Unrivaled Tang Sect Volume 33

Book 33: War

Chapter 429: I'm Tang Wutong!

Dai Luoli shook his head and said, “I don’t know. Didn’t I tell you earlier that he’s very mysterious? He can only ﬁnd me, I can’t ﬁnd him. He has never even let me see his true appearance. Dad, surely he’s not a bad guy, right?”

Dai Hao nodded and laughed bitterly. “Of course he’s not a bad guy. I know this person you’re talking about. From your description of him, he should be the person who’s saved me twice now. So it turns out that he’s your teacher… no wonder. Perhaps he saved me because of you. Not only is this person mysterious, but he’s also very powerful. If your teacher ﬁnds you again, you must help me express my gratitude to him. If he’s willing, I even want to thank him face-to-face.”

“He saved your life twice?” Dai Luoli was shocked. Although he couldn’t believe that the mysterious guy his father mentioned was his own elder brother, he still believed that Huo Yuhao was capable of saving his father twice! Elder brother, why do you have to be like that? Why aren’t you willing to reunite with him?

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Huo Yuhao naturally wouldn’t reunite with the White Tiger Duke. He would not do so before he believed he was strong enough.

By the time he reached Shrek City, it was already noon. Shrek City’s reconstruction was in full swing. From afar, a lot of construction work could be seen, especially the Spirit Pagoda, which was near the Great Star Dou Forest and undergoing a grand construction. Huo Yuhao didn’t even return to the Tang Sect ﬁrst, but immediately went to Shrek Academy. He wanted to pass the information on to Elder Xuan for him to make a decision.

Even though he was one of the members of the Sea God’s Pavilion, Huo Yuhao didn’t ﬂy directly into the Academy. He stopped outside the gate before briskly walking into the Academy.

It was lesson time now, the Academy was empty. After passing the statues of the members of the ﬁrst-generation Shrek’s Seven Monsters and Golden Triangle, Huo Yuhao came to the lakeside of the Sea God’s Lake. It was only then that he rose into the air before riding the waves towards the Sea God’s Island.

The expansion of Shrek City was a good thing for Shrek Academy. Furthermore, the relationship between Shrek and the Great Star Dou Forest was unprecedentedly harmonious because of the Spirit Pagoda, even though the beast tide had caused huge losses to both parties.

It had been months since students from Shrek Academy had entered the forest to hunt for soul beasts. The Great Star Dou Forest was very pleased regarding this. To them, this was a demonstration of Shrek Academy’s sincerity.

Of course, more students were obtaining Spirits through the establishment of the Spirit Pagoda and under the cooperation of both parties. Without a doubt, they were the greatest beneﬁciaries of the Spirit Pagoda.

As he stepped onto Sea God’s Island, a sense of familiarity swept over Huo Yuhao. The refreshing air lessened his anxiety. It’s great to be back home! It’d be nice if Dong’er were still around. If Dong’er were around, and there was no more hatred, I could just live with her on this island. Our days would be so happy!

Dong’er…

Dong’er!

Suddenly, Huo Yuhao’s eyes widened. He couldn’t believe it as he looked forward, and his body started to shake uncontrollably.

This, this is…

A young lady was walking towards him. Her eyes were powdery-blue, and her eyelashes were long and curly. She was very slender, and her long, powdery-blue hair ﬂowed behind her hand. She was dressed in a white dress that accentuated her ravishing looks. She looked like a goddess.

“Dong’er!” Huo Yuhao exclaimed. As he was overly agitated, his voice sounded very high. In the next instant, Huo Yuhao used his Instant Teleportation and appeared in front of this young lady. He opened his arms and tightly embraced her.

Huo Yuhao hadn’t expected to see Wang Dong’er again under such a circumstance and at such a time. All his worries and anxiety disappeared at this moment. All his emotions and yearning erupted. His tears ﬂowed uncontrollably, and his vision had already turned blurry from all the tears.

The young lady stood where she was. She seemed to have been stunned by the sudden embrace that she had received.

“Dong’er, Dong’er, Dong’er…” Huo Yuhao’s tears dripped onto and slipped off her wavy, powdery-blue hair. They seemed to add a glow to it.

“Are you courting death?” an embarrassed voice sounded. Immediately after this, Huo Yuhao felt as if the person he was hugging had turned into an active volcano.

She unleashed a massive force and broke free from his embrace. Following this, Huo Yuhao saw the fury in her eyes. Her thin and slender hand reached out for his chest.

Huo Yuhao subconsciously used his Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to avoid the terrifying force that was coming

towards him. At the same time, he used his hands to block in front of him.

Bang! Vigorous soul power was unleashed.

Huo Yuhao felt an aura of light ﬁlled with strength sweeping towards him. It was like huge waves were crashing in front of him.

After he fused with Wang Qiu’er as a Sacriﬁce, he had inherited part of her Golden Dragon’s strength. However, he was still forced back more than ten steps, as he wasn’t prepared for Wang Dong’er’s palm.

A gap opened between them, and Huo Yuhao was a little stunned. He couldn’t believe that Wang Dong’er had made a move against him.

She wore a ﬁerce look on her face, and her soul rings rose from her feet. Six of them were black and one was red.

She had seven soul rings of unbelievable colors!

However, Huo Yuhao wasn’t astonished by the lights from her soul rings. He seemed intoxicated as he stared at her. He didn’t blink at all, and tears still streamed from his face.

The young lady was also stunned when she saw the tears on his face, but as she unleashed her martial soul, a pair of huge dragon wings opened up behind her.

The color of her dragon wings was extremely dazzling. There was a bright blue glow close to her back that extended towards the sides. As it extended, it slowly changed from blue to gold. The edges of her dragon wings were extremely weird; they were wavy like butterﬂy wings, and also exuded a dim golden glow.

There was a bright golden trident rune on her forehead, which started ﬂashing. She grew slightly taller, and her dominant aura turned the space behind her into a bluish-gold ocean.

She had already lifted her right hand towards Huo Yuhao. Her face was very cold, and there was an embarrassed look in her eyes. It was evident that she was cross that Huo Yuhao had

hugged her earlier. She even felt that she was being squeezed right now, which made her feel weird.

An intense bluish-gold light formed on her palm, and her second soul ring lit up. The dazzling bluish-gold lights adopted the form of a whirlpool, and a terrifying sense of suppression instantly locked onto Huo Yuhao’s body.

Huo Yuhao became more clear-headed when he was subjected to this heavy pressure. As he looked at the young lady’s eyes, he shuddered. “You aren’t Dong’er!”

He was sure that Wang Dong’er wouldn’t look at him like this!

Just as he was speaking, the young lady had already slapped her right hand towards him. A ball of blinding bluish-gold light carrying the sound of a low-pitched dragon roar surged towards his chest.

As this ball of bluish-gold light was unleashed, the bluish- gold glow behind her also surged and turned into countless

streaks of light that suppressed Huo Yuhao from all directions. A strong sense of restraint engulfed Huo Yuhao.

She’s so strong. She’s deﬁnitely not Dong’er. However, I can feel a trace of Dong’er in her strength.

While he thought of this, Huo Yuhao also moved. He also lifted his right hand. His three red and four orange soul rings shone brightly. His ﬁrst soul ring ﬂashed, and his right hand was covered in diamond ice crystals. Every crystal was shining extremely brightly, helping him block the ball of bluish-gold light.

The moment that ball of light touched Huo Yuhao’s right hand, streaks of light were deﬂected by the ice crystals in all directions. Only a portion of them managed to take effect against him.

The diamond ice crystals quickly spread across Huo Yuhao’s entire body, blocking the suppression and shockwaves that came as the ball of bluish-gold light blew apart.

It was the ﬁrst soul skill of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion, Ice Empress’ Armor.

A layer of dim azure light was also released from Huo Yuhao’s body, preventing the restraint from affecting him.

“What?” The young lady was stunned that her attack didn’t have much effect. Her eyes ﬂashed again, and the lights from her other soul rings also started to surge.

“Stop. We might have a misunderstanding,” Huo Yuhao hurriedly said. Whether this young lady was Dong’er or not, how would he be willing to lay his hands on her?

The young lady retracted her bluish-gold light slightly, but she still seemed as unfriendly as ever, “Misunderstanding? How dare you violate me and claim that it’s a misunderstanding!”

Her voice was crisp and captivating. However, she indeed sounded different from Wang Dong’er. She was more arrogant than Wang Dong’er, and she was also colder. However, they were equally sweet.

Huo Yuhao was simply too familiar with Wang Dong’er, so he could differentiate between them.

Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly. “I’m sorry, I might have recognized you wrongly. You look too much like my friend. That’s why I…”

The young lady was still furious. “Can you just hug me whenever you want just because I look like her? I don’t believe that anyone looks like me. Ever since I came to this irksome Academy, many people have told me that I look like someone. But I’m me. The rest are ﬁne. They only comment that I look like that person. But you’ve offended me and even hugged me! If I don’t whack you today, I won’t be appeased!”

As she spoke, the bluish-gold light from her body became stronger, and she lifted her right hand towards Huo Yuhao again.

“Hey, it’s really a misunderstanding.” Huo Yuhao was also confused. From the details, this young lady was indeed not Wang Dong’er. However, they looked too alike. Wang Qiu’er and Wang Dong’er had been lookalikes because of Wang Qiu’er’s transformation ability as the Auspicious Emperor Beast. However, what was with this young lady? From her long, wavy hair, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that she looked like Wang Qiu’er!

“Remember, my name is Tang Wutong!” the young lady shouted and pointed her toes to the ground. Behind her, a pair of dragon wings opened up, and she was lifted into the air. Her ﬁrst soul ring shone, and her wings ﬂuttered. The arcs that she created as her wings moved instantly shone with a strong, golden glow. The golden glow was like water, and her sharp aura caused a tearing sound in the air. As she ﬂuttered her wings, she charged towards Huo Yuhao.

Words were of no use right now. He had to deal with her attack ﬁrst!

He pointed his toes to the ground and quickly retreated. At the same time, his body shone with deep blue light, and the little Snow Lady separated from his body.

The little Snow Lady’s ﬁgure twisted slightly in the air and a streak of deep blue light ﬂashed. It was Huo Yuhao’s Unparalleled Chill, Empress Sword.

The little Snow Lady’s appearance instantly caused the surrounding temperature to drop signiﬁcantly. Ever since Huo Yuhao had fused with the Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass, his Ultimate Ice had improved and was now even closer to absolute zero.

Tang Wutong was affected by the extreme chill in the air, and her movements were delayed slightly. However, the bluish- gold light from her body also instantly became stronger. She swept out her dragon wings to resist Huo Yuhao’s Unparalleled Chill.

A crisp note echoed out, and Tang Wutong descended from the sky. A strong chilling wave quickly spread towards her body through her wings. The strength of Ultimate Ice was displayed at this moment!

However, Tang Wutong was also quite impressive. As she shouted, a layer of strong golden sparks rose from her body, and the Ultimate Ice from Huo Yuhao’s Unparalleled Chill wasn’t able to continue seeping into her.

After he forced Tang Wutong back with his sword, Huo Yuhao also quickly retreated. He wasn’t just an assault-type soul master, but also a control-type soul master. Widening his gap with his opponent was a better way for him to ﬁght.

However, it was very difﬁcult for him to ﬁght right now. He couldn’t bring himself to lay his hands on Tang Wutong, as she looked too much like Wang Dong’er!

A distorted glow rippled around his body. He quickly unleashed his Spiritual Interference, which caused everything around him to turn unclear. A strong chill continued to surge forth in the area.

The little Snow Lady drifted behind Huo Yuhao, and he unleashed his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice. Large patches of snowﬂakes surrounded Huo Yuhao’s body and quickly engulfed both him and Tang Wutong with the help of his Spiritual Interference.

Under Huo Yuhao’s deliberate control, his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice didn’t cover a huge region. However, the temperature in this region instantly dropped to negative one hundred degrees Celsius, even though Huo Yuhao was deliberately controlling the temperature. Otherwise, it would have been even lower!

Tang Wutong suddenly felt as if she were trapped in this domain. However, she didn’t panic, and her eyes shone brightly. On her forehead, the golden trident rune shone silently once again, adding a layer of golden light to her eyes.

Tang Wutong let out a sonorous dragon roar. As she stood in place, a suit of bluish-gold armor silently surfaced on her body.

This armor was made of blue diamond-shaped dragon scales and outlined her slender ﬁgure perfectly. The pauldrons were especially long, poking out from both sides of her shoulders.

Her dragon wings expanded and looked even more bluish-gold. A huge, golden V-shaped beam of light ﬂashed. Along the part of the armor covering her belly, there were even butterﬂy patterns spreading out.

Her uniform adopted the shape of waves, just like the edges of her dragon wings. Glaring, bluish-gold light surged and resisted the chill coming from Huo Yuhao’s Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice.

This was her fourth soul skill, Dragon God’s Possession!

Tang Wutong’s dragon wings suddenly stuck close together and rose up high behind her. Bluish-gold light shone very brightly on her as she unleashed her Dragon God’s Possession. All traces of her suddenly disappeared. Following this, a large bluish-gold blade more than ten meters long and several meters wide suddenly appeared and slashed towards Huo Yuhao’s head. His Spiritual Interference didn’t have any effect on her!

This was her third soul skill, Radiant Dragon God’s Slash.

As it was strengthened by her Dragon God’s Possession, her Radiant Dragon God’s Slash suddenly became extremely powerful. Before the snowﬂakes in Huo Yuhao’s Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice touched the sharp blade of light, they were already crushed into powder and scattered in the air. Huo Yuhao was also revealed in his domain, facing the blade directly.

However, something happened that left Tang Wutong stunned. Huo Yuhao didn’t dodge as he faced her attack. Furthermore, he actually shut his eyes and slowly punched his right ﬁst out against her sharp blade.

For some reason, Tang Wutong couldn’t bear to harm Huo Yuhao when he punched his ﬁst out. She even experienced a very weird feeling, and subconsciously lessened the might of her attack. If Huo Yuhao was unable to resist her attack, she could still retract it in time. After all, there wasn’t any deep enmity between the two of them. Although she was cross that Huo Yuhao had hugged her, she didn’t have the intention of killing him.

Clang!

When Huo Yuhao’s right ﬁst clashed against her Radiant Dragon God’s Slash, the huge blade stopped in mid-air.

Following that, the diamond ice crystals formed from Huo Yuhao’s Ice Empress’ Pincer were rapidly crushed, revealing his naked right hand.

However, layers of golden light also spread from Huo Yuhao’s right ﬁst towards Tang Wutong’s Radiant Dragon God’s Slash, just as the two of them clashed against each other.

An indescribable and inexplicable feeling was in the air. It was a combination of sorrow and boundless remembrance. While Huo Yuhao’s ﬁst had stopped, his emotions continued to surge.

It was his Fist of Remembrance, a ﬁst that contained a surging feeling of remembrance.

Tang Wutong’s light projection instantly retracted, and she did a reverse somersault in mid-air before landing on the ground. When her feet touched the ground, she staggered two steps back before she managed to stabilize herself. She could

only feel that there were countless images ﬂashing across her mind, and she was suddenly ﬁlled with immense sadness.

Huo Yuhao didn’t stagger back, but fresh blood dripped from his right ﬁst. Before it landed on the ground, it turned into beads of blood-red ice under the effect of his Ultimate Ice. As these beads of ice landed on the ground, they were crushed into red powder and scattered everywhere.

When he opened his eyes again, his eyes were ﬁlled with boundless remembrance and gentle feelings. It was like the wound on his right ﬁst didn’t belong to him.

“Dong’er, it’s you. You are my Dong’er,” Huo Yuhao muttered to himself.

The words of Niu Tian, the Clear Sky Sect’s sect leader, echoed in his mind right now.

Dong’er is ﬁne. She has been treated by her father. However, she’s no longer Dong’er. She has lost a portion of her memory.

While Tang Wutong was unable to recognize him now, there were signs of Dong’er in her abilities! When she unleashed her Dragon God’s Possession, the v-shaped Radiant Butterﬂy Goddess’ glow that appeared on her dragon wings was continuously telling Huo Yuhao things.

She’s Dong’er. She’s Dong’er, but she’s changed her name, and forgotten who I am.

Tang Wutong jerked a little, and she took a while to recover from the intent of Huo Yuhao’s Fist of Remembrance. When she looked at him again, there was a horriﬁed look in her eyes.

“What, what did you do to me?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head gently. “I didn’t do anything to you. You only sensed the remembrance in me.”

Tang Wutong had a wary look in her eyes as she snorted, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Don’t let me see you again.” After she said that, her dragon wings opened up again, and she rose into the air before ﬂying towards Sea God’s Lake.

Huo Yuhao’s expression turned gentler as he watched her back.

“Dong’er, have you really forgotten me? Even if you have, so what? I’m willing to pursue you again and bring you close to me again through my love for you. You’ll deﬁnitely see me in the future, and you’ll keep seeing me. No matter what, I won’t let you leave my side again. I’ll use my life and everything to protect you. Dong’er, whether you’re Wang Dong’er or Tang Wutong, you’ll have to be my wife!”

Tears once again ﬂowed from his eyes. However, they were blissful tears now.

Wang Dong’er had gone into a deep sleep, Wang Qiu’er sacriﬁced herself, and Shrek was attacked by a beast tide. This series of heavy blows had polished his heart. He had concealed his internal weakness and tried to face everything resiliently. However, he was still human!

When he saw his younger brother Dai Luoli and sensed the warmth of kinship, his cold and resilient heart melted a bit. And right now, everything in the world seemed to be ﬁlled

with life and everything turned beautiful as he saw Tang Wutong, who had to be Wang Dong’er.

“How is she? Did you manage to tell anything?” a benevolent voice asked.

Huo Yuhao turned around and saw Elder Xuan.

Elder Xuan walked towards him slowly and chortled, “She doesn’t recognize you anymore. However, it’s really still her.”

Huo Yuhao also smiled and quickly rubbed the tears off his face, “Yes! Even if she doesn’t admit it, and has forgotten me, she’s still my Dong’er! This is a fact that can’t be changed! I’ll make her remember me!”

Elder Xuan smiled, “She came to Shrek a week ago to interview for a teaching role. Every one of us was stunned when we saw her, and thought that she was Dong’er. However, she said that she’s not Dong’er, but Tang Wutong. She doesn’t know anyone called Wang Dong’er. She’s very different from Dong’er in many aspects, including her martial soul. However, I can clearly see Dong’er’s shadow on her. I remember you

mentioned that Dong’er was in a deep sleep. Did you go and ﬁnd her?”

Huo Yuhao nodded, and recounted his encounter with the Clear Sky Sect.

Elder Xuan retracted the smile on his face and furrowed his brow slightly before saying, “If this is the case, she should be Dong’er. It’s just that, did you sense traces of Dong’er on her? There’s also Qiu’er’s…”

“Qiu’er’s?” Huo Yuhao shook a little, and quickly recalled the situation when he had fought Tang Wutong earlier. He recalled her strength, and her martial soul.

As the saying goes, “The person on the spot is bafﬂed, while the onlooker sees clearly”. Elder Xuan’s words quickly alerted him. If Huo Yuhao had to describe Tang Wutong’s martial soul, he would have to say that it was a combination of Wang Qiu’er’s Golden Dragon and Wang Dong’er’s Radiant Butterﬂy Goddess.

How is that possible? Dong’er is the young sect leader of the Clear Sky Sect, while Qiu’er is the Auspicious Emperor Beast. How is it possible that…

Elder Xuan had a thoughtful look on his face as he said, “It seems unbelievable, but Wang Qiu’er is the Auspicious Emperor Beast. She controls the power of destiny. Is it possible that her feelings continued to exist with her spirit after she died, and the strength of her spirit managed to fuse with Dong’er? As a result, Dong’er woke up and reached her current state?

“Yuhao, you must understand how magical martial souls are. Even after thousands of years of research, our Academy is still unable to solve some riddles. For example, why do humans have martial souls, and under what conditions do martial souls mutate? How are martial souls inherited? Through a person’s father or mother? All these seem like simple questions, but no one has the exact answer to them. There is nothing impossible in this world. However, I’m afraid you’ll need to ﬁnd out the answer to Tang Wutong’s secrets by yourself.”

“Oh, thanks. No matter what, I’ll ﬁnd out what happened to her! Elder Xuan, I rushed back because I have something important to report to you.”

Elder Xuan immediately turned serious. “Are you talking about the Sun Moon Empire starting the war so abruptly? Were you in the Star Luo Empire?”

Huo Yuhao nodded and replied, “Yes, I wasn’t just in the Star Luo Empire. I was even at a place not far from the Ming Dou Mountain Range.”

Elder Xuan lifted his hand and stopped him from speaking further. He said, “Let’s return to the Sea God’s Pavilion ﬁrst.”

After they reached the Sea God’s Pavilion, Huo Yuhao greeted the Golden Tree by bowing as usual, before following Elder Xuan in.

The two of them sat at the conference table normally used for meetings on the ﬁrst level. Huo Yuhao started to describe everything that he had seen and heard after arranging his thoughts.

At the same time, he concealed his relationship with the White Tiger Duke, and didn’t talk about how he had saved him. He only described the situation of the war.

Elder Xuan turned grim as he listened to Huo Yuhao’s words.

Elder Xuan furrowed his brow and said, “They created a diversion, and their target was actually the Heavenly Soul Empire. We haven’t received any news from the Heavenly Soul Empire yet. They have the support of the Body Sect over there. Perhaps it won’t be so easy to take them down.”

Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly. “I hope so, too. However, only the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions were present when they attacked the Star Luo Empire. The Holy Ghost Church was missing. I was a little skeptical at that time. After I tried to ﬁgure things out, I realized that it’s likely that the Body Sect will face the Holy Ghost Church.

“The Holy Ghost Church has the Dragon Emperor Douluo Long Xiaoyao and many other evil soul masters. If they really ﬁght the Body Sect, I’m afraid the Body Sect might be unable to resist them! Furthermore, I don’t think the Heavenly Soul Empire is even comparable to the Star Luo Empire in terms of strength. They won’t be able to last long if they are really embroiled in a ﬁght. The Sun Moon Empire doesn’t have only three Class 9 stationary soul cannons! The situation is very dire now. Elder Xuan, should our Academy…”

Elder Xuan said, “Wait here. I’ll immediately call for a conference.”

“Okay.”

Elder Xuan stood up, and a strong layer of yellow light shone from his body. Suddenly, the entire pavilion rippled with a layer of dim golden light.

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Outside the Sea God’s Pavilion, the Golden Tree shone brightly, and golden halos started to undulate. Formless spiritual undulations and the special aura of the Golden Tree started to spread out.

Figures swiftly and silently entered the Sea God’s Pavilion. The ﬁrst to arrive were all the elders who lived in the Sea God’s Pavilion.

Elder Song, Elder Zhuang, and the rest quickly streamed down from the higher levels.

Elder Song couldn’t help but ask when she came to the ﬁrst level, “Elder Xuan, what’s going on? Didn’t we just have a conference yesterday, and decide to continue observing the war? Why is there another conference today?”

Before she ﬁnished speaking, she saw Huo Yuhao standing up. As she focused on him, she understood that Huo Yuhao must have had brought back some new information.

“Elder Song, Elder Zhuang…” Huo Yuhao took a few steps forward and greeted all the elders respectfully.

At this moment, Zhang Lexuan had already rushed over. As she entered the Sea God’s Pavilion, she also greeted all the elders.

Following this, Yan Shaozhe, Xian Lin’er, Qian Duoduo and Cai Mei’er also arrived. Apart from the Tang Sect’s sect leader Bei Bei, who was given a seat at the table in the Sea God’s Pavilion, the rest had already arrived.

Zhang Lexuan looked much more capable now compared to before. Furthermore, she had forgotten all her past feelings after her experience in the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley, and appeared to be much more cheerful now. However, she still hadn’t found a partner yet. She was too outstanding, such that

there were only a few people who dared to pursue her.

Before Huo Yuhao left the last time, he had heard that it wouldn’t take long before she reached Rank 90. She would become the youngest Titled Douluo in Shrek Academy to date.

“Eldest senior sister.” Huo Yuhao also greeted Zhang Lexuan.

She smiled and said, “I heard from Bei Bei that you went out to roam. Do you know? There’s a new person in our Academy who looks just like Dong’er and Qiu’er. Come to think about it, we’re all confused. She insists that she’s Tang Wutong. Furthermore, the weird thing is that her martial soul is different from Qiu’er and Dong’er. Yuhao, do you know what’s going on?”

Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly as he shook his head. He replied, “I have no idea. I’m trying my best to understand what’s going on, too.”

Just as they were speaking, Bei Bei also ﬁnally arrived. When the Golden Tree made a summoning call, an Elder would be able to sense it immediately, as long as they were in the area. While Bei Bei was slightly late, it was because he was further away than the rest.

Bei Bei was startled to see Huo Yuhao. He quickly greeted the rest of the elders before sitting down beside Yuhao.

He softly said, “Little junior, you’re here because of Tang Wutong, right? Who told you? We wanted to tell you, but we couldn’t ﬁnd a way of communicating with you.”

Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly. “Eldest senior, I’m really not here for her. However, I’ve already met her. Let’s talk about her after the conference.”

“Alright,” Bei Bei nodded.

Elder Xuan coughed and turned everyone’s attention to him. “Since everyone is here, we’ll start. Yuhao, will you recount what you said to me earlier to everyone?”

“Yes.” Huo Yuhao began with how he had joined the Star Luo Empire’s military. He avoided talking about his purpose for joining, and mainly talked about what had happened after the Sun Moon Empire started the war.

Just like Elder Xuan, the rest of the elders turned serious after listening to him.

Shrek City and Shrek Academy had been developing signiﬁcantly because of the Spirit Pagoda. If this continued, the Academy would reach new heights very soon, and the inﬂuence of the Academy on the continent would grow even stronger.

However, the Sun Moon Empire had started a war at this time. Furthermore, they had even ferociously destroyed the Star Luo Empire’s northwestern defense line. Right now, they had adopted war strategies, and were likely to be threatening the Heavenly Soul Empire already.

Shrek City was now located at the center of the junction between the three empires of the Douluo Continent. Once the situation became unfavorable for the Heavenly Soul Empire,

Shrek City was likely to be implicated, too. After all, Shrek City was located within the territory of the Heavenly Soul Empire.

Elder Xuan gestured to Huo Yuhao to take his seat. After that, he looked at the other elders. “Everyone, please tell me your opinions. What do you think the Academy should do regarding this situation so that we can stabilize it?”

Elder Song said, “The situation now is still unclear. The information that Yuhao has brought back should be accurate. However, we don’t know to what extent the Heavenly Soul Empire is involved in the war. While the strength of the Heavenly Soul Empire isn’t comparable to the Star Luo Empire, they are still one of the three empires of the Douluo Continent. They also have a strong foundation, and the help of the Body Sect. Even if the Sun Moon Empire invades them, I reckon that the Heavenly Soul Empire should be able to hang on for some time. Currently, we should maintain the status quo as a means of dealing with all the changes around us. At the same time, we should speed up our own development, and try our best to obtain information from the frontline before we decide what to do.”

After hearing Elder Song’s words, many of the elders nodded their heads in approval.

Yan Shaozhe also said, “I agree with Elder Song’s opinion. After experiencing the beast tide earlier, the Academy has also been greatly affected. Although we’ve attracted many outstanding talents from the various empires of the continent to join us because of our Spirit Pagoda, we still need some time to consolidate everything. Given the Academy’s current situation, I also feel that we shouldn’t rush to get involved in the war. Personally, I feel that we should increase our focus on our Soul Tool Department and the Tang Sect. In addition, we should make it a priority to equip the Shrek City Defense Army and establish our own soul engineering legion.”

Chapter 430: Selection

“Yuhao has already described the importance of a soul engineer legion on a battleﬁeld. Shrek Academy doesn’t lack soul masters, but we lack high-tier soul tools. We need to put more effort into this aspect. At the same time, should we also contact the Great Star Dou Forest?”

Xian Lin’er’s eyes widened and she asked, “Regarding? Tell them that there’s an internal conﬂict between humans? So that they can exploit this opportunity?”

Yan Shaozhe furrowed his brow. If this were the past, he would have rebuked Xian Lin’er. However, he felt very guilty every time he saw her after they resisted the last beast tide. He opened his mouth, but didn’t manage to say anything.

Elder Xuan said, “Lin’er, what’s your suggestion then?”

Xian Lin’er replied, “I agree that we should increase our focus on the Tang Sect and developing the Soul Tool Department. I also agree that we should monitor the situation at the front line. However, we have to send capable people to

do these things. If we wait for the Heavenly Soul and Star Luo Empires to pass information to us, it’ll be too slow.

“At the same time, we have to intensify the training of the Shrek City Defense Army. The army is mainly divided into soul engineers and normal soldiers. After the Spirit Pagoda was constructed, we now have three thousand soul masters and soul engineers in the army. Among them, most are graduates that we’ve recalled from various places, as well as the original crew of soldiers. There are also a few strong soul masters that came from different empires. I believe that we should intensify their training and equip them with soul tools so that they’ll be prepared to support the front line.”

“Yes.” Elder Xuan nodded his head and looked at Bei Bei before saying, “Bei Bei, how’s the production of soul tools in the Tang Sect? Especially Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons and All-Terrain forts, as well as more advanced soul tools.”

Bei Bei said, “We’ve been developing very smoothly with the resources of the Academy and other empires. We’ve managed to deploy soul engineers in the Shrek City Defense Army to help in simple soul tool production. At the same time, we’ve also increased their knowledge of soul tools and taught them how to better use soul tools, among other things.”

Elder Xuan said, “If we enter the war now, how many packages of soul tools can the Tang Sect provide?”

Bei Bei thought for a moment before replying, “If you’re talking about fully equipping the soldiers, I think we’re able to fully equip two hundred soul engineers right now, which is our current limit. This includes Self-Driving Forts and human- shaped soul tools, as well as some accessory stuff, surveillance soul tools, etc. We can form a small legion. If we maximize our production and training, I believe we can equip ﬁve hundred people within three months.”

Elder Song furrowed her brow and commented, “Only ﬁve hundred people? That seems too little. Why did I have the impression that the Tang Sect’s Self-Driving Forts could already arm hundreds of people? It’s already been so long, but only so few people can be armed?”

Bei Bei said, “Elder Song, arming the soldiers now is different from before. We need to fully equip them. Teacher Xuan will be the one customizing the class of soul tools that our soldiers will be equipped with, and it’s deﬁnitely not inferior to the standard of the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions. Given Shrek City’s ﬁnancial strength and the

support of the other three empires, this is the speed that we can proceed with. If we go any faster, we can’t ensure the quality of the soul tools produced. In addition, we must try our best to tap into the advantages of this legion we’re arming. I believe that we should equip the strongest soul masters, and not soul engineers. Through countless experiments, we’ve discovered that what Yuhao said was right. Asking soul masters to use soul tools is in fact better than asking pure soul engineers to use soul tools. After all, they just need to learn how to use soul tools to complement their martial souls. In many instances, this can bring about unexpected results.

“For example, Yuhao is able to use his Spirit Eyes to aim, which allows him to be more adept at using long-range soul tools. Positioning and ﬁring are his strengths. That’s why we can’t just teach this batch of soul masters how to use soul tools as we nurture them. At the same time, we must equip them with soul tools that are most suitable for them. This will require more time. As for Self-Driving Forts, they don’t suit this legion we’re trying to form. They are more useful for city defense, as well as group attacks and defense. We’ll continue to produce them, but we won’t equip this legion with self-driving forts.”

After hearing Bei Bei’s explanation, Xian Lin’er’s eyes brightened. “Does this mean that you have a brand new

concept for this legion? How about counting me in?”

Bei Bei laughed bitterly. “We’d also like someone as strong as you to join. However, the problem is that we can only equip Soul Emperors, given the quantity of soul tools that we’re trying to produce. If we let more advanced soul masters use our soul tools, I’m afraid the soul tools will not be strong enough. However, Teacher Xuan has also started producing Class 9 soul tools. After receiving the full support of the Academy, his cultivation is getting closer and closer to a Titled Douluo.”

The Sun Moon Empire had medicine that could increase one’s soul power. How could Shrek Academy not possess such stuff, too? In terms of martial soul research, Shrek Academy had thousands of years of experience and accumulation. Many sects, academies and empires couldn’t compare to Shrek Academy in this area.

It was just that Shrek Academy didn’t encourage using medicine to increase one’s soul power. Using medicine restricted the future development of a soul master. He wouldn’t be able to become a Transcendent Douluo in the future.

However, it was already almost impossible for Xuan Ziwen to become a Transcendent Douluo, anyway. Part of his cultivation was achieved through medicinal help when he was still in the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, so it didn’t matter to him anymore. Through the medicine that Shrek Academy had specially customized and concocted for him, his soul power had achieved an increase, and he was now at Rank

89.

Given his importance, Qian Duoduo and Xian Lin’er would often accompany him during his research, and learned a lot from him. They were partly there to protect him, and also taught him about the principles of cultivation that some soul masters in Shrek Academy had adopted.

If Xuan Ziwen could become a Titled Douluo, it would be very signiﬁcant to Shrek Academy. Xuan Ziwen’s foundation already gave him the potential to be a Class 9 soul engineer. If his cultivation continued to increase, his class as a soul engineer would also rise. When that happened, there would ﬁnally be a Class 9 soul engineer that belonged to the Douluo Continent. This was extremely important to the future development of Shrek Academy’s soul tools!

Xuan Ziwen was deﬁnitely the busiest man in Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect. Not only did he have to create his own soul tools, but he also had to come up with a syllabus to teach the students. At the same time, he controlled the entire Soul Tool Hall. He was extremely busy, but he enjoyed this feeling. He was already a workaholic. Here, he was the core of all resources. Whatever he wanted, the Academy would do their

best to satisfy. It was much better compared to when he was in the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, where he was supervised all the time!

Xian Lin’er laughed, “After hearing you, I’m becoming more and more curious. This soul engineer legion should have a name, right? Elder Xuan, why don’t you give it a name?”

Elder Xuan laughed slightly and replied, “Let’s call it the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion. We’ll name it after the Tang Sect.”

Bei Bei and Huo Yuhao were both stunned. Bei Bei hurriedly said, “Elder Xuan, how can you do this? Our soul engineer legion completely relies on the support and resources of the Academy. The name of the soul engineer legion should be related to the Academy. How can we use the Tang Sect to name it?”

Elder Xuan smiled as he shook his head and replied, “A name is just a designation. As long as you can give this soul engineer legion extremely great ﬁghting strength, it doesn’t matter what it’s called. Furthermore, the Tang Sect has also poured in a lot of effort to build this soul engineer legion. Although we provided the resources, you are the ones doing all the work, especially Teacher Xuan. His inﬂuence on this soul engineer legion is something we can’t replicate. Don’t be too bothered about this. Let’s just call it the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion. It’s a simple name, but let’s hope it’ll exist forever. In the future, we’ll depend on all of you to turn the tide.”

Bei Bei and Huo Yuhao looked at each other, and neither of them continued to say anything. However, both of them subconsciously clenched their ﬁsts. The Tang Sect had only managed to progress so quickly with the support of the Academy. When Shrek City was fully constructed, and the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion was fully established, the Tang Sect would ﬁnally be able to compare to some of the bigger sects.

There was a deep signiﬁcance behind Elder Xuan’s decision to name this soul engineer legion after the Tang Sect. This meant that he was passing the authority over this soul

engineer legion to the Tang Sect. His trust in them was invaluable!

Elder Xuan looked at Xian Lin’er and Qian Duoduo before saying, “I think we can pass the Ultimate Soldier Plan to them too, and they’ll be in charge of nurturing these soul masters in all aspects. Since the soul tools produced by the Tang Sect can equip Soul Emperors, we should start picking Soul Emperors out. I don’t think we’ll really need ﬁve hundred people. Quality trumps quantity. Let’s use all the Soul Emperors we’ve got, and start from the inner courtyard. After that, we’ll start choosing from the army.

“This is the Academy’s decision. Whoever is unwilling to listen to orders will be punished according to the Academy’s rules. If soul masters from the other three empires are willing to join, they must ﬁrst sign a pact with the Academy, and they’ll need to undergo a series of tests ﬁrst. Lin’er, Duoduo, the two of you will be in charge of this matter. Shaozhe, coordinate with them, too. Send some teachers to the Tang Sect to help them train this soul engineer legion. If I remember correctly, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legions seem to only consist of Soul Kings. They aren’t even real soul masters. Since we’re going all-out, we must nurture a soul engineer legion that surpasses theirs!”

There was a determined look on Elder Xuan’s face as he spoke.

The Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions had already revealed their strength in the war. , They couldn’t rely on traditional methods against such legions anymore. It was only possible to overcome them by unleashing the potential of soul engineers.

Another series of strategies were discussed before Elder Xuan dismissed the conference. Bei Bei and a few deans left together. They needed to get busy preparing for the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion’s formation. Elder Xuan kept Huo Yuhao behind.

“Yuhao, I’m afraid that you’ll need to return to the front line. You aren’t just the only Ultimate Soldier nurtured by the Academy, you also have immense spiritual detection abilities. Although it’s dangerous, no one can compare to you in terms of your surveillance skills. It’s because of your timely discovery that the Star Luo Empire was able to uncover the Sun Moon Empire’s scheme. Return to the Star Luo Empire and continue

to aid them. At the same time, get some of the Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance soul tools if possible. They will be very important to our future. I have discussed this matter with Teacher Xuan before. He said that producing surveillance soul tools requires a lot of special and rare metals. Only the Sun

Moon Empire produces them, especially aerial surveillance soul tools. Can you bring some of them back?”

Huo Yuhao nodded and replied, “I’ll try my best.”

“You must be careful.” Elder Xuan said with a serious look, “I’m afraid that the strength of that Death God's Ray is something even I can’t bear. I’d be seriously hurt if I was the one resisting it. However, the person unleashing such a powerful attack deﬁnitely has to pay a huge price for it. It doesn’t just operate based on soul power, it also involves a fusion of spiritual power. Its strength can even exceed an attack from an Ultimate Douluo. If you have the opportunity, you must uncover the secret of this Death God so that it’s more convenient for us to deal with it in the future. Otherwise, I don’t know how many lives from the Star Luo Empire will be lost before we can tackle it.”

Huo Yuhao nodded seriously. Just like Elder Xuan had mentioned, the entire Star Luo Empire, and even the other

empires of the Douluo Continent, would be greatly threatened in the future if this Death God couldn’t be handled!

Many lives would be lost because of the terrifying strength it possessed! Furthermore, higher-end combat strength would be needed. An ordinary attack wasn’t sufﬁcient to allow the Sun Moon Empire to ﬁre such a powerful soul tool.

Elder Xuan said, “Go back and discuss things with Teacher Xuan. Although the production method of such a soul tool is very mysterious, there are deﬁnitely ways to ﬁnd out how it was made.

“Oh yes, the Academy will also send a few people to follow you to the front line this time. Otherwise, your powers won’t be sufﬁcient. Furthermore, it’s not very appropriate for you to remain there using the identity of a normal soldier. The Academy will produce a document which will recommend the few of you meet the marshal of the Star Luo Empire’s Northwestern Field Army, the White Tiger Duke. All of you will coordinate with him. You’re from the Star Luo Empire. It’s ﬁne if you undertake a military role.”

Huo Yuhao’s eyes brightened and he said, “Elder Xuan, do you mean that we’ll start aiding the Star Luo Empire now?”

Elder Xuan shook his head and replied, “I don’t consider it to be aiding them. We still can’t touch the higher-end combat strength of the Academy, because the Heavenly Soul Empire might be attacked by the Sun Moon Empire. At this time, the Academy can’t incline itself towards either the Star Luo or Heavenly Soul Empire. Otherwise, tongues will wag. As a result, those who are following you this time will be mostly from the Tang Sect. In my opinion, Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan should follow you. They aren’t that useful when it comes to soul tools, anyway. He Caitou should remain here. Given that Xiao Xiao is so close to He Caitou, she can remain here too. I’ll not touch Bei Bei, so you can choose one more person from the Tang Sect, and the Academy will send one person as well. What do you think about Tang Wutong?”

When Elder Xuan ﬁnished speaking, there was already a smiling intent on his face.

Huo Yuhao was stunned, and revealed a surprised look on his face. In fact, he was also very conﬂicted. When Elder Xuan said that he should return to the front line, the ﬁrst feeling that he had was that he was unwilling to do so. There was only one

reason… Tang Wutong! It didn’t matter whether Tang Wutong had anything to do with Wang Dong’er and Wang Qiu’er. Her appearance already left Huo Yuhao very conﬂicted. He was willing to pay any price to remain here. If Tang Wutong was Wang Dong’er, he had to try his best to help her to regain her

memories. If she wasn’t, he still had to at least interact with her to be certain.

He was in a much better mood when Elder Xuan said he was going to send Tang Wutong to the front lines. He hesitated a little before saying, “But didn’t she apply to be a teacher in the Academy? Will there be any problems if she follows us?”

Elder Xuan smiled and shook his head. He said, “Don’t worry, she isn’t just here to apply for a teaching role. She also wants to apply for a position in the Shrek Guardians. The Academy will use this opportunity to test her, and I’m going to use the excuse that you’re the chief examiner, so she’ll follow your orders. She’s also a Soul Sage, and her abilities aren’t weak. Didn’t you experience them before? As for the sparks that could potentially form between the two of you, and whether she really has lost her memories, that’ll depend on your own efforts to ﬁnd out. You are so outstanding. Even if Tang Wutong isn’t the same person as Wang Dong’er, I believe you can still successfully chase her.”

Huo Yuhao’s eyes turned a bit dimmer, and he shook his head. He said, “Why would I chase her if she’s not Dong’er? But I believe she is! Thanks, Elder Xuan.” As he spoke, he took a step back before bowing seriously to Elder Xuan.

Elder Xuan smiled and said, “Silly kid, the Academy will always be your strongest backer, no matter what. Go now. I’ll talk to her immediately. Rest for a day and return to the Tang Sect to choose your people. Tomorrow morning, return here, and take her along with you.”

After leaving the Sea God’s Pavilion, Huo Yuhao bowed towards the Golden Tree once again before he ﬂew across Sea God’s Lake and left the Academy. He rushed towards the Tang Sect.

Right now, he was feeling very complex. He was excited, delighted, and even a little uncomfortable. He was most afraid of ﬁnding out that Tang Wutong and Wang Dong’er weren’t the same person. If that was the case, all his hopes would be dashed.

If this were the past, he certainly wouldn’t be so nervous about everything. After all, Tang Wutong and Wang Dong’er

were simply too alike. However, things were different now. Given there was also a Wang Qiu’er, he was unsure whether Tang Wutong was Wang Dong’er. He had to ﬁnd out everything for himself.

------

He quickly returned to the Tang Sect with these feelings. Bei Bei, who had returned to the sect earlier, had already informed everyone, and they were all waiting for Huo Yuhao in the Conference Hall.

“Little junior!” He Caitou was the ﬁrst to rush up and gave Huo Yuhao a big hug. Xu Sanshi was next.

When Huo Yuhao opened his arms towards Jiang Nannan and Xiao Xiao, he was stopped by the both of them.

Xu Sanshi ﬁercely asked, “Rascal, what are you trying to do?”

Huo Yuhao chuckled and said, “Of course I’m trying to get closer to my senior sisters! It took me so long before I returned.

I must treat everyone the same way, right?”

“Don’t even think about it!” Xu Sanshi and He Caitou said at almost the same time. Everyone was so amused that they burst out laughing.

Huo Yuhao was a little annoyed as he shrugged his shoulders and said, “Alright, I won’t hug them.”

Xu Sanshi also relaxed his grip on Huo Yuhao and touched him lightly before saying, “Little junior, you should know about Tang Wutong, right? She’s too much like to Dong’er. What’s going on? First, it’s Dong’er. Then, it’s Qiu’er. Now we have a Tang Wutong. Don’t tell me they’re triplets?”

When he said the word ‘triplets’, his eyes immediately brightened.

“Aiyo!” Xu Sanshi screamed immediately after that. One of his ears was already being pulled by a delicate hand. Jiang Nannan said ﬁercely, “What are you thinking of? Triplets? You’re even salivating. Hmph!”

Xu Sanshi hurriedly laughed, “I wouldn’t dare, I wouldn’t dare! Don’t even talk about triplets. Even if there were ten of them, they couldn’t compare to my Nannan! Yuhao, look at you. The moment you return, you cause an internal conﬂict in my family.”

Everyone laughed again. Huo Yuhao smiled as he said, “This has nothing to do with me. It’s your own problem.” He paused for a moment before saying, “As for Tang Wutong, I don’t know if she’s Dong’er. However, I believe that I’ll be able to tell if I interact with her more.”

Xu Sanshi said, “Good luck, little junior. Whether she is or she’s not, just get it done ﬁrst. Anyway, guys will never be at a disadvantage.”

“Are you itching for a beating again?” Jiang Nannan shouted and pulled him to one side.

Huo Yuhao was a little helpless as he shook his head.

Bei Bei smiled and asked, “Little junior, are you leaving again after returning?”

Huo Yuhao nodded and replied, “I’ll be leaving tomorrow. Elder Xuan held me back to tell me that he wanted me to help the Star Luo Empire’s military do some surveillance work. At the same time, he wants me to obtain some aerial surveillance soul tools. Oh yes, I brought one back this time. I’ll send it to Teacher Xuan later.”

Bei Bei furrowed his brow and said, “Little junior, you are always running about so much. Won’t it delay your cultivation? Furthermore, the frontline is so dangerous. What if the Death God's Ray that you were talking about…”

Huo Yuhao replied, “I’m not really that afraid of the Death God's Ray. Ever since Qiu’er sacriﬁced herself, I took over her power of destiny. Before the Death God's Ray appears, I’ll deﬁnitely have some kind of premonition. That transcendent soul tool isn’t much of a threat to me, I’ll be ﬁne as long as I don’t get close to it.

“According to my observations, the effective range of the Death God's Ray is around ﬁve thousand meters. The most frightening part about it is that it doesn’t just target one spot. It can perform a sweep, which makes the area that it covers much wider. There’s another mission that I have to perform

when I go to the front line this time: ﬁnd out as much as I can about the Death God's Ray! I’m supposed to ﬁnd out what happens when it’s ﬁred, and what kind of destruction it brings.”

Bei Bei was shocked, and blurted out, “Little junior, that Death God’s Ray is used by the Death God Douluo! He’s very mysterious. This mission is going to be very difﬁcult. No, I must talk to Elder Xuan. How can he let you do something like this?”

Huo Yuhao hurriedly said, “Eldest senior, don’t be anxious. Elder Xuan didn’t force me to go on this mission. He told me that I could explore further if I had the opportunity to. Furthermore, I have my Spiritual Detection! My Spiritual Detection can cover a greater distance than that Death God’s Ray. It wouldn’t be too much of a problem for me to examine it from a distance. If I can’t win, I can still ﬂee. In addition, Elder Xuan also asked me to bring a few people along with me this time. I can choose from the Tang Sect’s members.”

He recounted everything that Elder Xuan had told him to the others.

Bei Bei didn’t say anything, but Xu Sanshi was already jumping in excitement. “This is great! I can ﬁnally leave Shrek City! Little junior, you don’t know how bored I’ve been. I’ve

been helping Bei Bei deal with all types of matters in the Tang Sect over these past few days. It’s been extremely annoying. It’ll be great to step onto a battleﬁeld. This is set, Nannan and I will follow you. Oh yes, my soul power is at Rank 70 already. Can you help me get a Spirit when we return? Nannan’s soul power is also almost at that stage too. I want a nice and smart Spirit. Oh, seven rings is just suitable.”

Huo Yuhao was stunned when he looked at Xu Sanshi. Everyone’s abilities had been growing very quickly. He then turned to look at Bei Bei and asked, “Eldest senior, what about you?”

Bei Bei smiled as he nodded and said, “I’m at around the same level as him. I’ll need a Spirit soon, too. If you don’t return again, we’ll have to go to the Spirit Pagoda. Of course, we’ll have to wait for Nannan. Caitou is also at Rank 70.”

After passing the tests in the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley, everyone’s soul power had improved by leaps and bounds. Apart from Xiao Xiao, they were all at the Rank 70 bottleneck.

Huo Yuhao said, “Why don’t we enter the Great Star Dou Forest directly and ask for suitable soul beasts as Spirits? That

would be the most effective solution.”

Xu Sanshi chuckled as he answered, “It’ll deﬁnitely be the most effective if you lead us in. Those savage beasts treat you like a gem.”

Jiang Nannan knocked his head and said, “Can you speak more nicely? What gem? Huo Yuhao is now the one controlling the destiny of the entire Great Star Dou Forest.”

Huo Yuhao thought for a moment before replying, “Since this is the case, let’s leave in two days. We’ll go to the Great Star Dou Forest tomorrow. Xiao Xiao, how far off are you?”

Xiao Xiao was a little depressed as she answered, “Three ranks. I’m at Rank 67 now.”

Huo Yuhao laughed. “Don’t be depressed. At our age, we’re already considered some of the best on the continent with our current soul power. If you continue being depressed, the other soul masters are better off being dead. Don’t worry, I’ll return soon. Once you reach Rank 70, don’t be too impatient to obtain

another soul ring. Wait for me to come back, and we’ll help you get one.”

He turned to Bei Bei and asked, “Oh yes, eldest senior, I forgot one more thing. What about our two Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bears?”

Bei Bei replied, “They’re in the outer courtyard. Speaking of those two fellows, they are almost bankrupting our sect with the amount of food that they eat. They eat everything, and the amount of food that they eat is almost equivalent to the total amount of food that all of us consume. It hasn’t even been two years, but the two of them are already more than two meters tall. Their claws are also very destructive, no construction material is able to resist the strength of their claws!

“The last time, Big Blackie even secretly ate the medicine that the Academy gave to Teacher Xuan. But that fellow is quite interesting. He gave some of the medicine that he stole to Lil Blackie. After eating the medicine, the two of them became much more obedient, and fell asleep for a few days. However, their appetite became even more voracious after they woke up. We are slowly becoming unable to feed them anymore. If we can’t feed them, we’ll have to release them back into the Great Star Dou Forest.”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “We can’t send them back. The blood lineage of Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bears is too strong. They are the enemies of almost all soul beasts. They are still so small now. If we send them back now, they’ll deﬁnitely be attacked. We’ll be harming them. How’s their relationship with everyone right now?”

Jiang Nannan laughed, “It’s great. The two of them deliberately act cute all the time. They make everyone very happy.”

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “That’s great. Eldest senior, what do you think if we send both of them to the Setting Sun Forest?”

“Setting Sun Forest? You’re saying?” Bei Bei suddenly thought of something, and exchanged a glance with Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “The development of soul beasts is greatly tied to their energy intake. That place is most suitable for them. Since the Sun Moon Empire started this war, and things are getting more and more chaotic, the Tang Sect

also needs a stronger force to be protected by. If we let them remain there for some time, I believe they’ll grow even faster.”

Bei Bei hesitated a little. “Will it be too much?”

Huo Yuhao replied, “Nothing will happen to them. Many of the plant-type soul beasts there are ten-thousand year soul beasts. They’ll be strong enough to restrain them. With us around, those plant-type soul beasts won’t dare to do anything to them, either. Let’s just leave them there. There aren’t any other soul beasts or natural enemies of Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bears in the Setting Sun Forest anyway. It’s the most suitable place for them.”

Bei Bei said, “Since this is the case, let’s do it. I’ll make a trip later and send them there.”

Huo Yuhao said, “Eldest senior, the poison over there is lethal, you…”

Bei Bei said, “Don’t worry, Teacher Xuan’s newly-invented protective barrier for Class 7 All-Terrain Self-Driving Forts will be able to protect me. With my previous experience, I’ll be ﬁne

as long as I’m careful. It’s enough as long as I can ﬂy across the mountain valley with my Self-Driving Fort.”

Huo Yuhao was stunned. “Self-Driving Forts can ﬂy now?”

Everyone laughed when they heard him ask that. He Caitou chuckled and said, “Of course they can ﬂy. Furthermore, we even gave them an apt name… Flying Pigs!”

Huo Yuhao was speechless. Calling them Flying Pigs is indeed very apt. All-Terrain Self-Driving Forts are very round. If they ﬂy in the air, they will indeed seem like pigs. It’s just that if Teacher Xuan learns about this nickname…

Xiao Xiao laughed, “Alright, Yuhao just came back. Let’s not talk about that, let’s eat ﬁrst. I’ll go to the kitchen to take a look.”

Everyone sat down around a table. Not only was this a place for them to hold meetings, but it was also a place for them to dine together.

Bei Bei looked at Huo Yuhao and asked, “Yuhao, who are you thinking of bringing along with you? Apart from Sanshi and Nannan?”

“Me, me too!” Before he even ﬁnished speaking, a voice already sounded eagerly. When Huo Yuhao turned his head to look, he saw Nan Qiuqiu sitting somewhere further away. She stretched out her hands with all her strength and looked very impatient.

Huo Yuhao shook his head speechlessly and said, “I wouldn’t dare to bring you along. You can remain in the Tang Sect.”

Nan Qiuqiu was displeased. “Why? Am I that weak? I’m a six- ringed Soul Emperor. Bring me along.”

Ye Guyi, who was sitting beside her, said, “I want to go, too. We’ll listen to your instructions when we are performing missions.”

The two of them looked at Huo Yuhao and seemed very eager. They had been cultivating in the Tang Sect since the beast tide. They couldn’t help out much in terms of the Tang

Sect’s daily matters. They were both young ladies, and thus they were very bored as time passed. Huo Yuhao was about to go on another mission after returning this time, and they were extremely eager as they volunteered themselves. As for whatever other intentions they harbored, only they themselves

knew.

Huo Yuhao furrowed his brow. In terms of abilities, Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi were rather good. They were both Soul Emperors now, and their martial souls were very special. Nan Qiuqiu’s martial soul was of the Annihilation Element, while Ye Guyi’s martial soul was of the Holy Element. They were both very effective at dealing with evil soul masters. Naturally, it would be great if they could tag along. However, the two of them weren’t like the rest of them in the Tang Sect. It was very possible for them to get themselves into trouble. Under such circumstances, Huo Yuhao didn’t know whether it was a good idea to bring them along.

Bei Bei said from one side, “Just bring them along. It’ll be beneﬁcial for them if they can venture outside. However, Qiuqiu and Guyi, I have something that I have to say to the both of you.”

Bei Bei turned serious and said, “This mission isn’t an ordinary one. It concerns your lives. The both of you must think about it carefully. At the same time, you must listen to Yuhao’s instructions outside. Otherwise, the Tang Sect won’t be able to keep you. I hope you understand what I’m saying.”

Nan Qiuqiu ﬂattened her lips. She wanted to say that he was biased, but she didn’t dare to. Ye Guyi tugged her slightly and nodded. She said seriously, “Eldest senior, don’t worry. We’ll deﬁnitely listen to Huo Yuhao’s arrangements when we’re outside. We won’t make trouble for him.”

Bei Bei’s expression turned much friendlier, and he replied, “That’s great!”

“We want to go too.” Jing Ziyan, who was sitting to one side, raised her hand. She also tugged at Ji Juechen, who was beside her. Ji Juechen nodded strongly.

Huo Yuhao was much less worried about the two of them. He smiled and said, “Great! Brother Ji and Sister Ziyan, come along too. However, eldest senior, I’m going to take so many people with me. What about things over here…”

Bei Bei smiled and said, “Things will be ﬁne here. The few of them won’t be able to help me much even if they remain here. I won’t have to be so worried if Brother Ji leaves.”

Ji Juechen didn’t have any expression on his face even after Bei Bei mocked him. He only looked at Huo Yuhao seriously. Even though he didn’t say anything, Huo Yuhao could roughly guess what he was thinking. He sighed helplessly. He wasn’t against sparring with Ji Juechen. Someone like Ji Juechen putting pressure on him was actually very beneﬁcial to his cultivation.

Bei Bei nodded and said, “This is it, then. Sanshi, Nannan, Ziyan, Brother Ji, Qiuqiu and Guyi, all of you will follow Yuhao to the Star Luo Empire’s front line. He will be the one commanding all of you on this mission. You must all listen to his instructions. Tomorrow, we’ll follow him into the Great Star Dou Forest ﬁrst, before you all set off. Yuhao, do you have anything to add?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head.

Chapter 431: She's Dong'er!

Bei Bei said, “That’s just ﬁne. It’s better for you guys to wait one more day before you leave. After we ﬁnish our meal, you’ll follow me to look for Teacher Xuan. The Tang Sect’s ﬁrst batch of custom-made soul tools will be given to you guys, and I trust that they should be quite useful for your operation.”

“Alright!” Huo Yuhao agreed. He wanted to look for Xuan Ziwen anyway. After experiencing the ﬁghting strength of the Sun Moon Emipre’s soul engineer legions, he had many questions regarding soul tools that he wanted to ask Teacher Xuan.

Nan Qiuqiu suddenly said, “Yuhao, my mother asked me to tell you that you have to personally check out the place that we spoke about when you come back.”

“Eh?” Huo Yuhao was blank for a moment. He contemplated for a moment before remembering that Nan Shuishui did mention something before. She wanted to cooperate closely with the Tang Sect, and she wanted him to check out some place. That place should be where there were exotic entities of Ultimate Ice.

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “I’d have forgotten about that if you didn’t remind me. However, we don’t have much time right now. We’ll check out that place after we complete our reconnaissance duties.”

Nan Qiuqiu said, “Why don’t we take a detour? My house is in the Heavenly Soul Empire’s territory, and it’s not that far from the Academy. We’ll need four to six hours to reach it, at most, if we use ﬂying-type soul tools. After visiting the Great Star Dou Forest tomorrow, we’ll take a detour to my house, and then we’ll travel to the Star Luo Empire. My mother says that place should be very beneﬁcial for you.”

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “Alright, then. Has your mother returned?”

Nan Qiuqiu shook her head in reply. “My mother is in the city right now. The Earthdragon Sect has moved over here, and we haven’t ﬁnished transporting everything. After you check that place out, and if you can take everything out from it, then we will ﬁnish moving into Shrek City. The Earthdragon Sect has already established close connections with the Tang Sect.”

Bei Bei chimed in, “Yes. Senior Nan Shuishui is very courteous, and she’s given us a lot of rare metals.”

It turned out that the Earthdragon Sect’s previous leader had seen a business opportunity in rare metals back in the day, and had hoarded a large amount of rare metals for the Earthdragon Sect. This time, after the Earthdragon Sect moved to Shrek Academy, those rare metals were given to the Tang Sect to purchase on credit, established a close cooperation with the Tang Sect.

Furthermore, Nan Shuishui announced that they didn’t have to pay this debt for now. As long as someone in the Tang Sect married Nan Qiuqiu, then those rare metals would be Nan Qiuqiu’s dowry. That was a very extravagant and valuable dowry!

Nan Shuishui naturally hoped that Nan Qiuqiu could follow Bei Bei or Huo Yuhao, but that was obviously quite unrealistic for now. However, even if Nan Qiuqiu couldn’t marry either of them, there were many outstanding individuals within the Tang Sect. Nan Shuishui had already decided to take their cooperation with the Tang Sect one step further when she chose to move the Earthdragon Sect into Shrek City. Leaning

on the Tang Sect was undoubtedly very beneﬁcial for the Earthdragon Sect’s development.

Reality had proved that her decision was correct. The Tang Sect took large amounts of rare metals from the Earthdragon Sect, but the Tang Sect also helped the Earthdragon Sect lay down solid and stable foundations inside Shrek City. The Earthdragon Sect managed to acquire quite a spacious area in Shrek City with the Tang Sect’s help, and this place was also relatively distant from the Great Star Dou Forest Region. This area was used to re-establish the Earthdragon Sect, and this land was also very cheap... which meant that it was almost given to them for free.

At the same time, because of the Earthdragon Sect’s intimate relationship with the Tang Sect, they also received support from Shrek Academy. This meant the Earthdragon Sect’s move into Shrek City naturally became extremely smooth.

The construction of Shrek’s new city meant Shrek City was now more than ﬁve times larger than before, and the city was likely to continue expanding, as well. With Shrek City’s current location, and the addition of the Spirit Pagoda, their future development was limitless.

The Earthdragon and the Tang Sects’ intimate relationship also meant that the Earthdragon Sect’s youngsters would also have priority in obtaining spirits. This was a great thing that was absolutely mutually beneﬁcial. Therefore, Nan Shuishui was very satisﬁed and felt that she had accomplished her goals. She only hoped that Nan Qiuqiu could ﬁnd a great husband inside the Tang Sect, and she would use this marriage as a way to further strengthen the cooperation between their sects. That would make their relationship even more perfect.

---

Everyone enjoyed dinner in a jovial mood, and Bei Bei even made an exception and allowed everyone to have some wine. Huo Yuhao went directly to the Tang Sect’s Soul Tool Hall after dinner, and stayed with Xuan Ziwen for the entire night. Only they knew what they discussed. Huo Yuhao left some things with Xuan Ziwen, and also took some other things with him when he left.

---

The next morning, Huo Yuhao gathered his compatriots, and they departed as a group for Shrek Academy.

He had already arranged things with Elder Xuan, but if they wanted to go into the Great Star Dou Forest, they would still have to inform Elder Xuan ﬁrst.

The Tang Sect’s company had quite a few people. Everyone but Wang Dong’er from the Shrek’s Seven Monsters was present, and in addition to Nan Qiuqiu, Ye Guyi, Ji Juechen, and Jing Ziyan, there were ten people altogether.

They deliberately waited until morning lessons started in the Academy before they went over. Otherwise, with the Tang Sect’s current reputation, they would attract everyone’s attention once they entered the Academy grounds.

The Sea God’s Lake’s waters sparkled and rippled. It was as clear and limpid as it had always been, and the smell that was so familiar and new at the same time refreshed Huo Yuhao, who hadn’t slept for the entire night.

Huo Yuhao had had a long discussion with Xuan Ziwen last night. He told teacher Xuan everything that he had heard and seen, while Xuan Ziwen gave him an even deeper explanation into what he knew regarding the Death God. Huo Yuhao had

been thinking at a high degree continuously, and even for someone like him who had such formidable spiritual power, he still felt a little exhausted. As for Xuan Ziwen, he fell asleep right after Huo Yuhao left, and he probably would only wake up that night.

Huo Yuhao tapped lightly on the ground with his foot and drifted across the Sea God’s Lake. He was already a Soul Sage, but he didn’t choose ﬂight. Instead, he opted for what he did back during the Sea God’s Fate, and a small patch of ice would form beneath his feet from his soul power of Ultimate Ice whenever his foot touched the lake’s surface, supporting his steps.

Xu Sanshi followed behind him. He was very opportunistic, and just followed in Huo Yuhao’s footsteps. He didn’t have to release any soul power at all, and just stepped on the ice blocks that Huo Yuhao had created.

The Sea God’s Island came into view after over ten leaps. A pretty ﬁgure was standing on the lakeshore in the distance, gazing in their direction.

This girl’s long pinkish-blue hair was tied into scorpion braids, and her hair dangled in front of her as she ﬁddled with the ends of it. Her large, beautiful eyes seemed like they could talk as she stared at the people leaping across the lake. She was clad in a white warrior robe, which brought out her slender and exquisite ﬁgure. Her lips were rosy and alluring, and she was so brilliant that the morning sun covered her in a layer of golden radiance.

Huo Yuhao immediately felt a little dazed when he saw her. He slipped a little on the ice block that his soul power had created on the lake’s surface, and immediately lost his balance.

This was entirely unimaginable for a Soul Sage, but it happened to Huo Yuhao at this moment.

Countless images surfaced and ﬂickered in his memory. Some scenes were of Wang Dong’er as he saw her for the ﬁrst time when he came to Shrek Academy, and some showed Dong’er’s attractiveness and brilliance when he ﬁrst saw her in girl’s clothing during the Sea God’s Fate right there on the Sea God’s Lake. Some other scenes in between contained his experiences when he ﬁrst became acquainted with her. Everything made him feel a little lost and dazed.

Huo Yuhao fell backwards, and his right foot slipped into the lakewater. Huo Yuhao only recovered when the lake’s ice-cold water rinsed the bottom of his foot, and he tapped on the lake’s surface lightly before jerking up and rising back into the sky. He hastily created another ice block where he descended before he managed to regain his balance.

However, Xu Sanshi had already arrived behind him when he lost his balance. Xu Sanshi was startled when Huo Yuhao fell backwards, and he hurriedly paused in midair.

Xu Sanshi was quite mischievous! Huo Yuhao could see Tang Wutong standing on the lakeshore, which meant that he could naturally see her, as well. Xu Sanshi’s six soul rings rose instantly, and his fourth soul ring lit up in the next moment as black light ﬂickered. Tang Wutong couldn’t even react on the lakeshore before she switched positions with Xu Sanshi.

Tang Wutong’s cultivation wasn’t low, but Xu Sanshi’s Mysterious Netherworld Displacement was way too sudden. This soul skill was powerful enough to be called a divine skill among Xu Sanshi’s many soul skills, and even Huo Yuhao had used his Spirit Eyes’ ﬁfth soul skill, Spiritual Duplication, to duplicate Mysterious Netherworld Displacement on several occasions.

Tang Wutong also seemed to be a little dazed when she saw Huo Yuhao bounding across the lake. Something in her mind seemed to have been triggered, and she was staring at Huo Yuhao’s stunned face at the same moment Xu Sanshi used Mysterious Netherworld Displacement on her.

Her vision blurred as her surroundings changed. Afterwards, she realized that she was standing on the lake’s surface, and couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise.

Huo Yuhao was still descending from the sky at this point. The exclamation that came from behind him was all too familiar, and he spun around in midair without hesitation. Coincidentally, he met Tang Wutong’s surprised expression as she was dropping into the water.

Huo Yuhao activated his left leg’s soul bone immediately. He was several meters away from Tang Wutong, but he arrived in front of her with Instant Teleportation. He grabbed her arms with both hands and stabilized her.

Their eyes met at that moment. Huo Yuhao’s eyes were full of longing and tenderness, and Tang Wutong’s startled eyes were

a little stunned when she saw them. She could feel those strong hands of his holding onto her arms, and for some reason, she felt very safe and secure, even though she was hovering above the lake’s surface.

A dash of cold ﬂowed into the lake, and they were standing on an ice block when they came down from the air.

Tang Wutong’s momentary daze disappeared, and she immediately frowned as she growled, “Release me!”

Huo Yuhao subconsciously released his hands. Tang Wutong glared at him furiously before she surged into the air and ﬂew straight for the lakeshore. She was also a Soul Sage, and she could ﬂy through the air with her soul power without releasing her martial soul.

Everyone else had stepped onto the Sea God’s Island by now. They watched as Tang Wutong ﬂew back to the lakeshore, and Xu Sanshi quickly hid behind Jiang Nannan’s back. “That was accidental. I made a mistake because I panicked. It was accidental!” Tang Wutong stared at Xu Sanshi with unfriendly eyes as she landed on the lakeshore.

“I will kill you if there’s a next time!” Tang Wutong said angrily, before turning and heading deeper into Sea God’s Island.

Huo Yuhao landed on the lakeshore immediately afterwards. He shook his feet, which had been soaked in the lake, and released his Ultimate Ice, turning the water into ice particles that drifted to the ground.

“Little junior brother...so, how was it? Did you discover anything from interacting at such a close distance?”

Huo Yuhao nodded lightly, and his eyes were ﬁlled with warmth and gratitude. “She’s Dong’er.”

Huo Yuhao uttered a few simple words, and everyone felt their hearts quiver. However, everyone felt differently. Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and the others were sincerely happy for Huo Yuhao, but Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi weren’t that excited about it.

“But she doesn’t remember us at all. How can you be sure that she’s Dong’er?” Xu Sanshi asked in surprise.

Huo Yuhao answered, “Even though Dong’er has lost her memory, her smell cannot change. Also, the tenderness of the muscles on her arms is exactly the same as before, and those are things that can’t be imitated. Back then, even though Qiu’er looked identical to Dong’er, they were different in these respects. Therefore, I can be sure that she’s Dong’er, and no matter how she has forgotten us, I will deﬁnitely help her regain her memory.”

Huo Yuhao’s eyes were ﬁlled with ﬁghting spirit and excitement. For him, Wang Dong’er losing her memory wasn’t frightening at all. Instead, he was afraid that Tang Wutong wasn’t Wang Dong’er in the ﬁrst place. If that was the case, no matter how similar the two of them looked, his heartstrings couldn’t be plucked at all.

Bei Bei hugged Huo Yuhao across his shoulders and said, “Let’s go. We’ll see Elder Xuan ﬁrst, and everything will be easy to deal with since we’ve identiﬁed her. Just tell us if you need us to help, and everyone will help you as much as we can.”

“Thank you, eldest senior brother.”

Everyone arrived at the Sea God’s Pavilion. The others waited outside, while Huo Yuhao paid his respects to the Golden Tree before he walked into the pavilion with Bei Bei.

Elder Xuan was already waiting inside the Sea God’s Pavilion. Tang Wutong was standing indignantly behind Elder Xuan, and immediately turned away when she saw Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao had given her quite a bad impression during their only two encounters. The ﬁrst time, Huo Yuhao suddenly hugged her, and the second time, they almost dropped into the water. He had touched her body both times, which was extremely humiliating to her. She would have hit back against him heavily if she hadn’t been at Shrek Academy.

“Elder Xuan.” Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei greeted Elder Xuan respectfully.

Elder Xuan smiled faintly as he tilted his head in response. “Are you ready, Yuhao? Why are you here too, Bei Bei?”

Bei Bei answered, “Elder Xuan, some of our martial souls have reached Rank 70, and we want little junior brother to bring us into the Great Star Dou Forest to search for appropriate soul beasts so that they can become our Spirits, and then we’ll let them leave. We have decided that Sanshi, Nannan, Ji Juechen, Jing Ziyan, Nan Qiuqiu, and Ye Guyi will follow Yuhao to the borders.”

Elder Xuan was delighted. “Both you and Sanshi are at Rank 70? That’s great, that’s great news! Is Nannan close to Rank 70, too?”

Bei Bei nodded and smiled. “Xiao Xiao is still a short distance away, but everyone else is at Rank 70.”

Elder Xuan said, “You guys can go to the forest ﬁrst, then. Look for the Emerald Swan at the Spirit Pagoda, and let her

make the necessary arrangements. I can rest assured knowing that Yuhao is personally contracting Spirits for you guys.”

Elder Xuan passed an envelope to Huo Yuhao as he spoke, who stepped forwards to receive it.

Elder Xuan said, “These are the documents that the Academy has provided for you as proof, and they will be effective once you ﬁll in your name. You can’t lose these documents, because they contains the Academy’s soul imprint, and you’ll have to give them to the White Tiger Duke personally. Dai Yueheng is serving with the White Tiger Duke, and he can help the two of you coordinate mutually.

“Yuhao, you have to remember that the battleﬁeld is very dynamic, and can change at any moment. But no matter what, you should have no problem protecting your own life with your abilities. Remember, don’t be impulsive and hasty when doing things, and personal safety is most important, whatever you do. Do you understand? At the same time, you can display the power of Spirits on the battleﬁeld, so that the Star Luo Empire can understand the Spirit Pagoda a little better.”

“Yes.” Huo Yuhao put the envelope away as if it were a valuable treasure. His identity would be different when he went back to the frontlines, and his original wish of rising through the ranks as a foot soldier couldn’t be completely realized, in the end. After all, how could he be like a normal person with the difference in his identity, status, and abilities?

“Wutong, let me introduce them all to you. This is Bei Bei, the leader of the Tang Sect, and a member of the Sea God’s Pavilion. He’s the leader of the current generation’s Shrek’s Seven monsters. This is Huo Yuhao, and he possesses an Ultimate martial soul, and also has twin martial souls. He’s also a member of the Sea God’s Pavilion.”

Tang Wutong’s expression immediately became ice-cold, especially when she was looking at Huo Yuhao.

“Wutong is a teacher that the Academy has just hired, and she’s also a reserve member of the Shrek Guardians at the same time. She will follow you for this operation, and this will also be a test for her. Yuhao will be responsible for scoring her in this assessment. Wutong, perhaps there have been some misunderstandings between the two of you, but I’m very sure of Yuhao’s character. He has made many important contributions to the Academy, and he’s also the youngest

member of the Sea God’s Pavilion. The two of you should talk more after this. You’re both youngsters, and I trust that any misunderstandings between you two can be easily resolved.” Elder Xuan’s voice and speech was as mild as a drizzle and as gentle as a breeze, but the amusement in his eyes couldn’t be concealed when he looked at Huo Yuhao.

Tang Wutong grunted and glared at Huo Yuhao before turning away.

Huo Yuhao wasn’t too concerned about that. He turned towards Elder Xuan and said, “Don’t worry, Elder Xuan, I’ll protect teacher Wutong.”

“Who needs your protection?” Tang Wutong interjected.

Huo Yuhao smiled faintly, but said nothing. He didn’t want to argue with her.

Elder Xuan said, “Then you guys can set off. Wutong, don’t you want to see how miraculous and mystical Spirits are? You can follow Yuhao and the others to take a look. It’s a pity you

already have your seventh soul ring. Otherwise, you could get yourself a Spirit along with everyone else.”

“Yes.” Tang Wutong was still very respectful towards Elder Xuan.

Bei Bei smiled and said, “We’ll be setting off immediately, Elder Xuan. Can Yuhao and the others go directly to the Star Luo Empire after we get our Spirits?”

Elder Xuan said, “Yes, they can do that. Yuhao, please pass back any news or intel as soon as possible.”

Bei Bei said, “Don’t worry, Elder Xuan. I will have the Tang Sect’s members maintain contact with Huo Yuhao from the beginning to the end. The Tang Sect has produced sound- transmitting soul tools that can reach a distance of roughly one hundred kilometers. As long as we send people as transit stations in between, we won’t need Huo Yuhao to run back and forth.”

Elder Xuan nodded and said, “You have to hurry on your side, the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion has to be established

as quickly as possible. Lin’er and Duoduo will gather people over the next few days.

“I will give you two pointers! First, you have to help them adjust and adapt to using soul tools as quickly as possible. Just as you’ve said in the conference at the Sea God’s Pavilion, they will unleash custom-made soul tools according to their varying martial souls. Second, you have to use our advantages as soul masters as much as possible, and we can’t weaken our own forces because we’re using soul tools.”

“Yes!” Bei Bei answered reverently.

Elder Xuan waved his hand and said, “Go, then. Wutong is new here, so you guys should take care of her.”

------

Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei walked in front as they left the Sea God’s Pavilion, and Tang Wutong followed behind.

Bei Bei turned towards Tang Wutong and said, “Teacher Wutong, let me introduce our companions to you.”

Tang Wutong’s expression was cold, and she said nothing. However, Bei Bei acted as if he didn’t see her expression and introduced everyone one by one, anyway. Tang Wutong couldn’t help but grunt out loud when Bei Bei introduced Xu Sanshi, and it was clear that she didn’t have a good impression of him. Tang Wutong’s expression only became a little more gentle when Bei Bei was introducing the girls.

“Let’s set off right now, then. Yuhao, are we going to the Spirit Pagoda directly? Or are we going to the Great Star Dou Forest?”

Huo Yuhao said, “Let’s go to the Spirit Pagoda ﬁrst. Even though the Spirit Pagoda has yet to be completed, the people from all incumbent parties have already moved in. The Emerald Swan has always been there to represent the Great Star Dou Forest, and it’s more convenient to ask her to ﬁnd suitable soul beasts for us.”

