162: Chapter 162 Martial Soul Empire

One year later.

The news of the destruction of the Clear Sky Sect and the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan had long since spread across the continent.

As for the emerging power known as the Tang Sect, few people paid it any mind.

The Clear Sky Sect, which had been in seclusion for many years, was the last to be discovered as having met with disaster.

Initially, Tang Yuehua returned to the Sect to transport supplies, only to be shocked to find that the Sect had long since been annihilated.

Although she did not make it public, the news of the Clear Sky Sect's destruction spread like wildfire not long after.

Although there was no concrete evidence pointing to Spirit Hall regarding the destruction of these major powers, everyone in the world understood it tacitly.

Looking at the entire continent, only Spirit Hall possessed the strength to annihilate the Upper Three Sects.

As people discussed this, they couldn't help but wonder: why was the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, also one of the Upper Three Sects, able to remain unscathed?

Most people speculated that they had probably secretly submitted to Spirit Hall long ago, and this was indeed confirmed not long after.

Shortly after the news of the Clear Sky Sect's destruction spread, Spirit Hall announced to the world that it would convene a conference to re-elect the Seven Great Sects.

The re-election conference concluded rapidly; the new head of the Upper Three Sects was naturally the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, and the other two were the Elephant Armored Academy and the Sacred Dragon Sect.

The newly promoted Lower Four Sects were the Black Tiger Sect, Wind Sword Sect, Fire Leopard Sect, and Rock Antelope Sect respectively.

With the public support of these new Seven Great Sects, the Spirit Empire was officially declared established.

The Empire's territory was formed by merging several kingdoms and duchies that had long since submitted to Spirit Hall, and the first Emperor was naturally the Supreme Pontiff Ji Xuan.

Spirit Hall still existed and became the state religion of the Empire, with Ji Xuan entrusting it to Qian Renxue to manage.

It is worth mentioning that because Qian Renxue's strength was far superior to the original when she began her divine trials, her progress was rapid, and she had now advanced to the sixth trial.

During this year, Ji Xuan regularly visited the Elder Hall, his main purpose being to carefully investigate whether there were any anomalies in the divine trial process.

After all, he had offended the Sea God and had to guard against any tampering during the divine trials.

However, as of now, no abnormalities had been discovered.

The Empire had been established for three months, but Ji Xuan was not in a hurry to wage war externally; instead, he first issued two decrees.

The first decree: those who are not citizens of the Spirit Empire would no longer enjoy free Spirit Awakening services, and all Spirit Hall branches within the territories of the two great Empires were to be closed, with all personnel withdrawn into the Empire.

Ji Xuan knew that the vast majority of commoners would not remember Spirit Hall's consideration for them; their allegiance would always remain with their own Empire.

Since that was the case, why should he continue to waste the Empire's resources on those ignorant people?

The second decree issued by Ji Xuan was the cancellation of the Spirit Master subsidy, but new Spirit Hall branches would be built in every city within the Spirit Empire, where Spirit Masters belonging to the Empire could receive the subsidy as usual, with all expenses fully covered by the Empire.

Although this expenditure was extremely huge, relying on the resources of the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well and the Breaking Clan, the wealth Ji Xuan had accumulated was already an astronomical figure, sufficient to support this expenditure.

Once these two decrees were issued, the commoner class of the two great Empires was completely shaken.

Spirit Awakening was their only way to change their destiny and achieve social mobility.

And the Spirit Master subsidy was the economic source that many commoner Spirit Masters relied on for survival.

Some people tried to gather to protest but were blocked outside the border by the Imperial army.

Other commoners turned their resentment towards their own Imperial families, demanding they fulfill their obligations to provide Spirit Awakening for the commoners and continue issuing subsidies.

However, the royal families and aristocratic classes of the two great Empires turned a deaf ear to this.

The aristocracy had always been wary of powerful Spirit Masters rising from among the commoners.

And although the Spirit Master subsidy was implemented by Spirit Hall, the funds had to be allocated from the Empire's treasury.

Now that Spirit Hall had withdrawn, the Empire could actually save a huge amount of expenditure, so they were naturally happy to see it happen.

As time went by, seeing that there was little hope, more and more commoners began to move their families to the Spirit Empire.

Some Spirit Masters also began to choose to defect to the Spirit Empire.

