Chapter 148: Renewable “Resource”
Join my Patreon to be 30 chapters ahead of the webnovel releases:
patreon.com/ZeroMoney
I would appreciate your help if you could join my Patreon and support me because it would keep me motivated.
******
"If I remember correctly, Kuang Tie doesn't have the best relationship with the royal family, does he?"
Although the Ironblood Sect collaborates with the Kuang Yun Guard, and the Guard's Feng Kuang is affiliated with the Body Sect, which shares close ties with the Heavenly Soul Empire's royal family, this doesn't necessarily mean Kuang Tie himself is on good terms with the royal family.
Especially since Feng Kuang's true identity has largely remained hidden.
After all, who would expect a prodigy of the Body Sect—a core disciple and personal protégé of its sect master—to end up working for a minor guard squad with only Soul Ancestor-level combat strength remaining?
Helping Kuang Tie with such a small favor might not mean much, but at least it could serve as a way to establish rapport in the future.
This was just a minor interlude and didn't delay Su Yu's journey.
*Tianjia City.*
Once the front line of the Heavenly Soul Empire's resistance against the Sun Moon Army, it was the empire's shield. Now, it had truly become the first line of defense, directly facing the pressure of tens of thousands of Sun Moon troops.
Xu Tiannan, while aggressive in deploying his forces, was no fool.
Or rather, the one responsible for crafting his military strategies, Juzi, was perfectly clear-headed. Now was not the ideal time for an all-out war.
The massive military buildup was merely a warning, as well as a signal to the citizens of the Sun Moon Empire.
The message was clear: Our Sun Moon Empire can easily deploy troops and bring two major empires to their knees!
Meanwhile, the regions west of Tianjia City, occupied by the Sun Moon Empire, were sparsely populated. In addition to the area directly west of the city, the Sun Moon Empire had also seized several small towns to its north.
Surprisingly, the Sun Moon Army did not carry out massacres in these towns.
Instead, they introduced civilian soul tools from the Sun Moon Empire and began promoting their use.
While wars of aggression are inherently unjust, the concept of unification often aligns with the natural order of the world. The Sun Moon Empire's invasions violated the interests of the Douluo Continent's three nations and infringed upon their sovereignty, yet for the common people of the three nations, this invasion carried a different kind of significance.
Right or wrong—these judgments would ultimately be left to future generations.
No, more precisely, they would be decided by strength.
The strong dictate what is right.
The Sun Moon Army had laid siege to Tianjia City but refrained from breaching its defenses.
It wasn't because they couldn't. If Tianjia City fell, it would effectively break through the entire Heavenly Soul Empire's defenses, leading to the empire's swift collapse.
However, this didn't align with the Sun Moon Empire's strategy.
This military maneuver was intended to intimidate and boost domestic morale, not to trigger a full-scale war prematurely.
Additionally, it served another purpose: to provoke the three nations while simultaneously exposing and eliminating internal conflicts within the Sun Moon Empire that had arisen due to Xu Tiannan's recent ascension to power.
Evidently, everything was proceeding smoothly.
Su Yu arrived at Tianjia City and quickly gathered information on the latest internal developments within the Sun Moon Empire. He couldn't help but admire Xu Tiannan's maneuvers over the past few years.
"Perhaps this is all thanks to Juzi's efforts as well."
Juzi's military theories were undeniably the most formidable among this generation on the Douluo Continent. Coupled with the Sun Moon Empire's overwhelming national strength, their dominance seemed unstoppable.
"To think I'd encounter so many powerful individuals here."
Within Tianjia City, Su Yu sensed numerous formidable presences, including two concealed Titled Douluo.
"One of them, with such robust life energy, must be from the Body Sect. But where does the other one come from?"
Su Yu focused on the strong fluctuations of life energy he detected.
While both Titled Douluo radiated impressive vitality, one exuded a highly concentrated aura, indicating mastery over life force energy. The other relied purely on their unparalleled physical strength.
"This city is teeming with hidden dangers."
The Sun Moon Empire's forces remained stationed just outside Tianjia City, exerting constant pressure but refraining from launching an assault.
Yet, there were some who didn't want this stalemate to persist.
While the Sun Moon Empire seemed content to pull back slightly, the Star Luo Empire was gritting its teeth, eager to force the Sun Moon Empire into a full-scale war.
If Tianjia City fell, it could unite the three empires, push Shrek Academy into action, and trigger an all-out conflict with the Sun Moon Empire, catching them unprepared.
From various rumors and observations, Su Yu quickly deduced this strategy.
"All these forces converging here..."
Su Yu concealed his soul power fluctuations, not intending to draw attention to himself.
A major conflict seemed unlikely.
Despite the scheming within the city, none of the factions had made any significant moves—primarily because the Sun Moon Empire's army refused to cooperate. And it was clear they wouldn't.
