Sun Moon Empire, Mingdu.
Inside the Imperial Study of the Sun Moon Imperial Palace, rows of brand-new desks and chairs were arranged, and fresh, delicious fruits were placed on a small table beside the imperial desk.
Despite this, Xu Tianran remained completely motionless, merely flipping through memorials. His slow, gentle movements and half-closed eyes made the minister who had just walked in not even dare to breathe.
"Your Majesty."
Xu Tianran slightly raised his eyes, instantly causing the Minister of Military to break out in a cold sweat. Almost instinctively, he was about to drop to his knees.
But Xu Tianran saw through it and stopped him.
He glanced at the memorial in the Minister's hand but casually shifted his gaze away, seemingly already fully aware of the disadvantageous situation their Sun Moon Empire faced within the Tian Hun Empire's borders.
And the brand-new furniture, along with the trembling eunuchs standing guard outside the Imperial Study, confirmed that this was indeed the case.
After his previous outburst of anger, Xu Tianran's fury had subsided considerably. Even so, the Minister of Military was still panic-stricken. It felt faintly as if several steel knives were scraping against his back.
"Your Majesty... before Jialuo Pass in the Tian Hun Empire, our Sun Moon Empire lost the Fire Phoenix and Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legions. Furthermore, forty thousand troops were killed or captured. After that, the Tian Hun Empire united with the forces within its borders and launched a four-pronged offensive..."
"Our losses are growing increasingly severe. Right."
Xu Tianran spoke, interrupting the Minister.
"I truly never imagined that with Old Kong personally taking the field, accompanied by two Beast King-tier Soul Engineer Legions, they would be beaten to such a state in a single day!? How exactly did they fight?!"
At this moment, the emotions Xu Tianran had just suppressed surged up again, and his voice grew even fiercer. "Even if they were forty thousand pigs, the people of the Tian Hun Empire couldn't slaughter them this fast!"
"Your Majesty..." The Minister cupped his hands, wanting to say something.
"Hmph, enough."
With a snort and a single glance, the Minister swallowed the rest of his words.
"But then again."
Xu Tianran suddenly changed the subject.
"Old Kong was facing over half of the Douluo Continent's top combat power from the Three Great Empires. It's not surprising that he lost. Truly, it isn't."
He shot a glance and put down the memorial.
"With the situation in the Tian Hun Empire turning out like this, we can give up hope of achieving any significant results there. Tell Old Kong and the others that the army currently in the Tian Hun Empire only needs to do one thing: hold the line! No matter what, they must hold onto the coastal cities within the Tian Hun Empire's borders. Besides that, what they need to do is buy time."
"Yes."
The Minister knew that His Majesty was preparing to make a move against the Star Luo Empire. Because although the Sun Moon Empire's army seemed to be continuously pouring into the Tian Hun Empire, in reality, troops were secretly being funneled toward the Star Luo Empire's direction.
As the one in charge of the military, he had naturally handled quite a few transfer orders.
Even a few Class-9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells, freshly produced by the Illustrious Virtue Hall's armory, had been abruptly requisitioned and shipped to the front lines.
"You may leave."
"Yes."
The Minister slowly retreated, leaving Xu Tianran alone.
Xu Tianran put down the memorial and slowly turned his wheelchair. His gaze fell upon the massive map in the Imperial Study.
Looking at the Mingdou Mountain Range at the border of the Star Luo and Sun Moon Empires, he rested a finger on it and let out a faint sigh.
"Over twenty Titled Douluo, all pressed down at Jialuo Pass, accounting for half of the Douluo Continent's high-end combat power... Hehe, this can truly be considered a massive gamble."
"However, with one Limit Douluo heavily injured, another far away in the Tian Hun Empire, and even that person who can summon Di Tian not at the Mingdou Mountain Range, let's see how you Star Luo manage to hold them off."
He clenched his fist and slammed it fiercely down on the "Mingdou Mountain Range."
"Ten days... just wait."
"Though..."
...
Tian Hun Empire, Shao City.
With the help of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Sect, the Tian Hun Empire's army continuously reclaimed lost territory. Although taking each city required two to three days, they were, at the very least, successfully recapturing the land.
However, what made Commander Li Shuai unhappy was that every recaptured city had been subjected to a scorched-earth policy by the Sun Moon army. Not a single grain of rice could be found, the buildings inside were burned down, and the citizens of the cities and surrounding villages had all been forcibly taken away.
They had essentially gained nothing but a few empty cities!
Bang—
Li Shuai slammed his fist heavily onto his command desk and roared, "These damn bastards!"
No food, no people.
Damn it, what was the point of getting empty cities!
