Douluo Continent: The Eye of Truth

Chapter 118 Sun and Moon in the Sky Cannon

Meanwhile, the Sun and Moon Empire, which would become the center of the vortex of fate two years later, was also experiencing undercurrents.

In recent months, the old emperor of the Sun and Moon Empire has been getting increasingly unwell.

In the past few days, the Sun and Moon Royal Family has been collecting rare and precious materials from all over the world, transporting them to the palace in cart after cart as if they were free. Then, empty carriages drove out one after another.

This palace, now eerily silent, seems like a bottomless abyss, swallowing and spitting out these carriages and horses.

At the same time, it is like a dying beast making a futile struggle, trying to save its life.

At this moment, the most prestigious palace in the Sun Moon Empire was unusually quiet. Even the palace servants, imperial physicians, and worshippers who came and went in a hurry did not make a sound.

Faint, labored breathing could be heard, rapid and labored like a broken bellows. In a side hall next to the old emperor's bedroom, a man in a wheelchair gazed out the window at the magnificent palace, his eyes filled with indifference.

"Father, why won't you just die peacefully?" Xu Tianran appeared calm on the surface, and even rushed to the scene as soon as the old emperor's health deteriorated, putting on the appearance of a filial son.

But without a doubt, he is the one who most wants the old emperor to die right now.

Since the Holy Spirit Cult, representing the Sun Moon Empire, established cooperation with the Star Dou Great Forest, the Holy Spirit Cult's status within the Sun Moon Empire has risen accordingly.

For this reason, unlike in the original story, Xu Tianran has now taken control of most of the Sun Moon Empire's court by leveraging the development of the Holy Spirit Cult.

As for his other brothers and sisters, they were no longer a threat to him. Although, for Xu Tianran, who was ruthless and cunning, his brothers and sisters were not a threat at all.

However, compared to the original story, where he took about two years to gain control of the Sun Moon Empire, Xu Tianran, now riding the wave of the Holy Spirit Sect's rise, has undoubtedly cleared away those who stood in his way much faster.

Therefore, he now desperately hopes that his father, the previous emperor of the Sun Moon Empire, will die.

Only in this way could he ascend the throne as the new emperor. Even the fact that the old emperor's health had been declining in recent days, and that he had been made regent in advance, could not extinguish his ever-growing ambition.

However, a moment later, the imperial physician announced that after consuming a large amount of rare and precious herbs, the old emperor's condition finally stabilized, which dashed Xu Tianran's hopes.

"Hmph." Although he was displeased, Xu Tianran did not show it on his face, nor did he try to get the Holy Spirit Cult to take action and eliminate the old emperor in advance.

Even though the Holy Spirit Cult had made thorough preparations and had even come to Xu Tianran's aid several times, it was still the same.

Although he secretly wished for the old emperor's death, Xu Tianran knew that he absolutely could not do this himself, nor could he be involved with him in the slightest, let alone that it was the evil spirit master of the Holy Spirit Cult who had volunteered to do it.

If he were to agree, he would undoubtedly be handing over a major weakness to the other party. If the Holy Spirit Church were to expose it, even if Xu Tianran ascended to the throne, he would undoubtedly suffer a severe blow.

After all, Kong Deming, the Grand Elder of the Sun Moon Empire and currently the strongest Soul Master in the Sun Moon Empire, had long harbored resentment towards the father and son because of his temporary cooperation with the Holy Spirit Cult.

Besides their father and son's lineage, the royal family of the Sun Moon Empire still has many members of the Pang clan. If they were to be stabbed in the back because of the Holy Spirit Cult's madness, they would be in serious trouble.

Then other members of the Pang clan will surely take this opportunity to make trouble, and Kong Deming will probably take advantage of the situation.

After all, for this Grand Elder, all he needed to ensure was that the foundation of the Sun Moon Empire remained intact, but which lineage was the main lineage was of no importance to him.

Therefore, the closer he gets to the throne, the less mistakes he can afford to make. After all, in recent years, the Soul Master forces led by Mingde Hall and Kong Deming have gradually surpassed the reputation of those loyal court officials in the Sun Moon Empire due to the advancement of Soul Master technology.

