“Don’t worry, boss, you definitely will.”
Releasing his arm, he also separately hugged Oscar and Ma Hongjun once. They had been partners for so many years, even if they wouldn’t part for too long this time, the feeling of leaving wasn’t wonderful.
“Third brother, you can’t discriminate!”
Ning Rongrong gave Xiao Wu to Zhu Zhuqing, taking the initiative to step forward spreading her arms, giving Tang San a big bearhug.
Tang San smiled:
“Shouldn’t I be afraid certain people will be jealous?”
Oscar to the side crooked his head:
“It’s nothing, who asked us to be brothers, I’m temporarily blinded. En, Rongrong, that should do it, I’ll really become jealous.”
Ning Rongrong paid no attention to Oscar, looking at Tang San with red rimmed eyes:
“Third brother, look after yourself on the way, take care of Xiao Wu. We’re all praying for her.”
“I will. Unless I die, nobody can harm her again. I will take care of her.”
Ning Rongrong let go and took Xiao Wu from Zhu Zhuqing. She turned her head, but tears still fell. She’d just left, when Zhu Zhuqing stepped up, equally hugging Tang San hard,
“Third brother, we’ll all miss you. Come back soon.”
Tang San smiled and nodded, rubbing the head of this youngest seven devil,
“If boss Dai bullies you after you get back, go find Rongrong and have her help you. She can definitely beat the teeth out of him.”
The corners of Zhu Zhuqing’s eyes were originally already red. Hearing what Tang San said, she couldn’t help giggling. Wiping the tears from her eyes, she still nodded cutely.
Dai Mubai smiled wryly:
“It’d be nice if she doesn’t bully me. Me bully her? I don’t have the skill.”
Indeed, Zhu Zhuqing and Dai Mubai really showed that everything could be bested. That overbearing Dai Mubai couldn’t raise any temper when facing Zhu Zhuqing.
“Third brother, can I hug you too?”
Bai Chenxiang’s voice was timid.
Tang San took the initiative to spread his arms, smiling:
“Of course you can. You’re my little cousin! Even if Fatty sometimes is a bit jumpy, a bit lazy, he sincerely likes you. I also believe that he will focus wholeheartedly on you hereafter. Only that guy is the kind who’ll take the roof off if he doesn’t get a beating every three days, so you can’t give him too much face. Just go ahead and beat him. Also, keep him close.”
While speaking, he hugged Bai Chenxiang.
When Ma Hongjun heard the first half of what Tang San said he was originally extremely proud, but once it got to the latter half, he couldn’t help making a bitter face. He wanted to argue, but saw the warning glance Tang San shot him, clearly warning him not to bully Bai Chenxiang, and that he wasn’t allowed to go sleep around anymore.
Dai Mubai rubbed his fist, grinning:
“Leave that damned Fatty to me. If he has any errant behaviour or bullies Xiangxiang, as the elder brother, I’ll sort him out.”
The girls all had red rimmed eyes. Tang San didn’t let Xiao Wu’s soul out, since he was afraid her soul would go unstable from emotions.
Dai Mubai clapped Tang San’s shoulder hard, and said to everyone:
“Let’s hurry up and go. If it goes on like this, we won’t be able to part. A temporary separation is the beginning of meeting next time. Go, go.”
Speaking, he pulled along Zhu Zhuqing and led the way northeast. Zhu Zhuqing clearly saw that Dai Mubai’s eyes were also a bit red.
“Everyone take care.”
Tang San struck the Seagod Trident on the ground, the one hundred eight thousand jin weight making the ground shudder. Taking Xiao Wu from Ning Rongrong’s embrace, he no longer paused, but leapt up and headed east.
Dai Mubai halted, turning his head to look along with Zhu Zhuqing. Everyone watched Tang San and Xiao Wu disappear, then gradually returned to their senses, quietly leaving with the sadness of farewell.
Tang San brought Xiao Wu along for a full two hours before his mood gradually restored. Looking at Xiao Wu in his arms with a lifeless look in her eyes, firm conviction replaced sadness. No matter how, this time he had to completely resurrect Xiao Wu. This place was remote, so he might as well not travel on foot. The Blue Silver Emperor right leg bone flight ability launched, and he brought Xiao Wu up to fly through the air, meeting the morning sun.
