Douluo: Divine Fire Xuanyuan

Chapter 526 The Situation of the Heavenly Soul: The Way of the Hero, the Way of the King, and the Way of the Tyrant
Inside Sunset Forest, a man and three women, carrying several seeds, walked from east to west, then from west to south, and then from south to north, traversing every corner of Sunset Forest.

Youyou didn't give us many embryos, so for now we can only plant them in the five corners of the forest: east, west, south, north, and center. The fragrance of the Illusory Orchid will continue to spread throughout the forest, reducing the poisonous gas in the forest.

But just a few are definitely not enough. Once these fragrant orchids have grown up, we will use their ovules to continue planting until Sunset Forest is completely restored to the lush landscape it was 10,000 years ago.

The simplest solution would be to eliminate all the Jade Scale Seven-Colored Flowers and Jade Scale Nine-Colored Flowers here, but Qiu'er would not agree to this plan. The Jade Scale Seven-Colored Flowers are out of the question, but the Jade Scale Nine-Colored Flowers are already intelligent soul beasts. While the reason of restoring a forest is justifiable, it cannot be used as an excuse for indiscriminate killing.

Therefore, they preferred to spend more time slowly dispelling the poisonous fog here.

Of the four, Xiao Xiao was in charge of planting the seeds. After planting each seed, she would give a few words of advice, "You have to grow up quickly. Although you are still small now, you have the mission of restoring the forest to life."

Then Yuwen Tuo and Ling Luochen stepped forward and injected the appropriate proportion of ice and fire power, just like creating a miniature ice and fire Yin-Yang eye to promote its growth.

Finally, Qiu'er transformed into the true form of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, letting out a cry of auspicious beast above the Sunset Forest. At this moment, she not only had to bear the fate of the Starry Sky Forest, but also the fate of the Sunset Forest.

If the power of destiny in the Star Dou Great Forest was suppressed by Yuwen Tuo's Xuanyuan Sword.

Here, Xiao Xiao's Three Lives Soul-Suppressing Cauldron will take care of things. As long as the Sunset Forest's fortune stops being lost, it will definitely be able to fully recover one day.

Xiao Xiao's ability to suppress fate and Qiu'er's ability to bear the power of destiny began in this small Sunset Forest, moving forward step by step.

They cared for these seeds in the Sunset Forest for about three months until they began to sprout. As expected of immortal herbs, most plants germinate in 7-14 days, but even with the help of Yuwen Tuo and Ling Luochen's ice and fire powers, these fragrant orchids still took three months to germinate.

No wonder it takes hundreds or even thousands of years for a single immortal herb to take shape in the outside world.

While the three of them were diligently working as gardeners, the mainland outside remained both bustling and peaceful.

The reason it's described as calm is that the major powers haven't had any friction in the past three months, as they've all been preoccupied with their own affairs.

The reason it's so lively is because the internal power struggles are fierce, especially the Heavenly Soul Empire, which recently achieved a great victory.

In the current Heavenly Soul Court, the struggle for the throne has split into two factions.

One group, led by Xue Mo, were pro-Shrek factions. They were numerous, including officials and city lords in the court, and were spread throughout the country. They held an advantage in court politics, economy, and public opinion.

The other group was the new political party led by Vina. Although they were few in number, they held the initiative in terms of power. This time, the Body Sect no longer pretended to be neutral as it had done many years ago, saying that it would not interfere in royal affairs. Instead, it made it clear that it would support Vina's succession.

In fact, according to Yuwen Tuo's idea, the simplest method was to learn from Emperor Taizong of Tang and adopt the Xuanwu Gate Incident as a succession method.

But Vina refused to agree from the start. She knew very well that although this method of succession was simple, it would cause chaos all over the country afterward, as Shrek Academy's influence on the Heavenly Soul Empire was already too great.

To resolve this issue, the only remaining option is to kill, staining the hands of the Body Sect and Yuwen Tuo with blood—something Vina does not desire. Moreover, this would set back the political and economic landscape of the Heavenly Soul Empire by decades.

Yuwen Tuo did not deny this. Indeed, Vina's situation was different from Li Er's. The reason why Li Er was able to stabilize the country so quickly after he ascended the throne was because he had conquered a large part of the Tang Dynasty.

