#645 - Douling Chaotang

Departing from Lingbo City towards Tiandou City, the distance between the two was not far. In just over an hour's journey, the thick and majestic city walls came into view.

City walls, which had long lost their significance on the Douluo Continent, still existed in the Douling Empire. The heavy city walls, viewed from afar, seemed to evoke a sense of returning to ancient times.

This architectural style could only be seen in Tiandou City on the Douluo Continent. However, Tiandou City on the Douluo Continent had suffered attacks from the Holy Spirit Church, and many of those ancient buildings had been damaged.

From an external visual assessment, this Tiandou City before them was magnificent and not smaller than Tiandou City on the Douluo Continent. As the capital of the Douling Empire, it seemed to possess a certain grandeur.

When the vehicles arrived at the city gate, they were required to stop for inspection, as per usual practice.

At this moment, the Tang Sect's vehicles displayed their unique advantage. Various passes were placed in front of the vehicles, symbolizing privileges. The guard soldiers quickly glanced at them and promptly allowed passage.

The equipment of the Tiandou City soldiers exhibited distinct modern characteristics. They wore well-designed modern combat uniforms and held advanced weapons such as soul-guided ray guns. From equipment to attire, everything was complete.

From these aspects, they were not much different from ordinary soldiers on the Douluo Continent, fully demonstrating the Douling Empire's commitment to keeping pace with the times in military equipment.

Just as the Tang Sect's vehicles slowly entered Tiandou City, guide vehicles dispatched by the official Tiandou City were already there to greet them.

More than a dozen guide vehicles quickly surrounded the two soul-guided buses. It seemed that the authorities had made special arrangements to close the road for the arrival of the Tang Sect members. Under the guidance of the lead vehicles, the convoy proceeded smoothly towards the core area of the city.

Twenty minutes later, the convoy arrived in front of a magnificent palace complex. Undoubtedly, this was the imperial palace of the Douling Empire.

A red carpet, thirty meters wide, stretched like a dazzling red river from the main gate of the palace straight to the vehicles.

On both sides of the red carpet, honor guards stood neatly. In stark contrast to the modern attire of the city guards, these honor guard members wore ancient and heavy armor. The bright armor reflected dazzling light under the sunlight. The ancient weapons they held added to the solemn and majestic atmosphere.

If it weren't for the somewhat abrupt presence of the soul-guided vehicles parked nearby, which disrupted the atmosphere a bit, the scene before them would have truly felt like a journey back to the imperial palace of the past, experiencing the ancient and solemn imperial etiquette.

The imperial palace was heavily guarded. When the vehicles reached the palace gate, they were stopped firmly. From here, everyone needed to enter on foot. An old man led dozens of officials and had been waiting at the gate.

"The strongest person in the Douling Continent, the Great Elder of the Douling Royal Family's Consecration Order, a level 98 Titled Douluo: Dragon Duke." The moment he saw the old man, Tang Wulin quickly recalled detailed information about him.

Before coming to the Douling Imperial Palace, Tang Wulin had made ample preparations and understood most of the Douling Empire's situation.

The emperor would naturally not personally come out to greet them. After all, Tang Wulin was only the Tang Sect Master, and his status was still somewhat different from that of a major country's leader. To have the empire's highest consecration personally come to greet him was already an extremely high level of courtesy.

"Your Excellency Dragon Duke," Tang Wulin nodded slightly, paying his respects to Dragon Duke.

A kind smile appeared on Dragon Duke's face, and he said in a very friendly tone, "Sect Master Tang, please."

The two walked side by side, while the others consciously followed behind. Even the powerful Ya Li and Li Yunzhe deliberately lagged behind by half a step to show their respect for Tang Wulin and Dragon Duke.

As Dragon Duke led Tang Wulin forward, he asked seemingly casually, "Sect Master Tang, I wonder what your impression of our Douling Empire is?"

