How Much For Your Soul?

The Dark Guild had been on Shen Yue's shit list since they coordinated with Shen Hong to kidnap him as a child. The Demon Lord was too serious of a threat to just leave alone. It would be incredibly foolish to allow him to develop in the Draconic Realm and hinder Shen Yue's future plans.

Besides, the Demon Lord was an old monster with techniques that let him rival Nie Li. His memories were too tasty to not absorb into his library! With a smile plastered on his face as he thought of new knowledge, Shen Yue started planning the campaign for their righteous invasion of the Nether World!

They had the moral high ground, superior troops and intelligence of the enemy territory and forces. The soldiers that had surrendered had already been enslaved, and their memories added to his growing library. Shen Yue was quickly becoming a bibliomaniac with his love of gaining new books in his Library of Heaven's Path.

There were a total of fifteen cities in the Nether Realm, each with a mixture of twelve different tribes that live there. The people are safe from the Demon Beasts that plague the main world, and instead, spend most of their time in conflicts between the powerful Clans and Families.

Even though they are safe, the humans that live in the Nether Realm would like nothing more than to leave as it is not comfortable to continuously live underground. The food and beverages in the Nether Realm are displeasing to the human palate, adding to the problem. However, most do not believe it is possible to survive on the surface because of the Demon Beasts and have long since forgotten how they arrived.

Weirdly, even with fifteen different races, their technology had declined. In the whole Nether Realm, there are only six inscriptionists. This limited knowledge of inscription patterns has made quality weapons and armour extremely valuable. This would also be an advantage when invading, superior weapons and armour will only hasten Shen Yue's victory.

Blackrock City was the closest city to the entrance of the Nether Realm and also home to the Dark Guild. It would be the first city to fall and also serve as a warning to the rest of the Realm. There was only surrender or death! Shen Yue planned to exterminate any rebellious elements with extreme prejudice, hopefully eliminating future problems and cowing the rest of the cities when he presented witnesses to the city's fall.

Although this could have an adverse effect of uniting the rest of the populace against him, Shen Yue didn't really care. It would be training for his troops, and besides, they had nowhere else to go! He doubted that the other subsidiary realms would be willing to accept a defeated realm's population and risk the enmity of Shen Yue.

After all, they remained neutral against the Demon Beasts, and watched the Human Race practically become extinct! Only the Nether Lord housed some refugees while the rest watched on as the Demon Beasts devoured billions of people. Shen Yue would only be too happy for these Spiritual Gods to step out and give him a legitimate reason to invade.

For this incursion, Shen Yue planned to leave the Demon Beasts to dissuade any attacks and take the majority of human Legend and Heavenly Fate experts to attack. Everyone would be dressed in Glory City's new guard uniforms to show a united front. Also, to hide that the majority of the experts served his Nemesis Family, the last thing he needed was for his real strength to be exposed.

With an estimated army of just over eighty thousand soldiers, Zhu Long, Yu Yan and Su Qiang leading them, it should be enough to subdue any resistance they encounter in the Nether Realm. Especially since they would be taking them by surprise, not giving them time to gather a consolidated force to resist. But they would still have to be careful, they would be outnumbered.

Shen Yue knew that most of the experts of the Nether Realm that participated in Nether Lord disciple selection were the majority of experts they had. In total, there are between one-two hundred thousand Demigod, Legend, and Black Gold rank experts that entered.

But a ruthless blitzkrieg operation should be enough to combat being outnumbered. Especially since the enemy will be spread out over fifteen cities and Shen Yue's forces will be acting as a single army. Even if they somehow managed to be forced to retreat, the entrance to the Nether Realm will become a choke point that could be easily defended and used to stage attacks.

Shen Yue and Su Qiang spent the rest of the day finalising the invasion strategy and contingency plans. With only the Nether Lord and Dark Guild aware of foreign forces, it would be easy to catch everyone by surprise. But they will have to act quickly, as the Nether Lord will become aware of their presence as soon as they enter his domain.

Two days later, just as the last of the army was arriving, there was an unexpected arrival. Ye Mo had finally made an appearance after everything was over, which was probably a good thing. It removed any complications that could have arisen if he had been there to interfere with Shen Yue's plans.

Su Qiang was sent to meet him at the Snow Wind Family compound to make sure he understood his place in the new Glory City's hierarchy. If he didn't, then Su Qiang had permission to beat the shit out of him. If that was still not enough to curb any rebelliousness, then he was to be killed. The new Empire did not need any conflict from an old regime.

