Chapter 460 - 459: Phantylia's Delight
Inside the palace, the air in the great hall felt utterly empty in that instant. Everyone's chests tightened. Xu Tiannan suddenly opened his eyes. A terrifying light flickered in his gloomy gaze. He ignored the complicated battle damage reports and military deployments, his eyes fixed on the top of the light curtain, where a summary line was written in vivid red characters:
[Heaven Dou City has been breached.]
Just six words. Xu Tiannan's body went stiff. The hostility that normally filled his face vanished, leaving only a rigid, sculpted expression. The tension in the hall was suffocating. One second, two, three… Some ministers couldn't bear the dead silence any longer, their breathing stifled—when Xu Tiannan's lips slowly began to curve upward, forming a strange arc. That arc grew, exaggerated, and finally turned into a quiet smile, filled with ecstasy and madness.
"Heh…"
A low, uncontrollable, beast-like laugh squeezed out from deep in his throat.
"Heh heh… Ha ha…"
The laughter grew louder and more ruthless, finally erupting in a thunderous roar that filled the magnificent hall.
"HA——!!!!!"
Xu Tiannan suddenly straightened on his throne, arms spreading wide as if to embrace the whole world.
That once handsome, now twisted face was brimming with incomparable satisfaction and the joy of a conqueror.
"I've won, I've won!!"
He looked up, roaring with a long-suppressed desire and ambition, and in that moment, he felt the most powerful release.
For an instant, the ministers below were stunned, but they quickly recovered, their faces blossoming into sycophantic, fanatical smiles. Waves of congratulatory cheers surged through the hall like a tidal wave.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty!"
"Your Majesty's imperial might—the power to unify the continent—is nearly at hand!"
"Long live the Sun Moon Empire! Long live Your Majesty, long life and immortality!"
Xu Tiannan reveled in this wave of flattery, greedily breathing in the air as if victory's sweet fragrance filled the hall. He slowly raised a hand, and the raucous hall quickly fell silent again. All eyes gazed up at their emperor with fervent worship.
"Convey my orders," Xu Tiannan's voice was hoarse with excitement.
"Heaven Dou City, the capital of the Heavenly Soul Empire, has been breached by our imperial army. The Heavenly Soul royal family has been annihilated, and the stubborn Body Sect has been wiped out as well."
"Within a month, the imperial army will occupy all the territory of the Heavenly Soul Empire."
"This is a cause for great celebration. I decree a three-day rest for the whole nation, so all citizens of the empire may share my joy and bask in the supreme glory of this empire."
No sooner had he spoken than thunderous cheers erupted through the hall once more. To destroy an empire that had endured for millennia—what a world-shaking feat. And they were all witnesses and participants in this great accomplishment.
Yet, amidst the jubilant atmosphere, a singular elderly figure seemed oddly out of place. This was Kong Deming, founder of the Sun Moon Empire's soul tool technology and the empire's only rank 10 soul master. He stepped forward, head slightly bowed, white brows tightly furrowed, deep worry etched on his face, with not a trace of joy.
He stepped from the line and bowed deeply before Xu Tiannan.
"Your Majesty,"
In the midst of all that jubilation, his voice sounded strangely clear.
"Your old subject has but one question."
The hall's cheers gradually faded as all eyes turned respectfully to the old man. Xu Tiannan, caught up in his triumph, felt no displeasure when he saw it was Kong Deming; instead, he lifted his chin, signaling him to continue, almost showing off.
"As far as this old subject knows, both the Dou Ling Empire and the Star Luo Empire sent reinforcements. Why… is there no mention of clashes with the reinforcements in the battle reports? Did they shrink away from the fight?"
Kong Deming lifted his head, his cloudy old eyes glinting with inquiry.
Hearing this, Xu Tiannan's smile grew even more prideful. He looked at Kong Deming with admiration, as if to say, "You finally realized."
"Old Kong, you're sharp as ever," Xu Tiannan laughed heartily, satisfaction in his voice.
"The Dou Ling Empire's reinforcements did arrive, but they never reached Heaven Dou City. The Holy Spirit Sect's leader, Huo Yuhao, led all of the sect's elites to intercept them at the Heavenly Soul border and utterly destroyed them."
"As for Star Luo's reinforcements…" Xu Tiannan's smile now held a hint of mockery and disdain.
"They were intercepted beyond the border by our imperial army's supreme commander, Ju Zi. She led a great force and, in the end, Star Luo's reinforcements didn't dare fire a single shot, forced to watch as Heaven Dou City turned into a sea of flames."
These words sent another shock through the audience.
"The Holy Leader is truly great!"
"Marshal Ju Zi is godlike!"
"His Majesty's strategy and decisive victory, achieved across thousands of miles, can only be the will of heaven!"
Praise and adulation filled the air.
Yet after hearing Xu Tiannan's answers, Kong Deming's body inexplicably stiffened. He slowly bowed his head, hiding a worry so deep it could not be erased, and quietly returned to the line without another word.
In truth, his question hadn't been about the Dou Ling or Star Luo Empires. In his eyes, those two decaying old empires, even united, could never stand against the new Sun Moon Empire and its soul tool technology. Their destruction was only a matter of time.
What he really wanted to ask about was Haiyuan City. The city-state rooted in Star Luo's territory was shrouded in mystery and possessed terrifying power. Lu Jingming, its ruler, commanded a city with countless technologies from across eras and godlike strength.
Kong Deming originally believed the battle for Heaven Dou would be a direct clash between the Sun Moon Empire and Haiyuan City, and he had prepared for the worst. Yet from Xu Tiannan's answer, from the details of the battle report… from beginning to end, not a word was mentioned about Haiyuan City.