The Emerald Swan could be said to be one of the most sensible and reasonable soul beasts, and she was very

supportive of the Spirit Pagoda. Ever since the organization had been established, she had done quite a lot of work over on the soul beasts’ side.

------

They left the Academy and entered Shrek’s new city. They were no longer in the outskirts that used to be here.

After all the construction work that had been carried out over this period of time, and in addition to the immeasurable investments from various large trade associations and Shrek City itself, Shrek’s new city was starting to take shape. Construction sites were in full swing and buzzing with activity everywhere.

Bei Bei lamented, “After this new city is completely constructed, Shrek’s scale will be enough to compare with the capital cities of other empires. Even though we are still smaller in surface area than Radiant City, our position as the center of the Continent will be gradually consolidated in the future. In my opinion, the new city will be complete in only two or three years, at most.”

Huo Yuhao heaved a faint sigh and said, “There’s a precondition... that the new city isn’t laid to ruin by the ﬁres of war.”

Bei Bei glanced at him and said, “Little junior brother, you seem to be very pessimistic towards the Heavenly Soul Empire! They have the Body Sect’s support. Are they really that weak?”

Huo Yuhao forced a laugh and said, “It’s not that the Heavenly Soul Empire is weak, but that the Sun Moon Empire’s soul tools are too powerful. Once Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells appear on the battleﬁeld, at least for now, not a single force or entity can block or defend against them. Even Transcendent Douluo cannot possibly collide directly with those things. It’s hard to say how many Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells the Sun Moon Empire has in their arsenal, but I feel that they can’t have less than ten of them.

“When they were assaulting the Star Luo Empire, three Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells blew open a large gap in the Ming Dou Mountain Range. In terms of geographical and topographical advantages, the Heavenly Soul Empire is weaker than the Star Luo Empire, and if the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions appear on the battleﬁeld right now, they

might break through the Heavenly Soul Empire’s defenses like a hot knife through butter!”

Bei Bei nodded and said, “I understand. Don’t worry, we will assemble our soul engineer legion as quickly as possible. However, you’re also familiar with the Tang Sect’s circumstances. We have teacher Xuan for our mid-tier and low- tier soul tools, so our technology isn’t that much worse than the Sun Moon Empire’s. But in terms of high-level soul tools…”

Huo Yuhao tilted his head slightly and said, “I understand. Therefore, I will pay special attention to that when I go back to the frontlines. Teacher Xuan is very excited about the high altitude surveillance soul tool I passed to him yesterday.”

The truth was, teacher Xuan wasn’t just excited – his eyes had been sparkling as he exclaimed to Huo Yuhao, “The more the better!”

Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei continued discussing the continent’s situation and circumstances as they ﬂew along close to the ground towards the Spirit Pagoda.

The Spirit Pagoda was still undergoing construction, but the two bottommost layers had been completed. These two levels would be renovated into the Spirit Pagoda’s headquarters.

Just as Huo Yuhao had said, the Emerald Swan was the Great Star Dou Forest’s representative, and she had stationed herself here the entire time. Huo Yuhao told her what he was doing here, and received Bi Ji’s support.

Huo Yuhao was no longer just a human in Bi Ji’s eyes. Instead, he was the connecting dot that linked the humans and the world of soul beasts. Without his research, the Spirit Pagoda wouldn’t have appeared, and since he also possessed the power of destiny that he had obtained from the God Beast of Destiny, he was someone that all soul beasts would have to protect. Therefore, Bi Ji very readily agreed to help him search for suitable Spirits.

There were three people in his group that needed Spirits: Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and Jiang Nannan. Of the three of them, Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi had been at Rank 70 for quite some time, while Jiang Nannan had only broken through recently.

The Spirit Pagoda had been working ever since it had been established, but they kept the fusion of Spirits limited to a certain number. This was the plan that Huo Yuhao and Shrek Academy’s higher levels had put in place after some discussion back then.

The Great Star Dou Forest was vast, but many soul beasts had long lives, and there were very few soul beasts who were at the end of their lives and willing to become Spirits at the same time. For now, this number was still quite large, but failure rates were bound to climb if this fusion with Spirits was allowed to spread unchecked. Another important point was that if too many soul beasts that could become Spirits were used, and if supply couldn’t meet demand, then many soul masters would probably be unable to control themselves, and would start hunting and killing soul beasts again.

If they could control the number of Spirits transmitted and stabilize the process at the same time, soul masters who needed soul rings would always be hopeful. Under such circumstances, they would naturally suppress the desire in their hearts to kill soul beasts.

At the same time, the Great Star Dou Forest represented the soul beasts, and the forest pushed out Spirit fusion to the other

soul beast habitats. With the Great Star Dou Forest’s status in the world of soul beasts, there were at least a few soul beast habitats that were willing to try. The Spirit Pagoda could promote themselves at the same time, and reduce the pressure on the Great Star Dou Forest’s shoulders. This was the direction that they would develop towards in the future.

Of course, the Spirit Pagoda could never satisfy the demand for Spirits at the rate soul masters needed soul rings as of right now. They could only reduce these killings to a small extent. For these soul beasts, however, such circumstances already a lot better than before. The truth was, soul beasts weren’t that afraid of being hunted and killed. In the end, not all soul masters could enter and leave the great forest safely, and soul beasts could hunt and kill humans at the same time. As long as there weren’t too many soul beasts that were being hunted and killed, an ecological balance could still be maintained, and there wouldn’t be much of a problem.

Bi Ji left hurriedly after studying Bei Bei and the others’ martial souls. She personally went to search for soul beasts that were suitable for Bei Bei and the others due to how important Huo Yuhao was, and Huo Yuhao and the others temporarily remained in the Spirit Pagoda.

The ﬁrst batch of Spirit Masters that Huo Yuhao had personally trained came forward to greet him and talk to him when they found out that he was here. Some addressed him as “teacher”, and some addressed him as “Pagoda Master”. Huo Yuhao now had a title, and he was known as the Spirit Pagoda’s honorary Pagoda Master.

Tang Wutong had been watching coldly from one side. She didn’t talk to the others, and she put on a cold appearance from the beginning to the end.

Huo Yuhao greeted and interacted with the various spirit masters, and they all began talking with Huo Yuhao about information and knowledge regarding Spirits. Ever since the Spirit Pagoda was established, these spirit masters’ statuses had been rising rapidly. The Spirit Pagoda hadn’t been promoted yet, but they already enjoyed extremely high statuses.

Most of the spirit masters in the ﬁrst batch came from Shrek Academy, but some came from other countries, and they were even added into their respective royal family’s Imperial Shrines. This was especially true since they began transmitting spirits, and soul masters of any rank were very respectful and reverent when they met these spirit masters. Huo Yuhao was

the one who had given them this rise in status, and thus it wasn’t hard to imagine how respectful they were towards him.

------

Huo Yuhao took more than two hours before he ﬁnished interacting with those spirit masters. Bi Ji hadn’t returned yet, though she had probably gone rather far into the Great Star Dou Forest to search for soul beasts.

Bei Bei said, “Are you tired, junior brother? The Spirit Pagoda has been developing very quickly over the past few months, and if not for the Sun Moon Empire suddenly launching an invasion, the affairs with those several branches would have been completed. Unfortunately, the Star Luo Empire and the Heavenly Soul Empire probably don’t have any mental space or time for that now. The branch at the Dou Ling Empire has been established, though, and they’re building a Spirit Pagoda of their own.”

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “Hopefully, the Spirit Pagoda’s existence will reduce the number of soul beasts that humans kill. Because of this, we cannot let the Sun Moon Empire reach

this place. Otherwise, all our past efforts and successes will be wasted.”

Tang Wutong was sitting not far from Huo Yuhao, and suddenly asked him, “What exactly are Spirits?”

Huo Yuhao replied, “In simple words, Spirits are a soul beast that is willing to fuse with a soul master and retain its consciousness. These soul beasts can retain a certain part of their abilities and their reasoning. For those soul beasts who are nearing the ends of the their lives, they can thus use another method to continue living in a soul master’s body and extend their lives. Furthermore, there’s a very small chance that they can accompany the soul master and attain immortality.”

Tang Wutong frowned and asked, “Immortality? How is that possible?”

Huo Yuhao smiled and answered, “If that soul master can break through the Ultimate Douluo’s barrier, then that is very possible.”

Tang Wutong’s mouth twitched, and she said, “You’d need a Godly Seat for that. How can it be that easy?”

Huo Yuhao stared at her with a surprised look on his face. “You know about the Godly Seats?”

Tang Wutong sounded a little proud as she said, “Of course I know, I…” She started her sentence, but the golden trident on her forehead that wasn’t very conspicuous ﬂickered, and she subconsciously stopped talking.

Right at this moment, Bi Ji walked in from outside.

The Emerald Swan was always elegant and charming whenever and wherever she was. There was a warm and faint smile on her beautiful face as she said, “Yuhao, and the rest of you, please follow me. We will go to the Spirit Transmitting Hall.”

The Spirit Transmitting Hall was where Spirit Masters transmitted spirits, and the magical formation that Huo Yuhao had inherited from the Calamity Necromancer Electrolux was set up there. Transmitting spirits inside the Spirit

Transmitting Hall wouldn’t just conserve a Spirit Master’s soul power, it also allowed soul masters to consume less spiritual power when fusing with Spirits. The rate of success was also greatly boosted, and with Bi Ji around, who was a formidable beast king adept with healing, she could guarantee that those

soul beasts that were dying would live. With these systems in place, as long as both parties were willing to complete the contract, the success rate of transmitting Spirits was almost one hundred percent.

They seemed to enter a golden world when they walked into the Spirit Transmitting Hall. The Spirit Transmitting Hall was very spacious, almost ﬁve hundred square meters in surface area, and ten meters high. It took up the central area of the second level of the Spirit Pagoda’s headquarters.

There were simple golden demonic patterns etched onto the hexagon-shaped walls. The ﬂooring was the most dazzling part of the hall. The demonic patterns on the ﬂoor were pieced together with different metals and jewels, which all had a common characteristic: they all possessed the Element of light.

Huo Yuhao had inherited necromancy from Electrolux, and one couldn’t forget that the Element of light was the Calamity Necromancer’s strength. Therefore, whether it was Huo

Yuhao’s necromancy or the contractual magic that was suitable for the Spirit Pagoda, it had its foundations in the Element of light.

The dense power of light assaulted their senses as they stepped into the Spirit Transmitting Hall. Bei Bei and Tang Wutong had the greatest reactions in the group.

Bei Bei’s body shone with gentle golden light as a subtle projection of a dragon ﬂickered behind his back. His martial soul hadn’t completely evolved into a Radiant Holy Dragon yet, but it was now easier for him to channel his Radiant Holy Dragon’s powers. According to Bei Bei’s calculations, after obtaining a Spirit and becoming a Soul Sage, his martial soul would likely complete its ﬁnal metamorphosis. Therefore, when he was choosing his Spirit, he had expressly asked Bi Ji to search for a soul beast that possessed dragon blood and the Element of light at the same time.

Tang Wutong’s reaction wasn’t as obvious as Bei Bei’s. A faint layer of golden light ﬂickered subtly behind her back like golden wings. There was no question that both her and Bei Bei’s expressions were very relaxed and comfortable, and their expressions showed that they were enjoying themselves.

Bei Bei glanced around at Huo Yuhao and said, “Little brother, this magical formation that you’ve set up is quite mystical and miraculous. It is so dense with the Element of light! If I could cultivate in such an environment, I would progress a lot faster with less effort.”

Tang Wutong glanced at Huo Yuhao in surprise. She didn’t quite believe that Huo Yuhao was the one who had created this magical formation.

Huo Yuhao shook his head and replied, “That’s not very possible, eldest senior brother. This magical formation’s effects are impressive, but it consumes too many resources. The formation interacts with the power of the sun through these materials, and absorbs the light Element from the sunlight and stores it. This Elements of light is only used when transmitting Spirits. The Tang Sect doesn’t have such wealth right now, and this Element of light will be consumed once it is used. The formation can’t be used for cultivation, or it will be useless and meaningless for transmitting Spirits.”

Bei Bei smiled and said, “That’s alright, I was just making a passing comment. When the Tang Sect has enough wealth, we can build another one in the Tang Sect’s inner regions.”

They watched what was happening inside the Spirit Pagoda as they talked. There were three large soul beasts prostrate on one side not far from where they were standing. They seemed like they were also enjoying themselves as they bathed in this place ﬁlled with light energy.

However, as much as they enjoyed themselves, their aura of old age and weakness was still very evident. Their life energies were extremely weak, to the point where Bei Bei and the others hadn’t noticed their presence when they walked into the Spirit Transmitting Hall.

Chapter 432: Heavenly Dragon Horse and Ruby Soft Tendon Python

The three soul beasts were from three different species. The one in the middle was a white steed. This steed was very special. Its body was like a horse, but its head was shaped like a dragon. White dragon scales extended from its forehead all the way to its neck and down its entire spine. Although it was already in the twilight of its life, it still continued to reﬂect the aura of light inside the Spirit Pagoda. The most eye-catching part about it was the diamond-shaped, dim golden gem on its forehead. Although the light that came from this gem was dimming, it was still very bright.

The steed was more than four meters long and two and a half meters tall. If not for the fact that it appeared lifeless and its muscles were already soft, it would deﬁnitely be a steed with a divine presence.

To the left of this white steed was a bright golden turtle. Of the three soul beasts, it was the smallest, around two meters long. Not only was its golden turtle shell extremely eye- catching, it also seemed to be very thick. Its head and four limbs had withdrawn into the turtle shell at this moment.

To the right of the white steed was a huge python. This huge python was completely pink and more than ten meters long, as thick as a water bucket. However, there was a huge wound extending for a meter down from its head. This wound was red, and there was even ﬂuid seeping from it.

Of the three soul beasts, this pinkish python was the only one whose life energy was not dissipating due to age.

Bi Ji stepped forward and spoke, “Let me introduce all of them. The one in the middle is a ten thousand year Heavenly Dragon Horse. Even in the Great Star Dou Forest, Heavenly Dragon Horses are considered very rare. The blood lineage of Radiant Holy Dragons runs in their bodies. Although they are shaped like horses, their draconic lineage is actually very pure. It’s just that this Heavenly Dragon Horse was critically hurt when it was young. Although its blood lineage is very pure, its dragon wings have yet to grow even though it’s already at a ten-thousand year cultivation. As a result, its life energy keeps on dissipating. When it reaches a twenty-thousand year cultivation, its condition will only worsen, and it will die.

“Bei Bei, your martial soul also contains the strong aura of a Radiant Holy Dragon. It is most suitable to fuse with you and become your Spirit. Perhaps this fusion can even help both of

you complete your respective evolutions. As long as either of you fully complete your evolution into a Radiant Holy Dragon, both your powers will experience a signiﬁcant increase. You can familiarize yourself with it ﬁrst.”

“Thank you, elder Bi Ji.” Bei Bei said to Bi Ji respectfully. He appeared delighted.

Radiant Holy Dragons, like most other dragon species, had long ceased to exist. All the soul rings Bei Bei had obtained earlier were from Second Lineage Dragons, which were mainly Earth Dragons. When he saw this Heavenly Dragon Horse earlier, he felt as if there was something on its body that was calling to him. When he tried to sense it more carefully, he suddenly realized that this Heavenly Dragon Horse’s Radiant Holy Dragon aura was very pure, even though it was slightly weak. It was even purer than that of his martial soul.

It was just that this Heavenly Dragon Horse was unable to stimulate this purity.

Bei Bei saw the lifeless-looking eyes of this Heavenly Dragon Horse as he walked towards it. The Heavenly Dragon Horse didn’t react to him at all. It was very numb to his presence.

Bei Bei squatted down beside this Heavenly Dragon Horse. He took in a deep breath and slowly released his Blue Lighting Tyrant Dragon.

The soul power of his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon was extremely dominant. Even though Bei Bei tried to retract his aura when he unleashed his martial soul, the Heavenly Dragon Horse still trembled slightly after he unleashed his martial soul. A gentle streak of the aura of light was released from its body, and it subconsciously lifted its head to look cautiously at Bei Bei.

Bei Bei squatted where he was without moving. His ﬁfth and sixth soul rings took turns to shine. Suddenly, the lightning slowly disappeared from his blue dragon scales, and his scales also slowly turned golden. A low-pitched dragon roar rang out following this, as if a huge dragon was roaring gently.

The Heavenly Dragon Horse was stunned, and seemed a little more perplexed as it looked at Bei Bei. It sensed a familiar aura from Bei Bei’s body. It could also sense the blood aura of a Radiant Holy Dragon from him.

Bei Bei softly said, “How are you, Heavenly Dragon Horse? Don’t worry, I don’t have any ill intentions. We both have the aura of a Radiant Holy Dragon in our bodies. Right now, we can both call to and sense the presence of that aura in each other. I’m willing to extend your life. Perhaps the lives of humans are too short compared to soul beasts, but I can promise that you’ll be ﬁlled with energy while I’m alive. You won’t be like what you are now, lifeless. Let me help you regain your youth and power, okay?”

While Bei Bei’s voice was very soft, he was very serious as he spoke. As he spoke, his eyes were ﬁxed on the eyes of the Heavenly Dragon Horse, and he sounded very sincere.

Huo Yuhao had set the rule that a soul beast had to interact with the human before it underwent Spirit Transmission. After interacting, a soul beast would be able to roughly understand the person that it was going to become a Spirit to. This was very important. If the soul beast couldn’t accept that person, the chances of failure would be very high. If the Spirit Transmission failed, a soul beast with weak life energy could die in the process.

The Heavenly Dragon Horse seemed to become slightly more vibrant after seeing Bei Bei. It seemed to recall the immense

strength it had possessed when it was younger, and the extreme weakness that it felt right now. When it saw the sincerity in Bei Bei’s eyes, it ﬁnally nodded gently and extended its head in front of Bei Bei before rubbing it on Bei Bei’s shoulder.

Bei Bei took the opportunity to wrap his hands around its head and gently touched the side of its face, expressing his goodwill in this manner.

Shrek Academy had records of Heavenly Dragon Horses. Bei Bei was aware that the gem on a Heavenly Dragon Horse couldn’t be touched. It was the strongest part of a Heavenly Dragon Horse, but it was also the part of its body that hurt the most when touched.

Bi Ji was stunned as she watched Bei Bei interact with the Heavenly Dragon Horse. She was aware of the personality of Heavenly Dragon Horses, who were recognized as one of the most arrogant of soul beasts. Let alone humans, they wouldn’t even let soul beasts get close to them. They lived a lonely life in their own world.

This Heavenly Dragon Horse was saved by Bi Ji when it was younger, and thus it shared a good relationship with her. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for it to follow her here. There weren’t any Heavenly Dragon Horses that were willing to fuse with humans among the previous cases of Spirit Transmission. This time, Bi Ji had brought this Heavenly Dragon Horse over just in case, since Bei Bei had the blood

lineage of a Radiant Holy Dragon. She didn’t expect it to so readily accept the proposition to fuse with Bei Bei.

Bi Ji was immediately in good spirits after such a positive start. She said to Xu Sanshi, “Xu Sanshi, the soul beast to the left of this Heavenly Dragon Horse is called a Golden Tortoise. It’s in a very strange situation. Golden Tortoises are known for their longevity, as they are a symbol of auspiciousness. As long as one cultivates close to them, they can avoid any calamities. As a result, they hardly have any enemies in the world of soul beasts. Any soul beast would be willing to get close to them. They have no problem living to at least ten-thousand years. However, this Golden Tortoise is an exception.

“It’s only thirty-thousand years old this year, and should be in a youthful state. However, its life energy has continuously dissipated recently for some unknown reason. In less than three years, its immense life energy is about to dissipate completely. I’ve helped it take a look, but I was only able to

instill some life energy into it, I can’t stop its life energy from dissipating.

“You can try communicating with it. Golden Tortoises are very auspicious, and they possess great auxiliary abilities. If you can fuse with it, you can greatly increase the strength of your Xuanwu. Your Xuanwu Shield can even evolve into a Golden Xuanwu Shield. Through this process, you could obtain a part of this Golden Tortoise’s strength.”

Xu Sanshi was already silently swallowing his saliva as he stood there. Golden Tortoise, it’s actually a Golden Tortoise!

Although Golden Tortoises couldn’t affect the destiny of the entire Great Star Dou Forest like the Auspicious Emperor Beast, they were still considered Auspicious Beasts. They were like the emperors of tortoises.

A Xuanwu was formed by a combination of a tortoise and a snake. More accurately speaking, it was an avatar of water, and didn’t possess a pure turtle body. A Golden Tortoise could give a Xuanwu the air of a sovereign. By possessing the strength of a Golden Tortoise, Xu Sanshi’s evolved Xuanwu could truly become a Godbeast Xuanwu!

There was a legend in Xu Sanshi’s family, that if anyone from his family could fuse with a soul ring from a Golden Tortoise, they could possibly transform the martial soul of the entire family. In the future, it would no longer be a Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle, but a Godbeast Xuanwu Shield instead!

It was just that Golden Tortoises were too rare. Even when they could be found, they were protected by powerful soul beasts!

Xu Sanshi hadn’t expected Bi Ji to ﬁnd a Golden Tortoise for him. Furthermore, this Golden Tortoise’s life energy was even dissipating very quickly.

Given the auspiciousness and immense life energy of a Golden Tortoise, a ten-thousand year bottleneck wasn’t much of a problem. Perhaps a Golden Tortoise would ﬁnd it slightly difﬁcult to reach a twenty-thousand year cultivation. Of course, Golden Tortoises weren’t adept at any offensive skills, so they weren’t considered very suitable for most soul masters even if they reached a ten-thousand year cultivation. In addition, they were usually protected by other soul beasts.

As he rubbed his hands together, Xu Sanshi quickly walked towards the Golden Tortoise. There was a fawning look on his face as he came to the Golden Tortoise’s side.

He was even more in awe when he drew closer. This Golden Tortoise was probably like a king among Golden Tortoises. The gold on its shell was extremely proportionate and deep, and every shell line was dark gold. There weren’t any ﬂaws at all. It was unbelievable that a creature like this was experiencing a huge dissipation of its life energy.

The Golden Tortoise didn’t react to Xu Sanshi, and only remained where it was quietly. It gave off a very lazy feeling.

Xu Sanshi was confused as he asked, “Brother, can you reveal your head? Let us talk. You can tell me what you want. I’ll do my best to fulﬁl your wishes, how about that? Otherwise, I’ll ﬁnd another pretty tortoise to be my second Spirit, okay? Although my spiritual power isn’t very strong, there shouldn’t be any problem with Yuhao’s help. Tortoises don’t have immense spiritual power, either. All of you are only lucky. It’ll be great to have a partner!”

Jiang Nannan had followed Xu Sanshi over, and wasn’t too far away from him. After hearing his words, she couldn’t help

but furiously comment, “Do you think everyone is as lecherous as you?”

Xu Sanshi replied, “No matter how lecherous I am, I only love you!” he laughed as he turned around to give Jiang Nannan a ﬂying kiss.

Jiang Nannan was a little stunned. She looked at him in a daze.

Xu Sanshi was perplexed as he asked, “Are you that touched?

I’ll kiss you later!”

Jiang Nannan pointed towards something behind him.Xu Sanshi immediately turned back around, and saw the Golden Tortoise’s head poking out of its shell.

The Golden Tortoise’s head was different from the head of an ordinary turtle. There were three ridges on it, and it wasn’t oval like a turtle’s, instead being slightly triangular in shape. There were even a few barbs that resembled whiskers at the bottom of its head. Its entire head was dark gold. The further down its head, the brighter the gold was.

It was just that this Golden Tortoise didn’t seem to be in very good spirits. It looked very lifeless, and seemed to be out of energy even as it poked its head out of its shell.

“Eh, brother, you are ﬁnally out.”

“Are you a man of your word?” the Golden Tortoise asked in a low, mufﬂed voice.

Xu Sanshi was stunned. “You can speak our language?”

Although it wasn’t in very good spirits, it still managed to lift its head proudly, “Golden Tortoises are the smartest among all tortoises.”

Xu Sanshi sighed, “While Golden Tortoises are the smartest, they’re still tortoises.”

The Golden Tortoise shouted angrily, “You’re underestimating me!”

Xu Sanshi rushed to shake his head and said, “Of course not. I’m just curious as to why a handsome, suave, elegant, and talented Golden Tortoise like you hasn’t been able to ﬁnd a partner.”

The Golden Tortoise was stunned. “How did you know that I haven’t been able to ﬁnd a partner?” It was naturally very accepting of Xu Sanshi’s compliments, and it seemed much friendlier now.

Xu Sanshi chuckled. “Otherwise, why would you rush out so anxiously when I mentioned ﬁnding you a pretty tortoise?”

The Golden Tortoise snorted and said, “I couldn't ﬁnd a partner because my aura was too strong. No pretty tortoise dared to get close to me. If you want to absorb a second Spirit in the future, I must approve of it ﬁrst.”

Xu Sanshi quickly came to the Golden Tortoise’s side and asked, “Brother, are you hiding something from me? Can I help you in any way?”

The Golden Tortoise twisted its head and looked at Bi Ji, who wasn’t very far away, before replying, “Before we fuse, please ask all the Emerald Swans to leave. Also, I don’t wish for any other soul beast to be around.”

“Oh?” Xu Sanshi was truly stunned this time. Logically speaking, soul beasts should be very willing for other soul beasts to be with them when they underwent Spirit Fusion, especially the Emerald Swans, which were powerful soul beasts in terms of healing! They were best able to ensure the safety of other soul beasts.

However, this Golden Tortoise didn’t want any Emerald Swans to be present. This was very weird. However, Xu Sanshi still nodded in agreement, then turned his head in Huo Yuhao’s direction.

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power continued to engulf the entire place, and he nodded back. Huo Yuhao wasn’t afraid of this Golden Tortoise causing trouble. Given the abilities of this Golden Tortoise, every human present was able to easily kill it. Xu Sanshi wouldn’t have chosen it if not for the fact that it could help Xu Sanshi’s martial soul evolve.

Bi Ji naturally heard its words, and furrowed her brow slightly. However, she didn’t say anything. Given how this Golden Tortoise’s life energy was dissipating, it wasn’t very useful to the Great Star Dou Forest anymore. With her cultivation, she didn’t think that there was much about this Golden Tortoise that she should have to be concerned about.

At this moment, she continued, and introduced the third soul beast present to Jiang Nannan. “Beside this Heavenly Dragon Horse is a Ruby Soft Tendon Python.

“It has a thirty-thousand year cultivation. It hasn’t reached the end of its life, it’s just that it has been tormented by its injuries ever since it was hurt the last time. Because its injuries are too serious, I can only preserve its life. However, it’s in danger of dying at any time. Ruby Soft Tendon Pythons are very adept at close-combat ﬁghting, especially among python- type soul beasts.

“This python was hurt by a Transcendent Douluo from Shrek City.

“If it can become your Spirit, it will be very useful, and give you an overall increase in your abilities. This Ruby Soft Tendon

Python can confer great confusion-type abilities. More importantly, it can be part of your ﬁghting strength, and directly help you ﬁght. Ruby Soft Tendon Pythons are extremely spiritual. Their brains aren’t as small as ordinary python-type soul beasts, they are as large as human brains. Previously, there was a case of a Ruby Soft Tendon Python becoming the Spirit of a soul master, and both of them managed to become telepathic with each other. Not only did that python give that soul master soul skills, but it also managed to learn a soul skill from the soul master.

“This python has a thirty-thousand year cultivation. If it can become linked with you, your ﬁghting strength will undoubtedly increase.”

“Thank you, Elder Bi Ji,” Jiang Nannan said to Bi Ji respectfully.

From Bi Ji’s introduction of these three soul beasts, it showed that she had gone to great lengths to gather them. These three soul beasts were especially suitable for Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and Jiang Nannan. They had many similarities to their martial souls.

Bi Ji said, “Let’s start, then. Since the Golden Tortoise doesn’t want me to be present, it shall be the last to fuse. I still have to take care of the other two. Jiang Nannan, you can interact with this Ruby Soft Tendon Python for a while ﬁrst.”

“Alright.”

Jiang Nannan slowly walked towards the python. Although it was seriously injured, the look in its eyes was still very sharp. When it saw Jiang Nannan walking over, it lifted its head and bared its fangs at her.

Xu Sanshi was immediately drawn over, and internally accumulated his soul power. If this python tried to harm Jiang Nannan, he would attack it immediately. To him, there was nothing more important than Jiang Nannan’s safety.

Jiang Nannan wasn’t too alarmed, though. She slowly extended her hands out and said softly, “How are you? I don’t have any ill intentions. You don’t have to be so nervous.”

The python stared coldly at Jiang Nannan.

Jiang Nannan could sense its hostility and sighed. “I’m sorry. It’s humans that harmed you so seriously. I can sense your hatred for humans. If possible, I’m more willing to help heal your injuries rather than make you my Spirit. Ever since the Spirit Pagoda was constructed, I’ve begun to understand that the relationship between humans and soul beasts shouldn’t be like it was before. Killing has only ﬁlled both parties with

hatred, and inﬂuenced the ecological balance of the entire world. I, Jiang Nannan, hereby swear today that I won’t ever kill another soul beast to obtain a soul ring again. If I betray this promise, I’ll be condemned.”

She was very decisive when she said her vow. Evidently, she had been thinking about this for some time.

After hearing her words, the python wasn’t the only one that was astonished. Even Bi Ji, the Heavenly Dragon Horse, and the Golden Tortoise couldn’t help but be moved.

How many years had it been? The hatred between soul beasts and humans had existed forever. Ever since the beginning, soul beasts were food for humans, and vice versa. Slowly, human soul masters hunted soul beasts to obtain soul rings. There was a huge conﬂict between both parties that couldn’t be resolved.

Even with the appearance of the Spirit Pagoda, the conﬂict between soul beasts and soul masters was only slightly alleviated. Everyone knew that this conﬂict couldn’t be resolved, at least for now.

Jiang Nannan had six rings now. This meant that she needed another three soul rings if she wanted to become a Titled Douluo.

This Ruby Soft Tendon Python had a thirty-thousand year cultivation, and so could only give her two soul rings, at most. She even had to choose on her own. If she gave up hunting soul beasts, Jiang Nannan had to take a risk to fuse with another Spirit if she wanted to obtain her ﬁnal soul ring. Given her spiritual power, she might not be able to do this in the future. Her martial soul was still inferior to the likes of Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and Huo Yuhao. All along, Jiang Nannan’s abilities were one of the weakest among the Shrek’s Seven Monsters. She might even be the weakest.

Under such circumstances, she actually swore not to kill soul beasts in the future. This showed her determination and her sincerity to make amends. How could this not move all these sentient soul beasts?

Xu Sanshi and Bei Bei looked at each other, both in admiration of her. Bei Bei nodded and said, “Nannan is right. It’s not only her; I’ll also do the same. In the future, I’ll never kill another soul beast to obtain another soul ring. If I betray this promise, I shall be condemned!”

Xu Sanshi stood up and looked at Jiang Nannan, “A husband follows his wife’s wishes. Nannan’s decision is also my decision. I also swear that I won’t kill another soul beast to obtain a soul ring. If I do so, Nannan will leave me forever.”

Bei Bei was stunned as he looked at him. He understood that this vow was much worse and more vicious than condemnation to Xu Sanshi!

Huo Yuhao revealed a comforted smile on his face as dim lights ﬂashed. This was what he had hoped to see! At the same time, he nodded. “I, Huo Yuhao, also swear that I won’t kill another soul beast to obtain a soul ring. If I betray this vow, I shall be condemned. I’ll do my best to help humans and soul beasts fuse peacefully with each other, creating Spirits.”

Bi Ji’s eyes were a little red and she muttered, “Although it’s only the few of you who have sworn this today, I believe this is a huge step towards peace between soul beasts and humans. Right here, I also declare, on behalf of all the soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest, that all of you here will be respected

guests of the Great Star Dou Forest. When you need Spirits, we’ll do our best to coordinate and give you priority.”

Bei Bei stood up and looked at Bi Ji seriously. “Elder Bi Ji, although I can’t guarantee anything now, I promise on behalf of the Tang Sect that I’ll restrict everyone from the Tang Sect to only obtaining soul rings through Spirits. Even those whose cultivations are slightly weaker must try their best to reduce any killings. We have no way of inﬂuencing others, but we are willing to be role models for other humans in this aspect.”

Bi Ji’s voice trembled slightly. She looked at Bei Bei and nodded slowly. “Thank you, thank all of you. I can sense your sincerity. This shall be the beginning.”

As she spoke, she walked in front of the three soul beasts. There was a dominant look in her eyes, “The three of you have heard their words too. I’m delighted for the three of you today, that you can meet such humans. I believe that the three of you know what choice to make, even if I don’t say anything.”

The three soul beasts silently nodded their heads. Even the Ruby Soft Tendon Python, which had seemed very hostile earlier, appeared much friendlier now. It was much more

willing to get close to Jiang Nannan now. After all, she was the one who had started the series of vows. It wasn’t far-fetched to say that she was the one who had started everything, which led to the series of changes that happened after that.

Bi Ji said, “Alright, let’s start now. Who wants to go ﬁrst?”

The Heavenly Dragon Horse forcefully stood up and let out a soft dragon roar before it rubbed its head against Bei Bei’s shoulder.

Bi Ji smiled slightly as she retreated and gestured for it to proceed.

Bei Bei touched the neck of the Heavenly Dragon Horse lightly and followed it to the center of the magical formation of the Spirit Transmission Hall. After that, he stood in front of the Heavenly Dragon Horse.

Huo Yuhao also came over and stood beside them. He revealed a slight smile on his face and said to Bei Bei, “Eldest senior, are you prepared?”

Bei Bei nodded.

Huo Yuhao then turned his attention to the Heavenly Dragon Horse, and it roared.

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “Alright, I’m going to begin.”

Suddenly, the Heavenly Dragon Horse roared again. Compared to before, it sounded much sharper this time. Huo Yuhao was a little confused as he looked at it. He could sense that it felt very close to Bei Bei right now, but he couldn’t understand what it was trying to say.

Bi Ji said, “It wants Bei Bei to put his hand on the gem on its forehead.”

Bei Bei was astonished as he looked at the Heavenly Dragon Horse. The Heavenly Dragon Horse nodded gently at him.

Such a proud Heavenly Dragon Horse actually permitted a human to place his hand on the gem on its forehead, which was supposed to be the most painful spot when touched. What

did this mean? It meant that it had completely accepted Bei Bei! Bei Bei was delightfully surprised by this. With such a recognition, it was impossible that the pact between them would fail.

Bei Bei looked at the Heavenly Dragon Horse and nodded strongly. He lifted his right hand and carefully placed his hand on the gem on its forehead.

The Heavenly Dragon Horse moved slightly. In the next moment, Bei Bei felt intense soul power undulations surging from the gem. Following this, a layer of golden light was released from his and the Heavenly Dragon Horse’s bodies simultaneously. Bei Bei clearly felt the thoughts of the Heavenly Dragon Horse right now. That gem was like a bridge between their souls.

Bei Bei didn’t know that the gems on the foreheads of Heavenly Dragon Horses were the most important part of their bodies. Not only could they be used for offensive purposes in a ﬁght, but they could also be used for interaction. When Heavenly Dragon Horses reached a sexually receptive stage, a female Heavenly Dragon Horse would accept a male Heavenly Dragon Horse as her husband by letting their gems interact with each other.

“It’s now,” Bi Ji reminded him from one side.

Huo Yuhao recited his incantations at the same time. As he did so, the Spirit Transmission Ritual began.

On the ground, golden halos were released from the center of the magic formation. Gentle, light-type undulations started to ﬁll the entire Spirit Transmission Hall.

The entire process wasn’t just successful, it carried on very naturally!

When Bei Bei focused his spiritual power on the head of the Heavenly Dragon Horse, there was a gentle look of recognition in its eyes. Its body was becoming weaker and weaker, but its eyes were getting brighter and brighter. The gem on its forehead released a bright light that completely engulfed Bei Bei.

Right now, Bei Bei was like a small, golden sun. No one dared to look at him directly. Intense soul power undulations were

continuously being released from his body. He immediately broke through the Rank 70 bottleneck.

The Heavenly Dragon Horse started turning transparent, beginning from its tail. After this, it quickly turned into ﬂying ash and disappeared. It didn’t leave any traces behind.

Bi Ji stood to one side, silently in awe. This was a perfect fusion! There were only two cases like this in the previous rounds of fusion. Under such a fusion, the relationship between the Spirit and the soul master would become especially close. All the abilities of the soul beast could combine with the soul master, and the soul master might even be able to make his own choices. It wasn’t just a random fusion anymore...

The Heavenly Dragon Horse gradually disappeared, but the light from Bei Bei’s body became extremely bright. The entire Spirit Transmission Hall was illuminated by this golden light, and the intense light-type undulations became stronger and stronger.

Bei Bei didn’t just cross Rank 70. Huo Yuhao was stunned to sense that Bei Bei’s soul power kept on increasing. He wasn’t at

Rank 70 anymore. He shot through Rank 71 before rising to Rank 72. He actually managed to rise by two ranks before his progress tailed off!

A low-pitched dragon roar was released from that ball of golden light. This dragon roar gradually became more and more resounding. As the golden light slowly retracted, a huge light projection of a golden dragon claw extended out. Following this, huge golden dragon wings opened up.

When the golden light fully retreated, Bei Bei had already turned into a huge golden dragon standing in the center of the Spirit Transmission Hall.

His seventh soul ring… Radiant Holy Dragon True Body!

Bei Bei’s martial soul had ﬁnally completed a qualitative change and became a Radiant Holy Dragon after he completed his perfect fusion with the Heavenly Dragon Horse. Not only that, but something weird also surfaced on his body. On the forehead of his Radiant Holy Dragon was an extra diamond- shaped gem, exactly the same as the gem on the Heavenly Dragon Horse’s forehead previously. Furthermore, the Heavenly Dragon Horse didn’t appear after he turned into a

Radiant Holy Dragon. It seemed to have fused completely into his body.

The Radiant Holy Dragon that Bei Bei turned into was more than seven meters long, with about the same wingspan. His entire body was covered with dazzling, golden dragon scales. The strength of his aura far surpassed that of Yan Feng’s Bone Dragon. Furthermore, his Radiant Holy Dragon secretly concealed a Holy aura within the aura of light.

As the golden light retracted, Bei Bei slowly turned back into human form. When he completely turned back into human form, everyone was stunned to ﬁnd that the Heavenly Dragon Horse had appeared again. In addition, it seemed like it was completely real as it stood beside him.

However, there was a huge difference between how it was before the Spirit Transmission and how it was now. Its body was extremely muscular now, very toned and athletic. The look in its eyes was also much more vibrant than before. There was also an extra pair of dragon wings behind its back. As they opened up, everyone could see that they were very similar to the wings of Bei Bei’s Radiant Holy Dragon.

This Heavenly Dragon Horse had indeed evolved after its fusion with Bei Bei, as Bi Ji had expected. This evolution made it seem real and material, even though it was now a Spirit.

Bei Bei now had two yellow, two purple, and three black soul rings. Furthermore, there were even golden patterns on his seventh black soul ring!

As he gently hugged the Heavenly Dragon Horse’s neck, Bei Bei said from the bottom of his heart, “Thanks, Heavenly Dragon Horse. I shall call you Heavenly Dragon in the future.”

The Heavenly Dragon Horse nodded gently and showed deep affection for Bei Bei. They were extremely close now.

Everyone from the Tang Sect could sense that Bei Bei’s abilities had greatly increased, exceeding that of most Soul Emperors after they became Soul Sages. Although they didn’t know how he would fare in a ﬁght, they could imagine that the strengthening effect the Heavenly Dragon Horse had on him was far beyond what normal Spirits could achieve.

Bei Bei brought the Heavenly Dragon Horse to one side. It turned into a streak of ﬂowing light and fused directly with his forehead. A golden, diamond-shaped gem instantly surfaced on his forehead, which disappeared after it ﬂashed a few times.

“Congratulations, eldest senior!” Huo Yuhao smiled as he looked at Bei Bei.

Bei Bei was also delighted. As his abilities grew, it meant that he was growing closer to success in his mission to rescue Tang Ya. After he returned from the Iceﬁre Yin-Yang Well, he had pleaded with the Great Star Dou Forest for help in ﬁnding the Bluesilver Emperor. However, the Bluesilver Emperor wasn’t in the Great Star Dou Forest. Di Tian even personally sent an order for the other soul beasts to search for the Bluesilver Emperor for him in other soul beast forests.

In the world of soul beasts, he couldn’t possibly ﬁnd the Bluesilver Emperor if even the God Beast couldn’t. According to the God Beast, the Bluesilver Emperor might appear in a few other soul beast habitats. Bei Bei was waiting now. Once he got the help of the Bluesilver Emperor, he could prepare to rescue Tang Ya!

Chapter 433: The Tragic Golden Tortoise

“Fourth senior, come over here.” As Bi Ji mentioned that the Golden Tortoise would be the last to undergo the fusion, Huo Yuhao turned to Jiang Nannan next.

Jiang Nannan nodded and walked towards Huo Yuhao with the Ruby Soft Tendon Python.

The python looked at Huo Yuhao before it gently lay down on the ground.

Huo Yuhao asked Jiang Nannan, “Fourth senior sister, are you ready?”

She smiled and replied, “Yuhao, do you need to rest?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “No need. Eldest senior’s fusion was very successful. I wasn’t drained very much.”

Jiang Nannan said, “Alright then. I’m prepared, too. We can start.”

Huo Yuhao looked at the python and asked it the same question.

The python then did something that astonished everyone. It ignored Huo Yuhao and instead turned its head before it started to wrap itself around Jiang Nannan.

Everyone was stunned, but Jiang Nannan hurriedly said, “No worries. It doesn’t harbor any ill intentions. Yuhao, please begin.”

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power engulfed them. Indeed, the Ruby Soft Tendon Python didn’t exert any force on Jiang Nannan even though it wrapped itself around her. Instead, it only stuck close to her.

Xu Sanshi muttered to himself unhappily as he saw this. “I hope this fellow is a female. Otherwise, I’ll really be at a disadvantage!”

Tang Wutong was standing behind him. After hearing his words, she almost laughed. She was more amused by the fact that the Golden Tortoise beside Xu Sanshi also nodded its head and seemed to agree with his words.

This is indeed a case of ‘birds of the same feather ﬂock together’…

The second Spirit Fusion began. As Huo Yuhao recited his incantations, gentle lights rose and surrounded the Ruby Soft Tendon Python and Jiang Nannan.

The Ruby Soft Tendon Python wasn’t like the Heavenly Dragon Horse earlier; it didn’t slowly disappear. Bright, rose- colored light slowly lit up from its body, and it gradually became more and more transparent.

Even Huo Yuhao was stunned this time. He had been involved in many Spirit Fusions, but this was the ﬁrst time he had seen something like this.

The Ruby Soft Tendon Python had a huge body. When it wrapped itself around Jiang Nanan’s body, it was impossible to

see Jiang Nannan from the outside anymore. Only the python’s body could be seen.

Right now, its huge body actually slowly became like gelatin and completely sealed Jiang Nannan within. Its body then started to melt, and became like a transparent, rose-colored larva.

As Huo Yuhao recited his incantations from the side, he also became more focused. If Jiang Nannan met with any danger, he would react immediately.

Fortunately, his worries were unfounded.

Jiang Nannan’s aura became stronger and stronger inside the rose-colored larvae. As intense soul power undulations were released, her seventh soul ring slowly took form.

More astonishingly, Jiang Nannan’s aura was like Bei Bei’s aura earlier, becoming stronger and stronger. The larvae seemed to have a life of its own and pulsed slightly to the rhythm of Jiang Nannan’s heartbeat.

As Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection was very sensitive, he could detect that the size of the larvae was expanding slightly with every movement that it made. It was as if it was fusing with Jiang Nannan’s body. This was a penetrative form of fusion.

Without a doubt, this was a complete fusion! It was unexpected that the cold and hostile Ruby Soft Tendon Python had actually completely accepted Jiang Nannan.

The pinkish halos slowly disappeared, and the python was completely fused into Jiang Nannan’s body as they formed a telepathic bond. As the python’s body became more transparent, Jiang Nannan’s aura also grew stronger and stronger.

All of Jiang Nannan’s soul rings shone extremely brightly. It was like this fusion was causing all of her soul rings to experience some form of advancement. This was something that would never happen when soul rings were ordinarily fused!

The entire process was shorter than expected. When the python disappeared completely, and Jiang Nannan re-appeared

in front of everyone, all the lights from her body had been retracted. Only her two yellow, two purple and three black soul rings were shining brightly.

With a thought from her, a streak of pinkish light was released from her body. It slowly took form behind her, while her body actually turned hollow before disappearing completely. The Ruby Soft Tendon Python appeared in front of everyone again. The injuries on its body had disappeared, while its aura had become much stronger than before. Its rosy red eyes were like two rubies, shining brightly.

The python’s body turned hollow again after this went on for around ten seconds. After this, Jiang Nannan re-appeared where she was earlier, and the seven soul rings on her body strangely surfaced on the python’s body instead of hers. Everyone was shocked when they saw this scene. It was indeed like Bi Ji had claimed; a Ruby Soft Tendon Python was extremely spiritual! Some miraculous change must have had happened between this python and Jiang Nannan.

Everyone wasn’t very concerned about what this change was. They only hoped that Jiang Nannan’s abilities had grown stronger.

The slightly hollow python didn’t disappear. Instead, it slithered forward and encircled Jiang Nannan before it slowly slithered its way up her. Finally, its huge head stopped behind the top of Jiang Nannan’s head. Its ruby-red eyes coolly watched everyone else, looking rather arrogant.

Bi Ji was delightfully surprised. “It seems like they’re telepathically-linked now. Jiang Nannan, can you sense if it has learned any soul skills from you?”

Jiang Nannan nodded gently and said, “I think it has learned three soul skills. However, it’s still comprehending them now. In the future, it might be able to learn more.”

Everyone was stunned after hearing her words. Spirits could actually help soul masters in a ﬁght. If a Spirit could learn a soul master’s soul skills, it would be equivalent to an avatar of that soul master! Furthermore, a Spirit wouldn’t die unless the soul master died. Spirits relied on soul masters to survive. For Jiang Nannan, it was like she had an extra life.

Jiang Nannan might seem the weakest among the members of Shrek’s Seven Monsters, but she was still considered extremely strong compared to ordinary soul masters. Her soul

skills were all very strong. Whether it was her Instant Teleportation, Gravity Control, or Invincible Golden Body, they were all very impressive soul skills. The Ruby Soft Tendon Python learned three of her six soul skills, which included at least one of these three divine skills. In this way, Jiang Nannan’s survival abilities in the future were bound to greatly

increase.

This was the effect of a perfect fusion with a Spirit. Everyone was happy. Not only were those from the Tang Sect extremely excited, but Bi Ji was also delighted, which was very rare. She was deﬁnitely very pleased that soul beasts were able to willingly fuse with humans and become such strong Spirits. This meant that the conﬂict between soul beasts and humans was more likely to be resolved. With such precedents, more soul masters would be attracted to the Spirit Pagoda and choose to use Spirit Transmission to replace killing soul beasts as a means of obtaining soul rings. For such perfect fusions, it was possible for a Spirit to even replace two or even three soul rings.

“It’s my turn, it’s my turn.” Xu Sanshi quickly rushed in front of Jiang Nannan. Seeing that Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan’s powers had greatly increased, how could he not be eager?

Jiang Nannan smiled before retracting her Spirit and conceding her position to him.

Xu Sanshi loudly said, “Little junior, do you need to rest? If you aren’t tired, we can start now. Elder Bi Ji, brother Tortoise doesn’t really want you to be here to watch. Do you think…”

Bi Ji was a little perplexed as she looked at the Golden Tortoise, but it didn’t look at her. It only slowly moved in front of Xu Sanshi before lying down.

“Alright.” Bi Ji was very mild. If it were the Bear Lord, he would have immediately raged at such presumption. However, she readily agreed. Although she didn’t know what the Golden Tortoise had to hide from her, at least this secret didn’t come from humans. Furthermore, the Golden Tortoise would no longer be a soul beast after it fused with Xu Sanshi. She wouldn’t be able to control its future. She readily walked out and waited outside.

Huo Yuhao was also a little confused. However, he wasn’t worried about the Golden Tortoise playing any tricks. While soul beasts and soul masters shared an equal lives contract during the process of Spirit Transmission, he was the one who

was controlling the process. In addition, the Golden Tortoise was very weak. If it tried to play any tricks, it would be the one suffering instead. Xu Sanshi would be ﬁne. At most, he would have to ﬁnd another Spirit to fuse with.

“Third senior, Golden Tortoise, I’m going to begin. The two of you can prepare.”

Xu Sanshi might seem very casual, but he was in fact very similar to Bei Bei in many ways, other than his lecherous ways. The fusion was about to begin, and he quickly retracted his cheeky laughter before calming himself down. He circulated his soul power and adjusted his mentality.

After a brief moment, he felt that his three energies were in place, and nodded at Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao looked at the Golden Tortoise, and it also nodded at him.

For some reason, Huo Yuhao suddenly felt that this Golden Tortoise was even more intelligent than the Ruby Soft Tendon Python. It appeared much more quick-witted all of a sudden.

Even in such a weakened state, it was unable to conceal the deep and contemplative look in its eyes.

Huo Yuhao recited his incantations for the third time. Gentle golden light surrounded Xu Sanshi and the Golden Tortoise before starting to spread. A fusion between human and soul beast began.

A huge projection of a Xuanwu Shield surfaced behind Xu Sanshi. The concentrated aura of water resonated with the aura of light within the formation. Gentle soul power undulations started to spread as if they were ripples in water.

Huo Yuhao’s recitations slowly grew more and more resounding. Xu Sanshi and the Golden Tortoise started to connect with each other, and their equal lives contract started to take effect.

As the previous two fusions were perfect fusions, they had gone very smoothly. The Heavenly Dragon Horse and Ruby Soft Tendon Python were very weak. They didn’t experience any changes, and their soul power undulations couldn’t really be felt before the fusions were completed. They only revealed their strength after their fusions were completed.

However, the Golden Tortoise experienced abnormal changes the moment Xu Sanshi started to fuse with its strength.

The Golden Tortoise exuded concentrated golden light from its body, which surged towards Xu Sanshi and started to fuse with him. However, a wave of strong life aura suddenly surged from the Golden Tortoise. Its shell didn’t turn illusory as a result of the fusion. Instead, it became more and more real. Streaks of strong golden light ﬁlled with a strong life aura were released from its shell. Every ridge on its shell was shining with golden light.

Huo Yuhao focused his gaze and subconsciously lifted his right hand. If something was amiss, he would immediately end this Spirit Transmission and kill the Golden Tortoise.

However, Xu Sanshi waved his hand at him, signaling that things were ﬁne.

While Huo Yuhao was very adept at Spirit Transmission, he wasn’t the one undergoing the process right now. Xu Sanshi was very surprised by the sudden changes, but he could sense that the Golden Tortoise was completely willing to fuse with him. Furthermore, this sudden, strong life aura was only beneﬁcial to him. There weren’t any drawbacks.

Throughout this entire process, he clearly felt that the strength of his Xuanwu blood lineage was stabilizing. It was even rising continuously. This meant that the blood lineage of the Golden Tortoise was extremely compatible with him. This was what every soul master desired. How could he bear it if the process were interrupted?

The Golden Tortoise also glanced at Huo Yuhao. However, it seemed to be in pain, and immediately shut its eyes.

The life aura was simply too strong.

Suddenly, a buzz sounded, and the entire Spirit Transmission Hall shook slightly. Following this, the Eye of Destiny on Huo Yuhao’s forehead opened on its own. A streak of jade-green light was instantly released from his Eye of Destiny and drifted above the Golden Tortoise’s shell.

Suddenly, jade-green light shone brightly, and the strong life aura in the air surged towards a small carving blade that was shining with jade-green light.

This was a situation that no one had expected, including Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao’s Life Guardian Blade appeared on its own to absorb the strong life energy. What did this mean?

As he had nourished his Life Guardian Blade for a long time, Huo Yuhao was very familiar with it now. There was an immense and pure life energy contained within his Life Gold. It had always been scornful of other external energies. Even if it absorbed the life energy of certain matter, that life energy would dissipate on its own and wouldn’t fuse with its origin energy. It was proud, or perhaps picky. It was as if there wasn’t any life force in this world that could satisfy it.

However, something surprising happened today. When Xu Sanshi was undergoing his Spirit Transmission, the life energy that surged from the Golden Tortoise’s body was actually absorbed by it. In addition, Huo Yuhao could sense that this was a pure absorption and assimilation. The life energy it had just absorbed wasn’t going to dissipate after being absorbed.

Did this mean that the Golden Tortoise possessed life energy that was of the same tier as Huo Yuhao’s Life Gold? However, why was this Golden Tortoise’s life energy so weak that it was even on the verge of death if this was the case? This was extremely difﬁcult to comprehend.

Slowly, the Golden Tortoise’s life aura became less intense after it was devoured by Huo Yuhao’s Life Guardian Blade. However, its body started to expand, and a stronger life aura started to surge out.

The jade-green light from the Life Guardian Blade also became stronger and stronger as it absorbed that pure life energy. Huo Yuhao’s body also received some feedback. As the life energy permeated through him, he felt extremely restrained.

Streaks of light surged out from his body, turning into three projections. They were the projections of the Snow Empress, the Ice Empress, and the Skydream Iceworm. Of course, the Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass wasn’t excluded either. It was just that it grew directly from Huo Yuhao’s shoulder.

Everyone was stunned when they saw the four projections that surged from Huo Yuhao’s body. Even those of Shrek’s Seven Monsters didn’t know that he had so many Spirits in his body! They were only familiar with the Snow Empress.

Gentle, jade-green halos appeared on the bodies of all four Spirits. These halos were like dim ﬂames that surrounded their bodies.

The Snow Empress, Ice Empress, and Skydream Iceworm were all excited. Such strong life energy was great for them. Although they were Spirits, they still craved life energy. As Spirits, they could only become more corporeal if they had sufﬁcient energy.

Generally speaking, Spirits couldn’t leave their soul masters. However, they could travel further away from their soul masters if they were strong enough. They could also get closer

to becoming as corporeal as they were when they were still alive.

Life force, especially pure life force, nourished their bodies much more than soul power. How could these four Spirits be unwilling?

Xu Sanshi’s fusion also seemed to be going smoothly. His Xuanwu Shield already shone with a layer of bright gold, and the tortoise-snake on it seemed to come alive as it squirmed slightly. But the Golden Tortoise kept on expanding in size. Right now, it was already ﬁve meters in diameter. As it lay where it was, golden light shone brightly from its body, making it look extremely magical.

It deﬁnitely wasn’t a twenty-thousand or thirty-thousand year soul beast. Huo Yuhao could tell that by now. The size that this Golden Tortoise had expanded to was the actual size of its body. Even for tortoises, a species that enjoyed great longevity, it was impossible for a twenty-thousand or thirty-thousand year tortoise to grow to such a size! This meant that this Golden Tortoise indeed suffered from a problem. Its problem was very obvious, and it was even taboo for the kings of soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest. Otherwise, it wouldn’t

have to restrain its own size. Only one thing about it was real.. its weakness!

Right now, Huo Yuhao was certain that the Golden Tortoise’s life energy didn’t belong to it, even though it was immense. It wasn’t able to control such great life energy. The force that was restraining all the life energy disappeared after the Golden Tortoise fused with Xu Sanshi, releasing it all in the process.

Huo Yuhao wasn’t the only beneﬁciary. To different extents, everyone around him felt comfortable as they were immersed in this immense life energy.

When a soul master reached an advanced tier, his physical strength was an important barrier that limited the increase of his cultivation. The immense life energy that they basked in was enough to provide them with sufﬁcient energy to ﬁght for years!

Apart from Huo Yuhao, Xu Sanshi beneﬁted the most. During his fusion with the Golden Tortoise, the amount of life energy he absorbed was only less than what Huo Yuhao’s Life Guardian Blade absorbed.

Right now, there was an additional dim golden glow on his skin, which seeped into his body and even made his blood vessels visible. They were stained gold, and even his blood turned gold. This gold that covered and penetrated his entire body was ﬁlled with life energy.

This was the origin strength of the Golden Tortoise. Although it couldn’t absorb all that life energy, it seemed to have fused with a lot of it. Right now, all of that was pouring into Xu Sanshi’s body.

The Golden Tortoise suddenly lifted its head and said to Xu Sanshi, “If you go against this contract in the future and don’t ﬁnd me a pretty tortoise, I’ll ﬁght it out with you. You’ve gained greatly this time!”

Xu Sanshi chuckled and replied, “Don’t worry. I’m a man of my word. However, what’s going on here?”

The contract was about to be completed, but the Golden Tortoise’s body was still very corporeal. There wasn’t any sign that its body was about to gradually disappear as it neared the end of this Spirit Fusion.

The Golden Tortoise laughed bitterly. “Greedy! Greedy! Otherwise, why would I bother fusing with a human? It’s all my fault. I was too greedy then.”

“I seem to be familiar with your aura.” Beside Huo Yuhao, the Skydream Iceworm, who presented himself as a handsome man, suddenly opened his mouth.

The Golden Tortoise glanced at him and said, “Familiar? Who are you? Why do I sense something from your aura, too?”

The Skydream Iceworm squinted slightly and rings of gold quickly rose from his feet. There was a total of ten rings. After they drifted up, they surrounded his body in a parallel manner and stopped.

The Golden Tortoise was stunned as he asked, “Ah? It’s you! You were that Iceworm. My gosh! Why have you fused with a human, too? This is too unbelievable.”

The Skydream Iceworm turned ﬁerce and said, “Idiot, you also absorbed my life energy back then, right?”

The Golden Tortoise coughed awkwardly after discovering the existence of its victim. However, its eyes turned slightly red after this. “That’s right, I absorbed some of your strength then. However, I absorbed it sneakily. I didn’t do anything to you. But did you know the problems I suffered after absorbing your life energy? If I hadn’t absorbed your life energy then, I wouldn’t have been so sensitive to life forces, and wouldn’t have turned greedy, eventually landing myself in such a state!”

Huo Yuhao was confused as he looked at the Golden Tortoise and asked, “What’s going on? Do you know Brother Skydream?”

The Skydream Iceworm snorted and replied, “Yuhao, do you remember what I told you before? My life energy and soul power were absorbed by a group of the strongest soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest. I was only left with pure spiritual power when I met you. It must be this guy who absorbed my life energy. From the life energy that he released, I can sense a part of it contains my aura. That’s why I found it so familiar.”

As Huo Yuhao’s abilities grew stronger and stronger, the Skydream Iceworm didn’t have to hide himself so much. Even if the God Beast Di Tian knew that he was inside Huo Yuhao’s body, he wouldn’t dare to deal with Huo Yuhao. Huo Yuhao controlled the destiny of the entire Great Star Dou Forest!

Furthermore, those who were present now were all Huo Yuhao’s close friends, and given the strength of Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power, even Bi Ji wouldn’t be able to eavesdrop on them.

The Golden Tortoise’s tone of voice suddenly sounded very depressed, “It’s none of my business anyway. I only absorbed your life energy then. However, I landed myself in a tragic state because of that. If I had known what was going to happen, I wouldn’t have been so greedy.”

Xu Sanshi was curious as he asked, “What happened? You don’t really have a thirty-thousand year cultivation, right?”

“Of course not,” the Golden Tortoise said arrogantly, “Most Golden Tortoises are able to survive for more than ten thousand years. I’m a hundred-thousand year soul beast.”

If there were any other soul beast present to hear its words, they would have the urge to knock themselves against a wall. Most Golden Tortoises were indeed able to survive past ten thousand years. Even the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian wouldn’t dare to dispute this. Most species of soul beast would have an enemy. Golden Tortoises were one of the rare, few species that didn’t have a natural enemy.

Any soul beast that got close to them would be blessed by their fortune. It would take it half the cultivation effort to achieve double the result. The Golden Tortoise’s ﬁghting strength was naturally not very great, but their reputation was built on their longevity. Naturally, they were adept at something, their defense! Among their innate skills, they had one called Invincible Barrier! Humans’ Invincible Barriers were, to some extent, inspired by and derived from the Golden Tortoises.

Even a savage beast would ﬁnd it difﬁcult to overcome the defense of a hundred-thousand year Golden Tortoise. Some kind of special method would have to be used to slowly weaken the defense of such a beast.

Xu Sanshi was perplexed as he asked, “Since you are at the tier of a soul beast king, why are you in such a tragic state?”

The look in the Golden Tortoise’s eyes turned dimmer, and it appeared to be in great pain. “Initially, I absorbed the Iceworm’s life energy and soul power from underground. Due to my fortune, I was able to hide my aura very well. Even the God Beast Di Tian didn’t realize it. Furthermore, there were many hundred-thousand year soul beasts there then. I’m also a hundred-thousand year soul beast. If not for the fact that I was afraid of being remembered by Di Tian, I would have dared to absorb his life energy openly. I followed him underground and absorbed it until he had no more life energy left, and then I escaped while Di Tian wasn’t looking.

“I was very proud and delighted then. After absorbing so much life energy, I was conﬁdent of crossing the two-hundred- thousand year bottleneck by coupling it with my own life energy. Tortoises, especially Golden Tortoises, rarely reach two hundred thousand years cultivation, even though most will survive beyond a hundred thousand years. If we choose to be reborn, we’ll become nourishment for humans and other soul beasts. We won’t dare to do that. That's why we’ll generally wait until we die. If I reached at least two hundred thousand years of cultivation, I’d become a hero among Golden Tortoises, even if I wasn't the ﬁrst to do so. My conﬁdence was bursting then, and caused me to become complacent.

“As I’m a water and earth-type soul beast, I’m very adept at moving underground and underwater. However, I was greedy, and snuck my way into the Lake of Life that Di Tian normally rests in.

“I always knew that the Lake of Life was a secret existence. Di Tian has been living there since ancient times. I can almost conﬁrm that he was able to reach his eight-hundred-thousand year cultivation and achieve breakthrough after breakthrough because of his Lake of Life. Back then, Di Tian wasn’t in the Lake of Life, because he was trying to capture the Iceworm’s spiritual energy. That was why I tried to sneak my way in and use my concealment abilities to hide myself from Di Tian.

“I thought that I might be able to become as strong as Di Tian in the future if I could ﬁnd the secret to the Water of Life, and eventually lead all the tortoises to rule the Great Star Dou Forest.”

Everyone’s expressions turned weird when they heard the Golden Tortoise’s words. It was being overly arrogant! A tortoise who wasn’t adept at ﬁghting was dreaming if it thought that it could rule the Great Star Dou Forest. The Golden Tortoise must have had been extremely conceited back then. It was its egocentricity that brought it so much trouble.

The Golden Tortoise didn’t seem to sense the weird looks that everyone was giving it and continued, “After I snuck into the Water of Life, I was especially careful. This was because I knew that it was Di Tian’s habitat. I was conﬁdent that he wouldn’t kill me even if he found me, because my destiny was especially strong after my cultivation reached a hundred thousand years. In the entire Great Star Dou Forest, no other soul beasts could compare to me, apart from the Auspicious Emperor Beast. My survival is extremely beneﬁcial to the entire forest. It’s also because of this that I was so brazen.

“As a result, I sought the secret of the Water of Life. The more I swam, the closer I got to the core of it. I discovered that the life energy in the Water of Life was especially immense. Although I couldn’t directly absorb and assimilate it like I managed to absorb the Iceworm’s life energy, it could continuously nourish my body. I was fully certain of my conjecture. Di Tian was able to live so long and achieve breakthrough after breakthrough because he was nourished by the Water of Life. It’s just that he’s too powerful, and thus no soul beasts can venture into his territory.

“I guessed that the Water of Life must have an origin if it contained such immense life energy. Given the amount of life energy present, it might have originated from some kind of

treasure. That’s why I went to ﬁnd this treasure! Finally, I found the mouth of a spring at the core of the Water of Life. It was the source of the entire Lake of Life. Around this mouth was a ring of green metal. This green metal was very weird. It contained the purest life energy above it. I knew that I had found the correct place. Although I couldn’t leave with the mouth of that spring, I could still leave with the metal!

“Although Golden Tortoises aren’t adept at ﬁghting, our bite is one of the strongest in the world of soul beasts. As a result, I bit hard on a piece of that metal, and bit off close to one-ﬁfth of the jade-green metal. However, Di Tian was simply too strong. He immediately sensed it when the metal was damaged. A terrifying suppression immediately descended on me.

“I was very scared then, as I sensed Di Tian’s extreme fury. I was really afraid that he might kill me without regard for anything else. As a result, I did my best to dive all the way down to the bottom of the lake and into the mud at the bottom. After that, I kept on digging, and also did my best to conceal my aura so that he wouldn’t ﬁnd me.

“However, I soon realized that it was all for nothing, because the piece of metal that I stole contained too much life energy. I could conceal my aura, but I couldn’t conceal its aura! I would

have deﬁnitely been exposed. Eventually, I decided to swallow it, since it was good stuff anyway.”

“What?” Huo Yuhao exclaimed. “You ate Life Gold? No wonder your life energy is so immense, but doesn’t belong to you!”

Huo Yuhao could roughly guess what was going on after hearing the Golden Tortoise’s description. He had been to the Water of Life before. He could sense that the concentrated life energy there seemed to be related to Life Gold. It was just that he couldn’t conﬁrm it, and he wasn’t as bold as the Golden Tortoise. He wasn’t bold enough to search for treasures in Di Tian’s habitat.

Not only did the Golden Tortoise succeed, but it even managed to eat the Life Gold. But judging by its current condition, it seemed that eating the Life Gold didn’t generate any beneﬁts for it.

“So that metal is called Life Gold to humans. It’s this thing that got me into so much trouble,” the Golden Tortoise said depressingly. “After I devoured the Life Gold back then, I realized that it indeed contained life energy. I also sensed that

the immense life energy was permeating through my entire body. After Di Tian returned, he wasn’t able to ﬁnd me, which left me extremely delighted about managing to sneak into an area that he controlled.

“However, I started to realize that things were amiss after I returned to my own habitat. At the start, that metal was releasing life energy that inﬁltrated my entire body. However, it seemed to slowly familiarize with my body, and then started to absorb my life energy, instead.”

Chapter 434: Call of the Godly Realm

“Golden Tortoises have very prosperous life energy, especially me, since I have a hundred-thousand year cultivation. My life energy was naturally very prosperous. However, this thing is completely irrational. It just keeps on absorbing my life energy every day. I tried to expel it from my body, but it seemed to grow inside my body instead. No matter what I did, I couldn’t drive it out. I could only look on helplessly as it sucked my life energy away every single day, until it was almost drained.

“Given my current state, I don’t dare to ask other soul beasts for help. Di Tian wouldn’t let me off if he found out about this. This is why I can only let you humans take advantage of me. At least I’ll be able to survive longer in a different form in this way. This is why I say one shouldn’t be greedy! Greed kills! Ah ah ah!”

Everyone had a different feeling when they saw this Golden Tortoise wailing so depressingly. However, most of them were alerted.

Yes! Greed was fatal. While Life Gold was a good thing, this Golden Tortoise’s life energy was slowly sucked away after it swallowed the metal into its body, to the point where it was about to die. This was a very heavy lesson to learn.

As the Golden Tortoise spoke up to here, its fusion with Xu Sanshi was about to be completed. However, its body still didn’t disappear.

Its huge body slowly drifted into mid-air and started to shrink. During the process of shrinking, its golden tortoise shell became brighter and brighter. It seemed to be molten gold as it shot out light in all directions. The earlier release of the immense life energy seemed to be ending. Most of it had been devoured by the Life Guardian Blade.

When the Golden Tortoise’s body shrank until it was only one meter in diameter, it suddenly whooshed and ﬂew over to Xu Sanshi, and was imprinted onto Xu Sanshi’s Xuanwu Shield, which was showing behind him.

Xu Sanshi’s shield and the tortoise shell suddenly resurfaced, and Xu Sanshi’s body jerked. Following this, a red soul ring instantly rose from beneath his feet.

His seventh soul ring was a hundred-thousand-year soul ring!

His Xuanwu Shield slowly revolved behind him. Ridges started appearing on the tortoise shell. Just like the Golden Tortoise’s back, the snake was now dyed gold, and the entire Xuanwu Shield was also covered with a layer of dark gold light.

With just a glance, it was possible to sense the thick aura exuding from this shield. It felt indestructible, as if it could provide an eternal defense.

Xu Sanshi was delighted. He waved his right hand, and his Xuanwu Shield ﬂew into his hands. Instantly, his entire body was covered with a layer of dark golden light. His seventh red soul ring surged with light continuously.

It wasn’t just a hundred-thousand-year soul ring. It was also a hundred-thousand year Spirit! Besides Huo Yuhao, he was the only other person with a hundred-thousand year Spirit. The Golden Tortoise didn’t just give him two soul rings, it provided him with an all-around enhancement. His Xuanwu Shield had completely evolved into a Xuanwu, and it even

carried the aura of a Golden Tortoise now. More accurately speaking, it carried the aura of a Golden Xuanwu now!

At the same time, the life energy that the Golden Tortoise brought to him was sufﬁcient for him to cultivate until he became a Titled Douluo. The overall enhancements that he had received completely consolidated his foundation to become a Transcendent Douluo in the future.

Furthermore, Xu Sanshi was holding his Golden Xuanwu Shield right now. He could clearly sense his defensive strength soaring. As he held this shield, he felt completely worry-free. It was something that he had never experienced before. Even when he didn’t circulate his soul power, his Golden Xuanwu Shield was still extremely strong.

Was there even anything else that was more wonderful than this? Xu Sanshi danced in excitement.

At this point, a jade-green light ﬂashed, and a piece of metal separated from the Golden Xuanwu Shield. It dropped onto the ﬂoor and made a jingling sound.

This piece of metal didn’t seem very big. Its shape was also not uniform, and there even seemed to be teeth marks on it.

The Golden Tortoise’s voice sounded, but it was sighing. “It’s ﬁnally out. This terrifying fellow has troubled me for thousands of years. Whoever wants it, quickly put it away. Don’t let the Emerald Swan see it. Otherwise, the Beast God will ﬁnd trouble with you.”

Xu Sanshi didn’t take it. Instead, he looked at Huo Yuhao and said, “Little junior, quick!”

Huo Yuhao was stunned for a moment, “Third Senior, Life Gold is invaluable. It should belong to you!”

Xu Sanshi laughed and replied, “Forget it, I have no use for this thing. In addition, this Tortoise really hates it. I believe you are the only one who really knows how to use it. Just put it away for now. We can talk about it later.”

Huo Yuhao wasn’t one to procrastinate either. He nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll keep it for now, but it belongs to the Tang Sect.”

The Life Guardian Blade in the air fell downward and stuck closely to that piece of Life Gold. Suddenly, a magical scene appeared. Streaks of jade-green light were released from the Life Guardian Blade. The piece of Life Gold seemed to have been devoured, and slowly melted before fusing within the Life Guardian Blade, becoming a part of it.

Originally, the Life Guardian Blade was only as big as a carving blade, but as it consumed this piece of Life Gold, it was now slowly becoming more like a dagger. Even Huo Yuhao was stunned when he saw this.

Why did the Life Guardian Blade devour the Life Gold? He just said that it’s going to be part of the Tang Sect in the future, but now…

What Huo Yuhao didn’t know was that his Life Guardian Blade was strongly supporting his life after he had nurtured it for so long, and after his immense spiritual power fused with Wang Qiu’er’s power of destiny. Naturally, the piece of Life Gold was much stronger than any ordinary Life Gold. But although that piece of Life Gold had devoured the Golden Tortoise’s life energy and was very strong, a lot of its life energy was released under the effect of the pact earlier.

Furthermore, it was absorbed by Huo Yuhao’s Life Guardian Blade. It was at its weakest state right now, so it was easily devoured by Huo Yuhao’s Life Guardian Blade.

Huo Yuhao didn’t know that his Life Guardian Blade had slowly developed its own sentience as he nurtured it. Although it wasn’t considered intelligent yet, it was still capable of strengthening itself as it devoured the Life Gold.

Just as Huo Yuhao thought of something, his Life Guardian Blade ﬂew back in front of him.

The jade-green dagger was now around seven inches in length, and looked more like a ﬂying dagger. It seemed slightly thicker than its original appearance. The shiny and translucent blade of the dagger shone brightly with jade-green light, and Huo Yuhao could feel the strong life aura coming from it.

Huo Yuhao felt very fortunate that he couldn’t swallow a carving blade back then, and more fortunate that he had had Electrolux to guide him.

In fact, he had also fused with a piece of Life Gold. However, the difference between him and the Golden Tortoise was that he had used his spiritual power to complete his fusion with his Life Gold, whereas the Golden Tortoise had simply swallowed it. After using his spiritual power to fuse with and nurture his Life Gold, he ﬁnally received positive feedback.

After devouring that piece of Life Gold and the immense life energy it contained, Huo Yuhao could subtly sense thin arteries and veins developing inside his Life Guardian Blade. These thin arteries and veins were like human blood vessels, and there seemed to be something ﬂowing in them. It could only be life energy ﬂowing inside his Life Gold, but how did it take a ﬂuid form? Right now, his Life Guardian Blade was like a living entity!

Huo Yuhao used his right index and middle ﬁngers to gently grab hold of his Life Guardian Blade. Suddenly, everyone saw a layer of jade-green light constantly ﬂow over Huo Yuhao’s body from the Life Guardian Blade. As the jade-green light ﬂashed, Huo Yuhao seemed to enter a sublime state.

As he thought of something, his Life Guardian Blade turned into a ray of jade-green light and re-entered his Eye of Destiny.

The immense life energy it brought with it caused Huo Yuhao’s body to shudder several times.

This life force, which seemed to have turned material, actually caused his spiritual and soul power to fuse even more. Huo Yuhao could subtly sense something as they blended together.

He subconsciously lifted his head to look into the sky. Even though he could only see the roof of the Spirit Transmission Tower, his eyes had turned transparent at this instant. He seemed to be able to penetrate everything with his gaze.

Everyone was drawn by Huo Yuhao’s gaze. No one said anything, or rather, no one dared to say anything. Right now, Huo Yuhao had entered an extremely strange state. It was like time and space had stopped.

Tang Wutong was the most astonished. She was in a daze as she looked at Huo Yuhao’s eyes. She was in complete disbelief. Impossible, how is this possible? Why do I see my father’s eyes in his eyes? He only has seven rings! How is this possible?

This state didn’t last for very long before Huo Yuhao lowered his head, and his gaze calmed down. However, in just these few dozen seconds, he seemed to have changed completely. His soul and spiritual power didn’t increase, but he seemed to have become different.

Among the four Spirits, the Snow Empress’ expression seemed to have become more agile. She turned around and hugged the Ice Empress beside her. She sincerely said, “Ice, thanks.”

After she ﬁnished speaking, she turned into a streak of white light before disappearing into Huo Yuhao’s body. The Ice Empress was stunned. She subconsciously turned around and looked at the Skydream Iceworm. After hesitating for a moment, she drifted in front of him and gently hugged him.

“Skydream, thanks.” After she ﬁnished speaking, she also ﬂew towards Huo Yuhao and disappeared into his body.

The Skydream Iceworm was tearing up heavily. It was unknown whether he had sensed something, or whether he was touched because the Ice Empress had hugged him.

