Heavenly Soul Empire
Upon learning that the Spirit Hall had annihilated the Heaven Dou Vanguard Army 'Soul Master Legion, the Star Luo Empire, having just lost two cities and nearly 100,000 troops, held a grand banquet to celebrate the Spirit Hall Empire 'Star Luo Empire great victory. They announced that they would soon launch an attack on the Heaven Dou Empire Heaven Dou Empire join forces with the Star Luo Empire in defeating it.
However, a month passed, and the Spirit Hall Empire was still blocked at the border and unable to enter.
Two months have passed, and there has been no progress.
Three months... half a year have passed, and the Spirit Hall Empire has made a lot of noise but accomplished little. Only then did the Star Luo Empire realize that something was wrong.
But it was too late. In just over half a year, the Heaven Dou Empire had been constantly depleting the Star Luo Empire's strength and had occupied many of the Star Luo Empire's important cities and fortresses. Before anyone knew it, the Heaven Dou Empire had formed an encirclement around the Star Luo Empire, and if you add the areas bordering the Spirit Hall Empire, that's even more impressive.
The Star Luo Emperor broke out in a cold sweat from fright.
They were surrounded.
As can be seen on the map, the Star Luo Empire has been completely surrounded by the Heaven Dou Empire and the Spirit Hall Empire. If I'm not mistaken, the Spirit Hall Empire will probably start to join in the division of the Star Luo Empire as well.
This was a scam from the very beginning. Spirit Hall Empire, Bibi Dong, you liar!
You shameless woman, how dare you lie to me!
Of course, no amount of rage will change anything now.
The most urgent task now is to quickly adjust our strategy to prepare for a possible attack from the Spirit Hall Empire.
The Star Luo Emperor mobilized his troops.
On the other hand, they urged the Spirit Hall Empire to attack the Heaven Dou Empire as soon as possible, as they were already on the verge of collapse. They wanted to take advantage of the Heaven Dou Empire's internal weakness to attack it. The purpose of doing so was naturally to temporarily stabilize the Spirit Hall Empire and buy themselves some time.
But it was all too late. Many generals of the Star Luo Empire near the border of the Spirit Hall Empire had already been bribed by the Spirit Hall Empire. As soon as the Star Luo Empire mobilized its troops, the Spirit Hall Empire had already received the intelligence.
According to intelligence sent from the border, Bibi Dong knew very well that this matter could not be kept secret for long. Now that the Star Luo Emperor had figured things out, there was no need to hide it any longer.
The Star Luo Empire is like a grasshopper in autumn—waiting to die.
Bibi Dong immediately ordered a full-scale attack on the Star Luo Empire, which was launched in less than a month.
All of the dozen or so cities bordering the Star Luo Empire and the Spirit Hall Empire fell.
The Heaven Dou Empire and the Spirit Hall Empire launched a two-pronged attack on the Star Luo Empire, one from the north and the other from the southwest.
This bizarre move left the entire continent dumbfounded.
The Spirit Hall Empire and the Star Luo Empire were all lovey-dovey just a moment ago, how come they're fighting each other now?
Didn't the Spirit Hall Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire have a falling out? How come they've made up again and are even teaming up to beat up the Star Luo Empire?
What's going on here?
It gives off a vibe of a couple arguing in bed and making up before the other Little San gets beaten up.
Compared to the domineering Star Luo Empire, the Heaven Dou Empire has always united with its subordinates, with the Spirit Hall mediating and resolving conflicts, in order to ensure its own safety and the stability of the continent.
Compared to the Star Luo Empire, the Spirit Hall and the Heaven Dou Empire do indeed have a closer relationship.
With the defection of the Spirit Hall Empire, the situation on the continent instantly became clear. The destruction of the Star Luo Empire was a foregone conclusion. Before long, the Heaven Dou Empire and the Spirit Hall Empire would breach the Star Luo Empire's capital, Star Luo City.
Moreover, as news of the Spirit Hall Empire's betrayal reached the Star Luo Empire, the Star Luo Empire did nothing but curse the Spirit Hall Empire for its shamelessness and prepare for its demise.
As a military-oriented empire, the Star Luo Empire is not lacking in backbone and courage, and most of its generals are willing to live and die with the Star Luo Empire.
But now that defeat is inevitable and the tide has turned, I may die, but I must at least leave a way out for my family and children.
Many families and generals were trying to ensure the survival of their descendants by secretly sending them out of the Star Luo Empire through various connections.
In addition, some powerful families and nobles sent many members to join the Heaven Dou Empire and the Spirit Hall Empire respectively, but the main body remained in the Star Luo Empire to live and die together, and the branches that went out were just small branches.
These are also the survival strategies of the great nobles: hedging their bets and ensuring that at least one branch of the family can survive, no matter what.