"Hm? Why are there evil soul masters in Tianjia City again?"
Amidst the many powerful soul power fluctuations, Su Yu had initially failed to notice a sinister presence.
"..."
He shook his head in exasperation. Every time he visited Tianjia City, there seemed to be evil soul masters lurking around.
However, this time, the aura was noticeably darker and more malevolent.
When Su Yu had first come to Tianjia City, he encountered five evil soul masters. On his second visit, he only sensed residual traces of their presence.
But now, the aura was unmistakably vile.
"Do those two Titled Douluo truly sense nothing?"
Under the influence of his heightened life force, the sinister aura shone like a beacon in the dark to Su Yu. Yet the two Titled Douluo seemed completely unaware.
"Could this be thanks to the perception granted by my Blue Silver Grass?"
A thought struck Su Yu.
He manipulated his martial spirit, severing its connection to the surrounding Blue Silver Grass. Instantly, the malevolent aura vanished from his senses.
Even when he focused all his energy to detect it, he could only perceive faint traces of bloodlust.
"It seems the widespread Blue Silver Grass amplifies my perception more than I imagined."
Su Yu's Blue Silver Grass had always possessed the unique ability to communicate with others of its kind, even before he obtained the Blue Silver Emperor spirit soul.
During his initial journey to this world, he could already establish rudimentary connections. Over time, as the essence of his Blue Silver Grass martial spirit grew stronger, these connections became seamless.
Even without evolving along the path of a true monarch, his martial spirit inherently commanded respect from the Blue Silver Grass.
While Su Yu had always been aware of this, he hadn't realized the extent to which it enhanced his perception.
"Even without actively linking to them, the surrounding Blue Silver Grass acts as an extension of my sensory organs."
Realizing this, Su Yu focused on honing his ability to utilize the Blue Silver Grass's heightened perception.
"Perhaps, due to the essence of my Blue Silver Grass and the influence of the Blue Silver Emperor spirit soul, I've been unconsciously enjoying a status akin to royalty among the Blue Silver Grass."
The plants were eager to cooperate with him.
Setting aside this newfound discovery, Su Yu headed toward the source of the sinister aura he had sensed earlier.
When he arrived, the aura of the evil soul masters was gone, replaced by a dense concentration of resentful energy. His expression darkened.
Releasing his spiritual power, Su Yu scanned the area with meticulous precision.
In his spiritual field of vision, he quickly discerned the layout of the surroundings.
"They're gathering remnants of souls and resentment energy."
Su Yu frowned.
The Holy Spirit Cult's arsenal of sinister techniques never ceased to amaze him. Still, since he had uncovered this, there was no way he would let it slide.
"Though they didn't leave anyone to guard this site, they must have realized that a major disaster in Tianjia City is unlikely to occur."
With his mastery of the Blue Silver Grass's amplified perception, Su Yu was confident he hadn't misjudged. There were no actual evil soul masters entrenched in Tianjia City—unless they were hiding in densely built areas devoid of Blue Silver Grass, such as the city center.
"Tianjia City is like a powder keg, ready to explode at any moment. If a war breaks out, it will be the perfect chaos for the evil soul masters to thrive in," Su Yu muttered, roughly analyzing the intent behind the evil soul masters' formation.
If the Sun Moon Empire failed to maintain control and provocateurs succeeded in escalating tensions, the formation would activate, harvesting the vengeful spirits of those who perished during the conflict.
"In that case, what about the areas outside Tianjia City?"
While Tianjia City remained on the brink of conflict, real battles had already erupted to the west.
Could the evil soul masters have already set up similar formations along the edges of those battlefields?
Su Yu had always wondered how evil soul masters managed to collect enough spiritual energy to enhance their soul ring years so dramatically.
Back in the Soul Burial Valley, after purifying the vengeful spirits, Su Yu had refined the faith energy and barely obtained about 4,000 units of it. Even if utilized to its fullest potential, it could only enhance a single soul ring by about 8,000 years.
While 8,000 years might seem significant, for someone like Zhongli Wu, whose soul rings were all over 10,000 years, it was barely a drop in the ocean.
How did he elevate his first four soul rings to the 10,000-year mark?
Even if the Holy Spirit Cult had some vile secret methods to enhance his constitution, enabling him to absorb a 10,000-year soul ring for his fourth, what about the first three?
It would take at least four valleys similar to Soul Burial Valley to enhance just those three soul rings to 10,000 years.
Moreover, this would require an unparalleled mastery of faith energy, utilizing its ability to nurture spirituality to an extreme degree.
And that's without even mentioning the three 100,000-year soul rings.
Su Yu had considered the possibility that Zhongli Wu's 100,000-year soul rings came from directly hunting 100,000-year soul beasts. However, such creatures were exceedingly rare on the continent.
Could Zhongli Wu have hunted three 100,000-year soul beasts without attracting any attention? Sea soul beasts, perhaps?
