Chapter 252: Founding of the Spirit Empire

Yang Xiong and his companions have been away from the Douluo Continent for almost three years, and during those three years the continent's situation has changed dramatically.

Even though the Clear Sky Sect has already withdrawn, the Spirit Hall still held a sect assembly.

However, regarding this sect assembly, both the Clear Sky Sect and the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect sneered, showing no intention to attend, and of course they did not wish to confront the Spirit Hall directly.

The Spirit Hall ignored any actions by the two major sects and proceeded with the assembly, treating them as irrelevant.

As for the Body Sect, several Title Douluo were already stationed within the sect; after its development, the internal facilities have become fully refined, with countless amenities emerging.

Even Thunderclap Gorge has begun to be utilized, mainly relying on the lightning surrounding the gorge to aid disciples in Body Tempering.

The Spirit Hall repeatedly sent Title Douluo elders to recruit, even promising the top position among the three upper sects.

Unfortunately, those of Yang Wudi claimed that the Sect Leader was absent and no one could truly decide, thus refusing to participate.

Even if the arriving elders had opinions, the Body Sect's strength is now formidable, with many Title Douluo, and the sect itself is like an iron bucket, impossible to breach from outside.

Moreover, the Body Sect enjoys an excellent relationship with the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect; the Sword Douluo frequently comes to the Body Sect to spar with Yang Wudi, causing the Spirit Hall to dare not make any rash moves.

In these years, Yang Wudi and Bai He have successively advanced to Title Douluo, and all five Grand Elders of the Body Sect have reached Title Douluo rank.

Surprisingly, the Immobile Bright King Zhao Wuji, once wanted by the Spirit Hall, has diligently cultivated over the years and also broken through to Title Douluo.

Zhao Wuji simultaneously holds the titles of Outer Gate Elder of both the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect and the Body Sect; when idle, he stays at the Body Sect for a while, praising its interior, especially favoring the Body Tempering method of Thunderclap Gorge.

However, Zhao Wuji spends most of his time in the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect; he is ungoverned by anyone, free to act, and when he feels like it he teaches Yang Lin and Sun Yu combat techniques.

The Spirit Hall's sect assembly convened as scheduled, but among the so‑called three upper sects and four lower sects, there was only one Title Douluo—a Spirit Hall elder, Holy Dragon Douluo Tuoba Xi.

The three upper sects are the Holy Dragon Sect, Wind Sword Sect, and Black Tiger Sect; the four lower sects are Rock Antelope Sect, Fire Leopard Sect, Sparrow Bee Sect, and Elephant Armor Sect.

These sects have very distinct traits: on one hand, they are powerful, with at least a thousand Soul Grandmasters within each sect, and among them four are the original lower four sects.

However, the Elephant Armor Sect, one of the original lower four, suffered heavy losses among its senior members and can only rely on its loyalty to the Spirit Hall and the foundation of its original thousand disciples, barely placing it at the bottom of the lower four—a situation valued by Bibidong because of the returning Soul Masters of the Elephant Armor Sect.

It should be noted that every member of the Elephant Armor Sect possesses the martial soul of Diamond Mammoth, and excels in defense, making it the most solid, strongest‑defending Soul Master army.

As for the establishment of the Seven Great Sects, neither the Heaven Dou Empire nor the Star Luo Empire acknowledges or opposes it, showing no response at all, as if they never heard of it.

Moreover, the two great empires have been constantly preparing their troops, seemingly ready to erupt into war at any moment.

As for the members of the Body Sect, after Yang Xiong's arrangements and explanations, each of them became unusually low‑key, focusing solely on diligent cultivation within the sect and elevating its defenses to the utmost; the newly promoted Title Douluo Bai He personally oversees sect inspections.

Although they sneer at the Spirit Hall's deceptive tactics, they have no recourse; after all, they cannot simply go to Spirit City to contest the status of the three upper sects.

After the Seven Great Sects were established, they jointly petitioned the Spirit Hall, respectfully requesting Bibidong to ascend the throne and found the Spirit Empire.

Bibidong did not hesitate, gathering all former Spirit Hall personnel, and also courting all the kingdoms and duchies surrounding the Spirit Hall to establish the Spirit Empire, with herself becoming the Spirit Empire's first Emperor.

All Spirit Halls within the two great empires of the Spirit Empire were shut down, all Soul Grandmasters were recalled, and an extremely massive and terrifying Soul Master Corps was formed.

In terms of Soul Grandmaster strength, the Spirit Hall controlled roughly sixty thousand Soul Grandmasters, about sixty percent of the total power in the Soul Master World, including many elites.

Even the newly appointed three upper sects and four lower sects have all relocated within the Spirit Empire, making them interdependent like lips and teeth.

At the same time, the Spirit Empire received support from all the duchies and kingdoms of the two great empires, including the Balak Kingdom, where Shrek originally resided.

Geographically, the Spirit Empire's location is unfavorable, caught between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire, but with its powerful Soul Master Corps it can deter the two great empires and has begun to gradually expand toward them.