Moreover, regardless of which side they go to, the number of people will not be large, only a handful, but they will all be elites.
The main reason for doing this is to dispel the concerns of our employer. We only have a few clansmen left, so there's no need to worry about us becoming too powerful. Please give us a way out, a chance to survive, and we will swear to be loyal to you to the death.
Moreover, the main branch usually chooses to die in battle or commit suicide in order to provide additional protection for the branch branches that have left, while also hoping to make good use of the talents in our family.
See? Once we've chosen something to be loyal to, we'll be absolutely loyal to it to the death, and we'd rather die than betray our Lord.
Star Luo Emperor saw all of this and allowed his subordinates to carry out these underhanded actions, because he was also making arrangements for the future of the Imperial Family and the Zhu Family, so how could he stop his subordinates?
Moreover, with these subordinates who are still willing to accompany him to the afterlife, what regrets could he possibly have? Star Luo Empire may have lost, but it was a defeat due to the prevailing circumstances, not a defeat by any individual.
There was no other way. They were fighting seven mines with three mines, and they were also betrayed by the Spirit Hall Empire. If the Heaven Dou Empire had faced this situation, it would have been wiped out long ago and wouldn't have lasted this long.
It's quite remarkable that the Star Luo Empire has managed to hold on this long. All of this is thanks to those underlings who made underhanded moves. Although they arranged a way out for their people, they were truly willing to die. Once the escape route was arranged, they all died on the front lines not long afterward.
This is how I tell the Star Luo Emperor, "I have truly done my best!"
When millions of soldiers from the Heaven Dou Empire and the Spirit Hall Empire besieged Star Luo City, Star Luo City had less than 500,000 troops left. Two months later, Star Luo City fell, but the Star Luo Empire lost nearly a million soldiers, as many civilians spontaneously came to defend the city until they died in battle.
Long before the allied forces arrived in Star Luo City, the Star Luo Emperor had already ordered that soldiers could leave at will and civilians could leave the city at will, until the allied forces arrived.
Star Luo Emperor was already resigned to death, and there was no need to drag these people down with him; his subordinates had already done enough.
However, very few of the 500,000-strong army left, and even half of the civilians remained.
In terms of the cohesion of the people within an empire, the Star Luo Empire is indeed the strongest.
In order to completely conquer Star Luo City, the Heaven Dou Spirit Hall Empire Allied Forces paid a heavy price, losing nearly 1.5 million elite soldiers and Soul Master.
Two of the seven 10,000-strong Soul Master legions of the Spirit Hall Empire were wiped out, two of the titled Soul Masters died, and nearly 100 Soul Douluo and Soul Saint were killed.
In the end, it was Star Luo Emperor and Zhu Family who ordered all the people to stop resisting. Otherwise, it is estimated that the allied forces would have had to fight for another half a month to break through, and afterwards they would have had to massacre most of Star Luo City before they could completely occupy it.
Those who remain here have long since disregarded life and death. These are the last pillars of the Star Luo Empire, demonstrating to the entire continent what the Star Luo Empire Star Luo Empire truly is, and what its backbone and spirit are.
Finally, Star Luo Emperor and Zhu Family set themselves on fire inside the Star Luo Imperial Palace, and many generals subsequently committed suicide.
According to the final statistics of the Heaven Dou Empire, there were about 30,000 taxi soldiers left when the city fell, but less than 10,000 Military survived. Many of them committed suicide with the emperor, and many civilians did the same.
Afterwards, the allied forces also faced a dilemma regarding the treatment of the soldiers and civilians in Star Luo City. Many generals suggested that the city should be massacred to appease the spirits of their fallen brothers. Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue also considered these issues, because these people only had the Star Luo Empire in their hearts and could potentially become a destabilizing factor for the empire in the future.
Moreover, most of those remaining here are adult men whose families had already left before the Allied forces arrived; there are no women or children among them.
However, now that the Star Luo Emperor has taken the initiative to surrender and has submitted a letter of state, expressing his submission, which states the legitimacy and rationality of the Heaven Dou Empire and the Spirit Hall Empire, they cannot go too far.
Now, the soldiers can only kill to vent their anger, unlike before when they could loot valuables and women after massacring a city. The soldiers' resentment cannot be properly vented either.
What difference would it make whether we slaughtered or not? We might end up fighting again and causing more casualties.
Of course, although the Star Luo Emperor surrendered, he couldn't possibly be that kind-hearted; he deliberately planted some traps in his official letter.
Because the Star Luo Emperor suspected that the Spirit Hall Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire would eventually clash, these pits could accelerate the breakup between the Spirit Hall Empire Heaven Dou Empire.
However, even as a ghost, he probably wouldn't have imagined that Xue Qinghe was actually Qian Renxue in disguise, and that the Heaven Dou Empire and the Spirit Hall Empire were actually one family.