And most importantly, the army led by Kong Deming didn't engage in head-on combat at all; they just continuously shrunk back. Even when defending the cities, they seemed to just be going through the motions.
Furthermore, among the soldiers defending the cities, aside from a small fraction being actual Sun Moon troops, the rest were all Tian Hun Empire citizens!
Damn it! Truly damn it!
Inside the command tent at this moment, aside from Li Shuai, there were also the Supreme Elders of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda and Chen Junting and the others.
As for the other generals of the Tian Hun army, they were reorganizing the troops, preparing to march on the next city in two hours.
"Everyone, please forgive my loss of composure." Li Shuai suppressed the anger in his heart and cupped his hands slightly toward Ye Xuanji and the others in apology.
"It's only human nature." Ye Xuanji stroked his beard slightly, his smile as usual.
"Sigh—" Li Shuai sighed and forced out: "At least it's not without gains; we've reclaimed part of our lost territory."
The others in the tent remained noncommittal about this. Only Chen Junting was the exception; his brows were tightly knitted, clearly not taking an ambiguous stance.
Seeing this, Li Shuai spoke up to ask. "I wonder what your thoughts are, Lord Junting?"
The question pulled Chen Junting back from his thoughts. He stood up, cupped his hands, and said, "I wouldn't dare claim it as my 'thoughts.' I'm just wondering about one thing: if the Sun Moon army plans to use a scorched-earth policy and fall back to defend the coastal cities as their frontline, why would they stubbornly hold each city for two to three days? They are clearly putting on a display to delay our army's march."
This was something Li Shuai and the others hadn't not considered.
"Naturally, to wait for reinforcements from the Sun Moon Empire."
Li Shuai walked over to the map and pointed at the sea route between the Sun Moon Empire and the Tian Hun Empire. "If the Sun Moon army wants to retreat and hold the coastal defense line, the kidnapped civilians alone won't be enough to sustain it. If they truly want to hold it, given our army's current momentum, the Sun Moon Empire must deploy more troops. If they want to continue their invasion, their troop numbers would need to increase several times over. That can't be done overnight."
After all, logistics must be guaranteed when an army marches. It should be known that coastal cities aren't suitable for farming. If the Sun Moon army truly intends to stubbornly defend the coastal cities, the logistics shipped from the Sun Moon Empire to the Tian Hun Empire would need to be even greater!
Therefore, delaying for time was absolutely necessary.
Delaying three days per city meant ten cities would buy them a month. In one month, the Sun Moon Empire could accomplish a lot.
"But my view is different." Chen Junting's tone was steady. "If it were me, after learning that over half of the Douluo Continent's top combat power had gathered in the Tian Hun Empire, turning it into a hard bone to crack, I absolutely wouldn't act impulsively based on temporary success or failure and continue to fight to the bitter end there. At most, I would just drive in a nail to leave for later use. Then, I would turn around to bite into some soft meat and soft bones first. Once my teeth were sufficiently sharpened and I had the strength, I'd make a move on this hard bone again."
Hearing this, everyone in the tent fell into thought. The metaphor was very vivid; they understood.
"Disciple." Ye Xuanji spoke, his tone incredibly serious.
"You believe the Sun Moon Empire is buying time to numb us, while simultaneously making a move against the Star Luo Empire and the Dou Ling Empire!"
Chen Junting nodded first, then shook his head. "It probably won't be the Dou Ling Empire, but Star Luo."
Currently, the Sun Moon Empire wasn't as overwhelmingly powerful as in the original timeline. They didn't have the resources, nor would they be foolish enough, to open up a third front. So, if things were as he suspected, the Sun Moon Empire would only make a move against the Star Luo Empire.
...
Mingdou Mountain Range, Northwest Army Group Camp.
At this moment, inside the central command tent.
"Hahaha—"
A burst of hearty laughter continuously echoed.
"How satisfying! Truly too satisfying!"
Most of the generals of the Northwest Army Group were gathered in the command tent. Because news had arrived from the Tian Hun Empire that the Sun Moon army was retreating step by step, they, as allies, were utterly thrilled.
A while ago, they had actually felt a sense of shame that so many cities in the Tian Hun Empire had fallen to the Sun Moon Empire in such a short time. As allies, it was embarrassing.
"Commander, when do we launch the general offensive against the Sun Moon Empire?"
"Yes, Commander! Give the order!"
"..."
Now that the Tian Hun Empire was achieving results and annihilating so many of the Sun Moon's elites, the Star Luo generals were growing increasingly excited.
During this period, they had been stuck in a constant cycle of attacking and defending.
