Douluo Continent: The Eye of Truth

Chapter 167 Xu Jiawei's Helplessness

Xingluo City, Council Hall.

At this moment, Emperor Xu Jiawei of Xingluo looked extremely haggard.

With dark circles under his eyes and dull skin, he looked as if he had aged more than ten years.

It should be noted that he himself was a powerful figure with the strength of a titled expert, but he became so haggard in just a few days.

This also shows just how much pressure he has been under these days, with the Sun Moon Empire's army pressing in.

Meanwhile, the key ministers of the Star Luo Empire were engaged in a heated discussion about the upcoming battle plan in the main hall.

"Your Majesty, reports from the front lines indicate that the Northwest Army Group has suffered heavy losses, losing a full two hundred thousand elite troops!"

"This offensive by the Sun Moon Empire is no small matter; their wolfish ambitions extend far beyond just one city or territory."

"The Sun and Moon Empire is powerful, and while my Star Luo Empire is not weak either, it is still far behind. We simply cannot sustain this on our own!"

An old minister prostrated himself on the ground and spoke loudly.

"The only way forward now is to unite Shrek Academy with the other two nations, just as we did a thousand years ago. Only then will we have the power to fight against the Sun Moon Empire!"

Another senior official shouted, "What are you talking about? The Sun Moon Empire only gained a temporary advantage through a sneak attack."

"Our army has only suffered a minor setback. How could the White Tiger Duke and my Northwest Army Group be so easily defeated?"

"Aside from the battle report from three days ago, the battlefield situation has once again reached a stalemate."

"Under Duke White Tiger's leadership, our Northwest Army Group will likely be able to quickly push back onto the front lines and regain the initiative!"

At this moment, another minister echoed, "Indeed, the Sun Moon Empire's advance is fierce."

"But it is said that at the same time, it also launched a large-scale invasion of the borders of the Heavenly Soul Empire."

"The military force they dispatched is comparable to the military force they dispatched against our country!"

"Fighting on two fronts, plus the Heavenly Soul Empire having a Limit Douluo-level expert in its Body Sect, how could they be so easy to deal with?"

"This will definitely drain the Sun Moon Empire's resources, and in my opinion, the Sun Moon Empire's momentum is already waning!"

"Moreover, over the past few thousand years, my Star Luo Empire has worked diligently and revitalized itself, far surpassing its initial state!"

Watching these two powerful officials, who had close ties with the Zhu and Dai families, blatantly lie.

The old minister kneeling on the ground trembled, unable to refute.

Although his suggestions weren't exactly constructive, at least they were genuinely for the sake of the current war situation.

And every word spoken by those associated with the Zhu family reveals a tendency to stall.

After all, the Dai family and the Zhu family, one civil and one military, were once the true ruling class of the Star Luo Empire.

Although the power was abdicated to the Xu family of Xingguan, how could their descendants not be attached to the power once held by their ancestors?

Although the Xu family did not openly settle scores with the Dai and Zhu families, suppression was still inevitable.

Duke Dai Hao of the White Tiger Army led troops on the front lines for decades, also to avoid Xu Jiawei's suspicions.

It is important to know that if the Star Luo Empire were to perish, the family most affected would naturally be the Xu family, who are now the royal family.

As for the Dai and Zhu families, they may be able to seize this opportunity to reclaim their power.

After all, no matter how much they suppressed them, the Dai and Zhu families still managed to produce many bloodline branches over the years.

Hedging between the Sun Moon Empire and the Star Luo Empire at that time might not be a bad idea.

Rather than constantly being wary, the invasion of the Star Luo Empire and the Sun Moon Empire might not be such a bad thing after all.

Even watching the ministers argue amongst themselves disrupted the originally solemn and dignified council hall.

The scene was as chaotic as a vegetable market, but Emperor Xu Jiawei of Xingluo did not express any opinion.

His expression shifted between light and shadow as he silently considered and weighed the current situation in his mind.

He could naturally see that there were collateral branches of the Dai and Zhu families in the court who wanted to stir up trouble and fish in troubled waters.

Even though Xu Jiawei still harbored some apprehension towards Duke Dai Hao of the White Tiger, he was well aware of the man's military prowess.

At least apart from the titled Douluo powerhouses in the Star Luo Empire's own Hall of Worship, whether in Star Luo City or elsewhere.

The morale and combat strength of the troops there are absolutely inferior to the Northwest Army Group, which has been trained and selected by the direct descendants of the White Tiger Duke over several generations.

However, even such an army could not withstand the first wave of attacks from the Sun Moon Empire for more than a day.

This was definitely not a performance by Dai Hao for him, after all, the Northwest Army Group could be considered Dai Hao's private army.

Moreover, as mentioned before, the Dai family branch can also bet on both sides.

