Chapter 36 - Fall of Moons and Might of Soul Tools (Patreon)

One Week Later, the Borders between the Stormlands and the Moonlight Principality

After finishing the preparations for the attack on the Moonlight Principality, the army of the Spirit Hall, consisting of the 1st Legion of the Templar Knights and Spirit Guard Army, marched onto the second target of the Crusade, which was the Moonlight Principality.

Within the Disputed Lands, the Moonlight Principality was the largest piece of land, and it was also the last one that was remaining for the Spirit Hall to conquer.

During the conquest of the Stormlands and afterward, Spirit Hall sent out more troops of the Spirit Guard Army and even the 2nd Templar Knights Legion to the smaller lordships.

Obviously, these tiny nations that barely had any Soul Douluos as their protectors were falling one by one to the might of the Spirit Hall. The fact that the Star Luo Empire also launched its own offensive against some of the Lordships that were closest to its borders or were directly bordering it didn't help that at all.

In regard to this threat and for the Star Luo Empire not conquering more of these petty lordships, the Spirit Hall sent out their own troops in greater numbers. Soon enough, one after another started falling to the might of the Spirit Hall.

The procedure was very simple.

The ruling Nobles were to be rounded up and executed to the last piece of their bloodline, together with their staunch supporters. The common population didn't really have any positive feelings towards these Nobles who ruled them, and Spirit Hall didn't like them either.

What was surprising, though, was that some of them managed to pack up their things and flee ot the Heaven Dou Empire when they heard the results of the Battle of the Eight Titles.

It was a shame, but Hun Tiandi could understand that those who had more brains in their skulls and could think of something else aside from hedonism and abusing their power would be smart enough to actually escape.

What he was angry about was that they also took everything that had any value in their respective Lordship with them to the Heaven Dou Empire. 

Still, he was prepared for something like this; thus, he sent a few powerhouses from the Burial Agency's Holy Inquisition to try and hunt some of these escapees. And the results were rather good...

Cardinal Ghost Douluo, together with a contingent of Inquisitors, managed to capture seven Barons, one Viscount, three Counts, and one Marquise who wanted to flee the Disputed Lands.

All of them were obviously killed, and their wealth was seized. 

The amount of wealth of these nobles was actually staggering. Collectively, they managed to amass a wealth of several tens of millions of Gold Soul Coins, which was an astronomical number if one thought that they were just some random lesser nobles in a problematic area like this.

But at the same time, when one considered the state of the commoners in the Disputed Lands, it wasn't really that surprising. Taxes were extremely high, tariffs were very high, there were many restrictions and rules on the commoners, and their respective Lords were exploiting their very own souls of them.

According to the reports that Hun Tiandi heard, many commoners were openly celebrating the executions of the entire Noble Houses that formerly ruled them. He understood the sentiment because while the Spirit Hall was no saint, their rule was a thousand times better than that of these nobles.

Nevertheless, this was a good outcome for the Spirit Hall, because the more people saw the Spirit Hall as their savior and messiah, the more loyal they would be to the Spirit Hall in the long run.

"My Lord, we are nearing the first checkpoint of the Moonlight Principality."

Hun Tiandi knew this trip into the Moonlight Principality would be rather entertaining, since the Wu Family had decided to fight to the death against the forces of the Spirit Hall. Even though their Guardian, Moon Sword Douluo Wu Hao, perished during the Battle of the Eight Tiles, the rest of the Wu Family went into the fight.

It was rather interesting, but he understood that they couldn't really abandon their ancestral lands that easily. That was okay with him; he wanted to test the Class 8 Soul Cannon on the walls of their capital.

It was said that the walls of the Moonlight City were impenetrable and no siege machine could destroy them. 

It seems that it was time for history to be rewritten.

The entire journey to the Moonlight City, which was the capital of the entire Principality, and even the Principality was named after the city, because it was the start of their lordship and heritage, took a good few days.

Even at the top speed of the army, it took them three days to arrive in front of the gates of Moonlight City. During the entire journey, their army fought only twice, and it was mostly only small garrisons that were actually fighting against them.

Though when Hun Tiandi looked at the walls protecting the Moonlight City, he was mildly surprised, because he could see that the quality of the walls was top-notch. If he had to guess, they were built by the Stonemasons and Blacksmiths on par with that of the Defense Clan or someone similar.

According to the Classification of the Professions, it was made by the collaborative effort of several Class 9 Grandmaster Stonemasons and Grandmaster Blacksmiths, as the walls protecting the Moonlight City should have been enough to withstand the might of several Soul Douluos for a long time.

Perhaps even resist the destructive prowess of the Titled Douluo.

He was rather eager to test the Class 8 Soul Canon on the walls protecting the Moonlight City. Contrary to the Stormlands Dukedom, the Moonlight Principality had much more time for preparation against the attack of the Spirit Hall.

They managed to recall most of their forces from the entire Principality, which wouldn't be wasted protecting useless fortresses and objects, but instead, they would be gathered in Moonlight City.

