Chapter 296: The Battle Erupts

Jialing Pass, the primary front battlefield of the Heaven Dou Empire and the Spirit Empire, is also universally recognized as the decisive battlefield.

Since the Spirit Empire was founded, in recent years it has been fighting on two fronts, simultaneously confronting the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire, and is extremely powerful.

Initially, the Spirit Empire absorbed all the subordinate duchies of the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire, and after occupying two provinces of the Two Great Empires, its territory was no longer smaller than that of the Star Luo Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire, but because its army had been trained for a relatively short time, the total force was only a little over one million.

Emperor Xue Ye and Emperor Xing Luo Da Di arranged an alliance; although the Spirit Empire sent Title Douluo to launch a surprise attack, the Three Great Sects were already prepared, and Bone Douluo, Tang Zhan, and Niu Gao led the Soul Grandmasters of their sects to repel the Spirit Empire's raid, even inflicting casualties and losses on the Spirit Empire.

Since Emperor Xue Ye and Emperor Xing Luo Da Di met, they have confirmed that the Two Great Empires will cooperate, jointly confronting the Spirit Empire, and the Two Great Empires launched attacks on the Spirit Empire simultaneously.

The Heaven Dou Empire's battlefield is Jialing Pass, while the Star Luo Empire's is the Heavenly Gate Pass several thousand li away; with both Empires attacking at once, the Spirit Empire cannot attend to both fronts.

The Spirit Empire likewise dispatched troops, making different arrangements for the two battlefields.

When responding to the Star Luo's offensive, it sent a large army to directly guard Heavenly Gate Pass, and also deployed a corps of ten thousand Soul Grandmasters plus several hundred thousand troops to fortify the gateway.

Heavenly Gate Pass is easy to defend but hard to assault, and although the Star Luo Empire's military strength is formidable, it lacks genuine Title Douluo‑level experts; with both sides together fielding millions of troops, they can only attack each other, unable to truly decide the outcome.

The Spirit Empire did not send Title Douluo to garrison Heavenly Gate Pass; instead it dispatched a large number of elite Soul Douluo, which can also ensure the checkpoint is not lost.

In contrast, the situation at Jialing Pass is countless times more difficult.

With the support of the Three Great Sects, the Heaven Dou Empire has a large number of Title Douluo, especially as Emperor Xue Ye personally leads an expedition, rallying the major sects to assist the Heaven Dou Empire and promising great rewards, thereby maximizing the Empire's strength.

Just in terms of Title Douluo, nearly ten are heading to Jialing Pass, including Tang San, Tang Hao, and Tang Xiao from the Clear Sky Sect, totaling six Title Douluo.

The Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect also sent two Title Douluo, namely Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo, as well as Ning Fengzhi, the continent's top Support Soul Master. The Body Sect likewise dispatched four Title Douluo, plus the group led by Feng Xiaotian.

Of course, there is also the Imperial Guest Minister Dugu Bo of the Heaven Dou Imperial Family, but Dugu Bo is relatively low‑key among so many Title Douluo; although he claims to be unbeatable in group battles, once he steps onto the battlefield he will certainly be targeted.

In total, the Heaven Dou side has as many as thirteen Title Douluo, already surpassing the Spirit Empire.

Bibidong knows this war could be extremely brutal; not only does he lead the expedition himself, but also commands the only four Title Douluo together with the Six Great Offerings, and aside from Qian Daoliu and Qian Renxue, it truly is a gathering of masters.

Originally Bibidong had no authority to mobilize all the Offerings, but at this moment even the Offering Hall dares not be arrogant; otherwise, if Jialing Pass falls, the Heaven Dou Empire's massive army would surge forward, marching straight toward Spirit City, and the newly founded Spirit Empire could be annihilated.

Indeed, in terms of Soul Grandmaster numbers, Bibidong dispatched nearly forty thousand, accounting for seventy percent of all Soul Grandmasters, a massive investment.

When Emperor Xue Ye's party learned of the size of Bibidong's Soul Master Corps, each of them was somewhat stunned.

It should be noted that a well‑trained Soul Grandmaster can potentially defeat ordinary troops at a one‑to‑hundred ratio; forty thousand Soul Grandmasters are roughly equivalent to a few million soldiers.

The entire Heaven Dou Empire has only about eight thousand Soul Grandmasters in total, with the Three Great Sects contributing over three thousand, and the rest recruited and trained by the Heaven Dou Imperial Family over the years.

A single Soul Grandmaster may not be terrifying, but once formed into a Soul Master Corps, their strength can multiply dramatically.

For example, the Spirit Empire's famous Soul Master Corps include the Elephant Armor Corps, the Holy Dragon Corps, the Angel Corps, and so on, whose combat power is extremely formidable.

The Elephant Armor Corps is like a copper wall of iron, mainly composed of the Elephant Armor Sect, plus a great number of Defense System Soul Grandmasters; even hundreds of thousands of troops may not break through.

The Holy Dragon Corps is highly offensive, led personally by Holy Dragon Douluo Tuoba Xi, its main force consisting of over a thousand Soul Grandmasters wielding white‑armored Holy Dragon martial souls, plus many Beast Soul Grandmasters; the total corps exceeds ten thousand.

The Angel Corps is relatively smaller in number, but all its members possess Angel martial souls, can fly, and have extreme mobility, making them battlefield assassins.