In the end, Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue decided to spare the lives of nearly a million Star Luo Empire survivors. However, while they were spared the death penalty, they could not escape punishment. They were all placed under strict surveillance and prepared to serve hard labor until their deaths.
The advantage of doing this is that it silences public opinion, reduces acts of killing, demonstrates benevolence to the remaining people of the Star Luo Empire, and makes it easier to win their hearts.
Now that everything is unified, the entire Douluo Continent is under the rule of the empire. The rest can be left to time to govern. In thirty or forty years, when the new generation has fully grown up and become the main body of the empire, how many people will still remember the Star Luo Empire?
In addition, Zhu Zhuqing also came. Of course, she came only to ask that the Dai Family and Zhu Family continue their lineage.
Let alone protecting the entire Star Luo Empire, she's not even qualified to protect the Zhu Family. Even if Chen Mo came, it might not be effective; she'd probably have to completely subdue them to have any chance.
To give Zhu Zhuqing and those behind her face, Qian Renxue and Bibi Dong agreed, on the condition that the chosen person must not be an enemy of the Heaven Dou Empire or the Spirit Hall.
Zhu Zhuqing knew her limits; she only selected thirteen infants from the Dai Family and Zhu Family families who were less than a year old, and she didn't intend to raise them. Instead, she handed them over to the Spirit Hall and the Heaven Dou Empire, hoping that they would raise these infants in the future. She just hoped that they wouldn't go after the Star Luo Imperial Family and Zhu Family who had fled Douluo Continent by sea.
The Star Luo Emperor's backup plan is naturally the sea. If he continues to stay on the Douluo Continent, he will eventually be found and killed by Kacha. His only way to survive is probably to go to sea. As for what he will encounter at sea, the Star Luo Emperor must already have a plan. Anyway, it's better than staying on the continent.
They had to give Zhu Zhuqing this much face; if Zhu Zhuqing really took those thirteen babies away, Qian Renxue and Bibi Dong would have a real headache.
Fortunately, Zhu Zhuqing didn't go too far. Instead, she considerately entrusted the child to her care, starting from infancy. If Bibi Dong and her daughter Qian Renxue didn't even have this much magnanimity and confidence, they wouldn't have been able to unify the Douluo Continent.
After finishing this last thing, Zhu Zhuqing left. She had done enough for the Star Luo Empire and owed Star Luo Empire nothing more. From now on, she would only be herself and live for herself.
Under heaven, all land belongs to the king; on the shores of the earth, all people are his subjects!
After the Star Luo Empire was destroyed, the people of ambition on the continent all foresaw that an even greater bloodbath would follow, and even more people would die.
Naturally, it's the decisive battle between the Spirit Hall Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire.
Two tigers cannot share one mountain. Heaven Dou Empire and the Spirit Hall Empire are the two poles of the continent, and one of them must fall.
However, they were wrong.
There was bloodshed and many people died, but the Heaven Dou Empire and the Spirit Hall Empire did not fight each other; instead, they merged.
The Heaven Dou Empire and the Spirit Hall merged to form the Heavenly Soul Empire.
Most of those who died were nobles of the Heaven Dou Empire, and they were loyal to the Heaven Dou Empire, not to Qian Renxue personally.
Although Qian Renxue had unknowingly cultivated most people into her subordinates through years of war, making them exclusively hers and loyal only to her, regardless of who she was or what she became, there were still some who slipped through the net. When Qian Renxue revealed her identity, some of them failed to see the situation clearly and were naturally executed afterwards.
Those who remained were all forces absolutely loyal to Qian Renxue.
Next, Qian Renxue will have to compete with her mother, Bibi Dong, so the more power she controls, the better.
Of course, we can't announce it like that to the public, saying something like, "You didn't expect that, did you? You've been fooled. I'm not Xue Qinghe, I'm Qian Renxue!"
Qian Renxue only revealed her identity to generals and important ministers who held significant military power; ordinary soldiers and civilians naturally had no way of knowing these secrets.
The Heaven Dou Empire merely announced to the outside world that the Spirit Hall Empire and the Heaven Dou Empire had merged into one country, each taking one character as its national name, thus officially changing its name to the Heavenly Soul Empire. The Spirit Hall was renamed the Angel Church, and the Heavenly Soul Empire's faith was the Angel God, which became its primary belief. From then on, the Pope was the Emperor, and the Emperor was also the Pope. Bibi Dong was the Pope of the Angel Church and also the first Emperor of the Heavenly Soul Empire.
Xue Emperor Qinghe married Qian Renxue, the Holy Maiden of the Spirit Hall. Xue Qinghe became the second emperor of the Heavenly Soul Empire Xue Qinghe, and Qian Renxue became the second Pope of the Angel Church. The couple would jointly govern the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Qian Renxue Angel Church.