Journey to Dou Ling Empire and What They Saw
After having lunch at Zhang Lexuan's house, the three of them left Shrek together.
Since Zhou Huan has already decided to go, there's no need to waste any more time, and besides, Ma Xiaotao is a very decisive person.
As for Zhou Huan's leave request, Wang Yan was speechless. She had requested a month's leave before the holiday started, and now she was requesting leave again at the very beginning of the semester.
Even though Wang Yan himself didn't care about Zhou Huan's leave requests, as Class Advisor, he shouldn't be granting a student leave so frequently.
Fortunately, this time it was Zhang Lexuan who came with a group to ask for leave, so it's none of his business. Now it's the Martial Soul Department Vice Dean who's asking for leave.
So, on the third day of Fifth Year, Zhou Huan left Shrek again.
The three headed towards the Dou Ling Empire.
The Flame Palace that Ma Xiaotao discovered is located in the easternmost part of the Dou Ling Empire.
Although Shrek Academy is located in the southeast of the Heavenly Soul Empire, it is also close to the southwestern border of the Dou Ling Empire.
Therefore, less than two hours after Zhou Huan and his two companions set off from Shrek, they entered the territory of the Dou Ling Empire.
To be honest, Zhou Huan, who had read the original novel, always felt that the Dou Ling Empire was basically the weakest of the Great Emperor.
If the Star Luo Empire and the Heavenly Soul Empire lag behind the Sun Moon Empire in every aspect except for top-tier Soul Master due to historical reasons and the development of Soul Tool, but their royal leaders still have ambition, then the Dou Ling Empire has completely given up on recovery.
The Heaven Spirit Imperial Family and noble class neither seek the development of Soul Tool nor care about the strength of the country. Instead, they are all indulging in a life of debauchery and fixated on their own selfish interests.
Because the Dou Ling Empire does not border the Sun Moon Empire, but is instead separated by the entire Heavenly Soul Empire.
It can be said that after the Great Emperor of the Original Douluo Continent joined forces to fight against the Sun Moon Empire thousands of years ago, the Dou Ling Empire basically did not fight a large-scale war with the Sun Moon Empire again.
Little did they know that if the Sun Moon Empire were to send troops to the Dou Ling Empire now, it could annihilate the Dou Ling Empire in no time, provided that Tian Soul and Star Luo Empire did not intervene.
"Dying in comfort" probably describes a corrupt country like the Dou Ling Empire.
Along the way, from the southwestern border of the Dou Ling Empire all the way to the easternmost part of the Dou Ling Empire, Zhou Huan saw only the reality of the common people living in misery and the upper class indulging in extravagance.
Zhou Huan had never been to the Dou Ling Empire before, and now that he saw it, he realized that the most exploited and weakest empire was indeed the one where the common people were most severely exploited.
Even Ma Xiaotao couldn't help but complain after seeing it, "Is there any hope for the Dou Ling Empire like this?! We Shrek have been protecting such an empire all this time, is it really worth it?"
Ma Xiaotao was taken in as Disciple by Yan Shaozhe from a young age and has always lived in Shrek, so she has never considered herself a citizen of the Original Three Great Empires of Douluo.
In her heart, she was just Shrek person.
Although Shrek stands with the Original Three Great Empires of Douluo, Ma Xiaotao is not the kind of person who can control her temper when she sees something she doesn't like.
After hearing Ma Xiaotao's angry words, Zhang Lexuan simply said, "Perhaps it's not worth it, but this is Shrek's stance over the past ten thousand years, so there's no question of whether it's worth it or not."
Zhang Lexuan was a citizen of the Heavenly Soul Empire, even a noblewoman. She was once a carefree little princess, but a noble struggle ultimately led to the destruction of her family and the death of her loved ones.
Therefore, it's not necessarily true that Zhang Lexuan still has much of a sense of belonging to the Heavenly Soul Empire.
Because she utterly detested the noble struggles that disregarded human life for the sake of profit, and these kinds of struggles were naturally the most common within the empire.
