Distant Cousin!

Chapter 9: Distant Cousin!

Hoo~

Swish!

"Ming Lei, Third Elder of the Holy Spirit Sect, greets the King!"

Not long after the figure was summoned, a person appeared beside Xu Nian'an.

Shortly after this person appeared, another figure slowly emerged between him and Xu Nian'an.

"Grand Elder."

Ming Lei cupped his hands in a salute.

Seeing that the newcomer was one of their own, Long Xiaoyao visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

The sudden appearance of a Title Douluo's aura, especially so close to Xu Nian'an, had truly given Long Xiaoyao quite a scare.

He had feared it was an assassin; after all, the previous King of the Starry Sky Kingdom had been assassinated.

"Ming Lei, hear my command."

Turning back, Xu Nian'an glanced at Ming Lei Douluo. To be honest, he couldn't discern much.

Most of the Holy Spirit Sect's attire looked quite similar.

"Your subordinate is here."

Ming Lei looked up, a flash of lightning flickering in his eyes.

"I command you to take the entire Holy Spirit Sect to the Gulei Kingdom to intimidate the riffraff."

Truth be told, if the former Starry Sky Kingdom had possessed even a few more soul masters, it would never have fallen to the point of being carved up by the two great empires.

Although wars between nations were currently fought primarily by ordinary people, that did not mean soul masters lacked combat power.

The pressure exerted by high-level soul masters remained formidable, sufficient to easily bypass layers of defense and strike the rear lines.

The King of the Gulei Kingdom was a prime example.

He had underestimated the Great Ming Kingdom, thinking that by massing his army and hiding behind it, he would be safe.

In reality, any high-level soul master could easily bypass the army and carry out an assassination before they were even detected.

[Ding, congratulations to the host for completing the side quest: Suppress Rebels, Clear Remnants, Rectify the Court... Quest rating... S!]

At noon, under the scorching sun.

Xu Nian'an had the Dragon Guard behead the nine generations of the captured officials in front of everyone in Ming City.

Blood flowed incessantly, pooling into a small stream, and the severed heads required cart after cart to haul away.

Over twelve thousand people were executed.

In truth, there was no need to kill so many, or perhaps it was entirely unnecessary.

But Xu Nian'an cherished his life.

What if, among them, there were a few fanatics who wanted to sneak into the palace to target him?

It was quieter to just kill them all.

[Ding, congratulations to the host for obtaining: Super-tech rice, soybeans... medical hospitals... soul guidance technology data, martial soul data... and over five hundred professional personnel.]

[Awe of Royal Power!: Loyalty of the Great Ming Kingdom's subjects increased by fifty percent!]

Xu Nian'an didn't understand the miscellaneous rewards, so he simply had the personnel brought out and left them to handle the arrangements.

[Ding, triggered side kingdom quest, Recruit Soldiers: Unlimited recruitment, provide employment opportunities, and increase the kingdom's military strength.]

Seeing this prompt, Xu Nian'an ignored it entirely.

With two hundred thousand Dragon Guards and one hundred thousand Imperial Guards, he was already barely keeping up; recruiting more now was out of the question.

Recruitment was fine, but only after stabilizing the territory in the Gulei Kingdom and recovering lost lands.

Within the kingdom.

Under Xu Nian'an's orders, Xu Yi gathered another one hundred thousand Dragon Guards and took sixty thousand Imperial Guards to the Gulei Kingdom.

The plan was for them to rendezvous with the other one hundred thousand Dragon Guards in the Gulei Kingdom, leave the sixty thousand Imperial Guards to garrison the Gulei Kingdom, and then have the two hundred thousand Dragon Guards march on the Star Shine Duchy under the pretext of recovering lost territory.

Gulei Kingdom, Royal Palace!

"What is the meaning of this? What is going on with your Great Ming Kingdom?"

"Does it really take this long just to inquire about some information?"

"I see you are doing this on purpose!"

