Soul Land 3: Legend Of The Dragon King

Tang Wulin's heart stirred slightly, and he quickly followed along behind Li Yun. From the aura emanating from this man's body, Tang Wulin could sense that he was most likely at or above the Hyper Douluo level. Even with his current level of soul power, he was unable to ascertain Li Yun's exact cultivation rank.

There really was more to the Tang Sect than meets the eye! At the same time, he could tell that this Li Yun wasn't taking him very seriously, most likely because he had discovered that Tang Wulin was only a Soul Sage.

Zang Xin had introduced Li Yun to Tang Wulin as a veteran member of the Tang Sect. As the Tang Sect supervisor of the Dou Spirit Empire, he ranked alongside the Tang Sect's inner hall masters. He had been working at the Dou Spirit Empire for over 30 years, and was a very well-respected figure in the sect. Furthermore, he was an extremely powerful Soul Master as well.

The Tang Sect's main sources of financial income included production and selling of soul weapons, research and development in soul technology, as well as control over and distribution of resources.

Due to the shortage of resources on the Douluo Continent, the prices of uncommon metals on the Douluo Continent are far higher than those of the other two continents. This was the core reason behind the Douluo Continent's eagerness to start a war.

Hence, the Tang Sect naturally purchased most of its resources from the Dou Spirit Continent and Star Luo Continent. One of the main contributing factors behind the Tang Sect's lofty status on these two continents lay in the fact that it had brought some important pieces of soul technology to these two continents. The Douluo Federation was made aware of this through certain avenues, but all of the technology that was provided to these two continents stemmed from the Tang Sect itself, so the federation couldn't accuse the Tang Sect of anything.

On top of that, the Tang Sect had extremely close ties with Shrek Academy, and even the federation didn't dare to incur the wrath of these two super organizations. This was undoubtedly a key factor behind the sudden bombing of Shrek Academy.

Of course, the Tang Sect hadn't sold its most advanced technology to the other two continents. Both the Tang Sect and Shrek Academy were lovers of peace. With the abundance of resources on the Star Luo Continent and Dou Spirit Continent, if their soul technology were to outstrip that of the Douluo Federation, then there was a possibility that they could declare war on the Douluo Continent instead. After all, these two empires were once part of the Douluo Continent as well, and their rulers were constantly searching for an opportunity to unite the three continents as one again, under their rule, of course.

As such, the Tang Sect shared a delicate relationship with these two continents. They were close partners, but their partnership was limited at the same time. The two empires had no choice but to rely on the Tang Sect, but they were also constantly trying to get more out of the Tang Sect as well.

Tang Wulin's mission for this trip was to represent the Tang Sect and give these two empires enough weapons so they can intimidate the Douluo Federation into having second thoughts about starting a war. However, he also had to moderate and ensure that the two empires weren't so buoyed by the influx of weapons that they became the ones eager to start a war.

Zang Xin had told Tang Wulin that Li Yun was extremely powerful and capable, but he was rather conceited and would only obey someone he felt to be worthy. As such, earning Li Yun's allegiance was the first problem that Tang Wulin would have to overcome as the Tang Sect Master.

There were already two large soul vehicles waiting by the roadside, and Shrek’s Seven Monsters and the seven people from the Dou Spirit Empire's Tang Sect branches got in the first vehicle, while everyone else got in the second one.

Li Yun didn't do or say anything as everyone got into the vehicle, and only after they had all taken a seat did he turn his gaze toward Tang Wulin. "We'll be setting off now, Sect Master. It'll take around five hours for us to get to Heaven Dou City, and you can ask me anything you'd like during that time."

He was prompting Tang Wulin to ask him questions rather than informing Tang Wulin of the situation here, and that alone was sufficient testament to his conceited nature.

"Sure." Tang Wulin didn't pay much heed to this and remained unbothered by Li Yun's attitude. He was simply far too young, after all, and if he were in Li Yun's shoes, he would also be quite skeptical toward such a young sect master.

However, Tang Wulin didn't ask Li Yun any questions and merely cast his gaze out the window to appraise the scenery outside.

