Chapter 572.3 - Perfect Surprise Attack
The Dou Ling Empire’s imperial family has been wiped out? Everyone is dead?
Although he had figured out this was the likely result earlier, Huo Yuhao still couldn’t help but turn grim when he heard it. The Sun Moon Empire is really too vicious. Ju Zi is too vicious!
Right now, he was a little regretful that he hadn’t killed everyone from the two soul engineer legions to avenge the Dou Ling Empire.
However, Huo Yuhao was also shocked that Xu Sanshi was actually of royal blood. None of them were aware of it earlier! They really only found out by chance.
It was more useful for Xu Sanshi to exploit his royal identity rather than his identity as a student of Shrek Academy. No wonder he was able to maintain order in Dou Ling City within such a short period of time.
However, this was still not enough! The Dou Ling Empire needed a backbone right now.
“Your Highness, the imperial family is bare now. We need your leadership.” An old general who was about sixty years old took a few steps forward before he knelt on one knee.
Xu Sanshi’s expression changed unpredictably as he looked at him.
Not far away, another elder who was roughly the same age and who was wearing an official uniform said, “No. We still need to consider his identity. How can we make a decision so hastily?”
The old general was furious. “Screw your nonsense. I’ve tolerated you for so long. If not for your hesitance, we would’ve come together to chase after those bastards. If you dare to spout further nonsense, I’ll kill you right now.”
“Commander Li, now is not the time to act rashly. Anything regarding the imperial family is of paramount importance!” That elder laughed bitterly.
The general who was addressed as ‘Commander Li’ said, “We’ve already seen what His Highness has done ever since he came. If not for the fact that he came in time to maintain order in the city, the city would have been in great chaos. It wouldn’t have hung on until now. Right now, the elites from the empire have gone to Shrek as reinforcements. If there’s internal chaos within Dou Ling City, the Sun Moon Empire will surely exploit the situation. His Highness has already proven with actions that his identity is real. He’s likely to be the sole survivor of the imperial family. If we don’t protect him, who else do we protect?”
That elder in the official uniform was the chief of all the officials in the Dou Ling Empire, and the current Premier. He appeared very grim, and he was also very hesitant. If the empire was without a leader, there would certainly be big problems. At such a time, the Dou Ling Empire would crack if such a problem appeared. It might even break apart.
However, how could the throne of an empire be passed on so easily? What if this person was a spy from the Sun Moon Empire? Even though he had a token with him, surely the Sun Moon Empire was capable of smuggling or stealing it through improper means if they wanted to, right?
This was why this Premier was very hesitant. He didn’t dare to agree to the suggestion.
At this moment, Xu Sanshi opened his mouth. He hoarsely said, “I’m not coveting the throne. However, the Dou Ling Empire has been subjected to such a great blow. Even if we want to find the other members of the imperial family, we’ll still need time. That’s why I need to temporarily assume control of the throne. Premier, I understand your concerns. Let me tell you about my background.”
When he said this, all the officials that were present were immediately drawn to him.
A man had to be capable of doing things. At such a moment, Xu Sanshi stepped up not because he wanted authority, but because he wanted to save the Dou Ling Empire.
“My surname is Xu, and my full name is Xu Sanshi. Honestly, I’m not proud to claim to be a member of the Dou Ling Empire’s imperial family. This is because my parents’ marriage wasn’t met with blessings from the imperial family, which caused them to elope.”
When he said this, a few of the older officials revealed pensive looks on their faces. This story appeared to be very familiar.
Xu Sanshi continued speaking, “Yes, my mother was called Xue Ying. The Emperor of the Dou Ling Empire was my biological uncle. My father is the master of the Mysterious Underworld Family. I’m sure everyone can recall this. I was still a kid when I last came to the Dou Ling Empire.”
The Premier revealed an enlightened look on his face. “So you are actually the son of Princess Xue Ying? The token that you have belongs to her too?”
Xu Sanshi nodded silently.
The Premier said, “If that’s the case, we can recognize you. Since you inherited the token from Her Highness, that also means that you are at least a Prince. Right now, you are the only remaining member of the imperial family. We can accept you as a Prince. However, you have to prove that your mother was Princess Xue Ying.”