That was also something that Shen Yue needed to address. Now that Glory City's hierarchy had been imparted vital information of the broader system of power, it was time to induct them into the Empire and worship of the God-Emperor.

Like the Sage-Emperor, the God-Emperor would remain nameless as Shen Yue did not want to suffer under attacks from any foe unhappy with his Empire or envious of his position. Su Qiang and Zhu Long would be his representatives and settle any disputes. Any malcontent would be extinguished ruthlessly. All involved will be executed and their Families sent to the Nemesis Abyss Realm as slaves and breeders.

The best time to announce this change in regime, was tomorrow when the army was fully assembled and their ceremonial send-off was scheduled. With the army's aura on display and the people already firmly supporting 'Lord Voldemort', it should be a simple matter.

Each major Family would be permitted to establish a city and govern it under the Empire's jurisdiction. Of course, each city would have a standing Maid Guard that would police the city and make sure of the City Lord's loyalty to the Empire and the God-Emperor. If they did not want to govern a city, then as long as the pledged allegiance, they could continue living in Glory City. Any that refused to bend the knee would be killed as traitors.

Thankfully Ye Mo could see which way the wind was blowing, with the added fact that Lord Voldemort's 'student' was practically married to his granddaughter, he pledged his support. Ye Rou was happy that Shen Yue and her daughter were together and incredibly pleased with her grandson. Ye Ziyun had been forced to stay with them so she could dote on him.

The next day, nearly the entire city was present for the send-off ceremony. The sight of so many top tier experts exuding their aura was both a comfort and a threat to the assembled populace. Clothed in the new City Lord's uniform, the soldiers were an impressive display of power and unity.

This brought comfort to the people because they knew these soldiers defended them against outside threats, but also a reminder of what they would be facing if they did not follow the law. Su Qiang walked onto the stage erected to the side of the two bodies of people and addressed the crowd.

"People of Glory City! You are gathered here today to see off our troops to annihilate our long hated foe, the Dark Guild and her allies! Since I took the seat of City Lord, there has been many controversial rumours and conflicts. Today I will use this opportunity to explain the underlying reason and the steps taken to fix any further threats.

Since the start of the Holy Orchid Institute's first day, there have been two main protagonists supplying our great city with controversy. Ye Ziyun and Nie Li have been the focus of all problems since that day and ended up with me taking over the position of City Lord to lead and protect against any threats to our great city.

I'm sorry to say that Ye Ziyun and Nie Li had their bodies stolen by beings, not of this world. This was arranged by a Deity so powerful that He could accomplish this remotely. We were given strict rules to follow that ended up causing the ruin of two prominent Families.

Luckily, Ye Ziyun's soul was saved by some quick actions of my student, Shen Yue. She has since recovered her physical form and rejoined her Family. Unfortunately, Nie Li's soul perished that day, and together with the imposter in Ye Ziyun's body wreaked havoc in our city.

Long story short, they have been captured to be exiled. This has forced me to seek protection from a being even stronger than this Deity, the God-Emperor. Under his protection, Zhu Long, the Spiritual God of the Demon Beasts, and myself, the representative of the Humans, have joined forces to create an empire under the God Emperor's rule.

Although we have to ally ourselves with the hated Demon Beasts, we can at least take comfort that our new God was once human before he ascended to become a mighty entity! With the Demon Beasts mostly subdued, we have started to colonise lost territory, building four new cities.

The prominent Noble Families of Glory City will be able to found new settlements under the God-Emperor and once again bring glory to the human race! With our soldiers to fend off any outside threats, we can now regain our past level of strength and make the Tiny World a place others will not dare to trespass!"

As Su Qiang finished his speech, the entire army smashed their right fists against their chests in salute and screamed out 'All Hail The God-Emperor!' Their aura increasing by multiple times as they purposely emitted it to engulf the crowd. This had been a deliberate show of power to any that thought to oppose joining the Empire.

Shen Yue knew that allying with the Demon Beasts would be a hard sell, but under the dominating pressure from the army, there would be few dissenters.

Zhu Long stepped on stage and released his aura until the people in the crowd were nearly forced to kneel, he then pledged his allegiance to the Empire and the God-Emperor. After this power play, the Nobles were also 'asked' to go up on stage and pledge allegiance.

No one was willing to be the first to refuse, and soon everyone was screaming out 'All Hail The God-Emperor!' Of course Shen Yue was not silly enough to blindly trust these forced pledges, but the Maid Guard would weed out any traitors. After a few examples were made, he was sure that humanity would be united under his rule!