The Shrek Seven Devils had once again set foot on Douluo Continent. It seemed, the beacons had lit once again.
After flying for close to four hours, Tang San distantly saw the wide official road. Opening up the map to take a look, this was within the borders of a subordinate kingdom on the edge of Heaven Dou Empire, Häagen-Dazs[1]. This kingdom was in the northwest of Heaven Dou Empire, sharing part of its border with Star Luo Empire. By following the official road from here, passing through Häagen-Dazs Kingdom and then Balack Kingdom, you could reach Star Dou Great Forest. And around two hundred li east from here was one of the Häagen-Dazs kingdom’s strategic points, West Lu City.
Days of travel plus previously passing the Seagod sixth and seventh trials, Tang San was a bit weary. Even if his spirit power had already recovered, he still decided to bring Xiao Wu to rest a while in West Lu City. After he’d again travel by flight for Star Luo Great Forest. Travelling by air was at least twice as fast as on foot, he could reach his destination in at most five days.
Two hundred li was to Tang San a very short distance since long ago. He brought Xiao Wu the whole way to around ten li away from West Lu City before landing. Due to his and Xiao Wu’s appearance really being too conspicuous, he took out two veiled bamboo hats from Twenty Four Moonlit Bridges, and they each wore one.
Arriving outside West Lu City, this place was considered a main city, but slightly smaller than an ordinary main city. Outside the gates were roughly twenty soldiers inspecting the travellers. It seemed the inspection was quite strict. Each and every one of the soldiers looked ferocious, lined up in a neat formation, without the slightest show of slacking due to only guarding the gates.
What made Tang San most curious was these soldiers’ uniform. Each soldier had the two characters for ‘Spirit’ in yellow on the left side of their chest. It also seemed like their equipment was quite good, each soldier wearing leather armor. Quite rare for soldiers patrolling a city gate.
What was the meaning of this? Why did the soldiers wear the spirit mark?
Tang San wondered, only, judging by these circumstances he clearly couldn’t pass through the gate with Xiao Wu. First let alone that he didn’t want to show his or Xiao Wu’s appearance to these soldiers, he absolutely couldn’t let them inspect the Seagod Trident. Juding by the rigorous inspection, entering the city armed clearly wasn’t easy. And the trident was so enormous.
Thinking of this, the Seagod Trident brand on Tang San’s forehead flashed once, and enveloped by pale blue light, he and Xiao Wu quietly disappeared.
Even though the Vast Sea Ocean Shroud had turned back into the Seagod’s Heart and completely merged with the Seagod Trident, after experimentation, Tang San had discovered that as long as he held the Seagod Trident, he could still use the original Vast Sea Ocean Shroud abilities, as if those four abilities had all been branded on his skull bone.
Relying on the Vast Sea Ocean Shroud’s stealth ability, Tang San brought Xiao Wu to fly high, passing above the city walls and landing in West lu City. Finding a remote unobserved corner, he showed himself again.
* * *
[1] Häagen-Dazs - (哈根达斯) Seriously.
Chapter 256: Spirit Empire
Red light flashed, and Xiao Wu’s soul merged into her body, her beautiful eyes regaining their clarity. It was Tang San who woke her.
“Ge, where’s this?”
Xiao Wu couldn’t help looking around.
Tang San lowered his voice:
“We’ve already returned to the continent, and I decided to bring you to Star Dou Gre
at Forest a while, give the Clear Sky Hammer spirit rings. This is Häagen-Dazs Kingdom’s West Lu City. When I was outside of the city just now I felt something was wrong, the soldiers by the gate all wore the letters “spirit”, I don’t know what it means. Let’s go look around.”
Entering the city, he couldn’t always be hugging Xiao Wu, or people would easily get suspicious. After Xiao Wu’s soul returned to her body, he only needed to hold her hand.
Xiao Wu raised the veil of the bamboo hat, looking deeply at Tang San. Even though he didn’t say it, how could she not understand the reason he would bring her to Star Dou Great Forest alone? She understood that it was impossible for her to change Tang San’s mind. Holding his left hand, she said:
“We’ll go investigate. With the “spirit” characters, it should likely be related to Spirit Hall.”
