Chapter 22: Heaven Dou Sends Troops! (Please Keep Reading!)
A few days later.
Deep in Sunset Forest, a series of furious roars rang out.
"Who's there!"
"Who in the world broke my formation!"
Seeing that his poison formation had been broken, Dugu Bo's face changed drastically. He flew frantically toward the depths of the formation.
When he reached the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, he stared blankly at the empty space all around it.
"No!!!"
"You beasts! You absolute beasts!!!!"
Dugu Bo had still hoped to use the rare flowers and herbs in his medicinal garden to purge the poison from his own body and his granddaughter's.
Well, that was that.
The wealth he'd spent most of his life accumulating was gone.
Every last bit of it.
Which bastard had uprooted everything, pots and soil included, and taken the whole lot in one go?!
Back to square one overnight.
Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.
After hearing what had happened in the palace, one minister after another came to pay their respects.
The truth was, the Great Ming Kingdom now occupied a position of immense strategic importance.
The original plan had been for the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire to split the former Starry Sky Kingdom—now the Great Ming Kingdom—between them, half each.
But no one had expected Xu Nian'an to come out of nowhere.
He'd drowned two hundred thousand troops from the Gulei Kingdom, then swallowed up a kingdom that belonged to Heaven Dou's sphere of influence.
At that point, Xue Ye had chosen to invest in him again.
That investment had proved a tremendous success. The Great Ming Kingdom's entire territory now flew the banner of Heaven Dou's sphere of influence.
And without a shred of aid from the Heaven Dou Empire, it had swept all before it, crushing the Star Shine Duchy, backed by the Star Luo Empire and supported by the Galloping Wolf Kingdom, and reclaiming its lost territory.
The Heaven Dou Empire's territory had received yet another epic boost.
Truthfully, once Xu Nian'an had annexed the Gulei Kingdom and the Heaven Dou Empire chose to invest in him, it was already a surefire deal.
Who could have imagined that he'd go on to seize a sizable stretch of territory from the Star Luo Empire?
And fewer still would have guessed that, after defeating the Star Shine Duchy and reclaiming the lost territory, he wouldn't stop there. Instead, he'd struck straight at the Galloping Wolf Kingdom.
He'd won by an overwhelming margin, crushing them with absolute superiority.
The Heaven Dou Empire's territory had now reached unprecedented proportions, surpassing the Star Luo Empire's.
An entire kingdom's worth of land!
Even if you did nothing with it, the annual tax revenue alone would bring in a fortune.
The Heaven Dou Empire had been overjoyed before. Now, the pain was just as immense.
Because Xu Nian'an had announced his withdrawal from the Heaven Dou Empire and declared his independence.
And he had resolutely chosen to take the title of emperor.
For more than two thousand years, the continent had been torn by conflict, yet only two empires had ever come into being. Xu Nian'an's Great Ming Kingdom withdrawing from Heaven Dou was already a bite taken out of their pie.
Declaring himself emperor was like taking a bite out of their pie, then slapping it across their faces and stomping on it just to taunt them.
"The Heaven Dou Empire will never acknowledge the existence of a third empire!"
"The Great Ming Kingdom is in the midst of a coup. Therefore, its king's declaration of independence from the Heaven Dou Empire is invalid!"
No empire could accept such an outcome.
The Heaven Dou Empire had given up its right to govern the Gulei Kingdom's territory in order to invest in the Great Ming Kingdom.
Now, the Great Ming Kingdom's territory—including the Gulei Kingdom and the Galloping Wolf Kingdom—stretched for nearly a thousand kilometers.
That was almost a third of the territory of either empire.
No emperor would sit idly by while losing all that land.
However, Xu Nian'an had already made it clear that he was withdrawing from the Heaven Dou Empire.
A disobedient, naughty child needed to be taught a lesson. A good beating would do the trick.
Though Xu Nian'an's forces still fell short of an empire's, with the Holy Spirit Cult and two hundred thousand Dragon Guards on his side, he feared neither the Star Luo Empire nor the Heaven Dou Empire.