They drove along a dirt path for around 20 minutes before finally arriving onto a main road. The road wasn't particularly wide, and the surrounding area was clearly yet to be developed with clusters of unruly plants growing as far as the eyes could see.

Some information surrounding the Dou Spirit Continent surfaced in Tang Wulin's mind. Compared to the Star Luo Continent, the Dou Spirit Continent had actually been developed earlier, and the remaining citizens of the past Dou Spirit Empire had traveled to this continent over 10,000 years ago.

At the time, they were already a completely spent force, and it was said that a total of less than 10,000 of them had arrived on this continent, carrying a pitiful amount of resources. Most importantly, they didn't have enough talent in any of the major fields, which was why they were lagging behind the Star Luo Empire, which had voluntarily immigrated to the Star Luo Continent with a population of millions.

Hence, even though the Star Luo Continent had been developed far later than the Dou Spirit Continent, it was actually far more advanced in comparison. After all, they had far more resources and skilled personnel with them when they first immigrated to the new continent.

Looking at it now, this was indeed the case; the Dou Spirit Continent was indeed the least developed of the three continents, and it also had the smallest area of the three. This meant that there was going to be a more enormous reserve of resources to be exploited on this continent.

Tang Wulin continued to look out the window in silence, and the atmosphere in the vehicle became a little subdued.

Li Yun was sitting on the seat next to Tang Wulin, and he was slightly surprised by the composure of this young sect master.

Back when he had received instructions from Amorous Douluo Zang Xin, he had been vehemently opposed to this arrangement as he didn't think that a young man in his twenties would be capable of completing such an important mission. However, Zang Xin had forcibly imposed this arrangement upon him, and he had no choice but to accept it. Even so, he was still quite averse toward Tang Wulin.

From his outward appearance alone, this young man was truly impeccable. He was tall and broad with a pair of captivating eyes, and was extremely handsome. Even as picky as he was, he would be more than happy to have such a handsome young man as his son-in-law.

However, his aura clearly indicated that he was only a Soul Sage, which was even worse than what he had projected. He had thought that for someone to become the sect master at such a young age, he had to be an extraordinary cultivation prodigy, but only after meeting Tang Wulin did he realize that Tang Wulin was even younger and possessed an even lower cultivation rank than he had imagined.

He was only a Soul Sage!

Just as he was inspecting Tang Wulin, the latter suddenly turned toward him with a smile, and asked, "Hall Master Li, what is the Dou Spirit Empire's reaction toward the looming threat of war? I'm referring to specific details; have they taken any measures in response?"

The Dou Spirit Empire was potentially going to be attacked by the most powerful continent on the entire planet soon, so they were definitely in a state of panic. However, what was important to Tang Wulin was to assess what preparatory measures they had taken as that would tell him what kind of attitude he should adopt toward the Dou Spirit Empire in order to complete his mission.

Li Yun replied, "When they first received this news, the royal family of the Dou Spirit Empire was in disbelief. After all, the entire planet had been in a peaceful state for a very long time. Let me give you a brief rundown of the overall situation in the Dou Spirit Empire. The empire currently has a population of around 26,000,000, which is around 10% that of the Douluo Continent, and around a third of the Star Luo Continent's population. They have an army of 400,000 troops, including 100,000 members who are responsible for logistics and general duties.

"There are 10 legions, of which two are naval fleets, and the equipment they have access to can't even begin to compare to that of the Douluo Continent's federal military. According to our estimations, the entire military on the Dou Spirit Empire only possesses around 10,000 mechas, and very few large-scale soul weapons. If a war were to commence, the Douluo Continent would most likely be able to conquer this empire in a very short time with just a single carrier-based vanguard group alone. The power of the 300,000 troops in the Dou Spirit Empire's military is roughly equivalent to that of only 50,000 elite federal military soldiers from the Douluo Continent."

Tang Wulin asked, "Does the Dou Spirit Empire have any advantages?"

Li Yun replied, "I can only think of a home continent advantage. They're more familiar with this continent than the Douluo Continent's federal military, but that's hardly a significant advantage that they can bank on. Hence, according to my knowledge, their plan is to allow the federal military to enter the Dou Spirit Continent, then employ guerrilla warfare tactics to stall for time before finding an opportunity to sever the federal military's supply lines."