Hun Tiandi, though, was wary of them.

He was aware that some spies from the different factions must have already escaped back home and relayed the news. He wouldn't be even a bit surprised that some of these factions planned to assassinate him during the siege or let the Moonlight Principality do the job.

Because of this, he asked Azure Luan Douluo to remain by his side at all times, and, to ensure his protection, the two Cardinals, Devil Bear Douluo and Snake Lance Douluo, were also on standby near him.

One could say that after dying once, Hun Tiandi became pretty paranoid about dying once again. He knew that this was already a great blessing from heaven that he was able to live once more, and he wouldn't dare to risk it anymore.

So when he sensed that there may be a possibility that he was very close to death, he took out appropriate precautions.

The only thing that was lingering on his mind was that, from whom was coming this apparent danger?

The most usual suspects would be the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan and Clear Sky Clan. 

But he eliminated the first one, because this wasn't really their style, and he knew that Spirit Hall would push the blame on them, and once it happened, there wouldn't be the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan nor its bloodline on the Douluo Continent anymore.

Then there was the Clear Sky Clan... they were indeed perfect, but Hun Tiandi doubted that they would be acting personally.

Not after the mess that they have created and the losses that they suffered.

No...

Most probably, they passed some kind of weapon to the Moonlight Principality that was able to bypass the defensive measures of even Titled Douluos. 

If he were a betting man, he would have bet that they passed them some kind of Artifact. 

Artifacts were rare in the current Douluo Continent, and every single one was considered a rare treasure, especially the more powerful ones. With Hyper Douluo like Qing Luan by his side, Hun Tiandi was rather confident against the plots of the Moonlight Principality.

"Prepare the Class 8 Soul Cannon. We will use it to breach the walls of the Moonlight City."

Hun Tiandi commanded to the Commander Lorr Diarra, as he wanted to make a point and also to showcase the might of the Soul Guidance Devices to the wider population of the Spirit Hall.

Whenever everyone, includiíng the Cardinals and Worship Elders, saw the tremendous power of the Class 8 Soul Cannon, it would be very easy to convince all of them to support the development of the Soul Guidance Devices on the Douluo Continent.

And obviously, the monopoly on them would be only for the Spirit Hall.

Hun Tiandi knew that maintaining the monopoly on the Soul Tools was impossible in the long run. Sooner or later, talented people would appear who would crack down on the lowest version of them and start developing their own variants.

Not to mention, then there was the topic of the Sun Moon Empire and its integration into the rule of the Spirit Hall. 

He planned to maintain the monopoly on the technology for as long as possible during the time when the Spirit Hall unified the entire continent. It was aimed to obtain as many benefits as possible out of the monopoly before it officially became entirely useless.

The Class 8 Soul Cannon was made personally by Xuan Ziwen, and even though it was just a Class 8 Soul Tool, it was so well-made that it could actually unleash power comparable to some of the weaker Titled Douluos of Spirit Rank 91.

This very impressive feat proves that Xuan Ziwen was indeed one of the brightest Soul Engineers in the entire Sun Moon Empire. In truth, if he weren't, then he wouldn't be accepted as a disciple by Kong Deming.

The people who were tasked with the protection and usage of the Class 8 Soul Tool immediately started doing the preparations, as the Soul Tool would be used by one of the Spirit Masters at the peak of the Spirit Sea Realm in terms of Spiritual Power.

Using the Soul Tools was a pretty straightforward and easy thing.

One just needed to have a powerful enough Soul and have enough Spiritual Power and Spirit Energy to activate, use, and control the Soul Tool.

Aside from the traditional Soul Tools, there was a special branch of the Soul Tools for ordinary people without the Spirit Energy and Spiritual Power. The civilian-use Soul Guidance Devices were becoming more and more popular within the Sun Moon Empire.

Apparently, right now they were enormously hit in the central province of the Empire around the Imperial Capital Mingdu. The preparations were rather fast, as the defenders on the walls were confused as to why the forces of the Spirit Hall were not doing anything.

It didn't take long before the Class 8 Soul Cannon was prepared to be used, and soon after, Hun Tiandi gave the final command as the Class 8 Soul Cannon started firing. In a split second, a deafening sound appeared in the area; the source was the firing of the Class 8 Soul Cannon as the first projectile of the ammunition left the barrel.

With lightning speed, the projectile hit the walls of Moonlight City. Something shocking has happened that shook everyone to the core. The tall, thick reinforced walls of the capital city of the Moonlight Principality were breached in one go.

An enormous hole was made in the upper parts of the walls as smoke rose into the skies from that part of the walls. But this wasn't the end, as the Class 8 Soul Cannon continued the barrage madly.

In several moments, several tens of projectiles were fired, all aiming at the walls or the watchtowers that were built on the wall. Before the Crusade started, Hun Tiandi also asked Xuan Ziwen to manufacture some ammunition.

Fortunately enough, as if heaven were on their side, before Xuan Ziwen went on the expedition into the ocean, he took with him a lot of Soul Tools and even the essential things that were needed for the creation of the new Soul Guidance Devices.