However, now that Zhang Lexuan is a high-ranking member of Shrek and one of the successors to the position of Sea God Pavilion Master, things are not so simple for her to consider, because Shrek's stance cannot change.
As for Zhou Huan, he didn't care about any of that. At most, he would just feel sorry for the common people in his heart. After all, he wasn't a saint and couldn't save the world.
In Zhou Huan's view, to destroy it, one must first drive it mad.
This can all be seen as an inevitable process in the development of history.
Not even gods, let alone humans, can stop the irresistible tide of history.
God King Tang's actions have already proven that he can indeed use his divine authority to hinder the development of history for a time. But after the Douluo God Realm was swept away by the Space-Time Turbulence, didn't the Douluo Continent also become the territory of the Sun Moon Federation?
The once mighty Heaven Dou and Star Luo Empire could only retreat to two small territories that could hardly be called continents.
Therefore, Zhou Huan did not want to comment on what he had seen and heard in the Dou Ling Empire, and besides, all of this probably wouldn't last many more years.
Zhou Huan didn't remember very clearly, but it should be eleven or twelve years from now that the Dou Ling Empire has been destroyed.
Along the way, compared to Ma Xiaotao and Zhang Lexuan's feelings about the Dou Ling Empire, Zhou Huan actually focused more on taking care of Zhang Lexuan.
For example, when passing through some big cities, find a good hotel for her to rest and find her favorite food for her to try. At this time, the black card given to Wang Qingya by her parents, who have a fresh and unconventional way of thinking, comes in handy.
Zhou Huan was also surprised that these black cards could be used in the Dou Ling Empire.
So, how much money does that girl's family actually have?
However, Zhou Huan's attentiveness to Zhang Lexuan along the way made Ma Xiaotao feel somewhat superfluous, as if she should hide under the carriage instead of lingering in front of them.
Moreover, and more importantly, Ma Xiaotao noticed that Zhang Lexuan seemed completely used to it, showing no sign of refusing whatsoever. Was this still the Senior Disciple Sister she knew?
And so, during these few days of travel, although Zhou Huan and Zhang Lexuan didn't show any signs of romance or even physical contact, Ma Xiaotao vowed that she never wanted to go out with these two again.
It was supposed to be a journey for three people, but Ma Xiaotao couldn't even have a name.
Has her reputation as Flame Demon faded?
Ma Xiaotao's only thought right now is to reach her destination as quickly as possible, because the unspoken sourness emanating from Zhou Huan and Zhang Lexuan makes her feel like a lonely Soul Guidance Lamp.
However, the journey did not pass quickly, because the three of them kept stopping and starting along the way, even staying overnight in some large cities before setting off again the next day.
It's as if they really came out on vacation.
According to Zhou Huan, it's a rare opportunity to visit the Dou Ling Empire. Although the empire is corrupt, the food and customs here are still wonderful, so we should enjoy them.
Anyway, the Flame Palace is there. Putting aside the question of whether anyone can find it, how many Soul Masters in the entire Douluo Continent possess both Extreme Fire and Extreme Ice?
As far as Zhou Huan knew, those who possessed these two Ultimate Attribute were probably all at Shrek.
So, you may be in a hurry to leave, but there's no need to rush while you're on the road.
Of course, this was also part of Zhou Huan's little scheme. After all, it was a rare opportunity to come out with Zhang Lexuan, so how could they just focus on getting there quickly? That would be a waste.
Do you really think he was called Grandmaster of theoretical relationships in his past life for nothing?
Therefore, it took the three of them four days to finally arrive at the Underground Palace that Ma Xiaotao had mentioned.
"Is this the place?"
What Zhou Huan saw was a dormant volcano about eighty meters high not far away, and a huge valley below covered with shrubs and forests.
Upon hearing this, Ma Xiaotao nodded and said, "That's right, this is it. The entrance is at the foot of that extinct volcano."
After carefully observing the surroundings of the valley, Zhang Lexuan said, "Let's go."
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