The smoke filling the sky had yet to disperse completely. Amid the ruins of a valley in the western territory, a six-year-old orphan of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon stood alone before a broken monument.
He was still wrapped in the tattered beast hide an old servant had thrust into his hands before dying. In his palm, he clenched half a shattered jade pendant bearing a blue lightning dragon motif, a birthday token the clan chief had given him.
The soil beneath his feet was saturated with his clansmen's blood, sticky, damp, and cold underfoot. The wind swept ashes past his frail body, chilling him until he trembled uncontrollably, yet he bit his lip hard, refusing to shed a single extra tear.
He dared not linger.
He bent down and picked up a broken dagger, the weapon his father had often used in life. Dried, dark-red blood still stained its blade.
His little hand closed around the cold metal, and a faint trace of lightning Soul Power danced uncontrollably at his fingertips, an instinctive stirring of his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon bloodline.
As he traveled, the horrors of the previous night replayed over and over in his mind.
"Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west-never scorn a youth for being poor!"
"Today, the Qiangu Family slaughtered my entire clan. One day, I will repay them a hundredfold!"
"I, Yu Xiaogang, will destroy the Spirit Pagoda, whatever the cost!"
Live broadcast channels across the Federation went on air, and the Federal Parliament's highest proclamation resounded through every inch of Douluo's territory.
Ten thousand lights shone in the Federal Parliament building, solemn and imposing.
Dressed in formal regulation attire, Qian Gu Fenfeng stood beneath the Federation's national emblem, his face cold and his voice steady and sonorous. Through countless soul-tool broadcast screens, it reached all four regions and every corner of the realm, across the lands of the four seas.
"Today, in accordance with federal law, coastal defense records, and irrefutable evidence from the treason investigation, the supreme parliament of the Sun Moon Federation delivers its final judgment upon former maritime commander Chen Xinjie and the Sea God Family behind him, which has entrenched itself in the maritime territories for a thousand years!"
"First charge: maintaining private troops and carving out a maritime domain. For generations, the Sea God Family monopolized military command over the four seas, privately established the Sea God Legion, refused federal deployment orders, and instituted its own maritime laws. It ruled its own domain as a state within a state, defying federal authority and throwing the order of the four seas into chaos!"
"Second charge: forming private alliances with rebels and colluding with heretics. For generations, the Chen lineage maintained illicit ties with external powers, secretly sheltered rebellious sects and noble families, and remained beyond the reach of federal law. They secretly harbored disloyal ambitions, intending to overthrow the Federation's legitimate order!"
"Third charge: disrupting the people's livelihoods and shaking the foundations of the nation. Forces affiliated with the Sea God lineage abused their influence, formed cliques for private gain, monopolized maritime resources, obstructed the implementation of new federal policies, and incited noble families to resist federal oversight, setting undercurrents surging across the continent and unsettling the hearts of the people!"
"With punishment imposed for all these crimes, the principal offender, Chen Xinjie, is convicted of high treason and stripped of all military ranks and honors."
"The entire Sea God Clan abetted rebellion and brought calamity upon the nation for generations. The whole clan shall be implicated, uprooted, and utterly annihilated, its name struck from the Federation's register of noble families, never to be exonerated!"
"All noble families and sects, great or small, that maintained generations of friendship, blood ties, exchanges of resources, or secret allegiance with the Sea God Family shall be classified as remnants of the rebel faction!"
For a time, the people of Sun Moon seethed with righteous indignation. They all thought Chairman Qiangu was a sensible, good official who served the people and the nation, and began singing his praises.
Some went further. Led by writers and politicians kept by the Qiangu Family, they widely promoted Qian Gu Fenfeng's pro-war ideology on the Soul Network, publishing books and treatises.
"The Science of Success: Qian Gu Fenfeng's Rise," "Qian Gu Fenfeng Thought on Sun Moon Federation Characteristics for a New Era," "Autobiography: Starting Out as Chairman," "Qian Gu Fenfeng Is the Sole Criterion for Truth."
Books of this kind sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain, spreading throughout the Federation.
Meanwhile, faced with Qian Gu Fenfeng's brazen actions, Long Yeyue could endure it no longer. She charged to the top floor of the Federal Parliament building to demand an explanation from him.
"The Qiangu lineage has slaughtered the loyal and virtuous and drowned noble families in blood. Today, I, Long Yeyue, will demand justice."
Before her words had faded, an impassive figure stepped out from the building's top floor.
Qian Gu Fenfeng stood with his hands behind his back, a golden coiling dragon phantom rising and falling behind him. There was not the slightest ripple in his eyes, only the coldness of someone looking down upon ants.
"I was just wondering how to put your Shrek under the knife."
Long Yeyue said no more. She abruptly drove power through both palms, and the Radiant Sacred Dragon and Dark Sacred Dragon manifested simultaneously. The annihilating power of light and darkness condensed into an enormous black-and-white taiji shield. The space around her was torn apart by the two ultimate energies as she prepared to strike.
But she had only mobilized thirty percent of her Soul Power when she sensed an irresistible binding force envelop her entire body.
Qian Gu Fenfeng did not even summon his Martial Soul Avatar. He merely flicked a fingertip.
An utmost-condensed Heaven-Incinerating Dragon Beam, carrying the Coiling Dragon Staff's Law of Annihilation, pierced through space in an instant. There was no earth-shaking explosion, no collision of tremendous energies. It was so fast that Long Yeyue had no time to fully manifest her Martial Soul Avatar, nor even to think of dodging.
Blazing golden light pierced her chest in an instant.
The defenses of her light-and-dark dragon body were like paper before this strike. Her interwoven black-and-white Soul Power scattered instantly, and her nine Soul Rings abruptly dimmed and shattered.
Long Yeyue's eyes filled with disbelief. She had never imagined that she, a mighty Quasi-God with Twin Martial Souls, would be so far beneath her opponent.
Blood spurted through the gaps in her dragon scales, and her enormous light-and-dark dragon body disintegrated inch by inch in midair.
She lowered her head to look at the lingering staff energy that had pierced her heart. Her body fell uncontrollably, and the last trace of divine aura swiftly dissipated beneath the burning Law of Incineration.
One move. An instant takedown.
"Tsk. Keep her barely alive and lock her up. She'll be very useful."
"Yes!"
Before you continue