"Emperor Qingtian has arrived! The Empress has arrived!"
"We pay our respects to Your Majesty and the Empress!"
"No need for formalities. Please, sit."
Only Qian Heqing and Gu Yuna attended. The other empresses were absent.
Before long, the banquet officially began, and the delicious dishes had Dugu Yan swallowing hungrily.
After a few rounds of drinks.
Qian Heqing, dressed in a brocade robe, lifted his wine cup and took a few steps forward, stopping at the edge of the platform. Looking down at the crowd, he declared, "Everyone, Immortal Court's expedition will never stop! Let us encourage one another!"
His voice rang out, bold and boundless, carrying the domineering force of one who could swallow ten thousand miles in a single breath!
After draining his cup, Qian Heqing continued, "Building the three World-Crossing Gates nearly depleted all of Immortal Court's resources! Fortunately, all our efforts have yielded the results they deserved! The three World-Crossing Gates have successfully linked us to three parallel worlds!"
"Douluo World No. 1 was led by Dugu Xue, and they achieved the greatest results! They have already begun cooperating with their Doppelgangers in Douluo World No. 1. Right now, they are working together to gather resources and build a World-Crossing Gate! It won't be long before the two worlds are fully connected! When that day comes, Immortal Court's army will set out! Also, this is Dugu Yan, a visitor from another world who came from Douluo World No. 1! Everyone, make sure our first visitor from another world doesn't suffer any grievances in Immortal Court."
Everyone cast curious looks her way. Dugu Yan was so nervous she didn't dare speak, and the smile on her face grew stiff.
Qian Heqing set down his wine cup and continued, "Douluo World No. 2 was led by Tang Ming, Great Elder of the Clear Sky Clan, but... they were unlucky. They encountered a battle between gods as soon as they crossed over! Great Elder Tang Ming risked his life to reopen the World-Crossing Gate and send Dai Muhei and Qin Riyue back, but he himself died fighting in that other world! Immortal Court will surely launch another expedition to Douluo World No. 2 and bring Great Elder Tang Ming's remains home!"
The crowd sighed in sorrow, but their resolve remained firm.
"And Douluo World No. 3 finally made contact with the main world three days ago!"
At this, Qian Heqing paused. His domineering aura rapidly vanished, replaced by a hint of pity. He sighed and said, "I'm considering whether to completely wipe out every living being in Douluo World No. 3, then build a new world atop the ruins!"
"Wipe them out completely?" Everyone present cried out in alarm and began whispering among themselves.
Someone stood and cupped his hands. "Your Majesty, what happened in Douluo World No. 3 to make you consider wiping out every living being there?"
Qian Heqing sighed and gestured for Gu Yuna to explain in his place.
Gu Yuna walked to the edge of the platform and stood beside Qian Heqing. "Seven Kill, Xie Peng, and San Huo were ambushed seven times in just half a day after entering Douluo World No. 3. Every single attacker was an Evil Soul Master!"
"What? Evil Soul Masters? They ran into seven groups in just half a day?"
Gu Yuna waited calmly for the murmuring below to die down before continuing. "When Seven Kill and the others entered Star Luo City in the Star Luo Empire, they thought the situation with the Evil Soul Masters might improve. But they discovered that it had only grown worse! Everyone in the entire empire, from the lowest-ranking Soul Masters to the nobles, all the way up to Dai Hao, the emperor of the Star Luo Empire, was an Evil Soul Master! They drained other people's blood essence and life force to fuel their Soul Power cultivation! The entire Star Luo City was just like the City of Slaughter decades ago, every corner steeped in violence and death. The whole city filled you with revulsion! Fewer than one in ten ordinary people remained in the empire. They were kept like livestock and forced to toil, only to have their life force and blood essence drained by Evil Soul Masters in the end!"
"Th-this..."
An entire country made up of Evil Soul Masters! They couldn't even begin to imagine such an empire!
Gu Yuna continued, "Seven Kill had Xie Peng and San Huo split up to gather information, but they nearly met with disaster! The Evil Soul Masters had one sinister trick after another! In the end, they learned something even more despairing: the Martial Soul passed down through Spirit Hall wasn't a holy, radiant angel at all. It was a dark, evil Twelve-Winged Fallen Angel!"
"A Twelve-Winged Fallen Angel?!" The crowd could hardly believe it!
"Phew..." Gu Yuna let out a deep breath before continuing. "There's more. The Lake of Life at the heart of Star Dou Forest, once a lake teeming with life, has become a pool of blood! Even my Doppelganger, the Silver Dragon King, died there. Her enormous dragon bones have been weathering away for tens of thousands of years!"
At last, Qian Heqing summed it up: "The two great empires, Spirit Hall, and the Soul Beast Clan—all of them are evil! A world like that has no reason to exist!"
Everyone looked grave, and Dugu Yan had gone deathly pale with fright.
An entire Douluo Continent full of Evil Soul Masters! Could such a world really exist? Dugu Yan found it hard to believe—and even harder to accept!
But she herself had crossed the barrier between two worlds and arrived in Immortal Court on another Douluo Continent. She had no choice but to believe that Douluo World No. 3 was full of evil people!
An old man stood and asked, "Your Majesty, ordinary people are still alive in Douluo World No. 3. If you wipe out every living being, what will happen to them?"
