While Tianlin was focused on cultivating, the continent was undergoing earth-shaking changes.
On the Star Luo Empire side, after Dai Tianjue heard of the Spirit Empire's surrender, he abandoned all agreements, sent emissaries in various directions to the Heaven Dou Empire, and hastily prepared for siege warfare.
He was determined to reclaim Gengxin City. Otherwise, even if Star Luo allied with Heaven Dou, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect could attack Star Luo's heartland through the city.
As for the fates of Dai Weisi and Zhu Zhuyun, he no longer cared. Worst case, he could spend thirty years raising new heirs. Sons were less important than the imperial throne.
Unfortunately, he was one step behind Ning Fengzhi and Tianlin. The two had already anticipated his move and sent Dugu Bo and Yin Yang with 300,000 troops.
Star Luo originally had 1.4 million troops. They didn't take the 300,000 seriously, but not long ago, their 700,000-strong force lost 400,000, and the remaining 300,000 were badly wounded.
So Dai Tianjue had to swap these troops with the original border garrison to defend the city, while the border troops became the main assault force.
Of the 700,000 intact troops, he left 100,000 to guard the capital and threw the remaining 600,000 into battle—a true all-out effort.
But this number was exactly within Ning Fengzhi's calculations.
Siege warfare was different from open battle; success usually required two to five times the enemy's numbers, ideally tenfold to minimize casualties. In the Douluo Continent, soul masters reduced that ratio, but Star Luo lacked enough soul masters.
So Ning Fengzhi sent exactly half of Dai Tianjue's numbers.
As Gengxin City was empty, Dai Tianjue had used a siege strategy, dispersing his 600,000 troops. The main force was at the south gate; the north gate had fewer than 50,000.
Yin Yang led a thousand elite soul masters in a night raid on the north gate, almost annihilating the defenders, then 250,000 main forces entered from there before Dai Tianjue could react.
Even so, he still had over 500,000 soldiers—twice the enemy's numbers—so he launched a counterattack, even fighting Yin Yang personally.
While they fought fiercely, Dugu Bo led 50,000 to block all escape routes and personally launched a surprise attack on the Star Luo rear army.
Dugu Bo showed what it meant to be a "battlefield weapon." Alone, he became the nightmare of hundreds of thousands.
He first released his Jade Phosphor Serpent Emperor poison as a mist, killing 20,000-30,000 Star Luo soldiers in half an hour.
Then he used the Aromatic Silk Beauty borrowed from Yang Wudi to dissipate the poison. War inevitably meant killing, but deterrence could reduce slaughter.
The dead became a warning. After the mist cleared, Dugu Bo released a new poison, the Snow Swan Kiss, which spread even faster and was more potent, but only paralyzing, not lethal. In a short time, over 200,000 were immobilized.
Faced with this, Dai Tianjue could only retreat. Dugu Bo's poison spread too quickly—if this continued, his whole army would die. As for the paralyzed 200,000, he couldn't care anymore; they were as good as dead.
These 200,000 became abandoned pawns. The sight of their comrades turned to blood terrified them.
At this moment, Dugu Bo promised: those who surrendered would be spared and cured.
Most immediately surrendered. Dugu Bo pretended to cure them with a fragrant flower he distributed—its only effect was a pleasant scent.
He told them that those who smelled it were cured; in twelve hours, they'd recover.
The soldiers wept for joy—they would live after all. The sight of their comrades melting into blood had terrified them.
In truth, Dugu Bo's poison only lasted a day anyway, and those with higher cultivation would recover even faster.
Dai Tianjue tried to retreat along a side road but ran into a 50,000-strong ambush Dugu Bo had set up, losing tens of thousands more.
But with Dai Tianjue present, Dugu Bo ordered his men not to pursue, or most would be killed by him instead.
The survivors fled to Star Luo like frightened birds. Dai Tianjue had heard Dugu Bo was deadly in group fights, but not to this degree—the poison mist spread was unreal. If Dugu Bo unleashed poison without restraint, apart from titled douluo or soul sages and above with resistance, the entire continent would be doomed.
With the Snow Swan Kiss, if unopposed, Dugu Bo could theoretically wipe out the whole continent.
In the end, only about 170,000 soldiers returned to Star Luo, and with the 300,000 from the previous battle, the continent's top military nation now had less than 500,000 men, all defeated.
The rest were either killed or surrendered—they were no match for the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.
Now Dai Tianjue finally understood what Heaven Dou had felt facing the Spirit Empire—no matter how many troops, against overwhelming titled douluo, they were powerless.
Those good at group warfare could slaughter thousands at a time; even those less skilled could assassinate generals in a million-strong army.
Why did they ever think their million troops could ignore the Spirit Empire and Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?
Now Dai Tianjue didn't dare make a move. He called back most of his troops and fortified the capital, hoping the emissaries sent to Heaven Dou would bring good news.
He'd heard Heaven Dou had developed many hidden weapons and formed a Tang Army—perhaps they'd make a difference.
But if Dai Tianjue didn't attack Gengxin City, Gu Ran, once he arrived, was ready to counterattack from Gengxin southward, aiming to conquer all Star Luo lands in short order and end the nation.