However, these Soul Masters have been difficult for Xu Tianran to truly subdue. Perhaps after he ascends the throne and becomes emperor, these high-level Soul Masters will assist him under the leadership of Kong Deming.

But now, the only person they remain loyal to is the old emperor of the Sun Moon Empire.

"By imperial decree, His Highness the Regent is summoned to an audience!" A palace maid's shrill voice rang out from outside the hall.

With the help of the maid behind him, Xu Tianran sorted out his thoughts and sat in his wheelchair as he headed out of the hall.

Unlike the Sun Moon Empire's royal family, who harbored ulterior motives, a group of high-ranking ninth-level soul masters, who held great power in the outside world, were jubilant like children in a secret soul tool experimental base.

"Finally, finally, it's a success! Project One is a success! My future as a Soul Master is now unobstructed!"

"Hahaha, I can't wait to see the pride of the Three Kingdoms' Soul Masters crushed by the Imperial Iron Cavalry!"

Amidst indescribable joy, some things, whether they could be said or not, came from the mouths of these ninth-level Soul Masters.

At this moment, no one cared, because Project One, which was also the most vigorously promoted project of the Sun Moon Empire, had finally yielded its result: the first level 10 Soul Master in history was born!

Just like the standard for a level nine soul master, the standard for a level ten soul master is to possess a complete level ten soul tool.

The standard that a level 10 soul tool is comparable to is the Limit Douluo, which is above the Super Douluo level. However, the existence of a soul tool can give a slight advantage when facing soul masters of the same level.

After all, Soul Masters need to consider their own physical and mental well-being, while Soul Tools can unleash their maximum power most of the time.

Unlike the level nine and a half soul masters in the original work who could only use level ten soul tools with the help of multiple people, Kong Deming is now a true level ten soul master!

Looking at the massive soul-guided turret in front of them, hidden in the underground experimental base and composed of crimson gold and silver-white colors, everyone's eyes were filled with pride.

Using the research results designed with the crystal pried off the dragon egg as a template, this level 10 soul tool, named the Sun and Moon Cannon, has broken free from the limitation of its energy source.

Relying on Kong Deming's unique twin martial souls and the soul power of a level 95 Super Douluo, he can activate it normally and unleash its full power on his own.

Its range is unimaginable, terrifying enough to reach directly from Mingdu to the border of the Mingdou Mountains. This range far surpasses that of any previous soul tool.

This is because research into the Fire Dragon Crystal led the Sun Moon Empire to develop a special energy encapsulation technology.

This ensures that the Soul Guidance Cannon's fire will not be lost even when it travels thousands of miles, giving it a range that exceeds the limits of what Soul Guidance Masters and Soul Masters could have imagined.

However, at such a great distance, even if the operator is Kong Deming, the most outstanding soul master of the Sun Moon Empire, and even with a large number of high-altitude reconnaissance soul tools, it is difficult to achieve a precise strike.

For this reason, the Sun and Moon Cannon can fire attacks in two modes.

One of them is a group attack mode called "Blazing Sun in the Sky," whose range is even enough to cover an imperial capital like Mingdu. When it appears on the battlefield or on the territory of other countries, the threat it poses is self-evident.

The second is the single-point sniping mode called Silver Moon Radiance. According to the power prediction of this mode, even a Limit Douluo powerhouse would die if hit head-on by it.

However, the attack intensity of the first attack mode is not enough to pose a threat to a Limit Douluo powerhouse; at most, it can only make it difficult for them to escape its attack range.

Therefore, the second attack mode was developed on this basis. The reason why only Kong Deming became a level 10 Soul Master is not only because he was the only candidate who could control the Sun and Moon Cannon, as a level 95 Super Douluo.

Secondly, it is because of his martial soul. As the owner of twin martial souls, he inherited the most proud martial souls of the Sun Moon Empire's royal family: the sun and the moon.

The Sun and Moon Cannon was custom-made for him, which involves another concept: the natal soul tool.

Using his own martial soul and the cultivation of a Super Douluo, he merges with the soul tool to control the power of heaven and earth.

When Kong Deming merged with the Sun and Moon Cannon, the cannonballs fired by him, being the energy of the Sun and Moon Cannon, naturally became part of his limbs.