The Skydream Iceworm ﬂew in front of Huo Yuhao. He didn’t immediately fuse into Huo Yuhao’s body. Instead, he opened his arms wide and hugged Huo Yuhao.

“Yuhao, thank you. You’ve ﬁnally let us see hope.” After he ﬁnished speaking, he turned into a streak of ﬂowing light before fusing into Huo Yuhao’s body and disappearing.

The Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass swayed gently, and didn’t say anything. However, the icy-blue glow from its body had evidently become much stronger. It leaned closer to Huo Yuhao’s face. After that, it fused into his body and disappeared.

Everyone else was confused when they saw all this. It was only Huo Yuhao who understood why the four Spirits had acted in this way.

Yes, they ﬁnally saw hope. They saw hope that Huo Yuhao could possibly transcend the mortal world!

Even though he was only a Soul Sage now, they could sense what had happened earlier.

Huo Yuhao felt it the clearest. After he re-fused his Life Guardian Blade and his spiritual world and soul power took one more step towards complete fusion, he seemed to have heard a call. He didn’t know where it came from. It was a call that was guiding him towards the skies.

He felt that he saw another world. The call that he heard sounded very ethereal, but it gave him an indescribably strange feeling.

At this moment, an indescribable, terrifying aura was suddenly released from Huo Yuhao’s body.

Everyone around suddenly appeared very astonished. That terrifying aura, which was ﬁlled with dark power, surged like a sovereign that had descended. Everyone was suppressed by this aura and couldn’t move.

It was the same for Huo Yuhao. A streak of pitch-black gas spread around his entire body. His skin started to grow black scales, and a thick aura of darkness instantly engulfed his entire body.

The entire outside seemed to have been covered. Huo Yuhao’s eyes immediately turned dim. Everything had happened too suddenly, but it struck him very strongly.

The connection that Huo Yuhao had sensed earlier was cut. He seemed to have returned to the state that he was in before he fused with his Life Guardian Blade. It was like whatever had happened before had ceased to exist.

The dark power slowly disappeared. The scales also slowly retracted into Huo Yuhao’s body. The terrifying aura also disappeared, and everything returned to normal.

Huo Yuhao seemed to have guessed that this would happen. His expression was very calm. As he looked at everyone around him, who were all very astonished, he smiled slightly as he shook his head and said, “I’m ﬁne.”

At this point, his spiritual sea started to surge with waves.

The Skydream Iceworm, Ice Empress, Snow Empress and even the Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass started to roar maniacally.

The Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass had the weakest cultivation among the four Spirits. In fact, it had only existed in this world for ten thousand years. It had only reached a hundred-thousand year cultivation because it was bred by the Iceﬁre Yin Yang Well. However, even it could sense that Huo

Yuhao’s change was something very rare.

Earlier, Huo Yuhao must have had sensed the Godly Realm! However, this sensation was cut short by the sudden force that came afterward.

If this sensation had remained, Huo Yuhao might have found it easier to become a God in the future. Such an opportunity was extremely valuable, even for an Ultimate Douluo. The reason why they were so moved was that they truly saw how they could transcend this world and avoid the wheel of reincarnation by following Huo Yuhao!

However, their hope was extinguished, just like that.

It was the Beast God, Di Tian!

Chapter 435: Target: Defeat the Beast God!

Huo Yuhao was just standing there quietly, and there was a faint smile on his face from the beginning to the end. However, a dash of coldness ﬂashed deep inside his eyes.

The Beast God, Di Tian!

Impressive, Di Tian!

Torrential tides were set off inside his spiritual sea. Huo Yuhao gradually drifted into view there, and he swiftly calmed down the raging tides that his four powerful Spirits had started. All four of them trained their eyes on him.

“Don’t be worried.” Huo Yuhao’s calm voice travelled throughout his entire spiritual sea.

“Yuhao!” The Skydream Iceworm was panting, and his breathing was thick and heavy.

Huo Yuhao’s eyes suddenly became very majestic and digniﬁed. “Don’t worry. Since I have triggered this for the ﬁrst time, there will be a second time, and there will be a third time. Do you guys trust me?”

All four Spirits were starting at him. The Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass was the ﬁrst to transform into a beam of ﬂowing light and land on his body. It didn’t have that many expectations and hopes when it chose Huo Yuhao, therefore, it also experienced the least disappointment. Faced with Huo Yuhao’s calm and formless pressure, it instantly made its choice.

The Ice Empress, the Snow Empress, and the Skydream Iceworm were all looking at Huo Yuhao.

The Skydream Iceworm muttered under his breath, “But a chance like this is only likely to come by once every thousand years!”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “I’m a Soul Sage, and I seem to have found a very minute part of the solution. Furthermore, even Di Tian can only obstruct me, but he

cannot obstruct the heavens. Not even the Beast God can stop the heavens! Therefore, he was one step behind me today.”

All three soul beasts trembled at the same time when they heard his words, and their eyes ﬂowed with incredulous looks.

Huo Yuhao’s majestic eyes gradually became full of fervor. “Furthermore, there’s another solution.”

All three soul beasts’ eyes widened at the same time. What other solution was there?

Huo Yuhao slowly clenched his ﬁsts. His spiritual sea riled up once more with him as the epicenter, but his spiritual sea was rippling with a rhythm this time. His immense spiritual power circulated rapidly around his body as a whirlpool.

“That is to defeat Di Tian!”

To defeat Di Tian! These four words were simple, but who dared to say something like this in the world today? Who even dared to think such a thing?

Di Tian was the strongest individual in the world, after the Gods. He was the Douluo Continent’s number one Savage Beast, and he was possibly the strongest individual across the entire Douluo Continent. He was a Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King with eight hundred thousand years of cultivation!

He had almost obliterated Shrek City all by himself. With his strength, how many people dared to challenge him, and how many people dared to claim they could defeat him?

The Beast God, Di Tian, had reached the highest possible strength that one could attain in this world a long time ago!

However, when Huo Yuhao uttered those four words seriously, all three powerful soul beasts felt as if those four words were real. Huo Yuhao’s tone didn’t contain any outrageousness or arrogance; there was only seriousness, perseverance, and persistence.

Defeating Di Tian was Huo Yuhao’s target for the future!

If someone who didn’t know him, or someone who didn’t know about his experiences heard his words, they would burst out laughing. A human who wanted to defeat the Beast God one on one… that was simply a joke. Even the strongest human that people knew about in the world today, the Dragon God Douluo Long Xiaoyao, wouldn’t say something like that. The stronger one became, the more one knew about how difﬁcult it was to become stronger after a certain level.

The Beast God was someone who had gone through eight hundred thousand years of cultivation to reach his strength today. Only an Ultimate Douluo and other individuals of that strength could guess exactly how deep Di Tian’s foundations were.

However, Huo Yuhao made this claim, and he deﬁnitely wasn’t joking about it. He was very serious.

Ten years ago, he was a child inside the Duke’s Mansion who didn’t have proper meals to satiate his hunger. However, now, he wasn’t even twenty years of age, and he had already become a Soul Sage!

A Soul Sage with twin martial souls!

This cultivation speed was one of the fastest across human history. He had invented Spirits, and founded the Spirit Pagoda. He had become something like a imperishable monolith in the history of soul masters, and his name was spread across the entire Continent with the Spirit Pagoda’s

establishment. Every soul master knew his name.

He possessed powerful spiritual power, and even with his seven soul rings, his spiritual power was stronger than that of a Titled Douluo. Furthermore, he also possessed Ultimate Ice, a truly formidable existence.

Huo Yuhao seemed exceptionally gifted in every aspect and characteristic. However, only the Ice Empress and the Skydream Iceworm, who had always been by his side, knew how much Huo Yuhao had given, and how much effort he had put in throughout the entire process. Only they knew how much determination and resolve he had to have to achieve everything that he did.

Huo Yuhao had displayed resilience unmatched by normal people ever since he began fusing with the Skydream Iceworm. After joining Shrek Academy, he cultivated hard with inferior talent and innate abilities compared to everyone else. Huo

Yuhao had gone through so many ordeals and trials during every step of his life.

Huo Yuhao had had to watch the woman that he loved the most enter a deep slumber with his own eyes, and he had to watch another girl that loved him dearly offer her life for him. Every leap forward that Huo Yuhao’s strength took was accompanied by uncountable pains and toils.

But he had taken everything in his stride on his journey.

Huo Yuhao had truly grown up today. He wasn’t that small blade of grass that swayed in the rain and the wind, he had grown into a robust and large, sturdy tree. Even though he was only a Soul Sage, nobody dared to claim that he wasn’t someone who played a decisive role, and one who held a balance of power on the Continent.

He was the youngest member of the Sea God’s Pavilion, and a human that the Great Star Dou Forest had sworn to protect. Even the Beast God, Di Tian, had had no choice but to monitor him, though he didn’t dare let him communicate with powerful individuals from another world.

When he uttered those words, that he wanted to defeat Di Tian, the ﬁrst thought that appeared in the three soul beasts’ minds was, He will deﬁnitely work as hard as he can to reach this goal. Everything seemed impossible, but was it really impossible? How many things had Huo Yuhao done that were impossible for normal human beings? Huo Yuhao himself was like a monster!

“I’m sorry, Yuhao.” The Skydream Iceworm lowered his head, and two rows of tears ﬂowed down his cheeks.

Huo Yuhao didn’t release his tightly clenched ﬁsts, but his voice became a lot plainer than before. “There’s nothing to be sorry for, brother Skydream. I can understand what you’re feeling inside. I hate what’s happened to me, too, but hatred can’t achieve anything. All I can do is become stronger continuously, and one day, when I have enough strength to defeat the Beast God, I will make the reverse scale that he has attached to my body disappear. That day will be the day that I will take you guys into eternity. This is the goal that I have chased and desired my entire life. Furthermore, I trust that this goal is deﬁnitely not too far away.”

The Snow Empress’ icy voice rang out. “We will always accompany you as long as you still have that ﬁghting spirit.

Good luck!” After she ﬁnished her sentence, her wise and ice- cold eyes became crystal clear once again, and the little Snow Lady returned. She transformed into a beam of white light and disappeared into Huo Yuhao’s body.

The Ice Empress nodded and said, “The Snow Empress is right. As long as you have the will to ﬁght, we will always be your strongest and most determined supporting strengths. Good luck, Yuhao!”

The Ice Empress pulled the Skydream Iceworm’s hand as she spoke, and they ﬂew towards Huo Yuhao together. They vanished into his body inside his spiritual sea.

A plain, faint smile appeared on Huo Yuhao’s face. He raised his ﬁsts and silently gazed into the distance.

Di Tian!

I have to defeat you one day!

------

“Yuhao, Yuhao, how are you feeling? What happened?” Bei Bei asked in concern from beside Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao had told him that he was alright before he descended into deep contemplation.

He was alright… but how could he be alright? That power of darkness didn’t belong to Huo Yuhao! That power of darkness suddenly appeared in a place like this, a place ﬁlled with light energy. That was highly unnatural in the ﬁrst place!

Huo Yuhao’s body trembled as if he had awoken. He glanced at his companions, who were watching him with concerned expressions, and smiled as he shook his head. “I’m alright. That came from some power that the Beast God Di Tian has infused into my body. That power is meant to protect me. It might have sensed that my aura was starting to change, so it appeared to protect me. I’m okay now.”

“Are you sure?” Bei Bei asked a little doubtfully. “Why do I feel that that aura didn’t come out to protect you?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and smiled. “Eldest senior brother... you, third senior brother, and fourth senior sister have successfully fused with your respective Spirits. Congratulations! This time, your strengths have been greatly boosted. We should be going, right?”

Bei Bei could tell that Huo Yuhao wasn’t willing to tell him. He gave Huo Yuhao a serious look before he tilted his head slightly and said, “Alright, let’s go then. Little junior brother, if you have any problems, you have to tell me in time. Even if the Tang Sect can’t resolve these problems for you, we can still ﬁnd Elder Xuan.”

Huo Yuhao heaved a faint sigh inside. Not even Elder Xuan could resolve the problems in his body!

------

Everyone exited the Spirit Transmitting Hall. Bi Ji was still waiting outside, and she inquired about the process when she saw them walk out. She felt relieved when she heard that Xu Sanshi’s spirit transmission was smooth and successful, and she personally escorted them out. The Spirit Transmitting Hall

was still being constructed, and it wasn’t appropriate to receive any visitors, so Bi Ji didn’t ask them to stay behind.

Bei Bei stared at Huo Yuhao as they stood at the entrance to the Spirit Transmitting Hall. “Yuhao, you guys have to be careful on your journey. It’s the same thing every time: safety ﬁrst, always!”

Huo Yuhao nodded faintly, and replied, “You too, eldest senior brother. Don’t force yourself if anything out of the ordinary happens in the Setting Sun Forest. You can wait for me to return, and I’ll go back there with you.”

Bei Bei smiled and said, “Don’t worry. If the Tang Sect can’t even deal with a patch of toxic miasma, then we would have grown so much and so long for nothing. Depending on the situation, I might even bring Teacher Xuan along on my journey. He has been working too hard, and he’s tired himself out too much over the past few years. It’s time for him to change his mood and his environment. Who knows? This journey might be beneﬁcial for him in breaking through to become a Titled Douluo.”

Huo Yuhao’s eyes lit up as he said, “It can’t get any better if Teacher Xuan follows you.” Xuan Ziwen was a Class 8 soul engineer, and very close to becoming a Class 9 soul engineer. His soul tools were very powerful, and he wouldn’t be afraid of any dangers if Xuan Ziwen followed Bei Bei to the Iceﬁre Yin

Yang Well. Huo Yuhao just wasn’t sure to what extent the plants and herbs over there could help those two Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bears grow.

Bei Bei bid farewell to everyone, and then ﬂew in the Tang Sect’s direction by himself. He had to go back and prepare as quickly as possible before he would set off on his own journey.

Huo Yuhao turned around to his companions and said, “Alright, let’s go, too.” His destination was, of course, the Star Luo Empire’s front lines.

Xu Sanshi laughed out loud, and released his martial soul proudly. He stared at his red soul ring, and was as pleased as he could be. Having a hundred-thousand year soul ring was very impressive for soul masters! Furthermore, hundred-thousand year soul beasts didn’t just provide soul rings – they also came with soul bones!

The Golden Tortoise shell that had fused into his Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle before this was the soul bone that the Golden Tortoise had given him. Furthermore, this soul bone was the most valuable soul bone, a torso bone!

For defense-type soul masters, torso bones were much more important than skull bones!

Xu Sanshi couldn’t wait any longer, soaring into the sky after releasing his martial soul. He was a Soul Sage now, and could ﬂy through the air without using ﬂying-type soul tools. He was an exhibitionist and a show-off at heart, so how could he give up this opportunity to try ﬂying out!?

Xu Sanshi ﬂew into the sky, and pulled Jiang Nannan along with him. Jiang Nannan was a lot more reserved than he was, but she didn’t reject her ﬁrst time ﬂying as a Soul Sage.

Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu activated their respective ﬂying-type soul tools and followed closely behind.

Jing Ziyan and Ji Juechen followed suit. Huo Yuhao led everyone as they surged into the sky at the same time.

Tang Wutong was relatively closer to where Huo Yuhao was. As everyone was rising into the air, her voice suddenly appeared in his ear.

“You’re lying!”

“Eh?” Huo Yuhao glanced subconsciously at Tang Wutong.

She had compressed her voice into a single line. Dong’er didn’t seem to possess such a level of control before!

Tang Wutong glanced at him with rather sophisticated eyes, and took the initiative to ﬂy up next to him as she whispered, “You were lying just now.”

“What did I lie about?” Huo Yuhao asked, confused.

Tang Wutong sounded a little proud as he said, “You were just lying about the Beast God protecting you with his strength. If he were protecting you, how could he sever your interaction with the God Realm’s aura? This opportunity only comes once in a blue moon, and it can even trigger a Godly Appointment. If the Beast God’s strength was protecting you, it should have been protecting you from being disturbed by others!”

Huo Yuhao stared at her in surprise. He was very sure that Tang Wutong was Wang Dong’er, except that she was a little different from how Wang Dong’er was like before. He could see Wang Qiu’er’s shadow in her from time to time. However, even though Dong’er had lost her memory, she seemed to have gained knowledge that she didn’t have before! How did that happen?

Tang Wutong giggled and pressed, “I’m right, am I not? Why are you lying!?”

Huo Yuhao smiled and said warmly, “Why should I tell you?”

Tang Wutong said threateningly, “If you don’t tell me, I will expose your lie to everyone else, so that everyone will be unhappy with you.”

Huo Yuhao laughed and said, “You’re just like a child!”

“Who are you calling a child?” Tang Wutong raged.

Huo Yuhao laughed again and said, “What’s wrong with being a child? Innocent and devoid of evil...I like how you’re behaving right now.”

Tang Wutong was momentarily stunned when she saw the love and concern in his eyes that he didn’t bother masking. She blushed, and quickly said indignantly, “You lecher! Are you asking for a beating? Are you telling me or not?”

Huo Yuhao said plainly, “Actually, it’s nothing much. I just didn’t want everyone to worry for me. The Beast God, Di Tian, did place some restrictions on me. You’re right, he wants to stop me from interacting with that illusory God Realm. What can I do? I can’t defeat him, and I can’t resist him. If he’s stopping me from doing so, then so be it.”

Tang Wutong glared at him with her large and pinkish-blue eyes. Her long eyelashes were quivering gently as she asked, “Do you know how important that state you that you were in is for your future?”

Huo Yuhao smiled faintly and replied, “Haven’t you told me already? Of course I know.”

Tang Wutong said, “Then why are you acting so indifferently? Since you’ve missed this opportunity, you may not come across another one in your entire lifetime.”

Huo Yuhao answered, “You have no faith in me? But I have a lot of faith in myself...”

Tang Wutong was a little upset. “You’re so dense and unreasonable! I’m too lazy to care about you anymore.” She stretched out her wings behind her back as she spoke, and beat them forcefully as she ﬂew towards the front.

Huo Yuhao’s mood was a little suppressed before this, but he suddenly felt his spirits lift as he watched her charming back and her ﬂowing pinkish-blue hair ﬂuttering in the sky.

For him, what Tang Wutong had just said to him was a form of concern!

Dong’er, even though you’ve forgotten about me, are you still subconsciously concerned about me? Actually, everyone doesn’t know this, but being able to be together with you is more important than becoming a god to me. Brother Skydream

and the others have their hopes placed on me, and I will deﬁnitely work hard to become a god, but you are always the most important in my heart! No matter what, even if you’ve forgotten who I was before, I will deﬁnitely bring us together again as we are now!

Huo Yuhao’s Butterﬂy Wings stretched out behind his back, and he accelerated as he chased after Tang Wutong. He ﬂew behind her without going too fast or too slow and watched her enchanting back. For Huo Yuhao, this was the best form of relaxation for his mind.

Tang Wutong continued ﬂying in the front. She didn’t interact with anyone else because she wasn’t familiar with the others. The more she ﬂew, the more she felt as if something was wrong.

She subconsciously turned around, and was met with Huo Yuhao’s mesmerized eyes. She trembled, and almost lost her balance in midair.

“What are you looking at?” Tang Wutong was beside herself with fury.

Huo Yuhao answered, “I’m looking at you!”

“Why are you staring at me so lecherously?” Tang Wutong said ferociously. But she was just too beautiful, and even though she was deliberately trying to put on a ferocious and wicked outward appearance, she was still so cute in Huo Yuhao’s eyes.

Huo Yuhao felt amused as he said, “What? I can’t look at you? I’m just ﬂying behind you, so isn’t it normal that my eyes are on you?”

“You’re not allowed to look at me!” Tang Wutong raged.

Huo Yuhao put on a speechless look and said, “But if I don’t look at you, what’s going to happen if I crash into you? You can’t ask me to close my eyes when I ﬂy!”

Tang Wutong grunted coldly and said, “You’ll ﬂy in front me and stare at the air by yourself.”

Huo Yuhao didn’t argue with her. He nodded and said, “Alright,” He immediately ﬂew in front of her in a ﬂash.

---

Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu were ﬂying together not far from where Huo Yuhao was. Nan Qiuqiu was pouting, and a little displeased as she said, “Look at them, they’re ﬂirting in public! Hmph! She lost her memory? I think they’re just putting on a show!”

Ye Guyi shook her head softly and said, “Try to be unbiased, pretty girl. Are you interested in him too? You should be able to tell from his eyes that he can’t possibly like anyone else other than her. Is one-sided love so interesting?”

Nan Qiuqiu giggled and said, “You’re trying hard to convince yourself by saying all that, right, sister Guyi? I wasn’t paying attention to Huo Yuhao’s eyes, but I saw a lot of yours. Ever since he came back, your eyes keep turning towards him carelessly. What are you trying to do?”

Ye Guyi blushed and retorted, “Why can’t I look at him?”

Nan Qiuqiu laughed and shot back, “You can look at him, but you can’t have him. Aren’t you worried?”

Ye Guyi grunted and suddenly sped up as she surged towards the front and said nothing else. There was a faint trace of helplessness in her eyes.

You may like someone, but that someone may not have the same feelings for you...

However, even though she knew her feelings wouldn’t lead to anything at all, she still couldn’t help but yearn for him. Perhaps that was because he was simply too outstanding, and he had attracted her attention ever since the beginning. Ever since then, she couldn’t notice other men at all.

The truth was, Ye Guyi didn’t know how many times she had chided herself gloomily to walk away from her one-sided love, but discovered that she couldn’t do it at all. The more she wanted to walk away, the deeper his ﬁgure was imprinted in her mind.

She gave up trying towards the end. It’s like that already... if I like him, then so be it. I’m liking him while I’m cultivating at the same time, anyway. She didn’t have any family, and nobody would hurry or urge her to ﬁnd a man. She spent most of her time and energy cultivating, and she would let nature take its course with her feelings and love. Smoothing her state of mind and keeping peace with herself was a lot more comfortable. Thinking about Huo Yuhao from time to time was a kind of bliss for her, especially after he returned; her happiness was more conspicuous when she saw him.

She didn’t wish or hope for anything at all, and was just staring at him quietly. She realized that she was quite satisﬁed with how things were. She had mocked herself, she had felt speechless about herself, but so what? She would have walked away from her feelings a long time ago if she could. Wang Qiu’er was so outstanding, but even she couldn’t move his heart, and she even sacriﬁced herself to save him, in the end. I have never done anything for him, so I’m just going to bury my feelings for him deep inside my heart. Maybe, after a long time, these feelings will dampen, and I will naturally forget about them. Or, another man that can move me will appear and take his place in my heart.

Ye Guyi didn’t have much faith in the latter. Finding someone who was more outstanding than Huo Yuhao seemed a

little challenging.

Huo Yuhao naturally didn’t know about the changes in Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu’s mentalities. He was ﬂying in front, and still wore a faint smile on his face. His spiritual power was powerful, and he could clearly feel that there was a pair of pinkish-blue eyes trained on him from behind.

Whether I am watching the person I love, or the person I love is watching me is a kind of happiness! It’s so nice that Dong’er is back...

Tang Wutong followed behind him and stared at his back.

She couldn’t help but start to daydream.

She didn’t know why his ﬂying-type soul tool seemed so familiar. He was just ﬂying in front of her quietly, and he clearly wasn’t doing anything, but he seemed to integrate into the air around him, as though he were part of that air and space in the ﬁrst place, while she and everyone else were outsiders.

Has this fellow really reached such a high level? No wonder, he can actually interact with the heavens and the earth. He’s quite impressive – that’s a pity, because he’s not a good guy!

Tang Wutong had ﬁrmly branded Huo Yuhao as “not a good person” ever since the ﬁrst time he had hugged her. At least, her impression hadn’t changed much for now, and several adjectives could be added, at most... he was a scoundrel who had extraordinary abilities! Or, he was a scoundrel who possessed some strength...

Both guys and girls couldn’t help but feel interested and curious about the unknown or mysterious things. Huo Yuhao was like that to Tang Wutong, and she was starting to feel interested and curious about him. This person seems to have uncountable hidden secrets. Furthermore, those secrets seem to have something to do with me...

Tang Wutong wasn’t stupid. More accurately, she was incredibly intelligent. She had already heard of Huo Yuhao when she ﬁrst came to Shrek Academy, because everyone believed that she and Huo Yuhao should be together.

She was furious at the beginning, and ﬁgured that everyone in Shrek Academy had gone insane. But with the passage of time and more and more people saying the same thing, she could faintly feel that. Perhaps someone that looks like me is related to that fellow. But can someone really look like me?

When Huo Yuhao ﬁrst appeared in front of her and embraced her, Tang Wutong was completed dazed, and she had immediately lashed out at Huo Yuhao.

She knew that she didn’t have a good temper, and if someone else did what he had done, she would probably have fought with that person until one of them dropped dead. When she ﬁrst encountered Huo Yuhao, even though she had lashed out at him because she was angry, she couldn’t feel any lethal intent in her heart at all during her attack. She even felt a little soft during the ﬁght.

She didn’t understand why that had happened, but her heart seemed to soften uncontrollably when she looked at that fellow’s eyes. This was the same even when she had labelled him a scoundrel, and it seemed like there really was some connection between the two of them.

Tang Wutong found all that hard to believe, because this person had never appeared before in her memory! It was even more impossible that they were acquainted or had any interactions either.

She shook her head forcefully, and her wavy pinkish-blue hair ﬂuttered in the sky behind her. I’m not going to think about him anymore. I’ll just ignore him in the future.

Tang Wutong was thinking like that to herself, but she still couldn’t help but look at him. She stared at his tall and slim ﬁgure ﬂying in front of her, and she felt the gentle soul power undulations that were spreading from his body. For some reason, she couldn’t shift her eyes away…

-------

The weakest individuals in their group were Soul Emperors, so nobody had any problems ﬂying continuously for a prolonged period of time.

They ﬂew for about two hours before Huo Yuhao suggested for everyone to come down and rest.

They had entered the Star Luo Empire’s borders, and needed at least another two hours before they reached the Star Luo Empire’s western regions. They would be very close to the front lines.

Everyone had started out very early in the morning, so they were a little hungry when they descended to the ground. They retrieved their respective rations and drinking water and began eating their own meals, and everyone rested at the same time.

Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan were in a jovial mood. They had just become Soul Sages, and ﬂying through the air without any soul tools felt fantastic!

One’s soul power rose exponentially after one became a Soul Sage, and the Soul Sage could unleash his or her martial soul true body. The Soul Sage would also experience a qualitative leap in ﬁghting strength. They were gifted and elite students from Shrek Academy in the ﬁrst place, and they had just become some of the strongest individuals of the younger generation after they became Soul Sages. They had also closed the gap between Huo Yuhao and themselves.

Huo Yuhao didn’t go over to Tang Wutong’s side. He believed that even if Tang Wutong had lost her memory, she would have Dong’er’s personality from before, and him taking the initiative to get closer to her wouldn’t result in anything good. Furthermore, he wasn’t worried at all. For some reason, he

was starting to enjoy the feeling of gradually awakening Dong’er’s memories. He had a made a decision in his heart long ago. If I can’t make Dong’er remember me, then I will let her fall in love with me all over again. No matter what happened, he wouldn’t leave her side this time, and he would follow her wherever she went.

Their priority now was to execute their mission. Huo Yuhao munched on his rations as he contemplated in silence. Should I directly reveal my identity to the White Tiger Duke on this journey to the front lines? It’s quite inevitable that I’ll run into Dai Luoli when I’m there. I wonder if that fellow has sold me out yet?

Probably not. Luoli has some stubbornness in his personality, and he’s not one to compromise easily. Hopefully the White Tiger Duke won’t see through everyone.

An indescribable discomfort arose in Huo Yuhao’s heart when he considered looking for the White Tiger Duke directly,

according to Elder Xuan’s instructions.

Some time ago, he could have confessed his feelings and thoughts to Wang Dong’er, at least. But now? Who could he talk to? He could only silently endure this heavy burden by himself.

Huo Yuhao took a deep breath, and placed his rations down before he closed his eyes and started to rest, leaning against a large tree behind him. Even he didn’t know what to do at this moment, even with his extraordinary intelligence.

If Elder Xuan hadn’t given him instructions, he would have returned to Dai Luoli’s side and continued serving as Xu Yun’s personal guard. He believed that with his abilities and strength, he would be continuously promoted if he participated in battle.

However, just as Elder Xuan had said, his strength would undoubtedly be wasted if he did that. He could participate directly in the war and be a lot more effective than otherwise. His Spiritual Detection could reach an extraordinary distance, just how much help could he give the Star Luo Empire?

Forget it… I can’t affect the entire empire just because of my desires and wishes! Even though Huo Yuhao had never thought that the Star Luo Empire had given anything to him at all, it was still his home country. I’m just going to look for the White Tiger Duke directly. He doesn’t know who I am, anyway, and I’ll work hard to help the Star Luo Empire resolve their troubles before anything else. I can use other methods in the future to realize my wish.

Huo Yuhao ﬁnally reconciled his thoughts, and he exhaled deeply as he opened his eyes.

When he opened his eyes, he was met with two large pinkish- blue eyes staring at him, which startled him.

His mind and his energy were too concentrated before this, to the point where he didn’t release his spiritual power. At this moment, he couldn’t help but feel a little dazed when he suddenly saw Tang Wutong’s eyes.

However, the shadow that had just arisen in Huo Yuhao’s heart vanished into thin air when he saw her. As long as she was around, any trouble or challenge didn’t seem like much of a problem anymore.

Huo Yuhao smiled at Tang Wutong and nodded gently.

Tang Wutong immediately turned away, and she chomped down on her rations forcefully, as if she were eating his ﬂesh.

Huo Yuhao ﬁnished his food before he crossed his legs in a proper sitting position and started to meditate. Even though his cultivation speed was already incredible, his hard working attitude and the habits that he had formed over the years never changed.

------

Everyone rested for an hour before they returned to their journey, ﬂying straight towards the Star Luo Empire’s borders.

Huo Yuhao took everyone over the outskirts and the wilderness so that they could avoid unnecessary trouble. Of course, they could do this because they were inside the Star Luo Empire. If they had been inside the Sun Moon Empire, there would still have been hordes of surveillance soul tools

blanketing these regions, and they would have been quickly discovered.

They continued ﬂying for a little more than two hours before they started to enter the region considered the Star Luo Empire’s western borders. There, they were quickly met with blockades.

Everyone had no choice but to descend to the ground after revealing their identities. The Star Luo Empire soul engineers that had stopped them told them that the entire western border was locked down, and nobody could ﬂy in or out. Otherwise, they could very easily be attacked. The company had no choice but to descend to the ground and move forward on foot.

They were a lot slower as they moved along the ground, and only arrived outside Imperial Radiant City, which Huo Yuhao had been to before, in the evening.

“What do we do, Yuhao? Do we enter the city?” Xu Sanshi asked Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao thought for a moment and said, “Forget that. The front lines are very jittery and jumpy right now, and the Star Luo Empire is very sensitive. What if they treat us like spies again, and interrogate us? Why don’t we pick up the pace and go directly to the front lines? I know where the White Tiger Duke’s base is. We can rest again when we’re there.”

Imperial Radiant City was less than two hundred kilometers from the frontlines. Even though they couldn’t ﬂy, they only needed two hours at most to reach the frontlines with their abilities and strength.

Xu Sanshi nodded and said, “Alright. Let’s rest for a little while and have something to eat before setting out.”

------

They didn’t want to create any misunderstandings with Imperial Radiant City, so everyone just proceeded through the wilderness for a while before they found a small creek in the hills, and stopped to rest.

Huo Yuhao found this creek with his spiritual power. The men didn’t feel much about this creek, but when the ladies saw this clear and transparent stream, they all exclaimed joyously at the same time and pounced at the stream. They all squatted beside the stream and washed their hands and faces, and were

very happy.

There were too many women and too few men in this operation. Huo Yuhao, Xu Sanshi, and Ji Juechen were the only men in their company, while Ji Juechen was an enigma, and didn’t like to talk.

In contrast, there were ﬁve women: Tang Wutong, Ye Guyi, Nan Qiuqiu, Jing Ziyan, and Jiang Nannan.

Jing Ziyan’s looks were slightly inferior to the others. The four other girls were exceptionally pretty and beautiful, though Jing Ziyan could also be considered delicate and pretty.

The sun was setting in the west, and the sunset glow far on the western horizon tainted the edge of the sky crimson. These colors reﬂected off the stream and shone onto the girls’ faces. This glow brought out everyone’s charming looks even more.

Their cheeks and faces were red and rosy, and looked incredibly enchanting.

Xu Sanshi’s reaction was most evident. He swallowed audibly before nudging Huo Yuhao beside him and said, “Little junior brother, can you tell that Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqi both seem to be interested in you?”

“Eh?” Huo Yuhao was momentarily stunned. He had guessed that Ye Guyi seemed to have some feelings for him, but Nan Qiuqiu…

Nan Qiuqiu had hated him in the past, and her attitude changed a little only after he saved her and her mother. He didn’t sense anything about other things at all!

Chapter 436: Roasting Fish for Her

Xu Sanshi chuckled said, “I’m experienced. The two of them have been watching you ever since you returned. Isn’t this obvious enough? Furthermore, both of them are always mumbling to themselves when they see you. They wear resentful looks whenever they look at you! Nan Qiuqiu is more obvious than Ye Guyi. However, Ye Guyi spends more time looking at you compared to Nan Qiuqiu. I don’t know what’s so good about you. Why are all the beauties interested in you instead of me?”

“Because you’re ugly,” Ji Juechen said from one side.

Xu Sanshi snorted furiously. “Are you trying to embarrass me? Can’t you just play along?”

Ji Juechen ﬂipped his hand and whipped out his Judgment Sword, “Do you want to play?”

Xu Sanshi snorted, “I’m not scared of you. Little junior, since there’s a river here, there are naturally ﬁsh here as well. Why don’t you make some ﬁsh soup for us? I know how good you

are. You haven’t demonstrated your cooking skills in a while. Since you have such a good opportunity now, go on and take it!”

Huo Yuhao asked, “What? Are you really going to spar with Brother Ji?”

Xu Sanshi said delightfully, “No, I’m going to settle him. I already have seven rings now, I’m not scared of him anymore. Old Ji, see how I’m going to settle you today. Come on, let’s go to one side and spar!” Usually, he avoided Ji Juechen. However, today was an exception. He had just become a Soul Sage, and just fused with a Golden Tortoise. How could he resist challenging Ji Juechen? After all, he had an extroverted personality to begin with.

Ji Juechen didn’t expect Xu Sanshi to readily agree with his request. His eyes ﬂashed before he turned around and walked towards an empty clearing that wasn’t very far away. He used his actions to prove his words, that he wasn’t just taunting Xu Sanshi.

Huo Yuhao felt a little helpless as he shook his head. He turned around and walked towards the river. If Tang Wutong

weren’t around, Huo Yuhao might still not have taken the initiative to cook. It wasn’t that he was unwilling to cook for everyone else, i was because he didn’t want Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu to misunderstand his actions.

However, things were different now. Tang Wutong was around now. He wanted to do what they used to do before to jolt her memories. As for Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu, they shouldn’t overthink it since Tang Wutong was around.

As he walked to the side of the river, Huo Yuhao rolled up his trousers before he walked in.

A few ladies who were washing themsleves immediately threw furious glances at him.

Nan Qiuqiu was displeased as she said, “Hey, you’ve dirtied the river water.”

Huo Yuhao was a little annoyed as he replied, “Student, please watch carefully.”

“I’m the one swimming in the water. I’m not even complaining about the water that you’ve used to clean yourself. If you’re good enough, don’t eat the food that I’m going to cook later.”

He had already started as he spoke. He didn’t even need any tools. His hands were his tools. He gently pressed his hands against the river’s surface before making a ﬂinging motion outward.

Suddenly, a small ﬁsh around twenty centimeters long shot out of the water. The ripples that it generated looked extremely captivating under the sunset glow.

Small ﬁsh started to jump towards the shore one after another, landing on the shore. In a matter of seconds, more than ten small ﬁsh were already onshore.

The ﬁve ladies were stunned when they saw what Huo Yuhao was doing.

It wasn’t difﬁcult for them to catch ﬁsh from the river, given their cultivations. However, Huo Yuhao was extremely swift

and accurate, without making a single mistake. The gentle suction force that he produced also didn’t cause too much river water to splash around. His every movement would force a small ﬁsh to accurately shoot out of the water towards the shore, increasing the difﬁculty level of catching them.

From the time he entered the river until he went back onshore, including the time he used to converse with Nan Qiuqiu, he only took two minutes to ﬁnish catching all the ﬁsh he needed.

When he returned to shore, he sat down by the riverside. As he waved his right hand, a small ﬁsh landed in it. Jade-green light ﬂashed before his Life Guardian Blade jumped out in between his ﬁngers.

The life aura of his Life Guardian Blade retracted under Huo Yuhao’s control. During this process, green lights ﬂashed a few times, and a small ﬁsh was completely de-scaled. He then proceeded to wash the ﬁsh in the river before throwing it into a pot beside him

Huo Yuhao ﬁnished de-scaling and cleaning all the ﬁsh in less than ten minutes. He was very sharp and neat during the

entire process. Everything felt very smooth and natural.

The ﬁve ladies, including Tang Wutong, were all drawn over. As for the ﬁght that had just begun on the other side, they were completely uninterested. Even Jiang Nannan, who was already familiar with Huo Yuhao’s capabilities, was attracted.

Compared to before, Huo Yuhao was much faster now. They were all either Soul Emperors or Soul Sages. Naturally, they were much more observant than ordinary people.

They could clearly see that only the backs of the gills and tails of the ﬁsh were slit, apart from a single cut in the belly of every ﬁsh. These two slits were made to remove the tendons of the ﬁsh.

Apart from these slits and cuts, the small ﬁsh weren’t treated in any other way. However, they were completely de-scaled.

Everything happened too quickly and cleanly.

Huo Yuhao started retrieving all types of bottles from his storage-type soul tool. He didn’t even measure or take a closer look at the amount of seasonings he was using before he started treating the ﬁsh in the pot. Four or ﬁve of the ﬁsh were removed beforehand, and weren’t seasoned.

Some of the condiments were very heavy in taste, while some were very refreshing. When they were mixed together, they seemed to create a very special fragrance.

Jing Ziyan had tasted Huo Yuhao’s grilled ﬁsh once before, but she only a little. Nan Qiuqiu had also tasted one before, but Ye Guyi had naturally not tried his grilled ﬁsh.

Tang Wutong squatted to one side and observed Huo Yuhao. She was ﬁlled with curiosity. She could naturally tell that he was whipping up a meal for everyone. But can he cook? Will it be delicious? He looks like a chef!

Don’t tell me that this fellow is also very impressive at cooking? Is he really talented in every aspect?

Very quickly, Huo Yuhao ﬁnished seasoning all the ﬁsh. After that, he started to mix the spices with the ﬁshes in the pot. In addition, he even rubbed them in the ﬁsh’s bellies. Not only were the ﬁsh seasoned on the outside, but they were also seasoned inside.

Huo Yuhao smiled as he asked, “Can someone get me some tree branches? I need some that are about as thick as a pinky and around forty centimeters long. Their thickness must be uniform. I will also need some ﬁrewood.”

“If you move fast, we can have our meal earlier.”

Tang Wutong was stunned for a moment. Before she could even react, Ye Guyi had already opened her mouth, “I’ll do it.” Even as she said it, she had already stood up and quickly walked towards trees.

Nan Qiuqiu glanced at Tang Wutong. Seeing that she wasn’t moving, she was slightly stunned. Has she really lost her memory? Why hasn’t she reacted to Sister Guyi’s action?

In fact, Tang Wutong reacted internally. When Ye Guyi said that she was going to help Huo Yuhao, she suddenly felt a little disappointed. However, she was adamant about not helping him!

Ye Guyi wasn’t slow either. Very soon, she managed to grab a bunch of tree branches and ﬁrewood.

Huo Yuhao had already ﬁlled another pot with clear water, and placed the ﬁsh that he didn’t season into this pot.

Jiang Nannan laughed as she said, “Yuhao, it seems like you only know how to cook ﬁsh. You always use this same recipe when you want to give us a treat! Don’t you have anything new?”

Huo Yuhao chortled and replied, “I can make some vegetables. However, where can we ﬁnd greens in this remote area? I’ll make some dry rations for everyone later. We can also eat something beforehand. Fourth senior, my family was very poor when we were young. We were only able to catch one or two ﬁsh occasionally and improve the quality of our meals. I’m not too good at whipping up other dishes. It was already very rare for me to eat ﬁsh when I was young.”

He spoke very naturally. No one reacted except Tang Wutong, who felt slightly sour in her heart. She secretly thought to herself, His life was actually so tough when he was young? Why am I feeling sad for him?

After gathering ﬁrewood, starting a ﬁre was naturally very easy. Ye Guyi started the ﬁre personally. She used her Holy Fire to light up the ﬁrewood, a sight that would no doubt make any evil soul masters who saw it throw up blood!

On the other side, a bonﬁre had also been prepared. Huo Yuhao didn’t rush to grill the ﬁsh. Rather, he waited quietly. The ﬁsh had to be marinated longer so that they would taste better. He wasn’t in a hurry.

He turned around and looked at the two who were sparring. As expected, Ji Juechen and Xu Sanshi were ﬁghting very intensely.

Just as Huo Yuhao was cooking his ﬁsh, Ji Juechen and Xu Sanshi clashed again.

No matter how close Ji Juechen was to anyone, personal relationships never inﬂuenced him in a ﬁght.

Once he entered his ﬁghting mode, Ji Juechen wasn’t Ji Juechen anymore. He was the Sword Fanatic.

He focused his gaze, and his seven soul rings rose from beneath his feet. However, all his soul skills were peripheral to him. This was because he only had swords in his heart.

He pointed his Judgment Sword toward the ground. He wasn’t holding his sword with both hands, but only with one hand. He wasn’t looking at Xu Sanshi either. Instead, he was calmly looking at his own sword.

Xu Sanshi stood ﬁrmly thirty meters from Ji Juechen, at the position he had chosen. He had never once doubted Ji Juechen’s ﬁghting strength. Ji Juechen was extremely lethal!

During the rescue mission in Sunrise City, it was Ji Juechen who had killed the most people.

Xu Sanshi unleashed his Golden Xuanwu Shield, and seven soul rings rose immediately. Xu Sanshi focused his gaze, and a layer of dark gold light surrounded his body. Behind him, a huge Golden Tortoise projection surfaced in the air. Naturally, it appeared because Xu Sanshi called it.

“Old Ji, let’s begin!” Xu Sanshi shouted, lifting his Golden Xuanwu Shield.

Ji Juechen ﬁnally moved. Xu Sanshi’s words were like a horn that signaled the beginning of the ﬁght. Ji Juechen instantly increased his speed, and he launched a swift attack at Xu Sanshi. Just as he burst out, he swept his Judgment Sword, its point close to the ground, towards Xu Sanshi.

A streak of sharp black sword aura shot towards Xu Sanshi. Wherever this sword aura passed, there were a series of sharp wails in the air.

These wails were deafening, and the sword aura was extremely devastating.

Xu Sanshi’s gaze instantly turned stern. This Sword Fanatic seems to have gotten even more impressive.

Shrek’s Seven Monsters weren’t the only ones who had improved. Ji Juechen had improved, too. Furthermore, the rate of his improvement wasn’t any slower than the others. It was easy to forget that he was more focused than anyone else in terms of his cultivation.

Furthermore, his cultivating speed had reached a whole new tier after he established his relationship with Jing Ziyan, due to his emotional release. From his original Solitary Domain, it had slowly evolved into his Love Domain.

Yes, he was no longer heartless, and had feelings now. He was now the Sword Fanatic with the Sword of Love.

Xu Sanshi used his Golden Xuanwu Shield to block Ji Juechen’s attack. Given his experience, he was able to accurately resist the sword aura that came towards him.

However, Xu Sanshi felt a little stunned when he resisted the sword aura. There was immense soul power contained within that sword aura, and there was also extremely strong spiritual power too.

Ji Juechen could do this in the past, and was able to fuse his spiritual and soul power very well. However, his sword intent was much more domineering in the past, as if it could destroy everything instantly. The after-effect, however, was much weaker.

However, the sword aura that he had just unleashed was starkly different. Even after his soul power was crushed, his spiritual intent continued to penetrate the Xuanwu Shield streak by streak. It seemed almost irresistible and unstoppable.

This was a fundamental change. After all, Xu Sanshi was one of the top-ranked experts among the younger generation’s cultivators, and also a top student from Shrek Academy. Naturally, he discovered this change immediately.

“Old Ji, impressive!”

However, Xu Sanshi was not an easy target, even though Ji Juechen’s attack was very strong. After fusing with the Golden Tortoise, the defensive strength of his Golden Xuanwu Shield had increased several times over.

When those streaks of spiritual power started to penetrate the shield, gentle, golden ripples started to spread on the surface of it. Xu Sanshi didn’t even need to summon anything before the spiritual power was naturally dispelled.

Ji Juechen had already leapt up by now. He didn’t attack directly with his Judgment Sword like before. Rather, countless sword projections were formed, engulﬁng Xu Sanshi.

Within those sword projections, there was only his sharp sword aura, but no elemental undulations could be felt. The dark and light Elements carried by the Judgment Sword had been hidden.

This was a magical feeling. Even as Xu Sanshi sensed this, he didn’t retreat. Instead, he took a step forward, and his Golden Xuanwu Shield shook slightly. He unleashed his ﬁrst soul skill, Xuanwu Shield Formation.

A huge patch of gold instantly turned into a huge golden wall. It was still circular in shape, but it now covered more than ﬁfteen square meters. All of Ji Juechen’s sword lights landed on this huge wall and were devoured completely, without even making a ripple.

Ji Juechen also revealed a look of astonishment. Xu Sanshi had indeed improved, and it wasn’t just a slight improvement. His defensive strength was extremely great now, even better than many Soul Douluo that he had fought before.

However, Ji Juechen was more motivated when his opponent was stronger. He gently tapped his toes against the shield wall and seemed to change into a whirlwind. Countless sword projections gathered and viciously struck Xu Sanshi’s Xuanwu Shield Formation.

The strange thing was that no sound was made when his attack landed on the Xuanwu Shield Formation. It was like a ray of light that disappeared after it struck the shield formation.

Ji Juechen exploited the momentum to rebound away.

At this point, cuts started to appear on Xu Sanshi’s shield formation. A layer of pitch-black started to spread outwards from the point of collision earlier. It didn’t spread very fast, but a dark aura soon engulfed the Golden Xuanwu Shield.

The Judgment Sword instantly turned bright gold, and the intense light Element was set ablaze. At this instant, Ji Juechen seemed to possess Ye Guyi’s strength. His entire body was ﬁlled with a holy aura.

He ﬁnally grasped his sword with both hands, and lifted his Judgment Sword up high.

Ji Juechen instantly disappeared, and there was only a holy sword that existed in this heaven and earth. The intense holy aura soared furiously, while his sharp sword intent was completely contained within it. The might of his attack even caused the sunset glow in the distance to lose its color.

Xu Sanshi immediately retracted his Xuanwu Shield Formation, and was a little astonished as he watched Ji Juechen.

It was his ﬁrst time facing an elemental attack from the Judgment Sword. Right now, a deep gust of darkness had surged furiously into his body. Even with the defense of his shield, he wasn’t able to expel the aura of darkness from his body. That aura even felt very thick, and surged into his body in streaks.

Impressive!

No wonder that sword is a Class 8 close-combat soul tool!

Right now, Xu Sanshi ﬁnally understood why no one could ﬁght Ji Juechen during their rescue mission in Sunrise City, and also why Ji Juechen had never summoned the power of his Judgment Sword when they sparred previously.

If this were the past, he wouldn’t be able to resist this interwoven power of darkness and light. The strength of the Judgment Sword was simply too frightening. Even with Ji Juechen’s current cultivation, he still wasn’t able to completely unleash the strength of the sword.

There were many Class 9 soul tools in the world of soul engineers. However, there were only three close-combat Class 9 soul tools.

What Xu Sanshi didn’t know was that Ji Juechen’s Judgment Sword was once recognized as the top close-combat soul tool among all close-combat soul tools below Class 9. Otherwise, Jing Hongchen wouldn’t have risked all the dangers and come to Shrek Academy to get it back!

Even the soul engineer who carved this sword wasn’t able to completely unleash its strength. Swords were the king of

weapons. In the Douluo Continent, there might be someone who loved swords more than Ji Juechen, but it would be very hard to ﬁnd them.

After he received this Judgment Sword, Ji Juechen had almost never let it out of his sight. His understanding of it had completely transcended the understanding of even its creator.

Right now, Xu Sanshi was at an extremely disadvantageous situation. However, he didn’t panic at all.

He was already a Soul Sage. How could he possibly be the same as he was in the past?

He unleashed his Strength of the Xuanwu, and the light from his body instantly turned a dark gold. This dark golden glow didn’t just make him taller and bigger; but it also caused dark gold rings to surge outward, expelling a huge portion of the dark Element from him.

The Golden Tortoise that was drifting behind him also moved at this moment. A golden glow was released from the Golden Tortoise’s body and landed on Xu Sanshi. It actually

caused him and the Golden Xuanwu Shield to appear slightly illusory. They even looked like they were translucent.

As golden lights ﬂashed, the Judgment Sword slashed down.

Ji Juechen was around thirty meters away from Xu Sanshi when he slashed out. However, the massive golden sword light that was formed swept ten meters into the sky before descending terrifyingly like a rainbow. Everything within the area illuminated by the holy aura became extremely clear.

There was a mufﬂed bang. Golden light shot everywhere, and the aura of light surged into Xu Sanshi’s body. In addition, the tip of the Judgment Sword was much more condensed with power compared to before, and the aura of darkness hadn’t been completely expelled from Xu Sanshi’s body yet.

Suddenly, Xu Sanshi felt that his body was about to be torn apart by the intersection of light and darkness.

Fortunately, this feeling only lasted for an instant. However, there was an additional, one-centimeter mark on the surface of

his Xuanwu Shield. The turtle-snake on his shield also seemed to be groaning in pain.

Ji Juechen had a completely different feeling. When his Judgment Sword struck the Golden Xuanwu Shield, he was stunned to discover that the sharpness and strength of his sword had been instantly dispelled by nearly thirty percent by the translucent Golden Xuanwu Shield. After that, his blade struck the Xuanwu Shield.

Xu Sanshi groaned slightly and staggered three steps back before he managed to stabilize himself. His arms felt sore. Immense spiritual power had turned into a sharp blade that struck him after penetrating his Golden Xuanwu Shield.

Fortunately, this blade had already been weakened by his shield. Even so, Xu Sanshi’s Strength of the Xuanwu was still ﬂashing intermittently. He had also tried to use his Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track to try escaping.

However, it wasn’t that easy to avoid the spiritual blade. His groan was mostly because of the impact of the spiritual power.

It was very difﬁcult for him to detach himself from this feeling. Xu Sanshi’s spiritual power wasn’t that weak, but he was still in a state of confusion.

A streak of gentle white light shot out from the Golden Tortoise behind him and landed on his head. Xu Sanshi only felt the burden on his head lessening, and the intense, prickling pain from earlier eased slightly.

His Judgment Sword is too strong, Xu Sanshi gulped. If not for the fact that his own abilities had increased, his shield would have been cut apart earlier.

In terms of offensive strength, Ji Juechen was undoubtedly the best among anyone of the same age that he knew. A Soul Douluo who wasn’t a pure defensive-type soul master wouldn’t have been able to resist Ji Juechen’s attack, it was too frightening. Ji Juechen specializes in the cultivation of swords. His offensive strength is crazy! Surely it should be close to the standard of a Titled Douluo?

While Xu Sanshi was thinking all this, Ji Juechen’s attacks didn’t cease.

Xu Sanshi was forced back, while Ji Juechen also jerked slightly in the air. After unleashing such a strong attack, he needed to catch his breath. However, his Judgment Sword soon turned into countless streaks of black light, sweeping towards Xu Sanshi.

The Element was changed to darkness. The pitch-black sword light started to engulf Xu Sanshi in streaks.

Xu Sanshi was depressed. If he used his shield wall, these dark Elements would quickly attach themselves to it. The power of darkness earlier wasn’t a lot, but when he was Judged by the light Element earlier, the impact was incredibly strong. If he absorbed more of these dark Elements, he would be subjected to greater stress during Judgment. Light and darkness were incompatible, but they were fused under the effect of the Judgment Sword. The sword tapped into their incompatibility to increase its offensive strength to the extreme, showing how frightening the Class 8 Judgment Sword was.

His ﬁgure ﬂashed, and Xu Sanshi switched positions with Ji Juechen. As their positions switched, Ji Juechen was now on the ground, while Xu Sanshi was in the air.

Ji Juechen’s sword lights were naturally pointed diagonally down, so they could hit Xu Sanshi again.

However, he was very familiar with Xu Sanshi’s abilities. Xu Sanshi used his Mysterious Underworld Displacement, and Ji Juechen reacted immediately. He didn’t even look up before he swept a streak of black light at his former location with his sword.

Xu Sanshi’s shield was in front of him, and he staggered backward in the air as he was hit by Ji Juechen’s attack. Just as he was feeling depressed, he formulated a plan.

Intense dark gold light was released from his body and quickly into his surroundings. His sixth soul ring also shone brightly. Wasn’t that his Xuanwu’s Domain?

The main difference from before was that his black Xuanwu’s Domain had turned dark gold now. This Xuanwu’s Domain was

like a vast ocean!

Ji Juechen felt that his entire body was being covered in a viscous ﬂuid as the domain covered him. His movements were extremely restricted.

Xu Sanshi’s seventh soul ring also lit up following this. His body started to shine bright gold, and his Golden Tortoise turned into a ray of golden light that sticking close to his back. On the other hand, his Golden Xuanwu Shield stuck close to the front of his body. With this, Xu Sanshi formed a gigantic turtle shell.

He shrank his body into the shell and disappeared.

This was his seventh soul skill, his Xuanwu True Body!

There was a small, thin snake laying on the surface of his Xuanwu True Body. What was truly astonishing was that this snake had turned blood-red at this moment.

In his Xuanwu’s Domain, Xu Sanshi’s speed was much faster than under normal conditions. In this domain, Ji Juechen was greatly restricted, and his movements extremely slow.

Bright golden light ﬂashed, and the Golden Xuanwu drifted within the domain. Everything around it seemed to have transformed.

Streaks of immense soul power were unleashed towards Ji Juechen. These streaks of soul power were like waves and undercurrents as they furiously struck Ji Juechen’s body.

Ji Juechen wanted to react, but the waves and undercurrents were interfering. More frighteningly, Ji Juechen could clearly sense undercurrents sweeping into his blood. These undercurrents interfered with the circulation of his soul power, causing his entire body to be greatly restrained. He found it difﬁcult to move at all!

Xu Sanshi’s Golden Xuanwu shone brightly, and transformed into a ball of golden light that raced towards Ji Juechen. If Xu Sanshi didn’t exploit this perfect opportunity, he wasn’t ﬁt to be called the Eternal Defense!

Ji Juechen turned very serious. He gripped his Judgment Sword tightly with both hands before sweeping it up, unleashing all his soul power.

However, his abilities were weakened by half in the Xuanwu Domain. When his Judgment Sword collided with the Xuanwu that approached him, he was ﬂung away by the collision.

Streaks of ﬂowing dark gold light surged out from the Xuanwu’s Domain and engulfed Ji Juechen. The massive Golden Xuanwu suddenly opened its mouth, and an intense dark gold wave was unleashed towards Ji Juechen.

Even Ji Juechen didn’t expect Xu Sanshi to be so strong after unleashing his Martial Soul True Body!

Ji Juechen’s seventh soul ring shone at this moment. One face of his sword shone with golden light, while the other face shone with black light. The intense lights ﬂashed in time with the dark golden light from the Xuanwu’s Domain. Ji Juechen’s body started to turn illusory, and his sword became the center of this illusion.

A two-colored sword appeared and broke free from the restraint of the Xuanwu’s Domain. It turned into a frightening arc of light and collided with the Golden Xuanwu.

A crisp ding vibrated out, and lights shot everywhere. This time, Ji Juechen didn’t gain an advantage over Xu Sanshi. When his streak of sword light struck the Golden Xuanwu, the streaks of ﬂowing, dark gold light in the Xuanwu’s Domain kept surging towards the blade of his sword, weakening the huge sword he had formed. No matter how hard he tried to advance, he was signiﬁcantly drained in the process.

Ji Juechen’s terrifying sword light suddenly stopped and deﬂected up. At this moment, dark gold ripples were released from the Golden Xuanwu’s body. A strong attractive force pulled at the huge sword that was ﬂying away.

Ji Juechen was being completely restricted right now. The blade of his sword suddenly turned black. The black light adopted a wavy structure, and started to spread out.

Against Xu Sanshi, Ji Juechen ﬁnally unleashed the full strength of his Judgment Sword.

Suddenly, the water in the Xuanwu’s Domain seemed to have been corroded by the aura of darkness, and turned black at an alarming rate. Once this power of darkness was judged by the power of light later, the destructive power of Ji Juechen’s attack was bound to be very great.

However, Ji Juechen was quickly surprised. The suction force from the Golden Xuanwu increased signiﬁcantly. The aura of darkness released by his Judgment Sword was absorbed by it, and left none behind in the Xuanwu Domain. Just like before, dark gold undercurrents continuously pestered the blade of Ji Juechen’s sword. Because of this interference, his soul power was draining quickly.

On the other side, the Golden Xuanwu had turned completely black instantly, and released a very strong aura of darkness.

Both sides seemed to be in a stalemate. Both Xu Sanshi and Ji Juechen stopped taking the initiative to attack. The Judgment Sword was still releasing the power of darkness, while the Xuanwu’s Domain kept on weakening Ji Juechen.

In such a situation, both of them were clearly aware that the next attack could decide victory for this ﬁght.

------

While they were ﬁghting very intensely over there, Huo Yuhao was about to ﬁnish the preparations for his grilled ﬁsh and ﬁsh soup. Everyone turned their attention to watch this exciting ﬁght.

“Who do you think will win?” Tang Wutong asked Huo Yuhao. She wasn’t familiar enough with Xu Sanshi and Ji Juechen. She could only make a prediction based on what she was observing.

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “What do you think?”

Tang Wutong rolled her eyes at him and said, “You’re not gentlemanly at all. I was the one who asked ﬁrst.”

Huo Yuhao laughed and said, “Alright then. I think third senior will win.”

Tang Wutong snorted and replied, “Then I think Ji Juechen will win.”

Huo Yuhao was a little stunned as he inquired, “What’s the reason? I’m the one asking ﬁrst.”

Tang Wutong lifted her head and said, “Because you think that fellow will win. That’s why I choose the other person.”

Huo Yuhao laughed and asked, “Do you want to make a bet?”

“What bet?” Tang Wutong asked.

Huo Yuhao thought for a moment before replying, “I haven’t thought of one yet. Alright, let our stake be a favor. Whoever wins can ask the other party to do them a favor. However, this favor can’t be too difﬁcult. It can’t ﬂout moral and ethical codes, either. What do you think? For example, you can tell me to clean up your room, and I can make you massage my back.”

“Nonsense, you are obviously at an advantage here! Who’s going to massage your back? We can’t have body contact!”

Tang Wutong immediately retorted.

Huo Yuhao laughed and said, “Alright, we won’t have any body contact. It’s just for fun. Even if you lose, I won’t ask anything from you. Even if I ask you for something, you can refuse to acknowledge it. It doesn’t matter.”

Tang Wutong was furious, “Am I a sore loser to you? Let’s bet. I don’t believe that the fellow who’s not offensively adept will be able to win. The intersection of light and darkness is so powerful. He has absorbed too much of that power of darkness. Once he’s struck, he’ll deﬁnitely lose. He shouldn’t be able to use the skill that he uses to switch positions anymore. There’s too much darkness corroding his body. He’ll deﬁnitely lose.”

Huo Yuhao chuckled slightly and said, “Alright, we’ll wait and see. Let’s hook our pinkies.” As he spoke, he reached out his right pinky in front of Tang Wutong.

Tang Wutong was stunned. After this, she reached out her right pinky to hook with Huo Yuhao’s right pinky.

Tang Wutong’s pinky was a little cold. It might be because she had cleaned herself in the river earlier. Her pinky was thin and delicate. On contact, it felt very cool, and indescribably comfortable.

Huo Yuhao was in a slight daze. Tang Wutong immediately pulled her hand back. “Alright, let’s do it this way. Whoever reneges on this bet is a dog!”

At this point, the ﬁght on the other side had already experienced changes.

Ji Juechen ﬁnally couldn’t wait anymore. He had been accumulating his strength but he was also being drained by the Xuanwu’s Domain at the same time. He needed to ﬁnd a balance. This balance was almost achieved when he managed to summon the power of light, just as Xu Sanshi absorbed the power of darkness. It was only at this point that his ﬁnal attack was at its strongest.

Bright golden light shot into the skies. The huge sword that was formed by Ji Juechen instantly turned golden. The intense aura of light was furiously unleashed. It was like a small golden sun had appeared above the ground.

Even Ye Guyi’s holy soul power was being drawn in and unleashed as dim golden light, showing how strong the power of light carried by Ji Juechen’s sword was.

Once the Judgment Sword changed its state, it immediately freed itself from the restraint of the Xuanwu’s Domain. The Xuanwu’s Domain around him that had restrained him earlier was now slightly infected with the aura of darkness. At this moment, it became the target of his Judgment Sword!

Chapter 437: Golden Tortoise Molting

Exploiting this opportunity, the Judgment Sword fell from the sky and slashed straight towards Xu Sanshi. It was extremely terrifying as it unleashed its full strength.

The Golden Xuanwu had been dyed black by the power of darkness. When the Judgment Sword turned into a beam of golden light that descended from the sky, the power of darkness started to rumble. The clash between darkness and light would never be peaceful. The terrifying strength that was unleashed was sufﬁcient to make anyone afraid.

Even Jiang Nannan started to tense up, and subconsciously took a few steps forward.

Given their current levels, they couldn’t withhold too much of their power, even if they did withhold some. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to fully unleash their potential. Jiang Nannan wasn’t conﬁdent that Xu Sanshi could block the Judgment Sword. Without being able to use his Mysterious Underworld Displacement, Xu Sanshi could only use his defensive strength to resist the attack! Could he possibly resist it?

Gold and black were about to clash!

However, it was at this moment that something weird appeared. When the huge golden sword clashed with the black, the black seemed to turn illusory for a moment. Following this, the aura of light on the huge golden sword met the power of darkness and exploded!

The tremendous boom reverberated, the Judgment Sword unleashing great power at the core of the Xuanwu Domain. Even the sword was affected to some extent, and shook tremendously at the center of the explosion. However, with the protection of the power of light, it wasn’t harmed too much. Even so, Ji Juechen’s soul power was almost entirely drained after this attack.

Just as everyone was worried about Xu Sanshi, they were shocked to see a trace of gold silently appearing at an edge of the Xuanwu Domain. When it ﬁrst appeared, it wasn’t very evident. However, the golden light soon shone brightly.

Wasn’t this the Golden Xuanwu?

The Xuanwu Domain disappeared in the next instant, but the Golden Xuanwu surfaced at its edge immediately. After that, blinding golden light was suddenly released from the Golden Xuanwu. The red snake that had always been attached to the Golden Xuanwu’s body turned into a beam of red light and

fused with the Golden Xuanwu. A ﬁerce blood-red aura

immediately spread out.

It was Xu Sanshi’s Martial Soul True Body, the Turtle God’s Strike!

The Golden Xuanwu was like a huge glowing ball charging straight towards the huge sword that had been greatly drained of soul power by its previous attack.

All Ji Juechen could do was turn his sword around and point the tip accurately towards the Golden Xuanwu. At the same time, he tried his best to summon his soul power.

“Ah!” Jing Ziyan exclaimed. Everyone could tell that Ji Juechen would be unable to block Xu Sanshi’s attack, no matter what.

Gold light ﬂashed past, and the sword was completely ﬁne. The Turtle God’s Strike suddenly fell when it was around three meters away from the sword, where it struck the ground.

The ground shook, and even the small stream beside Huo Yuhao and the others started to ripple a little. Suddenly, jets of water shot out from the stream, and sparks started to ﬂy from the bonﬁre boiling the water. The pot of ﬁsh soup ﬂew up into the air, along with the ﬁsh inside.

Fortunately, Huo Yuhao’s reactions were very quick. He waved his right hand and grabbed the boiling metal pot. At the same time, his ﬁgure ﬂashed, and he managed to prevent any soup or ﬁsh from dropping to the ground. No soup was spilled at all. The other metal pot that was ﬁlled with marinated ﬁsh also ﬂew up, but there wasn’t any water inside. He only needed to catch the ﬁsh inside.

Nan Qiuqiu seemed to be amused as she looked at Jing Ziyan beside her. She said, “Indeed, one feels pain over her own man!”

Jing Ziyan’s face turned red, and she laughed. “Sister Qiuqiu, you should ﬁnd someone who will make you feel pain, too!”

Nan Qiuqiu stuck out her tongue and ran to one side to help Huo Yuhao control the bonﬁre.

The sword turned back into Ji Juechen when it landed on the ground. He looked a little pale, but stood ﬁrmly. He turned around to look at the Golden Xuanwu behind him.

Ever since Ji Juechen had come to the Tang Sect, he had never stopped ﬁnding Xu Sanshi to spar with. Xu Sanshi was a defense-type soul master, which meant that he was able to last longer in a ﬁght. However, there was still a gap between Xu Sanshi and Ji Juechen’s cultivations. Ji Juechen’s sword was extremely sharp, and Xu Sanshi would always be on the losing end. He had lost so many times such that he would hide whenever he saw Ji Juechen.

Things had ﬁnally gone his way today. Xu Sanshi managed to defeat Ji Juechen through the Golden Tortoise that he had fused with.

“How did you manage to get away?” Ji Juechen furrowed his brow slightly. He was still thinking about their last collision.

If it were any other soul master, Ji Juechen would immediately be frowned upon if he dared to ask about the other soul master’s ultimate move. However, everyone from the Tang Sect was like brothers. While Xu Sanshi always hid from Ji Juechen, he still admired his focus greatly.

“Hehe, the Golden Tortoise is a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, and it gave me a trunk bone. Earlier, I used one of the two soul skills of its trunk bone, Golden Tortoise Molting. By using that soul skill, I’m able to overcome all problems and teleport myself to any speciﬁc spot in my Xuanwu Domain. It’s much more effective than Instant Teleportation. However, it costs one-third of my soul power every time I use it. I am drained a lot by using it.”

“Oh.” Ji Juechen acknowledged his words and turned around before walking towards the side of the river.

Xu Sanshi was a little depressed as he said, “Hey, can’t you just praise me for being strong?”

Ji Juechen turned his head to look at him and said, “We’ll decide whether you’re strong after we ﬁght again.”

“I… am I digging my own grave?” Xu Sanshi looked at Ji Juechen and was completely speechless.

The two of them returned to the side of the river, and Jiang Nannan was the ﬁrst to run over. She pulled Xu Sanshi’s ears, “Why are you showing off? You still smashed the ground. Do you have too much energy and nowhere to use it? See how bad you shook this place! Don’t eat later. Starve! I’m afraid you can’t fully use all your energy!”

Xu Sanshi coughed, “It wasn’t intentional...”

Huo Yuhao chortled, “I agree with fourth senior’s opinion. Third senior, you should be starved.” The bonﬁre had already been messed up and had to be reassembled. The pot of ﬁsh soup that was supposed to be done soon had to be re-boiled as well.

Xu Sanshi wore a toady smile on his face. “Don’t! I have waited so long for my little junior to cook. How can I not taste his cooking? Come, come, everyone move away. I’ll perform some chores.” As he spoke, he quickly leaped over and helped Huo Yuhao with the bonﬁre.

Tang Wutong stood by the side of the river and watched as everyone joked around. She was a little dazed when she saw how happy everyone was. Although she felt that she didn’t blend in with them, she discovered that she rather liked such an atmosphere.

---

The bonﬁre was soon reassembled, and the ﬁsh soup was cooking once again. Due to Xu Sanshi’s earlier mistake, he offered to watch the ﬁsh soup. On the other side, the grilled ﬁsh were almost completely marinated. Huo Yuhao assembled the branches that Ye Guyi had washed earlier and stacked them above the bonﬁre on the other side before starting to grill the ﬁsh. At the same time, he took some dry rations over and started to heat them up.

All of them were very young, and thus it was natural that ladies were given the ﬁrst priority. As the fragrance of the grilled ﬁsh diffused in the air, the ﬁrst to start digging in became a huge topic of debate.

Everyone formed a circle as they sat beside the ﬁres.

Jiang Nannan laughed, “The grilled ﬁsh smell really good.

Who’s going to start ﬁrst?”

As they were limited by the conditions, they could only grill one ﬁsh at a time. Huo Yuhao didn’t choose to grill more than one ﬁsh at once in order to ensure that they were of the utmost quality. If he grilled too many ﬁsh at once, there might be some ﬂaws in his control of the ﬁre, as well as the seasoning of the ﬁsh.

Jing Ziyan laughed and said, “The youngest can eat ﬁrst. We should go by age. I’m the oldest. I’ll go last.”

Jiang Nannan said, “Alright. I’m twenty years and four months old. What about the rest?” She looked at Tang Wutong, Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu.

Ye Guyi was a little depressed as she said, “I’m already twenty-two.”

Nan Qiuqiu’s eyes brightened, “I’m twenty years and three months old. Haha, Sister Nannan, I’m younger than you.”

Jiang Nannan pursed her lips and laughed. She looked at Tang Wutong and asked, “Wutong, what about you?”

Tang Wutong was stunned for a moment and said, “All of you can eat ﬁrst. I…” She wanted to say that she wasn’t from the Tang Sect, and she was ﬁne with some dry rations. However, the fragrance of the grilled ﬁsh was simply too strong. She couldn’t control her appetite, and ended up swallowing her words.

Jiang Nannan laughed, “No no, we’ve agreed that the youngest should eat ﬁrst. Wutong, how old are you?”

Ji Juechen was calm as he sat to one side, not making a sound. Xu Sanshi would occasionally glance over, and his smile seemed to be ﬁlled with meaning. Nannan is indeed very supportive! She’s helping little junior without being obvious! The rest didn’t know how old Wutong was, but how could he not know? Huo Yuhao had mentioned before that Tang Wutong was Wang Dong’er.

Tang Wutong replied, “I’m, I’m eighteen years old...” Yes, she was eighteen years old. In terms of age, she was slightly younger than Huo Yuhao.

Nan Qiuqiu was depressed as she slapped her forehead. “You’re so young? How did you manage to develop so well?”

Tang Wutong’s face turned red as she glared at Qiuqiu. She thought to herself, These people from the Tang Sect act like hooligans! For some reason, she seemed to have ostracized both Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi. They always wore a weird expression when they looked at her. The weird looks that they gave her made her extremely uncomfortable.

“I’ve ﬁnished grilling the ﬁsh. Who’s going to eat ﬁrst?” Huo Yuhao asked.

Jiang Nannan pursed her lips at Tang Wutong, who was still slightly shy. She even seemed a little young and ignorant as her face turned even redder, accentuated by the bonﬁre. When Huo Yuhao turned his attention to her, he appeared to be in a daze.

Tang Wutong stood up and walked up to Huo Yuhao before extending her hand.

Huo Yuhao passed her a grilled ﬁsh and a baked bun.

Tang Wutong couldn’t help but say, “Fragrant!”

There was a fresh smell that came from the grilled ﬁsh, while the aroma of heated sesame came from the baked bun. Both were extremely tempting.

“Thank you,” Tang Wutong nodded at Huo Yuhao before turning around and walking away. She returned to where she was sitting and began to eat as the rest watched.

She took a small bite of the baked bun ﬁrst. The crispy bun made a slight cracking sound as she bit into it. The fragrance from the bun, mixed with the crumbs that fell off as she bit into it and its elevated temperature, instantly tickled her olfactory senses and taste buds.

Tang Wutong opened her small mouth slightly and couldn’t help but exclaim, “Oh, it’s so fragrant...”

This was indeed the best baked bun she had ever eaten. The baked bun cooled down slightly in her mouth, and she gobbled it up in three bites. It was warm and fragrant, and she felt indescribably pleased.

After this, she took a bite of the grilled ﬁsh. The crispy skin of the ﬁsh was slightly salty, which complemented its natural freshness. As she bit into the skin, juices from the ﬁsh ﬁlled her mouth, along with the meat. The fresh taste engulﬁng her taste buds caused Tang Wutong’s eyes to brighten immediately.

Delicious. This is too delicious. How can it possibly be so delicious?

Of course, Tang Wutong didn’t know how much effort Huo Yuhao had put into this grilled ﬁsh and baked bun. Huo Yuhao had overheard when Jiang Nannan was ordering them earlier. If Wang Dong’er was the ﬁrst to eat, he would naturally put in much more effort.

In order to make the taste of the ﬁsh and baked bun as ﬁne as he could, he engaged his spiritual power in its Totality state to completely understand the internal structure of both the ﬁsh and baked bun. During the process of grilling the ﬁsh and baking the bun, he was so precise in his control that it felt as if he were creating a soul tool.

Although Tang Wutong stopped praising him, her incessant chewing and swallowing speed still left the rest of the ladies extremely tempted.

Huo Yuhao started to move faster. He quickly grilled the ﬁsh and baked the buns before delivering them to the rest of them. Very soon, everyone formed a circle and delightfully enjoyed their meal.

The person who had caused the problems earlier naturally became the last to eat, along with Huo Yuhao.

Ye Guyi sat to one side of the ﬁre that they had made and was enjoying her third grilled ﬁsh. The look on her face was very indifferent, but on closer look, one could see the slight sadness in her eyes.

Perhaps it was because of Huo Yuhao’s attentiveness and yearning, but Ye Guyi could sense the love when she ate the grilled ﬁsh. However, this love wasn’t and would never be directed at her.

Nan Qiuqiu was much more direct. Although she wasn’t as acute as Ye Guyi, she was still silently whispering to Ye Guyi as she was eating, “I’ve never seen him so nice when he was cooking for us before. However, this fellow’s culinary skills are pretty good. Even if he couldn’t become a soul master, he would still fare well as a chef.”

Jing Ziyan was sitting on the other side of Nan Qiuqiu. After hearing her words, she couldn’t help but chuckle and said, “You are actually demanding that the future hope of Shrek

Academy and the founder of the Spirit Pagoda become a chef for someone else. I can’t believe you just thought of that idea.”

Huo Yuhao walked over after grilling the remaining few ﬁsh. After hearing Jing Ziyan’s words, he couldn’t help but laugh. “It’s great to be a chef! When I cook, I actually feel at peace, which is very rare. When I ﬁnish what I want to do in the future, I’ll ﬁnd a peaceful and beautiful place and open my own restaurant there. I want to live a simple, farming life with the person I love there. Behind the restaurant, there’ll be a plot of land specially for growing crops. I’ll also raise some livestock. Why are all of you looking at me like that?”

Before he even ﬁnished speaking, he discovered that the way everyone was looking at him was very weird. A member of the Sea God’s Pavilion actually wanted to ﬁnd a place to open a restaurant.

Just at this moment, Ji Juechen suddenly spoke up. “It sounds rather good.”

Huo Yuhao laughed, “Brother Ji, shall we do it together?”

Ji Juechen shook his head. “Nope.”

Xu Sanshi looked very anxious, and said to Huo Yuhao, “Little junior, don’t say that in front of Elder Xuan. Otherwise, he’ll ﬁght all-out against you. He’s still hoping that you’ll become the future Master of the Sea God’s Pavilion.”