Tang Wulin pondered for a moment and replied seriously, "It's very good! The Douling Empire pays more attention to soul masters and the cultivation of individual strength. This motivates more soul masters to cultivate diligently. Moreover, here, you can see many traditional cultures that have disappeared in the Federation. I personally like traditional things."

Traditional?!

Hearing Tang Wulin's answer, the corner of Dragon Duke's mouth twitched imperceptibly. If possible, he actually didn't want the Douling Empire to be limited to tradition.

The Douling Empire itself was at a disadvantage in the development of soul-guided technology compared to other forces. It had a late start and faced many difficulties.

Therefore, in recent years, the empire had been making every effort to develop soul-guided technology, hoping to narrow the gap with other forces and have more confidence in future competition.

However, reality was full of helplessness.

Although the Tang Sect had indeed provided some assistance to the Douling Empire, it had also subtly restricted the development of soul-guided technology in some aspects.

This had resulted in a large amount of rich mineral resources still buried underground in the Douling Continent, yet to be fully exploited.

If resources were used as an analogy, 90% of the Douluo Continent's mineral resources had been developed after long-term exploitation, and the remaining 10% were basically located in extremely harsh environments and difficult to mine.

Or the Federation consciously exercised restraint in development out of consideration for resource sustainability.

The Star Luo Continent had developed more than 30% of its mineral resources. The reason for this situation was closely related to the Star Luo Dai family's tough character.

This was mainly because the emperors' actions were not tough enough, and the nobles under them had their own agendas and different thoughts.

Therefore, when facing the Tang Sect and the Spirit Transfer Pagoda, the Douling Empire lacked confidence from the beginning and was subject to many constraints in resource development and technological development.

Of course, although he was dissatisfied with the Tang Sect's restrictions, Dragon Duke did not show it on the surface and still greeted Tang Wulin with a warm smile.

The interior of the palace was resplendent and magnificent, with carved dragons and painted buildings, showing the luxury and majesty of the imperial family.

Although the Douling Empire had also entered the modern era of soul-guided technology, the soldiers guarding the palace still wore ancient armor, adhering to ancient traditions, which was undoubtedly a respect and inheritance of past years and culture.

Being here, it really felt like returning to the Douling Empire ten thousand years ago. Compared to that era, the palace was almost the same in appearance and atmosphere.

The group entered the main hall, and a dome of forty meters high came into view. The wide hall space gave people a sense of invisible oppression.

On both sides of the main hall stood the civil and military officials of the Douling Empire, neatly dressed in official robes, with solemn expressions, demonstrating the empire's ruling order. Judging from the scene, it seemed that today was the day of the Douling Empire's grand court meeting.

And the arrival of Tang Wulin and his party was timed perfectly.

Tang Wulin looked up and saw that at the end of the red carpet was a dozen steps. Above the steps was an independent area like a small city, with a dozen guards and attendants standing on both sides.

In the very center sat a person wearing a gold-trimmed robe embroidered with a black Xuanwu pattern.

The Douling royal family's soul inheritance was extremely complicated. Because the royal family's original soul power was not strong, it was inevitable that it would be replaced by bloodlines with powerful souls in the long process of inheritance.

However, the Douling royal family not only did not reject this, but also strongly advocated and promoted it. In their view, as long as it could enhance the royal family's strength and enhance the empire's prestige, any changes that were beneficial to this were worth trying and accepting.

And this black Xuanwu pattern was the inherited soul of the Xuanwu Sect, a large sect with a long history in the Douling Empire.

Tracing back to its origins, the predecessor of the Xuanwu Sect was the Xuanming Sect, where Xu Sanshi, one of the Shrek Seven Devils ten thousand years ago, was located.

Tang Wulin carefully looked at the Douling Emperor at the very top—Xue Zhonggao. This was a handsome young man who seemed to be in his thirties. However, as a soul master, long-term cultivation made him look quite young from the outside.

In the information provided to Tang Wulin by Li Yunzhe, there seemed to be many doubts about the new emperor's ascension to the throne. Although it was claimed to the outside world that the previous Douling Emperor died of illness, the matter itself was full of doubts and difficult to believe.