He already enjoyed extremely high prestige among all the people in the world, and although he was also hampered by the Five Clans and Seven Noble Families at that time, they did not prevent him from becoming emperor.

Shrek Academy will absolutely do everything in their power to stop Vina, unless she becomes a staunch supporter of Shrek Academy like Xue Mo. Long Aotian even suggested that he assassinate Xue Mo directly, which he thought would be feasible, but Vina still shook her head. Although it was possible, it wouldn't solve the root problem; Shrek Academy's issues would remain.

This frustrated Long Aotian to the extreme. They had great strength, but for the sake of the country's stability, they couldn't act freely. He was almost driven to despair.

This is the difference between the way of chivalry and the way of kingship.

Yuwen Tuo's chivalrous code indeed allowed him to vent his anger and seek revenge, and with his powerful strength, he could do whatever he wanted.

But Vina's approach is different. She considers the impact of her every move on the country, and if the damage is irreversible, she would rather give up the option that is most beneficial to her.

Although Yuwen Tuo destroyed Shrek Academy back then, they still left behind a strong force outside the academy, just like thousands of years ago when Dean Shrek raised his arm and more than sixty unaffiliated titled Douluo responded.

Fortunately, Shrek Academy's true core strength, the Sea God Pavilion, was gone. Although the others outside were not weak, they were not enough to make Yuwen Tuo wary.

Furthermore, Shrek Academy has been operating for thousands of years, and there are far too many people in high positions. They occupy most of the court, the city lords in various places hold military power, and even many people in the wilderness have formed large families. Once the killing begins, mountains of corpses and seas of blood will fill the entire Heavenly Soul. Even if Yuwen Tuo himself does not care about his reputation and public opinion, rebellions in various places and people living in misery are not what Vina wants to see.

At that time, the population of the Heavenly Soul Empire will probably be reduced by more than a third. This is not the way to cleanse Shrek Academy.

Moreover, this is no longer the way of the king or the way of the chivalrous, but the way of the tyrant. That path involves too much killing and does not fit Vina's style of doing things.

The current situation is a complex interplay of chivalry, benevolence, and tyranny.

Yuwen Tuo himself and Vina were certainly good friends, but they were not true like-minded people. He simply respected Vina's own decisions and would not forcibly intervene before she made them. He would only act when Vina needed help. His chivalrous spirit made him dislike making political decisions.

Therefore, Yuwen Tuo is letting Ren Weina handle things first. If she can handle it, then she can do it her way. If she can't handle it, then he will take over. At that time, he won't care about so much like Weina. He will just kill indiscriminately. Not only the court, but also the city lords, garrison commanders, generals, and families in various places, as long as they support Shrek Academy, he will deal with them.

With his current strength, if he wanted to kill someone, unless a god descended to earth, even ten Long Xiaoyaos couldn't stop him.

Unfortunately, if there were a master of the Kingly Path here, they might have a lot in common with Vina and work together to find a solution to this problem. They would be true kindred spirits. The downside is that Senior Brother Long Aotian might get NTR'd.

As for those who take the path of tyranny, if such a person were here, the Heavenly Soul would probably be awash in blood. He would definitely risk national chaos to forcibly carve out a bright and peaceful world, exchanging temporary turmoil for lifelong stability.

The current situation is that Vina herself is following the path of righteousness. Fortunately, there are no domineering people in this world causing trouble, but unfortunately, Vina has no righteous people by her side to help her.

Fortunately, Vina actually had a kindred spirit: her father.

"It's about time. We should deal with Shrek!" Emperor Xuexin murmured, looking at the night sky. Then she looked at the beautiful empress beside her. "Empress, the person I have wronged the most is you. I hope you can forgive me."

"Your Majesty, why do you say that? We are husband and wife, and I am willing to face any difficulties with you. Besides, as long as it is for Nana's good and for the Heavenly Soul Empire, I am happy to fulfill both my responsibilities as a mother and my duties as Empress," the Empress said with a smile.

Compared to others, Vina has another advantage: she is the legitimate daughter of the emperor, the only child the empress gave birth to, while Xue Mo is born out of wedlock.

The emperor often lamented that if Vina had been a man, he could have made her his heir many years ago.

(End of this chapter)