Huo Yuhao suddenly looked very grim. To him, there were many responsibilities that he couldn’t avoid.

His ﬁsh soup was almost done. Huo Yuhao added some seasoning before scooping bowls of ﬁsh soup for everyone.

He sat down right beside Tang Wutong. Naturally, everyone ceded this seat to him.

As Tang Wutong was the ﬁrst to eat, she ate quite a lot – four grilled ﬁsh and two baked buns. Right now, she had half a baked bun in her hand.

“Oh, I’m so full. I can’t even move anymore.” Tang Wutong looked very content as she received a bowl of soup from Huo

Yuhao.

“I can help you eat that baked bun.” Huo Yuhao whispered softly to her.

Tang Wutong suddenly looked very cautious and glared at him as she twisted her head. “Don’t even think of taking advantage of me. Even if I’m completely stuffed, I will ﬁnish it!”

Huo Yuhao smiled and replied, “Don’t waste it. Why don’t I tell you about a story about a baked bun before you decide whether I should ﬁnish it for you?”

“A story about a baked bun?” Tang Wutong was doubtful as she looked at him.

“Once, there was a ﬁve-year-old boy. He was extremely scrawny. He and his mother only had each other, and no one else. His mother relied on her peasant income to bring him up. In order to survive, his mother would wash clothes outside even during winter. Her hands were full of wounds.

“The mother loved her son a lot. She always mentioned that he was the only one she had in her life. One day, the sky had already turned dark, but the mother was excited as she rushed back home. Because of the tough life she had, she hardly smiled. However, she was extremely happy that day.

“This was because she was given a baked bun by a chef in the kitchen that she worked in after she ﬁnished her shift that day. The bun had just been baked and was piping hot and fragrant. When she thought of how she ﬁnally had something fresh for her son to eat, she was especially delighted.

“To keep the baked bun from getting cold, the mother wrapped her body around the baked bun. When she ﬁnally retrieved the bun for her son, her chest was already burning red. At that point, the little boy was very young and ignorant. He only knew how to gobble up the piping hot baked bun. It was extremely fragrant and tasty.

Tang Wutong was in a daze as she looked at Huo Yuhao and muttered, “Why are you saying all this? I was still enjoying my food, but you had to make me feel uncomfortable.”

Huo Yuhao revealed a slight smile on his face, “Because that boy was me. Just take it as if I’m obsessed about baked buns.”

Tang Wutong was astonished and immediately turned to face Huo Yuhao. She saw that he was smiling, but there was a sense of bitterness in his smile. The look in his eyes had also turned ethereal.

“Take it.” Tang Wutong passed the baked bun to Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao received the baked bun and smiled at her. He seemed to have regained his focus.

Tang Wutong suddenly said seriously, “Why do I feel like you’ve told me this story before?”

“What?” Huo Yuhao was the shocked one right now. He was a little stunned as he looked at Tang Wutong. There was a look of disbelief on his face.

You’ve heard this story before?

This was his second time telling this story of a baked bun, and he had told it to Wang Qiu’er the ﬁrst time. Even Wang Dong’er had never heard this story before!

How was it possible? Wang Qiu’er had already sacriﬁced herself. Furthermore, Tang Wutong’s aura and touch were identical to Wang Dong’er’s.

Huo Yuhao suddenly felt a little confused as he looked at Tang Wutong in a daze.

“Are you going to eat it?” Tang Wutong’s face turned slightly red.

“Okay, I’ll eat it.” Huo Yuhao quickly reoriented himself and took a bite of the baked bun. Although it was no longer hot, it was still crispy. Huo Yuhao felt warm inside even though he was still slightly out of sorts.

Tang Wutong turned around and started to drink her soup.

She stopped entertaining him and was equally as confused.

------

Everyone had a good rest during dinner. Although the sky was already dark, they were all full of energy when they resumed their journey in the direction of the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

Even though they moved on foot, they only took two hours to get close to the front lines.

Huo Yuhao naturally knew where the White Tiger Duke was stationed. When they were about ﬁfteen kilometers away from the military base, he slowed his pace in order to avoid any misunderstandings.

The eight of them advanced slowly. Huo Yuhao and Xu Sanshi were in front, while Ji Juechen was at the back, guarding the ﬁve ladies between them. Huo Yuhao had already unleashed his Spiritual Detection and quickly covered the surrounding space with his spiritual power.

After a while, Huo Yuhao stopped and announced, “They’re here!”

Not far away from them, some ﬁgures quickly appeared. Even in the dark, they were very easy to see, because their soul rings were shining extremely brightly.

These soul masters were very quick. They quickly arrived in front of the eight intruders and half-encircled them.

There were ten of them. This was the structure of a small team among soul engineer legions. In this small team, there was one ofﬁcer, who had ﬁve shining soul rings. The rest only had three soul rings.

There were different types of small teams in soul engineer legions, too. Apart from the ofﬁcers, the rest of the members had to have similar cultivation levels. This was done so that they would be more united when carrying out missions.

This small team was led by a Soul King. The overall ﬁghting strength of this small team was about equal to an army of ﬁve hundred ordinary soldiers, and that was being only soul masters. If they were equipped with soul tools, their ﬁghting strength would be even greater!

“Who are you guys? There’s an important military zone ahead of you. Show me your IDs.” The Soul King ofﬁcer looked to be around forty years old and sounded very mature and steady. He immediately made his demands upon seeing Huo Yuhao and the rest.

Even though they were all very young, this Soul King didn’t lower his guard at all. It was in the middle of the night, and they were not far from the front lines. What was a bunch of young people doing here? This wasn’t some kind of tourist destination! Who didn’t know that things were slightly tense over at the northwestern end of the empire?

Huo Yuhao smiled slightly and replied, “Sir, we’re from Shrek Academy. We were ordered by our Academy to reinforce the Northwestern Field Army.”

Shrek Academy’s reputation was extremely prestigious. After hearing these few words, the middle-aged Soul King and the soul masters under him were all moved. Shrek Academy was a holy ground to soul masters! It was the dream of many young soul masters to be educated at Shrek Academy!

“You’re from Shrek Academy? Do you have any proof?” The Soul King’s expression softened somewhat. He took a few steps forward, but the rest of the soul masters had yet to move, continuing to surround the few of them. They were highly- trained, and wouldn’t be easily swayed by Huo Yuhao’s words.

Huo Yuhao nodded and retrieved the letter that Elder Xuan had given to him. He said, “This is a letter written by the Master of the Sea God’s Pavilion, Elder Xuan, to the White Tiger Duke. Can you bring us to meet the White Tiger Duke? Oh right, I’m also classmates with the son of the White Tiger Duke, Dai Yueheng. He can also verify my identity.”

Huo Yuhao didn’t pass the letter over, even though he was holding onto it. A Soul King who was in charge of patrolling the area naturally wasn’t qualiﬁed to read the letter.

He hesitated for a moment before saying, “Alright, follow me then.” After he ﬁnished speaking, he turned around quickly.

Huo Yuhao gestured and led his teammates along with him.

The other nine soul masters of the small team separated to open a path for them. It was only after they had all passed that these soul masters turned around and followed them, watching their movements closely.

The Soul King only waited for Huo Yuhao to catch up with him before walking side by side with him. He didn’t have any psychological pressure bringing the eight of them back to the base.

There are thousands of soul masters stationed at the frontline camp, and they’re all very strong. How can these eight possibly affect them? Furthermore, these young chaps have to go through many obstacles before they can meet the White Tiger Duke.

From a distance, they could see the Northwestern Field Army. The view was majestic.

---

When they came to the entrance of the camp, soldiers immediately came up to receive them. The leader of the small team veriﬁed his identity before the soldier returned to his post.

“Wait a minute. I’ll go and report this matter. Later, there’ll be some people coming to bring all of you in. This letter…”

Huo Yuhao said, “I’m sorry, but I have to personally pass this letter to the White Tiger Duke. Otherwise, you can also ask senior Dai Yueheng to pass it to his father.”

“Alright, please wait then.” The Soul King didn’t continue to pose problems, but instead instructed his own team members to wait before he quickly entered the camp.

Although he didn’t think that Huo Yuhao and the others could do anything, he didn’t dare to delay matters concerning Shrek Academy. He needed to report this matter to the top brass immediately.

Very quickly, more than ten people came out from the camp, though Huo Yuhao only knew the person leading this group of people. This person wasn’t Dai Yueheng, but the princess of the Star Luo Empire, Xu Jiujiu.

Princess Jiujiu is personally here to receive us? This is a little too much. Even though she’s not the main decision-maker in the military, she’s still a member of the imperial family. Furthermore, she has real power in the Star Luo Empire.

When Princess Jiujiu saw Huo Yuhao, she was also stunned, and more than a little surprised.

At ﬁrst, the Soul King didn’t think a bunch of young soul masters could do anything. However, Princess Jiujiu begged to differ. She had personally witnessed the miracles that Huo Yuhao had performed before! In addition, Huo Yuhao’s reputation had grown signiﬁcantly following the appearance of the Spirit Pagoda. There weren’t many people who knew him

personally, but many people knew his name. For those soul masters who were more resourceful and aware in the Douluo Continent, they most certainly knew of his existence!

Xu Jiujiu was also followed by soul masters. Two of them were elders, and one of the elders was the Big Dipper Douluo. The other elder who was with the Big Dipper Douluo was obviously a Titled Douluo as well.

Xu Jiujiu had been in a bad mood these past few days. Ever since her mistake led to the death of many high-tier soul masters, she passed all authority over the soul masters to the White Tiger Duke. Whether it was her or the current Star Luo Empire’s Emperor, they trusted the White Tiger Duke greatly. They knew that Dai Hao wouldn’t do anything against the empire, even if he was given great authority.

However, who didn’t want to earn merits? Xu Jiujiu had a deep desire for power, which was why she had always expressed her wish to control a soul engineer legion.

However, reality proved that she was inexperienced on a battleﬁeld. The huge losses had made her doubt herself, and

she had no choice but to pass all her power over to the White Tiger Duke.

She had been very reclusive over the past few days. She hardly gave any suggestions, even though she participated in every meeting.

Her presence today was a coincidence. The ofﬁcer of the small team that Huo Yuhao and the others had bumped into was under Xu Jiujiu’s command. She was immediately notiﬁed of the arrival of people from Shrek Academy, given that it was extremely important information.

She was startled when she heard the words “Shrek Academy”, and immediately delighted. Even though she heard that there were only a few young people, she wasn’t affected.

Over the past few years, the Star Luo Empire had been doing its best to build up a good relationship with Shrek, with the goal of receiving the support of Shrek Academy at critical times. Given that youngsters from Shrek Academy had arrived, didn’t it mean that the more experienced and stronger ones were also coming?

Furthermore, the younger soul masters from Shrek Academy were different from young soul masters in the outside world. There were many talents in Shrek Academy. For example, Zhang Lexuan was only slightly past thirty years of age, but she was already on the edge of becoming a Titled Douluo!

Moreover, Xu Jiujiu controlled the intelligence department of the Star Luo Empire, and was clearly aware of the resources pumped into soul tools by Shrek Academy in recent years. With the arrival of reinforcements from Shrek Academy, they would receive massive help, even though it wasn’t enough to completely alter the situation.

As a result, she didn’t dare to delay, even given her status, and went out to welcome them personally. She had seen all the younger generation’s talents from Shrek Academy. In addition, she even brought two Titled Douluo out with her. Even if there were any changes, they would be well-equipped to handle them.

When these two Titled Douluo and the other soul masters from the Star Luo Empire, who all had at least seven rings, saw Xu Jiujiu quickening her pace, they were all stunned. While those people are from Shrek Academy, aren’t they all just youngsters? Why is Her Highness…

“Huo Yuhao, it’s actually you!” Xu Jiujiu’s words astonished all the soul masters from the Star Luo Empire.

Huo Yuhao! Hearing this name shocked them.

He didn’t just lead Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect to successive victories in the Elite Youth Soul Master Tournament; his establishment of the Spirit Pagoda also made him an extremely notable ﬁgure in the world of soul masters!

While he had emerged as the champion in the Elite Youth Soul Master Tournament twice, that was only a big thing among the younger generation of soul masters. The existence of Spirits affected the entire world of soul masters! It might even inﬂuence the bigger picture in the future world of soul masters!

The various soul masters quickened their footsteps to keep up with Xu Jiujiu. They wanted to get a glimpse of the person who had established the Spirit Pagoda!

“Your Highness.” Huo Yuhao quickly took a few steps forward and greeted Xu Jiujiu. He smiled at her and nodded slightly to acknowledge her.

Even though he was from the Star Luo Empire, he was a member of the Sea God’s Pavilion. Even in the face of a princess, he wouldn’t greet her in an extravagant manner. That was just how powerful Shrek Academy was.

“I didn’t expect you to be here.” After seeing Huo Yuhao, Xu Jiujiu had never felt that he was so amiable before. His eyes were gleaming brightly at this moment.

Nan Qiuqiu couldn’t help but mutter as she stood behind the rest, “Is this guy some kind of gem? Why is he able to draw attention everywhere he goes?”

Ye Guyi laughed gently and replied, “He’s not the one attracting all the attention. It’s his abilities.”

Huo Yuhao said to Xu Jiujiu, “Your Highness, we are here under instructions from the Sea God’s Pavilion. We hope that

we can help the empire resist its enemies. This is the letter that Elder Xuan wrote to the White Tiger Duke.”

There was nothing to hide from Xu Jiujiu. Furthermore, she had personally come to welcome them. She was extremely sincere.

Xu Jiujiu received the letter, but didn’t open it. She smiled and said, “Alright, I’ll pass this to him later. Please, come in. All of you are distinguished guests of the Star Luo Empire!” As she spoke, she gestured to them.

Huo Yuhao didn’t stand on ceremony. They had rushed over, and everyone was very tired now. It was better for them to rest early.

Xu Jiujiu and Huo Yuhao walked forward together without distinction. Obviously, she regarded Huo Yuhao as an equal in status to her. The soul masters of the Star Luo Empire naturally followed the rest of those from the Tang Sect and Tang Wutong into the camp.

The Big Dipper Douluo and the other Titled Douluo looked at each other, seeing each other’s astonishment when their gazes met.

They were both Titled Douluo, and naturally could tell that every person from Shrek Academy was extraordinary.

They are all at least Soul Emperors! Furthermore, a few of them are even Soul Sages! It seems that they are not even twenty years old. This is incredible! What method does Shrek Academy use to nurture such geniuses?

They were most shocked by Huo Yuhao. He seemed even younger, but there was no way they could see though him.

Given that they were Titled Douluo, it was completely unbelievable that they couldn’t see though a young soul master who wasn’t even twenty years old!

---

Xu Jiujiu brought Huo Yuhao and the others directly into her own tent. Even though she wasn’t a commander, she still held an important position in the military.

Some people immediately brought some fruits and snacks over. After bringing Huo Yuhao and the rest into the tent, Xu Jiujiu immediately commanded someone to fetch the White Tiger Duke.

Just this simple action of hers showed how highly she regarded Huo Yuhao.

Everyone from Shrek was also shocked by how well Xu Jiujiu treated Huo Yuhao. She was a princess from the strongest empire in the Douluo Continent!

Chapter 438: Meeting the White Tiger Duke

“Yuhao. Can I call you that?” Xu Jiujiu asked Huo Yuhao with a smile from where she was sitting in the main seat.

Huo Yuhao nodded and replied, “Of course you can, Your Highness. How’s the situation at the front right now?”

Xu Jiujiu sighed softly and said, “The situation is not good. The Sun Moon Empire’s defensive strength is unknown to us. They were too sudden with their attack, and paved the way using Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells. They managed to blow up the Ming Dou Mountain Range and create a path. Then, we thought that they were going all-out to attack the Star Luo Empire and quickly pulled all our resources here to resist their onslaught. We even called for reinforcements.

“But who knew that they had no intention of attacking after some time? It was only then that we realized that things had gone south. When we tried to probe by attacking, the Sun Moon Empire only mounted a defense at the Ming Dou Mountain Range. Their real target has now been veriﬁed. They are going for the Heavenly Soul Empire!

“We tried to make a breakthrough from this side and help the Heavenly Soul Empire with the burden by targeting the interior of the Sun Moon Empire. However, their defense is simply too strong. We suffered huge losses, and weren’t able to make any advances.”

When she ﬁnished speaking, Xu Jiujiu couldn’t help but close her eyes in pain. The image of the Light of the Death God ﬂashing was still etched in her mind. She and many of the soul masters from the Star Luo Empire were still traumatized by the terrifying strike they had witnessed.

Huo Yuhao asked, “What about the Heavenly Soul Empire?

How are they now?”

Xu Jiujiu shook her head and said, “I can only conﬁrm that the Sun Moon Empire is attacking them now. We have already sent reinforcements from the Dou Ling Empire over. Furthermore, we’ve also deployed two soul engineer legions to alleviate the pressure they’re facing. We are better able to cope with the burden if both empires are at the front lines resisting the enemy.”

Huo Yuhao was shocked, and asked, “Hasn’t there been any accurate information?”

It had been a few days since he had left the army and returned to Shrek Academy. However, the Star Luo Empire had yet to receive accurate information from the Heavenly Soul Empire? Not only did this have to do with their backward communication soul tools, it also had something to do with the intense war that was going on at the Heavenly Soul Empire. It was easy to imagine the Heavenly Soul Empire being under a ferocious onslaught by the Sun Moon Empire.

Xu Jiujiu furrowed her brow and said, “We’ve already sent out ten people, but we’ve yet to get any information. We even sent a Titled Douluo, and I believe we’ll ﬁnd out some news soon.”

“The White Tiger Duke is here!” a guard outside shouted.

Everyone subconsciously stood up. The curtains to the tent were opened, and the White Tiger Duke walked in. There were two others with him… Dai Yueheng and Dai Luoli!

The White Tiger’s white armor had the same black tiger patterns as his martial soul. It wasn’t clear what material his armor was made of. Huo Yuhao judged it should be made of some special alloy, as soul power seemed to circulate through it. Was it a suit of close-combat armor? In terms of rank, it should be a Class 7 soul tool...

Although this armor made the White Tiger Duke appeared very suave, Huo Yuhao felt pity for him. As a Marshal of the Star Luo Empire, he could only don a Class 7 soul tool. It showed how far behind the Star Luo Empire was in terms of soul tools.

Huo Yuhao was sizing up the White Tiger Duke right now, and the White Tiger Duke was naturally sizing him up too. This guy must be leading the team from Shrek Academy, given that he’s sitting beside Princess Jiujiu.

When Princess Jiujiu sent someone to call the White Tiger Duke, he was only informed that representatives from Shrek Academy had arrived. However, he wasn’t informed who they were. Right now, he was disappointed when he saw that they were all youngsters, even though he didn’t express it openly. If they were the strong ones from Shrek Academy, the situation

might still be able to be reversed. However, what can these youngsters do?

“Yuhao, so it’s you!” Dai Yueheng said delightfully. However, he immediately shut his mouth after he ﬁnished speaking. He was in a camp, and even in front of his father.

The White Tiger Duke turned his head to look at Dai Yueheng. However, he didn’t reprimand him. Instead, he returned his attention to Huo Yuhao.

Even though Huo Yuhao tried his best to calm himself down, he couldn’t completely maintain his composure!

This person was his father, and the person he had once hated. However, after a few interactions, he didn’t exact his revenge. Instead, he even saved him twice!

He had once met the White Tiger Duke during the Elite Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament. It was just that he was still too weak then, and wasn’t noticed by the White Tiger Duke yet. It was his ﬁrst time meeting Dai Hao directly and face-to-face.

What no one noticed was that Dai Luoli’s mouth was slightly open right now, and his eyes were ﬁlled with disbelief. He was ﬂabbergasted as he looked at Huo Yuhao.

Dai Luoli immediately recognized Huo Yuhao. How could he not? In addition, he was much more astonished compared to Dai Yueheng. He was much more astonished…

Elder brother, what games are you playing? Shrek Academy… so you’re actually from Shrek Academy?

After Huo Yuhao left without bidding goodbye that day, Dai Luoli returned to the camp and was anxious when Huo Yuhao didn’t return. After that, he was reassigned to be by the White Tiger Duke’s side.

In the past, Dai Hao wouldn’t have done that, because he thought that Dai Luoli was better off living a simpler life free of risks if he wasn’t ﬁt enough to inherit the title of the White Tiger Duke.

However, the appearance of Dai Luoli’s mysterious master caused the mutation and awakening of his martial soul. His cultivation increased by leaps and bounds as a result.

Although he was already a bit old, Dai Luoli still had potential. The White Tiger Duke had to be unselﬁsh and nurture his own outstanding son! He arranged for Dai Luoli to be brought to his side and let him learn from Dai Yueheng temporarily. As he cultivated, he could learn military skills. He was also given permission to attend some military meetings, which was regarded as training.

At this point, Huo Yuhao’s attention was all on the White Tiger Duke, and he didn’t focus on his younger brother. He took the initiative to greet the White Tiger Duke along with Xu Jiujiu.

Xu Jiujiu smiled and said, “Uncle Dai, let me introduce you. This is the number one talent from the younger generation of Shrek Academy, the one who established the Spirit Pagoda, and the youngest member of the Sea God’s Pavilion, Huo Yuhao! I believe you’ve heard of his name before.”

Her introduction was very detailed, and Dai Hao was immediately shocked. He had naturally heard Huo Yuhao’s name many times before. When the Spirit Pagoda was ﬁrst established and Spirits ﬁrst appeared, he had once asked Dai Yueheng whether he knew Huo Yuhao.

Dai Yueheng recounted his experiences with Huo Yuhao. To Dai Yueheng, Huo Yuhao was a legend. He had become a member of the Sea God’s Pavilion before he was even twenty. What did the Sea God’s Pavilion represent? It was the highest level of Shrek Academy!

At this moment, he no longer underestimated Huo Yuhao because of his age. In the continent, who would dare to underestimate a member of the Sea God’s Pavilion? Moreover, he was also the founder of the Spirit Pagoda! It’s rumored that he discovered Spirits. This young man can no longer be described with the world ‘genius’. He’s more like a freak.

Shrek Academy didn’t send anyone strong, but his arrival deﬁnitely signiﬁes how importantly Shrek Academy regards this war. Dai Yueheng had once told the White Tiger Duke that Huo Yuhao was possibly the future heir to the Master of the Sea God’s Pavilion. In an empire, his current position was like a Crown Prince!

Huo Yuhao was no longer the rookie he was before. He concealed his emotions very well, and wore a smile as he said, “Greetings to you, Duke. Her Highness was too kind with her words. I didn’t establish the Spirit Pagoda. It was jointly founded by the Academy and the three empires, as well as the savage beasts of the Great Star Dou Forest.”

Xu Jiujiu smiled and said, “Don’t stand on ceremony anymore. Without the Spirits that you researched, how could we have established the Spirit Pagoda? I heard that the Spirit Pagoda is like a holy ground to soul masters now. Its future potential is unlimited. It’s a pity; if this war hadn’t appeared, I would have followed all of you to the headquarters of the Spirit Pagoda.”

Xu Jiujiu’s words deepened the White Tiger Duke’s impression of Huo Yuhao.

He nodded at Huo Yuhao and said, “You are indeed a hero! I’ve heard Dai Yueheng mention you before. Welcome to the Northwestern Field Army.” As he spoke, he extended his right hand towards Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao raised his hand to shake it. The White Tiger Duke’s palm was broad, warm, and ﬁlled with strength. When their hands came into contact with one another, Huo Yuhao was almost distracted.

When he started to recall everything, he always asked his mother where his father was. He yearned for his father’s care, and wished that his father was there to protect him and his mother! However, he had never received the love of his father before. This was his ﬁrst time coming into such close contact with the White Tiger Duke in a place other than a battleﬁeld.

He suddenly turned aggressive, and almost blurted out to the White Tiger Duke, Where were you when I was young?

However, he was Huo Yuhao! His immense spiritual power restrained his urges. He just appeared a bit emotional from the look in his eyes.

The White Tiger Duke felt a little weird, too. Huo Yuhao’s hand was very cold. This wasn’t supposed to happen to a strong soul master. Soul masters should be able to regulate their own temperature very well. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao’s eyes seemed to be ﬁlled with some kind of special emotion. He felt as if he had met Huo Yuhao before.

For a moment, he appeared to sense some kind of ill-intent from that emotion. However, he subconsciously felt that Huo Yuhao could be fully trusted. As for where this feeling came from, he could only attribute it to his sixth sense.

After this momentary handshake, they both immediately regained their composures.

The White Tiger Duke gestured to Huo Yuhao. “You are our guest. Please, take a seat.”

Xu Jiujiu took the initiative to offer her seat to Dai Hao. This was a show of respect to the White Tiger Duke, and also a show

of apology for her earlier misjudgment. Naturally, a guard promptly added another seat beside the White Tiger Duke’s.

Huo Yuhao was to the White Tiger Duke’s left, while Xu Jiujiu was to his right. Dai Yueheng and Dai Luoli didn’t have any seats. The White Tiger Duke’s house rules were very strict. In the military, he was even stricter towards his own sons.

Dai Luoli was standing closer to Huo Yuhao, and never stopped looking at him.

Huo Yuhao had already calmed down, and it was only now that he remembered to greet his own younger brother. Their spiritual powers connected, and he asked Dai Luoli to calm down.

After this period of training, Dai Luoli’s cultivation and mentality had developed signiﬁcantly, but it was only now that he suppressed his own curiosity and calmed himself.

Dai Hao turned his head at Huo Yuhao and said, “It’s been tough on all of you. What advice does Shrek Academy have?”

Xu Jiujiu rushed to pass the letter over to Dai Hao.

Huo Yuhao said, “This is the letter that Elder Xuan wrote to you. We are only here to be under your command and ﬁght against the enemies of the empire. According to Elder Xuan, our main responsibilities are to be scouts.”

Dai Hao nodded. He opened the letter and read it carefully.

Elder Xuan didn’t write too much down. First, he expressed Shrek Academy’s support for the Star Luo Empire. After this, he explained that Huo Yuhao and the others came from the Tang Sect, and they were all talents that came from Shrek Academy. He hoped that they could help the Star Luo Empire resist the Sun Moon Empire at the frontlines. Among all of them, he speciﬁcally mentioned how good Huo Yuhao was in terms of surveillance skills. He also honestly told the White Tiger Duke that Huo Yuhao was the only one who managed to complete the Ultimate Soldier Plan in Shrek Academy.

Dai Yueheng would have already told Dai Hao about this.

There was nothing he had to hide.

After seeing this letter, Dai Hao couldn’t help but turn his attention towards Huo Yuhao again. Even if Xu Jiujiu’s praise sounded rather unbelievable, it was hardly unlikely that Elder Xuan would exaggerate his words. From his words, Elder Xuan’s recommendation of Huo Yuhao was even better than Xu Jiujiu’s. The White Tiger Duke had no choice but to take note of him now.

“All of you came on time. Let’s not delay any further. Talking about reconnaissance…” The White Tiger Duke laughed bitterly as he shook his head.

“The reason why we’ve been led on a wild goose chase by the Sun Moon Empire is because our reconnaissance efforts have been completely sealed. We are completely unaware of the situation at the Ming Dou Mountain Range. The aerial surveillance soul tools of the Sun Moon Empire have completely blocked off all our surveillance. They have even broken the connection that we have with our friendly troops at the front.”

After hearing the White Tiger Duke’s words, Huo Yuhao was also shocked. He could imagine that they couldn’t receive any useful information, but he didn’t expect them to lose contact with their own friendly forces. This was a little unbelievable. It

seemed like he had underestimated the Sun Moon Empire’s strength in terms of aerial surveillance soul tools!

The White Tiger Duke said, “There are a few active tactical units from the Sun Moon Empire along the borders, formed by high-tier soul engineers. Although I don’t know how they managed to do so, I’m certain that all the information gathered from their aerial surveillance soul tools is transmitted to them immediately. They rely on these aerial surveillance soul tools to locate our scouts before killing them. We’ve become blind because of this.

“The situation now is very awkward. We aren’t able to carry out a direct assault. The Sun Moon Empire has installed an extremely strong soul tool at the Ming Dou Mountain Range. It’s too destructive. I’m afraid that we’ll be unable to attack them at all. In terms of surveillance, we’re also very far behind. It seems like we are monitoring them, but we actually have no idea what they’re doing. We are at a very disadvantageous situation in this war.

“From our judgment, the Sun Moon Empire is likely to be aiming at the Heavenly Soul Empire. It’s been a few days, but we’ve yet to receive any accurate news from the Heavenly Soul

Empire. I just know that our guess is right. Now that we’ve no information, we are completely at a disadvantage in this war.”

After listening to the White Tiger Duke’s words, all the soul masters from the Star Luo Empire and Princess Jiujiu looked very grim. Earlier, when Xu Jiujiu was recounting everything to Huo Yuhao, she still withheld some information. However, the White Tiger Duke did not withhold anything.

After he ﬁnished speaking, the White Tiger Duke was silent for a moment before he said, “This is the current situation. Regretting our decision to neglect soul tools is meaningless now. We can only do our best to deal with this war as it is. Elder Xuan recommends your surveillance skills highly. What I would like to know is how good you are in this area.”

He was very straightforward, just like a military leader should be.

After pondering for a moment, he said, “We are unable to guarantee how good we are. We still need to understand the situation on the Sun Moon Empire’s side. I need to monitor things ﬁrst before I can decide on anything. Although the Sun Moon Empire controls the sky, their control is not absolute.

Their high-altitude surveillance soul tools can only cover up to ﬁve thousand meters.”

The Big Dipper Douluo creased his brow and said, “My friend, ﬁve thousand meters is already the highest humans can reach. Even for Ultimate Douluo, they wouldn’t be conﬁdent of ﬂying at a height of ﬁve thousand meters for an extended period of time. It’s even more impossible for us.”

The Big Dipper Douluo wasn’t very pleased with the way Huo Yuhao described things. He felt that Huo Yuhao was being very boastful with his words.

Huo Yuhao nodded very seriously and said, “You’re right. Generally speaking, Titled Douluo can only ﬂy up to ﬁve thousand meters. In addition, they can only stay at this height for a short time, as it will place too much of a burden on their bodies. However, ﬁve thousand meters is also the limit for the Sun Moon Empire’s soul tools. At that height, there are only one or two soul tools that they can use. However, these soul tools can’t see everything. If a Titled Douluo can send me to a height of ﬁve thousand meters, I’ll be able to glide my way near the Ming Dou Mountain Range.”

The Big Dipper Douluo was moved, and asked, “Do you mean that you can avoid the surveillance soul tools ﬁve thousand meters in the air?”

Huo Yuhao was impressed. No wonder he’s the leader of the number one soul master legion in the Star Luo Empire. He managed to catch the gist of what I’m saying immediately.

He nodded and replied, “Yes, I’m conﬁdent. More accurately speaking, I’m conﬁdent above two thousand meters. Higher than three thousand meters, I’m even more conﬁdent. Between two and ﬁve thousand meters is where I’m trying to glide. Although I’m unable to ﬂy ﬁve thousand meters in the air, I’m still able to protect myself.”

The temperature of the air fell quickly the further one went from the ground. In addition, the temperature dropped extremely quickly after a height of one thousand meters. At a height of ﬁve thousand meters, the temperature of the air would reach negative one hundred and ﬁfty degrees Celsius!

Even Titled Douluo wouldn’t be able to survive at such a temperature. If Titled Douluo couldn’t control themselves

during their descent, they were in danger of falling to their deaths!

However, Huo Yuhao wasn’t affected by such low temperatures. The thin air was the most lethal. At that height, humans couldn’t breathe, and thus he couldn’t stay there for too long.

The Big Dipper Douluo revealed a thoughtful look. The White Tiger Duke looked at Huo Yuhao and asked, “Wouldn’t that be dangerous? At that height…” Even the White Tiger Duke had never ﬂown to that height before. It was simply too dangerous. If he faced any wind current and was blown to a higher altitude, he would face the extremely low temperatures, and might fall to his death if his soul power was overly drained.

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “The low temperature isn’t a problem for me. My martial soul is ice-type, so I’m stronger in terms of resisting the cold. I also have a way of dealing with the thin air. As long as it’s not for too long, I’ll be ﬁne.”

The White Tiger Duke pressed, “However, even if you successfully sneak into the backend of the enemy’s territories,

how will you be able to return?” He didn’t mention the internal part of the enemy’s territories, because there were bound to be many surveillance soul tools at the Ming Dou Mountain Range. No matter how great Huo Yuhao’s concealment abilities were, he was bound to be discovered if he descended directly into the Ming Dou Mountain Range. That would be seeking his own death. It was why he could only ﬂy directly across.

Huo Yuhao said, “I believe in my own survival abilities. Returning should be easier.” He couldn’t hide from thermal detectors if he only used Imitation. However, things were different if he used his Spiritual Interference Domain. Furthermore, he could also control his body temperature using Ultimate Ice. Only some soul tools that relied on sound waves might be able to grasp his location, but that wouldn’t be speciﬁc, either.

It also meant that Huo Yuhao had to deal with the attacks his enemies would unleash on him after he was discovered if he snuck around within the Ming Dou Mountain Range and tried to return. However, these attacks couldn’t be aimed properly, they were only domain-type attacks. Under such circumstances, it would depend on how well he could dodge, and how fast he could escape.

There was some element of danger. However, to the rest, he was the only one who could survive under such circumstances.

“Wait a minute, you forgot an important problem,” a crisp voice spoke up. When Huo Yuhao turned his head and realized that the person speaking was Tang Wutong.

Tang Wutong creased her brow slightly and looked at Huo Yuhao seriously. She said, “You can indeed rise to an altitude of ﬁve thousand meters with the help of a Titled Douluo. However, have you ever considered the height of the Ming Dou Mountain Range? Although I don’t know the detailed statistics, I can estimate that the highest peaks of the Ming Dou

Mountain Range are at least two thousand meters. If soul tools are installed above these mountain peaks, you won’t be able to successfully hide from them unless you’re able to maintain an altitude of ﬁve thousand meters.”

The White Tiger Duke, Princess Jiujiu and the rest of the Star Luo Empire’s soul masters concurred with her words. Given how the Sun Moon Empire placed so much attention on blocking information from the Star Luo Empire, they couldn’t possibly fail to place any soul tools on the mountain peaks. In addition, the area covered by these surveillance soul tools was bound to be greater than most normal surveillance soul tools.

Huo Yuhao only smiled and replied, “Of course I’ve considered this problem. First, most aerial surveillance soul tools can only reach an altitude of one thousand meters. Furthermore, most of them will be aimed towards the ground. Even if there are ground-based ones pointed towards the sky, they wouldn’t be able to cover an altitude greater than one thousand meters because of the wind currents and all types of volatile elements.

“The aerial surveillance soul tools installed on these mountain peaks are bound to be affected by these conditions, too. It is the same reason such ordinary soul tools can’t be

successfully installed two thousand meters in the air. The surveillance soul tools that they have installed at these mountain peaks must be ground-based ones facing the sky.

“The Sun Moon Empire has high-altitude surveillance soul tools. Such soul tools can carry out surveillance at an altitude of three thousand meters. However, they can only face the ground. At the same time, such surveillance soul tools are still incomplete, and are not precise. There’s no way they can detect my concealed self. The only threat to me is the ground-based surveillance soul tools facing the sky.

“So, let’s look at the situation of these surveillance soul tools. Right now, we know that the Sun Moon Empire’s ground-based surveillance soul tools are the most effective. They are able to scan up to an altitude of one thousand ﬁve hundred meters, and detect what’s in the air.

“Thermal, airﬂow and oscillation detectors can only reach up to ﬁve hundred meters. After ﬁve hundred meters, their effectiveness will drop signiﬁcantly. They won’t be able to reach beyond one thousand meters.

“These numbers have been meticulously calculated. This means that I won’t be discovered if I’m at least three thousand meters above the Ming Dou Mountain Range. This is even under the condition that I’m directly above the highest mountain peak of the Ming Dou Mountain Range, when in fact, I’ll intentionally ﬁnd a lower mountain peak to perform my surveillance.”

After Huo Yuhao mentioned this series of numbers, all the soul masters from the Star Luo Empire couldn’t help but feel embarrassed. Their combined knowledge of the Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance soul tools couldn’t compare to Huo Yuhao’s.

Huo Yuhao continued, “This is why I’ll be ﬁne as long as I don’t glide below an altitude of three thousand meters after I’m sent ﬁve thousand meters into the air. Following that, I can start performing my surveillance.”

He squinted as he spoke until here, and a layer of dim golden light shone from his eyes. Following this, he unleashed a spiritual web that engulfed the entire tent.

All the soul masters from the Star Luo Empire were shocked. However, they soon realized that this was Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power. They wanted to resist it subconsciously, but they let it go after they saw the White Tiger Duke’s signal.

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power soon linked up with everyone in the tent. After this, his spiritual intent was revealed and quickly spread across the entire tent. All his surveillance results were shared with everyone present through his Spiritual Sharing.

Instantly, a detailed stereoscopic image of everything within a ﬁve-kilometer radius from Huo Yuhao ﬁlled the minds of everyone.

The White Tiger Duke was stunned. Princess Jiujiu and the Big Dipper Douluo were also shocked. All the soul masters from the Star Luo Empire were instantly rooted to the ground in amazement.

So was Tang Wutong!

His spiritual power was immense! He was just sitting there, but he could actually use such a method to share everything in his head. He was much more magical than the Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance soul tools!

Everyone was in awe.

Huo Yuhao said, “In terms of unidirectional detection, I’m conﬁdent of reaching a distance of ﬁve kilometers. This is why I’ll be able to see what’s happening in the Ming Dou Mountain Range from an altitude of three thousand meters, and I’m sure I’ll be accurate. However, I won’t be able to obtain much information if I’m just surveilling it once. This is because I need to ensure that I’m always in my best condition, in terms of soul and spiritual power. I always restrict myself to only ﬁfteen minutes of surveillance every time. I’m able to keep myself three thousand meters in the air for roughly ﬁfteen minutes.”

“After my surveillance, I can also try my best to return without catching the attention of the enemy’s soul tools. If I am successful, I’ll go back a few more times, and I’ll be able to recall everything.”

The look in the White Tiger Duke’s eyes returned to normal. He suddenly felt that Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection Sharing was very familiar. Does this person have something to do with the person who saved me before?

Dai Hao didn’t think that Huo Yuhao was that person. That was because that person was one of the strongest people on the continent right now. The second time that person saved him, the strength that he had demonstrated was simply too great.

The Big Dipper Douluo was a little agitated as he stood up. He punched his right ﬁst against his left palm, “Great! Young man, I’m sorry for doubting you earlier. Your arrival has brought hope for us! If you can study the enemy’s formations, we’ll be in a much better situation, we’ll at least be able to ﬁnd out their ﬂaws. I understand that you want to glide from an altitude of ﬁve thousand meters because you want to conserve your soul power, am I right?”

Huo Yuhao nodded. Even given his current cultivation, he couldn’t last more than an hour at an altitude of three thousand meters. In this one hour, he would use only a quarter of the time to carry out surveillance. He also still had to ensure that he was in a state to ﬁght the enemy at any time.

He didn’t reveal something. If he was detected by a powerful soul master, soul engineer, or a soul tool speciﬁcally designed to detect soul power or faced any abnormalities, he was bound to come across danger.

He didn’t reveal this because he didn’t want his partners to be too worried.

“It’s too dangerous by yourself. Let me follow you,” Ye Guyi immediately said.

Huo Yuhao was a little stunned as he looked at her. In his heart, he had hoped that Tang Wutong would be the one who said this.

Ye Guyi’s eyes met his, and she turned a bit red. “With someone helping you, at least you’ll be more successful in escaping.”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “No, this isn’t a ﬁght. With an additional person, I’ll need to take care of my partner when I conceal myself. It’s better for me to escape alone. I’ll go myself. It’s much more effective!”

Ye Guyi looked a little disappointed, but she didn’t persist.

She only nodded before sitting back down again.

Princess Jiujiu was a little agitated. “Yuhao, if you succeed, you’ll contribute the most to the entire Star Luo Empire! Tell me whatever you want. As long as I can do it, I’ll do my best to satisfy you.”

Everyone from the Tang Sect revealed a slight smile on their faces. They didn’t think that Huo Yuhao would make any demands, given that he was the founder of the Spirit Pagoda and a member of the Sea God’s Pavilion.

However, something surprising happened.

Huo Yuhao nodded gently and said, “If possible, I hope that I’ll be able to earn merits just like a Star Luo Empire soldier after this reconnaissance mission, and attain a military ranking, as well as become knighted.”

“What?” Everyone from the Tang Sect was shocked when he said this. Only Tang Wutong was not as surprised. After all,

she didn’t know Huo Yuhao that well.

How is this possible? Including Xu Jiujiu, many of them who were present thought this way. He was a member of the Sea God’s Pavilion, his status was unrivaled. He possessed great inﬂuence in the world of soul masters. If he obtained a knighthood and earned merits as a soldier, wouldn’t he be bound to the Star Luo Empire? The Star Luo Empire would be taking advantage of him then! Why would Huo Yuhao do something like this?

Xu Jiujiu looked very surprised, but she was also very intelligent. She immediately nodded without any hesitation and said, “No problem! Given your abilities and cultivation, I can promise you the position of a Viscount right now on behalf of my elder brother. Your position will also be inherited by your future descendants.”

A Viscount was the second least prestigious position in the nobility, but it was still considered very prestigious, especially since his descendants could inherit his position. Their lives would be worry-free!

Furthermore, this was because Xu Jiujiu was a princess. If the Star Luo Empire’s Emperor was here, he might promise him even more! By deepening their ties with Huo Yuhao, the empire was building its relationship with the Spirit Pagoda. At the same time, the empire was also building its relationship with Shrek Academy! This was highly advantageous for the empire!

Xu Sanshi’s expression was very serious, and he said, “Yuhao, you must consider this very carefully. You aren’t just representing yourself right now...”

Chapter 439: Wutong, Fuse?

Huo Yuhao nodded gently, a little excited. This was what he had hoped for for many years!

After taking in a deep breath, Huo Yuhao looked at Princess Jiujiu seriously and said, “Your Highness, I still want to add a few prerequisites. Everything I mentioned earlier only applies to me. Furthermore, I don’t need you to promise me a knighthood right now. I’m willing to follow the rules of the Star Luo Empire and earn my position and status through my own merits. I won’t be an exception.

“However, I’m only representing myself. At this moment, I’m only Huo Yuhao. I’ve nothing to do with the Spirit Pagoda, Shrek Academy or the Tang Sect. At the same time, even if I become a knight in the Star Luo Empire, I won’t be controlled by the empire. Similarly, I won’t be under the command of the empire. If you think this is acceptable, I’ll accept this contribution and offer. Otherwise, I’d rather not take it.”

Everyone was confused by Huo Yuhao’s words. What does he mean? He wants to earn merits and his knighthood, but he’s not willing to perform any services. Or rather, he would only

perform services according to his own wishes. However, what’s the signiﬁcance of these things to him anyway, then?

Xu Jiujiu creased her brow slightly and asked, “Yuhao, can I ask what is this for? Although I’m a princess in the Star Luo Empire and I really hope that you would join the Empire, I’m also clear on your standing in the world of soul masters. There’s no need for you to do this. If you want glory, money or wealth, it’s very easy. Why did you choose the Star Luo Empire?”

Huo Yuhao calmly replied, “I have my own reasons. First, I’m from the Star Luo Empire.”

When he said this, the look on all the soul masters’ faces became much gentler.

This Huo Yuhao is also part of the Star Luo Empire. I guess he just wants to contribute to his country. In addition, everyone felt closer to him upon learning that he was from the Star Luo Empire.

Xu Jiujiu already knew that Huo Yuhao was from the Star Luo Empire. When she met Huo Yuhao during the ﬁrst Elite Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Tournament, she had checked on his background, where he had ﬁlled in his country of origin as the Star Luo Empire.

Of course, it was different back than when he was saying it right now. This time it meant that he recognized the Star Luo Empire.

Huo Yuhao continued, “When I was young, I had a dream of becoming a general. This is my wish. I hope that I’ll be able to become a general and a marshal through my own hard work. Right now, I’m willing to use my own abilities to slowly realize this wish. I hope that I’ll be able to lead my own army like the White Tiger Duke, and make my name prominent.”

This reason seemed convincing enough, at least to ordinary people. However, when he said this, everyone from the Tang Sect felt that it was very weird. Wasn’t Huo Yuhao already very prominent? In addition, could the position of a general or marshal really be compared to a truly powerful soul master?

No matter how capable the White Tiger Duke was in terms of leading his own army, his reputation couldn’t compare to the Master of the Sea God’s Pavilion, much less an Ultimate Douluo!

Those in the Tang Sect who were very familiar with Huo Yuhao knew that he was bound to become an Ultimate Douluo in the future. However, he requested the right to earn military merits and be knighted by the Star Luo Empire. Suddenly, everyone was confused.

There was an intent look on his face as he glanced at the White Tiger Duke. Yes, he could only use this method to fulﬁll his dream now!

Among those present, the only person who could really understand Huo Yuhao’s intentions was probably his younger brother, Dai Luoli.

When Huo Yuhao said all this, the look in Dai Luoli’s eyes became complex. Elder brother, what do you want? Do you really want to compete with dad? What kind of ending are you hoping for?

His acceptance and recognition of Huo Yuhao had already surpassed his feelings toward Dai Yueheng and Dai Huabin in just one short month of interaction.

Even though Huo Yuhao had used hellish methods to nurture him, he could sense Huo Yuhao’s concern and sincerity in his relentless instruction. His life had completely changed after one month, and so he completely trusted Huo Yuhao.

On one side, there was his biological father. On the other side was his elder brother, who he trusted a lot. Suddenly, he was very confused. On whose side should he stand? Dai Luoli also wasn’t clear what Huo Yuhao wanted in the end, or to what extent he would go to.

Princess Jiujiu took a deep look at Huo Yuhao, then nodded gently before saying, “Alright, I agree to your demands. You can follow the Star Luo Empire’s rules to earn your position. However, we won’t restrain you. As long as you’re willing, you can do whatever you want. I only have one demand, or rather, one request. When there’s a national crisis, I hope you’ll offer your help. Be a hero and protect your country.”

Huo Yuhao nodded slightly when he saw the passionate look in Xu Jiujiu’s eyes and answered, “I won’t claim to be a hero, but I’ll stand up for my country if there’s a crisis. I’ll do it. I’ll prove it with my actions.”

The White Tiger Duke was watching closely Huo Yuhao and said, “That’s a deal, then. When you complete this reconnaissance mission, the princess and I will celebrate for you. I’ll personally pen down your contributions, and I hope that we’ll watch the rise of a heroic general in the future. The Star Luo Empire needs a talent like you.”

He was really happy. If Huo Yuhao was just being patronizing, he wouldn’t be able to convince the White Tiger Duke. However, Huo Yuhao’s immense spiritual power had already fully convinced the White Tiger Duke. He felt that there really was hope when he saw Huo Yuhao.

As he spoke, the White Tiger Duke lifted the cup in front of him, “We can’t drink in the face of a national crisis, so I’ll use tea to replace alcohol. Let me toast you. I hope that you’ll be successful.”

Huo Yuhao also lifted his cup and toasted the White Tiger Duke. He calmly said, “Thanks.”

The White Tiger Duke smiled slightly after taking a sip of his tea. “Kid, I wonder where you hail from since you’re from the Star Luo Empire?”

Huo Yuhao paused for a moment before saying, “I come from a village near the Star Luo City. It isn’t very notable.”

The White Tiger Duke smiled and said, “It’s really rare for a small village to nurture a talent like you!”

Huo Yuhao clenched his ﬁst, and immediately repressed his urges. He calmly replied, “Duke, Your Highness, we’ve rushed throughout our entire journey. Let’s end the day here, shall we? Let me ready myself before I start my mission within these two days. What do you think?”

“Alright, great.” The White Tiger Duke was a ﬁrm believer of ‘actions are louder than words’. Seeing that Huo Yuhao wasn’t wishy-washy, he was even more impressed by him. He patted

his shoulder tightly, and instructed Dai Yueheng to ﬁnd Huo Yuhao and the others a place to rest.

---

As they were from Shrek Academy, the tents that were arranged for them were very good. Every one of them was given a tent that was normally given to the commanding ofﬁcer of a soul engineer legion.

Every tent was close to ﬁfty square meters in size, and furnished with a table and a bed. There were even a few simple decorations. This was the best treatment they could possibly get in war time.

Everyone from the Tang Sect didn’t rush to rest immediately.

Instead, they congregated in Huo Yuhao’s tent.

“Little junior, what were you doing today?” Xu Sanshi couldn’t help but ask when he entered Huo Yuhao’s tent.

Huo Yuhao was being very abnormal when he asked for merits and a position in the Star Luo Empire.

Huo Yuhao forced a smile and replied, “Third senior, this really is my hope for the future. I don’t have any other intentions. Please understand. Furthermore, I won’t affect the Academy or the Tang Sect due to my relationship with the Star Luo Empire.”

Seeing the complex look in Huo Yuhao’s eyes, Xu Sanshi stopped his interrogation. He clasped Huo Yuhao’s shoulder before saying, “Yuhao, we won’t force you if you’re not willing to say anything. We trust you. However, you can ﬁnd someone to talk to if you’re feeling sad. You’ll feel better now. No matter who you choose, we’ll keep things a secret.”

“Okay, thanks, Third Senior. I’m ﬁne.”

Apart from Tang Wutong, who wasn’t very familiar with Huo Yuhao, the rest naturally trusted him. Although everyone was surprised by his actions today, they didn’t doubt him. The others didn’t even ask him anything at all.

Everyone returned to their own tents to rest. Huo Yuhao sat behind his table and looked a little dazed.

Have I ﬁnally taken this step? Can I ﬁnally earn my own merits though my hard work?

According to Xu Jiujiu’s promise, he would be able to earn merits faster than he had planned. After this mission was over, he should be able to earn his knighthood, even if it was just an ordinary one.

Dai Hao, you know I’m doing this just to surpass you. I want to become a hero of the Star Luo Empire, a hero that’s more outstanding than you. When that day comes, I’ll return to the Duke’s Mansion with my chest held high. I’ll get back what my mother deserves.

As he considered that, he clenched his ﬁsts, and the thoughts in his head cleared. His immense spiritual power surged in his spiritual sea, and his soul power also circulated throughout his entire body. Suddenly, the mysterious aura that he had once sensed in the Spirit Pagoda seemed to have subtly appeared again.

Huo Yuhao was shocked, and quickly jolted himself out of that state.

A smile slowly formed at the edges of his lips. Di Tian, even you can’t continuously monitor me through your reverse scale. If I’m not wrong, I can obtain the aura of that world a second and third time, since I was able to do it the ﬁrst time. But it won’t be now. I won’t let you sense anything anymore…

After sitting for a short while, Huo Yuhao stood up and walked out of his tent

It was already the middle of the night. Although he was fatigued from rushing the whole day, he wasn’t overly drained, given that he held an immense power of life inside. But he looked a little dazed as he walked towards a tent beside his. Tang Wutong was in that tent.

Dai Yueheng didn’t know that she was Tang Wutong instead of Wang Dong’er. In his heart, he thought that Wang Dong’er and Huo Yuhao were a couple. When he arranged the tents, he naturally arranged for the both of them to be together.

Dong’er, are you asleep?, Huo Yuhao silently thought to himself.

After he was distracted by the White Tiger Duke earlier, and after Xu Sanshi talked to him, he really wanted someone to conﬁde in right now. Naturally, the person that he looked to was the person he loved the most.

He slowly walked towards Tang Wutong’s tent. When he reached her tent, he stopped for a moment and hesitated. After this, he gently slapped the curtains of the tent.

The curtains were made of cloth, and thus not much sound was made. However, it was enough for soul masters, who had good hearing.

Tang Wutong’s voice sounded. “Who is it?”

“Wutong, are you asleep?” Huo Yuhao asked softly.

Tang Wutong was silent for a moment, then said, “It’s already so late. What are you doing here?”

Huo Yuhao replied, “I have something to discuss with you regarding our reconnaissance mission tomorrow night. If it’s not convenient, I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

Tang Wutong answered without any hesitation, “Then let’s leave it for tomorrow. I don’t want to know your secret, and

I’m not interested in being your conﬁdante.”

Huo Yuhao was slightly stunned, and found it a little amusing. It turned out that she believed Huo Yuhao had listened to Xu Sanshi’s words and was treating her as his conﬁdante.

He was a little helpless as he shook his head and said, “Rest, then. Goodnight.”

After he ﬁnished speaking, he walked towards his own tent. There was a lost look on his face. How good would it be if she were still Dong’er. At least I could still get some comfort while being in her soft and warm embrace. My Dong’er, when will you return?

As he thought until here, Huo Yuhao was a little confused. Why can I sense Qiu’er, apart from just Dong’er, in Tang Wutong’s body?

Just as he walked towards his own tent, he heard something. Huo Yuhao subconsciously turned around and saw Tang

Wutong, who had already switched into a long white dress, standing in front of her tent.

The moon was very beautiful tonight. The bright moonlight made her appear very quiet and calm as it fell on her, whereas her pinkish-blue hair and eyes were the most beautiful ornaments int this bright night.

Tang Wutong looked at Huo Yuhao calmly and said, “On account of your baked bun, I’ll let you speak. However, I’m only letting you speak until one incense stick ﬁnishes burning.”

Even though Huo Yuhao knew that she had misunderstood him and thought that he wanted to conﬁde in her, he still immediately walked over in front of her. He would never give up on any opportunity to get closer to Tang Wutong.

“Hey, don’t get so close.” Seeing that Huo Yuhao was almost a meter in front of her, Tang Wutong quickly raised her hand and warned him from getting any closer.

Huo Yuhao stopped and watched the wary look in Tang Wutong’s eyes. He was a little dazed, and subconsciously said, “Dong’er, you’re beautiful.”

Tang Wutong was stunned for a moment. After this, she furrowed her brow, glared and shouted furiously, “Who is your Dong’er? Hmph!” After she ﬁnished speaking, she turned around and wanted to enter her own tent.

Huo Yuhao only reacted at this moment. He rushed to stretch his hand out and grabbed her wrist. He anxiously said, “I’m sorry, I got the wrong person. It’s perhaps because I miss her too much.”

Tang Wutong twisted her head and coldly said, “Let go.”

At this instant, the expression in her eyes caused Huo Yuhao to be stunned once again. The cold look and tone in her voice were just like Wang Qiu’er when he saw her for the ﬁrst time!

Huo Yuhao was confused once again. Dong’er, Qiu’er, Dong’er, Qiu’er. These two names kept on alternating in his mind. Everything was too difﬁcult to understand right now.

Her condition is obviously like Dong’er, but her actions and words remind me of both Dong’er and Qiu’er.

Dong’er’s beauty, kindness, vibrancy and cuteness, but also Qiu’er’s aloofness. When they combine, it seems like Tang Wutong is a completely different person.

Huo Yuhao subconsciously let go of her hand and was a little tormented as he lowered his head. He said, “I’m sorry, I recognized the wrong person. You look too alike to my lover. That’s why…”

“It’s okay, you don’t have to explain anymore. I’ve heard such words many times before. There’s still two-thirds of the incense stick left. If you’ve something to say, please hurry up. But I don’t want to listen to what happened between you and your ex-girlfriends.”

“Ex-girlfriends? My only lover is Dong’er…”

Tang Wutong was a little rushed as she interrupted him, “I already told you that I don’t want to listen to any of that.”

“Alright.” Huo Yuhao couldn’t adapt to her coldness and assertiveness. However, he soon got over it.

“I’m not actually here to conﬁde in you. I can settle my own problems. I don’t need to burden anyone with my personal problems.”

Tang Wutong was a little doubtful as she asked, “Then what are you ﬁnding me for?”

Huo Yuhao was serious as he replied, “Wutong, when I saw you for the ﬁrst time, there’s another reason why I mistook you for someone else. It was because I could sense that your soul power was very close to mine. It seems like it can fuse with mine.”

“It can fuse with yours?” Tang Wutong retracted the cold look on her face and appeared a little pensive. “Are you saying that our martial souls can fuse? How is that possible? The tier of your martial soul is so low. It can’t be possible that we can fuse.”

Huo Yuhao was a little speechless as he said, “I have twin martial souls! One of them is even of Ultimate Ice! How is it possible that it’s too low?”

Tang Wutong lifted her head and ﬂicked her hair before saying, “It’s just low.” Her pampered behavior made her seem more domineering, but in a good way.

Huo Yuhao was a little helpless as he replied, “Alright, it’s low. However, I really feel that our martial souls can fuse. Can we give it a try? If possible, we might be able to increase our ﬁghting strength greatly in future missions. We are both Soul Sages. When two Soul Sages unleash a fusion skill, along with your strong martial soul, the effect will undoubtedly be very great.”

Tang Wutong creased her eyebrows slightly and asked, “How do you want to try it, then?”

Huo Yuhao answered, “Simple. I just need to place my palm on yours. After that, we’ll just need to try connecting our soul power. If our martial souls can fuse, our soul power will fuse ﬁrst.”

Tang Wutong was a little doubtful as she looked at him and asked, “You’re not doing this just to get close to me, right?”

Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly. “Am I that stupid? There are plenty of reasons I could have used if that were the case. Why would I use the thing that’s the most improbable? I really think that our martial souls can fuse. Let’s try? If you’re still doubtful, we can do it outside your tent. We don’t have to enter your tent.”

Tang Wutong hesitated for a moment when she saw the patrol guards that had just walked past before saying, “We can try, but we shall void the bet that I just made with you today. If you agree to this, I’ll let you enter my tent and give it a go.”

Huo Yuhao didn’t even hesitate, and nodded. “Okay, it’s a deal.”

Huo Yuhao didn’t claim anything after Xu Sanshi beat Ji Juechen earlier, but Tang Wutong remembered their bet. She didn’t want to owe him anything, and thus she proposed this idea.

When Huo Yuhao ﬁrst suggested the bet, he was doing it for this! Using martial soul fusion to ﬁnd out whether Tang Wutong was Wang Dong’er was the most direct and reliable method. Perhaps he could even use martial soul fusion to tell if she was Wang Qiu’er.

Of course, Huo Yuhao didn’t believe that she was Wang Qiu’er. After all, Wang Qiu’er had already sacriﬁced herself, and her body had disappeared. His skull bone was even given to him by Wang Qiu’er.

Tang Wutong said, “Alright, follow me in then. Remember, don’t even think of trying anything funny. Otherwise, you’ll regret it.” As she spoke, she walked into her tent.

Huo Yuhao quickly followed her. Right now, he was very tense. This was because this was very important to him. If Tang Wutong’s martial soul couldn’t fuse with his, it was likely that she wasn’t Wang Dong’er! That was not something that Huo Yuhao hoped for either!

After walking into the tent, Tang Wutong pointed to the ground and stated, “Let’s do it on the ground.” As she spoke, she retrieved a mat from her storage-type soul tool and placed

it on the ground. She sat on it and pointed to the ground in front of her.

Huo Yuhao nodded and sat down in front of her.

Tang Wutong lifted her hands and said coldly, “Let’s start.”

Huo Yuhao was evidently a little tense. However, if he didn’t try, he wouldn’t be relieved at all. It was important for him to ﬁnd out who Tang Wutong was.

He took a deep breath, and circulated his soul power. Under the command of his spiritual power, it started surging in his body.

Huo Yuhao lifted his hands and gently pressed them against Tang Wutong’s palms.

As their eyes met, it was obvious that the look in Tang Wutong’s eyes was very cold, whereas Huo Yuhao looked very passionate.

Dong’er, she must be Dong’er!

As he thought, Huo Yuhao slowly summoned his Mysterious Heaven Technique and poured it into Tang Wutong’s body.

Tang Wutong didn’t resist, and allowed Huo Yuhao’s soul power to enter her body. After that, she summoned her own soul power. Huo Yuhao’s soul power was blocked by a passageway in her forearms.

Of course she couldn’t let Huo Yuhao’s soul power circulate freely inside her, the equivalent of handing her life over to him. She only allowed him to test whether they could fuse in the passageways of her forearm.

Huo Yuhao could clearly sense that Tang Wutong’s soul power ﬂowed in a structured manner, and there was even an aura of elegance about it. When their soul powers ﬁrst came into contact with each other, Tang Wutong’s soul power displayed strong discrimination towards Huo Yuhao’s soul power. It was like it wanted to force his soul power out of her body.

Huo Yuhao was stunned to ﬁnd out that Tang Wutong was right! While his soul power wasn’t any less powerful than hers, there was some kind of gap between them. This was a result of the difference between the blood lineages of their martial souls.

How is this possible? I have twin martial souls, and I even possess Ultimate Ice. Moreover, I’ve fused with four Spirits, which has signiﬁcantly modiﬁed my martial soul. How is it

possible that the tier of my martial soul is so much weaker than hers?

Initially, his soul power would immediately fuse with Wang Dong’er’s soul power when they ﬁrst came into contact with one another, turning into Haodong Power that would circulate through their bodies. This greatly increased their cultivation speed. To a large extent, the reason why Huo Yuhao’s cultivation speed was able to rise so quickly was because of the Haodong Power.

However, the situation seemed to have completely changed now. The circulation of soul power in Tang Wutong’s body was presented as an elegant, purplish-gold color. During the process of circulation, her body exuded a dim, purplish-gold glow. Huo Yuhao could even sense that the soul power circulating in her body was subtly rocking with the sound of a dragon roaring.

Amid this rocking movement, Huo Yuhao’s soul power was crushed before it could return to his body. Even though it would reform very quickly, it wasn’t able to move an inch forward in Tang Wutong’s body, much less complete any fusion. It was like they were supposed to be distinctly separated.

As Tang Wutong’s wrist trembled slightly, the soul power in her body started to circulate at a greater intensity. Huo Yuhao moved back three feet, as if he had been pushed.

Tang Wutong’s body slightly shone with a purplish-gold glow, and an image of a golden trident ﬂashed on her forehead before disappearing. She twisted her lips and said, “I’ve already told you that your martial soul can’t fuse with me. Your instincts were wrong. If you really had some sort of sensation, I would experience the same sensation too. You can leave now.”

Huo Yuhao sat where he was in a daze. The expression on his face remained the same, and his entire body seemed to have turned into a statue – he was completely motionless.

Tang Wutong furrowed her brow. “Hey! Why aren’t you leaving yet?”

Huo Yuhao slowly lowered his arms, and Tang Wutong could tell that his face had turned completely pale. It was as if he had lost his life energy.

As he slowly stood up, Huo Yuhao walked towards the exit of the tent with a pale look on his face. When he drew open the curtains and walked out, he staggered and almost fell down. After this, his steps were very shaky as he walked away from the tent. He didn’t even utter a word to Tang Wutong.

Tang Wutong was stunned as she watched him leave. She was stunned to ﬁnd out that she felt a little heartbroken for some unknown reason.

Am I feeling heartbroken for him? How is this possible?

Do I have to feel this way? Our martial souls are just incompatible, aren’t they? Why does he look like he just lost his wife?

What she didn’t know was that Huo Yuhao didn’t sense anything similar between her and Wang Dong’er’s soul power as their martial souls failed to fuse. To him, it was indeed as if he had lost his wife.

Tang Wutong isn’t Dong’er, Tang Wutong isn’t Dong’er, Tang Wutong isn’t Dong’er…

This thought repeated itself in Huo Yuhao’s head. He seemed as if he had lost his soul. He was completely in a trance right now.

He didn’t even know how he made his way back to his tent. After he returned, he laid down on his own bed and didn’t move at all. It was as if he already lost his soul.

As he lay on his bed, Huo Yuhao didn’t know when he started to fall asleep. However, he felt as if his life energy had been completely drained as he fell asleep.

---

After Huo Yuhao left, Tang Wutong also stood up and put her mat away. She muttered to herself, “This fellow is ridiculous. The possibility of fusion between two soul masters is naturally close to zero. What’s there to be so depressed about? However, he really looks to have been in poor shape earlier.”

After sitting down on her bed, Tang Wutong started to meditate and began her cultivation for the night.

------

Second day, morning...

Tang Wutong stretched her back and body before she jumped out of bed.

After a night of meditation, her fatigue had completely disappeared. As she stretched her body, she couldn’t help, but let out a groan.

After she reached the exit of her tent, she drew the curtains aside and allowed fresh air to ﬂow into her tent.

That fellow didn’t sleep the entire night? Tang Wutong subconsciously turned her attention towards the tent beside hers just as she walked out of her tent. She couldn’t help but think of Huo Yuhao’s pale face when he left the previous night.

Just at this moment, the curtains of the tent beside hers were also drawn open. Tang Wutong quickly turned her gaze away.

Huo Yuhao also exited his own tent. As he stood in front of his tent, he also stretched out.

Tang Wutong glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. When she saw him, he seemed to have returned to normal. The expression on his face was very calm.

Huo Yuhao turned his gaze towards Tang Wutong and nodded at her before saying, “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Tang Wutong acknowledged automatically.

Huo Yuhao smiled courteously before walking towards the canteen that Dai Yueheng had pointed out to them the day before.

They were allocated the canteen that served high-ranking military ofﬁcers. Soul masters were different from ordinary people. Their food requirements were much more demanding. In order to ensure that their soul masters possessed sufﬁcient ﬁghting strength, the Star Luo Empire naturally provided them with the best food possible.

Tang Wutong felt as if Huo Yuhao had changed when she saw him walking past her.

However, he’s still wearing a smile like he normally does! But why do I feel as if he’s different?

Alienation? Yes, it’s alienation. He’s no longer as friendly as before. The look in his eyes isn’t as gentle as before.

As she recalled the ﬁrst time she met him, she could still remember that he would look at her whenever she was around. However, this wasn’t the case earlier. Even though he had looked at her earlier, he had quickly retracted his gaze. After greeting her, he quietly left. The look in his eyes was very calm, but this calm look left Tang Wutong feeling a little uncomfortable.

I’ve not done anything wrong. This fellow… hmph!

Huo Yuhao ﬁnished washing up and quietly went to the canteen. Their breakfast was very scrumptious. He sat in one corner alone and ate. However, he started feeling emotional

Only one sentence had repeated itself in his mind the entire night, She isn’t Dong’er.

Dong’er, where’s my Dong’er?

Tang Wutong and Dong’er’s soul powers were very different. His heart felt very cold. He felt as if he had lost everything he had. As the saying goes, ‘The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.’ If Tang Wutong isn’t Dong’er, where is Dong’er?

Initially, Tang Wutong’s appearance had made him feel very optimistic and conﬁdent in this mission. However, after last night’s incident, sorrow and yearning ﬁlled his heart once again. In addition, it became even more intense.

Tang Wutong was also in the canteen. She entered not long after Huo Yuhao did, and intentionally sat far away from him to eat her own breakfast. However, she couldn’t help but glance at him. She wanted to see if he was acting, and whether he would look at her.

However, she was disappointed. What she saw was a Huo Yuhao who ate his breakfast silently, and had a hollow look in his eyes.

After eating his breakfast, Huo Yuhao left and returned to his tent.

Tang Wutong pushed her cutlery away in front of her and creased her brow. What’s wrong with him? Does he have to be so affected just because our martial souls can’t fuse? If that were the case, why would Shrek Academy look upon him so highly? Is he mentally ill?

No, I have to ask him what’s going on.

Just as she couldn’t ﬁgure things out, Jiang Nannan and Xu Sanshi came in.

“Hey, Wutong. We just saw Huo Yuhao leave. Why didn’t you leave with him?” Xu Sanshi said naturally.

Tang Wutong snorted and replied, “Why would I do so?”

Xu Sanshi chortled, “Are you throwing a tantrum again?”

Tang Wutong suddenly thought of something, and asked Xu Sanshi, “Xu Sanshi, let me ask you a question.”

Xu Sanshi, curious, asked, “Me? What do you want to know?”

Jiang Nannan also stopped because she was curious. She turned her attention towards Tang Wutong.

Tang Wutong said, “If a person thinks that his martial soul can fuse with another soul master’s, but fails after trying, will he be greatly affected?”

Xu Sanshi answered without any hesitation. “Of course not!

That’s very normal! Martial soul fusion isn’t that easy.”

Jiang Nannan also nodded.

Tang Wutong was indignant as she replied, “Yes! That’s what I thought. However, somebody doesn’t think this way. He acted as if he had just lost his wife.”

Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan looked at each other and felt that something was amiss.

Jiang Nannan probed, “Wutong, surely you aren’t talking about Huo Yuhao, right?”

Tang Wutong snorted, “Who else? Last night, he came to ﬁnd me and said that he thinks that our martial souls might possibly fuse. He insisted on trying. I claimed that it wasn’t possible, but he didn’t believe me. In the end, we failed even after trying. He seemed to have lost his soul as he left. This morning, he ignored me, and seems to be a new person. Tell me, is there even anyone like him? All of you still praise him to the high heavens! A soul master who can’t even control himself, how good can he be?”

Chapter 440: Huo Yuhao's Feelings

“Wait, wait.” Xu Sanshi hurriedly interrupted Tang Wutong, and his expression turned serious too. “Wutong, do you mean that Yuhao failed after he tried to perform a martial soul fusion with you?”

Tang Wutong nodded and replied, “Yes!”

Xu Sanshi’s expression immediately changed. He charged out of the canteen.

Jiang Nannan’s expression also changed. The way she looked at Tang Wutong also changed slightly.

Tang Wutong was confused as she asked, “Sister Nannan, what’s going on? Didn’t the two of you just agree that martial soul fusion isn’t very common?”

Jiang Nannan was stunned as she looked at her, as if she was about to see through her. Tang Wutong felt very

uncomfortable as she was watched, and furrowed her brow. “What’s wrong with all of you? You’re all acting so weirdly.”

Jiang Nannan sighed and said, “We were wrong. Maybe we were all wrong. We didn’t expect it to be like this.”

Tang Wutong’s expression turned a little gloomy, “Can you be clearer with your words? Do you have to be so unclear?”

Jiang Nannan shook her head and said, “Wutong, I’m sorry for all this. I apologize to you on behalf of Yuhao. His change has nothing to do with you, nor is he angry with you. Haih…”

Tang Wutong was puzzled as she asked, “Then what’s going on? When he was eating his breakfast earlier on, he seemed to have gone mad. The look in his eyes was hollow.”

An unbearable look ﬂashed across Jiang Nannan’s eyes as she answered, “Yuhao is too pitiful. Alright, let me tell you a story.

“When Yuhao ﬁrst came to Shrek Academy, he was only an ordinary young man. He only managed to enter the academy

by using the Tang Sect’s quota. If he went through an ordinary examination, he wouldn’t have been able to pass.

Tang Wutong was immediately drawn to this story. Although she felt that Huo Yuhao was a lecher who had tried to hug her, she was very aware of Huo Yuhao’s abilities. He was a Soul Sage who wasn’t even twenty years old. He even had twin martial souls! If he couldn’t even make it into Shrek Academy, then Shrek Academy’s standards were simply too high!

Jiang Nannan continued saying, “After entering the Academy, he stayed in a dorm like many of the other students. He had a roommate called Wang Dong. Very soon, they became good friends. They worked hard, learned, and cultivated together. Although Yuhao appeared to be very ordinary at the start, he put in more work than anyone else. Very soon, he showed his potential in the Academy. On the other hand, Wang Dong was innately talented. With the two of them working together, they managed to become the champions of the freshmen assessment.

“After this, they competed in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament. They performed brilliantly, and eventually won the tournament, contributing greatly to the Academy.

“As time passed, everyone’s abilities grew signiﬁcantly. As an exchange student, Huo Yuhao went to the Sun Moon Empire to learn. His friendship with Wang Dong grew tighter and tighter. After that, they met once again during a blind date in the Academy. There, he found out that the roommate that he had

stayed with for so many years was actually a lady. She wasn’t Wang Dong, but Wang Dong’er.”

“This change in her gender also caused their relationship to change. Very soon, they became a couple that everyone was envious of. However, Dong’er seemed to have some kind of congenital disease. To save her, Yuhao went to the Setting Sun Forest, a place that is extremely dangerous. He suffered critical injuries, but brought back a valuable treasure. When he returned to the academy, he was on the verge of death. The Academy did its best to save him, and managed to preserve his life. However, he was paralyzed, and couldn’t walk anymore.

“After that, we participated in the same tournament for the second time. As the Sun Moon Empire targeted all the competitors of the tournament, we were forced to escape to a place called the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley. Dong’er was hurt there, and went into a coma…”

Jiang Nannan related the story of Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong’er to Tang Wutong. Tang Wutong was slightly lost at the start, but she couldn’t help but be moved when she heard the story.

“…Yuhao couldn’t ﬁnd Dong’er just like that. He didn’t know where she went until he met you.”

Jiang Nannan took a deep look at Tang Wutong.

Tang Wutong furrowed her brow. “You mean that Wang Dong’er and I look similar?”

Jiang Nannan silently nodded.

Tang Wutong snorted and said, “There are thousands of people in the Douluo Continent. What’s so strange even if we look alike? All of you recognized the wrong person.”

Jiang Nannan sighed and said, “We initially thought that you were Dong’er, just that you’d lost your memory. Now it seems

like we got the wrong person. Yuhao acted the way he did earlier because he conﬁrmed this point.”

“Oh? How did he do so? Just because his martial soul can’t fuse with me? It’s a joke.”

Jiang Nannan said, “A person’s martial soul can change. However, it’s very difﬁcult to change the type of one’s soul power. Yuhao and Dong’er’s martial souls were completely compatible with each other. They both possessed twin martial souls. With the fusion of their twin martial souls, they managed to unleash an unprecedented four fusion skills. Before they managed to grow strong, they were able to beat stronger opponents with their fusion skills. They even called the fusion of their soul powers Haodong Power.

“When Huo Yuhao asked you to fuse your martial soul with him yesterday, his main intention should have been to conﬁrm whether or not you were Dong’er. If your soul power could fuse, then it would have been almost certain that you were Dong’er.

“But now, it seems like… we were all wrong. To Yuhao, he’s lost hope. It’s understandable how tormented he feels right

now. I’m sorry, Wutong. We might have caused you problems. But please understand him. He’s not even nineteen yet, but he’s gone through too much. He’s carried too much pain. It hasn’t been easy for him to reach where he is today and persist all this way. Even if you aren’t Dong’er, can you treat him better? At

least seeing you can help to alleviate his yearning for Dong’er.”

Tang Wutong was silent, but nodded gently.

“So there’s actually so many deep layers of reasoning. You should have told me earlier. Even though I’m not that Wang Dong’er, it seems like he isn’t a bad guy. Sister Nannan, thanks for telling me all this. You can go and eat now.”

“Okay.” Jiang Nannan acknowledged her words. There was a lost look in her eyes. She stood up, and went to get her own breakfast.

Tang Wutong also stood up after sitting down for a while.

She waved at Jiang Nannan before returning to her own tent.

“Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong’er.” Tang Wutong was a little dazed as she stood in her tent.

“Wang Dong’er also has twin martial souls?” She lifted her left hand as she lowered her head. Streaks of dark gold light surged, and a strong aura was slowly released.

------

In the neighboring tent...

“Third senior, I’m really ﬁne. Don’t worry.” Huo Yuhao smiled as he spoke to Xu Sanshi.

Xu Sanshi had rushed over and comforted him. The more Huo Yuhao claimed that he was ﬁne, the more worried Xu Sanshi was. After knowing him for so many years, he understood Huo Yuhao very well. How could he possibly be ﬁne? After ﬁnding out that Tang Wutong wasn’t Wang Dong’er, Huo Yuhao must be devastated.