Based on this, the weapon uses the blazing sun to strike, sensing the presence of enemies on the battlefield, and then uses the silver moonlight to eliminate the remaining powerful warriors. The sun and moon coexist, and the sun and moon are in the same sky. This is the origin of the name of this soul tool.

High-intensity, wide-range energy bombardment can even cause spatial tremors to a certain extent, making it difficult for even Limit Douluo level experts covered by the bombardment to escape through spatial means.

However, all the data of this soul tool is only calculated on paper and has never been tested in actual combat. It may be stronger or weaker, no one can say for sure.

Because it is a level 10 soul tool, and an attack soul tool at that, although it is very impressive, the energy required to activate it is also an unimaginable astronomical figure. In addition, the noise generated by activating it once is too great to hide.

Moreover, since it is Kong Deming's natal soul tool, and it has a unique energy encapsulation technology, only Kong Deming himself can provide it with power.

With Kong Deming's current soul power, it would take at least a year to recharge the Sun and Moon Cannon to support its full power output.

However, no one was dissatisfied with this at all. A year was not a long time at all to exchange for a soul tool attack that could be described as destroying a country!

After all, the Sun and Moon Cannon's single strike was enough to annihilate the main forces of any major power on the entire continent.

Unlike the excitement of the other level-nine soul masters, Kong Deming was secretly sighing with regret.

This was due to the unexpected failure of Project No. 3.

Unlike the humanoid soul tool project in the original work, which could only be considered a show of skill and was not taken seriously by Kong Deming, this was different.

After obtaining the Fire Dragon Crystal, Kong Deming placed extremely high expectations on Mingde Hall's research project on humanoid soul guide devices.

Unlike the many insurmountable difficulties in the original work, with the Fire Dragon Crystal, many previously insurmountable obstacles can be easily solved.

Therefore, Kong Deming went to great lengths, consuming a large amount of Fire Dragon Crystals for purification, in order to provide them as research material for Mingde Hall and Jing Hongchen.

However, during the previous riot at Mingde Hall, someone took advantage of the chaos to take it away, while the other fire dragon crystals, along with the fire dragon eggs, had already been taken away by Di Tian.

Therefore, Project No. 3, which was originally second only to the Sun and Moon Cannon and the Death Tower, has been indefinitely shelved.

In Kong Deming's original plan, if Project No. 3 succeeded, he would possess two level 10 soul tools, and these two level 10 soul tools would complement each other.

By using the function of the humanoid soul guide as a transfer point, a large amount of energy from the external environment can be purified to power the Sun and Moon Cannon, which would be considered perfect.

However, the long charging time required for the Sun and Moon Cannon is, in Kong Deming's eyes, the only flaw in this most powerful soul tool.

"Well, well, things can't always go smoothly. The completion of the Sun and Moon Cannon is already a rare and wonderful surprise."

After dismissing the other level-nine soul masters, Kong Deming stroked the Sun and Moon Cannon in front of him, his eyes filled with pride.

He always believed that humans could overcome nature, and that soul tools were the true power of humanity. He argued that relying on soul rings and soul skills was merely seeking knowledge from soul beasts.

And this "Sun and Moon in the Sky" cannon was his perfect answer to himself.

The court is now in turmoil. With the old emperor critically ill and the voices of many pro-war factions, Kong Deming, as the Grand Master of Ceremonies, understands that renewed warfare is inevitable.

Shrek Academy's reputation is declining day by day. Even though the Holy Spirit Cult and other evil soul masters are undoubtedly behind this, what does he have to fear now?

Kong Deming sneered. In his eyes, the so-called Holy Spirit Cult was nothing more than a bunch of rats hiding in the shadows. If they wanted to come out into the open, so be it.

This is a perfect opportunity to wipe out these pests in one fell swoop, thus eradicating this long-buried hidden danger for the Sun and Moon Empire.

However, Kong Deming still had some concerns, namely about Di Tian. Although he had only briefly clashed with the beast god Di Tian, ​​he vaguely sensed that the beast god's strength seemed to be hidden, so he wasn't very confident.

"Beast God Emperor Tian. Hopefully, the existence of the Holy Spirit Cult won't hinder the Sun Moon Empire's progress."

(End of this chapter)