July 25, 2625, Douluo Calendar.
The Heaven Dou Empire had entered the darkest, most turbulent moment in its thousand-year history.
Ceding territory and paying reparations, selling out the country to sue for peace... Dark clouds shrouded the skies above Heaven Dou City, as though a great hand had covered the light.
And the master of that hand was only six years old.
"Sign."
The two flatly spoken words fell, and Xu Nian'an turned away coldly.
In the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace, ranks of soldiers in golden armor stood at attention. Outside the palace stood layer upon layer of soldiers in silver armor and white robes.
Their faces were expressionless, and their whole bodies radiated a murderous aura.
Looking at the defeat treaty in his hands, Emperor Xue Ye of the Heaven Dou Empire trembled.
A debt of two billion Gold Soul Coins, clear as day.
On top of that, they had to relinquish the empire's colonies—its kingdoms—outside its borders.
And there were the cessions and reparations: starting from the Heavenly Spirit Mountain Range—that is, the Heaven Dou Empire's famous Jialing Pass—then heading north all the way to the Ice God Mountain Range in the Far North. This included the Heaven Dou Empire's entire eastern coastline, as well as the great city of Xueling City.
The stretch ran for hundreds of miles, taking nearly a third of the Heaven Dou Empire's territory in one stroke.
Of course, that wasn't all, because this was the other side's defeat treaty.
Most importantly, on the grounds that the Balak Kingdom and the Heaven Dou Empire had formed a joint army to invade Great Ming's borders, causing Great Ming enormous losses, Xu Nian'an demanded that Heaven Dou cede the Balak Kingdom outright.
Beyond these major demands, there were all sorts of restrictive clauses, more than a hundred in total.
"Your Majesty, Emperor of Great Ming, we're willing to sign a defeat treaty because we truly lost. We're willing to sign the same kind of treaty as the Star Luo Empire, but this..."
After hesitating for a long while, Emperor Xue Ye still didn't put pen to paper. The difference was simply too great.
If he really signed this.
The Heaven Dou Empire wouldn't recover for generations.
"The difference is too great?"
Xu Nian'an replied with scorn.
Before the other man could respond, Xu Nian'an furrowed his brows and immediately roared.
"The Star Luo battlefield had its price. The Heaven Dou battlefield has its own."
"I'll tell you right now why your Heaven Dou battlefield costs so much more than the Star Luo battlefield."
"First, your Heaven Dou Empire was the one that started this war. After your first defeat, you joined forces with Star Luo to invade my Great Ming!"
"Second, the Battle of Gulei City cost my Dragon Guard a hundred thousand lives. Since Great Ming was founded, we've never suffered a greater loss. That's why the Heaven Dou battlefield costs so much!"
At some point, Xu Nian'an's fists had clenched tight.
The hundred thousand Dragon Guard lost in the Battle of Gulei City were a lifelong pain to Xu Nian'an, since his transmigration—a thorn in his eye.
Now Xu Nian'an would make them understand that starting a war came at a price.
And that price might take countless generations of their descendants to repay.
Whoosh!
At Xu Nian'an's words, a civil official with bloodshot eyes rushed out from the Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.
"Bullshit! People die on the battlefield—that's how war works! Your Great Ming Empire lost a hundred thousand Dragon Guard, and they count as people, but our Heaven Dou Empire's million-man army doesn't?"
"How are we supposed to count our million-man army..."
Whoosh!
Before the other man could finish, Xu Nian'an turned his head coldly and cut him off with a shrill shout.
"What does that have to do with me?!"
"In my eyes, they aren't people. They can't compare to my Dragon Guard!"
At Xu Nian'an's words, the hearts of all the Dragon Guard in the hall warmed.
In truth, there wasn't any difference between people. Everyone had one head, two hands, two feet, and one—
The only difference between the Heaven Dou Empire and the Great Ming Empire was this:
Great Ming had won.
And Emperor Xu Nian'an was fiercely protective of his own, willing to stand up for them.
"Seize him!"
The Dragon Guard commander narrowed his eyes.
He swept out a hand.
In an instant, dozens of men lunged forward and pinned the Heaven Dou official firmly to the ground.
"Your Majesty, the man who insulted your imperial authority has been captured. We await your judgment!"
Xu Nian'an hated being interrupted while speaking, especially by someone who was accusing him.
Who was he, and who was the other man? What standing did each of them have? Did the man think he was worthy?
"Behead him."
Clang—thud!
The instant Xu Nian'an finished speaking, the Dragon Guard commander brought his broadsword down in a single stroke.
Before long, a corpse, its entire body still twitching, lay in the hall.
Emperor Xue Ye's face turned pale.
He didn't know whether Xu Nian'an had done it on purpose.
Whether he had deliberately killed the chicken to scare the monkey, deliberately putting on a show for him.
At the thought, Emperor Xue Ye's hand shook as he held the pen.
In the end, he gritted his teeth.
This war had emptied out a century of the Heaven Dou Empire's accumulated wealth.
Especially with a million elite Heaven Dou soldiers dead on the border, the empire had lost a vast number of men in their prime.
He thought that no matter how vast the Heaven Dou Empire's territory was, it would all be useless if there was no one left to live on it.
Finally, under the expectant gazes of the officials below, Emperor Xue Ye gritted his teeth and began to write.
"Our Heaven Dou Empire doesn't have that much money right now..."
Xu Nian'an waved a hand.
"That's fine. You can pay in installments. The interest can be the same as Star Luo's: no less than ten million in repayments per year, with fifty million in interest every ten years."
As he spoke, Xu Nian'an's gaze flickered. As though he had thought of something, he remarked, almost casually,
"Of course, if you have anything unusual that's worth collecting, you can use it to pay off the debt."
"For example, I've heard there's a national treasure in your Heaven Dou Empire. What was it called again? Right, I think it was the Vast Sea..."
Xu Nian'an left the sentence unfinished, dropping just enough of a hint.
Xue Ye was quick to catch on and immediately picked up the thread.
"The Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud!"
Xu Nian'an nodded.
"I'm willing to pay one hundred million Gold Soul Coins for it as a collectible."
Ten minutes later, an object shaped like a triangle and glowing blue was brought over.
Xu Nian'an took it, inspected it expressionlessly for a while, then nodded and put it into his Storage Ring.
"Deduct its value from the debt."
Did they think he was going to pay out of his own pocket?
As if. What Xu Nian'an wanted was to get something for nothing.
When Emperor Xue Ye heard Xu Nian'an's words, he let out a sigh of relief.
It was worth a hundred million. At least it had some value. Even if it had only been worth a million, Xue Ye would have sold it.
Come on, the man had kindly offered. Given Heaven Dou's situation, if the other side had simply taken it without asking, for free, what could Xue Ye have said? What could he have dared to say?
Swish, swish, swish!
Emperor Xue Ye slowly signed his name to the defeat treaty.
From that moment on, the defeat treaty took effect. At the same time, a cold system notification rang in Xu Nian'an's mind.
[Ding, congratulations, Host, on completing the main quest, the continent's greatest empire!]
With the old powers, the Star Luo Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire, having signed defeat treaties, Great Ming had become the final victor.
It had become the strongest empire in the history of the Douluo Continent—a first without precedent!
Along with that came the completion of the system's main quest.
"Your Majesty, Emperor of Great Ming, do you think... there's anything else in my Heaven Dou Empire you'd like? We can include it in the valuation as well."