"To help the Great Ming Kingdom quell the coup as soon as possible, the Heaven Dou Empire is mobilizing five hundred thousand troops and calling on international support. We're assembling three hundred thousand troops to defend the imperial palace!"
A coup in the Great Ming Kingdom?
What a joke. The place belonged to Xu Nian'an, and his was the only voice that mattered.
The supposed coup was nothing but an excuse the Heaven Dou Empire had cooked up to dismiss Xu Nian'an's withdrawal.
They were sending troops against the Great Ming Kingdom under the pretext of calling for international support to quell the coup.
And why were they assembling three hundred thousand troops to defend the imperial palace? Because they were afraid, of course.
"Send word to the King of Haagen-Dazs. Take control of the Gulei border. Under no circumstances can you... let him... return to the Great Ming Kingdom!"
After arranging for his son's affairs, Xue Ye finally found a moment to spare amid his endless duties.
His gaze turned icy as he looked toward the Great Ming Kingdom.
Humiliation. This was... his humiliation.
Threatened by a Titled Douluo, forced to bow his head to a... child. It was a lifelong disgrace for Xue Ye.
For that, Xu Nian'an would pay a terrible price!
At the border between the Gulei Kingdom and the Heaven Dou Empire, a party raced toward the Great Ming Kingdom at full speed.
"Who goes there!!!"
At the final checkpoint on the border between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Gulei Kingdom—no, the Great Ming Kingdom now—
The moment Xu Nian'an's carriage convoy approached, a shout rang out.
"Have you gone blind, you mongrels? You dare stop the Great Ming King's convoy!"
The Imperial Guard roared in fury.
The checkpoint commander's gaze turned cold.
"A coup is underway in the kingdom ahead. The Emperor has ordered the entire Heaven Dou border sealed. No one may enter or leave."
"Great Ming King, please turn around and go back where you came from!"
Clop, clop, clop, clop~!!!!
As soon as the commander finished speaking, the earth began to tremble. The clear sound of countless hooves rang across the sky.
In the blink of an eye, a huge army surrounded the checkpoint.
"I am the King of Haagen-Dazs. By His Majesty's order, I'm taking control of the Heaven Dou border!"
The checkpoint commander's eyes lit up. He hurried down from the wall.
"Greetings, Your Highness!"
The King of Haagen-Dazs wore lavish clothes. He didn't even glance at the commander before coldly barking an order.
"Open the gates!"
The commander froze, as though he'd heard something unbelievable. He stared at the King of Haagen-Dazs in utter disbelief.
"I said open the city gates and let the Great Ming King leave!"
Hearing the King of Haagen-Dazs make the order so openly, the commander was terrified.
"B-but the orders I received were..."
Clang~!!!
Before he could finish, a long sword was pressed against his neck.
"Open...!!! Open the city gates!"
The troops surrounding Xu Nian'an slowly parted, clearing a path.
Looking at the carriage with the Great Ming Kingdom's flag flying behind the three thousand Imperial Guards, the King of Haagen-Dazs straightened his robe.
"Farewell, Great Ming King!"
Clop, clop~!!
The carriage rolled past. A voice drifted lazily from within.
"You're clever. I hope you and your kingdom stay out of the muddy waters ahead."
After Xu Nian'an's convoy had gone, the commander looked at the King of Haagen-Dazs in confusion.
"Your Highness, why... why did you do that?"
The King of Haagen-Dazs opened his mouth to answer.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh~!!!
Suddenly, the air split with a series of sharp whistles.
Thud! Thud! Thud!...
The soldiers on the wall all stared wide-eyed as they fell. The next instant, a group of people in black robes appeared, their presence overwhelming.
Behind the wall, a deafening cheer suddenly erupted.
"Welcome, Your Majesty!!!"
"Why?!"
"The instant I received the order, the messenger suddenly dropped dead. The entire twenty-li stretch of the Haagen-Dazs border is crawling with the Dragon Armor Army!"
Thank you to ..., Jun Sheng Wo Wei Sheng, Wo Sheng Jun Yi Lao, and Kai for the reading-token donations!