"Alas, that's exactly what troubles me! If I conquer another world, its people will become my subjects. How could I bear to do such a thing?" Qian Heqing looked torn and sighed again. "But! If Immortal Court wants to conquer Douluo World No. 3, they will surely fight back! The think tank has analyzed the situation: once war breaks out between the two worlds, the Evil Soul Masters in Douluo World No. 3 will immediately sacrifice those defenseless ordinary people to increase their cultivation! Those people will die either way... So if anyone has a way to save them, speak up!"
Everyone looked at one another. If even the think tank couldn't come up with a solution, what could they possibly suggest?
The discussion below continued for a long time. Then a young man stood and cupped his hands toward Qian Heqing. "Emperor Qingtian, I'm Tang Si of the Clear Sky Clan. I have a plan!"
"Oh? What do you have in mind?"
Tang Si said, "If we want to save ordinary people from the Evil Soul Masters, then we must become even more evil than they are!"
"Absurd! We of Immortal Court act openly and honorably—"
Someone started to rebuke him, but before he could finish, Qian Heqing raised a hand and cut him off. "Tang Si, go on."
"We should first seize a city with methods more bloody and brutal than those of the Evil Soul Masters. But our methods will target only the Evil Soul Masters, not ordinary people! Then, we'll keep in contact with the outside world in the Evil Soul Masters' own style, lowering everyone's guard in Douluo World No. 3! After that, we'll secretly use Evil Soul Masters as nourishment to cultivate another group of Evil Soul Masters and have them fight for us. Or we could establish an Evil Soul Master church and use the method of raising poison insects in a jar to select powerful Evil Soul Masters to serve us! We'll use the methods of that world to slowly devour the whole Evil Soul Master world. Finally, once we've unified Douluo World No. 3, we'll wipe out every last Evil Soul Master! We'll purify the entire continent and let Immortal Court's glory—Your Majesty Emperor Qingtian's glory—shine upon this world!"
Someone nodded in agreement. "Excellent! It will take longer, and the methods are crueler, but this can protect the ordinary people to the greatest extent."
Tang Si smiled. "What's wrong with being a little cruel? Being able to give their last bit of usefulness to Immortal Court is a tremendous honor for the Evil Soul Masters!"
"Good! Draw up a detailed plan and present it at the court assembly in three days for further discussion!" Qian Heqing nodded thoughtfully, thinking, Tang Buddha truly hasn't let me down! Next, I'll have Tang Buddha bring a happy life to the Evil Soul Masters of that other world!
The banquet went on for a long time before finally ending.
Qian Heqing left the banquet hall with Gu Yuna, still praising Tang Si. "That boy Tang Si has real potential! Even when I mentioned the Evil Soul Masters, my first thought was to wipe them all out! Yet he wants to cultivate them for our own use, have them fight for Immortal Court in another world, then kill them once they've served their purpose! He's a ruthless one!"
At the same time.
Dugu Yan had already followed Xiao Yi out of the banquet hall. A steady-looking young man was waiting outside.
"Hmm?" At first glance, the young man looked familiar to Dugu Yan. Her heart skipped a beat, and she shifted her gaze from him to Xiao Yi, her expression uncertain. The young man looked almost exactly like the father she remembered!
Xiao Yi smiled and introduced him. "Dugu Yan, this is your father here in Immortal Court, Dugu Xin!"
"Gulp..." Dugu Yan swallowed nervously, and tears instantly welled in her eyes!
"Yan'er!" Dugu Xin called softly.
"Dad!" Dugu Yan couldn't hold back any longer. She called out softly, and the next moment, tears rolled down her cheeks.
Dugu Xin's eyes grew moist too. He sighed. "Yan'er, in that world... you've been through so much!"
"I haven't. Grandpa always took care of me. I... Grandpa and I were both fine!"
"Come, come home with Dad."
"Okay!"
Xiao Yi watched them leave and sighed to herself. "I'd like to go back to Star Dou Forest too. I miss my mother."
Meanwhile, before long, Dugu Xin had driven Dugu Yan home.
Full of hope, Dugu Yan pushed the door open, wishing her mother would be the first person she saw!
But as soon as the door opened, she saw a middle-aged woman and a young woman.
Two people? Which one is my mother? The younger one?
Dugu Yan quickly turned to Dugu Xin and asked in a quiet voice, "My mother died in childbirth when I was born... Which one is my mother?"
Dugu Xin tenderly stroked Dugu Yan's hair and looked toward the younger woman. "She's your mother," he said softly.
"Yan'er, I'm your mother!"
Dugu Yan's eyes grew wet again. She threw herself into her mother's arms and wept uncontrollably. "Mom! I missed you so much!"
"There, there... From now on, I'll be your mother! All right?"
"Mhm, mhm, mhm!" Dugu Yan hugged her mother affectionately and rubbed her cheek against hers.
Dugu Xin wiped the moisture from the corners of his eyes, then pointed to the middle-aged woman beside them, who also had tears in her eyes. "Yan'er, this is your grandmother!"
"Grand... Grandma?" Dugu Yan's eyes widened, and the words tumbled out before she could stop them. "Grandma! You're still alive?!"
"Hahaha! That child..."
Realizing her words sounded wrong, Dugu Yan quickly explained, "Grandma, I didn't mean it that way! In my world, even my dad had never met you... So I never imagined I'd get to see you in this world!"
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