Unrivaled Tang Sect Volume 30

Book 30: Rescue

Chapter 367: The Slumbering Dong'er

“Problem? What problem?” Huo Yuhao’s voice instantly became a lot sharper. He hugged Wang Dong’er even tighter, not willing to let go at all.

“I have gathered her life energy, but it’s still ﬂowing away by itself, as if she’s lost her spirit. However, I’ve already reassembled her spirit. This problem should stem from her own body, except it’s been triggered by what she just went through. That’s not something that I can deal with, so you’ll have to think of another solution to sustain her life.”

Huo Yuhao had just received hope when these words fell into his ears and struck him like thunderbolts. Huo Yuhao felt like he was going insane.

Calm down, calm down. I have to be calm. At a time like this, Huo Yuhao’s training as an Ultimate Soldier came into effect. At least, Wang Dong’er was breathing, and there was life energy in her body. This meant that she was alive, and as long as Wang Dong’er was still alive, Huo Yuhao wouldn’t be as disoriented and panicky like he was before. The Yin-Yang Life Querying Valley’s mysterious entity mentioned that Wang Dong’er is experiencing this because of issues that originate from herself. But what’s wrong with her body?

A thought occurred to Huo Yuhao as he contemplated this issue. He suddenly recalled the secret letter that the Clear Sky Sect’s sect leader, Niu Tian, and Tai Tan had given to him. Wang Dong’er mentioned afterwards that the contents of their letter were made up, and everything was meant to test him. However, if Dong’er’s body is having its own problems, can it be…?

With this thought in his head, Huo Yuhao immediately retrieved the storage-type soul tool from Wang Dong’er’s pockets that he had given her some time ago without any hesitation at all, and retrieved the Yearning Heartbroken Grass that possessed mystical and miraculous powers.

This herb had pristine white petals, and blood threaded through each one. This was the immortal herb that Huo Yuhao had almost paid his life to retrieve. A long time had passed, but this herb was still fresh, pristine, and ﬁlled with the energy of life.

The Yearning Heartbroken Grass had miraculous medicinal effects, and it could save any person’s life as long as that person was still breathing. Yes, this herb will deﬁnitely save Dong’er!

Huo Yuhao no longer hesitated as his thoughts stopped here, and he carefully placed the herb next to Wang Dong’er’s lips.

But he quickly realized that there was no way Wang Dong’er could eat this medicinal herb.

With hope in his heart, Huo Yuhao’s mind was especially agile and ﬂexible. He instantly stuffed the herb into his mouth without any hesitation at all, and chewed it up into juice with a few chomps as he sealed his own throat. He wasn’t about to let a single drop ﬂow down his throat, and he lowered his head as he carefully poured the juice into Wang Dong’er’s mouth.

The Yearning Heartbroken Grass was a little bitter, but there seemed to be a tinge of sweetness amidst that bitterness. Love was the same; bitterness and sweetness would always exist at the same time.

Dong’er’s lips were warm and tender, and kissing her was indescribably mesmerizing. Huo Yuhao carefully parted her rosy lips, and allowed every single drop of the herbal juice in his mouth to ﬂow into hers.

Huo Yuhao stared nervously at Wang Dong’er after he was done. He believed that what he had done was right, but how could he be conﬁdent of success before Dong’er was revived? Wang Dong’er’s illness was something that not even the mysterious Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley could treat.

Time continued to pass, and Dong’er’s pretty face was still ruddy, looking very delicate and charming. Huo Yuhao had gently closed her beautiful eyes, and she seemed like a sleeping beauty laying in a deep slumber.

Huo Yuhao was starting to feel threads of anxiety building up in his heart when a faint aroma ﬁnally wafted up from Wang Dong’er’s body. This aroma was very faint and plain, but it was exceptionally fragrant and refreshing. A vague layer of light could be seen circulating beneath Wang Dong’er’s skin, and her body slowly began emanating a dense life energy.

“Did it work? Dong’er, she…” Huo Yuhao looked up at the sky and asked nervously.

“You gave her a Yearning Heartbroken Grass, didn’t you? I didn’t expect you to have an immortal herb like that...” That mysterious entity seemed to sound a little anxious. “Back then…”

Huo Yuhao couldn’t be bothered with whatever else that voice wanted to say, and he hurriedly pressed the issue. “Is she alright?”

The voice seemed a little dissatisﬁed because Huo Yuhao had interrupted it. It answered plainly, “She’s full of life energy, so her condition is stable. However, her spirit is still messy and disorganized, and this condition isn’t something that external forces can treat. She has to adjust her spirit by herself so she can wake up.”

Huo Yuhao was momentarily stunned. “What do you mean?”

“She will be in a coma indeﬁnitely. I have no idea how long she will remain in this state. She has to rely on her own strength to wake up, and it remains to be seen whether she has it in her to do so. Alright, the two of you may leave. I will reward you, Wang Dong’er, and Wang Qiu’er by raising your soul power by ﬁve ranks. You may go.”

“No! Wait! Dong’er shouldn’t have to die. This was just your test for her! You should be able to save her! Please let her wake up, let her wake up…”

Huo Yuhao shouted frantically, but no matter how much he yelled, the mysterious entity didn’t entertain him at all. Intense golden light shone down on them and swept him and Wang Dong’er away as heaven and earth spun around them. Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong’er disappeared from this mysterious place just like that.

------

Hexagonal light continued to ﬂicker, and some mysterious, magniﬁcent glyphs grew brighter and brighter. “Is this what you wanted? Those two children are so pitiful.” The voice that belonged to the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley’s mysterious entity seemed very upset.

Another melodious voice could be heard. “That’s enough. I have my reasons. If they don’t experience some winds and rain…”

“I’ve fulﬁlled my duty. I’m going back. I’m going to look for your wife for a chat when I get there! Hmph!”

------

Golden light sparkled as Huo Yuhao reappeared with Wang Dong’er in his arms. When he could see his surroundings clearly, he realized to his surprise that the valley he was in was ﬁlled with people.

Elder Xuan, Xian Lin’er, and several elders from Shrek Academy, along with everyone else, were all here. There were scars and marks of battle around him. The valley’s inner regions had been severely damaged, and it was evident that a great battle had just occurred in this place not too long ago.

Elder Xuan came to them in a ﬂash when he saw Huo Yuhao appear with Wang Dong’er in his arms. He lifted his hands, and a thread of gentle soul power supported Huo Yuhao so that he could stand up straight. Everyone’s eyes landed on Wang Dong’er, who was still in Huo Yuhao’s embrace, at the same time.

The other ﬁve members of Shrek’s Seven Monsters gathered around ﬁrst. Bei Bei asked in grave concern, “Yuhao, Dong’er…”

Huo Yuhao turned and looked at Bei Bei, and Bei Bei could see his fortitude and perseverance in his eyes.

“Dong’er is alright, she’s just asleep. I want to take her home; perhaps only the people in her family have any hope of awakening her. I can’t return to the Academy for now, Elder Xuan, I…” Elder Xuan placed his hand on Wang Dong’er’s wrist to check her pulse, and a look of pleasant surprise ﬂashed across his eyes. He had just heard from the others that Wang Dong’er was dead, but it was evident that Wang Dong’er was very much alive. However, she was in a coma for some reason.

“Don’t be hasty, Yuhao. Tell us what happened. It’s better if everyone can brainstorm together to think about how to save her.”

“Alright.” Huo Yuhao wiped the tears off his face, and recounted everything that he and Wang Dong’er had gone through after everyone else had left.

Everyone exchanged looks with one another as they listened to his story, but they were all a little lost and confused.

Their experience in the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley was truly quite an adventure, and everyone went through life and death before they managed to leave this place alive.

With Huo Yuhao’s initial reminder, nobody told any lies inside the valley. This was how everyone managed to escape unscathed, with the exception of Wang Dong’er.

Elder Xuan was the ﬁrst to come out. He only heard that plain voice once, and it said, “You are too old, so you don’t have to go through the Sincerity Adventure. You don’t have any hope for love anymore, so you’re allowed to leave.”

Elder Xuan came out, and he coincidentally ran into several evil Titled Douluo who were standing guard in this place. The great battle that happened afterwards was inevitable.

Evil soul masters were powerful, but Elder Xuan was also a formidable individual, and almost an Ultimate Douluo. Elder Xuan could unleash his full abilities because he didn’t have to protect anyone around him, and he relied on his incredible prowess to force those evil soul masters away.

Everyone’s faces didn’t look so good at this moment. They had each had their own gains from Sincerity Adventure, but everyone had been taught a lesson, and everyone had been dealt a heavy blow. Wang Dong’er’s current situation worsened everyone’s mood. Who could be happy at a time like this? Several elders checked Wang Dong’er’s body one after another, and all they could do was shake their heads repeatedly. Wang Dong’er’s circumstances were just as the Yin- Yang Love Querying Valley’s mysterious entity had said.

Her body was normal, and she was full of life energy, while her soul power was stronger than before. She was ﬁve ranks higher than before, putting her above Rank 66. However, the problem was in her spiritual sea. There was something very wrong with her spiritual sea. Her spiritual sea was sealed shut, and her spirit seemed to be undulating in a disorderly manner within her spiritual sea.

The human brain had always been the most profound and mysterious entity. Not even Elder Xuan dared to force his way into Wang Dong’er’s spiritual sea, because her life would truly be lost if something went wrong.

Everyone discussed it for a short time before Elder Xuan said, “We’ve exited the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley. This experience has been very strange and sinister, but at least everyone is safe and sound in the end. We should return to the Academy as soon as possible. Yuhao, you’ll take care of Dong’er, and when we enter the Heavenly Soul Empire’s borders, you can take her back to the Clear Sky Sect so that her family can help treat her.”

“Yes!” Huo Yuhao was back inside his human-shaped soul tool at this moment, and could stand up once more. Soul power rippled in his body as well, but the difference between Wang Dong’er and him was that Huo Yuhao wasn’t far from Rank 60 now, after being given ﬁve ranks of soul power. He would become a Soul Emperor if he made another breakthrough.

Huo Yuhao possessed an Ultimate martial soul, and an Ultimate martial soul’s true strength and might could only be seen and realized after Rank 70. However, every step to Rank 70 was very difﬁcult. Huo Yuhao had acquired many painful memories from his time in the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley, but at least he had gotten some rewards in return...

Elder Xuan led the group, and Shrek Academy’s various powerful individuals protected everyone else as everybody activated their ﬂying-type soul tools and soared into the sky. They wanted to avoid any more conﬂicts with the Sun Moon Empire’s powerful individuals, so they ﬂew towards the west for a little while longer before they went around in a large circle towards the Heavenly Soul Empire.

No matter how strong the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineers were, they couldn’t scout and patrol every single inch of the empire’s borders. Everyone ﬂew at full speed for a day and a night before they exited the Sun Moon Empire’s borders and entered the Heavenly Soul Empire.

Elder Xuan made sure that they were safe before he took everyone to a relatively tranquil and remote forest. They descended into the forest, and Elder Xuan instructed everyone to rest where they were.

Huo Yuhao had been carrying Wang Dong’er this entire time, and he had even activated a protective soul barrier to protect her while they ﬂew.

Wang Dong’er was still in a very, very deep sleep. She seemed to have entered a peculiar state of hibernation, and her blood circulation became a lot slower after ﬂying through the air for an entire day. However, her life energy was still exuberant, but she almost didn’t expend any energy at all, to the point where it was almost undetectable. She resembled a winter animal that was hibernating for the winter.

Huo Yuhao scanned her sealed spiritual sea with his spiritual power but didn’t detect any changes at all. Wang Dong’er’s spiritual undulations had become exceptionally weak, but Huo Yuhao found it easier to come to terms with this fact – no matter what, Wang Dong’er’s condition was relatively stable, at the very least.

The other ﬁve members of Shrek’s Seven Monsters conscientiously circled around Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong’er so that they could protect them.

Bei Bei heaved a faint sigh as he watched the grief that ﬂowed from Huo Yuhao’s eyes from time to time. He squatted down and patted Huo Yuhao on his shoulder as he carefully placed Wang Dong’er on a woolen blanket that had been laid out for her. Bei Bei said, “You don’t have to be so depressed, Yuhao. Dong’er will deﬁnitely recover. Everyone has absolute faith that she will recover. Remember to ask if she needs any exotic herbs or whatnot after you take her back to the Clear Sky Sect, and the few of us will bring those things to you even if we have to risk our lives.”

Huo Yuhao looked up at Bei Bei. “Eldest senior brother, Dong’er will deﬁnitely recover. You guys don’t have to worry about me – I’ll be alright. I have to be even stronger, more resilient, and calmer for Dong’er’s sake. I will deﬁnitely make her better. I’ll take her back to the Clear Sky Sect after a little while, and I’ll meet you guys back at the Academy when Dong’er has recovered.”

“Alright. Send us a letter if something happens when you’re there, and everyone will try their best to help you. We’ll hold down the fort at the Tang Sect, so you don’t have to worry too much. Treating Dong’er and helping her recover is more important and urgent.”

Huo Yuhao’s eyes shifted between his companions. Xu Sanshi and He Caitou nodded in his direction and made encouraging gestures and hand signs, while Jiang Nannan and Xiao Xiao remained silent with reddened eyes as they squatted down next to Wang Dong’er.

Jiang Nannan said, “Give way, everyone. Xiao Xiao and I will help Dong’er clean her body. Yuhao, you can go take a break. You can’t be too exhausted. You can only take her away when you’ve had enough rest.”

“Thank you, fourth senior sister.” Huo Yuhao nodded.

Bei Bei suddenly muttered irresolutely, “Yuhao, how about this – you shouldn’t go by yourself, since we’re not very assured by your current state. Why don’t we follow you, and when we’re there, and if Dong’er’s family can help her, then we will wait. If her family members can’t do anything, then we will think of some other way.”

Warmth coursed through Huo Yuhao’s stiﬂed heart as he heard Bei Bei’s words. He understood that his eldest senior brother was worried that Huo Yuhao would be mentally and psychologically affected if Dong’er couldn’t be treated.

“Thank you, Bei Bei. Don’t worry, I will be strong. Dong’er’s life is not in danger after she ingested the Yearning Heartbroken Grass, while the Tang Sect needs you guys back there to direct things. You guys don’t have to follow me. I can do this by myself.” The Tang Sect had created quite a stir during this tournament. This was their best opportunity to expand and develop as much as they could. Furthermore, people like Nan Qiuqiu and Gao Dalou had joined the Tang Sect, and arrangements had to be made for them when

everyone returned. There were so many things they had to do, so Huo Yuhao couldn’t affect the Tang Sect’s development because of his own interests.

Bei Bei thought for a moment, then said, “Let’s do it this way

– not all of us will follow you there. Sanshi, you and Nannan will follow Yuhao to the Clear Sky Sect. Taking care of Wang Dong’er will be more convenient with Nannan around. Everyone else will follow me back to the Tang Sect. Alright, that’s enough. If you keep pushing and rejecting, Yuhao, you won’t be treating me like an elder brother.”

“Alright.” Huo Yuhao stared at Bei Bei’s determined gaze and nodded in acknowledgment. The Tang Sect was his home, and every single senior brother and senior sister had shown him care and concern as if they were family. Bei Bei’s arrangement was also appropriate – He Caitou was a soul engineer, and he was a lot more important for the Tang Sect’s current development strategy, so tasking Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan to follow Huo Yuhao was the most appropriate decision. Two hours later, Elder Xuan nagged Huo Yuhao and reminded him to take care of himself again and again before he led everyone else into the sky, and the company ﬂew in the direction of Shrek Academy. Elder Xuan was the Master of Shrek Academy’s Sea God’s Pavilion, and he had to bear immense pressure on his shoulders at this time. Shrek’s Seven Monsters, who represented the Tang Sect in combat, and in addition, Shrek Academy’s team members who represented the academy, consisted of the academy’s elites who possessed the greatest potential in the younger generation. Anything bad that happened to these children would be a huge blow to Shrek Academy.

Nobody had expected the Sun Moon Empire would be so extreme when they came for the tournament. Nobody had expected that the Sun Moon Empire would use the tournament to snipe students from academies all over the Continent so that they could weaken the Douluo Continent’s three native empires, and so that they could weaken the three empires’ soul masters’ strength and future.

The other teams’ situations were still unclear, and Elder Xuan and the others had to return to Shrek Academy as quickly as possible so that they could receive ﬁrsthand intelligence, and so that they could take action based on whatever information they could obtain.

The enormous explosion that had rocked Radiant City completely knocked the Sun Moon Empire off course and sent their plans into disarray. Without discussing other things, the destruction of the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, the Illustrious Virtue Hall, and the countless soul tools that the empire had prepared was painful enough for them. War was temporarily avoided, but that didn’t mean war

wouldn’t come in the future. The Douluo Continent’s three

native empires had to form an alliance and pressure the Sun Moon Empire, and they had to take this opportunity to do everything they could to save the students from those academies who had been trapped in the Sun Moon Empire.

Huo Yuhao was still carrying Wang Dong’er as they got back on the road, while Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan followed by his side.

Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi had exchanged a few looks before they parted ways. The two of them were too familiar with each other, and there was nothing more that needed to be said for Xu Sanshi to understand what Bei Bei was trying to convey.

They activated their soul power and channeled their ﬂying- type soul tools at full power as they tore through the clouds and ﬂew rapidly through the sky. They were ﬂying more than a thousand meters above the ground toward the north.

There was a lonesome and solitary ﬁgure who was still standing there as she watched them leave. She didn’t follow Shrek Academy’s company back to the academy, and she didn’t follow Huo Yuhao and the others to save Dong’er. She was just standing there and watching everyone depart.

Wang Qiu’er’s eyes were full of desolation, and the corner of her mouth curled into a self-mocking smile. “You are far more important to him than I am even after your death. It’s time for me to return, as that is my world, after all.”

Wang Qiu’er tapped her foot lightly on the ground as she bolted into the air. She had told Elder Xuan that she wouldn’t return with everyone to the Academy because she wanted to visit her home. Elder Xuan knew that she was feeling a little despondent, so he didn’t try too hard to keep her. He only told her that she should return to the Academy as soon as possible after she returned home.

But would she really go back? Shrek Academy was no longer a home to her, but instead a place of grief and sorrow.

Wang Qiu’er transformed into a golden beam of light as she leapt through the air, and disappeared beyond the horizon like a shooting star.

---

Huo Yuhao carried Wang Dong’er and ﬂew through the sky almost without any rest at all, while Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan followed him quietly. They could both feel Huo Yuhao’s urgent concern and his anxiety, and they also knew that no words of consolation could compare to simply accompanying him to reach their destination as quickly as possible. Xu Sanshi insisted forcibly that they had to rest every four hours, and they were only allowed to continue traveling after having something to eat.

Jiang Nannan helped Huo Yuhao take care of Wang Dong’er. Wang Dong’er hardly expended any energy at all because she was in her state of hibernation, while her vitals were normal and stable the entire time. Her life energy seemed even stronger than before, and everything about her couldn’t be better, except for the fact that she wouldn’t wake up. The state of Wang Dong’er’s body didn’t change at all over the next two days, and this calmed Huo Yuhao’s turbulent emotions a little.

---

Finally, the snowcapped mountain came into view.

At the end, they had to climb into the clouds, and up a steep and perilous mountain path. Huo Yuhao had only been here once, but his mighty spiritual power had allowed him to memorize the path up the mountain the last time he was here, and his spiritual power was a lot stronger than back then. He shared his Spiritual Detection with Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan as he led them swiftly up the mountain, and they arrived at the mountaintop in no time.

Clear Sky Castle was still as it was before, and nothing much seemed to have changed. It also seemed especially calm and quiet at this moment.

Right when Huo Yuhao and the others were walking towards the castle’s main gate, the gate suddenly opened, and two rows of people streamed out. Niu Tian had a dark and gloomy look on his face as he and Tai Tan followed behind everyone else and walked out.

Huo Yuhao heaved a sigh of relief when he saw them. His mind had been wandering a lot throughout their journey, and he had contemplated many things. He had even considered what he would do if the Clear Sky Castle’s two lords weren’t around. Huo Yuhao felt a lot more relaxed when he saw these

two reclusive and incredibly powerful individuals, and even Wang Dong’er’s biological uncle was present.

Tai Tan strode towards Huo Yuhao. He didn’t utter a single word as he took Wang Dong’er from his hands.

Huo Yuhao was momentarily stunned as he watched Tai Tan turn back towards Clear Sky Castle with Wang Dong’er in his hands.

“Uncle Tai Tan, Dong’er…”

Niu Tian raised his hand to interrupt Huo Yuhao. He lowered his voice and said, “You don’t have to say any more. We already know about what happened, and you don’t need to ask how we found out. Dong’er followed you, but she has landed herself in such a situation. You’re responsible for this. You may go – Dong’er needs a good rest, and we will take care of her.” Niu Tian actually turned and walked back into the castle as he spoke.

Huo Yuhao became incredibly worried and anxious as he took a few brisk steps forward and caught up to Niu Tian. “Uncle Niu Tian, when will Dong’er wake up? Is this happening to her because her old injury is acting up?”

Niu Tian glanced at him coldly and said, “All that has nothing to do with you. Don’t come back here to ﬁnd her from today onwards, you are not worthy of asking about whether she can wake up and what she will become in the future. Leave

– don’t force my hand!”

“You’re so unreasonable!” Jiang Nannan instantly grew frustrated, and she pushed away Xu Sanshi’s attempts to stop her as she dashed to Huo Yuhao’s side and glared at Niu Tian.

“How can you blame Yuhao for what happened to Dong’er? If you’re powerful enough, you can look for that Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley to settle this debt, because the valley was responsible for what happened to her. Yuhao is sad enough, so how can you add oil to the ﬁre? Can you guys help Dong’er or not? If you can’t, return her to us, and we’ll take her away.”

Niu Tian glared back at her. Suddenly, ﬁerce winds cut across the mountain peak as frightening pressure erupted from his body. Niu Tian seemed to have become one with all the celestial and astronomical phenomena around him in that instant. Huo Yuhao, Jiang Nannan, and Xu Sanshi had the feeling they were facing off against the entire world.

Jiang Nannan stumbled a few steps back from this immense pressure and leaned on Xu Sanshi. Xu Sanshi’s face was dark and gloomy, and he could barely hold on by channeling his full strength.

Huo Yuhao didn’t move an inch from where he was; his legs were planted into the ground like nails. An extremely chilly aura permeated from his body, and even though Niu Tian could control the elements around him, he couldn’t suppress Huo Yuhao’s connection with ice and snow.

“Eh?” Niu Tian exclaimed softly in surprise, but his expression swiftly changed to one of disdain and indifference. His entire body shook as dull and thunderous booms echoed throughout the sky. It was as though the dragon god had descended onto the world amidst rolling dragon roars. The pressure that the three of them felt rose exponentially. Xu Sanshin and Jiang Nannan were forced backwards as they stumbled again and again from that rising pressure. They unwittingly retreated to the edge of the cliff – and strangely, this pressure automatically lightened once they moved past a certain range.

Huo Yuhao was still standing there, motionless, and his legs gradually sank down on the spot.

Huo Yuhao had to resist terrifying pressure and squeezing from all directions, and he felt as if his body were going to be crushed to pieces in any moment. However, he stood his ground forcefully, and he didn’t even take one step back.

The multiple tests of life and death that Huo Yuhao had gone through in the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley proved to be very important at a time like this. Huo Yuhao didn’t feel afraid at all, no matter how great the pressure was. The resilience in his heart had transformed into a toughness of his cultivation, as his spiritual power, soul power, and his Ultimate Ice element fused perfectly together.

A greenish-golden light erupted from Huo Yuhao’s body – the green hues came from a fusion between the Ice Empress’ jade- green colors and the Snow Empress’ pristine white colors, while the golden luster originated from the Skydream Iceworm’s one million years worth of spiritual power. Huo Yuhao had merged everything together into one furnace, and each force could no longer be told apart from the other. This was strength and power that truly and completely belonged to himself.

The disdain and contempt in Niu Tian’s eyes gradually disappeared, and was replaced by shock and surprise. He watched Huo Yuhao’s forceful attempt to stand his ground, and snorted as a green lightning streak stretched across the sky. Dragon roars resonated through the sky as the clouds began to transform. The rolling clouds seemed to have transformed into uncountable enormous green dragons that were baring their fangs and brandishing their claws.

“Retreat, Yuhao!” Xu Sanshi hollered at the top of his voice as his expression changed. They were not at amongst the strongest individuals on the Continent, but they were Shrek Academy’s elites of the younger generation, and they had seen what powerful individuals looked like when they fought.

Xu Sanshi could clearly feel at this moment that the Clear Sky Sect’s leader, the master of the Clear Sky Castle, was as powerful as Elder Xuan was. How could they ﬁght against someone as powerful as him? Niu Tian didn’t mean any ill against them, because they would have been blown into smithereens otherwise. Xu Sanshi was afraid that Huo Yuhao would infuriate Niu Tian with his actions and bring death upon himself.

However, Huo Yuhao didn’t retreat at all. He possessed strong spiritual power, and he had his own instincts about many things. At this moment, he felt that retreating would mean that he had completely given up. He didn’t know why Niu Tian and Tai Tan were suddenly so hostile towards him, but there was no way Huo Yuhao could retreat, because he had to stand his ground for Wang Dong’er, and so he could see Wang Dong’er and be together with her once more.

Blood trailed out from Huo Yuhao’s eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. Huo Yuhao could crumble at any moment against such terrifying force that seemed to resemble might from the heavens. Niu Tian was simply too strong, and Huo Yuhao was in the storm’s epicenter, so Niu Tian could easily grind him to dust if that was his wish. But for some reason, Huo Yuhao was quite happy at this moment, because the stronger Niu Tian was, the higher the chance that Dong’er could be healed. “Do you wish to die?” Niu Tian muttered as all that pressure vanished in an instant, and everything returned to normal.

Huo Yuhao didn’t feel any pressure anymore and his body swayed as a mouthful of blood burst out from his mouth. His face had turned ghastly pale.

Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan hurriedly came forward to support him up as they glared at Niu Tian.

Niu Tian stared at Huo Yuhao and nodded lightly. “You have improved a lot, and you’re actually able to fuse so many different energies into one. You have proved yourself to be one of the most talented youngsters of your generation. Alright, I’ll explain this issue to you because I can tell that you’re still in love with her.

“Dong’er’s father came back, and he told us that Dong’er’s hidden injury had been triggered. You were responsible for that, and if you hadn’t already found the Yearning Heartbroken Grass and given it to her to prove that you’re still in love with her, you would have been a corpse by now. “We’ve watched Dong’er grow up since she was a kid, and we are absolutely unwilling to see her wronged or aggrieved in any way. She is in bad shape, and her soul and her spirit are currently very messy and chaotic. We’ve already scrutinized her. With the current state her spirit is in, she is the only one who can wake herself up. Clear Sky Castle is most suitable for her to stay and rest. You can leave, and you are not welcome in this place, at least before Dong’er wakes up. I will send someone to Shrek Academy to inform you when she’s awake, and if she’s still willing to be together with you, then… we’ll see.”

Niu Tian swung his baggy sleeves after his speech, and a strong wind swept Huo Yuhao and his two companions up and blew them far into the distance. Niu Tian then brought everyone else from the Clear Sky Sect back into Clear Sky Castle.

Huo Yuhao and the others put in a lot of effort to stabilize themselves and regain their balance. Niu Tian propelled them away with just the right amount of strength so that they wouldn’t fall off the mountaintop.

“Dong’er!” Huo Yuhao exclaimed, and controlled his human- shaped soul tool as he immediately bounced back towards Clear Sky Castle. Niu Tian’s voice could be heard once more when Huo Yuhao arrived at Clear Sky Castle’s main gate.

“Leave immediately. If you stick around and continue pestering us, don’t blame me for not showing you any more mercy. If that happens, you won’t be able to be with Dong’er anymore, and you might even throw your life away in this place. Let me give you a reminder – even if Dong’er wakes up, you are not allowed to be with her until you have enough strength to protect her. You have to become stronger if you wish to be together with Dong’er again.”

Huo Yuhao stood outside the Clear Sky Castle’s main gate and stopped. He didn’t attempt to knock on it. He just stood there, quiet and motionless.

Jiang Nannan was just about to run forward to console and persuade Huo Yuhao, but Xu Sanshi grabbed her and stopped her.

Xu Sanshi heaved a faint sigh and said, “Don’t go. We have to trust Yuhao. He’s only seventeen, and a blow such as this will only be motivation for him. Everything is alright as long as Dong’er is ﬁne.”

Jiang Nannan rolled her eyes and said, “You speak as if you’re old and proud of your age and experience, as if you’re that much bigger and older.”

Xu Sanshi chortled and said, “Won’t you know if I’m big or not?”

Jiang Nannan blushed and pinched him forcefully as she said, “He’s in so much pain, and you’re still in the mood for jokes and banter.”

Xu Sanshi continued, “Yuhao’s strength has been growing too rapidly over these years. The truth is, he hasn’t experienced any excessively great setbacks or failures. What happened to Dong’er can let him grow up and mature more quickly. He’s a man, and setbacks are nothing much to him. Look at me! I have experienced so many setbacks, and I have failed for so many years, and yet, have I not become stronger and braver with each failure? In the end, I have a beautiful girl in my arms. In my opinion, the Clear Sky Sect’s two sect leaders don’t harbor any ill intentions toward Yuhao. Listen to what Niu Tian is trying to convey! His words can be interpreted as words of encouragement and motivation. Since that’s the case, they should be conﬁdent in their ability to help Dong’er recover. At the very least, they can ensure that her life won’t be in danger.”

Huo Yuhao was just standing outside the Clear Sky Sect’s main gate. Fifteen minutes passed, and he hadn’t moved an inch. A few more moments passed before Huo Yuhao gradually took a few steps back, and he bowed respectfully towards Clear Sky Castle before he turned around and walked towards Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan.

“Third senior brother, fourth senior sister – let’s go.”

“Are you alright, Yuhao?” Jiang Nannan asked concernedly.

Huo Yuhao shook his head lightly and said, “I’m alright, fourth senior sister. Uncle Niu Tian is right; I am currently incapable of protecting Dong’er. Keeping her here is the best choice. Let’s go back to the Academy – I want to start my closed-door cultivation so that I can smooth out and clear my passageways as quickly as possible.”

Jiang Nannan eyed Xu Sanshi with a surprised look in her eyes. Seems like Xu Sanshi was right!

Xu Sanshi smiled faintly and said nothing else as he patted Huo Yuhao on the shoulder and said, “Let’s go.”

They followed the same steep mountain path that they had taken to get here, into the clouds and fog. Huo Yuhao suddenly snapped his head around in the moment before they entered the clouds and stared deeply at the Clear Sky Castle, and he clenched his ﬁsts tightly as he said, “You have to get well, Dong’er! I will come back as fast as I can to see you.”

---

Inside Clear Sky Castle...

Niu Tian and Tai Tan were both standing by a window as they watched Huo Yuhao’s actions right before he left. A disturbed look ﬂashed across Tai Tan’s eyes as he said, “Big brother.”

Niu Tian waved his hand and said, “Let’s follow his instructions, since this is his decision. Don’t you trust him? This blow may not be a bad thing for Yuhao. Come, let’s take a look at Dong’er. That girl! Everything will be different when she wakes up.”

Chapter 368: The Increasingly Prosperous Tang Sect

Nan Qiuqiu had been extremely frustrated and irritable over the past few days. She had been in Shrek City for more than half a month, and news travelled continuously from various sources. She had become very unstable and anxious ever since she heard that her mother and the Earthdragon Sect’s team members who had participated in the tournament didn’t return to their sect.

She didn’t think too much into it when they ﬁrst departed the Sun Moon Empire, because she had faith in her mother’s abilities. Her family’s inherited powers of annihilation meant her mother should be able to escape even if she had to ﬁght against someone stronger than she was.

However, things didn’t turn out the way she had hoped. Her mother was the sect leader, but she hadn’t returned to the sect. Fortunately, the Earthdragon Sect was still being guarded by several of its senior members, and the sect had managed to avoid any problems for now.

But…

Nan Qiuqiu and her mother had depended on each other ever since she was a child. Nan Shuishui was very strict with her, but their relationship was intimate, and their love for each other ran deep. If the Tang Sect’s other members hadn’t successfully persuaded her, she would have succumbed to her

impatience and rushed back to the Sun Moon Empire to search for her mother.

Nan Qiuqiu was a little unruly, but she was very smart. She knew very well that the news that came from Shrek Academy in Shrek City would be a lot more accurate than if she had been back at her own sect, and she would also receive news a lot faster here than elsewhere. Furthermore, the Tang Sect’s members told her unambiguously that they would help her save her mother once they received deﬁnite and reliable intel.

At this moment, Nan Qiuqiu was pacing outside the Tang Sect’s main gate. She was waiting for something.

“What are you doing, Qiuqiu? You didn’t eat much for lunch.” A voice rang out, and Nan Qiuqiu turned around as she saw Gao Dalou, who was picking his teeth with a toothpick, walk out from inside the Tang Sect’s main gate.

In contrast to Nan Qiuqiu, Gao Dalou was as proud and pleased as punch ever since he had arrived at the Tang Sect. He was all alone in the world, and had no strings attached anywhere. To him, wherever he was was his home.

Bei Bei took him to see Xuan Ziwen as soon as they arrived back at the Tang Sect, and Xuan Ziwen tested him a little before he frowned and reluctantly allowed Gao Dalou to stay.

Gao Dalou had only been here for half a month, but he had displayed stunning talent and potential in crafting soul tools over this period of time. He was like an enormous sponge as he continuously absorbed all kinds of knowledge.

The large amounts of rare metals that Huo Yuhao and the others had stolen from one of the Sun Moon Empire’s underground warehouses became the most substantial guarantee for taking the Tang Sect’s development one step further. There was no need to mention Gao Dalou’s reaction; even Xuan Ziwen’s eyes froze and grew lifeless for ﬁfteen minutes when he saw those incredibly precious and exotic rare metals piled up into a small mountain before he recovered his senses. Gao Dalou had thrown himself onto the mountain of rare metals, crying and wailing. He was hollering at the top of his voice, “In life, I am part of the Tang Sect as a human. In death, I am part of the Tang Sect as a ghost!” Gao Dalou was a classic embodiment of greed and avarice, and he would follow anyone that would give him beneﬁts. However, he had a very straightforward personality, and he was simple and honest, and even a little silly at times. This, in addition to his passion for crafting soul tools that was comparable to that of Xuan Ziwen, quickly gained him the Tang Sect’s approval.

Nan Qiuqiu and Gao Dalou weren’t the only ones who had joined the Tang Sect. Mo Xuan, who was also from Shrek Academy’s inner courtyard, had also joined. Mo Xuan was already in the Tang Sect when Shrek’s Seven Monsters had represented the Tang Sect for the big tournament. Mo Xuan was also incredibly interested in soul tools, and even though he didn’t choose to learn how to craft them, he had been working hard at understanding soul tools and learning how to use many different kinds.

The Tang Sect had entered a stage of sound and steady development. They needed one more month, at most, before they could hand over the ﬁrst batch of Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons that the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Star Luo Empire had purchased. Fifty percent of the cannons’ costs were paid in golden soul coins, while the rest was paid entirely with rare metals. This was the Tang Sect’s ﬁrst bucket of income next to the ﬁnancial aid that Shrek Academy had given them. In addition to the enormous amounts of rare metals and stationary soul cannon shells that Huo Yuhao and the others had taken from the underground warehouse, it was enough to establish a solid foundation for the Tang Sect.

Nan Qiuqiu glanced at Gao Dalou and said, “I’m waiting for eldest senior brother. He’s having a meeting at the academy. Why aren’t you in the underground cave?”

Gao Dalou seemed a little displeased as he said, “What underground cave? That’s our underground research facility, the Tang Sect’s Soul Tool Hall.”

Nan Qiuqiu snapped, “It’s beneath the ground. What else can it be if not an underground cave?”

Gao Dalou sounded a little exasperated. “It’s an underground cave if you insist, then. I’m going out to buy some wine. Do you want some?” Nan Qiuqiu shook her head and said, “No thanks, I’m not going to drink. Mummy taught me that girls cannot drink wine casually, especially with men. It’ll be easy for girls to be taken advantage of.” Her eyes became a little red when she mentioned her mother.

Gao Dalou was a little slow regarding human interaction and the ways of the world. But even so, he knew that Nan Qiuqiu hadn’t been in a very good mood in the past few days. He hurriedly said, “Alright, then you can wait for eldest senior brother. I’m going to get going.” With that, he walked away as briskly as he could.

“Qiuqiu, Qiuqiu!” A shrill and high-pitched voice came from within the Tang Sect’s walls right at this moment.

Nan Qiuqiu was momentarily stunned before a helpless and exasperated look appeared on her face. “Don’t drag me in, sister Guyi…”

“Come, quickly! I can’t hold on any longer.” Ye Guyi’s worried voice rang out once more. Nan Qiuqiu slapped herself on the forehead as she walked back through the Tang Sect’s main gate with a helpless look on her face.

Smoke and fog permeated the Tang Sect’s sparring arena at this moment. Two beams of sword light ﬂashed by in an instant. One was black as ink, while the other was a brilliant gold.

“Clang!” The two sword lights clashed as they passed by each other, and Ye Guyi stumbled backwards as her Angel’s wings ﬂickered behind her back. She had a hard time dispelling that forceful impact, and the sharp auras that she had directed from her body into her surroundings were still slicing through the air, and ear-piercing rending and tearing sounds could be heard again and again.

Nan Qiuqiu could imagine how powerful her opponent was, because her opponent was strong enough to force a Soul Emperor whose martial soul was an Angel into a corner like that.

The person standing opposite them had a grave look on his face, his eyes were exceptionally focused, and burned with passion – the sword maniac, Ji Juechen!

The person who had gone through the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley with the least dangers and without any rewards at all, besides Elder Xuan, had to be Ji Juechen. He didn’t know anything about sentiments and emotions, and he was a sword maniac, so how could he have had any experiences with love? When the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley tested him, it only received one answer – no!

There was nothing at all…

The Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley only had one thing to say to him as his ﬁnal evaluation – he was a stone!

The valley let him go after that, and didn’t give him any rewards at all.

As for Ye Guyi, she came to Shrek City directly after she and Huo Yuhao were separated. She had initially wanted to join Shrek Academy, but the academy wasn’t taking students at this time, so she could only wait in the academy for Huo Yuhao and the others to return.

However, Huo Yuhao didn’t show up, and when Elder Xuan and the Tang Sect’s other members returned, Elder Xuan suggested that she temporarily stay with the Tang Sect, and so here she was.

Ye Guyi was proud and arrogant all the way to her bones, and she was still very unconvinced about her defeat to Huo Yuhao back then. Her pride began to show when she arrived at the Tang Sect, and naturally, a certain sword maniac was excited by the thrill of the hunt when he discovered that her martial soul was an Angel.

Birds of a feather ﬂocked together. This saying was as accurate as always – Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu had quite similar personalities, and it took but a few days before these two arrogant girls grew close.

Ye Guyi’s martial soul, the Angel, was strong, but she was still one class beneath Ji Juechen, who was already a Soul Sage. This gap was especially obvious because Ye Guyi was not used to Ji Juechen’s extreme ﬁghting style at all. Ye Guyi had never defeated him one-on-one. Ji Juechen’s ﬁghting style had always been giving everything he had in one strike, and the two of them rarely exchanged more than ten moves in their ﬁghts. Ye Guyi was exasperated, and so she had dragged Nan Qiuqiu into the fray.

Nan Qiuqiu had also received some beneﬁts from the Yin- Yang Love Querying Valley. She didn’t have a lover, but she was very honest. The valley was conspicuously more tolerant and forgiving towards girls than it was towards guys, and Nan Qiuqiu ultimately gained a reward from her experience, and her soul power was raised a little bit.

Nan Qiuqiu was only a ﬁve-ringed Soul King, but her martial soul’s annihilation element wasn’t a joke. Nan Qiuqiu teaming up with Ye Guyi had a very complementary feel, and Ji Juechen would have an exceptionally hard time trying to defeat them both one-on-two, unless he unleashed his martial soul true body.

This was the reason why Ye Guyi couldn’t help but call for reinforcements when she faced off against Ji Juechen. She was like a punching bag if she had to ﬁght him by herself. “Come help me, Qiuqiu! I can’t deal with him by myself,” Ye Guyi panted, but she was staring vindictively at Ji Juechen.

Ji Juechen didn’t continue attacking Ye Guyi as he watched Nan Qiuqiu approach. He just quietly waited for her. His personality as a sword maniac meant he always hoped that his opponent would be stronger than he was. If you were weaker than he was, he probably wouldn’t consider ﬁghting you at all.

Nan Qiuqiu tapped her feet on the ground and drifted over beside Ye Guyi. “Come, come. Coincidentally, I feel a need to vent. You’ll take the front, Sister Guyi.”

Ye Guyi gestured to her to signal that she had no problem with this arrangement, and she took a step forward as she blocked Nan Qiuqiu behind her. Golden light erupted, and her Angel’s wings rose up once more.

Ji Juechen raised the Judgement Sword in his hands, and his sharp and grave eyes became focused and concentrated once more. Ghastly, silent sword qi surged into the sky, but it condensed, and didn’t dissipate. If a bird ﬂew through the sky a hundred meters above his head, his razor-sharp sword qi would cut it in half.

Nan Qiuqiu positioned herself behind Ye Guyi, and she pointed into the sky with her right hand. Translucent, crystalline pink dragon scales extended from the tip of her index ﬁnger, and these scales began to web down her hand, quickly covering her entire arm.

Nan Qiuqiu was also an assault-type soul master, but she was more adept at mid-range and long-range combat. She wasn’t very good with close-range combat, and this was the reason she had Ye Guyi stand in front of her.

With Ji Juechen’s strength, the gap in their strengths would be revealed in no time if Nan Qiuqiu faced him directly. She probably couldn’t take a single strike from Ji Juechen’s sword, but everything was different now that she was behind Ye Guyi.

Ye Guyi raised her right hand at the same time. Brilliant golden sword light instantly emerged from her hand, and her ﬁfth soul ring sparkled at the same time. Holy Sword!

Ye Guyi’s ﬁrst ﬁght against Ji Juechen had ended disastrously almost as soon as it began, because she had attacked with the intention to probe his abilities, while Ji Juechen used his full strength from the get-go. Ye Guyi didn’t dare to probe his abilities this time; she knew she would pay bitterly if she did!

Once her Holy Sword was unleashed, dazzling golden light covered the entire Sparring Arena. Ye Guyi’s ﬂourishing holy aura buffeted her clothes and made her even more elegant and enchanting. She deliberately compressed her Holy Sword’s radiance continuously, making her sword stronger.

There were quite a few people spectating this ﬁght. Besides Ji Juechen’s close friend Jing Ziyan, Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, and Xiao Xiao were also here. Swords didn’t have eyes, they were afraid problems could arise in this ﬁght, and someone could get hurt. Xu Sanshi, who was known as the Eternal Defense, should be able to dissolve any dangers at a crucial moment. Xu Sanshi’s Mysterious Underworld Displacement was more than suitable, and even Ji Juechen couldn’t break through Xu Sanshi’s defenses with a single strike after he had completely evolved his Xuanwu Shield, even if he used his full strength.

Ji Juechen’s eyes were luminous, but his expression was always ice-cold. For him, no matter who his opponent was and what his opponent’s abilities were, he would break them with one strike. That was his sword heart.

Ye Guyi’s eyes were still as stern as ever, but they had now become entirely golden. She tapped lightly on the ground with her left foot, and her wings stretched out behind her back. Ye Guyi seemed to be defying the pull of gravity as she gradually ﬂoated upwards, and the Holy Sword in her hands became even brighter than before, as if she were holding a small sun in her hands.

Ji Juechen suddenly took a step forward with his left foot, and his sword intent that had just surged into the sky abruptly descended. He hadn’t unleashed his sword yet, as his sword intent came ﬁrst, and sharp sword intent instantly plummeted from the sky and rained down towards Ye Guyi.

However, a pink ray suddenly burst out from beneath Ye Guyi’s feet without any warning at all – Nan Qiuqiu was making her move.

Light of Annihilation. That pink light beam seemed translucent and clear, and it stretched across more than ten meters without dissipating. Ji Juechen suddenly pressed down forcefully with his left foot, and a rich and vigorous aura transformed into grey sword intent that almost seemed material as it erupted outwards.

The pink beam clashed against his black sword intent, and was instantly annihilated. However, that black sword intent paused for a moment, and couldn’t attach itself to Ji Juechen’s Judgement Sword.

Ye Guyi was quite proﬁcient at grasping opportunities, and she immediately slashed out with her Holy Sword. A brilliant golden beam that resembled a stunning rainbow that seemed like it was going to slice the entire Sparring Arena in half descended from the sky and went straight for Ji Juechen’s head.

Ji Juechen ﬁnally used his Judgement Sword, and pressed down with his left foot once more. He leaned forward and supported himself with his toes as he lifted his Judgement Sword into the sky.

Ji Juechen’s seven soul rings sparkled at the same time in that instant. Ji Juechen was different from almost every single other soul master. Soul rings were equivalent to a soul master’s life force, and determined how powerful their soul skills were. This meant that soul rings determined how powerful a soul master’s abilities were.

But for Ji Juechen, his soul rings’ effects had become entirely redundant. He didn’t care about what soul skills his soul rings gave him, and he didn’t even think about what kind of soul rings he had to attach to himself. He was only concerned about his soul rings boosting his physique and his soul power. Ji Juechen’s pure sword intent was his own unique invention, and infusing every single ounce of his strength into his sword intent was something that was engraved deep into his bones.

Black light soared into the sky as the darkness side of Ji Juechen’s Judgement Sword burst out with black light.

Darkness was naturally at a disadvantage against the holy element. However, once this darkness reached a certain level, it would become so powerful that not even the holy element could suppress it. The black light that surged into the sky instantly consumed the golden light that was slashing down from the sky. Golden light exploded and ﬂashed inside all that darkness in the next moment, but the rich and powerful black sword intent was like an evil dragon as it swallowed every inch of Ye Guyi’s golden sword light.

Ye Guyi was unwilling to resign herself to defeat as her ﬁrst and second soul rings sparkled at the same time. Holy Light Illumination and Holy Praise!

Intense golden light emerged from her body once more, and white light ﬂickered at its core. This light didn’t just land on her body, it also covered Nan Qiuqiu below her.

Nan Qiuqiu pushed forward with her right hand, and a pink layer of light appeared as it transformed into a pink fan-shaped light that expanded outward. Her second and third soul ring lit up at the same time, and she lifted her left hand as pink light cocooned both herself and Ye Guyi. Annihilation Barrier!

Ji Juechen couldn’t disregard that pink light no matter how powerful he was. He took another step forward as black sword intent erupted from his body once more, and clashed directly against Nan Qiuqiu’s pink fan-shaped light.

Ji Juechen slashed down through the air with his Judgement Sword, and the black sword light that was condensed in the sky sliced down from the sky like a black lightning bolt, going straight for Ye Guyi.

Ye Guyi’s eyes were solemn and grave as she raised her Holy Sword once more. This time, her second soul ring lit up, and her Holy Sword changed from gold to an incandescent white as she slashed back at Ji Juechen.

This was her Angel’s second soul skill, Holy Ghost Slash!

“Boom –” Intense explosions caused the entire Sparring Arena to tremble. Fortunately, the Tang Sect’s Sparring Arena was spacious enough, and the two who were ﬁghting deliberately controlled the spread of their attacks. Otherwise, it would have been very difﬁcult to ensure that the Sparring Arena remained undamaged. Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu were quite powerful when they teamed up, and even Ji Juechen’s sword light was weakened when it touched Nan Qiuqiu’s Light of Annihilation. His sword light was far too dense and concentrated, however, so Nan Qiuqiu had a hard time absorbing her opponent’s strength to feed back into her own body through Annihilation’s effects. However, Ji Juechen’s attack was still weakened to quite an extent.

Ji Juechen and Ye Guyi collided forcefully once more, and Ye Guyi was still on the losing end. This time, she was sent plummeting from the sky, though she wasn’t hurt because she had used so many soul skills, and she had Nan Qiuqiu protecting her.

In the moment that Ji Juechen’s black sword intent touched Nan Qiuqiu’s pink light, Nan Qiuqiu placed one of her ﬁsts into her other palm.

Deafening booms that resembled thunderclaps could be heard in the next instant as large patches of pink light exploded one after another. Chained Annihilation Explosions! This was a powerful area of effect skill.

Ji Juechen could only temporarily defend himself as his sword intent faced off against Nan Qiuqiu’s Chained Annihilation Explosions, and he couldn’t continue attacking Ye Guyi for now.

Furthermore, his sword intent couldn’t condense within her Chained Annihilation Explosions like when he was attacking. Part of his sword intent was blown to smithereens, and that peculiar pink light swallowed everything up as it fed everything back into Nan Qiuqiu’s body.

This was the Ruby Dragon’s annihilation element’s most powerful attribute – Nan Qiuqiu could use her opponent’s strength to replenish herself. If Ji Juechen’s sword intent hadn’t been powerful enough, she would have absorbed even more. She could weaken her opponent while strengthening herself at the same time, and even some who were stronger than she was could lose to her in the end.

Ye Guyi managed to catch her breath with Nan Qiuqiu’s help as light burst out from her beautiful eyes. How could she be convinced by her loss to Ji Juechen with her arrogant personality? She tapped lightly on the ground with the tip of her foot, and glided forward. This time, every other soul ring’s lusters was withdrawn, and only her sixth and ﬁnal soul ring sparkled brilliantly.

Her wings ﬂickered as two illusory wings of light glimmered faintly. Ye Guyi resembled a waltzing angel as she drifted towards Ji Juechen, and her Holy Sword became a pristine white longsword as her elegant frame became illusory as she glided outward. It was impossible to lock onto her body.

This was Ye Guyi’s strongest soul skill – Angelic Dance.

This wasn’t Nan Qiuqiu’s ﬁrst time teaming up with Ye Guyi. Nan Qiuqiu watched Ye Guyi unleash her Angelic Dance, and her last soul ring lit up at the same time.

Nan Qiuqiu’s black ten thousand year soul ring sparkled as a pink diamond-shaped crystal glowed dazzlingly on her forehead. A single bright and crisp dragon roar rang out from behind her back, and a pink dragon shadow ﬂickered behind her back. A dash of pink light swiftly caught up to Ye Guyi and attached itself to her body, while Nan Qiuqiu’s body also became a little illusory.

Nan Qiuqiu’s ﬁfth soul skill, Annihilation Body.

A body that was formed from the power of Annihilation would shimmer into view once this skill was used. This body would be identical to Nan Qiuqiu’s own body, and it would even possess part of her spirit. This skill’s most formidable trait was that it could enhance Nan Qiuqiu’s annihilation element by three hundred percent, and her opponents would have to break through her Form of Annihilation ﬁrst if they wanted to hurt her original body.

At the same time, her Annihilation Body would form the foundation for Nan Qiuqiu to use other powerful soul skills when she became stronger in the future.

Ji Juechen used his sword and swiped a “Z” through the air as he faced Ye Guyi’s Angelic Dance, and black sword light covered an enormous area. However, Ye Guyi didn’t have to defend herself as the Form of Annihilation that was attached to her body rushed forward.

Pink light ﬂickered incessantly, and Ji Juechen’s sword light was actually decimated just like that when it touched Nan Qiuqiu’s Form of Annihilation.

Nan Qiuqiu couldn’t absorb her opponent’s strength to feed herself through her powers of Annihilation when she was using Annihilation Body. However, her powers of Annihilation would also be raised to their highest possible level, and even Ji Juechen’s coagulated sword light was dispelled. Even though Nan Qiuqiu’s Annihilation Body became a little more illusory after that collision, the chance that this collision had created for Ye Guyi was enough.

Ye Guyi’s Angelic Dance closed in on Ji Juechen, and her white longsword shone with brilliant light as countless streaks of sword light rained down on Ji Juechen’s body.

Ji Juechen had just attacked with his sword before this, and he was currently in a state when his strength was weakest. However, his expression didn’t change at all even though he facing such a disadvantageous situation, and he pulled his Judgement Sword back lightly as he ﬂipped the sword around in his hands. The sword’s black surface suddenly became white, and its darkness was instantly converted into light.

When Ye Guyi’s Holy Aura clashed against the body of Ji Juechen’s sword, which was now ﬁlled with an aura of light, the sword’s body erupted with dazzling light.

Ji Juechen raised his sword horizontally before his body, and he exclaimed vigorously as a bitingly sharp and cold sword intent suddenly emerged from his body. Black sword intent became white, and darkness became light. Everything happened very naturally.

Ye Guyi’s Angelic Dance clashed against his sword intent just like that, and Ye Guyi had no chance to evade Ji Juechen’s counterattack at all. Nan Qiuqiu’s Form of Annihilation had been forced away after she dispelled the Z-shaped sword intent, and her Annihilation Body couldn’t rush back in time.

The power of Annihilation was incredibly strong, and Ji Juechen’s sword light, which currently possessed the power of light, instantly became a lot dimmer than before. However, the strength of Nan Qiuqiu’s Annihilation Body was ultimately limited, and she didn’t dare to use every ounce of energy in that body, as she could risk damaging her origin if she did so. The pink light transformed into a beam of ﬂowing light and ﬂowed back into her body, while Ye Guyi returned to her side at this moment.

Their faces were a little black. They had used their full strength, but they were still unable to obtain any sort of advantage.

“You guys are no match for me. Go back and work harder.” Ji Juechen didn’t continue attacking. He withdrew his Judgement Sword as he turned and walked away.

Nan Qiuqiu’s pretty face grew even darker than before. “Why is he being so condescending? The winner of this ﬁght is still undecided. How does he know we are no match for him?”

Ye Guyi forced out a bitter smile as she said, “Forget it. If we are no match for him, then so be it. We are no match for him now, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be his match in the future. He has shown me mercy before this, and when he converted darkness to light, he borrowed my strength! If he had used his full strength in that attack, I wouldn’t have been able to emerge unscathed, and your Annihilation Body might have been damaged as well. Furthermore, he didn’t use his martial soul true body. I didn’t expect the gap between us to be so huge...”

Nan Qiuqiu hugged Ye Guyi across her shoulder and said, “Don’t be so dejected, sister Guyi. He’s older than us, and we will surpass him one day!”

Ji Juechen was still nearby, and suddenly stumbled when he heard her words. Jing Ziyan was following behind him, and couldn’t help but laugh at Nan Qiuqiu’s remark.

Ji Juechen was only a little over twenty. Could he be really be considered old? However, he was actually the oldest one amongst these people from the Tang Sect… “You’re back, eldest senior brother.” Nan Qiuqiu suddenly exclaimed and jumped for joy. She completely disregarded a certain someone’s despondence.

Bei Bei walked in from outside, but his expression seemed a little grave. He waved to everyone and said, “Come, let’s talk inside.”

Bei Bei took everyone into the Tang Sect’s Conference Hall. Everyone sat down, and besides their subordinates, everyone here formed the Tang Sect’s core.

Nan Qiuqiu couldn’t hold herself back anymore, and blurted, “How is it, eldest senior brother? Is there news about my mother and the others?”

Bei Bei nodded and said, “We have intel. The good news is that they’re all ﬁne and still alive. The bad news is, they are indeed in the Sun Moon Empire’s hands.”

Nan Qiuqiu leapt to her feet, turned, and was just about to walk out. Fortunately, Ye Guyi moved quickly and grabbed her in time.

Bei Bei frowned slightly and said, “Don’t be rash, Qiuqiu. Let me ﬁnish. We have to save your mother, but do you think you can do that and bring everyone back by yourself?”

Bei Bei’s voice became a lot stricter and severe towards the end.

Nan Qiuqiu pouted, and tears welled up in her eyes. Nan Qiuqiu and her mother had depended on each other since she was young, and her mother had doted on her back in the Earthdragon Sect. She wouldn’t have developed such a prideful and arrogant personality otherwise. Joining the Tang Sect and leaving her mother’s supervision was a happy event for her, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t still close to her mother. Quite the opposite; Nan Qiuqiu had a very close relationship with her mother, and her mother’s danger and peril made her as anxious and frustrated as could be.

Everybody within the Tang Sect’s inner circle quickly arrived at the Conference Hall. Ye Guyi pulled Nan Qiuqiu to one side and sat down, while everyone else sat down in their respective seats. He Caitou, Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, and Xiao Xiao were all present. Over at the Soul Tool Hall, Xuan Ziwen and Gao Dalou didn’t participate in the Tang Sect’s policy decisions; they were only immersed in their soul tool research, and didn’t typically participate in such conferences. Mo Xuan was at Shrek Academy’s inner courtyard to further his training, as the inner courtyard placed a lot of emphasis and effort on his nurturing and education.

“Everyone is here. Let’s begin the meeting.” Bei Bei was sitting in the main seat as he spoke with a grave look on his face. “According to the academy’s intel, the Sun Moon Empire have unambiguously and outrageously announced that the sects and academies that participated in the tournament are in their hands. They are still alive for now.”

Xu Sanshi cut in and said, “What are they trying to do? Are they taking the initiative to declare war on the Douluo Continent’s three native empires?”

Bei Bei shook his head. “They haven’t ofﬁcially declared war, but this means they are even more treacherous and vicious. The ﬁrst consequence from their announcement is that the Sun Moon Empire is ofﬁcially antagonizing the sects and academies who have people in the empire’s hands. But at the same time, they have also told us unambiguously that those people are in their hands, and this will lead to the second consequence, that we will be afraid to ﬁght against their evil for fear of harming innocents.”

Bei Bei surveyed everyone around him, and his eyes paused for a moment longer when they came to Nan Qiuqiu. “Think about it, guys. Everyone who was able to represent those reputable sects and academies in the tournament were elites of the younger generation. Almost every single one of them will become future cornerstones and mainstays. In addition to them are the teachers of the teams, who had brought them to Radiant City, or even sect leaders who personally came forward, like the Earthdragon Sect. Everyone is now in the hands of the Sun Moon Empire… what does this mean?”

He Caitou, or Xu He, was a lot more handsome than before. He lowered his voice and said, “This means that the various sects and academies won’t dare to use violence against the Sun Moon Empire lightly. At least, they won’t do so before they rescue their compatriots.”

Bei Bei nodded and continued, “That’s the ﬁrst possibility. The second possibility is that those academies and sects will venture into the Sun Moon Empire to save their compatriots, and they will mire themselves in their enemies’ traps if that happens. The Sun Moon Empire will break them down, one by one. At the same time, with this restraint in place, every country will have to consider the opinions of those sects and academies who are powerful enough to affect a nation’s high- level ﬁghting strength if they wish to make a move against the Sun Moon Empire. The Sun Moon Empire can take this opportunity to regain their strength and replenish what they’ve lost. Their strategy has killed four birds with one stone, and it is very treacherous and cunning, indeed.”

“Then what should we do? Are we not going to save them?” Nan Qiuqiu couldn’t help but feel a little worried and anxious.

Bei Bei said, “Calm down, don’t be hasty. Of course we have to save them, but we have to plan and scheme before we make a move. Our actions will be counterproductive otherwise, and we will achieve the opposite of our desired result if we try to save them rashly and without prior planning. Don’t worry, your mother will not be in danger for the time being. At least, she will be ﬁne until the Sun Moon Empire decides to ofﬁcially launch an invasion. The Sun Moon Empire’s hostages will be valuable to them until they are actually prepared to start a war. This will take at least one or two years.”

Nan Qiuqiu settled down a little as she listened to Bei Bei’s calm analysis, and nodded pitifully.

Bei Bei continued, “Everyone must have noticed that certain entities are not included among the people that I mentioned who are afraid to take action against the Sun Moon Empire for fear of harming innocents… Shrek Academy and the Body Sect! The Body Sect is considered the Heavenly Soul Empire’s National Defense Sect, and they will do something to save the Heavenly Soul Empire soul masters who have been captured. Shrek Academy is incumbent and bound to our duty. At the same time, the Tang Sect doesn’t share the same fears.”

He Caitou glanced at Nan Qiuqiu and said, “Eldest senior brother, do you think that the Tang Sect participating in high- level conﬂicts between empires will…” A worried look appeared in his eyes as he spoke.

Nan Qiuqiu slammed the table in front of her and leapt to her feet. She glared at He Caitou and said, “Such a waste that you’ve grown up to be so tall and big. Are you afraid?”

He Caitou frowned, and Xiao Xiao cut in before He Caitou could say anything. She leapt to her feet as well and said, “What did you say? Afraid? Do you think we’re afraid?” He Caitou hugged Xiao Xiao at her waist with one arm. He was tall, so he could still do that easily even though he was sitting down. He pulled Xiao Xiao back into her seat as he turned towards Nan Qiuqiu with a calm look in his eyes. “I hail from the Sun Moon Empire. More accurately put, I come from

the Sun Moon Empire’s royal family. More than ten years ago, my father and several hundred of my family members were murdered by the previous Sun Moon Empire’s emperor, who has just passed away not too long ago.”

He Caitou recounted his story calmly as if he were talking about something that was completely unrelated to him, and not a single ripple of emotion appeared on his face. In the beginning, Nan Qiuqiu was a little surprised, but her reaction gradually became one of intense shock. Her pretty face ﬂushed red, and she desperately wanted to hide herself in some hole in the ground.

“I’m… I’m sorry…” Nan Qiuqiu was a little arrogant and pampered, but she wasn’t an unreasonable girl, and she hurriedly lowered her head and sat back down.

He Caitou smiled and continued, “It’s alright. You’re losing your cool because you’re too concerned. We will brainstorm and discuss this carefully because we have to ﬁnd the best solution and strategy to save your mother. Saving the Earthdragon Sect’s members will be our topmost priority. I am just worried that the Academy will not let us participate in this operation, so we need to have a detailed plan before we think about taking any action.”

Bei Bei nodded and said, “That’s correct. We need to have a detailed plan before we take any action. The Tang Sect is just starting to take shape, and our foundations are still unstable. At this time, we can only assist everyone else in this operation. The Academy will be the main strength which will venture forward to rescue the hostages. Even if the Academy’s operation fails, the Sun Moon Empire cannot vent their anger on anyone. However, the Sun Moon Empire must have already made sufﬁcient preparations, and they’re just waiting for us to walk into their trap by ourselves. Therefore, this rescue operation will be extremely difﬁcult, and we must ensure that we are absolutely prepared for anything and everything before we take any action. So Qiuqiu, I need to remind you that you must trust everyone, and you cannot do anything rash by yourself. Rashness and impulsiveness will not resolve any of our problems, and your only choice right now is to trust us. Do you understand?”

Nan Qiuqiu nodded lightly. Bei Bei continued, “The Sea God’s Pavilion’s various elders have already discussed this. In terms of strength, rescuing those hostages under the watchful eyes of the Sun Moon Empire’s throngs of soul engineers and the Holy Ghost Church’s evil soul masters will be exceptionally challenging. We have sent out scouts to ﬁgure out what’s happening in the Sun Moon Empire and ﬁgure out their situation. At the same time, this isn’t the right time for us to launch a rescue operation; the Sun Moon Empire must have already made sufﬁcient preparations if they dared to handle this issue this way, which is just a little short of declaring war. Therefore, we have to wait, and we have to wait until they are a little less vigilant for us to have any chance or opportunity at all.”

Nan Qiuqiu didn’t say anything anymore. She seemed to have learned her lesson from before, and she was a lot calmer and more composed.

Ye Guyi glanced at Nan Qiuqiu and asked, “How long do we have to wait?”

Bei Bei shook his head and said, “I’m not sure. We have to wait for the most opportune moment, and everything depends on the intel from our scouts... and also on the Academy’s plans and arrangements. We can no longer make any decisions about a conﬂict at this level.”

Chapter 369: Yuhao Exits Seclusion

“Everyone, hurry up and cultivate. Any increase in strength is a powerful guarantee for us. I’ve already applied to the Academy. Tomorrow, Dean Yan will personally bring Nannan and Xiao Xiao to the Star Luo Forest to ﬁnd a suitable soul beast for their sixth soul rings. Sanshi and Caitou, go along too. This will give you peace of mind.”

While the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley did cause them many injuries, some of them beneﬁted, too. Of the Tang Sect members, four of them had experienced an increase in soul power: Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong’er, Xiao Xiao, and Jiang Nannan. Of course, this also included Wang Qiu’er, who had disappeared.

Among them, Xiao Xiao and Jiang Nannan’s soul power had reached Rank 60. After they returned to the Tang Sect, the two girls had cultivated to solidify their foundations. They now needed to obtain their sixth soul rings to become Soul Emperors. After the two of them rose in rank, Huo Yuhao was the only one of Shrek’s Seven Monsters who had yet to rise in rank. However, Huo Yuhao’s soul power had increased by ﬁve ranks. He was very close to Rank 60!

Everyone nodded. The increase from ﬁve rings to six was not as difﬁcult as the increase from six rings to seven, but it was still a huge milestone for soul masters. The increase from Soul King to Soul Emperor was an exponential increase in power, which would further strengthen the Tang Sect.

“Alright, let’s do this. Everyone, hurry up and cultivate. I’ll inform you about the rescue operation as soon as I can. Dismissed.”

Everyone started to leave. However, Nan Qiuqiu sat there for a long while before standing up.

Ye Guyi, who had been sitting next to her, asked in a low voice, “Qiuqiu, are you alright?”

Nan Qiuqiu shook her head and said, “I’m ﬁne. Sister Guyi, do you really think we can save my mother?” Ye Guyi sighed and said, “On the continent, if there’s something Shrek Academy can’t do, then no one else can do it. Please don’t do anything dumb. All we can do is wait. Since Bei Bei has spoken, the school will naturally make its own arrangements. All we can do now is cultivate with all our might. The important thing is to strengthen ourselves. You should endeavor to become a Soul Emperor as soon as you can! All of our martial souls are special. The stronger we are, the more powerful our unique traits will become. Let’s work hard together!”

“Okay!” Nan Qiuqiu nodded vigorously. “I’ll do my best to save my mother.”