...

Spirit City, inside the Imperial Palace.

This Imperial Palace was magnificent and brand new, standing adjacent to the Supreme Pontiff Palace.

Inside the main hall, Ji Xuan, dressed in a black and gold dragon robe, sat on the dragon throne.

Beside him sat Shui Binger.

Ji Xuan did not discriminate; both Qian Renxue and Shui Binger were Empresses, residing in the East Palace and West Palace respectively.

At this moment, the atmosphere in the hall was solemn, with civil and military officials standing on both sides.

"Feng Xiaotian." Ji Xuan's tone was calm but carried a sense of majesty.

"Your subject is here." Feng Xiaotian stepped forward and bowed.

"I appoint you as the General of the Northern Expedition, overseeing the war in the Heaven Dou direction. I grant you five thousand Spirit Master legions and fifty thousand regular troops."

The Heaven Dou Empire was already in the pocket of Spirit Hall; the court had long since been infiltrated like a sieve, and eight or nine out of ten were people from Spirit Hall.

Sending this amount of troops was just to put on a show; after all, one could not let the Heaven Dou Empire surrender and merge into the Spirit Empire without any resistance, as that would easily cause unrest among the Heaven Dou populace.

"This subject accepts the decree!" Feng Xiaotian bowed his head to accept the order, his eyes burning with Battle Intent.

Ji Xuan's gaze turned to the other side of the hall: "Yue Guan, Gui Mei."

"Your subjects are here." Yue Guan and Gui Mei stepped forward simultaneously.

"The Star Luo Empire direction is entrusted to you two. I grant you twenty thousand Spirit Master legions and two hundred thousand regular troops."

The Star Luo Empire's army was strong, and these forces might not be enough.

But there would be two Elder Hall Elders accompanying them; they did not want to command the war, but only to strike at critical moments to ensure the smooth advance of the army.

Yue Guan and Gui Mei bowed and replied: "Your subjects obey the decree!"

"Court dismissed."

Ji Xuan flicked his sleeves and rose from his seat, with Shui Binger following closely behind, and the two figures disappeared into the depths of the main hall.

...

Spirit Hall's conquest had begun.

In just one month, one-third of the Heaven Dou Empire had fallen.

With three Titled Douluo, Feng Xiaotian and the Huo Wu siblings, the Heaven Dou Empire had no ability to resist at all and eventually had to open the city gates and surrender.

And the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School, which the Heaven Dou Empire had originally relied on, had also defected to the Spirit Empire early on; at this time, Ning Fengzhi and Sword Douluo were in the army conquering Star Luo.

...

Inside the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, the once solemn main hall was now shrouded in a depressing atmosphere.

Civil and military officials were lined up on both sides, most of them looking anxious, yet there was little genuine concern for the country and the people in their eyes.

Only a few elderly officials with white hair and beards looked sorrowful and indignant; they were the few remaining loyal officials of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family, and at this moment, they were looking at the figure on the throne with burning anxiety.

"My lords," Xue Qinghe frowned, "The Spirit Empire's army is pressing on the border. Within a month, one-third of our territory has fallen.

There are three Titled Douluo sitting in the enemy army; our troops cannot resist, and Marshal Ge Long has already sacrificed himself for the country. I wonder if you have any countermeasures?"

As his voice fell, the main hall fell into a dead silence.

At this moment, an official from the Spirit Hall faction stepped forward: "Your Majesty, if the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School were still here, we might still be able to resist.

But now that they have defected to the Spirit Empire, we have no Titled Douluo to hold the line. Continuing to resist will only increase casualties in vain.

For the safety of the common people and the soldiers, why not... surrender."

Once these words were spoken, the ministers planted by Spirit Hall echoed him one after another.

Even the officials who were originally loyal to the Imperial Family could only remain silent and bow their heads, looking unwilling.

They were unwilling to surrender, but what else could they do? Did they really have to wait until the Spirit Empire's troops reached the Imperial City?

However, there were still one or two people in the hall who firmly opposed it, but with the strength of only two people, they could not turn the tide.

In the end, the court deliberation passed: surrender.

Just like that, Xue Qinghe handed over the letter of surrender and the Imperial Seal.

The Heaven Dou Empire was, from then on, incorporated into the territory of the Spirit Empire.