“Yuhao, don’t be too hard on yourself. If you aren’t ﬁne, we can go. We can follow you to ﬁnd Dong’er. We’ll be able to ﬁnd her.”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and replied, “No. We can talk when things are done and the war is over. The continent is so expansive, we won’t achieve anything if we search aimlessly. Third senior, go and have your breakfast. After everyone ﬁnishes eating, we’ll discuss tonight’s plan. We’ll still need to coordinate with the military so that they’ll be able to reinforce us.”

“Alright.” Xu Sanshi knew that there was nothing he could say, seeing that Huo Yuhao appeared so nonchalant. He patted Yuhao’s shoulder before walking out of his tent.

As he watched Xu Sanshi leave, Huo Yuhao’s smile slowly turned bitter, and he muttered to himself, “It seems like I’ve really grown up. I’m in such great pain, but I’m able to tolerate it. If this were the past, I’d probably collapse.” After he ﬁnished mocking himself, he sat down cross-legged and starting to meditate.

He hadn’t rested the previous night.. He needed time to recover his energy right now.

He had already thought it through. Although Tang Wutong wasn’t Wang Dong’er, at least he knew that Wang Dong’er was

ﬁne. After the war was over, he would put everything down and look for traces of her across the continent.

Two hours later, the sun had fully risen.

------

Front line commander’s tent of the Star Luo Empire’s Northwestern Field Army...

There was a table in the middle of the tent. The White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiuju stood around the table. Apart from the two of them, there were only Huo Yuhao and the rest from Shrek Academy. There wasn’t even a guard in the huge tent.

This was all according to the White Tiger Duke’s instructions. The reconnaissance mission that Huo Yuhao was about to embark on was too important to the Star Luo Empire, and they had to keep it as conﬁdential as possible, preventing any information from being leaked. Thus, only the ten of them were there.

“Little brother Huo, tell me about your plan,” the White Tiger Duke asked Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao paused for a moment before saying, “Duke, you can call me by my name. In terms of age, you are my elder. It’s not really appropriate for you to call me ‘little brother’.”

Even though there was a misunderstanding between him and the White Tiger Duke, he couldn’t ignore the fact that the White Tiger Duke was his father!

Dai Hao laughed and said, “Alright, I’ll call you Yuhao, like Her Highness.”

Huo Yuhao felt very good when his father called him Yuhao!

After taking a deep breath to calm himself, Huo Yuhao looked at the table and said, “This is my plan. Just like I mentioned yesterday, we’ll carry out our surveillance mission at a high altitude. In terms of position, I choose this.” As he spoke, Huo Yuhao lifted his right hand, and a streak of golden light shot from his ﬁngertip, pointing towards a spot on the table.

After seeing the position that Huo Yuhao had singled out, the White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu were astonished. Both of them lifted their heads and looked sharply at Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao was pointing to the highest mountain peak of the Ming Dou Mountain Range. More importantly, it was at that spot where the Light of the Death God was ﬁrst unleashed.

Princess Jiujiu hesitated. “Yuhao, the higher the mountain peak, the more dangerous it’ll be for you. There are bound to be surveillance soul tools there. Why don’t we change the position?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and replied, “The safest place is the most dangerous place. Naturally, they’ll know that it’s the safest spot. This is why they might not put all their attention on it. I hope that the empire will coordinate with me and ambush them from this and that side.”

As he said, he pointed to two spots at opposite ends of the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

“Wait a minute, Yuhao,” the White Tiger Duke suddenly said. He lifted his head and looked at Huo Yuhao with a deep look in his eyes. He said, “Honestly, this spot that you just pointed out is actually where we would like to surveil the most. However, I can’t let you go there.”

His contradictory words left Huo Yuhao feeling warm and comforted. Compared to Princess Jiujiu, it seemed he was more compassionate!

“Why?” Xu Sanshi asked doubtfully.

The White Tiger Duke took a look at Princess Jiujiu, who was red with embarrassment right now.

Dai Hao lifted his right hand and pointed at the highest peak. “It was at this place that two thousand soul masters who were at least Soul Sages were all killed, causing us to suffer heavy losses. I can’t let Yuhao take this risk.”

“What?” After hearing his words, everyone from Shrek immediately understood. They had heard about the Light of the Death God before. They didn’t expect the Death God, which was close to a Class 10 soul tool, to be located there.

Dai Hao sighed and said, “I’m sure all of you could guess. That’s right, that’s where the Death God of the Sun Moon Empire is located. That Light of the Death God was a tragic experience for us. I’m sure you can understand how limited our information on the Death God is. Furthermore, it’s located at the highest mountain peak. That is why I can’t let you go, Yuhao.”

Xu Sanshi sighed and said, “You indeed can’t go close to that soul tool! Yuhao, this spot that you’ve chosen is the most dangerous.”

“I know,” Huo Yuhao replied calmly.

“You know?” At this moment, everyone focused their attention on him.

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “I know. I’m also a soul engineer. If I owned a powerful soul tool like the Death God, I’d deﬁnitely place it on the highest peak. If I don’t remember wrongly, the effective range of the Death God is ﬁve thousand meters. To cross the Ming Dou Mountain Range, one naturally has to climb mountains. The Death God can cover the sky and ground at the same time. It’s at a spot that fully taps into its destructive power. That is why I expected the Death God to be on this mountain peak when I chose it.

“However, the most dangerous place is also the safest place. No matter how intelligent the soul engineers from the Sun Moon Empire are, they wouldn’t expect our target to be the Death God. This soul tool is our greatest threat. If we can ﬁnd out more information about it, it might make it easier for us to ﬁght the Sun Moon Empire.”

Dai Hao furrowed his brow and said, “No, it’s too dangerous. If something happens to you, how can I account to Shrek Academy? Your courage is commendable, but I can’t let you make such an irresponsible choice.”

Huo Yuhao softened when he saw the determined look in Dai Hao’s eyes. With regards to the position of the Death God, Dai Hao didn’t conceal anything. If he considered the beneﬁt to the empire, he could most certainly allow Huo Yuhao to carry out the surveillance. If he succeeded, the Star Luo Empire would beneﬁt greatly.

However, he didn’t do so. Instead, he revealed everything. No wonder his subordinates were so loyal to him. The White Tiger Duke was very inﬂuential in the military. It would be great if he wasn’t Huo Yuhao’s father. If that were the case, Huo Yuhao might actually sacriﬁce everything to help him.

Seeing Huo Yuhao’s dazed look, Dai Hao continued saying, “Choose another spot. We’ll continue to coordinate with you. Even if you want to survey the position where the Death God is, we must try it from other spots ﬁrst. We have to ensure that you’ll be safe before we plan anything else.”

Huo Yuhao was silent for a moment before saying, “White Tiger Duke, I’m really conﬁdent. It’s best if we try it for our ﬁrst time because it’s the most sudden. There are bound to be many soul tools around the Death God. However, they are limited in their range. Among them, the few soul tools that can

detect me are only effective at short range. Also, you’re already aware how good my detection abilities are. If it’s unidirectional, I can inspect things from up to seven kilometers away. This means that I don’t even have to enter the effective range of the Light of the Death God to survey it. As for how much I can ﬁnd out, it’ll depend on my luck.”

The White Tiger Duke was awed when he heard Huo Yuhao mentioning a range of seven kilometers.

As a Titled Douluo, he was deﬁnitely aware of how important it was to have strong spiritual power. It was increasingly difﬁcult to advance further once one became a Titled Douluo. There were two very important barriers to overcome along the way. First, the body of the Titled Douluo had to be able to withstand ever more soul power. Second, the Titled Douluo had to have sufﬁcient spiritual power to control and summon his enhanced soul power.

Both were necessary. A Titled Douluo could only reach the next tier if both factors went hand-in-hand. The difference between every tier after becoming a Titled Douluo was extremely great.

Huo Yuhao said that he could survey up to seven thousand meters in one direction. It was Dai Hao’s ﬁrst time hearing of such immense spiritual power. Among all the Titled Douluo that he knew, he didn’t know anyone who was that strong. Having such strong spiritual power was perfect for surveillance purposes . Even with the Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance soul tools, they shouldn’t be able to detect him from such a distance. Huo Yuhao was just like a Class 9 soul tool!

Xu Jiujiu was very excited, and looked at Dai Hao. “Marshal!”

Her intention was immediately understood. To the Star Luo Empire, inspecting the Death God was too important.

Dai Hao took in a deep breath and looked at Huo Yuhao seriously before asking, “If you really want to survey the Death God, how do you want us to support you?”

Huo Yuhao replied, “I need you to feign an attack to draw the Sun Moon Empire’s attention and create an opportunity for me. At the same time, I need a Titled Douluo who is adept at ﬂying to send me high into the sky, the higher the better. Five thousand meters is the minimum. If greater heights are

possible, I hope you can send me even higher up. That would be even safer.”

The White Tiger Duke nodded slightly and said, “Yuhao, let me ask you one more time. Are you conﬁdent? Even if you don’t succeed, it’s ﬁne. I need to ensure your safety.”

Dai Hao was very impressed by Huo Yuhao’s words. Right now, the Northwestern Field Army was lacking in surveillance. Huo Yuhao’s arrival would greatly help them in this aspect. If he wasn’t boasting, the Star Luo Empire would be greatly helped in this war.

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “There are no absolutes in this world, and everyone only has one life. I’ll naturally do my best to guarantee my own safety. I’m eighty percent conﬁdent that I’ll come through unscathed. But I’m only twenty to thirty percent conﬁdent of clearly surveilling the Death God. After all, it’s the number one soul tool in the Sun Moon Empire. I’m sure there are many restrictions about it. Even if my spiritual power can engulf it, I’m not sure that I’ll be able to ﬁnd out anything about it.”

The White Tiger Duke nodded slightly. “Alright, Yuhao, I’ll count on you, then. As long as you can return safely, I’ll count it as a major merit. If you can ﬁnd out what’s going on with the Death God, I’ll deﬁnitely guarantee that you’ll become a viscount and commander of your own legion.”

Xu Jiujiu was stunned when she heard his words. She understood the White Tiger Duke very well. It was extremely difﬁcult to gain a promotion under him. However, if one managed to do so, it was bound to be very good. There weren’t any shortcuts, however. One had to earn his promotion through his own merits.

Dai Hao’s offer to make Huo Yuhao a legion commander was unprecedented, and it even completely overshadowed his offer to make him a viscount. After all, given Huo Yuhao’s cultivation and background as a student from Shrek Academy, being a viscount was nothing to him if he was willing to join the Star Luo Empire.

“Alright!” Huo Yuhao agreed.

The White Tiger Duke pointed at the table and started to explain the Northwestern Field Army’s judgment of the Ming

Dou Mountain Range. At the same time, he discussed his plan with Huo Yuhao.

According to the White Tiger Duke, this reconnaissance mission was extremely important, and they couldn’t rush things. They had to ﬁnd a dark night, and the wind had to be strong. If the moon was too bright and visibility was clear, Huo Yuhao’s safety would be compromised.

However, he was surprised that Huo Yuhao’s opinion was in complete contrast to his. Huo Yuhao wanted to ﬁnd a day where the visibility was high to carry out his surveillance. His reason was very simple; he was able to conceal himself in the air with his Imitation, and couldn’t be detected by the naked eye. When the weather was good, his enemies would be able to see everything in the sky when they lifted their heads. It was easier for them to be careless.

They planned the mission for an entire morning. It was lunchtime before they agreed that they were done.

------

As he walked out of the tent, Huo Yuhao lifted his head to look at the sky. The sky was completely clear, and there weren’t any clouds. The clear sky was like a huge sapphire. The blinding sunlight ﬁlled the world with the aura of light.

The weather was very good.

A slight smile appeared at the edge of Huo Yuhao’s lips. He turned around and walked towards his tent. After he returned, he regrouped his thoughts there for a moment before leaving for lunch.

---

Tang Wutong walked out from her tent behind Huo Yuhao. She managed to get a look at his side proﬁle as he peered into the sky.

When sunlight fell on his slightly pale face, the slight smile on his face left Tang Wutong a little weirded out. Why is there this sense of desperation that I can feel from his smile? Don’t tell me that he’s suicidal?

---

After returning his own tent, Huo Yuhao washed his face to refresh himself. Tang Wutong didn’t see it wrong. His mental state was a little weird.

Ever since he had discovered that Tang Wutong’s soul power couldn’t fuse with his, he had felt very mournful. The Douluo Continent is so huge. If Dong’er has already forgotten me, how will I be able to ﬁnd her? Tang Wutong’s not Dong’er. So where is she? Don’t tell me that Dong’er’s already…

Due to these confusing and complicated thoughts, he felt a little empty. He had been through too many things over the past year.

Ever since he had gone to the Setting Sun Forest to ﬁnd the Yearning Heartbroken Grass for Wang Dong’er, he had never completely spent time with her. After that, Wang Qiu’er sacriﬁced herself, and Wang Dong’er fell into a coma. He entered a mental state of near-desolation after that.

If not for the fact that he was extremely mentally resilient, he would have broken down already.

He had numbed himself by keeping himself busy. From the beast wave to the establishment of the Spirit Pagoda to his recognition of Dai Luoli, he tried to stop himself from thinking about Wang Dong’er and Wang Qiu’er. He had gotten through each day because of that.

However, Tang Wutong’s appearance changed everything. Her appearance had rekindled his hope. However, this hope was extinguished one last time, and he was greatly devastated once again. The impact on him was hard to imagine.

His exterior calm was actually a reﬂection of his deep inner depression.

It was the scariest when one lost all hope. It was highly likely that Huo Yuhao’s current mental state was the reason why he was adamant on surveying the Death God.

During the meeting today, there was one point that he had never mentioned. The Death God was the strongest soul tool that the Sun Moon Empire had. At the same time, it was controlled by the strongest soul engineer in the Sun Moon Empire, the Death God Douluo! No one knew how great the Death God Douluo’s abilities were. Few people knew what he looked like. Under such a situation, Huo Yuhao was at great risk trying to carry out this reconnaissance mission. However, he didn’t really care anymore. He even thought that it might be a form of relief if he died on this mission.

Dai Luoli knew his true identity. If he died, Dai Luoli would surely tell the White Tiger Duke his true identity. When that happened, would Dai Hao be heartbroken? If he was, it would be sort of a revenge for Dai Hao. He had sent his own son to the battleﬁeld of no return. It was actually frustrating to think

about that.

As for Wang Dong’er, even if she was still alive, she had already forgotten him. Perhaps his death would be good for her. Her family didn’t tell her anything about him, even though she had regained consciousness. This must mean that they were unhappy with him. Perhaps his death would signal a new beginning for her.

When someone was resigned to fate, many of their thoughts would deviate from the norm. Huo Yuhao was exactly like that right now. Regarding the mission, he was already prepared for the worst.

Lunch was very peaceful. No one could tell the difference. Huo Yuhao was even chatting and laughing with his fellow comrades.

After lunch, Xu Sanshi asked Huo Yuhao, “Yuhao, are you going to go tonight?”

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “It’s better to go early. At least the matter will be settled sooner.”

Xu Sanshi furrowed his brow and said, “What do you mean by settled? That sounds bad. Yuhao, you must be careful. We’ll coordinate with you from the sky and ground today. Don’t engage in any ﬁghts, no matter what you ﬁnd. Come back immediately after scanning the area once.”

“Alright.” Huo Yuhao acknowledged his words readily.

Tang Wutong kept on glancing at him from the side. For some reason, she felt very tense no matter what Huo Yuhao said. She had never experienced such a feeling before. This feeling became even more acute when she looked at his expression when he smiled.

Surely there isn’t something wrong with him, right? Why am I so concerned about his safety? Just because we’re in the same boat?

Tang Wutong didn’t understand why he was in such a state either. However, she had a premonition that tonight’s mission wouldn’t proceed that smoothly. Perhaps he might really meet with danger!

“Let me liaise with him in the sky tonight,” Tang Wutong suddenly said.

“Oh?” Huo Yuhao was a little stunned as he lifted his head to look at Tang Wutong. All he saw was the slightly troubled look on her face.

Tang Wutong was the most adept at ﬂying among those from the Academy here. Not only was her martial soul adept at ﬂying, but she was even a Soul Sage. Ye Guyi was the next best. Ye Guyi’s holy martial soul could unleash angelic wings and ﬂy freely in the air. However, the light from her martial soul was too strong, and would be too obvious in the night sky. Thus, she could only use ﬂying-type soul tools.

Xu Sanshi nodded and said, ‘That’s a great idea. Let’s all take action tonight then.”

Huo Yuhao thought for a moment before saying, “Alright, let me make a plan then. We cannot be reckless.”

Tang Wutong and Ye Guyi were responsible for liaising with Huo Yuhao from the air, while Xu Sanshi and the rest would work with him from the ground. After all, Xu Sanshi’s Mysterious Underworld Displacement made it much easier for him to liaise with Huo Yuhao. After the enhancements he received from the Golden Tortoise, his Mysterious Underworld Displacement could work at a much greater distance.

Huo Yuhao immediately returned to his own tent to meditate after he ﬁnished planning, restoring himself to his peak condition. The others did the same.

------

During his meditation, time passed very quickly. When he awoke, the sky had already turned dark.

The Mysterious Heaven Technique circulated in his body, and his soul power surged strongly. His qi was also circulating strongly in his body.

Under his control, his soul power kept on transforming. At times, it would fuse completely with his spiritual power. At other times, it would turn into pure Ultimate Ice, and his body temperature fell frighteningly. The two martial souls that he possessed were interchanging continuously.

After an afternoon of meditation, Huo Yuhao’s mental state was much better.

A trace of purple ﬂashed across his eyes, and he revealed a lost look.

It seems like I haven’t lived for myself in this life. I cultivate to seek revenge. I seek improvement so that Brother Skydream and the rest can survive. But what about myself? I don’t seem to have anything now. My mom has passed away, there’s no news of Dong’er, and Qiu’er sacriﬁced herself.

A bitter smile appeared on his face.

He shut his eyes and let this bitterness fade away. Suddenly, he stood up and walked out of his tent. The moment he walked

out, he calmed himself, and became abnormally composed. He had entered another state entirely.

---

The White Tiger Duke had already gathered his men in the commander’s tent. The ofﬁcers of all ten soul engineer legions, apart from the two who had gone to reinforce the Heavenly Soul Empire, were all in the tent.

A series of orders were passed down. Even if they were attacking, they had to do it properly. The White Tiger Duke’s instructions were not to attack blindly. Rather, he commanded them to attack in tandem. They were divided into two different groups, and no ordinary soldiers were involved. This operation would be carried out entirely by the soul engineer legions.

The White Tiger Duke’s instructions were for the soul engineer legions were divided into two different routes, to dampen the threat of the Death God. They would attack the opposite ends of the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

The White Tiger Duke’s instructions had already been completely conveyed when Huo Yuhao came into the tent.

After entering the tent, the White Tiger Duke and Huo Yuhao looked at each other. The White Tiger Duke nodded. Huo Yuhao appeared very composed, and wasn’t ﬂinching at all.

Is he really only twenty years old? It’s really rare for someone to remain so calm, even with such great responsibility on his shoulders!

The White Tiger Duke nodded at Huo Yuhao to acknowledge him, just as he was in awe.

Huo Yuhao also nodded to signal that he was ready.

“We’ll follow the plan and move out!” the White Tiger Duke shouted, and the mission started.

All the ofﬁcers of the soul engineer legions immediately moved out and deployed their troops.

Dai Hao walked over in front of Huo Yuhao and lifted his right hand before pressing it down on Huo Yuhao’s shoulder. He said, “How are you? Yuhao, are you ready?”

Huo Yuhao nodded slightly. “I’m ready.”

Dai Hao took in a deep breath and said, “We’re about to begin over here. We’ll be setting off in ﬁfteen minutes.”

“We?” Huo Yuhao was a little doubtful as he looked at Dai Hao.

Chapter 441: The Child Backed by His Father

Dai Hao nodded, “Yes, it’s us. Even though my cultivation isn’t the best in the military, I’ll personally send you into the air in order to keep things conﬁdential. Don’t worry. I have a Class 7 ﬂying-type soul tool to help me. It should be ﬁne for me to send you ﬁve thousand meters into the air. However, I’m a marshal of three armies. After I send you into the sky, I’ll need to return to lead my troops. I’ll command the soul engineer legions to attack for around an hour. You must complete your mission within this time frame. It’s still the same advice; safety ﬁrst! As long as you can come back safely, you’ve done your part.”

“Alright.” After Huo Yuhao agreed, he quietly walked to a seat nearby and sat down, waiting for the time to come.

The White Tiger walked out of the tent and watched as the soul engineer legions were deployed.

A playful smile appeared at the side of Huo Yuhao’s lips. Send me personally into the sky? That’s not a bad idea! If that’s the case, the effect will be much better than expected.

Whether it’s life or death, tonight’s plan seems to have become more perfect.

Tang Wutong kept on watching Huo Yuhao, and managed to catch a glimpse of his smile. When she saw his smile, her heart shuddered. What is this fellow thinking about? How can he still smile at such a time? His smile is even so…

---

Fifteen minutes were soon up.

Dai Luoli rushed in from outside. “Everyone, the marshal has instructed you to get ready.”

Everyone from Shrek Academy stood up and walked out of the tent.

Dai Luoli intentionally delayed himself and waited for Huo Yuhao before walking out of the tent with him. He whispered, “Elder brother, what are you doing? What are you going to do tonight?”

Huo Yuhao felt warm when he heard Dai Luoli calling him ‘elder brother’. He patted his shoulder and replied, “Nothing. Don’t worry, everything will be ﬁne.”

Dai Luoli twisted his lips. “Elder brother, don’t get into any danger. I still hope that you’ll come back and continue to guide me along. There have been too many things happening over these past few days. I didn’t have the time to look for you. When you return, I’ll ﬁnd you, and you can continue to teach me. After that, you must also tell me why you left so suddenly that day. After you left, you don’t know how anxious I was! I still thought that the Sun Moon Empire…”

Huo Yuhao chortled and replied, “Why do you have no conﬁdence in me at all?”

Dai Luoli replied, “It’s not that. It’s just that our enemies are too strong.”

Huo Yuhao replied, “Luoli, remember something. There’s nothing impossible in this world.”

Dai Luoli was stunned for a moment, before nodding ﬁrmly.

He had learned many things about Huo Yuhao from Xu Jiujiu and Dai Yueheng over the past few days. Yes! There was nothing impossible in this world! His elder brother was a great testament to that statement!

When his elder brother only had two rings, he had competed in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament with his seniors from the inner courtyard. He even turned the tables at the last minute, and preserved the glory of Shrek Academy!

Even though Dai Yueheng was already a Soul Emperor back then, he couldn’t help but compliment Huo Yuhao when he talked about him.

That was six years ago. Huo Yuhao was a two-ringed soul master six years ago, while Dai Yueheng was a six-ringed Soul Emperor.

Now, six years later? Dai Yueheng was already a Soul Sage. However, Huo Yuhao was also a seven-ringed Soul Sage! He

even possessed twin martial souls!

Dai Yueheng even told Dai Luoli that Huo Yuhao was the future Master of the Sea God’s Pavilion!

Even though Dai Luoli didn’t feel close to Dai Yueheng and Dai Huabin, he still respected both of his elder brothers. He was jealous that they could enter Shrek Academy to learn.

However, their talents seemed to pale in comparison to Huo Yuhao. His three elder brothers were likely to be some of the most elite soul masters on the continent in the future!

Dai Luoli couldn’t help but respect Huo Yuhao more after learning about all his miracles.

The sky had turned completely dark by now. The White Tiger Duke descended from the sky. Evidently, he had just come down from the watchtower, where he had looked on as the troops were deployed.

Huo Yuhao received him, and the White Tiger Duke said, “Our men are already on the move. Yuhao, are you ready?”

Huo Yuhao nodded slightly and replied, “Anytime.”

The White Tiger Duke nodded and replied, “Alright. We’ll take action immediately then.” As he spoke, he retrieved a ﬂying-type soul tool from his storage-type soul tool and put it on. As a Titled Douluo, it was still much more comfortable for him to use a ﬂying-type soul tool, even though he was able to ﬂy freely in the air. It was also easier for him to help Huo Yuhao into the air with the help of a soul tool.

Huo Yuhao also started to get ready, and put on his own ﬂying-type soul tool.

“Let’s go.” The White Tiger Duke stood behind Huo Yuhao, grabbing him below his arms.. His soul power surged, and the two of them rose into the air. They ascended in a straight line into the sky.

Huo Yuhao’s gaze was ﬁxated on a speciﬁc position on the ground. At this moment, his gaze was gentle, indistinct, and

carried a sense of yearning. It felt as if he wanted to imprint everything that he was seeing into his head.

The look in Tang Wutong’s eyes was equally indistinct. She had never seen a man’s gaze so deep and emotional before. Within all the emotions he was experiencing, there seemed to be one of desolation...

Something isn’t right.

It is unlikely that he has an eighty percent chance of survival.

It might not even be ﬁfty percent.

At this moment, Tang Wutong ﬁnally understood everything. However, the White Tiger Duke was already high up in the air with Huo Yuhao. In such a short span of time, they managed to reach more than a thousand meters into the air as they raced skywards.

Eight soul engineer legions were deployed at the same time. Even though they were only there to distract their enemies, almost all of the soul masters of the Star Luo Empire had been deployed. At such a time, the mission had to be carried out.

This fool! Tang Wutong furrowed her brow. Even though she didn’t want to admit it, she was clearly aware that it was highly likely that Huo Yuhao had persisted in carrying out his surveillance of the Death God because of what had happened last night.

Is it really possible for someone to forgo his life because of a romantic relationship? This fellow is really a fool!

Tang Wutong clenched her ﬁsts tightly. She felt breathless, as if some special power were controlling her innermost feelings.

As Dai Hao unleashed his strength, everything below started to become a blur. Huo Yuhao also ﬁnally lifted his head. He stopped looking at Tang Wutong, who had become indistinct.

Even though she’s not Dong’er, she still looks very similar to Dong’er! Tonight, I’ll treat her as Dong’er, since I might not be able to survive this ordeal.

A slight smile appeared on Huo Yuhao’s face. As he sensed the low surrounding temperature, his soul power started to

circulate. As the aura of Ultimate Ice ﬁlled his body, the external cold wasn’t able to affect him at all.

---

One thousand meters, two thousand meters, three thousand meters...

After rising three thousand meters into the air, the external temperature dropped signiﬁcantly. Even the White Tiger Duke was slowing down as he continued to climb.

“Yuhao, how are you feeling? If you aren’t feeling comfortable, please tell me. We can stop.”

“I’m ﬁne. Please continue,” Huo Yuhao replied calmly.

Dai Hao furrowed his brow. From Huo Yuhao’s tone of voice, he could evidently sense indifference and coldness.

What’s going on with him? Don’t tell me he’s experiencing emotional changes right now?

Glancing down from the sky, it was clear that countless soul masters were already ﬂying towards the Ming Dou Mountain Range from the Northwestern Field Army’s military base.

All those who were involved were wearing ﬂying-type soul tools. Even though the operation was jointly carried out by eight soul engineer legions, there were only two thousand-plus soul masters involved. They were mainly four-ringed and ﬁve- ringed soul masters, and were widely scattered. From afar, they were subtly creeping their way towards the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

There were a few Titled Douluo among these four-ringed and ﬁve-ringed soul masters. They were the main commanders of this operation.

Even though they weren’t really attacking, they still had to make their enemies feel threatened. At the same time, they had to try to minimize their losses. Under such a situation, the Titled Douluo were the best candidates to ensure a smooth ﬂow of the operation.

Furthermore, they weren’t attacking close to the main peak. The Death God couldn’t reach them. Of course, there were still other terrifying soul tools that the Sun Moon Empire possessed, hidden in the mountains. Without accurate intelligence, it wasn’t feasible to venture deeper.

The Sun Moon Empire was bullying the Star Luo Empire in terms of its lack of surveillance ability. It was difﬁcult to tell how many soul tools they had planted in the Ming Dou Mountain Range. After all, the Star Luo Empire didn’t have any credible intelligence.

At four thousand meters, the temperature had already fallen far below zero, and it was falling even further. Every few hundred meters up, the temperature dropped a further ﬁve to six degrees. After ﬁve thousand meters, the temperature was below negative a hundred degrees Celsius! Literally no biological organism would be able to survive at such a height. It was also why high-altitude aerial surveillance soul tools weren’t able to develop further.

The White Tiger Duke was draining a lot of his soul power. As Huo Yuhao was close to the White Tiger Duke’s body, he

could clearly sense the explosive strength and immense soul power from him.

These were soul power undulations from a Titled Douluo!

They were strong and consolidated.

If his martial soul hadn’t followed his mother’s Spirit Eyes, he might have had a White Tiger, too. In addition, his destiny might have been completely different.

It was his father. This was his father behind him!

Naturally, Dai Hao didn’t know about Huo Yuhao’s complicated emotional changes as he rose into the sky. He only sensed a layer of soul power that seemed to be there, and yet seemed not there in Huo Yuhao. The circulation of qi in his body was also very gentle. Under such low temperatures, Huo Yuhao was less drained than him. No wonder he’s a top student, and someone who possesses Ultimate Ice.

Forty-ﬁve hundred meters.

Dai Hao also found it a little strenuous right now. He was carrying someone, and had to keep climbing. At the same time, he had to resist the low temperature and the thinning air.

There was also a lack of elemental power at such high altitudes. It was practically impossible for a soul master to replenish himself.

Even if the Milk Bottle technique was advanced, it wasn’t very helpful for a Titled Douluo at his level. The best Milk Bottle was only Class 7. Currently, there wasn’t a Class 8 Milk Bottle developed for a Titled Douluo to use.

The soul power requirements for a Class 8 Milk Bottle were simply too high. No material was currently able to support these requirements, leaving Class 7 the limit.

Furthermore, a Titled Douluo could recover faster by absorbing origin energy than by using a Class 7 Milk Bottle, so a true Titled Douluo couldn’t use a Milk Bottle to replenish himself. Milk Bottles were useless to them!

They were at forty-eight hundred meters now. Dai Hao’s ﬂying speed was already very slow. At such an altitude, it was actually much brighter than it was on the ground, the stars were blinding amid such thin air.

Spots of starlight ﬁlled the sky, and fell on Dai Hao and Huo Yuhao.

There weren’t any signs of any living organisms around them. At such a low temperature and amid such thin air, no one or thing could possibly survive.

Between forty-eight hundred meters and forty-nine hundred meters, Dai Hao used one minute to ascend. In addition, his speed kept slowing down.

“Hey!” Huo Yuhao heard a shout behind him.

Following that, he felt his body lighten. Dai Hao’s hands had disappeared, and a strong burst of soul power came from behind him.

Huo Yuhao subconsciously lowered his head and saw that the White Tiger Duke had turned into a huge White Tiger. He had lifted Huo Yuhao up and let him sit on him.

This…

As he sat on the huge White Tiger’s back, Dai Hao rose faster and faster. In just a few breaths, he managed to surge beyond ﬁve thousand meters, and was surging even further.

Martial Soul True Body, White Tiger!

The White Tiger Vajra Transformation and White Tiger’s Devilgod Transformation were both unleashed. Right now, the White Tiger Duke had increased his cultivation to his strongest state to send Huo Yuhao further up into the air.

Someone else was already taking such a great risk. How could he possibly not give his all?

However, Dai Hao didn’t know that Huo Yuhao was very conﬂicted right now.

When he was young, Huo Yuhao had lived in the Duke’s Mansion with his mother and the servants. The White Tiger Duke’s servants also had kids, and he would always watch as they were carried by their fathers, looking very blissful.

When that happened, he would always ask his mother where his father was. When can I be carried by my father, just like them?

Every time, his mother would always tell him that it would happen in the future, and that his father was very busy.

He had waited for twenty years, just like that.

Huo Yuhao didn’t expect to be carried by his father in this lifetime. He was already tearing up. No matter how much he hated Dai Hao, he now deeply understood that he was right to have saved Dai Hao twice.

The quiet night sky was extremely chilly. However, there was only warmth coming from the White Tiger Duke’s fur.

I can ﬁnally… be carried by my father.

A mother’s love was boundless. What about a father’s love? A father’s love was always deep. Perhaps a father wasn’t very good at expressing himself, but there was no doubt that a father’s love was comparable to a mother’s love. A father ran around outside to support his family. Perhaps he might be less caring, but how would there be a warm family without a father supporting it?

Chapter 442: Spiritual Barrier, Terrifying Mountain Peak!

Five thousand meters!

Huo Yuhao was riding the White Tiger Duke, and ﬁnally managed to reach an altitude of ﬁve thousand meters. He watched the soul tool that measured their altitude as he sensed the White Tiger Duke’s surging soul power, ﬁlled with complex feelings.

This was his father’s back, wide and strong, and giving him a sense of security!

Dai Hao, who had transformed into a White Tiger, was still rising quickly. In just a few seconds, he managed to climb a few more hundred meters.

The night sky was getting quieter. Right now, the lights that came from below them also became unclear. Everything around them was pitch-black and cold. However, Huo Yuhao wasn’t terriﬁed at all. He didn’t know why… it might have been because of Dai Hao, or for some other reason.

Dim white light was shining from the White Tiger Duke’s fur. The extremely low surrounding temperature also spurred Huo Yuhao to unleash his Ice Empress’ Armor to protect himself from being frozen.

The White Tiger Duke’s aura was at its limit. Even though he didn’t unleash it toward Huo Yuhao, Huo Yuhao still felt slightly petriﬁed.

However, he felt as if some kind of energy in his body was being summoned just as he was petriﬁed. This feeling was very weird. Huo Yuhao quickly found the source of this energy... blood! More accurately speaking, it was his lineage.

It was the lineage that he had inherited from his father! When the White Tiger Duke unleashed his soul power to his full ability, the power of his own lineage rose along with his martial soul. Huo Yuhao shared the same blood as him, while his cultivation was also weaker than the White Tiger Duke’s. Naturally, he was drawn by the White Tiger Duke’s lineage.

Blood is thicker than water. Given that they were directly related, the connection of their lineage was undoubtedly very

close. Under such a situation, Huo Yuhao felt even closer to the White Tiger Duke.

The circulation of the White Tiger Duke’s blood was increasing quickly. Also, Huo Yuhao was astonished to realize that the White Tiger Duke’s aura seemed to have some kind of weird power that was fusing into his body in streaks. His circulation was increasing quickly as this power fused into his body. As the weird power spread over him, Huo Yuhao’s real eyes couldn’t help but appear. To prevent the White Tiger Duke from ﬁnding out, he had no choice but to use his Imitation to conceal them.

“Yuhao!” the White Tiger Duke’s voice sounded.

“Yes?” Huo Yuhao was immediately jolted to his senses.

“I can send you to an altitude of almost six thousand meters. If I continue to rise further, I’m afraid that you’ll drain too much of your soul power when you glide over the mountains. My limit is around ﬁfty-eight hundred to six thousand meters. Do you think you need to reach a greater height?”

Huo Yuhao said, “There’s no need to. Fifty-ﬁve hundred meters is sufﬁcient.”

“Alright then, prepare yourself!” The White Tiger Duke’s body started to shine even brighter. The glaring white lights engulfed Huo Yuhao’s body and isolated him from the cold. He turned into a ball of intense white light that rose further into the sky. In an instant, they rose several hundred more meters.

Huo Yuhao’s eyes brightened, and his soul power surged, completely transforming into Ultimate Ice. Given his immense spiritual power, he could sense more than one thousand meters around him, even without his Spirit Eyes. He knew that the White Tiger’s sudden outburst meant that the mission was about to begin.

Indeed, the white light slowly retracted after a moment. The White Tiger’s momentum seemed to have stopped. The huge White Tiger turned into a ball of light that surrounded Huo Yuhao. As the white light surged, the White Tiger disappeared, and the White Tiger Duke had already returned to Huo Yuhao’s back. He grabbed Huo Yuhao’s waist and shouted, “Yuhao, you must be careful, and mind your safety. Don’t be reckless. I’m going to send you in. Get ready!”

“Alright.” Huo Yuhao simply acknowledged his words. His Ice Empress’ Armor strengthened slightly, and a stalk of shiny and smooth Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass appeared on his shoulder. It released an icy-blue aura around Huo Yuhao.

The White Tiger Duke shouted, and the veins on his burly arms bulged. His explosive strength was instantly unleashed. He exerted strength from his waist and ﬂung Huo Yuhao out.

Huo Yuhao rolled up naturally in the air and shot forward more than a few hundred meters like a grenade. As he shot forward, he slowly opened up his body like a big bird. A butterﬂy-shaped ﬂying-type soul tool opened up behind his back and stabilized his body in the air.

The White Tiger Duke drifted in mid-air. After seeing that Huo Yuhao had stabilized his body and ﬂownoff into the distance, he heaved a sigh of relief.

Before he personally witnessed it, he couldn’t believe that Huo Yuhao could survive at such a high altitude even though he was only just a Soul Sage. His Ultimate Ice was indeed extraordinary!

At this moment, the White Tiger Duke focused his gaze. He was stunned to discover that Huo Yuhao, who was within his ﬁeld of view just earlier, had already disappeared. He had disappeared without a trace. Even with his acute senses as a Titled Douluo, he wasn’t able to locate him.

This kid! He’s indeed unparalleled in his surveillance abilities! How did he manage to do this? Even if he possesses twin martial souls, shouldn’t he be using his Ultimate Ice martial soul? How is he able to use his spiritual-type martial soul at the same time?

It was normal for the White Tiger Duke to be unable to comprehend this. He was still very unfamiliar with the newly- discovered Spirit system.

Although Huo Yuhao was gifted, he couldn’t use two martial souls at the same. However, it was different if he had a Spirit.

More accurately speaking, the Ice Empress was his martial soul. She wasn’t considered his Spirit. However, the Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass was a pure Spirit.

When the Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass appeared on Huo Yuhao’s shoulder, it immediately had a protective effect on him. The extremely low temperature in the sky couldn’t affect the Ice Grass, which favored low temperatures. In the thin air, there was only one element that was in abundance... ice! The Ice Grass tapped into this power after it appeared to create a layer of icy air around Huo Yuhao that helped to protect him. Huo Yuhao then changed his martial soul to his Spirit Eyes and unleashed them, melting into the night sky.

The powerful effects of a Spirit were immaculately demonstrated on Huo Yuhao, who had twin martial souls.

He unleashed his butterﬂy wings, but Huo Yuhao didn’t increase his speed to the maximum. After changing to his Spirit Eyes, the thin air continued to affect him, but not too badly. As for the external cold, he wasn’t bothered at all.

After he unleashed his spiritual power, he started to survey the lands below him. He suddenly realized that he enjoyed the feeling of this quiet night sky. Up here, no biological organism could survive for long. It was rare for any living organism to even attempt to reach such an altitude. He felt as if he were the only person in the world. Although it was lonely, there was still an exhilarating feeling of freedom.

Up here, the restraints of the world didn’t seem to be a problem anymore. His mood gradually entered an ethereal state. His soul power slowed down through a very special method, and his spiritual and soul power fused together perfectly.

Right now, Huo Yuhao seemed to have entered an ascended state. It was like his ﬁrst time in the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy, but it also felt like his ﬁrst time looking at the boundless sea of clouds when he ﬁrst climbed Clear Sky Peak.

His body fused with nature, and a layer of dim golden light shone about him. The golden light was clear, as if he had become a star. It seemed like Huo Yuhao had become a part of the sky right now.

The summoning feeling that he had once sensed in the Spirit Pagoda appeared once again. Perhaps it was because he was high up in the sky, but this summoning feeling was even clearer this time.

Huo Yuhao suddenly felt that his entire world had turned golden. The pitch-black night sky was no longer dark. It was as if some special power of longing was about to descend from the sky onto his body.

At this moment, a strong dark aura spread from his chest. A strong power of darkness spread, and a layer of thin scales appeared once again.

The rise of this darkness jolted Huo Yuhao to his senses. He furrowed his brow and quickly exited his exalted state.

Everything around him was still as dark as ever. There was no gold around him at all. A sarcastic smile appeared on Huo Yuhao’s lips. Di Tian, it’s you again.

------

The Great Star Dou Forest.

The clear Lake of Life suddenly surged. A ball of intense black light shot into the sky. A terrifying aura was immediately

released and diffused into the air.

Even the powerful soul beasts that lived in the Slaughtering Grounds were all shocked when they sensed this aura, immediately throwing themselves onto the ground like astonished little cats.

The black light gradually retracted. Di Tian slowly appeared in mid-air.

He had already turned pale, and his ﬁsts were clenched. His entire body was ﬁlled with a dangerous aura.

“Second time. This is already the second time. Why? Why is this so? I’ve been pursuing it for eight hundred thousand years, but I’ve not obtained it. But it’s already appeared twice on his body, summoning him! Why is this so unfair? Is it just because I’m a soul beast and he’s a human?”

Low-pitched roars echoed in the Great Star Dou Forest.

However, no one could answer Di Tian’s question.

Di Tian gradually calmed down. However, his expression was still as gloomy as ever.

“No matter what, I won’t let you complete it. As long as my reverse scale is in you, you can only remain in this world and protect the fortune of the Great Star Dou Forest. After you die, I’ll use some methods to make you transfer the power of destiny to a soul beast, and further the fortune of the Great Star Dou Forest.”

Di Tian looked a little hesitant as he muttered to himself. If not for the fact that he couldn’t use brute force to make destiny submit to him, he would have killed Huo Yuhao long ago. However, the power of destiny could only be transferred willingly, it couldn’t be taken by force. No matter how strong Di Tian was, he couldn’t challenge the laws of the the world. He could only wait while protecting Huo Yuhao...

------

After snapping out of his contemplative state, Huo Yuhao looked very calm once more. This wasn’t Di Tian’s ﬁrst time hindering him. However, he had also used his actions to prove to his Spirits that searching for that feeling wasn’t so difﬁcult.

This actually wasn’t the second time. More accurately speaking, it was the third time. It was just because he was too invested earlier on, which stopped him from controlling his own sensations. Otherwise, he might not have been discovered by Di Tian this time, either.

His gaze suddenly turned sharp. He summoned all his soul power and poured it into his ﬂying-type soul tool. Suddenly, all of his soul tool’s ports started to circulate at full speed, thrusting him forward like a streak of ﬂowing light. He charged towards the Ming Dou Mountain Range at lightning- quick speed.

Huo Yuhao was still ﬁve thousand meters in the air right now, and ﬁnally tapped into his own soul power to ﬂy. It was also now that he ﬁnally felt the burden of moving at such a high altitude.

He was still using his soul power to propel his soul tool, but he was drained three times as quickly as normal. His ﬂying- type soul tool seemed to be affected by the low temperature and thin air, and was quickly drained. At the same time, Huo Yuhao had no choice but to use his soul power to change the speed of his blood circulation in order to maintain the necessary functions of his own body. Concurrently, he ﬁltered

the thin air and absorbed what he could into his body. These processes drained him even further.

Flying at an altitude of ﬁve thousand meters, he was naturally unafraid of being spotted by the Sun Moon Empire. However, Huo Yuhao clearly understood that even a Titled Douluo couldn’t withstand being at such a high altitude for long. If not for his ﬂying-type soul tool, he couldn’t possibly ﬂy here, given his abilities as a Soul Sage.

In less than half a minute, Huo Yuhao’s soul power was drained by almost twenty percent. If he continued ﬂying like this, he couldn’t possibly reach the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

His butterﬂy-winged ﬂying-type soul tool’s ports stopped working under Huo Yuhao’s control. He couldn’t sustain this any longer. If he continued to do so, he couldn’t possibly complete his mission.

After he shut the ports, he continued to maintain his ﬂying speed. However, he was slowly descending as he glided towards the Ming Dou Mountain Range. This had always been his plan.

Descending from such a great height was completely in contrast with ascending into the sky. The pressure that he had to bear was naturally dipping, and he didn’t need to use his soul power to ﬂy anymore. He was in a much better position now.

Huo Yuhao continuously used his spiritual detection to observe everything below him. At the same time, he kept an eye on the detector on his wrist. Above three thousand meters was a safe height to remain at, a height where he would still remain undetected.

This surveillance mission involved a few critical risks. Comparatively speaking, getting closer to the Ming Dou Mountain Range was actually the safest part. This was because Huo Yuhao could remove any soul power undulations by shutting his ﬂying-type soul tool off and using his Imitation to conceal himself. With the help of his Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass, his body temperature was also regulated to a temperature identical to the air. Unless oscillation detectors were used, there weren’t any soul tools that could possibly detect his presence.

Oscillation detectors were usually very short-range. They couldn’t possibly detect anything three thousand meters up in

the sky.

On the other hand, there were two different times that would be the most dangerous. The ﬁrst would be when Huo Yuhao unleashed his Spiritual Detection and tried to survey the area around the Death God.

The second period would be when he retreated. During the process of retreating, he would need some thrust, which could only be achieved through unleashing his soul power. His Imitation couldn’t possibly remove all traces of his soul power undulations, it could only conceal them to the best of his ability. As for the Sun Moon Empire’s soul power detectors, Huo Yuhao wasn’t certain whether he would be detectable by them. After all, he hadn’t obtained any information about the soul tools that the Sun Moon Empire had installed in the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

As he drew closer and closer, he was also descending through the air. From ﬁve thousand to four thousand meters, he was able to see lights coming from the ground as the pressure on him lessened.

At this moment, the Star Luo Empire started to launch their attack to cover the traces of his surveillance. Balls of light could be seen being unleashed toward the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

These balls of lights also helped Huo Yuhao determine the position of the Ming Dou Mountain Range, and more accurately locate his target.

Even given Huo Yuhao’s abilities as a Soul Sage and a possessor of twin martial souls, he found it difﬁcult to ﬂy without using a ﬂying-type soul tool, so he was very cautious in the control of his butterﬂy-winged ﬂying-type soul tool. During the process of gliding, he used the wind currents to maintain his altitude.

Finally, the highest peak of the Ming Dou Mountain Range came into his ﬁeld of view just as the detector on his wrist indicated that he was at an altitude of three thousand six hundred meters. More accurately speaking, the highest peak came within the range of his Spiritual Detection.

This was roughly the distance he had planned for. Huo Yuhao used his Spirit Eyes to observe his surroundings and

made a simple estimation. He was now around eight to ten kilometers away from the highest mountain peak of the Ming Dou Mountain Range. Ten kilometers was the upper limit of his unidirectional detection. However, he was high up in the sky, which affected the accuracy of his detection to some degree, and he could only make a conservative estimate.

His butterﬂy wings curved in the air to aid him in gliding with the wind currents. Huo Yuhao controlled his ﬂight and tried his best to drift in mid-air. On his forehead, his Eye of Destiny slowly opened under the stimulus of his spiritual power. Clear rose-gold light ﬂashed slightly, and a huge vertically-pupiled eye appeared behind Huo Yuhao.

To raise the effectiveness of his Spiritual Detection, he needed the help of his Eye of Destiny!

Without any hindrance, Huo Yuhao’s ﬁrst and second soul rings lit up at the same time. Under the effect of his Imitation, all the light that he released was assimilated into his surroundings. It made him look like a ball of air that could generate soul power and spiritual undulations.

His immense spiritual power cut through the sky like an invisible ray of light. It went straight toward the highest peak of the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

According to his understanding of the Death God, the Death God’s effective range was roughly ﬁve thousand meters, coincidentally outside the range of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection. In this case, he wouldn’t be in much danger even if he was discovered on his way back. After all, a Titled Douluo would still need some time to catch up with Huo Yuhao, given the speed he was capable of. By the time that happened, he would have returned to the territory controlled by the Star Luo Empire, and people would be there to reinforce him.

However, Huo Yuhao’s expression turned serious after a brief moment. This was because he was stunned to discover that his Spiritual Detection was blocked off by an invisible barrier when it was only a thousand meters from the highest peak. After this, his Spiritual Detection dissipated. The barrier was even shaking slightly.

This wasn’t some protective barrier created from soul power.

It was a real, spiritual barrier!

Strong spiritual power. Don’t tell me that this was generated from a soul tool?

Huo Yuhao was shocked.

Although there were soul tools that could enhance one’s spiritual power, they were very rare. Furthermore, the extent of the increase was limited. Otherwise, Huo Yuhao would have equipped himself with one. Even though his spiritual power didn’t penetrate the barrier earlier, he could still clearly sense that a massive spiritual barrier covered the entire highest peak of the Ming Dou Mountain Range. There weren’t any loopholes. This meant that he had to overcome this barrier before he could perform any surveillance.

Huo Yuhao couldn’t guess who had erected such a powerful and sturdy spiritual barrier. At the very least, a spiritual-type soul master with the powers of an eight-ringed Soul Douluo was needed to mount such a defense. More importantly, the area that it covered was simply too huge. The amount of spiritual power drained to erect such a spiritual barrier had to be incredible!

Among all the powerful individuals that Huo Yuhao knew, only the Evileye Tyrant King was so specialized in spiritual power and possessed such terrifying spiritual strength. However, the Sun Moon Empire couldn’t possibly have engaged the Evileye Tyrant King’s help, no matter how inﬂuential it was.

This was why he deduced that a few spiritual and defensive- type soul tools were being used to protect the highest peak of the mountain range. The Sun Moon Empire’s knowledge of soul tools has actually reached such a level! No matter how much Huo Yuhao had overestimated them earlier, he couldn’t help but be shocked right now.

At this moment, he saw a streak of light on the highest peak. It was an object that resembled a spire. Although it was very far away, Huo Yuhao could still see it clearly.

That spire-like object came from the top of the mountain peak. After that, it quickly grew upward. Very quickly, it was more than ten meters high. The top of it ﬂashed with glowing metal. Suddenly, a bright, white halo spread from that spire- like object, projected towards Huo Yuhao.

The white halo quickly spread after moving away from the spire-like object. It kept on growing, as if it were a rising tidal wave!

What is this? Undoubtedly, it was another soul tool that Huo Yuhao had never seen before. However, just because he had never seen it before didn’t mean that it wasn’t dangerous. His senses were also very acute. Although the white halo had yet to reach him, he could judge that it wasn’t offensive or lethal. However, it contained gentle undulations, and a spiritual aura.

Spiritual-type, oscillation detector? Once-off thing? This isn’t good. It’s trying to locate my position!

After a brief moment of judgment, Huo Yuhao immediately reacted. The white halo covered more and more area as it spread out. At ﬁrst, it was only a meter wide. However, it instantly grew to more than a hundred meters wide, and it continued to expand further. At such a speed, it would be more than ﬁve hundred meters wide by the time it reached Huo Yuhao. There wasn’t any way he could avoid it if it expanded to that width.

At this critical moment, Huo Yuhao’s decisiveness developed during the Ultimate Soldier Plan played a prominent role. He

put his ﬂying-type soul tool away without any hesitation and allowed himself to freefall.

He might possibly enter the surveillance range of the Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance soul tools. However, he wasn’t willing to be engulfed by the white halo even if he ran the risk of doing just that. He could sense a lethal threat from that non- lethal, inoffensive white halo.

He fell very quickly. The wind around him was extremely strong, but Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power kept him focused on the white halo.

His quick reaction saved him. That white halo swept past his head, and only slowly dissipated around ten kilometers from the mountain peak.

As it swept past his head, Huo Yuhao immediately conﬁrmed his judgment earlier. He was right. There wasn’t any strong aura within that white light. However, it clearly contained some kind of special frequency wave, as well as a light spiritual aura. That was sufﬁcient to determine the position of anyone it ran into.

As he ﬁxed his gaze on the mountain peak, Huo Yuhao could subtly see a dim-red object ﬂashing slightly before disappearing.

Lucky!

If his position had been determined, he might have been struck a deadly blow in the next instant.

What kind of power does this mountain peak possess? Its defense is actually so strong! My spiritual power only slightly touched the barrier before such a huge reaction was sparked.

As he thought to himself, Huo Yuhao summoned his soul power and reduced the momentum of his fall. His Imitation was fully unleashed before he slowly opened his butterﬂy- winged ﬂying-type soul tool.

He couldn’t open it too quickly, as he was falling too fast. If things went amiss, his ﬂying-type soul tool would be destroyed.

As he lowered his head to look at the detector on his wrist, Huo Yuhao cursed to himself. This short period of freefall had caused his altitude to fall from thirty-ﬁve hundred meters to twenty-ﬁve hundred meters. He was within the range of the Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance soul tools now. Even though there were only a few soul tools that could detect him, he would have raised alarm bells by now. Very soon, he was sure to be the focus of all surveillance.

What should he do?

Every time he was in such a crisis, Huo Yuhao was always stimulated to the best of his potential due to the massive pressure. This time was no exception.

He knew that his surveillance mission today would be unlikely to yield too much progress. However, it wasn’t a complete failure. At least he had managed to see what was going on at the mountain peak. He had to return now.

He managed to halt his freefall, and changed his unidirectional detection to an all-around detection, sensing the changes coming from the Ming Dou Mountain Range. At the same time, he unleashed his Spiritual Interference while

using his Imitation. With his Spiritual Interference, hundreds of square meters of air around him were covered in invisible spiritual undulations. Any form of surveillance that entered this region would certainly be affected.

Just like Huo Yuhao had judged, the Sun Moon Empire’s reaction was quick. It was just a matter of seconds before several surveillance soul tools were up around Huo Yuhao. These souls tools employed virtually all the types of surveillance abilities that were available. All that surveillance was focused on Huo Yuhao. They were directly aimed at the region below where the white light had passed earlier.

The Sun Moon Empire’s experience in terms of reconnaissance through surveillance soul tools impressed Huo Yuhao. They must have concluded that he couldn’t possibly ﬂy upward, and could only choose to descend. At such an altitude, he couldn’t gain any speed if he tried to ﬂy. Furthermore, they clearly didn’t locate him earlier, though they were clearly studying the region he was in right now.

He turned around immediately. He couldn’t care about being exposed now. He opened his ﬂying-type soul tool fully and turned into a streak of ﬂowing light before charging toward the military base of the Star Luo Empire.

Behind those surveillance soul tools, a dozen ﬁgures continued to chase him. Without a doubt, the Sun Moon Empire had sent out their most outstanding soul engineers.

Huo Yuhao was very impressed with how the Sun Moon Empire was able to seal off all counter-surveillance on them. His appearance drew great attention from the Sun Moon Empire.

Someone powerful from the Sun Moon Empire gave out instructions that Huo Yuhao had to be killed, no matter the price! A spiritual-type soul master that could perform long- range surveillance was too important for the Star Luo Empire. However, it was very rare to ﬁnd such a soul master, so the Sun Moon Empire was determined to kill him!

The Sun Moon Empire’s judgment of Huo Yuhao was also very accurate. They didn’t think that the Star Luo Empire had any soul tools that could perform long-range detection. Since it wasn’t a soul tool, it had to be a soul master!

When Huo Yuhao unleashed his full strength, his release of soul power reached a maximum immediately. This was

something ordinary soul masters couldn’t do. Releasing soul power was generally something that required a process. Releasing soul power at such an immense speed might cause damage to the passageways of ordinary soul masters. In fact, it might be so damaging that it was life-threatening! This was especially relevant to soul masters whose soul power was very dominant.

But Huo Yuhao didn’t have any such problems. His body had gone through a major transformation through his immense spiritual power. His body was much stronger than most other soul masters. It was like he was using the body of a Soul Douluo or Titled Douluo to control the soul power of a Soul Sage. He would be ﬁne even if he unleashed all his soul power suddenly.

The moment he tried to escape with full force, the surveillance soul tools behind had already roughly located his position. Among the ﬁgures that chased after him, the one that was leading the pack raised his hand before a ball of blinding golden light shot out. This ball of golden light shot like a shooting star towards Huo Yuhao. After around hundred meters, it suddenly blew apart, and turned into a huge patch of golden rain that engulfed the sky.

Domain-type attack! His enemies had realized that Huo Yuhao’s position could not be speciﬁcally determined. The purpose of this domain-type attack wasn’t to kill Huo Yuhao, but to determine his speciﬁc position. At the same time, it would also slow his escape.

Stationary soul cannon shell? So brutal?

Huo Yuhao was also a soul engineer. He could tell how powerful that soul tool was, at least a Class 6 stationary soul cannon shell. The Sun Moon Empire was going all out with their efforts to kill him!

Snorting coldly, Huo Yuhao maintained his speed. A deep- blue projection suddenly appeared behind him. It was the Snow Lady.

The Snow Lady sat on Huo Yuhao’s shoulder. Her slender ﬁgure resembled that of a teenager right now. Her face looked as refreshing, austere, and conﬁdent as ever. She raised her right hand as she faced behind him. Suddenly, the cold currents in the air started to gather at an alarming speed.

As deep blue lights ﬂashed, large patches of deep-blue snowﬂakes appeared in front of the Snow Lady. These snowﬂakes weren’t very evident in the night sky. However, they soon gathered to form a huge, deep-blue whirlpool. The golden rain that chased him was quickly devoured by this whirlpool, and disappeared without a trace.

The Snow Lady raised her head and looked at the sky. She pointed her left hand into the distance and a glaring, deep-blue glow formed on her hand. Even though it wasn’t as cold at an altitude of twenty-ﬁve hundred meters as compared to ﬁve thousand meters, it was still much colder compared to the ground. To the Snow Lady, it was undoubtedly a great opportunity to demonstrate her abilities, and this was not even including the Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass yet.

The Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass was on Huo Yuhao’s other shoulder. An icy-blue halo spread out before fusing with the Snow Lady, boosting her power.

The Snow Lady’s help undoubtedly exposed Huo Yuhao’s position. However, Huo Yuhao had already managed to escape more than ten kilometers from the Ming Dou Mountain Range within this short span of time.

The soul engineers that were pursuing him charged forward at full speed, and drew closer and closer to him.

However, it was at this moment that a snowstorm descended from the sky.

Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice!

The snowstorm brought an unprecedented chill, and wreaked havoc with the sharp snowﬂakes.

Huo Yuhao’s ﬁgure was once again concealed by the snowstorm. The soul engineers shot out more than ten streaks of lights, but they weren’t able to determine Huo Yuhao’s position. They lost their way amid the Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice before he disappeared.

When they wanted to attack from all fronts, Huo Yuhao had already disappeared once again, along with his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice.

Air or ground?

The soul engineers in pursuit were all stuck. At a height of twenty-ﬁve hundred meters, Huo Yuhao could either ascend or descend.

The speed of surveillance soul tools couldn’t compare to these outstanding soul masters, and were even lagging behind. By the time they managed to close the gap, Huo Yuhao would already have disappeared.

One soul engineer said hatefully, “This guy can conceal himself. What should we do?”

The leading soul engineer shook his head and said, “Everything’s too hasty. We don’t have time to prepare. Let’s return ﬁrst. I’m afraid there’ll be people from the Star Luo Empire coming very soon.”

The soul engineer who had spoken earlier twisted his lips and said, “They dare to come close to us? Aren’t they afraid of being killed by the Death God? I don’t think they have the guts to do so. It’s a pity that this guy has gotten away. The Death God Douluo personally instructed us to catch him!”

@Chapter 443: Rushing Towards the Ming Dou Mountain Range Once Again

Huo Yuhao was ﬂying very quickly, and he knew that he was safe when his enemies didn’t pursue him.

Since that was the case, he chose to ﬂy upwards. He ﬂew back to a height of almost three thousand meters with the help of his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice and Spiritual Interference Domain before he channeled all his strength to escape.

Once he was safe, everything that he had just investigated surfaced in his mind.

The defense on your peak is so tight – how can I discover what your concrete situation is like? What will happen if I unleash Spiritual Shock against the spiritual barrier? What’s going to happen?

Huo Yuhao could faintly see after some calculations that he could possibly tear that spiritual barrier open temporarily if he used Spiritual Shock. However, he could only tear it open

temporarily, and his Spiritual Detection was not nearly enough to investigate the circumstances inside! Unless…

Unless, he snuck through the barrier himself in the short window of time that the spiritual barrier was torn open. This was the only way so that he could scout everything clearly. However, he would undoubtedly be within attacking range of the Death God, and a single misstep could lead to obliteration.

There were many things that Huo Yuhao could do to protect his life. For instance, he had his spectral demiplane. He considered whether he could phase into the spectral demiplane ﬁrst after going through the barrier, and then return to his original space to continue investigating once everything was safe and settled down.

However, he quickly refuted this idea, and the reason was simple – he needed time to enter the spectral demiplane. At least, he needed time for warmup and preparation. He didn’t need much time; ﬁve to ten seconds were enough. However, would his enemies give him ﬁve to ten seconds? Evidently, they wouldn’t.

This was like back when he and Wang Qiu’er were trapped within Sunrise City. There were legions of soul engineers looking and patrolling around, and two evil soul masters who were also Titled Douluo had locked onto them. They would undoubtedly be safe if they could jump into his spectral

demiplane, but Huo Yuhao wasn’t even conﬁdent in jumping over himself, let alone taking Wang Qiu’er, Nan Shuishui, and Nan Qiuqiu together with him within such a short period of time. Therefore, he chose to burn his spiritual ﬁre, and that eventually led to the tragedy of Wang Qiu’er sacriﬁcing herself.

If he couldn’t rely on jumping into his spectral demiplane, then he could only rely on his own abilities to investigate before forcing his way back out. However, that probability was way too low.

Once the Death God was unleashed, he would be obliterated.

It was difﬁcult to even run inside the spiritual barrier.

Even though spiritual barriers were not like soul power barriers, which could create direct blockading effects, even somebody with spiritual power at Huo Yuhao’s level would be mired within temporary confusion and a trance if they came into direct contact with it. Even a single moment of confusion and dazzlement would very likely be fatal.

Is this really a mission that’s impossible to complete?

Huo Yuhao continued thinking, as he gradually ﬂew back to territories controlled by the Star Luo Empire. He slowly descended and revealed himself in the air at the same time.

Two silhouettes swiftly came close in midair, and they arrived before him in no time – they were Tang Wutong and Ye Guyi, who were responsible for providing support for him in the sky.

They could see that Huo Yuhao’s eyebrows were tightly knitted together, and they immediately understood that Huo Yuhao’s reconnaissance effort was probably a failure. They didn’t ask much, and they escorted him towards the ground.

Inside the commander’s tent.

The White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu were both waiting there. The White Tiger Duke had returned to the observation deck after he sent Huo Yuhao away. Even though he was very

far away, the White Tiger Duke could still see some faint sparkles and ﬂashes in the distance.

The White Tiger Duke only came down from the observation deck after Huo Yuhao met up with Tang Wutong and Ye Guyi, and he returned to the commander’s tent to wait for them.

Xu Sanshi and the others met up when Huo Yuhao touched the ground.

Xu Sanshi asked quietly, “What’s the situation like, Yuhao?”

Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly and shook his head. “No, I couldn’t scout anything at all. Come, let’s talk inside.”

Tang Wutong followed behind Huo Yuhao. When she saw Huo Yuhao returning, she felt as if something heavy was immediately lifted from her chest. Even she was a little surprised – since when am I so concerned about this fellow’s safety?

Xu Jiujiu came forward to welcome him personally once he entered the commander’s tent.

Huo Yuhao forced another laugh and shook his head.

Xu Jiujiu’s expression didn’t change. She smiled faintly and said, “This is but our ﬁrst try, and failure is the mother of success. Yuhao, everything’s ﬁne as long as you’re back safe.”

Even though Huo Yuhao knew that she didn’t really mean some of the things that she said, his mood was still lifted a little. He smiled back and nodded before he swiftly stepped towards and in front of the sand table inside the tent.

The White Tiger Duke looked at Huo Yuhao and asked, “What’s the situation like?”

Huo Yuhao pointed to the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s main peak and lowered his voice as he said, “If my judgment is correct, not only is the Death God on top of this main peak – I’m afraid even its creator is there as well.”

Everybody was momentarily stunned when they heard his words.

The Death God’s creator? The White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu’s expressions changed slightly. Yes! If there was such as a thing as the Death God, then, naturally, there was a creator. This soul tool probably wasn’t something that normal people could use. However, according to the intelligence that they had received, the Death God Douluo hadn’t appeared within the Sun Moon Empire in for thirty years. Did this mean that the Death God Douluo was truly here in person? That individual who was known as the existence closest to becoming a Class 10 soul engineer?

Huo Yuhao didn’t look at the White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu’s expressions. Instead, he recounted his reconnaissance mission in the sky and the circumstances that he had encountered in detail.

Princess Jiujiu couldn’t help but draw a cold breath when she heard Huo Yuhao speak of the spiritual barrier within a one- kilometer radius encircling the main peak. “This means that the Death God Douluo isn’t just adept with crafting soul tools like the Death God – he’s also talented in creating powerful spiritual-type soul tools?”

The corner of Huo Yuhao’s mouth twitched. Even though he didn’t say anything in response, his expression was clear enough. This was common knowledge – since he was the soul engineer closest to becoming a Class 10 soul engineer, how could he not know how to craft other kinds of soul tools?

The White Tiger Duke then asked Huo Yuhao, “Yuhao, what do you think the class of this spiritual barrier is? And what is that white circle of light that tried to scan you?”

Huo Yuhao didn’t hesitate as he replied, “The spiritual barrier is deﬁnitely a Class 9 soul tool. Even though it’s not as valuable as the Death God, it’s likely to be the most powerful spiritual-type soul tool in the world today. The white light that was trying to probe me was undoubtedly also a Class 9 soul tool. Even though it could only probe outwards explosively and spontaneously, the area that it can cover is simply too great. Ten kilometers! Its detection uses both undulations and spiritual power, and it's possibly even more powerful than the spiritual barrier. Investigating the main peak with a thing such as this around is far too difﬁcult.”

The White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu’s expressions became incredibly black after listening to Huo Yuhao’s words.

Just as he had said, a single mountain’s peak had three Class 9 soul tools installed for defense and offense. This meant that this peak was completely locked down. They had all experienced Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection before – even he couldn’t complete this reconnaissance task properly under such circumstances, so there was no need to talk about them.

The White Tiger Duke heaved a long sigh and said, “This expedition was too dangerous. Fortunately, you managed to react in time. Otherwise…”

Huo Yuhao frowned a little as he lowered his voice and said, “However, my trip wasn’t completely wasted. Duke, Princess – if my guess is right, the Death God is probably more powerful than we imagined him to be.”

“Eh? Even more powerful?”

The White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu couldn’t help but draw cold breaths at the same time. The Death God had already massacred so many of their powerful soul masters the last time around. If it was more powerful than they had imagined, how powerful could it possibly be?

Xu Jiujiu asked with great difﬁculty, “What aspect are you referring to, Yuhao?”

Huo Yuhao lowered his voice and said, “Distance.”

“Previously, I was about eight to nine thousand meters away from the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s tallest peak when I attempted detection. Suppose that the white light released from the main peak did reach me, and that would mean it had locked onto my position. This means an attack was bound to come right afterward. I could faintly feel that a red metal object ﬂickered on the main peak, though it disappeared because the white light didn’t touch me.”

“My enemies didn’t know what my cultivation rank was, and they must have had expended a lot of energy to activate that special Class 9 soul detector. They weren’t afraid to consume energy, and that means they weren’t about to let their efforts go to waste. If they were just going to send soul engineers to run me down, they shouldn’t have any conﬁdence of doing so at such a great distance from the main peak. In the end, they didn’t know what kind of cultivation I possess. Therefore, the most likely case was that the main peak could launch a direct attack against me. Under those circumstances, during that time, only the Death God on the main peak would be able to

kill me with one strike and with absolute certainty. This means that the Death God’s attacking range could be more than ﬁve kilometers. In other words, it can reach ﬁve kilometers when it’s unleashing an attack over an area, but it can reach further when it’s attacking in a single direction.

The White Tiger Duke clenched his right ﬁst and pressed it against the edge of the sand table as he listened to Huo Yuhao’s analysis. He contemplated momentarily as he lowered his voice and said, “That’s very possible. If that’s the case, the Death God would still have been able to cause us heavy losses the next time around if we had estimated its range at ﬁve thousand meters. It’s possible that even its range for area attacks can reach further than that. If that’s the case, then the Death God is just too terrifying.”

Huo Yuhao said, “We can’t make any other judgments about the Death God because we are terribly short on information regarding it. I feel that we have to continue our reconnaissance missions, and we should only stop once we ﬁgure everything out about this soul tool. The Death God’s attacking strength is far too frightening – furthermore, its surrounding defenses are tight and strict. One can say that the Death God is the key to whether we will be able to break through the Sun Moon Empire’s defensive perimeter. As long as we can do something to get rid of it, we will have very good chances of breaking

through the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s defensive perimeter. In the end, we have many soldiers and soul masters. Our forward push and momentum will be unstoppable once we break through this defensive perimeter.”

The White Tiger Duke answered, “But conducting any more scouting missions against them is just too dangerous. Furthermore, only you possess abilities like that, and I can’t let you put yourself in harm’s way again.”

Huo Yuhao smiled plainly and said, “That’s ﬁne, Duke – with this attempt, we have obtained a better understanding of the Death God. I will be even more careful next time, and I will not use Spiritual Detection rashly to investigate what’s happening on the other side. You can rest assured that I will not treat my life like a joke.”

The disappointment in Huo Yuhao’s heart had vaporized after tonight’s investigation. If his opponents were too simple, they wouldn’t trigger his ﬁghting spirit, while the Death God’s mysteriousness and how powerful it was piqued his interest greatly. He was the only successful product of Shrek Academy’s Ultimate Soldier Plan.

Wasn’t investigating the Death God the best platform to evaluate his ability as an Ultimate Soldier?

The White Tiger was momentarily stunned as he stared at Huo Yuhao, who was overﬂowing with ﬁghting spirit – only true heroes come forward in times of trouble and difﬁculty. This youth was faced with almost impossible circumstances

and a dead end, but he was still full of ﬁghting spirit and wasn’t in the least bit timid or afraid. He didn’t just have laudable spirit, he also had conﬁdence in his own abilities at the same time! He would push forward even in the face of impossible opposition – such a role model!

Xu Jiujiu stared at Huo Yuhao, and strange lights ﬂickered continuously in her beautiful eyes. This fellow is just too outstanding. If only I were a few years younger…

The princess couldn’t help but blush a little when those thoughts ran through her head.

Dai Hao contemplated momentarily and said, “I won’t try to give you any more advice, Yuhao, and I represent the Star Luo Empire’s millions of citizens and thank you. As soldiers, it is our duty to protect our country so that our country’s citizens will not suffer the cruelty and torment of war. From now on, please tell us if you need anything or any help with regards to your investigation – the Northwestern Field Army and I will do everything we can to give you sufﬁcient aid.”

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “Thank you for your trust. I will go back ﬁrst so that I can have a long and detailed think

about this.”

“Alright.” The White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu also needed to digest the news that Huo Yuhao had brought back tonight.

Huo Yuhao returned to his room and crossed his legs on his bed. Images and scenes of his reconnaissance mission targeting the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s main peak surfaced in his mind continuously, and he didn’t let any single detail slip through his ﬁngers.

With his superior memory, everything that he had experienced just now replayed over and over again his mind with almost complete accuracy.

Is there really no weakness or loophole?

Huo Yuhao opened his eyes again after two hours, and his eyebrows were tightly locked together. He had attempted many different conjectures in his mind again and again, but every single conjecture ended up at a dead end with no exception. Charging through the spiritual barrier created by the Class 9

soul tool wasn’t difﬁcult, but the hard part was how he could come back out alive. Furthermore, investigation required time once he was inside, and would that mysterious Death God Douluo give him the time he needed?

His eyes slowly turned golden, and two shadows were released from Huo Yuhao’s body and took human form – the Skydream Iceworm and the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion.

Huo Yuhao lowered his voice and asked, “Brother Skydream, Ice Empress, help me think of solutions. Do I have a chance from your perspective?”

The Skydream Iceworm said, “Yes, of course you have a chance.” There was a sneer on his face when he spoke.

“Ah?” Huo Yuhao looked at him in surprise. He had been wracking his brains for such a long time to no avail, and the Skydream Iceworm immediately said he had a chance once he came out.

The Skydream Iceworm sneered and said, “You have forgotten one thing, Yuhao! You have a powerful protector. If

you factor this into your calculations, you may not even be able to die even if the Death God gives you a direct hit.”

Huo Yuhao’s eyes lit up and said, “Are you saying…”

The Ice Empress chimed in, “We can’t just let him just do bad things by attaching himself to you. He has to show some responsibility.”

There was no question that the Skydream Iceworm and the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion were talking about the Beast God, who had a reverse scale attached to Huo Yuhao.

The Beast God was afraid of Huo Yuhao attaining the Godly Seat and breaking through the human limit in the future. However, he was afraid of Huo Yuhao dying at the same time. If Huo Yuhao died, the Great Star Dou Forest’s fortune and destiny would be terminated, and that could be considered absolutely destructive for them. Therefore, Di Tian had to use his own strength to protect Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao squinted his eyes as he lowered his voice and said, “Brother Skydream, Ice Empress – how much, do you guys

think, of Di Tian’s strength can be channeled through that reverse scale when it takes a destructive hit?”

The Skydream Iceworm said, “Attacking strength will be hard to say, but at least eighty percent of his defensive strength can be channeled. Previously, when he stopped you twice from feeling the God Realm’s energy, he almost used a conversion technique to bring his aura to the surface of your body. Under such circumstances, you can almost directly pass on the impact of any destructive attack to his body.”

“Di Tian is able to control a certain amount of spatial energy with his cultivation, and he can locate your position through the reverse scale, and transfer his own strength through spatial energy. When you’re in danger, you can use spiritual power to stimulate that reverse scale so that Di Tian’s reaction can be even faster. Perhaps you can even rip him off a little. As for you, as long as there’s enough defensive strength, you can at least run into your spectral demiplane. Of course, we also have to be extra careful – we should be alright at long as we don’t take a direct hit from the Light of the Death God.”

Huo Yuhao’s eyes slowly started to glow after he listened to the Skydream Iceworm’s words. A crack had seemed to appear in the dead end from before.

“If that’s the case, then we can…”

One day later.

Huo Yuhao was up very early in the morning, and his spirits were a lot better compared to the previous day.

For Huo Yuhao, there were many times when Dong’er was his everything. His conclusion that Tang Wutong wasn’t Dong’er had affected him a lot, and investigating the Death God became the best way for him to free himself. The pain in his heart became a lot lighter if he channeled his energies and emotions into this endeavor.

He cast his gaze towards the east as he left his tent. He made use of the purple energy from the east that came in the early morning and cultivated his Purple Demon Eyes. Huo Yuhao didn’t give up on cultivating his Purple Demon Eyes even though it had been raised to its limit. Cultivation had long since become the most important thing in his bones.

Warm purple energy nourished his eyes and made his already extremely clear and transparent eyes even more glossy and full of luster, and the pale purple hues emanated an elegant and noble aura.

Tang Wutong walked out from her tent, which was next to his. She saw Huo Yuhao, who was still cultivating on his side, once she came out.

Tang Wutong realized to her surprise that she felt a little dazed when she concentrated on Huo Yuhao. In that moment, she felt as if his entire being had integrated into the air, and it seemed like his body was part of the sunlight and the air. This clairvoyant and penetrating feeling didn’t have a single trace of impurity.

How can that be? She felt like she had only had this feeling from her father before.

His soul power was like great waves, and his blood qi was like mercury.

With every breath that Huo Yuhao took, the qi and blood in his body, his soul power, and his spiritual power fused together almost perfectly, and circulated at the same time.

Huo Yuhao subconsciously felt as if his cultivation was improving again.

