Douluo Continent: Copying Ya Li, the Carefree King of the Sun and Moon

I wake up in a cold sweat every time and can't fall back asleep.

But he couldn't say these things.

He was the ruler of a nation, the emperor of the Star Luo Empire, and he could never show weakness in front of anyone, especially in front of Xu Yanli.

"Thank you for your concern," Xu Jiawei said, his face pale.

Xu Yanli nodded and walked into the main hall.

Xu Jiawei was stunned for a moment, then subconsciously followed.

The main hall was empty; the morning court session had not yet begun, and the civil and military officials had not yet arrived.

Xu Yanli sat directly on the dragon throne, as if it were his right, as if he were more like the emperor than the pale-faced Xu Jiawei.

Xu Jiawei stood in the center of the hall, looking at Xu Yanli sitting on the emperor's throne. His face was so gloomy it could drip water, but he didn't dare to say a word. He turned around, walked up the steps, and sat down in the crown prince's seat next to him.

The two men, one sitting on the throne of the crown prince and the other on the dragon throne, exchanged a glance across the vast hall.

The morning light streamed in through the window, casting dappled shadows on the floor between the two people.

The eunuchs and palace maids had already left, leaving only the two of them in the vast main hall. It was so quiet that the suppressed breathing of the crowd in the square outside the hall could be heard.

"How's the three-nation alliance you assembled doing?" Xu Yanli spoke first, his tone casual, as if asking what he had for breakfast.

Xu Jiawei's expression darkened further.

The Three Kingdoms Alliance has been making a lot of noise for almost a month, but what has actually happened?

The Heavenly Soul Empire was reduced to a few isolated cities by the Sun Moon Empire. Its army was scattered, its food supplies were cut off, and even the royal family was driven to the brink of despair by Zhang Lexuan. How could it possibly have the strength to assemble a coalition army?

The Douling Empire fared even worse. From the moment the Sun Moon Empire launched its attack, it failed to defend a single city, suffered repeated defeats, lost all morale, and saw more than half of its soldiers desert. The people even wished that the Sun Moon Empire would attack soon.

As for the Star Luo Empire...

Xu Jiawei closed his eyes and remained silent.

"I guessed they didn't manage to gather enough either." Xu Yanli leaned back in his chair, crossed his legs, and took out the jade carving knife from his sleeve, slowly twirling it between his fingers. "Tianhun has already surrendered, Douling won't last more than a month, and your side... the soldiers don't want to fight anymore, right?"

Xu Jiawei's fingers gripped the armrests of the dragon throne tightly, and his face instantly turned ashen.

I don't want to play anymore.

These five words were like a dull knife, cutting into his heart again and again.

He knew better than anyone that the soldiers of the Star Luo Empire had long since lost the will to fight the Sun Moon Empire, ever since that match five years ago. They had witnessed firsthand the strength of the Angel Legion, the terror of Xu Yanli, and how easily the Sun Moon Empire's soul-guided cannons could raze a city to the ground, while they themselves lacked the strength to resist.

What chilled the soldiers even more was that the empire never treated them like human beings. Their pay was embezzled, their food supplies were scarce, their equipment was outdated, they received no rewards for victories, and they lost their heads for defeats.

Soldiers are fighting desperately on the front lines while nobles are enjoying themselves in the rear. Why should such an empire make them risk their lives?

Most importantly, there was the carefree King in front of him.

Back then, the Empress Dowager held a very high position among the common people. If she hadn't been punished by the gods and deposed, and the nobles hadn't quickly helped her ascend the throne, it's uncertain who would be on the throne now.

Xu Jiawei opened his eyes and looked at Xu Yanli sitting on the emperor's throne.

"what do you want to say in the end?"

Xu Yanli put away his carving knife, sat up straight, looked directly into his eyes, and said, word by word, "What I want to say is very simple. Tianhun has already surrendered, and Douling won't last more than a month. Does your Xingluo City intend to open its gates and surrender like Tiandou City, or wait for my army to come in and blow open the city gates?"

The hall fell into a deathly silence, so quiet that one could hear Xu Jiawei's rapid breathing and the fluttering of flags in the wind outside.