Ye Guyi gave her arm a squeeze and said, “I don’t know what happened to him. Ever since our return, he seems to be doing nothing but training. I heard that he almost escaped from the jaws of death. I don’t know what he’s doing. His lover…”

“Shh!” Nan Qiuqiu silenced her with a gesture. She shook her head and said, “Let’s not talk about Wang Dong’er. It’s taboo for all of us. Originally, I hated Huo Yuhao. However, he’s pitiable, indeed. This time, in the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley, he lost the girl he loves the most. Now, he is turning his anger and grief into strength for cultivation. It’s really…”

Ye Guyi grunted and said, “He’s a freak, but he’s strong too.

Let’s go and cultivate. One day, I’m going to beat him!”

------

The entire Tang Sect was training and cultivating intensely. While the Tang Sect had no powerful people to back them up, they were undoubtedly the most powerful group of young soul masters on the entire continent. Their growth would surely impact the world of soul masters.

------

Darkness!

Everything was dark and silent. One could not even see one’s hands.

“Smack!” A sound rang out. A shadow ﬂew into the air, and something stopped it. A strong hand had grabbed it. Light jade-green light started to shine, giving light to this pitch-black world.

The jade-green light shone from someone’s body. It came from Huo Yuhao!

At that moment, his hand had grabbed a small vat, which contained extremely strong alcohol.

He opened its seal, and the pungent smell of alcohol appeared in the secret, black room. He lifted the vat and drank the alcohol down in huge gulps. For a normal person, one small cup would have sufﬁced. The green light on his body shone even more intensely.

After his return from the Clear Sky Sect, Huo Yuhao chose to go into closed-door training. For its silence, he chose the deepest part of the Tang Sect’s Soul Tool Hall for its silence, where he dug out an area to be his own cultivation cave.

Here, he would not be affected by the outside world. He cultivated furiously in absolute silence. This time, his closed-door training was do-or-die. If he did not reach his target, he would not leave. His objective was simple: he wanted to open the passageways in his legs once more, allowing the origin energy of Ultimate Ice, which he had absorbed in the Iceﬁre Yin Yang Well, to fully ﬂow throughout

his body.

He had cultivated behind closed doors for almost half a month. In this half a month, he had completely calmed his heart. Even though there was no way he could suppress his thoughts, he slowly returned to the intensity of the time when he had just joined Shrek Academy.

It was an indescribable sensation. In this cultivation, he did his best to improve himself. At the same time, he tried to fuse his spiritual power, his soul power, his Ultimate Ice, his Spirit Eyes, and even his Necromancy, which he had derived from the Divine Law of Necromancy, and which had been taught to him by the Calamity Necromancer Electrolux, into one.

In the past few years, his power had increased rapidly. His twin martial souls gave him an innate advantage. In this period of time, his paralysis was not necessarily a bad thing, as it made him realize that innate talent was not everything. Right now, he had managed to accomplish something even Titled Douluo found difﬁcult. He was combining of all his powers as he tried to reﬁne them!

His strong spiritual power gave him the ability to do so. Aided by the distilled wine, he was able to absorb the origin energy of Ultimate Ice faster and faster. His soul power also increased quickly.

Cultivating an Ultimate Strength martial soul was hardest before one possessed seven rings. However, as Huo Yuhao’s soul power was increased by ﬁve ranks after the Yin Yang Love Querying Valley, coupled with his continual absorption of the origin energy of Ultimate Ice, this process became a lot simpler.

All this while, he had felt as if the increase in his soul power had reached a bottleneck. His soul power was becoming stronger, but he did not feel it increasing. The soul power he had absorbed from the origin energy of Ultimate Ice appeared to be hidden in the bones of his four limbs, and was unable to fuse with his own soul power. When he ﬁrst started, he was worried. After a while, he understood that he had reached a bottleneck, and this bottleneck was for the sixtieth rank.

He himself could not believe that he had reached Rank 60 so quickly.

In fact, when he took part in the Continental Elite Youth Soul Master Tournament in the Sun Moon Empire, he was in a state of high alert and constant ﬁghting. Bei Bei’s injuries meant that he had to carry the banner of the Tang Sect. As he fought, he improved non-stop. With all his might and energy, he brought the Tang Sect forward, and even helped Shrek Academy out.

Regardless of whether it was actual ﬁghting experience or just plain hardship, he was the one who bore the most of it among everyone from the Tang Sect.

His return from the jaws of death, from the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley, had allowed him to further demonstrate his full potential. It further sharpened his body and mind, greatly increasing his soul power. Coupled with his ﬁnal reward of an increase in ﬁve ranks, he was ﬁnally able to reach Rank 60.

Had it been any other soul master, he would have ecstatically started searching for a soul ring once his rank reached a multiple of ten. However, Huo Yuhao did not do so. The passageways in his legs were still blocked. Furthermore, 10,000 years ago, one of the founders of Shrek Academy, Ancestor Yu Xiaogang, who was widely known as The Grandmaster, said that when a soul master’s soul power reached a bottleneck, it

would not stop increasing because one stopped adding soul

rings to it. If one had a chance to further increase one’s soul power, there was no rush to look for a soul ring. As long as one added a soul ring later on, the excess soul power from the earlier cultivation would still materialize.

Hence, Huo Yuhao was in no rush. His target was to ﬁnish absorbing all of the origin energy of Ultimate Ice in his body, returning his body to normal. Like this, he would return to his optimal state. As for getting a soul ring later, it would all came down to luck for a spirit-type soul master like him. It was better for him to focus on cultivation and solving his issues now than to search for a ring, which required both time and luck.

Furthermore, he could sense that after the fusion of his abilities, the overall increase in strength would be more delightful to him than the increase in soul power. He understood that this was a chance that he had to seize.

He could still clearly remember Elder Mu saying that to become a soul master, one had to ﬁnd one’s own path. At that time, Huo Yuhao had believed that ﬁnding one’s path was to ﬁnd a direction for cultivation. At that time, he had chosen the Tang Sect’s Secret Techniques.

Elder Mu said nothing. Instead, he let him cultivate according to his own plans.

Right now, Huo Yuhao slowly started to understand what Elder Mu meant by path. It did not mean the direction of cultivation, but instead turning one’s own strength into a straight, ﬂat road.

Huo Yuhao had found the entrance to this road. He was slowly walking it, and to him, this process of understanding his powers was more important than improving his Ultimate Ice or any other of his abilities. His own powers would improve through this process, and Huo Yuhao deeply believed that once he completely understood his powers, his strength would increase exponentially once again!

In the dark underground room, one could not feel the passage of time. There was vat after vat of wine, which Huo Yuhao consumed to help his cultivation.

To devote more of his time to pure cultivation, he only ate a little bit of food every day, along with some nourishment pills the Academy provided him. He used all his remaining time for cultivation.

This method was extremely lonely. However, every time Huo Yuhao started to get frustrated, he only needed to recite two words to calm himself and get his focus back. They served as his source of motivation. The words were “Wang Dong’er”!

----------

Days passed, and Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect stayed peaceful.

In the blink of an eye, two months passed.

Shrek was not the only calm one. The entire continent was strangely calm.

After the Sun Moon Empire experienced so many changes, the entire continent appeared to have lost its will to ﬁght. Every country was extremely peaceful. The original three countries of the Douluo Continent did not try to ﬁnd those responsible from the Sun Moon Empire, and the Sun Moon Empire did nothing, either . Even the occasional border skirmishes disappeared in this period of time. Everything was eerily quiet.

The only signiﬁcant thing that happened, which was expected by everyone, was the ascension of the Crown Prince of the Sun Moon Empire, Xu Tianran, to the throne. He became the new Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire. After he ascended the throne, he did not do anything signiﬁcant, either. All he did was issue a few orders for the rebuilding of Radiant City. Other than that, he did nothing else.

In the eyes of the people, peace was a good thing. However, to those who were more discerning, this was just the calm before the storm. Those who knew Xu Tianran knew of his ambition. How could he be content with keeping a low proﬁle?

The original three countries of the Douluo Continent continued to make their preparations. War would come at any moment. To them, any additional days they got would greatly help in their preparations.

Due to the difference in soul tool technology, they had completely lost the initiative. If they wanted to catch up to the Sun Moon Empire in terms of technology, they needed time!

It was under this political context that the Tang Sect was able to further expand its inﬂuence.

The Tang Sect was originally located at the outskirts of Shrek City, but it now managed to expand once more, occupying a signiﬁcant plot of land in the western part of Shrek City. This expansion was because of the Soul Tool Hall.

Due to the development of the Tang Sect, Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect came to a further agreement. The Soul Tool Hall of the Tang Sect would be where the top graduates of Shrek Academy’s Soul Tool Department would go. They would be treated well and, coupled with personal instruction from the former Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy’s chief researcher, it was bound to attract many people. Shrek Academy’s Soul Tool Department made a name for itself through its cooperation with the Tang Sect.

Huge amounts of various types of ordinary and rare metals entered Shrek City, having been bought elsewhere at high prices. These were turned into soul tools, which were quietly shipped back out.

In just a span of two months, the Tang Sect gave the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Star Luo Empire three batches of soul tools, most of which were Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons.

After careful testing, the Tang Sect decided to take even more orders. As Shrek Academy was the Tang Sect’s backer, the proﬁts from the Soul Tool Hall beneﬁtted both the Tang Sect and Shrek Academy. The Tang Sect in particular used the rare metals and gold soul coins obtained from selling soul tools to great effect, allowing the Soul Tool Hall to develop as rapidly as a rocket.

There was no doubting Xuan Ziwen’s abilities. He was not only the Hallmaster of the Tang Sect’s Soul Tool Hall, but also the Honorary Dean of Shrek Academy’s Soul Tool Department. Every week, he had to spend two days lecturing at Shrek Academy. As he brought with him the newest theories of soul engineering, as well as much technical expertise, Shrek Academy’s Soul Tool Department was able to develop at an astonishing pace. The original situation, where Shrek Academy was weak in terms of soul engineering and strong in terms of soul masters, was changing rapidly.

The original three countries of the Douluo Continent continued to send their elite students to study at Shrek Academy.

No matter their age or background, they would always be crucial talents. The development of Shrek Academy seemed strong and unstoppable.

---------

Shrek Academy, inner courtyard, Sea God’s Pavilion...

“How is everything?” Elder Xuan asked the elder standing next to him.

“It’s ready.”

These two words made Elder Xuan’s eyes lit up. He nodded slightly and said, “Alright, if that’s the case, let’s make our preparations. Inform the elders that we shall have a meeting at the Sea God’s Pavilion!”

“Yes.”

------

Tang Sect...

Boom!

An explosion rang out. Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi ﬂew in opposite directions. The ﬁgure of the sword fanatic, Ji Juechen, could gradually be seen. He had an ugly expression on his face, and his clothes were torn in many places. Only his gaze was sharp. One could see light ﬂashing on his Judgment Sword.

Nan Qiuqiu stood there wheezing. Her eyes brimmed with excitement as she said, “Success, the experiment was a success!”

Ye Guyi gave her a thumbs-up. She was excited, too!

In the past two months, Ji Juechen was in both pain and joy. As a sword fanatic, he feared not having a regular opponent. However, over the past two months, he had found two people who were more burdensome than him, and that was these two beauties.

Nan Qiuqiu, in her attempt to save her mother, searched for him as a sparring partner every day. Ye Guyi was also a fanatic when it came to cultivation. The two of them went to Ji Juechen to spar almost every single day.

The difference in cultivation made him slightly hesitant about ﬁghting them at ﬁrst. However, the two of them used extreme methods to achieve their aims. They did not care whether he was willing or not. Whenever they saw him, they would attack him straightaway, as they knew that he would not actually hurt them.

In the end, in these two months, Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi learned to coordinate extremely well with one another. In particular, they came up with a special joint attack, fusing the Holy Angel’s holy element with the Rouge Dragon’s Annihilation. While it was not a true martial soul fusion skill, it was close enough that it could be called one. Now, it was much harder for Ji Juechen to beat them. Once he lost his focus, they would take advantage of him.

Of course, both Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi knew that this was because Ji Juechen had no intentions of killing them. If not, they would still be the losers. Even so, their improvement in the past two months was shocking. Nan Qiuqiu was very close to Rank 60, and she had accumulated a lot of ﬁghting experience.

Ji Juechen shook his head helplessly. He looked at himself and walked away with his Judgment Sword. Nan Qiuqiu made a ﬁst and said, “We must beat him next time!”

Ye Guyi smiled and said, “Then you should hurry up and increase your soul power. Once you get your sixth soul ring and sixth soul skill, I think we’ll stand a chance.”

“What chance? I think the two of you are closer to death,” Xu Sanshi said lazily.

Nan Qiuqiu looked at him angrily and said, “Third elder brother, all you know how to do is douse cold water on us. Why are we closer to death?”

Xu Sanshi said, “Do you think the sword fanatic really can’t beat you? We’re the Tang Sect, and in terms of individual ﬁghting prowess, even Bei Bei and I have to be wary of him. While the two of you have special martial souls, your foundations are weak. Ji Juechen’s strongest trait is that his sword intent is unstoppable. He does not dare to go all-out against you, as he cares about you. If your power improves even more, he’ll be forced to use all his strength. By that time, he may not be able to rein in his powers. Hence, aren’t you closer to death?”

Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu looked at one another. Their expressions changed. Xu Sanshi was right. From the ﬁrst moment they had attacked Ji Juechen, they had already had this notion in mind, but as they fought more and more, they gradually forgot about it.

An idea ﬂashed in Ye Guyi’s mind as she smiled at Xu Sanshi.

She was already very beautiful. With that smile, she became even more attractive.

Xu Sanshi’s face froze. He took a few steps back as he folded his arms in front of his chest. “What do you want? Let me warn you, I have a woman waiting for me! Furthermore, I have a strong will. Don’t tempt me; if not, I’ll be a goner for sure!”

Nan Qiuqiu chuckled and said, “Who’s tempting you? Don’t dream. If not for the fact that Sister Nannan fell for you, with your appearance… Tsk!” As she said that, she waved her hand in front of her nose disrespectfully. Ye Guyi chimed in, “That’s right. We don’t like you. Third elder brother, you see, you said that the increase in our strength would make Ji Juechen an unsuitable sparring partner for us. Hence, do you think we should change that?”

An uneasy feeling rose in Xu Sanshi’s heart as he said with a straight face, “I have something to do.” As he said that, he turned to leave.

“Don’t go! Watch me!” Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu, the two little devils, dominated the Sparring Arena. Ye Guyi’s feet lightly touched the surface of the ground as she ﬂew into the sky. Her angel wings extended outward, and a golden blade of light sliced toward Xu Sanshi.

Nan Qiuqiu was not idle, either. She pointed out with her right hand, a pink ray of the Light of Annihilation appeared behind Xu Sanshi. Mysteriously, when it was less than two meters away from him, it blew up and turned into countless strands of light that sought to cover him.

“Not fair!” Xu Sanshi shouted. He stumbled as he took a few steps forward. Weirdly, with his odd footwork, he was able to the dodge the sharpest part of Ye Guyi’s Holy Sword as he dodged to the side.

He turned around, and a soothing black light shone from him.

The black light looked as gentle as ripples on water. It entangled with the Light of Annihilation that came from behind him. The moment the Light of Annihilation entered the black light, it started to ripple intensely. However, every single black ripple continued to twist and turn, stopping every single strand of Light of Annihilation from entering it.

Another black light ﬂashed, and a huge shield appeared, blocking Ye Guyi, who came down from the sky.

The shield was completely black. On it, one could see the carving of a huge, deep-blue turtle. On the back of the turtle was a small, coiled blood-red snake with jade-green eyes.

When the shield appeared, the entire Sparring Arena was covered by a layer of black ripples. It was like this entire area had turned into the bottom of a lake. Both Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu felt discomfort, as if they were stuck in mud.

Yes, this was the Xuanwu Shield, the complete form of the Xuanwu Shield!

Who beneﬁted the most in the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley? It was deﬁnitely not those whose soul power had increased, but Xu Sanshi!

In the valley, he had resolved his relationship issue with Jiang Nannan, and the two of them were ﬁnally together. Furthermore, he had experienced that scene once more, and this time, his Xuanwu Shield was fully awoken. Now, he had a martial soul which descended from a pure, ancient bloodline.

Among Shrek’s Seven Monsters, Bei Bei was no longer the strongest. Xu Sanshi, who now wielded his pure Xuanwu Shield, was the strongest!

When he unleashed his Xuanwu Shield, Xu Sanshi appeared to have increased in size. Countless black ripples pulsed from his body. Xu Sanshi took a step forward, and his Xuanwu Shield doubled in size once more. A powerful energy could be felt from it. Black light ﬁlled the entire Sparring Arena. The black ripples instantly turned into countless rising dots of black light. It was like a plate ﬁlled with water, which someone had just hit from underneath.

A power energy vibrated out, and instantly, Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu’s attacks were destroyed. The two girls felt that the soul power they had used to launch their attacks had been instantly destroyed by this powerful energy. In shock, they retreated.

However, black ripples appeared once again. The vibrations made their movements sluggish. The movements of the two girls became visibly slower.

“Hehe, continue to work hard. After Qiuqiu gets her sixth ring, you can consider looking for me,” Xu Sanshi chuckled as he waved his hands at the two girls. The surrounding black light became even more intense, forcing the two girls to go on the defensive. However, the moment the black light receded, Xu Sanshi had already disappeared.

“He’s… he’s so strong,” Nan Qiuqiu said in shock. “His martial soul is very powerful,” Ye Guyi said with a heavy expression on her face. “While it’s water-type, it had the thickness of a soil-type martial soul. Furthermore, I feel that his martial soul is not on the same level as ours. I estimate that he’s around Rank 68, very close to Rank 70.”

Nan Qiuqiu exclaimed in shock, “So our Tang Sect will soon have a second Soul Sage?”

Ye Guyi nodded and said, “In the past, he didn’t seem so strong. In the past two months, however, he has become very powerful.”

---

Xu Sanshi heard the two girls’ conversation clearly, and could not help but laugh. He was delighted.

Ye Guyi was right. Right now, his soul power was at Rank 68.

His soul power did not increase in the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley. However, after his martial soul turned completely into the Xuanwu, his cultivation entered a strange state. It was like a form of reﬁnement.

The reﬁnement of his martial soul caused his own soul power to become reﬁned as well. His past two months of cultivation had allowed his soul power to change completely. Over the past two months, his evolved martial soul was able to complete its fusion, and his soul power naturally rose to Rank 68. Xu Sanshi estimated that in less than half a year, he had a chance of surpassing Rank 70. With the strength of his martial soul, the Xuanwu Shield, he would not even fear Rank 80 Soul Douluo once he hit Rank 70!

He was not the only one who had improved. Through the Continental Elite Youth Soul Master Tournament, everyone from the Tang Sect who had participated beneﬁted greatly from it. Their ﬁghts in the tournament and their struggles in the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley had allowed them to reap many beneﬁts.

Jiang Nannan and Xiao Xiao, under Dean Yan Shaozhe’s personal supervision, had successfully retrieved their sixth soul rings. They reached the rank of Soul Emperor, improving the Tang Sect even more. Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu both had great potential. The reason why they were unable to ﬁght those from the Tang Sect was because of their foundations.

Shrek Academy was not known as the top Academy in the world for nothing. Its method of education was excellent, and reigned supreme. In particular, they were able to produce the best soul masters, who no one else could beat. Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi were both now on the path that Shrek’s Seven Monsters trod. Their shaky foundations, after the intensity of the past few months, solidiﬁed. Soon, they would improve faster and faster. With excellent instruction from good teachers, and Shrek’s Seven Monsters as their peers, their cultivation had been improving rapidly.

“Third elder brother,” a clear voice suddenly called out..

“Yes? Xu Sanshi replied without thinking. In the Tang Sect, other than Bei Bei, He Caitou, Xuan Ziwen, and a few others, almost everyone else called him that. He was thinking about the overall strength of everyone from the Tang Sect, so he did not pay much attention to the voice.

“Let’s spar,” said the voice once more.

“Sure. Wait!” Xu Sanshi ﬁnally woke up from his reverie. He raised his head to look. Who wants to spar with me?

When he saw a smiling, conﬁdent youth, his eyes opened wide in shock. Then, brimming with joy, he shot forward like an arrow to hug him.

“You rascal! You ﬁnally ended your closed-door cultivation,” Xu Sanshi said excitedly.

“That’s right! I’m done. I took a shower and changed. Just when I walked out, I saw a good show. Third elder brother, your power has improved so much! I almost didn’t recognize you.”

Xu Sanshi chuckled and said, “Don’t try and ﬂatter me. Eh, what’s this? You can walk again?”

The one who had appeared in front Xu Sanshi, who delighted him so much, was none other than Huo Yuhao, who was ranked number six among Shrek’s Seven Monsters. His closed- door cultivation had indeed made everyone worry deeply for him.

Huo Yuhao lifted his right leg and kicked out. He nodded at Xu Sanshi and said, “That’s right, I’ve healed fully. All of my passageways are clear once more. I’ve absorbed all the energy into my body.” As he said that, his eyes shone with a faint light.

While Xu Sanshi’s sight was not as good as Huo Yuhao’s Spirit Eyes, it was not weak either. He saw the instantaneous change in his junior’s eyes. To his shock, Huo Yuhao’s eyes shone with a pale white light. It was not as powerful or dazzling as his original golden eyes. Instead, it looked as clear and silky as jade. His entire body appeared to be holding in great power.

“Little junior brother, you’ve changed!” After Wang Dong’er was revealed to be a girl, Huo Yuhao was naturally the youngest male disciple. Xu Sanshi, He Caitou, and Bei Bei all called him ‘little junior brother’.

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “Do you want to try ﬁghting me?” Xu Sanshi laughed and said, “Bring it on.” As he said that, he dragged him outside.

The moment the two of them walked out the door, they bumped into the two frustrated beauties. They did not react when they saw Xu Sanshi dragging someone over. However, when they ﬁnally got a closer look, they could not help but open their mouths in shock.

Nan Qiuqiu exclaimed in surprise, “Huo Yuhao, you’ve completed your closed-door training?”

“Good! You ﬁnally came out!” Ye Guyi also said excitedly.

When Huo Yuhao looked at the two of them, his smile brightened. After three months of solitary cultivation, it was good to see some familiar faces.

“Hello, Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi. That’s right, I’ve completed my training.” “You rascal!” Ye Guyi said indignantly, “You brought me here, but the moment you returned, you went to do your closed-door training. You didn’t even say hi! Why? Hmph! Let me tell you, my powers have increased quite a bit in this period of time. Come! Let me take my anger out on you!”

Nan Qiuqiu fanned the ﬂames and continued, “That’s right!

You’re terrible. Sister Guyi, let’s take care of him together.”

Xu Sanshi said with a smile, “My pretties, don’t you think you should wait? Little junior brother and I agreed to spar ﬁrst. We should follow this order. Furthermore, don’t ﬁght a battle you can’t win. Watch us ﬁght ﬁrst to see how powerful he has become before taking him on yourselves.”

Huo Yuhao chuckled bitterly and said, “Third senior brother, you just want to see the world burn.”

Xu Sanshi looked into the sky and said, “If the Heavens have caused trouble for you, it’s forgivable. If you cause trouble for yourself…” Huo Yuhao’s feet left the ground. Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu only saw a blur. They lost sight of him.

“Come on, third senior brother,” Huo Yuhao’s voice rang out from afar.

The two girls turned, and realized that Huo Yuhao was already at the other end of the Sparring Arena.

“He’s so fast,” said Nan Qiuqiu.

Ye Guyi was not impressed. “So what’s if he’s fast? A man must have endurance.”

Xu Sanshi was walking into to the Sparring Arena, but when he heard that, he stumbled, and could not help but turn around and retort angrily, “That’s so wrong! You two are in cahoots with him!”

Chapter 370: Fist of Remembrance, Sword of Longing

Ye Guyi chuckled and said, “Did I touch a sore spot? Go, go, third elder brother, beat him up.”

Xu Sanshi did not know what to say. He did not know how this girl, who did not even have a boyfriend, knew so much about this subject.

However, when he turned to look at Huo Yuhao, the look in his eyes changed. At that moment, Xu Sanshi stood upright, and his body felt like an immovable mountain that would never fall to everyone. Before he even released his martial soul, faint black air swirled around him, making him appear even heavier.

Huo Yuhao, however, gave off a different feel. Compared to Xu Sanshi’s weightiness, Huo Yuhao was like a snowﬂake. It seemed impossible to grab onto him. While he stood there, he seemed to not exist. The aura Xu Sanshi gave off disappeared by the time it reached Huo Yuhao. Xu Sanshi nodded and said, “You’ve changed indeed, little junior brother.”

Huo Yuhao raised his right hand and replied, “Third senior brother, please!”

“Alright,” Xu Sanshi replied as he took a step forward. The black light from his body started to shine intensely as dark ripples rushed toward Huo Yuhao, just like in his ﬁght against Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi. Darkness which enveloped heaven and earth surged toward Huo Yuhao like a giant beast.

When Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi saw this, their mouths twitched, unhappy with Xu Sanshi. Earlier, in their ﬁght against him, he was not so careful. The martial soul he released was not as powerful, either.

Ye Guyi thought in her heart, Can one Soul Emperor and one Soul King be weaker than Huo Yuhao?

They did not know that Xu Sanshi was even warier of Huo Yuhao than they thought. After knowing Huo Yuhao for so many years, Xu Sanshi had seen the full strength of his little junior brother many times. In his heart, he had never viewed him as a mere Soul King. Not only did Huo Yuhao have countless abilities and an extremely ﬂexible ﬁghting style, but Sanshi also did not know how powerful Yuhao had become after his closed-door cultivation. All he knew was that Huo Yuhao and his Spirit Eyes were a big reason why Shrek’s Seven Monsters could achieve such results in the past two tournaments. Huo Yuhao’s role was far bigger than his own!

Faced with the black light that surged toward him, Huo Yuhao smiled and nodded. “Third elder brother has improved drastically indeed! Your Xuanwu’s Domain has been absorbed into your soul power already. This should be a complete fusion with your martial soul, right?”

As he spoke, he struck out, too. Five soul rings rose from underneath his feet.

The colors of the ﬁve soul rings were shocking indeed. The ﬁrst one was blood-red with four golden streaks. The rest were orange-gold. When the ﬁve soul rings appeared, the temperature of the Sparring Arena dropped. Two ﬁgures appeared behind Huo Yuhao. The two shadows were shocking to behold. They were both women. The one on the left had a clear, but cold expression on her face, and wore an emerald-green dress. Due to the illusory nature of the light, one could not see her face clearly. However, her jade-green eyes, which brimmed with a conquering aura, were extremely clear.

Opposite her was a girl clad in a white dress. She was as regal and haughty as ice and snow. She gazed down on all creation arrogantly and had a pair of deep blue eyes like glaciers which had existed for more than ten thousand years, shocking and moving.

When the two ﬁgures appeared, everything around Huo Yuhao changed, too. When the black light surging toward him was only ﬁve meters away from him, it turned into snowﬂakes. The air was windless, yet the snowﬂakes swirled around Huo Yuhao’s body.

This scene could only be described as ‘strange’. Even Xu Sanshi was shocked by it.

“Little junior brother, that’s not nice,” he said as he reacted immediately. He lifted his right hand and slapped out at Huo Yuhao.

Instantly, the colors of the sky changed, and the light around them dimmed. In mid-air, the giant Xuanwu Shield appeared. Like a cloud that obscured the sun, it covered the sky above Huo Yuhao.

The huge turtle and the blood-red snake on the shield came alive. Both brimmed with powerful auras. Like a mountain, it crashed down on Huo Yuhao’s head.

Huo Yuhao stood there unmoving. His expression became as gentle as sunlight as he looked into the distance. In his eyes, there was only one emotion, and that was melancholy!

A golden ﬁgure appeared and ﬂashed past the two cold ﬁgures behind him. Compared to the two other ﬁgures, this one was way too real.

Long hair billowed down her back. Her entire body was golden. Was that not Wang Dong’er? This was not the Goddess of Light, but Wang Dong’e! Her hair was straight, not wavy. This was Huo Yuhao’s Wang Dong’er, his beloved!

The golden ﬁgure appeared in front of Huo Yuhao and then turned to look at him. They stared at each other, and Huo Yuhao’s eyes turned misty. At the same time, an indescribable aura could be felt from his body.

It was a bright-golden sword light. The sword light was not long, only three feet in length. However, it appeared between Huo Yuhao and the golden ﬁgure.

The sword light ﬂashed, blocking the falling Xuanwu Shield!

With a clangor, the Xuanwu Shield started to vibrate vigorously. As it shook, the golden sword light did not dissipate, but instead remained ﬁrm.

The golden Wang Dong’er took a step forward as she entered Huo Yuhao’s body. Huo Yuhao’s body turned smooth and clear. It was the same color Xu Sanshi had seen in his eyes.

Huo Yuhao took a step forward and punched out. This punch looked very simple. Anyone could do it. However, the moment he punched, the expression on Xu Sanshi’s face changed.

His Xuanwu Shield appeared in front of him instantly, and he stepped back with his right foot. His left leg twisted sideways as he stood in this classic stance. At the same time, countless layers of light appeared on top of his Xuanwu Shield, which now shone with black light.

Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi suddenly felt like vomiting blood. They discovered, to their shock, that the space in the Sparring Arena appeared to have collapsed completely the moment Huo Yuhao punched out.

A huge explosion resounded in the air, and Xu Sanshi slid back three feet behind his Xuanwu Shield before he managed to straighten himself.

Huo Yuhao lifted his right hand immediately. As he did that, the two ﬁgures behind him disappeared. The clear light on his body glowed even more intensely and became unbelievably sharp. At that moment, Huo Yuhao’s entire body was like a sword which had left its scabbard!

His right palm came down.

There was no color. All one could see was a distorted ray of clear light dropping from the sky.

Oddly, Huo Yuhao’s eyes were still dazed and lost. He did not seem to be ﬁghting Xu Sanshi, but instead appeared to be thinking of Wang Dong’er.

The fourth soul ring on Xu Sanshi’s body started to shine as he used his Xuanwu Displacement.

As a defensive soul master, he was extremely sensitive to his opponent’s attack strength. While he told himself in his heart that Huo Yuhao could not hurt him at his level, the moment Huo Yuhao raised his right palm, a powerful sense of danger forced him to unleash his fourth soul skill. He wanted to displace Huo Yuhao to reduce the accuracy of his attack.

However, something shocking happened to Xu Sanshi. This soul skill, which had never failed him and helped him successfully move much stronger opponents, failed on Huo Yuhao.

His soul skill was now Xuanwu Displacement, not the Mysterious Underworld Displacement. Even if his opponent was a Titled Douluo, Xu Sanshi believed it had a thirty percent chance of succeeding!

However, when Xuanwu Displacement was used Huo Yuhao, he felt like there was nothing there. There was no one to displace!

He did not have much time to think about it as his sixth soul ring lit up. The turtle-snake on Xuanwu Shield came alive as the shield instantly shrank to a length of only one foot. He seemed to be holding a turtle now, which had a snake on it.

The clear light ﬂashed past, and Xu Sanshi was sent ﬂying like a cannon shell. He crashed into the back hall. All one could hear was explosions and the sound of stuff getting wrecked. No one knew how much damage it caused. Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi stood at the side, staring at the scene in shock.

They could not believe that Xu Sanshi, who had defeated them as easily as if he was cutting vegetables, lasted only two moves before Huo Yuhao! They did not even see Huo Yuhao use any soul skills as he defeated Xu Sanshi.

Huo Yuhao was stunned too. He lowered his right palm and rushed toward the back hall. “Third elder brother, are you alright?!” he called out urgently.

After a long interval, he helped Xu Sanshi, whose face was clouded with dirt and dust, out of the mess. Xu Sanshi was truly embarrassed.

Xu Sanshi was in a terribly disheveled state. His clothes looked like those of a beggar. Weird objects hung all over his body, and even the corner of his mouth was bloodied. Xu Sanshi, who had made a name for himself through his defensive abilities and was given the moniker The Eternal Defense, was injured by Huo Yuhao, just like that. Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu were not the only ones who did not believe this. Even he had trouble coming to terms with this fact!

At this moment, his right arm was still trembling. What was even more terrifying was that he could feel his soul shaking. He had used all his might to block Huo Yuhao’s attack, but he still felt as if his Xuanwu Shield almost broke because of it. If his martial soul broke, he would be severely injured!

“What the hell, little junior brother?” Xu Sanshi asked with a bitter laugh.

Huo Yuhao scratched his head awkwardly and said, “Third elder brother, if I tell you I don’t know what I did, will you believe me?”

“You rascal!” Xu Sanshi said unkindly. “Who the hell would believe you?”

Huo Yuhao said, “This is an ability that I came up with over the past few days. It comprises just one punch, one sword, and one palm strike. The punch is called the Fist of Remembrance, the sword is called the Sword of Longing, and the palm strike is called the Haodong Palm.”

Xu Sanshi was stunned. “There’s still a palm strike?. Had the sword not sent me ﬂying, would you have struck me with your palm?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “No! I need to accumulate strength for my Haodong Palm. Right now, I can’t link them together. I don’t think I’m strong enough.”

Xu Sanshi’s mouth twitched as he said, “If you’re not strong enough, how can you beat me so badly? That’s not right! You haven’t gotten a new soul ring yet, so your cultivation should only be at Rank 60. How can this be possible? How can this be possible!? Why are you so strong? Just now, when you slashed with your sword, I felt as if a strange power was tearing my martial soul apart! With my defensive abilities, it would not be hard for me to resist the attack of an eight-ringed Soul Douluo! How did you do this?”

A dazed look crossed Huo Yuhao’s eyes as he said, “I don’t know myself. I thought about many things in the past few days, and I fused all my powers together. When I ﬁnally saw the light at the end of the tunnel, I was able to use these three moves I invented. When I use them, all I can think about is Dong’er. I don’t know how this came to be. If I did, I would have held back just now. I’m sorry, third senior brother. How bad are your injuries?”

Xu Sanshi asked suspiciously, “This is so strange! Have you become too obsessed?”

“Can you stop being so negative?” Bei Bei’s voice rang out.

When he saw Xu Sanshi in his pathetic state, he was shocked too. He turned to look at Huo Yuhao joyfully as he said, “Congratulations, little junior brother! You’ve recovered!”

Huo Yuhao rushed up and said, “Sorry for making you worry, elder brother.”

Bei Bei hugged him tightly and said, “It’s good that you’re alright! There’s no need for formality. It appears that you beneﬁted greatly from your closed-door training! Recently, someone’s improvement made him as proud as a peacock. It’s good that you’ve taught him a lesson.”

“Bei Bei, you're not the one who beat me,” Xu Sanshi retorted angrily. “What are you so happy about? If you think you’re strong enough, come ﬁght me one-on-one!”

Bei Bei looked at him from the corner of his eyes and said, “I don’t have time for you, as I have things to do. Qiuqiu, Guyi, gather the rest of them. We have a lead, and I think we’ll head out soon. It’s fortunate that little junior brother has already recovered. With him, we have a much bigger chance of success.”

Before Ye Guyi could react, Nan Qiuqiu whooped in joy. She rushed into the back hall to gather the rest of them.

“Elder brother, what do we have a lead on?” Huo Yuhao asked curiously.

“On the matter of rescuing someone from the Sun Moon Empire. Let’s go, we’ll talk inside!” Bei Bei replied with a serious expression. As he said that, he brought Huo Yuhao and Xu Sanshi into the back hall. The moment he entered, he saw the destroyed tables and chairs. Even the wall at the back had a huge human- shaped hole in it. He could not help but say gleefully, “Sanshi, you should change your nickname from The Eternal Defense.

What about The Eternal Wreck?”

“Wreck… wreck your face,” Xu Sanshi retorted in frustration. “Don’t be too happy. If you dare, try and spar with him. Little junior brother’s punch and sword are terrifying! His ﬁrst punch almost shattered my martial soul, and I could not block the sword. These are not powers that he should be able to use at his level! I think there’s been a change in his abilities!”

“You have been happy recently because of your relationship,” Bei Bei said unkindly. “Little junior brother’s punch and sword surpass his cultivation by a lot, but it did not come from nothing. This came from his longing for Dong’er. He fused his intent with his emotions and his spiritual power beautifully, and this is the result.

“Do you think it’s easy? His soul power is weaker than yours, but his spiritual power is far beyond yours or mine. He turned his spiritual power into soul power, and achieved this beautiful fusion. Only like that is he able to strike with so much power. However, little junior brother, I advise you not to use this power too often. I’m afraid that if you become too engrossed in this state, you may never be able to snap out of it.”

“Right,” said Huo Yuhao. He had the same thoughts. His eyes were still dazed. It seemed like he had yet to escape from his longing for Dong’er.

With great power came great sacriﬁces. Huo Yuhao’s Fist of Remembrance, Sword of Longing, and Haodong Palm had the same problem. He devoted all his attention to his longing for Wang Dong’er, which allowed his spiritual power and soul power to fuse perfectly. Then, he injected bits of the power of his Spirit Eyes and Ice Jade Empress Scorpion. At last, his Haodong Palm was a terrifying skill that combined most of his abilities. Even Huo Yuhao himself did not know what would happen if he used this Haodong Palm!

When he heard Bei Bei’s words, Xu Sanshi woke up from his reverie as he said, “Little junior brother, Bei Bei is right. Your attack is problematic. Please don’t be too engrossed in it. Don’t use it unless you have to. Try not to use it too often.” As he said that, he pressed down on Huo Yuhao’s power, channeling cool and clear Xuanwu soul power into him.

Huo Yuhao felt himself tremble. Only then did he regain some lucidity.

“Thank you, elder brother, third elder brother. However, even without these three moves, I’ll still miss Dong’er terribly. But don’t worry, I’ll be ﬁne.”

Bei Bei sighed and said, “Little junior brother, you’re a prodigy indeed. This perfect fusion of soul power, spiritual power, and emotion surpasses even my ancestor’s Sovereign’s Descent. If he were still alive, he’d be proud of you.”

When Bei Bei mentioned Elder Mu, a look of respect crossed Huo Yuhao’s face as he nodded slightly and said, “Don’t worry, elder brother. I’ll continue to work hard.”

Xu Sanshi took this time to slip into something clean, not hard since he always carried his storage-type soul tool with him. He tidied himself up so he would look presentable for Jiang Nannan.

---

The three of them entered the conference hall. After a short while, the upper echelons of the leadership of the Tang Sect arrived, too. This time, even Xuan Ziwen, He Caitou, and Gao Dalou came from the Soul Tool Hall. The seats on both sides of the table in the conference hall were all ﬁlled. The hall was

crammed.

After he saw everyone arrive, Bei Bei said, “Everyone is here.

Let us begin.”

Other than Huo Yuhao, the rest of them intoned, “We of the Tang Sect will always be unrivaled!”

Xu Sanshi, who sat next to Huo Yuhao, whispered, “This is the motto of the Tang Sect from now on. Remember it.”

“Alright,” Huo Yuhao nodded back. He looked at everyone else, who were all staring at him happily. Only Xuan Ziwen seemed slightly displeased. The rest were all delighted.

Bei Bei smiled and said, “Everyone, Huo Yuhao has completed his closed-door training. This is great news. With Huo Yuhao’s Imitation, the rescue mission will be much easier.”

When he said that, his face turned serious as he said in a heavy voice, “From what the Academy has told us, the Sun Moon Empire did not imprison their hostages in Radiant City. Instead, they are located in Sunrise City.

“Sunrise City is to the south of Radiant City. It’s surrounded by plains that stretched for as far as the eyes can see. Its geography is simple, and so, detrimental to our rescue efforts. Hence, this is why I say that it’ll be much easier with Huo Yuhao’s Imitation. According to assessments made by the Academy, the Sun Moon Empire has become much more wary after the last explosion. As Sunrise City isn’t big and has walls, it is very defensible. Not only are there many soldiers there, there are also evil soul masters and powerful soul engineers. In particular, the surveillance soul tools there are going to be a big problem. I don’t think little junior brother’s Imitation can fool them. This rescue operation will be very difﬁcult!”

He Caitou spoke up, “Elder brother, can we go by a subterranean route?” Bei Bei shook his head and said, “No. The Body Sect did this twice, and each time, the Sun Moon Empire was dealt a heavy blow. They surely have their preparations for that tactic now. To us, our greatest advantage is that the Sun Moon Empire blames the Heavenly Soul Empire and Star Luo Empire for the

explosion. They’ll keep a much tighter watch on those two countries, at least compared to us.

“After waiting for two months, while the Sun Moon Empire’s defenses are still tight, they should have relaxed psychologically. The Academy has come up with a plan. After a while, those taking part in this mission will meet with them. Teacher Xuan, please help look after the Tang Sect while we’re gone. Among all of us here, Nannan and Xiao Xiao will stay behind.”

When Jiang Nannan and Xiao Xiao heard that, they were shocked. However, before they could speak, Bei Bei raised his hand, indicating to them that they should let him ﬁnish.

“This rescue operation will be extremely dangerous. The Tang Sect’s development is going smoothly, so it’s best for the two of you to stay behind. I, Caitou, Sanshi, Yuhao, Guyi, Qiuqiu, and Juechen shall take part in this operation. The rest of you shall stay behind.”

“Oi, elder brother, how can you forget me?” Jing Ziyan said unhappily.

Bei Bei thought for a while, and then said, “Alright, you can come along, too. It’s decided then. Nannan, Xiao Xiao, and Na Na shall stay behind. The Academy has its own arrangements for Mo Xuan. Dalou, stay behind with Teacher Xuan to continue the work of our Soul Tool Hall.”

“Elder brother,” Huo Yuhao said suddenly.

“Yes?” Bei Bei said as he looked at Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao said, “This operation is important, but we still need someone from the Tang Sect to manage everything. You should stay too. This time, second elder brother and third elder brother shall lead us. Stay at home and look after the sect. We’ll feel more at ease like this, too.” Bei Bei frowned and said, “How can I do that? I…”

Xu Sanshi said, “Huo Yuhao is right. Bei Bei, you should stay. The Tang Sect has enough things for you to take care of already. If you give them all to Nannan and Xiao Xiao, they’ll be under a lot of pressure. Orders from the Heavenly Soul Empire, the Star Luo Empire, and the Dou Ling Empire are coming in like snow during a blizzard. Do you want Teacher Xuan to take care of them personally? If Yuhao had not ended his closed-door training, you would have had to go. But now that we have Yuhao, what’s the point in you going? Once Huo Yuhao recovers fully, he’ll be stronger than you in all aspects. So I advise you not to go.”

Bei Bei laughed and replied, “While I know you’re speaking the truth, you should think about my feelings too, right? Looking at it, I really should try and work harder. Yuhao, you…”

Huo Yuhao could tell what his elder brother was worried about. He nodded and said, “Don’t worry, elder brother, I’m ﬁne. After I come back from the rescue operation, I’ll look for Dong’er. Then I’ll resume my closed-door training.” Bei Bei was not someone who was prone to hesitation. He also knew that the Tang Sect needed him to stay behind. This rescue operation could not be allowed to affect the overall development of the sect!

“Okay, it’s decided. This time, Yuhao shall lead. Yuhao, don’t shirk from your role. I can only be at ease if I hand everyone over to you. Bring all of them back to me safely.”

“Yes, elder brother,” said Huo Yuhao. He did not refuse the role. A clear, smooth light shone in the depths of his eyes. The cold light ﬂashed and disappeared.

If not for the Sun Moon Empire, we would not have entered the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley. If we hadn’t entered the valley, how would Dong’er…

Regardless of whether it was because of national or personal reasons, he stood ﬁrmly against the Sun Moon Empire. He could not imagine what it would be like for the Sun Moon Empire to rule the continent while following the religion of evil soul masters. He was already a youth, but he was ﬁghting for the ones he loved. He wanted revenge for Dong’er, and he sought to increase his own strength. The words of the leader of the Clear Sky Sect, Niu Tian, were seared into his mind. As a man, if he could not even protect his own woman, what right did he have to be with her?

Dong’er, wait for me! After I rescue them, I’ll look for you!

It’s been almost three months, are you awake yet?

When he thought of Dong’er, Huo Yuhao could feel his heart burning. Fighting intent blazed ﬁercely inside him.

Jiang Nannan and Xiao Xiao looked unwilling, but Bei Bei had already made up his mind. There was nothing else for them to say. Originally, Bei Bei did not even want He Caitou to take part. However, once he thought about the dangers of this operation, he realized that he needed the extra ﬁrepower He Caitou could provide, and allowed him to go.

“Yuhao, come over.” Right after the meeting, Xuan Ziwen called Huo Yuhao over.

“Do you still want to study soul engineering? Don’t tell me you’ve decided to give up on it completely!” Xuan Ziwen said angrily. He had not seen Huo Yuhao working in the Soul Tool Hall for many months.

Huo Yuhao scratched his head and said, “Teacher Xuan, I don’t intend to give up on soul engineering. However, I can’t research the latest technology in soul engineering with you anymore, I…”

“It’s alright. Say no more. We all have our own aspirations, and I won’t force you. Before you go, however, pop over by my table. I’ve helped you do some maintenance and made some tweaks to your human-shaped soul tool. Look at what you’ve done. Everything is a mess! How much material did you waste? Hmph!” After he said that, Xuan Ziwen turned to leave.

As he watched Xuan Ziwen walk off, Huo Yuhao felt his heart grow warm. While Teacher Xuan might be strict, he cared for Yuhao deeply. Before he commenced his closed-door training, he had passed his human-shaped soul tool over to Xuan Ziwen. When he made it, he did use many rare metals, but that was so that he could bring more types of rare metal back, and Xuan Ziwen deﬁnitely knew that! Of course, his human-shaped soul tool was still rough and unpolished, as he had not had a lot of time to make it. Since Xuan Ziwen said that he had made some tweaks to it, it was likely that he had come up with a revolutionary new design for the human-shaped soul tool! Even the Sun Moon Empire, which did not have the mechanical technology of the Tang Sect, could not come up with such a perfect design.

------

Everyone went back to pack. Of course, the two couples also said their goodbyes to each other. After two hours, they gathered in the Sparring Arena of the Tang Sect.

Huo Yuhao, He Caitou, Xu Sanshi, Ji Juechen, Jing Ziyan, Ye Guyi, and Nan Qiuqiu, seven of them in total. Six were Soul Emperors, plus Huo Yuhao, who could be said to be a pseudo- Soul Emperor.

Bei Bei walked over in front of Huo Yuhao and said, “Little junior brother, this trip is dangerous. I’m entrusting you with everyone’s safety. There’s only one instruction from me, and that’s to come back alive no matter what happens. Do it for the Tang Sect, and for yourselves.”

“We of the Tang Sect will always be unrivaled! Elder brother, I’ll bring everyone back safely, even if I…”

“Alright, go!” Bei Bei did not wait for him to ﬁnish. He slapped his shoulder and walked ahead of everyone in the direction of the main door.

Huo Yuhao and his partners caught up quickly. Under Bei Bei’s leadership, they walked out in the direction of Shrek Academy.

Shrek Academy was still the same. Due to the rapid development of soul tools, Shrek Academy was in a new stage of prosperity. The expansion of the Soul Tool Department meant the school had added three new classes for soul engineering across all grades.

---

When Huo Yuhao arrived at the door of the Academy, it was already noon. The students had ended their lessons, and were streaming out the doors. Outside the Academy, hawkers sold their food and merchandise to the students. It was a lively sight.

Xu Sanshi squeezed Huo Yuhao’s shoulder, sighed, and said, “Every time I see this scene, I’ll think back to the moment when we ﬁrst met. At that time, weren’t you one of them?” As he said that, his expression turned to anguish. “Little junior brother, when was the last time you made grilled ﬁsh for us? This time, you must cook grilled ﬁsh for us!”

“Alright,” said Huo Yuhao. He looked forward, and noticed that Bei Bei’s body stiffened visibly when Xu Sanshi mentioned grilled ﬁsh. He sighed in his heart. He knew that this scene ﬁlled elder brother with memories. How could he not think of Teacher Xiao Ya?

Xu Sanshi was smart. When he saw Huo Yuhao’s gaze, he too noticed the change in Bei Bei’s emotions.

“Oh right, Bei Bei, do you mind showing your drawing to little junior brother? He went to the Iceﬁre Yin Yang Well before, right? Perhaps what you need is over there.” Bei Bei stopped and turned around. He slapped his forehead in self-remorse and said anxiously, “Oh right! How could I have forgotten? Sanshi, you ﬁnally did something right! Little junior brother, have you seen these two types of plants? When I was in the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley, it gave me this hint. I believe we need these items to save Little Ya.”

As he said that, Bei Bei carefully took a manual out from an inner pocket. He opened it, revealing two exquisite drawings.

The ﬁrst one was a huge, pink ﬂower. Its alluringly-pink petals were in full bloom, and the very sight of it was astounding.

The second one was a blade grass that looked crystal-blue.

“Is this… the Delicate Silk Immortal?” Huo Yuhao asked in shock.

When he heard him say this name, Bei Bei’s body froze, and he said, “Little junior brother, you recognize it?” Since his return from the Sun Moon Empire, he had used his prize to ﬁnd the best artist. He described this image, and got the artist to draw it. However, while he did manage to get an image for it and prepared the money for it, not a single soul master or shop in Shrek City knew what these two items were.

After a few months, even Bei Bei had lost hope. He had never expected that Huo Yuhao would be the one with the answer.

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “I should be right. I saw this plant in the Iceﬁre Yin Yang Well, and it left a deep impression on me, too. I named it the Delicate Silk Immortal, as it was an extremely rare and expensive type of plant. In the Iceﬁre Yin Yang Well, one of them had even become sentient. Elder brother, after we come back, I’ll search for it with you. Furthermore, the Delicate Silk Immortal’s knowledge of plants is superb. Even if we don’t recognize the second one, it will.”

Bei Bei’s breathing quickened. After a long while, he nodded and said, “Alright, we’ll speak upon your return.” It took a lot of self-restraint to prevent himself from dragging Huo Yuhao off to search for the Delicate Silk Immortal immediately. No matter how much he loved Tang Ya, no matter how much he wanted to ﬁnd the medicine to cure her, he had to place the interests of the sect above his own. Huo Yuhao noticed his frustration. “Elder brother, we’ll come back soon!”

“Yes.”

As he said that, they were already at the gate of the school. Facing them, a group of young students was walking out. The two groups bumped into each other, as the road was obstructed on both sides by hawkers.

At the back of the student group was a young student in a purple uniform. He should be in the fourth grade in the outer yard. His hair was deep blue, and he looked energetic, with a proud expression.

Chapter 371: Departure!

“Move aside,” one of the youths next to the short blue-haired youth shouted at Huo Yuhao ﬁercely.

In terms of appearance, they were around Huo Yuhao’s age. At most, they were only younger than him by one or two years. Next to them were ﬁve or six other students from Shrek Academy, all clad in purple uniforms, among them some pretty girls.

Huo Yuhao would never make a scene with his juniors over such an issue. He smiled slightly and moved to one side.

However, while he was magnanimous, not everyone was like him.

“Oi! Can you behave with some decorum?” a woman’s voice sounded. Someone appeared next to Huo Yuhao. Her hands were on her waist as she looked angrily at the group of young men and women. “Do you even know what courtesy is? Don’t you know that you should make way for your seniors? Move aside!”

The provocateur was naturally Nan Qiuqiu!

While Nan Qiuqiu was not as dazzling as Jiang Nannan or Wang Dong’er, she was pretty in her own right. The moment she jumped out next to Huo Yuhao, she was able to catch everyone’s attention.

The skinny youth’s eyes lit up as he said, “Wah! What a beauty! Where did you come from? Why don’t I recognize you?” Huo Yuhao and his entourage were not wearing the uniform of Shrek Academy, so naturally, they were regarded as outsiders.

Nan Qiuqiu said angrily, “Cut the crap! Move aside! If not, I’ll beat you up so badly your own mother won’t recognize you!”

The skinny youth was stunned. He mumbled, “This babe is feisty indeed! Boss, what should we do?”

The youth with the blue hair, who was evidently their leader, frowned and said helplessly, “It’s ﬁne. Real men don’t ﬁght with women.” As he said that, he moved to the side as he tried to walk past Nan Qiuqiu.

However, Nan Qiuqiu did not give up so easily. She grabbed his arm and said, “Are you insulting women?”

“I…” The blue-haired youth was perplexed as he said, “How did I insult women?” As he said that, he shrugged his shoulders slightly, and all Nan Qiuqiu felt then was that she was grabbing onto a chunk of soft clay. Her hands slid free, and her target slipped out of her grasp.

“Wow! You still dare to resist!” Her eyes glinted, and energy started to pulsate from her body. Two yellow, two purple, and one black ring, ﬁve in total, rose from underneath her feet. Her powerful aura dominated the entire area.

“Soul King?” The skinny youth exclaimed in shock. He could not help but take a few steps back. “This aunty here is a Soul King?”

Huo Yuhao slapped his forehead. We’re in trouble now. Indeed, when she heard him call her an aunty, Nan Qiuqiu, whose intentions were more playful than malicious, blew her top. She glared at the skinny youth so intently the veins on her forehead could be seen. Fire blazed in her eyes as she uttered, word-by-word, “Who...are...you...calling...aunty?”

Nan Qiuqiu was only twenty years old. While she had a nice body, how could any woman not care about her age? When she heard that, she was naturally enraged.

The skinny youth was a natural-born troublemaker. He did not appear to be afraid of trouble as he said, sticking his neck out, “I’m calling you aunty, you big-breasted bimbo! So what if you’re a Soul King? If you want to show off in front of Shrek Academy, don’t cry if I beat you up so badly your own mother won’t even recognize you!”

“Ah! Ah! Ah! I’m going to kill you!” The Ruby Dragon appeared above Nan Qiuqiu’s forehead. If not for Ye Guyi, who was holding her back, she would have already rushed forward.

“See! Even you admit that you’re old,” the skinny youth said, without a care in the world. “Be kind with your words, junior,” said Huo Yuhao. He noticed that Nan Qiuqiu was on the verge of exploding, and so had no choice but to intervene. As he said that, he stood in front of Nan Qiuqiu.

The skinny youth was just about to retort, but then saw the clear light in Huo Yuhao’s eyes. His eyes glazed over as he said, “Oh.”

Including the blue-haired youth, the entire group of Grade 4 students from the outer courtyard all felt as if Huo Yuhao’s warm gaze was staring straight at them. Their brains were all in a complete mess.

“Move aside.”

“Okay.” The group of young men and women all moved aside.

Huo Yuhao turned around and dragged Nan Qiuqiu into the academy with everyone else. “Why are you dragging me? I’m going to kill them all! They dared to call me an aunty! Am I that old?” Nan Qiuqiu was about to rush back outside, but the hand Huo Yuhao was grabbing her with felt as solid as gold. No matter how much she struggled, she could feel a powerful energy coming from his hand, making her soul power and spiritual power tremble. There was no way she could break free of him!

“If you continue to cause trouble, you don’t need to come with us anymore. Stay at the Tang Sect,” intoned Huo Yuhao.

As she looked at his serious expression, Nan Qiuqiu suddenly felt a sense of fear rising in her heart for no apparent reason. The anger in her heart was a ﬁre that was just now doused by cold water. She became much calmer.

“Alright, alright! There’s no need to be so ﬁerce!” Nan Qiuqiu’s tone dipped.

Huo Yuhao let go of her hand, smiled thinly at her, and said, “Am I that ﬁerce? Let’s go, we’re going to Sea God’s Island!” Xu Sanshi walked behind them as he said in a bored tone, “So boring! If they really ﬁght, wouldn’t that be a sight? Qiuqiu is a hot little chili, indeed. What a volatile personality!”

He Caitou smiled slightly and said, “Screw that! You should stop causing trouble, too. Let’s go!”

Xu Sanshi chuckled and said, “We’re all youths, and should behave as such. Brother Ji, am I right?”

“Go!” Ji Juechen replied in his typical clipped fashion.

At the gate of Shrek Academy, the group students from Grade

4 ﬁnally cleared their heads. The skinny youth mumbled, “What happened? What’s going on? I feel like I’m ﬂoating.”

The youth with the short blue hair turned serious as he said, “We appear to have been manipulated. That person was so strong! Do you know who he is?”

A girl said, “I’ve never seen him before! Judging by his age, he should be about as old as us. However, why don’t I have any impression of him?”

The youth with the short hair said, “He called us juniors, so he must be someone from the Academy. Could he be a senior from the inner courtyard? Right! He must be! If not, how could his spiritual power be so strong?”

A hawker next to him could not help, but interject, “Young brother, stop thinking about it! You can’t afford to piss that guy off. He’s known as the most talented student Shrek Academy has seen in the last thousand years!”

The blue-haired youth turned to look at the man in shock and asked, “Uncle, you know him?”

The hawker nodded and said, “Of course I do. Five to six years ago, he had a stall here too, selling grilled ﬁsh. His business was rather good. Then the Academy decided to place special emphasis on nurturing him. We’ve all heard his story. Once I say his name, you’ll naturally know who he is! He’s called Huo Yuhao!” “Huo Yuhao?” The blue-haired youth’s voice jumped a few octaves. His eyes were ﬁlled with shock. The group of Grade 4 students behind him all appeared paralyzed.

The skinny youth’s face turned pale, and then green as he said, “I… I told Senior Huo to make way for me. Heavens! I’m dead, I’m so dead…”

The young girl who had spoken before couldn’t help but ask the hawker, “Uncle, so that person just now was the Huo Yuhao? The champion who seized the championship from the jaws of defeat in the last Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament, who also represented the Tang Sect and defeated an evil Soul Sage in the most recent tournament? The one born with twin martial souls and an Ultimate martial soul, who is also known as the top genius from Shrek Academy?”

The hawker mumbled, “I don’t know all those titles, but the name Huo Yuhao is rare. There appears to be only one guy from the Academy with that name.”

The blue-haired youth mumbled to himself, “It’s him, it must be him! One of Senior Yuhao’s martial souls is Spirit Eyes! Just now, when we saw him, he used some power in his eyes. We passed by our idol just like that! Let’s go! We must apologize to our senior!”

As he said that, he turned and ran in the other direction. The others followed him. However, when they reached the shore of the Sea God’s Lake, they could not see anyone from the Tang Sect. All the saw was a few small, black dots stepping onshore in the middle of the lake.

The blue-haired youth sighed and muttered, “We missed our chance. We really missed our chance!”

---

Huo Yuhao naturally did not know about how his juniors reacted to the discovery of his identity. Now, he was back with his companions on Sea God’s Island.

Every time he returned, he would sense a warm feeling that made him happy. However, it was different this time, because someone was missing. At the Sea God’s Pavilion, Huo Yuhao did not enter straightaway. Instead, he knelt in front of the blooming golden tree and kowtowed three times. It was his way of honoring Elder Mu.

“Teacher, I’m back. I think I’ve found the path that you talked about,” Huo Yuhao mumbled softly.

A clear gust of wind blew, and the tree leaves on the golden tree danced. The tree emitted a faint compassionate aura.

“Get up. Have you recovered?” Elder Xuan’s voice rang out from the Sea God’s Pavilion.

Huo Yuhao stood up and said respectfully, “Yes. Hello, Elder Xuan!”

Elder Xuan replied, “Come in!”

Not everyone could enter the Sea God’s Pavilion. Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi naturally knew this rule. Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi, who were not as familiar with the rules of Shrek Academy, were brought to wait at one side. Huo Yuhao entered the Sea God’s Pavilion alone.

Elder Xuan sat at the head of a long table. He was not alone. The other elders of the Sea God’s Pavilion, including Zhang Lexuan, were all present. There was only one empty chair.

Elder Xuan nodded at Huo Yuhao and said, “When you were undergoing your closed-door cultivation, Bei Bei took over your spot temporarily. Now that you’re back, please take up your seat once more.”

“Yes,” Huo Yuhao replied respectfully. He bowed to the other elders before walking to the seat at the table and sitting down. He lowered his head slightly, appearing extremely respectful.

Elder Xuan looked at him and said, “Yuhao, you’ve grown. After Dong’er got into trouble, I was afraid that you might not recover from it. Now, I see that you’ve managed to hold yourself together. Your powers have improved greatly, too. Very good! I believe Elder Mu’s spirit would rejoice at the sight of you now, too! You are indeed his chosen one.” Huo Yuhao said respectfully, “Grief solves nothing. While Dong’er sleeps, all I can do is continually improve myself. After she wakes up, I’ll be better able to protect her.”

“Good that you know,” Elder Xuan said gladly. “Now that everyone is here, the meeting of the Sea God’s Pavilion shall start. We have only one thing on the agenda, and that’s the mission!”

The meeting lasted for more than four hours.

Fortunately, Xu Sanshi and He Caitou both had places to stay in the inner courtyard. After waiting for a while, they brought Ji Juechen, Jing Ziyan, and the rest away to eat before coming back to wait some more.

After one entire afternoon, Huo Yuhao ﬁnally emerged from the Sea God’s Pavilion. He did not say anything to them. All he told them was that they would be moving out tomorrow before he brought everyone back to the Tang Sect.

As they left Shrek Academy, it was still lesson time. This time, they naturally did not meet any juniors. Xu Sanshi felt a twinge of regret.

------

Back at the Tang Sect, everyone busied themselves. They packed their daily necessities and brought out everything they needed to use. Those from the Tang Sect would play a big role in the plan the Sea God’s Pavilion had come up with. For everyone to return peacefully, Bei Bei opened the warehouse of the Tang Sect to let them pick what they needed.

The ﬁrst thing Huo Yuhao took out was the giant Heart Protecting Mirror made out of Starlight Sapphire, which had once held the Illustrious Virtue Hall’s human-shaped soul tool, and which he had been keeping safe for Dong’er. With the Heartprotecting Mirror on him, he and He Caitou started to gear up.

They worked until midnight, and only then did Huo Yuhao ﬁnd Xuan Ziwen. After he left his room, he had another Starlight Sapphire Ring on him.

---

In the morning the next day, Bei Bei personally brought everyone from the Tang Sect out to send them off. They only went back after the team left Shrek City.

Huo Yuhao’s ﬂying-type soul tool was now Grade 7. This one was made personally by Xuan Ziwen. It was both fast, agile, and defensively strong. Furthermore, it was customized to his needs, according to his measurements. Of course, this was possible only because Huo Yuhao had managed to get enough materials from the Sun Moon Empire the last time he was there!

Huo Yuhao jumped into the air, and a light ﬂashed in his eyes. He did not release his martial soul, but the Grade 7 soul tool on his back opened.

The soul tool looked odd. It resembled a pair of butterﬂy wings, each of which had thrusters built in. In total, there were twelve, six on top and six below, aligned at different heights. When the dozen thrusters activated together, he was able to reach top speed.

Chapter 372: The Plan Starts

Huo Yuhao personally asked Xuan Ziwen to make this ﬂying- type soul tool for him. It carried all his longing for Dong’er.

Quickly, everyone rose a thousand meters into the air. At that height, they could barely see what was underneath them. To an ordinary person, they would resemble birds.

Huo Yuhao ﬂew at the front, He Caitou and Xu Sanshi ﬂanked him. Ji Juechen, Jing Ziyan, Ye Guyi, and Nan Qiuqiu followed them.

Of those here, Ji Juechen was the most unfamiliar with ﬂying-type soul tools. Other than his own sword, he normally did not come into contact with any other types of equipment. If not for the fact that he had a chance to ﬁght, he might not even have come this time. As he controlled his ﬂying-type soul tool, it was obvious that he was a rookie at it. His handsome face was ice-cold.

A Grade 7 ﬂying-type soul tool would release a protective soul barrier for its user. This protective soul barrier underwent special treatment. Not only did it have the power of a Grade 6 protective soul barrier, but it was aerodynamic, too, helping to reduce air resistance.

Naturally, when a soul tool of this level was being used, it would deplete one’s soul power greatly. Other than Ji Juechen, the rest of them were all Soul Emperors. While they could use one, they could not sustain it for long if they did not have Sealed Milk Bottles.

The technology behind Sealed Milk Bottles had already been implemented in all the soul tools manufactured by the Tang Sect. Every ﬂying-type soul tool they were using now had four Class 6 Sealed Milk Bottles. It was not because they did not want to use superior Grade 7 ones, but it was prohibitively expensive to manufacture Grade 7 Sealed Milk Bottles. Due to the cost, Xuan Ziwen chose to use four Grade 6 Sealed Milked Bottles for them instead.

As she watched the scenery whizz past underneath her, Nan Qiuqiu could not help but exclaim excitedly. Protected by the protective soul barrier, she did not need to deal with the wind resistance. Huo Yuhao led everyone in the direction of the Sun Moon Empire. First, they had to ﬂy south for a bit. To the south of Shrek Academy was the Great Star Dou Forest, and after they passed it, they would enter the Star Luo Empire. He could not ﬂy directly above the Great Star Dou Forest, as that would be suicidal. As they approached the forest, Huo Yuhao started to change directions and ﬂew southwest. He entered the Star Luo Empire, staying dozens of kilometers away from the Great Star Dou Forest.

After that, he veered south, planning to cut through the Star Luo Empire.

The Grade 7 ﬂying-type soul tools were fast, indeed. After two hours, they were around 250 kilometers inside the Star Luo Empire, which was also its core regions.

As they ﬂew south, the temperature gradually rose.

Xu Sanshi could not help but ask Huo Yuhao, “Little junior brother, where are we going? Why do I feel that something is wrong?” Huo Yuhao said, “Nothing’s wrong. We have to make a big detour this time before we can enter the Sun Moon Empire. It’ll take longer, but it’ll ensure success.”

“Okay,” Xu Sanshi said after he heard that reply. He Caitou trusted Huo Yuhao, so naturally, he would not inquire further. As for the remaining four of them, their sense of direction was bad, and they could only follow…

---

They left in the morning. Huo Yuhao brought everyone down to rest at noon.

Everyone ate, drank, and replenished the Sealed Milk Bottles on their ﬂying-type soul tools. The Sealed Milk Bottles were indeed useful. They had been ﬂying for hours, but their soul power had not been drained by much.

