On the Douluo Continent twenty thousand years ago, what sort of "calling card" would earn other people's respect?
Three-Word Battle Armor? A ten-thousand-year soul spirit? God-grade mecha?
No. The people of the Douluo Continent had no idea what any of those things represented.
Unless they wore battle armor themselves or fought a Battle Armor Master, it was difficult to understand its mysteries.
A ten-thousand-year soul spirit might be unusual, but ultimately, it was only a black soul ring. Its visual impact was a little lacking.
God-grade mecha was just an enormous figurine. The people of the Douluo Continent would probably only feel genuine terror when facing it head-on on a battlefield.
Only the ancient practice of displaying soul rings would appeal to the people of the Douluo Continent and serve as the clearest possible calling card.
Sima Lanxiao actually wanted to step forward himself. He was also a rank seventy-two Horned Dragon Soul Saint and a Two-Word Battle Armor Master.
But his position as the empire's foreign minister made it inconvenient for him to do so.
Besides, a Soul Saint was still two soul rings short of a Titled Douluo, and those two rings would affect how the people of the Douluo Continent treated the empire afterward.
So Sima Lanxiao began considering the three Titled Douluos aboard the Ocean Fleet. Who could take on this task?
Qilin Douluo Tong Yu had a secret mission, and Sima Lanxiao had no authority to command him, so he could be ruled out immediately.
As for that one... uh, forget it. He had only just persuaded him to search the nearby waters and determine their bearings.
That left only Blood-Weeping Douluo Chu Tiange.
Blood-Weeping Douluo Chu Tiange had the Weeping Blood Sword as his martial soul and a Cultivation Level of ninety-seven. He generally kept a low profile, loved studying all kinds of weapons, and enjoyed collecting antique weapons.
Blood-Weeping Douluo had joined the Ocean Fleet because he wanted to see the ancient weapons of the Douluo Continent.
For an antique enthusiast, what could be more wonderful than going straight to ancient times to acquire antiques?
Sima Lanxiao went to Blood-Weeping Douluo's room.
Chu Tiange was meditating. He was a scruffy man with disheveled hair and a tangled beard, dressed in a long, old-fashioned robe.
"Blood-cry Crowned One." Sima Lanxiao showed the respect due to a Titled Douluo. "I was hoping..."
Sima Lanxiao explained why he had come. He hoped Blood-Weeping Douluo would intimidate the Heaven Frost Grand Duke a little, lest the people of the Douluo Continent look down on the Divine Realm Empire.
"...In that case, the Heaven Frost Grand Duke would naturally offer up the antique weapons in his collection." Sima Lanxiao finished by appealing to his interests. "The collections of nobles who rule their own fiefs are always better than those of commoners."
"Very well." Blood-Weeping Douluo readily agreed.
"Sorry for the trouble, Blood-cry Crowned One."
Sima Lanxiao was overjoyed. With Blood-Weeping Douluo's help, they would surely astonish the people of the Douluo Continent.
Only after Sima Lanxiao left did Blood-Weeping Douluo Chu Tiange reveal a sly grin.
Blood-Weeping Douluo had his own considerations.
The Divine Realm Empire's Ocean Fleet had to leave one Titled Douluo behind to guard the ships. If he had the bad luck to be left behind, wouldn't he have to get someone else to buy antique weapons for him?
Where was the fun in that?
Blood-Weeping Douluo had actually been hoping Sima Lanxiao would approach him about escorting the delegation inland, but his dignity as a Titled Douluo kept him from saying so outright.
Now that Sima Lanxiao had come to him of his own accord, it had saved him a great deal of trouble.
"Looks like the foreign minister has decided to invite you to show off in front of the people of the Douluo Continent, Your Eminence."
Long Yue appeared at the doorway like a ghost.
"Ah, En Ci's disciple." Blood-Weeping Douluo Chu Tiange stood up. "Don't call it showing off. That sounds awful. I'm merely proclaiming the empire's might."
"Then I'm willing to carry your banner and lead your horse." Long Yue took out the White Tiger Banner he had prepared long ago. "I'm also more than happy to serve the empire and proclaim its might across the four seas."
Seeing that great banner, Blood-Weeping Douluo knew Long Yue had already prepared to come along. "You guessed that accurately? That Sima Lanxiao would definitely come to me?"