Xu Tiannan didn't mention it. Which meant Haiyuan City hadn't intervened at all.
He glanced up at the throne, at the emperor basking in the ecstasy of conquest, and could only sigh deeply in his heart.
As for Kong Deming's worries, Xu Tiannan didn't notice—or rather, he noticed, but simply didn't care. At this moment, his heart was filled with unprecedented ambition and a sense of accomplishment.
The Heavenly Soul Empire has fallen. Ha, I destroyed it.
A millennium of legacy, the ancient royal family, the so-called orthodoxy… Before my army, they were all fragile, no matter what sect or poison, they were nothing more than clowns waving mantis arms at a chariot.
Next, the Dou Ling Empire. That country is even more corrupt and weak than the Heavenly Soul Empire. In at most three months, it will be wiped from the map.
And then, the most stubborn and powerful enemy: Star Luo.
Xu Tiannan's gaze pierced the palace wall, looking far north. As for Haiyuan City and Lu Jingming… Xu Tiannan was indeed aware of their existence and threat. But drunk on victory, his swelling confidence unconsciously pushed that threat to the back of his mind.
In his view, however strong Haiyuan City might be, it was still just a city. No matter how many powerful people it held, it still needed a king's crusade. One emperor transcending the ages? No, he didn't want to be just an emperor—he wanted the light of sun and moon to shine across every corner of the continent for thousands of generations.
He was lost in his grand design, his smile growing more and more fanatical and twisted. He did not see, beneath the shadow of the throne behind him, invisible ripples stirred like hidden water waves, and then faded into stillness.
…
Between reality and illusion, in an indescribably warped space. There was no up or down, no concept of time or space. Countless shards of broken, mirror-like surfaces floated in a vortex of chaotic energy.
Reclining lazily on a throne entwined with countless wailing, screaming souls, as if she were a pure phantasm, a woman watched.
Before her, a huge mirror of water made of light and shadow was suspended. In the water mirror, the scene in the Sun Moon Empire's great hall was displayed with perfect clarity—Xu Tiannan's crazed, twisted smile, the flattery and ugly celebration of the courtiers, and Kong Deming's worried back.
"Heh heh…"
Phantylia chuckled softly. Her laughter brimmed with delight, like someone watching the most brilliant part of a beloved drama—genuine, pure joy.
It's true… how adorable.
Phantylia thought to herself, watching the lively Xu Tiannan in the water mirror with a gaze that didn't exist. In her eyes, Xu Tiannan was like a child building a sandcastle, dancing in satisfaction over his little masterpiece.
Xu Tiannan considered himself a chess player, the protagonist of this era, an emperor building eternal hegemony. He did not know that his so-called victory was nothing more than a scrap of candy tossed by another.
To Phantylia, his so-called ambition was no different from the struggles of an ant.
She extended a slender finger, gently pointing through the water mirror at Xu Tiannan's forehead. She and Xu Tiannan were collaborators—but only in Xu Tiannan's wishful thinking. Perhaps even Xu Tiannan himself didn't realize how much he trusted Phantylia and Celenova. It was hardly fitting for an emperor to so unconditionally trust two obviously unsaintly, Lord Ravager.
Xu Tiannan had long been a plaything in Phantylia's hand. From the start, in her eyes, he was never a collaborator. He was just a toy, a clown, a pawn to while away her boredom.
Destruction… is never a fleeting art.
Phantylia's thoughts drifted in the chaotic space. To her, crude physical destruction was too brutish, too boring. True destruction was an art. It had to be cultivated with care. First, you must give hope, give dreams, allow living beings to pour all ambition, pride, emotion into what they believe to be supreme. Make them believe they are about to succeed, about to stand atop the world.
And then…
Just one step from the peak, at the most proud and vibrant moment…
Phantylia's laughter was pleasant, tinged with a cruel sweetness.
…With his own hands, everything he cherished—his hope, his dream, his pride, his empire—will crumble before his eyes, bit by bit. What kind of expression will he show? Shock? Disbelief? Rage? Even now… utter collapse and despair? Ah… that expression, that instant, will surely be the most beautiful sight in the universe.
The self-destruction of mortals is something one never tires of watching. This is the aesthetics of destruction that belongs to the Lord Ravager—Phantylia herself.
She loved to observe human intrigue, to savor dramas of ambition, betrayal, conspiracy, murder, and self-ruin. She looked forward to the day Xu Tiannan's mind and body would shatter, his spirit utterly destroyed. That would be the sweetest dessert in this otherwise tedious drama.
…
The smoke of the Heavenly Soul Empire's destruction had already been blown away by the winds of time. Yet the great wound torn by continental war remained unhealed, forcibly covered by the seemingly smooth skin of a new order.
Contrary to everyone's expectations, after destroying the Heavenly Soul Empire with thunderous speed, Xu Tiannan's Sun Moon Empire army did not press their advantage or move south toward the Dou Ling Empire. The vast and terrifying war machines suddenly ran out of fuel, falling into an eerie silence.
But anyone with insight knew this was not silence, but digestion. Like a giant python swallowing an antelope, it would need time to fully digest this huge prey, turning it into its own flesh and blood.
Across the vast former territories of the Heavenly Soul Empire, quiet changes were underway. The Sun Moon Empire's methods of governance revealed a terrifying soft power that far surpassed mere military might.
In what was once Heaven Dou City, new, highly advanced civilian soul tool factories were springing up everywhere. Soul tools, once the exclusive property of soul masters and nobles, were now distributed to ordinary people at extremely low prices.
Soul tool lunch boxes that automatically heated food, soul tool washing machines that washed clothes by themselves, soul tool lamps that provided stable, long-term illumination… all these conveniences, once only imagined, were rapidly changing people's daily lives.