Huo Yuhao took out a map and examined it. Occasionally, he would nod his head. Xu Sanshi leaned against a huge tree. He took in the southern warmth as he closed his eyes to rest.

He Caitou was nearby. He just watched Huo Yuhao. Like Huo Yuhao, he had undergone the Ultimate Soldier Plan and knew about Huo Yuhao’s experience in ambushing his enemies from behind. With Yuhao’s sharp spiritual power and accurate judgment, coupled with his knowledge and experience, he deﬁnitely would not go in the wrong direction.

They rested for two hours before resuming their journey. This time, Huo Yuhao made even more adjustments to their route. Quickly enough, even those who were unfamiliar with the way realized that everything they ﬂew past seemed to be farms and wilderness. They did not pass any cities.

Nan Qiuqiu asked curiously, “Isn’t the Star Luo Empire rich?

Why have we not passed by any cities at all?”

Ye Guyi answer her silly question straightaway, “He’s doing it deliberately!” She was correct. Huo Yuhao purposefully avoided any cities on their route.

With the continual development of soul tools, the original three countries of the Douluo Continent had placed greater emphasis on them, especially in the area of aerial surveillance. When Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er had gone to the Setting Sun Forest, they were detected by the aerial surveillance soul tools placed in Heaven Dou City, the capital of the Heavenly Soul Empire. That experience made him realize that he always had to avoid cities. After all, the range of aerial surveillance soul tools was limited, and could not cover the entire country. As long as they did not pass by cities, they should be ﬁne.

------

Just like that, they ﬂew for another twelve 12 hours. As the sky darkened, they slowed down and prepared to descend.

Just as they were doing that, Nan Qiuqiu suddenly exclaimed, “Look over there! What’s that?” Everyone looked into the distance. The scene there touched them deeply.

It was a golden world. One could see countless rays of golden light on the horizon. The sun was slowly setting amid this golden scene.

Huo Yuhao smiled. He had achieved his initial objective.

“That’s the sea. What’s there to be shocked about? When the sun sets over the mountains, sunlight will shine over the sea and create this image.”

Ye Guyi looked into the distance. She appeared to be in a trance. “The sun sets over the sea, what a beautiful sight…”

That was right, they were at the sea. To be accurate, they were near the southern shoreline of the Star Luo Empire. With twelve hours of ﬂight at full speed, they had left Shrek City, cut across the entire length of the Star Luo Empire, and ﬁnally arrived at the southern shoreline of the Star Luo Empire. Under Huo Yuhao’s leadership, they had to take numerous detours away from cities, but they were able to reach the sea before sunset.

“Why is the sea there? Yuhao, tell me where we are.” Jing Ziyan asked in shock.

Huo Yuhao said, “This is the southern shoreline of the Star Luo Empire. After an entire day’s ﬂight, we’ve made our way across the Star Luo Empire. Tomorrow, we’ll head out to sea. We’ll ﬂy westward along the coast, and enter the Sun Moon Empire via the sea.”

Jing Ziyan’s map-reading skills might be bad, but she knew her geography. She asked in shock, “That’s such a long way around! Why are you doing this?”

Huo Yuhao said, “So we can enter the Sun Moon Empire safely. We have no choice. I’m afraid the border of the Sun Moon Empire is completely covered by surveillance soul tools. It would be impossible to enter without being discovered. “Elder Xuan decided that the rescue mission would have two teams, with one being the decoy. The powerful soul masters from the Academy are the decoy, and they’ll go by the more obvious route. We’ll go by the lesser-known route. Elder Xuan’s team will attract the attention of the Sun Moon Empire. Our goal is to rescue our targets.”

Jing Ziyan inhaled and said, “How many people were caught? 400? 500? With just a few of us, can we really save all of them?”

Huo Yuhao chuckled and said, “You may think it’s impossible, and the enemy thinks so, too. As long as they can see Elder Xuan and the higher echelons of Shrek Academy, they’ll naturally let their guard down. Furthermore, you’ve forgotten something. The people we’re out to save are no ordinary people. Each and every one of them is immensely powerful!”

Jing Ziyan ﬁnally understood the target and plan of this rescue operation.

Huo Yuhao said loudly, “Everyone, perk up! We’ll rest by the seaside. At night, I’ll catch and grill ﬁsh for everyone!”

After they worked hard for the entire day, eating was more important to them than anything else. When they heard these words, their speed increased visibly. They all ﬂew toward the sea, the waters dazzling in the setting sun, like swallows toward a tree.

While it looked near, it was actually still pretty far. They had to ﬂy for another hour before they reached the coast. When they landed, the sky was completely dark.

“Guyi, come and catch ﬁsh with me,” Huo Yuhao said as he gestured toward her.

“Why me?” Ye Guyi asked curiously.

“You can make some light for me! Fishes love bright spots.”

“You’re… you’re using my Holy Angel as a source of light?” Ye Guyi was visibly irritated. Huo Yuhao looked at her and said, “Well, if you don’t want to eat later, then I won’t do so.”

Ye Guyi glared at him angrily, then remembered that Xu Sanshi had once said that Huo Yuhao’s grilled ﬁsh was extremely tasty. Eventually, she relented. She pursed her lips and unwillingly released her angelic wings, ﬂying out above the sea.

Huo Yuhao smiled. Moving on the tips of his feet, he jumped straight out into the middle of the sea.

Ye Guyi looked down from the sky to look at Huo Yuhao. To her surprise, Huo Yuhao was not using his ﬂying-type soul tool. Instead, he walked on the water as he headed out into the sea.

While a ﬂying-type soul tool could accelerate quickly, it was harder to control than martial souls at low speed. Ye Guyi wanted to him slip up, but Huo Yuhao was walking casually as if he were at home on the waves.

How does he do it? Does he really have ﬁve soul rings?

Ye Guyi was shocked as she thought about it.

Quickly, she discovered how Huo Yuhao was able to stand on the water. With each step he took, parts of the sea would freeze into ice, which could hold his weight. This prevented him from sinking straight away, so he could stand on top of the sea as if it were nothing to him.

This guy… is abnormal!

Ye Guyi sighed and hurried over. The seawater was clear-blue, and one could see the bottom. Even though the sun had set, the light from Ye Guyi’s Holy Angel allowed her to see the beautiful and enthralling underwater world.

Huo Yuhao did not walk too far out into the sea. There were ten times more soul beasts in the ocean than on land. Other than a few aquatic soul masters who lived near the sea, very few people dared to venture out into the sea without knowing the behavior and patterns of the soul beasts who lived there.

“Guyi, shine brighter!” Huo Yuhao said as he gestured toward Ye Guyi, who was above his head.

Ye Guyi turned her head to the side as if she had not heard him,

“Stop fooling around, aren’t you hungry?” Huo Yuhao spoke as if he were coaxing a younger sister, though Ye Guyi was older than him by ﬁve to six years.

“Hmph!” Ye Guyi said. Her two wings then lit up. Warm golden light cascaded from the sky. Night may have just fallen over this boundless sea, but the light from her wings over the water was a beautiful sight to behold.

Just like Huo Yuhao had said, ﬁshes loved light. After a short time, he could see schools of ﬁsh swimming in the water underneath him.

“How do you plan to catch them? We have many people, and we’ll eat a lot,” Ye Guyi asked Huo Yuhao curiously. While she was powerful, her survival skills were mediocre at best. Ever since she was young, she had devoted all her energy to training. She had probably never done any chores in her life. Hence, while she liked to eat nice food, she was more curious about how this youth who had beaten her up, would cook the ﬁsh…

“Watch and see,” Huo Yuhao replied with a smile. A clear blue light shone from his body. The moment it appeared, the water underneath him froze. Ye Guyi noticed that Huo Yuhao was now standing on solid ice.

An area with a radius of 2.5 meters around him had frozen over. The motion of the waves quickly lifted the block of ice up. Huo Yuhao seemed to be standing on an iceberg. In the middle of the iceberg, many of the ﬁsh still looked as if they were swimming. At least a hundred of them were frozen inside.

“This… isn’t this too simple and brutish?” Ye Guyi asked dazedly.

Huo Yuhao smiled at her and said, “Sometimes, simplicity is beautiful. Let’s go.” As he said that, he waved his hands behind him, and two gusts of wind blew out. The ice underneath his feet started to slide across the waves toward solid land.

This is possible? How interesting! Ye Guyi had always been curious about Huo Yuhao. After she saw him ﬁsh with this method, she could not help but be even more intrigued.

Only Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu had never done any form of chores in their lives before. By the time Huo Yuhao reached the shore, He Caitou and Xu Sanshi had already started a ﬁre with some wood they found. A pot of water was boiling.

Ji Juechen was silent, but he was not someone who would not help. Earlier, he had helped cut the ﬁrewood. Jing Ziyan had built the bonﬁre and placed the pot over it.

At this moment, Nan Qiuqiu stood nearby, blushing because she had not done anything at all. At ﬁrst, she had wanted to help Jing Ziyan, but the moment she tried to help, she knocked over the pot. Instantly, Xu Sanshi asked her to move to the side. If not, there would be no soup that night.

Huo Yuhao walked over and chuckled, “Our preparations are almost done! I shall start. Second senior brother, cook up some vegetable soup. We can’t just eat grilled ﬁsh. I’ll put two ﬁsh in the vegetable soup so it’ll taste better.”

Food was naturally one of the components taught in the Ultimate Solider Plan. While Huo Yuhao did not dare to say that he recognized all edible ﬁsh, he was able to recognize over sixty percent of them.

He picked up a few branches to skewer the ﬁsh, then went back to the ocean. With Ultimate Ice, he could not only freeze water into ice, but he could also allow ice to melt back into water. As every fresh ﬁsh passed his hands, he was able to wash all of them quickly. He skewered them on branches and then placed them on top of some leaves He Caitou had found. Huo Yuhao’s movements were deft. Ye Guyi watched him with delight and wanted to help him. However, the moment she tried to do so, she realized that this simple task was not as simple as it seemed. She spent a long time skewering a single ﬁsh, piercing through its belly and making a huge mess of its scales. She even got ﬁsh blood on her hands. The end result was that the poor ﬁsh was burned to a crisp in a ﬁt of rage by her holy ﬂames.

While she was unwilling to concede defeat, Ye Guyi did not try to help after she washed her hands. She believed it to be a form of mercy for the ﬁsh, as they could enter her stomach whole.

She sat on the beach and watched Huo Yuhao’s nimble but unrushed movements. Her mind started to drift.

She looked at the guy, who was not really that handsome, and at most had a nice body. She had seen many guys who were more handsome than him. However, under the glow of moonlight, he appeared to have a special charisma as he processed the ﬁsh. Guys look the best when they’re working. This thought swirled in her mind.

“Stop looking, I already have a master.” Huo Yuhao looked up and ﬂashed a smile at her, interrupting her reverie.

Ye Guyi felt her heart go cold. Huo Yuhao’s tone was mirthful as he poked fun at her like a friend. However, he also seemed to be reminding her of something.

This made Ye Guyi uncomfortable, and she shot back shrilly, “So what if I stare at you? Looking at you, do you think I’ll fall for you? Hmph!” As she said that, she stood up, turned around, and headed back toward the bonﬁre.

Huo Yuhao shook his head helplessly as he thought, Please don’t fall for me! However, did you realize that you’ve been sitting next to me for the past half hour?

As he thought about that, he wrapped the hundred ﬁsh in banana leaves before heading back toward the bonﬁre. On the other side, Nan Qiuqiu was already poking fun at Ye Guyi quietly. The two girls sat there mumbling to themselves. Under the glow of the bonﬁre, Ye Guyi seemed to be blushing.

When Huo Yuhao returned, he immediately started to grill the ﬁsh. He had already prepared the condiments and seasoning. Through his skills, he demonstrated his culinary abilities to those who had never eaten his grilled ﬁsh before!

It was faster to eat than to grill. Only after he grilled his sixtieth ﬁsh did Huo Yuhao get to have his ﬁrst bite.

The ﬁsh soup was fresh. The grilled ﬁsh was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. Moonlight shone down on the sea from the sky. The group of young men and women sat by the bonﬁre. It was a scene worth remembering.

The tasty dinner washed away the fatigue from the day. After dinner, they sat around the bonﬁre to meditate without even building tents, rotating the guard every two hours.

------ After a silent night, Huo Yuhao and the rest set off once more. Like he said yesterday, he led everyone to ﬂy out over the sea.

After they ﬂew ﬁve kilometers out over the sea, the shoreline ﬁnally became blurry. Only then did Huo Yuhao change directions and start to head west.

They ﬂew much faster above the sea, as they did not need to take detours. However, Huo Yuhao did not dare to lead everyone too far out into the sea, because there were many aquatic soul beasts out there. The most powerful ones were legendary and could rival, or even surpass, the kings of soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest.

After four hours, they ﬁnally crossed the border of the Sun Moon Empire. Huo Yuhao had no choice but to bring everyone further out to sea.

Both the Star Luo Empire and the Sun Moon Empire were not adept at naval warfare, but this did not mean that they had no naval defenses. They were both afraid of a naval invasion, and so they each stationed navies at their common border. However, their navies were not large, and there were only a few soul tools on their ships. Comparing the two, the Sun Moon Empire’s navy was stronger.

It was not that they did not want to develop their navies, but on the Douluo Continent, the presence of aquatic soul beasts hindered the development of navies. Once a navy became too large, aquatic soul beasts would attack. There was no chance of them ever entering the deep sea.

This was also why, before the Sun Moon Continent and the Douluo Continents slammed together, the three countries of the Douluo Continent did not even know of the existence of the Sun Moon Continent. In this world, because of the presence of aquatic soul beasts, ocean exploration was impossible!

As it was impossible to develop naval forces, land battles were paramount in importance!

They skirted past the two opposing navies. As they ﬂew out over the deep sea, some seagull-type oceanic soul beasts attacked Huo Yuhao and his team. However, they were not powerful enough to threaten the group and were easily dealt with.

After they skirted around the two navies and entered the territory of the Sun Moon Empire, Huo Yuhao directed his team to ﬂy closer to the shoreline before ﬂying ahead. They did not rest. When the soul power of their ﬂying-type soul tools was depleted to a certain extent, they would immediately replenish them with ﬁlled Sealed Milk Bottles.

After they ﬂew for another four hours, they soon approached Huo Yuhao’s second designated location. This was a city near the southern coast of the Sun Moon Empire called Seajoy City. Seajoy City was located near the southern sea of the Sun Moon Empire and could be considered a big city. It was built on the Sun Moon Empire’s greatest natural port, Sun Moon Harbor.

While ships could not enter the deep sea, progress in soul engineering technology ensured that ships sailing near the coast would be safe. After all, transport by sea was easier than transport by land, as it required less manpower and logistics. It would, however, require a greater upfront investment.

Everyone could see Sun Moon Harbor in the distance. However, Huo Yuhao did not ﬂy there straightaway with his companions. Instead, they landed near the coast around ﬁve kilometers away from Sun Moon Harbor and Seajoy City. There, everyone changed into the style of clothing worn by the people of the Sun Moon Empire. Only then did they head toward Seajoy City on foot.

Seajoy City could not compare with Radiant City or Shrek City. Relative to the cities of the continent, it was considered medium-sized.

Perhaps because of its rather inaccessible location, Seajoy City’s security was much less strict. Huo Yuhao and the rest were able to enter it easily.

Seajoy City’s buildings were different from those in the inland cities of the Sun Moon Empire. The city did not have the tall buildings of Radiant City, but more of the characteristics of a ﬁshing village by the sea. They all looked extremely sturdy, as they were probably designed to withstand sea storms. The buildings of Seajoy City were all located on higher ground, while Sun Moon Harbor was located on a downward slope.

------

They ﬁrst found a medium-sized hotel to settle down in.

After ﬂying for almost half a day, they needed time to rest.

“Qiuqiu, come and walk with me,” Huo Yuhao gestured to Nan Qiuqiu.

Nan Qiuqiu looked at Ye Guyi next to her, and said, “Ask Sister Guyi instead. Why me?”

Huo Yuhao’s faced darkened as he said, “What did I say before we came out? You have to obey all orders. If you don’t want to listen to my instructions, you can go back by yourself.”

Nan Qiuqiu stuck out her tongue and said crossly, “There’s no need to be so ﬁerce. I’ll go with you!” As she said that, she shot an odd look at Ye Guyi. Ye Guyi blushed, and her hips moved slightly. Then, Nan Qiuqiu ran out with a smile.

Huo Yuhao said, “Take this time to rest, guys. In the meantime, you can replenish the soul power in our Sealed Milk Bottles. We’ll come back soon.”

Xu Sanshi said, “Go, we’ll be ﬁne here.”

Huo Yuhao did not dare to delay. He was afraid of this young mistress. Heaven knew what kind of trouble she would cause.

He followed her outside and saw that she was not far away. Only then did he relax. He rushed over and said, “Come, hold my arm.”

Nan Qiuqiu was startled. She jumped to one side as she stared at him warily and said, “What are you doing? Don’t even think about taking advantage of me! Back in the hotel, there’s someone who’s dying for you to do that to her. What’s wrong? Have you fallen for me?” Huo Yuhao slapped his forehead and said helplessly, “Can you stop being so perverted? Do you want to save your mother or not?”

Nan Qiuqiu said angrily, “Saving my mother doesn’t mean I have to sacriﬁce my virtue! Stop using this to threaten me!”

The muscles on Huo Yuhao’s face twitched as he said, “Okay, ﬁne. Go back and get Ye Guyi to come. Tell her that we need to pretend to be a couple.”

“Pretend to be a couple? For what?” Nan Qiuqiu’s wariness was replaced by curiosity.

Huo Yuhao said angrily, “This is our disguise! We pretend to be a couple to gather information. If not, why would I want you to hold my arm?”

“You should have made yourself clearer,” Nan Qiuqiu replied with a snort. Only then did she shufﬂe over unwillingly and she held his arm. However, she grabbed the inner portion of his shirt with two of her ﬁngers. Huo Yuhao sighed and said, “Sometimes I feel that it was a mistake for elder brother to let you tag along. Let’s go.” As he said that, he strode forward with big steps.

Nan Qiuqiu’s mouth twitched as she said, “I’m a proper girl.

What if I become pregnant pretending to be your girlfriend?”

Huo Yuhao almost stumbled and fell. His arm trembled as he pushed Nan Qiuqiu’s hand to one side as he said, “Fine, you win, mistress. Let’s pretend to be brother and sister, alright? You won’t have to ‘suffer’ so much like this. I’m truly in awe at how you think holding hands can lead to pregnancy.”

With that, he ignored her as he continued to walk forward.

“Oi! Why are you so ﬁerce? This time, you’re in the wrong! There’s no way for you to pretend to be my older brother. I should be your elder sister instead! I’m older than you! Oi, stop walking so fast, wait for me!”

Huo Yuhao was afraid that he might really blow his top because of Nan Qiuqiu, and hence he walked ahead quickly. In his heart, he felt frustrated and helpless, but a smile crept across his face. This seemingly dumb and proud girl was indeed interesting. Ever since Dong’er fell into a deep slumber, he was ﬁnally able to relax a bit, even though it was because he was dealing with such petty issues.

---

As he walked down the street, Huo Yuhao bought some interesting local delicacies, such as dried ﬁsh, scallops, and some dried meat. He also bought a map of Seajoy City and its Sun Moon Harbor.

Nan Qiuqiu ultimately decided to be his girlfriend. While she did not like it, she held his hand.

“Why are you buying all this? They don’t look very tasty! Speaking of food, your grilled ﬁsh yesterday was excellent. Make more next time, it’s praiseworthy!”

Huo Yuhao said in a low voice, “I don’t need your praise.

From now on, try not to talk. Just smile.” “Why can’t I talk? I want to talk.”

“Save your mother! Save your mother!”

“Hmph!”

---

After making two rounds through the city following the instructions on the map, he ﬁnally stopped in front of building with a pointy top. He did not enter it immediately, but instead turned to look at Nan Qiuqiu and said, “After we enter, say nothing, is that clear? Listen to my instructions. If not, you can go back.”

“Alright, I’ll keep quiet,” Nan Qiuqiu agreed unwillingly.

Huo Yuhao sighed in relief, but just as he was about to enter, Nan Qiuqiu said, “Have you realized that Sister Guyi seems to like you?” Huo Yuhao missed a step, and he turned back and glared at her, saying angrily, “Shut your mouth, is that clear?”

“Alright!” Nan Qiuqiu shut her mouth unwillingly, but she continued to mumble, “I don’t know what Sister Guyi sees in you. So ﬁerce, hmph!”

Huo Yuhao did not bring Ye Guyi out because he sensed that she was looking at him oddly. Last night, it was clear from the way she watched him prepare the ﬁsh. Maybe she did not like him, but she was deﬁnitely curious about him. Huo Yuhao was quite sensitive to this. Qiu’er and Dong’er were already ﬁghting for him. He could not blame Qiu’er for it, but he deﬁnitely did not want anyone else to fall for him!

However, he regretted it now. Bringing Nan Qiuqiu out was torture! Had he known that, he would have brought Ye Guyi out. At least she was more normal!

There was a sign on the pointed building, which bore the words Sun Moon Harbor Shipping Company. After he entered the door, he was greeted with a bustling sight. The main hall was wide; at least four hundred square meters in area. There were ten counters, all of which were manned by busy staff. It was not particularly clean, and one could smell the reek of salt rot. Nan Qiuqiu could not help but frown. Huo Yuhao pinched her, stopping her from complaining about the place.

Huo Yuhao looked around at his surroundings before walking to a counter. The counter was empty, except for a middle-aged woman sitting on the other side.

“Hello, may I ask what the prices are for renting a boat?” After staying in the Sun Moon Empire for two years, he was able to imitate the local accent almost perfectly. Furthermore, he deliberately lowered the sound of his voice, making it hard to hear him clearly in this bustling place.

“Renting a boat? Little boy, why do you want to rent a boat? Don’t you know the ocean is unsafe?” The middle-aged woman looked at Huo Yuhao and waved him away impatiently.

Nan Qiuqiu, who was next to Huo Yuhao, almost laughed.

Little boy, what a nice moniker!

Huo Yuhao said calmly, “Sister, it’s not right to say that. While I’m young, this doesn’t mean I can’t do business! I want to rent a cargo ship that can transport around ﬁve thousand kilos of goods.”

“You want to ship something? Where?” The middle-aged woman ﬁnally perked up.

Huo Yuhao said, “To Pegasus Harbor in the east. How much will it cost?” Pegasus Harbor was located near the eastern seaboard of the Sun Moon Empire. It was near the Star Luo Empire’s naval base, which faced the Sun Moon Empire’s ﬂeet. It was the easternmost port of the Sun Moon Empire and was just a bit smaller than Sun Moon Harbor.

The middle-aged woman said, “A cargo ship that can carry ﬁve thousand kilos of goods to Pegasus Harbor? It’ll cost at least twelve hundred golden soul coins. Little fellow, it isn’t cheap!”

Huo Yuhao said, “Money is no issue, but I want to know if it’s safe. Also, what kind of cargo ship can you provide?”

Chapter 373: All Sides Making Their Moves

This was where Huo Yuhao demonstrated his intelligence. His questions were very precise, and so he did not arouse his the woman’s suspicions.

After some haggling, Huo Yuhao was able to rent, at an exorbitant price, a cargo ship one hundred and ﬁfty meters long, which could carry ten thousand kilograms worth of goods. This cargo ship was equipped with ten Class 3 soul cannons, manned by ten Class 3 soul engineers. It was not cheap. In total, Huo Yuhao had to pay out forty-ﬁve hundred gold soul coins.

Huo Yuhao paid one-third of the deposit up-front. He would load his goods after one week.

He put his receipt away and started to leave the Sun Moon Harbor Shipping Company with Nan Qiuqiu. A look of joy ﬂashed in his eyes. His preparations were sound.

However, not long after he left the building, he was blocked by some men.

They were all muscular and rugged, and smelled of the ocean. They stood in a row, completely blocking the rather narrow street.

“What do you want?” Before Huo Yuhao could say anything, Nan Qiuqiu had already opened her mouth.

Among the four buff men, the leader smiled and said, “We don’t want much. We noticed that you’ve just rented a huge ship, and we think you’ll need some men to help you out. Hence, we’ve decided to offer you our services to help you transport these goods. How about it?”

While he seemed to be asking, his tone was off.

Huo Yuhao said plainly, “There’s no need. We have enough men on our own. Don’t ﬁnd trouble with us, we’re backed by a major chamber of commerce.”

The leader laughed and said, “So what if you’re backed by a chamber of commerce? We’re Bluebeard’s men. Have you heard of him?”

Bluebeard? Huo Yuhao and Nan Qiuqiu naturally did not know who he was. They looked at each other. Nan Qiuqiu looked dumbfounded, but Huo Yuhao’s eyes were soon clouded with fear.

“You’re… you’re Bluebeard’s men? What do you want?”

The one in charge was satisﬁed with Huo Yuhao’s reaction as he said, “Let’s ﬁnd a quiet place to speak.” As he said that, the three of them advanced forward menacingly, surrounding Huo Yuhao and Nan Qiuqiu.

Huo Yuhao looked scared, but his right hand grabbed Nan Qiuqiu’s arm tightly, stopping her from acting rashly. They were led down a quiet and empty alley by these big men.

Once they were well into the alley, the leader said with a leer, “Young man, it seems that you know about Bluebeard. There’s nothing more to say then. For the safety of your goods, you have to pay tolls. As Bluebeard’s men, we’ll follow the rules. We don’t want much from you, just one-third of the value of your goods. When you load them onto the ship later, we’ll come down to do an estimate. By coming down today, we’re just making sure you know of our presence. At the same time, we’re giving you a chance. It’s just a formality!” As he said this, he extended his right hand and rubbed his thumb, index ﬁnger, and middle ﬁnger together.

The fear quickly faded from Huo Yuhao’s face as he let go of Nan Qiuqiu’s hand.

“Qiuqiu, I know that you have been trying to hold it in for the whole day. Here’s your chance. These men are pirates. Destroy them humanely, and try and keep it clean.”

After he said that, he immediately started to walk away.

“Rascal, where do you think you’re going?” one of the brawny men shouted. He was already trying to grab Huo Yuhao.

However, at this moment, a ray of pink light shot out from next to Huo Yuhao. It landed on the man, who collapsed before he could even shout. With Huo Yuhao’s cultivation and spiritual power, he had already seen that of the four buff men, only the leader was a Rank 20 Soul Grandmaster. The rest were just normal men who were a tad more muscular.

Pirates of the Sun Moon Empire? How could they be good?

There were bursts of curses, cries, and grunts coming from behind him, which stopped extremely quickly. Before Huo Yuhao could even walk out from the alley, he could smell perfume coming up from behind him.

Nan Qiuqiu dusted her hands off and said unhappily, “Not fun, they were all too weak. This doesn’t satisfy me. You’re a sly fellow indeed, tricking them here before striking!”

Huo Yuhao turned to look at her, and hissed, “Qiuqiu, grow some brains! Did you want to kill them out in the open? Wouldn’t that reveal who we are? Let’s head back!”

He was pleased with how Nan Qiuqiu had handled it. The Light of Annihilation annihilated more than just soul power. The alley was spotless, and without a single trace of a ﬁght.

------

He did not rush to leave, but instead stayed one night in Seajoy City. The next morning, just as the sky was brightening, the Tang Sect resumed their journey. This time, they did not ﬂy.

Huo Yuhao dictated that they would not continue their journey by air. The Sun Moon Empire had the most surveillance-type soul tools of all the countries on the continent. Every city was guarded by them, and they might even have some planted in the wilderness!

With their strength, they would need around two days to reach their destination by land. Sunrise City, where the hostages were kept, was located in the south of the Sun Moon Empire. They made their detour so as to not expose their identities.

They resumed their journey, but did not travel off the beaten path. Instead, they went by the main roads, and they moved ahead at full speed. Every time they ran into other travelers, Huo Yuhao would use Imitation to make them invisible. They were thus able to bypass the other travelers without being noticed, and without slowing down. As they moved forward, they did not encounter any difﬁculties.

-------

As the Tang Sect moved quickly toward Sunrise City, a bunch of other uninvited guests appeared near the Sun Moon Empire’s border.

Elder Xuan ﬂew at the forefront, Elder Song next to him. With the two of them in the lead, they were followed by other elders, as well as the Dean of Shrek Academy, Yan Shaozhe, and the Vice-Dean of the Soul Tool Department, Qian Duoduo.

While there were only eight of them, their combined power was nearly unprecedented in history.

Qian Duoduo had recently risen to Rank 95, and formally become a Transcendent Douluo. Hence, it could be said that all eight of them were Transcendent Douluo. Their combined power was even higher than when they had last taken action during the tournament.

“Xuan Zi, do we really need to do this? It’s completely against the rules,” Elder Song said in a low voice, frowning.

Elder Xuan smiled and said, “So, the actions of the Sun Moon Empire are legal? After the Continental Elite Youth Soul Master Tournament, they stopped so many team members from the various teams, and even detained and imprisoned some of them. That’s against the rules, too.”

Elder Song sighed and said, “The Sun Moon Empire is committing a grave sin. I’m afraid the evil soul masters…”

Elder Xuan shook his head and said, “They dare not. In terms of soul engineers and overall strength, the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Star Luo Empire are weaker than the Sun Moon Empire. However, in terms of soul masters only, they are not afraid. Unless the evil soul masters are seeking death, or are using all their strength, they would not dare to do anything. Let’s go. If we don’t create a ruckus, what can Yuhao do? He should be in the Sun Moon Empire by now.” “How could you consent to Huo Yuhao taking part in this operation?” Elder Song asked.

Elder Xuan waved his hand dismissively. “Old Song, don’t be too ﬁxated on the past. Yuhao appears to be quite different now. Furthermore, the Ultimate Soldier Plan isn’t supposed to raise a ﬂower in a greenhouse, right? If he doesn’t experience hardship, how can he better himself? As long as we make a big enough ruckus, he should be safe.”

“Alright,” Elder Song agreed with a reluctant nod.

Elder Xuan led them forward, and soon was in Sun Moon Empire airspace.

As this was the border, the density of surveillance-type soul tools was the highest here. Instantly, seven or eight high- altitude surveillance soul tools locked onto his position.

Elder Xuan smiled, and pressed forward with his right palm.

An intense yellow light shone from his body. Instantly, the sky appeared to collapse. An incomparably powerful aura radiated out from him. The high-altitude surveillance soul tools that had detected Elder Xuan all started to whine loudly. Even as they sensed the power of their target, they were all affected by it.

The high-altitude surveillance soul tools were built on the foundation of Sealed Milk Bottles, which provided them with enough soul power to spend a long time in the air. However, as Elder Xuan’s soul power ﬂuctuations were too vigorous, it caused the soul power in the Sealed Milk Bottles to react adversely.

Bang! Dazzling ﬁreworks burst out nearby.

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang… A series of explosions, accompanied by ﬂashy red ﬁreworks, followed the ﬁrst one quickly. After a breath or two, all the high-altitude surveillance soul tools in a two-and-a-half kilometer radius were blown up by Elder Xuan’s massive soul power.

After Elder Xuan did that, the rest started to act too. With their Transcendent Douluo strength, they did not need any ﬂying-type soul tools to ﬂy. The remaining seven all ﬂew off in different directions.

After a short while, the pitch-black night sky started to light up again. A huge amount of aerial surveillance-type soul tools were destroyed at great speed.

However, the Sun Moon Empire was still the most powerful empire on the continent. It quickly reacted and counter- attacked!

Powerful rays of light lit up on the ground as soul tools bombarded the sky. They were all wide-barreled soul cannons, and there were also other soul cannons which could immobilize, paralyze, or stun their targets!

Only soul tools which were Class 6 and above could hit targets at their altitude. Instantly, the entire sky was illuminated by bright, eye-catching lights. The rays of light from the soul cannons were like a forest of death that enveloped everything!

Faced with this formation, even a normal Titled Douluo would panic, and try to escape as quickly as he could. However, no matter how strong the Sun Moon Empire’s defenses were, they were not designed to withstand Transcendent Douluo. Or at least, they were not prepared to handle eight of them!

Faced with the rapidly rising rays of light, Elder Xuan and the rest rose higher into the air. No one knew how many soul cannons the Sun Moon Empire had beneath them, so ﬁghting them head-on was not a wise choice. However, no matter how powerful a soul cannon was, even if it was Class 9, its range was limited. With their Transcendent Douluo cultivation, they could ﬂy three thousand meters into the air, a height which would allow them to dodge most soul tools.

The eight ﬁgures rose into the sky. Even if a soul cannon could strike them, it could not overcome their defenses. Without the help of the destroyed high-altitude surveillance soul tools, it would be difﬁcult to lock onto their positions.

However, Elder Xuan and the others did not relax. They had seen the strength of the Sun Moon Empire’s soul tools in battle, and understood how terrifying their opponents were. In Elder Xuan’s heart, he rejoiced at the fact that Huo Yuhao had destroyed the underground bunker. At that time, he had scolded the young man because that action might have impoverished many. However, now that he thought about it, he realized that had the huge warehouse not been destroyed, all the soul tools inside of it would have been deployed in war.

Even Transcendent Douluo like them had to dodge to avoid getting hit by this many soul cannons. How would the soldiers of the three countries fare?

The high-altitude bombardment did not last for very long. After a few minutes, the strong light coming from the ground started to slowly fade. At the same time, ground-based aerial surveillance soul tools started to scan the air using huge swaths of shapeless light waves to ﬁnd Elder Xuan and the others.

However, the range of these soul tools was only about a thousand meters. If not, there would no need for those high- altitude surveillance soul tools. The Sun Moon Empire only possessed this level of technology at the moment. After the ground-based aerial surveillance soul tools performed a scan, ﬁgures rose into the air and charged toward them in the sky.

All of these ﬁgures had a light on their backs, which came from ﬂying-type soul tools. There were hundreds of them. One of them, in the center, carried a large surveillance soul tool.

Faced with a sudden attack, the Sun Moon Empire had come up with an all-around response. First, they bombarded their targets with all their might. Then, they used ground-based aerial surveillance soul tools to scan for them. Finally, they deployed their Aerial Warfare Legion.

Their plans were very well done.

However, their enemies today were nearly invincible. If the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineering legions were powerful enough to resist the rest of the world, the Sun Moon Empire would not have had to wait to invade the other empires, or form an alliance with evil soul masters. Hence, when Elder Xuan appeared with a smile in front of the three hundred members of the Aerial Warfare Legion, their end was near.

Hundreds of soul cannons open up on Elder Xuan. In this legion, the most powerful soul engineer was at least Class 7.

However, faced with a powerful existence like a Rank 98 Titled Douluo, everything they did was futile.

Elder Xuan did not like killing, so he did not kill them straight away, but instead used his domain-type Gravity Control. All of the soldiers fell to the ground like ﬂies that been doused with insecticide.

The other elders did not slack either. Discussion and action were separate matters.

Explosions rang out from the ground below. According to the unspoken rules of the continent, Titled Douluo and high-level soul engineers would not attack ordinary people. This was why Elder Song did not want to attack just now. However, Elder Xuan had found a loophole. Their target was naturally not the ordinary soldiers of the Sun Moon Empire. However, faced with an attack by the aerial soul engineers, Elder Xuan naturally would not show mercy. The other elders did not kill, but instead tried to cause as much destruction as possible.

While the soul cannon bombardment just now was powerful, it also revealed the locations of the soul cannons the Sun Moon Empire had installed. Hence, they became targets for the many Transcendent Douluo. Beyond the sites of the soul cannons, they also attacked granaries and ammunition warehouses.

That night was a nightmare for the Sun Moon Empire’s border troops stationed near the Heavenly Soul Empire.

Explosions boomed from midnight to dawn. When the sun rose once more, the main camp of the Sun Moon Empire was completely ruined.

How could there be no Class 9 soul engineers in charge of such an important camp? However, the two Class 9 soul engineers in charge there could do nothing in the face of eight Transcendent Douluo. Furthermore, the attack took place at night. Without the high-altitude surveillance soul tools, how could they concentrate their ﬁre on the elders of the Sea God’s Pavilion?

War had yet to break out, but Shrek Academy was already using its strength to demonstrate to the Sun Moon Empire that soul masters were still the most powerful weapons of war!

------

Elder Xuan and the other elders did not hide their identities. Soon, news of this destruction spread throughout the Sun Moon Empire.

“Smash!” A delicate tea bottle was shattered against the ground.

Xu Tianran was so enraged that his face was pale. “What the hell were the border troops doing? Four hundred soul engineers are injured or dead. A huge amount of soul cannons and ammunition were lost. Fools, a bunch of fools!” Ju Zi sat next to Xu Tianran, clad in light-golden regalia, and was silent.

After Xu Tianran ascended to the throne, he named her his empress. Her position was unlike before.

After Xu Tianran was done venting his anger, he calmed down, and a smile crept across the corner of his mouth as he said, “Shrek, have you ﬁnally decided to strike? Someone go and summon the Imperial Tutor to discuss this matter.”

“Yes!” the guards outside replied frightfully.

“Empress, what do you think?” Xu Tianran asked Ju Zi.

Ju Zi stood up, walked behind Xu Tianran, and massaged his shoulders, saying, “Your Majesty, please don’t be too angry. This matter, to me, appears strange. While Shrek Academy is the top school on the continent, they do not belong to any country. Everyone knows that Shrek Academy is independent, and their position is exceptional. This time, their actions should be a form of retaliation against us for capturing the participants of the tournament.”

“They want to force me to release them?” Xu Tianran’s eyes narrowed into slits.

Ju Zi nodded and said, “I believe that to be the case. They’ll continue to attack. Faced with these powerful soul masters, it is indeed impossible to ﬁght back. They rely on the border with the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Star Luo Empire, which makes it hard for us to strike back at them.”

Xu Tianran chuckled coldly and said, “Do they want to see who is more destructive? In that case, no one can beat evil soul masters. Since they want to unleash destruction, I shall do it, too! Let’s see who will crack ﬁrst.”

Ju Zi shook her head and said, “No, Your Majesty, you can’t do that. We aren’t ready yet. If we do that, we’ll be provoking the war ahead of schedule. While the Holy Ghost Church is powerful, they cannot ﬁght all the soul masters of the original three countries of the continent. This may be a trap set by our opponents. If the Holy Ghost Church suffers a major defeat, it will not do us any good.” Xu Tianran was ultimately a crafty leader. Just now, anger had made him lose his reason, but he gradually calmed down and patted Ju Zi’s hand. “With you as my empress, I’m blessed indeed. Tell me, what should we do?”

A murderous aura ﬂashed in her eyes as she said, “Your Majesty, our empire still has a stockpile of Class 9 stationary soul cannons. There are some that can shoot into the sky, right?”

Xu Tianran’s eyes lit up as he said, “Are you saying we should intimidate them?”

“Yes! Kill one to scare a hundred. This will prevent them from being so arrogant. There are some soul masters who have yet to taste the might of a Class 9 stationary soul cannon.”

------

A clear breeze intermingled with the aroma of nature. Insects and birds chirped in the forest, and sunlight cascaded down, casting faint rays that could not penetrate the thick foliage.

Underneath a tree so wide that it would require at least ten people to surround it, sat a person.

Her powdery-blue long hair hung loosely behind her back. As she was sitting down, her hair brushed the ground. Her eyes were shut, her long eyebrows curled slightly, and her nose was straight. Her skin was pale white, and her lips were supple. If ‘beauty’ had a human form, this was it.

Her long, slender legs were crossed as she sat straight. From the side, one could see her round, heaving posterior. Her slender ﬁgure, which stretched from her waist to her posterior, would attract the attention of any man.

Even though her eyes were closed, she emitted an icy-cold aura that deterred most beasts and men from approaching her. If one could sense the auras nearby, one would realize that apart from birds and insects, there were no large animals.

This was one of the most mysterious and dangerous places in the Douluo Continent. Soul masters called it the Slaughtering Grounds, as it was the core region of the Great Star Dou Forest. To humans, this was a deadly place. Even Transcendent Douluo would not dare to come to this place without preparation, because half of the Ten Great Savage Beasts of the Douluo Continent lived here. They each had extraordinary abilities, and were as intelligent as humans. Furthermore, they could also command the many powerful soul beasts inside the Great Star Dou Forest.

Normally, a hundred-thousand year soul beast was equivalent to a Titled Douluo. In terms of strength, it depended on the innate skills of the individual soul beast, just like how it depended on the martial soul and soul skills of a Titled Douluo.

Once a soul beast broke through its bottleneck and reached a two hundred-thousand year cultivation level, its power could rival that of a Transcendent Douluo.

Every one hundred thousand years after that would be a matter of life and death to the soul beast. Undoubtedly, every time the soul beast overcame such a deadly test, its power would increase exponentially.

It was like when Huo Yuhao ﬁrst met the Ice Empress. The terrifying power of the Ice Empress was enough to ﬁght a Rank

97 Titled Douluo. In the extreme north, even someone as powerful as Elder Xuan might not have been able to defeat her. Among the Ten Great Savage Beasts, however, the Ice Empress was only ranked seventh.

As for the Snow Empress, the reason why she started to regress and almost self-destructed inside Huo Yuhao was because her own power was way too strong. After a soul beast broke through the ﬁve hundred-thousand year barrier, it would be as powerful as an Ultimate Douluo. In other words, the Snow Empress was as powerful as the Dragon Emperor Douluo, Long Xiaoyao. If he met her in the Extreme North, Long Xiaoyao would not dare to ﬁght her head-on.

In the world of soul beasts, including the Snow Empress, ﬁve of the Ten Great Savage Beasts were as powerful as Ultimate Douluo. They all held powerful positions. Naturally, they were the top ﬁve of the Ten Great Savage Beasts.

At this moment, in the core region of the Great Star Dou Forest, the Slaughtering Grounds, lived the ﬁrst, fourth, ﬁfth, sixth, and eighth of the Ten Great Savage Beasts. They ruled over all the other soul beasts.

To live in the Slaughtering Grounds, one had to have a cultivation of at least one hundred thousand years. Hence, this was the top place for Transcendent Douluo to seek adventures.

Once one reached the level of a Transcendent Douluo, he would not need soul rings anymore. However, it was important to remember that the killing of a hundred-thousand year old soul beast would not only spawn a hundred thousand year soul ring, but more importantly, it would produce a soul bone… a hundred-thousand year soul bone which carried two soul skills!

For soul masters, gold and riches were nothing. However, how many people could possess all six soul bones? Once a Transcendent Douluo had a hundred-thousand year soul beast’s soul bone, his power would experience a qualitative leap.

Hence, many Transcendent Douluo visited the Slaughtering Grounds. Some of them even killed a few hundred-thousand year soul beasts.

In the end, this enraged the leaders of the soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest. They launched an unprecedentedly terrifying beast wave, targeting Shrek City. It terriﬁed all soul masters.

Even though Shrek City was able to halt the invading beast wave with the help of the many disciples from Shrek Academy, as well as the Body Sect, the humans eventually compromised. Shrek Academy led a total of 27 Titled Douluo in promising, on behalf of all humans, that as long as a hundred-thousand year soul beast did not leave the Slaughtering Grounds, the humans would not enter it. Only then did the leaders of the soul beasts calm down and end their destructive beast wave, and the devastation it brought in its wake.

From that moment on, the Slaughtering Grounds in the Great Star Dou Forest became a forbidden zone for humans. Not a single human could be found there.

The beasts with more than a hundred-thousand year cultivation all fell into a deep slumber. They gathered their energy and prepared to break through their next calamity.

Under this backdrop, in the spiritual aura-ﬁlled Slaughter Grounds, sat a woman. How could this scene not be shocking? Could it mean that the promise between humans and beasts was broken?

Suddenly, the woman’s body started to tremble slightly. Following that, a strange scene appeared. A golden light shone in the center of her forehead. This golden light extended into a ray of light about one inch long. The golden ray then split into two, and turned into a golden eye, which looked up into the endless night sky.

When the eye shone, everything around it seemed to lose its color. The chirping of birds and insects suddenly stopped. It was as if the eye was the only thing that was alive, and was judging everything before it.

The eye looked into the distance, and gradually started to ripple clearly, a wave of gentle golden light starting to spread from the girl’s body.

Light ﬂashed, and the girl started to move. She stood up, and the moment she did, her slim, slender body became even more alluring.

The golden eye on her forehead now closed, but her powdery-blue eyes, obscured slightly by her long lashes, opened instantly.

Her eyes seemed glazed as she mumbled to herself, “Why? Why can’t I forget him? I control the power of destiny, but I can’t control my own? What irony is this? His destiny, why will he…?”

At this moment, the dazed look in her eyes turned into panic. Her entire mental state appeared different as she emitted a completely different aura!

She started to pace up and down, and the aura from her body became increasingly unstable. Her petite face was panicky, then angry, then resolute, and then it softened. The constant changes in her facial expression reﬂected the turmoil in her heart.

Finally, she grit her teeth and looked at the thick canopy above her head. She took in a deep breath and said, “I’ll go, I must go! I can’t be clouded by destiny. I want to help him change his destiny, and mine too. I… I want to ﬁght for this one chance!”

She stopped mumbling to herself. Suddenly, she jumped and pierced through the thick foliage like a golden cannon shell. She ﬂew into the air, leaving only a lingering fragrance in the forest. ------

Sunrise City...

With the continual development of soul tools, more and more lower-level soul tools started to enter the daily lives of the common folk of the Sun Moon Empire. Perhaps the Sun Moon Empire’s higher-level soul engineers could not rival the soul masters from the original three countries of the Douluo Continent, but it had more low-level soul masters. This was a result of their advances in soul engineering.

On the Douluo Continent, everyone could Awaken their martial soul at the age of six. Regardless of what their martial soul was, they could all cultivate.

However, those who could truly make a name for themselves in the soul master world could not just rely on cultivation.

For many of them, even after they had awakened their martial soul, their soul power would only be between Rank 1 and Rank 3. This was a huge limitation on their future cultivation, which was not just limited to the ﬁrst ten ranks. If they were not innately talented, they would get very little in return for their effort.

In particular, if their martial soul had no practical use, such as those which were hoes, cups, or plates, there was no need for them to continue cultivating.

Because of this, many of those who were not gifted in this aspect had no way of continuing their cultivation. Their lack of innate talent prevented them from receiving an education from an excellent academy, and often they could not afford the exorbitant fees of a soul master school. Very few were like Huo Yuhao, who was able to use make up for his lack of innate talent with hard work.

However, the situation over in the Sun Moon Empire was different. A few hundred years ago, with the development of soul engineering, this situation was greatly ameliorated. In the Sun Moon Empire, the Awakening of one’s martial soul would also mean that as long as one had soul power, he or she would qualify for free training subsidized by the empire. They would even be given medicines that could increase their soul power. While these medicines might have side-effects, it was glorious to become a soul master! Being a soul master meant that one was superior to his peers! Who would give up such a chance?

So what if your martial soul was useless? As long as you had soul power, you could use soul tools. With soul tools, it would not be hard to attack or defend yourself!

Perhaps it was a result of the medicines, but soul masters without innate talent could possess only two or three rings at most. However, as the numbers of this group of people grew, the overall situation changed.

Their existence was a strong foundation upon which the Sun Moon Empire built its soul engineer legions. At the same time, they allowed for more civilian soul tools to be used by the ordinary citizens of the Sun Moon Empire.

How was the Sun Moon Empire able to resist the three empires of the Douluo Continent? This was one of the major reasons!

Undoubtedly, in terms of soul engineering technology and the nurturing of soul engineers, the Sun Moon Empire had a very large lead. Sunrise City was only a small-to-medium sized city in the Sun Moon Empire. It was not as huge as Radiant City, and in total, it had fewer than a hundred thousand permanent residents. Counting its non-permanent residents, it had about half a million inhabitants at any given time.

However, in the past few months, the city had undergone a complete change. Its ﬁfteen-meter-tall city walls were now ﬁlled with a huge amount of searchlights and various surveillance tools. Outside Sunrise City were two soul engineering legions, each of which had ﬁve hundred men.

In the Sun Moon Empire, soul engineer legions were ranked differently. The most powerful one was the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Legion, which was the most powerful force in the empire. One’s soul power had to be at least Rank 50 to join it. In other words, only Soul Kings were qualiﬁed to enter it. In total, it had three hundred men. Among them were three legion commanders and three legion vice-commanders, all of whom were Class 9 soul engineers who were loyal only to the imperial family.

Only the Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire could use this powerful soul engineering legion. They were equipped with the top soul tools, and they received the best treatment among all the soldiers in the Sun Moon Empire. The upkeep for this one legion was equivalent to the tax revenue of two big cities.

This was the force which guarded Radiant City, and they were the most loyal and important ﬁghting force of the emperor. Together with the Imperial Palace of Consecration, they were the two pillars of the monarchy.

Chapter 374: Hand that Protects the Nation

When these two forces worked together, even a powerful entity like the Holy Ghost Church had to be wary, much less an ordinary person.

Other than the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion, the empire also had four other Beast Lord-ranked soul engineer legions. They were the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion, the Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion, the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion, and the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion.

These four soul engineering legions were all named after powerful kings among soul beasts. Among them, ‘Imperial Dragon’ referred to the Purplebrilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon. This was a powerful but extinct soul beast. In the Sun Moon Empire’s imperial family, some of its scions possessed this powerful bloodline martial soul. One of the main reasons that Xu Tianran was able to ascend to the throne was that he inherited this martial soul, unlike the Sun that the other descendants of the Imperial Family possessed. His Purplebrilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon and the Earth Dragon Sect’s bloodline martial soul, Ruby Dragons, were similar in some aspects, but they were also distinctly different from one another.

The element of the Ruby Dragons was Annihilation, while the element of the Purplebrilliant Heaven Destroying Dragons was Catastrophe, which was more tyrannical than the Ruby Dragons’ Annihilation. Legend had it that the Purplebrilliant Heaven Destroying Dragons’ ancestor was a Second Dragon which had accompanied the Dragon God, and was also known as the Ancestor of the Second Dragons. However, as it was too destructive, it was personally destroyed by the Dragon God.

The Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion was naturally named after the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear. This terrifying beast was legendary in all countries.

The Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion took its name from the mythical Fire Phoenix. It only recruited female soul engineers, and its current leader was the Empress of the Sun Moon Empire, Ju Zi.

The last legion, the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion, was named after the only one of the Ten Great Savage Beasts that lived in the Sun Moon Empire’s borders, the Evileye Tyrant King. This beast was ranked second among the Ten Great Savage Beasts and was infamous throughout the entire Sun Moon Continent. It had hidden itself and no one knew if it was alive or dead. However, since the Sun Moon Empire decided to name an entire legion after it because of its ferocity, one could tell how fearsome it was.

There was a legend surrounding the Evileye Tyrant King. When the Sun Moon Continent ﬁrst crashed into the Douluo Continent, the Evileye Tyrant King once went to the Great Star Dou Forest to ﬁnd the Beast God, Di Tian.

No one knew what happened between the Evileye Tyrant King and the Beast God, but when the former returned to the Sun Moon Empire, it vanished without a trace.

Di Tian was still the Beast God and was still ranked ﬁrst among the Ten Great Savage Beasts. However, after that battle, the Evileye Tyrant King was able to retreat in one piece from the Great Star Dou Forest, establishing its title as the second- most powerful beast among the Ten Great Savage Beasts.

The four soul engineer legions each had their specialties. For example, the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion was all- female. The Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion was ﬁlled with buff men, the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion was the best at ﬁghting, and the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion specialized in speed.

To join any of them, one’s soul power had to be at least Rank 40, which was the equivalent of a Soul Ancestor. Each Beast Lord-ranked soul engineer legion had three hundred members. Other than Ju Zi, who led the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion, the other legion commanders were all Class 9 soul engineers. The vice-legion commander of the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion was a Class 9 soul engineer, too.

Together with the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion, they were collectively known as the Hand that Protects the Nation. They were the ﬁve pillars which supported the Sun Moon Empire.

Other than these ﬁve soul engineer legions, the other soul engineer legions had lower entry requirements. They were comprised of ﬁve hundred men each, and as long as one had more than two soul rings, one could join. Right now, there were six of these legions, totaling three thousand men, all stationed in different locations. Other than them, the major regional armies of the Sun Moon Empire each recruited legions of soul engineers, too. However, their organization was not standardized, and even the imperial family could not control all of them. Many of them belonged to the nobility, like the rebellious ones Huo Yuhao and the others had met earlier on.

On the battleﬁeld, even a low-level soul engineer legion was stronger than a cavalry legion of ten thousand men. They were highly destructive, and because they were few in number, they could use their soul tools very ﬂexibly. Normally, a single soul engineer legion could decide the outcome of a battle.

The ﬁve major soul engineer legions could also turn into aerial soul engineers. Their many years of training allowed them to work together seamlessly, and their morale was strong. Commanded by top soul engineers, they would be the backbone of the Sun Moon Empire’s future conquests.

Around Sunrise City, which seemed plain and ordinary, the Sun Moon Empire had stationed two of the six soul engineer legions, each of which comprised ﬁve hundred men. This was a testament to the importance of Sunrise City to the Sun Moon Empire. Furthermore, this was just its outer city defenses! Huo Yuhao and his companions had reached the outskirts of Sunrise City one day ago, but they were in no rush to enter it. Instead, they intermingled with a trade delegation and stayed outside the city for a day.

With Huo Yuhao present, it was akin to having a highly- effective surveillance soul tool. Despite the Sun Moon Empire’s technological prowess, no soul tool could rival Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection when it came to surveillance!

After his closed-door cultivation, Huo Yuhao had merged all his skills together. He had also obtained a deeper understanding of his concrete-material realm spiritual power.

Right now, he was scanning the entire area. He was able to detect anything within a ﬁfteen-hundred meter radius. If he concentrated his spiritual power in a particular direction, he would be able to sense everything there, be it the differences in obstacles, terrain, or the weather, up to a distance of ﬁve to seven thousand meters.

This was without using his Eye of Destiny! After a night’s rest, Huo Yuhao was able to gather enough intelligence. He was well aware that there were powerful people guarding the captured soul masters. To avoid startling them, he did not try to survey inside the city.

There were many different types of martial souls, and each day brought new changes to the development of soul engineering. He could not be sure that no one from the Sun Moon Empire would be able to sense the presence of his spiritual power, and so he acted very cautiously. If they failed this time, their chances of success next time would be even tinier.

There were only seven of them there. It was impossible to win based on brute force alone. Hence, they had to depend on the opportunity Shrek Academy created for them, as well as their own wits.

After a night’s worth of detection, Huo Yuhao discovered that the two soul engineer legions of ﬁve hundred men were divided into ten groups. These were stationed at various locations outside Sunrise City. Sunrise City was surrounded by open plains. All one thousand soul engineers had taken up positions in the plains. Soul cannons, which were weak individually, were deployed in huge quantities around the city. There were also some high- level soul tools nearby. One could say that Sunrise City, in its current state, was akin to a city of under threat of death. If the army of soul engineers wished, they could level the city in a very short time.

They were not the problematic ones, though. Those were the many surveillance soul tools on the walls of Sunrise City. After one scan, Huo Yuhao found out that they comprised long-range all-terrain soul detectors, short-range thermal detectors, medium-range aerial soul detectors, triggered targeting-type soul tools, and a huge amount of high-altitude surveillance soul tools.

One could say that even if a ﬂy ﬂew out from Sunrise City, the soul engineers in charge of these surveillance soul tools would be able to detect it.

Huo Yuhao could conceal himself with Imitation, and he could use his Ultimate Ice to prevent his body heat from being picked up by the short-range thermal detectors. However, that was all he could do. There was nothing he could do against the triggered targeting-type soul tools!

That type of soul tool sensed the ﬂuctuations of one’s soul power. When he used his Imitation and Ultimate Ice, his soul power would deﬁnitely ﬂuctuate. At that moment, if his foes were locked onto his location, Huo Yuhao would be bombarded by every single soul engineer stationed outside. This was akin to being carpet-bombed. With the high density of soul engineers nearby, there was no way he could escape.

“Yuhao, what can we do?” After breakfast, the Tang Sect discussed this issue in hushed voices.

At this moment, a long line had already formed outside Sunrise City. Right now, anyone entering or leaving Sunrise City would be searched and screened. This was why there were trade delegations stationed outside the city. Searching one such delegation would require a whole day, or even more.

Huo Yuhao and the rest were able to blend in with these trade delegations. As there were many traders, no one had noticed them. Huo Yuhao said, “I’ve scanned this place carefully. It’s impossible to sneak inside, as there are too many surveillance soul tools. Almost every type of surveillance soul tool is present. It’ll be troublesome to go in via the city gate, as they have soul power detectors which can sense the ﬂuctuations in our soul power. They can then determine our strength based on our soul power ﬂuctuations.”

Xu Sanshi frowned and said, “It’s already been a few months, and yet they’re still so vigilant. We can’t even enter the city like this. How can we save them? Furthermore, they captured over six hundred people. Even if we do enter, can we save them all? Escape will be difﬁcult too, with so many soul engineers both in and around the city. Can we even escape?”

Huo Yuhao said, “It’s difﬁcult indeed, but there’s still a chance. We need to react accordingly.”

“We’ll go in swords waving,” Ji Juechen said coolly.

Xu Sanshi waved at him and said, “Bye bye!”

Ji Juechen leered at him, but did not make a move. He was a sword fanatic, not a fool.

Nan Qiuqiu was the most anxious at the moment. She knew that her mother was imprisoned inside the city, but she could not enter it to save her. It would take a miracle to calm her down. Right now, she was like an ant on a frying pan. If not for Ye Guyi’s consolation, she might actually have tried to ﬁght her way inside.

Xu Sanshi looked at Huo Yuhao, who was in deep thought, and said, “Yuhao, you have a plan, right?”

Huo Yuhao said, “There’s no chance, so we have to make a chance. The Academy has already attacked, but the news has yet to reach this city. The Heavenly Soul Empire and the Star Luo Empire will respond accordingly. The palace will know of this as soon as possible. With the tense situation at the border, the Sun Moon Empire has a few choices. First, they can take the prisoners here to the frontline as hostages. Second, if they are cruel, they’ll kill them straight away. Third, they can station more soldiers and soul engineer legions at the border.

“I feel that the ﬁrst and third options are the most possible ones. After all, the Sun Moon Empire’s war preparations are not yet ﬁnished. If not, they would have already killed all the people they have imprisoned. We have to enter before news of the attack reaches here and ﬁnd opportunities to strike. What we aim to do is not to rescue them, but to help them regain their ﬁghting abilities. As long as we're able to do so, we’ll stand a much better chance.”

Xu Sanshi nodded and said, “Right, but how can we get in?”

Huo Yuhao smiled slightly and said, “Let me think. If we can’t even enter the gate, we would have wasted all our Ultimate Soldier training, right? You lot follow the trade delegation into the city, and I’ll strike when they start searching you. At that time, the soldiers can only respond in one way, and that will be to stop the search and close the gates. Then, you guys can…”

As he spoke, Huo Yuhao muttered a few quiet words into everyone’s ears. They all nodded in agreement.

“If our plan fails or we’re exposed, it’ll all depend on you to save the day, second senior brother,” Huo Yuhao said to He Caitou.

“Okay, that’s ﬁne with me. However, how do you plan to enter the city, little junior brother?” He Caitou inquired.

A light shone in Huo Yuhao’s eyes as he replied, “Don’t worry, I have my ways. I’ll go ﬁrst. Be careful, everyone.”

With that, he turned to leave. Mingling with the trade delegation, he disappeared without a trace.

The others also intermingled with the trade delegation and sauntered slowly toward the city gate as they prepared for inspection.

Right now, everyone from the Tang Sect was in disguise. For example, He Caitou now had hair on his head, Xu Sanshi had a scar on his face, and Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu were disguised as villagers, a far cry from their usual beautiful selves. The line moved forward slowly. It was almost noon at this point, and many in the queue were consuming their rations. Under Huo Yuhao’s instructions, those from the Tang Sect were in no rush. They followed the others patiently.

At this moment, a group of soldiers on horseback dashed toward them from afar. Sand and dust ﬂew into the air, and the traders who were in the queue had no choice but to dodge them. It was a chaotic scene.

Xu Sanshi and He Caitou exchanged a look. The two of them had the same thought. Maybe news from the border has ﬁnally reached them? However, what will its impact be? This depends on the amount of pressure Elder Xuan is exerting at the border.

After another two hours, it was ﬁnally the Tang Sect’s turn. Among the six of them, Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu stood at the front.

At this moment, the two women were dressed as if they had come from the countryside. Nan Qiuqiu’s dress was gray and very plain. Her clear face was dotted with freckles, and she looked very pitiable and moving. Ye Guyi was slightly taller than her, but Huo Yuhao made her look pitiful too. The two women walked side-by-side. Their simple, rural-looking outﬁts and their pitiful demeanor complemented their overall look.

“The two of you, come over here,” said a soldier who was stationed outside the gates, waving at them.

Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi each had a basket. When they heard his words, they walked over immediately. At that moment, the two of them could not help but feel nervous. The soldiers were nothing, but there were so many surveillance soul tools around them, and two soul engineer legions outside the city. This was too much of a threat to them!

Nan Qiuqiu swore in her heart, “Where is that bastard Huo Yuhao? It’s almost our turn!”

There was a huge soul power detector at the gate. With just one scan, it would detect the presence and ﬂuctuations of one’s soul power.

“Brother, will this hurt us?” Nan Qiuqiu asked the soldier timidly. The gate was manned by a small team of twenty soldiers. They were split into two shifts, and the team leader was the one who spoke to Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi. He was armored, and a longsword dangled by his side. He looked cool and impressive, but he was ultimately still a hot-headed young man. At his age, he was naturally hormonally-charged. When he saw the pretty Nan Qiuqiu, his hard expression softened visibly.

“It’s ﬁne. You’ll just be scanned by the soul power detector. It won’t hurt you at all. Just maintain this position, go on!”

“Thank you so much, brother! You’re so handsome,” said Nan Qiuqiu. She said the last bit softly as she turned to look at him, batting her eyelashes.

The small team leader’s heart skipped a beat as he asked, “Where are you from, sister? You’re pretty too.”

Nan Qiuqiu said shyly, “I’m from Radiant City. I live in its outskirts. Normally, I’ll help my family in the ﬁelds and with the chores. I don’t remember Sunrise City’s security being so tight. What happened?” The small team leader looked at Nan Qiuqiu staring at him in pure admiration, and could not help but feel pleased with himself as he said, “There were some incidents in the city, so things are a lot more troublesome right now. It’s ﬁne. I’ll order my men to move faster. You can go in as a group.”

“Wow brother, you’re an ofﬁcial? No wonder you look so special,” Ye Guyi interjected from the side.

The small team leader smiled and said, “I’m just a low- ranked one. Go, go, are the two of you sisters?”

Nan Qiuqiu nodded and said, “That’s right! She’s my cousin. There’re six of us, as we wouldn’t dare to travel by ourselves! Those three over there are my uncles, and that’s my aunt.” As she spoke, she pointed at Xu Sanshi, He Caitou, Ji Juechen, and Jing Ziyan.

“There are six of you, right? Go and get checked together. I’ll tell them to be faster. We’re all trying to make a living. No one has it easy,” said the small team leader. Evidently, he was giddy from Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi’s praises and admiration. Instantly, he became much more magnanimous. Nan Qiuqiu’s beautiful eyes shone and she said, “Brother, you’re so nice. Are… are you married?” When she said the last bit, it was barely louder than a whisper. However, the team leader heard it.

“Married? I’m a poor soldier. Who would want me?” the team leader chuckled.

Nan Qiuqiu said in a rush, “Don’t say that! Brother, you are so manly! How can someone not like you? I shan’t talk anymore, as I’m in a rush. Here, take this…” As she spoke, she took out a coarse piece of paper and a pencil from her basket. She wrote a few, messy words on it before handing it over to the team leader.

Faced with Nan Qiuqiu’s watery gaze, the team leader’s heart beat even faster. He took the paper from her. There was an address on it.

“Sister, you are…”

Nan Qiuqiu blushed as she said softly, “Moron.” With that, she walked elegantly over to the soul power detector.

The small team leader felt his throat tighten as he swallowed to himself. Many different expressions ﬂitted across his face. No matter how dumb he was, he understood exactly what was going on at that moment. He could not wait for his shift to end so that he could bring Nan Qiuqiu and the rest of them straight

into Sunrise City.

Xu Sanshi, He Caitou, Ji Juechen, and Jing Ziyan followed the two women as they walked toward the soul power detector.

Nan Qiuqiu only did so after she received instructions from afar via Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power. If not, she would have exchanged a few more words with the team leader.

Just when Nan Qiuqiu was ﬁve meters away from the soul power detector, a series of explosions could be heard in the distance.

This caught the attention of both the trade delegations and the soldiers. Every single one of them looked in the direction of the sounds. In the nearby plains, one could see huge swathes of light ﬂashing. The light shone in the shrubs and forests. No one could see what was causing it, but it made a huge ruckus.

The small team leader, who was previously infatuated with Nan Qiuqiu, stood dazed for a few moments before he snapped to attention and shouted, “Quick, come in! Close the gates! There’s an attack!”

As he said that, he raced toward the gates.

“Brother, brother, what’s going on? I’m so scared,” Nan Qiuqiu said faintly. At this moment, both Ye Guyi and she were trembling non-stop.

“It’s no big deal. Quick, enter the city with me. We have to close the gate soon. I don’t know what’s going on,” the said team leader without thinking. As he spoke, he gestured to his subordinates to bring the soul power detector into the city.

A joyous look ﬂashed in Nan Qiuqiu’s eyes. The six from the Tang Sect rushed into the city with the soldiers. When the gates closed, Xu Sanshi, He Caitou, Ji Juechen, and Jing Ziyan quickly slipped away into the city. Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi, however, were in no rush to leave.

“That was so scary. Brother, do we still need to be searched?” Nan Qiuqiu cried out to the small team leader, whose face was grim as he prepared to ascend the city walls.

The team leader waved at her and said, “Enter the city, quickly. We’ll have time for it later…” As he said that, he waved the piece of coarse paper he held in his hands.