"Are you threatening me?" Xu Jiawei's voice turned cold, his eyes filled with anger.

"This isn't a threat, it's a statement of fact." Xu Yanli's tone remained calm, without a trace of hostility. "Your soldiers don't want to fight, the people don't want to fight, even your court officials don't want to fight. What good is it if only you want to fight?"

Xu Jiawei fell silent.

He recalled the court assembly last night, where several senior officials knelt on the ground, weeping and pleading with him to negotiate peace with the Sun Moon Empire.

They put it euphemistically, saying it was to preserve the country and avoid war, but Xu Jiawei knew in his heart that they simply didn't dare to fight and didn't want to fight.

He wanted to get angry, but when he saw those old ministers with gray hair who had followed him for decades kneeling on the ground, crying and trembling, he couldn't utter a single word.

Because he knew they were telling the truth.

"I won't kill you." Xu Yanli suddenly spoke, his voice a little softer, a complex look flashing in his eyes. "You are my mother's brother, my uncle in name only. Even if you betrayed her back then, even if you have been sending people to hunt me down all these years, I will not kill you."

He stood up, walked up to Xu Jiawei, and looked down at the once arrogant Emperor of Xingluo.

"But you must abdicate."

Xu Jiawei's pupils suddenly contracted.

“You abdicate and pass the throne to me. The Sun Moon Empire and the Star Luo Empire will merge, and you can become the Retired Emperor and enjoy your retirement. No one will touch you.” Xu Yanli’s voice was not loud, but every word was clear. He had obviously thought it through long ago. “If you don’t abdicate, I will take the throne myself. At that time, you won’t even be able to be the Retired Emperor.”

Xu Jiawei stared intently at him, his chest heaving violently, his lips trembling, unable to utter a single word.

He wanted to curse Xu Yanli for being rebellious, for being ungrateful, and for being nothing more than a bastard who had no right to sit on the dragon throne of Xingluo.

But he couldn't bring himself to utter a single curse.

Because he knew that every word Xu Yanli said was true.

The Star Luo Empire can't hold on any longer.

He held onto the throne for over twenty years, but even that couldn't hold out any longer.

Xu Jiawei closed his eyes, leaned back on the dragon throne, and remained motionless, like a stone statue weathered for thousands of years.

Actually, Xu Yanli initially wanted to call, but seeing those people who sincerely believed in him, he instantly abandoned that idea.

If it can be resolved without losing a single soldier or any civilian.

As for the opposing nobles, they are unimportant; who can defy God?

Moreover, the younger generation in their families is still in the hands of the Sun Moon Empire, and some of them dare not resist.

Sun and Moon Empire, Ming Capital.

In the Crown Prince's study, the candles had been burning since last night until dawn, leaving a thick layer of wax and the wicks charred black.

Xu Tianran sat behind his desk, a thick stack of documents in front of him, but he hadn't turned a single page. He leaned back in his chair, his eyes closed, his fingers tapping lightly on the armrest, one tap after another, the rhythm slow, as if he were waiting for something, or perhaps he was struggling with something.

Chapter 196 Conspiracy

Kong Deming stood by the window, holding a cup of tea that had long since gone cold. He didn't drink a drop, just held it, his gaze fixed on the gradually brightening sky outside the window.

The study was unusually quiet, with only the crackling of the candlelight and the muffled tapping of Xu Tianran's fingertips on the armrest.

"Have you thought it through?" Kong Deming finally spoke, his voice low and hoarse, carrying the exhaustion of a sleepless night. "If you do this, you might completely ruin the master-disciple relationship that you've worked so hard to build."

Xu Tianran opened his eyes, glanced at him, and didn't say anything, his fingers still tapping the armrest.

Kong Deming turned around, walked to the desk, looked Xu Tianran straight in the eye, and said in an unusually calm tone: "Your Highness, you don't want to have any descendants, yet you're willing to pass the throne to Yan Li's child. Why are you stopping me from doing this?"

"You!" Xu Tianran gripped the armrest tightly, his knuckles cracking, anger flashing in his eyes. "Have you ever thought about how Yan Li, a man who values ​​loyalty and upholds principles, would view this?"

