than Douluo Heart Method, wouldn't it? Perhaps he could have even garnered extra praise in history books because of it.