After all, the previous emperor was in his prime and was himself a powerful soul master. How could he suddenly die of illness without warning?

Moreover, after the emperor's death, the other princes also encountered accidents one after another. It was really hard to believe that there was no foul play in this.

However, what was helpless was that whether it was the royal family's consecration or the other large families of the Douling Empire, they all kept silent about this matter.

This made the information that the Tang Sect could obtain in a short period of time extremely limited. They could only infer from some clues that the new emperor had not obtained the throne properly, and that strong energy fluctuations had erupted in the palace at that time.

"The Tang Sect's control over the Douling Continent is still a bit lacking. Since this new emperor took office, he has been purging dissidents on a large scale. Otherwise, we should be able to obtain more information now."

"If the previous Douling Emperor was still around, with our Tang Sect's infiltration of the palace, I could even tell you what color the emperor's underwear is when we go to negotiate today."

Recalling the expression on Li Yunzhe's face when he mentioned this, Tang Wulin couldn't help but feel a lot of emotions in his heart.

And on the magnificent hall of the Douling Empire's imperial palace, below the main seat where Xue Zhonggao was sitting, another chair was conspicuously placed beside it.

On the entire independent platform, only these two chairs highlighted their special status.

At this moment, a middle-aged man was sitting steadily on the chair. The top of his head was bald, reflecting a cold light under the bright lights in the hall, like a smooth pebble.

His eyes were gloomy and sharp, revealing a chilling coldness. Just a casual glance could make people feel intuitively that this person was definitely not a good person.

At this time, this mysterious middle-aged man was squinting slightly, his falcon-like gaze slowly falling on Tang Wulin, who had just stepped into the hall below, along the long red carpet.

His eyes contained both scrutiny and a bit of exploration, as if trying to see through all of Tang Wulin's secrets and strength from his body.

Tang Wulin keenly noticed this gaze. He politely nodded slightly towards the middle-aged man. However, beneath this seemingly calm appearance, a trace of uncontrollable doubt arose in his heart.

In the information that Li Yunzhe had carefully prepared for him, there was no information about the middle-aged man in front of him. Judging from the position he was sitting in, he was obviously deeply trusted by the emperor.

But they had not received any news about such an obvious figure beforehand, which was obviously very problematic. Tang Wulin became vigilant and had a deeper understanding of the complexity of this trip to the palace.

"Limit Douluo!" Just as Tang Wulin was pondering secretly, Ya Li quietly transmitted a voice to him from behind, her voice soft but with an unquestionable solemnity.

"Limit Douluo?" Tang Wulin repeated these four words in his heart, and his heart couldn't help but tremble.

Limit Douluo, that was the existence standing at the pinnacle of the soul master world. The appearance of each Limit Douluo was enough to cause a shock throughout the continent.

The appearance of such a powerful figure here would undoubtedly bring unpredictable variables to the current situation. Tang Wulin quickly looked in the direction indicated by Holy Spirit Douluo Ya Li's voice transmission.

He saw a tall nun standing quietly behind Xue Zhonggao. The nun's uniform she was wearing was extremely unique in design. At first glance, it gave people a strong visual impact.

The design of the upper body followed the conservative concept of traditional nun's clothing. The fabric was soft but dignified, tightly wrapping her body. The delicate lace trim at the neckline added a touch of elegance and grace.

However, the design of the lower body was eye-catching, like a cheongsam, elegantly forked on both sides. This unique design just right revealed her slender and straight long legs, with smooth and beautiful lines, giving people a different kind of beauty that was both classical and fashionable.

She wore a thin veil on her head, half-covering her face, making her even more mysterious. Her eyes were extremely rare amber, emitting a charming and deep light.

In stark contrast, her hair was as bright as sunlight, shimmering with a lively luster under the veil.

However, she had faint dark circles under her eyes, which made her originally indifferent face even more haggard and tired. Coupled with her indifferent expression, she gave people a deep sense of world-weariness.