Journey to Slaughter City

Not long after Qian Renxue ascended the throne, the Balak Kingdom grew "restless" again.

Ordinarily, in the first year after a new emperor took the throne, even kingdoms that had always been particularly "restless" would show some respect.

Kingdoms that had paid no taxes for years would hand over a token amount, while pleading that disasters had struck their lands and asking for understanding.

One way or another, they would at least make a gesture.

The Balak Kingdom's rebellion had coincided with "Emperor Xue Ye's" death, so the campaign to suppress it had ended halfway through.

Anyone with eyes could see that the Balak Kingdom's territory was too small. It stood no chance against the army of the entire Heaven Dou Empire.

The Balak Kingdom's only option now was to curry favor with the newly crowned emperor, turn a major affair into a minor one, and let the minor one disappear. The new emperor's first year was the perfect chance to show its goodwill.

With Emperor Xue Ye gone, the imperial army had already withdrawn, and the Balak royal family had escaped punishment. They should have known when to stop and worked to please the new emperor.

Yet soon after Qian Renxue took the throne, the time came for every kingdom to pay its taxes. Even the other regions that had joined the Balak Kingdom in making trouble obediently offered a token payment.

The Balak Kingdom made no move at all. Qian Renxue flew into a rage...

And so Jiang Tian brought Jiang Mingyang to the Balak Kingdom battlefield once more.

In truth, although Jiang Tian and the others had declared the Balak Kingdom's rebellion quelled, everyone knew the campaign had never truly been finished.

The Balak Kingdom would have been dealt with sooner or later. This latest provocation merely hastened the day, and another campaign to suppress the rebellion began...

Time passed quickly. Two and a half years had gone by since Qian Renxue became ruler of the Heaven Dou Empire, and nearly three years since Jiang Mingyang first met Ma Hongjun.

In those three years, twelve-year-old Ma Hongjun had reached level 32, while Jiang Mingyang had cultivated to level 57.

The battlefield was steeped in killing and bloodlust. Those who endured it often made tremendous progress.

Without exaggeration, even if Jiang Mingyang had possessed only an ordinary sword Martial Soul rather than a top-tier one, he would still have ranked among the strongest Soul Kings alive.

Experience was always precious, and words could never convey it.

When Jiang Mingyang first arrived on Douluo Continent, he had been lost. Now he had a plan for his future.

He did not believe that founding an empire would let him vault all of Douluo Continent's society from feudalism into capitalism or socialism. That was too idealistic.

With time to reflect, Jiang Mingyang came to understand exactly what he wanted: to found a new, unified empire.

First, to put it selfishly, who did not want to be emperor and stand supreme over all under heaven? Good name or bad, who did not dream of leaving a mark on history?

He had never had the chance before. Now that he did, he had to seize it.

Second, although several gods had appeared throughout Douluo Continent's history, the continent had never been unified. Its people lacked any sense of unity under one rule.

In Jiang Mingyang's previous world, a man named Ying Zheng had driven unification forward. Douluo Continent was different: no one like Ying Zheng had appeared here yet, and Jiang Mingyang wanted to be the first.

Third, for a civilization to progress, its thinking could not become rigid, and its productive capacity had to advance steadily. Within an empire, only two paths could bring that about:

The first was the rise of an enlightened ruler whose deeds deserved page after page in the history books.

But that approach suited other supernatural worlds, not one like Douluo Continent.

There was no getting around it: Martial Souls were innate, tied to bloodlines.

What set Douluo Continent apart from other supernatural worlds was its system, which made broad development difficult. Progress could only follow fixed paths.

"Are kings, lords, generals, and ministers born to their stations?" On Douluo Continent, that challenge carried little force.

Its system and society kept its thinking backward, making any revolution in ideas hard to achieve.

The second path was the fall of the old empire and the founding of a new one—one capable of swiftly crushing every rebellious faction and movement so the whole world could return to peace.

Generally speaking, in a supernatural world on the scale of Douluo Continent, the first thousand years after a new empire's founding would be an age when ideas burst into bloom.

Jiang Mingyang believed his true task was to advance civilization, to become someone like Ying Zheng.

If he succeeded, he did not want the empire he founded to endure forever.

Empires were not eternal. After an empire had ruled long enough, it would inevitably become the chief stumbling block in civilization's path.

For a world with rigid class divisions to be born anew, it had to reform or fall and give rise to new rulers.

In a supernatural world, founding a new empire required overwhelming power and the people's support.

But "the people" here did not mean ordinary commoners. It meant the middle and upper ranks of the old empire.

Cruel as it was, that was the truth. In an age when knowledge could not be shared, those who held it would always rule.

After careful thought, Jiang Mingyang decided to go to Slaughter City, where the legacy of the Asura God King, one of the Five Great God Kings, lay.

Once he had made up his mind, he acted. Never one to dither, Jiang Mingyang went straight to the Imperial Palace to bid Emperor Xuande, "Xue Qinghe," farewell.

When Qian Renxue learned that Jiang Mingyang was going to Slaughter City, worry and delight mingled in her heart.

Her worry was natural: Slaughter City was exceedingly dangerous. Spirit Hall's most secret records contained an account passed down personally by the Angel God before she ascended to the Divine Realm.

It recorded that the Angel God had once sensed a deity's aura within Slaughter City. The city was very likely a place where a god had left her legacy.

As a result, close to a dozen ambitious, self-important heirs to the papacy had gone to Slaughter City to temper themselves.

Yet to this day, apart from that mo... sister she hated, not one had gained anything there that benefited them.

Qian Renxue did not acknowledge that "sister" of hers. Even so, she had to admit that her sister ranked among the handful of greatest popes in Spirit Hall's history. That alone showed how dangerous Slaughter City was.

Her delight came from another possibility: if Jiang Mingyang succeeded, then after she became a god, the two of them could stay together forever. Besides, Jiang Mingyang had "destiny" on his side. His chances of success should be high.

After a moment's thought, Qian Renxue said through tears, "You... make sure you come back safe!"

Jiang Mingyang nodded firmly, then turned and left.

Netizen 1234: Do you think Emperor Li might have been a woman? Lots of novels do that these days!

Netizen 67984: You've been reading too many novels, upstairs!

Netizen 1237: I think it's possible. Or do you think the Grand Ancestor Emperor swung both ways? Who said that? Step forward and watch out for a knock on the door from someone "checking the water meter"!