On the throne, the Emperor of the Sun-Moon Empire stared in astonishment.
"What's going on?"
"Could it be that Heaven favors my Sun-Moon Empire?"
"For years, I've been preparing to conquer Douluo Continent across the sea, but the long journey and difficulty of supplying our forces have held me back."
"And now the continent has actually come crashing into us?"
Behind the Sun-Moon Empire, deep within the vast Evil Demon Forest,
a terrifying shadow shot into the sky.
It was a gigantic eyeball.
More than three hundred meters in diameter, it was a bizarre, dark red from tip to tip. Countless tentacles sprouted around it, each writhing in the air and radiating distorted psychic waves.
The ruler of the Evil Demon Forest.
The Evil Eye Tyrant Lord, the Evil Emperor.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
"Heaven favors me!"
"I can sense it! That world over there is rich in the power of fortune!"
The Evil Emperor's voice echoed through the air, carrying a madness that made one's sanity plummet.
"Minions!"
"Since the road's already been paved, there's no need for us to hold back!"
"Follow me and attack!"
"Devour the living beings of that world and seize their territory!"
At the Evil Emperor's command, the entire Evil Demon Forest erupted into a frenzy.
Countless bizarre-looking Soul Beasts, gleaming like metal, surged forth like a tide.
At the same time, the Sun-Moon Empire's army rapidly assembled.
Countless Soul Guidance warships rose into the sky, their densely packed Soul Cannons glinting coldly.
This was an invasion planned long in advance.
It was just that the long voyage had been skipped entirely, thanks to Venti's little trick of "continental drift."
Godwind City.
The shaking grew more and more noticeable.
The distant horizon had once been a stretch of deep blue sea.
But now, its color had changed.
It had become a thin black line.
And that line was growing thicker and wider at a visible speed.
"What's that...?"
Qian Renxue narrowed her eyes and peered into the distance.
Then her pupils suddenly contracted.
It was land!
A brand-new land, steeped in an aura of slaughter!
Above that land, dark clouds massed, while countless black specks flew this way like locusts.
Every warship flew the flag of the Sun-Moon Empire.
Every Soul Beast's eyes gleamed with bloodlust.
"Enemy attack!"
The guards on Godwind City's walls let out a scream that tore at their throats.
Though they had no idea where these enemies had come from, the undisguised killing intent was impossible to miss unless they were blind.
"This is the little mistake you mentioned?"
Qian Renxue turned to look at Venti, disbelief in her voice.
How was this a mistake?
You've brought a calamity down on Douluo Continent!
Just looking at the Soul Guidance warships filling the sky was enough to make one's scalp crawl.
An army of this size was certainly no force the two empires could easily repel in their current state.
Venti blinked and set down his wineglass.
"Oh, dear."
"Looks like we've got more than one new neighbor."
"And this second neighbor doesn't seem to understand manners."
He rose to his feet and brushed dust from his hem that wasn't there.
His face still wore that carefree, easygoing smile. He showed no sign of realizing disaster was upon them.
"If they don't understand manners, then we'll have to teach them the rules."
Just then,
the Sky Curtain, which had only just fallen silent, suddenly burst into blinding light once more.
This time, the light was dark red.
It carried a nauseatingly evil aura.
Rows of blood-red characters slowly appeared on the Sky Curtain.
[Strength Ranking · Eighth Place]
[Name: Evil Emperor (Evil Eye Tyrant Lord)]
[Race: Psychic Evil Eye Clan (790,000 years of cultivation)]
[Affiliation: Sun-Moon Continent · Ruler of the Evil Demon Forest]
[Martial Soul (True Body): Light of Time and Space, Mental Storm, Thorn Aura]
[Evaluation: The strongest psychic Ferocious Beast on the continent, only one step away from godhood. Cruel by nature and fond of eating brains, it is the embodiment of ultimate evil.]
At that moment,
Soul Masters across Douluo Continent and the advancing army of the Sun-Moon Empire all froze.
Everyone looked up at the enormous ranking.
Even the Evil Emperor, charging at the very front, showed a flicker of surprise in his giant eye.
What was this thing?
How had it exposed all his secrets?
But what happened next astonished him even more.
[Reward for Ranking: Spiritual Origin Sublimation (Minor)]
[Special Feature Unlocked: Live Broadcast Across the Continent (Limited to This Conflict)]
The next instant,
the image on the Sky Curtain changed.
It was no longer a glimpse of the past, but a live broadcast.
On the screen,
a gigantic, tentacle-covered eyeball monster was leading countless warships and Soul Beasts in a menacing charge toward Douluo Continent.
Its hideous appearance, its greedy gaze, even the slime trickling down its tentacles—all of it was shown in crystal-clear detail to everyone in the world.
"This is..."
"So that's the Evil Emperor?"
"What's he doing? Is he invading us?"
The people on Douluo Continent, who had still been frozen in shock, immediately came to their senses.
This guy was a bandit!
And an unbelievably ugly one, at that!
"So that's the eighth place?"
"He looks disgusting."
"Look! He's just off the coast south of Godwind City!"
In an instant, the whole continent united against a common enemy.
What should have been a sudden raid, a lightning-fast strike that would have caught Douluo Continent completely off guard,
instead
became a public execution witnessed by the entire continent, all because of this so-called live broadcast on the Sky Curtain.
On the screen,
the Evil Emperor's enormous eyeball visibly went blank for a moment.
He stared at the screen in the sky that showed him in perfect detail, then looked at the people of Godwind City, who were already standing ready and even pointing at him.
A sense of absurdity unlike anything he had ever known welled up inside him.
Who am I?
Where am I?
Wasn't I launching a sneak attack?
Why is the whole world watching me?
It felt like a thief who'd just been about to pick a lock, only to find the floodlights blazing all around him and hundreds of cameras aimed straight at his face, broadcasting a close-up.
Awkward.
Social death.
And then, burning humiliation turned to rage.
"ROAR—!!!"
The Evil Emperor let out a roar that shook the heavens and earth.
Terrifying psychic waves erupted like a tsunami, instantly pulverizing the surrounding clouds.
"You wretched thing!"
"How dare you toy with me!"
"Die, all of you!!"
Since he'd been exposed, there was no point hiding anymore.
He'd simply crush them head-on!
The full force of his 790,000 years of cultivation erupted, and the sky was instantly stained a bizarre dark red.
Dark red light spread across half the sky.
The Evil Eye Tyrant Lord was unleashing the full force of his 790,000 years of cultivation without holding anything back.
Along with the invasion broadcast on the Sky Curtain, which left the entire continent gasping, despair spread through the hearts of everyone who saw the scene.