For Huo Yuhao in his current state, a pure improvement in his soul power was not enough to satisfy his needs. It was more important for him to feel the great laws of heaven and earth during the process of cultivation. Previously, he had only managed to gain that blessing from the aura of the world during his moments of deep contemplation.

Huo Yuhao stood there for an hour. He exhaled a long breath when the soul power in his body followed the Mysterious Heaven Technique’s pathways back into his dantian. The air became mist, and was thin like a thread, but condensed without dissipating. This stream of air reached one hundred meters, and it stretched through the sky like a ﬁne white line.

Light ﬂickered beneath Huo Yuhao’s eyes, and golden light erupted from them. The white mist was swiftly converted into thin threads in the next moment, and these threads wrapped

back around as they merged into circle after circle of light before they re-entered his body.

Huo Yuhao’s three energies reached their peak condition in that moment. There seemed to be mystical energies resonating around his body, and the vital energies of heaven and earth seemed to gather towards him with a speed visible to the human eye with every breath that he took. Even though they quickly dissipated from his body after that moment of aggregation, one could tell with a closer look that the most important parts of the vital energy of heaven and earth that was released after absorption had disappeared, as if those most important parts had been completely fused into Huo Yuhao’s body.

This continued for almost another hour, and the sky was almost completely bright by now. The sudden onset of Huo Yuhao’s Conscientious State of cultivation ended.

Huo Yuhao’s soul power had improved a little. More importantly, his spiritual energy and soul power had developed more chemistry, and it was the same with his blood and qi as well. This feeling is just fantastic, and it seems like the previous night’s danger was also quite stimulating for my potential.

Huo Yuhao walked towards the canteen with a satisﬁed smile on his face. He was about to wash up before having some breakfast.

“Hey!” An exclamation suddenly stopped him in his tracks.

“Eh?” Huo Yuhao turned around, and he saw Tang Wutong with her hands on her waist and an angry-looking demeanor. She seemed like she was covered with a layer of golden light under the light of the morning sun, and her pinkish-blue hair was colored with another dash of gold. She was as pretty as pretty could get.

“Is something up?” No matter how beautiful Tang Wutong was, she already had a different place in Huo Yuhao’s heart once he concluded that she wasn’t Wang Dong’er.

Tang Wutong was very upset! That fellow had been standing there for two hours, and she actually watched him from the side for two hours. In the end, this guy turned around and walked off after his cultivation without even giving her a single glance. She could tell from his tone that he evidently hadn’t noticed her presence.

Tang Wutong glared at him as she asked, “To think you’re known for your spiritual power. There’s a living human being standing right next to you – didn’t you see?”

Huo Yuhao said apologetically, “I’m sorry! I was too into my cultivation before this. Do you need anything else?”

“I…” She stared at Huo Yuhao’s clean eyes that were clearly a little distant. Tang Wutong was momentarily stunned – yes! I called him to stop him for nothing. But why do I feel like this fellow’s current behaviour and appearance is just so disgusting? It seems like this is worse than how he looked when he behaved like a pervert.

Of course, Huo Yuhao didn’t know what Tang Wutong was thinking inside. He nodded at her with a faint smile on his face when she didn’t answer him, and then turned around and walked towards the canteen.

Tang Wutong shook her ﬁst furiously as she watched Huo Yuhao’s ﬁgure gradually disappear. She really wanted to beat this detestable guy up, even though she didn’t know why this guy was so detestable…

“I also want to eat!” Tang Wutong stomped her foot, and raised her little arrogant chin pridefully as she stepped towards the canteen.

After breakfast, everything around Huo Yuhao seemed to become air. He directly returned to his tent, and didn’t reappear until evening. He didn’t even come out for lunch.

Others naturally wouldn’t go disturb him. Soul masters sometimes skipped meals when they were having closed-door

cultivation. That was very normal.

Huo Yuhao only reappeared once the sky had gone completely dark. This time, he went right into the commander’s tent.

“Duke, sir.” Huo Yuhao greeted respectfully as he came before the White Tiger Duke.

“I heard you didn’t eat lunch, Yuhao. Were you cultivating?” The White Tiger Duke asked with a faint smile on his face. He had a very good impression of Huo Yuhao – this youth wasn’t even twenty, but he had a very calm and stable personality. More importantly, he had that Spiritual Detection, and he could be said to be a fantastic boost for the Star Luo Empire’s reconnaissance efforts and capability. Even though they were mired in a terrible situation at the moment, they were at least able to ﬁnd some chances to resist their enemies on the level of soul masters.

Huo Yuhao said, “Sir, I have to go out tonight. I’m here to report my intentions to you.”

“What?” The smile on the White Tiger Duke’s face immediately froze.

“You’re going back out tonight? No.” Dai Hao almost immediately denied Huo Yuhao’s words. What kind of joke is that? Last night’s expedition was already so dangerous, and he almost didn’t come back. What are we to do if the Death God is activated when he heads back out tonight? Without considering how he felt about him, and just considering his reconnaissance value and his importance to the entire Star Luo Empire, his death in action would be an enormous and irreparable loss!

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “Rest assured, Duke. I will not risk my life to investigate the Death God. I have to think about this a little more because I haven’t done sufﬁcient preparation. However, I can’t do nothing right now – otherwise, we’re as good as trapped right here, and the Sun Moon Empire would have achieved their goal in this aspect.”

“Then what are you going to do?” The White Tiger Duke’s expression relaxed a little.

Huo Yuhao squinted a little and said, “The Sun Moon Empire have locked down our surveillance capabilities for such a long time. I don’t have a solution for the main peak where the Death God is located, but can I not do something about those surveillance soul tools? I’m going to cause some trouble for them.”

The White Tiger Duke’s eyes glowed. “Are you saying…”

Huo Yuhao stepped in front of the White Tiger Duke and whispered some things to him. The White Tiger Duke’s eyes became increasingly bright as he listened, and he nodded continuously towards the end.

“Alright, do that. Don’t worry, everything that you achieve or obtain will belong to you. Of course, if you’re willing, the empire is willing to pay and purchase them from you as well. What do you think?”

“Deal.” Huo Yuhao answered without hesitation.

The White Tiger Duke asked, “Do you need me to help with anything?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “No need. I’ll be the smallest target by myself, so my buddies from the Tang Sect will be enough to give me support. One reason why I came to tell you is so that you will know, and another reason is so that I can tell you to pay attention to your defenses and to safeguard

against any operations that our enemies make take in revenge.”

A sneer appeared at the corner of the White Tiger Duke’s mouth. “Revenge? I was afraid that they wouldn’t come. I earnestly wish that they send their entire army to take their revenge.”

The Star Luo Empire had an absolute advantage in terms of open battle. They had eight soul master legions’ worth of ﬁghting strength, and without considering soul tools, the White Tiger Duke was conﬁdent of completely defeating the soul engineers in the Sun Moon Empire’s Hand that Protects the Nation if they were ﬁghting one-on-one. Of course, the premise was that the soul engineers appeared as soul masters.

Huo Yuhao immediately gathered his companions once he exited the commander’s tent and told them about his plan.

No one was overly worried about his plans. With Huo Yuhao’s abilities, he wouldn’t be in too much danger as long as he didn’t investigate the main peak. In the end, his abilities to confuse his enemies were too strong.

One hour later, the camp that belonged to the Star Luo Empire’s Northwestern Field Army was completely pitch-black. There was light shining from the surveillance towers, but besides that, the soldiers were all resting. Such was life in the military – everyone slept early and woke up early. They did this to avoid ambushes from their enemies at midnight, and so that the army could keep themselves in top ﬁghting condition.

A black shadow rose soundlessly through the air and high into the sky in the darkness of the night. All of the Northwestern Field Army’s aerial surveillance soul tools were entirely shut down at this moment, and this shadow didn’t trigger any reaction at all as it rose into the sky.

Shadow after shadow rose into the sky immediately afterwards, and they followed that ﬁrst ﬁgure.

Huo Yuhao was ﬂying at an altitude of about one thousand meters. His ﬂying-type soul tool was activated, and he was

using Imitation at the same time. It was easiest for him to control his ﬂight at such a height, and his speed was incredible. Typical surveillance soul tools in the air couldn’t even detect his existence.

The Ming Dou Mountain Range was but several dozen kilometers from the Northwestern Field Army’s camp. Soul sages required very little time to ﬂy across such a short distance.

The dark towering mountain swiftly appeared within Huo Yuhao’s vision. At this moment, he was completely within the range of the Sun Moon Empire’s aerial surveillance soul tools.

Huo Yuhao stabilized himself in midair and looked up at the sky.

He ran the risk of being detected if he continued forward. The oscillation detectors were the most troublesome for him – those soul tools released countless soundwaves, and their method of detection imitated that of bats. Any kind of soul skills meant for concealment wouldn’t avoid detection. Oscillation detectors were undoubtedly the mainstream for

future development in surveillance soul tools. At this point, their detection range was just relatively shorter.

Huo Yuhao released his spiritual power and stretched it far into the distance.

Huo Yuhao’s eyes quickly revealed surprise – damn! How many surveillance soul tools are there?

Not far in the distance, there were thousands of surveillance soul tools of many different kinds dotting the sky. There were surveillance soul tools of almost every type, and they were arranged neatly in midair as they stretched out to both sides of the mountain range. They stretched beyond the horizon with no end in sight, and just looking at them in front of him made him feel like there were thousands of them – it was hard to say how many more there were further out.

That’s nice – the Sun Moon Empire is very wealthy.

A faint smile appeared on Huo Yuhao’s face as his ﬂying-type soul tool slowly became vertical. The blast ports pointed downwards, and he released his own soul power at the same

time. His entire body surged into the sky, and he ﬂew towards a higher altitude.

The aerial surveillance soul tools in front of him weren’t his targets. There were large amounts of ground-to-air and air-to- ground offensive soul tools behind those surveillance soul tools cooperating with them. That was position after position of soul tools. Individually, their offensive capabilities paled in comparison with that of the Death God, but if all their offensive capabilities ﬁred off at the same time, they would be able to cover an incredibly massive area. Escaping from them wouldn’t be that easy – otherwise, what did they rely on to stop the Star Luo Empire’s great army?

The sky became increasingly cold, and everything on the ground became increasingly small. Huo Yuhao took about ﬁfteen minutes to ﬂy from one thousand meters all the way to around three thousand meters in the air.

He began to expend his soul power swiftly once he reached this height.

A target came within range of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection not far in the distance. Huo Yuhao immediately

activated Imitation to the highest possible level, and he channeled his soul power and suddenly picked up speed as he ﬂew towards the large item that was over two meters long.

High altitude aerial surveillance soul tools – only these types of soul tools could hover at three thousand meters.

The power that the aerial surveillance soul tools one thousand meters in the sky used mostly came from Milk Bottles, and they ﬂew very quickly when special attachments were added to them. However, high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools had to resist the bitter cold, and there were multiple other requirements that they had to deal with to remain at such an altitude, so they seemed a lot more unwieldy and heavy. Huo Yuhao had captured one before, so he understood their structure very well.

High altitude aerial surveillance soul tools relied more on visual detection. Oscillation capabilities hadn’t been developed yet, and thermal detection wasn’t very useful, so they weren’t installed. Huo Yuhao relied on his Imitation, and in addition to his aura of Ultimate Ice concealing him, it was impossible for him to be discovered as he moved closer.

He quickly arrived above this high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool. He wasn’t hasty about it, and he activated Spiritual Detection and surveyed his surroundings.

The same models’ altitudes in the sky wouldn’t vary that much, and searching for high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools at such a height was naturally the easiest.

About three minutes later, the corner of Huo Yuhao’s mouth curled into a satisﬁed smile. He suddenly descended a little, and placed a metal piece that was about the size of a palm against the top of that high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool. This metal piece didn’t have a large surface area, and it was stuck against the soul tool’s blind spot, so Huo Yuhao wasn’t afraid of it being discovered at all.

He ﬂew back up again afterwards and went towards his next target.

There were six Milk Bottles attached to the ﬂying-type soul tool behind him. These six Milk Bottles could double the amount of time that Huo Yuhao could continue ﬂying at a height of three thousand meters. But even then, he had to continuously consume his own soul power at the same time,

and he also had to ﬁght against the thin air and the bitter cold, so his soul power and physical strength were still being continuously expended.

Huo Yuhao ﬁnally began to feel a little fatigued roughly one hour later. He turned around and ﬂew back in the direction he had come from.

Huo Yuhao dropped back to the ground only after he ﬂew out of the detection range of the Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance soul tools.

“How’s it?” Xu Sanshi had been waiting here for a long time, in accordance with the arrangements of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection.

Chapter 444: The Dangers of Proﬁt

Huo Yuhao was evidently a little excited. He chuckled and said, “It’s done, third senior brother. Just wait and see – this time, the Sun Moon Empire will deﬁnitely feel the pain in their bones.”

Xu Sanshi laughed and said, “I like that. Don’t worry, everyone’s in position. Go and take a rest.”

“Yes,” Huo Yuhao retrieved two Milk Bottles and crossed his legs as he sat down. He absorbed the soul power within those Milk Bottles as he activated his Mysterious Heaven Technique at the same time so that he could replenish what he had expended from before.

Wang Dong’er’s ﬁgure suddenly appeared in his mind in that instant. How fantastic would it have been if Dong’er was here! With Dong’er around, we could use the Haodong power together, and that would help me recover a lot faster than using these Milk Bottles.

Huo Yuhao’s heart began to throb painfully when he thought about Wang Dong’er, and his excitement from before dropped a little.

However, Huo Yuhao was a high-level soul master, and he was very aware of the effect inner demons had on cultivation. He quickly dispelled his thoughts and returned to calmness.

Huo Yuhao’s recovery abilities were very formidable. He leveraged his tremendous life energy and recovered most of his physical strength and spiritual power after a few moments.

Huo Yuhao opened his eyes, and two cold lightning streaks seemed to ﬂash across the night sky. Huo Yuhao nodded at Xu Sanshi, who was protecting him beside him, and said, “Alright, that’s good enough. I’m going, third senior brother.”

“Alright. I’ll back you up. Let’s go!” Xu Sanshi chuckled, and he surged into the air with Huo Yuhao at the same time. However, Huo Yuhao was ﬂying towards the Sun Moon Empire, while Xu Sanshi went straight up into the sky.

Huo Yuhao was back in the air, and he ﬂew to about one thousand meters high. He returned to the edge of the Sun Moon Empire’s aerial surveillance soul tools before he stopped, and retrieved a strange-looking soul tool from his pocket.

This soul tool looked like a metal box. It wasn’t very big, and it was about half a meter long, thirty centimeters wide, and twenty centimeters thick.

This metal box’s structure seemed a little crude, but one could tell upon closer inspection that the crudeness and roughness was actually caused by uncountable ﬁne patterns aggregated together. There were many demonic patterns etched into the box.

Huo Yuhao made several quick presses on its surface, and faint soul power undulated from the box. In the next moment, a single metal line protruded from its front and quickly stretched out to almost two meters long. The metal line’s tip suddenly opened, and transformed into circle after circle of metal threads. The whole thing looked extremely strange.

Huo Yuhao infused his soul power into the box, and swiftly pressed a few more lines. The protruding metal threads glowed

with circles of silver light as formless waves rippled outwards discreetly.

“Teacher Xuan, I hope your toy works!” Huo Yuhao muttered to himself amusedly.

High up in the sky over the horizon.

There was a high altitude aerial surveillance tool that had many auxiliary attachments opened to help it hover in midair. The metal piece that was about the size of a palm at its tip suddenly lit up as whirlpool-like circles of light quickly appeared on top of it. That light was very strange, and gentle undulations emanated from its surface.

The lights suddenly became stronger, and lit up the area above this high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool.

“Bam!” A crisp sound could be heard, and wave after wave of electricity was released from that metal piece, which quickly surged inside the high altitude surveillance soul tool.

The high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool was originally operating stably, but it suddenly began to tremble violently as the light on top of it became even more intense.

The same situation happened to every single high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool within hundreds of kilometers around. It seemed as if they were all malfunctioning.

Inside the Sun Moon Empire’s camp on the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

“What? The high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools are malfunctioning? We’ve lost communication?”

They were camped in a depression within the mountain, and they even bored a cave into the mountain for safety purposes. They were located not far behind the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s tallest peak, and they were speciﬁcally responsible for controlling all the surveillance soul tools in the area. This place could be called the Sun Moon Empire’s intelligence headquarters in the Ming Dou Mountain Range, and a Class 9 soul engineer was personally in charge of it.

This Class 9 soul engineer was the Mad Bull Douluo, Wang Yiheng, who was also the commander of the Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion.

He was deployed here impromptu. The Evil Tyrant Legion had switched guard duties with the legion that was originally stationed here for one simple reason – the Evil Tyrant Legion’s soul engineers were the quickest, and they were the most skilled and adept at reacting to all kinds of situations.

Wang Yiheng’s face turned black as he listened to that soul engineer’s report.

Just several minutes ago, across several dozens of kilometers of the sky in front of the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s main peak, they lost contact with more than twenty high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools.

This situation was unprecedented.

If they lost contact with a single high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool, one could still say that the soul tool had malfunctioned by itself. However, losing contact with so many

at the same time – what did that mean? Somebody had done something to them!

Even Titled Douluo had trouble unleashing their abilities at an altitude of three thousand meters. There might be reason to believe that someone had incapacitated a single high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool without being discovered, but incapacitating tens of those things at once? Could it be that tens of Titled Douluo who were adept at concealing themselves had made a move at the same time? How was that possible? Not even the entire continent had so many Titled Douluo who were good at concealing their tracks!

“Has the patrol legion been activated?”

“They have been deployed, sir.”

“I’m afraid they won’t have enough manpower. Pass down my order – deploy the Evil Tyrant Legion’s Dagger Section, and they have to do everything they can to capture their enemies should they run into any. If they discover our high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools, they have to snatch them back. If we really can’t take them back, we can’t let them end up in the hands of the Star Luo Empire even if they’re broken.”

“Yes.”

Orders quickly came out from the intelligence headquarters.

Wang Yiheng paced up and down inside his cave, and his expression was as black as could be. His back was drenched with sweat after pacing a few rounds.

The Sun Moon Empire’s high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools were immature, but they still represented the Sun Moon Empire’s highest standard of surveillance soul tools! If the Star Luo Empire managed to obtain and decipher those things, then he would have committed an unforgivable sin…

“No, I have to go.” Wang Yiheng continued contemplating, but he wasn’t assured enough, and immediately rushed out of the cave. He activated his Class 9 ﬂying-type soul tool and rose into the sky like a beam of light. He activated his communication soul tools at the same time so that he could receive intelligence from their intelligence arm in real time.

It was no wonder that Wang Yiheng couldn’t ﬁgure out what was going on. The Sun Moon Empire had been very good at locking down the Star Luo Empire’s surveillance capabilities over this period of time, and the Star Luo Empire had been suppressed to the point where they couldn’t resist at all.

High altitude aerial surveillance soul tools were more than three thousand meters in the sky. They were about two meters in diameter, and seemed quite bulky. But that size was barely anything in the boundless horizons of the sky, and it wasn’t even as large as a dust particle when viewed from afar. Looking for one was already difﬁcult, let alone ﬁnding more than twenty across several hundred kilometers of the sky.

What was more frightening was that his enemies could mess things up at the same time – that was just an unimaginable situation.

The Sun Moon Empire had only made a little more than one hundred such high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools, and this was the product of their latest research discoveries. They still needed to continue reﬁning them afterwards, but all that reﬁnement had to be based on the original foundations. Loss of even a single one was a terrible loss. Without discussing other things, the materials used to craft these soul tools so that they

could continuously operate at high altitudes meant these were top-grade materials used for crafting soul tools. They had just lost more than twenty at once – wouldn’t the Sun Moon Empire’s emperor Xu Tianran go insane?

Huo Yuhao was still hovering in midair, and the smile on his face became increasingly radiant. A small screen appeared on that metal box of his, and its display clearly showed that more than twenty green dots of light were ﬂying in his direction. Furthermore, they were moving at an altitude of three thousand meters.

“Very nice. Not even the Sun Moon Empire can possibly discover that I’ve stolen those things. Heh, let me capture them.”

Huo Yuhao quickly surged into the sky, and began to ﬂy towards an altitude of three thousand meters. At this point, those high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools were ﬂying towards him at speeds as fast as they could reach. The Sun Moon Empire’s aerial surveillance soul tools were completely useless at three thousand meters, and his location wasn’t close to the Ming Dou Mountain Range. How could he be detected at that altitude?

The metal pieces and the metal box with a metal thread that was more than two meters long were all newly-developed creations by the master of the Tang Sect’s Soul Tool Hall, Xuan Ziwen.

Furthermore, Xuan Ziwen had custom-made those items for Huo Yuhao after he had brought that super-high aerial surveillance soul tool back the other time.

This was a Class 8 soul tool, and it was the best possible one that Xuan Ziwen could make – it was known as a long-range soul controller.

Xuan Ziwen had initially crafted this soul tool to remotely control his own aerial surveillance soul tools from a distance. The Sun Moon Empire was already very familiar with this technology, but Xuan Ziwen made the effects of their long- range soul controllers even better, so that they could be used at even greater distances for remote control purposes.

The Sun Moon Empire’s aerial surveillance soul tools were controlled using similar mechanisms and attachments, but their receiving ends were installed inside them, while the

metal piece that Huo Yuhao had used previously was installed on the outside.

Xuan Ziwen had made this thing after having an epiphany. He had quickly found loopholes in the high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool after giving it a simple inspection. This was one of the Illustrious Virtue Hall’s most important research directions back when he was still there, and thus he knew a lot about them due to his position as their chief researcher.

Therefore, he gave the long-range soul controller that he had created to Huo Yuhao after reﬁning it. He added some unique and special formation arrays meant for controlling purposes on the metal piece – these formation arrays could generate intense jolts of energy that destroyed the control units within the soul tool, and the metal piece would hack into the soul tool at the same time and gain control over the entire control system of the high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools. They could then be remotely controlled by the metal box in Huo Yuhao’s hands from a long distance away.

There were many complicated theories involved, and even Huo Yuhao wasn’t very adept in this respect even though he was a Class 7 soul engineer.

Of course, his long-range soul controller could only control high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools after he had reﬁned it. His soul tool couldn’t control other kinds of soul tools.

At this moment, Huo Yuhao used that feature to “kidnap” a bunch of high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools.

Just like what Wang Yiheng was worried about, the research conducted by the Douluo Continent’s three original nations towards surveillance soul tools would be greatly boosted if so many high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools fell into Huo Yuhao’s hands.

Huo Yuhao could already see high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools ﬂying towards him one after another in the distance. However, he could also see beams of light ﬂying out from the Ming Dou Mountain Range one after another at the same time, and they were heading right toward this side.

Huo Yuhao had already predicted this a long time ago – the Sun Moon Empire had just lost contact with so many high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools at the same time; things would really be strange if they didn’t react.

I hope the Titled Douluo or a Class 9 soul engineer doesn’t appear ﬁrst from the enemy’s party.

Huo Yuhao glanced at the metal box in his hands, and he squinted a little as he activated Spiritual Detection to its highest possible level.

There were self-destructive mechanisms installed in his long- range soul controllers, so he could still destroy those high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools if he couldn’t take them away. However, that was a last resort – his heart would ache if he had to destroy so many precious things! The value of just the rare metals involved in crafting them was already unimaginable.

The ﬁrst high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool quickly ﬂew before Huo Yuhao. He swiftly went up, and the light on his Starlight Sapphire storage ring ﬂashed once before it swallowed the entire thing.

First one!

Because every single high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool varied in distance from each other, their arrivals were bound to be staggered even if they started ﬂying towards Huo Yuhao at the same time.

Second one!

Third one!

It didn’t take long before Huo Yuhao had pocketed six high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools in his Starlight Sapphire storage ring.

Seems like I’ll return with uncountable rewards and gains!

However, ﬁve shadows swiftly bore down on him at this moment. These ﬁve shadows didn’t come together, but were separated in the sky.

Huo Yuhao had activated Imitation and his Spiritual Interference Domain, and it was very hard to discover his presence.

Huo Yuhao had already seen them coming a long time ago with Spiritual Detection. Every single one of these ﬁve soul engineers carried detectors in their hands, and these detectors were the most advanced oscillation detectors, things that Huo Yuhao wasn’t immune to. Even though they didn’t know Huo Yuhao’s particular location, they could cover a large area of effect if they stretched their detectors in all directions. They would discover Huo Yuhao as long as they ﬁgured out his rough location.

These people were currently coming closer to Huo Yuhao’s position.

Huo Yuhao swept his mind towards the sky in the distance with Spiritual Detection, and the other high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools that were still gathering rapidly. The safest decision for Huo Yuhao would be to turn tail and run, before destroying the ones that he couldn’t keep. He would deal severe losses to his opponents and would also return with a decent harvest.

But he couldn’t resign himself to making that decision! He could only use this method once; his enemies wouldn’t be

tricked the next time. Even one extra soul tool stolen was another giant pot of wealth gained.

Huo Yuhao contemplated for a moment before he decisively withdrew the metal box in his hands, and then turned around and went straight for lower altitudes.

The high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools that were hurrying over would gather at this location. Huo Yuhao was certain that he didn’t have enough time to gather them all, so he took the initiative to reveal himself so that he could attract his enemies’ attention, so that he could preoccupy them. Perhaps he could even defeat them in battle, so that he could buy time for those super-high surveillance soul tools to ﬂy over before taking everything away after that. That would undoubtedly be the best outcome.

Before he executed this operation, Huo Yuhao had considered asking the White Tiger Duke to deploy soul masters to help him. However, normal soul masters couldn’t even come near this region without being discovered by the aerial surveillance soul tools, so only he could conceal himself while maintaining himself at such a height.

I’ll take this chance! If it doesn’t work, then I’ll run.

Huo Yuhao had become a lot more courageous after the Skydream Iceworm had reminded him of the “beneﬁts” that the Beast God’s reverse scale could bring him.

Huo Yuhao plunged downwards quickly, and immediately changed directions towards the side after he dropped to about two thousand meters. He didn’t remove the effects of Imitation and his Spiritual Interference Domain because that would have been too obvious – his enemies might not be tricked if they were smart.

He ﬂew across their ﬂanks, and the oscillation detector that the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer on the leftmost side was holding had a reaction.

“Over here!” He immediately informed his partners with his communication soul tool. A heavy black cannon instantly appeared on his shoulders, and he ﬁred off a shot in Huo Yuhao’s direction according to the location shown to him by his oscillation detector.

A bolt of bluish-purple light ﬁred out. Huo Yuhao’s opponent’s prediction was very accurate – if Huo Yuhao had continued ﬂying forward, he would have very likely collided with this cannon shell.

Class 6 Lightning Cannon – ﬁerce!

The Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineers who were responsible for intelligence and detection were the strongest ones. Previously, Huo Yuhao had discovered that two soul engineers among his ﬁve enemies were Class 7 soul engineers who were also Soul Sages, while the other three were Class 6 soul engineers.

There was hardly anybody in the world better than Huo Yuhao at prediction. Huo Yuhao’s frame suddenly halted midair as the cannon shell closed in on him, and the wings behind his back closed up before he began plunging downwards in freefall.

Huo Yuhao had used this move very often, and its effectiveness was time-tested. Normal soul masters didn’t dare to behave like him – dropping down was easy, but stopping the

freefall would create such a heavy load that their bodies couldn’t take the pressure even if they had enough soul power.

“Boom –” An intense explosion cracked open above his head, and large swathes of lightning bolts covered several hundred square meters around him. If Huo Yuhao’s reaction had been a little slower, he would have immediately been struck by those lightning bolts.

The other soul engineers had reacted by then, and they were swiftly moving to outﬂank him.

Of course, Huo Yuhao wouldn’t just defend passively. He wasn’t just a soul master – he was also a soul engineer!

A sphere of brilliant blue light surged from his chest as he fell. One could tell upon closer inspection that there was a necklace hanging around his neck, and the pendant was what was shining with blue light.

This pendant seemed as large as a pigeon’s egg. It could only be seen through his clothes, but one could still see the radiant

and brilliant blue light that was apparently from a soul tool crafted with Starlight Sapphire as its main body.

Light ﬂashed again and again as blue light swiftly covered Huo Yuhao’s entire body, including his head. It didn’t take long before his entire body was covered in dark blue armor.

This dark blue armor was ﬁlled with a kind of streamlined elegance, and it covered every single part of Huo Yuhao’s body. The ﬂying-type soul tool behind Huo Yuhao’s back had come off because of that, and Huo Yuhao withdrew it into his storage ring.

Three pairs of dark blue wings quickly stretched out behind his back, and ﬁred out blue light to stabilize his body. His helmet was like a dome that covered his head, and even his face was covered. There was an opening on his forehead, and there was a pale blue jewel in that opening.

Yes, this was the human-shaped soul tool that Xuan Ziwen had tailor-made for Huo Yuhao.

The Sun Moon Empire had spent the longest time researching human-type soul tools. Back then, Huo Yuhao had stolen that giant human-type soul tool.

That item ended up in Xuan Ziwen’s hands, and it was ultimately torn to pieces.

The Illustrious Virtue Hall and the Sun Moon Empire’s world of soul engineers had always been going in two directions with their research into human-shaped soul tools. One direction was towards a giant human-shaped soul tool that was represented by the Hallmaster of the Illustrious Virtue Hall, Jing Hongchen. Jing Hongchen and many soul engineers believed that soul tools could only store more soul power when they had enough volume, and only then could they possess even stronger ﬁghting strength to affect a battle.

On the other hand, Xuan Ziwen and several other soul engineers led a second direction – they wanted to minimize human-shaped soul tools.

Xuan Ziwen believed that even though giant human-shaped soul tools could have stronger and more forceful soul tools installed on them, and more Milk Bottles to store soul power

could also be attached, that large volume would become clumsy, and a source of extreme inconvenience. The giant human-shaped soul tool would become very difﬁcult to control, and they were more easily targeted and attacked by enemies. They would consume enormous amounts of soul power at the same time, and the pros didn’t outweigh the cons.

These two different schools couldn’t do anything do convince the other side, so they immersed themselves in their respective research directions.

There were more soul engineers who subscribed to the giant human-shaped soul tool, therefore this direction was the mainstream in the Illustrious Virtue Hall back then. Even though Xuan Ziwen didn’t approve of that research direction, he had had no choice but to conduct research in the same direction. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had any chances to be involved with the newest technological ﬁndings in this area.

Huo Yuhao had given the giant human-shaped soul tool to Xuan Ziwen, and it was extremely important for Xuan Ziwen’s research in soul tools. He summarized the giant human-shaped soul tool’s pros and cons, and then acted according to his own principles and combined that with the human-shaped soul tool

that Huo Yuhao had crafted back then with the Tang Sect’s mechanical techniques, and thus created his own school.

Xuan Ziwen had conducted countless experiments before he ﬁnally presented this ﬁnal product to Huo Yuhao.

Xuan Ziwen had called the human-shaped soul tool that Huo Yuhao was wearing a Class 7 soul tool. Even though it was Class 7, Xuan Ziwen was most satisﬁed with this creation amongst his many others. This product combined his own research, the Illustrious Virtue Hall’s research ﬁndings, and the Tang Sect’s mechanical techniques.

Back then, when research in human-shaped soul tools reached a certain standard, the most important point that puzzled soul engineers was how to control these soul tools.

From their perspective, soul tools could never be as agile or ﬂexible as soul masters no matter how inherently ﬂexible they were. This was one of the most important reasons why smaller human-shaped soul tools weren’t recognized or approved of.

Since they couldn’t be ﬂexible or agile enough, these soul tools could only rely on force to ﬁx their problems. Therefore, giant human-shaped soul tools were recognized.

However, once research in giant human-shaped soul tools reached a certain standard, the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineers discovered that controlling such an item wasn’t something that a single soul master could achieve by himself. Even if those soul tools could be controlled through some complex formation arrays, the human-shaped soul tool would become extremely clumsy and bulky. Moving them around on the battleﬁeld was difﬁcult, and they could only be used as soul tool forts. That meant the entire motivation for creating human-shaped soul would be lost.

Under such circumstances, the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineers thought of something to resolve this – to control large amounts of complex formation arrays so that giant human-shaped soul tools could become agile, they could only rely on an individual’s thoughts and consciousness to control those soul tools rather than one’s hands using all kinds of remotes.

However, this had a very high demand for spiritual power, and not even Class 9 soul engineers were certain to be able to meet this demand – unless they were Class 9 spiritual-type Titled Douluo; only then could they accomplish this.

However, spiritual-type Titled Douluo were very rarely seen across the continent, while most of the Sun Moon Empire’s soul masters were soul engineers. This meant spiritual-type ones were even fewer and further between. That was the reason why this research dropped into a bottleneck when it reached that point.

On the other hand, Xuan Ziwen didn’t have that problem with his research. First, he was researching small-scale versions, and soul masters could use their limbs to activate the mechanical parts in order to control them. At the same time, he didn’t give up on the idea of soul masters controlling human-shaped soul tools with their consciousness and their spiritual power. Huo Yuhao was a live spiritual-type soul master! Furthermore, he would undoubtedly be able to become a Titled Douluo in the future. At the same time, smaller human-shaped soul tools required much less spiritual power for movement. Therefore, Xuan Ziwen began to gradually craft

this particular item according to his own theories and principles.

After Huo Yuhao put on this human-shaped soul tool, the space in between his eyebrows swiftly pressed against a transparent jewel as his consciousness and thoughts swiftly translocated throughout the entire human-shaped soul tool.

In this moment, he felt as if the entire human-shaped soul tool itself had become a part of his body, and controlling it was no different from controlling his body with his mind. Furthermore, all the attachments and mechanisms within the human-shaped soul tool were all within his thoughts’ control.

Huo Yuhao hadn’t even activated his Eye of Destiny, and controlling such a Class 7 soul tool with the strength of his spiritual power was very easy.

It wasn’t because Xuan Ziwen didn’t want to create a Class 8 human-shaped soul tool – his problem was that he didn’t have sufﬁcient good materials. Another limiting factor for a small human-shaped soul tool was the user’s bodily strength and endurance. If the soul tool itself wasn’t as strong as the soul

master’s body, or if its defenses couldn’t compare to that of the user, then what use did it have?

Xuan Ziwen gave himself a marker for a Class 8 human- shaped soul tool’s defensive capability. Such an item had to at least be able to take a hit from a Titled Douluo, but the material required became a crucial problem in achieving that goal, and it was a large one at that. He couldn’t resolve this problem in his current circumstances.

Huo Yuhao’s speed was greatly boosted by with the human- shaped soul tool. He wasn’t willing to use this human-shaped soul tool in front of the White Tiger Duke.

In the end, this was something so valuable that even the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineers would be moved by it! This item also represented the product of the Tang Sect’s research into soul tools. Just like how the Sun Moon Empire would never want their high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools to end up in their enemies’ hands, Huo Yuhao would never want this soul tool’s secret to be known by others – friend and foe alike.

Three pairs of wings spurted with light, and Huo Yuhao’s body swung in midair as he instantly picked up speed. He

immediately charged towards the soul engineer who had just ﬁred a shot at him.

The position that Xuan Ziwen had given him wasn’t long- range combat – instead, it was close combat. The reason for that was because close combat was Huo Yuhao’s forte, and his strength would be boosted once more through the human- shaped soul tool, so that his ﬁghting strength and survival capability could be raised even further. This was the motivation for Xuan Ziwen in creating this soul tool.

Huo Yuhao’s speed was raised by almost one hundred percent in that moment with the help of his Class 7 human-shaped soul tool, and he reached the standards of a Soul Douluo. He managed to come close to the soul engineer who had used the Lightning Cannon within two blinks of an eye.

That soul engineer had his Lightning Cannon on his shoulder, and his oscillation detector had been focusing on Huo Yuhao’s location this entire time. He suddenly realized that there a small bright dot on his oscillation detector that was swiftly coming towards him, and he was absolutely shocked.

However, he was a veteran soul engineer, and his reactions were also incredibly quick. He had no time to withdraw the oscillation detector in his hands – he opened his hands and immediately threw it away. At the same time, a white barrier immediately emerged outward with his body as the center.

Class 7 protective soul barrier – this was a Class 7 soul engineer.

That wasn’t all. A layer of golden light glowed on his body immediately afterwards. He was the leader of this ﬁve-man team, and he even carried an Invincible Barrier that could only be used once.

This item wasn’t standard issue in the Sun Moon Empire because it was simply too expensive. He had crafted it himself after saving up enough for the materials.

Huo Yuhao’s speed had astonished him, because that speed could only mean that his enemy was a Soul Douluo. He didn’t want to be obliterated in one hit, so he acted decisively, and used his Invincible Barrier.

However, what he didn’t expect was that the heavy hit in his imagination never came. The light suddenly plunged down when it was about a hundred meters away from him, and the oscillation detector that had fallen from his hands from before suddenly vanished in midair. Afterwards, the light began

dashing towards his ﬂank at an incredible speed.

“Watch out, Little Four!” He began to shout hysterically.

Yes, Huo Yuhao didn’t attack him, because attacking a Class 7 soul engineer who was using a Class 7 Invincible Barrier took too much energy and effort. Invincible Barriers could only be sustained for a very limited duration, so why would he waste his time?

Huo Yuhao managed to grab the oscillation detector. What a fantastic toy. This is a Class 6 soul tool! No, it’s not a Class 6 soul tool, because it wouldn’t be able to have a range like it did just now.

Huo Yuhao thought to himself in admiration as he raced one thousand meters horizontally, and arrived in front of another soul engineer.

This soul engineer’s reaction was very quick as well. He swiftly withdrew his oscillation detector and activated his protective soul barrier at the same time. He opened his hands, and two light blades stretched out from his hands. He swung them around very quickly, and they cocooned his entire body

like a sphere.

He was actually a close-combat soul engineer, and he seemed like he was quite strong. Six soul rings glowed on his body – two yellow, three purple, and one black.

Real battle wasn’t like a practice ﬁght. Nobody would feel like conserving their soul skills during crucial moments, and this soul engineer behaved in the same manner. The soul ring that lit up on his body was the last and sixth one – his black soul ring.

An enormous white sphere emerged from behind his back. It seemed like a white turtle shell. There were countless patterns on its surface, and this turtle shell swiftly transformed into pieces that began waltzing around this close-combat soul engineer – a shield formation.

A defense-type soul engineer similar to third senior brother? He uses his martial soul for defense and soul tools for offence – not a bad choice. He lives up to his status as one of the Sun Moon Empire’s elites. There aren’t many soul engineers and soldiers that the Sun Moon Empire has left guarding the Ming Dou Mountain Range, but they are all the elites, and quality has been used to resolve the problem of quantity.

But can defenses like that stop me?

This soul engineer was all tensed up as he activated both his defensive and offensive capabilities. The others were swiftly coming closer to him, and they only needed three seconds. He would only have to defend himself for three seconds before reinforcements would arrive!

Three seconds! Just three seconds!

This Class 6 soul engineer was very conﬁdent in himself. His enemy didn’t attack his team leader, who was a Class 7 soul engineer, and that meant he wasn’t conﬁdent of doing so. Since that was the case, his enemy shouldn’t be stronger than his team leader, or perhaps he was just a little stronger. With

my defensive abilities, how can I not be able to hang on for three seconds?

His judgment was actually very accurate. In terms of soul power, Huo Yuhao’s standard was similar to that of his team leader. They were both Soul Sages – but could their strengths be the same as well?

Huo Yuhao had obliterated an eight-ringed evil soul master when he only had ﬁve rings. When he had just obtained his seventh ring, he managed to kill a hundred thousand year Evileye Tyrant. How could power such as that be measured purely with soul power?

A crack seemed to suddenly appear in midair. This crack wasn’t very obvious, and the Class 6 soul engineer could only see a sharp claw that seemed to appear out of nowhere, along with a dark golden shadow that carried a stiﬂing sharpness, and ﬂash by in front of him in the next moment.

He was still swinging his blades effortfully. However, he suddenly felt his body going cold, as if everything had become different. All the clouds and mountains seemed to freeze, and

everything that he had been able to control could no longer be controlled.

This is…

He was stunned momentarily, and he realized in the next moment that he was falling from the sky, in freefall. It’s so dark! Why can’t I see anything anymore…

Yes, a sharp claw did come out from the sky – there was only one, and it was a dark gold, razor-sharp claw! Huo Yuhao’s Darkgolden Terrorclaw!

Frightening sharpness tore his enemy’s body apart in an instant – naturally, his enemy couldn’t control anything anymore.

Huo Yuhao’s Darkgolden Terrorclaw in his right hand had power comparable to a strike from a ten thousand year Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear’s all-out attack, along with his increasing prowess. How could explosive power that came so quickly be something that a Soul Emperor, a Class 6 soul engineer, could resist? Even eight-ringed Soul Douluo would

feel afraid when Huo Yuhao was near them, let alone soul engineers.

Huo Yuhao succeeded with one hit, and the dark gold light disappeared after a single ﬂash. Terrifying soul rays and cannons condensed into a hurricane immediately erupted towards where Huo Yuhao had attacked from. However, he was already far from that location, and every explosion and attack didn’t affect him at all.

Instant Teleportation! The skill that belonged to his left leg bone. He had already used Instant Teleportation in the moment right after he made his attack, and Huo Yuhao didn’t even bother observing that Class 6 soul engineer that he had just attacked. What soul barrier, light blades, ten thousand year defensive soul skills – in the face of his Darkgolden Terrorclaw that had been infused with soul power and spiritual power, all of those meant nothing.

“He’s over there!” The remaining four soul engineers quickly found Huo Yuhao’s location with their oscillation detectors. However, Huo Yuhao was simply moving too quickly.

He rushed towards another Soul Emperor with a few explosive ﬂashes before the four of them could surround him, and managed to break out in the end with Imitation.

Two Soul Sages and two Soul Emperors – those were his four remaining opponents.

Huo Yuhao turned and stared at a Class 7 soul engineer who had a piercing cannon on his shoulders as he was bolting forward.

In the next moment, all this Class 7 soul engineer could see was blinding purplish-golden light.

“Boom!” A crackling boom appeared in his head, and the three others looked on in utter astonishment as this Class 7 Soul Sage’s head suddenly exploded. Red and white parts splattered and ﬂew in all directions – he didn’t even get to ﬁre his piercing cannon before his body plummeted towards the ground like a falling rock.

This sudden change in circumstance shocked the other three, while at this very moment, Huo Yuhao collided into the Soul

Emperor that he was targeting.

Chapter 445: Empyreal Flame

There were lights like ﬂowing lines all over the dark blue armor, and Huo Yuhao used Darkgolden Terrorclaw yet again. Across the sky! Torn! Death!

The armor on Huo Yuhao’s hands split open according to his will when he was unleashing Darkgolden Terrorclaw, and it ﬂipped backwards onto his wrist and transformed into heavier bracers.

Xuan Ziwen had named this human-shaped soul tool the Solo Battle Armor, and the only problem with this soul tool was that it couldn’t amplify some of Huo Yuhao’s offensive abilities. For instance, Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice and Darkgolden Terrorclaw were too destructive, and the suit probably couldn’t take that level of power when he unleashed everything at full strength.

Therefore, Xuan Ziwen placed extra emphasis and effort on speed and defense when he was building this soul tool – especially speed. This was a Class 7 soul tool, and it could erupt with an eight-ringed Soul Douluo’s top speed. Even Titled Douluo would have to put in some effort if they wanted to catch up to Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao’s formidable ﬁghting strength became even more conspicuous by relying on this terrifying speed.

Huo Yuhao had killed three out of ﬁve men within a few blinks of the eye, and the two other soul engineers were not idiots. They didn’t have to speak to each other as they both turned tail and ran back towards the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

Huo Yuhao didn’t chase them. Even though he had taken three people down so quickly, his expression became very solemn – that was because he could see ten dark blue shadows ﬂying towards him at breakneck speed. Huo Yuhao could tell from their soul power undulations that those ten who followed behind were much stronger than the ﬁve who had come before.

More importantly, Huo Yuhao was acquainted with them – weren’t they part of the Evil Tyrant Legion, which was a beast lord-ranked legion that was most adept at speed, who were also part of the Hand that Protects the Nation?

They were all Soul Sages, at least – Nine Soul Sages and a Soul Douluo? Huo Yuhao quickly judged his enemies’ strength with Spiritual Detection.

Fierce! Thy must be the real elites of the Evil Tyrant Legion.

Even though Huo Yuhao was very conﬁdent, he wasn’t willing to face off against enemies like that. He wouldn’t be afraid if they were coming at him one by one, and the Soul Douluo was no exception. However, the most frightening feature of the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions was the chemistry they had with each other with their soul tools. They would be able to amplify their ﬁghting strength by several times once they began to work together, and the ten of them together probably had strength comparable to a Titled Douluo. That wasn’t something that he wanted to face.

I can’t delay any longer!

Thoughts spun like lightning in his head, and he surged into the air once more. He rose into the sky much faster than before due to his Solo Battle Armor. Furthermore, his armor itself provided him with extra protection.

Huo Yuhao activated Imitation and Spiritual Interference Domain once more. The soul engineers from the Evil Tyrant Legion hadn’t come near, and they wouldn’t be able to detect his actual location if they didn’t have oscillation detectors.

The biggest problem when ﬁghting against soul engineers was when they were able lock onto their opponents. Especially in one-versus-one situations, a soul engineer’s opponent would only become a target if the soul engineer managed to lock onto his or her opponent. Huo Yuhao didn’t have a hobby like that.

Seven other high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools had arrived, and the nine remaining ones were still in the process of ﬂying over. However, Huo Yuhao knew that he couldn’t wait any longer, and he couldn’t possibly bring away all twenty-two of them.

I’ll take whatever I can – I can’t be greedy anymore, and safety is always ﬁrst.

Those ten members of the Evil Tyrant Legion were bearing down on him very quickly. They were part of the Dagger section that the Manic Bull Douluo Wang Yiheng had ordered out into battle. There were only ﬁve teams like that in the Evil

Tyrant Legion, and they were the legion’s core ﬁghting strength. They were also directly commanded by Wang Yiheng

– they were the best of the best!

The two soul engineers who were running away quickly rendezvoused with the ten of them, and they swiftly took out their oscillation detectors as they chased in Huo Yuhao’s direction.

This mobilization displayed their tremendous cooperative abilities.

The ten members from the Dagger section swiftly dispersed, and then separated even further away from each other than the ﬁrst ﬁve soul engineers. Their oscillation detectors seemed to be more effective, and they immediately discovered Huo Yuhao’s ﬁgure in the next moment.

“Up there.”

Two of them stopped, and an enormous cannon that was two meters long and had an opening that was at least a foot in diameter appeared on each of their shoulders.

These two cannons were aimed at Huo Yuhao’s location, which they had just discovered, and they quickly ﬁred off.

Two enormous silver beams of light surged into the air and came straight for Huo Yuhao.

Shock bombs! Huo Yuhao could immediately tell that they were Class 7 shock bombs. These things weren’t toys – their most unique quality was how wide their area of effect could reach. Furthermore, everyone would be affected if they found themselves within the shock bomb’s area of effect no matter what level of cultivation they had. Their enemies would come once they were rendered sluggish and slow-moving.

The other eight quickly raised their speed to the highest possible level and began surrounding Huo Yuhao’s position.

Huo Yuhao’s eyes became increasingly determined faced with this situation; it wasn’t as if he hadn’t encountered even more challenging circumstances. The stronger his opponents were, the more his potential was stimulated – ever since he became a Soul Sage, he still hadn’t given his all in a battle. This was true

even against that Evileye Tyrant; the Evileye Tyrant couldn’t take an attack with his full strength!

Huo Yuhao paused in midair, and a white shadow separated from his body in the next moment. Two dark blue light blades ﬂickered faintly in the sky.

The two shock bombs that were hurtling through the air paused in the sky, and intense explosions that carried countless silver rays blanketed an enormous area of effect in the next moment.

Unparalleled Chill, Empress’ Sword!

The Snow Lady levitated in the sky. One could tell from her gorgeous frame that she was about thirteen or fourteen years of age, and her ice-cold features emanated noble and elegant qualities. She was just hovering silently in the night sky, but she gave others a feeling of formless beauty.

The two shock bombs exploding didn’t impede Huo Yuhao at all. Instead, they stopped the other members of the Evil Tyrant

Legion’s Dagger section because they had exploded prematurely.

They weren’t willing to commit when facing off against a powerful enemy such as Huo Yuhao – what if they were ambushed by their enemy? They could only wait for a few seconds, and then continued charging forward only after the shock bombs’ effects had dissipated.

Several dozen blue soul rays went straight for the Snow Lady. They hadn’t seen what their opponent looked like from the beginning to the end, and they didn’t have time to communicate with the two soul engineers from before who had retreated. Naturally, they considered the Snow Lady as their enemy when she appeared – even though she didn’t quite seem like their enemy because she was looked thirteen or fourteen, they weren’t willing to let anyone go even if they had to kill the wrong people.

The Snow Lady hovered in midair, and swung her large sleeves as a clean white circle appeared and transformed into countless ice crystals in the sky. These ice crystals were smooth like mirrors, and even more strangely, every single ice crystal seemed to block a single soul ray just right.

These ice crystals didn’t clash head-on with the soul rays. After every soul ray was blocked by an ice crystal, they were refracted, and the ice crystals melted while the soul rays dispersed in all directions. Not a single one could even come close to the Snow Lady!

Who could compare to the Snow Empress and the Ice Empress in terms of controlling ice and snow? The Snow Lady’s strength grew along with Huo Yuhao’s own. Ever since the Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass had fused with him, Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice had sublimated, and the Snow Lady’s recovery had been catalyzed. Huo Yuhao wasn’t sure whether the Snow Lady would become the Snow Empress one day, or whether she could have the Snow Empress’ peak strength. But at least from what the situation seemed like now, that was still a possibility. If that did occur, the Snow Empress herself could rival an Ultimate Douluo.

The Snow Lady’s strength exceeded the soul engineers’ expectations – but their attacks had just begun.

“Concentrate our beams!” The team leader exclaimed – they couldn’t be bothered with being kind and taking pity on women anymore. They had to take their opponent down before anything else!

Blue rays were ﬁred again one after another. However, they were not aimed directly at the Snow Lady – instead, they were focused on a single point in the sky. All ten team members’ thoughts were as one, and soul rays that were as thick as an arm ﬁred after they concentrated on one point. The dark blue beam they created didn’t become thicker, but became a lot thinner instead. It surged across the sky and arrived in front of the Snow Lady in an instant.

The Snow Lady’s expression became a little more solemn. She reached out with her right hand, and her palm became a patch of icy blue. She pressed at the air in the sky and clashed with the soul ray.

“Brrng!” A strange chime rang out in the sky. In the next moment, the Snow Lady’s beautiful frame became a little more illusory. However, the soul ray also dissipated at the same time.

The ten soul engineers were stunned speechless. This attack had concentrated soul rays from nine Class 7 soul engineers and a Class 8 soul engineer – even though the soul ray itself wasn’t powerful, ten stacked together was absolutely comparable to an all-out attack from a Soul Douluo. Yet it seemed like this little girl who looked like she was only

thirteen or fourteen managed to block this attack. What was happening?

What they didn’t see was that Huo Yuhao, who had concealed himself, trembled when the Snow Lady took this hit.

The Snow Lady’s strength came from him. However, the Snow Empress herself was strong, and the Snow Lady had the Snow Empress’ imprint. Thus, she could channel part of her own strength as well.

The Snow Lady had used Snowless Glacier in that attack. Even if she was facing a soul master, not even Soul Douluo would have a good time clashing head-on with this attack. However, soul tools were different from soul masters in the end, and an attack that came purely from soul power caused the intense chill contained within Snowless Glacier to be ineffective. This meant the Snow Lady and Huo Yuhao had suffered a hidden loss.

The Snow Lady began spinning around in midair. Her long, pure white dress danced as large patches of snowﬂakes dispersed through the air and cocooned around her beautiful frame. Empress’ Chill, in addition to Huo Yuhao’s Domain of

Perpetual Ice, immediately transformed into the Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice.

The temperature at that altitude was low in the ﬁrst place. Even though there wasn’t much water in the air, the temperature still plummeted once his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice was released. The soul engineers that were about to launch another follow-up attack couldn’t help but feel their bodies move a little sluggishly as every one of them activated their protective soul barriers to defend themselves.

So cold! They all felt the same thing at the same time. More frighteningly, the young lady’s ﬁgure had disappeared into the large swathes of snowﬂakes.

Huo Yuhao had risen to an even higher altitude under the Snow Lady’s cover, and the high altitude aerial surveillance tools were now within his reach.

The Snow Lady was directing his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice, and that meant its effects were not as good as if he had been the one directing it. However, delaying his enemies for a short while was sufﬁcient.

That was because his soul and spiritual power had an extremely high degree of integration, and he could thus leave a stream of his own spiritual power to the Snow Lady. Only then could they separate from each other for longer distances – otherwise, the Snow Lady couldn’t do even battle when she was so far away from him.

There were nine – nine more high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools had arrived, and these represented enormous wealth in addition to what Huo Yuhao had collected earlier on.

Huo Yuhao accelerated with everything he had, and ﬁnally arrived in front of those high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools with a few ﬂashes and ﬂickers. He didn’t hesitate at all, and his Starlight Sapphire storage ring ﬂickered as he swiftly pocketed those soul tools one after another.

But right at this moment, he suddenly felt an intense wave of alarm as he looked down subconsciously – what he saw was a sphere of scorching heat that seemed like the sun as its light erupted viciously.

Oh, no.

Huo Yuhao channeled his consciousness and swiftly summoned the Snow Lady.

The Snow Lady transformed into a beam of ﬂowing light as she surged up into the sky. However, Huo Yuhao could still feel that his soul power was leaking out at a crazy rate. Furthermore, he could feel waves of weakness in his spiritual power.

The Snow Lady was a Spirit, and she couldn’t truly die. However, Huo Yuhao was the one who had to expend energy when she was attacked. In some sense, Spirits were a soul master’s partial avatars. A soul master would be severely injured if their Spirits died, and nobody knew how long a soul master would need to reaggregate those Spirits. At least, Huo Yuhao didn’t want to have that kind of experience.

A strange little ﬂower peeked out from Huo Yuhao’s shoulder. Circles of icy-blue light blanketed the area below him and met with the Snow Lady – yes, it was the Star Anise making its move.

The rolling heatwaves that were rising up from beneath were blocked for a moment with the Star Anise’s help, and only then did the Snow Lady transform into a ray of light before she reintegrated into Huo Yuhao’s body.

Huo Yuhao couldn’t help but draw a cold breath as he watched that sudden beam of intense light, which had erupted all too suddenly and resembled the sun. So powerful? Who has come? Such a terrifying attack – is he crazy?

Huo Yuhao no longer continued to wait for the other high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools to arrive, and immediately turned to run. He activated all his soul power and transformed into a beam of light as he went straight for the Star Luo Empire’s camp.

There was only one possibility for someone to create such a disturbance – a Class 9 soul engineer had arrived. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao hadn’t discovered his enemy with his spiritual power. This meant that his enemy possibly carried soul tools that impeded his Spiritual Detection. An opponent like that was something that he absolutely couldn’t ﬁght against.

Right at this moment, spheres of ﬁery light suddenly blasted into the sky. Every single one of these ﬁreballs was at least one meter in diameter, and several hundred of them rose into the sky in the blink of an eye. They lit up the entire area, and every ﬁreball seemed like a tiny little sun that shone with searing brilliance. A tall and muscular ﬁgure rose from below at the same time and with incredible speed.

“He can’t escape!” An awe-inspiring growl could be heard. The Manic Bull Douluo, Wang Yiheng, was already in the sky. Huo Yuhao hadn’t seen him do anything at all, but those

ﬁreballs that rose into the sky erupted with beams of ﬁery light that swiftly congregated into an enormous ﬂaming web. There were faint rippling distortions in the air – this web of ﬁre perfectly blocked off Huo Yuhao’s escape path

Such a powerful soul engineer! He must be Class 9.

Huo Yuhao didn’t stop at all. For his current situation, there was only one solution against such a circumstance, and that was to force his way out. He would be in deep trouble if he couldn’t break out of this.

He stopped using Imitation, and his ﬁgure emerged from the air. The temperature in the air was very high due to the looming web of ﬁre, but Huo Yuhao didn’t release his Ultimate Ice to combat the heat because that would exacerbate his energy consumption. The Star Anise Mysterious Ice Grass released faint icy-blue hues that covered his entire body, and these layers completely cut off the intense heat from his surroundings.

The Star Anise was no good at offense, but its auxiliary and support effects were extraordinary.

The Manic Bull Douluo was momentarily stunned when Huo Yuhao revealed himself with his human-shaped soul tool. A human-shaped soul tool? Can that actually be a human-shaped soul tool? Since when has the Star Luo Empire’s research into soul tools reached such a standard?

He was surprised, but his movements didn’t slow. The ﬁery web wove through the sky, and the large ﬁreballs rapidly switched positions as the ﬂaming web came down directly on Huo Yuhao to garrote him.

Wang Yiheng’s martial soul was quite strong in the ﬁrst place. He pursued high explosiveness, power, and intense heat when he was doing his own research into soul tools. He had a pure desire for destructiveness.

He managed to become commander of one of the legions that belonged to the Hand that Protects the Nation, so it wasn’t hard to imagine his prowess. Even if he wasn’t as powerful as the Starsky Douluo, Ye Yulin, he wasn’t that much weaker.

The soul tool that he was currently using was called Empyrean Blaze, and it was his own creation. It was formed from three hundred and sixty-ﬁve empyrean pearls, and every

pearl was under his control. He himself was the center of this formation.

The Empyrean Blaze was roughly ranked between number ten and number twelve amongst the other Class 9 soul tools.

One should never disregard it because it was ranked after number ten. This ranking system also considered stationary soul cannon shells, and Wang Yiheng had only attained the status that he had now because of his Empyrean Blaze.

High altitude aerial surveillance soul tools were far too important. That was the reason why he used his signature move from the get-go.

Of course, the Snow Empress’ original strength wasn’t something that he could match up to. But what the current Snow Lady could muster was too weak. Huo Yuhao wasn’t the one directing his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice, and it was directly broken through under the throttling burn of Wang Yiheng’s empyrean Blaze. The ﬁery web was sweeping down upon him at this moment – the Empyrean Blaze was most adept at control and incineration, and it controlled the entire situation.

Huo Yuhao’s mind was clear as he took a deep breath. He didn’t show any timidity at all as his Eye of Destiny opened on his forehead. The blue jewel on his Solo Battle Armor’s forehead immediately glowed, and strange soul power undulations rippled outward. In the next moment, a brilliant purple beam cut across the skies as it burst out like a lightning bolt. The purple beam turned rose-gold the moment it left the jewel, and stretched across the skies. Not even the Empyrean Blaze could block it – not even a little bit – and it immediately appeared before Wang Yiheng.

Wang Yiheng belonged to the younger and more vigorous generation of soul engineers amongst the Class 9 soul engineers. He had many insights into the newest technology, and he was also ferociously strong at the same time. He could immediately tell that something wasn’t right when Huo Yuhao made his move – is that a pure spiritual-type attack?

A pure white headband suddenly appeared on Wang Yiheng’s head. Seven silver jewels formed the front of this headband, and these jewels suddenly erupted with brilliant light under Wang Yiheng’s control as they transformed into a silver shield that protected him behind it.

The rose-gold beam struck this shield, and the shield quivered faintly before the rose-gold beam dissipated into nothingness.

Far into the distance, that jewel on Huo Yuhao’s Solo Battle Armor exploded into smithereens with a bang. He didn’t turn back as he charged in the direction of the Empyrean Blaze.

Wang Yiheng was clearly a little lackadaisical at this moment, and his head suddenly arched backward as if someone had clipped him heavily on the face. The silver shield before him and the headband on his head disintegrated at the same time.

Wang Yiheng could feel intense dizziness in his head. That frightening wave of spiritual power was like a drill as it pierced deep into his brain, and he immediately lost control of the Empyrean Blaze, while the ﬂames were greatly reduced in that instant.

Huo Yuhao leveraged this short window of opportunity, and his three pairs of wings glowed radiantly as they carried him towards the outside. Another layer of diamond ice crystals

covered his Solo Battle Armor at the same time to protect him from the intense heat.

He was almost at the edge of the Empyrean Blaze.

Wang Yiheng managed to recover at this moment. Such powerful spiritual power! Even though he felt a wave of terror in his heart, he didn’t slow down in his control of his Empyrean Blaze. The dimming ﬂames became searing hot once more, and more than ten empyrean pearls went straight for Huo Yuhao’s position to lock him down.

Huo Yuhao disappeared in a ﬂash – Instant Teleportation. He escaped the empyrean pearls’ area of effect in a blink, and escaped from the Empyrean Blaze’s entrapment.

However, Wang Yiheng wasn’t by himself; the Dagger Section’s other team members were still outside. They had been observing Huo Yuhao’s movements this entire time. They saw that he had actually broken out, and large amounts of soul rays and soul cannons instantly assaulted him like a hurricane.

Huo Yuaho’s seven soul rings glimmered into view, and his ﬁfth soul ring shimmered as he switched positions with one of the Dagger Section’s members in the distance.

Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection covered the entire area even though he was mired in danger. He had chosen this person a long time ago, and his target was the section’s leader – the Soul Douluo, the Class 8 soul engineer!

This Soul Douluo became the target of the hurricane once their positions were switched. The Empyrean Blaze was behind him, and his teammates’ powerful attacks were in front of him. The Class 8 soul engineer himself was greatly astonished.

Huo Yuhao didn’t stay to ﬁght after he switched positions with him, and a rose-gold circle suddenly radiated outward with his head at the center.

Spiritual Blast – a skill carried by the Three-Eyed Golden Lion’s skull!

Every single Class 7 soul engineer suffered the same outcome after they took a hit from Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Blast, which

was unleashed from his Eye of Destiny. They lost control of their bodies in an instant and plummeted towards the ground.

Huo Yuhao didn’t give everything he had in this attack so that he could escape successfully. After all, he had used his full strength when he had attacked Wang Yiheng with Spiritual Shock, and he had to leave some strength to retreat at a time like this.

Huo Yuhao turned and ﬂew away as he continued to escape while he unleashed Spiritual Blast.

Huo Yuhao had duplicated Xuanwu Displacement from Xu Sanshi, and it created unexpected effects every time he used it. It lived up to its name as one of a defense-type soul master’s legendary soul skills!

Wang Yieheng unleashed his immense prowess as a Class 9 soul engineer at this moment.

The empyrean pearls that were originally targeting Huo Yuhao suddenly stretched out and ﬂew around the eight-ringed Soul Douluo’s body. Not only did they not hurt him – they wrapped around in front of him and blocked the attacks from the Dagger Section’s other nine members. This control of the Empyrean Blaze was just perfect.

What a cunning fellow! Wang Yiheng’s face blackened. He didn’t go ahead to rescue the Class 7 soul engineers who were plummeting towards the ground, because those people had clearly awakened during their freefall. They were working hard to control their bodies, but they weren’t in much danger even though they were cutting very sorry ﬁgures.

Three hundred and sixty-ﬁve pearls bolted toward Huo Yuhao like shooting stars under Wang Yiheng’s control. These ﬁery shooting stars weren’t just blindly attacking – instead, they seemed to resemble a web that was stretching out as they closed in around him. Wang Yiheng also made his move as he accelerated in pursuit as fast as he could.

Huo Yuhao was trying to run away, but he didn’t forget to retrieve his long-range soul controller to detonate the high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools that he didn’t have time to take away.

A series of explosions could be heard from behind. Wang Yiheng didn’t have to look to know what had happened, and his expression became incredibly malevolent. He didn’t have to ask to know that those high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools that they had lost contact with probably didn’t end well.

Bastard! This bastard! I’ll kill him!

The Empyrean Blaze was simply too quick. Huo Yuhao was already using his full strength, but the Empyrean Blaze was still continuously bearing down on him. The scorching heat and sweltering air kept gaining on him, but the temperature didn’t affect Huo Yuhao much, because he relied on his Ice Empress’ Armor and his Solo Battle Armor for protection. What he had to do now was accelerate, accelerate, accelerate!

Huo Yuhao was quite near the Star Luo Empire’s Northwestern Field Army. He only had to keep this up for just a little while more before his problems would end.

“Close!” Wang Yiheng exclaimed, and the Empyrean Blaze suddenly expanded before it abruptly accelerated and closed up. Wang Yiheng used almost ten percent of his soul power for this move.

However, Huo Yuhao’s ﬁgure also suddenly picked up speed at that moment. He was like a beam of ﬂowing light as he rocketed across the skies and reappeared in the distance.

He can still accelerate – that’s not possible! Only a Titled Douluo can reach that speed, but that fellow’s soul power undulations show that he’s clearly not a Titled Douluo!

Another ﬁgure appeared within Wang Yiheng’s vision, and that person turned to run along with the ﬁrst one.

Yes, Xu Sanshi was the one who came to provide support for Huo Yuhao.

Xu Sanshi had actually been waiting at a location not far from Huo Yuhao from beginning to end, and he communicated with Huo Yuhao through his Spiritual Detection. That was the

reason why he could save Huo Yuhao in the nick of time. The distance that he had suddenly covered meant that Wang Yiheng’s sudden burst of energy achieved nothing. Furthermore, he even paused for a moment in the sky because he had used too much soul power before he could continue

chasing him.

When Wang Yiheng was just starting to move again, he suddenly felt a sharp pain on the side of his face, and subconsciously glanced toward his side.

But there was nothing there; all he could see was pitch-black darkness. However, there seemed to be a poisonous snake hiding within the darkness, and this poisonous snake was just revealing its sharpest fangs and was about to swallow him whole.

Wang Yiheng didn’t know who his opponent in the darkness was. He was worried that the Star Luo Empire would make their move, as they were very close to the Star Luo Empire after all. He would have a hard time if there were several Titled Douluo waiting to ambush him in the sky – he had reinforcements from the Sun Moon Empire, but their job at the Ming Dou Mountain Range was for defense; they didn’t have enough strength for an offense.

That razor-sharp sword intent ﬁnally appeared, and Wang Yiheng felt as if the entire black sky was being torn open at that moment. The sword intent was actually vicious, and everything around it seemed to be obliterated. Yet, there seemed to be some kinds of emotions rippling through all that

obliteration – there was focus and stubbornness, there was depth and clarity.

What is this…

Wang Yiheng was a soul master and a soul engineer, but he had never felt strength such as this, as if this strength shouldn’t belong to this world at all.

Darkness blanketed him in that instant. Wang Yiheng had no choice but to use his Empyrean Blaze to defend himself. Several dozen empyrean pearls went dark in that moment, and a brilliant golden light glowed in the night sky, while the sword intent was raised to its highest possible level.

A beam of sword light cut across the skies. It disappeared in a ﬂash, and raced into the distance before it caught up with Huo

Yuhao and Xu Sanshi. This beam even seemed to carry them and accelerate.

Wang Yiheng didn’t dare to chase them. After the sword intent ﬂew across the sky after it transformed from darkness to light, his several dozen empyrean pearls that were struck began to crackle with ear-piercing shrillness. Large cracks started to appear even though they didn’t break into pieces.

Those empyrean pearls were extremely difﬁcult to forge. Even though their advantage lay in their numbers, every single one of them was a result of his blood and sweat! A single broken piece would cause him great and uncontrollable heartache.

No, that fellow…

Wang Yiheng suddenly felt that something wasn’t right after his momentary confusion. That kind of sword intent made him fearful, but the person channeling that sword intent clearly didn’t have enough strength. At least, that person didn’t have enough strength to threaten him.

I’ve been tricked!

Wang Yiheng’s Empyrean Blaze ﬁred out once more after he realized that something was amiss, and he continued chasing Huo Yuhao and Xu Sanshi. He was about to explode with anger

– they are clearly not very powerful, but they have been deceiving me again and again. Not only have they destroyed so many high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools, but they have also damaged my Empyrean Blaze. They both have to die!

Wang Yiheng used his full strength as he lashed out with his Empyrean Blaze. He transformed into an enormous bull in midair at the same time, and his ﬂying speed suddenly increased exponentially. He wasn’t using his ﬂying-type soul tool this time; he was burning his formidable soul power as a Titled Douluo.

He knew that he only had one chance to attack. If he couldn’t catch them with this strike, he would have exceeded the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s area of protection, and he could very well become his enemies’ prey if that happened. Therefore, he didn’t hold back in this attack.

Several ﬁgures shot into the sky in the distance. There were ﬁve of them, and they spaced out in a row as they each radiated with different colors.

They were all females. The girl in the center burst with bright dragon roars as a pair of enormous dragon wings stretched out behind her. She transformed into a giant dragon amidst the dragon roars, and her sixth and seventh soul rings ﬂickered at the same time.

Radiant Dragon Butterﬂy – it was Tang Wutong.

Even though her form was called Radiant Dragon Butterﬂy, her martial soul true body was presented entirely in dragon form, but there were waves and curves that resembled a butterﬂy’s wings on the edges of her dragon wings. The aura that she released wasn’t just noble and elegant – there was a feeling as if she was looking down on the entire world.

Dragon God’s Slaughter Dance! Her sixth soul skill!

An enormous shadow of a dragon emerged from her Radiant Dragon Butterﬂy true body, and it immediately transformed

into a colossal dragon that was a hundred meters long as it went straight for the Empyrean Blaze.

She wasn’t the only one who attacked. Jiang Nannan, Ye Guyi, Nan Qiuqiu, and Jing Ziyan all unleashed their strongest soul skills.

A large pink python glimmered behind Jiang Nannan’s back and circled around her. Jiang Nannan transformed into beam after beam of ﬂowing light as she dashed out closely behind Tang Wutong. The white light that she had shifted into seemed like the Radiant Dragon Butterﬂy’s outer garment, and they combined together just like that.

The empyrean pearls that were at the forefront collided with Jiang Nannan’s martial soul true body. They were actually bounced away by some kind of ﬂexible strength, and their ﬁery strength was not released at all, as if they had been cut off.

The Dragon God’s Slaughter Dance erupted with eye-catching purple light, and large swathes of empyrean pearls were blocked off just like that. Tang Wutong used action to prove her formidable strength to everyone, and not even Huo Yuhao had fought with her face-to-face before this. She was forcefully

blocking a Class 9 soul engineer’s signature Class 9 soul tool! She could be proud of herself even if she could only hold on for a little while.

Ye Guyi’s expression was solemn as she clasped her hands above her head. Her Holy Sword radiated with intense light as her four angel wings stretched out behind her back. Immense light power aggregated as her beautiful frame suddenly ﬂew forward. Nan Qiuqiu disappeared behind her in a ﬂash.

Ye Guyi overtook Tang Wutong’s position in the next moment, and she ﬂew toward a higher altitude.

Her Radiant Holy Sword resembled a rainbow as it slashed down towards the Manic Bull Douluo, Wang Yiheng.

Wang Yiheng waved his right hand, and a dozen empyrean pearls went for the Holy Sword. The Holy Sword’s radiance was bounced away, but the empyrean pearls’ glow was evidently dimmer than before.

Wang Yiheng could feel his heart aching! How can these soul masters, who still seem quite young, have such powerful

attacking strength?

He wasn’t done lamenting when a pinkish beam of light swept up those empyrean pearls after it ﬂickered from behind the Holy Sword.

Something that made Wang Yiheng absolutely astonished happened – the ﬂames on his empyrean pearls dimmed, and their explosive strength immediately disappeared. Those pearls began to plummet toward the ground like that, and he couldn’t even communicate with them anymore. What was happening?

A patch of fog swept over and pulled both Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu back. Jiang Nannan retreated as well, and landed back beside Tang Wutong.

The Dragon God’s Slaughter Dance was also reaching its end, and the Empyrean Blaze ﬁnally broke through the enormous dragon shadow.

In terms of cultivation, Huo Yuhao and the others were all a far cry from the Manic Bull Douluo. However, every single one

of them was the best of the best. They supported each other again and again as all eight of them came together, and the ﬁve girls’ assault was like tidal waves as they forcefully blockaded Wang Yiheng.

I can’t hold back any longer. Wang Yiheng watched as the three people who were running away before this stood their ground, and all eight of them no longer attempted to escape even though they were facing him. He felt a chill run down his spine.

He suddenly realized that he had exceeded the area of protection offered by the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s long- range soul tools, and this meant that he could no longer receive any reinforcements here.

Chapter 446: Exterminate the Raging Bull! Asura Yuhao!

When Huo Yuhao was ﬂeeing earlier, he wasn’t struck by the attacks of the long-range soul tools that were installed in the Ming Dou Mountain Range. The main reason was that they couldn’t accurately determine his position. Otherwise, the Mad Bull Douluo wouldn’t have intervened. Currently, the furthest attack could only reach thirty kilometers. Of course, this wasn’t considering stationary soul cannon shells. If there were stationary soul cannon shells, a further range could be achieved. However, soul tools must be able to lock onto the enemy ﬁrst. Their aerial surveillance soul tools were kept close to the Ming Dou Mountain Range as the Star Luo Empire’s troops inched closer and closer, minimizing losses and damages. This was why their control at further ranges wasn’t sufﬁcient.

When Huo Yuhao came up with his plan, he had already considered everything. This was why he was reinforced by Xu Sanshi at the extreme boundary of the effective range of their ultra-long range soul tools. Even if the ultra-long range soul tools could react in time and ﬁre attacks at them, they would have enough time to escape as the cannon shells traveled towards them. The others were also naturally reinforcing him

outside the boundaries of the effective range of the ultra-long range soul tools.

So what if there was a Titled Douluo? They were eight against one. Huo Yuhao wasn’t afraid at all.

From the distance, streaks of dark-blue light were also ﬂying towards them at rapid speed. The Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion’s Dagger Section had already reorganized itself.

However, both Wang Yiheng and the soul engineers from this Dagger Section had to keep one thing in mind. They were closer to the Star Luo Empire’s base than the Ming Dou Mountain Range right now. This meant that the Star Luo Empire’s reinforcements might appear at any time. They might even be lying in ambush.

A ball of blue light was ﬂung into the air by Wang Yiheng. It transformed into an eyeball-shaped blue light.

When the Dagger Section saw this ball of blue light, they quickly stopped before turning around and retreating. They

were rushing back in the direction of the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

Fled?

Seeing that the Dagger Section had escaped, Huo Yuhao didn’t lower his guard at all. Instead, he became tenser. His Spiritual Detection immediately engulfed all his comrades. At the same time, he quickly drifted forward in front of everyone. Xu Sanshi followed beside him, and the rest rapidly adjusted their formation under his command.

Huo Yuhao was the furthest forward of the eight. Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan were to his left and right respectively. Tang Wutong was behind him, while Ji Juechen and Jing Ziyan were to her sides. Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu were further back. The eight of them circulated their soul power at the same time.

The Mad Bull Douluo appeared very indifferent. His Empyrean Blaze circulated around his body and took a stereoscopic form. He had turned into a huge bull and raging ﬂames were burning, causing the entire sky to be illuminated ﬁery-red.

He couldn’t advance further. Otherwise, he might not make it back. Wang Yiheng had already decided that this was going to be his last attack. No matter whether or not he could kill his enemies, he wasn’t going to remain, and would immediately return to the Ming Dou Mountain Range after this.

In the distance, seven to eight projections rose from the Star Luo Empire’s base. From the speed of their ascension and the lights, it was evident that these people were very strong.

