Discriminated Against: The Sun Moon Empire

[Thus, Crown Prince Xu Tianran's power within the Sun Moon Empire grew ever greater. As the Old Emperor's health worsened by the day, he finally became the Regent!]

[The rewards our Holy Spirit Cult received from cooperating with Xu Tianran also increased further. When the next Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Elite Tournament was held in Mingdu of the Sun Moon Empire, we could finally hold back no longer. We formed a team of Soul Masters and entered the competition under the name of the Holy Spirit Sect.]

[However, what we had not expected was the intense level of the competition. Because we revealed too many Evil Soul Master abilities in the arena, our identity became known to members of the participating factions.]

[As the Soul Engineer Competition was nearing its end, an accident occurred. A terrifying, earth-shattering explosion erupted within Mingdu.]

[The unparalleled force of the explosion swept across one-third of Mingdu, while its powerful shockwave spread throughout the entire city.]

[That day, the sun and moon lost their light, and heaven and earth changed color. No one knew how many lives perished beneath that great explosion.]

[But in the eyes of our Holy Spirit Cult, this was simply a joyous blessing sent from heaven!]

[Chaos had always been the fundamental source of cultivation resources for us Evil Soul Masters. The casualties and subsequent chain reactions caused by this explosion brought untold tremendous gains to our Holy Church. After all, destruction was a terrible disaster for ordinary people, but for us, it was the opportunity we had long dreamed of!]

[Furthermore—and most importantly—the Old Emperor, whose health had already been poor, was frightened to death by the explosion. Xu Guozhong, the leader of the Xu Guozhong faction and the greatest obstacle to Xu Tianran's ascension, also died in the blast.]

[Thus, Xu Tianran naturally ascended the throne and became the new emperor of the Sun Moon Empire.]

[He also pinned the blame for the Mingdu explosion on the Star Luo Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire, claiming they had failed in their sabotage operation. This incited the Sun Moon Empire's citizens to hate the Original Dou Three Kingdoms. In this way, they could begin an arms race ahead of schedule and attack the Original Dou Three Kingdoms with overwhelming force.]

[At the same time, in order to resolve the future threat posed by the Original Dou Three Kingdoms, aid Xu Tianran's great cause of unification, and obtain more cultivation resources for our Holy Church, after the competition ended, our Holy Church joined hands with the Sun Moon Empire to intercept, capture, and imprison the members of the participating teams.]

[At this point, our Holy Spirit Cult changed the course of countless years of history and officially emerged as the state-protecting divine church of the Sun Moon Empire. The great cause of the Holy Spirit Cult would be realized in our generation!]

"They really were birds of a feather, striking at those children while all the factions were attending the tournament."

At Shrek Academy's outer courtyard, Du Weilun, the Director of Studies of the Martial Soul Department, watched the Heavenly Curtain and realized he had still underestimated the Sun Moon Empire's lack of limits.

They had actually intended to wipe out all the competitors after the tournament ended!

Those selected to participate in the tournament were unquestionably the best of the best—the future of their respective factions, with a great chance of becoming powerful figures in the future.

Unexpectedly, since the Sun Moon Empire was incapable of cultivating Soul Masters properly, it resorted to such vicious methods to bury the future of the Original Dou Three Kingdoms in advance.

"Then again, they're already cooperating with Evil Soul Masters. What limits could they possibly have?" Du Weilun suddenly laughed in anger at his own naïve thoughts.

They were working with an Evil Soul Master organization guilty of monstrous crimes. Their bottom line had likely vanished long ago.

Du Weilun's reaction reflected that of the vast majority of people in the Original Dou Three Kingdoms.

The Sun Moon Empire's move was simply too sinister, instantly provoking public outrage.

Most people in the world would always despise and look down upon such despicable methods.

Therefore, regarding the Mingdu explosion that had just been mentioned, they felt no sympathy whatsoever for the Sun Moon Empire citizens who had died in it. All they felt was schadenfreude—they had brought it upon themselves.

Of course, they still felt regret for those citizens of the Original Dou Three Kingdoms who had gone to Mingdu to watch the tournament and were caught up in the disaster.

"The Sun Moon Empire deserved it. Cooperating with Evil Soul Masters will bring divine punishment sooner or later. That explosion was their retribution," someone said gleefully.

And along with the mockery came discrimination.

The Original Dou Three Kingdoms' discrimination against the Sun Moon Empire was an old tradition.

It had begun when the Sun Moon Continent's territory merged with the Douluo Continent and conflicts arose between them.

Especially compared to the Original Dou Three Kingdoms, the Sun Moon Empire's imperial family had much darker skin, completely unlike theirs.

It was only because the current Sun Moon Empire emperor had seized the throne through a coup and wanted his own branch to become the true orthodox line that he sought to continuously erase the former imperial family's skin color.

However, that was not something that could be changed in a single generation. It would take the efforts of countless generations to alter that yellow—

What was more, this was not merely a basic clash in appearance. Their cultural conflict was even more severe.

The Sun Moon Empire valued Soul Tools. It was indeed true that its technology was advanced and ahead of the Original Dou Three Kingdoms, but it placed very little importance on Soul Master cultivation.

Relying on constantly swallowing pills and indiscriminately using drugs to cultivate had been an old Sun Moon Empire tradition for thousands of years.

In the Sun Moon Empire's eyes, Soul Engineers were the noblest profession. Increasing Soul Power was merely for creating higher-tier Soul Tools and using higher-tier Soul Tools.

Indiscriminate drug use did indeed allow the Sun Moon Empire's Soul Masters to hold an overwhelming advantage in the early and middle stages, advancing much faster than the Soul Masters of the Original Dou Three Kingdoms, who cultivated steadily and honestly.

And with the support of Soul Tools, they could unleash formidable strength as well.

But what was the consequence?

It completely ruined the future of the Sun Moon Empire's Soul Masters!

The geniuses within the Sun Moon Empire could at best cultivate to the level of Titled Douluo, let alone Super Douluo or even Limit Douluo.

Why had the Sun Moon Empire lost that war thousands of years ago? Was it not because it lacked high-level Soul Master combat power?

Therefore, in the eyes of the Original Dou Three Kingdoms, the Sun Moon Empire's practices put the cart before the horse.

Its many practices, such as abusing drugs and severing its own future, were looked down upon by quite a few factions in the Original Dou Three Kingdoms.

Yet at the same time, the Original Dou Three Kingdoms found the Sun Moon Empire's methods terrifying.

By abusing drugs, the Sun Moon Empire had produced a vast number of Soul Masters.

These Soul Masters might have had their potential cut off, but their strength was anything but ordinary.

With the enhancement of Soul Tools, they could unleash even greater power. In particular, Soul Tools played an enormous role in warfare.

This was precisely why the Sun Moon Empire possessed several Soul Engineer legions, an incredibly powerful army, and formidable military strength.

It was also the fundamental reason why the Sun Moon Empire of thousands of years ago had the confidence to launch an attack on the Original Dou Three Kingdoms and attempt to unify the continent.

After all, unless one was a truly top-tier powerhouse, it was entirely possible to be bitten to death by sheer numbers.

In this regard, the Sun Moon Empire had long developed a path dependence that could not be changed.