Nan Qiuqiu smiled and batted her eyelashes at him once more. Only then did she enter the city with Ye Guyi.

At this moment, no matter how lovesick the team leader was, he did not dare to abandon his post.

The six of them from the Tang Sect were able to enter the city just like that without having to be checked.

They quickly re-grouped. Xu Sanshi gave Nan Qiuqiu a thumbs-up as he said, “Qiuqiu, you were excellent! I didn’t know you were such a good actor. He was not the only one who fell for it. Even I fell head-over- heels for you! Haha!”

Nan Qiuqiu said unkindly, “Spare me your crap, or else I’ll complain about you to Sister Nannan. Your words are honeyed, indeed. We got in not because of my acting skills, but rather because of Huo Yuhao’s accurate character judgment.”

Ye Guyi nodded and said, “Qiuqiu is right. While his plan sounded dangerous, it was actually pretty risk-free.”

He Caitou said, “We did not have to wait for nothing in the past two months. Had we mounted our rescue attempt immediately after they locked up the prisoners, security would have been much tighter, and we would not have been given such an opportunity. Let’s go and ﬁnd a place to rest. We’ll wait for Yuhao to enter.”

-------------

Outside the city...

The series of explosions were naturally caused by Huo Yuhao. As for himself, he had escaped the scene of the explosion long ago.

The origin of these explosions was the Infernal Gate

Huo Yuhao would not use Necromancy in front of his companions, especially not in front of Ye Guyi and her Holy Angel. However, this did not mean that he would not use it.

His closed-door training for the past few months had beneﬁted him greatly. One could say that he was able to fully master all of the various odd abilities he had learned during the past seven-plus years of training and cultivation. His skills had reached a new level.

At the same time, he became more mature and stable. He was ﬁnally able to overcome some of his mental barriers.

With a simple necromantic spell, he summoned a group of skeletal soldiers and jiangshi, which charged fearlessly toward the positions of the two soul engineer legions. One could imagine the result. In less than ten seconds after the appearance of these undead creatures, they were detected by the high-altitude surveillance soul tool. They were then bombarded mercilessly by the soul engineer legions.

After ﬁfteen seconds of non-stop bombardment, the entire area where the Gate of Hell was located looked as if it had been trampled ﬂat by a herd of wild animals. Every blade of grass was obliterated.

What about Huo Yuhao? He had disguised himself with Imitation after he unleashed his Gate of Hell. Then, he rejoined the trade delegations in the queue.

Like them, he could not enter the city after the gates closed. No one knew when would the gates open once more. The sudden appearance of undead creatures would surely be investigated. However, it was likely that the investigation would yield no result.

Huo Yuhao knew that after the investigation revealed nothing, the gates would open once more. Huo Yuhao followed his companions with Spiritual Detection. At this moment, he sensed that they were inside the city.

Now that’s everyone’s in, it’s easier for me.

Huo Yuhao smiled slightly as he looked at the giant soul power detector on the city wall. A cold smile crept across his face. Do they think they really can stop me with those tools?

He observed his surroundings. The traders were complaining. He quietly left the trade delegation and sat down somewhere with shade.

Many people from the trade delegations did the same. Since they could not enter the city, they took the time to rest. His actions were not suspicious at all.

However, even though he was sitting down, he was extremely busy. His eyes were closed, and soul power ﬂowed slowly through his body. His entire person entered a strange state. He unleashed his gentle spiritual power as it carefully wrapped itself around the soul power in his body. Then, he quieted down the soul power in his body completely.

Normally, the soul power in a soul master's body would circulate continuously during one's daily cultivation, forming a cycle. It was nearly impossible to stop that, but Huo Yuhao was able to do so.

This method allowed him to seal his soul power with his spiritual power. This entire process took an hour. Only then was he able to prevent even the slightest hint of soul power from seeping out of his body. He temporarily became an ordinary person with extraordinary spiritual power.

After he did this, Huo Yuhao slowly stood up as he felt his body adjust to its new state.

When a soul master lost his soul power, he would deﬁnitely feel weak. However, he did not care too much about that. His walking pace had also slowed visibly. He checked the state of his body, and ascertained that his soul power had been completely compressed by his spiritual power and sealed in the corners of his dantian. Only then did Huo Yuhao rejoin the trade delegations. This time, he took advantage of their belief that the city gates would not re-open so quickly and quietly slipped to the front of the queue.

The soul engineer legions did not take long to complete their checks. After an hour, they sent word to the city, and the gates of Sunrise City opened once again. The inspections of the trade delegations continued.

After ﬁfteen minutes, Huo Yuhao stood in front of the soul power detector.

The gentle green light swept over his body. To be fair, Huo Yuhao was quite nervous too. However, he had a backup plan. If his identity was exposed here, there was no way the soul engineer legions in the distance could strike him, as there were many civilians and traders around. With his power, he could charge into the city if he really needed to. Even if they searched the entire city, he was conﬁdent of escaping detection with all his various abilities. The soldiers looked at the soul power detector and then at Huo Yuhao, who was disguised as a laborer for one of the trade delegations. He waved his hand, indicating to Huo Yuhao that he could enter.

Huo Yuhao sighed in relief. He was happy that his plan had worked. In other words, by suppressing his soul power with his spiritual power, he had now learned that he would be able to fool a soul power detector.

There were two types of soul power detectors. The ﬁrst type would detect its target’s internal soul power, and the other would try and sense if its target was releasing soul power. The soul power detector on the city wall belonged to the second type. The combination of both soul tools would be ideal in rooting out soul masters, as it could detect soul masters who were concealing themselves and those who were pretending to be ordinary people. At this moment, Huo Yuhao was able to use his immense spiritual power to elude detection and enter the city.

After he entered the gates, Huo Yuhao walked at a reasonable pace toward the inner part of the city. This was indeed a medium-sized city. The Sun Moon Empire’s cities were visibly different than those of the Star Luo Empire and the Heavenly Soul Empire. Even if the buildings were not particularly big, they were much bigger than the buildings in the original three countries of the Douluo

Continent. Many of them had pointed roofs, too.

Huo Yuhao naturally did not pay attention to these, but instead was looking at the defenses inside the city. What shocked him most was that even as he moved forward, he could not detect any powerful auras inside the city. The city gates had many soul engineers manning and observing the surveillance soul tools, but none of them were particularly powerful. The people on the streets walked about as they carried on with their daily lives, no different from the citizens of any other city.

As Sunrise City’s defenses were tight, all Shrek Academy knew was that the prisoners were kept here. They did not know where were they held speciﬁcally, or if there were any powerful people guarding them.

As a result, this operation was very difﬁcult for the Tang Sect. Of course, Shrek Academy had created some opportunities for them.

First of all, they were given time. They were in no rush to enter the city. As long as full-scale war did not break out, they still had a chance to rescue the captives. This time, Elder Xuan and the rest were well-prepared when they caused the border commotion. The eight Transcendent Douluo wreaked havoc near the border with tacit cooperation from the Star Luo Empire and the Heavenly Soul Empire. This caused quite a bit of trouble for the Sun Moon Empire. For now, they would devote all their attention to the border.

Thus, Huo Yuhao’s objectives were to ﬁrst ascertain the location where the captives were kept, the strength of their guards, and the regional defenses of Sunrise City. This intelligence was more important than the rescue mission. Elder Xuan had told Huo Yuhao before he left that his priority was reconnaissance. If they had a chance to save the captives, it would be great. If not, they should not take risks.

Huo Yuhao soon discovered the marks left by his companions. However, he did not rush to meet them, but instead strolled leisurely through Sunrise City.

He was dressed like a laborer. While he was tall for his age, his clothes were rough. His face and hairstyle were ordinary, and no one would notice him.

As Huo Yuhao walked, he slowly released the suppression his spiritual power exerted on his soul power.

How could it be easy to seal one’s soul power with one’s spiritual power? The feeling of a loss in power was horrid. Releasing the seal was troublesome, too. He could not release all of his compressed soul power at once. If he did let it burst forth, his passageways would be severely affected by the sudden outburst. All he could do was slowly release the seal, allow his soul power to seep out slowly, and circulate through his body once more.

Huo Yuhao was in no rush. As he walked, he observed his surroundings. With his spiritual power, he was able to notice details most ordinary people could not even without using Spiritual Detection. He memorized the areas he walked through so any subsequent operations would be easier.

He walked for two hours, and the sky started to dim. By then, he had released all his soul power and was back at his prime.

Chapter 375: Sunrise City

Those who had bought the map of Sunrise City didn’t know that the Sunmoon Empire had set a trap. It was necessary to proceed with caution.

Based on his own senses and observation of the ﬂow of people around him, Huo Yuhao believed that he had entered a central region of Sunrise City. He stopped conserving his spiritual power as he reached this region. He activated his Spiritual Detection and focused his spiritual power to scan in a certain direction.

Wherever his spiritual power passed, everything that he surveyed was presented in his mind as a three-dimensional construct. As there were many buildings in the city to obstruct his detection, he couldn’t detect as far as he could in an uncluttered area. However, the ﬁndings that he obtained were sufﬁcient for him.

He started thinking, his spiritual sea undulating tremendously. He slowly made a full turn and quickly scanned in one direction. Sunrise City only stretched slightly more than twenty kilometers across. With Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power and the Eye of Destiny, he could almost scan the entire city if he stood in the center of it.

It was just that he couldn’t actually do this, as it would be too dangerous. His Eye of Destiny was too attention-catching. Even as he observed his surroundings, he conserved some of his spiritual power. Although his ability was unidirectional, he restricted the distance of his detection to a radius of two kilometers. In that way, he could still capture everything that was within the core region of Sunrise City.

Even a Titled Douluo couldn’t do something like this. There were no surveillance soul tools that could carry out such an all- around inspection, either.

After Huo Yuhao completed his turn, there was a surprised look in his eyes. However, he soon returned to normal, and walked in the direction of the marks left behind by his teammates.

The Tang Sect had decided to put up at a medium-sized hotel. Before they set off, they had already put on their disguises. Of course, the hotel that they were staying in was naturally not at the address that Nan Qiuqiu had left for that small team leader.

Xu Sanshi was sitting in the main hall of the hotel, drinking cheap beer as he waited for Huo Yuhao. After seeing him enter the hotel, he immediately waved Yuhao over.

Huo Yuhao walked over to Xu Sanshi’s side and sat down. He also ordered a pint of beer.

“What took you so long? Are you okay?”

Huo Yuhao smiled and replied, “I’m ﬁne. Has everyone settled down?”

Xu Sanshi nodded. “Things are ﬁne. Have they revealed anything?”

Huo Yuhao replied, “A few things. I haven’t found where they are keeping the hostages. However, there a few high-class soul tools installed in the center of the city. The majority of them are stationary soul tools.”

Huo Yuhao had discovered many things as he observed the city. He had discovered more than thirty residential houses were equipped with advanced soul tools. They were at least Class 6 soul tools, and there were even a few that were Class 7 and Class 8. There were some that he felt were very dangerous, especially those that he had never seen before. It was even possible that they were Class 9 soul tools.

How could Huo Yuhao not be shocked given such a situation?

Sunrise City was under complete surveillance right now. Undoubtedly, there were many surveillance soul tools above the city. Once something was found to be amiss, signals could be transmitted to the ground immediately. The advanced soul tools that were hidden in the city could then immediately seek out their targets. If there wasn’t any emphasis on preventing civilian casualties, those who were discovered were almost certainly doomed. In addition, there were still the two soul engineer legions outside the city!

Xu Sanshi furrowed his brow and asked, “What about underground? What did you ﬁnd out?” Huo Yuhao replied, “There’s nothing underground. My Spiritual Detection is greatly affected once I try to use it underground. It can only extend ﬁfty meters underground. Even if I use my Eye of Destiny, it can only increase the range to a hundred meters. I need to be directly above in order to get a clearer picture.

“I haven’t surveyed the entire city yet, but I think that the hostages are likely to be locked underground. As long as it’s deep enough, and the number of entrances and exits are restricted, it’ll be very difﬁcult to breach. They’ll be much more secure than if they were above ground. Considering how the Sun Moon Empire likes to construct all types of structures underground, that is the likeliest possibility. However, they took very strict defensive measures this time. After I entered the city, I discovered that there were many pipes connected underground at the edges of the city walls. There are people watching these pipes, which are used to listen for any underground movement. As for any other measures, I haven’t discovered them yet.”

Xu Sanshi nodded and said, “It’s already not easy to discover all this. Don’t be too harsh on yourself, take your time. After all, we’ve just arrived. Go back and rest. We still need to continue tomorrow.” “Okay.” Huo Yuhao followed Xu Sanshi back to their rooms. There were four guys and three ladies among the seven of them. The three ladies shared one room, while the four guys were split between two rooms. Huo Yuhao stayed with Ji Juechen, since He Caitou and Xu Sanshi were unwilling to room with him!

“Brother Ji.” After he entered, Huo Yuhao immediately saw Ji Juechen sitting on a bed. He sounded very annoyed at this point.

The moment he entered, a sharp sword intent quickly greeted him. The room was dimly lit, but two bolts of electricity immediately ﬂashed as Ji Juechen opened his eyes.

However, his sword intent was like ice in the face of boiling water, it was immediately dispelled. Furthermore, it didn’t even cause Huo Yuhao any problems.

Ji Juechen was stunned. “I didn’t realize you were already so strong. What’s your cultivation like now?” Huo Yuhao smiled slightly and replied, “You seem to only say those words when you are concerned about your opponents’ abilities.”

“When can we start ﬁghting?”

Huo Yuhao twisted his lips and said, “It won’t be soon. The enemies we are facing are unprecedentedly strong. We were sent over this time because the strong soul masters from the Academy are certainly being watched. The Tang Sect is less of a target. In addition, the Sun Moon Empire won’t expect people of our cultivations to save the hostages. We’ll likely only make our move after I ﬁnd out what the situation in Sunrise City is like. However, it’s more important to outsmart our enemies.”

“Okay.” Ji Juechen acknowledged his words before shutting his eyes and meditating again.

Huo Yuhao was a little annoyed as he shook his head. He felt that his words were falling on deaf ears.

He didn’t eat in the hotel, either. After eating some dry rations, he sat cross-legged on a bed opposite Ji Juechen.

He didn’t enter a deep meditative state. Right now, he was wracking his brain.

After his observation today, it seemed his hypothesis about the arrangement of soul tools and soul engineer legions was pretty accurate. The city was covered both inside and outside, and there were both ground-based and aerial soul tools. The entire city was covered. However, Huo Yuhao still felt that this wasn’t the full strength in Sunrise City.

The city seemed to be very strong, and they even had Class 9 soul tools to hold the fort. However, could they really hold off the other three empires on the continent with two soul engineer legions?

If the three empires risked everything, they could mobilize more than ﬁfty Titled Douluo. With such strength, it was unlikely that the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions could resist them.

No one from the Holy Ghost Church is here? Impossible, they must be involved! Huo Yuhao understood evil soul masters by now. The cultivation methods of evil soul masters were different. Usually, they involved the sacriﬁce of living spirits, which was also the reason why they were known as evil soul masters. As for these hostages who were held captive, they were undoubtedly very suited for cultivation. Their bodies and spirits were no doubt very valuable to evil soul masters.

As a result, the Holy Ghost Church regarded them highly. Once the war escalated into a full-scale one, these hostages would lose their signiﬁcance, and the Sun Moon Empire wouldn’t keep them alive anymore. They would try to make them submit, and if they refused, they would be killed.

The Holy Ghost Church would love to take the lives of these hostages.

The seven from the Tang Sect who had come this time were not afraid of evil soul masters. All of them possessed their own special abilities. However, this was under the premise that the evil soul masters they faced were around the same rank. If they met a Titled Douluo, they would be annihilated!

Huo Yuhao had to be extremely cautious because of this.

After pondering over his reasoning again, Huo Yuhao entered a deep meditative state to recover the energy he had drained during the day.

His spiritual sea glittered, and slight spiritual undulations pulled his mind toward it.

“Oh? Brother Skydream?” Huo Yuhao was a little surprised as he called out.

He wasn’t the same right now as he was before. His spiritual sea was completely under his control. As a result, he could sense the origin of the spiritual power drawing him as his mind was drawn into his spiritual sea.

The Skydream Iceworm’s body drifted quietly in Huo Yuhao’s golden spiritual sea. He appeared very leisurely.

After Huo Yuhao had entered the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley, the Skydream Iceworm and the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion both went into deep sleep. Only the little Snow Lady wasn’t affected. The two of them had only recovered after he left the Love Querying Valley.

At this point, Skydream Iceworm woke up, which left Huo Yuhao surprised.

“Yuhao, your improvement has already surpassed our expectations.” The Skydream Iceworm was smiling widely.

Ever since he had fused with Huo Yuhao, the Iceworm had started to become more and more like a human.

Huo Yuhao smiled back and said, “I only managed to improve so much due to your strength.”

The Skydream Iceworm chortled and said, “At least you haven’t forgotten your roots! That force then was simply too scary!”

“Oh? Are you talking about the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley?” After hearing Skydream mention that place, Huo Yuhao’s gaze turned cold. If not for the valley, Wang Dong’er wouldn’t have been put into a coma. Even though his soul power was increased by ﬁve ranks before he left, he didn’t have a good impression of that place.

The Skydream Iceworm sighed and said, “Don’t be sad. We could feel what happened to you. However, we were suppressed by that force, and couldn’t wake up. Even if we were awake, we wouldn’t have been able to help you with anything. Don’t even think about resisting that force. If we are not wrong, the force hidden within the valley might be related to the gods.” Huo Yuhao was moved. “Brother Skydream, are you saying that there are gods there? Is it true that that valley was where the Love God perished?”

The Skydream Iceworm said, “I don’t know if it’s really the Love God. However, I’m afraid that only the strength of a god can suppress the spiritual origins of both the Ice Empress and myself. We couldn’t even think of resisting it. Don’t waste your effort trying to resist it, it’s impossible. Furthermore, we could also sense that it held no ill intentions toward any of you.”

“No ill intentions? Dong’er was almost tortured to death!” Huo Yuhao said coldly. He clenched his hands into ﬁsts, and his gaze turned cold. He wasn’t the old Huo Yuhao anymore. In the past, he would have cursed or lost his cool entirely. But as he grew up and experienced more things, he became steadier and more composed.

The Skydream Iceworm shook his head and continued, “Alright, we’ll not talk about that place anymore. In any case, don’t return there. Talk about yourself. When we woke up this time, we discovered signiﬁcant changes to your body. You were actually able to fuse the strength of both the Ice Empress and the Snow Empress?” Huo Yuhao said, “I’m only at the initial stages of fusion. I think the martial soul the Ice Empress passed to me isn’t complete, even though it’s Ultimate Ice. More accurately speaking, there’s a chance of making it stronger. Furthermore, I haven’t been able to digest the origin of the strength the Ice Empress left behind, mainly because my cultivation is lacking,

and my Elemental type is still a little different from the Ice Empress. That’s why I tried to tap into the Snow Empress’ strength after fusing it with the Ice Empress to increase the quality of my martial soul.”

After hearing Huo Yuhao’s words, the Skydream Iceworm was silent for a moment before he sighed and said, “Yuhao, do you know what you’re talking about? Increasing the quality of your martial soul? It’s not something that has ever happened among humans or soul beasts. Martial souls are innate. If you are able to increase the quality of your martial soul, you’ll be the ﬁrst person to do so.”

Huo Yuhao wasn’t too concerned with this. “It’s probably because I’m lucky. The Snow and Ice Empresses are almost of the same Element. More importantly, their strengths aren’t conﬂicting. These are the reasons why I’m able to proceed.” The Skydream Iceworm said, “It seems like you are very familiar with your body’s condition. Since you can achieve this, you can start absorbing the origin power the Ice Empress left in your body. Your cultivation speed will increase that way. At the same time, you can slowly absorb the most essential part of the spiritual power I left in your body. The biggest problem that you have right now is your body. Your body isn’t strong enough. It needs to be strengthened further. Otherwise, you’ll experience problems not long after you absorb this power.”

Huo Yuhao nodded and asked, “I understand what you mean.

Do you want me to continue fusing soul bones?”

The Skydream Iceworm replied, “Yes. In addition, the next soul bone you fuse will need to be of higher quality. The soul bones that you have now are the Ice Empress’ skeleton, the Ice Jade Scorpion Left Arm Bone, and that left leg bone that allows for Instant Teleportation. Honestly speaking, only the Ice Empress’ skeleton is able to slightly increase your physical strength. The other two soul bones are less effective at increasing your strength due to the fact that they have special abilities. As a result, the skull, right arm and right leg bones that you are going to fuse with next have to be focused on increasing your physical strength. In this way, you can better fuse with the strength of the Ice Empress. “As for the Snow Empress, the origin power that she left behind will become a self-sustaining entity on its own, and won’t be absorbed by you, as she has become your Spirit. However, it’ll continue to contribute to your physical growth. I believe you can feel this, too.”

Huo Yuhao replied, “Alright, I’ll try to ﬁnd suitable soul bones as quickly as possible. However, soul bones are too important to soul masters. In the eyes of any soul master, soul bones are absolute treasures. It isn’t going to be easy to obtain them. Moreover, I need those of sufﬁciently good quality. I can only search for them slowly.

“Furthermore, my body isn’t a glaring problem yet. After fusing with the immense life power of the Life Gold, my current physical state can help me last until I’ve obtained eight rings. The soul power from my Ultimate Ice won’t drain my body, either. After I’ve obtained eight rings, I’ll need to further strengthen my body. On the other hand, I’m starting to develop some problems in terms of my spiritual power.

“After this closed-door cultivation, I can sense that my spiritual power seems to have increased. In addition, this increase is in terms of quality. However, I feel that my spiritual sea is unable to handle this increase anymore. After exiting my closed-door cultivation, I’m afraid of cultivating my spiritual power further. Is there any way I can solve this problem?”

The Skydream Iceworm shook his head and answered, “I don’t have any special method to help you in that area. Your spiritual power didn’t just come from me, a portion of it came from Elder Yi. Elder Yi had already taken half a step into the realm of Gods. His spiritual origin, or rather the fragments of his divine sense, had a trace of a divine existence within them. After you fuse with them completely, your spiritual power will be able to increase even faster, until you reach the concrete- immaterial realm.

“However, your brain will start to experience problems if your spiritual power becomes too strong. It’s still the same advice – get soul bones, especially a skull! It must be of good quality too. The best choice would be the skull of a hundred- thousand year soul beast. Your problems will be solved if it’s compatible. If your spiritual power can rise to another level, it will reach the level I was at when you ﬁrst met me. When that happens, you’ll be able to protect yourself even if your abilities won’t increase signiﬁcantly. It won’t be easy for a soul beast to kill you.” Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly. “Brother, you called me in to say all this? I know everything you’re trying to say! Can you give me more clues?”

The Skydream Iceworm said, “Why are you so rushed? I haven’t chatted with you in a long time. Let’s chat more. Of course I’m trying to advise you, just like I helped you capture Bingbing!”

“Don’t call me Bingbing!” the Ice Empress’ cold voice sounded. A streak of bluish-green light ﬂashed past and the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion appeared above the Skydream Iceworm. She smacked a pincer on his head, and he immediately disappeared back into Huo Yuhao’s spiritual sea.

Huo Yuhao was surprised. “Ice Empress, you’re awake too!”

“Yes.”

For some reason, Huo Yuhao felt that the Ice Empress sounded very weird. There seemed to be something else about her. She sounded… shy? The Skydream Iceworm re-surfaced from another part of Huo Yuhao’s spiritual sea, and he was fawning again. “Alright, I won’t call you Bingbing. Why don’t you sleep longer? I can tell Yuhao everything.”

The Ice Empress coldly replied, “You are full of nonsense. You spoke for half a day without getting to the main topic. Yuhao, your soul power is already at a bottleneck. You need to obtain new soul rings to improve further. In terms of your spiritual power, we feel that you can consider ﬁnding a species of soul beast called an Evileye Tyrant. You can try to fuse with an Evileye Tyrant.”

“Yes, yes, that,” the Skydream Iceworm immediately added.

“Shut up.” The Ice Empress snapped at Skydream, and he quickly shut his mouth. He looked indignant, but didn’t dare to retort.

“What’s going on with the two of you? I feel like something’s wrong!” Huo Yuhao was curious as he looked at the Ice Empress, before looking at the Skydream Iceworm again. He didn’t even seem to be interested when the Ice Empress mentioned an Evileye Tyrant, which was a type of soul beast he had never heard of before.

The Ice Empress snorted in fury, and glared at Skydream with her crystal-yellow eyes, which were ﬁlled with a threatening light.

“Nothing, nothing. Yuhao, why are you guessing blindly? Bingbing and I are purely friends. Our friendship is pure. Am I right, Bingbing?”

“Scram!…” The Ice Empress sounded a little weak right now, and her shyness was revealed once again.

“Alright, alright, I’ll scram. Don’t get angry. I’ll scram.” As he spoke, he ﬂashed and disappeared into Huo Yuhao’s spiritual sea. Huo Yuhao immediately felt the ring around his ﬁnger formed by the Skydream Iceworm’s actual body was moving gently.

He was unmoved as he asked, “Ice Empress, what’s an Evileye Tyrant?” The Ice Empress seemed to return to her old self after the Skydream Iceworm left, and she said, “Evileye Tyrants are very powerful soul beasts. Their abilities differ greatly depending on their cultivation. They originally didn’t exist in the Douluo Continent, they are natives of the Sun Moon Continent. A few thousand years ago, the strongest Evileye Tyrant, known as the Evileye Tyrant King, once entered the Great Star Dou Forest. At that point in time, Skydream was also in the Great Star Dou Forest.”

After glancing at the place where the Skydream Iceworm had disappeared, the Ice Empress continued, “He personally witnessed a huge ﬁght between the Evileye Tyrant King and the Beast God Di Tian, who is one of the Ten Great Savage Beasts. The Evileye Tyrant King was indeed very strong. Even against the Beast God, he still had a chance of victory. The Beast God’s cultivation was around eight hundred and twenty- some thousand years, and he had overcome an additional bottleneck compared to the Evileye Tyrant King. The two beasts fought for three days and three nights before the Beast God managed to defeat the Evileye Tyrant King due to his superior cultivation.

“At that point, the Evileye Tyrant King tried to kill Skydream before he left. However, the voice of a mysterious existence suddenly sounded, and scared him off.”

Huo Yuhao was stunned as he asked, “Mysterious existence? What mysterious existence is there in the Great Star Dou Forest?” The Ice Empress replied, “I’m not too sure, either. Skydream only knows roughly. The Beast God Di Tian is equivalent to the most outstanding Ultimate Douluo, but there seems to be a stronger existence in the Great Star Dou Forest that is asleep. It might be like Elder Yi, halfway into the realm of Gods. It has

been sleeping all this while, and probably only the Beast God knows how strong it is.”

“Yes, yes. I once heard Di Tian call him ‘master’.” Skydream’s voice sounded once again, but he didn’t appear.

Huo Yuhao was stunned as he asked, “Are the two of you asking me to obtain the skull of the Evileye Tyrant King?”

“Fool, of course not!” the Ice Empress answered. “Evileye Tyrant is a species. There isn’t just the Evileye Tyrant King. Furthermore, you might not even be able to obtain the skull of the Evileye Tyrant King. His eighth bottleneck is about to arrive. Initially, he wanted to snatch Skydream because of this eighth bottleneck. If he can’t cross this bottleneck and really dies, his soul rings won’t remain, although his soul bones will. Furthermore, Evileye Tyrants are very special because they can only produce skulls, and no other soul bones.” Huo Yuhao was greatly affected after he heard that they could only produce skulls.

Generally speaking, whether or not a soul beast would produce soul bones was up to chance. The higher the cultivation of a soul beast, the more likely it was for a soul bone to appear from it. Only hundred-thousand year soul beasts would deﬁnitely produce soul bones. Under such a situation, Huo Yuhao was facing a difﬁcult task if he wanted to hunt and kill a soul beast to obtain a skull bone. Skulls were the rarest among the six types of soul bones!

This was why it was down to luck if he wanted to obtain a skull. In most large-scale auctions in the various empires, a skull would command an astronomical price, and someone would buy it immediately. It was harder than the hardest currency!

However, the possibility of obtaining a skull would greatly increase if there was a species of soul beast that could deﬁnitely produce skulls. In addition, it was almost a hundred percent possibility if Huo Yuhao managed to hunt a hundred-thousand year soul beast of this species. Huo Yuhao was intelligent. He understood what the Ice Empress and Skydream meant and said, “In this case, the two of you are suggesting that I ﬁnd an Evileye Tyrant and kill it to obtain its soul bone, since the Evileye Tyrant King has either likely died after failing to cross his bottleneck, or is trying to cross his bottleneck and won’t disturb me. If I’m lucky, I might even come across the soul bone that he left behind along with his carcass. Am I right?”

“You aren’t too stupid.” the Ice Empress replied coolly.

Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly. “However, the problem is that an Evileye Tyrant won’t be weak even if the Evileye Tyrant King isn’t around. I don’t understand what they’re like, since I didn’t learn about them in the Academy.”

“I can tell you their characteristics. Evileye Tyrants live in groups, and they only live in the hottest and most humid environments. Since they’re from the Sun Moon Empire, they must have a habitat that belongs to them. I don’t think it’ll be difﬁcult to ﬁnd out where their habitat is. As for their abilities, they are able to cause all types of spiritual interference and confusion to living creatures apart from their main offensive ability, the Evileye Ray. Unless it’s the Evileye Tyrant King itself, an Evileye Tyrant won’t be able to confuse you.

“You’ll need to work for a soul bone, though. In addition, ask a few strong individuals from your Academy to follow you once this matter is over. Aren’t there quite a few strong individuals in your Academy? We are only trying to help you ﬁnd the greatest possibility for you to obtain a skull bone, but it’s not

absolute.”

“I understand. Thanks.” Huo Yuhao ﬁrmly remembered the Ice Empress’ words before he detached himself from his spiritual world. He exited his deep meditative state naturally and subconsciously looked downat his own ﬁnger.

The ring that the Skydream Iceworm had changed into ﬂipped over, and there were small and subtle words on it. If not for Huo Yuhao’s powerful eyes, he wouldn’t have been able to see them clearly.

The words were: Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley. I went through the same tests with her. I encountered many difﬁculties, and passed countless tests…

Huo Yuhao twisted his lips. “Tell me about the result.” The Ice Empress wasn’t like Skydream. If she wanted to sense what was happening in the outside world, she had to go through Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power. Right now, Huo Yuhao controlled his spiritual sea completely. That’s why Huo Yuhao wasn’t afraid of the Ice Empress listening in on his movements in the outside world.

However, the Skydream Iceworm was different. His spiritual origin was with the Ice Empress, and thus he could only interact with Huo Yuhao through some special methods if he didn’t want her to hear.

The result was that I managed to pass and obtained my reward. We even…

“Chi…” Huo Yuhao laughed when he saw this line of words appear. After that, he asked a technical question. “How does a worm and a scorpion do it?”

“Idiot. We turned into humans before we did it! You don’t even understand this, hmph…” After leaving behind this last line of words, Skydream Iceworm changed back into the ring, and his spiritual aura returned to Huo Yuhao’s spiritual sea. Huo Yuhao was ﬁnally enlightened now. He revealed a weird smile on his face. They are ﬁnally together. No wonder the Ice Empress seems a little different, even though she’s still as cold as Brother Skydream.

At this point, a faint and cold voice sounded. “What are you doing?”

“Ah?” Huo Yuhao lifted his head, and saw Ji Juechen looking at him with a weird look on his face.

“I’m not doing anything.”

“Why are you smiling at me with such a weird smile in the middle of the night. Don’t you think…?”

Huo Yuhao coughed. “It’s not intentional. You can continue with your cultivation.”

“Also, don’t smile so amorously. Although I’m very focused on my sword, I’m not completely clueless about other things. Furthermore, I won’t like a guy!”

“Shut up! Since when did you become so talkative?”

“We can ﬁght if you aren’t happy.”

“Fight my foot… are you tired of living? Cultivate!”

Ji Juechen actually revealed a smile at this moment. He twisted his lips as he looked at the exasperated Huo Yuhao. After that, he shut his eyes.

As he watched Ji Juechen re-enter his cultivation state, Huo Yuhao’s expression slowly turned normal again. He revealed a sense of loss, and seemed to have recalled when he ﬁrst entered Shrek Academy with Wang Dong’er. Weren’t they on two similar beds then?

I still thought that she was a clean freak back then. Who knew that she was actually a girl? If I could return to the past, it’d be great, even if I have to go through the pain of cultivating again! Dong’er, Dong’er!

Yearning was like a carving knife that carved Wang Dong’er’s unforgettable looks deep into his spirit.

------

The night went on silently. In the morning, everyone from the Tang Sect started to get busy. Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi posed as sisters, while Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan posed as a couple. Huo Yuhao, He Caitou and Xu Sanshi acted on their own. The seven of them left the hotel and went around Sunrise City, acquiring information and gathering intelligence.

Huo Yuhao had the most important mission. He used his Spiritual Detection to survey Sunrise City once.

Just like he had expected, he didn’t ﬁnd any hostages in the city. What did this mean? It meant that he should start looking for them underground. The layout of the city was clear in Huo Yuhao’s mind through his Spiritual Detection.

It wasn’t just the city center that had top-class soul tools. There were also top-class soul tools at the four corners of the city, but he had found no evil soul masters so far. Right now, there were at least one or two Class 9 soul engineers in the city. As he carried out a deeper level of detection, he could conﬁrm that at least one of the soul tools in the city center had to be Class 9.

A Class 9 soul tool had to be operated by a Class 9 soul engineer or a Titled Douluo. Since a Class 9 soul tool had been set up, there had to be someone who could operate it!

Chapter 376: Yuhao's Three Ultimate Techniques

They only returned to the hotel after surveying Sunrise City through the afternoon. After a discussion, they all went to rest. After dinner and freshening himself up, Huo Yuhao went out at night again. This time, he was focused on surveying what was underground. Although he couldn’t use his Eye of Destiny, he could still detect up to ﬁfty meters below ground. If there were problems, he would be able to discover some clues.

It wasn’t a brilliant method, but he had no choice. Fortunately, Sunrise City wasn’t like Radiant City. Otherwise, he needed at least half a year before he could completely survey the entire city with such a method.

As he walked, he tried to detect whatever there was underground. He continually used his spiritual power to carry out his detection. If it were any other soul master with a spiritual-type martial soul, his spiritual power wouldn’t be able to last long even if he had such a detection ability.

As he walked, Huo Yuhao entered a bustling street. The two sides of the street were lined with stores, and brightly lit.

He meticulously detected what was going on underground. Suddenly, he seemed to think of something, and subconsciously lifted his head.

Not far in front of him, there was a lady who was dressed to the nines blocking his way.

Her looks weren’t ﬂattering – she wasn’t even at Huo Yuhao’s chest level, but her waist was three times larger than his. She was in a bright-green dress, which made her seem like a watermelon. There were even bright red ﬂowers on her dress.

Her chubby face was extremely white, and she had applied even more powder on her face than normal. She had applied blood-red lipstick on her thick lips too. When she blocked Huo Yuhao, a gust of wind that carried the smell of her inferior- quality perfume greeted Huo Yuhao. The torrid smell almost caused him to bury his head in the ground.

Is this considered a biological weapon? “Sir, do you want to come in to have fun?” She made a ﬂirtatious gesture at Huo Yuhao and grinned at him, revealing her yellow teeth. Her voice sounded a little sharp and strained. She didn’t sound like a guy or a lady. The more frightening thing was that there was a stench that came from her mouth. When it mixed with the perfume from her body…

The originally crowded street instantly became empty within a ten meter region. At least ﬁve or six people collapsed, and Huo Yuhao also stepped back a few steps. There was an astonished look on his face.

“Sir, come in and have fun. Our ladies are delicious and cheap. No, they are high-quality and cheap.” The chubby lady pointed to a building which was shining with pink lights as she spoke.

The building wasn’t very big, and seemed a little dilapidated. The pink lights made the place seem shady, while the stained walls made it seem like a cheap place.

“Alright, lead the way.” Huo Yuhao covered his nose and slowly stopped looking so stunned. “Oh yes, sir. You have good taste.” As the chubby lady heard that Huo Yuhao wanted to enter, she was delighted, and pulled him over. However, he dodged her.

“Don’t touch me!” Huo Yuhao shouted.

“Alright, alright. Sir, follow me.” As she spoke, she was already walking towards the building. As she walked, she even turned back to Huo Yuhao occasionally and said, “Sir, you have great taste. You can call me Lingling.”

“Blargh…” Huo Yuhao couldn’t stand it anymore, and retch before gesturing to the fat lady, or rather, the madam. He was asking her to turn around and not talk to him. Her ‘biological weapon’ was simply too strong for him.

The madam twisted her thick, red lips and turned around unhappily. After she entered the building, she shouted at the top of her voice, “Girls, come and receive our customer!”

Suddenly, a bunch of ladies with thick makeup started to surface from different parts of the building. Their dress followed Lingling’s style, which was extremely startling!

Huo Yuhao stopped in front of the building and suddenly asked the madam, “You’re called Lingling, am I right? Is it the same ‘Ling’ as ‘Feng Ling’?”

After hearing his words, she started trembling. She turned around and was ﬁlled with shock as she looked at Huo Yuhao, “You, you...”

“I’ll come here to have fun again.” After he ﬁnished speaking, Huo Yuhao turned around and ﬂed. He used his Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track and quickly disappeared into the crowd without anyone noticing.

The madam was shocked as she watched where Huo Yuhao had disappeared. There was an indescribably complex look in her eyes.

As for the rest of the ladies that had appeared, they were all shouting tenderly as they chased Huo Yuhao. They were indignant, as they ﬁnally had a customer, but he ran away. However, Lingling just stood in place without moving. It was as if she had lost her soul.

Huo Yuhao ﬂed more than two streets before he slowed down. He had conﬁrmed what he needed to conﬁrm. Yes, he recognized that madam. Even though he wasn’t familiar with her, he was certain that she was actually a him!

Yes, it was a him, not a her!

That person was likely to be Feng Ling, whom he had met before. Feng Ling had left a deep impression in Huo Yuhao’s mind because of his stinky mouth and his saliva that could even cause smoke to fume when it landed on the ground. His lack of hygiene wasn’t something an ordinary person could compare to.

Feng Ling should be the young master of the Heaven’s Gate. Huo Yuhao wasn’t even sure which empire the Heaven’s Gate came from, but it shouldn’t be very strong. Furthermore, it was unlikely that the Heaven’s Gate was from the Sun Moon Empire. Feng Ling tried to take liberties of Wang Dong’er when they met the Heaven’s Gate outside Radiant City. Eventually, he was taught a lesson by Ji Juechen, and ﬂed with his sect.

Huo Yuhao also recalled that Feng Ling was the young master of the sect.

No matter how unhygienic he was, he possessed at least four rings, since he could compete in the tournament. However, he was now in a medium-sized city as a madam. He had even changed his gender.

What was going on?

If he wasn’t a member of the Sun Moon Empire, he had to be one of the hostages. However, he didn’t lose his freedom, but his gender and identity had changed. This situation had to be…

Earlier, Huo Yuhao had tried to test him when he thought of all these. He knew that he was right when he saw the expression on Lingling’s face. It was too important of a clue. If he followed the clues that came from Lingling, he might be able to ﬁnd out everything he wanted to. Of course, he might have alarmed the other party with his words earlier. However, it wasn’t too much of a problem. After all, Feng Ling didn’t know who he was. It wasn’t easy to ﬁnd someone like him in Sunrise City either.

Huo Yuhao stopped at a remote corner, and the light around him started to distort. Very soon, he camouﬂaged himself with his surrounding environment and disappeared.

The high-altitude surveillance soul tools in the sky could detect visual targets, but they weren’t equipped with infrared rays or soul power detectors. Current soul tool technology had yet to reach such a standard.

After he camouﬂaged himself using his Imitation, Huo Yuhao didn’t rush to leave. He quietly hid in a dark corner and waited.

Although he had left, his Spiritual Detection was still working on Feng Ling. Feng Ling soon recovered from his shock and returned to the streets, where he started to solicit customers once again.

However, his image was too disgusting, and no one could be convinced by him. It was very difﬁcult to imagine why the boss of this low-class brothel would let him make a fool out of himself. The only explanation was that the boss was sick in the mind.

Huo Yuhao used his Spiritual Detection to observe Feng Ling meticulously. Very soon, he discovered that Feng Ling’s soul power undulations had yet to disappear. This meant that he was still a four-ringed Soul Ancestor. After he heard someone call his name, his expression kept on changing and he seemed a little unsettled, and even astonished.

This was an important clue to Huo Yuhao. This is why he wasn’t anxious at all, and continued to wait silently.

Feng Ling only returned to the cheap brothel when it was late into the night, and the shops along the streets were already closed for business. Very soon, the tempting pink lights were extinguished, and everything seemed to turn silent. Not long afterward, a side door of the brothel opened slightly, and a stumpy ﬁgure squeezed out. Feng Ling was no longer wearing the bright-green dress from earlier. He wore a simpler gown, and observed the outside of the brothel before he snuck out. After this, he quickly walked towards a certain

direction.

Huo Yuhao also moved at the same time. He silently tailed Feng Ling, but kept a few hundred meters’ distance from him.

Feng Ling passed the streets and alleys before stopping in front of a pointed building after walking for ﬁfteen minutes.

This building seemed a little worn down, and there weren’t any signs on it. The door was unlatched, and Feng Ling entered the building by pushing the door open.

Huo Yuhao had been watching him very closely, and thus he could clearly feel Feng Ling’s fear when he entered the building.

He extended his senses and continued to watch Feng Ling with his spiritual power. However, Huo Yuhao quickly retracted his spiritual power soon after. That was because he was shocked to ﬁnd out there was a strong undulation of spiritual power coming from this building. While this undulation of spiritual power didn’t signify that the other party’s spiritual power was greater than Huo Yuhao’s, the other party might still detect Huo Yuhao’s presence.

Huo Yuhao crept forward towards the unlatched door and peeked into the building through a slight gap.

It was pitch-dark inside, and the air seemed to be much dirtier than outside. Even with Huo Yuhao’s vision, he couldn’t see what was going on inside clearly.

He wasn’t surprised by this. Instead, he broke out into a slight smile that carried a trace of cold intent.

At this point, he heard a tragic scream resonating from inside. It sounded very pathetic, but it wasn’t loud. If not for the fact that he was at the door, he wouldn’t have heard the scream.

At this point, he sensed that the strong spiritual undulations coming from inside had retracted.

He couldn’t give up on such an opportunity. He unleashed his Spiritual Detection and started to survey the inside of the building. There was a spacious hall behind the door, which was pitch- black right now. The polluted air came from some unknown origin. For safety purposes, Huo Yuhao controlled his Spiritual Detection to follow the sides of the rooms and surveyed one round before he entered another hall at the back through the last door.

Tragic screams started to reverberate before the voice of a person sounded.

“Lowly fatso. I’ll whip you to death, I’ll whip you to death, hahaha! Keep screaming. Scream louder.” A hysterical, hoarse voice, extremely awful voice sounded. As this voice sounded, the air rippled slightly.

Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection wasn’t like before. He could clearly sense how strong the owner of this voice was.

It’s deﬁnitely an evil soul master. It has to be.

From his observations earlier, along with how he saw Feng Ling soliciting customers on the streets as a madam, he guessed that this sort of perverted doing must have been committed by an evil soul master. What he was seeing now veriﬁed his guess. However, this evil soul master that was abusing Feng Ling had at least eight rings. Huo Yuhao was able to make an accurate judgment from the spiritual undulations he released as he lost control of his emotions.

This building was weird. Earlier, he had scanned this direction using his Spiritual Detection.

However, he didn’t discover anything. There were indeed members of the Holy Ghost Church here, but the number of evil soul masters was unknown.

Huo Yuhao extended his Spiritual Detection carefully towards the direction of the voices. Very soon, he saw a bloody scene that made him nauseous.

It was a dark, circular hall. There were many broken bodies on the ﬂoor, and organs were strewn everywhere. All the blood on the ﬂoor had already dried up and turned purplish-black.

Feng Ling hung in the center of this hall, and there was a person decked in a black robe beneath him. This person released black fog from his body and was holding a bone whip, with which he whipped Feng Ling unceasingly. There were a few fat people squirming in a corner not far from them. They appeared very dreary, and seemed to be on the verge of death.

Huo Yuhao’s killing intent was piqued as he saw this scene. This despicable evil soul master must have abused and killed many people, otherwise this place wouldn’t look like a hell on earth!

At this point, his Spiritual Detection seemed to jerk, as if it had been shocked by electricity. The person in black who was whipping Feng Ling turned around and roared in fury, “Who

——"

As he turned around, Huo Yuhao realized that it was actually a she. Her face was extremely pale to the point where it was scary, although it was evident that her original appearance was pretty decent. However, her eyes were bloodshot, and there was a terrifying feel about her now.

A strong wave of spiritual power was unleashed from her body, and her eight soul rings – two yellow, two purple and four black – surfaced at this moment. A huge, black shadow appeared behind her, and her ﬁerce look caused the surrounding spiritual undulations to become stronger.

Even with Huo Yuhao’s spiritual cultivation, this sudden change caused him to turn a little dizzy and he quickly retracted his spiritual power before ﬂeeing immediately.

Just as he burst off, a black ﬁgure had already rushed out from the door, and a low-pitched roar echoed in the air. This black ﬁgure knew exactly where Huo Yuhao had escaped to, and quickly pursued him.

In fact, Huo Yuhao wasn’t careless at all. He was extremely cautious, but luck wasn’t on his side. After he was discovered and pursued, he realized that he had met a spiritual-type evil soul master. In addition, her martial soul was similar to an Avenging Spirit. She was a little like Na Na, but she was much stronger.

Because of this, the gap between their spiritual power wasn’t as great as he had expected. When his Spiritual Detection got too close, she immediately sensed something amiss, and discovered traces of it. Then, she locked onto his body as she followed the trail of his spiritual power and pursued him. As a result, his Imitation was unable to help him escape her pursuit.

However, they were both almost invisible because of their spiritual power, and wouldn’t be detected by the high-altitude surveillance soul tools in the sky.

What do I do now? Huo Yuhao was quickly assessing his situation right now and thinking of a plan of action. Run? Given his current cultivation, how could he possibly outrun an eight-ringed Soul Douluo? Since you are pursuing me, then… He thought of the bloody scene he saw earlier, and a cold look ﬂashed in his eyes. His killing intent also became stronger.

It had to be said that Huo Yuhao was rather good at escaping her pursuit. If he escaped in a straight line, he would deﬁnitely be caught after a while. However, he made turns around the streets and alleys. While this evil soul master was pursuing him through his spiritual power, he could escape her pursuit, given the strength of his spiritual cultivation, if he used his Eye of Destiny. However, he didn’t choose to do so. He only kept on unleashing his spiritual power to interfere with her judgment so that she would make slight errors. While she kept on pursuing him, she wasn’t able to catch him. Two invisible ﬁgures were moving quickly and making rounds in Sunrise City just like that. They were so quick that seeing them even made one breathless.

Slowly, the advantage of this evil soul master’s cultivation was taking effect. She was getting closer and closer to Huo Yuhao.

Suddenly, she peered into the sky and let out an inaudible cry. When she let out this cry, the sky within several hundred square meters around her started to distort. At this instant, all the high-altitude surveillance soul tools that surveilled this region weren’t able to function properly.

The civilians on the streets weren’t affected, but Huo Yuhao felt as if he had been hammered. He only heard a piercing scream echoing deep in his spirit. At this instant, he felt that his head was about to blow apart. The tremendous pain he felt numbed his entire spirit.

This is…

Huo Yuhao was wide-eyed in shock.

It shouldn’t be a soul skill, as he didn’t sense any undulations from the soul rings of this evil soul master. It had to be a ﬁghting technique that she had invented herself.

This was a ﬁghting technique that Huo Yuhao had never seen before. It wasn’t just unleashed through pure spiritual power, and it wasn’t a combination of spiritual and soul power either. Rather, it was formed using spiritual power and soundwaves.

Through her immense spiritual power, she managed to enhance the strength of her spirit, which enabled her to inﬂuence Huo Yuhao’s spirit through terrifying soundwaves. It was extremely frightening! If not for Huo Yuhao’s great spiritual power that spurred him to instinctively defend himself, his head would have blown apart by now.

Simply put, it was like a terrifying scream had appeared in Huo Yuhao’s mind. He tolerated the numb feeling for now and leapt over a wall.

When this evil soul master unleashed her attack, she seemed to experience a temporary delay in her movements, and wasn’t able to exploit this opportunity to catch up to Huo Yuhao.

“Ah!” She groaned. Evidently, she was very conﬁdent in her ﬁghting technique. However, she was confused about why it didn’t achieve the effect she had expected.

Huo Yuhao could tell her cultivation, and thus it was natural that she could tell what his cultivation was too. She could sense that his cultivation wasn’t very high even with his immense spiritual power, and knew that he was inferior to her. In her opinion, she should have destroyed him with her previous attack. Even if he wasn’t killed, he should have been critically injured. However, Huo Yuhao only stalled for a moment before he escaped towards a residential area.

Such a weak soul master is able to possess such great spiritual power? Interesting!

She revealed a grin on her face. As she pointed her toes to the ground, she drifted up like a specter before she charged downward like a bolt of lightning.

Huo Yuhao was still affected by the scream earlier, and was evidently moving much slower now. Furthermore, it seemed like his Imitation was getting weaker and weaker, and his ﬁgure was starting to show.

“Go and die. Grudge!” A strange voice that was low-pitched and hoarse, yet sharp, sounded in Huo Yuhao’s ear.

Following this, a strange, illusory projection appeared above Huo Yuhao’s head. This projection was white, but only Huo Yuhao could sense it. Suddenly, he felt his spirit getting colder, and he started to shudder.

His spiritual sea started to rage with waves, and he felt that he was about to lose control of his body. A crazy thought also started to rise internally.

However, he didn’t continue to ﬂee at this moment. On the contrary, he stopped and turned around.

The evil soul master saw a pair of bright, clear eyes that carried a deep gaze. Following this, a dim golden projection rose from Huo Yuhao’s body. As golden lights ﬂashed, her Grudge in the air was crushed.

“Ah, interesting.” She drifted to the ground and didn’t continue attacking. She stared at Huo Yuhao with a strange look in her bloodshot eyes.

“Spiritual-type soul master? Very rare. Your spiritual cultivation has long surpassed your actual cultivation.” She seemed to become like a normal person right now, apart from her looks.

Huo Yuhao replied, “That’s right. You must be a spiritual- type soul master too. However, the paths that we are taking are evidently different. Your martial soul should be an Avenging Spirit?” “Hehehehehehe…” She let out a shrilling laugh, which was ﬁlled with hysteria and sarcasm.

“Avenging Spirit? Is my martial soul an Avenging Spirit? No, you are wrong. My martial soul isn’t an Avenging Spirit.”

“No?” Huo Yuhao was the shocked one right now. “What is it then?”

She opened her eyes wide and replied, “My martial soul is called the Spirit of Retribution.”

“Spirit of Retribution? Is there such a martial soul?” Huo Yuhao couldn’t believe what she was saying.

“Why isn’t there such a martial soul? I created it myself. Isn’t it magical?! Hehehehe!” She was laughing, but her laughter sounded very forlorn.

Huo Yuhao squinted. “Self-created martial soul? I know.

Your martial soul is mutated, isn’t it?” “No, no, no!” She replied with three ‘nos’ and her forlorn voice turned callous. “Have you seen a mutated martial soul that only awakened when the soul master was ﬁfteen? No, you haven’t. My martial soul came from hatred, a deep hatred. When my hatred reached its extreme, my Spirit of Retribution

appeared. I killed her, I killed her, I killed her! I want revenge! I want revenge! All of you can go and die!”

She suddenly went berserk, and mimicked a lifting action. Following this, her second, third and ﬁfth soul rings lit up at the same time.

A weird white glow spread from her body, and countless Grudges appeared above Huo Yuhao and started to spread in all directions.

At this point, she saw a soul ring shining. It was a clear-white soul ring that ﬂashed with a dim golden color. When its light spread from Huo Yuhao’s body, his eyes started to shine brightly, and turned shiny and translucent. Purplish-gold light that seemed to be illuminated by countless streaks of starlight ﬂashed before disappearing. “Ah——” The female evil soul master’s head suddenly rocked back, and she even staggered a few steps. The huge avenging spirit that had been drifting behind her all this while was dissipated before it re-formed. The Grudges that she had released earlier were also immediately crushed.

Spiritual Shock! It was Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock in the concrete-immaterial realm.

Huo Yuhao’s body shook slightly. After all, this evil soul master’s cultivation was too strong, far superior to his. Although Huo Yuhao had an advantage in terms of his spiritual power, a ﬁght between soul masters didn’t just involve spiritual power. Moreover, her spiritual world was ﬁlled with a grim sense of evil. While Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock struck her, he also suffered from a backlash. Of course, she was hurt much more than him.

As he stepped forward with his left leg, the look in his eyes suddenly turned gentle. A golden projection appeared behind him before embracing him and fusing with his body.

Huo Yuhao’s gaze turned gentle. At this moment, his eyes didn’t reﬂect the look of the evil soul master in front of him. There was only a look of remembrance in his eyes right now.

Remembrance was a very magical thing. Right now, Huo Yuhao unleashed his Fist of Remembrance, which contained a surging feeling of remembrance!

A ﬁst with an indescribable color, but which yet seemed to shine with a glow that encompassed all colors, was unleashed towards the evil soul master.

At this point, the evil soul master was still suffering under the effects of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock. However, she was still a Soul Douluo, and it wouldn’t be so easy to curb her.

Just as Huo Yuhao’s Fist of Remembrance was about to strike her, her body suddenly dissipated like a specter. She changed into countless black projections that spread around. Each projection had the same look as her.

However, a sharp scream sounded at this point. All the black projections re-gathered and appeared where she was originally. It was as if she had been struck by Huo Yuhao’s ﬁst. Her body was covered by a layer of shiny light as she screamed. Her eyes were ﬁlled with disbelief.

“This, this is…”

Huo Yuhao didn’t say anything. He exerted a force with his front left foot and it seemed like he was being lifted up. He raised his right ﬁst and pointed his middle and index ﬁngers forward. The glow that seemed to encompass all colors suddenly shot into the sky and turned into a sword light that was more than ten meters long.

Huo Yuhao’s expression also changed. The gentle look in his eyes turned into pain. He pursed his lips tightly, and he appeared to have teared up. His mind seemed to have gone to another world too.

The majestic sword light descended from the sky. One’s swordplay could only reach the peak if he handled his relationship well. This time, it was Huo Yuhao’s Sword of Longing, a sword which would never be forgotten! The evil soul master was in a daze as she looked at the sword light that was coming down. Her state of mind was already affected because of Huo Yuhao’s ﬁst earlier.

As she was also a spiritual-type soul master, she was also more inﬂuenced than any other opponent. Her Spirit of Retribution relied on immense hatred. However, she was forced into a state of remembrance by Huo Yuhao.

“Ah——” Her sense of danger roused her instincts. She lifted her hands, and her seventh soul ring shone. The huge avenging spirit behind her drifted forward and fused with her body. She turned into a specter, but she didn’t attack or resist Huo Yuhao’s attack. Instead, she turned around and ﬂed. She wanted to escape from the sword light that was crashing down towards her.

However, how could she escape Huo Yuhao’s Sword of Longing after she was struck by his Fist of Remembrance?

Huo Yuhao’s Sword of Longing immediately tore her avenging spirit to pieces. Wherever this sword light passed, spots of bright light were left behind in the air. It was as if tears of remembrance had been scattered in the air.

The crushed Spirit of Retribution was re-formed. However, it was no longer in the state of a Martial Soul True Body. Rather, it regained the appearance of the evil soul master.

Huo Yuhao should be proud of his Sword of Longing. Without his sixth soul ring, he managed to force an eight- ringed Soul Douluo out of her Martial Soul True Body using his self-created ﬁghting skill. This showed how strong he was.

More astonishingly, the female evil soul master’s eyes were no longer bloodshot, and the look in her eyes became similar to Huo Yuhao’s.

Huo Yuhao had gone into closed-door cultivation for several months, and fused his various abilities. He had perfectly combined his spiritual and soul power through his emotions, forming his three great skills. No matter how strong his opponent was, she would be affected by him if she wasn’t emotionally resilient enough to resist the invasion of his spiritual power.

These three great skills were mainly controlled using Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power, as his spiritual power was far superior to his soul power. When he was able to increase his soul power to a comparable level and unleash these three skills, he would be able to establish himself as one of the strongest soul masters on the continent.

After unleashing his sword, Huo Yuhao was already crying. He pulled his palm back to his waist before ﬂipping it over. He formed the shape of a heart in the air and all the lights were retracted at this instant. There was now an additional heart at the center of his palm. It was a golden heart. Even the most dazzling gem in this world couldn’t compare to the glow from this golden heart.

This golden heart represented a sincere heart. It was ﬁlled with eternal love and remembrance.

Huo Yuhao shut his eyes. At this moment, there was only one ﬁgure in his mind. There was no other person or thing that could affect his state of mind. He was already deeply immersed in his thoughts of Wang Dong’er.

Dong’er, Dong’er, Dong’er! He was gently calling in his heart. He seemed to see Wang Dong’er, and how she sacriﬁced her life for him without any hesitation. Dong’er, Dong’er…

As he called, that shining, golden heart slowly moved as he pushed his palm forward.

In the sky, the clouds moved, and thunder rumbled. After an inky blackness ﬁlled the sky, it suddenly lit up. The lights came from an unknown origin, but they formed a heart shape.

The signals from the three closest three surveillance soul tools were scrambled. After this, their formation arrays blew apart, and they were destroyed.

That huge and seemingly boundless heart resonated with the golden heart on Huo Yuhao’s palm.

Behind the heart in the sky, there seemed to be a beautiful face watching everything that was happening on the ground with a gentle gaze. As Huo Yuhao pushed his palm out, and the two hearts resonated with each other, it seemed as if countless ﬂowing lights shone behind Huo Yuhao’s back. There were only memories of him and Wang Dong’er within those ﬂowing lights.

Huo Yuhao’s Haodong Palm, a palm which would last eternally!

This was the last strike of Huo Yuhao’s three great skills. It was also his ﬁrst time unleashing this strike with all his heart.

He didn’t know it yet, but he had already established his position in the world of soul masters as he unleashed this palm.

“Chi——” When his palm was imprinted on the evil soul master’s body, she didn’t experience any tremendous movement because of his strike as she came charging towards it.

Chapter 377: Dispelling, Clues, Prison of Water

The countless ﬂowing lights behind Huo Yuhao were imprinted on her body along with Huo Yuhao’s palm. Instantly, her eyes were no longer bloodshot, and there was only a clear look in her eyes. Her pale-white face even started to ﬂush slightly, and she revealed a relieved smile on her face.

“Thanks.” Her voice was no longer hoarse. Instead, it was captivating, as if she came from another world.

Huo Yuhao shut his eyes as his tears ﬂowed uncontrollably. He didn’t even hear her voice. At this moment, both of them were immersed in their own worlds after a life and death ﬁght.

“Remembrance is a magical thing. I miss my mommy and daddy. Why did you die so early? Why didn’t you protect me? Why did you let that fatso abuse me and leave me humiliated in front of the countless people in that cold basement? They destroyed my body under the instigation of that fatso, ravaging my heart and staining my spirit. I was only ﬁfteen years old then.” “Hatred kept me alive and enhanced my spirit to another level. My Spirit of Retribution was awakened as a result. I hate those greedy and lecherous men, and I hate that fatso who tore me to pieces. I want to slaughter them, but I’m in so much pain.”

“Am I ﬁnally released? You let me see the light, sense what remembrance is and witness a love that’s yet to appear in my spirit. It seems like not everything in this world is dirty. There are still pure and clean things. Thank you, thank you for letting me sense the intense love you have for that unknown person. You cleansed my heart and let me know what release is. Thank you, I’m very happy, I’m very happy…”

Black gas started to ﬂow out of her pores, and she started to age quickly. In an instant, she became very shriveled.

As the black gas ﬂowed behind her back, it slowly formed a human shape before it gradually dissipated. Her body slowly collapsed before she began to crumble. Eventually, she turned into a pile of dust, and disappeared with the wind.

Huo Yuhao was still in his earlier posture after unleashing his palm. It was just that the lights on his body had disappeared, as had the huge heart in the sky. He stood in place without moving a single inch. However, he could still affect everything around him with his emotions.

Six ﬁgures silently appeared around him. Every one of them revealed a different look in their eyes. The only similarity between them was the tears that ﬂowed from their eyes.

It wasn’t just them. Within a region that spanned one thousand meters in diameter, all living creatures were tearing up. They had all been inﬂuenced by Huo Yuhao’s emotions.

Xu Sanshi silently walked behind Huo Yuhao before lifting his rigid body and wiping his tears. He sighed and turned around before he left.

The other ﬁve quickly followed him.

“Why is it like that?” Nan Qiuqiu whispered to Ye Guyi.

Ye Guyi laughed bitterly. “I don’t know either. Why is it like that? He, he actually…”

Ji Juechen was normally very cold, but there seemed to be great changes to him right now. He seemed lost, and his hands were trembling.

“Am I wrong? Am I wrong? Is it only love that can improve my sword intent to its peak? I gave up all romantic emotions to focus on my cultivation. Was I wrong? Do I really need love too so that I can become stronger? Why do I seem to lag behind you every time I feel that I’ve surpassed you?”

Why didn’t Huo Yuhao use the strength of his Eye of Destiny to break free from the lock on of that evil soul master? It was because his original intention was to kill her.

If he was discovered and he didn’t kill her, they would start a city-wide search for them. Furthermore, it was extremely beneﬁcial for them to get rid of such a soul master. With her cultivation, she was likely one of the leaders of the Holy Ghost Church in Sunrise City.

That was why Huo Yuhao set a trap to kill her. He drew her over, knowing that his teammates were already hiding in ambush over here.

An eight-ringed Soul Douluo was indeed very strong. However, his teammates were some of the most outstanding soul masters in the younger generation too!

The Eternal Defense, Xu Sanshi, as well as the Origin of Destruction, He Caitou, were both close to Rank 70. More importantly, there was Ye Guyi, who had the Holy Angel, which could curb evil soul masters. Along with Ji Juechen, Nan Qiuqiu and Jing Ziyan, the seven of them should be highly conﬁdent in killing their opponent.

Through his Spiritual Detection, Huo Yuhao had already planned this trap perfectly. His original goal was to use his three great skills to restrain his opponent before Ji Juechen and Ye Guyi unleashed an all-out attack to deal her a lethal blow. The other four would support the two of them.

However, no one would have expected Huo Yuhao to destroy this extremely strong Soul Douluo who possessed the Spirit of Retribution using his three great skills. She was even considered one of the top-ranked individuals in the Holy Ghost Church. While the Spirit of Retribution was highly reliant on emotions, which made her susceptible to Huo Yuhao’s three great skills, the effect of Huo Yuhao’s attacks still showed that his three great skills were extremely strong.

They were terrifying skills that completely exceeded his current cultivation. When the weather changed, his teammates were all already stunned. All of them could clearly sense his love and yearning for Wang Dong’er.

When he unleashed his Haodong Palm, he completely destroyed his opponent with his emotions. But his soul power had been completely drained at this instant. This was his ﬁrst time unleashing this attack that encompassed the true meaning behind his emotions, and it was extremely astonishing!

After ﬁfteen minutes, the military sealed the region they had fought in. However, they weren’t able to ﬁnd anything.

A tall and huge general who was in charge of investigating this situation asked his subordinate, “What happened?” “I don’t know either…”

“Bullshit, the entire city saw what happened earlier. What’s with that huge heart in the sky? Why did the weather suddenly change? How dare you tell me that you don’t know anything! Do you know how expensive those three surveillance soul tools were?”

“However, nothing really happened. There were no civilian casualties. It’s just that an abnormal number of people started to cry within this region. They claimed that they did so because they were touched.”

“Trash, go and investigate further.”

“Yes!”

In a hotel room.

Huo Yuhao was quietly lying on his bed, still in his previous posture. Xu Sanshi stood up from his bedside. “Third senior, how is he?” Nan Qiuqiu asked Xu Sanshi.

Xu Sanshi laughed bitterly. “Not bad. He must have unleashed more strength than he could control. Furthermore, imagine how emotionally affected he must be to be able to unleash such a strong undulation of emotions! I know – he showed mercy on me when we sparred in the sect. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have been able to handle those ﬁrst two strikes of his, given my current cultivation. Sometimes I wonder why he’s so freakish. The strength of his self-created ﬁghting skills has already surpassed that of his soul skills.”

He Caitou sighed and said, “Don’t be envious of him. Are you willing to exchange Nannan for three ﬁghting skills?”

Xu Sanshi glared at him and said, “Why don’t you use yourself as an example? Of course I’m not willing to. Nannan is special.”

He Caitou chortled and said, “Alright, she’s not here. You don’t have to show how loyal you are. When can Yuhao recover?” Xu Sanshi said, “He’s in a strange state. His soul power has clearly been drained, but he’s recovering at an extremely rapid speed. It’s as if he has a Milk Bottle in his body that’s nourishing him. He should recover after resting for a few more hours. It’s just that I’m not sure how long his spirit will take to

recover. The strength of his skills comes from the connection between his spiritual power and his emotions. I don’t think it’ll be easy for him to recover from his emotional state, given how invested in his emotions he was earlier. When he wakes up, I’ll need to warn him not to use these three skills so easily. Otherwise, he’ll go crazy.”

They were all elite students from Shrek Academy. Although they couldn’t completely understand what was going on with Huo Yuhao’s body, they could roughly gauge what was going on from the state Huo Yuhao was in when he unleashed his three great skills and through their understanding of him.

He Caitou turned serious. “Yes, we must stop him from using these three skills so often in the future. They’re strong, but there’s no follow-up, and they affect his emotions too much. I wonder if he’ll be able to use these three skills if Dong’er wakes up.” Xu Sanshi sighed and said, “These skills are better not used even though they are strong. I hope Dong’er can wake up sooner and return to his side. Little junior’s life is too bitter.”