"Are you intentionally showing contempt for my Heaven Dou Empire?"

The speaker had slicked-back black hair, a face full of indignation, and was dressed in white-gold finery.

The person who arrived was none other than someone else.

It was the Heaven Dou Empire's illustrious Prince Xue Xing.

He was the younger brother of Emperor Xue Ye, and the uncle of Xue Beng and Xue Qinghe.

Due to a dispute arising within a kingdom affiliated with the Heaven Dou Empire, and with the situation remaining unclear, the Gulei Kingdom had fallen completely.

Fearing that a low-ranking envoy would be disrespected by the Great Ming Kingdom, the Heaven Dou Empire had dispatched Prince Xue Xing of the royal family to investigate the situation.

As a prince of the Heaven Dou Empire and the biological brother of Emperor Xue Ye, his status was more than sufficient.

The other kingdoms would never dare to offend or slight him; if he were to be killed, it would provide a legitimate excuse to mobilize the army.

"Heh, can any stray cat or dog bark within the palace of the Gulei Kingdom?"

Swish.

Two groups of people slowly walked into the entrance of the main hall; one group wore black robes, while the other wore armor.

"Who are you?"

Xue Xing frowned.

Ming Lei slowly pulled back the black hood covering his head, revealing a young, purple-haired face.

"You are not qualified to know my identity."

His indifferent voice echoed through the hall.

Bang!

In the next instant, Xue Xing's explosive temper could no longer be contained.

He slammed a palm onto the table, stood up abruptly, and glared at Ming Lei.

Slap.

Before he could even speak, a slap sent him flying.

"Try glaring at me again, I dare you."

Hum.

Yellow, yellow, purple, purple, black, black, black, black, black—nine soul rings appeared slowly.

Beyond that, the twenty-four deacons behind Ming Lei also had eight soul rings rise simultaneously from their bodies.

Swish.

"Title... Title Douluo... and over twenty Soul Douluo."

"This... how is this possible!"

Watching Xue Xing collapse to the ground, Xu Yi's lips curled into a smile.

"You wanted to know what happened to the Gulei Kingdom, didn't you?"

"I will tell you now: from this day forward, there will be no more Gulei Kingdom on the Douluo Continent. There will only be my Great Ming Kingdom!"

That night.

The Heaven Dou Imperial Palace.

"What?"

"You say the Gulei Kingdom was destroyed by the Great Ming Kingdom?"

"The Great Ming Kingdom first sent a Title Douluo to ambush and kill everyone in the Gulei King's camp, then flooded and slaughtered the Gulei Kingdom's two-hundred-thousand-strong army!!!"

Emperor Xue Ye stood up from his throne in shock.

"Yes, yes, that's right. The Great Ming Kingdom has many high-level soul masters. A Title Douluo arrived that day, along with over twenty Soul Douluo. Not only that, they also mobilized twenty thousand Dragon Armor Army soldiers and headed toward the Star Luo Empire."

Hiss! Hiss!

Upon hearing this news, the sound of people gasping in shock filled the main hall.

"Who exactly is ruling this Great Ming Kingdom?"

Hearing Emperor Xue Ye's question, Xue Xing shuddered, as if he had suddenly remembered something, and hurriedly spoke.

"I remember now, I remember! The general seemed to have mentioned it at the time."

"The King of the Great Ming is the son of the former King of the Starry Sky Kingdom, Xu Xingyun—Xu Nian'an..."

Upon hearing Xue Xing's words, a young man beside Emperor Xue Ye narrowed his eyes.

"Wait, Xu Xingyun... Father, I seem to recall that when the Imperial Grandfather was on the throne, in order to unite the various kings, he married off many of his sisters. Was one of them married to Xu Xingyun?"

Hearing the youth's words, Emperor Xue Ye's eyes lit up.

"Yes, that seems to be true. Wait, bring me the imperial genealogy."

"Father, Qinghe wishes to go to the Great Ming to acknowledge Cousin Nian'an!"