Thank you to our new Patrons: SilverWolf, Melon, Sam Olsen, Thomas Gill and P Tydd! Your support means the world to me <3 We are up to Chapter 705: A Desperate Gamble for Survival – Part 1 on Patreon!
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Aside from the Holy Spirit Continent, which was the core of the Holy Spirit Empire, the empire also annexed the Sun and Moon Continent and three smaller continents. Additionally, it completed the monumental feat of circumnavigation, laying the foundation for the unification of the entire Douluo world.
However, the most troublesome part of the unification campaign was the Sun and Moon Continent. The other three smaller continents were still in a primitive state, posing no significant threat and were easily assimilated.
At the time, the Sun and Moon Continent was in the midst of feudal empires vying for power. Although remnants of earlier civilizations existed, they had not yet fully recovered or developed—though the potential was there.
Even so, their overall strength surpassed that of the former Tian Dou or Star Luo Empires.
Unfortunately for them, they faced the Holy Spirit Empire version of the Douluo Continent. Though initial intelligence gaps caused some trouble, under the overwhelming might of the Holy Spirit Empire, this continent, which should have shone brightly in the future, was completely overshadowed by the brilliance of the Holy Spirit Empire.
However, Ye Wen did not order the extermination of the three royal families of the Sun and Moon Continent.
On one hand, they hadn't committed too many heinous acts, so public resentment toward them was low. On the other hand, their martial souls were exceptionally powerful. If nurtured properly, they could become excellent subordinates.
When the three royal families learned that three gods stood behind the Holy Spirit Empire, they immediately pledged their allegiance.
In the current era of the Sun and Moon Continent, where royal supremacy had yet to take hold, survival of the fittest and submission to the strong were the prevailing norms.
These three royal families lived up to Ye Wen's expectations, eventually securing positions within the Holy Spirit Council.
Overall, the development over the years had been relatively smooth, and the empire could be described as flourishing.
Though Ye Wen had accumulated a significant number of divine cores, he only bestowed the divine positions of the Asura God, the Nine-Colored Goddess, and the Food God.
It wasn't that the other divine positions lacked suitable candidates—it was simply due to the limitations of Douluo Star's population and faith generation. Each year, the total amount of faith energy generated was finite. Passing on too many divine positions at once would result in insufficient divine energy accumulation.
Breaking through to level 100 was meaningless without sufficient divine energy to sustain cultivation. Thus, it was better to concentrate faith energy on these three divine positions to develop the mortal realm first.
The combat strength of Douluo Star's divine officials now numbered over a hundred. Therefore, if the goal was to cultivate a pillar-level battle god, the Asura God position was undoubtedly the most suitable.
After continuous testing by Ye Wen, all hidden dangers within the Asura God position had been thoroughly eliminated. As expected, the previous Asura God had left some backdoors.
But who would've thought, Asura God, that I have detection skills? Hehehe~
Although Chen Xin, the Sword Elder, was exceptionally strong in combat and possessed a sword-type martial soul that aligned well with the Asura God position, Ye Wen decided to grant this divine position to Dao Ba instead.
This wasn't favoritism—after all, Ye Wen's cultivation was already approaching the God King level, needing only a final breakthrough.
There was no way Chen Xin could surpass him later and take the lead. Perhaps his father or grandfather might have had a chance, as their innate talent was even greater than Chen Xin's.
Moreover, as one of the top three tool-type martial souls on Douluo Star, Ye Wen couldn't stand the idea of Chen Xin's lineage ending. So, he made Dust Heart endure the same suffering he once did, allowing the Dust family's descendants to flourish.
Upon learning the truth, Chen Xin's face remained sour for an entire month. His frustration at being unable to vent his anger amused Ye Wen immensely while he amused himself in the god realm.
Returning to the main topic—
Due to the destruction of the City of Slaughter, Dao Ba struggled to gather enough killing faith.
Despite possessing a God King-level divine core, the lack of divine energy to boost his cultivation early on was frustrating enough to make Dao Ba curse.
To address this, Ye Wen implemented a plan he had long prepared.
Without Tang San's influence, the concept of "evil martial souls" had yet to emerge on the Douluo Continent. At most, there were terms like "fallen soul masters" or "heretical soul masters."
So-called evil martial souls were those that allowed rapid cultivation through unethical means. In Douluo II, awakening such a martial soul often meant a death sentence.
Ye Wen shook his head at this "innate guilt" theory. Thankfully, he had ended that era before it began.
Nevertheless, even with a large population base, a significant number of soul masters with these special martial souls were born.
Killing them outright was impossible, so Ye Wen established laws. As long as they lived peacefully and didn't break the law, no one could punish them.
However, some individuals, unwilling to remain ordinary, inevitably strayed onto the wrong path while cultivating these martial souls. Thus, over the past millennium, Ye Wen gradually transformed one of the continents.
A continent known as the Killing Continent—
This continent was devoid of humans; the original inhabitants had been relocated, leaving only animals and spirit beasts to reproduce freely, at an astonishing rate.
Why? Naturally, Ye Wen was behind the scenes orchestrating this.
While humans couldn't be killed, spirit beasts and wild animals were another matter entirely.
Thus, those with inherent deficiencies who sought to rely on forbidden techniques or cultivate evil martial souls flocked to this continent to enhance their strength and become what they desired.
Pure slaughter gave rise to the faith energy Dao Ba needed—a threefold benefit.
It resolved potential negative impacts on human society, aided Dao Ba's cultivation, and provided a new hope for soul masters with weaker talents.
Of course, the rule for entering the Killing Continent clearly stated: life and death were at your own risk.
As for the other two continents, Ye Wen also made corresponding modifications.
Limited in size but strategically located, they were converted into specialized breeding grounds for rare medicinal herbs and spirit beasts, continuously supplying resources for human soul masters.
The divine position of the Nine-Colored Goddess was granted to Ye Lingling. While Ning Rongrong could have also been a candidate, her flashy array of enhanced soul skills paled in comparison to Ye Lingling's pure healing abilities, which were far more suited to the Nine-Colored Goddess's divine position.
At the very least, after fully inheriting the divine position, Ye Lingling could independently use resurrection divine techniques without needing Oscar's assistance.
Still, as his daughter-in-law and someone who had now broken through to the divine official level, Ye Wen gifted her a set of six-character god armor, much to the delight of the once-arrogant young woman.
How easy she is to please ←_←|||
The divine position of the Food God naturally went to Oscar.
Though over the past millennium, more than a dozen food-system soul masters with innate full soul power had emerged, who could compete with Oscar? He was not only the strongest but also Ye Wen's closest disciple.
With Oscar reclaiming the Food God position, the cultivation speed of Douluo Star's experts increased significantly.
------------------------------------------------------
Support my writing journey: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow