Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor [493] (Patreon)

The greatest feature of the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect is their ability to adapt to the times—this is the core of their survival. Whether serving as subordinates or forming alliances against a certain power, every decision is based on a careful assessment of reality.

Winning genuine loyalty from these people is extremely difficult. But using them without being betrayed isn’t all that hard. As long as their interests are tied together, there’s little to fear, unless someone else offers them several times the benefits.

The Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect’s strengths are resources, wealth, and a wide network—all things Chen Ming desperately needed.

After some negotiations, Chen Ming obtained a lot of support from the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Sect.

This included but was not limited to, the sect organizing one or two porridge-giving events per month at their bases in various cities, spreading faith among the poor and commoners, and using their wealth to support the church. The sect could also lend their clansmen with Glazed Tile Pagoda martial souls to provide various forms of assistance.

What did Chen Ming promise in return?

Very simple: he swore on his martial soul to either solve the sect’s martial soul problem within a hundred years or help them nurture a peerless Douluo—either one would suffice.

For most, this would be incredibly difficult, but Chen Ming already had several ways to achieve either goal.

When both sides feel like they’ve gotten a great deal, it’s fair to call it a win-win.

After Ning Fengzhi left, Chen Ming met with many people sent by various sects. These included not just the Heaven Dou Empire’s forces but also many sects and families from within the Star Luo Empire.

The imperial power of Star Luo is much more consolidated and stable than Heaven Dou, which is more like a coalition of nobles. Star Luo’s control and desire for dominance are much stronger, and their sects and families face heavy suppression. That’s why, among the seven great sects of the Douluo Continent, the top three are all in Heaven Dou, and over half of the lower four also reside there.

These sects aren’t in Heaven Dou because it’s better, but simply because Star Luo is less suitable.

In Star Luo, most sects and families don’t thrive unless they’re tightly aligned with the royal family. The rest are under strict supervision and suspicion.

With new opportunities, it’s only natural for these groups to secretly contact Chen Ming, hoping to further the growth of their sects or families in another way.

Though the soul masters from Star Luo’s sects tend to be weaker than those from Heaven Dou, there are still some outstanding individuals.

For example, the family behind the Jade Phosphorus Seven-Absolute Flower martial soul master from the Botany Academy, whom Chen Ming had planned to recruit, also quietly reached out, hoping to have their disciples learn from Chen Ming and Dugu Bo.

But of course, the Star Luo Empire wouldn’t just sit by and watch. Even though Chen Ming’s performance in the tournament was dazzling, Star Luo would never tolerate its internal forces developing outside interests.

Currently, of the two great empires, Heaven Dou is closer to the Spirit Hall, while Star Luo is wary of and even rejects it.

Without Spirit Hall’s interference, Star Luo’s national strength would have long allowed it to conquer Heaven Dou and unify the continent. So for centuries, Star Luo has maintained a lukewarm relationship with Spirit Hall—respectful on the surface, but suppressing its influence behind the scenes.

One Spirit Hall is already intolerable. Now, with another force—one closely connected to Spirit Hall and potentially becoming a second Spirit Hall—colluding with their internal powers, Star Luo’s restraint in not sending troops is already a significant concession.

Because the royal family has no Titled Douluo, the emperor personally invited the Star Crown Sect’s master, the empire’s national guardian.

This was a tall old man, dressed in luxurious robes encrusted with jewels, with silver hair and beard, over 120 years old.

In terms of seniority, he’s a generation below Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen and witnessed their rise. In his youth, he was a famed prodigy with innate full soul power and even gained an external soul bone during his growth. He was once compared to Qian Daoliu and Tang Chen.

After two decades of roaming the continent, he went into seclusion at fifty. At sixty, he was crowned the youngest Star Crown Douluo in the sect’s history and even challenged Qian Daoliu.

Though he ultimately lost to the older and more talented Qian Daoliu, it was no shame. He left the mark of the Star Crown martial soul on the Spirit Hall’s Pope’s Decree, making his sect one of the greats even in isolation.

After decades of closed-door cultivation, his name faded, and many thought him dead, but his strength had only grown.

When he appeared before Chen Ming, he revealed the aura of a level-97 Super Douluo. His Star Crown martial soul shone above his head, nine soul rings forming astral phantoms, and his face mask—an external soul bone—was made of crystal.

His aura surpassed even Tang Xiao and Yu Luomian. Though he lacked a 100,000-year soul ring, the Star Crown martial soul and his external soul bone gave him more power than the Azure Luan Douluo at the same level.

Even without a 100,000-year soul ring, the Star Crown martial soul’s ability to gather celestial power allowed him to match even the level-98 Golden Crocodile Douluo in a fair fight.

Under certain astral phenomena, he could even burst forth with strength on par with an Ultimate Douluo.