However, as a direct descendant of the Dai family, Dai Hao's deep-seated hatred for the Sun Moon Empire left him no room for leniency.

This also shows that the combat strength of the Sun Moon Empire's legions has completely exceeded their original expectations.

Even though Xu Jiawei had previously believed that he had greatly overestimated the fighting power of the Sun Moon Empire.

But looking at the blood-stained battle report in his hand, he realized that he had never even considered such a thing.

The Sun and Moon Empire actually did it.

They equipped all ordinary soldiers without soul power with basic soul tools.

It should be noted that in this way, the enemies that the original three kingdoms of Douluo Continent would have to face would not be the same as those a thousand years ago.

This constitutes a standard force of around 10,000 Soul Masters and hundreds of thousands of ordinary soldiers.

Even if we disregard the Soul Master Corps, which is the Sun Moon Empire's trump card, we can still see it now.

The worst-case scenario is that the Sun Moon Empire can now equip all ordinary soldiers with low-level soul tools.

In this way, these ordinary soldiers can also be regarded as a legion of hundreds of thousands of Soul Masters!

Even if you're weak, the saying "many ants can kill an elephant" is no joke.

According to frontline reports, apart from the two top-tier Soul Master Corps belonging to the Sun Moon Empire's Guardian Hands,

For its first attack, the Sun Moon Empire only deployed two teams of 500 members each, totaling 1,000 full-fledged Soul Master Corps.

All that was left were 30,000 vanguard soldiers.

Nevertheless, it also shattered the Mingdou Mountain Range defense line that the Star Luo Empire had painstakingly built up over a thousand years.

The Northwest Army Group, which originally had a strength of 400,000 including auxiliary troops, could no longer be considered to have been defeated by a smaller force.

Instead, they were completely dominated and humiliated by the Sun and Moon Empire, which numbered less than one-tenth of them.

It is said that the losses mentioned in the battle report were only 100,000 soldiers who died due to the surprise attack of the Sun Moon Empire and the destructive power of the level 9 fixed-position soul-guided cannon shells.

But you have to understand that these 100,000 soldiers are the backbone of the Northwest Army Group.

Rather than those auxiliary soldiers or miscellaneous soldiers used to fill logistical and manpower quotas.

Such a main force, the entire Northwest Army Group only has 200,000 men, and now half of them have been lost.

The Star Luo Empire cannot afford a second loss.

In addition, news has also emerged that the titled Douluo who was originally in charge of supervising the battle and guarding against the enemy's powerful figures in the Mingdou Mountain Range battlefield has died in battle.

Under the suppression of the opposing Fire Phoenix Soul Master Group and Imperial Dragon Soul Master Group.

The Star Luo Empire lost two Title Douluos in battle, and two Title Douluos escaped.

It should be noted that although they were originally part of the Three Kingdoms of Douluo Continent, they have each developed and progressed over the past thousand years.

However, the number of Soul Master troops has only doubled compared to a thousand years ago, and each country can barely muster 20,000 troops of varying quality.

The number of high-level Soul Masters has naturally increased as well.

However, there weren't enough to reverse the astonishing numerical advantage of the Sun and Moon Empire.

Clutching the battle report tightly in his hand, Emperor Xu Jiawei of Xingluo could hardly believe it.

How could the Sun Moon Empire sustain such a massive consumption of soul power and the production of soul tools?

He probably never imagined it.

The reason why the Sun Moon Empire has such a large number of Soul Master Legions or the emergence of new Soul Guidance Devices is because of this.

All of this is thanks to him, the Emperor of Xingluo.

All of this is thanks to the accompanying crystal of the true dragon egg, which was initially considered useless by the Star Luo Empire.

A very, very long time passed.

The arguments in the court gradually subsided.

All the ministers fell silent, staring intently at the person sitting on the throne.

They awaited his words as the Emperor of Xingluo, to make a decision and set a direction.

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps came from outside the main hall.

"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, important intelligence!"

"His Majesty the Heavenly Soul Empire's true form, Douluo, has captured 1,600 Soul Masters and 30,000 soldiers from the Sun Moon Empire in one fell swoop!"

"Only the leader of the Evil Lord Soul Master Corps, Mad Bull Douluo, escaped; the Heavenly Soul Empire headquarters suffered no casualties."

Upon hearing this, the emperor and his ministers in the court could hardly believe their ears.

At this moment, Xu Jiawei murmured, "Is this the Limit Douluo? Why isn't the Limit Douluo an assistant to my Star Luo Empire?"

After taking a deep breath to calm himself down, he spoke loudly.

"This is a critical moment of life and death, so I was sent with a letter to Shrek Academy to request support."

"By imperial decree, no matter how powerful the rebels of the Sun Moon Empire are, Duke White Tiger must hold out for one month."

