Dou Ling Empire

Dou Ling City

After the Heaven Dou Empire split apart, the former Heaven Dou Imperial Family, the Xue Family, left and consolidated the territories of the former Hagen Das Kingdom, Tian Shuang Duchy, and Gu Lei Kingdom.

It was on the present-day Spiritual Mountain Plain that they chose and established their capital when founding their new kingdom.

Aside from Shrek City, the capital of Shrek; Mingdu, the capital of the Sun Moon Empire; Heaven Dou City, the capital of the Heaven Dou Empire; and Star Luo City, the capital of the Star Luo Empire, it was the largest and most prosperous city.

(Theoretically, the fifth-largest city in the world.)

"Is this what a fantasy world is like? This level of productivity... Wait, could there be giants hiding in there?

"But I hacked my way from the corner of the Heaven Dou Empire all the way to Lingdou City, and I'm still safe and sound. Looks like I count as at least a half-baked child of destiny."

Looking at the hundred-meter-high city walls and the bustling crowds all around, Fang Le couldn't help but sigh.

Heaven knew how shocked he'd been when he found out the girl he'd saved was named Jiang Nannan.

Born in the Dou Ling Empire, with a Soft Bone Rabbit Martial Soul and a sick mother at home—wasn't this exactly Jiang Nannan, the outer-court goddess from the original story?

At first, he'd thought Jiang Nannan's respawn point had changed.

But he'd never expected that he was the one who'd gone off course.

Somehow, without realizing it, he'd hacked his way from the Heaven Dou Empire to the Dou Ling Empire.

At first, Fang Le had even said:

What was going on? How could the Soul Hunting Forest beside Nuoding City have grown so huge?

He'd hacked through it for two whole months without seeing the edge, and he couldn't get out no matter what.

But the truth was that this guy had been carrying a massive cleaver—the Twin Star—and deliberately wandering into places with Soul Beasts.

On top of that, he wasn't very good with directions.

And so he'd perfectly missed every town along the way, wandering through one Soul Hunting Forest after another.

It was only because his awakened Martial Soul gave him strong survival skills, along with that tiny bit of luck, that he hadn't run into any especially powerful Soul Beasts.

Otherwise, with that six-year-old body of his, he'd have been dead ages ago.

A faint awareness: Do you really think I'd let this precious little troublemaker die?

But while Fang Le was still sighing over it,

an impatient voice sounded beside him.

"Hey, kid, had your fill of looking? Pay up and move along! Don't stand there causing trouble! There'll be plenty of time to look once you're inside!"

Before they knew it, the line at the toll booth had reached Fang Le and the others.

The leading guard looked thoroughly impatient as he pointed at the cash box beside him.

Day after day at this side gate, all they got were country bumpkins from out of town.

The pickings from a whole day weren't even enough to buy him a drink, and every last one of them dragged their feet.

They acted like paying the entrance fee was as bad as losing their parents. If they had no money, why come to the city?

What? Five Silver Soul Coins was too expensive?

How was it expensive? That had always been the price! If they had no money, shouldn't they reflect on whether they'd been working hard enough?

And what was that about other places only charging five Copper Soul Coins?

Then go somewhere that charged five Copper Soul Coins! Why come to Lingdou City? Hah! A bunch of stinking beggars and country bumpkins!

"One, two, three, four... seven. Seven times five is thirty-five. Forget it, one Gold Soul Coin. Keep the change."

Rather than get into an argument with the guard over the fee, Fang Le counted the people in his group, then generously tossed a Gold Soul Coin into the box.

Once he was done, he lifted his leg and started toward the city.

"Wait! You can't go in yet!"

Though Fang Le didn't want to make trouble,

there were always people who thought that backing down meant they could be pushed around.

The guard looked at Fang Le with a greedy expression as he leveled his spear, blocking the group from entering the city.

"What now?"

Fang Le looked at the spear in his way and asked coldly.

All he hoped now was that the guy in front of him wasn't an idiot. The usual plot might be cliché, but it always made people want to beat the villain senseless.

(If possible, the protagonist too.)

"Kid, the money you paid isn't enough! It costs five Gold Soul Coins to enter the city now!

"Don't just stand there—pay up! The people behind you are waiting to get in!"

The guard had done nothing to break from the cliché. An idiot really had brazenly picked a fight with him.

Fang Le was so stunned that he turned to look at the imposing Di Tian behind him.

Yep?

Black robe with gold patterns, a fearsome presence.

At a glance, he looked like a big shot, an expert among experts.

"Are you talking to me?"

For once, Fang Le pointed at himself, at a loss for words.

"If not you, then who? Hurry up! Or don't blame me when I lock you up for a few days!"

The guard remained haughty, speaking as though it were only natural.

"Hah! Is he always this brave? Hold on, let me ask. Hey, buddy, how many Titled Douluo does your family have?"

The guard's arrogant manner had genuinely made Fang Le laugh.

Pointing at him, he asked the other guards, who had already quietly moved away from the scene, with some amusement.

"What Titled Douluo? Don't try to change the subject.

"Listen up, kid. I'm Mi Hu, and my brother Mi Long is a bona fide Soul King! A top-tier expert who came out of Shrek!

"And now he's a favorite of the young master of the Mysterious Underworld Sect!

"So be smart and pay up before you get lost. With skin as tender as yours, hehe! There are plenty of nobles in this city who like their meat fresh!"

Mi Hu answered Fang Le's questions with great pride.

He held his nose so high in the air that he looked exactly like one of those early-arc villain lackeys, the sort who came in A, B, and C.

After spilling his entire background like beans from a sack,

he was met not with the usual gasps of admiration, but with a deathly silence.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Fang Le and the others standing in what looked like a vacuum.

The crowd that had been packed around them had backed several meters away, whispering among themselves from a distance.

Even the teammates who'd usually sucked up to him had somehow retreated inside the city gate, looking ready to run at any moment.

Anyone with eyes could tell that Fang Le's group was absolutely no ordinary bunch.

And as city guards, they kept a mental list of the people they couldn't afford to offend.

Weren't two of the people in that group teachers from Lingdou Intermediate Academy who led hunting trips on a regular basis?

Liu Fang and Lin Hu—both Soul Ancestors.

Only that guy who always looked down his nose at people didn't recognize them.

And then there was that black-robed middle-aged man. His presence was countless times more imposing than that of the Soul Douluo experts they saw every day.

The guards didn't even dare imagine what rank he might be.

And Mi Hu had still dared to provoke them. Who would've thought the guy could be so bold?

To pick a fight under these circumstances—

that was just asking to die!

Never mind that his brother Mi Long was merely a guard for the young master of the Mysterious Underworld Sect.

Even if his brother were the young master of the Mysterious Underworld Sect himself, he couldn't go around poking a Titled Douluo in the eye like this!

Mi Hu, oh, Mi Hu! You really lived up to your name!

His usual arrogance meant Mi Hu didn't sense that anything was wrong.

Instead, he started again.

"Kid..."

But Fang Le no longer had the slightest interest in listening to this minor villain's mindless blather.

He closed his eyes, pinched the bridge of his nose, and breathed out, trying to settle his exasperation.

There was a divine king up in the sky, and there were just as many divine beings down on earth.

This world was beyond saving.

"Phew! Beat him up! Beat him until he's smoking!!"