Xu Sanshi calmly said, “I inherited my father’s martial soul, which doesn’t belong to the imperial family. However, I believe that the martial soul of our Mysterious Underworld Family is still quite reputable in the continent. Everyone, please watch carefully.”
As he spoke, Xu Sanshi lifted his hand. A pitch-black shield silently appeared in front of everyone.
A dim golden glow soon spread from this shield. Very soon, the surface of the shield turned golden. A small snake was slowly slithering on this turtle-shaped shield.
Xuanwu Shield!
Yes, Xu Sanshi’s Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle had longed evolved into the Xuanwu Shield!
Commander Li was perplexed as he asked, “Oh? Isn’t this the Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle? It’s supposed to be black.”
Xu Sanshi nodded and replied, “Yes, mine is no longer a pure Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle. The martial soul of my family possesses a certain blood lineage of a Xuanwu. I was lucky to have stimulated this blood lineage during my cultivation, causing my Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle to evolve into the Xuanwu Shield.”
As he spoke, his soul rings slowly rose from his feet.
When everyone saw eight soul rings around his body, they were shocked. The entire place also descended into silence.
Most of the officials who knew Princess Xue Ying could roughly gauge how old he was. He’s only twenty-plus years of age! He can’t even be thirty yet. Does he actually have eight rings at this age? What does this mean? It means he’s an absolute genius!
The Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle was already one of the strongest defensive-type martial souls. What about the Xuanwu Shield? It was even more legendary.
Who would have expected Xu Sanshi to possess such a legendary martial soul? He even had eight rings. It was really unbelievable.
The Premier was the most composed right now. He subconsciously asked, “Your Highness, how did your martial soul mutate? According to my knowledge, even the current master of the Mysterious Underworld Family didn’t experience success with a mutation of his martial soul. I’ve not heard of anyone in the past few generations of the Mysterious Underworld Family who has managed to successfully evolve his martial soul into a Xuanwu Shield.”
Although he was putting out his doubts, it was evident from his greeting that he had in fact recognized Xu Sanshi’s identity.
Xu Sanshi nodded. He naturally knew that he would be posed this question.
“Everyone, I have another identity. I’m actually from Shrek Academy!” As he spoke, he retrieved a badge that only belonged to inner courtyard students in Shrek Academy and wore it in front of his chest.
“Regarding this, you can send someone to verify it with Shrek. As my teammates and I twice represented the academy in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament and emerged as champions, we were given the title of ‘Shrek Seven Monsters’ for defending the glory of the academy.”
“All of you should also know that we have another genius in the academy. He’s also one of the members of Shrek Seven Monsters. He came up with a very special ability known as Spirits. He used Spirits to alleviate the need for soul masters to kill soul beasts, as soul masters can still obtain abilities that are similar to soul rings from Spirits. They are even stronger than soul rings. I’m also one of the beneficiaries of his invention. Currently, I have a hundred thousand year Spirit, a Golden Tortoise.”
Yes, it was a hundred thousand year Spirit! In fact, everyone saw that his eighth soul ring was blood-red. This was why they were so astonished.
However, they were all stirred when Xu Sanshi unleashed his Golden Tortoise.
Of course the senior officials of the Dou Ling Empire knew about Spirits. Those who could obtain Spirits were among the minority. There were even fewer people who could obtain such a powerful Spirit.
Spirits had created a huge uproar in the world of soul masters. The Dou Ling Empire had even constructed its own Spirit Pagoda, and started to dig deeper into the mysteries of Spirits.
Right now, Xu Sanshi had unleashed his Spirit, which was extremely strong. How could everyone not be moved?
However, they were even more astonished after this.
“Earlier, Shrek Academy was threatened by the Sun Moon Empire’s army. That’s why we asked the Dou Ling and Star Luo Empires for help. However, the academy discovered that this might be a ploy. The Sun Moon Empire took this opportunity to lay its hands on the Dou Ling Empire. That’s why we were sent over. Even though there’s only seven of us here, I believe the tragedy might not have happened if we were here earlier. This is because there’s someone else here too. He’s currently the second strongest soul master in Shrek Academy, only inferior to the Master of the Sea God’s Pavilion, Elder Xuan, who’s an Ultimate Douluo. This person is also the future Master of the Sea God’s Pavilion and the founder of the Spirit Pagoda, Huo Yuhao.”