A City at Stake

"The place all Soul Masters yearned for? Sir, you certainly had a big mouth."

Emperor Xue Ye spoke expressionlessly. He did not permit anyone to act so arrogantly before him.

"This place was indeed remarkable, but making all Soul Masters yearn for it might be difficult, no?

Could you introduce this place to us?"

Ning Fengzhi seemed thoughtful. The claim was grand, but perhaps it had substance behind it.

The other two did not speak, but both waited for the white-bearded old man to explain.

"I have two services in Purple Heaven City. Since you are the first guests of Purple Heaven City, why not evaluate these two services for me?"

Li Ming raised his chin slightly and spoke with great confidence.

"Very well."

Tang Xiao nodded in agreement.

"My first service is selling intelligence.

If any of you wished to find someone, simply provide a relevant portrait. Within the Heaven Dou Empire, I could find them."

Li Ming calmly explained his first service.

"Hmph! All flash and no substance. It was merely finding people—what was so impressive about that?

Could there really be so many Soul Masters in the world needing to find someone?!"

Emperor Xue Ye questioned him with a cold expression.

The others also nodded. This intelligence did not sound particularly useful.

"Is that so? I happen to have an intelligence map here, which I would like Your Majesty to examine.

If you believe this intelligence had no value, I would take back what I just said."

Seeing Emperor Xue Ye undermine him, Li Ming was not annoyed. Instead, he made a wager with him.

"Then I would like to see exactly what intelligence made you so confident."

Emperor Xue Ye remained expressionless, almost as if his face were paralyzed.

Li Ming immediately raised a hand, and a rolled-up scroll condensed in his palm. He promptly handed it to Emperor Xue Ye.

After receiving it, Emperor Xue Ye looked at the other three and immediately suggested, "What was the point of me looking at it alone?

Why not inspect it together? You might still have a chance."

At his words, Li Ming revealed a meaningful smile.

"How about I make a bet with Your Majesty?"

"What bet? Let me hear it."

"If, after reading it, Your Majesty dared not show this scroll to the others, I won.

Otherwise, you won.

If I won, you would lose a city to me. How about it?"

Emperor Xue Ye's pupils contracted slightly, but his expression did not change as he said, "A city? Interesting. But what could you offer as your stake?"

"If I lost, I would waive all intelligence fees for Your Majesty. In the future, whenever Your Majesty came to me for intelligence, I would not charge anything."

Li Ming spoke blandly.

"That did not sound worth a city."

Emperor Xue Ye's tone was even.

"Is that so? What if the intelligence I provided was real-time? So long as Your Majesty gave me a portrait, the moment that person appeared within the Heaven Dou Empire, I could provide you with intelligence immediately, no matter who it was."

Li Ming continued.

At that, a glint flashed through Emperor Xue Ye's eyes.

"Anyone?"

"Anyone."

Li Ming answered firmly.

"Even a Title Douluo?"

"Of course."

Li Ming replied at once.

"Deal."

Emperor Xue Ye immediately agreed. He did not question whether Li Ming possessed such ability; this remarkable dream had already displayed Li Ming's power.

It was not as though he had never seen abilities related to dreams.

But this dream was absolutely different from those dreams.

Leaving aside the sun, moon, and unknown things in the sky, he had carefully studied Purple Heaven City during his journey here.

He had discovered something exceedingly terrifying.

Whether it was the empty houses and buildings within the city or anything else, every detail was incredibly meticulous.

From the details of the furnishings in a single room, lifelike down to the different, non-repeating wood grain—

To the layouts and details within every building across the entire city, all of which differed.

Its realism was in no way inferior to reality.

If only one place had been realistic, that would have been one thing. But the entire city was so realistic, and the implications of that were terrifying.

Ordinary Soul Masters with related Soul Skills were already impressive if they could create a dream. Most of the time, they merely obscured the dreamer's thoughts, placing them in an unknowable state to conceal the lack of details.

Powerful Soul Masters could at most add details to the main objects, making people feel immersed enough that they could not tell it was a dream.

But this place was different. Every brick and tile was detailed to the extreme, more than enough to demonstrate the strength of the dream's master.

Seeing this, the other three waited with interest to watch the show.

If Emperor Xue Ye lost, he would merely lose a city. But if this city lord lost, their impression of him would greatly diminish. Either way, it would be a good show.

Emperor Xue Ye stood up directly and faced them head-on before slowly unrolling the map.

But the instant he looked at it, his expression changed sharply. His pupils contracted as he stared incredulously at the white-bearded old man Li Ming had transformed into.

Li Ming smiled faintly and leisurely drank cola, completely composed and confident.

The scroll truly contained a map—the map of the Heaven Dou Empire. It marked the Heaven Dou Empire's military deployments throughout every region, detailed down to every single soldier.

Even some highly secret locations had been marked.

Cold sweat immediately poured down Emperor Xue Ye's face. His expression stiffened, and his eyes widened.

The troop deployments in some of those places were extremely secret, considered the highest secrets of the Heaven Dou Empire. Very few people knew of them, and there was no way they could have been leaked from the military, yet they were all marked on it.

Most terrifying of all, troops he had only ordered redeployed yesterday could also be traced on this map. They were even marked between their point of departure and destination. It knew the troops had not yet reached their destination, showing just how detailed this map was.

Of course, if this map were leaked and shown to the sect masters of the Upper Three Sects, it would not be a major problem. Even if they memorized it all, he could simply rearrange the deployments after leaving this place.

But... Emperor Xue Ye's fingers holding the map scroll could not help trembling.

He dared not reveal this map!

It was not because the map itself was so confidential, but because he no longer dared to win and make the other party lose!

What did the Heaven Dou Empire rely on to establish itself?

Title Douluo, or the Upper Three Sects?

Neither. Those were certainly important, but they were absolutely not what mattered most to the Heaven Dou Empire.

What mattered most were the Heaven Dou Empire's million troops.

The foundation of the Heaven Dou Empire was its army.

Yet this map had dug up the foundation of the Heaven Dou Empire and laid it flat before them.

What mattered was not this map, but the fact that the other party possessed such means.

If someone from the Star Luo Empire obtained such a real-time, detailed map of military deployments, the foundation upon which the Heaven Dou Empire depended for survival would collapse in an instant.

Crushing the entire Heaven Dou Empire would then be only a matter of time.

Faced with someone possessing such methods, how could he dare make the other party lose? If the other party became enraged and directly sided with the Star Luo Empire, then he could start preparing to die for his country tomorrow.

At this moment, Emperor Xue Ye felt as though he were having a nightmare. He wished even more that it was only a nightmare.

Seeing Emperor Xue Ye's drastic change in expression, the other three could not help but be moved. For Emperor Xue Ye, a man with an emperor's scheming heart, to reveal such a horrified expression, this scroll was likely far more important than they had imagined.