“Yes.” He Caitou nodded in agreement.

Ye Guyi stood behind all of them and silently watched Huo Yuhao. After that, she turned around and was the ﬁrst to leave.

Nan Qiuiqu was stunned, and quickly followed her out.

“Sister Guyi, are you alright?” Nan Qiuqiu followed Ye Guyi back to their room and asked her concernedly.

Ye Guyi shook her head gently and said, “I’m ﬁne. I shouldn’t have been curious about that guy!”

Nan Qiuqiu’s eyes opened wide, and she asked, “Have you really fallen for him?”

Ye Guyi remained silent for a moment before saying, “Earlier, I hid my liking for him. He’s a complicated fellow. His abilities are far superior to others of the same age. However, I pity him for some reason. He has too many burdens. I don’t want to give him more trouble.”

Nan Qiuqiu was in disbelief. “Sister Guyi, have you also fallen into his trap? The more you say, the more I feel that…” Ye Guyi smiled and said, “So what if I’ve fallen into his trap? I’m willing to fall for such a man! However, I rationally told myself that it’s impossible for anything to happen between us. I won’t continue to fall further. Do you know? When he unleashed his palm strike earlier, I fell in love with him.

However, I also chose to give it up.”

Nan Qiuqiu smacked her own forehead and said, “Forget it, I can’t understand it. However, you must take care of your own heart! Did you see what happened to Wang Qiu’er? She’s in torment because of her love for him. We don’t even know where she is now. In his heart, there’s only Wang Dong’er. You mustn’t do anything stupid.”

Huo Yuhao took two days to fully recover. He woke up on the second morning, but he was still immersed in his emotions, and couldn’t detach himself from them. It took another day before he fully recovered.

In these two days, the atmosphere in Sunrise City became very tense. There was also a person staying in the hotel that Huo Yuhao and the rest were at. This person was Feng Ling. After drawing the evil soul master away, Huo Yuhao told everyone about Feng Ling’s condition through his Spiritual Detection. After things were more peaceful outside, Jing Ziyan went to save him.

The building that Feng Ling was abused in seemed to only contain the evil soul master that Huo Yuhao had killed. In addition, there weren’t any other survivors apart from Feng Ling.

After Feng Ling was brought back, He Caitou and Xu Sanshi took turns to watch over him. He was still in a daze now, and wasn’t in a right state of mind.

“What’s wrong? Are you okay now?” Xu Sanshi asked Huo Yuhao, who was sitting cross-legged on his bed.

Huo Yuhao nodded, and there was an apologetic look on his face. “Third senior, I’m sorry.”

Xu Sanshi laughed and said, “There’s no need to be apologetic. Although you shouldn’t have lost control since you were commanding all of us, it was a special situation. That evil soul master was of the rare spiritual type. I asked Ye Guyi too. She said she wasn’t conﬁdent of curbing her either. She was an eight-ringed Soul Douluo, and thus it was right for you to unleash all your strength against her. It’s just that you don’t understand yourself well enough. You must keep this in mind. The side effects of your attacks are too strong. From the look in your eyes, I can tell that you are not fully clear-headed yet.”

“Alright.” Huo Yuhao nodded. Just like Xu Sanshi had said, his mind had yet to fully recover. Occasionally, Wang Dong’er’s ﬁgure would ﬂash across his mind.

“That evil soul master would’ve been extremely deadly if she had unleashed all her strength. She had her self-created ﬁghting skill that caused my spiritual sea to be affected. After that, I lost control of my emotions when I unleashed my ﬁghting skill because of that too. Otherwise, the strength of my three skills shouldn’t have been so great, and I would’ve been able to control my body after I ﬁnished attacking. At least I’ll be able to move. I’ll take note in the future.”

Xu Sanshi sounded very earnest as he said, “Yuhao, it’s best to use your three skills less often. They are indeed very strong, but their inﬂuence on you is also very great. In my opinion, they are the products of your lovesickness. You can’t rely on them too much. Otherwise, your own abilities will fall signiﬁcantly once Dong’er awakes, along with the fact that these three skills will disappear.”

Huo Yuhao shuddered in his heart. He knew that Xu Sanshi was right. If Wang Dong’er was by his side right now, would he be able to use those three skills? Deﬁnitely not. They were built on his remembrance of Wang Dong’er, as well as his yearning for her. Not to even mention Wang Dong’er appearing beside him, he wouldn’t be able to use those three skills if he heard Wang Dong’er had awoken.

After nodding his head, Huo Yuhao said, “Third senior, how’s Feng Ling?”

After he mentioned Feng Ling, Xu Sanshi suddenly revealed a weird look on his face. “That…” He coughed.

Huo Yuhao was confused and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Xu Sanshi sighed and replied, “That evil soul master was simply too sick in the mind. Feng Ling is completely crippled. He suffered from a strong curse-type soul skill, and was even castrated. He was also fed some unknown medicine, and his chest has developed like a woman’s. He’s neither a guy nor a girl. I suspect that he was kept to disgust people.”

After hearing what Xu Sanshi said, Huo Yuhao recalled what that evil soul master mentioned earlier, especially what she said before she died.

While Huo Yuhao was immersed in his remembrance of Wang Dong’er then, he still remembered what that evil soul master said to him. His expression turned serious as he recalled what she said now.

“That evil soul master was also a poor soul. She turned evil because of hatred. She disregarded everything because of her desire for revenge.”

“She didn’t realize that she was making more people suffer like she did before by venting her pain on others. Let’s go and take a look at Feng Ling and see if there’s a way of saving him.”

Huo Yuhao followed Xu Sanshi to a single room. He Caitou was standing at the door, and he also wore a weird expression on his face. It seemed like he was unwilling to enter the room.

“Yuhao, are you ﬁne now?” After seeing Huo Yuhao, He Caitou went over to pat his shoulder.

“Second senior, I’m ﬁne. How’s Feng Ling?”

He Caitou replied, “He’s still in a daze.”

Huo Yuhao entered the room. When he saw Feng Ling, he couldn’t help but sigh.

His clothes were torn and damaged in several areas, revealing his ﬂesh and the whip marks on his body. His hair extremely messy, and only his thick lips were striking.

After seeing someone enter, he immediately squirmed to the side of his bed. His whole body was trembling.

Huo Yuhao walked to his bedside and tried his best to tolerate his stench. “Feng Ling, do you still remember me? We met outside Radiant City before.”

“You, you, you…” After seeing Huo Yuhao, Feng Ling appeared to be in a daze, and was stunned. He seemed to recall something, “Did you call my name that day?”

“Yes, it’s me.” Huo Yuhao gently released his spiritual power as he spoke. He stimulated Feng Ling’s brain. This stimulation was similar to his Spiritual Shock, but it was only a fraction of the strength of his Spiritual Shock. This slight stimulation helped Feng Ling out of his confused state.

Feng Ling’s eyes turned clearer. “Oh, oh, who are you? Who are you?”

Huo Yuhao smiled and replied, “I’m Huo Yuhao. I’m here to save people like you who have been captured. Do you know where the rest are?”

After hearing his question, Feng Ling’s body jerked, and there was a look of fury in his eyes along with the confusion. “I, I…”

“No worries. Take your time to think and remember.” Huo Yuhao’s voice became gentler, but he released stronger spiritual power.

Under Huo Yuhao’s stimulation, Feng Ling started to experience fury, fear, confusion and torment, as well as other emotions. He opened his mouth, revealing his set of yellow teeth, and released his stinky breath. Huo Yuhao had no choice but to form a layer of icy fog to isolate his breath.

After a while, Feng Ling started bawling as he sprawled himself on his bed.

“She, she harmed me. She harmed me and turned me into a woman. She turned me into a woman! I’m no longer a man. She abused me everyday. She hit me every day to vent. She even forced me to work as a madam at that dirty place. My life was worse than death!”

Huo Yuhao stood up and didn’t make a sound. He only watched Feng Ling vent his emotions silently. He sighed in his heart as he empathized with Feng Ling. However, he was sure of one thing – Feng Ling didn’t mean it when he said his life was worse than death. He deﬁnitely had the ability to commit suicide. Compared to what he had suffered, he was more unwilling to die.

It was only when Feng Ling’s crying slowed that Huo Yuhao tried to comfort him. “Alright, it’s all in the past. Everything will become better. That person who harmed you has already been killed by me. She won’t abuse you or harm you anymore. Try to clear your mind and think of where those who were captured with you are being kept.”

Feng Ling rubbed the tears off his face. “They are, they are all being held captive in a water prison.”

“A water prison?” Huo Yuhao asked doubtfully.

Feng Ling nodded. At this point, he seemed much more normal. “This water prison is located underneath a moat to the south of the city. It was constructed following the ﬂow of the moat. Everyone is immersed in water, and they are all very weak now.” An enlightened look ﬂashed across Huo Yuhao’s eyes. No wonder he couldn’t detect it earlier. He hadn’t expected the hostages to be held captive in such a place!

“How many hostages are there? Are their jailers all evil soul masters?” Huo Yuhao asked.

Feng Ling asked, “I don’t know how many people are being held captive there. However, evil soul masters took a few of them away. I was one of them. The evil soul master who took me has already killed a few people. A few others committed suicide.” As he spoke until this point, he started to shudder uncontrollably again.

He Caitou and Xu Sanshi’s expressions changed. The hostages were in a worse situation than they had thought, which made their rescue mission much more difﬁcult.

Huo Yuhao asked Feng Ling a few more questions, but it was obvious that Feng Ling’s state of mind had declined once again, as his words became very unclear. The information that they obtained only consisted of what Feng Ling had revealed earlier.

However, it was still very valuable to the Tang Sect. At least they knew where the hostages were behind held. Indeed, they were being watched by evil soul masters.

In this way, they had a direct target for their upcoming mission.

After exiting Feng Ling’s room, Huo Yuhao immediately gathered his teammates for a meeting. After this, he recounted what Feng Ling had said to him earlier. “We must start planning our rescue mission. Let me give my suggestion before all of you add on.” Huo Yuhao couldn’t be bothered with remaining hidden anymore, given the crisis they were experiencing in Sunrise City. A missing evil soul master was bound to alert the Holy Ghost Church. This was why they had to act as soon as possible. According to Huo Yuhao’s estimation, the ﬁght near the border over these few days was becoming more intense. They had the biggest chance of success if they exploited this opportunity to rescue the hostages. This was because the Holy Ghost Church was likely to send some strong soul masters to supplement their forces at the border.

“We have limited people and resources. That’s why we can’t do everything. From what Feng Ling has told us, the Holy Ghost Church has already started to lay their hands on the hostages. A portion of the hostages were even taken to a different place, and we all know what will happen to them. Even if there are survivors, I’m afraid their lives are like a living hell. We can only give up on this portion of the hostages.” Huo Yuhao looked very stern as he said this, and his tone also sounded very determined.

Nan Qiuqiu stood up and glared at him furiously. Her eyes seemed to be on the verge of spewing ﬁre. “Sit down!” Huo Yuhao shouted. His voice didn’t sound very loud, but it had an indescribable might to it. Along with the fact that he had killed a Soul Douluo on his own, Nan Qiuqiu turned pale when he shouted at her, and she sat down uncontrollably.

“I know what you want to say. Qiuqiu, I know you don’t want anything to happen to your mother, but you have to know that our overall abilities can’t compare to the Holy Ghost Church. The Academy only sent us here because we aren’t obvious targets. That’s why we can only do what we are capable of. If we successfully rescue most of the hostages and your mother isn’t among them, I promise you that I’ll stay with you until we ﬁnd her.

“However, we need to save the majority ﬁrst.”

Nan Qiuqiu was stunned, and silently lowered her head. She knew that this was the best Huo Yuhao could do. With his immense spiritual power, it was also the most effective if he remained with her to search for her mother. Right now, she could only pray that her mother was with the majority of the hostages. While she was a proud lady, she wasn’t unreasonable. Seeing that he had convinced Nan Qiuqiu, Huo Yuhao turned to the rest and continued, saying, “I’ll immediately survey the region Feng Ling mentioned, and I’ll try to sneak in. While I get some ﬁrst-hand information, all of you must be prepared to take action. Second senior, you can start our arrangements over here. Whatever you need me to set up, you can separate and pass to me. I’m conﬁdent of leaving and entering the city without being detected.”

He Caitou nodded.

“Third senior, you are adept at controlling water. You should follow me to the water prison and reinforce me.

“Alright.” Xu Sanshi nodded as well.

Although they were older than Huo Yuhao, they treated him as their leader right now. This was extremely wise, considering that they were in a dangerous place right now, and it was pertinent for them to have a common voice.

“Sister Ziyan, starting from now, install the items that I passed to you earlier at the north region of the city when it’s dark. These high altitude surveillance soul tools are the least effective at night. However, you must still remain careful. If you are discovered, you must immediately escape. If possible, try to install as many as possible. They will provide us with opportunities during our mission.”

“Alright, count on me.” Jing Ziyan gave Huo Yuhao a thumbs- up to signal that she understood. She was given this role because of the abilities of her Fog. She could turn into fog and escape anytime she wanted. Compared to the rest, she could make the safest escape.

Huo Yuhao then turned to Ji Juechen. “Brother Ji, you are in charge of reinforcing Sister Ziyan. You must guarantee her safety.”

He nodded coolly.

Huo Yuhao’s gaze ﬁnally landed on Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi, “The two of you will remain in the hotel and guard Feng Ling. Also, please protect second senior as he sets everything up.” Ye Guyi was a little displeased. “Do you need both of us to remain here to guard one person? Going to the water prison will be very dangerous. I can tag along as extra reinforcement.”

Huo Yuhao didn’t completely trust Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu yet. They had both just joined the Tang Sect and there were still many things that they were not completely sturdy in. In the face of a crisis, it was very difﬁcult to tell what kinds of abilities they would unleash.

However, Ye Guyi’s Holy Angel was still very important. It was an effective weapon against evil soul masters.

After pondering for a moment, Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “Alright. Qiuqiu will remain here, while Guyi will follow me and third senior. Let’s go.”

Time was not on their side. For now, the Sun Moon Empire was more focused on their borders. While the water prison was under the protection of the Holy Ghost Church, the security of this prison wouldn’t be as tight as compared to before. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao and the rest didn’t have to risk their lives to ﬁght their enemies. According to Feng Ling’s description, the water prison was beneath the city’s moat at the south wall. However, Huo Yuhao didn’t leave the city to survey it. Without a doubt, the strength of the surveillance soul tools above this moat were bound to be the strongest. If he used his spiritual power to seal his soul power, he couldn’t use his Imitation. However, he couldn’t openly try to enter the prison either.

As a result, Huo Yuhao, Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi didn’t leave the city. Instead, they proceeded to the south wall from inside the city.

Sunrise City wasn’t very big, but the three of them still needed to make a slight detour before they got close to the south wall.

In the hotel, Nan Qiuqiu was bored as she guarded Feng Ling. After he ate, he fell asleep. As she sat in a chair, there was a worried look in her eyes.

She kept on praying for her mother, and hoped that she was ﬁne. She also knew that Huo Yuhao didn’t bring her along because of her unstable state of mind. It was evidently an accurate decision to leave her behind. However, she was extremely anxious.

In the room, Feng Ling unwittingly let out a few groans as he ﬂipped his body around while sleeping. Suddenly, his body jerked, and a trace of dark-red light ﬂashed above his nose.

Nan Qiuqiu naturally didn’t see this, as she was outside the room. After the dark-red light ﬂashed, he soon became normal again. His body turned rigid for a moment before he relaxed and continued sleeping.

In another room, which was also the largest room that they had booked in this hotel, He Caitou was busy setting everything up.

Every corner of the roof was stuck with starﬁsh-shaped soul tools. There was a red spot of light at the center of each starﬁsh-shaped soul tool, and they were slowly ﬂashing.

They were called surveillance-interference soul tools, newly invented by Xuan Ziwen. They were targeted towards all types of surveillance soul tools, and were able to shield against the effects of most surveillance soul tools apart from thermal detectors. They were especially useful against soul power detectors, and the only problem was that each of them only covered a limited area. This was why many of them had to be used at the same time. Right now, any soul power undulations that came from this room couldn’t be detected by the surveillance soul tools outside no matter how many of them

there were.

As for thermal detectors, they were extremely rare and huge. They couldn’t be used on the streets for a patrol. Even if they could be carried around on the streets, what good would they do even if they detected people in the hotel?

The Tang Sect was extremely prepared this time before they set off. To ensure their safety, Bei Bei and Xuan Ziwen had used up every resource that the Tang Sect had. Xuan Ziwen even wanted to hand everything to them.

He Caitou was installing an extremely huge soul tool right now. It had a hexagonal base, and the top of it was carved with many complicated patterns. There were circular, protruding parts on the sides of the hexagonal base. Each side had four circular protruding parts. On a closer look, every circular part was actually a formation array. This meant that there were twenty-four formation arrays on this hexagonal base.

Above the hexagonal base was an oval-shaped metal ball that resembled an egg. This metal ball was able to turn freely on the hexagonal base. The major axis of this ball was around two meters long, while its minor axis was around a meter and twenty centimeters long. There were complicated patterns carved on the entire ball, and whole thing actually looked like a huge, completed formation array.

After He Caitou cautiously installed it, his forehead was already dripping with perspiration. After this, he installed a total of twenty-four Class 6 Sealed Milk Bottles into the base.

He Caitou seemed slightly intoxicated as he caressed the ﬂowery patterns on this huge ball. He muttered to himself, “A complete Class 8 soul tool! And it’s even close to a Class 9 soul tool. Furthermore, it’s used for auxiliary purposes. No matter what, I must bring this treasure back. Otherwise, Teacher Xuan will kill me. When little junior is back, we can adjust its position. We are at the north of the city, which is a very suitable location for this soul tool to be used. Hehe. Let me add a few other accessories, and let it ‘bloom’ when they come.”

@Chapter 378: The Heavens Have Eyes, the Sword Fanatic Gains Enlightenment

As he spoke, He Caitou started to get busy again. He installed soul tool after soul tool in every corner of the room.

What he didn’t know was that his reputation as the Origin of Destruction would start to become notable after this mission, and he would also become one of most well-known ﬁghting soul engineers on the continent.

---

Jing Ziyan was also busy. At this point, she was in her own room, adjusting her storage-type soul tool. At times, she would retrieve items that looked like stones.

These stones weren’t very eye-catching, and they were only slightly bigger than an adult man’s ﬁst. However, Jing Ziyan was very careful, because she had once witnessed how destructive these stones were. Ji Juechen was sitting on a chair not far away, and silently watched her as she busied herself. He suddenly said, “Can you stop smiling?”

Jing Ziyan was shocked, and a ‘stone’ in her hand suddenly slipped. Jing Ziyan hurriedly reached out and grabbed it again. After that, she patted her chest and said, “Hey, can you not scare me when I’m dealing with these things? If they explode, we’ll be critically hurt, if we don’t die!”

“I just couldn’t take it anymore. Furthermore, I remembered Huo Yuhao said before that they have to be detonated. Even if they drop on the ground, they won’t explode,” Ji Juechen said.

Jing Ziyan snorted. “What can’t you take anymore? Even if it won’t explode, we need to be careful. It’s better to be safe. It’s not like you’ve ever seen the strength of these things.”

Ji Juechen said, “I couldn’t take your expression anymore. Do you know how sinister you looked earlier? You looked just like a little fox.” Jing Ziyan snapped, “You’re more like a little fox. Have you ever seen a little fox carrying a bunch of bombs? Eh, why are you so talkative today? It’s not like you.”

As she spoke, she picked up a few of the bombs before she turned around and looked suspiciously at Ji Juechen.

Ji Juechen’s cold expression suddenly changed, and Jing Ziyan was shocked. Is he embarrassed? Or is he being shy?

“Heavens! What’s wrong with you, Juechen? Are you sick?” Jing Ziyan walked towards him as she spoke.

“Stop!” Ji Juechen suddenly shouted.

Jing Ziyan immediately stopped and gave him a doubtful look.

“I’m ﬁne, I’m not sick.” Ji Juechen smacked his own forehead, as if he were trying to calm himself down. “Then what’s wrong with you?” Jing Ziyan stared at him doubtfully.

Ji Juechen lowered his head and seemed to be thinking of something. Fortunately, this didn’t last very long. He suddenly lifted his head again and said to Jing Ziyan, “Ziyan, how long have we known each other?”

“Oh, several years already. We got to know each other when no one was willing to interact with you when you ﬁrst entered the Academy. Back then, you were only admitted to the Academy to make up the numbers. After that, you found a suitable path, and I watched you progress to where you are now. Why?”

Ji Juechen’s gaze suddenly became determined. “Let’s get together.”

Jing Ziyan was confused as she said, “Haven’t we always been together?” However, she was stunned when she looked at Ji Juechen’s eyes clearly. Three of the stones in her hand fell out and crashed to the ground. It did prove that the stones wouldn’t explode. However, Jing Ziyan’s expression was extremely terriﬁed at this moment. She was frozen in disbelief, and couldn’t imagine what was happening to her right now. Her expression perfectly displayed how she was feeling.

“You, what are you… speak clearly, what do you mean?” Jing Ziyan’s voice was trembling uncontrollably, as if the most terrifying thing in this world had happened to her.

Ji Juechen lowered his head again, and didn’t dare to look her in the eyes. He muttered, “I said that we should get together. You are right. We’ve known each other for years, and you’ve always been by my side – helping me, encouraging me and taking care of me. Although I never once commented on any of it, I know it in my heart.

“After Huo Yuhao unleashed his three skills that day, I realized that I’ve been detached from this world for too long. There shouldn’t just be swords in my world, because swords can’t help me reach the peak that I’ve always wanted to reach. I should be like a normal person. I should have relationships. I only know one lady, and that is you. In addition, I feel like I can only think of you. Let’s get together, shall we?” As he raised his head again, Jing Ziyan saw a trace of anticipation and nervousness in his eyes.

“I’m not pretty.” Jing Ziyan seemed to grit her teeth as she said these few words. Her eyes were already on the verge of tearing up at this moment.

“You are the only lady in my eyes. You are just like my sword.

Also, do you think I’m very concerned about your beauty?”

Jing Ziyan shifted her head to one side and tried to stop her tears from ﬂowing.

“I’m not gentle, either. I’m competitive, and I like to ﬁght! I might beat you up at any time!”

“Those are precisely the reasons why we should get together.” Ji Juechen seemed to become a little tense. “Are...are you willing?” He started to seem a little depressed right now. This was probably the most he had spoken in the past ten years, and it was also the day where his mood had experienced the greatest changes. At this moment, he suddenly realized that his sword intent had met some kind of problem. It was as if it had been punctured by some ridiculous thing.

Jing Ziyan raised her head, and her tears ﬂowed down her cheeks. “Heaven! You’ve ﬁnally opened your eyes.”

When she looked at Ji Juechen again, her gaze had already turned sharp. She took one step forward and came over in front of him. After this, she sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. They looked into each others’ eyes at this close distance.

“From this moment onwards, you are my man. You can’t turn back, and there’s no time limit. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this day? From today onwards, Yuhao is my benefactor. Scoundrel!”

Her tears ﬂowed again, but she kissed his lips as if she had gone crazy, and held tightly onto his head. Her tears also ﬂowed onto his face in an instant. Ji Juechen was stupeﬁed, completely stupeﬁed. He only felt a force that he had never experienced or imagined before coming from Jing Ziyan’s body. This force had nothing to do with her soul power or ﬁghting, but it struck his heart with an unprecedented momentum. His sword intent melted at this point. Jing Ziyan’s slightly salty yet soft lips, and the inexperienced kiss that she planted on his lips, lit a ﬁre in his heart.

Gradually, Ji Juechen recovered from his shock. His hands wrapped around Jing Ziyan’s waist as he hugged her tightly. He started to be the active one. While he was as inexperienced as Jing Ziyan, he was more aggressive and offensive as he sensed that force.

His love was like his sword – they both needed a ﬂash of realization. Just like Jing Ziyan had said, he had ﬁnally gotten it right. The feelings that he had been keeping in his heart for so long had ﬁnally erupted, and they couldn’t be stopped.

In this perilous city, they had ﬁnally taken that deﬁning step, and removed the thin barrier between them.

------

Huo Yuhao, Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi arrived at the south end of the city. They were less than ﬁfty meters from the south wall.

It was noon, and the three of them found a small, ordinary restaurant to dine at. This restaurant also ﬁt their status according to their dress.

After ordering a few small dishes, they started to eat their lunch.

Huo Yuhao was sitting in a corner of the restaurant, Xu Sanshi sat next to him, while Ye Guyi sat opposite him. It was very difﬁcult for anyone to notice him.

He unleashed his Spiritual Detection, and directed it underground. It drilled through the ground like a sharp awl.

Penetrating the city wall to survey the area beyond it would take a toll on his spiritual power, while going over the city wall would change the direction of his spiritual power, which would make it difﬁcult to control. Thus, Huo Yuhao chose to go underground.

The south wall was indeed more tightly guarded than other places in the city. As Huo Yuhao scanned upward, he discovered that there were more thermal and soul power detectors here than at the northern city gate.

Furthermore, there were also a few hidden offensive soul tools above this wall. The outer perimeter was tightly guarded.

Huo Yuhao kept on moving his spiritual power diagonally downward. The foundation of the city wall only reached a depth of ten meters. After ten meters, Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power managed to extend beneath it.

As he ranged further underground, he exhausted his spiritual power greatly. It was only because of his immense spiritual cultivation that he was able to unleash such strong spiritual power and control.

After reaching close to thirty meters underground, Huo Yuhao felt less resistance to his spiritual power as it entered water.

City moat. This has to be the city moat.

Huo Yuhao was delighted, and continue to move his Spiritual Detection down. At the same time, he also moved it further to either side.

The water was a little polluted, but the senses from his spiritual power were detached from his body. They weren’t like his vision.

Very soon, Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power had swept more than ﬁfty meters of polluted water, but he didn’t discover anything. There was only silt at the bottom of the moat. With his spiritual power, he could only go ten meters below the layer of silt before he started to feel dizzy.

Huo Yuhao lifted his head and shut his eyes slightly. He took a deep breath to soothe his spiritual power.

“How is it?” Xu Sanshi asked softly.

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “I can’t. There’s too big of an area to survey. The length of the south wall is quite extensive. I can only search slowly. Third senior, cover me. I’ll try to use my Eye of Destiny. Perhaps I’ll be able to sense more that way.”

“Alright.”

Huo Yuhao gulped down a glass of clear water in front of him before he placed his elbows on the table. His palms were naturally supporting his forehead, but covered the center of it.

His Eye of Destiny opened. When it opened, Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi had a feeling that Huo Yuhao was illusory. A strange aura came from his head, but this feeling only lasted for an instant. However, they could still clearly see that Huo Yuhao had become different… even scarier.

Huo Yuhao unleashed his spiritual power again, the penetrative abilities of his spiritual power a few times stronger now. In a matter of seconds, he entered the moat once again. Under his control, his spiritual power swept its surroundings and covered a greater area.

He couldn’t do this all day. After all, it wasn’t possible to construct anything under this layer of silt. Furthermore, Feng Ling’s words weren’t very clear, and he wasn’t able to determine the actual location of the water prison. From what Feng Ling had mentioned, he only recalled three useful phrases

– south wall, city moat, and water prison.

As he scanned his surroundings, he soon reached two hundred meters in distance. As the area that he covered grew, he was able to detect more things with the help of his Eye of Destiny.

He slowly sensed traces of a gloomy, despondent aura. This feeling came mostly from the eastern end of the south wall. He quickly shifted the direction of his Spiritual Detection. Indeed, this despondent feeling became stronger and stronger the more he moved east.

The draw on his spiritual power kept on increasing, and Huo Yuhao called to the Skydream Iceworm, “Brother Skydream, give me a hand.”

Skydream’s lazy voice sounded in his spiritual sea. “Okay.”

The ring on Huo Yuhao’s ﬁnger that the Skydream Iceworm had changed into lost its glow. In Huo Yuhao’s spiritual sea, the Skydream Iceworm surfaced, and slowly released the strength of his pure spiritual origin into Huo Yuhao’s spiritual sea. Suddenly, Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power became much stronger.

His spiritual power continued to move east, and he ﬁnally found something suspicious.

It was at a position around three hundred meters to his east, and around three meters below the river bank close to this side of the south wall. There was an iron fence which was constructed out of thick, ﬁne iron. The despondent and gloomy aura came from there, which meant it either had to be the entrance and exit of the water prison, or an opening for the ﬂow of water into or out of the water prison.

Huo Yuhao heaved a sigh of relief after making this discovery. There were ﬁnally clues. He quickly retracted his Spiritual Detection and shut his Eye of Destiny.

Just this short while had caused his spiritual power to be greatly drained. If not for the fact that it was already in the concrete-immaterial realm, he wouldn’t have been able to take it.

“Let’s go. Let’s take a walk.” Huo Yuhao secretly signaled to Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi before they quickly settled the bill and left the restaurant. After that, they proceeded towards the south wall.

Chapter 379: Ma Xiaotao

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power could only reach thirty meters away from the city wall. There were already people shouting, cursing, and chasing people away from the top of the city wall, while patrols began to pay attention to Huo Yuhao and the others.

The three of them hurriedly switched directions, and put on a submissive demeanor as they followed the southern city wall towards the east.

Huo Yuhao relayed what he had just observed to Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi as they walked.

“What do you plan to do?” Xu Sanshi asked.

Huo Yuhao answered, “We have to go inside and take a look. We will use the same method as we did back at Radiant City. Afterwards, you guys will book a room in a nearby inn, while Guyi will go back and relay our plans to the others. Third senior brother, you will protect me. Tonight, I will release my spiritual avatar so that I can take a look inside.”

Xu Sanshi frowned and said, “Isn’t that too dangerous? There are evil soul masters inside, and every evil soul master is adept at controlling souls and spirits. Furthermore, there are so many surveillance soul tools. Will those things affect you?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “Surveillance soul tools can’t deal with spiritual power, so it’s safest if I send my spiritual avatar inside. I will be as careful as I can, and I will immediately pull out and run away if something is amiss.”

Investigating and scouting with Huo Yuhao’s spiritual avatar was drastically different from using Spiritual Detection. Spiritual Detection could be withdrawn in an instant, and Huo Yuhao would have nothing to fear even if he was discovered. After all, his enemies could only lock onto his location if they were very close, or if they possessed formidable spiritual power, like that evil soul master he had dispatched the other day. Huo Yuhao could just open his Eye of Destiny to shake off his enemies even if they had locked onto his location.

However, he could reach a lot further with his spiritual avatar, and he would have a lot more ﬂexibility. However, his spiritual avatar was formed from his spiritual power and part of his spirit, and that entity wasn’t something that he could withdraw at a whim. Huo Yuhao would deﬁnitely be heavily injured if his enemies were able to restrain or destroy his spiritual avatar. This endeavor was a lot more perilous.

Of course, his spiritual avatar would give him the best investigation and reconnaissance results. The Tang Sect didn’t have a better alternative solution for now.

Xu Sanshi deliberated for a moment before he patted Huo Yuhao on his shoulder and said, “Be careful, then. Let’s go and ﬁnd a place to stay. Guyi, come back after you return to inform others, and you will join me to protect Yuhao. It’ll be a lot safer if we have one more person protecting him.”

“Alright.” Ye Guyi agreed straightforwardly and happily.

------

Sunrise City wasn’t a large, vibrant, and bustling city, so searching for a small inn wasn’t too difﬁcult. They quickly found an inn that was more decrepit than the one that they had stayed in on city’s northern side and booked three rooms. Huo Yuhao immediately began to meditate in the center room after everyone settled down. He tried to recover the spiritual power that he had expended before, while Xu Sanshi watched the landscape and their surroundings, and Guyi returned to the city’s northern side. The three of them worked together as they made their preparations nervously.

Time always passed rapidly during meditation, and the sky was now darkening. Huo Yuhao didn’t have anything to eat, but he was back to his full strength and energy. He informed Xu Sanshi before he immediately released his spiritual avatar.

Huo Yuhao released his spiritual avatar a lot more smoothly than back then. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao released a lot more spiritual power and more of his spirit, so that he could accomplish as much as he could on this reconnaissance mission.

Xu Sanshi was full of awe and admiration as he watched a faint golden projection that looked identical to Huo Yuhao appear in front of him.

“Third senior brother.” Huo Yuhao’s original body was just sitting there while his spiritual avatar greeted Xu Sanshi.

Xu Sanshi sounded a little helpless as he said, “Go, quickly.

I’m afraid that your spirit will split.”

Huo Yuhao chortled and said, “You don’t understand us spiritual-type soul masters’ control over spiritual power. I’ll be ﬁne. Just wait and see what I can do. Here I go.” Huo Yuhao’s spiritual avatar drifted into the air as he spoke, and he sipped out the window quickly. The pale golden hues disappeared from the air at the same time.

Huo Yuhao could attach even more abilities to his spiritual avatar after his spiritual power and his ability to control it were enhanced. Of course, he could only attach abilities that belonged to his Spirit Eyes.

Huo Yuhao activated Imitation, and his spiritual avatar vanished into the night sky as he left the inn. He was in spiritual form, but his spiritual avatar was a product of his concrete-immaterial spiritual power, similar to his original body. Huo Yuhao could only ﬂy at a certain height above the ground. Otherwise, he would be affected by the winds in the sky, and he would expend a lot more spiritual power. He could even run the risk of shaking and damaging his spirit. Huo Yuhao’s spiritual avatar was completely concealed at this moment. Just as Huo Yuhao had said, the surveillance soul tools on top of the city wall were useless against him.

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual avatar quickly scaled the city wall, and he arrived by the city’s moat.

---

Inside the city, Huo Yuhao was still sitting inside the inn with his legs crossed. He gestured to Xu Sanshi to signal that everything was alright before he entered meditation right away and focused all his strength and energy on controlling his spiritual avatar as he disappeared into the river water.

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual avatar trembled conspicuously as he entered the turbid river water. Huo Yuhao had to consume a lot more spiritual power when his spiritual avatar was inside the water, but he had already found the right place before this, so his expedition was still relatively smooth for now.

Huo Yuhao went right through the iron fencing beneath the water and swam forward swiftly. His spiritual avatar activated Spiritual Detection at the same time and searched around in front of him.

The river water behind the iron fence was still as turbid as before. Huo Yuhao controlled his spiritual avatar and swam forward for several dozen meters, and felt he had swum back into the city from under its walls. Abruptly, everything in front of him changed, and he could hear some sounds.

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual avatar emerged from the water’s surface and immediately witnessed a shocking sight.

Feng Lin was right – this place was a water prison. The entire place was constructed from tough granite, while row after row of steel cages were neatly arranged. The water prison covered an incredibly large surface area.

There were between eight to ten people imprisoned inside each cage, and each cage was ﬁlled with water that was at least one meter deep, so the turbid water soaked everyone. Almost every single prisoner trapped inside had ghastly pale faces, and their auras were extremely weak. The prisoners inside this water prison almost couldn’t rest, and they could only lean to one side.

Huo Yuhao vaguely identiﬁed these prisoners as the team members and leaders that belonged to the various academies and sects who had gone to Radiant City to participate in the Continental Elite Youth Soul Master Tournament.

Huo Yuhao and the Tang Sect had even crossed paths with some of these people during the tournament. However, their auras were all very weak at this moment, and not a single soul power undulation appeared on their bodies.

Huo Yuhao withdrew his Spiritual Detection after a brief scan of the area. He was sure that evil soul masters stood guard in this place, and he had no idea if there were more spiritual- type evil soul masters present. Furthermore, his spiritual power was too strong, so even normal evil soul masters could easily detect him if they were a little more sensitive.

Huo Yuhao began to inspect and survey those cages and recognized more and more familiar faces inside them. Huo Yuhao didn’t know most of their names, but he had impressions of them to varying extents. He heaved a faint sigh inside. These people are all elites and prodigies of their generation! They could represent their respective academies and sects for that tournament. Which of them isn’t one of the most outstanding individuals of the younger generation?

The Sun Moon Empire risked universal condemnation by imprisoning them. They had thoroughly and completely antagonized the Douluo Continent’s three native empires while using these hostages to suppress and restrain the academies and sects that belonged to the Douluo Continent’s three native empires so that they wouldn’t join a war or conﬂict between the empires so easily. The Sun Moon Empire was treacherous and scheming at the same time.

There were two main rows of water prisons. There was a stone platform about one meter above the water’s surface in the middle of these two rows. This stone platform stretched straight forward, and several guards in black cloaks paced and patrolled back and forth.

Huo Yuhao didn’t have to deliberately survey those patrols to feel the evil and chilly auras that emanated from these evil soul masters.

This water prison was located within the city’s walls, and this meant that Feng Lin’s information wasn’t entirely accurate. The water prison borrowed the city’s moat, but it was located within the city walls, not outside. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao could tell from how the water was directed and diverted that there was undoubtedly an entrance within the city that led into this water prison.

Huo Yuhao had an exceptionally strong sense of direction. It only took him a moment of thought to roughly determine this entrance’s position. What rendered him a little speechless was that this entrance was actually located inside a bunker beside the southern city wall.

Bunkers were speciﬁcally designed to accommodate soldiers so that they could rest temporarily when they were defending the city. This bunker was located next to the city gate, and soldiers inside it could swiftly reinforce the city gate if they went down, while they could rapidly ascend to the top of the city wall if they went up. What a great arrangement, indeed; bunkers were always guarded by soldiers at any point in time. Adding on the countless surveillance soul tools that were located near the city gate, and inﬁltrating this bunker without being discovered was almost impossible.

Huo Yuhao was about to make his judgment when he suddenly saw several evil soul masters walk over to his position. The evil soul masters who had been patrolling before this separated respectfully to both sides of the stone platform. Every single one of these patrols bent down and looked very respectful and reverent.

The evil soul masters who were strolling over didn’t have cloaks covering their bodies, and Huo Yuhao was actually familiar with them.

Those walking in front of everyone else were the Third Elder and the Fourth Elder. Huo Yuhao had seen them before at the Radiant City Elite Soul Engineering Tournament. The Third Elder had considered taking him in as his disciple then.

Huo Yuhao was even more familiar with those who followed behind these two elders – they were the three evil brothers; Zhong Litian, Zhong Lidi, and Zhong Liren. All three of them were eight-ringed evil Soul Douluo, and they were adept at manipulating all kinds of beast souls to ﬁght for them. Huo Yuhao had rescued two infant Darkgolden Terrorclaw bears from their evil clutches back then, and the Tang Sect had been taking good care of them. The bears were growing very quickly, and Bei Bei had even requested specialists from Shrek Academy’s Beast Dueling Division to procure a diet so that the Tang Sect could feed them better. The bears were still young, but their strength was increasing at an alarming rate. Right now, they were strong enough to stand guard at the Tang Sect’s main gate. The bears had been most intimate with Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong’er before this, but Huo Yuhao didn’t have much time for them now because there were just so many things he had to do.

Huo Yuhao had already decided that he would bring those bears with him when he ventured into the Setting Sun Forest to help his eldest senior brother search for medicinal herbs to treat Teacher Xiao Ya!

There were only a few immortal herbs that Huo Yuhao could retrieve from the Iceﬁre Yin Yang Well, but there were still quite a lot of supplementary and nutritious items. The Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bears would have no problem eating a little more because of their physiques, and these herbs could catalyze their growth. The bears would eventually become the Tang Sect’s Divine Beast Guardians.

Huo Yuhao hadn’t expected to meet these ﬁve evil soul masters when he had just arrived, and his real body drew a cold breath when he saw them.

Two of them were Titled Douluo, while the other three were Soul Douluo. The ﬁve of them had the strength to ﬁght against ﬁve Titled Douluo at the same time. Furthermore, there were at least several dozen evil soul masters stationed in this place, and he had no clue how many other exceptionally powerful evil soul masters were here… and there were two soul engineer legions outside. Sunrise City also wasn’t that far away from Radiant City, so Radiant City could muster reinforcements in no time. The Sun Moon Empire’s arrangements were incredibly meticulous and tight! Battle had to have broken out at the borders, but the Sun Moon Empire could still afford such an arrangement. This level of defensive strength wasn’t something that the Tang Sect could ﬁght.

Huo Yuhao continued to contemplate as he controlled his spiritual avatar and ﬂew over to one of the cages. He hid discreetly in one corner and completely suppressed his spiritual undulations. He didn’t dare to release even a single bit of spiritual power.

The Third and Fourth Elders scanned the prisoners inside the water prisons as they strolled. The hostages could naturally see them too and glared at them with vengeful eyes as they walked by. However, these hostages were just too weak, and they didn’t even have the strength to curse and swear.

The Third Elder said as he walked, “Are we good on our restraints? Are we using enough drugs?”

“We are using enough. We infuse Soul Eradicating Powder into the water every day. With this powder dissolving in the water, not even Titled Douluo can think about concentrating and mustering their soul power. Furthermore, these fellows haven’t eaten anything in a long time, and they must be weak and limp even with their physiques as soul masters. Several prisoners have fainted, but we gave them sufﬁcient nutrition in time,” Zhong Litian answered.

The Third Elder paused and turned back as he glanced at Zhong Litian. “Ah Tian, you still have to give them food. These people can’t possibly cause any disturbances or trouble with our Soul Eradicating Powder, but we can’t let them starve to death, because they are still very valuable to our leader in the future. I know you and your brothers have a great need for these powerful spirits but now is not the time. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Third Elder.” Zhong Litian nodded. One could tell from his expression that he didn’t quite approve of the Third Elder’s words, but he was very respectful towards the man nonetheless. Zhong Litian immediately continued, “I will make the necessary arrangements now, and we will give them some food. Second brother, third brother – let’s go together.” He nodded in the Third Elder and Fourth Elder’s direction before turning and leaving.

A cold look ﬂashed by the Fourth Elder’s eyes as he watched them leave. He lowered his voice and said, “These brothers are pushing it more and more, just because they are the Leader’s slaves. Do they have to go personally to get some food for those prisoners? They are clearly trying to show deﬁance.”

The Third Elder glanced at the Fourth Elder, and a disdainful and indifferent look ﬂowed from his eyes. “Don’t spout nonsense, fourth brother. The three of them are under the Leader’s personal command, and we are also loyal to the Leader. We have to place our Church’s interests as our top priority.” These were his words, but a cold look ﬂickered in his eyes at the same time; he was very displeased with how the three brothers were handling things.

They followed the stone platform and went up and down once through the water prison before walking out.

Huo Yuhao had been quietly observing them this entire time. He was delighted! These two Titled Douluo have some beef with the three brothers, and furthermore, the three brothers should be the ones in control of this water prison. This is important intel. I will have a better chance of rescuing the prisoners if I make good use of this information. Also, what’s that Soul Eradicating Powder? The water inside this water prison is connected to moat outside. Are they not afraid of this powder losing its effects?

Huo Yuhao drifted discreetly towards the entrance he had come in from. He didn’t waste this trip and had discovered and scouted out many things. He needed to go back so that he could digest everything further before he could determine how to rescue these prisoners.

Huo Yuhao was about to submerge himself into the water and was going to bring back some water samples when something happened at the stone platform’s other end. The Third Elder and the Fourth Elder were just walking out when they uttered reverently, “Greetings, Holy Lady!”

Holy Lady? The Holy Ghost Church’s Holy Lady is here? Huo Yuhao vaguely recalled that Tang Ya had been addressed in a similar fashion. His operation would be a lot harder if Teacher Xiao Ya was here. How could he save Tang Ya with his current strength?

Huo Yuhao paused in his tracks and looked over to the stone platform’s other end. The Third Elder and the Fourth Elder were standing on either side of the platform, while the three evil brothers and a girl who was clad in a long dark red dress began to walk towards him. Huo Yuhao’s eyes went slack when he saw this girl, and he could no longer shift his eyes away. Huo Yuhao lost control of his spiritual undulations, and they became a little disorganized.

“Who goes there?” the Third Elder suddenly snarled. Even though controlling spirits wasn’t his forte, he was the strongest amongst the evil soul masters in this place. The Third Elder immediately detected Huo Yuhao as soon as his spiritual power showed a little disorder.

However, this exclamation jolted Huo Yuhao out of his shock and lifelessness. He didn’t dare to stay even a single moment longer, and his spiritual avatar dove into the water in a ﬂash as he started swimming outwards as fast as he could.

The girl decked in the ﬂowing dark red dress grunted coldly as she raised her right hand and pressed forward through the air. A thick and intense dark red light instantly drilled through where Huo Yuhao had dove into the water, and the beam’s scorching heat immediately dyed the turbid moat’s water a dark red color as large amounts of steam surged into the air. Huo Yuhao was still escaping through the water as quickly as he could, and he immediately felt a wave of searing heat attacking him from behind in the next moment.

Huo Yuhao wouldn’t be afraid if his original body had been here. He would have his Ultimate Ice to protect him, and any ﬁre-type abilities would have trouble causing him any damage at all. However, at this very moment, he only had his spiritual avatar. His avatar couldn’t possibly have his Ultimate Ice-type soul power.

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual avatar weakened rapidly as that searing heat assaulted him, and even his spiritual origin was shaken. Huo Yuhao could clearly feel that this heatwave his enemy had launched against him, which was full of heat and darkness, also possessed an ability to track and lock onto spiritual undulations. He had absolutely no chance of escaping before this heatwave could eradicate his spiritual avatar.

“Sister!” Huo Yuhao called out desperately, and his spiritual avatar unleashed Spiritual Shock at the same time.

The heatwave that was running him down brutally suddenly paused and Huo Yuhao immediately took advantage of this instant as he picked up the pace and rushed through the iron fence outside. He emerged from the city’s moat and soared into the sky as he followed his original path and escaped through the air.

------

Inside the water prison...

The Holy Lady personally took action, so the Third Elder, the Fourth Elder, and the three brothers had looked on from the side. They had absolute faith in this Holy Lady’s strength.

But in the next moment, they watched as the Holy Lady frowned and said, “That’s strange – some spiritual undulations did appear before this. Can it be that we are too sensitive? My phoenix ﬂames didn’t ﬁnd anything.”

The Third Elder said, “Can it be that there’s too much vengeance and resentment inside the water prison, and that has produced a lifeless spiritual form?” The Holy Lady turned towards the three brothers and said, “Check it out carefully.”

The three brothers were a lot more respectful towards her, and all three of them bowed reverently as they acknowledged, “Yes, Holy Lady.”

The Holy Lady turned and walked towards the exit. A vacant look that had a tinge of struggle ﬂashed deep in her eyes, but these emotional changes were instantly extinguished by the dark red ﬂames in her eyes.

Huo Yuhao scaled the city wall and crossed to the other side after he left the water. He rushed back to the hotel as quickly as he could and reintegrated his spiritual avatar into his body.

Jade-green light gradually rose through the air, and only then did Huo Yuhao dispel the heat ﬁlled with evil that lingered in his spirit.

Huo Yuhao expelled a deep breath and gradually opened his eyes. Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi had been protecting him by his side this entire time. They instantly saw the shock deep in Huo Yuhao’s eyes the moment he opened his eyes.

“What’s wrong, Yuhao?” Xu Sanshi asked softly.

Huo Yuhao leapt down from his bed and took a deep breath. “Sister Xiaotao. I saw sister Xiaotao.”

“Sister Xiaotao? Are you referring to… Ma Xiaotao?” An astonished expression immediately came over Xu Sanshi’s face as he stared at Huo Yuhao with blank eyes and slack jaw. He was at a loss for words.

Huo Yuhao nodded vigorously. His lips were pressed tightly together, and he couldn’t maintain his composure at this moment no matter how much self-control he had.

“Yes, it’s her, my sister. She’s really at the Holy Ghost Church, and they have actually kidnapped her. She’s their Holy Lady now.” The scene that he had just seen was deeply imprinted in his mind. She was wearing a long dark red dress and had seemed so coolly elegant and glamorous. She also possessed scorching phoenix ﬂames, so who else could that be, but Ma Xiaotao?

Ma Xiaotao looked a lot more mature compared to ﬁve years ago. Her enchanting features had an extra tinge of cold mystery that came from darkness, while her ﬁgure had become more exaggerated and alluring. Ma Xiaotao’s status had surpassed that of those two elders, who were Titled Douluo. Holy Lady, Holy Lady... she was actually addressed as Holy Lady, just like Teacher Xiao Ya. What exactly had happened to her?

The two of them had no words as they stared at one another. Ye Guyi was befuddled as she listened on from one side. “Ma Xiaotao? Who’s that?”

Huo Yuhao explained as concisely as he could. “She’s our senior, and she also graduated from Shrek Academy. Her martial soul had some problems, and she was captured by evil soul masters. She seems confused and is not in her right state of mind right now, and she’s become the Holy Ghost Church’s Holy Lady.” Ye Guyi didn’t have a good impression of any evil soul masters. She frowned and asked, “How powerful is she?”

Huo Yuhao took a deep breath. He already had his initial judgments from the strength that Ma Xiaotao had displayed before this. “Her martial soul is an Evil Phoenix, and she’s inherited that from Shrek Academy’s ﬁrst Seven Monsters. Her martial soul seems to have completely mutated into a Dark Phoenix now. You can visualize that as Ultimate Fire that possesses the element of darkness. In terms of element, the two of us have to team up against her to even stand a chance at restraining her. However, she has eight soul rings. If my senses are right, my sister’s soul power has increased enough for her to have eight soul rings, but she’s not a Soul Douluo.”

Ye Guyi drew a cold breath as she heard Huo Yuhao’s words. She hadn’t wasted her time at the Tang Sect when she was there, and she now knew a lot more about soul masters.

An eight-ringed Soul Douluo who possessed Ultimate Fire… what kind of concept was that? This existence was probably more terrifying than normal soul masters who had just become Titled Douluo. Furthermore, she also wielded the element of darkness! Xu Sanshi forced a laugh and said, “If that weren’t the case, how could she become the Holy Lady? In the previous Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament, Xiaotao was Shrek’s team leader, and her martial soul mutated because she unleashed too much power during the tournament’s ﬁnal round. She was eventually kidnapped by the Holy Ghost Church. We are in trouble now, because she isn’t just powerful… We can’t kill her, so we have already lost this battle in psychological terms.”

Huo Yuhao shook his head softly and said, “That may not be true. Sister Xiaotao doesn’t seem to have lost her mind as completely as teacher Xiao Ya has; her Ultimate Fire is just too brutal and violent. Even the evil soul masters might not be able to control her emotions entirely. I tested her before this, and she seemed to respond to my voice. If I can break her out of her trance, then our operation will have a much higher chance of success.”

“No, that’s too dangerous,” Xu Sanshi muttered.

Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly and said, “I have to try no matter how dangerous it is, because she’s already here. Leave right now, the two of you; her mental state is still a little confused. Don’t worry, even if I can’t defeat her, I know how to escape.”

Yes, Ma Xiaotao was here.

Ma Xiaotao was standing on the street outside their inn, still dressed in her long dark red dress, and just silently standing there. It was now late at night, and there wasn’t a single soul on the street. She was waiting quietly, as if she were the sovereign queen of the dark night. She had locked onto Huo Yuhao way before this with her spiritual power.

Huo Yuhao had felt a thread of Ma Xiaotao’s spirit locking onto his avatar when he was escaping. Thoughts spun in his mind like lightning when that happened, and he made a decision.

The Holy Ghost Church had stationed more forces in Sunrise City than he had predicted. If he couldn’t break through via Ma Xiaotao, their operation would have a less than ﬁfty percent chance of success. After all, they had to help several hundred people escape. He had some conﬁdence to break the locks and restraints, but getting a sufﬁcient distance away safely was too difﬁcult. Huo Yuhao leapt through the window and landed on the street outside quietly. He stared at Ma Xiaotao opposite him, and his eyes gradually became excited and passionate. An image surfaced in his memory..

He was back on the Sea God’s Lake’s shores, and Ma Xiaotao had nearly murdered them because she had lost her mind. He felt like he was back inside the icy lake water once more, when his soul power had interacted with Ma Xiaotao’s soul power.

Ma Xiaotao was his hot-tempered sister, but she had always been concerned about him, and she had always cared about him. He felt so much love and kinship from Ma Xiaotao, and even a little bit of gentle charm.

Back inside the room, Ye Guyi wanted to follow Huo Yuhao outside, but Xu Sanshi grabbed her arm.

“Let’s go.”

“But she’s an evil soul master who possesses Ultimate Fire!

She’s also a Soul Douluo, how can Yuhao…?” Xu Sanshi lowered his voice and said, “Trust him. We can’t help him here, and we will only attract more enemies. Let’s go!” He dragged Ye Guyi forcefully as he spoke, and they rose through the air and jumped through another window on the other side before they vanished into the night sky in the blink of an eye.

“Do I know you?” Ma Xiaotao’s voice sounded a little husky amidst her coldness, while her voice was a lot more pleasing to the ear than before.

“Of course!” Huo Yuhao took a deep breath as he forcefully suppressed his riling emotions at the same time.

“Who are you?” A thread of struggle ﬂickered beneath Ma Xiaotao’s eyes. Her emotions were a little off and confused since she had sensed Huo Yuhao’s outcry inside the water, and scene after blurry scene ﬂashed by in her mind. She felt as if something very important was about to happen, or had already happened before.

“I’m Huo Yuhao, your younger brother!” Huo Yuhao removed his makeup as he spoke and revealed his true face. “Huo Yuhao? That name sounds familiar. Who is that?” Ma Xiaotao’s eyes became even more confused and perplexed.

Huo Yuhao gradually stepped towards Ma Xiaotao. He was walking very slowly, but every step was very stable. He had been observing the dark red ﬂames that were dancing in Ma Xiaotao’s eyes this entire time.

“Sister, I am Yuhao. Do you still remember me? We ﬁrst met on the shores of the Sea God’s Lake, on Shrek Academy’s Sea God’s Lake. You lost control of yourself because of your evil ﬁre back then, and you nearly killed Dong’er and I.

“My martial soul possesses Ultimate Ice, and I have suppressed the evil ﬁre inside your body multiple times. You treated me as if you were my own sister, and you loved me and took care of me. We participated in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament together, and we eventually clinched the championship and defended Shrek’s honor. You were our team leader, and you were the one who led us to our ultimate glory.”

“Huo Yuhao? Shrek?” Ma Xiaotao seemed to have remembered some things.

Suddenly, she took a step out and instantly appeared before Huo Yuhao, grabbing at Huo Yuhao’s shoulder with one hand.

Huo Yuhao didn’t dodge, and he didn’t use any of his abilities. He just let her grab him however she wanted, and a wave of searing heat poured into him from Ma Xiaotao’s palm. Huo Yuhao could see dark red ﬂames rising from her right hand, and the clothes on his shoulder were immediately burnt to a crisp, then into ash.

What was more terrifying was that Huo Yuhao’s skin was starting to burn, and half his body subsequently became dark red.

Huo Yuhao’s body reacted instinctively at this moment. Green light surged from his body, and the outline of his skeleton could be seen as green light continued to ﬂicker. Intense chills subsequently burst forth and collided with that wave of searing heat.

Huo Yuhao and Ma Xiaotao’s bodies glowed at the same time, one body ﬂickered with green light glimmering with faint icy- blue, while the other rippled with dark red light. The air around her was starting to twist and contort from all that heat.

Ultimate Ice and Ultimate Fire – two great extremities, and two formidable soul power types that were polar opposites of one another, fought against each other on Huo Yuhao’s shoulder.

Ma Xiaotao had a much stronger cultivation than Huo Yuhao, but for some reason, her Ultimate Fire couldn’t continue deeper once it entered his body.

The Ice Jade Empress Scorpion’s skeleton ampliﬁed Huo Yuhao’s elemental strength, and he had also assimilated part of the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress’ origin power, which had allowed him to raise his Ultimate Ice to another level. Huo Yuhao’s elemental power still surpassed Ma Xiaotao’s.

No matter what, Ma Xiaotao’s Ultimate Fire wasn’t pure enough, because it also possessed the element of darkness.

But Huo Yuhao still winced in pain and agony. This contest between the two extremities was still occurring in his body, and Ma Xiaotao just had to slap him with her palm if she wanted to kill him.

Huo Yuhao could break free from her clutches, but he would have to pay a heavy price, and he didn’t move because he didn’t want to abandon this opportunity. He was very clear that he only had a chance to move her when her emotions were still considered stable, and he wouldn’t stand a chance at all when her emotions became confused and disorganized once more.

Huo Yuhao’s glossy eyes were ﬁlled with passion and emotion, and he resisted the intense pain in his shoulder with great difﬁculty as he called out softly, “Sister, sister!”

Ma Xiaotao’s hand that was holding him suddenly stiffened when she felt his Ultimate Ice ﬁghting back against her, and she just stared at Huo Yuhao from a close distance away. The light around them, with the two of them at its center, was twisted. The high-altitude surveillance soul tools in the sky couldn’t see anything at all.

The reason for that was because this entire region was within Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Interference and Imitation. Two powerful million-year soul skills were being used together, and unless there were thermal detectors close to where they were, nothing could possibly detect them. Furthermore, even if there were thermal detectors nearby, this contest between Ultimate Ice and Ultimate Fire going on between them meant that it wouldn’t take more than three seconds before those thermal

detectors exploded.

“Sister…” Huo Yuhao was still calling out to her.

“You are… Yuhao…” A tinge of consciousness ﬁnally appeared within the ﬁres dancing in Ma Xiaotao’s eyes.

“Yes! It’s me, Yuhao.” Huo Yuhao called out softly.

“No, you’re my enemy!” The dark red ﬂames deep in Ma Xiaotao’s eyes became stronger, and she applied strength once more with the hand that was still holding onto Huo Yuhao’s shoulder.

Huo Yuhao gritted his teeth, and he called out yet again with a hoarse voice. “Sister!” Ma Xiaotao’s hand loosened a little more. The skin on Huo Yuhao’s shoulder had peeled off, revealing his tendons and the ﬂesh beneath. Huo Yuhao’s Life Gold bestowed immense life energy to him, but even his Life Gold couldn’t help him repair his tissues amidst this standoff between Ultimate Ice and

Ultimate Fire. Fresh blood was vaporized continuously as Huo Yuhao’s life energy seeped away.

Tears ﬂickered in Huo Yuhao’s gleaming eyes. “Sister, do you know how much I’ve missed you over the years? I have no family, and I’ve always treated you like my own sister. I’ve suffered so much pain and agony for so, so long after you disappeared without a trace. I’ve ﬁnally found you, sister. Don’t ever leave me again, okay?”

He took a step forward as he spoke as he reached out with his right hand for Ma Xiaotao’s waist.

Ma Xiaotao instantly raised her left hand and cut towards Huo Yuhao’s neck.

Right at that moment, Huo Yuhao’s glistening eyes suddenly ﬂared as he shouted at the top of his voice, “Sister!” Ma Xiaotao’s left hand stopped half a foot away from Huo Yuhao’s neck, just like that. Ultimate Fire continued to burn as the light of Ultimate Ice rippled continuously from Huo Yuhao’s body. He took this chance, and his right hand ﬁnally wrapped itself around Ma Xiaotao’s waist as he hugged her

well-developed body tightly.

Chapter 380: Wake Up, Sister!

“Mmph!” Ma Xiaotao grunted softly as the hand that was tightly latched onto Huo Yuhao’s shoulder relaxed a little more. Ma Xiaotao’s Ultimate Fire and Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate collided once more, and both their bodies were jolted painfully, as if they were being electrocuted.

Huo Yuhao couldn’t raise his left arm anymore, as his shoulder was severely injured, and his tendons and blood vessels were damaged. But that wasn’t important to him – what was important was that he had ﬁnally taken the most crucial step.

“Sister, sister, wake up! Wake up! I am Huo Yuhao, and you are Ma Xiaotao. We are both students from Shrek Academy, and you are my sister, my sister! Sister, sister…”

He called out to Ma Xiaotao again and again, and he applied strength continuously through his arm that was wrapped around her waist. The Ice Jade Empress Scorpion’s patterns gradually glimmered into view on Huo Yuhao’s back as he began to strengthen his Ultimate Ice. Intense chills emerged from his body and transformed into countless thin threads that fought against Ma Xiaotao’s Ultimate Fire. But amidst this contest of extremes, a grey soul ring glimmered beneath Huo Yuhao’s feet and discreetly absorbed the energies of darkness within Ma Xiaotao’s Ultimate Fire.

Huo Yuhao was no longer the weak and small soul master that had participated in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament with Ma Xiaotao back then. His soul power had reached Rank 60, and he just needed another soul ring before he would become a Soul Emperor. He might possibly reach an even higher level.

Huo Yuhao had completely absorbed the origin energy of Ultimate Ice that the Snow Empress had infused into his body a long time ago, and his soul power was so pure that even Xu Sanshi, who was nearing Rank 70, would gasp in amazement.

How was Huo Yuhao able to defeat and kill that spiritual-type evil soul master, an eight-ringed Soul Douluo? Besides the power of his three ultimate skills, his personal cultivation formed an important foundation for this feat. The truth was that Huo Yuhao could almost obtain two soul rings instead of just one. The foundations of his soul power were nearing Rank 70, because of the gift that the Snow Empress had given him a long time ago: formidable soul power, which had brought him incredible pain and agony. This soul power had always been there, and as the hard times ended, the good times began.

This also meant that Huo Yuhao had a chance to directly become a Soul Sage if he could ﬁnd suitable soul rings, and was the same reason why he had the stamina to resist Ma Xiaotao. He was only Rank 60, but his endurance and the strength of his soul power were close to Rank 70, while his Element wasn’t any weaker than hers.

Huo Yuhao would be considered a powerful individual in the world of soul masters today... or rather, a quasi-powerful individual. He already had the conﬁdence to resist his sister face-to-face, while his strong control over his spiritual power was also part of his foundation and conﬁdence. At this moment, he was using Ultimate Ice to support his spiritual power in an attempt to awaken Ma Xiaotao, and he was also weakening the energies of darkness inside her body. The most empirical difference between Ma Xiaotao and Tang Ya was that the evil soul masters had directly controlled Tang Ya’s heart and mind. In addition to the drugs and whatnot that those evil soul masters had given her, Tang Ya was almost completely lost and confused. In contrast, one of Ma Xiaotao’s most substantial problems was presented by her martial soul, the Evil Phoenix. All sorts of hallucinogens or psychedelics were futile against someone who possessed Ultimate Fire like she did. Those evil soul masters were able to control her heart

and mind, but they were only able to do so because they took advantage of her confusion and her emotional characteristics.

Huo Yuhao continuously weakened the energies of darkness within her body so that her confused will and consciousness could gradually recover. Even if Ma Xiaotao couldn’t awaken completely, she would at least be able to retrieve part of her memory.

What Huo Yuhao had inherited from the Calamity Necromancer Electrolux allowed him to discreetly purify the evil aura’s fundamental existence within Ma Xiaotao’s body. If Huo Yuhao was as powerful back then as he was today, he wouldn’t have been afraid of Ma Xiaotao going mad at all.

“You… you…”

Ma Xiaotao’s right hand ﬁnally relaxed completely. Her right hand was still on his shoulder, but her confused and befuddled eyes gradually became clear and transparent, while those dancing ﬂames in her eyes were slowly receding.

“Sister, sister…” Huo Yuhao continued to call out to her, and every single call came from deep within his heart. Every single exclamation was ﬁlled with his intimacy with Ma Xiaotao.

“You are… Yuhao…” Ma Xiaotao’s voice didn’t sound so hoarse, as the Ultimate Fire on her body ebbed.

Huo Yuhao slowly withdrew his Ultimate Ice at the same time.

“Yes, I am your Huo Yuhao! I am your little brother. Wake up, sister, wake up!”

“I am Ma Xiaotao! I’m not the Holy Lady, I’m not the Holy Lady…” Ma Xiaotao’s eyes were becoming increasingly clear, and Huo Yuhao continued to dispel the energies of darkness within her body as her eyes became brighter and brighter. The dark red ﬂames that were emanating from her body slowly became ﬁery-red.

“We have a chance!” Huo Yuhao was elated as he enhanced his absorption of Ma Xiaotao’s darkness. He patted Ma Xiaotao softly on her back again and again as he continued to guide her with his spiritual power.

“I am Ma Xiaotao. What am I doing here?” Ma Xiaotao muttered as if she was in a daze.

Huo Yuhao gently released her from his embrace. He raised his head and stared into her eyes.

The dark red colors in Ma Xiaotao’s eyes had abated. Even though her eyes couldn’t be considered impeccably clear and transparent, she didn’t have that coldness from before.

“Yuhao! You’re Yuhao. How have you become so tall?” Ma Xiaotao stared at him with a dazed look in her eyes. Huo Yuhao answered, “That’s because I’ve grown up! Sister, I am Yuhao.”

Ma Xiaotao suddenly saw his shoulder and asked, “What happened to your shoulder? Who was the one that hurt you so much? I’ll kill him.” Her eyes instantly became sharp as she spoke.

“Calm down, sister, calm down. I did that to myself by accident, and I’m alright. You need to calm down.” Huo Yuhao urgently tried to explain. He couldn’t let Ma Xiaotao descend into her original state of confusion because of any emotions that were rippling in her heart.

“What’s happening to me, Yuhao? Why do I feel so muddleheaded? I feel like I’ve been this way for a long time. I’ve ﬁnally seen you after so long! How have you been?”

Huo Yuhao said gently, “I’ve been well, sister. Life has been tough on you these days. Ever since you lost control of your martial soul during the big competition, we took you back to the academy for treatment, but the Hallmaster of the Illustrious Virtue Hall, Jing Hongchen, entered the academy and destroyed your treatment room. The Holy Ghost Church, which consists entirely of evil soul masters, took that opportunity to kidnap you before they turned you into another person with their evil sorceries! Can you remember anything?”

Ma Xiaotao quivered when she heard “the Holy Ghost Church”, and seemed to regain her memory slowly. “The Holy Ghost Church – I am the Holy Ghost Church’s Holy Lady. No, why have I become the Holy Ghost Church’s Holy Lady? No! I am Ma Xiaotao, I am Ma Xiaotao!” Her eyes were starting to become confused and bewildered once more.

