En Ci had originally planned for Long Yue to enter Monster Academy after obtaining his third ring.
But after the upheaval in Star Luo City, En Ci was genuinely worried that something else might go wrong, so he relented.
What had changed En Ci's outlook was the disappearance of the Tang Sect.
It was not just the Tang Sect buildings in Zhi District that had disappeared. The Tang Sect's senior members scattered throughout the rest of Star Luo City had vanished too, along with its disciples.
If Long Yue did not attend Monster Academy and remain under En Ci's watchful eye, what if he suddenly disappeared... Although Long Yue was not a member of the Tang Sect, En Ci did not dare take that gamble.
Returning to the Tang Sect, this practically looked like an attack specifically targeting its disciples... En Ci had almost instantly thought of the Spirit Pagoda's Ghostflame Douluo, Zhang Geyang.
The Star Luo Empire had no reason whatsoever to act against the Tang Sect. They relied on it to purchase large quantities of soul guidance technology, including some that the Sun Moon Federation had placed under embargo.
The only party that might want to attack the Tang Sect was the ambitious Spirit Pagoda.
But seeing Zhang Geyang holed up inside the Spirit Pagoda in Dingchuan District, En Ci felt that was not quite right either.
-Surely Star Luo City's passage through time during the upheaval had not deliberately erased everything belonging to the Tang Sect.
That would be rather terrifying... It would mean that Star Luo City's journey through time had been an operation carried out by an intelligent, God Level powerhouse with a definite purpose.
Rather than an accident.
Holy Dragon Douluo En Ci was now a Level 99 Limit Douluo, a demigod, and a Four-Word Battle Armor Master. Yet even he could not have cleared out every Tang Sect member in Star Luo City in such a short time.
After all, their ranks even included a level 98 Smiling-Faced Douluo.
Long Yue and his companions left under the escort of the security force, and En Ci returned to the imperial palace.
Dai Tianling had yet to retire for the night, and the senior ministers had gathered considerable new information.
"By comparing the positions of the stars and various other data... we have confirmed that this is twenty thousand years ago. In other words... the era of Sea God Tang San."
Seeing En Ci enter, Emperor Dai Tianling nodded. "Imperial Preceptor, I have heard."
He was referring to the disappearance of the Tang Sect disciples. The emperor had a secret force at his disposal for gathering intelligence.
Hearing that Star Luo City had traveled back to Sea God Tang San's era left En Ci momentarily dazed as well. Could he actually have a chance to exchange a few moves with Tang San?
But he was a Limit Douluo, after all, and En Ci quickly set the tone. "Since we are here, let us settle in. Arriving twenty thousand years in the past is also an opportunity for our Star Luo Empire. At the very least, there are ample soul beast resources here."
The senior ministers beamed with delight. The families behind them would be able to obtain another batch of soul bones.
The minister of the army said, "Apart from us, there are several tribes on the Green Scale Plain. The security force captured quite a few natives. According to the intelligence department's interrogations, they submit to the 'Green Scale King' in the southern plains and pay him tribute every year."
The Green Scale King and his tribe were the strongest force on the Green Scale Plain.
If the Green Scale King were allowed another ten thousand years to develop, they might become the Green Scale Empire that the Star Luo Empire had encountered when it first landed on this continent.
"Deal with them." The emperor decided the Green Scale King's fate with effortless ease. "When we landed eight thousand years ago, the Green Scale Empire had only three Titled Douluos. This is twenty thousand years ago. They have not even founded an empire yet, only a tribal alliance. They can only be weaker."
"Yes. The current Green Scale King is merely a Soul Saint, and his nation is even more vulnerable."
The minister of the army wore a contemptuous expression. He himself was a Soul Douluo and a Three-Word Battle Armor Master.
"I do not want anyone resembling the Green Skull appearing on the Star Luo Continent," the emperor instructed.
Some members of the Green Scale Empire's imperial family had eventually become members of the resistance organization known as the Green Skull.
As the most powerful resistance organization on the Star Luo Continent, they had hidden in two imperial provinces with treacherous terrain... None of that mattered anymore. Star Luo City had already traveled through time.
What mattered was that Star Luo City would never again give a similar resistance organization the time or opportunity to grow.
Star Luo City's soul guidance technological civilization was a full twenty thousand years ahead of the tribal alliance.
If Dai Tianling could not deal with a group of natives with such an advantage, he would truly be making himself a laughingstock.
"Yes." The senior ministers slowly withdrew, returning to their respective posts.
The buildings housing the empire's various departments stood along the street in front of the imperial palace, also known as Spirit Ice Street.
"Your Majesty." En Ci did not leave. Instead, he said to the emperor, "The one who caused us to travel through time was a God Level powerhouse... perhaps even a god who bears a grudge against the Tang Sect."
Without such a grudge, it would be difficult to explain why not a single Tang Sect disciple could be found in Star Luo City.
