Chapter 176 - Rise and Fall of the Eagle

Chapter 176: Chapter 167: Rise and Fall of the EagleAt some point, a raven appeared beside Nuoshan and whispered, "Master, it’s time for dinner."

Nuoshan turned around to find that Duke Chen Hui had left long ago.

"These years have been hard on you," Nuoshan, the Duke, seemed quite reflective today, and said to the raven, "Over four thousand years of guarding, you have really given too much for the Nuoshan family."

The raven playfully replied, "No wonder Duke Chen Hui left without saying goodbye, he was probably scared off by your nagging."

"Ha ha, very well, very well," Nuoshan stood up with the raven’s support, "Enough talk, let’s go have dinner."

Before leaving, the raven looked back, casting a deep glance at the portrait of Nuoshan’s ancestor, the true master of the raven, the third Duke of Nuoshan.

Nuoshan was a title; every successor of the family’s dukedom was named after Nuoshan. The current bearer of the title was the two hundred and twenty-first Duke, and all dukes in the Eagle Alliance were hereditary, as long as the family owned more than one realm, their title would not be cancelled. Lei Shan, too, was a familial title. The father of Lei Shan, the previous Duke of Lei Shan, had established a solid foundation for the family, which led to the current Lei Shan’s honor of being promoted.

As for the raven, he was the oldest member of the entire alliance, guarding the Nuoshan family since the third Duke of Nuoshan established the alliance, and the world knew him as the Watcher.

From the raven’s tenure, Watcher had become the highest rank of martial prowess in the Eagle Alliance, lasting till today, with three major Watchers, the raven being one of them. The strength of these three Watchers varied greatly, with the raven ranked in the middle; the strongest was the husband of the Clan Leader Sinlei from two hundred years ago, Earl Xina. The five titles of Duke, Earl, Viscount, Baron, and Knight were split into three ranks each, and Xina was a second-rank Earl. His family was annexed when he was very young, but he was fortunate to fall in love with Duchess Sinlei, and as such, his title of Earl was unofficially preserved, growing from obscurity into a peerless powerhouse securing the alliance’s safety.

Speaking of the Eagle Alliance, its journey could be described as a roller coaster ride. Initially, the Nuoshan, Chen Hui, and Sinlei families, who ruled the thirteen realms within the Star Sea, often erupted into fierce wars among themselves, attacking each other and disputing territories. This continued until the third Duke of Nuoshan ascended to the position; he approached the two other dukes and proposed a strategy for peaceful coexistence and expansion.

Due to the relentless efforts of Duke Nuoshan, the three families set aside past grievances and signed a non-aggression pact, forming the cornerstone of what would become the Eagle Alliance.

Once the alliance was established, and with no enemies on their flanks, the three families expanded rapidly, with the Nuoshan family conquering eighteen realms within ten years.

At the time, the raven was merely a pet crow kept by Nuoshan. Indeed, the raven was not a human; he was a crow.

During the prime of the third Duke of Nuoshan, the raven was but a fifth-level Demon Beast, and as a crow that fed on the essence of the deceased, Nuoshan’s external conquests undoubtedly offered him substantial growth opportunities, coupled with Nuoshan’s deliberate nurturing, making the raven’s level increase quite swiftly.

Had it been just ordinary conquest, the raven’s progress would not have been so miraculous; however, the third Duke of Nuoshan had experienced a vassal rebellion in his early years, during which his mother died and his father was severely injured. Consequently, the third Duke of Nuoshan never trusted any subjugated family, making purges common practice in each realm he took, leaving nearly no indigenous populations in the over six hundred realms he seized. Even if the Nuoshan family could not spare people to station in a realm, they would still exterminate all its inhabitants.

The raven flew over, followed by iron hooves.

Wherever they went, not a blade of grass grew.

This rapid expansion continued for nearly a century, and apart from the Nuoshan family’s scorched-earth tactics, the other two families’ methods of expansion seemed particularly merciful.

Regardless, all three families experienced rapid and robust growth in a short period, reaping massive profits.

This era could be said to be the rising phase of the Eagle Alliance, surging to a peak.

Afterward, they entered a period of despair.

That year, the third Duke of Nuoshan was one hundred and six years old, a day forever remembered by the Nuoshan family. The endless expansion finally brought Nuoshan into contact with an enormous entity at the other end of the Star Sea—the Sacred Empire. Initially, Nuoshan did not realize the might of this empire, and with one million iron hooves led by the raven, they crossed the border, starting their standard conquest.

It was unfortunate for Nuoshan’s time of birth, as the Great Emperor of the Prolo family was ineffectual, and Queen Shahe, known as the Wrathful Sun Queen, held great power.

What was the empire doing four thousand years ago?

They were at war.

With whom?

The Beastman Empire.

How intense was the battle?

It was extremely fierce, a full-scale war. Even the Lion King Wei could not attend to the changes in the heavens, so you can imagine how fierce the battle was.

In that situation, the Empire was besieged on all sides, yet the Wrathful Sun Queen was not at all flustered. Although unclear from where the enemy came, she knew retaliation was necessary.

The Wrathful Sun Queen was bold as well, directly reassigning front-line troops to rush to the rear battlefield, slaughtering Nuoshan’s great army in three days.