Even so, the Holy Spirit Cult didn't revolve solely around Zhongli Wu. There were others, such as Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao, along with countless other evil soul masters. For the cult to attract so many followers, they must have had something to offer.
"Now I think I'm beginning to understand."
They weren't solely relying on their own slaughter and soul-gathering methods. They were also taking advantage of the ongoing wars to accumulate soul bodies.
"A war must be avoided until the Holy Spirit Cult is eradicated."
Evil soul masters represented the culmination of humanity's darkest impulses, and eradicating them entirely was impossible. However, dismantling the Holy Spirit Cult and severing its lineage of sinister rituals and techniques was within Su Yu's reach.
Perhaps centuries later, someone might rediscover such abilities.
But for now, Su Yu's goal was simply to prevent the upcoming war of unification from becoming an opportunity for evil soul masters to grow.
Truly eliminating the threat of evil soul masters would require further action after the unification was complete.
"Sigh, I wonder how well Xu Tiannan is preparing."
The greatest challenge in taking down the Holy Spirit Cult lay in defeating its two Limit Douluo, a task that required Xu Tiannan's intervention.
Su Yu wasn't entirely sure how the original Xu Tiannan managed to execute his plans so flawlessly, which was why he refrained from interfering too much, allowing Xu Tiannan to grow naturally.
This wasn't just to deal with Ye Xishui and Long Xiaoyao but also to resolve the imperial family's internal strife and eliminate the imperial bloodline. All of these were tasks assigned to Xu Tiannan.
Judging by the current situation, he had almost completed them all.
"Oh, except for that one prince who's being kept alive to serve as a seed donor."
Su Yu recalled that one of Xu Tiannan's imperial brothers was still alive. Though lacking in talent, his bloodline was exceptionally pure, making him Juzi's chosen candidate for propagating the royal lineage in the future.
After purifying the vengeful spirits and destroying the formation, Su Yu left Tianjia City.
This time, he didn't gain much faith energy. Compared to the Soul Burial Valley, the spirits gathered in this formation were laughably insufficient. Otherwise, the Holy Spirit Cult would have stationed at least one evil soul master here.
After Su Yu's departure...
In a luxurious suite at the central hotel of Tianjia City, a middle-aged man with a fierce appearance suddenly opened his eyes.
The beautiful maid who had been serving him immediately jumped in surprise.
"The formation has been destroyed."
The middle-aged man furrowed his brow, his gaze fixed on the maid as irritation welled up inside him.
However, upon considering the location, he refrained from killing the maid.
"Get out!"
The maid hurriedly fled, and the middle-aged man dressed quickly, leaving the hotel. He made his way toward the location where Su Yu had previously destroyed the formation.
"Damn it, there really is a perceptive soul master in Tianjia City."
According to the records in the cult, Tianjia City had once eradicated five of the Holy Spirit Cult's elites in just five minutes—one Soul Sage and four Soul Emperors—who were swiftly located and eliminated by the enemy. The efficiency was so high that even the Holy Spirit Cult had to take notice.
The middle-aged man, staying in the more prosperous area of the city center, had barely resisted the urge to kill and managed to escape unharmed.
"Could this be a trap?"
Were the power struggles within the Douluo Three Kingdoms merely a show for outsiders? Was their true target the Holy Spirit Cult?
The middle-aged man's mind raced, but he glanced around, confirming that the area was safe. He promptly left the formation site.
In fact, he didn't even return to the hotel.
With the formation destroyed and his mission compromised, he had no reason to stay and wait to be found.
He left Tianjia City, heading north.
Meanwhile, Su Yu was heading west.
His spiritual power wrapped around himself, and his soul power was retracted. He even activated a soul-guided shield to suppress his presence.
He minimized his aura to the lowest possible level.
Su Yu moved through various corners of the battlefield.
Five days later.
"As expected, there are formations designed to gather vengeful souls spread across the battlefield," Su Yu muttered, his face darkening.
Were evil soul masters present in every war on Douluo Continent? Perhaps they didn't instigate the conflicts, but they certainly didn't miss out on the benefits.
"The border of the Heavenly Soul Empire is like this, so how many more of these formations must be hidden near the Sun-Moon Mountain Range, where wars are even more frequent?"
Su Yu couldn't help but smile bitterly. The constant small-scale wars only fueled the Holy Spirit Cult's renewable resources.
Maintaining balance had proven to be the most foolish decision.
"The formations in the Sun-Moon Mountain Range are probably even more refined and long-lasting."
The terrain there was perfect for concealing such arrays.
Su Yu could easily imagine the large number of evil soul masters hiding within the Sun-Moon Mountain Range.
"Thankfully, after I obtained my third soul ring, I didn't attempt to cross the Sun-Moon Mountains on my own but instead followed the Wanhu Lou merchant caravan."
(End of Chapter)