Speaking of using Class-9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells, Dai Hao, as the Commander, had been hesitant to make a decision. After all, strategic-level soul tools like this were finite—once used, one was gone. Furthermore, the Star Luo Empire lacked the technology for precise strikes. He was afraid they would be wasted.
"Launch a general offensive?"
Dai Hao's rhetorical question instantly calmed the generals down.
"How many troops does the Sun Moon Empire have?"
"Their actual combat-ready soldiers are no less than two million."
Given the sheer size of the Sun Moon Empire, it was roughly equal to the combined total of the Three Great Empires of the Douluo Continent. Excluding auxiliary forces, a single empire like Star Luo could train over a million combat troops, so the Sun Moon Empire naturally wouldn't be any worse.
"Indeed, millions of battle-hardened soldiers." A sharp gleam flashed in Dai Hao's tiger-like eyes. "How much of their army has the Sun Moon Empire actually committed so far? Where do you think they will invest the rest of their forces?"
Tian Hun?
No, highly unlikely.
Because the situation in the Tian Hun Empire was not only a mess, but the combat power gathered there right now was simply too overwhelming. If they continued to pour troops in that direction, it would probably result in losses outweighing the gains.
Then what would they do next...
Right at this moment—Boom—
A violent explosion suddenly rang out!
In the next instant, the ground first trembled slightly, followed by a rolling boom like muffled thunder. The entire camp began to shake violently, as if a dragon was turning over beneath the earth.
Dai Hao was the first to react. His expression drastically changed as he dashed out of the command tent, with the other generals right on his heels.
They saw that the distant horizon had actually lit up. The light appearing alongside the explosion was intensely bright; even from a great distance, the glare alone was enough to hurt one's eyes.
An incandescent orb of light flared in the distance. This orb was semi-circular, slowly expanding outward.
The intense light was incredibly blinding. Most people couldn't help but look away after a single glance, not daring to stare directly at it. Only the top or high-tier experts within the Star Luo camp dared to keep their eyes locked on that direction.
Something had happened!
Because the place where the explosion sounded was exactly in the direction of the Mingdou Mountain Range, where a massive number of their troops were garrisoned.
The Sun Moon Empire was coming for them!
And as for this explosion just now... judging by its power, with Dai Hao's level of experience, there was currently only one possibility... Class-9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells!
Furthermore, considering that the Mingdou Mountain Range was the frontline battlefield between the Star Luo and Sun Moon Empires, and given their constant clashes, Dai Hao's central camp, serving as the command headquarters, had naturally been moved further back.
In other words, they were over two hundred kilometers away from the explosion point—nearly three hundred kilometers.
Yet, even at this distance, they could still clearly see, hear, and feel the effects of the explosion. One could easily imagine how terrifying the explosive power was at ground zero. However, a single Class-9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shell simply couldn't create an explosion of this magnitude. Which meant there was absolutely more than just one shell.
Dai Hao's expression turned exceptionally ugly.
In terms of soul tool development, their Star Luo Empire lagged far behind the Sun Moon Empire. Even though they had obtained so many soul tools and Fixed Soul Guidance Shells from the Sun Moon Empire last time, they were mostly ammunition-type soul tools; detection-type tools were exceedingly rare.
Otherwise, the Class-9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells would have emitted strong energy fluctuations before detonating, and the army at the Mingdou Mountain Range should have been able to intercept them with their own Class-9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells.
But as it stood, the interception had completely failed. They were violently bombed right onto the Star Luo Empire's border defense forces.
This time, the losses would undoubtedly be massive!
The defense line might even be torn apart by the Sun Moon Empire!
The Sun Moon Empire had caught them completely off guard!
Before Dai Hao could even issue an order, a sudden, inexplicable palpitation welled up in his heart, like the threat of imminent death. At the same time, a soldier hurried in to report.
"Commander! The ultra-high-altitude detection soul tools have detected several Class-9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells incoming. One of them is heading straight for the central command camp!"
The "several" Class-9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shells the soldier mentioned had mostly landed at the Mingdou Mountain Range. However, due to the lack of time to intercept or report, those shells had already detonated.
But this final Class-9 Fixed Soul Guidance Shell was different. It had not yet exploded, and it was coming directly for the Northwest Army Group's "headquarters." If it actually hit...
In a flash of lightning, Dai Hao realized the source of his palpitation, but there was no time to dwell on it. He roared, "Defend!"
Swish, swish, swish—
Barriers were instantly raised. Several Titled Douluo from the central camp shot up from the ground like streaks of light, taking to the sky together to meet the heavens!
At the same time, right on the nearby horizon, a black dot could be seen falling, and then...
Boom—
A terrifying explosion violently erupted! Rolling waves of scorching heat instantly swept out in all directions!
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