Huo Yuhao lifted his right hand and pressed it against her forehead as he channeled threads of cool soul power into her.

Ma Xiaotao shivered from the cold, and her eyes became clear yet again. “Where are we, Yuhao? I seem to have forgotten many things, but my brain seems to contain many things too! What do we do? What should I do?” She displayed some weakness as she spoke, and she took a step forward and hugged Huo Yuhao again. Her delicate body was still trembling faintly.

Huo Yuhao gently patted her back and said, “It’s alright, sister. What happened in the past has already happened, and as long as you recover, you’ll still be Ma Xiaotao, and you’ll still be my sister. Sister, you should try to clear your head, and you should try your best to think back.”

Ma Xiaotao seemed to gain quite some comfort in Huo Yuhao’s embrace, and her emotions ﬁnally slowly settled down.

“I think I can remember... I can remember some things. Have I done many bad things, Yuhao?” Ma Xiaotao’s voice sounded a little grief-stricken.

“No, sister, you have never done anything bad or wrong. The Holy Ghost Church’s Holy Lady is the one who has done those things, and not you. Furthermore, I have never seen you harm anyone. You need to relax... we are in grave danger at the moment, and you have to calm down as quickly as possible.”

“Alright.” The necromantic halo beneath Huo Yuhao’s feet had absorbed much of the darkness within Ma Xiaotao’s body. Ma Xiaotao could ﬁnally control her own emotions with her willpower, and memories ﬂooded into her brain like a tsunami. “I’ve killed people, Yuhao. I’ve killed many people—innocent people! And soul masters! I have…”

Huo Yuhao swiftly interrupted her and said, “Don’t say that, sister. I already said, the Holy Ghost Church’s Holy Lady did all that, not you. Do you understand? You didn’t do all those things.”

Ma Xiaotao was momentarily stunned. “Not me? I didn’t do those things?”

“That is correct; you weren’t the one. Those people died at the Holy Ghost Church’s hands.” Those were the words that came out of Huo Yuhao’s mouth, but he couldn’t help but shut his eyes from all the pain that he felt. He could tell from Ma Xiaotao’s status within the Holy Ghost Church that she was different from Tang Ya. Perhaps Tang Ya wasn’t strong enough, or her abilities were insufﬁcient, so she hadn’t come into contact with much of the Holy Ghost Church’s duties and administration. However, with Ma Xiaotao’s abilities and her cultivation rank, and with her frighteningly exalted status…

“I understand. Thank you, brother.” Ma Xiaotao stood up straight and stared at Huo Yuhao. Her eyes were actually entirely clear at this moment.

“Yuhao, you’re using Ultimate Ice to help me suppress the riling emotions in my mind, but how are you able to suppress my evil aura from rising again? I don’t know what the Holy Ghost Church has left behind in my body, but that thing has been integrated into my martial soul, the Evil Phoenix. Because of it, that thing has been affecting my emotions and my mental state.”

Huo Yuhao lowered his voice and said, “I’m using some special methods to absorb the energies of darkness inside your body, but I can feel that these energies are still rising continuously. As soon as I stop absorbing them, I’m afraid they will come back again. In your case, you have to completely ﬁx your martial soul’s problems so that you won’t be affected anymore.”

Ma Xiaotao sounded despondent and defeated. “Completely ﬁx my martial soul’s problems? That’s a lot easier said than done. Not even Elder Mu had a solution back then.”

Huo Yuhao felt a pain in his heart when she mentioned Elder Mu, but he didn’t tell her that Elder Mu had passed away. Huo Yuhao knew that it was best that he didn’t stimulate her in any way.

“I have a solution, sister, I really do. I’ve been to a place, and I’ve obtained the Poison Chapter that Tang San, who was part of Shrek Academy’s ﬁrst generation of Shrek’s Seven Monsters. There is a record in there that describes how to resolve the problems with your Evil Phoenix! You have to ingest some immortal herbs, and you can dispel that evil aura within you. Furthermore, there are several immortal herbs that you can choose from. When we ﬁnish what we have to do here, I will accompany you to look for them. Alright?”

“Really?” Ma Xiaotao’s eyes lit up. “Are you just saying that to make me happy?”

“How can I crack jokes about something like this?” Huo Yuhao said seriously. “Your ancestor, Ma Hongjun, who was the ﬁrst to possess the Evil Phoenix, used the very same method to resolve his problems. Can you remember what happened before this?”

A complicated look and a dash of pain ﬂashed across Ma Xiaotao’s eyes. She nodded slightly and said, “I can remember parts of what happened. I need some more time to regain my memory.”

Huo Yuhao continued, “Sister, we are in Sunrise City, and this place is very dangerous. I’m staying in this inn next to us, and I’ll be here for a while. Come and ﬁnd me at midnight everyday so that I can help you suppress the evil ﬂames inside you. At least, I can help you control them so that they won’t affect your emotions and your mental state. Judging by how fast those energies of darkness are recovering inside your body, they shouldn’t affect you within a day.”

Huo Yuhao stopped here, and his face suddenly changed. “Not good, someone else... it seems like they’re from the Holy Ghost Church. Sister, you’re not fully lucid yet, can you manage?”

Ma Xiaotao’s eyes froze for a moment, then she immediately nodded. “I can manage. As long as I remain lucid, I can use my willpower to ﬁght against that evil within me. Leave, quickly. I can deal with this.”

“Take care, sister.” Huo Yuhao hugged her tightly before he jumped into the air and swiftly disappeared into the inn that he came from.

Ma Xiaotao watched him leave. A forlorn look ﬂickered across her eyes as she muttered, “Yuhao, my brother... do you know that some things can’t be forgiven and forgotten by lying to myself? Do you know that I’ve created mountains of corpses and oceans of blood while following them?”

She couldn’t help but press her lips together tightly as she spoke. Ma Xiaotao looked up into the sky and forced back her tears as she clenched her ﬁsts tightly. “The Holy Ghost Church, the Holy Ghost Church!”

Shadow after shadow quietly appeared not far behind her, and stepped briskly in her direction.

There were six people altogether, but when they realized that Ma Xiaotao was the one standing in the middle of the street, not a single one dared to come near. They knelt down on one knee as they muttered in unison, “Greetings, Holy Lady.”

“Eh?” Ma Xiaotao suddenly turned around, and in that moment, dark red ﬂames were dancing in her eyes once more.

“We’ve just received reports from the city defense army that there were chaotic soul power undulations around this area, so we came here to take a look. I’m not sure if you…”

“Scram!” Ma Xiaotao shouted coldly.

“Yes.” All six evil soul masters didn’t dare to probe any further, and they turned and slunk away. They had witnessed with their own eyes what their Holy Lady was capable of.

Ma Xiaotao watched them disappear, and two rows of tears started streaming down her cheeks. Memories shocked her heart and soul like torrential tides, but she still had to take step after step into the distance. The window behind her that closed not too long ago was deeply imprinted at the bottom of her heart.

My younger brother... no matter what, I will always have you, brother.

A dash of despondence ﬂickered beneath Ma Xiaotao’s eyes as she rose into the air and ﬂew into the darkness.

Huo Yuhao lay on his bed limply, as soon as he returned to his room. He managed to seal the blood vessels in his shoulder, but the pain that he felt was so intense that he had to grit his teeth as tightly as he could so that he wouldn’t cry out in agony.

Huo Yuhao had started this day by using his spiritual avatar to scout and investigate, and he had ended it with his attempt at awakening Ma Xiaotao. Furthermore, he had had to sustain Spiritual Interference and Imitation continuously while resisting Ma Xiaotao’s Ultimate Fire and suffering the wound on his shoulder at the same time. It had taken all of his willpower to accomplish all that!

The high-altitude surveillance soul tools had ﬁnally discovered something amiss in the end, because Huo Yuhao had already reached the limit of what he could take, and his spiritual power was almost unable to sustain his soul skills.

However, Huo Yuhao had a smile on his face at this moment.

He had succeeded, he had successfully awakened Ma Xiaotao! I’ve successfully awakened my sister! From the bottom of his heart, helping Ma Xiaotao to clear her head brought him more happiness than if he had saved every single hostage, because she was his family. Furthermore, with Ma Xiaotao as their inside man, they would have a far, far easier time saving those hostages.

Spiritual weakness and bodily pain were nothing much for Huo Yuhao’s resilient willpower. He calmed himself down for a moment, and waited to recover a little before he immediately activated his Eye of Destiny to amplify his spiritual power. He found Xu Sanshi, and he passed a message to him that he was alright. Afterwards, he sat down with his legs crossed and began to meditate.

He wanted to return to the northern side of the city, but his body was in such a state that he really couldn’t do that. Furthermore, he had awakened Ma Xiaotao, so he naturally wasn’t afraid of his enemies coming back to search for him.

Huo Yuhao quickly displayed his formidable regenerative powers. The wound on his shoulder had completely scabbed over after two hours, while his spiritual power was recovering at lightning speed. ------

There were two other people hard at work late into the same night.

Ji Juechen was sitting in a small bar not far from the northern city gate. He was drinking by himself, and his handsome looks had attracted more than one girl. But whenever they came over to ﬂirt with him, he had shaken his head each time.

Ji Juechen’s face had always been ice-cold, but he would laugh foolishly from time to time, and his facial expression would occasionally become a little strange.

Jing Ziyan was still feeling a little excited as she walked discreetly between shadows from wall to wall. She tossed rocks one after another into certain dark corners, and some even rolled near the city wall.

Jing Ziyan’s movement and actions were very covert and discreet, while she applied just enough strength from her wrists. She completed almost one round back and forth along the northern city wall within two hours.

She looked up at the sky after she ﬁnished all that. It was now late into the night, but she didn’t feel any fatigue or exhaustion at all. Instead, there was only satisfaction in her eyes.

Jing Ziyan patted her hands and stepped out silently from the shadows, and quickly arrived at the bar Ji Juechen was drinking at.

A cunning look ﬂashed across her eyes, and the smile on her face immediately transformed into fury as she barged into the bar looking angry and indignant.

Jing Ziyan gazed around inside the bar once she stepped in, and instantly locked her eyes onto where Ji Juechen was sitting.

“Very well, you drunkard! You don’t come home this late into the night, and you come out to drink alcohol. Follow me home, right now!” Jing Ziyan seemed just like a termagant as she dashed in Ji Juechen’s direction. She pinched his ear viciously and immediately began to drag him out.

“Aiyo, can you be gentler?” Ji Juechen felt the pain from his ear as a thread of exasperation and helplessness ﬂowed from his eyes, but there were also dashes of amusement and happiness.

“Gentler? What? If I ﬁnd out that you’ve come out to drink one more time, I’ll break your legs!” Jing Ziyan was still pinching his ear as she dragged him out of the bar just like that.

The bar’s customers all looked on with widened eyes and slack jaws, and even the bartender, who was initially dozing off, now had a pitiful look in his eyes. “No wonder he didn’t dare to accept those girls’ ﬂirts, he actually has such a ﬁerce wife! That’s just pitiful. So, so pitiful.”

Jing Ziyan dragged Ji Juechen several dozen meters outside before the furious and ferocious look on her face gradually became one of amusement. Ji Juechen didn’t struggle out of her pinch, and he forced a laugh as he asked, “Are you enjoying yourself?”

Jing Ziyan giggled and said, “A little bit.”

Ji Juechen said, “Then you should pinch for a little while longer.”

Jing Ziyan was momentarily stunned. “You…”

Ji Juechen heaved a faint sigh and said, “I’ve devoted my life to the sword before this, and I’ve overlooked far too much. I’ve overlooked things that I should be treasuring, especially you.

Jing Ziyan was momentarily stunned. She subconsciously released her grip on his ear, and she planted her hands on her hips. “Are you saying that I’ve been very proactive, and I’ve always been trying to take advantage of you?”

Ji Juechen shook his head as he smiled faintly and said, “I’m foolish and stupid.” Jing Ziyan couldn’t maintain her pose anymore, and her chin quivered gently as tears covered her eyes. “Why do you have to make me cry?”

Ji Juechen pulled her into his embrace and said, “I will use our future days to compensate you, alright?”

Jing Ziyan hammered his shoulder heavily and said, “Who needs your compensation?”

Ji Juechen didn’t answer her question. Instead, he hugged her tightly around the waist. “I don’t know anything about words of love, Ziyan, and I can only tell you that I thought about this long and hard when I was drinking before this… you are more important than my sword.”

Ji Ziyan’s body trembled when she heard his words. She suddenly looked up, and stared at Ji Juechen with incredulous eyes.

If another couple had the same conversation, comparing one’s partner to an object would undoubtedly lead to conﬂict and resentment. However, these words were different when they came from Ji Juechen’s mouth.

Ji Juechen was a sword maniac, and his sword had been the only thing in his life over his entire twenty years alive. His sword was his everything!

Jing Ziyan raised her trembling hands and clasped them around his face. Her voice quivered as she said, “You’re the foolish one. No words of love can be more melodious than what you’ve just said to me. I love you, Juechen.” She whimpered and sobbed, and tears were all over her lips as she pressed them against his. This time, her kiss wasn’t passionate and intense anymore. Instead, her kiss was full of tenderness and warmth.

------

Dawn arrived, and Huo Yuhao had already awoken from his meditation when the ﬁrst ray of sunlight peeked through the windowsill. There were two more people in his room long before he woke up: Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi. They were both sitting in their own chairs with their legs crossed, and opened their eyes when they felt Huo Yuhao awaken.

“Seems like you’ve succeeded? How’s your wound?” Xu Sanshi asked Yuhao with a smile on his face. Even though they were startled when they witnessed Huo Yuhao’s injury after they came back last night, the fact that he could return to this place and indicated many things!

Huo Yuhao nodded ﬁrmly and said with a delighted look, “I’ve managed to awaken her. She should come over tonight, so we have to start our preparations immediately.”

Huo Yuhao washed up brieﬂy and had some breakfast before he took out the water sample he had retrieved the previous day.

“Third senior brother, can you help me separate the water elements inside? I studied that water prison very closely yesterday. Its position is quite low, while the moat’s water outside should be running water, so it’s always ﬂowing. This means that if there isn’t enough water inside the water prison, the moat will replenish it, while water won’t ﬂow backwards, and so the water won’t change. There’s something called Soul Eradicating Powder inside the water prison, and I’ve retrieved some samples. We have to investigate and research it as quickly as possible, because providing antidotes for the hostages will be crucial to saving them. My spiritual avatar isn’t afraid of the toxins in the water, and I can bring the antidote back to the hostages as long as we can ﬁnd it.” Xu Sanshi nodded and said, “That’s not a problem. But the antidote…”

Huo Yuhao nodded self-conﬁdently and said, “I should be able to do it.” He possessed his ancestor Tang San’s Poison Chapter, and had studied it closely. If he could ﬁgure out that Soul Eradicating Powder’s composition, he had a chance to ﬁnd an antidote with his recollection of the Poison Chapter’s contents and his own understanding. If he failed, he would have to ask Ma Xiaoatao for help when she arrived later on.

Huo Yuhao placed a glass bottle ﬁlled with toxic water on the table in front of him. Xu Sanshi pointed his right hand at the bottle, and gentle black soul power that resembled faint mist began to orbit it.

The bottle started to quiver gently as threads of water vapor gradually seeped out, and Xu Sanshi’s black fog currents carried all of it away. The bottle’s liquid contents were conspicuously diminishing.

Everything seemed so simple, but was separating elements like that truly easy and simple? Xu Sanshi controlled everything as if the entire process were a piece of cake, but even Huo Yuhao, who possessed the Ultimate Ice, knew that he couldn’t extract pure water elements like that while maintaining the liquid’s initial toxin composition.

Xu Sanshi himself wouldn’t have been able to do this before his Xuanwu Shield’s true awakening. Ever since he had gained the Xuanwu Shield, his ability to control and manipulate the element of water had reached an exceptional level. What he was doing at the moment was as easy as cutting a knife through butter for him.

It didn’t take long before only some grey liquid was left inside the glass bottle. There were some other impurities besides those toxins, but the toxins were a lot easier to distinguish after purifying the bottle’s contents.

Huo Yuhao immediately retrieved some utensils and medicinal liquids and started experimenting on those toxins.

Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi accompanied him and guarded him, silently awaiting his results. Reality proved that Tang San’s Poison Chapter was very reliable. Huo Yuhao only took a little more than an hour to gain a rough idea of the Soul Eradicating Powder’s origin.

The powder contained plant toxins, and it was formed from fusing the juice of three different venomous plants. It would be easier for Huo Yuhao to ﬁnd the antidote if he could reach accurate conclusions and judgments, so he used his spiritual avatar once more to retrieve some more samples, before patronizing some pharmacies outside and purchasing all sorts of medicinal items to experiment.

The sun had gone behind the Western Mountain, and evening had arrived by the time Huo Yuhao ﬁnally succeeded.

“That’s it! If we follow this proportion, we can neutralize the toxicity.” Huo Yuhao declared excitedly, wiping some sweat from his forehead.

Spending his entire day researching and investigating poisons and toxins was a lot more exhausting than researching soul tools. After all, he was a lot less familiar with poisons than he was with soul tools. Huo Yuhao swiftly jotted down the prescription he had devised from his experiments and passed it to Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi as he said, “This prescription needs ﬁve different kinds of medicine, and I’ve written down the formula’s proper proportions. Third senior brother, the two of you will immediately return to the north and call everyone to set off together to purchase those medicines. Everyone will buy one kind each, and everyone will process those medicines according to my directions. I will continue suppressing the

power of darkness inside Xiaotao’s body at night. The proportion of these ﬁve medicines cannot be wrong, because this antidote also has supplementary and strengthening effects, and I hope we can help the hostages recover their physical strength as quickly as possible.”

They ﬁnally had a proper direction for their rescue operation, and Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi were also excited. Ye Guyi asked subconsciously, “Yuhao, have you found Qiuqiu’s mother?”

Huo Yuhao was momentarily stunned. “I didn’t notice when I went in before. There were many evil soul masters guarding and patrolling during that time, so I wasn’t able to check every cage. But I think her mother should be alright. We will know when we bring everyone out.” “Oh.” Ye Guyi acknowledged as she turned to leave the room. Xu Sanshi stared at Huo Yuhao with a deep look in his eyes before he followed her out.

Xu Sanshi understood Huo Yuhao a lot better than Ye Guyi did. He was acutely aware that with Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection, how could he not scout everything inside the water prison, which couldn’t be considered spacious? They had both met Nan Qiuqiu’s mother, Nan Shuishui, before, so searching for her shouldn’t have been difﬁcult at all. Huo Yuhao’s words meant that he didn’t ﬁnd a single trace of Nan Shuishui when he was inside, but he had to provide an ambiguous explanation so that Nan Qiuqiu wouldn’t spoil the entire operation because of her worry and anxiety.

However, Xu Sanshi also remembered that Huo Yuhao had promised her that if they couldn’t save Nan Shuishui during their operation, he would stay behind with Nan Qiuqiu.

Huo Yuhao was naturally clearer about these things. He heaved a sigh inside, and he prayed that nothing had happened to Nan Shuishui. It wouldn’t be that difﬁcult to ﬁnd clues about whether Nan Shuishui was still alive; he just had to wait for Ma Xiaotao tonight, and see if she could give him an answer. ------

Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi nervously went ahead to make the necessary preparations, while Huo Yuhao wasted no time, and began to cultivate. They were in a place ﬁlled with danger and peril, so maintaining himself at his peak condition was the optimal choice.

At this moment, there were “starﬁshes”, which blocked surveillance soul tools, installed in every corner of the room he was staying in. He wasn’t that far away from the southern city wall, but he was relatively safer.

Huo Yuhao had his dinner, and waited for Ma Xiaotao inside his room. However, the night was gradually getting late, and Ma Xiaotao was nowhere to be seen.

Huo Yuhao was beginning to feel anxious. Even though Ma Xiaotao hadn’t appeared, enemies didn’t surround him to ﬂush him out either, which meant that Ma Xiaotao hadn’t completely lost her mind and her will. But why wasn’t she here yet? Huo Yuhao was becoming increasingly worried until his door quietly opened, and a shadow dashed inside in a ﬂash and blew out all the lights in the room at the same time.

Huo Yuhao subconsciously drifted into the air and rapidly positioned himself in one corner on the opposite side. He activated his Eye of Destiny at almost the same time, and his Spirit Eyes burst with light in all directions.

Sudden darkness was very disconcerting and disorienting for normal people, but Huo Yuhao had his Spirit Eyes, so it wasn’t that different to him.

Huo Yuhao immediately relaxed after he composed himself for a second; wasn’t that Ma Xiaotao who had just discreetly stepped into his room?

“Sister Xiaotao,” Huo Yuhao hurriedly called out to her.

Ma Xiaotao nodded in his direction before she briskly walked towards his bed, as if she were silently sensing something. Huo Yuhao was a little surprised as he watched her. Ma Xiaotao’s Ultimate Fire was incredibly powerful, and her spiritual power had become exceptionally strong as well. Even though he hadn’t deliberately scouted outside his room, the fact that Ma Xiaotao could come into his room without being discovered by the Spiritual Antennas that he had set up outside was quite impressive.

Ma Xiaotao responded softly, “I was held back by something.”

“How do you feel, sister? Have the powers of darkness inside your body given you any backlash?” Huo Yuhao asked her sincerely as he hurriedly walked over to her side.

Ma Xiaotao shook her head and said, “After you helped me dispel those powers of darkness last night, they have been stubbornly regenerating, but they will need at least three days to return to their initial levels. But as long as I control my own emotions and my state of mind, I should be able to hold off for roughly seven days. That also means that as long as you treat me within seven days, I will be able to maintain my mental clarity. Of course, the prerequisite is that I can’t ﬁght with my full strength. Otherwise, if I expend too much soul power, those powers of darkness will regenerate a lot faster as my soul power recovers. When that happens, I will really need you to treat me every day.”

Huo Yuhao tilted his head and said, “Treating you every day is not a problem, because I’m not planning to separate from you, anyway. I can help you suppress all that darkness, sister. I almost have enough soul power now; once I become a Soul Sage, and I have my martial soul true body, I might not even need medicines or anything to completely dispel the evil ﬁre in your body.”

Ma Xiaotao glanced at him, and dash of rosiness appeared on her cheeks for no reason. “Let’s just stick with medicines.”

Huo Yuhao’s vision was great, but he didn’t notice the changes on Ma Xiaotao’s face. He grasped her hands and began to release his aura of Ultimate Ice into Ma Xiaotao’s body to guide her soul power.

Ma Xiaotao had rested for the entire day, and she seemed to have completely restored her consciousness and state of mind. She worked together with Huo Yuhao this time, and they had a far easier time dispelling and suppressing those powers of darkness inside her body.

Towards the end, Huo Yuhao could even be sure that as long as he stayed by her side and helped her suppress her powers of darkness every day, those problems within her body wouldn’t bother her again. Of course, this would only treat her symptoms, and not the root cause of the problem.

Ma Xiaotao allowed him to treat her in silence. She couldn’t see as clearly as Huo Yuhao could in the darkness of the night, but she was a powerful Soul Douluo, so nighttime wasn’t that much different from daytime for her.

Ma Xiaotao stared at Huo Yuhao, who had become a lot taller than her… he was still a little boy back then, but he had transformed into a handsome youth. Her eyes gradually became gentle and tender, but mournful looks ﬂashed deep within from time to time. It was clear that her emotions weren’t calm and settled at this moment.

“Oh, we’re done. Sister, I’ve helped you suppress those powers of evil successfully, and today’s results are better than yesterday’s. Take a look... how do you feel?” Ma Xiaotao nodded and said, “I don’t have to feel; there’s no problem at all. You must be here to save all those hostages, right?”

Huo Yuhao answered, “Yes. I’m not the only one here; almost the entire Tang Sect is here this time.”

“The Tang Sect? Oh, I remember now... they must be the people who participated in the big tournament not too long ago.” Ma Xiaotao seemed to have recalled everything that had happened recently.

Huo Yuhao nodded and conﬁrmed, “Yes.”

Chapter 381: Starting to Move

Ma Xiaotao furrowed her brow and said, “It’s difﬁcult to rescue people. Although I don’t know how you breached the water prison that day, you should have seen that the hostages in the prison were all poisoned. They aren’t able to gather their soul power, and there are many evil soul masters from the Holy Ghost Church deployed there. There are even soul engineer legions inside and outside of Sunrise City. I’m afraid it will be impossible to save these few hundred people, even if the entire Academy was sent here for this rescue mission. Sunrise City is very close to Radiant City, and reinforcements from Radiant City will arrive quickly if anything happens here.”

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “Elder sister, don’t be anxious. We are almost done with our set-up. When the time comes, we’ll have a few ways to deal with the problems outside the city. At the very least, we’ll keep them occupied. We’ll also use diversion tactics inside the city, and draw some of the evil soul masters watching the hostages away. If my guess is right, the border of the Sun Moon Empire shouldn’t be peaceful right now. Some strong individuals must have been dispatched to the border from Radiant City. However, they’ll still need people to guard their capital. Even if they realize something abnormal is happening here, they won’t be able to send too many reinforcements over.”

Ma Xiaotao nodded and said, “I believe that you can succeed. However, how are you going to leave with a few hundred old and sick people? They’ve all been poisoned by Soul Eradicating Powder. I don’t have any antidote for that poison, either. I’m afraid that only the leader of the Holy Ghost Church knows how to neutralize that poison.” Ma Xiaotao’s expression turned cold when she mentioned the leader of the Holy Ghost Church. She unwittingly clenched her ﬁsts tight.

Huo Yuhao said, “I’ve already concocted an antidote.”

“What?” Ma Xiaotao was stunned as she looked at him. “You’ve concocted an antidote?”

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “Did you forget that I mentioned that I obtained Ancestor Tang San’s Poison Scripture? In terms of using poison, the Tang Sect has been extremely notable on the continent for tens of thousands of years. The Holy Ghost Church’s poison is nothing. However, it’s indeed going to be a huge problem to leave with the weak hostages. That day, I heard the Third and Fourth Elders from the Holy Ghost Church instructing the Zhong brothers to feed the hostages more. However, it seemed like the Zhong Li brothers were only pretending to obey orders. Elder sister, can you ask them to give the hostages more food? In my opinion, the hostages will be able to recover at least half of their abilities if the poison of the Soul Eradicating Powder is neutralized and if they are given more food.

“Among these hostages, there are elite soul masters and engineers from the younger generation, teachers of various academies, and elders from different sects. If they are able to recover their abilities, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with. It won’t be impossible to escape then if we coordinate with our outside forces.”

Ma Xiaotao revealed a thoughtful look in her eyes. When she looked at Huo Yuhao, she seemed to see him in a different light. “I haven’t interacted with you in ﬁve years, but you’ve really grown up. No wonder the Academy is conﬁdent enough to send you out alone to rescue the hostages. Your plan seems to be ﬁne for the moment. When you use your diversion tactics, I can help bring Third Elder and Fourth Elder away. They aren’t normally in the water prison, anyway. “The Zhong brothers are the ones who are mainly in charge of the water prison. The three of them are direct descendants of the Holy Ghost Church’s leader, Zhong Liwu, and they are also his lackeys. They are extremely loyal to him, and only listen to his orders. You’ll need to deal with the three of them, as well as the evil soul masters who are guarding the prison. Those evil soul masters mainly have cultivations between four and six rings. They are considered ordinary disciples of the Holy Ghost Church, and there are about thirty of them. Of course, there are also some military troops guarding the prison. However, they won’t be much of an obstacle.”

After hearing the details that Ma Xiaotao provided, the plan in Huo Yuhao’s head became clearer. “Sister Xiaotao, did you notice a lady called Nan Shuishui? She’s the leader of the Earthdragon Sect, and her martial soul is a Ruby Dragon. She’s also a Soul Douluo, but her abilities are at the standard of a Titled Douluo.” Huo Yuhao had asked Nan Qiuqiu about Nan Shuishui’s abilities.

“Nan Shuishui? I’ve heard of this name before. If I’m remembering it right, she was taken away by Third Elder. Her martial soul has special attributes of annihilation. If we can understand them well and fuse them into soul tools, we can achieve groundbreaking results.” “Yes, it’s her.” Huo Yuhao was delighted and asked, “Is she still alive? Was she…?”

Ma Xiaotao answered, “I don’t know the details. However, Third Elder’s interest is completely in soul tools. He’s a Class 9 soul engineer, and he’s not too bothered about women. I hope that this person you’re talking about is still alive. Why? Are you planning to save her?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head without any hesitation and replied, “Nan Shuishui is the mother of my friend. However, we can’t save her ﬁrst. Otherwise, we’ll alert our enemies. Oh yes, we killed a spiritual-type evil soul master not long ago. Did anyone ﬁnd out about it?”

“Spiritual-type evil soul master? Are you talking about Wu Yun? She’s been killed?” Ma Xiaotao was more shocked when she heard that Wu Yun had been killed than when she heard Huo Yuhao had an antidote to neutralize the poison of the Soul Eradicating Powder.

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “Yes, I killed her. Will there be any trouble?” Ma Xiaotao shook her head and said, “Wu Yun is an elder in the Holy Ghost Church. She’s actually the head of the Holy Ghost Church’s branch in Sunrise City. After I came here, I temporarily replaced her. The one who was originally in charge of watching over the hostages was the vice-leader of the church, Feng Ling. After that, Feng Ling left for some unknown reason. I think it must have something to do with the situation at the border. I don’t normally interact with Wu Yun, but her martial soul was very strong. Even if I fought her, I wouldn’t be entirely conﬁdent of beating her. But you managed to kill her? Unbelievable.”

“Hehe.” Huo Yuhao laughed. He wasn’t going to explain how he had killed Wu Yun, and quickly changed the topic, “Elder sister, we’ll set it like this, then. If possible, please try to preserve Nan Shuishui’s life. I’ll rescue her after I rescue most of the hostages. Shall I brief you about our arrangements in detail?

Ma Xiaotao nodded and said, “Alright, let’s not delay since this is the case. You don’t have to tell me about your arrangements. When you make your move, I’ll distract Third and Fourth Elder. However, I’ll have to leave all of you to deal with the Zhong brothers. Don’t leave any clues when you breach the water prison again. If not for the fact that I was there that day, you wouldn’t have been able to escape easily. Take care, and remember safety is your priority.”

“Yes.” Huo Yuhao nodded.

Ma Xiaotao caressed his head and gently said, “You are already taller than me. In ﬁve years, you’ll become a Soul Emperor. Fantastic!”

After she ﬁnished speaking, she smiled at Huo Yuhao before drifting away.

As he watched Ma Xiaotao leave, Huo Yuhao also touched his own head. For some reason, he felt that there was something wrong with Ma Xiaotao. He had already felt there was something wrong with her when he woke up yesterday, but it became clearer and clearer to him right now.

However, Huo Yuhao was certain about one thing; Ma Xiaotao’s mind was clear. He was too sensitive to spiritual undulations. The pampering look in her eyes when she looked at him couldn’t have been faked. The leader and vice-leader of the Holy Ghost Church are actually called Zhong Liwu and Feng Ling. This was important information to him. At the same time, Huo Yuhao could also roughly guess that Zhong Liwu had to have something to do with the woman that Elder Mu and Long Xiaoyao fell in love with. That was because he recalled that the evil soul master that woman followed seemed to have the surname ‘Zhong’. He

just didn’t know if that woman was still alive, and what the

connection between Zhong Liwu and Long Xiaoyao was.

------

On the second morning, Xu Sanshi brought him the concocted antidotes. Huo Yuhao also started to make his move. He used his Spiritual Avatar to silently breach the water prison and mixed the antidote with the poisoned water in the water prison.

As the dosage he needed was too high, it took him a full day to move all of the antidote into the water prison.

The Third and Fourth Elders didn’t appear in the water prison again. Even the Zhong brothers only came to patrol occasionally.

Ma Xiaotao’s orders worked on the Zhong brothers. The hostages were ﬁnally given sufﬁcient food. Although they weren’t fed luxuriously, it was enough to ﬁll their stomachs. Along with the antidote that Huo Yuhao mixed into the water they were immersed in, the hostages were feeling much better after a day, even though not all the poison from their bodies had been neutralized. Especially for a few of the stronger soul masters, Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Avatar could tell that they had sensed the change in their soul power from their expressions.

It was time for him to communicate with them.

------

On the second night, he went to visit Ma Xiaotao again. After suppressing the power of darkness in her body, he released his Spiritual Avatar into the water prison once again.

To coordinate with him, Ma Xiaotao sent the Zhong brothers away on a pretext of important matters to attend to. This was a beneﬁt of being the highest-ranked commander of the Holy Ghost Church in Sunrise City. Without the Zhong brothers, Huo Yuhao was more brazen. It was impossible for those six-ringed evil soul masters to discover his Spiritual Avatar.

After entering the water prison, he drifted into mid-air and released his spiritual power. Very soon, his spiritual power engulfed the entire water prison.

It was not long ago that Huo Yuhao could only communicate with a few people using his spiritual power. However, he could now communicate with everyone within a speciﬁc region.

“If you can hear my voice, please don’t move. I’m here to save all of you.” This gentle thought was transmitted to every cell. It was so light that everyone could sense it, but still felt that it was an illusion.

The quality of these hostages was indeed very high. After sensing the thought that Huo Yuhao transmitted to them, many of their bodies turned a bit rigid, but they soon regained their composure. They exchanged strange glances with one another.

“If you can hear my voice, please don’t move. I’m here to save all of you.” Huo Yuhao repeated his words once again.

This time, his communication was much clearer than before.

Everyone could conﬁrm that they weren’t hallucinating.

Indeed, some of the younger hostages started to get excited. They had long since had enough after being held captive for a few months in complete darkness. They had even started to believe that they would never be free again, but this sudden voice soothed the pain in their hearts.

Of course, not everyone was excited. Those who were slightly older, and were either team leaders or teachers continued to remain alert. After all, how could they be sure that this wasn’t a ploy? Evil soul masters were capable of anything.

“Calm down. I need everyone to calm down. If you want to escape, you need to keep calm. Otherwise, I won’t be able to help you. I’ll need everyone’s cooperation so that we can leave this place.” Huo Yuhao transmitted another thought to them. This time, his thought was completely clear in their minds.

The elders started to be moved. Who wouldn’t wish to escape this hell they were in?

The rest of the hostages started to calm down after their elders looked at them.

Huo Yuhao secretly heaved a sigh of relief. He was afraid that his interaction with them would be discovered by the evil soul masters. If that happened, they would be alerted, and that would make things much more difﬁcult for them later.

“Everyone, you should have found out that the poison in your bodies is slowly being dispelled. That’s because I added an antidote to the water that all of you are immersed in. I believe the poison in your bodies will be completely removed by tomorrow. From now on, I hope all of you can do your best to recover your soul power and physical condition. We’ll take action the night after tomorrow. When that time comes, I’ll need all of you to cooperate with me so that we can charge out of this place in one go. Tomorrow, I’ll add more tonics to this water to help all of you recover. You must stay strong. We’ll only have one opportunity to leave this place and regain our freedom.”

Huo Yuhao explained his plan, and provided words of encouragement to the hostages. He had been watching the hostages through his Spiritual Detection earlier. If there were any spies among them, he would have detected some kind of emotional ﬂuctuation, but the truth was that no one was willing to be stuck in this water prison, and thus there were naturally no spies.

“Alright, continue to rest well. When you recover your soul power, you must not let the guards ﬁnd out. Otherwise, everything will be futile. Elders, please take care of the younger ones and remember to help cover for them. I’m going to leave. We’ve already set up everything on the outside. I’ll give each of you a Heartcalming Pill. I’m from Shrek Academy.” The Tang Sect’s reputation wasn’t as notable as Shrek Academy’s. This was why Huo Yuhao mentioned that he was from Shrek Academy to better reassure these hostages.

The gloomy atmosphere in the water prison started to change after Huo Yuhao told them his plan. The lifeless- looking eyes started to look brighter, and the elders who had already started to sense the recovery of their soul power started to circulate it. The water they were in that had brought them so much torment was now their best cover.

Huo Yuhao retracted his Spiritual Detection, but he didn’t leave. Instead, he unleashed his Spiritual Interference and engulfed the entire water prison with it.

With his current spiritual power, the Zhong brothers and the two Titled Douluo elders would deﬁnitely discover his Spiritual Interference if they were here. However, these lower-ranked evil soul masters wouldn’t be able to discover anything unless they paid close attention.

Huo Yuhao was taking precautions. If there were spies that he had missed, or any soul master lost control of his emotions, he could still salvage the situation with his Spiritual Interference.

However, his worries were unfounded. These soul masters and soul engineers from the various academies and sects were all strong enough. After a momentary shock, they soon regained their composure with the help of their elders. With the polluted water in the water prison as their cover, they could still control their emotions even though they were angry.

After observing them for an hour, Huo Yuhao calmed down and silently left the prison.

This was the start of a huge rescue operation. The Tang Sect’s operation was about to be unveiled.

Huo Yuhao soon mixed more tonics into the polluted water. According to the information Ma Xiaotao had provided him, the toxicity of the Soul Eradicating Powder was very strong. It was only added in every half month. The next time it was going to be added into the water was in ﬁve days, and thus there was a vacuum now. Huo Yuhao’s rescue plan would be carried out during this vacuum period. Everyone from the Tang Sect was prepared to save the hostages. When the second night arrived, there was another guest in Sunrise City.

This person was completely masked with a black veil and hat. Under this cover, it was impossible to tell his gender or age.

He entered the city in a much more convenient method than ordinary people. He walked to the city gate and revealed a token. After this, he was allowed to enter the city without any checks.

He walked in a weird manner. He seemed to be gently drifting, as if he were exerting no strength at all. He wasn’t walking very quickly. However, he was very adept at avoiding detection – if one tried to watch him, he would soon discover that this person would disappear from his view.

Very soon, he came to a building with a pointed tip.

If Huo Yuhao were here right now, he would know that this building was the building that he had tailed Feng Ling to, and where he had discovered Wu Yun.

After he drifted into this building, he came to the place where Wu Yun had once hanged and hit Feng Ling. A sinister aura that was ﬁlled with grievance started to spread. He sat cross-legged on the ground and started to recite something before a red glow started to subtly surface behind his back. It seemed as if a weird human projection were drifting behind him.

…

“It’s done?” He Caitou asked Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao nodded and jumped down from the base of the egg-shaped soul tool. At this point, this wide room was ﬁlled with all types of soul tools. It was like an arsenal.

He Caitou chortled and said, “Alright, leave this place to me.

I’ll teach them a good lesson later.” Huo Yuhao hurriedly instructed, “Second senior, don’t be tempted to ﬁght. After you launch these soul tools, you must immediately meet everyone in the south.”

“Okay, don’t worry. I know my limits.”

Huo Yuhao took a look at the sky outside, which was getting darker and darker. “It’s about time. Third senior and the rest should be in position. I need to go over to prepare too. Second senior, be careful. If necessary, you must give up everything for your own safety.”

He Caitou patted his shoulder and gave him a thumbs-up.

Huo Yuhao gave him a conﬁdent smile before saying, “Once this is over, all of you proceed south, and get on the boat when you reach it. Don’t wait for us. There are only a few of us, which will make it much more convenient for us to move around. We’ll meet back at the Academy.”

“Yuhao…” He Caitou stopped Huo Yuhao and sounded a little hesitant. Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “Second senior, I know what you want to say. However, there are things a man should and should not do. Since you’ve promised me, you should do your best. We’ll all be careful.”

“Alright. Come back soon. We’ll celebrate in the Tang Sect.” He Caitou wasn’t a pushy guy either. After giving Huo Yuhao a thumbs-up again, he watched as Huo Yuhao left.

After leaving the hotel, Huo Yuhao quickly proceeded towards the southern city gate. He didn’t proceed to prepare immediately, but returned to their room in the hotel on the southern side.

Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi were already gone. The two of them had left the city with Jing Ziyan and Ji Juechen. Only Nan Qiuqiu and Feng Ling were left here.

After a few days of recovery, Feng Ling seemed to be in a better state. However, he was still a little lost, possibly because of the deep trauma he had suffered. It was as if he was unwilling to wake up from his dreams. Everyone from the Tang Sect could understand the predicament he was in. Feng Ling had completely lost his ability to enjoy pleasure after suffering such critical injuries to his body. His desire to live was already very commendable.

However, Huo Yuhao left him in the city because of his special condition, and to prevent any complications. If he was snuck out of the city, he might expose more things. Nan Qiuqiu was in charge of watching him now.

Huo Yuhao was well-aware that Sunrise City’s martial law would be completely meaningless once they managed to rescue the hostages. They could think of a way to leave with Feng Ling after rescuing Nan Shuishui.

He had also briefed Nan Qiuqiu about Nan Shuishui’s condition. After rescuing most of the hostages it would be the best opportunity for them to rescue Nan Shuishui. Nan Qiuqiu didn’t pose any objections to this. After Huo Yuhao decided to remain with her to rescue her mother, her attitude towards him changed greatly. She acted less proud in front of him.

“Is it about time?” Nan Qiuqiu couldn’t help but ask Huo Yuhao when she saw him.

Huo Yuhao nodded slightly and said, “Let’s move out together. How’s Feng Ling?”

Nan Qiuqiu evidently didn’t like Feng Ling, and twisted her lips as she said, “He only sleeps after he eats.”

Huo Yuhao said, “Let him sleep then. This region is very dark, thus this hotel is safer than the one in the north. Later, just proceed to the location that we’ve decided on. Once I ﬁnish things over here, I’ll go over to ﬁnd you immediately. Don’t act blindly. There’ll be at least a Class 6 or 7 soul engineer over there, as well as several evil soul masters standing guard. If you expose yourself, you can forget about saving your mother.”

Nan Qiuqiu replied without any hesitation, “Okay, I’ll listen to you. I won’t barge in blindly. I’ll wait for you to come. If you don’t come after a day, I’ll…”

Huo Yuhao’s expression turned serious at this moment. “If I still don’t arrive in a day, you must think of a way to leave this place. Don’t think about rescuing anyone anymore. Otherwise, the bloodline of the Earthdragon Sect will never be passed down. Do you think that will be what your mother wants to see?” Nan Qiuqiu’s was moved, and she suddenly hugged Huo Yuhao tightly. “We’ll succeed, won’t we?”

Huo Yuhao couldn’t bear to push her away as he felt her body tremble. He gently patted her back, “Yes, we’ll succeed. All of this will be over, and everything will be ﬁne again.”

“Thanks. If you can save my mother and the disciples of the Earthdragon Sect, we’ll do anything for the Tang Sect in the future.”

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “Silly girl. You are a part of the Tang Sect. How can you speak on behalf of the Earthdragon Sect?”

Nan Qiuqiu relaxed her hug and took two steps back. After this, she wore a displeased expression on her face. “You aren’t even as old as me yet. Don’t always think that you can act like an elder. You’re not even twenty, but you act like you’re forty.”

An upset look ﬂashed across Huo Yuhao’s eyes. Yes! His mental age was far older than most others of the same age, which was a result of the unfortunate events he had experienced when he was younger, as well as everything that had occurred afterward. It was also because of this that he could play a leading role in the Tang Sect, became the youngest member of the Sea God’s Pavilion in Shrek Academy, and was the ﬁrst to complete the Ultimate Soldier Plan.

Huo Yuhao took in a deep breath and checked everything he had on him before he said resolutely to Nan Qiuqiu, “Let’s go.”

“Yes!” Nan Qiuqiu nodded.

The two of them quickly left the hotel before they proceeded in two different directions.

Huo Yuhao’s destination was very close, so he stopped after only walking for a short while. As he made a turn, he silently entered a narrow, dark alley. Even though there were high- altitude surveillance soul tools above him, he couldn’t possibly be detected without the use of thermal detectors.

At the north of the city, He Caitou was standing at a window and watching the sky. It was getting closer and closer to the agreed-upon time.

The four who had snuck out through the southern city gate were now waiting quietly twenty-ﬁve kilometers from this same city gate.

There were simply too many surveillance soul tools in Sunrise City. There were even soul tools stationed outside the city, which prevented them from getting close. They were also waiting for their opportunity to come.

It was getting darker and darker. The darker it was, the worse the effect of the surveillance soul tools. Of course, such a situation wasn’t going to last for long. Once high-altitude surveillance soul tools were able to be combined with thermal detectors, there would be signiﬁcant improvements in the aspect of high-altitude surveillance.

Everything was in place, and it was about time too.

“Begin!” An instruction suddenly sounded in He Caitou’s mind. A passionate look suddenly ﬂashed across He Caitou’s eyes. He rubbed his right hand across his bald head and turned around immediately. He faced all the soul tools that he had installed in the room.

A huge ring on his right hand shone, and a dark-red barrel around a meter long with a ten-centimeter caliber appeared in his grasp.

He took one step forward and was behind the Class 8 egg- shaped soul tool. He pointed the dark-red barrel upward.

The structure of this hotel was very simple – there were only several two-storey buildings. They were in a room which was on the second ﬂoor of one of the buildings.

Red lights rose silently at this point. A huge hole was vaporized in the roof of this room when the red light from the barrel was ﬁred at it. No dust fell from the roof.

He Caitou became more and more excited. He swept his barrel quickly, and many sections of the roof were disintegrated in a matter of seconds. Very soon, the roof ceased to exist entirely. At this point, the ‘starﬁshes’ that had helped to conceal the soul power undulations from this room earlier were no longer in effect.

He Caitou quickly retracted the barrel in his hand, and it turned into a disc-like item. At the same time, he stepped on a semi-circular piece of metal that wasn’t very eye-catching below the base of the egg-shaped soul tool. One end of that soul tool immediately cracked open, and a pitch-black barrel slowly extended out. Blinding red light started to shine within this barrel, and the twenty-four Milk Bottles inside the base started to release soul power. The soul power undulations that were generated as a result immediately triggered alarms in the city.

He Caitou wore a calm expression on his face, but there was a wild look in his eyes. He moved his right hand rapidly on the disc and kept on pressing it. A soul cannon that was pointed towards the sky started to light up. Following this, ﬁerce gusts of wind started to rage.

The impact caused by the tremendous soul power undulations didn’t just cause the roof to be torn apart. The surrounding walls also collapsed, and close to a hundred streaks of ﬂowing light were targeted and shot towards the sky instantly.

Apart from that egg-shaped soul tool in this room, there were also ten Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons. Each cannon was completely ﬁlled with stationary soul cannon shells. In the ﬁrst wave of attack, one hundred and eighty Class 4 shells were ﬁred.

In monetary terms, the cost of all the shells in these ten cannons was enough to cover half a year of Sunrise City’s revenue.

Sunrise City was indeed tightly guarded. When more than a hundred streaks of lights were ﬁred, countless soul rays and soul cannon lights started shining near the closest north wall before they were ﬁred to intercept the streaks of incoming light.

Outside the city, the northern legion of soul engineers also started to gather a lot of ﬁrepower to intercept the incoming attack. They formed a huge interception net in the air and tried to stop all of the incoming shells.

Things started to get messy inside Sunrise City too. No matter how fast they reacted, the troops in the city would only be able to arrive after ﬁfteen minutes.

He Caitou didn’t seem to have seen the changes in the sky. Right now, he had already focused his energy on the egg- shaped soul tool. The scarlet-red light was gradually turning golden-red at the front of this soul tool. The terrifying soul power undulations even caused He Caitou to feel a little breathless.

He was pressing the other side of this egg-shaped soul tool right now, speciﬁcally on a red button with a skull on it.

Rings of demonic patterned lights quickly surged upward from the base of the soul tool. When this entire soul tool turned golden-red, He Caitou pressed this button with force.

Suddenly, the surrounding air distorted tremendously, and the high-altitude surveillance soul tools within this region lost their effect. They could only detect distorted waves.

Following this, a ball of cone-shaped, golden-red light was ﬁred from that barrel, and quickly rose into the sky. In the blink of an eye, it crossed the city wall and was northbound.

There were people in charge of the high-altitude surveillance soul tools over where the northern legion of soul engineers was. In the entire continent, the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions had the greatest ﬁghting experience with soul tools.

Once they discovered that something was wrong, this area started to sound with deafening alarms. Following this, halos were quickly released. In the blink of an eye, they formed three layers of barriers that protected this area.

Soul engineer legions were terrifying because they contained many soul engineers. When there were sufﬁcient soul tools and soul engineers, the strength of a soul engineer legion could far surpass a single soul engineer.

As they erected their defense, this legion of soul engineers focused their ﬁrepower towards the sky. They targeted the ball of golden-red light that He Caitou ﬁred into the sky.

Whether it was in terms of their reaction time or their methods, the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineering legions were on point. They were dealing with an attack that came from a Class 8 soul tool.

He Caitou revealed a cold smile on his face. He didn’t even verify whether the shots he ﬁred were successful before he immediately retracted his egg-shaped soul tool.

A ball-shaped soul tool drifted above his hand and the egg- shaped soul tool. A layer of icy fog was released, and helped to dissipate the heat from his egg-shaped soul tool while he quickly took out the Milk Bottles inside the base of his egg- shaped soul tool and put them away.

If those soul engineers knew that twenty-four Class 6 Sealed Milk Bottles had been completely drained in an instant, they might not be very conﬁdent in how they were reacting.

A middle-aged man in a purple warrior robe charged furiously out from his tent in the area where the northern legion of soul engineers was quartered, and he immediately raged, “What’s going on?” “Vice-commander, there are sudden, intense soul power undulations coming from inside the city. We aren’t sure what’s going on either.”

Just as they were speaking, a series of tremendous booms had already sounded in the sky. Terrifying soul power undulations caused a dazzling scene of ﬁreworks to appear in the sky.

More than ninety-ﬁve percent of the stationary shells ﬁred from the ten Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons were successfully intercepted, and blew apart in the sky.

Chapter 382: All Sides Exploding Out!

“Clown, go send people over to check the situation out, now.” The vice-captain had a strong look of contempt as he saw the exploding lights in the sky. Does this intruder have a problem with his brain? He’s playing with soul tools with our Sun Moon Empire.

At this moment, an extremely sharp alarm suddenly rang out. This caused the vice-leader’s expression to immediately change. “Not good, our aerial soul tools have temporarily been rendered ineffective, so we can’t use them for targeting. Our enemies still have another move, so we need to activate all defenses. I’ll go to the main control area of the military front.”

Right. There was no one who could beat the Sun Moon Empire in terms of proﬁciency in soul tools, as well their use in military warfare. Even Shrek Academy wasn’t an exception to this. However, Huo Yuhao was the only person who’d successfully completed the Ultimate Soldier Plan, while He Caitou was an outstanding soul engineer who was bound to be a star of Shrek Academy. They were naturally not too worried about the Sun Moon Empire when it came to the overall strength of their soul tools. If they were to launch a carefully planned surprise attack that used all of the Tang Sect’s resources, how could they not have a chance of succeeding?

Another hundred and eighty beams of light surged into the ﬁrework-ﬁlled sky. Every single beam was extremely accurate, as if their paths had been measured with a ruler. They left brilliant trails of ﬁre in the sky as they ﬂew, and their blazing glows instantly carved out another dazzling wave of light in the sky.

The time taken between the ﬁrst and second waves of the Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons was very short, astonishing all onlookers. This was one of the beneﬁts of using stationary soul cannons--there was no need to charge up soul power for each shot. As long as there was enough ammo, much more ﬁrepower could be used at the same time.

Although the Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannon had already been sold to the three empires of the original Douluo Continent, they’d never truly appeared on a battleﬁeld before. All of the defenses set up by the Sun Moon Empire had been geared towards soul master and soul tools. After using Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection to lock onto their targets, they used the ﬁrst wave of shots to act as a guide, while using the second wave to act as the true killer. At the same time, they used a Class 8 stationary soul cannon to control the northern city front. This was a plan that was completely directed at the aerial soul tools, and could be said to be ﬂawless.

Furthermore, all of the aerial soul detectors in the air crumbled to dust due to the blazing-hot explosives amidst the ﬁrework-ﬁlled sky. The godly might of the Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannon once again revealed itself, and a third wave was once again ﬁred in a short period of time.

They didn’t target the northern city this time around. Instead, it was ﬁred at the eastern and western city walls. After He Caitou ﬁred the Class 8 stationary soul cannon, he’d completed a simple tuning of the Crossbow Cannons.

The soul engineer legions stationed in the western and eastern parts of the city simply had no way of stopping these stationary soul cannons. This was because they’d ﬁred at a much lower trajectory than before. Combined with the lack of their lack of aerial surveillance soul tools, they’d turned into blind men. How could they blindly ﬁre their soul tools towards the city?

Just as the third wave of cannons were ﬁred, that brilliant beam of golden light collided with the northern city’s protective barrier.

“Boom…” The earth shook, and mountains quaked.

A terrifying explosion shook the heavens and the earth, and even Radiant City could faintly hear the loud explosions from this place.

The protective barrier over at the Soul Engineer Legion front was on the verge of collapse, but they were able to take this barrage of attacks.

The commander, who’d already rushed to the core of the front, suddenly had a change in expression, and ﬁnally let out a long sigh. “It’s still good. This is only the strength of a Class 7 stationary soul cannon. Otherwise, our protective barrier wouldn’t be standing. Pass down my commands. Everyone, use all of your soul power and increase the reserves of soul power in our defensive soul tools. Fire all of our backup aerial surveillance soul tools towards the sky.”

Although the aerial surveillance soul tools in the air were already a large part of their reserves, they were still reserves. However, though there weren’t a lot of reserves, something was better than nothing! Since they were already used to aerial surveillance soul tools guiding them in battle, they didn’t dare to act rashly at all with the lack of their little toys.

The vice-captain, who was the acting commander at the military front, had an expression so ugly that he wanted to die. He ﬁercely said to himself, “Don’t these good-for-nothings in the city know how many stationary soul tools they’ve set up? You’d need at least three hundred Class 4 or stronger stationary soul cannons to generate this amount of force. You’d need at least three thousand square meters to set something like that up. Why didn’t these incompetent bastards notice that many soul tools in the city? They’re truly thorough bastards. Hmm? Why do I feel the earth shaking a bit? Quick, where are our land surveillance soul tools? Go check on them. Don’t tell me that a Dragon has woken up?”

Just as the vice-captain was muttering to himself, his expression suddenly changed enormously. The ground beneath him had already transformed into a patch of gold, and the area that this patch covered had already far exceeded the area that their Soul Engineer Legion front had stationed themselves in.

Class 7? No, that’s a Class 8. Also, it’s a Class 8 like the one the Illustrious Virtue Hall meticulously crafted, one that’s speciﬁcally geared towards taking down defensive fronts like this one.

As the violent explosions rang out, nobody was able to see an even more piercing golden light vigorously tunnel itself into the ground. After that, it quietly travelled several hundred meters beneath the ground to arrive at the core of their military front. Then...

“Boom, boooom, booooooom….”

A terrifying golden light instantly transformed the entirety of the northern city into a golden sea. An enormous ball of golden light that resembled the early stages of sunrise revealed itself from the ground. Not even ten people were able to activate their personal soul barriers and Invincible Barriers in time to block and escape from this terrifyingly huge explosion that was like punishment from the heavens.

At this exact same time, the walls of the western and eastern cities each received a baptism from ninety stationary soul cannons. These were stationary soul cannons! Just how large were these cities? They were only mock-ups of ordinary cities.

A large number of soul detectors and defensive soul tools stationed on the two city walls blossomed with resplendent light.

Due to the limited area of the city walls, the soul tools stationed there were mostly soul detectors aimed outside and inside the city. Who would’ve thought that they’d actually be attacked, given that there were two Soul Engineer Legions stationed outside the city walls? Furthermore, this had been done from the inside. Because of that, the defensive power of the city walls weren’t strong enough. This was also the correct decision made by Huo Yuhao after carrying out a thorough investigation. Because of that, the various expensive soul detectors on the city walls shattered after their defensive soul tools couldn’t withstand the continuous bombardment of Huo Yuhao’s stationary soul cannons. In the next instant, over a third of the city walls collapsed.

He Caitou was not happy at all. He put the perfect Class 8 stationary soul cannon he’d just ﬁred away, then quickly put the Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons away as well. However, from the racket he could hear outside, he knew that he didn’t have much time left.

Why was he not happy? Moreover, why did he look like he was attending a funeral? This was because he couldn’t bear to do it! He felt pained!

Those were three hundred and sixty stationary soul cannon shells! An overwhelming majority of them had been taken from Radiant City, and these three hundred and sixty stationary soul cannons shells were around a third of the total Class 4 stationary soul cannons they’d taken back. The total value of these soul tools couldn’t even be measured with money. However, Bei Bei had let them bring all of this to ensure they would be be able to safely overwhelm their opponents during the course of this mission. Within a short minute, they had squandered all of this.

The Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannon was truly powerful. It was absolutely much more powerful than any other soul tool of its class.

However, the ﬁring of this terrifying array of cannon shells was backed by countless amounts of gold. It would’ve been slightly better if they’d used soul power instead. For example, in a situation like this, where they’d used stationary soul cannons. It was true that stationary soul cannons were powerful, and their effects were superb. However, they’d also caused so much heartache that it would render one unable to breathe!

“Damn it. These brats are coming really quickly. I have to go. Babies, I can’t bear to part with you guys!” He Caitou, who’d only managed to keep two Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons, took out a miniature ﬂoating soul detector from midair. He looked at the bright red light on it, then looked at the other eight Crossbow Cannons with a look of unwillingness. Then, he clenched his teeth and jumped off the roof.

The instant he jumped out, a pitch-black soul cannon appeared on his shoulder. Without any booms or whatnot, a dark ﬁgure shot towards the direction of the northern city and vanished into the night. Without any aerial surveillance soul tools around, nobody had noticed his movement.

Just as He Caitou quietly snuck away, everyone within Sunrise City started to move about as though they’d been awakened.

The cold-faced Ma Xiaotao had already ﬂown towards the northern city along with the Third and Fourth Elders. The instant they rose into the air, what they saw was an astonishing, enormously large explosion of gold.

The defense of the water prison was paramount. Thus, even Ma Xiaotao couldn’t drag Zhong Li and his brothers away at this point in time. She could only warn them to carefully guard the water prison before leaving.

While Sunrise City was in a state of chaos, nobody noticed that a person had borrowed the cover of darkness to quietly lie down beside the southern moat. This person quietly dipped into the moat.

Huo Yuhao had borrowed the opportunity granted to him by the destruction of the aerial surveillance soul tools to slip away stealthily from the city walls. This time around, he used the same old trick—he’d used his spiritual power to seal his soul power, then used his Ultimate Ice to lower his body temperature.

By using his Ultimate Ice to lower his body temperature, all the remaining soul tools would be rendered ineffective for a short period of time. Naturally, Huo Yuhao would be at his weakest during this period of time as well.

He relied completely on the physical strength of a Soul Emperor to cross the city walls. Combined with his Spiritual Interference, he was able to leave the city without alerting anyone. He was now lying by the moat to slowly recover his soul power.

By the time the terrifying explosion caused by the Class 8 stationary soul cannon occurred, he’d nearly removed the seal placed on his soul power. Only then did he quietly submerge himself into the water and dig his way into the water prison.

This time around, what he used was his physical body and not his spiritual avatar. Once he entered the water prison, it wouldn’t be easy for him to leave. Huo Yuhao performed a cursory observation of the water prison with his spiritual power. Very quickly, he discovered the lively soul power contained within the various soul masters and soul engineers it held. Even if they weren’t fully recovered, they had enough strength to ﬁght one battle, at least.

Huo Yuhao held on to the metal railings of the water prison with a single hand and used the other to push against the water in the moat. A jade-green light rose from his body, and the little Snow Lady quietly appeared by his side.

The current Snow Lady was already a big kid who looked around eight or nine. A noble and cold look had already replaced her originally cute face, making her seem much like the original Snow Lady.

An extremely chilly intent instantly spread outwards, freezing the moat outside at a speed that the naked eye could see.

The little Snow Lady nodded softly towards Huo Yuhao, then gently twisted about in the water to reach the depths of the moat. Unexpectedly, one could see snowﬂakes ﬂuttering around her, even underwater.

The moat, which was originally ﬂowing vigorously, had been blocked by a wall of ice after a short period of time. The area of this wall of ice then covered both sides of the moat at an astonishing speed.

With the Snow Lady here, Huo Yuhao simply didn’t need to do anything. With a wave of his right hand, the Darkgolden Terrorclaws shot out and noiselessly tore the metal railings apart.

His use of Ultimate Ice was perfect. Just like how the water in the water prison wouldn’t ﬂow outwards, the extreme cold within it wouldn’t diffuse out either. Otherwise, a large problem could occur if they were to freeze everyone within the water prison.

After quietly submerging and swimming around in the water, Huo Yuhao began to spread his spiritual power out to cover the entirety of the water prison.

At this moment, the evil soul masters within the water prison were somewhat nervous. The Zhong brothers were huddled together on another side of the water prison, which was also its true entrance.

Never in their wildest dreams would they have imagined that somebody would enter the water prison via the moat under the surveillance of so many soul detectors on the southern city walls. From what they were aware of, the moat water still contained the extremely toxic Soul Exterminating Powder. If a soul master was to swim within the water, their soul power would quickly be dispersed. What threat would they be able to pose then?

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power deliberately avoided the area where the Zhong brothers were and even the hostages who were by their side. For the sake of preventing any accidents, it was sufﬁcient to inform a large number of people, but not all, of what was going to happen.

“Everyone, make your preparations.” Huo Yuhao’s thoughts were quickly transmitted into the minds of the hostages by way of his Spiritual Detection.

The hostages, who’d been acting as though they were weak all this while, immediately felt their spirits rise.

In reality, they were already doing their best to hold themselves back after recovering their soul power. Although there were quite a few evil soul masters here, they were insigniﬁcant compared to the number of hostages held here. They were still somewhat fearful of the two evil Titled Douluo

from before, but the number of evil soul masters left here was clearly much less than before!

Were it not for the elders restraining them, some of the younger hostages would’ve been unable to stop themselves from trying to escape. After being held captive here for a few months, the gloominess pent up in their hearts could be imagined.

Huo Yuhao didn’t tell them what the signal to move was, because there was simply no need for that.

--------

The southern city walls. All of the patrolling soldiers were staring at the northern city. The brilliant golden light that had risen into the air had ﬁnally started to disperse, though there were still sparks faintly ﬂying about along the walls of the eastern and western city. The sounds of the violent explosions from those areas made the atmosphere in the Southern City extraordinarily tense.

Many of the soldiers stationed there felt inwardly happy.

Fortunately, nothing had happened to them.

“What are you looking at? Get to your places, what are you doing?!” A strict voice suddenly rang out. As he started shouting, the various soldiers rushed back to their positions.

“Commander, take a look at this. This, what is this?” A soldier in charge of a soul detector cried out in surprise.

“Hmm?” The originally angry commander quickly ran over.

“What’s the situation?” “Commander, there are undulations of soul power. However, we can’t see anyone at all!” The soldier pointed at the simple soul screen in front of him.

Large, greenish ripples were ﬂoating about on the screen in front of him. This signiﬁed that there was an extremely strong and wide undulation of soul power in the city below him.

“This is…” The commander was at a loss as well. He immediately took a look at the other soul detectors around him and discovered that they were all inactive. Nor did he discover any life signs of any living creatures. Only the soul detector in front of him had produced this result.

“Commander, you’d better come over here!” Another soldier at a different area cried out.

“What now?” The commander quickly rushed over.

The soldier pointed at the screen in front of him, dumbstruck, “My thermal soul tool seems to have malfunctioned! It’s showing that the temperature underground is dropping madly! How, how can this be?!”

“The temperature of the ground beneath us is dropping?” The commander quickly stretched his head to look down the wall, and the soldier next to him turned on a soul lamp to light up the area.

The city walls around Sunrise City weren’t too tall. When the light from the soul lamp illuminated the moat, the commander ﬁnally discovered what the problem was.

He suddenly let out an ear-piercing screech, “Enemy attack!”

Why would the moat suddenly freeze for no reason? He himself was a soul master, and he could guess the reason for this. Only a soul master could cause an astonishing phenomenon like this!

Unfortunately, he’d made his discovery too late.

The water prison. When the little Snow Lady quietly returned to Huo Yuhao’s body, his eyes lit up. It was time!

His body shook slightly, and the soul thrusters on his back caused Huo Yuhao to shoot out from the water with a whoosh.

The moment he appeared, he immediately attracted the attention of every single hostage and evil soul master. Even the Zhong brothers, who were discussing the situation outside, were not an exception to this.

Five soul rings rose from Huo Yuhao’s feet one after another. For the sake of attracting even more of his opponent’s attention, he made all ﬁve of these soul rings glow with a blood-red light.

His third soul ring lit up, and a white layer of light instantly spread out from Huo Yuhao’s body.

Mass Enfeeblement!

Huo Yuhao didn’t hold anything back at a time like this. The instant he released his Mass Enfeeblement, Huo Yuhao clenched his ﬁst in midair.

The violent sound of an explosion instantly rang out.

The reason why Ice Explosion was known as a godly skill was because of its terrifying effect whenever there was sufﬁcient ice.

Although Ice Explosion couldn’t be used within the moat due to a lack of soul power that could be used to trigger it, it had transformed into Huo Yuhao’s best source of gunpowder after it was frozen.

The large moat had been frozen solid, causing the violent explosion from Huo Yuhao’s skill to spread all the way to the outside.

This was also the exact instant that the commander yelled out.

After receiving so many new hostages, the overall defenses of Sunrise City had increased by a few levels. However, the only thing that didn’t change was the thickness of its city walls.

After all, this was just a small city. They’d only set this whole shebang up to draw in people from the Douluo Continent’s three empires, who would attempt to rescue the hostages. There was no way that they’d speciﬁcally reinforce the city walls for this.

Because of that, the foundations of the southern walls were thoroughly shaken by the explosion of the moat.

It seemed as though the entire earth was trembling within the water prison. The violent rumbling, as well as Huo Yuhao rushing out of the water was already the best signal he could give the hostages.

Rays of light began to glow within the prison. The hostages who’d gone through countless hardships during their imprisonment ﬁnally went all-out.

