Not too long after Elder Song officially began to implement his plans of starting to expand into the larger kingdoms that they had ignored over the past few years while taking care of the smaller kingdoms and stabilizing them following this, the different large kingdoms all started panicking at the prospect of the Star Shattering Sect starting to invade their territory.
"What!? The Star Shattering Sect has started expanding into the closest large kingdoms!? Didn't you say that they had stopped going after the larger kingdoms after learning they had a method to forcibly reach the Domain Lord Realm for a period of time!?
Ha… And here I thought our kingdom would be able to remain outside the Star Shattering Sect's sphere of influence because we were lucky enough to have our borders completely surrounded by three different large kingdoms…"
Among all of the kingdoms that would inevitably have to face the Star Shattering Sect, a certain small kingdom that had managed to avoid falling under the control of the Star shattering Sect due to its good location in between three large kingdoms, was the one that started panicking the most after learning about the Star Shattering Sect once again attempting to expand into the larger sects.
Even if everyone understood that this would only be a matter of time deep down, none of them had expected it to happen so fast.
After all, even if the method that allowed someone to forcibly reach the Domain Lord Realm only lasted for a short period of time, it would still be more than enough time to cause a large amount of damage to the Star Shattering Sect. Possibly even having the ability to heavily injure one of the Star Shattering Sect's Domain Lord Realm Experts if there was more than one person who forcibly broke through to the Domain Lord Realm at the same time.
For this reason, most of the large kingdoms and small kingdoms that had managed to avoid the Star Shattering Sect so far, had expected for the Star Shattering Sect to stop expanding further and instead focus all their attention towards strengthening themselves for a few hundred years before expanding again. Allowing the large kingdoms some time to either have someone break through to the Domain Lord Realm or move everything of value away and settle down somewhere where the Star Shattering Sect couldn't reach them.
However, all of this was no longer possible now that the Star Shattering Sect had started to expand again. Moving the important people of their kingdom might be a doable in a year or two, but the different mines and other precious resources present in their territory was a different thing.
Even by using all of their energy and forcibly trying to get everything of value out of their spirit stone mines would at least take a hundred years or more… And that was only considering that their Nascent Soul Realm Experts were also present to help out with the mining of the spirit stones, something that would be hard to do if they were busy fighting against the Star Shattering Sect.
In the end, none of the larger kingdoms were prepared for the Star Shattering Sect expanding into their territory. Resulting in the Star Shattering Sect managing to directly take over one of the smaller kingdoms among those who had managed to get their hands on the technique allowing them to forcibly reach the Domain Lord Realm with close to no resistance.
Because of all this, the king of the small kingdom that had managed to avoid the Star Shattering Sect was especially troubled about what to do. Part of him wanting to leave, while another part of him didn't want to give up the land his family had spent the past thousands of years building up…
"What in the world am I supposed to do? Should I really just abandon the land my ancestors built up? Maybe I could do the same as other small kingdoms and join the Star Shattering Sect in hopes that they aren't going to take everything away from me." Muttering this to himself as he turned towards his son, the crown prince, who was waiting for him to give out an order on what they were supposed to do in response to the Star Shattering Sect's sudden expansion, the king could not help feeling even more anxious than before as he thought about the large kingdom that had fallen to the Star Shattering Sect.
As unlucky as he was at the moment, it just so happened that the large kingdom, which had been taken over by the Star Shattering Sect, was none other than one of the three large kingdoms surrounding his kingdom.
Considering this, he didn't really have a long time left before he would be forced to decide on whether to join the Star Shattering Sect like so many others in a similar situation to him had done before or run away.
If he didn't come up with an answer to this question soon, the elders from the Star shattering Sect would most likely soon be at his doorstep and at that point in time, there would not be any chance of him running away with the precious spiritual herbs and other treasures that had been stored in the royal treasury by his family since the establishment of the kingdom.
"Father… Are we really going to leave behind our land? Is the Star Shattering Sect really that impressive? From what I heard; the large kingdoms don't seem like they are going to lose with the powerful forbidden technique that allows them to forcefully break through to the Domain Lord Realm.
Even if the Star Shattering Sect has more than one Domain Lord Realm Expert, there is no way for them to resist if 10 or more elders from the large kingdoms forcefully breaks through to the Domain Lord Realm and decides to attack them!"
Seeing that his father was lost in thought while muttering something to himself, the crown prince could not help growing impatient as he said this. Not showing the slightest bit of fear towards the Star Shattering Sect like his father.
Making it rather obvious to anyone watching that he had no idea about the strength of the Star Shattering Sect nor the simple fact that those who forcibly broke through to the Domain Lord Realm would only barely be comparable to the weakest First stage Domain Lord Realm Expert for a short period of time.
Instead thinking that the large kingdoms had the strength to fight against the Star Shattering Sect…
"Fight against the Star Shattering Sect!? How dumb are you, son!? Do you really think those large kingdoms can compare to a sect like the Star Shattering Sect with several Domain Lord Realm Experts in it just because of some forbidden technique!? Have you perhaps also forgotten that winged lion demon beast that showed up on the side of one of the Domain Lord Realm Elders of the Star Shattering Sect and how it easily tore apart that ancestor who had forcibly broken through to the Domain Lord realm!?"
Hearing what his son said, the king could not help losing his temper as he angrily reprimanded him, as images of the terrifying figure of the winged lion popped up in his head.
Although he had only seen it once during a visit to one of the large kingdoms, the scene of the winged lion tearing apart one of the ancestors from the large kingdom who had forcibly broken through to the Domain Lord Realm, was still vivid.
Even if he himself reached the Domain Lord Realm, he would not dare to go and fight with the Star shattering Sect knowing that they had such a terrifying guardian demon beast around. Not to mention the even more terrifying implications of the Star Shattering Sect having such a terrifying guardian demon beast around!
"Father-"
"Go back to your room and contemplate your mistakes, I will come up with a decision on what is best for our family and kingdom in the meantime!"
"Yes… Father…" Frowning unhappily as he said this, the crown prince reluctantly left the throne room and made his way back towards his palace located a short distance away from the main palace. Not feeling the slightest bit convinced about the large kingdoms losing against a single sect.
As for the terrifying demon beast that had appeared to kill one of the ancestors of a large kingdom that had forcibly broken through to the Domain Lord Realm? He merely blamed this on the fact that the ancestor in question had not managed to fully utilize the forbidden technique and had actually still been in the Nascent Soul Realm.
At least this would help explaining how easily he had died. After all, everyone knew just how much more powerful someone in the Domain Lord Realm was compared to someone in the Nascent Soul Realm. Especially when it came to demon beasts, as they were more often than not, stronger than normal Domain Lord Realm Experts when they broke through!