Five years passed like a white steed flashing past a crack in the wall, gone in the blink of an eye.
During those years, the Heaven Dou Empire and the Star Luo Empire were like two ravenous tigers, devouring the surrounding kingdoms and duchies at an astonishing pace, steadily expanding their territories and absorbing their conquests.
Now, the Douluo Continent was no longer fragmented as it once had been. Only three colossal powers remained, standing opposite one another like three towering peaks.
Yet the old grudges and new hatreds between the two empires were like dry kindling in a raging fire-once ignited, they would be difficult to extinguish.
And with Qian Renxue deliberately fanning the flames, fresh border conflicts grew ever fiercer, as though they might erupt at any moment into a war that swept across the entire continent.
The clouds of war gradually shrouded the skies above both empires like a heavy black curtain, leaving everyone on this land feeling an unprecedented weight of oppression and fear.
At this critical juncture, with the two empires on the verge of a life-or-death war, Spirit Hall seemed to stand apart, adopting a wait-and-see attitude toward their struggle.
On the surface, it seemed to be waiting for the right opportunity to intervene at a critical moment and thereby preserve the continent's balance.
In truth, however, Spirit Hall's Bibi Dong and Qian Daoliu had difficulties they could not speak of.
After all, most of Spirit Hall's soul masters came from these two empires.
Some were subjects of the Heaven Dou Empire, while others had their roots in the Star Luo Empire.
If Spirit Hall chose to help only the Heaven Dou Empire, how would those soul masters born in the Star Luo Empire view this loosely knit organization?
Would they develop thoughts of