One strike. He only had the strength for one strike!

The Mad Bull Douluo’s seventh, black soul ring shone brightly. In the next instant, he had already turned into a Mad Bull. His Empyrean Blaze was still attached to him, causing him to look like a huge bull that was more than thirty meters tall. He instantly charged towards Huo Yuhao and the rest.

The ﬁrst from Shrek Academy to strike was Ye Guyi.

Her ﬁfth and sixth soul rings lit up at the same time. Behind her, four wings shone brightly. Right now, she truly resembled an angel. Her slender ﬁgure moved rhythmically in the air, and

her huge Holy Sword turned into glaring lights that instantly detached from her hand and slashed towards the charging bull.

Her ﬁfth soul skill, Holy Sword, and her sixth soul skill, Angelic Dance!

Nan Qiuqiu made her move at almost the same time. The two of them coordinated perfectly with each other.

Nan Qiuqiu’s ﬁfth and sixth soul rings also lit up.

A long, pink sword shot into the sky and attached itself to the Holy Sword. Compared to the Holy Sword, it wasn’t very eye- catching. However, when it left Nan Qiuqiu’s grasp, the pinkish light that it exuded rapidly intensiﬁed. The sword was a pink crystal-like entity that exuded mesmerizing yet blurry pinkish lights under the illumination of the Holy Sword’s golden light.

Nan Qiuqiu clasped her hands in front of her. She wore a serious expression on her face as she pushed her hands forward. A spot of pinkish crystal that was the size of a

ﬁngernail ﬂew out. When it ﬂew out, Nan Qiuqiu’s aura seemed to weaken a little.

It was her ﬁfth soul skill, Ruby Annihilation Sword, and her sixth soul, Star of Annihilation!

The two sword lights combined and instantly landed on the bull’s body.

“Clang!” The Holy Sword was instantly crushed and turned into countless streaks of golden lights that dissipated. Following this, the Ruby Annihilation Sword was also crushed.

However, the combination of these two swords still managed to weaken the ﬂames on the Mad Bull Douluo’s body. After this, the Star of Annihilation arrived.

The immense power of Annihilation was demonstrated at this moment. The Star of Annihilation, that appeared to only be the size of a ﬁngernail, caused bright, pink light to be released as it touched the ﬂames. It imprinted itself on the Mad Bull Douluo’s forehead. It was as if a piece of crystal had grown on the Mad Bull Douluo’s head.

The pinkish lights continued to grow stronger and stronger. The size of the Star of Annihilation also rapidly grew. During this process of enlargement, it absorbed the ﬂames. The burning ﬂames were completely ineffective against the power of Annihilation.

This was…

Wang Yiheng was also shocked. It was his ﬁrst time witnessing the strength of Annihilation too. The strength of a mere Soul Emperor was actually able to weaken his Empyrean Blaze and grow at the same time. How was this possible?

The Star of Annihilation was Nan Qiuqiu’s sixth soul skill. It was also her strongest soul skill right now. However, it was different from the sixth soul skills of ordinary soul masters. Nan Qiuqiu would drain more than thirty percent of her soul power to unleash her Star of Annihilation once. She even used up ﬁfty percent of her soul power to unleash this particular strike.

The best way to deal with the Star of Annihilation was to avoid it completely. Although it was very strong, there was one

problem with it. It was that it couldn’t lock onto its opponents. It could only ﬂy forward.

However, the Empyrean Blazing Bull was too huge. Furthermore, Wang Yiheng was a very conceited person. He had no intention of avoiding the strike. Because of this, he was directly struck.

The effect of the Star of Annihilation was that it turned the enemy’s strength into its own strength. When it devoured so much strength such that it reached its limit, it would…

“Boom!” A major explosion ensued. The Empyrean Blazing Bull was rooted to his position before the ﬂames around his body started to intensify. However, he was just releasing ﬂames from his body.

To overcome the Star of Annihilation, Wang Yiheng had no other choice. He could only increase the output of his soul power. Just as he had predicted, the Star of Annihilation could be ﬁlled until it was on the verge of bursting even though it was very difﬁcult to get rid of. However, the amount of power released by the Star of Annihilation was extremely great if it were to blow apart.

Nan Qiuqiu’s abilities weren’t exceptional. However, her Star of Annihilation absorbed the strength of the Mad Bull Douluo. Given this, the Mad Bull Douluo would suffer greatly if it blew apart. The ﬂames that the Mad Bull Douluo released would also weaken signiﬁcantly.

After the two ladies completed their attacks in the air, a sonorous dragon roar sounded. The Dragon God's Slaughter Dance rose into the air once again, ﬂuttering its dazzling, purple butterﬂy wings. It charged towards the Empyrean Blazing Bull.

Huo Yuhao chose this timing. It was exactly when the Star of Annihilation had blown apart, and the Mad Bull Douluo’s reaction was slightly delayed.

The Dragon God's Slaughter Dance formed shadows and collided strongly against the Mad Bull Douluo.

Not only this, but a ball of dark-purplish haze was following the Dragon God's Slaughter Dance. This was Jing Ziyan’s sixth soul skill, Mist Powder.

The effect of her Mist Powder was very similar to the Star of Annihilation. When unleashed, the amount of soul power it drained was according to the intention of the soul master who unleashed it.

The difference was that Jing Ziyan’s Mist Powder was more thorough than the Star of Annihilation.

Because of the power of Annihilation, Nan Qiuqiu could only use ﬁfty percent of her soul power to unleash her Star of Annihilation. However, Jing Ziyan could use up to eighty percent of her soul power on her Mist Powder.

At such a time, why would Jing Ziyan conserve her power at all?

When the Dragon God's Slaughter Dance struck the Mad Bull, the purple lights had already turned golden. The sky cracked open, and countless streaks of golden light descended from the sky. They were like bolts of golden lightning that struck the Empyrean Blazing Bull’s body. Every attack that landed made the bull weaker. The continuous attacks also caused the Empyrean Blazing Bull to advance at a slower pace.

This was…

Wang Yiheng wasn’t the only one who was stunned. Everyone from Shrek Academy was astonished by what they saw. Tang Wutong had actually conserved some of her power as she unleashed her Dragon God's Slaughter Dance earlier, but she was demonstrating its true power now. It seemed like even a Soul Sage wouldn’t be capable of such a strike. It had to be at the level of a Soul Douluo.

After all, Wang Yiheng was a soul engineer. He was a Class 9 soul engineer. He didn’t have a great advantage in terms of his martial soul. This was why he resisted this series of attack using his Empyrean Blaze.

Angelic Dance, Holy Sword, Ruby Annihilation Sword, Star of Annihilation and the fully-unleashed Dragon God's Slaughter Dance greatly suppressed him.

In the next instant, his huge body had already been engulfed by a ball of mist.

The explosion of Jing Ziyan’s Mist Powder led to pyrolysis. Pyrolysis occurred from within, generating immense splitting characteristics. The mist fused and engulfed the Mad Bull Douluo before splitting!

The purplish mist instantly turned ﬁery-red in the next instant before it dissipated. However, everyone could sense that a great amount of Wang Yiheng’s soul power was robbed during this process of dissipation.

A bright ball of golden light shone on Huo Yuhao’s left. A black Xuanwu was glowing with golden light. It was the fusion of the Golden Tortoise, the Xuanwu True Body!

The viscous dark-gold light surged towards the Empyrean Blazing Bull that was getting closer and closer. This caused the bull to slow down considerably. It was the Xuanwu’s Domain! It was the Xuanwu’s Domain that had fused with a Golden Tortoise.

Water curbs ﬁre. A Xuanwu was a godly beast that possessed both the water and earth elements. Along with the enhancements that a Golden Tortoise brought to a Xuanwu, this Xuanwu’s Domain was far stronger than when Xu Sanshi unleashed it before.

The bright-golden light transformed into a shooting star that shone extremely brightly in the Xuanwu Domain.

“Boom!” Xu Sanshi, who had turned into a Xuanwu, quickly summoned his Turtle God’s Strike.

Xuanwu True Body, Xuanwu’s Domain and Turtle God’s Strike – they were Xu Sanshi’s seventh, sixth and ﬁfth soul skills respectively. Xu Sanshi unleashed his full strength as he unleashed all three of them at the same time.

The heavy collision caused more than ﬁfty empyrean pearls in front of the Empyrean Blazing Bull to be crushed. But Xu Sanshi’s Golden Xuanwu was also ﬂung backward, causing his Xuanwu’s Domain to dissipate.

This was the difference between their abilities. If Xu Sanshi were also a Titled Douluo, he would have been able to destroy Wang Yiheng with this attack.

A huge pink python started to pester and wrap itself around the Empyrean Blazing Bull just as he stopped after colliding with Xu Sanshi. It was so huge that it didn’t pale in comparison to the bull. As it wrapped itself around the bull, it managed to lock it tightly in the air.

Soft Bone Lock! This was obviously Jiang Nannan’s ﬁfth soul skill, Soft Bone Lock. Furthermore, the huge python was still releasing glaring, golden light.

Invincible Golden Body!

Jiang Nannan had actually unleashed two godly skills using her Ruby Soft Tendon Python – Soft Bone Lock and Invincible Golden Body!

Huo Yuhao, who had been calmly drifting in the air while commanding his comrades all this while, ﬁnally made his move. Two rows of nozzles appeared behind his Solo Battle Armor.

These nozzles were located at the center of the three wings of his ﬂying-type soul tool, just to the sides of his backbone. There were eighteen of them.

These eighteen nozzles instantly released bright light. Behind Huo Yuhao, Tang Wutong had already ﬂown up. She avoided these lights, whereas Huo Yuhao was like a shooting star as he charged towards Wang Yiheng.

In the air, his entire aura completely changed. The look in his eyes was both deep and gentle, as if he was ﬁlled with boundless yearning. The intense emotions he was experiencing could even be felt by the rest of his comrades around him.

A projection slowly formed behind him. This ﬁgure had ravishing looks and a slender ﬁgure. There was even a gentle smiling intent and a boundless look of longing on the face of this ﬁgure. Wasn’t she Wang Dong’er?

Right now, Tang Wutong had just risen high up in the air, and saw everything clearly. When she saw Wang Dong’er’s projection slowly forming behind Huo Yuhao, she could sense the boundless yearning that ﬁlled Huo Yuhao, and the rich emotions that he was experiencing. She was completely stunned. An indescribable sense of pain instantly coursed through her entire body. She became a little dazed as she drifted in the air.

Haodong Palm, a palm that lasted eternally!

Without using any soul skill or element, Huo Yuhao could only think of his Haodong Palm right now.

His three energies and inner emotions were fused together to form a self-invented soul skill!

The Three Ultimate Haodong Skills were undoubtedly the greatest skills that Huo Yuhao could unleash right now. On his forehead, his Eye of Destiny had long since opened. His sixth soul ring shone. His Destiny’s Demise that came from Wang Qiu’er tore apart all material defenses and bore down on the Empyrean Blazing Bull. More accurately speaking, there was only a Mad Bull right now. This was because the empyrean pearls had been crushed earlier, and were yet to be replenished.

Huo Yuhao was too quick. His instantaneous charge even caused a sonic boom.

This was different from Instant Teleportation. Instant Teleportation only enabled one to disappear and reappear in space. There wasn’t any momentum to it. However, Huo Yuhao’s charge was part of his ﬁghting strength.

His bright-golden palm carried a boundless sense of yearning and longing as it struck the Empyrean Blazing Bull’s forehead.

The massive bull paused for a moment. Following this, a layer of bright red light was unleashed from its body. The red light appeared very quickly, but also dissipated very quickly. The moment it appeared, it was as if an eggshell had engulfed the bull. However, this eggshell was crushed as quickly as it had appeared, and Huo Yuhao’s palm still managed to strike the Mad Bull’s skull.

A groan ensued, and all the ﬂames on the Empyrean Blazing Bull’s body dispersed, revealing the original form of the empyreal pearls. However, the ﬂames were soon drawn back. Even so, that split second that they had dispersed still caused more than half of them to dissipate.

Among humans, Huo Yuhao was still considered rather large. However, he was much smaller compared to the Empyrean Blazing Bull. Yet, he still managed to forcibly stop Wang Yiheng’s advance just like that.

Huo Yuhao’s eyes had already turned into two pupils. There weren’t any enemies in his eyes anymore. There were only countless projections of Wang Dong’er ﬂoating in his eyes. He gave his all in this strike, venting his frustration and

disappointment after he found out that Tang Wutong wasn’t Wang Dong’er.

This strike was the greatest strike that he had ever unleashed.

He was deﬂected back. A streak of golden light instantly shone from his Eye of Destiny.

The glaring, golden light landed on the head of the Empyrean Blazing Bull. It was very thin, but more than half of it managed to pierce through the bull’s head.

Destiny’s Adjudication! Golden Dragon Pike!

At the same time, a trace of dark intent started to silently swirl up. From the sky, golden lightning struck. There was a guy who was holding his sword with both his hands, whose sword was pointing downward! The Sword Fanatic, who had yet to make a move, ﬁnally unleashed his strongest strike.

Wang Yiheng had never expected these young Soul Sages to be so difﬁcult to deal with.

When he was pestered by the huge python earlier, he had immediately unleashed his full strength to break free. However, there seemed to be a layer of something which resembled an Invincible Barrier on the python which blocked off his attack. Before he could unleash his second attack, Huo Yuhao had already attacked him.

The protective barrier that protected him was a Blood Empyrean Barrier, a passive, defensive-type soul tool that he had personally invented. When his enemies’ attack might threaten his life, it would be immediately activated on its own.

Did my barrier malfunction? It’s only the attack of a Soul Sage. Furthermore, he’s only using his palm. How can he possibly threaten my life?

However, his barrier revealed the answer in the next moment. This was because it was crushed.

It had always been the case that defensive-type soul tools were more difﬁcult to create than offensive-type soul tools. This was because attacks could be as devastating and chaotic as possible, while a strong defense required proper materials and techniques to achieve. It was even more difﬁcult for passive defensive-type soul tools. This was why his Blood Empyrean Barrier wasn’t a Class 9 soul tool, but a Class 8 soul tool.

A Class 8 defensive-type soul tool had been crushed by a palm just like that! How powerful was it? Furthermore, its strength didn’t fall after destroying the barrier. It still continued to strike the Empyrean Blazing Bull.

At that instant, Wang Yiheng only felt that his spiritual sea had cracked. Countless illusions surfaced in his head. There were friends he once had when he was young, his ex-lovers and his elders. A sense of yearning immediately ﬂooded his brain.

The remaining strength of the Haodong Palm wasn’t very much. However, under the effect of Huo Yuhao’s Destiny Demise, Wang Yiheng’s skull was struck loose. More importantly, he couldn’t control his body after he was struck by the Haodong Palm. This was the truly terrifying part.

As a Class 9 soul engineer and Titled Douluo, Wang Yiheng’s willpower was undoubtedly very strong. He struggled to break free from such a state. However, the spiritual power that fused into his head didn’t just cause pure destruction. It was more like a trigger. It triggered the deepest yearnings in his mind.

A person would deﬁnitely have something or someone that he missed. Even Ji Juechen wasn’t an exception.

When Huo Yuhao’s Golden Dragon Pike stabbed into the Empyreal Blazing Bull’s head, the terrifying spiritual power instantly surged into Huo Yuhao’s body and replenished his drained soul power, whereas Wang Yiheng’s body was shaking tremendously. He felt that his life was in danger.

No! I don’t want to die! Wang Yiheng was screaming in his heart, and wanted to break free from such a state. However, he was a soul engineer. Given his spiritual cultivation, he couldn’t possibly compare to a Rank 90 soul master. At this moment, how could he possibly quickly break free even as he tried his best?

He was even surrounded by the massive Ruby Soft Tendon Python!

“Puff——” When darkness descends, the light delivers judgment!

The Judgment Sword fell from the sky as it carried the Sword Fanatic’s sword intent. Destiny’s Demise reduced all physical barriers to nothing. Furthermore, the Golden Dragon Pike had already wounded the Mad Bull Douluo. How could he possibly resist another attack?

The black and white sword stabbed all the way through into the bull’s head! It went completely through the bull’s skull.

Even though it was only a bull, it was still a Martial Soul True Body formed by a soul master. This wasn’t any different from stabbing Wang Yiheng’s true forehead.

No, how is this possible? How can I possibly die by the hands of such weak beings?

Wang Yiheng was indignant. He shouted with all his might and summoned his terrifying soul power once again.

The Judgment Sword and Golden Dragon Pike were both ﬂung away by this destructive intent. Huo Yuhao and Ji Juechen suffered the same fate too. The Ruby Soft Tendon Python also turned illusory and returned to Jiang Nannan’s body.

Sparks ﬂashed in the air. Empyrean pearls fell uncontrollably from the sky.

The Mad Bull Douluo had already turned into a human once again. However, his forehead had been badly wounded.

He shouted furiously and kept on struggling. His soul power kept on seeping out, but it couldn’t change the fact that he had been fatally wounded.

The life energy of a Titled Douluo was extremely terrifying. Even after suffering such a fatal injury, which was a result of the devouring power of the Golden Dragon Spear and the judgment of the Judgment Sword, Wang Yiheng was still alive.

Huo Yuhao had already regained a streak of his consciousness when the Mad Bull Douluo had completely unleashed his strength. He blocked Ji Juechen. Even though the two of them were ﬂung away, Huo Yuhao took close to ninety percent of the impact.

His Solo Battle Armor played a crucial role at this moment. It was impossible for him to block the all-out attack of a Titled Douluo, but Wang Yiheng was unable to attack given the state he was in. He could only release whatever external strength he had.

Huo Yuhao spat out a mouthful of blood, but he wasn’t too seriously injured.

Ji Juechen grabbed hold of him in the air. He didn’t thank Huo Yuhao, but only patted his shoulder.

Everyone from Shrek was scattered in the air right now. They watched as Wang Yiheng put up his ﬁnal struggle. Right now, reinforcements from the Star Luo Empire had already arrived.

The White Tiger Duke was personally here. There were also other Titled Douluo from their respective soul engineer legions.

The Star Luo Empire had too much information about Wang Yiheng, the leader of the Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion. However, they still felt a little unbelieving that Wang Yiheng had been subjected to such fatal injuries right now.

He was the leader of the Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion! He was actually surrounded and attacked by eight Soul Sages from Shrek Academy?

These Titled Douluo were conﬁdent of taking Wang Yiheng on in a close-combat ﬁght. However, they also couldn’t deny that the survivability of a soul engineer of the same tier was stronger. Would Wang Yiheng have a lack of powerful soul tools on him? His Empyrean Blaze combined offense and defense. Furthermore, he had great control over his Empyrean Blaze. However, he still…

Wang Yiheng’s struggle lasted for a few minutes in the air before he ﬁnally dropped indignantly from the sky.

Xu Sanshi was already back to his original form. He lifted his Golden Xuanwu Shield and his fourth soul ring ﬂashed before he managed to drag Wang Yiheng’s corpse over.

How precious was the corpse of a Class 9 soul engineer? No one knew. This was because there had never been a situation in the Sun Moon Empire’s history that the corpse of a Class 9 soul engineer had landed in an enemy’s hands. Wang Yiheng was the ﬁrst.

Jiang Nannan was a little worried as she looked at Huo Yuhao. Right now, Huo Yuhao had already regained his

awareness even though he was still bugged by the side effects of his Haodong Palm. He gently nodded to conﬁrm that Wang Yiheng was already dead through his Spiritual Detection.

“Great!” Nan Qiuqiu cheered and hugged Ye Guyi, who was beside her.

Ye Guyi’s body suddenly became a little unstable. She almost couldn’t control her ﬂying-type soul tool. Even though she could use her wings to ﬂy, it was very draining on her soul power. Most of the time, she would use her ﬂying-type soul tool.

Jing Ziyan also wore a smile on her face. Ji Juechen looked as indifferent as ever, as if the last strike had nothing to do with him.

Tang Wutong calmly opened her dragon wings and drifted closer to Huo Yuhao. She didn’t seem to be affected by Wang Yiheng’s death. Right now, all of her attention was drawn to Huo Yuhao. Her gaze was focused, but no one could guess what she was thinking.

The White Tiger Duke led the other Titled Douluo as they came over. They ﬁrst came beside Xu Sanshi and seriously checked Wang Yiheng’s condition.

A Titled Douluo who appeared to be in his sixties nodded before saying, “Yes, it’s Wang Yiheng, the leader of the Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion.”

A look of delighted surprise soon appeared on the faces of the other Titled Douluo. This was probably the best outcome that the Star Luo Empire had achieved since the war had started. Even though the empire wasn’t really responsible for killing Wang Yiheng, such a result was good enough to boost the morale of the troops. It was a morale booster for all the deﬂated soul engineers who had witnessed the deaths of more than two thousand soul masters the last time around.

The White Tiger Duke came beside Huo Yuhao and was a little perplexed as he looked at him. “Huo Yuhao, you should have left it to us this time.”

Huo Yuhao twisted his head to look at him, but didn’t say anything. There was an indifferent look in his eyes. He even appeared to be cold.

Such an expression left the White Tiger Duke a little stunned. He couldn’t understand it. Furthermore, he also seemed to have seen something familiar in Huo Yuhao’s eyes. However, Huo Yuhao quickly shifted his gaze away immediately after their eyes met, and stopped looking at the White Tiger Duke.

What was going on?

Huo Yuhao had unleashed his Haodong Palm, which was ﬁlled with his yearning for Wang Dong’er and his mother! At such a time, he was prone to losing control of his focus. In addition, Dai Hao was beside him. How could he possibly control his emotions?

Jiang Nannan ﬂew to Huo Yuhao’s side and apologetically said to the White Tiger Duke, “I’m sorry, Duke. Huo Yuhao unleashed his self-invented soul skill earlier and drained too much of his spiritual power. That has affected his emotions, and he’s still suffering the side effects of it. Please let him recover ﬁrst. He’s not in his normal emotional state right now.”

The White Tiger Duke was only enlightened at this point, and nodded gently. He replied, “Alright, let’s return ﬁrst.”

Under the protection of the bunch of Titled Douluo, everyone turned around and proceeded in the direction of the Northwestern Field Army’s base. Very soon, they arrived back at their base.

After landing, Huo Yuhao had already recovered signiﬁcantly. He turned to Xu Sanshi and said, “Third senior, hand the corpse over to the Duke, but grab his things ﬁrst.”

He wouldn’t be so foolishly generous. Everyone clearly knew that the accessories of a Class 9 soul engineer were very valuable. Wang Yiheng’s most valuable possession was undoubtedly his Empyrean Blaze. Earlier, all the pearls had fallen off. With Huo Yuhao’s spiritual senses, he informed Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi of their rough locations before they went to retrieve them. It was impossible for them to give up possession of these pearls.

As for what the Mad Bull Douluo had on him earlier, no one knew. However, they would be a reward for Huo Yuhao and the rest. The White Tiger Duke had mentioned before that they

could keep whatever they retrieved. If they were willing to sell them to the Star Luo Empire, the empire would buy them at market price.

This was also why Huo Yuhao didn’t ask the White Tiger Duke to coordinate with them earlier. If the Northwestern Field Army’s Titled Douluo coordinated and reinforced them earlier, who would be the rightful owner of everything that they obtained from the Mad Bull Douluo?

The few Titled Douluo from the Star Luo Empire looked at one another and appeared a little discontented. This was the base of the Northwestern Field Army.

However, the White Tiger Duke’s expression didn’t change. He nodded and said, “Thanks, Yuhao. I’ll ask someone to record your contributions.”

Huo Yuhao was a little unwilling to look at him right now, and so he didn’t. He lifted his right hand, and a streak of blue light shot forward at the empty ground in front of him. Suddenly, a huge soul tool with a diameter of over two meters appeared in front of everyone.

“This…” All the Titled Douluo were surprised.

Huo Yuhao calmly said, “This is a high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool that belongs to the Sun Moon Empire. I’m going to give it to the Star Luo Empire. I hope that this will expedite the empire’s research on soul tools. I’m sorry, White Tiger Duke. I’m a little tired, and would like to go and rest ﬁrst.”

“Yuhao…” The White Tiger Duke was a little agitated when he saw such a huge surveillance soul tool. He actually succeeded, and even killed a Titled Douluo.

However, Huo Yuhao had turned around and left before he could even express his gratitude.

All the Titled Douluo present didn’t question Huo Yuhao’s attitude this time. This was because they were all ﬁxated on the high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool right now. The value of this item couldn’t be measured monetarily. Huo Yuhao’s act of letting it out appeased them.

Xu Sanshi didn’t stand on ceremony at all. He took everything that Wang Yiheng possessed and put it away in his own storage-type soul tool. He was going to pass it to Huo Yuhao after he fully recovered.

Gentle light ﬂashed, and Huo Yuhao revealed a mysterious look on his face. He calmly walked towards his tent as he recalled what had happened earlier.

He had unleashed his strongest strike earlier. In addition, he seemed to feel that something in his body had made a breakthrough when he unleashed that strike. It was a magical feeling. It was also at that moment that his soul power improved by leaps and bounds.

He was walking before he heard a voice echoing from behind, “Huo Yuhao.”

Huo Yuhao stopped and turned his head.

Tang Wutong took two quick steps and rushed to his side. As she looked at him, her expression became more and more

perplexed, “Can you tell me the name of your palm strike earlier?

Huo Yuhao nodded and replied, “The Haodong Palm, a palm that will last eternally.”

“The Haodong Palm, a palm that will last eternally?” Tang Wutong recited the words. Huo Yuhao didn’t stop, and continued walking towards his tent. However, Tang Wutong didn’t follow him anymore. Rather, she stood where she was, and was in a little daze as she looked at his back.

Haodong Palm, Haodong Palm. ‘Hao’ from ‘Huo Yuhao’ and ‘Dong’ from ‘Wang Dong’er’? The Haodong Palm, a palm that will last eternally.

It seems like my impression of him was wrong…

Huo Yuhao and everyone from Shrek Academy went to rest. On the other side, the commander’s tent was very crowded right now.

The senior commanders gathered, and none of them had the intention to rest. In the center of the tent, the table had already been moved to one side to be replaced by Wang Yiheng’s corpse and the massive high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool right now.

Chapter 447: Information About the Heavenly Soul Empire

When Xu Jiujiu ﬁrst laid eyes on the high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool, she couldn’t shift her gaze away anymore. As the highest-ranked individual in charge of the Star Luo Empire’s intelligence department, she reported directly to the Emperor of the Star Luo Empire. She had put in a lot of effort for the Sun Moon Empire’s own aerial surveillance soul tools.

She had managed to obtain ordinary aerial surveillance soul tools before. However, those soul tools had self-destruction mechanisms installed within them. Once they were dismantled, they would blow apart. The Star Luo Empire had suffered a lot because of this.

Thus, it was also her ﬁrst time seeing this high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool in front of her. She was completely astonished!

Before Huo Yuhao brought it back, Xu Jiujiu didn’t expect Huo Yuhao to be so quick even though she had high hopes for him. The value of such a soul tool couldn’t be measured on the

surface. It would have an important effect on developing the Star Luo Empire’s expertise in soul tools.

“Duke, are you saying that Wang Yiheng was killed by Huo Yuhao and his comrades?” Xu Jiujiu’s voice sounded more high-pitched. The White Tiger Duke recounted everything he had seen earlier to her.

Dai Hao nodded. Not to even mention that Xu Jiujiu was in disbelief, he would also be unconvinced if he didn’t witness it personally!

A few Soul Sages and Soul Emperors actually managed to kill a Class 9 soul engineer who was also a Titled Douluo. At the same time, the Empyrean Blaze, which was ranked twelfth among Class 9 soul tools, was also almost destroyed. Such an outcome wouldn’t be surprising if a few Titled Douluo were responsible for it. However, how old were Huo Yuhao and the rest? Their average age might not even be twenty yet!

These talents from Shrek Academy demonstrated their strength by performing another miracle. At the same time, they proved their value to all the powerful individuals from the Star Luo Empire.

Xu Jiujiu was breathing hard, and didn’t make a sound for some time. She couldn’t believe something like that had happened. Tonight was even less peaceful than the previous night. He really did it. His abilities…

Xu Jiujiu had always found Huo Yuhao very impressive. She had, on two occasions, witnessed Huo Yuhao’s performances in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament. In addition, she had even personally fought him before.

However, it was only now that she discovered that her past understanding of him really belonged to the past. Right now, Huo Yuhao was beyond her domain of understanding.

He was a Soul Sage that wasn’t even twenty years old yet, but he was the one who led a kill mission against a Titled Douluo.

“Duke, do you know how they did it?” Xu Jiujiu swallowed her saliva and asked with some difﬁculty.

The same question was in heads of the other senior commanders from the Star Luo Empire.

Dai Yueheng and Dai Luoli were standing behind Dai Hao right now. They had also received news of what happened had immediately. Dai Yueheng was now very perplexed. He was also from Shrek Academy, and was also a top-performing student in Shrek Academy’s inner courtyard. However, he was also in disbelief right now! He clearly knew that neither he nor the representative team he had formed with Ma Xiaotao could possibly accomplish something like this. They were at least ﬁve years older than Huo Yuhao and the rest, but their overall abilities were far behind.

Dai Hao sighed and replied, “I only witnessed what happened at the end. However, I believe that Yuhao and the rest took turns to attack throughout the entire ﬁght. They managed to unleash everyone’s ﬁghting strength to the extreme through an effective rhythm. This caused Wang Yiheng’s power to be continually drained.”

“He only unleashed his full power at the end. Among all of them, four played very crucial roles. They are Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, Huo Yuhao and Ji Juechen.”

He recounted everything that he had seen. When they watched from afar earlier, they managed to catch hold of Xu Sanshi unleashing his Golden Xuanwu’s Domain before using his Turtle God’s Strike to neutralize the Empyrean Blazing Bull.

After that, it was Jiang Nannan’s Soft Bone Lock and Invincible Golden Body, as well as Huo Yuhao’s all-out attack.

“Huo Yuhao’s palm strike was the most crucial. The rest were only weakening Wang Yiheng, but Huo Yuhao’s strike completely destroyed Wang Yiheng’s Empyrean Blaze and dealt him a fatal blow. I heard that it was Huo Yuhao’s self-invented soul skill. It even contains the power of his emotions. It should be a self-invented soul skill that’s a combination of his soul and spiritual power. When he unleashed that strike, I could sense a weird force ﬁeld around his body. I was even unwittingly drawn in. Even though it was night time, it felt as if the sky had changed color when he unleashed that strike. It’s just that everything seemed to have been turned into nothingness just as he unleashed his strike.”

“A beam of red light glowed from Wang Yiheng’s body. If I’m not wrong, that beam of red light should be for protective purposes. However, it was crushed by Huo Yuhao’s attack

before Wang Yiheng was hit. Wang Yiheng’s Empyrean Blaze lost the majority of its control after he was struck. After that, there seemed to be a spear that shot out from Huo Yuhao’s head, which penetrated his skull and dealt him a heavy injury.”

“At that point, Wang Yiheng’s injuries were already very serious. Then, Ji Juechen appeared and used his sword to stab the wound that Huo Yuhao had created. This fully ended Wang Yiheng’s life.”

“What I noticed was that they coordinated very well with one another, unleashing wave after wave of attacks. They complemented one another very well. I ﬁgure that there must be a control-type soul master among them. After that, it was Huo Yuhao’s attack. There wasn’t any evident soul power undulations when he unleashed his attack. However, I could clearly sense that his greatest ﬁghting strength was unleashed at that moment. It was the key to killing Wang Yiheng.”

After listening to the White Tiger Duke’s analysis, the Titled Douluo that had also witnessed everything all nodded in agreement. Just like the White Tiger Duke had mentioned, Huo Yuhao seemed to have fused with heaven and earth in that state. It was also his palm strike that completely defeated Wang Yiheng. Even Wang Yiheng wouldn’t have expected that. They

were able to succeed partly due to Wang Yiheng’s own complacency. Otherwise, why didn’t he use his Invincible Barrier and soul protective barrier? He must have been very conﬁdent in his own attack. It was a pity that his conﬁdence was a reason for his demise.

Xu Jiujiu was stunned, and muttered to herself, “Yuhao, I didn’t expect you to reach such a level already. Duke, if you’re talking about a control-type soul master, that person must be Huo Yuhao. The ﬁrst time I met him, when he was only twelve or thirteen years old, he was already a control-type soul master. His Spiritual Detection can band his teammates together, and he can share accurate information about the enemy with his teammates. This is very effective in counteracting the ﬁghting strength of the enemy. Dai Yueheng should be the most aware of this.”

The White Tiger Duke turned his attention towards his son, and Dai Yueheng immediately nodded and replied, “Her Highness is right. When I ﬁrst competed in the Soul Dueling Tournament with Huo Yuhao, he always appeared as a control- type soul master. His Spiritual Detection is very strong. It should be even stronger now than it was before.”

The White Tiger Duke nodded, and there was an awed look on his face, “No wonder he’s the future Master of the Sea God’s Pavilion! No wonder he can become the youngest elder of Shrek Academy at such a tender age.”

Xu Jiujiu asked, “White Tiger Duke, what should we do next?”

A cold look ﬂashed across the White Tiger Duke’s eyes and he said, “Hang Wang Yiheng’s corpse on a ﬂagpole outside the base for everyone to see. At the same time, I’ll need you to send some people to bring the high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool back for research purposes, Your Highness.”

“Okay.” Xu Jiujiu immediately acknowledged his words.

Huo Yuhao wasn’t interested in the guesses or arrangements of the Star Luo Empire. When he returned into his tent, he immediately entered a cultivation state.

His soul power circulated. Although he was greatly drained earlier, his last attack through the Golden Dragon Spear had

helped to replenish him by absorbing some of Wang Yiheng’s immense soul power.

Wang Qiu’er’s Golden Dragon Spear was terrifying in the sense that it could absorb the life energy and soul power of the enemy to replenish the ﬁghting strength of its owner.

Although Huo Yuhao didn’t fully inherit her abilities, he was much more complementary to the Golden Dragon Spear after Wang Qiu’er’s Sacriﬁce.

He was even more drained in terms of his spiritual power, especially after he was subjected to the side effects of the Haodong Palm. Right now, his mind was ﬁlled with the ﬁgure of Wang Dong’er. The pain brought about by his yearning for her could only be understood by him.

He couldn’t focus even after sitting on his bed for a long time. For some reason, he missed her even more today. Perhaps it was because his palm strike had unleashed his greatest ﬁghting strength.

Actually, Huo Yuhao knew that the recoil from Wang Yiheng’s body after he attacked had hurt him. If this were the past, he might have lost his arm. His attack had well and truly drained all his strength.

However, he possessed a part of the Golden Dragon’s power since he had fused with Wang Qiu’er. His strength and physical tenacity were much greater than before.

This was why he felt extreme guilt towards Wang Qiu’er at the same time as he missed Wang Dong’er. These two emotions kept on corroding his mind and spiritual sea.

Under such a circumstance, even his four Spirits were of no use to him. He could only handle this by himself.

Huo Yuhao plopped onto his bed and shut his eyes tightly. He looked very pale, and seemed like he couldn’t hold on anymore. He really looked like he couldn’t hold on anymore.

His yearning for Wang Dong’er was too immense. It overwhelmed him completely.

Dong’er, are you really alive? He actually always had a thought in his mind – what should he do if the sect and vice- sect leader of the Clear Sky Sect were only telling him lies?

This was what he feared. Even though he tried his best to steer away from such thinking, he would be overwhelmed with fear every time he had such a thought.

Being unable to see Wang Dong’er forever? What could possibly be more terrifying than that?

“Dong’er, Dong’er, Dong’er…” Huo Yuhao was groaning softly. “Dong’er, if you’ve really left this world, then bring me with you. Don’t leave me alone in this world to suffer. Dong’er, I really miss you.”

Tears ﬂowed down the corners of his eyes.

The senior commanders of the Star Luo Empire’s Northwestern Field Army couldn’t imagine that the young hero in their hearts was actually squirming in his bed right now while crying tears of pain. Huo Yuhao wasn’t even clear- headed right now.

The curtains to his tent were pulled open, and a tall and slender ﬁgure walked into his tent. As she heard Huo Yuhao’s groans, her body turned slightly stiff. After that, however, she continued to walk towards Huo Yuhao. Her movements were very slow, as if she found it difﬁcult to walk.

However, she suddenly picked up her pace as she came closer to Huo Yuhao’s bed. She quickly came to his side and sat down by his bedside.

His tears had already wet his blanket. Huo Yuhao’s senses were normally very acute, but right now, he actually didn’t know that there was someone else in the tent. He continued to squirm and groan in pain. His face was very pale, and buckets of tears and sweat had already fused together as they ﬂowed down his cheeks.

Delicate ﬁngers gently caressed his forehead. The movement of the ﬁngers seemed a little stiff and rigid.

Huo Yuhao’s sweat moistened the white and tender ﬁngers. The ﬁngers seemed to be trembling slightly, and there was a tinge of warmth from them. The lady in the tent was shuddering a little, and was also in a slight state of shock.

“Dong’er, don’t leave me.” Suddenly, Huo Yuhao reached out and grabbed her hand.

She was astonished, and wanted to retract her hand.

However, his grip was very tight.

She didn’t struggle, but she could sense that his hands were icy-cold. It was icy-cold to a terrifying point. It was as if he had lost all the warmth in his body.

Don’t tell me that he’s always in such great pain after he uses his Haodong Palm?

It was weird, but Huo Yuhao calmed down after grabbing her hand. He stopped shivering as much, but he was still mumbling to himself. However, his pain had evidently been reduced signiﬁcantly.

He’s really pitiful! I never thought one could turn out like this from loving someone too much. However, why did he turn his love into a skill? Why doesn’t he go and ﬁnd his lover?

Not far outside the tent, there was a person squatting in a dark corner. This person watched as she walked into the tent.

A slight smile spread across his face. He slowly stood up. It seemed like he didn’t need to stand guard anymore. She didn’t come out, even after a long time.

This person walked out from the corner. Wasn’t he the Eternal Defense, Xu Sanshi?

Huo Yuhao was suffering from the backlash of his Haodong Palm, and his body was very weak. Xu Sanshi understood this the best. This was why he followed Huo Yuhao back and stood guard outside his tent as a means of protecting him.

However, that lady had been in the tent for a long time without leaving yet. It seemed like he didn’t need to carry on with his protection for the rest of the night.

He silently left without making a sound.

Inside the tent.

Huo Yuhao had calmed down. His breathing had become more rhythmic, and he was no longer shivering. At times, he

would mumble to himself, but he was evidently in less pain.

He used both his hands to grab tightly onto her tender ﬁngers. It was as if he were grabbing hold of some life-saving grass. He wouldn’t let go of her hands. Slowly, a satisﬁed grin surfaced on his face.

He had fallen asleep. Following this, moonlight shone in from outside the window. From where she was seated, she caught a view of his proﬁle. She was only here because she was worried about him, and curious about his condition.

However, she discovered that she was unable to leave right now.

She could most certainly pull her hand back, but she was afraid of harming him in that way, so she didn’t do so. He didn’t do anything else either. He only tightly grabbed hold of her hand and squirmed in place . He was falling deeper and deeper into his sleep.

This is the generational talent that everyone is in awe of? A bitter look appeared across her face. So he’s actually this fragile

behind the surface. It seems like he has given too much to attain whatever powers he has.

But why is he able to calm down after grabbing hold of my hand? Is it because he feels comforted?

She retrieved a handkerchief with her other hand and dabbed at the perspiration on his head. Even she didn’t know why she did something as intimate as his.

He appeared evidently less tense after she wiped off his sweat. It was as if she possessed some kind of magical power that helped him to calm down.

His hands started to regain some warmth, and he stopped holding on so tightly. His body also moved with greater ease.

She continued to wipe away his sweat. Slowly, she placed her handkerchief to one side, and started to gently caress his hair.

He doesn’t look too bad. The lines on his face are smooth, and his eyelashes are long. There’s some rosiness to his cheeks

right now and the life energy that he’s exuding seems to be stronger than anyone else.

Unwittingly, she became a little dazed. Just as she was in a daze, he slowly weakened his grip on her hands.

“Oh… I can ﬁnally leave.” She gently retracted her hand, which was already covered with sweat. However, she subconsciously clenched her ﬁst, as if she wanted to preserve the warmth that she felt in her hand.

After she retracted the hand that she had placed on his head, she silently stood up. He was still sleeping very calmly, and didn’t move at all.

She silently walked towards the exit of his tent. However, for some reason, she couldn’t help but turn back every few steps.

His breathing was still as rhythmic as ever. There wasn’t any change.

Finally, she got to the exit. She turned back and took one last deep look at him.

Someone who’s so persistent in love like him should be a good guy.

Goodnight, good guy!

Morning. The warm sunlight bore down on Huo Yuhao’s face through the window. The heat jolted him from his sleep.

As he opened his eyes and felt the blinding sunlight, he subconsciously used his hand to cover his eyes.

Oh? It’s already so late. Why am I not up yet? Normally, he would already be cultivating in bed at this time!

As he sat up, everything that had happened the previous night quickly surfaced in his mind. Huo Yuhao subconsciously took a look at his Starlight Sapphire ring. In his ring were more than ten high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools.

Yes, we didn’t just manage to successfully steal the high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools last night. We should have killed the Mad Bull Douluo too. I used my Haodong Palm. After I returned, I was in excruciating pain. But why am I not feeling anything right now?

In the past, he couldn’t recover in one night after unleashing his Haodong Palm. He needed a period of time to fully recover. Furthermore, he would always be very groggy the next day.

However, he was ﬁlled with energy right now, and his body was completely at ease. There weren’t any side effects. It was as if he had had a perfect night’s sleep, and had even overslept.

Weird! After scratching his head, Huo Yuhao stood up and walked out of his tent.

The sun was shining brightly today, and the air was very refreshing. As he took in a deep breath, the refreshing air nourished his body, and he was feeling extremely energetic.

Huo Yuhao was a little amused as he asked himself, Why do I feel so relaxed? And why am I in such a good mood?

However, he didn’t have an answer. No matter what kind of delicacies he consumed, they weren’t able to improve his mood to such a stage. However, he was feeling extremely good today! What exactly happened last night?

He furrowed his brow and pondered.

He could subtly remember that he was in excruciating pain then. However, Wang Dong’er seemed to have arrived after that and comforted him, alleviating his yearning for her and the pain that he experienced. After that, his pain disappeared, and he fell into a comfortable sleep.

Dong’er, did you really come? Huo Yuhao opened his eyes wide. Don’t tell me Dong’er has always been hiding by my side and she comes when I’m in pain? To comfort me? It’s Dong’er. It must have been her. I must have sensed her aura.

He suddenly turned around and charged back into his tent. He leaped onto his bed and took in a deep breath, seeking Wang Dong’er’s scent.

However, what scent would be left over after one night?

There was only his own smell on his bed.

Am I just hallucinating? A strong sense of disappointment left Huo Yuhao clenching his ﬁsts. However, it was at this moment that his attention was drawn to a corner.

He subconsciously reached out his hand and grabbed a squarish handkerchief.

This handkerchief was made of silk, and felt very soft. It felt like the complexion of a young girl, and there were sweat stains on it.

It doesn’t belong to me! It clearly belongs to a lady.

Huo Yuhao looked at the handkerchief a few times. There weren’t any markings on it. There was only a gentle fragrance that came from it.

Wang Dong’er. This really seemed likeWang Dong’er’s scent.

Don’t tell me that my feeling was right? That Dong’er really came last night to take care of and comfort me? And she helped me out of my pain?

Huo Yuhao turned a little agitated, and was even unable to control himself. He pulled the handkerchief close to him, and his lips were trembling slightly.

But why? Dong’er, why won’t you appear in front of me?

Why won’t you stay? Don’t you know how much I miss you?

In the opposite tent, Tang Wutong was in a deep sleep right now. She didn’t cultivate the night before. After she returned, she quickly fell into a deep sleep. There was even a slight grin on her face right now.

The titles earned by Huo Yuhao and the others were quickly conferred to them. No permission was even sought from the imperial family of the Star Luo Empire.

No matter whether it was accepted, everyone else apart from Huo Yuhao was conferred the title of a Baron. Huo Yuhao was conferred the title of a Viscount.

Even though the titles of Baron and Viscount were the two lousiest ones in the peerage system, their titles were able to be inherited. This made them different. This meant that their future generations could enjoy the same titles! However, they weren’t given any land for their contributions.

Ten million gold soul coins were directly given to Huo Yuhao. Such a monetary reward was barely enough for him to purchase a high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool.

Ten million? If the Sun Moon Empire knew about it, they would be infuriated. Just the materials alone cost more than ten million! However, given their contributions, the reward given by the Star Luo Empire was considered passable.

After breakfast, the White Tiger Duke personally came to visit Huo Yuhao. He was stunned to discover that Huo Yuhao was different from how he had been over the past few days. He was full of energy right now, as if he had been given new life. His entire body was ﬁlled with strength. He had already washed himself up and changed into a clean set of clothing.

“Duke.” Huo Yuhao received the White Tiger Duke.

“Yuhao, you’ve earned yourself a great merit this time. How are you?” The White Tiger Duke asked amiably.

Huo Yuhao smiled and replied, “I’m already ﬁne. Apologies for last night. I always suffer from side effects after using my self-invented soul skill.”

The White Tiger Duke nodded and said, “It’s great that you’re ﬁne. You’ve already been conferred a title, which is a decision that Her Highness and I came to after we discussed it with each other. We’ve lowered the value of your reward mainly because we have to take the feelings of our soldiers into account. Do you understand? Don’t worry, we’ll report what you’ve done to His Majesty. I believe he’ll have other rewards for you.”

Huo Yuhao smiled and replied, “No worries. I’m ﬁne with the rest. It’s already good enough that I’ve been made a Viscount.” Did he really only value the title of a Viscount, and one that was hereditary? He had already taken his ﬁrst step out.

Dai Hao smiled and said, “Yes! As a Viscount, you can grant your wife and heirs titles too. Given your abilities, your

potential is unlimited as long as you’re willing to serve the empire.”

Huo Yuhao’s eyes brightened when he heard that his wife and children would be given titles too. However, he was in a good mood today, and managed to conceal his emotions.

“Duke, has the high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool been returned to the Star Luo Empire?”

“Yes, it’s already been sent back. After this time, I believe that the Sun Moon Empire’s defenses will become tighter. Wang Yiheng has already been killed, which is a huge blow to them. What other plans do you have in the future?”

Huo Yuhao nodded and replied, “I’ll continue to pester them. As long as I keep them on their toes and drain their energy, I’ll be able to survey the Death God.”

The White Tiger Duke furrowed his brow and said, “You still want to survey the Death God? You can’t do that. It’s too dangerous.”

Huo Yuhao smiled and replied, “Duke, don’t worry. Before I’m fully conﬁdent, I won’t take the risk. What’s the Sun Moon Empire’s reaction been?”

Dai Hao shook his head and said, “They haven’t reacted yet. I can’t wait for them to do something. It’s best if they want to exact revenge.”

After hearing his words, Huo Yuhao’s eyes ﬂashed. He immediately knew that the White Tiger Duke would have come up with some kind of plan to complement his own plan. No wonder the White Tiger Duke was so notable.

Although the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions were strong, the Star Luo Empire’s soul masters wouldn’t be afraid of them if they were detached too far from the defensive system set up in the Ming Dou Mountain Range. The White Tiger Duke naturally wished that the Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion would lose their cool after Wang Yiheng’s death, driving them to attack. However, it seemed like the leader over at the Ming Dou Mountain Range was able to resist such a temptation. It seemed like things were very calm in the Sun Moon Empire.

Huo Yuhao asked, “Duke, I’ll make another trip and observe whether they’ve changed their surveillance soul tool setup.”

The White Tiger Duke nodded and said, “Be careful.”

“Alright.”

Huo Yuhao was perfectly ﬁne observing them from some distance away, given his immense spiritual power. Surveillance soul tools weren’t sensitive towards spiritual power.

After an hour, Huo Yuhao brought back accurate news.

All the surveillance soul tools that belonged to the Sun Moon Empire had been pulled back in the direction of the Ming Dou Mountain Range. This time, he didn’t manage to locate any soul tools at all, though he didn’t know whether it was because the Sun Moon Empire had pulled all of them back. In this way, the Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance on the Star Luo Empire’s troops would be signiﬁcantly reduced.

After receiving this news, the White Tiger Duke was delighted. With Huo Yuhao around, they were no longer devoid of information.

“Report!” An anxious voice could be heard from outside.

“Come in.” The White Tiger Duke, who was in a good mood, gestured towards Huo Yuhao. He was signaling to Huo Yuhao to sit down and take a rest.

Huo Yuhao didn’t stand on ceremony. He sat down beside the White Tiger Duke’s seat.

“Duke, intelligence from the Heavenly Soul Empire.” A soldier rushed in and kneeled down on one knee in front of the White Tiger Duke before passing a letter to him.

Intelligence from the Heavenly Soul Empire? It’s ﬁnally here? Huo Yuhao and White Tiger Duke were both jolted. The situation in the Heavenly Soul Empire was extremely important to the Star Luo Empire. It could possibly affect the entire war.

Dai Hao quickly tore the letter open. He only scanned it a few times before his expression changed – he turned pale. His hand that was holding onto the letter started trembling.

Huo Yuhao, who had just sat down, also immediately stood up. From Dai Hao’s expression, he could tell that the situation in the Heavenly Soul Empire wasn’t good.

“You can leave ﬁrst.” Dai Hao tried to suppress his own feelings and waved to the soldier.

The soldier retreated, and only he and Huo Yuhao were left in the tent.

Huo Yuhao didn’t probe further. At this point, perhaps the White Tiger Duke needed to calm down. If the White Tiger Duke could reveal anything, he would have told Huo Yuhao everything.

“Yuhao, the entire Douluo Continent might experience a catastrophe this time.” The White Tiger Duke sighed and passed the letter to Huo Yuhao.

After hearing his words, Huo Yuhao’s heart sank. After receiving the letter, he read it.

“The capital of the Heavenly Soul Empire, Heavenly Dou City, has been occupied by the Sun Moon Empire. More than one-third of the Heavenly Soul Empire’s territory had been taken over, and the empire is still being invaded at an alarming speed. Everything to the west of the Heaven Dou City has landed in the hands of the Sun Moon Empire. The Body Sect’s leader, Du Busi, has been seriously hurt, and we are unsure whether he will survive. The Body Sect has lost half of its members and four out of the six soul master legions of the Heavenly Soul Empire have been destroyed. The remaining two are protecting the imperial family, which is retreating toward the east.”

“The Sun Moon Empire has deployed more than three hundred thousand soldiers, including seven soul engineer legions. Apart from the Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion, the other beast lord-ranked soul engineer legions are all involved in this mission. The Holy Ghost Church has deployed many evil soul masters to aid in this mission as well. Du Busi was hurt by two evil soul masters. One of them appears to be the leader of the Holy Ghost Church. The Ultimate Douluo, Long Xiaoyao, did not make an appearance. Right now, the Heavenly Soul Empire is doomed. The two remaining soul master

legions we have and the reinforcements from the Dou Ling Empire are planning a rendezvous with whatever remaining troops we have.”

Huo Yuhao’s expression changed after reading the contents of the letter. Even though he could guess where the Sun Moon Empire was going to attack, he didn’t expect their attack to be so ferocious. Since the start of the war, only a few weeks had passed. However, the capital of the Heavenly Soul Empire had already fallen?

It was important to note that the Heaven Dou City was the ﬁrst, big city on the continent since ten thousand years ago. It was as notable as the Star Luo Empire’s Star Luo City. In just a few weeks, the city had already fallen. The Heavenly Soul Empire’s defenses had crumbled. This was completely unbelievable. Given such a speed, the Sun Mon Empire would take at most half to a month’s time to completely occupy the Heavenly Soul Empire. When that happened, not only could they threaten the borders of the Star Luo Empire and Dou Ling Empire, but they could even threaten Shrek Academy, which was in the center of the three empires.

The White Tiger Duke and Huo Yuhao were both silent in the tent. Such a situation was worse than what they had expected.

“Yuhao, what should we do?” The White Tiger Duke suddenly asked.

After hearing his question, Huo Yuhao knew that even the White Tiger Duke had started to panic, even though he was normally very calm.

The Star Luo Empire’s strength was all concentrated in the west, but they were restrained here by the Sun Moon Empire because of the Ming Dou Mountain Range. Given such a situation, the White Tiger Duke didn’t have much of a choice. However, there wasn’t a single choice that allowed him to completely deal with the situation they were facing.

Retreat? If the Sun Moon Empire tried to force their way over the Ming Dou Mountain Range, we would lose a lot of territory. Our citizens wouldn’t have enough time to evacuate either.

Continuing to directly ﬁght the Sun Moon Empire is a bad choice too. Attack? Against the Death God, going in without a plan is suicide. We might sacriﬁce countless lives and suffer irreparable damage without even making progress. Once our

losses become too severe, what will we have to ﬁght the Sun Moon Empire?

Save the Heavenly Soul Empire? What’s there to save? Furthermore, what can the Star Luo Empire do if all our forces go over to reinforce the Heavenly Soul Empire?

If the Star Luo Empire’s troops reinforce the Heavenly Soul Empire without guarding Star Luo City, how will we be able to react if we are directly threatened by an invasion from an elite force of the Sun Moon Empire from the south?

These questions kept on popping up in the White Tiger Duke’s head. However, he couldn’t ﬁnd a way to deal with the problem.

This was why he asked Huo Yuhao. Just like Huo Yuhao had predicted, the White Tiger Duke was in a state of panic right now.

Suddenly, the curtains were pulled open, and a pale Princess Jiujiu walked in. As soon as she entered, she couldn’t help but ask, “Duke, what should we do?”

Chapter 448: Huo Yuhao's Decision!

Princess Jiujiu was in charge of intelligence for the entire Star Luo Empire. Naturally, she was informed.

What do we do? This was the question in both Dai Hao and Xu Jiujiu’s minds. Xu Jiujiu looked at Dai Hao, but Dai Hao was looking at Huo Yuhao instead.

They were all panicking. Their fear had yet to metastasize. However, the entire Northwestern Field Army would most likely be engulfed by fear if this news spread. The morale boost that they had only just received yesterday from killing Wang Yiheng would most certainly vanish.

Huo Yuhao took in a deep breath. Comparatively speaking, he was the calmest among the three of them. Although he was from the Star Luo Empire, he didn’t have strong ties to it. To him, Shrek Academy and Shrek City was his family and home. This was why he was much calmer than both the White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu.

“Your Highness, let’s stop all information from spreading ﬁrst. We must not let anyone know about it, not even the leaders of the various soul master legions.”

After hearing Huo Yuhao’s voice, Xu Jiujiu was quickly jolted to her senses! Yes, preventing all information from spreading was the most important thing now. She nodded forcefully and took a few deep breaths. Her voluptuous chest rose and fell continuously. She also gradually calmed down. She even forgot to greet the White Tiger Duke, and immediately turned around before leaving the tent.

The White Tiger Duke looked at Huo Yuhao. Seeing how Huo Yuhao appeared so pensive, he gradually steadied himself. Huo Yuhao’s suggestion was right. Blocking off all information was the most important thing right now. It wasn’t about performing surveillance anymore. Rather, it was about concealing the information that they had and preserving the ﬁghting strength of the entire army.

“Yuhao, we are in a disastrous situation right now. I don’t see any hope of us breaking out of it.” The White Tiger Duke sighed.

Huo Yuhao said, “Even so, we must still do our best. Duke, there are two ways we can choose to deal with the situation right now.”

“Oh? Tell me about it.” The White Tiger Duke’s eyes brightened. Just as he was unable to think of any solutions, Huo Yuhao actually claimed that they had two solutions to choose from. To him, it was as if he had grabbed hold of a stalk of life-saving grass.

Huo Yuhao said, “There are two ways for us to proceed. One, we protect whatever we have. Second, we turn aggressive. By protecting whatever we have, I mean that we immediately retreat and use Star Luo City as our base to gather all our strength. At the same time, we’ll ask for help from the academy and implore them to send some strong individuals to meet with us. Concurrently, we’ll need to ask the Dou Ling Empire to gather whatever strength they have. After that, we’ll enter the Heavenly Soul Empire from two different directions, exploiting the opportunity just as the Sun Moon Empire has to divide its forces after invading the Heavenly Soul Empire to ﬁght the main force of the Sun Moon Empire. By concentrating the strength of the academy and the two empires, and even the power of the soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest, we can ﬁght all-out with the Sun Moon Empire.”

“After all, we’ve ruled the Douluo Continent for so many years. People’s hearts are with us. Even if we suffer huge losses along with the enemy, we are still in an advantageous situation. During the ﬁnal clash, we’ll need the two empires and the academy to contact all the hidden sects to join in the resistance against the Sun Moon Empire’s invasion.”

After hearing Huo Yuhao’s words, Dai Hao nodded repeatedly. It was indeed a good plan. However, there was a price to pay for using this plan. The price was close to half the land of the Star Luo Empire and the people who occupied that land. No one knew how the Sun Moon Empire would treat those people. This was also something that the White Tiger Duke wasn’t willing to see. He didn’t just love his soldiers. He also loved his own people!

“What about turning aggressive?” Dai Hao was much more composed after hearing Huo Yuhao’s ﬁrst solution. Undoubtedly, Huo Yuhao’s ﬁrst plan was workable.

Huo Yuhao’s gaze turned sharper and he replied, “By turning aggressive, it means that we have to risk everything. According to your original intentions, we have to attack the enemy’s most important site. As long as we can overcome the enemy’s defenses in the Ming Dou Mountain Range and ﬁght our way

into the Sun Moon Empire, their troops will deﬁnitely return to save them. When that happens, the Dou Ling Empire, Heavenly Soul Empire and the academy can combine to force the Sun Moon Empire’s troops back to where they came from.”

“Are you saying that we should use brute force?” The White Tiger Duke squinted, and released a killing aura from his body. “I’ve thought of this idea. Perhaps we might stand a chance if we do that. But if we do it that way, we’ll deﬁnitely suffer huge losses. Even if we manage to succeed, we’ll still suffer heavy losses. And even if we break our way into the Sun Moon Empire, we might not have enough strength to threaten them.”

Huo Yuhao said, “I understand your worries. However, the main threat to us is the Death God. It’s an irresistible force. If we can make the Death God lose its effect and inﬂuence the Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance abilities, we can minimize our losses. The Sun Moon Empire only uses elite forces for defensive purposes. Their actual strength is at most two to three soul engineer legions. Even if they concealed information about their strength earlier, they couldn’t possibly have conjured up so many soul engineer legions.”

“According to the news from the Heavenly Soul Empire, the Sun Moon Empire has combined the strength of seven soul

engineer legions and the Holy Ghost Church over there, which explains why they managed to take the Heavenly Soul Empire down so quickly. The original news was that the Sun Moon Empire had ten soul engineer legions. If we have two or three legions on our side, the Sun Moon Empire’s imperial family

will have to keep some troops with them to defend themselves.

For example, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion will need to stay with them. In this way, we won’t be facing as many enemies. Let’s overestimate their strength. Let’s say that they have three soul engineer legions, which comes up to about one thousand soul engineers, along with a lot of soul tools. If they rely on terrain, they can most deﬁnitely stop us. This is why we need to wreak havoc ﬁrst. Once we are able to inﬂict serious damage on them, we can then attack on all fronts.”

Dai Hao laughed bitterly. “Yuhao, your plan is indeed possible. However, its feasibility has to be built on the fact that we can cause damage to the defensive line of the Sun Moon Empire’s Ming Dou Mountain Range and cause the Death God to lose its effectiveness. However, they have many surveillance soul tools. You’ve tried before too. Given our current abilities, how are we able to do it? It’s too difﬁcult.”

Huo Yuhao said, “It all depends on our will. It’s not impossible. I have a plan. Even without intelligence from the Heavenly Soul Empire, I was already willing to offer it to you.”

“What plan?”

“It’s like this…”

Huo Yuhao remained in the tent for a long time. He only left at lunch time. After having his lunch, he gathered his comrades and explained his strategy to them.

“No, I disagree.” Xu Sanshi said.

He was normally full of jokes. However, he appeared very serious at this critical moment. In the Tang Sect, even Bei Bei listened to his opinions.

Huo Yuhao said, “Third Senior, I’m conﬁdent.”

“Even so, I won’t let you do it. It’s too dangerous. Whether this strategy of yours work is solely built on the risk that you are facing. I won’t agree to it as long as you’re going to be subjected to any danger. Have you thought of the ramiﬁcations? What if you fail? You’ll die.”

Huo Yuhao smiled and replied, “I won’t. The Beast God won’t let me die.”

Xu Sanshi sighed and said, “However, you are taking too big of a gamble. What if the Beast God can’t handle it either? Once you venture that deep in, you’ll need sufﬁcient time. What if…”

“Third senior, there’s no ‘what if’. I have to take this risk. If I don’t, we will be in an extremely disadvantageous situation. If we wait for the Sun Moon Empire to consolidate their hold on the Heavenly Soul Empire, we won’t be able to resist them, given the Star Luo Empire and Dou Ling Empire’s lacking research in soul tools. At the same time, the Heavenly Soul Empire is being attacked from all directions, which endangers our academy! The academy nurtured us to be who we are today and gave us strength. If I’m afraid of death at such a critical moment, I’ll miss out on this opportunity.”

Ye Guyi was suddenly a little agitated as she said, “This is not an opportunity. This is a death wish!” She suddenly stood up and looked at Huo Yuhao. Her breathing had evidently become a little quick. “Have you not heard of the Death God? Two thousand soul masters who were at least Soul Sages vanished

without a trace in just one strike. No matter how strong you are, how can you possibly compare to two thousand Soul Sages? It’s the number one soul tool in the continent. No, you can’t go. It’s too dangerous.”

It wasn’t just Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi. The rest also had the same expression on their faces. On the other hand, Tang Wutong was calmer, and didn’t utter a word as she sat where she was.

“I’m curious. How did you convince the White Tiger Duke?” Jiang Nannan asked doubtfully.

Huo Yuhao revealed an embarrassed look on his face. He had nothing to hide. “I told him that the academy had just researched a new type of soul tool that can be used in critical times to resist any attack, a true Invincible Barrier. I also have my Instant Teleportation. If I’m far away, I’ll be able to escape.”

Everyone’s expression turned weird. Whatever Invincible Barrier was useless. As for Instant Teleportation, Huo Yuhao indeed had it. However, there was a limit to how far he could

go. There wasn’t any way he could escape the domain of the Death God.

“Yuhao, you’re playing with ﬁre. Even if Elder Xuan were here, he wouldn’t agree to this plan.”

Huo Yuhao sighed and said, “What other better plan do you have? Third Senior, everyone else, please don’t worry. I’m really conﬁdent.”

Xu Sanshi’s gaze turned passionate as he said, “Alright then, Yuhao. Let’s do it this way. If you have to take this risk, I’ll follow you. I want to be part of your plan.”

Huo Yuhao was stunned. After this, he heard Jiang Nannan say, “Me too.”

Apart from Tang Wutong, everyone else also expressed their stance. They wanted to join him in his ﬁght.

Xu Sanshi said, “If you’re willing to let all of us follow you, we’ll let you go.” He was clear that Huo Yuhao would be willing

to sacriﬁce his own safety, but he wasn’t willing to compromise the safety of others. He wanted to use this method to dispel the thought in Huo Yuhao’s head.

“Alright, all of you can join then.” No one expected Huo Yuhao to agree, but he nodded and gave them a certain answer.

Xu Sanshi was stunned, and looked at him a little doubtfully. Don’t tell me he’s really conﬁdent? He understood Huo Yuhao, but he wasn’t completely conﬁdent that he would stray away from his plan given their demand.

He couldn’t take back his words anymore. Although there were still many doubts in his mind, he wasn’t able to voice them upon seeing how determined Huo Yuhao was.

Tang Wutong remained calmly seated where she was. She didn’t express her wish to join this mission, and no one went to question her. Ever since Huo Yuhao had conﬁrmed that she wasn’t Wang Dong’er, everyone’s attitude toward her had changed a little. She was just an outsider, while the others were from the Tang Sect. She naturally didn’t have the right to ask others to risk their lives.

Huo Yuhao said, “Alright. Since everyone is agreeable, let’s discuss the details. This mission is extremely important. We’ll have to take real care with every detail.”

After this, the Northwestern Field Army remained very peaceful for the next two days. Huo Yuhao also stopped the probing attacks that he had originally planned.

The Star Luo Empire also strictly stopped all ﬂow of information – news of the fall of the Heavenly Soul Empire didn’t spread. Both parties were at a stalemate.

In the night, the sky turned completely dark. There was a thin layer of fog in the sky tonight. When one peered into the sky, it was as if a layer of chiffon had engulfed the sky.

There weren’t any stars, and the moon was dim. This was deﬁnitely the night to carry out all sorts of covert operations.

Two ﬁgures rose into the night sky. They managed to get very high up under the cover of the night sky.

“Yuhao, whether we succeed depends on this. If we don’t, we can only choose to protect whatever we have.” The White Tiger Duke said softly. At this point, his hands were under Huo Yuhao’s armpits. His expression had evidently turned a little serious.

He was well-aware of the danger that Huo Yuhao was going into. If this mission failed, he would most likely end up dead. However, Huo Yuhao wasn’t bothered in the slightest when he came up with this proposition. It was as if he wasn’t the one whose life was in danger.

This entire mission was too important for the Star Luo Empire. The price to pay for failure was huge. However, if they succeeded, they could inﬂuence the situation across the entire continent!

Huo Yuhao smiled as he said, “Duke, don’t worry. I’ll do my best. I believe I have the ability to succeed.”

The White Tiger Duke took a deep breath, and then freed up one hand. He took off a necklace and placed it in front of Huo Yuhao.

“This is the tooth of a tiger. My father gave it to me in the past. I heard that it’s what remained after my ancestor killed a tiger-type soul beast. It can protect you. Put it on. No matter what, I hope you can return alive.”

Huo Yuhao turned his head around to look at Dai Hao. At that moment, he felt that he had lost control of his emotions, and was about to tell the White Tiger Duke about his background.

After receiving the necklace, he ﬁrst felt that it carried the body warmth of the White Tiger Duke. After that, he sensed a strong killing aura from it.

The tiger’s tooth had already become dark yellow, and the tooth’s colors fully displayed how ancient it was. This tiger’s tooth could be said to be the White Tiger Duke’s keepsake!

He actually gave it to me.

He’s my father – is this his gift for me?

Huo Yuhao’s eyes couldn’t help but well with tears as he hurriedly turned his head around and said, “Thank you.”

The White Tiger Duke smiled and said, “I should be the one who’s thanking you. Everyone in the Star Luo Empire will remember what you’ve done for the empire, and I will personally celebrate your success when you return. The princess has already promised – as long as you complete this task successfully, you’ll be given the inheritable title of Marquis.”

The title of Marquis was second only to the title of Duke amongst the list of titles of the nobility. The Star Luo Empire hadn’t appointed a hereditary Marquis for several hundred years, and one had to understand that a Marquis’ territory would contain a large city at least, let alone the fact that the title could be passed down to future generations. That was truly a blessing.

Huo Yuhao nodded silently, and a faint smile appeared on his face. The wetness in his eyes abruptly disappeared as he gazed into the distance, and many wonderful emotions resonated in his heart.

Dong’er, was that really you beside me that day? For you, I will try my best to survive.

The air became increasingly cold around them. They had already rise to further heights, and everything around them became increasingly quiet amidst the darkness of the night. Intense chills appeared continuously and assaulted their bodies.

The method that Huo Yuhao decided on was identical to the ﬁrst time he went to scout the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s

main peak – he would glide through the air. This was the only way he could close the distance most quickly, while it was difﬁcult for him to be discovered. At the same time, this method minimized his soul power expenditure.

The White Tiger Duke escorted him personally this time as well. The ground was gradually swallowed by the darkness, and the thick clouds in the sky were all that could be seen. The chills in the air didn’t affect him, and Huo Yuhao’s heart was very calm in this moment – terrifyingly calm.

Huo Yuhao didn’t hang the tiger tooth around his neck. Instead, he held it in his hands and sensed the vicious energies coming from it. However, he felt some warmth in his heart.

Four thousand meters, ﬁve thousand meters, ﬁve thousand ﬁve hundred meters.

They reached a height just like they did last time, and the low temperatures consumed more and more of the White Tiger Duke’s soul power. The White Tiger Duke had transformed into a White Tiger, but he had reverted to human form in this moment.

“It’s up to you now, Yuhao.” The White Tiger Duke hurtled Huo Yuhao outward with his thick, muscular arms.

Huo Yuhao didn’t say anything, but he gave the White Tiger Duke a thumbs-up with his right hand. He wore his Solo Battle Armor from the get-go today, and three pairs of wings stretched out behind his back, and soul power spurted ﬁercely as he propelled himself into the distance.

The White Tiger Duke didn’t leave immediately. Instead, he hovered in midair and watched as Huo Yuhao disappeared beyond the horizon. For some reason, he felt as if he had lost something when Huo Yuhao departed this time around; that feeling was unique and anxious.

Huo Yuhao tore through the darkness and pressed on. He accelerated through the sky, and once his speed reached a certain level, his arms stretched out from both sides of his body as two layers of thin leather ﬁlm connected his arm to his thigh. Wind billowed against those ﬁlms and created air resistance as he began to glide forward.

Huo Yuhao had developed these himself through his experience after he returned that day. The wings of his ﬂying-

type soul tool had a relatively weaker effect in controlling the airﬂow, and he descended too quickly while consuming a lot of soul power earlier on, which was detrimental to his subsequent operations. There were many tasks that he had to complete today, and they were the key components of his expedition this

time around. Therefore, he had to conserve his soul power no matter what.

Huo Yuhao had already activated Spiritual Detection. Everything around him ﬂew by in the blink of an eye, and he continued descending as he bore down on the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

Huo Yuhao was calm, and seemed as if he had completely integrated into the night sky. The side wings made from leather made him look like a giant bat.

Huo Yuhao didn’t have to worry about being discovered by surveillance soul tools at a height of three thousand meters. However, he knew after his previous two reconnaissance missions that the Sun Moon Empire would deﬁnitely put more effort into their surveillance coverage.

The Ming Dou Mountain Range came into view in the distance. Huo Yuhao quickly realized a problem as soon as he activated Spiritual Detection.

There were all sorts of surveillance soul tools clustered and arranged compactly about three kilometers from the Ming Dou Mountain Range. The main peak had the most surveillance soul tools around it.

There were some odd-shaped surveillance soul tools besides the original ones. These soul tools looked very strange, as if they had been stacked together.

If another soul master who was unfamiliar with soul tools were in Huo Yuhao’s position, he or she probably wouldn’t be able to tell what those things were even if they came close to them. However, Huo Yuhao quickly discerned their identity.

These things spell trouble! Those relatively large bases below them – aren’t they high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools?

There was another kind of soul tool on top of each high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool. They were stacked

together, which gave them an irregular shape.

Those…

Oscillation detectors?

Yes, they are oscillation detectors.

It’s evident that my enemy has realized that normal surveillance soul tools don’t work against me. However, oscillation detectors have relatively smaller areas of effect, though they are comparatively heavier at the same time. They were installed on the mountaintops before this. However, they have actually used high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools as bases, and placed the oscillation detectors on top so that they can hover back and forth through the air in order to ﬁnd me.

The beneﬁt of doing this was that those high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools could carry their respective oscillation detectors back and forth through the air between one thousand and three thousand meters above the ground. This maximized the oscillation detectors’ area of effect, and they

could lock down the sky entirely as long as there were enough of these things.

It seemed as if this plan would therefore be foolproof.

Huo Yuhao continued coming closer because he was gliding through the air. He understood that he couldn’t deal with those oscillation detectors at the moment. But if the Sun Moon empire is trying to stop me with such a plan – then they are too naïve.

The oscillation detectors’ range was their largest problem. Even though the Sun Moon Empire had deployed enough soul tools, there were still some cracks in their system.

Purple hues sparkled at the bottom of Huo Yuhao’s eyes as he squinted, and his Eye of Destiny opened on his forehead as every single detail was pictured clearly in his mind.

He shut his eyes, and only his Eye of Destiny continued observing far into the distance as his gentle spiritual power blanketed the area soundlessly.

Wave after wave appeared in Huo Yuhao’s mind. Those waves were presented three-dimensionally, produced by the oscillation detectors in front of him.

The oscillation detectors’ main concept was that the gentle soul power undulations released would produce feedback once they came into contact with physical matter. Those detectors would carry their own special waves so that they wouldn’t be confused when they came into contact with each other. These special waves changed every day to prevent enemies from ﬁguring them out.

They affected the air in some way since they were waves. Huo Yuhao leveraged his Eye of Destiny to amplify his Spiritual Detection, and accurately captured the rhythm of these waves before he relied on careful observation to search for their surveillance patterns.

Three kilometers – this was the range that the strongest offensive power that the Sun Moon Empire’s defensive perimeter had established on the Ming Dou Mountain Range could reach.

Any enemy that was discovered within this range would have a hard time even running away!

Huo Yuhao stretched his side wings as wide as possible, and carefully released his soul power as he activated his Imitation while he carefully observed the soul power undulations in the air.

He made his move after about ﬁve minutes.

Three pairs of wings erupted with formidable soul power as they propelled Huo Yuhao right towards the highest mountain peak.

Huo Yuhao quickly arrived at the three thousand meter mark.

He was still in midair as he suddenly closed his left side wing, and he rolled horizontally as he evaded a surveillance wave. He withdrew the six wings behind his back in the next moment, and his body plummeted for a moment as he evaded yet another wave.

His wings stretched out and spurted with soul power as he darted a hundred meters forward in an instant, and dodged the next wave.

It was a pity that nobody could bear witness to Huo Yuhao’s movements. Otherwise, they would realize that Huo Yuhao’s waltz was spectacular and extraordinary – he managed to evade an oscillation detector’s wave with each changing movement, and he found gap after gap in those seemingly all- covering waves and charged through them.

A Titled Douluo, or perhaps even an Ultimate Douluo, could possibly charge right through by relying on their formidable strength. However, pushing forward with Huo Yuhao’s dexterity and agility was beyond difﬁcult.

The entire process took about the time needed for seven or eight breaths in total before Huo Yuhao pushed through the web created by the cluster of oscillation detectors. However, even he began to pant a little after he stabilized his body.

That was close! There was once when an oscillation detector’s wave was but ten centimeters away from him. If he

had been even one bit slower, the wave would have swept through him, and he would have become target practice.

Huo Yuhao could easily imagine the baptism by cannon ﬁre he would receive if the Sun Moon Empire had discovered him, after he had murdered Wang Yiheng.

But he managed to push through in the end, and the pitch- black main peak was only two kilometers out. Huo Yuhao limited his Spiritual Detection to a controlled range and didn’t attempt a sweep in the main peak’s direction.

He was very aware of how frightening the spiritual barrier around the main peak was. All ﬁre would concentrate on him as well if he was discovered because of that.

Huo Yuhao ﬂew forward discreetly and gradually, and his alertness was raised to the highest possible level. He slowed his breathing, and it took a long while for him to draw even one breath. He released some of his Ultimate Ice so that he could control his body temperature to be identical to the air around him, and it felt as if he had transformed into a dust particle in the air as he ﬂoated forward sneakily.

The Ming Dou Mountain Range was still deathly quiet, and there were all sorts of aerial surveillance soul tools ﬂying rhythmically in the background. Huo Yuhao could feel both intense excitement and anxiety, and his senses were elevated continuously in this moment – he could even feel that his potential was being unleashed continuously under such circumstances.