"A god..." Emperor Dai Tianling's face filled with longing. "But the Divine Realm has already left Douluo Star. Teacher, you said you could not sense the Divine Realm's guiding presence."
"I can sense it now." With only the emperor and himself present, En Ci had no need to conceal anything. "Ever since the upheaval, I have been able to sense that the Divine Realm exists again. That was why I was certain we were twenty thousand years in the past."
At this point, a dazzling light blazed in En Ci's eyes.
As a Limit Douluo and a Four-Word Battle Armor Master, En Ci had already reached the pinnacle of the mortal world, both in strength and in influence. Yet the immortality and power represented by God Level remained the goals he tirelessly pursued.
"What could that God Level powerhouse mean by clearing out the Tang Sect?" Dai Tianling thought of Tang San's enemies. The most famous were, of course, the Rakshasa God and the Angel God.
But those two gods had been gone for many years. Who else bore a grudge against Sea God Tang San? One so deep that they insisted on clearing out the Tang Sect?
They moved past the subject. Neither the emperor nor the Holy Dragon Douluo knew the answer, so they stopped considering it.
Let the Tang Sect suffer its misfortune. At least the imperial family had not disappeared.
En Ci ventured, "This is twenty thousand years ago, the era of Sea God Tang San. If the timing is right, we may even meet Tang San himself. If Tang San is here... how should we respond?"
Without the slightest hesitation, Dai Tianling shook his head. "I know what you mean, Teacher. We are not the Tang Sect's dutiful sons and devoted grandsons. The empire can establish good relations with Tang San, but it will not become his subordinate. Besides, an entire ocean separates us from the Douluo Continent."
"Tang San is the Sea God," En Ci stressed.
"..." The emperor fell silent.
Remembering that detail gave even this emperor of grand ambitions and formidable vision quite a headache. "Come to think of it, apart from Tang San, our ancestors Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing are also in this era."
The Star Luo Imperial Family did not care about Tang San, but deciding how to treat Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing was considerably more difficult.
Were they supposed to acknowledge Dai Mubai's status as their ancestor?
Would that not mean finding themselves an ancestor to sit over their heads?
Even if he really was one.
But Dai Tianling had no wish to find himself an ancestor. He was the emperor of the Star Luo Empire.
Yet if Dai Mubai truly came to them invoking his ancestral status, how was he supposed to face him?
It was like Lord Yue launching his northern expedition under the banner of welcoming back the two emperors. What was the Zhao emperor in Lin'an supposed to think?
He would want him dead and only then be satisfied.
Dai Tianling was not so vicious as Wanyan Gou, but his words still carried plenty of resentment toward Dai Mubai.
"As for our ancestor Dai Mubai... when the Star Luo Imperial Family abdicated in favor of the Star Crown Xu Family, he did nothing to stop it. The Spirit Ice Douluo, on the other hand, did much to protect us.
"And during the age of migration... alas, by then the rise of the Sun Moon Federation had become an unstoppable tide. Even Shrek Academy could only help us carry out the great migration.
"From the imperial family's perspective, Dai Mubai falls short of Huo Yuhao. Dai Mubai may be our ancestor, but is the Spirit Ice Douluo not our ancestor as well?"
En Ci heard the meaning beneath the emperor's words.
"It is merely a matter of changing our banner and setting up a new hearth." Emperor Dai Tianling had clearly considered this long ago. He said frankly, "I refuse to bow beneath our ancestor Dai Mubai and Tang San simply because I was born twenty thousand years later. In terms of strength, the present Star Luo Empire is a hundred times stronger than they are."
"Changing our banner. To the Spirit Ice Douluo's lineage?" En Ci was a clever man as well. "Using the Spirit Ice Douluo's name to wash away the traces of Sea God Tang San from the past."
The issue of legitimacy had to be resolved.
There were now two Star Luo Empires on Douluo Star: one on the Douluo Continent and one on the Star Luo Continent.
What would happen if the two countries made contact in the future? Once trade began, what would the people think?
Naturally, the best explanation for resolving such a situation would be a divine miracle.
As it happened, the Star Luo Empire's history really did contain one god whose name was familiar to everyone-Spirit Ice Douluo Huo Yuhao.
"Exactly. I will declare that this journey through time was a miracle bestowed by the Spirit Ice Douluo.
"The continent beneath our feet is the promised land the Spirit Ice Douluo pledged to us. The Star Luo Continent should be renamed the Spirit Ice Continent, and our nation renamed the Divine Realm Empire.
"We will fabricate a history for the Spirit Ice Douluo and dispose of the previous information concerning Tang San and our ancestor Dai Mubai..."
In short, Dai Tianling's plan was to use the Spirit Ice Douluo's authority to purge Tang San's influence.
After several generations, the world would know only the Spirit Ice Douluo, not Tang San.
En Ci listened to Dai Tianling's ideas until daylight broke in the east.
As the first light of dawn appeared, Star Luo City slowly awakened beneath the pale golden sky.
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