This allowed Xuan Ziwen to start the manufacturing process immediately, and with the resources of the Spirit Hall, it wasn't a problem to find some rare metals needed to manufacture the ammunition for the Soul Tool Cannon.

The Class 8 Soul Tool Cannon continued its barrage as it was used to destroy all of the watchtowers in the walls of the Moonlight City. Not even the Spirit Formations that the defenders activated made any kind of difference, because they were destroyed in a single hit.

Xuan Ziwen went all out when creating the ammunition for the Class 8 Soul Cannon.

The bombardment by the Class 8 Soul Cannon lasted for the entire twenty minutes, which resulted in destroyed walls. Most of the watch towers were reduced to a bunch of smoking rubble, and there were more than a dozen huge holes in the walls.

"Launch the attack. Kill everyone who resists and who is deemed to be a threat."

Upon Hun Tiandi's command, the army of the Spirit Hall started moving in its entire power and flooding the city of Moonlight. The Knights Templar took charge as they entered Moonlight City, and they started killing everything in their path.

The Knights Templar were like an unstoppable force in front of the troops of the Moonlight Principality that was doing their best to take as many enemies with them as possible, but unfortunately for them, it was entirely futile.

The Spirit Guard Army was right away, as it flooded into the city, dealing with the weaker remnants that the Knights Templar had ignored or left behind. Due to the very intense bombardment by the Class 8 Soul Tool Cannon, the loss of lives on the side of Moonlight Principality was rather significant.

One couldn't really underestimate the destructiveness of the Fixed Soul Ammunition Artillery Shells that were manufactured by Xuan Ziwen. With the elaborate shooting and aiming, they managed to kill a lot of the forces on the side of the Moonlight Principality.

The subsequent invasion of the city was something akin to a formality, as the Knights Templar were merely cleaning out the remnants of the Moonlight Principality's army and their defending forces.

The process of the conquest of Moonlight City was rather fast, because the bombardment by the Class 8 Soul Tool Cannon broke a lot of the defenses and resistance, and even killed many of the city's powerful Spirit Masters.

With them being dead and their Guardian Moon Sword Douluo Wu Hao perished during the Battle of the Eight Titles, within three hours, the fighting in the city subsided and quieted down as it was finished.

Hun Tiandi entered the city only when the fighting had completeôly ceased and the Knights Templar secured the entire Moonlight City. The process was a relatively smooth one as the troops secured all important places and then started purging the city of the dangerous elements.

At first, everyone who was connected to the ruling Wu Family was rounded up and scheduled to be executed, as the Spirit Hall wasn't taking chances or wasting time with these people.

It was rather surprising to see how many of the soldiers and troops remained loyal to the Moonlgith Principally and instead chose to fight to the death.

Which wasn't really that surprising when one considered the possibility that they chose to remain in their city even though they knew that the full might of the Spirit Hall was coming for them.

Nevertheless, for the betterment of the process and increase in its speed, Hun Tiandi asked Snake Lance Douluo to help the troops of the King's Templar in the screening of the city.

They needed to completely rout out the remaining loyalists of the Moonlight Principality, possibly some assassins, and any dissent that would cause trouble at a later date. The Moonlight Principality and especially the Moonlight City were of paramount importance for the Spirit Hall's future development.

So nothing could go wrong with the conquest and assimilation into the influence of the Spirit Hall.

Hun Tiandi knew that once the last bastion of the Disputed Lands had fallen to the banners of the Spirit Hall, Supreme Pontiff Bibi Dong would proclaim the foundation of the new nation that would stretch through the former Disputed Lands and Spirit City.

With the population of more than fifty million people in this new nation, Spirit Hall would finally have direct and complete access to the large pool of population that would be needed to build a proper unification military and force.

Then their next target would be the Anarchic Lands.

This was probably one of the most dangerous zones in the entire Douluo Continent.

It was an enormous area that was half the size of the Star Luo Empire and consisted of around 24 Duchies, but they were constantly changing because of the great infighting.

Not to mention, the Anarchic Lands bordered the Great Star Dou Forest and were subjected to the Spirit Beast Horde attacks when the overpopulation happened in the forest. The Great Star Dou Forest was located in the middle of the continent, while the Anarchic Lands occupied an enormous landmass southeast of the Star Dou Forest.

The Anarchic Lands were a territory that had been eyed by the Star Luo Empire long ago, but the Star Luo couldn't easily cross through the Mountain Range of Setting Sun, which separated the Star Luo Empire from the Anarchic Lands. 

Even Spirit Hall would need to cross through the Star Dou Forest or depend on a very narrow border between the Star Luo, Anarchic Lands, and the newly established territory of the Spirit Hall.

Nevertheless, today's siege of the Moonlight City was a splendid success.

Casualties in the Spirit Hall were kept to a minimum, the enemy was annihilated, and they even managed to showcase the might of the Soul Guidance Devices.