Tang San nodded:
“We’re of the same mind. The kingdoms and duchies that are part of the two great empires have always had an ambiguous relationship with Spirit Hall, as Spirit Hall’s loyal supporters. It’s also just because of Spirit Hall that the two empires have never dared do anything against the kingdoms and duchies without thinking about it first. It seems like, in the four years we were gone, a lot has happened on the continent!”
As the two spoke, they had left the corner and reached the streets. The city streets seemed about the same as always, densely lined with shops on both sides. Overall, this West Lu City seemed prosperous. The pedestrians walked quite fast, clearly influenced by the pace of life.
Xiao Wu lowered her voice:
“Ge, where do we go to ask around?”
Cold light flashed in Tang San’s eyes,
“Naturally we’ll go to the Main Spirit Hall here. West Lu City is Häagen-Dazs Kingdom’s capital, it should have a Main Spirit Hall. Who would know what’s happened more clearly than those Spirit Hall spirit masters?”
Tang San decided to go to Spirit Hall to investigate the changes on the Continent, and Xiao Wu naturally wouldn’t object. Tang San’s gaze swept, just finding a man in his forties walking past in front of them. The man’s clothes were average, unable to tell if he was rich or poor. Tang San took the initiative to go up to meet him, barring his way.
“Big brother, could I trouble you with some questions?”
Tang San raised the veil of his bamboo hat, and asked politely.
The middle aged man was startled by being blocked, and looked somewhat alertly at him, especially as he saw that more than three meter long package in Tang San’s hand,
“What do you want to ask?”
Tang San said:
“We’re from the countryside. Myself and my wife are spirit masters, we heard we can get money after examining at Spirit Hall. Could you tell me where West Lu City’s Main Spirit Hall is?”
Listening to Tang San, the middle aged man’s expression instantly grew a bit strange, but on account of Tang San’s spirit master status, he was still respectful:
“So it’s lord spirit master. Only, you might not be too familiar with the circumstances here. Has it been a very long time since you came outside? There hasn’t been a Spirit Hall for a long time.”
“What?”
Tang San was shocked.
“No Spirit Hall? Don’t tell me Spiri Hall has been destroyed?”
The middle aged man’s expression changed, making a hushing gesture, speaking urgently:
“Lord spirit master, you can’t say that! It’s my fault, I didn’t say it clearly. On the Continent there is now no longer a Spirit Hall, only the Spirit Empire.”
Listening to him, Tang San instantly understood. In the four years he had been gone, the Continent had definitely undergone great upheaval. He hurriedly said:
“Big brother, can’t you tell us just what’s happened? Consider this small token your reward.”
While speaking, he pulled out two silver spirit coins and handed them over. It wasn’t that he was stingy, but more money would instead easily cause trouble.
Seeing the mone Tang San passed him, the middle aged man’s eyebrows immediately rose in delight, and he walked together with Tang San and Xiao Wu, smiling:
“Even though the nations have changed, fortunately this money still hasn’t. Then I won’t stand on ceremony. You asked the right person. As for Spirit Hall’s Changes, that’s a great event of the spirit master world that began more than three years ago, with the reselection assembly of the seven great sects.”
Originally, not long after Tang San and the others left back then, Spirit Hall had taken charge of convening a seven great sects reselection assembly, producing a new seven great sects. Without exception, these seven great sects were all the most fanatic followers of Spirit Hall. Basically no contenders could be found within the two great empires. Even if the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School still had the strength to compete, out of safety considerations, it still didn’t participate in the assembly.
Thus, after the seven great sects were chosen, Spirit Hall’s popularity instantly reached its peak. Next, the seven great sects simultaneously wrote a petition, suggesting for all the world’s spirit masters to commonly honor Spirit Hall, asking Spirit Hall to even better control spirit masters.
Three months later, Spirit Hall declared the foundation of a country, naming it Spirit Empire, closing all the Spirit Hall’s originally within the two great empires, recalling the spirit masters. And the Spirit Empire’s territory was all the kingdoms and duchies originally part of the two great empires, completely severing the contact between the two great empires with its sudden appearance. With the ten combined kingdoms and duchies, the Spirit Empire’s total area wasn’t inferior to any one of the two great empires after the split.