The prison could keep them in while their soul power was limited, but how could it withstand the might of several experts who’d recovered their soul power?

The entire prison was destroyed in an instant. The instant the prisoners rushed out, they launched a wave of long-range soul skills towards the evil soul masters guarding the prison. Everything was shaking at this moment, and the wall had already begun to collapse. The other entrance of the water prison, which was where Huo Yuhao had entered, had already been blown apart.

Everything had perfectly gone according to Huo Yuhao’s plan.

Although the Zhong brothers reacted instantly, they were facing several hundred soul masters.

This group of soul masters didn’t just consist of the students who were representing their various academies and sects. There were also a few teachers, leaders and experts as well! There was no lack of seven-ringed and eight-ringed existences within this group!

During their imprisonment, they’d suffered at the hands of these evil soul masters. They’d lived in suffering and neared the border between life and death every day. When this pent- up anger instantly exploded, even evil soul masters would be afraid of them going all-out with no regard for their lives!

A few of the several dozen evil soul masters were instantly destroyed by the ﬁrst wave of attacks.

Although the Zhong brothers didn’t really understand why the hostages had regained their combat strength, they could only run away at top speed. Otherwise, they would deﬁnitely be torn to shreds by these people!

------

At the same time, several kilometers away from the south side of the city...

Xu Sanshi stood on a small hill, looking toward Sunrise City.

The sounds of explosions from Sunrise City signiﬁed that the plan had fully started. They were now waiting, waiting for the signal for the next part of the plan.

“It’s time to move. The troops stationed in the East and West have already moved towards the North. Caitou should’ve succeeded.” Jing Ziyan ﬁddled with a little device in her hand.

Xu Sanshi nodded.

Ji Juechen stood beside Jing Ziyan. He now had his usual stern face on, as he tightly gripped the Judgement Sword in his right hand.

Jing Ziyan turned to Xu Sanshi and said, “The troops outside the South City haven’t made a move yet. It seems like they’ve received an order to remain there no matter what. Are we going to start the plan or not?”

Xu Sanshi shook his head. “Let’s just wait for a bit longer. Once Yuhao makes his move, the Soul Engineer Legion outside the city will deﬁnitely not be able to stay silent anymore. They should send a few soldiers away to the front. That’s when we’ll make our move.” “Okay.” Jing Ziyan nodded.

Xu Sanshi closed his eyes, as though he had entered a meditative state standing up. Streams of dull, black air started to move about near him, and the other three moved away from him. Standing near him made them feel as if they’d sunken into quicksand.

Huo Yuhao didn’t make them wait for long. After a few minutes, the large explosion coming from the southern moat occurred. The terrifying explosive power it released made the city walls tremble, and even caused cracks to appear in many places.

Sure enough, the army stationed outside the city made a move the instant something came up. Via her soul detector, Jing Ziyan was able to tell that the troops stationed there were a mess. It seemed like they were gathering together.

“Prepare to move out. Go to your designated positions!” Xu Sanshi let out a low shout. Ye Guyi, Ji Juechen, and Jing Ziyan quickly ran towards a circle drawn not far away from Xu Sanshi.

Two yellow, two purple, and two black soul rings rose from Xu Sanshi’s feet. An enormous Black Tortoise image also appeared behind him.

A pitch-black Xuanwu Shield appeared noiselessly in his palm. As Xu Sanshi turned towards the sky, Jing Ziyan took out another soul tool and pressed a button on it.

When all of the aerial surveillance soul tools above Sunrise City were destroyed by the Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons, Jing Ziyan quietly ﬁred two soul tools into the sky. One was an aerial surveillance soul tool similar to that used by the Sun Moon Empire, speciﬁcally used to monitor the situation of the Soul Engineer Legion outside the city.

The sudden appearance of an enemy, moreover in three different areas, was especially devastating. The southern city’s most important duty was to protect the water prison, but they were instantly turned into blind men following the destruction of all of their aerial surveillance soul tools. Although they were prepared to launch replacements, they still needed a bit more time. Naturally, they couldn’t be faster than someone like Jing Ziyan, who was already prepared.

Other than the aerial surveillance soul tool, the other thing Jing Ziyan had ﬁred was much stranger. Even she didn’t know what it was.

That thing was very large, around ﬁve meters long and shaped like a huge umbrella. This was the largest soul tool they’d brought along with them.

The instant Xu Sanshi announced the start of the mission, Jing Ziyan pressed the button that activated this umbrella- shaped soul tool.

Immediately, a point in the sky lit up, and the huge umbrella opened up!

The enormous umbrella had a diameter of nearly ten meters and released a bright silver light. A weak beam of light and had no offensive capabilities instantly landed outside the city by the barracks, about ten kilometers away from Xu Sanshi. The appearance of this beam of light was precisely when the barracks was in a state of chaos, the instant they’d sent out reinforcements to Sunrise City! Due to the lack of aerial surveillance soul tools, only a few people noticed the glow of this beam of light that accompanied the opening of the huge

umbrella and felt that something wasn’t right.

At this exact moment, a brilliant light shot out from Xu Sanshi’s eyes. With his Xuanwu Shield held high, his fourth soul ring lit up.

The umbrella-shaped soul tool shot out another beam of light. This time around, it shone on the circle Ye Guyi and the others were standing in.

Xu Sanshi leapt forward, jumping into this ray of light. Right after that, the dark light on his Xuanwu Shield lit up brightly. With a ﬂash, he vanished into thin air. However, a ﬂabbergasted soul engineer from the Sun Moon Empire’s Soul Engineer Legion appeared in his place and directly fell to the ground.

Ji Juechen made an overly simple movement with his Judgement Sword, causing the struggling soul engineer to vanish.

Right after that, another light ﬂashed. Ji Juechen vanished into thin air, but Xu Sanshi returned.

The enormous umbrella-shaped soul tool in the sky was something Xuan Ziwen had created especially for Xu Sanshi, called a soul mirror. This was a soul tool that could utilize the mirror within the huge umbrella to magnify an image of places far away for Xu Sanshi to look at.

If Xu Sanshi still had his Mysterious Underworld Shield, this soul tool would’ve been of no use to him at all. However, certain impossible things had become possible following his martial soul’s evolution into the Xuanwu Shield. For example, he could now use his Mysterious Underworld Displacement on anything within his line of sight! It would now be more appropriate to call it the Xuanwu Displacement!

Xu Sanshi had used this soul tool to transport himself over to the Soul Engineer Legion, then sent Ji Juechen over afterwards. At this moment, there were still not many people within the southern Soul Engineer Legion who had discovered what had just occurred.

Ji Juechen appeared out of thin air, then gently landed. Immediately afterwards, he charged out from the circle of light that the soul mirror had created.

The surrounding soul engineers felt something was off.

Immediately, someone came up to question him.

Ji Juechen possessed a certain level of strength. He shot forward like a bolt of lightning and grabbed at a soul engineer who was questioning him. He threw him into the circle of light with a ﬂip of his hand.

And so, Xu Sanshi returned. After three consecutive displacements, Xu Sanshi, Jing Ziyan, and Ye Guyi used the same method to forcefully charge into the southern Soul Engineer Legion several dozen kilometers away from them!

Even a Titled Douluo who was skilled in spatial abilities wouldn’t be able to use an Instant Teleportation that could cross a distance that far! However, Xu Sanshi had done it, albeit with the aid of a soul tool.

Naturally, he was drained of a large amount of soul power following this displacement. He held a Milk Bottle in each of his hands and began recovering his soul power immediately after he re-appeared.

Only at this moment did the men in the barracks realize that something was wrong. However, the soul mirror in the sky had already been put away by Jing Ziyan.

This little thing was still useful to them. There was even a possibility that they would need this to save Huo Yuhao and the rest later.

A large number of soul engineers started to surround them, blocking them off.

The ﬁrst person to make a move, however, was still the Sword Fanatic. Even if he had love in his heart, his ﬁghting style would never change! With his Judgement Sword pointed towards the sky, he took a step forward with his left foot. Then, he made a half-turn and swept his longsword horizontally.

An intense, chilly light spread out in a fan-shaped sweep. The soul engineers who were activating their soul tools in order to attack felt a chill pervade their bodies, then lost consciousness in the next moment.

Ye Guyi was standing behind Ji Juechen and thus was able to see him most clearly. Ji Juechen’s horizontal sweep contained a biting cold sword light that reached out a full hundred meters, and no living beings remained wherever his sword passed. At least thirty Class 3 and 4 soul engineers were cut down with a single stroke of his sword.

This fellow is really scary! Ye Guyi felt a chill go up her spine. She clearly remembered how she and Nan Qiuqiu had constantly challenged him to ﬁght. She could now tell from the imposing aura coming off Ji Juechen’s sword that he had been going easy on them all this while. Ji Juchen didn’t stop moving. With his sword in his hand, he shot through areas with the most number of people like a bolt of lightning. The Judgement Sword in his hand seemed to look disdainfully upon its enemies, and corpses littered the ground wherever it swept past.

It would be very hard to determine who was the strongest person in the Tang Sect. However, if one were to talk about the most destructive, and the person whose ability to kill was greatest, the answers to these questions would be He Caitou and Ji Juechen.

If one were to take out the use of soul tools, then only Ji Juechen would remain.

Many soul engineers already had their soul tools pointed at Ji Juechen. However, the troops stationed here were not the best troops that the Sun Moon Empire had. Their greatest strength lay in defending the military front, as well as the soul tool formations they’d set up in advance.

Just as a soul engineer’s worst nightmare was ﬁghting against a soul master in close-combat, the way this army fought was also susceptible to close-combat.

The area inside the front itself was the weakest point of the Soul Engineer Legion!

Ji Juechen was already a Soul Sage, but his destructive power wasn’t something that ordinary Soul Sages could compare to. Those Class 3 and 4 soul tools were completely destroyed by his chilly sword intent before they even reached him.

The only person who made him pause slightly was a Class 6 soul engineer. However, the sad thing was that this soul engineer was skilled at close-combat.

Thus, Ji Juechen gripped his sword with both hands. After standing still for a brief moment, the area between him and the Class 6 soul engineer turned into a patch of grey.

This was the Sword Fanatic’s Domain, the Solitary Domain!

Afterwards… there was no afterwards! The Sword Fanatic would never show mercy to an opponent. This was especially true after he’d gotten a new lover. His lover was standing on this battleﬁeld, and one less opponent meant one greater chance that his lover would remain safe. This had also caused the ﬁghting intent in this cold man to reach an unprecedented level.

Naturally, in Ji Juechen’s own opinion, he stubbornly believed that the reason his will to ﬁght had grown stronger was because he had found the right path. Yes, this was the power of love!

While Ji Juechen was killing his way through the battleﬁeld, the others didn’t just laze around. As if she had sprinkled beans on the ground to create soldiers, Jing Ziyan released an all-terrain self-driving soul fort and hid herself within it.

As a member of the Tang Sect, although she didn’t know how to create soul tools, she was relatively proﬁcient at using them. One couldn’t forget that she had originally come from the Sun Moon Soul Engineering Academy. After seriously practicing their use a few times, she was naturally skilled at using this all- terrain self-driving soul fort!

Chapter 383: Breaking Out From the Siege

The all-terrain self-driving fort she drove had been enhanced. The moment it entered its control mode, over a hundred cannons started to ﬁre furiously. It was as if it did not require any soul power at all as it shot the soul cannons placed by the soul engineer legions to smithereens.

It actually did not require any soul power. Speciﬁcally, it did not require any of Jing Ziyan’s soul power!

This all-terrain self-driving fort was equipped with more than thirty Class 5 Milk Bottles. It could ﬁght for hours without recharging, and Jing Ziyan now used it to its maximum potential.

Instantly, the soul engineers whose positions were under ﬁre were sent running in all directions.

All of the soul engineer legions of the Sun Moon Empire had a subordinate army. After all, soul engineers were more important and costlier. Someone had to do the dirty and tiring work, such as raising the outer defenses.

That was work for the subordinate army.

To the south of the city, there were more soul engineers in position, numbering around three hundred. There was a Class 8 soul engineer, two Class 7 soul engineers, and ﬁve Class 6 soul engineers. Coupled with the many other soul engineers who had taken up position there, their defenses were very tight.

However, at this moment, the Class 8 soul engineer had brought the two Class 7 soul engineers to reinforce the south of the city. There were no strong soul engineers left over there.

The subordinate army, realizing that something was wrong, charged over. However, the many less powerful soul engineers fell into despair under the heavy bombardment from the all- terrain self-driving fort and the sharp sword qi of the Sword Fanatic.

The inky-black light only started to dissipate at this very moment. Xu Sanshi did not even need to maximize the power of his Xuanwu Domain. All he had to do was to ensure that its area of effect was maximized.

Everything within a two hundred and ﬁfty meter radius appeared to have turned into a swamp. Everyone, both soul engineers and the subordinate army, who rushed into this area immediately felt as if they had dived into a deep pool of mud. There was no way they could even see the location of the

Sword Fanatic and the all-terrain self-driving fort.

This was the strength of the Tang Sect and Shrek Academy! While soul engineers continually threatened the position of soul masters, truly powerful soul masters were highly intimidating.

Even Xu Tianran, who had a high opinion of himself, had no choice but to collaborate with the Holy Ghost Church because of his fear of powerful soul masters! Shrek Academy was one such power he feared greatly!

Xu Sanshi and the other three could not sustain this onslaught for long. Once the soul engineer legions reacted properly, they would gather even more soul tools to take care of them. They would be in trouble then. However, by launching this sudden attack, what they wanted to do now was not to destroy the positions of the soul engineers, but to create as much chaos as possible. This would create enough opportunities for Huo Yuhao and the others to break out with the hostages.

------------

Inside the water prison, the many hostages rushed out like a group of starving tigers had just been released. They had suffered greatly over the past few months, and they hated the evil soul masters with all their guts. The moment they could, they covered the entire area with long-range attacks launched at full power, killing more than half of the weaker evil soul masters.

The Zhong brothers realized that the situation was turning bad for them, and they made their way to the exit while defending themselves. Their attackers were a few hundred soul masters! Even the weakest ones had at least four rings! Even if there were no powerful Titled Douluo, there were still many powerful Soul Sages and Soul Douluo, most of whom were teachers or powerful members of the various sects. Their numbers rivaled that of a soul engineer legion. In terms of individual ﬁghting abilities, they surpassed the soul engineer legions! How could the brothers possibly beat them? Huo Yuhao did not try to stop the Zhong brothers from leaving. The three of them were extremely powerful, and they specialized in controlling the souls of soul beasts to ﬁght. They were all eight-ringed evil soul masters, and the moment they got over their shock, they would wreak horriﬁc destruction. Ma Xiaotao could not delay the two evil Titled Douluo for long, either. After such a huge commotion, they would surely return shortly. Hence, the most important thing for them to do was rush out. They had to break through the seal of the soul

engineers outside and reach somewhere spacious. Even a Titled Douluo would not dare to ﬁght against more than a hundred soul masters at once!

Hence, the most important thing right now was to break out as far as they could. Huo Yuhao knew what to do afterward.

He activated his Spiritual Detection Sharing fully, and in the minds of every emotionally-charged person, the same voice resonated, “Calm yourselves. Follow me and break out.”

As he said that, Huo Yuhao turned around and looked toward the south of the city, which had been completely ﬂattened. His body started to shine with an eye-catching jade-green light. In the next instant, a thick jade-green pillar of light pierced through the sky and bombarded the area over there. An intense explosion sounded, and ﬂakes of ice ﬂew in all directions. A huge hole had appeared in the wall. Huo Yuhao’s soul thruster shone with light once more as he quickly arrived in front of the hole. As the hostages watched, dark-golden claws almost ten meters long appeared suddenly and silently. The broken hole became ﬁve times larger.

Someone, either a powerful member of a random sect or a teacher, gasped and said, “The Darkgolden Terrorclaw?”

“Go, now!” Huo Yuhao cried out. This time, his voice was ﬁlled with spiritual undulations.

While many of these hostages’ soul power had recovered, and they had also been soaked in a reinvigorating medicine, they had also been imprisoned in the water prison for a few months. Their strength was far from optimal. Hence, they could not wait until their bodies showed signs of fatigue. There could be no delay in their breakout.

As for the Zhong brothers, Huo Yuhao believed that they would not dare re-enter for the moment. There were a few hundred soul masters here! No matter who was guarding them, surely their ﬁrst response right now was to get help.

Huo Yuhao, who was at the front, rushed out ﬁrst.

The moat outside was now riddled with explosions. Right now, the water from the moat was ﬂowing outwards.

Huo Yuhao’s soul thruster ﬁred down to ensure that he could remain suspended in mid-air. As his hands touched the water, one could clearly see that they were enveloped in diamond-like ice crystals. This was his Ice Empress’ Pincer.

A cold gas started to spread and turned into two rays of emerald-green light. First, they struck the surging water, which slowed, and then stopped. Then, under the terrifying chill of his Ultimate Ice, Huo Yuhao froze the moat solid.

As he pulled his hands apart, he cast his gaze afar.

The soul engineers had been thrown into complete disarray. At this moment, a team of around ﬁfty soul engineers was rushing toward them. When they saw Huo Yuhao, a ball of blinding red light ﬂew toward him like a shooting star in the night sky.

A smile crept across Huo Yuhao’s face. He had expected this. The ﬁfty soul engineers stationed outside the southern gate were caught between a rock and a hard place. They had realized that something was amiss at their ﬂank, but they had no choice but to push forward.

As he watched the high-explosive bomb hurtling toward him, Huo Yuhao did not try to dodge.

A layer of golden light shone from his body and his eyes turned completely golden. In his eyes, he was analyzing the path of this high-explosive bomb. With his terrifying spiritual power, his ability to analyze any single object was intimidating.

He raised his right hand, and diamond-like ice crystals shone brightly on his hand. Then, he reached out to grab the incoming high-explosive bomb. Poof! A curious scene appeared. The moment Huo Yuhao’s right hand grabbed the high-explosive bomb, the explosion the soul engineers were expecting did not materialize. Instead, the red light surrounding the high-explosive bomb faded. Its impact, however, made Huo Yuhao waver slightly in mid-air.

Following that, the high-explosive bomb was completely destroyed in Huo Yuhao’s hand.

A high-explosive bomb’s power came from an intense compression of ﬁre-type soul power. With the formation array of a Class 6 soul tool, its soul power was further destabilized before it was ﬁred. Once it hit its target or met any resistance, it would disrupt and cause a massive explosion.

What Huo Yuhao did was use his spiritual power to ﬁnd the location of its unstable core and then, with his Ultimate Ice, freeze it!

While it sounded simple, it was extremely difﬁcult to locate the highly-unstable core of a powerful high-explosive bomb in such a short time! However, he did it almost perfectly.

“It’s my turn!” Huo Yuhao muttered to himself. Then, the air around him started to twist and turn as he activated his Spiritual Interference.

In the eyes of the ﬁfty soul engineers facing him, the person who was ﬂoating in mid-air disappeared. The originally- destroyed city walls regained their original state, as did the moat. It was as if nothing had happened, and everything had been a dream.

“This…” For the ﬁfty soul engineers, who were all armed to the teeth and wielding their favorite soul tools, this scene left them speechless. They had no qualms about attacking their enemies, but right now, the city walls and the moat in front of them were completely intact. Where were their targets? How could they ﬁre with no target?

“No, this is an illusion. I order-” The soul engineer legion commander was a Class 8 soul engineer. He had seen many things in his life, and after a momentary pause, he realized that something was amiss. However, he did not manage to issue his order.

An odd golden whirlpool suddenly appeared above his head. He felt everything in front of him go blurry, and forcibly swallowed his words. His thoughts were scattered.

This was Huo Yuhao’s fourth soul skill, Spiritual Confusion!

While Huo Yuhao was at Rank 60, he only had ﬁve soul rings. However, with the terrifying strength of his spiritual power, while he lacked the ﬁghting abilities of a six-ringed soul master, he had no need to conserve soul power like other soul masters as he used the many soul skills of his Spirit Eyes.

He used his spiritual power to replace the functions of his soul power. From when he had ﬁrst entered the water prison until now, he had used his soul skills one after the other without stopping, yet remained in his prime state.

One versus ﬁfty? Huo Yuhao was not that dumb or that powerful. His opponents included Class 7 and Class 8 soul engineers. Right now, his role was not one of an assault-type soul master, but instead one of a control-type soul master. His objective was to control the entire battleﬁeld.

After a momentary pause, dozens of ﬁgures rushed out of the illusion from the river, which still appeared intact.

The greatest advantage of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection was fully exempliﬁed at this very moment. After he broke out from the water prison, he used his Spiritual Detection to accurately determine the distance of the ﬁfty soul engineers from the southern part of the city. They were less than a hundred meters away from the river. This distance, to soul engineers, was not safe at all. After the dozens of soul masters rushed over from the frozen riverbed of the river, they would be less than a hundred meters away from the confused soul engineers.

Under Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection, the hostages were split into three forces. Among them, those with six rings and above were split into two groups. One group would rush forward ﬁrst as the vanguard. The other group would remain at the back to keep the rear safe. The other soul masters, who had fewer than six soul rings, would remain in the center.

This meant that the ﬁrst wave of those who rushed out all had at least six rings. They were all at least Soul Emperors!

The moment they rushed out of the river, they maximized their speed as they rushed toward the soul engineers like frenzied tigers.

The soul engineers ﬁnally reacted. Rays of light shot out from their soul tools.

If the two sides were in formation, and if there was enough distance between them, the hostages would not have an advantage no matter how powerful they were. This was because the soul engineer legions of the Sun Moon Empire had trained together for a very long time. Various soul tools could work in tandem with one another, helping each other out, and hence, they would be able to project much more power than what their numbers might suggest.

However, the ﬁfty soul engineers were currently faced with an impossible scenario. They had lost their center of command, and they could not put enough distance between themselves and their enemies. When they ﬁnally reacted, they were naturally unable to unleash their most powerful attacks. The soul masters they faced right now were the best from some of the most powerful sects and schools in the world. They were the elites among the elites!

Furthermore, these elites had a commander. Their commander’s Spiritual Detection covered the entire battleﬁeld, and was able to accurately convey distance, speed, angle, strength, and other types of information on every soul ray and soul cannon shell to them. Their commander was none other than the control-type Soul King, the Eyes of Asura, Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao was able to gain the respect of the number one Academy in the world, Shrek Academy, enter the Sea God’s Pavilion before the age of twenty, and become one of its members. This was due to his strength and unlimited potential.

With each life-and-death experience, adventure, and obstacle, he was able to grow at a speed that even Elder Mu did not anticipate.

After he recovered his ability to move again and completed his closed-door training, Huo Yuhao was like a caterpillar that had ﬁnally become a butterﬂy. He had reached a completely new level. Among Shrek’s Seven Monsters, he was ranked ﬁrst in terms of strength. His overall strength surpassed that of a Soul Sage.

Spiritual Detection, Spiritual Sharing. In the eyes of the soul engineers and soul masters who were ﬁghting, these were godly skills.

Four eight-ringed Soul Douluo, twelve seven-ringed Soul Sages, and around twenty Soul Emperors charged out in advance of the hostages. They were the elites of the elites. Under the instructions of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection, coupled with the furious ﬁghting spirit that rose non-stop in their hearts, how could they show any mercy to their foes?

When the commander of the soul engineer legion, the Class 8 soul engineer, ﬁnally snapped out of the confusion Huo Yuhao had induced in him with his Spiritual Confusion, he saw dozens of furious soul masters who were only a hair’s breadth away.

The soul masters were able to rush up to the soul engineers without incurring any casualties. One could imagine what happened next.

Huo Yuhao did not participate personally in the ﬁght. He ﬂew above the heads of the soul engineers and unleashed his Spiritual Interference to its fullest extent, enveloping the battleﬁeld completely. Near the core where most of the ﬁghting took place, nothing other than sound could spread to the outside world.

Since Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Interference reached its domain stage, this was the ﬁrst time he had used it over such a huge area.

As the ﬁfty soul engineers were destroyed, all of the hostages rushed out of the water prison. At this moment, in the sky above Sunrise City, one could see colorful ﬁreworks exploding.

This was probably a distress signal the three Zhong brothers had released.

Huo Yuhao did not even look at it. Right now, he was in a race against time.

The three Zhong brothers were not scary. Even the two evil Titled Douluo were not scary. What was scary was the huge amount of troops that could come from Radiant City. Once they arrived, they would be in serious trouble.

After all, the ﬁve most powerful soul engineer legions of the Sun Moon Empire were all equipped with ﬂying-type soul tools. If they used their ﬂying-type soul tools, they would be able to reach Sunrise City from Radiant City pretty quickly. Charge! Without giving the hostages any time to rest, Huo Yuhao immediately gave the order to charge. Xu Sanshi and the rest still held on, but how much longer could they hold on? They could only escape if they broke through the positions the soul engineers had taken up to the south of the city!

The taste of freedom was a huge motivation for these hostages. Every single one of them was in an almost frenzied state as they charged south.

At this moment, a thunderous explosion sounded. This made Huo Yuhao, who was in mid-air, turn his head. His face turned dark.

How can this be possible? How can it be so fast?

Where did the thunderous explosion come from? It came from the northern city walls of Sunrise City, which was the only part that had not yet been hit. However, Huo Yuhao had instructed Jing Ziyan to plant a large number of soul bombs there.

The one who could detonate these bombs was He Caitou.

Before He Caitou left, he had planted an aerial surveillance tool there to monitor the situation.

This was because any soldiers from Radiant City who were rushing over to assist their compatriots had to reach the northern walls ﬁrst. By placing the bombs, they hoped to injure and kill many of them before they could arrive, as well as attract their attention. The timing of the explosion was completely controlled by He Caitou.

But the bombs actually went off so quickly. What did this mean? This meant that the soldiers from Radiant City were here already!

Only a few minutes had passed since the start of the mission.

According to Huo Yuhao’s calculations, the soldiers from Radiant City, upon realizing that something was amiss, would need at least an hour to organize themselves, set off, and arrive. This would be more than enough time for him and the hostages to evacuate. However, the arrival of the soldiers from Radiant City was much faster than he had expected. This completely turned the situation around.

He quickly informed the hostages to charge toward the positions of the soul engineers with all their might. After they defeated their opponents, they had to regroup with the four of them, who would then give them instructions to escape safely.

After he conveyed this message, Huo Yuhao turned around and ﬂew back toward Sunrise City. Not only did he have to pick up He Caitou, but he also had to ﬁnd Nan Qiuqiu. If he could not save Nan Shuishui soon, it would be immensely difﬁcult later, as Sunrise City would have turned into a tiger’s den.

Of course, for most people, Sunrise City had already turned into a tiger’s den.

Huo Yuhao was no longer able to control whether the hostages could escape. However, according to his calculations, the series of explosions at the northern city walls would create a huge problem for the soldiers who were rushing to render assistance. Even if they ﬂew, they would surely descend to ascertain the situation upon seeing the explosion. After all, they could not possibly know what was happening in Sunrise City.

The soul engineer legion stationed to the south of Sunrise City had only two hundred and ﬁfty men after ﬁfty of them left the main group. After being harassed by Xu Sanshi and the others, they were unable to hold their ground in face of the attacks by powerful soul masters. Hence, the hostages still had a good chance of escaping. Huo Yuhao’s important task right now was to get everyone from the Tang Sect out and save Nan Shuishui.

Despite having been trained under the Ultimate Soldier Plan, Huo Yuhao knew that emotions played a huge part in his decision-making. The ideal plan now would be to abandon He Caitou and Nan Qiuqiu and help the hostages escape. He should not be turning back.

However, could he really do that? Of course not! He was not a machine whose only purpose was to complete missions or kill people, but a human with ﬂesh and blood. How could he abandon He Caitou and escape all by himself? As for Nan Qiuqiu, while his ties with her were not as deep as his with He Caitou, she was still out to save her mother! For Huo Yuhao, nothing touched him more than maternal love.

This was why he had told Nan Qiuqiu that if Nan Shuishui was not in the water prison, he would stay behind to help her save her mother. He knew the pain of losing one’s mother very clearly.

This time, Huo Yuhao did not ﬂy back to Sunrise City via the city walls. Instead, he released his Butterﬂy Wings and ascended vertically. Covered by his Imitation, he ﬂew straight into the sky.

The advantage of doing this was so that he could observe the soldiers who were coming to assist those in Sunrise City. At the same time, he could bypass the Zhong brothers!

Without the threat from aerial soul tools, Huo Yuhao felt much more at ease with his ﬂying-type soul tool and Imitation.

This feeling accompanied his ascent ﬁve hundred meters into the sky, and then it vanished quickly.

To the north, he could clearly see that there were rows of dark-blue ﬁgures landing near the city. These dark-blue ﬁgures only numbered in the hundreds, but the formless awe and pressure they exuded almost suffocated him.

When he saw these dark-blue ﬁgures, Huo Yuhao’s face changed instantly. While he had never personally seen the most powerful soul engineer legions of the Sun Moon Empire, he was able to ascertain the extent of the threat with his spiritual awareness. The pressure he felt from those hundreds of ﬁgures surpassed what he had felt from the soul engineer legions stationed outside the city.

The Nation Protecting Hand. Only the ﬁve most powerful soul engineer legions of the Sun Moon Empire could exert such pressure.

The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legions were tasked with protecting Radiant City. Unless the emperor left the city, they would not leave the capital so easily. And yet, these ﬁgures, each giving off a dark blue light, were from one of the Beast Lord-ranked soul engineer legions. No matter which one it was, its presence here would be catastrophic!

The two ﬁve hundred-man-strong soul engineer legions stationed around Sunrise City were comprised of soul engineers who had two or three rings. Their entry requirement was two rings, and while their overall strength was formidable, they depended primarily on coordinating the use of their soul tools, ﬁghting as a group, and positioning their soul tools strategically to ﬁght.

For the Beast Lord-ranked soul engineer legions, they were all comprised of soul engineers who were equivalent to Soul Ancestors. Each of them could use ﬂying-type soul tools, and could attack from both land and air. Their commander was a Class 9 soul engineer. All three hundred of the soul engineers in such a legion were extremely formidable! The explosive power and ﬁghting abilities of a Beast Lord-ranked soul engineer legion was greater than a heavily-armored cavalry legion of more than ten thousand men.

Their direct ﬁghting abilities were terrifying. Coupled with their ﬂying abilities, how far could the hostages run should they start their pursuit?

Why were they so fast? How can this be possible?

Just as he was coming to terms with his shock, Huo Yuhao suddenly sensed a signal from He Caitou. He Caitou no longer had access to his Spiritual Detection, but he remained in contact with him via a method used by soul engineers. With a simple soul power frequency emitter which he had pre- installed, Huo Yuhao was able to locate him accurately when he used it.

He descended sneakily, and was able to ﬁnd He Caitou not far from the city gates.

He Caitou’s face was grim as he said, “Yuhao, how is it? Did we manage to get them out?” Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “Yes, we did. They’re all rushing out according to our original plan. However, they’ll still need time.”

He Caitou said solemnly, “Radiant City has already sent back- up. My aerial surveillance soul tools were instantly destroyed.”

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “I saw that. I wonder how long the explosion at the northern city walls can hold them off. Second senior brother, go. Rendezvous with everyone else. I’m off to look for Qiuqiu. You have to escape as fast as you can. Don’t worry about us.”

He Caitou was momentarily stunned as he said, “Yuhao…”

Huo Yuhao raised his hand and did not let him continue. He smiled brightly and said, “Second senior brother, believe in me.”

He Caitou inhaled. He knew that at this moment, time was of the utmost importance. He nodded vigorously and said, “Be careful. If you face overwhelming obstacles, don’t force it. I’ll make a move ﬁrst.” With that, the light behind his back lit up, and a dark light ﬂashed. After the light from the ﬂying-type soul tool was completely shielded, he shot into the sky and disappeared.

This operation was built on destroying all aerial surveillance soul tools. If not, how could they ﬂy so smoothly in the air?

Unlike what he told He Caitou, Huo Yuhao did not go and ﬁnd Nan Qiuqiu immediately. On his forehead, his Eye of Destiny opened once again. He unleashed his Spiritual Detection to its maximum extent, which covered the skies above Sunrise City. His spiritual intent also expanded massively.

As he did all this, he quickened his pace toward the place where he expected Nan Qiuqiu to be.

Before long, he stopped and looked up in a certain direction. A purple-gold light started to shine from his Eye of Destiny. Not far from where he was, a low rumble sounded in the sky. A ﬁgure descended unsteadily from the heavens and fell down to the city. As a qualiﬁed commander, the ﬁrst thing one would do upon arriving at such a chaotic scene would be to obtain information. Even though the commotion in the northern part of the city was greater, there was no way no one would be deployed to investigate the other parts of the city. What Huo

Yuhao had to do now was stop these people and buy time for his comrades.

While he was clear that he could not hold them back for long, any amount of time was good enough.

------

“Bastards! Is this how you look after the hostages?” Ma Xiaotao bellowed as she looked at the Zhong brothers.

While the Zhong brothers were older, they did not dare to show any signs of discontent in front of her. All of their heads were bowed, and the dozens of evil soul masters around them were as quiet as crickets.

The Third and Fourth Elders stood behind Ma Xiaotao. Their faces were green.

They had just come from the northern part of the city. When they were there, they could not help but inhale a breath of cold air when they saw the huge explosion. The Third Elder accurately deduced that only a Class 8 stationary soul cannon shell could be this destructive. All of the positions for the soul engineers’ soul tools were obliterated, and at least two hundred

soul engineers were dead or injured. Only some more powerful

ones were able to escape after detecting the incoming attack.

The eastern city walls and the western city walls had been destroyed as well. At this moment, Ma Xiaotao ordered everyone to investigate in depth. They had to locate the enemy, but Third Elder and Fourth Elder were both highly- experienced thanks to their age. They immediately deduced that someone was trying to create a diversion. Their target was the hostages!

Persuaded by them, Ma Xiaotao had to return with them. However, at this moment, another explosion rocked the northern city walls. This time, Ma Xiaotao brought the two elders on a detour to see what was going on. When they saw the dark-blue ﬁgures appear, her heart sank. She knew that they were in trouble. Indeed, when Third Elder and Fourth Elder saw the soul engineer legion, they instantly asked to return to the southern part of the city to look after the hostages. After all, they had just arrived.

The southern city wall was blown to bits by Huo Yuhao, who had used his Ice Explosion on the moat. The hostages all rushed out of the city, but the Zhong brothers had not pursued them. Instead, they waited for their return. How could Ma Xiaotao not take this chance to blow up in anger?

Zhong Tian chuckled bitterly and said, “Holy Lady, it’s not that we don’t want to give chase. You know that there were more than ﬁve hundred hostages. They all had at least four soul rings, and there were a whole bunch of Soul Douluo, Soul Sages, and Soul Emperors. If we gave chase, we would have died!”

Ma Xiaotao said angrily, “Didn’t you say that there was enough Soul Eradicating Powder? How did they ﬁnd the antidote to it? Only the Leader has the antidote for the Soul Eradicating Powder. If you don’t use enough of it, it’ll lose its effect. How did you guard those hostages?” Zhong Tian said as if he had been wronged, “Holy Lady, you can’t blame me! Why don’t you ask those under me? We deﬁnitely used enough Soul Eradicating Powder. Earlier, the legs of the hostages were soft as jelly.”

Ma Xiaotao said coldly, “Go get some water from the water prison and assess the amount of Soul Eradicating Powder inside. Do you think that I have wronged you?”

“Wait a minute, Holy Lady,” the Third Elder said solemnly. “Now’s not the time to ﬁnd out who was responsible. The most important thing right now is to re-capture all the hostages. We should move immediately. While there are many powerful people among the hostages, their bodies should have deteriorated from their stay in the water prison. Now is the best time to pursue them. As long as we can delay them, they will all be caught when the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions catch up.”

Ma Xiaotao’s eyes glinted as she said, “Alright. Everyone, pursue them with me.” She had no way of delaying them anymore. If not, they would sense that something was amiss. The killing intent in her heart had been triggered. She was ready. When they caught up to the hostages later, she would ambush the elders. As long as these two Titled Douluo were injured, the hostages could easily defeat the remaining evil soul masters. The main problem now was that the soul engineer legion, coming from the north, would soon reach them.

“Let’s go!” Ma Xiaotao, along with Third Elder and Fourth Elder, as well as the Zhong brothers, rose into the air as they began their chase.

When they left the city, the two elders and the Zhong brothers all had ugly expressions on their faces. This was because it was completely silent and peaceful outside the city. Hundreds of hostages had seemingly disappeared without a trace. All that was left were the ruined positions the soul engineers had formerly manned.

“This is impossible! They rushed out only ﬁfteen minutes ago. How...how did they take so little time?” The three Zhong brothers were stunned.

No matter how one put it, there used to be three hundred soul engineers, an entire soul engineer legion, outside the city! Among them were Class 6 and Class 7 soul engineers. Even if they could not resist the many soul masters, they should have been able to delay them!

How could they know that Xu Sanshi and the rest went teleporting from afar and and dropped in on the soul engineer legion, attacking them from the inside? The soul engineer legion was split up. The most powerful soul engineers were instantly eliminated by the group of soul masters led by Huo Yuhao. The other soul engineers, who had two to three rings, how could they resist so many hostages, all of whom were savage with hate! The disappearance of the hostages was another trick Huo Yuhao had played on them.

Chapter 384: Rescuing Nan Shuishui

Sunrise City was surrounded by ﬁelds. Although it would be difﬁcult, they would still have a chance. Before even leaving, the Sea God’s Pavilion had talked about this exact matter during a meeting. However, the most troublesome matter would be escaping after being surrounded. How would running from an area which was ﬁlled with plains as far as the eye could see be easy? This was especially so at this moment, considering that the hostages were all somewhat injured. It wouldn’t take a genius to deduce that they would be assaulted from afar.

And thus, Shrek Academy had decided to make a bold and costly decision.

There was only one way to escape from enemy sightlines in an area ﬁlled with plains--with speed!

The only way they could escape from enemy attacks within a short amount of time was to rely on an astonishing amount of speed. How could they increase the speed of the hostages they were rescuing? By using ﬂying-type soul tools! Huo Yuhao’s team had brought a total of eight hundred ﬂying-type soul tools with them. Although they were all of the lowest class, and were even somewhat crude, the Tang Sect and Shrek Academy, as well as the Star Luo and Heavenly Soul Empires, had done all they could.

These eight hundred ﬂying-type soul tools had been placed in the wilderness by Xu Sanshi and the rest in advance. Once the hostages were able to escape, they would immediately equip these ﬂying-type soul tools.

Although many modern soul masters were still against the use of soul tools, a large majority of them had come into contact with them. After all, who wouldn’t want to experience the thrill of ﬂying at four rings? Because of that, ﬂying-type soul tools were the soul tools that most soul masters had used. It wasn’t as though every single soul master had used them, but the number of soul masters who hadn’t was very small. Moreover, soul masters could adapt to the use of ﬂying-type soul tools relatively quickly. Even if they hadn’t used them before, they would be able to after experimenting for a few minutes.

Every single ﬂying-type soul tool was equipped with a map. After that, everyone from the Tang Sect offered a prayer and split up.

Every single hostage, including those who came from the various sects and academies, ﬂew off in different directions. However, they only had a single objective--to get to the harbor city where Huo Yuhao had rented a boat. The only way they could escape from the enclosure of the Sun Moon Empire was by the sea.

This was Huo Yuhao’s rescue plan!

The speed at which the hostages broke free from the enclosure could only be described as ‘astonishing’. In reality, even Xu Sanshi and the rest didn’t think that they would be that destructive. Without any of the experts from the Soul Engineer Legion obstructing them, a close-combat clash between them and ordinary soul engineers was like smashing an egg against a rock. This was the main reason why the hostages were able to instantly crush the military line held by the Soul Engineer Legion.

The battle between the subordinate army and the soul engineers was a unilateral slaughter. It didn’t even take ﬁve minutes before the entire front was completely destroyed. Moreover, the splitting of Sunrise City’s troops due to the need to rescue their soldiers and to scout out the situation in the northern part of the city meant that they couldn’t stop the hostages at all.

Huo Yuhao’s plan could be said to be nearly perfect. At the very least, the hostages were already ﬂying through the air and disappearing into the boundless night sky.

Throughout this entire process, he had controlled a few key points very well. First, he was able to judge the strengths of the northern, eastern, and western parts of the city very well, and ﬁnd an accurate time to misdirect them.

Although their enemies might have guessed that they were trying to misdirect them, the secret location of the water prison gave the people from the Holy Ghost Church somewhat of a backing to rely on. Even the two soul engineer legions and the city defense troops stationed by the city didn’t know that there were that many soul masters being kept in the water prison.

With Ma Xiaotao cooperating with them, they were able to pull off a misdirection very effectively.

The second key point was destroying the moat with his Ice Explosion. The amount of time he had to do this was very short.

If they had forcefully charged out while similarly destroying the water prison when the moat was still there, it would deﬁnitely have cost the hostages a lot of time, as well used a longer route. However, Huo Yuhao was able to save a lot of time by blowing open a path and freezing the moat.

After that, both Huo Yuhao and Xu Sanshi had used their respective soul skills to save a lot of time as well. Because of that, it had only taken around ﬁfteen minutes for the entire plan to be carried out.

“Holy Lady, what should we do?” Zhong Tian turned to Ma Xiaotao.

Ma Xiaotao ﬂew into a rage. “What should we do? You go give an explanation to the leader!” With that, she turned around and ﬂew back towards the city. The Third and Fourth Elders looked at each other and sighed simultaneously. Their opponents had already ﬂed into the distance, and although it wasn’t easy to escape from a plain, could they really go and chase after them with the current number of people they had? With only the six of them, what if they were to fall into a trap while chasing after the hostages? They didn’t know who had come to rescue the hostages! They could discern how strong the hostages were, but they didn’t know how strong the rescuers were!

At this moment, several blue ﬁgures had appeared in the sky. Several hundred rays of blue light rushed over from the southern city, forming a river of stars in the sky.

“All of you are not to move, or else we’ll kill you,” a vigorous and forceful voice spread out through the sky above the southern city.

Even Ma Xiaotao, who was about to ﬂy back towards the city, had no choice but to stop.

Those ﬁgures had arrived very quickly. Within the blink of an eye, they had surrounded all of the evil soul masters. Rays of blue light instantly formed a wide net within the air, trapping Ma Xiaotao, the Third and Fourth Elders, and the three Zhong brothers within it.

“Don’t attack, we’re with you.” Zhong Tian said hurriedly. At the same time, he took out a medallion from his chest.

They had noticed that every single one of these people who were clad in bluish light had a ﬂying-type soul tool on their backs. They were dressed in black warrior robes, and had the pattern of an enormous blue eye on their chests. This group of people wasn’t dressed in a simple manner, considering that their outﬁts were seemingly made of metal. The reason why they saw the blue lights was due to the light from the eyes on their robes.

Those blue eyes had pupils as deep as the abyss, and although they were only patterns on a robe, it still seemed as though they could devour everything around them. There were even countless dark blue patterns around the sides of these pupils that resembled veins.

This was the Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion! Ma Xiaotao was inwardly astonished. This was one of the Sun Moon Empire’s four great Beast Lord-ranked soul engineer legions. With the Evileye Tyrant as its symbol, this soul engineer legion was famed for its speed and surprise attacks. Clearly, they were the most suitable troops to assist Radiant City.

An elderly man whose robe glittered with a bright blue eye walked over to the evil soul masters.

“The only people who are with you are those who follow you. You can talk after being tied up.” This elderly man had a tall ﬁgure, an aquiline nose, and large eyes that shone with an ominous glint. His cruel and untamed aura gave off the impression that he didn’t like strangers.

“Who are you trying to tie up?” Ma Xiaotao’s cold voice rang out. As there was quite a distance between her and the other evil soul masters, she quickly turned around.

“No moving!” the Evil Tyrant Legion immediately shouted out angrily. “Scram!” There was no need to even mention Ma Xiaotao’s identity as an evil soul master. Even at Shrek Academy, she had always been famed for her temper. Moreover, she had been looking forward to causing a mess.

Blazing phoenix ﬂames instantly rose from her body as two yellow, two purple, three black, and one red soul ring appeared, along with the resounding cry of a phoenix.

The somewhat chilly air in the sky instantly heated up. What was even more terrifying, however, was that ripples had appeared in the air ten meters around Ma Xiaotao. All of the lock-on effects of the soul tools targeting her were instantly rendered useless.

Why did the Zhong brothers respect Ma Xiaotao so much? Other than her position in the Holy Ghost Church, it was because of her undeniable strength. The Holy Ghost Church had spared no costs to help her obtain her eighth soul ring, which was a hundred-thousand year one. The leader of the Holy Ghost Church, Zhongli Wu, had even said that she was the ﬁrst in line to be his successor. The moment Ma Xiaotao released her martial soul, a smidge of dark-red was immediately added to the pitch-black night sky. She comfortably unfurled the blazing, dark-red wings of her Dark Phoenix, and the soul engineers closest to her were astonished to ﬁnd that their soul tools had become extremely hot. Not only were they unable to ﬁre them, but they even started to melt.

“Halt!” A sharp voice rang out. This voice came loftily and abruptly, yet was abnormally sharp. Even with Ma Xiaotao’s cultivation, she trembled, and the phoenix ﬂames she released withdrew slightly.

A pitch-black ﬁgure shot out from the rear of the Evil Tyrant Legion, then sharply shouted at the leader of the legion, “Commander Wang, are you trying to start a civil war? These are men from our national religion, and this is our Holy Lady. If you don’t quickly capture those hostages, who’s going to take responsibility for this?”

The face of the elderly man who had an aquiline nose twitched slightly. Only then did he raise his hand to order all of the soul engineers to lower their weapons. At the same time, he sighed inwardly. Although he was conﬁdent in taking on Ma Xiaotao in a ﬁght, he was scared of the losses he would receive.

However, Ma Xiaotao was cursing inwardly. Although she couldn’t beat all of these people, Huo Yuhao’s escape would be helped if she could stall them. That was why she had provoked them. If they started a ﬁght here, it would naturally give Huo Yuhao’s team a great advantage. She was simply not afraid of what this Evil Tyrant Legion could do to her.

From the expression of their leader, she could tell that they detested evil soul masters. Even though this was the case, however, they wouldn’t dare to openly go against the national religion and the Holy Ghost Church had already been declared the Sun Moon Empire’s national religion!

“Chase them. They can’t have run too far. Head to the south. Also, use our long-range communication soul tool to tell the City Guard to release all of the aerial surveillance soul tools they have. Pass on this message: a hundred of you are to stay here and guard Sunrise City. The rest of you are to follow me!”

As he spoke, the aquiline-nosed elderly man was already rising into the air. The enormous wings of a ﬂying-type soul tool unfurled behind his back, and twelve lights simultaneously shot out, transforming him into a stream of light shooting into the distance.

“We’ll take a look as well. Elders, you two can stay behind. The Zhong brothers will follow me.” Ma Xiaotao immediately made a quick decision after twitching her eyes slightly. She didn’t know where Huo Yuhao was. He hadn’t told her that he would stay in Sunrise City. Instead, he’d instructed her to ﬂee from the evil soul masters and regroup in Shrek Academy after their plan was carried out. With Ma Xiaotao’s current condition, the evil energy in her body wouldn’t act up for a week at least. If she didn’t get into a ﬁght, this period of time could be extended further.

Seeing that the Evil Tyrant Legion was this powerful, she naturally couldn’t just let them go after Huo Yuhao and the rest. In the event that they were able to catch up to him, what good would come of that? On the other hand, she could use the name of the Holy Ghost Church to snatch them when the time came. The reason why she didn’t want the two elders to follow her was because she couldn’t control two Titled Douluo. Moreover, the Zhong brothers could only listen to her orders now, since they had committed a grave mistake earlier.

Ma Xiaotao’s plan wasn’t bad, but she never would’ve thought that her little brother, who she worried the most about, was actually in Sunrise City, and not far away from her.

The few evil soul masters around her didn’t have any objections at all. In the ﬁrst place, they were the ones who’d let the hostages escape. As a result, Ma Xiaotao’s preference to chase after them by herself was naturally within reason. Moreover, she’d even left the two elders behind.

Two hundred rays of blue light, in addition to Ma Xiaotao and the Zhong brothers, ﬂew into the distance like a bolt of lightning. Within the blink of an eye, they had disappeared without leaving any traces behind.

---

The Third and Fourth Elders looked at each other with ugly expressions on their faces. How could they not see how Ma Xiaotao was trying to exclude them? However, she was a person who would wield enormous power in the Holy Ghost Church in the future.

The Fourth Elder whispered, “We’ll need to ﬁnd the vice- leader when we get back.”

“Yes,” the Third Elder replied. Then, he turned towards the person fully clad in black and said, “Are you Wu Yun or Wu Yu?”

The black-clothed person suddenly raised her head, letting her cloak slide back to reveal an extremely pale, yet abnormally beautiful face.

If Huo Yuhao were here, he deﬁnitely would have been stunned to see that this woman was completely identical to the evil soul master that he had killed a few days ago.

“How were you people even watching over Sunrise City? My sister is dead. Did you people not know that? Were it not for the spiritual connection that we had, I would’ve been left in the dark.” The black-clothed woman’s sharp voice was ﬁlled with rancor, and her blood-red eyes looked as though they wanted to spit out fresh blood.

“You’re Wu Yu? Are you saying that Wu Yun is dead? How can this be?” the Third Elder said, astonished. Regardless of whether it was him or the Fourth Elder, they both understood Wu Yun’s strength very well. Although she was only an eight-ringed Soul Douluo, even a Titled Douluo would ﬁnd her a nuisance in a ﬁght due to her powerful Spirit of Vengeance. The Third Elder knew that he wouldn’t be a match for her if they were to ﬁght within a distance of a hundred meters.

However, it was because of the peculiarity of their martial souls that Wu Yun and Wu Yu were considered extremely abnormal people, even within the Holy Ghost Church. No one was willing to interact with them, and so they were stationed in an unremarkable city to govern it.

When Sunrise City was chosen to hold the hostages, the Holy Ghost Church didn’t feel reassured with Wu Yun alone. Thus, they specially sent Ma Xiaotao over to directly take over Wu Yun’s position.

However, the two elders didn’t think that Wu Yun, who they saw as evil and powerful, would actually perish.

Wu Yu’s blood-red eyes trembled slightly after seeing the astonishment in the eyes of the two elders, “It seems like you weren’t the ones who did it. The astonishment on your faces can’t be faked. The person who harmed my sister is still in the city. Follow me.” As she spoke, Wu Yu turned around and ﬂew towards the city.

The hundred members of the Evil Tyrant Legion who were left behind all unfurled their ﬂying-type soul tools and followed her.

The Third and Fourth Elders also hurriedly followed her. They were both ﬂabbergasted at this moment, as they didn’t know what this Wu Yu was trying to do.

------

Sunrise City was currently a mess, but there were very few people on the streets.

To the citizens living in Sunrise City, the violent booms and shaking earth were signs that something huge was coming. What else could the ordinary folk do but hide in their houses, trembling? The soldiers didn’t travel via the streets, leaving a deathly silence looming in the city. The sky was already very dark, but, possibly due to the excessively bright lights from the huge explosion earlier, Sunrise City was still somewhat lit up.

A light and twisting ﬁgure quietly appeared at the corner of the street, then leapt like a ﬁsh over a wall to arrive at a different street. His footsteps were extremely quick, and he switched roads every few moments. Finally, he stopped at a rather large courtyard.

“Qiuqiu,” Huo Yuhao whispered. After splitting up with He Caitou, he had immediately rushed over to group up with Nan Qiuqiu.

Hidden beneath the shadow of the door to a nearby house was Nan Qiuqiu, who leapt up as lightly as a cat. Within a few moments, she arrived by Huo Yuhao’s side and was covered by his Imitation, which allowed her to blend into their surroundings.

“You’re ﬁnally here. I was almost worried to death.” For the ﬁrst time ever, Nan Qiuqiu ﬁnally thought that Huo Yuhao was rather cute. At the very least, he had been able to make it on time at a crucial moment like this. Huo Yuhao asked, “Are there any movements inside?”

Nan Qiuqiu shook her head. She said with an impatient look on her face, “I’m worried precisely because I haven’t heard anything going on inside! What about your side? Were you able to save everyone?”

Huo Yuhao nodded, “I’ve saved them, but I can’t say for sure how many of them will be able to escape. Hopefully, most of them will make it out.” As the hostages had split up in different directions, a large majority of them would deﬁnitely be able to escape. He could guarantee that this would happen. However, Huo Yuhao knew that their plan wasn’t a hundred percent perfect. If one person were captured, it would be hard to say whether their meeting point could remain a secret. Yet, they simply couldn’t make any careful arrangements, nor relay them to the several hundred hostages due to the time constraints they were put under. As such, they could only resign themselves to fate. In any case, Huo Yuhao had already told Xu Sanshi and the rest that a ship had been prepared for them once they reached the harbor. Moreover, Shrek Academy’s support should’ve already arrived by then, as well.

It didn’t matter whether the soldiers chasing after them could ﬁnd their meeting point. What did matter, however, was whether the hostages could reach the meeting point in the ﬁrst place. They would be safe if they could make it there.

Other than the people from Shrek Academy who were in charge of rescuing them, there were also experts from the Body Sect, as well as the various sects and academies whose disciples and students had been kidnapped. This was a force that contained over ten Titled Douluo, as well as countless Soul Douluo and Soul Sages. A large majority of these people were under the surveillance of the Sun Moon Empire, and as such couldn’t leave their home empires easily, but after using substitutes and various different methods to escape from the Sun Moon Empire’s spying, they had traveled over to the harbor using the greatest possible speed they could muster. This was because Huo Yuhao had only given out the correct meeting point two days before the plan had been carried out.

Even if the Sun Moon Empire were to discover that these people were missing, it wouldn’t be easy for them to relay this news back home that quickly. Moreover, the rescue team and hostages would already have started returning to the Douluo Continent by that time. Considering how boundless the world was, how could they even attempt to recapture them at that time? There was no need to even talk about a Beast-Lord Soul Engineer Legion. Even two or three Legions would have no choice but to ﬂee after encountering so many experts. Even if the main army arrived, they would have to ﬁght over the ocean, where soul engineers couldn’t ﬁght for long, as they would have to rely on ﬂying-type soul tools. Once their soul power was fully exhausted, they would only be food for the sea- type soul beasts living in the ocean.

At this point, Huo Yuhao’s plan could be considered to have been successful.

Roughly ﬁve minutes after splitting up with He Caitou, he received the latter’s last message via his long-range transmission soul tool. The objective had been achieved, and all of the ﬂying-type soul tools they had prepared had been activated, and they were no longer in the area they had been left in. In other words, the hostages had already ﬂown away using the ﬂying-type soul tools.

Those ﬂying-type soul tools were equipped with Class 4 Sealed Milk Bottles. Even if they didn’t have any physical strength at all, these Sealed Milk Bottles would allow them to ﬂy for two hours. If several hundred people all ﬂew in different directions for two hours, even a few hundred soul engineers wouldn’t be able to catch up to them. Even if the Evil Tyrant Legion was more conceited than they already were, they wouldn’t dare to split up and chase after so many elite soul masters.

“Let’s go in.” Huo Yuhao was feeling quite happy now. What he needed to do now was rescue Nan Shuishui, then hide the mother and daughter duo for a while before returning to the academy once this whole mess was over. Since there would only be three of them and combined with how things were going already, they simply had no need to travel via water. Huo Yuhao had his own ways to conceal them as they returned to Shrek Academy by a different route.

This courtyard was where the Third Elder had imprisoned Nan Shuishui. Huo Yuhao released his Spiritual Detection and sent it out like a net that covered the entire courtyard.

There was no way the Third Elder could be here. Sunrise City was a big mess, and Sister Xiaotao was by his side.

Huo Yuhao gestured at Nan Qiuqiu, then gently leapt up. He used his right hand to vault the top of the courtyard’s walls, then ﬂoated into the courtyard. Nan Qiuqiu quickly followed him, and she too entered the courtyard.

Huo Yuhao gestured at her again, then used his Spiritual Sharing to send her a mental message, “I’ll handle the two in the room, and you handle the two in the courtyard. Your mother is ﬁne. I can sense her breathing. She’s just a bit weak, so don’t worry.” The evil soul masters who were in the room were a bit stronger, and as such he felt more reassured taking them on.

“Okay.” Nan Qiuqiu was overjoyed. Bending down, she quietly hid in a dark spot near the courtyard. On the other hand, Huo Yuhao used his Imitation to quietly reach a side room on the left side of the courtyard.

“Pa!” Nan Qiuqiu ﬂicked her ﬁngers, and a small rock fell into the courtyard without making much noise.

Almost noiselessly, a shadowy ﬁgure instantly appeared at the spot the rock fell. This shadowy ﬁgure was followed by a rotten smell, and green smoke started spreading through that narrow area. Nan Qiuqiu squinted her eyes. What a ﬁerce evil soul master!

Once the greenish mist appeared, two ﬁgures stepped out from the veranda underneath the corridor.

“Xiao Hong, you’re too sensitive. It could just be a cat or mouse. Why’re you so suspicious of such a little noise? This courtyard’s going to turn toxic from your Corrosive Poison Ball.” The person speaking was a relatively short evil master who had an ash-grey face and a set of wide nostrils.

“Humph!” Xiao Hong made a gesture with his ﬁngers, and his triangular eyes darted around. As he snorted disdainfully, he even revealed two buck teeth.

“It’s just called being prepared. Didn’t the Third Elder praise me for how agile I was last time? Killing someone innocent is ﬁne, but we can’t let a guilty person off. Who cares if it’s a mouse or cat? Mao Mao, you can’t be this casual, either. If the Third Elder knew about this, you’d be whipped again.”

Nan Qiuqiu felt goosebumps rise as she heard these childish voices.

She didn’t make a move, as she was waiting for Huo Yuhao’s signal. The evil soul masters in the room could threaten her mother’s life, but the two outside were only four-ringed Soul Ancestors, which wasn’t something that could threaten her.

Huo Yuhao had already entered the room when the two evil Soul Ancestors had rushed out from the veranda. He simply didn’t have any fear of being discovered due to his Imitation.

Nan Shuishui was imprisoned in the basement, and only two evil soul masters were stationed in the room above the basement. He couldn’t give them the opportunity to kill her, and thus not only did he have to be careful, but he had to move like lightning once he made a move.

After noiselessly arriving outside the room the two evil soul masters were in, the air around Huo Yuhao’s body twisted slightly as he released a gem-white soul ring. He had activated his Spiritual Interference Domain.

The two evil soul masters in the room were currently drinking wine. Although there were only two of them, a large array of dishes were placed on the table in front of them, and they were drinking merrily.

“Eeh, I say brother, why do you have two heads?”

“Two, what do you mean two? You’ve drank too much, you. Why are you so weak today? Use your soul power to ﬂush out the alcohol.”

“Bullshit! What’s the point of drinking if I do that? I’ll have a nice sleep later after getting a bit dizzy. Recently, I’ve reached a bottleneck in my soul power, and I can’t increase it anymore. It seems like I’ll have to kill a few more people and eat their hearts to increase my blood qi.”

“How disgusting. What’s nice about a human heart? Human brains are the best. That soft and sticky taste, tsk tsk tsk…”

Peng!

The evil soul master who was indulging fully in his daydreams was suddenly ﬂabbergasted. That was because the person sitting in front of him suddenly had his head blown off. The soft and sticky brains splattered everywhere, and the brain juices that landed on him actually had that ever-familiar ﬂavor he remembered.

He used his ﬁnger to touch some of the brain juice that had landed on his face, then tasted it. “It seems like I’ve drunk too much. Why does the brain juice in my dream taste so real? Haha, it’s really delicious! I’m dreaming about eating a brain while drinking alcohol. Not bad, not bad. Eeh, why is it so cold?”

A hand that held a diamond-shaped crystal of ice landed on his neck. Right after that, this Soul King-ranked evil soul master followed his companion into death with a gentle crack.

Due to Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Interference Domain, they had not felt any undulations of soul power throughout the entire process. It was also why this brain-eating person thought that it was only a dream when the person sitting in front of him had his head blown apart.

However, that had been real. Death was the only result for an evil Soul King who didn’t specialize in spiritual force when facing the Eye of Destiny-enhanced Spiritual Shock.

As for this other person, he was even drunk while Huo Yuhao’s Domain of Perpetual Ice was taking effect! His neck was directly crushed by the Ice Empress’ Pincer.

While Huo Yuhao was making a move, he gestured mentally at Nan Qiuqiu, who then used the power of Annihilation to devastate everything in front of her. Within a few breaths, she had already charged right into the room.

“Yuhao, what about my mom?” Nan Qiuqiu quickly walked over to Huo Yuhao, not even bothering to spare a glance at the corpses of the two evil soul masters.

Huo Yuhao didn’t utter a word. He walked over to the table they had been drinking at on, then tapped the ground with his right leg. With a crunch, a slab broke apart, revealing a pitch- black hole that had faint air currents ﬂowing out.

“Your mom’s down there. Go rescue her. You’ll have to be quick though. I’ll be waiting for you outside.” With that, he turned around and went outside.

Nan Qiuqiu couldn’t be bothered to care about Huo Yuhao’s somewhat strange expression. Without hesitation, she jumped into the basement.

Although there were air currents coming from the basement, Nan Qiuqiu was astonished to discover once she landed that not only was the ventilation in this room pretty good, but it was abnormally clear and fresh, yet not too cold.

“Mom——” In the next moment, she saw her mother. However, her eyes instantly widened, and she opened her mouth, astonished.

The environment in the basement was far better than Nan Qiuqiu had thought before. From her point of view, her mother must’ve suffered a great crime while being held captive by the evil soul masters. However, what about reality? Not only was this basement extremely clean and fresh, but there was even a complete set of clean furniture. There were various types of fruits laid on the table. The ground even had a thick carpet covering it. Other than the heavy atmosphere present, it was practically a luxurious bedroom! Naturally, the reason why Nan Qiuqiu was astonished before wasn’t because of the conditions of the room. Instead, it was because of her mother.

Although Nan Shuishui looked somewhat pale, she was quite healthy. She was currently seated by the table eating fruit, and her eyes turned somewhat dull as she saw Nan Qiuqiu arrive. The only abnormal thing about her was that she was completely naked. There was a thin, silver chain on her right leg.

“Mom…” Nan Qiuqiu’s voice was clearly trembling.

The fruit in Nan Shuishui’s hand dropped to the table with a thud. Her face instantly paled, and she answered in a trembling voice, “Qiuqiu!”

Nan Qiuqiu’s eyes instantly became clear. With a sudden stride forward, she walked over to Nan Shuishui. Right after that, she bent down and unleashed the pinkish-red power of Annihilation on the chain attached to her mother’s feet. However, although this silver chain looked very thin, it was extremely sturdy. Even her power of Annihilation wasn’t able to damage it in any way.

Nan Shuishui seemed to have sobered up somewhat as she quickly called out, “Qiuqiu, Qiuqiu, why have you come? Quickly, go! It’ll be troublesome if that person comes back!…”

Nan Qiuqiu didn’t look at her mother. Instead, her eyes were ﬁxed on the chain in her hand, “Mom, I’m here to rescue you. I can deﬁnitely break this chain.” As she spoke, she raised her soul power to the maximum, causing the chain in her hands to glow pinkish-red.

However, the chain didn’t move at all, and showed no signs of breaking. Nan Qiuqiu’s hands were already starting to bleed. Her tears also began to fall down her cheeks in large drops.

“Wa…” As her tears wildly surged forth, Nan Qiuqiu pounced into her mother’s embrace and cried, “Mom, mom, you’ve suffered! Mom, I’ve come late! Mom…” All sorts of feelings welled up in Nan Shuishui’s heart as she hugged her daughter. She sighed, “Silly girl, it’s not what you’ve thought. Your mother is ﬁne. Although that fellow destroyed my clothes, he didn’t sully me. You’ve thought too deeply into it.”

“Ah?” Nan Qiuqiu raised her head, and she said with misty eyes, “What happened, then?”

Nan Shuishui had a helpless look on her face as she said, “I knew that fella many years ago. He was one of your father’s love rivals when I was young. When I later married your father, he became an evil soul master in a moment of rage. However, he lost his manhood because of it. I haven’t been sullied by him or anything during these few days. He’s just destroyed my clothes. He comes to see me everyday, and he does his best to take care of my everyday life. To be honest, I don’t hate him. I even feel somewhat guilty. If it wasn’t for me, he wouldn’t have walked the path of an evil soul master.”

Nan Qiuqiu stared blankly at her mother. She’d never thought that something like this would’ve occurred to her mother in the past. “Then what about these chains?” Nan Qiuqiu asked with a depressed look on her face.

Nan Shuishui laughed bitterly, “I tried breaking them before he fed me that Soul Eradicating Powder. I couldn’t even break it with my cultivation, so there’s no need to talk about whether you can do it. You should go quickly. In any case, he deﬁnitely won’t kill me. You should just leave this place safely before considering anything else. Oh, right. Give me a spare change of clothes. If he destroys them again, I’ll just smack my head against a wall and die.”

Only then did Nan Qiuqiu come to her senses. She hurriedly took a set of spare clothes from her storage-type soul tool and helped dress her mother. The silver chain bound to her leg proved somewhat of a hindrance, however.

“Quickly, go.” Nan Shuishui’s expression immediately became much better after she was fully dressed.

Nan Qiuqiu shook her head strongly and hugged her mother tightly. “No, I’m not going. I was only able to ﬁnd you after much difﬁculty, so how can I just leave like this? I’ll deﬁnitely rescue you. Oh, right. Even if I can’t do it, that fellow might be able to. Yuhao, Yuhao, quickly come down now. The lock on my mother’s leg won’t open.”

After hearing Nan Qiuqiu’s cry, Huo Yuhao re-entered the room and leapt down into the basement.

Nan Shuishui nodded softly after seeing him. However, a smidge of red instantly appeared on Nan Qiuqiu’s charming face as she stared at him.