It’d be fantastic if I could continue in such a state. Huo Yuhao understood that his cultivation would probably improve once more after he succeeded in this mission.

Two thousand meters, a thousand eight hundred meters, a thousand ﬁve hundred meters, a thousand three hundred meters, a thousand two hundred meters!

Huo Yuhao paused when he was a thousand two hundred meters away from the main peak. He wasn’t hasty to push forward, and neither did he release any Spiritual Detection. Instead, he relied only on his eyes to look up at the peak.

His Spirit Eyes were at the highest possible level of the Purple Demon Eyes even without support from his spiritual power. He could see many things clearly in the darkness, even from a thousand two hundred meters away.

Huo Yuhao discovered that there were not that many soul tools installed on the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s main peak. Instead, there relatively more soul tools installed on the two peaks beside it. A large region of the main peak’s tip was covered by metal, and there were many strange-looking metal shells constructed on it.

These metal shells were undoubtedly the best cover for the soul tools within. Huo Yuhao memorized every single one of their positions in his heart. Even if his mission failed in the end, memorizing these positions accurately would still be very useful.

At the same time, he relied on his own observations to judge where the Death God was located. He was scouting out the Death God, and it would be best if he could damage or destroy it, as that was the most important aim of his expedition!

The Death God wasn’t difﬁcult to ﬁnd. Huo Yuhao quickly saw the hemispherical metal dome on the main peak’s tip. This metal dome was about ten meters in diameter, and it was completely metal grey in color. It wasn’t eye-catching or obvious at all whether it was day or night, but Huo Yuhao could feel his soul shaking when he saw it.

Huo Yuhao’s senses were still very perceptive even though the metal dome wasn’t releasing any soul power undulations. What is this? It’s clearly a terrifying pressure naturally produced by something terrifying! It should be there. I will have completed half of my task if I can get close to it.

The Death God was powerful, but it was positioned strategically, and it wouldn’t achieve its desired effect if one actually got close to it. The Death God was better at attacking from long range no matter how powerful it was, and it wasn’t all-powerful.

Huo Yuhao took a deep breath and began to move once more. He held his breath, and edged forward bit by bit. Rose-gold colors ﬂickered in his Eye of Destiny as he stared at what was in front of him.

The spiritual barrier didn’t have any shape or form, and even Huo Yuhao couldn’t detect the spiritual barrier using his spiritual power without touching it. However, he would immediately be discovered if he touched it.

A thousand two hundred meters, a thousand one hundred meters, a thousand and ﬁfty meters…

He pushed on bit by bit, until he was almost there. Huo Yuhao paused when he was about a thousand and twenty meters away from the main peak.

Huo Yuhao had relied entirely on his memory from his previous expedition to reach this point, but he was unable to be sure about the last few dozen meters. He was taking a risk, so he decided to keep his risk within a controllable range.

Huo Yuhao quietly removed the leather wings on his body, and a faint smile appeared on his face. He had originally thought that he would need a lot more effort to close the gap, as there were likely to be oscillation detectors on the mountaintop, after all.

However, the Sun Moon Empire was evidently very conﬁdent after transforming the surveillance soul tools on the outer layer. The mountain’s oscillation detectors were all placed on the outside, and there were no other surveillance soul tools on the inside except for the spiritual barrier.

His Eye of Destiny became increasingly bright as Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power ﬂourished more and more. The light around Huo Yuhao began to contort faintly as large amounts of spiritual power were unleashed.

“Spiritual Blast!” A low growl came out of Huo Yuhao’s mouth. The air in front of him began to sizzle as if it were boiling, and soundless booms abruptly exploded within ten meters around him – this was a spiritual-type attack with an area of effect!

The spiritual barrier that was hidden one thousand meters from the main peak was ﬁnally triggered. It released a dull hum as it appeared roughly ten meters away from Huo Yuhao. The spiritual barrier rippled intensely under the effects of his Spiritual Blast.

“Brrng! Brrng!” Shrill alarm sounds immediately rang out on the mountaintop.

Huo Yuhao’s expression didn’t change. At this point in time, there was no longer any meaning in using Imitation to conceal his position. Gold and purple light ﬂashed in his Eye of Destiny on his forehead, and a purplish-gold beam of light blasted out from it as the sky was gradually tinted rose-gold, while blinding light collided ferociously with the spiritual barrier.

One had to know that the Manic Bull Douluo Wang Yiheng took a big hit back then from Huo Yuhao’s attack, and his defensive spiritual-type soul tool was directly shattered.

Even though the spiritual barrier around the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s main peak was powerful, the main problem with it was that it covered an area that was far too large. Therefore, any localized position’s defensive strength couldn’t reach the standard of a Class 9 soul tool.

“Woosh—” A hole that was one meter in diameter appeared on the spiritual barrier as it popped open like a pierced balloon. However, this spiritual barrier was impressive – it

swiftly stretched out to cover the gaps after it had been broken through.

Huo Yuhao couldn’t possibly let such an opportunity go, and light spurted from his ﬂying-type soul tool as he transformed into a beam of light and darted through the hole he had created. He didn’t touch the spiritual barrier at all.

Huo Yuhao’s life could end in an instant as he came within one thousand meters of the main peak! How could he allow himself to be dazed after touching the spiritual barrier?

Light glowed on the main peak, and even the stones began to shift in some places. Metal shells split open on the mountaintop, revealing the soul tools inside.

Huo Yuhao didn’t have to use Spiritual Detection to feel that large amounts of soul tools were locked onto him.

Beams of light instantly began to twist around Huo Yuhao’s body – Spiritual Interference!

The three pairs of wings on his back roared at maximum capacity at the same time, and he channeled as much soul power as he could. In addition to the two rows of soul thrusters ﬁring off, everything propelled him like a shooting star as he went directly for the main peak. He was going right

for the Death God.

Huo Yuhao stretched out his Spiritual Detection to every corner once he was inside the spiritual barrier. His main target was still the mountaintop – he wanted to see what the Death God was exactly.

A conical soul tool gradually protruded from within the hemispherical shell. This soul tool was dark red, and the light from all the soul tools around it seemed to dim in the moment that it appeared. Frightening soul power undulations rippled out from it, and once Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power touched it, an intense and piercing pain appeared deep in his spirit.

Huo Yuhao howled in agony, and was almost unable to control himself as he nearly fell. He retracted his Spiritual Detection as if he had just touched red-hot metal.

This was the ﬁrst time that Huo Yuhao had experienced something like this; he didn’t cut such a sorry ﬁgure even when he was facing the Beast God.

That… that is…

Huo Yuhao effortfully channeled his soul and spiritual power as his expression changed to one of terror, and at the same time, he tried his best to keep his balance.

Light from the soul tools on the mountaintop erupted at the same time. Large masses of soul rays and cannon shells blanketed toward Huo Yuhao – they didn’t care about his Spiritual Interference Domain, they just launched attacks over an enormous area.

Huo Yuhao retracted his Spiritual Detection very quickly. Even though that intense pain was still splitting his head open, he couldn’t care about that at this moment. He kept his Spiritual Detection within a certain range around his body as he ﬂickered continuously. He didn’t charge forward toward the main peak anymore – instead, he swiftly plummeted downward; evading all those fatal attacks ﬁrst was the wisest move!

The Skydream Iceworm’s spiritual origin began to take effect in Huo Yuhao’s mind as gentle spiritual power nourished his spiritual sea to lessen his suffering.

However, Huo Yuhao was severely affected by that moment he came into contact with that thing. His body still slowed a little, and he still didn’t evade one of the soul rays. That soul ray struck the side of his arm, and the hit made him spin in midair like a top.

It was a Class 7 soul ray.

Fortunately, he had his Solo Battle Armor protecting him. Otherwise, no matter how powerful he was, he would have been injured from that hit.

The situation was worse than he had thought, and the most important factor to everything was that the Death God’s strength exceeded Huo Yuhao’s expectations. In this moment, the dark red pointy tower was completely erect as faint dark red light rotated around it. However, it didn’t ﬁre at him. It was clear that, for the person who was controlling the Death God, Huo Yuhao was not worthy of ﬁring the Death God.

Just as Huo Yuhao was placed at a complete disadvantage and was about to use Instant Teleportation to diffuse the situation, a purple beam of light suddenly glowed from behind his back as a series of crackling sounds appeared in the sky. A patch of soul cannon shells that were sweeping over were detonated as they exploded in a patch in the sky. A gentle strength pulled on Huo Yuhao and dragged him horizontally, out of the explosions’ epicenter.

A slender ﬁgure appeared from thin air behind him, and Huo Yuhao was stunned speechless when he looked up.

The person who had suddenly appeared to save him was, to his immense surprise, Tang Wutong.

She was very glamorous in this moment as her Radiant Dragon Butterﬂy’s wings stretched out behind her. There was no doubt that she was the one who had released that purple light.

“How can you be here?” Huo Yuhao couldn’t help but ask. Not in his wildest dreams did he expect that Tang Wutong

would follow him here. However, he didn’t sense anything at all before this! This was just unbelievable.

Tang Wutong giggled and said, “That’s nothing. I have an innate skill, and I followed you inside – that’s all. You would have been target practice if it hadn’t been for me. What do we do next?”

Huo Yuhao couldn’t be bothered with asking Tang Wutong what innate skill that was. At the same time, her timely intervention and delay gave the Skydream Iceworm enough time to alleviate the stabbing pain in his spiritual sea.

Huo Yuhao dragged Tang Wutong and swiftly pulled her towards the mountain’s peak.

It seems impossible to chase her away at this point. I can only continue on to complete the task, and try my best to survive amongst all the dangers.

“Your guts are too big.” Huo Yuhao growled angrily as he accelerated towards the mountain’s peak at his fastest possible speed.

No wonder she was keeping quiet the entire time, and didn’t make a sound when everyone else was requesting to participate in this expedition – she had already made her plans. Huo

Yuhao was very calm before, but now he was starting to feel a little frantic.

Their enemies didn’t care what state of mind they were in. Soul rays crisscrossed like a web of a death as they continued sweeping toward the two of them. These were all soul rays that were Class 7 or above, and they were likely to be locked on if they were struck even once.

Huo Yuhao unleashed his Spiritual Interference Domain and Spiritual Detection to their highest possible levels. He dragged Tang Wutong as they dodged and waltzed through the air, and they continued ﬂying closer to the mountain peak. They had to get onto the mountain.

Huo Yuhao was a thousand meters away when he began his charge, and now only ﬁve hundred meters remained. His plan would have a chance of success as long as he charged through the last ﬁve hundred meters.

Four hundred meters!

Just as Huo Yuhao was relying on his tremendous speed and judgement ability to continue pushing forward, a spherical soul tool on the mountaintop suddenly released a layer of orange-red light.

This layer of light expanded outward, and quickly became a ﬁlm of light.

Huo Yuhao could evade soul rays and cannon shells, but such area attacks that locked down every angle were futile as well. Chilly lights ﬂickered in his eyes as he swung his right hand – Unparalleled Chill, Empress’ Sword!

Dark blue sword light burst into the world as it slashed ferociously onto the ﬁlm, and what exceeded everyone’s expectations was the fact that it was actually slashed open, however, it still collided with Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong’s bodies, but it didn’t explode.

This is…

Huo Yuhao’s eyes closed into slits. This is evidently a light of resistance! Yes, it’s a light of resistance. This thing doesn’t have

any offensive power in itself, but it’s very tenacious, and uses propulsion to push its enemies further away. This was a soul tool that soul engineers typically used in battles against soul masters.

Except this was the ﬁrst time that he had seen a light of resistance with such a large area of effect. Who’s this maniac who made a light of resistance into a Class 7 soul tool?

His frustrations couldn’t solve his problems. The two of them were directly pushed from four hundred meters back to six hundred meters after they were struck by the light of resistance. Huo Yuhao would have been pushed even further if he hadn’t used his full strength to stabilize himself.

Tang Wutong wasn’t idle as she ﬂapped her wings continuously while she pushed out beam after beam of dragon- shaped air ﬂows and dispelled every attack that was most likely to threaten them.

At this moment, the Sun Moon Empire seemed to have readjusted themselves. Shadow after shadow emerged from the mountaintop not far away, and they were all ﬂying towards the two of them. The surveillance soul tools that were

originally behind them turned around and began to unleash wave after wave in their direction.

Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection Domain was about to be affected by those oscillation detectors. Even though his powerful spiritual power could also in turn affect those oscillation detectors, Huo Yuhao’s reach and range was much smaller.

Huo Yuhao regained his calm as he was faced with such a situation. He turned towards Tang Wutong and growled, “I’m going to send you onto the mountain. Afterwards, you will unleash destruction up there as much as you can – don’t care about me. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” Tang Wutong didn’t waste any words as she immediately agreed.

Huo Yuhao pulled Tang Wutong to him and wrapped his hands around her. Tang Wutong’s slender waist was very bouncy, but it was a pity that Huo Yuhao couldn’t feel anything because he was clad in his Solo Battle Armor.

Tang Wutong blushed. She didn’t know what Huo Yuhao was trying to do right now, but this was the second time that she had found herself in his arms. She wasn’t angry like she was the last time, and realized to her surprise that she wasn’t even too embarrassed.

“Take care of yourself, and ﬁnd one person for me!” Huo Yuhao hollered as blue light erupted from his Solo Battle Armor in the next moment. The blue lights ﬂashed as they enveloped Tang Wutong, and her elegant frame was propelled from his body like a cannon shell in the next moment.

An ability that came with the Solo Battle Armor – Transport!

This ability allowed Huo Yuhao to transform his soul power to envelope any physical body before propelling it out. The force of this propulsion was extremely large, but it wouldn’t harm the transported body at all.

The reason why this soul skill was installed on his Solo Battle Armor was so that he could help his teammates reach their designated positions during group battles. This ability was unique to Xuan Ziwen, and the Sun Moon Empire didn’t have any soul engineers who could craft soul transporters.

After Tang Wutong’s body was propelled toward the mountain, the soul power that was pushing her forward naturally transformed into a protective layer. She was moving almost as fast as a cannon shell.

The Sun Moon Empire evidently didn’t expect Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong to have such a burst of speed after being pushed back by their light of resistance. This explosion of speed was comparable to that of a Titled Douluo.

However, Huo Yuhao became target practice after Tang Wutong was gone. Tremendous masses of cannon shells and soul rays swept in his direction.

The oscillation detectors behind Huo Yuhao had completed their sweep on him at the same time. Even though they couldn’t lock onto him precisely, they could reduce the size of his rough location to ten percent of the area they were targeting before. Therefore, Huo Yuhao was entirely trapped in a barrage of attacks!

Huo Yuhao vanished into thin air with a ﬂash of light, and reappeared ﬁfty meters away. Instant Teleportation!

This soul skill couldn’t be used repeatedly, but Huo Yuhao ﬁnally used it at that crucial moment.

Tang Wutong had already closed in on the main peak. The attacking soul tools were targeted at Huo Yuhao before this, and thus there actually weren’t any attacks that locked on to her position at this moment. Most of the defensive soul tools on the main peak would lose their effectiveness once she arrived on the main peak.

Huo Yuhao could feel that some soul tools that were Class 8 or above were done charging, and he would have to face a truly unstoppable fusillade in the next moment!

Quick, Wutong! He needed Tang Wutong to ﬁnd an enemy for him, with which he would use the Xuanwu Displacement that he had duplicated from Xu Sanshi to switch himself over.

Huo Yuhao’s eyes suddenly closed into slits at this moment, and his eyes were overcome with fear – the reason was because a beam of dark red was soundlessly ﬁred from that dark red pointy tower that was fully erected, and it was going straight for Tang Wutong.

The Death God is attacking Wutong! Huo Yuhao could feel goosebumps break out over his body. Even though he knew Tang Wutong wasn’t Wang Dong’er, they looked identical after all – furthermore, he was still holding on to a thread of hope in his heart that they were one and the same.

Huo Yuhao had seen how powerful the Death God was when it unleashed its power. Back then, a blinding patch of white had appeared, but the light beam was red this time, and it didn’t seem like it could cover as large an area as the white light from before could reach. However, how could he let Tang Wutong be struck by an attack such as this?

He almost didn’t hesitate as he unleashed the soul skill that he had duplicated – Xuanwu Displacement!

Lights ﬂashed, and Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong switched places.

Tang Wutong also realized what was happening when the dark red beam blasted out. A stiﬂing sensation coursed throughout her body, and she lowered her head subconsciously to look – but the red beam was already in front of her.

Tang Wutong felt as if all the blood in her body was frozen in that moment, and agonizing howls rang out in her ears, as if she had descended into purgatory.

However, the pressure around her suddenly vanished entirely in the next moment, and even everything that was in front of her eyes had changed.

Huo Yuhao was looking toward her before this. Therefore, the ﬁrst thing Tang Wutong saw after he used Xuanwu Displacement was a red beam swallowing his entire body.

“No!” A shrill scream broke the air. Tang Wutong felt as if that dark red beam didn’t fall onto Huo Yuhao – instead, she felt as if it had pierced her heart. Her heart ached so much that she couldn’t breathe at that moment, and she ﬂapped her wings hysterically as he raced toward Huo Yuhao.

However, the cannon ﬁre that was concentrated on Huo Yuhao before this closed in on her. She didn’t have Spiritual Interference Domain, so she was directly locked onto.

A sharp cry could be heard as Tang Wutong’s seventh soul ring glowed – Radiant Dragon Butterﬂy True Body!

She transformed into a purple beam of light, and she became completely illusory to all the soul tools that had locked onto her.

An intense and indescribable golden beam erupted from her body in the next moment. A golden trident shone brilliantly on her forehead, and golden light ﬂashed once before she forcefully broke out from all the cannon ﬁre as she bolted directly toward the mountaintop.

……

Everything was barren and deathly silent. Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, Ji Juechen, Jing Ziyan, Ye Guyi, and Nan Qiuqiu were all waiting here quietly.

They had already been here long before Huo Yuhao had set off. There were thirteen soul masters of varying ages with them, but every single one of them were powerful Titled

Douluo – there were even two Transcendent Douluo amongst them.

Huo Yuhao deﬁnitely couldn’t destroy the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s main peak all by himself. The attacking plan that he and the White Tiger Duke had devised was simple – he would bring every single one of them onto the main peak.

There were some things that Huo Yuhao couldn’t do, but if more than ten Titled Douluo combined their strength to do those things, then the result would be very different.

Once they were within range of the main peak, and once Titled Douluo unleashed their full ﬁghting strength, their combined power wasn’t something those close-range soul tools’ defensive perimeter could resist.

They would achieve victory amidst the dangers. However, this plan had a prerequisite, and that was that Huo Yuhao had to be able to rush onto the main peak and buy enough time to release the others.

There was no doubt that Xu Sanshi and the others were no longer on the Douluo Continent – they were in Huo Yuhao’s spectral demiplane.

Nobody could feel any undead inside the spectral demiplane, as Huo Yuhao had scattered the undead creatures far away beforehand. Huo Yuhao had used his spectral demiplane before when he was rescuing the White Tiger Duke, and this time, even though the White Tiger Duke would suspect him, Huo Yuhao couldn’t be bothered with that, as they needed to break through the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s defenses.

Chapter 450: Death Gods Rubbing Shoulders

The White Tiger Duke would have suspected him a long time ago if not for the fact that he was still young. That was the reason why his thoughts were a little different when he was escorting Huo Yuhao into the air. From the White Tiger Duke’s perspective, Huo Yuhao was likely to be a disciple of the person who had saved him. Perhap, the person who had saved him came from Shrek Academy.

Waiting was a kind of torture. Xu Sanshi and the others had already been waiting for a long time. There was a dark door not far from them – Huo Yuhao had told them that if they didn’t hear his call within two hours, then they had to charge out from this door.

Almost an hour had passed, but they still hadn’t received any news at all.

“Sanshi, do you think Yuhao is in trouble? Why do I feel like something is not right with this place of his?” Jiang Nannan whispered to Xu Sanshi, who was beside her.

Xu Sanshi was momentarily stunned. “What’s wrong? Since Yuhao has allowed us to participate in this operation, there shouldn’t be a problem. Look – we have more than ten Titled Douluo with us, and we have to rely on their strength to complete our mission! Yuhao can’t have lied to us.”

Jiang Nannan forced a laugh and said, “The reason I think something is wrong is because of these Titled Douluo! Think about it – what will happen if this operation fails? Won’t everyone be completely stuck in this place without his call? That can’t be the case, because he’s left this dark door for us. But where does this door lead? If his mission has failed, he can’t possibly let these Titled Douluo rush out into our enemies’ cannon ﬁre. I’m afraid that this door leads us directly back into our camp!”

Xu Sanshi was rendered speechless for a while as he listened to Jiang Nannan’s words. His facial expression gradually turned black after a few moments as he snapped around at Jiang Nannan and growled, “Why didn’t you say this earlier?”

Jiang Nannan looked very aggrieved. “It only just came to me. It seems like Yuhao isn’t conﬁdent at all! We have all been tricked. No wonder I felt as if something wasn’t right when he agreed so readily. What should we do now?”

Xu Sanshi rubbed his ﬁsts and said, “We have to wait – that’s the only thing we can do. If this door leads back to our camp, then walking out now will mean we no longer have an opportunity to help him. We can only pray that his mission is a success. That little rascal is putting himself in danger once

again.”

……

Inside the commander’s tent of the Star Luo Empire’s Northwestern Field Army.

There were several dozen soul masters standing quietly inside the commander’s tent. The White Tiger Duke was sitting in the main commander’s seat, and Princess Jiujiu was sitting beside him.

They were all waiting quietly for news to arrive.

There was a dark door conjured not far from the White Tiger Duke. Huo Yuhao had left this behind before he left. He told the White Tiger Duke that even if his mission wasn’t

successful, he wouldn’t incur any losses for the army at all, and going through with their conservative plan was enough.

The White Tiger Duke was clear that Huo Yuhao no longer cared about his safety when he said those words, and when those Titled Douluo walked out from this door, it would mean that Huo Yuhao had paid with his life in this operation.

The soul master legions would complete the rest of their offensive, and all eight soul master legions were ready. All they were waiting for was the signal from the frontlines.

Xu Jiujiu tried her best to remain calm, and she sat beside the White Tiger Duke in silence. However, everyone could feel the stiﬂing pressure in the atmosphere.

The White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu undoubtedly felt the greatest pressure, because they were the only ones who knew about the news that came from the Heavenly Soul Empire. If their mission was unsuccessful, then the Star Luo Empire would be pushed into a completely passive position.

All they could do was pray for Huo Yuhao.

Dai Yueheng and Dai Luoli were both standing behind the White Tiger Duke. Dai Yueheng’s eyebrows were slightly furrowed, as if he were thinking about something, while Dai Luoli’s eyes were ﬂickering faintly.

The White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu knew about the secret news that came from the Heavenly Soul Empire, and he knew yet another secret – he knew the secret of Huo Yuhao’s identity. Huo Yuhao had gone to look for him this morning.

……

“How are things, Luoli? How has your cultivation been recently?”

“Why are you here, brother? Are you here to give me some pointers?” Dai Luoli stared at Huo Yuhao, who had lifted his tent’s curtain and was walking in, and he couldn’t help but greet him excitedly.

Huo Yuhao shook his head with a faint smile on his face and said, “Eh? You want to be beaten up again?”

Dai Luoli blushed and said, “Being beaten up isn’t a bad thing, actually. My improvements were the fastest when you were beating me up. Brother, you have to promise me to get me one of those Spirits. We can do that once this war is over. Even though I have been bottlenecked at Rank 40 because I lack an

extra soul ring, I can feel that I have been improving very quickly recently.”

Huo Yuhao chuckled and said, “That’s good. Don’t worry, Spirits won’t be a problem as long as you’re willing to put in effort. Right, I came here to ﬁnd you because there’s something I have to tell you.”

“What?” Dai Luoli asked curiously.

Huo Yuhao said plainly, “I am going on a mission tonight, and I may not return. I haven’t decided yet – if I don’t return, then you can tell him about my secrets.”

“Eh? What mission are you going to execute? Will it be dangerous? Who and what do you want me to tell?”

Huo Yuhao walked in front of Dai Luoli and rubbed his head gently. “It’s not dangerous. What I meant was that you can tell your father about my identity.”

Dai Luoli trembled. “You’ve ﬁgured it out?”

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “If I don’t return, it means I’ve ﬁgured it out. I just don’t want to face him.”

“But if you leave, then when will we meet again?” Dai Luoli said hurriedly.

Huo Yuhao was momentarily stunned. “We’ll meet again if fate allows it.”

……

Dai Luoli was thinking about every word that Huo Yuhao had said to him, and he could feel his heart slowly tensing up.

Is the mission really not dangerous? If the mission isn’t dangerous, then why would my father wait here with such a formidable force? Neither he nor Dai Yueheng knew what kind of order their father would give next, but Dai Luoli could guess that everything that was happening had something to do with

Huo Yuhao.

You can’t let anything happen to you, brother!

……

Everything around him was dark red, and a strange force surged into Huo Yuhao’s body from all directions. He felt, in that moment, as if there were countless avenging spirits that were about to tear his body apart, and were about to swallow his spirit.

He couldn’t feel anything else around him except for all the dark red colors. Yes, this was the Death God’s power – even though this wasn’t its complete version, this power seemed enough to deal with him.

Huo Yuhao could almost feel that his body was being torn apart by this sinister and terrifying strength, and his life energy was swiftly seeping away as his spiritual sea gradually crumbled.

Am I going to die?

Countless images surfaced in Huo Yuhao’s mind at this moment.

His mother’s gentle eyes, and her yearning gaze before her death.

Dong’er’s arrogant demeanor when she was dressed in men’s clothes, and how tender she was afterwards.

Father, father – yes, and my father.

I don’t know if my death will make him sad. He set his own son on a path of death with his own hands, and perhaps this is the best vengeance that he deserves. If he doesn’t care…

Huo Yuhao clenched his ﬁsts tightly, and the tiger’s tooth pierced into his palm. However, he regretted nothing in this moment.

Is everything going to end just like this? Mother, I’m coming to ﬁnd you.

Suddenly, an icy-cold aura rose up. Huo Yuhao had already lost all hope when he felt an incredibly strong power burst forth from his body and forcefully chase away all the avenging spirits that had invaded his body.

That clean and cool feeling appeared ﬁrst in his chest before it stretched over his torso, as wave of ﬂourishing life energy took this opportunity to spurt from his body – that was the power of the Life Guardian Blade.

Scales that were as black as night swiftly covered his entire body. The dark red light had long disappeared, but Huo Yuhao hadn’t been reduced to ﬂying dust – instead, he was plummeting down right at a mountain peak not far away.

His Solo Battle Armor had been melted away into nothingness, and all he had left at this moment was armor of black scales. Fortunately, he didn’t bring out his Starlight Sapphire ring. This was actually the thought that had occurred to him despite his circumstances.

……

The Great Star Dou Forest’s Lake of Life.

The clear and transparent lake water suddenly turned black, and an indignant dragon roar could be heard in the next moment.

An enormous dragon head that was several tens of meters in diameter emerged from the lake’s surface. The dragon head was as black as ink, but its eyes were bright gold.

Except, there were faint traces of blood amidst all that golden radiance.

“Roar –” The dragon’s maw opened as a dark-red sphere erupted from within it.

After this dark red sphere emerged, countless images of avenging spirits appeared in the sky as the sphere dissipated, and these avenging spirits howled in agony as the sphere vanished.

The dragon’s golden eyes became clear once more after it expelled this dark red air sphere.

“So powerful! So brutal. Is this a weapon humans created with avenging spirits?”

……

“Bam—” Huo Yuhao’s body crashed into the side of the mountain. At this moment, he seemed like he was part of the mountain, because his entire body was covered in black dragon scales.

He didn’t hesitate at all as he activated Spiritual Interference Domain once more. He turned to look in Tang Wutong’s direction at the same time.

Huo Yuhao instantly saw, to his surprise, that an intense layer of golden light had appeared around Tang Wutong, and was pushing her body forward toward the mountainside at lightning speed. She was as fast as a shooting star. More strangely, the layer of golden light that was protecting her repelled all the soul cannon shells and soul rays that were ﬂying toward her – and those things didn’t detonate at all.

What kind of power is that? It’s so powerful!

A soul master that was erupting with speed at all full strength could cover several hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

Tang Wutong charged into the mountainside as well.

Huo Yuhao immediately connected to her through Spiritual Detection. They didn’t pause at all, but turned around and bolted toward a blind spot where the Death God couldn’t attack

them directly. All the soul tools on the main peak stopped ﬁring at the moment they reached the mountain, and they could no longer threaten them in any way. However, several hundred soul engineers were already racing toward the main peak, and were coming closer and closer.

“You’re still alive?” Tang Wutong grabbed his shoulder excitedly as she saw Huo Yuhao. Even though the power of darkness emanating from the black dragon scales made her feel uncomfortable, she couldn’t be bothered with all that at this moment.

Huo Yuhao cursed, laughed, and said, “Why are you cursing me to die?”

Tang Wutong panted furiously for a few moments. “Nobody’s cursing you. How did you do that? That power…”

“Let’s talk about that later. Let’s continue with our mission,” Huo Yuhao grabbed her hand. The black scales on his body were starting to disappear, but he couldn’t be bothered with putting on any clothes as he pulled Tang Wutong right toward the place on the main peak that was caved inward. He began to murmur some incantations at the same time.

Dense spiritual undulations emerged from his body and circled around him.

Tang Wutong felt entirely different when he held her hand this time. Huo Yuhao’s hand was very warm, and was very strong. She felt very safe and secure, even though they were in such a dangerous place.

The scene of what had just happened had been deeply imprinted into her mind, even though she didn’t know how Huo Yuhao had managed to stay alive. The armor on his body was gone, and he seemed like nothing had happened to him, but she clearly felt that he had lost all life at that moment.

He didn’t hesitate to save me!

The image of Huo Yuhao being enveloped in all the dark red light replayed over and over in her mind.

The assault from the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineers arrived from a distance right at this moment, and everything

came sweeping down. Oscillation detectors surrounded them from all positions at the same time.

They were like turtles in a jar for the Sun Moon Empire.

This soul master who had penetrated their defenses time and time again had given them too much trouble, and dealt far too heavy losses to them. He had even baited Wang Yiheng out and killed him. That was incredibly humiliating for the Sun Moon Empire, and they didn’t believe that this soul master could escape from his current circumstances.

Huo Yuhao stood still in a depression in the mountain and unleashed his Life Reﬂecting Shield. He protected both himself and Tang Wutong within it, and his incantations became increasingly rushed.

Huo Yuhao had to stabilize himself to complete the spell so that he could summon his spectral demiplane. Tang Wutong took the initiative and stood in front of him to protect him as she released purple dragon-shaped light again and again, while her ﬁfth soul ring glowed. She deﬂected the incoming attacks along with Huo Yuhao’s Life Reﬂecting Shield.

This was her ﬁfth soul skill – Dragon God’s Howl.

This soul skill wasn’t as powerful as her sixth soul skill, Deadly Dragon God Dance, but this soul skill could be used continuously.

Huo Yuhao ﬁnally completed his spell as a ﬂashing door suddenly appeared beside him. Just as Huo Yuhao was preparing to summon his companions from inside the spectral demiplane, Tang Wutong suddenly called out, “Hey, wait.”

“What?” Huo Yuhao asked confusedly.

Tang Wutong didn’t look at him, and her eyes had been elsewhere this entire time. However, Huo Yuhao could see from her proﬁle that her pretty face and neck were tainted with faint red hues.

“Put on some clothes,” Tang Wutong’s voice was very soft, but it rang loud and clear in Huo Yuhao’s ears.

“Uh…” Huo Yuhao glanced downward, and realized that all the black scales protecting him had disappeared – then, there wasn’t much else. That was called clean.

This time, besides his Solo Battle Armor, Huo Yuhao had even left the breastplate, Hongchen’s Blessing, that he had obtained from the Illustrious Virtue Hallmaster, Jing Hongchen back in the army camp. He had instructed Dai Luoli to take it if Huo Yuhao didn’t return.

Therefore, one could say that he had absolutely nothing on him.

“I didn’t bring any…” Huo Yuhao said weakly.

“You…” Tang Wutong’s face became even redder as she tossed a long dress back to Huo Yuhao. “Wrap this around you.”

“Alright!” Huo Yuhao couldn’t be bothered with anything else, as they were in an emergency, and wrapped the dress around his waist to “protect” his most important parts before he summoned his companions.

Silhouettes emerged swiftly from the door. Xu Sanshi took point – Xuanwu Shield Wall!

Golden light erupted as a large patch of shields formed a defensive perimeter that protected Tang Wutong and Huo Yuhao within.

Xu Sanshi was momentarily stunned when he saw Tang Wutong, before he saw Huo Yuhao, who was still wrapped in a dress.

“Jeez, Yuhao. We were worried about you for nothing. Are you two here on a date, or executing a mission? How have you guys fooled around until you have no clothes left? Hahaha!”

Xu Sanshi couldn’t help tease Huo Yuhao as he saw the wretched shape he was in. However, his face quickly turned pale.

The Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineers had already surrounded them. Xu Sanshi had deﬂected those formidable

attacks twice with his Golden Xuanwu Shield, but his soul power was being sapped at an incredible speed.

However, more shadows began to emerge from within the door at this moment.

A tremendous shadow suddenly opened up. It was an enormous umbrella, and everything within several tens of square meters was protected within it. Every single soul ray and cannon shell that fell down were all blocked, and the pressure on Xu Sanshi was lifted a little.

The Big Dipper Umbrella! The Big Dipper Douluo was here.

Yes, the commander of the Star Luo Empire’s ﬁrst soul master legion, the Big Dipper Douluo, was also participating in this operation.

“Give me a set of clothes, third senior brother.” Huo Yuhao could feel all the strange gazes that everyone was giving him, and sheepishly asked Xu Sanshi for help.

Xu Sanshi chuckled. This wasn’t a good time for him to continue teasing Huo Yuhao, as he tossed a warrior robe to him and used his Xuanwu Shield to cover him.

Huo Yuhao swiftly changed into his new clothes. At this moment, all the Titled Douluo and the rest of the Tang Sect emerged from the door.

The Big Dipper Douluo continued ﬁghting against the incoming assault as he asked Huo Yuhao, “Is this the main peak?”

“Yes,” Huo Yuhao said, “Be careful, everyone. The Death God is on the mountaintop – that red cone-shaped object. If I’m not wrong, the Death God must be connected to the Holy Ghost Church, as it contains the ability of evil soul masters. It seems to have been crafted by compressing avenging spirits and some special powers together. It’s extremely frightening – make sure you don’t get hit. Avoid the angles that the Death God can reach as much as you can as you carry out the mission.”

“Understood. I can ﬁnally have a good ﬁght with these bastards,” A tall and burly Titled Douluo exclaimed furiously as

he raised his right hand, in which a golden sphere immediately glowed.

Two yellow, two purple, and ﬁve black soul rings rose up as an enormous hammer appeared in this Titled Douluo’s hands.

This large hammer was yellow, and it emanated a dense and heavy aura once it appeared.

His title was his martial soul – the Giant Hammer Douluo.

The Giant Hammer Douluo swung his arms as the large hammer in his hands crashed ferociously against the mountainside.

What was surprising was that his hammer didn’t cause any loud explosions as it crashed into the mountain. Instead, a yellow sphere quickly stretched out across the mountain.

Huo Yuhao could faintly feel that there was an incredibly formidable strength that was threading through the mountain.

Of course, the Giant Hammer Douluo and the Big Dipper Douluo weren’t the only ones who began to attack.

The other Titled Douluo went on the offensive like a bunch of tigers who had been released from their cages.

Purple beams stretched across the skies like arrows. These purple beams ﬂickered in the air before they disappeared, and there were no ﬂight trajectories to them, but agonizing cries could be heard in the distance immediately afterwards.

How could the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineers know that more than ten Titled Douluo would suddenly appear here? They were caught off-guard, and the only things they could use to defend themselves were their automatic protective soul barriers.

However, how could automatic soul barriers defend against the attacks of a Titled Douluo who was adept with spatial power?

Several dozen soul engineers were impaled by those purple lights, and their bodies broke apart as they disintegrated into a

rain of blood that splattered in all directions.

The Star Luo Empire’s Titled Douluo had been held back long enough. They had felt far too restrained over recent days and weeks. They dared to challenge anybody in the Sun Moon Empire based on their individual ﬁghting strengths, but they could only wait bitterly every day because they were suppressed by the surveillance from the Sun Moon Empire’s soul tools. They couldn’t ﬁght even though they wanted to.

This was especially so during that instance when two thousand high-tier soul masters perished, which had dealt a heavy blow to them. Their disciples and relatives were among those who died, and this meant there was now a bloody vendetta they had to exact against the Sun Moon Empire. How could they control themselves now that they were suddenly deep within enemy lines? They couldn’t be bothered with the threat from the Death God anymore; all they wanted to do was spill the blood of their enemies.

An intense tremor suddenly rippled within the mountain. The entire mountain trembled as deafening booms crackled inside the mountain, while a large region caved in on the mountaintop.

The Giant Hammer Douluo is so powerful.

Huo Yuhao’s eyes glowed. These people are so powerful!

“Senior Giant Hammer – you can attack something a distance away through the air?”

The Giant Hammer Douluo nodded and said, “I’m going to crush them. But I can’t see them, so my attacks are a little inaccurate.”

“But I can see!” Huo Yuhao laughed he shared his Spiritual Detection with the Giant Hammer Douluo, and immediately marked out the important positions on the mountaintop for him.

They were still relatively far from the Death God’s location, but they were close enough to some of the mountain’s defensive soul tools.

“Fantastic ability!” The Giant Hammer Douluo gave Huo Yuhao a thumbs-up as he swung the large hammer in his hands

once more.

The other Titled Douluo swiftly dispersed over the mountain, and those Titled Douluo who were adept with spatial power unleashed their abilities to their fullest extent.

Huo Yuhao had to gather his strength for a moment after that hit he had taken. Afterwards, he witnessed an elderly man who was in his sixties erupt with purple light as his eighth soul ring, a black one, glowed at the same time.

This elderly man closed his hands in front of his chest before he pushed them out gradually as a purple whirlpool that was about ten centimeters in diameter ﬂew out.

This Titled Douluo was known as the Shattered Star Douluo.

He was one of the two Transcendent Douluo amongst all the other Titled Douluo, and he was at Rank 95. His martial soul was very unique – the Light of Shattered Stars.

A single purple beam appeared on his body when his martial soul was awoken when he was six years old. This beam shattered everything it touched, and the Light of Shattered Stars was a name that he had chosen for himself.

His martial soul was unique, and was innately full of soul power. He was only sixty-six years of age today, but he had already become a Transcendent Douluo. He was one of the Star Luo Empire’s most powerful Titled Douluo. His Light of Shattered Stars was equipped with spatial powers – more accurately put, his martial soul was equipped with destructive spatial powers, and was very fearsome.

Shattered Star Whirlpool – the tiny purple whirlpool ﬂew out, and paused momentarily in midair before the air surrounding it billowed like a hurricane. Intense purple light seemed to swallow even the space around it, and this whirlpool expanded continuously as cracks appeared in the space around it as they merged continuously.

All the incoming soul rays and cannon shells seemed to be pulled by some unseen force, and ﬂew into the purple whirlpool before they were diced into a million pieces. Those cannon shells couldn’t even detonate as the purple whirlpool

seemed like it was absorbing the energies from those soul rays and cannon shells as it continued to expand.

Those Titled Douluo’s movements became much more casual with the Shattered Star Whirlpool protecting them as they quickly dispersed. With the help of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection, they avoided the threat from the Death God as they scattered in all directions.

“Boom—” A series of vigorous explosions rang out near the mountaintop. An enormous offensive soul tool that had been constructed on the mountain was shaken, and slanted to one side, and it was clear that it could no longer be used. That was probably caused by the Giant Hammer Douluo.

That wasn’t all – the Giant Hammer Douluo was guided by Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection as he swung his hammer once more, and explosions boomed again and again.

The Giant Hammer Douluo wasn’t the most powerful amongst the Titled Douluo in terms of strength, but his abilities were most effective in terms of assaulting fortiﬁed positions.

The Shattered Star Whirlpool quickly expanded to over ﬁfty meters because of the Sun Moon Empire’s ferocious onslaught

– and it was still growing.

Huo Yuhao could feel the tremendous energies contained within this terrifying whirlpool because of his Spiritual Detection. He knew that this thing would cause a cataclysm once it exploded.

The Shattered Star Douluo turned around and gestured to Huo Yuhao and the others to come closer to him.

Huo Yuhao, Tang Wutong, and the rest of the Tang Sect, along with the Giant Hammer Douluo, arrived next to him. The other Titled Douluo had already dispersed into the darkness.

The Shattered Star Douluo formed a sphere with his hands as his palms carried beams of his Light of Shattered Stars. These lights congregated in midair before they quietly ﬂowed into the mountain in front of him.

The tough rock melted like ice and snow in front of the Light of Shattered Stars. Gentle purple hues along with specks of starlight enveloped everyone as they burst into the mountain with a ﬂash.

The Shattered Star Douluo is so powerful, Huo Yuhao was full of admiration inside. The Shattered Star Douluo’s abilities allowed him to forcefully break through defenses, and also allowed him to go deep within enemy lines from far away. However, when they didn’t have any intel at all, he would be blind even if he could burrow into the mountain. The Sun Moon Empire would have their own solutions for underground surveillance, and that was the reason why the Star Luo Empire didn’t dare to be hasty about this.

Even so, Huo Yuhao was full of respect and admiration for all those Titled Douluo from the Star Luo Empire. They were the Star Luo Empire’s main pillars of strength! The reason why they couldn’t do anything about the Sun Moon Empire’s defensive perimeter was because of the gap between the two nations’ soul tool technology. The Star Luo Empire could match the Sun Moon Empire in terms of individual ﬁghting strength, and they could even have a chance against the Holy Ghost Church.

Everything around them descended into darkness, and even Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection was severely weakened by the thick rock around them. However, they were already inside the mountain, and he didn’t need to detect a large area. Huo Yuhao didn’t need the Shattered Star Douluo to remind him as he pointed his Spiritual Detection in the direction of the Death God.

The only way to eliminate the greatest threat against the Star Luo Empire’s army was to destroy the Death God.

It wasn’t long after they went deep into the mountain that the Shattered Star Whirlpool, which had already grown to almost one hundred meters in diameter, suddenly exploded as countless purple lights that were charged with destructive spatial power erupted in all directions.

Several dozen soul engineers who were relatively closer were immediately torn to pieces, along with their soul tools. A large crack appeared in space, and this crack contorted again and again. It couldn’t close up for the moment.

The other soul engineers were attacking with full force in attempts to dispel these broken spatial pieces – but how could

that be done so easily? They didn’t grasp the profundity of space, and they were just attacking with their own strength. There was nothing they could do against these cracks; they could only wait for them to close on their own. The Shattered Star Whirlpool had achieved its aim, and by the time those

cracks in space vanished completely, the Titled Douluo that Huo Yuhao had unleashed from inside his spectral demiplane were nowhere to be seen.

Large numbers of soul engineers landed on the mountain, and everyone’s faces couldn’t be any blacker. They didn’t even ﬁgure out how many enemies they were facing.

Everyone believed their only one of their enemies had managed to reach this place when Huo Yuhao was ﬁrst discovered by relying on some strange concealment abilities. However, Tang Wutong appeared immediately afterward, and one became two.

Huo Yuhao took a direct hit from the Death God, and was dead in everyone’s eyes. Tang Wutong relied on her peculiar strength to charge onto the side of the mountain, so didn’t that mean they only had one enemy left? However, the Giant Hammer Douluo and the Shattered Star Douluo’s series of attacks told these soul engineers that they had more than one

enemy, and their enemies possessed the strengths of Titled Douluo! But the gap in the side of the mountain had closed up by the time they managed to reach it. There was no way they could ﬁnd them, and even if they knew the position that Huo Yuhao and the others had disappeared in, were they actually

going to bombard their own main peak? There were still so many soul tools on it.

The Shattered Star Douluo gradually climbed the mountain from inside with Huo Yuhao’s guidance. The rock inside the mountain was tough, but was broken apart continuously before the Light of Shattered Stars.

“You have to be careful. The person who controls the Death God is likely to be the Sun Moon Empire’s number-one soul engineer, the Death God Douluo. There should also be other people with him.”

The Shattered Star Douluo nodded and said, “My abilities are more effective in group battles and destruction. I will hold them back when we exit later, and you guys will destroy the Death God as fast as you can. You don’t have to destroy it completely; our army can charge in as long as it has lost its effectiveness.”

“Alright.”

Huo Yuhao held his Spiritual Detection upward and swept in the Death God’s direction. However, he was surprised once more, as an intense and sharp pain appeared once again when his spiritual power neared the Death God.

Huo Yuhao retracted at once this time with his previous experience. He didn’t attempt to go any deeper, and his expression changed a little.

They were coming closer and closer to the surface.

“Let’s stop for a while. I have to brief everyone about the situation up top,” Huo Yuhao said to his companions.

“Eh?” The Shattered Star Douluo paused and glanced at Huo Yuhao. The inside of the mountain was dark, but he could still see very clearly with the Light of Shattered Stars’ radiance. Everyone from the Tang Sect was following behind them.

Huo Yuhao lowered his voice and said, “Based on the intelligence gathered from my previous reconnaissance attempts, I’ve roughly ﬁgured out the Death God’s abilities. I don’t yet understand what principle the Death God was created on, but its destructiveness should have been created based on two things – ﬁrst, it relies on high-temperature and high- pressure soul power, but this strength is not that much different from typical Class 9 soul tools. At most, it is comparatively a little stronger, and its power is similar to the Starsky Douluo Ye Yulin’s Sunmoon Divine Needle. However, the Death God contains another frightening power, and this power is the key – and that is the power of avenging spirits.”

“Avenging spirits?”

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “When I attempted to investigate the Death God several times before, I felt an intense burning pain every time my spiritual power neared the Death God. This was the result of my spiritual power being suppressed. The spiritual power that suppressed me is both tremendous and terrifying, and it is charged with vigorous destructiveness, along with deep resentment. If I’m not wrong, this power comes from avenging spirits, and these avenging spirits are being compressed by some unknown force into something frightening – called the force of vengeance – before it’s fused with the Death God’s own high-temperature, high-

pressure soul power. This is how the Light of the Death God is formed.”

“The Light of the Death God takes two forms. First, it can take a complete form, which was its form when it murdered two thousand of our soul masters. That form combines both soul power and the force of vengeance. Its other form purely uses its force of vengeance. I took a hit from it before this, and I felt as if my spirit, my spiritual sea, and my body were being torn apart by that frightening vengeful power. I only managed to survive because there’s a special protective force on my body.”

“Avenging spirits? Are you saying that the Death God is likely to have a powerful evil soul master near it?” The Shattered Star Douluo was a veteran, and he quickly read between the lines and understood what Huo Yuhao was trying to say.

Huo Yuhao nodded solemnly and said, “Therefore, everyone has to be careful when we go out later. Guyi, we’ll have to rely on your powers after this. I will try my best to help you, as your holy abilities will have the best dispelling effects against all kinds of avenging spirits. Wutong, your soul power also contains the element of light. I will cover you guys.”

“Alright,” Ye Guyi and Tang Wutong acknowledged at the same time.

Huo Yuhao nodded at the Shattered Star Douluo.

The Shattered Star Douluo turned towards the Giant Hammer Douluo and said, “You take point, Hammer.”

“Alright,” The Giant Hammer Douluo swung his hand to gesture everyone to move away before he spun his enormous hammer. His soul rings ﬂickered continuously as he hammered against the mountain again and again.

The entire mountain quickly began to tremble as vigorous booming sounds rang out on the mountaintop. They were inside the mountain, but they could still hear the intense explosions on the outside.

Chapter 451: Death God Douluo!

The destructive strength of a Titled Douluo’s all-out strike was extremely terrifying. The Giant Hammer Douluo’s abilities were unleashed to their greatest potential at this moment.

At this moment, Huo Yuhao’s expression suddenly changed greatly. His ﬁgure ﬂashed before he charged in front of the Giant Hammer Douluo. He dragged his body as he rapidly tried to ﬂy invertedly.

A streak of dark-red light pierced across at this instant. This streak of light was as thick as a water vat. When it swept past, everything around it was vaporized, and a large hole was all that was left over. Following that, an unprecedented and terrifying ﬂow of origin energy was unleashed from that large hole instantly. Pathetic screams ﬁlled the air, and formless, avenging spirits started leaping towards everyone.

The Shattered Star Douluo pushed his right hand forward, unleashing the power of shattered stars that tore both space and these avenging spirits apart.

However, these avenging spirits were very powerful. Some of them survived the attack.

Bright golden light ﬂashed at this moment, and a holy aura was immediately released. The avenging spirits dissipated the moment they were exposed to this light, which was ﬁlled with a holy aura.

Ye Guyi lifted her right hand, and a white sword that was roughly a meter long appeared. It exuded burning, holy white light. It was her Holy Sword.

However, her Holy Sword was only her ﬁfth soul skill, and she was only a Soul Emperor. Compared to the Shattered Star Douluo’s Light of Shattered Stars, her soul skill was much weaker. However, her Holy Sword was extremely effective against the avenging spirits. Its effectiveness even surpassed that of the Light of Shattered Stars.

Huo Yuhao said to the Shattered Star Douluo, “Quick, let’s go up quickly. It’s too difﬁcult to move within these mountain walls. He has already discovered our position. If he unleashes his full power, we’re done.”

He clearly knew that the Giant Hammer Douluo’s attack earlier had exposed his position. However, he was the only one whose position was exposed. This was why only a streak of the Light of the Death God was unleashed towards him. If it were the complete version of the Light of the Death God, they would have been completely engulfed. If not for the fact that the power of the Light of the Death God was greatly drained during

its release, he might have been the only one who would survive the attack. However, this was also built on the premise that Di Tian was able to resist the attack.

The Giant Hammer Douluo and Shattered Star Douluo wore a dismal expression on their faces right now. The Shattered Star Douluo released intense, purple light from his body, which turned into light strips that engulfed everyone and protected them. He took a step forward, and large plots of spaces started to collapse. Then, he carried everyone as they quickly charged out.

At this point, booms started to resonate from outside. The Titled Douluo who were mainly concentrated around the main mountain peak made their moves. Even if they faced soul engineer legions, they were able to hang on for some time. Moreover, they didn’t have any misgivings right now. They scattered. Against the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions, they started to unleash their destructive soul skills.

It was easier to destroy than to build. At this moment, more than ten Titled Douluo wreaked havoc with whatever abilities they had, causing the main peak of the Ming Dou Mountain Range to descend into chaos. Those large soul tools installed on the mountain peak were completely ineffective. They couldn’t be properly aimed at these Titled Douluo, whereas the soul engineers from the soul engineer legions could only attack

using whatever soul tools they had with them. They weren’t able to cause any signiﬁcant trouble against these Titled Douluo, who were very swift.

The scattered Titled Douluo only had one target – the top of the mountain. Their mission this time was to destroy the Death God. As long as it was destroyed, the rest of their enemies would be much easier to deal with. Furthermore, it was much more convenient for them to proceed towards any direction from the top of the mountain. This would aid them in causing further damages to their enemies’ soul tools. Right now, there were already two Titled Douluo who were silently creeping towards two of the biggest soul tools, under the guidance of Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection. They were both carrying explosive bombs.

“Boom!” A ball of purple light blew apart at the top of the mountain. Following this, this ball of purple light led everyone

from Shrek in their charge towards the mountain.

The Giant Hammer Douluo’s earlier strike was very effective. The moment they came out, everyone saw that the ten-plus soul tools on the mountaintop had already been blown apart. Many of them were even damaged beyond repair.

Huo Yuhao was silently heartbroken. As he was afraid of being struck by the Death God, he didn’t bring his Starlight Sapphire Ring and Starlight Sapphire Heartprotecting Mirror. Otherwise, he could have collected all these damaged soul tools. Even though they were broken, they were still worth a lot!

The Death God was far away. The rest were still slightly unaware, but Huo Yuhao, the Giant Hammer Douluo and Shattered Star Douluo had very acute senses. Their expressions changed the moment they came out.

There was some kind of invisible pressure in the air that was limiting their spiritual senses. Not far forward, the Death God was exuding dark-red, bloody light that was only visible from close-range. It was as if blood was ﬂowing on the Death God. There was even a ﬁerce-looking face on it that was howling.

What was even more astonishing was that there wasn’t even anyone around. No soul master legion was there to protect such an important soul tool. Even those large soul tools that had been destroyed weren’t supervised by anyone.

“Everyone, be careful.” The Shattered Star Douluo lifted his head to look at the Death God and took a step forward. He lifted his Light of Shattered Stars and protected everyone within it.

The Giant Hammer Douluo was even more direct. He lifted his giant hammer and forcefully hammered it on the ground. This time, he didn’t even require Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection before he managed to accurately locate the Death God’s position.

The Giant Hammer Douluo released intense yellow light from his body. After he hammered the ground, his sixth soul ring shone brightly. Behind him, an identical giant hammer started to swing in the air before it also hammered the ground.

A loud boom reverberated. The target was naturally the Death God.

However, it was at this moment that something weird occurred. A layer of thick, blood-red light was released from the Death God. It wasn’t targeted towards anyone, but was some sort of domain that had been built.

The Giant Hammer Douluo’s hammer quickly turned blood- red. After this, he groaned before he was ﬂung into the air. A red hammer projection was also deﬂected from the ground and struck the Giant Hammer Douluo, causing him to ﬂy several dozen meters away. The expected impact of the Giant Hammer Douluo’s attack wasn’t achieved.

Whether it was the Shattered Star Douluo, Huo Yuhao or the rest, their expressions immediately changed for the worse.

The Giant Hammer Douluo was a Titled Douluo. Although he wasn’t a particularly strong Titled Douluo, he had earned a reputation for himself through his strength. In addition, he was a Rank 92 assault-type soul master. The weakest Titled Douluo was still a Titled Douluo! He actually had the tables turned on him, and was ﬂung into the air. More frighteningly, neither the Shattered Star Douluo nor Huo Yuhao could ﬁgure out where the person who had dealt this blow to the Giant Hammer Douluo was.

The Shattered Star Douluo’s expression immediately changed as they were engulfed by blood-red light. He wasn’t able to tear space apart amidst this blood-red light, which greatly restricted his destructive strength. The immense pressure that was placed on him even limited his ability to release his Light of Shattered Stars.

Something that was stronger than the Shattered Star Douluo! Evidently, the blood-red light wasn’t unleashed by a soul tool, but a soul master!

It was important to know that the Shattered Star Douluo was rather strong even in the realm of Transcendent Douluo. According to Huo Yuhao’s judgment, his cultivation was roughly comparable to the Martial God Douluo, Xian Lin’er. He was among the top ﬁve soul masters in the Star Luo Empire. However, this unknown enemy had already completely restrained the Shattered Star Douluo before even appearing. What did this mean? This meant that the enemy wasn’t just a Transcendent Douluo. It also meant that the enemy’s cultivation should also be miles above the Shattered Star Douluo’s. It was too terrifying.

The Death God was most likely controlled by the Death God Douluo. Did this mean that the Death God Douluo was a Transcendent Douluo? Did this mean that the Death God could possibly be a Class 10 soul engineer? The destructive strength of a Class 10 soul engineer was unimaginable.

“I wondered who was able to breach my spiritual barrier. Turns out it’s a little fellow who specializes in spiritual power. Just nice. My Death God Pagoda still lacks a powerful spirit to hold the fort. I’ll adopt the few of you then.”

A ﬁgure slowly walked out of the blood-red light. Yes, this ﬁgure appeared out of thin air. When she appeared, the surrounding air evidently distorted. All the blood-red light supported her as she came into this world.

It was a lady, or at least she seemed like a lady from her ﬁgure. Her voice was very raucous, and sounded a little raspy. However, there was some kind of special, magical power to it. It made one feel close to her, and even idolise her.

Huo Yuhao was slightly petriﬁed, and quickly unleash his spiritual power to protect the rest. He didn’t want the others to be affected by her voice.

“You are really cautious. But, do I need my spiritual charm to kill all of you? What a joke.”

She took continued stepping forward, and her soul rings started to rise. Everyone was shocked when they saw her soul rings.

Her ﬁrst soul ring was pitch-black, and its dark glow showed that it was a ten thousand year soul ring. After this, soul ring after soul ring appeared.

Black, black, black, black, black, black, red, red and red. Six ten-thousand year and three hundred-thousand year soul rings appeared. Even the Shattered Star Douluo found it difﬁcult to breathe due to her pressing aura after all her nine soul rings appeared.

It was everyone’s ﬁrst time seeing someone as powerful as her. When her last red soul ring appeared, Huo Yuhao believed that Di Tian was the only one who could resist her. Even his own teacher or Long Xiaoyao didn’t even seem as strong as her.

How was this possible?

Only an Ultimate Douluo was stronger than Holy Dragons!

The Sun Moon Empire actually had another Ultimate Douluo apart from Long Xiaoyao? Furthermore, she was very powerful, and could even control the Death God Pagoda?

The Sun Moon Empire’s Death God Douluo was actually an Ultimate Douluo and a Class 9 soul engineer. Her powers were already unbelievable. Perhaps Di Tian was the only being could be mentioned in the same breath as her in the entire continent!

Their plan tonight wasn’t considered perfect earlier. Huo Yuhao had even had to withstand a strike from the Death God.

However, Huo Yuhao was a little relieved that they were able to arrive in front of the Death God Pagoda. After all, more than ten Titled Douluo had come with him this time!

However, Huo Yuhao started to tense up again when he saw their enemy. Everyone knew that the Death God Douluo was very strong and mysterious. However, no one could have guessed that the Death God Douluo was an Ultimate Douluo.

An Ultimate Douluo was the peak of existence! And an Ultimate Douluo had actually appeared here. No wonder the Sun Moon Empire was so conﬁdent in their defense of the Ming Dou Mountain Range. After scanning it from close-range earlier, Huo Yuhao could already completely verify that the Sun Moon Empire only had two soul engineer legions here, as well as less than twenty thousand ordinary soldiers, who were here to assist the soul engineers.

However, it was these twenty thousand-odd people that managed to stall the advance of the Star Luo Empire’s hundred-thousand-man army and eight soul master legions!

This lady’s appearance wasn’t clear, as she was engulfed by a dark-red veil. It was as if there were a layer of fog covering her

face. Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection wasn’t able to get within thirty meters of her. More accurately speaking, Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection had been completely suppressed after that blood-red domain appeared.

“Who are you?” The Shattered Star Douluo asked.

He was extremely astonished by the appearance of an Ultimate Douluo. Only a true Titled Douluo like him knew how difﬁcult it was to rise by even one rank after becoming a Titled Douluo. More than ninety-ﬁve percent of Titled Douluo weren’t able to get past the tier of a Transcendent Douluo. Among Transcendent Douluo, ninety-nine percent of them couldn’t become an Ultimate Douluo.

An Ultimate Douluo was almost like a god. They were always recognized as humans that were closest to gods. They could truly become gods as long as they had an altar and underwent a special transformation.

Someone like that actually existed in the Sun Moon Empire. Along with Long Xiaoyao, both of the known surviving Ultimate Douluo actually belonged to the Sun Moon Empire. No wonder the Sun Moon Empire was conﬁdent enough to

wage war, and wanted to rule the entire Douluo Continent. They indeed had a strong foundation!

The Death God Douluo, along with the Death God, indeed represented the ultimate peak of existence. With her around, the Sun Moon Empire indeed didn’t need too many soldiers.

“Who am I? You aren’t even ﬁt to ask.” The mysterious lady replied indifferently.

The Shattered Star Douluo took in a deep breath and said, “Elder, I don’t understand why you have to help the Sun Moon Empire to invade the other empires.”

“Oh?” The mysterious lady seemed to be stunned for a moment. The surrounding blood-red light also seemed to lighten a little as she calmed down.

“You must not come from the Sun Moon Empire. Although I’m not sure how the Sun Moon Empire managed to convince you to join them, everyone from the world of soul masters knows that the Sun Moon Empire is different from the other three empires from the original Douluo Continent because of

their foundation and bloodline. It is indeed easier for those from the Sun Moon Empire to experience improvements in the earlier stages of cultivation, and they will ﬁnd it easier to digest all sorts of medicine too. However, their rate of cultivation will fall when a certain tier is reached, which is especially true when one becomes a Titled Douluo. This is also why there hasn’t been a Transcendent Douluo in the Sun Moon Empire for many years. I’m sure you aren’t from the Sun Moon Empire. You should be from one of the three empires. Since this is the case, why are you helping the Sun Moon Empire invade your own empire?” The Shattered Star Douluo asked.

After hearing the Shattered Star Douluo’s words, Huo Yuhao was also enlightened. This was something that he didn’t even learn from Shrek Academy. Perhaps one would only know after becoming a Titled Douluo. The Shattered Star Douluo’s words were logical, but they were in a very disadvantageous situation right now, and an Ultimate Douluo wouldn’t be dissuaded so easily.

Indeed, the mysterious lady laughed. Her laughter was very sharp. It was so sharp that it was unimaginable. The surrounding blood-red light turned into huge patches of waves. The Shattered Star Douluo’s Light of Shattered Stars started to rapidly disintegrate. He had no choice but to unleash streaks of his Light of Shattered Stars with all his might to stabilize it.

“My empire? To me, that’s a joke! Junior, which empire in the original Douluo Continent can accommodate an evil soul master? No one will accommodate an evil soul master so easily. Those orthodox soul masters want to kill me the moment they see me. How dare you talk as if I belong to any empire? It’s hilarious. It’s really hilarious. You don’t have to intentionally waste my time here either. I’m not in a rush at all. You can wait for everyone to come up ﬁrst.”

As she spoke, this mysterious lady lifted her hand, and a streak of red light shot into the sky. Very soon, it turned into a blood-red peony that spread in the sky.

The booms that came from the surroundings started to fade away. It was as if the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions had stopped their attack. After this, ﬁgures started to leap to the top of the mountain and gathered to where they were. These ﬁgures belonged to the Titled Douluo from the Star Luo Empire.

For the success of this plan, the Star Luo Empire had sent out a total of twelve Titled Douluo. Every one of them was so powerful that they could ﬁght by themselves.

However, they were all silent when they ascended to the top of the mountain and saw the nine soul rings that belonged to the mysterious lady.

The abilities of truly powerful individuals weren’t decided by quantity. It was even more so at such a tier.

The mysterious lady’s aura didn’t change in the slightest as she was surrounded by twelve Titled Douluo.

All the Titled Douluo couldn’t help but lift their heads to look at the towering Death God Pagoda. They clearly knew that they had to overcome this mysterious lady before they could destroy the Death God Pagoda. Only with the destruction of the Death God Pagoda could the Star Luo Empire’s troops rush over and take the Ming Dou Mountain Range back.

“Is everyone here?” The mysterious lady laughed coldly.

All the Titled Douluo summoned their soul power. Even though they were twelve against one, they were facing an indomitable enemy. They were facing an Ultimate Douluo. How would they dare to be complacent?

Huo Yuhao also took in a few deep breaths. His spiritual power circulated, and his Eye of Destiny opened. After this, he quickly walked to the side of the Shattered Star Douluo and shouted, “Elder, don’t make a move ﬁrst. I have a few words to say.”

“Oh? You’re an interesting young fellow. A really rare breed. Given your abilities as a Soul Sage, you actually possess spiritual power corresponding to that of a Titled Douluo. You are a very rare spiritual-type soul master. It’s interesting. Don’t worry, I won’t kill you. After I kill them and adopt you, I’ll make you do my bidding. In the future, I’ll nurture you into a one-of-a-kind spiritual-type soul master.”

Huo Yuhao sighed and said, “Elder Ye, why do you have to do this? Are you really willing to see the entire continent decimated as a result of war just because of your own personal pain?”

The mysterious lady was shocked when she heard the words ‘Elder Ye’.

“Who are you? How do you know my surname is Ye?” Her voice suddenly sounded a little pathetic. Following this, she lifted her right hand and made a grabbing motion at Huo Yuhao.

Her hand looked very weird. Her palm and ﬁngers were smooth and white, as if they belonged to a sixteen or seventeen-year-old teenager. However, her ﬁngernails were dark-red, and resembled an eagle’s talons. They looked especially terrifying.

As she grabbed at the air, a huge bloody claw instantly surfaced in front of the Light of Shattered Stars.

All the Titled Douluo who were present were already prepared. When they saw this mysterious lady making a move, they immediately reacted, and unleashed all sorts of soul skills towards her. There were those that were directly targeted towards her, while others targeted the bloody claw.

However, something terrifying happened. The blood-red light that ﬁlled the sky distorted the moment the mysterious lady made her move.

The soul skills that were targeted towards her deviated from their original trajectory and scattered all around. None of them had any effect.

The Shattered Star Douluo shouted, and spots of purple starlight were released from his body in an attempt to stop the bloody claws.

However, he experienced the same thing as the rest. When that bloody claw reached them, the blood-red light immediately distorted, and the purple starlight was pushed to one side in the distortion. It didn’t have its intended effect on the bloody claw.

When the bloody claw clashed with the Light of Shattered Stars, the Light of Shattered Stars seemed to have been devoured. It directly disappeared. Following this, that bloody claw landed above Huo Yuhao and grabbed his body. As the blood-red light ﬂashed, that bloody claw had already turned into a ball of light that had completely engulfed Huo Yuhao, and pulled him to the side of the mysterious lady.

In the meantime, everyone from Shrek Academy wanted to help, but all the soul skills they used slid off the blood-red light the moment they touched it. They didn’t have any effect at all.

Everyone knew that an Ultimate Douluo was the highest level that one could reach. However, one could only see how strong an Ultimate Douluo was when truly facing one.

Twelve Titled Douluo actually couldn’t stop the mysterious lady from grabbing Huo Yuhao. She still managed to bring him to her.

However, Huo Yuhao was very smart. He knew that he had no way of resisting her, thus he didn’t even try at all. He let the mysterious lady grab him.

It was not to say that the soul power of an Ultimate Douluo was comparable to twelve Titled Douluo. That was impossible. After all, these twelve Titled Douluo included two Transcendent Douluo. In terms of total soul power, they were naturally above her.

However, these twelve Titled Douluo would be completely unconﬁdent if they really had to ﬁght her. Just now, she didn’t even clash with any of them and only used her strength to easily dispose of their attacks.

The Shattered Star Douluo had it the worst. He was the most adept at controlling space, but he knew that the power that this lady had just unleashed wasn’t just some kind of power that evil soul masters possessed. Instead, she exhibited exquisite control of time and space. His own control was actually beneath hers.

She was too terrifying.

“Tell me. How do you know my surname is Ye? There aren’t many people in this world that know who I am.” The mysterious lady said coldly.

Huo Yuhao was drifting in front of her right now. Everyone knew that Huo Yuhao was doomed if she decided to lay her hands on him.

However, he actually laughed at this moment. His smile was even very calm. His gentle grin showed that he wasn’t agitated at all.

“Senior Ye, I’m not wrong, your name should be Ye Xishui.” Huo Yuhao’s words had her full attention.

“Who exactly are you? How did you know that?” The mysterious lady tightened her grip. Suddenly, the blood-red light that was tightly grabbing onto Huo Yuhao also pushed inward. Huo Yuhao’s bones started to make cracking sounds.

Huo Yuhao furrowed his brow, but he didn’t groan at all. He calmly said, “My name is Huo Yuhao. My teacher is Mu En.”

Mu En? The Dragon God Douluo, Mu En?

Everyone from the Star Luo Empire was shocked when they heard this name. It was the last Master of the Sea God’s Pavilion, the Ultimate Douluo and Dragon Douluo, Mu En. He was one of the Twin Holy Dragons of Black and White, a truly powerful individual on the continent.

After hearing Mu En’s name, they were at ﬁrst astonished before they were in awe. Mu En had once made an important contribution to the peace of the continent and protected Shrek Academy all the way until his death. He was indeed one of the most notable honorary elders of the world of soul masters.

When the mysterious lady heard his name, it was as if she had been struck by lightning. She shuddered a little, and the red light dissipated, causing Huo Yuhao to fall to the ground.

“You are his disciple? But how did you recognize me? Even he wouldn’t recognize me if he stood in front of me. Moreover, he’s already dead. He’s already dead!” She was almost shouting the last few words, sounding a little hysterical.

However, her words had undoubtedly veriﬁed her own identity. She was Ye Xishui, the woman once pursued by the Twin Holy Dragons of Black and White. She had once had a sentimental relationship with Mu En, which eventually ended tragically. The love and enmity they shared were never forgotten by Mu En even when he was on his deathbed. It was the biggest regret of his entire life.

Huo Yuhao stood up and said, “Senior Ye, of course I don’t recognize you. I deﬁnitely haven’t seen you before. The only reason why I can guess your identity is because of your cultivation. How many people in this world are capable of becoming an Ultimate Douluo? Even Elder Xuan and Du Busi are still one step away. Only my teacher and the Dragon Emperor Douluo Long Xiaoyao are Ultimate Douluo. Since you are an Ultimate Douluo and your aura and cultivation seem to be superior to my teacher, this limits the range of people that I can guess from. When you mentioned that you were an evil soul master, and recalling that Elder Long Xiaoyao is from the Holy Ghost Church, I immediately knew who you were. I’m afraid you’re the only one who can convince Elder Long Xiaoyao to serve the Holy Ghost Church. It’s only you who can become an Ultimate Douluo even though you’re an evil soul master, since you’re from the same generation from my teacher and Elder Long Xiaoyao. It’s just that I didn’t expect you to be the Death God Douluo of the Sun Moon Empire.”

His analysis caused all the Titled Douluo from the Star Luo Empire to turn dismal.

Someone who was from Mu En and Long Xiaoyao’s generation and became an Ultimate Douluo as an evil soul master was a character that they couldn’t possibly resist. No

wonder she wasn’t afraid of the twelve of them coming together. She wanted to take all of them down!

Ye Xishui quickly turned emotional, but she calmed down very quickly too. “Little fellow, you are clever. No wonder you’ve already achieved so much at such a tender age. You’re actually Mu En’s disciple? Good, very good. Although I hate him a lot, I love him a lot too. On his account, I’ll let you off today. I won’t kill you. However, don’t let me see you again. I’m feeling good today. I’m only thinking of all his good qualities. If you let me see you again and I only think of his ﬂaws, you’ll be dead.”

“Thank you, elder, for sparing me.” Huo Yuhao slightly bowed towards Ye Xishui. After that, he turned around and walked towards the Star Luo Empire.

At this moment, a blood-red claw suddenly appeared behind Huo Yuhao and grabbed his neck.

Huo Yuhao suddenly felt a strong sense of breathlessness, and his soul power started to surge ferociously. He tried to resist, and his diamond ice crystals immediately surfaced.

Everyone from Shrek Academy was shocked. Tang Wutong shouted, “Didn’t you say you wouldn’t kill him?”

“Hehehehe!” Ye Xishui suddenly chuckled, and her laughter was very sinister. “Yes! I didn’t want to kill him just now, but I suddenly thought of how Mu En ended our relationship. I detest him. Since his disciple is here to ﬁnd me, why shouldn’t I kill him? Mu En is already dead. I wonder what his reaction will be when he ﬁnds out that I killed his disciple? Little fellow, you can only blame yourself for choosing the wrong teacher. Hahahaha!”

As she spoke, the blood-red claws started to clench up, trying to squeeze Huo Yuhao to death.

Mad. Everyone had the same thought in their mind. Yes! Ye Xishui was indeed mad. Her emotions ﬂuctuated unstably, and she was capricious. She didn’t have the demeanor of an elder at all.

“Yuhao!” Everyone from Shrek Academy shouted at the same time.

At this point, Huo Yuhao’s body dimmed slightly, and he seemed to have turned into a ball of black air. Just as the claws clenched up, he disappeared before reappearing ten meters away. He was back to his human form.

It was just that he had completely changed after he reappeared.

His hair had grown much longer, and it had turned completely black. His skin was extremely pale, and his eyes were colorless. They were actually engulfed by golden light. His Eye of Destiny shut and disappeared. A streak of golden hair fell to his chest, which was the only other color apart from black and white throughout his entire body.

Not only this, but his aura experienced an even greater change. Although he was calmly standing where he was, he seemed like a giant beast. Intense, black light emanated from his body, and the surrounding blood-red light dissipated in the presence of this black glow, even though it wasn’t very strong.

“Who are you?” Ye Xishu looked coldly at Huo Yuhao. Given her power, how could she not tell that the person in front of

her was no longer Huo Yuhao? Just from the terrifying aura, she had no choice but to calm herself down and face him.

“Ye Xishui? It’s actually this name. Very good, I didn’t expect a human to reach such a cultivation on the continent. Even I couldn’t help but be interested in you. Although I’m not in my true form, I’ll make you pay for the nine soul rings you have. Three hundred thousand year soul beasts and six ten thousand year soul beasts. You’re good!”

Huo Yuhao’s voice had turned much deeper. As he spoke, the air would vibrate with every word he said. The blood-red light that was quickly gathering towards him rapidly dissipated. Everyone from the Star Luo Empire was dumbfounded as they watched from afar.

Only an Ultimate Douluo could ﬁght another Ultimate Douluo! Huo Yuhao could actually transform into an Ultimate Douluo?

Everything they were seeing was beyond their imagination. Was Huo Yuhao actually possessed by the Dragon God Douluo Mu En?

As Huo Yuhao spoke, he had already lifted up his right hand and mimicked a grabbing action towards Ye Xishui. At the same time, the highest mountain peak of the Ming Dou Mountain Range started to resonate with dragon roars. In the sky, dark clouds started to gather.

The space in front of Ye Xishui shattered, and a huge black dragon claw appeared in front of her, reaching for her.

Ye Xishui was also very impressive. She clasped her hands in front of her before a giant blood-red projection appeared. This projection was in human form, but it had twelve blood-red wings. As they ﬂapped at the same time, her right hand performed a downward-swiping action.

Suddenly, a streak of blood appeared in front of her and blocked the black claws.

“Clang!” The mountain peak shook, and terrifying air currents spread towards the outside, with the core of it being the point of collision. Black and blood-red light surged at the same time and spread out.

The soul tools that were originally scattered everywhere were all dragged into the air.

Cerita silat IndoMandarin

Unrivaled Tang Sect Volume 33

Chapter 429: I'm Tang Wutong!

Chapter 430: Selection

Chapter 431: She's Dong'er!

Chapter 432: Heavenly Dragon Horse and Ruby Soft Tendon Python

Chapter 433: The Tragic Golden Tortoise

Chapter 434: Call of the Godly Realm

Chapter 435: Target: Defeat the Beast God!

Chapter 436: Roasting Fish for Her

Chapter 437: Golden Tortoise Molting

Chapter 438: Meeting the White Tiger Duke

Chapter 439: Wutong, Fuse?

Chapter 440: Huo Yuhao's Feelings

Chapter 441: The Child Backed by His Father

Chapter 442: Spiritual Barrier, Terrifying Mountain Peak!

Chapter 444: The Dangers of Proﬁt

Chapter 445: Empyreal Flame

Chapter 446: Exterminate the Raging Bull! Asura Yuhao!

Chapter 447: Information About the Heavenly Soul Empire

Chapter 448: Huo Yuhao's Decision!

Chapter 450: Death Gods Rubbing Shoulders

Chapter 451: Death God Douluo!

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