"So what?" Kong Deming put down his teacup. "Meng Hongchen himself said that he was willing to bear children for the Carefree King. Why do you have to stop him? Besides, now that the Carefree King has become a god, it's hard to say whether he can still leave offspring. The ones I have are the best solution."

Xu Tianran stared at him, his eyes filled with complex emotions—anger, helplessness, and a feeling he himself couldn't quite explain.

"Enough!" He slammed his hand on the table and stood up abruptly.

"Your Highness! Who knows if a god will have offspring! We must be prepared, and Ye Guyi is not a member of our Sun Moon Empire!" Kong Deming said, now somewhat frantic.

A hint of hesitation flashed in Xu Tianran's eyes. In fact, he wholeheartedly supported the plan, but the question was whether Xu Yanli would accept it, and whether it would affect the relationship between the two brothers if the matter were exposed.

Now that Xu Yanli has clearly become a god, can I afford to offend him? How will I explain myself later?

Xu Tianran's problem wasn't that he disagreed with the plan, but rather that he was afraid of missing out on the benefits he was rightfully entitled to because of it.

Xu Yanli was at the Star Luo Imperial Palace at this moment, while Long Yu crossed his legs and looked at the civil and military officials of the city with a mocking expression.

"Oh, isn't this a bunch of incompetent people from Xingluo? Why don't you kneel before me?" Xu Yanli looked at the group with a smile, his voice full of sarcasm.

"How dare you people of the Sun Moon Empire be so arrogant? What?!" A general who was probably at the level of a Contra Douluo said angrily.

Xu Yanli slowly raised his eyes, and an overwhelming pressure belonging to a god swept over them, hitting the limit that each of them could bear.

"Is that so? I may be arrogant, but what can you do to me? Will you kneel on your own, or will I force you to kneel?" Xu Yanli said with a sneer, his fingers twitching slightly, and his oppressive aura increased once again.

"You...you...you..." The man's face turned pale, his body trembled uncontrollably, his bones cracked, and a foul stench emanated from beneath him, with yellow liquid flowing onto the ground.

Xu Yanli stood there, rubbing his forehead, and mocked, "Oh, it seems you're not so tough after all. Now I'm giving you two choices: either support me as your brother, or you all die!"

Xu Yanli stood up, and his divine armor and divine position were instantly revealed.

Silver divine armor instantly enveloped his entire body, with five red, four orange, and one gold rings, and ten spirit rings slowly rose from beneath his feet.

Xu Yanli stood right in front of the dragon throne, without even sitting down.

He stood there quietly, looking down at the kneeling civil and military officials in the main hall.

The silver divine armor was retracted, but the terrifying pressure from before had not dissipated at all, like an invisible giant mountain, pressing heavily on everyone's hearts.

It wasn't suffocating, but it was just right, pressing everyone down to their knees, unable to lift their heads, and unable to utter a single sound.

The ten soul rings had long since disappeared, but the terrifying aura that had just vanished had been deeply etched into everyone's bones.

Five red, four orange, and one gold—such an extremely rare combination of spirit rings was witnessed by everyone, who then realized that the person in front of them seemed to have become a god.

The last time I saw a spirit ring like this was ten thousand years ago, in a book that recorded history from ten thousand years ago.

The main hall was deathly silent; you could hear a pin drop.

Xu Yanli frowned slightly, glanced at the person indifferently, and did not speak, but simply looked away.

Does anyone else have any objections?

He spoke softly, his tone casual and indifferent, as if he were just asking about the weather today.

The entire room was completely silent; not a single person dared to speak.

The military officer who had just stood up and sternly rebuked him was now cowering at the front of the crowd, his head bowed lowest.

His martial spirit was intact, and his soul power was not sealed, but he didn't even have the courage to raise his hand.

The moment that oppressive force descended, he truly experienced the taste of facing death.

With a single thought, this person before me could obliterate me without leaving a trace.

"Since no one objects, then let's proceed as I say."

Xu Yanli slowly turned around and looked at Xu Jiawei on the dragon throne.