Huo Yuhao rose to his feet. His voice was broadcast through Soul Guidance Satellites, reaching every corner of the Sun Moon Empire. His chilling voice rang out from every Soul Guidance Radio and Soul Tool Television.
"Today, I hereby announce that Xu Yunhan, son of Xu Tianran, will ascend to the throne of the Sun Moon Empire, effective immediately."
"My requirements are as follows:"
"First, the Sun Moon Empire must recognize Xu Yunhan's legitimacy as emperor. Any objection will be treated as treason."
"Second, the Body Sect will officially become the Sun Moon Empire's sole protector sect, with the authority to mobilize the army."
"Third, the Spirit Pagoda will establish branches throughout the Sun Moon Empire, and the imperial treasury must allocate thirty percent of its annual budget to support it."
The entire continent erupted into an uproar.
This wasn't a negotiation. It was an announcement!
"Bullshit! How could that bastard possibly have the surname Xu!"
The Sun Moon Empire's nobles and officials shouted in protest.
But when they appeared on the Sky Screen, they quickly fell silent.
Because Huo Yuhao had begun a massacre he called "collecting debts."
For the next month, the Sky Screen became a nightmare for countless people.
Huo Yuhao did only one thing each day: destruction.
Today, he appeared at the Sun Moon Empire's eastern border and annihilated the Third Soul Engineer Legion stationed there with a single hand. Tens of thousands of soldiers were frozen into ice statues by Ultimate Ice at a mere thought from him, then shattered into powder.
The next day, he appeared at a major fortified city of the Sun Moon Empire.
He no longer acted personally. Instead, he opened the Gate of the Undead.
[Undead Demi-plane, open!]
Hundreds of thousands of undead creatures surged toward the city under the command of the Body Sect disciples, clad in black robes and now known as "Spirit Instructors."
The Soul Cannons that had once given Soul Masters such headaches were of limited use against skeletons and zombies that felt no pain.
Even when a zombie was blasted to pieces, the other zombies, skeletons, and all manner of undead creatures charged forward in an endless stream, utterly ignorant of fear.
Every besieged city echoed with shrill screams and Huo Yuhao's cold voice:
"Accept Xu Yunhan, or accept death. Which will it be?"
Fear.
Boundless fear engulfed the entire Sun Moon Empire.
The empire that had once looked down on the whole continent with its Soul Guidance Technology now discovered that its technology couldn't even protect it from the man's Undead Scourge.
More terrifying still, Huo Yuhao displayed a certain ability to "brainwash" people.
When Huo Yuhao swept his spiritual power over the commoner districts he had conquered, the princes, nobles, and wealthy officials there would grow glassy-eyed and obediently hand over all their property to be distributed among the city's commoners.
Huo Yuhao declared that only by following him could ordinary people escape the oppression of the nobility.
This move, cutting off the roots of the tree, left the Sun Moon Empire's imperial family completely isolated.
At last, on the outskirts of Ming Capital.
The surviving upper ranks of the Sun Moon Empire, led by Kong Deming, walked out of the city gates.
People beyond the Sky Screen watched.
Kong Deming, once the pillar of the empire, now carried a thorned branch on his back and knelt on both knees. Before the man hovering in the sky, he bowed his head deeply.
"I, Kong Deming, a guilty subject, am willing to lead Mingde Hall and all the Soul Engineers of the empire in submitting to...the Body Sect, our protector sect."
"We are willing to honor His Majesty Xu Yunhan as emperor and never rebel, for all eternity."
With every word Kong Deming spoke, he seemed to age ten years.
But the Soul Engineers behind him didn't even dare raise their heads before Huo Yuhao's prison-like divine might.
Huo Yuhao slowly descended. He walked past Kong Deming without even sparing him a glance.
He went straight toward Ming Capital, the only capital on the entire continent without city walls.
Atop the Imperial Tower, the Sun Moon Empire's imperial sun flag was taken down.
In its place rose a massive battle flag embroidered with the words "Body Sect," surrounded by silver eyes.
"From this day onward, I decide what happens on this land."
Huo Yuhao turned to face the entire continent.
At that moment, everyone beyond the Sky Screen—including Shrek, the Star Luo Empire, the Dou Ling Empire, and the Heavenly Soul Empire—felt a shiver deep in their bones.
Atop Ming Capital's tallest building, the Imperial Tower, the Body Sect's battle flag, emblazoned with a silver Spirit Eye, snapped in the wind. As Huo Yuhao's words—"I decide what happens on this land"—faded from the image, all of Douluo Continent sank into a prolonged, deathly silence.
This silence wasn't because there was nothing to say, but because...
Ordinary people felt only fear and shock. Some even watched the commoners of the Sun Moon Empire grow rich and felt a twinge of envy.
But at that moment, countless people across Douluo Continent who held the highest positions found their throats gripped by utter terror.
Sun Moon Empire, Mingde Hall.
"Bang!" With a tremendous crash, the precious Level 8 Soul Guidance Core Array in Jing Hongchen's hand was crushed to dust.
He stared at Kong Deming, kneeling on the outskirts in the Sky Screen, his aged face twisted beyond recognition with shame and fury.
"Carrying a thorned branch to beg forgiveness...walking out of the city to surrender..." Jing Hongchen's voice trembled. "That was Elder Kong! The bedrock of our Sun Moon Empire! How could he... How could he kneel to some brat from the Body Sect!"
Behind him, a group of Level 9 Soul Engineers had already gone pale.
What they saw wasn't just Kong Deming's surrender. It was the utter defeat of Soul Guidance Technology.
The legions that Huo Yuhao had frozen and shattered with a casual wave of his hand, the spiritual suppression that could even control souls—these things filled the geniuses who prided themselves on being at the cutting edge of their era with unprecedented despair.
"We can't win..." An old Soul Engineer slumped to the ground and murmured, utterly lost. "That's a satellite broadcast. That's the communications technology we were so proud of, yet he used it to announce the empire's doom. Every weapon we've made looks like a backdrop mocking us in front of that man..."
What made them even more terrified was the way Huo Yuhao dealt with the commoners.
"Brainwashing... That's blatant brainwashing!"
Xu Tianran roared in the palace, his face as pale as paper. His own beheading in the Sky Screen was still fresh in his mind, but what terrified him even more was that Huo Yuhao had set the commoners against the powerful and let them divide up their wealth.
"He's digging up the roots of the empire! He's destroyed class divisions, destroyed loyalty, and turned the empire into his own private garden with violence and petty handouts!"
Xu Tianran looked out the window at the streets of Ming Capital, where unrest was already beginning, and felt a chill rise in his heart. If the Huo Yuhao in reality had the same abilities, would those wretches who usually bowed and scraped also rush into the palace with vacant eyes, just like the people in the Sky Screen?
Damn it! Those accursed fools had watched a few scenes on the Sky Screen and were already about to forget the imperial family's kindness entirely. If things really reached the point shown in the Sky Screen, what the outcome would be hardly needed asking.