For the first time in a century, Nuoshan’s iron hooves tasted defeat at the hands of the Sacred Empire, leaving less than a hundred thousand of their million-strong force to retreat.

Having never faced such a loss, Nuoshan gathered an army of three million from various locations a week later, crossing the Empire’s border once again; but this time too, they met defeat. The Empire’s dispatched forces numbered less than five hundred thousand, yet in terms of troop formation, equipment, and rank, they were top-tier forces capable of solidly confronting the Beastman Empire’s army.

At that time, the raven had just broken through to level twelve, becoming a semi-qualified top-level demon beast. However, in the hands of Abel, the Tower Master of the White Tower, he was thoroughly plucked clean of feathers. This became a lifelong scar for the raven, and his respect for the current White Tower Master Vili stemmed largely from that time.

Despite outnumbering the humans several times, they still faced defeat. This battle drained all spirit from Nuoshan who, aged a hundred, finally showed his rightful weariness.

It was after this battle that the Wrathful Sun Queen discovered there existed forces far across the Star Sea, expanding just like the Empire. Over the following years, the Wrathful Sun Queen led her troops on a triumphant surge, nearly annihilating the Beastman Empire.

Regrettably, after a few years of recuperation, Nuoshan could not let go of his disgrace and joined forces with two other great families, amassing an army of eight million to strike the Empire for the third time.

Just as the chance to end the Beastman Empire loomed, an unexpected urgency from the rear infuriated the Wrathful Sun Queen.

Nuoshan advanced rapidly, aimed explicitly at locating and obliterating the capital of the Sacred Empire, to avenge their previous humiliation.

Forced to focus on the rising threat of the Eagle Alliance, the Wrathful Sun Queen had to abandon her siege of the Beastman Empire, shifting her wrath towards Nuoshan.

How could the victorious troops of the Empire be sensed?

This can be known through historical documents.

Even the records of the Eagle Alliance could not falsify the detailing of this alliance’s decline.

The Wrathful Sun Queen personally led the charge, and the eight million-strong Eagle Alliance troops nearly collapsed entirely within three months, spitting out the twenty-seven planes they had invaded.

The Wrathful Sun Queen not only repelled the invading enemies, she aimed to eradicate future threats.

By then, the Eagle Alliance truly realized the monstrosity they faced. Despite continuously drawing strength, the three great families could not halt the Wrathful Sun Queen’s advance. The Imperial army, like an unstoppable meat grinder, shattered the living force of the Eagle Alliance.

The Nuoshan family was beaten back to less than their original strength, completely falling to a level of a mere viscount.

The Wrathful Sun Queen completely shattered the century-long glory of the Eagle Alliance, stepping fiercely into the dust.

Yet, unfortunately, another unexpected event occurred: with the situation seemingly stabilizing, Lion King Wei had no intention to initiate war again; however, when the Luotian Plane opened, the Beastman Empire was in national mourning. Unable to contain his rage, Lion King Wei led his troops in a frenzy into the Empire. Although the Wrathful Sun Queen was reluctant to repeat history, the then-reigning Puluo royal family still had some power and, in a bid to save themselves, pulled one-third of the troops around the Queen back to the capital for defense.

With significant support lost, the Wrathful Sun Queen was forced to temporarily halt her campaign against the Eagle Alliance, and thus, the border between the Empire and the Eagle Alliance was officially established.

This blunder by Nuoshan plunged the Eagle Alliance from the peak to the lowest trough of a roller coaster, fortunately, the Wrathful Sun Queen eventually relented.

The drained Nuoshan thought the two great families would seize the opportunity to swallow him up, but Dukes Xinlei and Chen Hui only condemned their dissatisfaction with Nuoshan while still recognizing the alliance pact signed years ago.

Moreover, in this invasion by the Empire, Nuoshan witnessed the unity during the survival alliance, hence his usual ruthless nature greatly changed post-battle; he became very keen on selecting alliance members and established a comprehensive alliance system, leaving a lasting instruction for his descendants at his deathbed.

Each Duke of Nuoshan took on the role of handling administrative duties within the alliance and treated other members with equality, earning tremendous respect.

After undergoing an underestimated period, the Eagle Alliance recovered over two thousand years, appearing even stronger than before. In this period, they also engaged in countless wars, large and small, with the Empire, mostly losing more than winning.

Their fear of the Empire remained unchanged, while the Empire, after suffering from conflicts on both sides, gradually changed its attitude towards the Eagle Alliance. Since swallowing them whole was impossible, they sought other methods to neutralize future threats; hence, both parties negotiated and signed a non-aggression pact.

With the threat from the Empire resolved, the development of the Eagle Alliance became unstoppable, and were it not for the war-torn Star Sea led by Tai’e Lion King a hundred years ago, which drained much of the Alliance’s strength, they might have surpassed the Sacred Empire by now.

Although the duration of the Eagle Alliance’s existence was brief, the sound alliance ideology perfected under Nuoshan facilitated its rapid development, resembling a hungry wolf eyeing the Imperial territory with covetous eyes.

Both Konstantin and the three dukes knew war was inevitable; it was only a matter of time. Compared to the Empire’s multi-front defense, the Eagle Alliance had it easier as they didn’t border other major forces, or perhaps their exploration of the Star Sea had not yet touched the horrors hidden beneath the stars.