"I personally wrote a letter and sent it to the royal family of the Heavenly Soul Empire!"

The Heavenly Soul Empire is too far away, while the Sun and Moon Empire is too close.

Seeing such a powerful expert at the Limit Douluo level perform like this.

Shrek Academy certainly has experts at the Limit Douluo level as well.

Even if they contacted the royal family of the Heavenly Soul Empire.

However, as the guardian sect of the Heavenly Soul Empire, the Body Sect naturally could not invite its sect leader to guard the Star Luo Empire.

In that case, Shrek Academy is the only place he can rely on.

However, this is only a temporary measure.

After the court session ended, the officials dispersed to attend to their respective tasks.

Meanwhile, the Star Luo Emperor summoned his most loyal followers to the palace to discuss the next course of action.

Besides his younger sister Xu Jiujiu, the Grand Elder of the Star Luo Empire's Hall of Worship also came here.

However, he did not arrive as a revered figure, but rather as an elder of the Star Luo Empire's royal family.

After all, for Xu Jiawei now, ordinary ministers are no longer enough for him to entrust with his trust.

Faced with the invasion of the Sun Moon Empire, if the Star Luo Empire were to perish.

So perhaps one day these ministers can continue to serve as nobles and ministers.

However, their Xingguan Xu clan lineage had absolutely no chance of surviving under the iron heel of the Sun and Moon Empire.

"Shrek Academy is unreliable." This was the head of the Hall of Worship.

The Super Douluo, possessing peak soul power of level ninety-seven and the bloodline of the Star Luo Empire's royal family, spoke in a deep voice.

Upon hearing this, Xu Jiawei could only manage a wry smile: "Of course I understand this matter; the Sun Moon Empire certainly harbors wolfish ambitions."

"But hasn't Shrek Academy been sucking our blood for the past ten thousand years?"

"The resources and talent that Shrek Academy has drawn from our Star Luo Empire will not shake its foundation, at least for now."

"If we can get their help, even if it's like drinking poison to quench our thirst, we can at least get through this."

The high priest sighed, "You're clever in small matters, but muddle-headed in big ones."

"I am aware of what you are talking about."

"But haven't you noticed that in the past year, ever since the Clear Sky Sect entered the world, Shrek Academy's connections with other countries have become less frequent?"

At this point, Xu Jiujiu nodded in agreement, saying, "What the Great Ancestor said is true, Your Majesty. It seems that Shrek Academy is also showing signs of division."

"However, due to the apparent strength of the two Limit Douluos of the Clear Sky Sect, the situation is currently maintaining a semblance of stability."

"But in my opinion, under the pressure of the powerful external enemy, the Sun Moon Empire, even if no one interferes..."

"But Shrek Academy is now on the verge of collapse."

"The core figures of Shrek Academy have been replaced by disciples of the Clear Sky Sect and have gradually become marginalized."

"It is said that some people have even seen the figure of the current Sea God Pavilion Master, Taotie Douluo, outside of Shrek Academy."

After hearing what the two said, the last shred of unrealistic fantasy that Xu Jiawei had been holding onto was finally extinguished.

At this moment, he was completely dejected.

After all, the pressure from the Sun and Moon Empire is simply too great.

Compared to the original story, this was at least a back-and-forth battle.

The current Sun Moon Empire is so fierce that it's almost despair-inducing.

"Shrek Academy is unreliable, and the Heavenly Soul Empire only has one Limit Douluo, so it's even less likely they'll come to our aid."

"Great Ancestor, what should I do? Is my Xingguan lineage, which has lasted for thousands of years, about to end here?"

The High Priest sighed: "It's natural that we can't be relied upon. All we can do now is preserve our remaining strength."

"Let's change the names of the children in the clan and send people to the Heavenly Soul Empire, the Fighting Spirit Empire, and Shrek City first."

"As for the battlefield, we'll fight to the best of our ability; who knows when the tide of battle might turn?"

"Let's consider this as a backup plan, after all, I don't really believe it either."

"The Sun Moon Empire was able to arm such a large number of soldiers and enhance the strength of its Soul Masters without paying the slightest price!"

A hint of hesitation flashed in Xu Jiawei's eyes, but it was ultimately replaced by determination.

Perhaps he can only be considered a somewhat mediocre emperor.

Even though he possessed a certain talent for cultivation and had reached the level of a Title Douluo, he lacked the power to reverse his predicament.

Even with some strategic acumen, they were powerless to change the overall structure of the Star Luo Empire or resist the attacks of the Sun Moon Empire.

He believed he had done the best he could.

But if you can't do it, you just can't do it.

Even so, he would maintain this last shred of dignity.

Until the moment the iron hooves of the Sun Moon Empire trampled into Star Luo City, he was the emperor of the Star Luo Empire!

(End of this chapter)