Although the Star Luo Empire has ample armies, many Soul Master sects have moved into the Spirit Empire, greatly reducing its own Soul Master strength and preventing it from rashly launching war.

As for the Heaven Dou Empire, since the Heaven Dou Palace Coup, the imperial family's power has been severely weakened, its treasury completely looted by Yang Xiong in secret, resulting in massive losses of wealth, resources, and manpower.

Nevertheless, the remnants of the Heaven Dou imperial house remain, and by rallying supportive nobles together with backing from the Clear Sky Sect and the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, it barely survived the most critical period.

However, because the Spirit Empire severed the two great empires' communications, they cannot form an alliance to jointly oppose the Spirit Empire; coupled with nearly a century of continuous conflict and deep grievances, they cannot achieve a unified front.

In the end, the two great empires can only watch helplessly as the Spirit Empire annexes two provinces from each of their nations.

As a result, the three great empires stand on equal footing, and in terms of territory and area, the Spirit Empire is no longer weaker than the Star Luo Empire or the Heaven Dou Empire.

During these years, the Spirit Empire's Soul Grandmaster power has become so overwhelming that, leveraging its influence in the Soul Master World and the prestige of the Seven Great Sects, it has summoned all Soul Grandmasters to join the Spirit Empire, deeming any who refuse as heretics.

At this point, the Spirit Hall can be described as cloud‑filled with the strong; although the number of Title Douluo has not increased, the counts of Soul Douluo and Soul Saint have risen considerably, and several neutral families and free Soul Grandmasters have joined the Spirit Empire.

Especially under the deterrent of the formidable Soul Grandmaster force, the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire can only watch as the Spirit Empire seizes their two provinces, quietly mustering strength to prepare resistance.

In these two years, the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire each amassed millions of troops, with the Star Luo Empire fielding especially large numbers and possessing very strong military quality, stationing over two million soldiers along the border with the Spirit Empire.

The Heaven Dou Empire is slightly weaker, yet still stations over one million troops.

In contrast, the Spirit Empire stations twenty thousand Soul Grandmasters on each of the two great empires' borders, plus several hundred thousand troops, with Title Douluo‑ranked elders stationed among the Soul Grandmasters, exerting great pressure on the two empires.

As for the two great empires' Title Douluo, numerically they are not weaker than those of the Spirit Hall, but they belong to various sects and cannot unite to oppose the Spirit Hall.

The Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect and the Clear Sky Sect both support the Heaven Dou imperial house, though their levels of support differ.

The Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect now has many Soul Grandmasters, estimated at around four thousand in total, but since the Spirit Hall's Soul Hunting Operation, it has claimed heavy losses externally, failing to demonstrate genuine Soul Grandmaster strength, and its support for the Heaven Dou imperial house is limited to a few Soul Grandmasters and money.

The Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect hides two newly promoted Title Douluo, who have never shown their faces to the world, and no one can uncover any information about them.

As for the Clear Sky Sect, its Soul Grandmaster count is even lower, with fewer than a thousand in total, though after emerging it has recruited many wandering cultivators and former affiliates.

The Clear Sky Sect does have seven Title Douluo, sending one to the front line to take charge, but beyond that there is no genuine Soul Grandmaster support.

Even if the Heaven Dou imperial house repeatedly visits and offers great rewards, the Clear Sky Sect and the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, while verbally pledging full support, take no further action.

As for the Body Sect, it also offers verbal support and dispatches dozens of Soul Grandmasters to the front line, though these are non‑regular personnel mainly tasked with intelligence gathering, not subject to the Heaven Dou imperial house's orders; leading them is an elder from the Min Clan.

Both the Clear Sky Sect and the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect are well aware that a true great war is imminent; before that, all sects strive to preserve strength while intensively cultivating and improving internally.

As for when the true great war erupts, it will truly be earth‑shattering, reaching the moment of life‑or‑death.

Moreover, given the Clear Sky Sect's past experience of abandoning its affiliated families, no sect would truly stake all its foundation.

Of course, whether it's the Clear Sky Sect, the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, or even the Body Sect, they are all buying time; the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect and the Body Sect await the return of Yang Xiong and Ning Rongrong, while the Clear Sky Sect waits for Tang San and his companions to return.

Given the talents of Yang Xiong, Tang San and the others, if they were given ten or twenty years, they would inevitably become an extremely powerful force in the future, possibly truly shaking the foundation of the Spirit Hall.

Another point is Qian Daoliu's deterrent power in the Soul Master World; as the continent's sole Level 99 Ultimate Douluo, his strength is unimaginable.

Tang Hao and Tang Xiao repeatedly probed and confirmed that the Killing King is the Clear Sky Sect's founding ancestor Tang Chen, but they have no way to deal with the current Killing King; regardless of strength or location, the Killing King is essentially invincible, even if Tang Hao exerts all his effort.

(End of Chapter)