At this moment, she ﬁnally understood why Huo Yuhao didn’t follow her down earlier. He must’ve known beforehand that her mother was naked via his Spiritual Detection. This fellow...

Huo Yuhao said respectfully, “Hello, Senior Nan.”

Nan Shuishui sighed softly. “How can you risk your lives like this? Sunrise City is ﬁlled with people from the Sun Moon Empire, and there are even people from the Holy Ghost Church! It’s too dangerous. Quickly, go! You two won’t be able to break this chain on my leg!” Huo Yuhao took the chain from Nan Qiuqiu and looked it over for a few moments. After that, he wiped his forehead with his right hand, and a jade-green light appeared in his palm.

With a ﬂash of jade-green light, the link instantly snapped clean off. Before Nan Shuishui could even ﬁnish speaking, her eyes widened.

Huo Yuhao tugged the chain, and quickly walked over to the ring on the wall it was connected to. The jade light in his hand ﬂashed once again, cutting the ring apart. He immediately put the chain away in his storage-type soul tool.

“This…” Nan Shuishui was completely stunned. She had personally tried breaking this chain using her cultivation as an eight-ringed Soul Douluo, along with the power of Annihilation, and had failed to so so. However, Huo Yuhao was able to break it with no difﬁculty at all. This was simply inconceivable!

Chapter 385: Empyreal Net

“Senior, your soul power was limited by the Soul Eradicating Powder, right? Eat this ﬁrst,” Huo Yuhao said as he passed the antidote he had prepared to Nan Shuishui. Nan Qiuqiu hurriedly took it for her mother and placed it in her mouth.

Only then was Nan Shuishui able to react. Without even asking Huo Yuhao how he did it, she said in a low voice, “Let’s go.”

Leaving this place was the best thing that could happen to them. However, she did not expect it to be easy.

Nan Qiuqiu hunched forward slightly to carry her mother. With one leap, she jumped out of the basement. The antidote needed time to take effect. The Soul Eradicating Powder was powerful, and it was impossible for Nan Shuishui to regain her powers in such a short period of time.

Huo Yuhao followed them out of the cellar. The secret behind why he was able to break the silver chains was naturally his Life Guardian Blade. Life Gold was able to devour the life energy of every solid object. It had even been able to gradually destroy the large door of the underground storage room in Radiant City. While the chain was strong, there was nothing it could do when faced with its greatest opponent!

After they rescued Nan Shuishui, Huo Yuhao felt an immense sense of relief. Now was not the best time to leave the city, as it was surely completely controlled by soldiers from the Sun Moon Empire. There was also a Beast Lord-ranked soul engineer legion around, too. Aerial surveillance soul tools no doubt covered the skies above Sunrise City once again.

After so many battles, both Huo Yuhao’s soul power and spiritual power were greatly depleted. The best course of action now was to hide. Then, when the chance presented itself, they could sneak out of the city. With Nan Shuishui, a Soul Douluo around, they had a good chance of breaking out.

“Where do we go now?” Nan Qiuqiu asked Huo Yuhao in a low voice. Since he was using his Imitation, they had no fear of being detected by aerial surveillance soul tools.

Huo Yuhao said, “We’ll go back to the hotel ﬁrst. Feng Ling is still there. While it’s close to the southern part of the city, we have yet to be exposed. We’ll go back to rest ﬁrst. After aunty has regained her strength, we’ll ﬁnd another way to leave.”

“Alright, I’ll listen to you.” Huo Yuhao had fulﬁlled his promise and helped her save her mother. Any unhappiness Nan Qiuqiu had had with Huo Yuhao before this was completely wiped clean. All that remained was respect and shame. She suddenly realized that he was able to provide her with a strong sense of security. She gradually understood how Ye Guyi’s curiosity eventually left her infatuated with Huo Yuhao. He’s really exceptional, and he’s mature beyond his age.

Nan Shuishui, lying on her daughter’s back, said nothing. The antidote started to kick in, and she started to gather her soul power once more. Right now, Sunrise City was danger- ridden. Nothing was more important than regaining her soul power.

---

Indeed, there were soldiers everywhere in the city. Every single street was being monitored very closely. The soldiers used sound-amplifying soul tools to issue orders, instructing all civilians not to leave their homes. They then used various types of surveillance soul tools to search each and every building.

In the sky, one could see blue dots of light ﬂashing by frequently. This indicated the presence of the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion.

Huo Yuhao stood in front. He unleashed his Imitation, and was able to walk right by the waves of soldiers as he quickly walked in the direction of the hotel.

As he walked, he whispered to Nan Qiuqiu, “Don’t rush to return later. We should observe our surroundings. If the hotel is being searched, they will have found Feng Ling. I don’t know what they will make of him. I just hope that they have not yet searched that place.”

Nan Qiuqiu nodded and said, “That guy is so dumb. What if he is discovered?”

Huo Yuhao frowned and said, “Let’s see the situation ﬁrst. If we can save him, we should save him. He’s a poor sod.” Nan Qiuqiu’s mouth twitched as she said, “I heard Third Senior Brother say that he’s a gangster. He probably did many bad things before. This is his comeuppance…”

Huo Yuhao turned to look at her and said, “Stop being so harsh. He’s already in such a sorry state.”

Nan Qiuqiu stuck out her tongue and said, “Fine, ﬁne, I’ll listen to you.”

Huo Yuhao smiled slightly and quickened his pace. After they saved Nan Shuishui, Nan Qiuqiu acted much more mature.

After they navigated their way through many alleys and backstreets, avoiding many patrolling soldiers in the process, they ﬁnally saw their hotel.

There were no soldiers patrolling the front of the hotel. The alleys all seemed very quiet.

Huo Yuhao suddenly felt his forehead turning hot. His Eye of Destiny seemed to have shivered.

Eh?

His mind shook, and he deployed his Spiritual Detection like a ﬁsherman casting his net, enveloping everything within a 500-meter radius.

To Huo Yuhao, his Spiritual Detection was more useful than his eyes. It had helped him turn the tides of countless battles.

When his Eye of Destiny trembled, it seemed to be warning him. However, after he used his Spiritual Detection, he discovered nothing. Everything seemed normal.

When Nan Qiuqiu saw him stop, she nudged him and asked, “What’s wrong? Is everything alright?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “Let’s go. We’ll return to the hotel to see if Feng Ling is still there.”

As he said that, he and Nan Qiuqiu ﬂipped over a wall to enter the hotel. For safety, he continued to us his Imitation to conceal himself as he slipped into the hotel.

Quickly, he walked to the room where Feng Ling had been. With his Spiritual Detection, Huo Yuhao could sense that Feng Ling was still in his room, alive.

He slowly pushed the door open, and just as expected, Feng Ling lay on the bed like before. He was curled up, and seemed to be mumbling something.

Nan Qiuqiu sighed in relief as she said, “It appears that they have yet to search this place. Our luck isn’t bad. Yuhao, why don’t we hide him? Let’s bring him out of the hotel ﬁrst. What if the soldiers ﬁnd him here?”

Huo Yuhao appeared to not have heard Nan Qiuqiu’s words. He stood there and he looked straight ahead. He touched his forehead with his right hand.

Between his brows, his Eye of Destiny was shaking rapidly. This was the ﬁrst time he had encountered something like this. The pressure he felt made him deeply uncomfortable. “No, let’s go,” Huo Yuhao said as he suddenly pulled Nan Qiuqiu. He did not even let her put Nan Shuishui down as he ran out of the room with her.

The moment he ran out the door, a huge rumble could be heard.

This terrifying shockwave was accompanied by a terrifying rain of carnage. Despite Huo Yuhao’s quick reﬂexes, the huge energy still hit him from behind.

His heart ran cold. He knew that he was being ambushed.

Nan Qiuqiu asked confusedly, “What’s going on?”

The more dangerous the situation, the calmer Huo Yuhao was. He grabbed Nan Qiuqiu with his right hand as he said in a low voice, “Flying-type soul tool.” At the same time, he maximized his spiritual power. He unleashed his Spiritual Interference and Imitation. Nan Qiuqiu was still carrying Nan Shuishui. While she wanted to deploy her ﬂying-type soul tool, her hands could only fumble at it clumsily. At this moment, Huo Yuhao had already released his ﬂying-type soul tool.

At this moment, he did not care about whether his actions were ‘appropriate’ anymore. He grabbed her by the waist as his ﬂying-type soul tool propelled him upward. He punched the ceiling with his hands.

“Boom! Boom!” Two explosions rang out. Two holes appeared in the ceiling.

Instantly, one could see that a huge swathe of light had covered the sky outside. The very air trembled.

No matter how dumb Nan Qiuqiu was, she now understood the severity of the situation. She did not struggle, but instead used her soul power to try and make her mother and herself lighter.

Huo Yuhao’s embrace was warm and brimmed with masculinity. The light outside ﬂashed. A layer of golden light started to shine from Huo Yuhao’s body as he used his Invincible Barrier.

With his Spiritual Interference Domain, Imitation, and Invincible Barrier, Huo Yuhao was completely protected and concealed. His Butterﬂy Wings spewed out light as he ﬂew out of one of the two holes as fast as he could.

Huo Yuhao was clear that this was his only chance. They were deﬁnitely surrounded. As to why, he had an inkling. It deﬁnitely had something to do with Feng Ling, who had been blown apart.

“Go back,” a raspy old voice said in mid-air. With that, Huo Yuhao felt like a moth who had ﬂown into a huge net as something forcibly blocked his ascent.

He could not go back. No way!

Huo Yuhao was clear that if his next attack was blocked, there would be no chance of escape! He lashed out with his right ﬁst, and his eyes brimmed with sadness and longing. It was the Fist of Remembrance, a ﬁst which contained a surging feeling of remembrance.

Boom! A layer of white light appeared after being struck by this punch. A shadow materialized outside the screen of light.

When he saw this person, the look of longing in Huo Yuhao’s eyes faded. Nan Shuishui, who was on Nan Qiuqiu’s back, recoiled forcefully.

This was because the person who was now looking down on them from outside the barrier was none other than the Third Elder from the Holy Ghost Church. He was also Nan Shuishui’s former lover, who had imprisoned her!

Not only that, but blue ﬁgures also appeared outside the light barrier, surrounding Huo Yuhao and the three of them.

Then the Fourth Elder appeared, and a group of people clad in black appeared behind the Third Elder. Trapped!

After his body rebounded from the light barrier, Huo Yuhao did not use his Three Ultimate Haodong Skills anymore. Those were last-resort moves. Once he used them all, he could no longer control his emotions. If that happened, how could he leave with Nan Qiuqiu and Nan Shuishui?

He stopped using his Imitation, revealing the three of them.

The soul engineers from the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion all wielded a soul tool each. They aimed their soul tools at Huo Yuhao and his companions. With just one order, they would open ﬁre at them.

On the ground, a bunch of carefully-positioned soul tools started to become visible. Powerful soul power ﬂuctuations were everywhere.

This was a truly well-planned trap! The Third Elder looked at Nan Shuishui before he turned his gaze to Huo Yuhao. He clapped his hands lightly and said, “You’re skillful indeed, and full of tricks and schemes. With just a few of you, you actually dared to mount a rescue mission, which succeeded. I can’t help but admire you. At your age, I was still a clueless youth. If I had half of your powers, no one would have been able to steal my lover from me.” When he said that last bit, he could not help but look at Nan Shuishui.

Nan Shuishui wore a heavy expression on her face. She sighed and said, “They’re still kids. Let them go. I’ll return with you. I’ll do whatever you want me to.”

“You’ll do whatever I ask you to? What can you do for me? Hahahaha...” the Third Elder laughed shrilly. “Had this been twenty-ﬁve years ago, how happy I would have been to hear you say that! However, it’s too late now. This should be your daughter, right? Look, she resembles you so much! Do you think you have a chance of leaving me anymore? I can’t do anything to you, but I won’t let you leave me. Don’t worry, I won’t kill you or your daughter. If I kill her, you’ll be sad. I’ll let her accompany you. As for this bastard here, I can’t decide his fate. Wu Yu, do you have anything you want to say?” They are the butchers, and I’m the meat. thought Huo Yuhao. He could not help but despair. Despite his many calculations, he had still slipped up. He knew that he had been exposed because of Feng Ling, who had died from the explosion. He did not hate Feng Ling, because he was

controlled by the evil soul masters. No matter how resolute he was, however, Huo Yuhao could not help but lose hope in this situation.

He was facing two evil Titled Douluo, with one of them being a Class 9 soul engineer. Furthermore, there was a Beast Lord- ranked soul engineer legion with hundreds of men nearby, as well as the soul tools which had long been placed in position underneath him. There was no escape!

Wu Yu, who was clad in a huge cloak, ﬂoated up next to the Third Elder and asked Huo Yuhao sharply, “You killed my sister?”

“Your sister?” Huo Yuhao looked at her suspiciously.

Wu Yu freed her head from the cloak. When Huo Yuhao saw the pale, familiar face with its blood-red eyes, he felt his heart tremble. His questions were ﬁnally answered.

They had the same vengeance-ﬁlled faces and blood-red eyes.

Here was another one who possessed the Spirit of Vengeance.

“You are twin sisters, right?” Huo Yuhao asked bitterly.

“That’s right. Did you kill my sister? Why? Why? You’re so weak, how could you have killed my sister?” Wu Yu shrieked hysterically.

Huo Yuhao sighed and said, “Your sister died peacefully. That’s right, I killed her. However, to her, death was the best release. Both of you possess a Spirit of Vengeance, which is immensely strong. However, your lives are both cursed. Is this feeling good? Your sister died because she sensed my love for my lover. My emotions destroyed her Spirit of Vengeance, and hence, she died. Actually, to her, death was a form of puriﬁcation and elevation.”

Chapter 386: That Brilliant Smudge of Golden Light

As he spoke, Huo Yuhao’s eyes shone brightly, and an image appeared in front of Wu Yu.

There were too many things he could do with his Imitation.

The Haodong Palm, the palm that would last eternally was clearly revealed in that image. At this moment, the weather changed, and even the Third Elder was moved.

Wu Yun wore a ﬁnal smile on her face after being struck by Huo Yuhao’s Haodong Palm. Her bloodshot eyes turned clear again, and she died a glad woman. Wu Yu was stunned when she saw this scene.

“Thank you.

“Remembrance is a magical thing. I miss my mommy and daddy. Why did you have to die so early? Why didn’t you protect me? Why did you let that fatso abuse me and leave me humiliated in front of countless people in that cold basement? They destroyed my body under the instigation of that fatso, ravaging my heart and staining my spirit. I was only ﬁfteen!

“Hatred kept me alive and enhanced my spirit to another level. My Spirit of Vengeance was awakened as a result. I hate those greedy and lecherous men, and I hate that fatso who tore me to pieces. I want to slaughter them, but I’m in so much pain.

“Am I ﬁnally being released? You let me see the light, sense what remembrance is, and witness a love that’s yet to appear in my spirit. It seems like not everything in this world is dirty. There are still pure and clean things. Thank you, thank you for letting me sense the intense love you have for that unknown person. You cleansed my heart and let me know what release is. Thank you, I’m very happy, I’m very happy…”

While there were many people around, Wu Yun’s voice still sounded very clear on this abnormally quiet night.

To the soul engineers of the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion, this mournful voice only moved them. However, the Third and Fourth Elders, as well as Wu Yu, were all astonished by Wu Yun’s words.

Wu Yu was even trembling uncontrollably, and she muttered to herself, “Elder sister, elder sister, how could you bear to leave me alone…?”

“Trying to escape?” The Third Elder shouted as he witnessed this scene. He smacked his right hand down, and a bluish-black lightning dragon instantly surfaced from his arm. Huo Yuhao, Nan Qiuqiu and Nan Shuishui all turned into bubbles and disappeared, while this lightning dragon charged downwards immediately. It unleashed a lightning net that engulfed a huge plot of space.

The entire air seemed to be suffused with a smell that resembled ultraviolet rays coming from sunlight on a bright day.

Amidst this lightning net, three sorry ﬁgures appeared slightly more than a hundred meters away from where Huo Yuhao and the other two had disappeared earlier. Huo Yuhao released intense azure lights from his body, which resisted the strong lightning that was coming towards him. However, he still felt his body turning numb.

This was the strength of a Class 9 soul engineer! He had managed to make the three of them reappear easily.

As the only successful person to have completed the Ultimate Soldier Plan, Huo Yuhao had no intention of giving up, even though he was in a precarious situation right now.

He had almost succeeded in using his Imitation to confuse his opponents, which included two Titled Douluo, and escape.

The sky was completely sealed, so their only chance of escape was through the ground. They only stood a chance if they entered the city and exploited the complex geography and messy situation to their advantage. At the same time, Huo Yuhao had to rely on his Spiritual Interference Domain and Imitation.

However, the Third Elder had reacted too quickly, and killed off their hope.

Huo Yuhao couldn’t tell what soul tool the Third Elder was using. However, the tremendous suppression he was under caused him to become completely immobilized as he unleashed his Domain of Perpetual Ice. The difference in their abilities was simply too huge. Even though his soul power was already

at Rank 60, he was still technically a Soul King because of the number of soul rings he had. The gap between a Soul King and Titled Douluo, and a Class 6 and Class 9 soul engineer, was undoubtedly too big for him to make up the difference.

He could sense that his opponent didn’t intend to kill the three of them, he wanted to capture them alive. That was likely because of Nan Shuishui and Nan Qiuqiu, the Third Elder couldn’t bear to kill them. Could Huo Yuhao only ﬁnd an opportunity to escape after being captured?

Huo Yuhao still had a few trump cards that he hadn’t used yet. However, these trump cards seemed a little too useless against a Class 9 soul engineer. What should he do? While he was normally very adaptable, he couldn’t think of a way to free himself.

The image that he had formed using his Imitation had disappeared, and Wu Yu was staring at him with completely red eyes. She said to the Third Elder coldly, “I want him alive. I want to make him my human puppet and whip him every day. I want to torture him until it feels worse than death, so as to avenge my elder sister.”

Wu Yu’s voice was very sharp. Huo Yuhao could hear her words clearly, and his heart sank when he heard them.

He wasn’t afraid of death. However, his life was going to be a living hell if he landed in the same state as Feng Ling!

Originally, he didn’t want to take any chances, and wanted to conserve his abilities before trying to escape later on. However, he became more determined to escape after hearing Wu Yu’s words. No matter what, he couldn’t land in their hands. He would rather die than be captured.

He turned to the northeast and looked into the sky. A trace of blue appeared in the pitch-black sky far away, and he seemed to see Wang Dong’er’s sleeping ﬁgure.

Dong’er, I’m sorry. I might not be able to wait until you wake up.

Do you know how much I miss you now?

Forget it, just let me die. Even if I die, I’ll bring my yearning for you along.

As he thought until here, Huo Yuhao’s eyes brightened. His eyes turned clearer, and a sense of yearning spread from him. His willpower soared, and golden light emanated from his body, illuminating his pitch-black surroundings.

The Third and Fourth Elders, as well as Wu Yu, were all some of the strongest individuals around. They immediately reacted when they saw the changes Huo Yuhao was experiencing.

The Third Elder waved his hand, “Everyone, retreat.”

The soul engineers from the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion weren’t up to such a high-level ﬁght, unless they were willing to sacriﬁce their lives to destroy Huo Yuhao. He looks like he’s only slightly past twenty, but why is his willpower so strong? How did he manage to reach such a cultivation? Even Wu Yun died at his hands!

Even with the Third and Fourth Elder’s cultivations, they were still very serious when they sensed the strength of Huo Yuhao’s spiritual cultivation. It wasn’t difﬁcult for them to kill him, but it would be tedious for them to capture him alive. They were very curious about him, too. Whether it was his soul skills, like Imitation and Spiritual Interference, his cultivation, or his abnormal spiritual power, he was the kind of research subject that the Holy Ghost Church liked. If they tried to destroy him, Nan Shuishui and Nan Qiuqiu were unlikely to

escape the repercussions. While the Third Elder sounded very unfeeling, he would have simply attacked them if he no longer had feelings for Nan Shuishui. Why would he have waited until now?

At this point, another streak of golden light that resonated with Huo Yuhao’s strong willpower shone far away in the east. Furthermore, this streak of golden light seemed even brighter. It was like the sun rising in the east. There was a dominant aura about it as it rose into the sky.

Even Huo Yuhao was stunned when he saw this. This was…

The Holy Ghost Church didn’t know, but he was clearly aware of the fact that he had no reinforcements. They were the only remaining ones on this rescue mission. Could it be Sister Xiaotao? However, it isn’t possible for her to release a streak of golden light.

That streak of golden light came very suddenly and forcefully, and soon ﬁlled the entire sky. Deafening dragon roars also reverberated across the sky, and the sky turned bright gold.

“Oh?” Huo Yuhao and the other two were already under the control of the lightning net. In the Third Elder’s opinion, Huo Yuhao couldn’t possibly escape given his cultivation. That was why both him and the Fourth Elder turned their attention to the sudden change occurring far away. After all, they didn’t know how many people had come with Huo Yuhao, and how many strong individuals there were. Although Wu Yu had obtained some information from Feng Ling, Feng Ling was in an unstable mental state. It was difﬁcult to tell how credible he was. It was just like how she didn’t know what time the Tang Sect was supposed to make their move.

The soul engineers from the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion were indeed well-trained. Even though their commander wasn’t around, they still came up with a targeted response immediately.

Glaring beams of lights were ﬁred from the area where all the soul tools were deployed, forming a blue net of death that reached towards the streak of golden light coming from afar. The hundred soul engineers in the air also adopted a new formation to target the incoming streak of golden light. Thirty

of them split into groups of ﬁve, and each group was in charge of helming a huge soul tool. These soul tools seemed like pentagrams, and there were metal poles extending from its corners. Every pole was lifted on a soul engineer’s shoulder, while the center contained a ball-like entity that resembled an eye. Dark-blue light shone above this ball-like entity, and intense soul power undulations poured from it.

The incoming streak of golden light clashed with this blue net. However, the shocking thing was that no explosion rang out. The streak of golden light was quickly dissipated by the net, and converted into spots of golden light that scattered in mid-air.

“What?” Everyone from the Sun Moon Empire was stunned when they heard how loud the thunder was, but saw how little rain there was.

At this moment, a tremendous boom sounded beneath their feet.

A streak of golden light that looked like a moving dragon appeared within the area where all the soul tools were deployed. The streak of golden light was simply too quick. Wherever it passed, soul tools were instantly destroyed, and pathetic screams started to ring out.

The Third Elder shouted, “What are the aerial surveillance soul tools doing!? Lock onto them!” As he spoke, he shot a look at the Fourth Elder.

He had to hold the fort here and control Huo Yuhao and the other two. It was more suitable for the Fourth Elder to deal with that streak of golden light.

The Fourth Elder nodded slightly. Soul rings started to rise from beneath his feet as he lifted his right hand. There were nine soul rings: two yellow, three purple and four black. They showed off his immense Titled Douluo abilities. A thick black fog was also released from his body, engulﬁng him completely. No part of his body could be seen.

This black fog started to descend. As it shifted, it revealed a sharp aura, even though it looked very gentle. In a ﬂash, it reached the ground.

Ding!

A crisp sound of striking metal echoed out, and the Fourth Elder’s black fog stopped moving, along with that streak of golden light.

The ﬁgure that was ﬂashing within the golden light materialized and appeared in front of everyone.

When she appeared, she immediately caught everyone’s attention. Even the evil soul masters were drawn to her, because she was simply too beautiful. Her powdery-blue wavy hair ﬂowed behind her head, and there was a layer of frost covering her ravishing face. An illusory golden dragon subtly appeared around her body. She was also holding a long spear with two pointed sides, pointed diagonally towards the sky. Even though she was standing in place, she seemed like the greatest creation ever. At this moment, she was looking at Huo Yuhao trapped within the

Third Elder’s lightning net with her big, powdery-blue eyes.

Huo Yuhao appeared to be in a daze. Following this, this dazed look turned into a touched and guilty look.

Yes, this person with such ravishing looks, wavy hair, and beautiful eyes was the Golden Dragon Girl, Wang Qiu’er!

Huo Yuhao didn’t understand why Wang Qiu’er was here at such a time. However, he had mixed feelings right now. Qiu’er, you were really silly! It’s not worth it for me.

Huo Yuhao slowly shut his eyes as he took in a deep breath and gradually retracted his Domain of Perpetual Ice. However, the layer of golden light on his body became stronger. His Eye of Destiny was completely open at this point, and there seemed to be countless streaks of golden light shining in this vertical eye. It appeared to be boundless.

At the same time, a thin golden line also appeared on Wang Qiu’er’s forehead. In the next instant, it split open, revealing another golden vertical eye. It was also shining with countless streaks of golden light, and it seemed identical to Huo Yuhao’s Eye of Destiny.

Everything around them seemed to solidify when these two Eyes of Destiny opened. Time and space were completely locked at this instant. Even the Third and Fourth Elders were drawn to the golden lights from their eyes.

In the next moment, Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er lifted their heads together and faced their Eyes of Destiny towards the sky. Two beams of golden lights shot into the sky at the same time.

These two beams of golden light illuminated everything, and the sky turned bright gold at this ﬁnal moment before dawn arrived. These two beams of lights intersected and instantly burst to a higher position. The pre-dawn darkness was torn apart, and a huge golden vertical eye appeared in the air.

Streaks of golden lights scattered everywhere and engulfed everyone.

Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er were the ﬁrst two to be affected by these streaks of golden light. An illusory projection of a golden vertical eye appeared behind their backs, turning them slightly illusory. As for the rest, including Nan Shuishui and Nan Qiuqiu, they felt that there was something in their bodies controlling them as these streaks of golden light engulfed their bodies. An indescribable sense of crisis and suppression quickly spread in their hearts.

Destiny Gaze!

This was the true, complete version of Destiny Gaze.

Apart from Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er, a small vertical eye also appeared above everyone’s heads. However, the vertical eyes above Nan Shuishui and Nan Qiuqiu were a dim gold. The vertical eyes above the rest were icy-white.

“Take action! Quick, kill them!” a sharp scream sounded out. The ﬁrst to react weren’t the two Titled Douluo, but the eight- ringed Soul Douluo, Wu Yu.

She had a spiritual-type martial soul, and so she was the least astonished by everything that was happening. However, she was also the most sensitive to danger. The feeling of having her destiny controlled by someone else ﬁlled her Spirit of Vengeance with fear. Along with the deep impression that the scene in Huo Yuhao’s Imitation had given her, she only had one thought in her mind right now – escape! The only way for her to escape was to kill Huo Yuhao, Wang Qiu’er, and the rest! After she killed them, everything would return to normal.

Her screams was ﬁlled with spiritual undulations. The soul engineers who were in a daze were immediately jolted awake.

Suddenly, countless streaks of blue light wove in the air and started to reach towards Huo Yuhao and the rest. Most of the ﬁrepower was targeted towards Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er. However, something strange happened at this moment. These soul rays and cannon shells that shot towards the four of them struck nothing.

It seemed as if they had covered every angle, and that Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er couldn’t possibly escape, but nothing they ﬁred hit them. The soul rays and cannon shells simply brushed past their bodies.

It was as if some mysterious, special force was protecting them from harm. Even Nan Shuishui and Nan Qiuqiu were spared from harm, as many soul rays simply brushed past their bodies.

“Idiot, who told you to attack? Seal our surroundings and don’t let them escape!” The Third Elder shouted furiously and tightened his lightning net, which helped to block off the attacks coming from the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion for Huo Yuhao and the rest. While Huo Yuhao was just a good research subject, he couldn’t let Nan Shuishui and Nan Qiuqiu come to harm!

Just as he shouted, Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er moved at the same time, as though they were telepathically linked.

Huo Yuhao sank down, and it seemed as if he was trying to collide against the lightning net below him. Wang Qiu’er twisted and charged upward towards Huo Yuhao.

The Fourth Elder naturally wouldn’t let her go to Huo Yuhao’s aid. He snorted, and black fog spread from his body. A sinister beam of cold light instantly surfaced, and slashed towards Wang Qiu’er’s head.

The Fourth Elder’s martial soul was a Netherworld Sword. His Netherworld Sword was extremely special. It could create another alternate plane of space that was illusory, mysterious and unpredictable when it was used. Every time this alternate plane of space was created, he needed to ignite someone’s spirit as the price. As his cultivation increased and he became a Titled Douluo, he could only seal the souls of nine dead people. After using them, he had to replace them. Even with all this, he was still considered one of the evil soul masters that had committed the fewest sins.

This attack of his was called Netherworld Slash, the Fourth Elder’s ﬁrst soul skill. It was sharp and quick. With the abilities of a Titled Douluo, even a small hill could be slashed in half with this soul skill.

The Third Elder revealed a disdainful look on his face when he saw how Huo Yuhao charged downward. He mimicked a clenching action, and his lightning net shrank once again.

He was conﬁdent in his soul tool. No protective barrier was effective against his lightning net. An Invincible Barrier could only protect one’s body, but it couldn’t help one breach his lightning net.

Huo Yuhao had unleashed an Invincible Barrier earlier. After some time, it had slowly faded away. Right now, the Third Elder thought he was courting death by clashing directly with his lightning net. His lightning net was called Lightning God’s Binding, a Class 8 soul tool. Although it was mainly control- type, it was still classiﬁed as a Class 8 soul tool in terms of its strength.

Huo Yuhao dove downward while Wang Qiu’er charged upwards, and they were both facing the interception of a Titled Douluo. However, they weren’t looking at their opponents at this moment. Rather, they were looking at each other. Wang Qiu’er saw an apologetic and doubtful look in Huo Yuhao’s eyes, but Huo Yuhao could only see Wang Qiu’er’s determination.

The two of them were getting closer and closer, but the two Titled Douluo also intercepted them at this moment.

They were less than ﬁfty meters from each other, but these ﬁfty meters were like a huge divide that was separating them right now.

They didn’t have any verbal interaction, and Huo Yuhao didn’t even unleash his Spiritual Detection. However, another change occurred at this moment!

Their left legs shone at the same time. A strange yet blurry light ﬂashed.

In the next instant, the Third Elder’s retracted lightning net swept through nothing but air, and the Fourth Elder’s Netherworld Slash hit nothing. Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er had both disappeared at this instant. Even though they disappeared for only an instant, they managed to avoid the interception of these two Titled Douluo. When they appeared again, they were already next to each other.

Six eyes were looking at each other. Apart from the normal two pairs of eyes, there was also the pair of Eyes of Destiny.

“Why do you have to do this?” Huo Yuhao asked gently.

Wang Qiu’er looked at him coldly, and something ﬂashed across her eyes. “Because I’m willing to.”

Huo Yuhao sensed how warm Wang Qiu’er’s palm was when he held her hand. Their soul powers were instantly, completely connected.

Their Eyes of Destiny shone brightly on their foreheads, and they also released golden lights from their bodies at the same time.

Their auras experienced transformations at this moment. The golden dragon that initially revolved around Wang Qiu’er now suddenly revolved around both of them. The azure lights that came from Huo Yuhao’s body were also released with their bodies as the center.

Yes, it was a martial soul fusion. When they held hands, they completed their martial fusion.

Huo Yuhao had never thought of giving the fusion between him and Wang Qiu’er a name. However, he was willing to call it the Haoqiu Power now.

He didn’t know why Wang Qiu’er had appeared at this moment. However, Wang Qiu’er’s arrival gave him hope in this life-and-death moment. After months of closed-door cultivation, he also became clearer over many things. The debt he owed Wang Qiu’er became much deeper right now. He had only once ever asked himself whether Wang Qiu’er really didn’t belong in his heart. The answer was negative.

When he learned that Wang Qiu’er plucked another vine of Yearning Heartbroken Grass to save him at the Iceﬁre Yin-Yang Well, a slit opened in his heart for her.

When that golden dragon rose into the sky, its roars reverberated, and Wang Qiu’er’s powdery-blue wavy hair appeared in front of him. Apart from feeling guilty, he was also excited. The ﬁghting intent in his heart was instantly ignited and started to burn unprecedentedly strongly.

No matter what, he had to charge out. It was for himself, for Wang Dong’er and for Wang Qiu’er.

While Huo Yuhao was burning with passion and feelings, Wang Qiu’er felt very cool. There was a cool aura coming from Huo Yuhao’s palm. This cool was extremely comfortable, especially when her hand was being held by his strong yet stable hand. She only felt that her heart had collided with something. The resilience that she had mustered up before coming seemed to be crushed once again.

Nemesis! He’s my nemesis!

Wang Qiu’er pursed her lips tightly. However, she also blushed slightly, which made her look even more captivating. If she was with him, so what if she was against thousands of enemies?

Only the two of them knew their own psychological changes. Even though they hadn’t faced many enemies together in the past, they seemed to already have great telepathy with each other, and it wasn’t inferior to that between Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong’er.

Their Instant Teleportation Left Leg Bones brought them close to each other. When their martial souls fused, they both surpassed their original cultivations and reached another realm. At this point, Huo Yuhao was holding onto Wang Qiu’er with his right hand. His left hand was empty. When he pulled Wang Qiu’er, he lifted his left hand, and the little Snow Lady silently separated from his back. A white glow started to ripple behind Huo Yuhao’s back, too.

Another miraculous scene was also playing out behind Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er. After they unleashed their Destiny Gaze earlier, a projection of a vertical eye had appeared behind each of their backs. These vertical eyes now also turned orange-gold.

The Third Elder’s Thunder God’s Binding lost its effect in the sky, and he had no choice but to stop, as he was shocked. Nan Shuishui and Nan Qiuqiu were still stuck within his binding, and he had to deal with them ﬁrst. He lifted his right hand and pulled them to his side.

However, Wu Yu was impatient, and she unleashed her pitch- black Spirit of Vengeance immediately. She screamed and charged towards Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er in fear.

A streak of deep blue light swept past the sky, carrying a sinister chill and the Snow Empress’ pride. It didn’t even bother with the Fourth Elder’s Netherworld Sword and went directly for his head.

His Netherworld Sword only swept past Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er. They didn’t even intend to dodge this attack. Did the Fourth Elder make a mistake?

However, Huo Yuhao’s Empresses’ Sword, the Snowless Glacier, landed directly on the black fog.

The black fog where the Fourth Elder was, instantly took form and converted into the sword tip of his Netherworld Sword before it shot upward, blocking Huo Yuhao’s Snowless Glacier.

However, something weird occurred. As the two swords were about to clash, Huo Yuhao’s Empress’ Sword seemed to be guided by an unknown force. Even the Fourth Elder’s lock-on abilities lost their effect at this moment, and Huo Yuhao’s Empress’ Sword brushed past his Netherworld Sword before slashing at his black fog. “What?” The Fourth Elder groaned. As he retracted his black fog, he re-appeared in mid-air and turned into an ice sculpture.

Even though this ice encasement was crushed in the next moment, the Fourth Elder was still struck by Huo Yuhao’s Empress’ Sword, and he staggered back.

The entire process happened very quickly, but it was still unbelievable. How was the Fourth Elder so easily hit in this direct clash against his opponent, even though he was a Titled Douluo? In addition, Huo Yuhao’s abilities were miles below him!

Huo Yuhao revealed a slight smile on his face. He turned and lifted his head. His Eye of Destiny was ﬂashing purplish-gold right now. It was his Spiritual Shock!

Wu Yu suddenly stopped in mid-air. Following this, she screamed pathetically and was even ﬂung backward.

While she was supposed to have great immunity against Huo Yuhao’s abilities given that she was also a spiritual-type soul master, she was completely suppressed, as her spiritual cultivation was inferior to Huo Yuhao’s spiritual cultivation.

Huo Yuhao’s pure spiritual cultivation was already superior to hers. In addition, his soul power had fused with Wang Qiu’er’s soul power, and thus his overall soul power had increased. In terms of cultivation, this combination of Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er wasn’t any weaker than Wu Yu.

While Huo Yuhao attacked, Wang Qiu’er didn’t stay idle. When Huo Yuhao unleashed his Empress’ Palm, she was clearly aware of what he was trying to do. She raised her Golden Dragon Spear, and golden light emanated from her body. These golden lights, which seemed to shine in thick layers, instantly gathered toward her right hand.

Huo Yuhao’s Empress’ Palm slashed the ice sculpture. In the next instant, Wang Qiu’er’s spear turned into a streak of golden light that shot straight towards the Fourth Elder’s chest.

Wang Qiu’er was extremely adept in direct confrontations. Her terrifying strength made her publicly recognized as the top dragon warrior in the Continental Elite Youth Soul Master Tournament.

Right now, she wasn’t just unleashing her own strength. She also had Huo Yuhao’s soul power to supplement her. Considering that their soul powers were completely compatible, the fusion of their soul powers didn’t just spark a linear increase.

That streak of golden light carried both Wang Qiu’er’s strength and Huo Yuhao’s spiritual intent, and it reached the Fourth Elder instantly.

The Fourth Elder groaned, and a dark-green light shone from his Netherworld Sword. A tragic scream sounded, and a human-shaped ﬁgure could dimly be seen getting crushed. The light that came from the Fourth Elder’s Netherworld Sword turned weird.

The dark-green sword light was refracted and caused everything to look as if it came from two different worlds. Another purplish Netherworld Sword silently appeared and maintained a parallel position to the dark-green Netherworld Sword. Wang Qiu’er’s Golden Dragon Spear rapidly shot forward and stabbed just in between the Fourth Elder’s two Netherworld Swords. However, they combined together at this moment, and a strong layer of silver light was released from between these two swords.

There was a clang of metal, and Wang Qiu’er’s spear shook tremendously. It had already stabbed halfway between the two swords, but it didn’t manage to stab completely past them. It thus failed to reach the Fourth Elder’s chest.

Wang Qiu’er’s expression changed slightly. In the next instant, her spear had already turned into a streak of ﬂowing light and sprang into the air.

The Fourth Elder’s nine soul rings started to ﬂash once each, but in a random order.

Yes, this was his Netherworld Sword’s ability to utilize the power of space.

The Fourth Elder coldly stared at them, “You wasted a netherworld soul of mine. In that case, I’ll use your souls to replace it!” His dark-green Netherworld Sword shot forward, while his purplish sword disappeared. However, his second and third soul rings lit up at the same time.

He was about to unleash his Netherworld Force and Myriad Netherworld Blades.

Green lights shone extremely brightly, and the Fourth Elder’s Netherworld Sword instantly grew larger. It changed into countless sharp swords that shot towards Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er. Suddenly, the entire sky turned green, and space itself seemed as if it were about to be destroyed.

This was what a Titled Douluo was capable of. Even though the Fourth Elder’s cultivation couldn’t compare to Elder Xuan, he was still a Titled Douluo, and his ﬁghting strength was still extremely terrifying.

Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er turned extremely serious.

However, they had no intention of backing down.

The two of them stared at each other. Wang Qiu’er quickly moved in front of Huo Yuhao, and he let go of her hand. Instead, he tightened his hands around the sides of her waist.

Wang Qiu’er’s waist was very slender. Huo Yuhao’s hands covered two-thirds the circumference of her waist just like that. However, her slender waist was ﬁlled with explosive strength.

“Chi!” Wang Qiu’er shouted, and seven soul rings rose from beneath her feet.

Yes, seven soul rings. Wang Qiu’er had managed to advance from six rings to seven rings in just a few months. Apart from the soul power increase she got from the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley, her own cultivation had also improved signiﬁcantly through the tournament earlier.

She was now a Soul Sage, and had improved signiﬁcantly from before!

A gigantic golden dragon head silently appeared in front of her body. She faced her palms together before wrapping them against each other. At this moment, her ﬁrst, second and third soul rings lit up.

Her ﬁrst, second and third soul skills – Golden Dragon Body, Dragon’s Strength, and Golden Dragon’s Fist respectively – were unleashed at this moment.

Netherworld Swords kept on ﬂashing past in the air, but they struck at nothing instead of Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er because of the power of destiny.

Chapter 387: Ignite! Spiritual Sea!

However, the Fourth Elder was using a domain attack! After sensing that it wasn’t having any effect, he quickly made adjustments. A few Netherworld Swords still came towards the two of them.

Wang Qiu’er suddenly pushed the palms that were facing each other out.

A sonorous dragon roar reverberated out, and a ball of golden light blew apart within the patch of green lights. A wild and immense strength was unleashed among the green lights, as if it were an explosive bomb that had just gone off.

Boom, boom, boom!... A tremendous explosion tore through the air, and streaks of sword light were deﬂected away and crushed. Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er’s aura didn’t seem to be weaker than the Titled Douluo opposite them, even though they were staggering backward.

Inside the lightning net, Nan Shuishui and Nan Qiuqiu had already been pulled to the Third Elder’s side. He used two chains to trap them, soul tools that could restrain soul power. Those who were Soul Emperors and below couldn’t possibly use their abilities under the restraint of such soul tools. To the Third Elder, Nan Shuishui was under the inﬂuence of the Soul Eradicating Powder, while Nan Qiuqiu was only a Soul King. He just needed these two soul tools to restrain them.

Nan Shuishui didn’t resist. She was very focused on the ﬁght that was going on, in awe.

The Third and Fourth Elders might not know who Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er were. However, how could Nan Shuishui not know who the two of them were?

One of them was the team leader of Shrek, while the other was the linchpin of the Tang Sect. Since they could compete in the Continental Youth Soul Master Tournament, that meant that they weren’t twenty years old yet. They were around the same age as her daughter, but they had already demonstrated how brilliant they were.

Nan Shuishui had always thought that her daughter was already very outstanding. However, Nan Qiuqiu was simply too inferior to Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er.

The two of them were actually able to survive several confrontations against a Titled Douluo, and they didn’t seem to be on the back foot either. If word of this spread, how proud would they feel?

Of course, the two of them wouldn’t become too excited because of this. The Fourth Elder was simply putting too much pressure on them.

He was a nine-ringed Titled Douluo!

Huo Yuhao had always known that Titled Douluo were extremely strong. In Shrek Academy, he knew many Titled Douluo and Transcendent Douluo.

However, it was two different things to know a Titled Douluo and to ﬁght a Titled Douluo!

He felt like the Fourth Elder’s Netherworld Sword could tear them apart at anytime. Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er’s fused soul power was quickly declining after they blocked this blow of his. If this continued, they wouldn’t be able to resist his attacks for long.

“Qiu’er!” Huo Yuhao called to Wang Qiu’er through his spiritual power.

“What?” Wang Qiu’er seemed to reply him less coldly.

“I have an idea to get their attention. When I draw their attention later, leave. It’s impossible to charge out from here, given our abilities. We only have one opportunity, and I’ll help you create it. At most, they’ll capture me. When you return to the Academy, just think of a way to rescue me.”

Huo Yuhao’s voice was very calm, andwas ﬁlled with conﬁdence.

Wang Qiu’er was silent, and didn’t utter a sound.

“Qiu’er, did you hear me?” Huo Yuhao quickly probed. There wasn’t much time left.

Wang Qiu’er sighed before she replied, “Alright!”

They were already suffering against one Titled Douluo, and there was still another one for them to face.

Huo Yuhao took in a deep breath, then dragged Wang Qiu’er with both his hands to his side. She spun around, and they changed positions. She was now behind Huo Yuhao.

However, she didn’t just place her hands around his waist like he did to her earlier. When she came behind him, she wrapped her arms around his waist. She stuck close to his body and hugged him without any gaps.

Wang Qiu’er’s body was warm and cushiony. She wrapped her arms around his waist strongly, but didn’t make him feel restrained. He felt indescribably relieved. Wang Qiu’er’s surging soul power poured into his body, while she seemed to forget that she was on a battleﬁeld right now. She twisted her head to one side and gently rested it on the back of Huo Yuhao’s shoulder, staying close to him. A delicate fragrance spread, and Huo Yuhao was still distracted by Wang Qiu’er, even though he was ﬁghting a life- and-death battle.

Qiu’er…

Huo Yuhao silently called in his heart. I’m sorry. If I didn’t meet Dong’er, perhaps…

However, I’ve given my life to Dong’er. Just let me use this last moment to completely sever this yearning in your heart. You must live well in the future, and ﬁnd someone who dotes on and loves you. Forget me.

An unequivocal look ﬂashed across Huo Yuhao’s eyes. At this moment, his arms drooped beside his body, and his hair didn’t move. His eyes started to ﬁll with silver light, and a look of remembrance slowly spread across them.

Dong’er… Huo Yuhao smiled, and his spiritual intent seemed to rise to another level. Waves started to rage in his spiritual sea.

Teacher Electrolux, I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you. I can’t pass down your legacy anymore.

Ice Empress, Brother Skydream, Snow Lady, I’m sorry. I can’t continue to charge towards the path of Gods with all of you in the future. When I leave, I’ll pass all of you to Qiu’er. Qiu’er isn’t less gifted than me. She has the same power of destiny in her body, and she even has the pure bloodline of a Dragon God. In the future, it’ll be easier for her to reach the level of a God. I’ll pass your strengths to her at the last moment. Follow her, and continue to charge towards it.

Thank you for all these years. It’s because of all of you that I was able to turn from an ordinary boy into what I am today.

Huo Yuhao’s eyes were ﬁlled with guilt. However, he was extremely determined.

The Ice Empress turned frantic in his spiritual sea. She tried to muster her origin power to stop him.

The Skydream Iceworm was also frantic, and he furiously shouted, “Stupid!” His golden tears also ﬂowed.

The little Snow Lady, who was originally on Huo Yuhao’s back, was forced back into Huo Yuhao’s body with a strong power and entered his spiritual sea too. The Snow Empress, who looked like a teenager right now, looked slightly sorrowful, and now seemed to be a little more quick-witted too.

However, they couldn’t do anything right now. Huo Yuhao dominated his own spiritual sea. The Skydream Iceworm was even the one who had personally conferred this authority onto him. Right now, that became their biggest restriction.

At this moment, they realized what Huo Yuhao was trying to do. However, they couldn’t do anything to stop him.

Huo Yuhao’s three eyes were extremely bright. Far into the east, the sky gradually turned marble-white. However, it couldn’t compare to the bright light that shone from his eyes. Streaks of sword lights slashed towards Huo Yuhao. However, they were only able to brush past his body, no matter how strong and concentrated they were. There seemed to be an unprecedentedly strong force on his body that was protecting him and preventing any interruption.

A dim projection appeared behind Huo Yuhao before it turned illusory. This projection was himself.

It was a dim golden projection of Huo Yuhao. Right now, he seemed very peaceful and quiet. He shut his eyes and sat cross- legged. As he stretched his hands in front of him, his index ﬁngers and thumbs formed a heart shape.

A strange golden fog started to rise from this projection. No, it wasn’t a fog. It was a ﬂame instead. It was a ﬂame that was burning!

Everything around him turned bright, as if dawn had arrived in advance. Every soul engineer from the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion was moved without any reason. They were even unable to hold their soul tools anymore, and lowered them. They were all in a daze as they looked at the projection of the burning man.

Huo Yuhao seemed very huge and tall right now. There was a proud look in his eyes, as if he were watching all life. His smile was very gentle, but it also seemed to be a scornful smile, directed at his enemies.

He was burning. He had ignited his spiritual sea. Was he crazy? Could he actually do something like this?

Whether it was the Third Elder, the Fourth Elder or Wu Yu, who had just recovered from the blow she had sustained from Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Shock, they were all astonished as they looked at Huo Yuhao.

Soul masters might choose to ignite their own soul power in the face of a crisis to generate extremely strong offensive strength. However, it was very difﬁcult to stop such an ignition after it had started.

Even if it was stopped, the soul master’s cultivation would still be greatly affected, and he might sustain a permanent injury. If it couldn’t be stopped, his soul power would burn until there was nothing left, and he would die. As a result, soul masters rarely chose to ignite their soul power, even in the face of a crisis.

As for igniting one’s spiritual power and spiritual sea, however, it was something that was unknown and unheard-of.

Spiritual power and spirits were magical existences no matter whether it was in the world of soul masters or soul engineers. No one could clearly explain what they were. Even for a spiritual-type soul master, his understanding of spiritual power was very limited if his cultivation wasn’t high enough.

While the ignition of one’s soul power couldn’t usually be controlled, a person’s spirit would still remain even if he was dead. However, igniting one’s spiritual power was deﬁnitely uncontrollable, and both the body and spirit of a person would be completely destroyed.

Is this guy crazy? Did we even say we were going to kill him?

Wu Yu didn’t know that Huo Yuhao had made such an unhesitant and determined decision mainly for two reasons. First, he felt that he owed Wang Qiu’er too much. She was here to rescue him in this time of crisis, and he felt that he was obligated to ensure that she was safe. In order to send Wang Qiu’er away safely, he needed sufﬁcient strength. Secondly, he felt that Wu Yu was too threatening. Huo Yuhao was reminded of how Feng Ling was turned into a madam, and he was afraid to end up like him. He would rather his body and spirit be destroyed than to become a second Feng Ling. That was also the more important reason why he was willing to die.

He stepped out with his left leg, and his bright eyes turned gentler. A golden projection silently appeared behind him. Compared to Wang Qiu’er, this projection seemed a little more slender, and had straight hair. Wasn’t this Wang Dong’er? She quietly ﬂew forward and adopted a hugging posture before she stuck close and fused with Huo Yuhao’s body.

During this process, she also ﬂew past Wang Qiu’er’s body. Wang Qiu’er shuddered, and a look of sadness ﬂashed across her beautiful eyes. Even at this life-and-death moment, he still only has her in his heart!

This projection of Wang Dong’er fused with Huo Yuhao, and his gaze turned even gentler. At this moment, to him, his enemies didn’t seem to exist anymore. There was only a look of remembrance in his eyes.

Remembrance was a magical thing. Huo Yuhao unleashed his Fist of Remembrance, which contained a surging feeling of remembrance!

A ﬁst with an indescribable color, but which yet seemed to shine with a special glow, was formed. Huo Yuhao didn’t seem to have a target, and he just unleashed his ﬁst into the air. However, all three of the evil soul masters, which comprised two Titled Douluo and one Soul Douluo, felt as if Huo Yuhao’s ﬁst was unleashed towards them. An indescribable emotion instantly spread in their hearts.

The Fourth Elder was the ﬁrst to bear the brunt of Huo Yuhao’s attack, as he was standing directly opposite Huo Yuhao.

He straightened his Netherworld Sword, and his seventh soul ring shone. His body instantly turned into a streak of black light, and he fused with his sword. Following this, another tragic scream sounded. Among the nine netherworld souls in the Fourth Elder’s Netherworld Sword, the second soul was crushed, and the earlier purplish sword projection surfaced again.

Space shook like the strings of a violin, and the Fourth Elder’s Martial Soul True Body, which was this purplish Netherworld Sword, surged up. However, it was forced back into the original form of the Fourth Elder’s sword and disappeared. In addition, the soul engineers from the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion in the air who had already retreated quite some distance also seemed to be infected by something. They started to tear up, and they couldn’t control their emotions. They even couldn’t control themselves in the air, and their soul tools started to fall from their hands. At this point, metal was raining down inside the city.

At this moment, all of these soul engineers were all remembering their loved ones, and they lost their ﬁghting spirit.

This was the highest level of profundity of the Fist of Remembrance. There wasn’t any outright force, but it inﬂuenced, controlled and even destroyed one’s emotions!

The stronger one’s spiritual power was, the greater the inﬂuence on their emotions. This was especially applicable for those who shared a similar type of remembrance with Huo Yuhao.

The Third Elder had already raised his right arm, and was prepared to use a strong soul tool to destroy Huo Yuhao. However, it stopped in the air. He turned his gaze towards Nan Shuishui, who was right beside him. Remembrance was a magical thing. Right now, the person he yearned for the most was beside him. A blissful smile unwittingly appeared on his face. At this moment, he had already completely forgotten what he was doing here, and that he was supposed to attack Huo Yuhao.

Wu Yu was dealt a larger blow than the Third Elder. She and Wu Yun were twin sisters, and they suffered from similar circumstances. When Wu Yun’s emotions changed, she would experience similar emotional changes, too. After she saw what Huo Yuhao presented to her through his Imitation, her emotions were ﬂuctuating even worse than her elder sister. Right now, all types of complex emotions erupted in her head.

Wu Yun had been able to instinctively counter-attack and defend herself. However, Wu Yu was completely motionless in the air, and in a daze as she stared at Huo Yuhao. All sorts of emotions were surging and changing continuously in her eyes.

Compared to her, the Fourth Elder was under less inﬂuence. However, he was directly in front of Huo Yuhao’s Fist of Remembrance.

This ﬁst was a perfect combination of spiritual and soul power, and it was infused with the feeling of remembrance. When it was unleashed, it was completely imprinted onto the Fourth Elder’s Martial Soul True Body.

The sword intent of his purple sword was suppressed, and his sword was ﬂung back amidst a piercing buzzing sound. He ﬂew back several hundred meters before he managed to stabilize himself.

Huo Yuhao didn’t stop. When he unleashed his Fist of Remembrance, he had already forgotten everything about the outside world.

The identical projection above him started to burn more brightly. It was the origin power in his spiritual sea that was burning! Otherwise, how could he possibly unleash such strong emotions and infect the two Titled Douluo until they weren’t able to hold their ground anymore?

Huo Yuhao exerted force with his left foot and he was lifted higher again. He lifted his right hand and pointed his index and middle ﬁngers upward. A lustrous, bright glow instantly shot into the sky. A huge beam of sword light around a hundred meters long and several dozen meters wide shot into the sky. This bright sword light seemed to pierce the sky. Wherever it passed, space distorted and would gently shake.

Huo Yuhao’s expression also started to change. The gentle look in his eyes turned into pain, and he pursed his lips tightly. His eyes had already turned wet, and his emotions seemed to completely enter another world.

Remembrance... it started from thinking before it escalated to missing. Wang Dong’er’s face ﬂashed in Huo Yuhao’s eyes. He suddenly felt that he was very blissful. Even if he had to die, he was able to die during his remembrance of Wang Dong’er. He was satisﬁed. This was probably the best result, considering the situation he was in.

The majestic sword light descended from the sky. One’s swordplay could only reach the peak if he handled his relationships well. This was Huo Yuhao’s Sword of Longing, a sword which would never be forgotten!

There was a target for this sword… Wu Yu. If not for the fact that Wu Yu had controlled Feng Ling, Huo Yuhao’s almost perfect plan wouldn’t have experienced such a huge problem. More importantly, Wu Yu’s emotions were completely controlled by his Fist of Remembrance right now. This was his best breakthrough point.

She was affected worse than the rest because she was a spiritual-type soul master. Her Spirit of Vengeance relied on boundless hatred. However, she was forced to experience the feeling of remembrance by Huo Yuhao at this moment.

How could she avoid his Sword of Longing now, after being affected by his Fist of Remembrance earlier?

Her Spirit of Vengeance sensed a huge crisis, and unleashed itself from her body to protect her. Wu Yu seemed to be getting a slow grip on her emotions, but it was all too late.

Huo Yuhao’s fusion with Wang Qiu’er and his ignition of his spiritual sea had raised his strength to a standard above Wu Yu. The Three Ultimate Haodong Skills had ﬁnally revealed the terrifying strength that they were meant to possess. Why didn’t Huo Yuhao use the abilities that the Snow Empress, the Ice Empress and the Skydream Iceworm had conferred on him? It was because he had to continue to be connected to them if he used their abilities. If that happened, they wouldn’t be able to separate from him after his death and fuse with Wang Qiu’er.

This was why Huo Yuhao could only use the three skills that he had invented, the Three Ultimate Haodong Skills!

This shiny sword light ﬂashed past Wu Yu’s body before disappearing, and her body stiffened in the air. She drifted several meters back before stopping. The bloodshot look in her eyes faded away, and her gaze started to become similar to Huo Yuhao’s.

She was ultimately not as strong as her sister. Against Huo Yuhao’s complete version of the Three Ultimate Haodong Skills, she didn’t manage to survive until his last skill. She was already sucked into the whirlpool of remembrance by the Sword of Longing.

In the next instant, her body disintegrated, and was crushed before she turned into a pile of dust. She was reunited with her elder sister in another world.

That majestic sword seemed to have slashed the sky apart. At this instant, Ma Xiaotao looked at the sky in the direction of Sunrise City, as if she had a premonition.

“That’s not good. There’s a ﬁght in Sunrise City. It could be a ﬁght involving Titled Douluo, considering how strong the spiritual undulations are. Quick, let’s return!” Ma Xiaotao was frantic. After giving out her order, she immediately leapt up, and her wings ﬂuttered forcefully as she quickly proceeded back toward Sunrise City.

Earlier, she kept on having bouts of uneasiness, as if she felt that something was going to happen. However, she kept on telling herself that it was probably because Huo Yuhao was about to be caught. She had also been thinking of a plan of action if Huo Yuhao was caught. Without the Third and Fourth Elders, it was possible for Huo Yuhao and the others to kill the Zhong brothers if they coordinated well. It was just that the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion was nearby, and their leader, who was a Class 9 soul engineer, was very difﬁcult to deal with.

However, Ma Xiaotao suddenly felt that something wasn’t right when the Sword of Longing swept across the sky. The reason why she was feeling uneasy wasn’t because it originated from a distance, but because it came from behind her! Don’t tell me that little brother didn’t leave Sunrise City, and he’s still inside?

How could Ma Xiaotao control her emotions with this thought lingering in her head? She quickly rushed away back to Sunrise City.

Wu Yu was dead. She died just like that. She died without unleashing any of the ﬁghting strength that she should possess.

However, her death also jolted the Third Elder awake. The Fourth Elder was also ﬂying back from afar. His eighth and ninth soul rings could be seen ﬂashing.

Huo Yuhao had gone into closed-door cultivation for several months, and fused all of his abilities. He had perfectly combined his spiritual and soul power through the connection of his emotions to form his three great skills, which were the strongest expression of his emotions. No matter how strong his opponents were, they would be infected by him if they weren’t able to resist the invasion of his spiritual power. These three great skills were mainly supported by Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power because his spiritual cultivation had surpassed the rank of his soul power. When he completed his soul power fusion with Wang Qiu’er and unleashed his three great skills, he had already established himself in the league of the strongest individuals in this world.

After unleashing his sword, Huo Yuhao was already crying. He retracted his palm to his waist before ﬂipping it over. He formed the shape of a heart in the air, and all the lights were retracted at this instant. There was an additional heart at the center of his palm. It was a golden heart. Even the most dazzling gem in this world couldn’t compare to the glow from this golden heart.

This golden heart represented a sincere heart. It was ﬁlled with eternal love and remembrance.

Huo Yuhao shut his eyes. At this moment, there was only one ﬁgure in his mind. There weren’t any other people or things that could affect his state of mind. He was already deeply immersed in his thoughts of Wang Dong’er.

Dong’er, Dong’er, Dong’er!

He was gently calling in his heart. He seemed to see Wang Dong’er and how she had sacriﬁced her life for him without any hesitation. Dong’er, Dong’er…

As he called, that shining, golden heart slowly moved forward as he pushed his palm forward.

In the sky, the clouds experienced changes, and thunder rumbled. After pitch-darkness ﬁlled the sky, it suddenly lit up. The lights came from an unknown origin, but they formed a heart shape.

The signals from all the aerial surveillance soul tools that the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion had released again were all jumbled up. In the next moment, their internal formation arrays blew apart, and they were all destroyed.

That huge and seemingly boundless heart resonated with the golden heart on Huo Yuhao’s palm.

Behind the heart in the sky, there seemed to be a beautiful face watching everything that was happening on the ground with a gentle gaze.

“Dong’er, I’ll forever miss and bless you. Even if I go to another world, as long as there’s still a trace of my spirit left, I’ll always love you, Dong’er!”

As Huo Yuhao pushed his palm out, and the two hearts resonated with each other, it seemed as if countless ﬂowing lights shone behind Huo Yuhao’s back. There were only memories of him and Wang Dong’er within those ﬂowing lights.

Huo Yuhao’s Haodong Palm, a palm which would last eternally!

This was the last strike of Huo Yuhao’s three great skills. The qi of heaven and earth was overwhelming, and the feeling of remembrance was pure.

The heart on Huo Yuhao’s palm enlarged severalfold, and completely engulfed him and Wang Qiu’er. The two hearts between heaven and earth got closer and closer, and then merged together. At this moment, the Third and Fourth Elders had to retreat rapidly, even with their cultivations. They could clearly sense that they would be critically hurt if they were touched by this heart-shaped light.

The hearts combined in the sky, and formed a heart shape that was even brighter than the sun. It was perfectly ﬂawless.

The heart-shaped light suddenly retracted, and the huge heart that was originally a few hundred meters in diameter suddenly shrank to a diameter of only around ﬁfty meters. In the next instant, this huge heart suddenly raised up a dazzling plume that shot into the distance.

In the blink of an eye, both Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er vanished without a trace.

They weren’t the only ones who disappeared. Nan Shuishui and Nan Qiuqiu, who were both restrained by the Third Elder’s Lightning God’s Binding earlier, had also disappeared. It was like the Third Elder’s Lightning God’s Binding was a joke in front of the Haodong Palm. The Third and Fourth Elders were both in a daze.

Everything that had happened earlier was like a dream to them.

It just wasn’t believable anymore.

Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er were a Soul King and Soul Sage. Among ordinary people, and even soul masters, they possessed rather extraordinary ﬁghting strength.

However, how many opponents did the two of them face? They had fought more than a hundred elite soul engineers, a Class 9 soul engineer, a Titled Douluo, and a Soul Douluo who was a strong, spiritual-type evil soul master.

What was the eventual result? The Soul Douluo was killed, the elite soul engineers fell from the sky, and were in critical condition, and the two Titled Douluo could only watch helplessly as they escaped. They couldn’t even stop them. No one would believe this. All of this was too weird and shocking.

The Fourth Elder ﬂew over in front of the Third Elder and said with lingering fear, “What ability did he just reveal? It was frightening. I have a feeling that I would’ve been killed if he used all three moves on me earlier.”

The Third Elder patted the Fourth Elder’s shoulder and said, “Forget it, he’s doomed no matter what abilities he has since he’s ignited his spiritual sea. Let’s go, too. We don’t know how the Holy Lady and the others are.”

Yes, Huo Yuhao was doomed!

Huo Yuhao’s gaze was ﬁlled with gentleness. Nan Qiuqiu, Nan Shuishui and Wang Qiu’er could clearly see Huo Yuhao’s face as they were protected by the heart-shaped light, but they couldn’t sense any resistance from the outside world.

Above Huo Yuhao, that identical ﬁgure was still burning.

However, it looked a little illusory now compared to before. The three ladies knew that Huo Yuhao would be completely destroyed if it ﬁnished burning.

“Are you doing this just to tell me that only she exists in your heart?” Wang Qiu’er was still resting on Huo Yuhao’s back and hugging him tightly. For some reason, she had become extremely fragile now. She was like a glass vase that could be smashed into pieces any time. She no longer seemed strong, or possessed any ﬁghting spirit.

Huo Yuhao shook his head gently and said, “No, Qiu’er. It’s not only her in my heart. You also exist in my heart. It’s just that I didn’t dare to admit it.”

Wang Qiu’er’s body shook tremendously, and she suddenly lifted her head from Huo Yuhao’s back. She had always been a resilient person, but her voice was trembling now. “I… exist in your heart?”

Huo Yuhao nodded gently and pulled Wang Qiu’er in front of him. He gently embraced her and let her lean on his body. “Yes, I have both you and Dong’er in my heart. I just didn’t dare to admit it all this while. Perhaps I’m the reason why Dong’er is asleep, and why you are in such pain. If I had faced myself earlier, things might have been different. Humans are emotional creatures. I could tell that you were fond of me. When I found out that you plucked another Yearning Heartbroken Grass for me, my heart eventually still opened up for you. I tried to hide it and not face it, and keep all my love for Dong’er. However, I can’t deny its existence.

“I’m sorry, Qiu’er. I’m a bad person. I’ve hurt both you and Dong’er. If heaven gives me one more chance, I’ll only have two choices. Either I’ll choose to forsake the both of you, or I’ll think of a way to keep both of you by my side. I won’t let any of you go.”

“Qiu’er, do you know? I’m actually very happy now. I really miss Dong’er. I really wish to return to see her. I’ve already planned everything out. After this mission is over, I’ll return to the Clear Sky Sect to see her. However, I’m afraid that I can’t go now. If you have the time, visit her on my behalf. If she wakes up, tell her that you are her elder sister, and that everything that happened was just a dream. Help her to forget me.” “Yuhao…” Wang Qiu’er cried. This was the ﬁrst time Huo Yuhao had seen her so helpless after all this time that he had known her. However, there was a sense of bliss in her tears.

Huo Yuhao hugged her tighter and muttered, “For some reason, I feel that both you and Dong’er are the same person at times. However, you showed up at different periods of my life. It would have been better if only you or Dong’er existed! Qiu’er, I’m sorry…”

Wang Qiu’er gently shook her head. “Don’t say sorry. I should be the one to apologize. I was the one who forced myself into your life. Without me, all of this might not have happened. In fact, I already knew what you thought earlier. I knew that you wanted to sacriﬁce yourself to save me. However, I still hated you and your heartlessness, until you told me that you have me in your heart. I can feel your sincerity. My love for you has ﬁnally been repaid.”

Cerita silat IndoMandarin

Unrivaled Tang Sect Volume 30

Chapter 367: The Slumbering Dong'er

Chapter 368: The Increasingly Prosperous Tang Sect

Chapter 369: Yuhao Exits Seclusion

Chapter 370: Fist of Remembrance, Sword of Longing

Chapter 371: Departure!

Chapter 372: The Plan Starts

Chapter 373: All Sides Making Their Moves

Chapter 374: Hand that Protects the Nation

Chapter 375: Sunrise City

Chapter 376: Yuhao's Three Ultimate Techniques

Chapter 377: Dispelling, Clues, Prison of Water

Chapter 379: Ma Xiaotao

Chapter 380: Wake Up, Sister!

Chapter 381: Starting to Move

Chapter 382: All Sides Exploding Out!

Chapter 383: Breaking Out From the Siege

Chapter 384: Rescuing Nan Shuishui

Chapter 385: Empyreal Net

Chapter 386: That Brilliant Smudge of Golden Light

Chapter 387: Ignite! Spiritual Sea!

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