"Given how efficiently the people of the Douluo Continent work, and how much patience our foreign minister Lord Sima has, it was bound to end up this way. His Excellency Tong Yu couldn't act, so that left a choice between two."
Long Yue followed right behind Blood-Weeping Douluo, showing off his burly muscles to the Super Douluo.
"I had more confidence in you, Your Eminence. A strongman like me shouldn't disgrace your image, right, Brother Chu?"
Brother... Chu?
Blood-Weeping Douluo's mouth twitched. He had long heard about the mental state of En Ci's final disciple. Now that he had seen Long Yue in person, this trip had certainly not been wasted.
"Some things would be beneath your dignity as a Titled Douluo, so I'll have to say and do them for you," Long Yue pointed out. "Besides, I don't want to stay aboard the ship any longer either."
"Haha, true enough. Your martial soul is the Mountain Dragon King. You belong on solid ground!"
Long Yue had won Blood-Weeping Douluo over. He had never been particularly concerned with the finer points of etiquette, and he found the young man very much to his liking.
Blood-Weeping Douluo took Long Yue onto the deck and soared into the air, then barged straight into Skyfrost City's government offices, unleashing the full, unrestrained aura of a Super Douluo.
Four purple, five black-nine soul rings.
"Your... Your Eminence?" The officials on duty at the government office happened to be the two unlucky fellows from that morning, Xie Sen and Liu Wei.
"Summon the Heaven Frost Grand Duke! The Blood-cry Crowned One is here. Will he not come to pay his respects?" Long Yue planted the White Tiger Banner inside the government office, a fox borrowing a tiger's might.
"Yes... yes!" Xie Sen and Liu Wei ran out in a panic.
News of a Titled Douluo's arrival swept through Skyfrost City like an ocean wave.
Blood-Weeping Douluo and Long Yue were happy to see it spread. Their purpose had always been to proclaim the Divine Realm Empire's might-in a way the people of the Douluo Continent could understand.
By the time the Heaven Frost Grand Duke hurried over, the bishop of Spirit Hall's main hall had already arrived and was respectfully, cautiously asking Blood-Weeping Douluo why he had come.
"Your Eminence."
The Heaven Frost Grand Duke inwardly grumbled that the people of Spirit Hall were just as he had expected, while respectfully bowing to Blood-Weeping Douluo.
"My title is Blood-Weeping." Those were Blood-Weeping Douluo's first words.
His second sentence was, "I come from the Divine Realm Empire on the Spirit Ice Continent, and I am one of the imperial family's retainers."
After speaking, Blood-Weeping Douluo closed his eyes and said nothing more for the moment, disregarding the drastic changes in the expressions of the Heaven Frost Grand Duke and Spirit Hall's bishop.
"I hear His Holiness the Pope holds the Douluo Continent's Titled Douluos in great esteem, which is how he built Spirit Hall into such a powerful institution. Now the Heaven Frost Grand Duke is slighting the Blood-cry Crowned One. Are you going against His Holiness the Pope's wishes?"
Every word out of Long Yue's mouth stirred up trouble, as though he feared Spirit Hall's bishop and the Heaven Frost Grand Duke might not come to blows.
"I would never dream of it! Let heaven and earth bear witness!" The Heaven Frost Grand Duke hurried to make his position clear. "If this concerns supplies..."
"We want to enter the harbor, and we want to come ashore."
Long Yue cut off the Heaven Frost Grand Duke, paying no heed as his face turned the color of pig liver.
"The Divine Realm Empire's delegation has come to the Douluo Continent to visit not only the two great empires, but His Holiness the Pope as well. Are you dragging your feet because you want to spoil His Holiness the Pope's plans?"
Every other phrase out of Long Yue's mouth was "His Holiness the Pope." He said it even more often than the people of the Douluo Continent did.
Anyone who didn't know better would truly have thought Long Yue was a devout native of the Douluo Continent.
Spirit Hall's bishop finally struggled to maintain his composure and took the initiative to ease the tension. "Your Grace, why not invite the delegation from the Spirit Ice Continent ashore to replenish their supplies first? As for lodging, they can stay at our Spirit Hall."
"...Very well."
The Heaven Frost Grand Duke was deeply troubled. If he really let the people of the Divine Realm Empire come ashore, he would no longer be able to hold them back.
Though he couldn't hold them back now either... Who could have imagined there was actually a Titled Douluo aboard the Divine Realm Empire's ships?
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