But perhaps due to his long seclusion, the Star Crown Sect master was somewhat arrogant before Chen Ming, doubting that Chen Ming had passed a god’s trial.

Unlike others who came to probe, ally, or seek refuge, this man seemed intent on subduing Chen Ming and Dugu Bo, wanting them to come under Star Luo’s jurisdiction or join the Star Crown Sect.

Though he praised Chen Ming’s talent, he didn’t regard Chen Ming or even Dugu Bo as equals—treating them like juniors and promising them grand rewards for joining Star Luo.

“When friends come, offer good wine; when jackals come, offer the shotgun.” If you don’t strike down such arrogance, there’s no justice.

The Star Crown Sect master was dragged off by Dugu Bo for a heart-to-heart talk near the Star Dou Forest outside Spirit City. The resulting explosions and tremors were so great that even those in Spirit City could feel them. Even ordinary people could see several stars rise on the horizon, only to be devoured by a massive serpent or shattered by its tail.

When the sect master returned, Dugu Bo carried him by the collar like a dead dog. His jeweled robes were shredded, his silver hair corroded, and even his 100,000-year face mask was smashed.

His face was bruised like a panda’s, his aura shattered, and his once-proud demeanor was gone. His eyes were as innocent as pearls, and he didn’t dare show a hint of resentment.

He no longer spoke of arrogance or alliances—he just silently handed over several ten-thousand-year soul bones, a pile of cultivation materials, and a mountain of gold soul coins.

Before leaving, he patted his chest and told Chen Ming that if he ever had trouble in Star Luo, he could come to him.

He quickly packed up the Star Luo imperial staff in Spirit City and hurried back to his sect for seclusion, not even bothering to respond to the emperor.

Yes, the Star Crown Sect is closely related to the Dai royal family—but that doesn’t mean they’re the same family.

Now, the Star Crown Sect is merely the empire’s guardian, not the emperor. Helping with a test and getting beaten up is already kind enough. Don’t expect them to serve at the royal beck and call.

After being beaten by Dugu Bo, his face mask shattered, his celestial power depleted, body and organs damaged, and filled with deadly poison, the loss was more than spitting blood—it cost him nearly ten years of his life and limited his future.

He didn’t trouble the emperor out of an old friendship, but if he had to stand up for the empire again, he’d be a fool.

With Spirit Hall uninvolved and both empires' royal families acquiescing (after being beaten into submission), Chen Ming met with many people in half a month, officially gaining the allegiance of many minor forces and establishing his first base of soul master support.

Even sects like the lower four, though not openly submitting, still secretly sent many young soul masters to study under Chen Ming.

Although on the surface the continent seems dominated by the two empires and their vassal states, in reality, half the land is undeveloped or even unclaimed. Human settlements are small clusters around cities, linked by soul masters and merchants. Both empires are like those of medieval Europe.

An emperor, many nobles, and many vassals—the country is a layered structure, with limited central control except in a few regions.

Local areas are controlled by noble families, soul master clans, and sects.

Star Luo is better off, gradually centralizing under royal force. Heaven Dou is more of a loose confederation of nobles.

Large swathes of land nominally under the empires are actually outside their control—these undeveloped areas have their resources and culture, and even some small countries the empires don’t acknowledge.

Chen Ming asked Qian Renxue for a land grant, allowing him to legally explore undeveloped areas in Heaven Dou, where all land he develops becomes his, tax-exempt for a hundred years.

He then had a sect from Star Luo send a letter to the Star Crown Sect and soon received a similar grant from Star Luo—also tax-exempt for a century.

Getting a grant isn’t hard—just negotiate with the royal families. But in all history, only Chen Ming managed to get grants from both rival empires, allowing him to develop and proselytize freely in both.

While it might seem unimportant, it gave him legitimate claims and a righteous cause whenever needed.

In less than two months, Chen Ming used his methods to forcibly develop a thousand-mile settlement in soul beast territory, then used both empires’ networks to bring in countless refugees, slaves, and minor criminals to establish a new faith.

The laws of Douluo are deeply flawed—not only in design and enforcement but also because nobles in every area make their laws, often bizarre and exploitative.

For example, in some places, eating fish requires a fish tax—sometimes higher than the fish itself. Firewood tax is charged even though no wood is provided to the poor.

Many commoners are falsely accused to extort money or force them into labor or slavery. In many places, simply living normally can make you a criminal if you accidentally break a new tax law.

Such things can be trivial or vast. Many commoners are turned into criminals this way and then become slaves of the nobility.

These are the people Chen Ming wanted—those forced from their homes, seeking stability, and who would work harder when given a chance at peace.

True criminals Chen Ming wanted nothing to do with. Even as the god of evil, he would not have criminals as his followers.

Having lived in this world for years, Chen Ming had long prepared and planned how to do things. When the time came, he could quickly lay out a plan based on the continent’s reality and push it step by step toward his ideals.