The overall leader of the Spirit Empire is Bibidong, and the deputy leader is Gold Crocodile Douluo, both top experts of Level Ninety‑Eight.

The Heaven Dou Empire's massive army, under Emperor Xue Ye's personal command, is strong, but when facing genuine Soul Master Corps, even Title Douluo feel a bit intimidated.

The Spirit Empire's Title Douluo are no novices; they have undergone extremely rigorous combat training, and their combat ability is quite good.

Moreover, a one‑on‑one match between Soul Grandmasters of the same rank might win, but in a one‑to‑five scenario, there is likely no chance of resistance.

In the outer camp of Jialing Pass, aside from Emperor Xue Ye, all senior officials have arrived, including Ning Fengzhi and even Yu Xiaogang.

The Body Sect is led by Lin Gong with several Title Douluo and Oscar, who is nominally the Deputy Sect Master of the Body Sect and the sole Food System Soul Douluo.

In recent years, under Tang San's recommendation, Yu Xiaogang has continuously assisted the Heaven Dou Imperial Family in training Soul Grandmasters, playing a certain role and being appointed chief instructor.

However, everyone looking at the massive sand table before them wore very serious expressions.

Jialing Pass is immensely majestic; its walls alone reach a hundred meters high, and the Spirit Empire had long prepared, constructing various defensive works early on. An ordinary army would need several times the force to breach Jialing Pass.

To attack Jialing Pass now would require sacrificing lives to fill the gaps, but the Heaven Dou Imperial Family has only a million troops and not enough High-level Soul Masters to sacrifice.

Emperor Xue Ye, with a solemn expression, said: "Everyone, we have now reached a critical moment. The Star Luo Empire has already restrained part of the Spirit Empire's strength. If we cannot breach Jialing Pass, it will be very detrimental to the battlefield, especially if the fighting drags on, our losses will be far greater than those of the Spirit Empire."

"Moreover, judging from the current situation, the Spirit Empire's mobility far exceeds ours; our supplies have already been attacked many times, and the coming period may be more troublesome."

Everyone fell silent upon hearing this; Ning Fengzhi and the others are not particularly adept at commanding troops.

Even Tang San seemed a bit silent; although he has now reached Level Ninety‑Six, he does not possess the formidable power of wielding the Sea God Trident as in the original work.

Moreover, Tang San now lacks Tang Sect support and does not hold the title of King Lan Hao, so his status is not as high as in the original.

Tang Hao is only at Level Ninety‑Five now, after many years of recuperation his body has recovered somewhat, but he lacks the medicinal treatment of the Ice‑Fire Dual Eye, and his strength has not advanced to Level Ninety‑Six.

Among everyone present, the truly strongest are Sword Douluo, Tang Xiao, and Tang San; Sword Douluo is the only Level Ninety‑Eight Title Douluo among them, while Tang Xiao and Tang San also possess outstanding combat power.

Seeing that no one responded, Tang San spoke at that moment.

"Your Majesty, Tang San is willing to lead troops to protect the supplies, ensuring our army's logistics without doubt, but I hope to receive everyone's support."

Emperor Xue Ye replied: "Tang San, feel free to state any request directly; we will try to accommodate it as much as possible."

Tang San said: "The Spirit Empire has many superior Soul Grandmasters, its mobility is too strong; each raid on our supplies involves few personnel, at most thirty, but they are all led by Soul Douluo‑level experts."

"I would like the assistance of Senior Bai He; the Min Clan's scouting ability is unrivaled, allowing us to constantly monitor enemy raid movements."

Everyone turned to Bai He.

Bai He thought for a moment before speaking: "Your Majesty, there are hardly any Min Clan left now; only the Body Sect can help scout the enemy's movements, other matters can be set aside."

Bai He's attitude was obvious; clearly he did not wish to get involved with Tang San and the Clear Sky Sect.

Tang San was a bit angry upon hearing this, but it was not appropriate to speak out in front of so many.

Finally, Bai He arranged for Body Sect personnel to deploy along the entire supply line, and Tang San led some Clear Sky Sect members to besiege the Spirit Empire's own Soul Grandmasters.

As for the original Shrek group, each person essentially has their own affairs; only Yu Tianheng, Dai Mubai and others can act together with Tang San, while the others remain with their own sects and affiliations, not getting deeply involved with the Clear Sky Sect.

Emperor Xue Ye seemed to recall something: "Elder Lin Gong, Elder Yang Wudi, may I ask where the Body Sect's Sect Leader is now, and can we invite him to the Jialing Pass front line?"

Obviously, Emperor Xue Ye had already scouted Yang Xiong's strength, hoping that a master like Yang Xiong would also come to help, since the Clear Sky Sect and the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect leaders have all arrived at the front.

Elder Lin Gong said: "Your Majesty, our Sect Leader arranged a duel with the Spirit Empire's Great Supplicant's granddaughter at Liang Yue Shan, and we have no news of the Sect Leader now."

"However, all sect matters have been fully arranged; most of the Body Sect's masters have already come to the front to assist the Heaven Dou Empire."

The crowd said nothing further; although they may not have seen Qian Renxue, they clearly understand her talent and strength, and if Yang Xiong can defeat Qian Renxue, our morale would be greatly boosted, for Qian Renxue is truly the authentic Angel Lineage of the Spirit Empire.

(End of chapter)