Judging by their location, the Spirit Empire was clearly at a disadvantage, with Heaven Dou Empire in the north, and Star Luo Empire in the south, However, ever since the creation of the Spirit Empire, it had instead expanded in both directions. Over a few years, it already held the area of each of the two original great empires. Moreover, this was when the three armies still hadn’t met.
From the look of overall strength, Spirit Empire was put together with more than a dozen smaller countries. The total military headcount could not compare with the two large empires and the command would not be totally unified, but the spirit masters under Spirit Empire’s control was too powerful. In a war, spirit masters would cause more destruction than any military could. A troop of a thousand spirit masters was enough to contend with tens of thousands of soldiers.
At the same time, Spirit Empire gave orders to enlist the entire continent’s spirit masters. Anyone who didn’t enlist would be seen as heretics. Adding the influence of the new seven great sects, Spirit Hall practically controlled the power more than 70% of the continents’ spirit masters. With powerhouses like clouds, Titled Douluos exceeded ten in number. This forced the two large empires to save their strength, and no clash was dared. Otherwise, if their armies collapsed, there would be no chance whatsoever.
Spirit Hall Supreme Pontiff Bibi Dong, became the first empress of Spirit Empire, ruling it as a woman. After expanding outward temporarily, she began to form the empire and eliminated the opposition while training troops. Many years of Spirit Hall’s saved up resources became the solid backbone of the empire’s development. In just a few years’ time, Spirit Empire became Heaven Dou and Star Luo empires’ powerful rival empire, and in terms of strength it surpassed any one empire. The border troops stationed within exceeded twenty thousand spirit masters, led by Elder Hall’s Title Douluos themselves.
Just because it temporarily stopped expanding didn’t mean Spirit Empire was satisfied. Once Bibi Dong took complete control of the lesser kingdoms and duchies’ powers and reorganized, a great war would be inevitable.
From the beginning, Spirit Empire had the upper hand after its foundation, mainly because of the original headcount of Spirit Hall of up to tens of thousands of spirit masters. The former top three sects would originally be able to
barely fight against Spirit Hall, but Clear Sky School went into seclusion, the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon clan was completely destroyed, and Seven Treasure Glazed Tile School also lost a great deal of strength, so they could not be able to form enough strength to fight directly.
The more powerful the spirit master, the more terrifying one could be in war. A Title Douluo class powerhouse would match against thousands of soldiers and horses. Of course, it wasn’t that the two large empires didn’t have a fighting chance. They had been around for many years, so they had a larger number of well trained troops. If it were to be a desperate struggle, even Spirit Empire would sustain crippling losses. This was also why Bibi Dong didn’t hurry and expand. She wanted to solidify the internal workings first and then wage war under absolutely favorable conditions.
After parting with the middle aged man, Tang San entered a state of deep thought. Although he had guessed that the continent would surely have huge changes after these years, he didn’t expect that the situation had deteriorated this much. Bibi Dong chose to found a nation with brute force, which seemed rash, but it also let Spirit Hall have an actual army and enormous territory. For so many years, Spirit Hall had always been a sanctuary in the eyes of spirit masters. Spirit masters who could truly refuse the enlistment of Spirit Hall and stay in the two large empires would definitely be few in number. With so many powerful members in Spirit Empire, simply an assassination of the two empires’ higher ups would be something unbearable.
If not for reviving Xiao Wu, Tang San really wanted to hurry and return to Heaven Dou City and check out the situation there. The most important thing was Tang Sect’s state of development. With the vast gap between the number of spirit masters, Tang Sect’s hidden weapons would have an indisputable effect in war. Only in using large quantities of highly destructive hidden weapons could there be a chance to fight against Spirit Hall’s spirit master troops.
There was also something else Tang San had to do. He had already almost completed the conditions the elders raised back when he left the Clear Sky School. His strength had reached the eightieth rank, he possessed at least one hundred thousand year spirit ring, now he just had to kill a Spirit Hall Title Douluo to be qualified to return to the Clear Sky School, and pay his respects to his grandfather. The Clear Sky School didn’t have enough spirit masters to change the balance between the two great empires and Spirit Hall, but the meaning of their name as the number one spirit master sect back then couldn’t be doubted. The Clear Sky School moreover had altogether six Title Douluo. If they left the mountain, they could definitely have a huge effect.
Douluo Dalu - Volume 01-48 Page 442
