Unrivaled Tang Sect Volume 39

Book 39: Decisive Blow

Chapter 547: Repeated Blows

“What? We’ve already been here for ten days?” After hearing her words, Huo Yuhao’s expression immediately changed.

After completing his fusion with Li Ya, he had clearly felt his spiritual power growing until its limit. Furthermore, he was also certain that his spiritual soul core had reached the tier of a Transcendent Douluo. He even wanted to use this opportunity to form his second soul core. This was because there was no safer place than this underwater world.

However, after listening to the words of the Princess of the Sea, he immediately removed that thought from his head. He could not delay any further. Things outside were probably much more chaotic after ten days. He didn’t know what the situation was like at the front lines. He was also unable to deal any repeated blows to the Sun Moon Empire. The earlier strategy that he came up with was likely to be greatly affected. In addition, his teammates were also waiting anxiously in the demiplane.

Huo Yuhao couldn’t be bothered about the reluctance of the Princess of the Sea to leave her daughter right now. He quickly

bade goodbye to them. Under the personal escort of the Princess of the Sea, he drifted towards the surface.

No matter how unwilling the Princess of the Sea was, she needed to part ways with her daughter. After the pair bade each other farewell, Li Ya fused back into Huo Yuhao’s body. Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong unleashed their Class 9 ﬂying- type soul tools and immediately activated them to reach their highest speed. They ﬂew towards the Sun Moon Empire.

Tang Wutong grabbed Huo Yuhao’s hand tightly as she felt how tense he was. “Since time has already passed, there’s no point brooding over it. Although ten days isn’t very short, it’s also not that long over the course of a war. You don’t have to be too worried either. When we return, we can immediately begin our operation.”

“Alright.” After this buffer period, Huo Yuhao ﬁnally calmed down. Being anxious wasn’t going to solve the problem. The best way was to continue his operation.

The return journey was much smoother than coming to the Ice Sea. The entire aquatic world treated Huo Yuhao as their best human friend because of his fusion with Li Ya.

Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong only took an hour before they returned to shore as they drained their soul power without any further thought.

Huo Yuhao revealed a mysterious look on his face before he even stepped on land. He immediately muttered a few incantations before opening the spectral door.

Ten days had also passed in the spectral demiplane.

Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi and Jiang Nannan were still very emotionally stable. However, they were still a little anxious, given that a long time had passed.

Why is Huo Yuhao still not back or contacted anyone yet? Something must have happened to him. Don’t tell me that he’s met with danger in the Ice Sea?

Furthermore, they couldn’t leave the demiplane without him. All they could do was wait around. If something really happened to him, they would most likely be trapped here for

their entire lives, or at least until their supply of food and water ran out.

Just as everyone was becoming more and more anxious, the spectral door ﬁnally opened, much to their relief. Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong had ﬁnally returned.

“Yuhao, where have you been? Why are you back only now?” Jiang Nannan snapped as she saw Huo Yuhao. It would have been great even if he had only sent a letter! Over the past ten days, they had felt very tortured. They still had to train the members of the three soul engineer legions.

Huo Yuhao immediately called for a meeting and recounted everything he had experienced in the Ice Sea.

After hearing his words, everyone stopped blaming him. They only had lingering fear in their hearts. Huo Yuhao felt the same way too.

“Eldest senior, before I carry out any mission on my own in the future, I must ﬁrst release all of you from this demiplane. Otherwise, if I...”

“Alright, quit this depressing talk. Now is not the time to talk about that. What should we do next? Do you have any ideas?” Bei Bei said.

Huo Yuhao nodded and opened up a map. He said, “I’ve been delayed in the Ice Sea for ten days. It’s both a good and bad thing. Because of this ten day buffer, the Sun Moon Empire will deﬁnitely subconsciously think that we passed through their borders in the same manner as when we appeared in the south, just that we used some kind of method to avoid their aerial surveillance soul tools. We must be quick, and deal them a heavier blow.”

“Xu Tianran is an anti-hero. If we don’t inﬂict pain that’s intolerable on him, he won’t pull his troops from the front lines easily. That’s why we must be quick and vicious. I just don’t know what the situation at the front line is right now.”

Only Huo Yuhao could return to Shrek Academy to gather intelligence. Under such a circumstance, returning to gather intelligence was meaningless. He would waste more time if he went there and returned. Even if he knew what was going on at the front lines, wouldn’t he still need to return to target the

Sun Moon Empire if he wanted to change the situation of the war?

This was why Huo Yuhao quickly ﬁgured that he needed to stay and continue to inﬂict internal damage on the Sun Moon Empire. In that way, they would be forced to pull their troops back. This was the real strategy.

After a simple communication of the plan to the rest, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong left the demiplane again after the meeting ended.

In fact, the three soul engineer legions in the demiplane should be let out for a short breather. However, time was tight. There was a lack of time for them to do so. Only news of Huo Yuhao’s return was relayed to them, and they were allowed to watch as Huo Yuhao left again. At the same time, they were informed that the next ﬁght was about to break out again.

After hearing that a ﬁght was about to break out soon, the members of the three soul engineer legions all rubbed their palms in excitement. Their morale was boosted once again, which left Huo Yuhao in shock.

What Huo Yuhao didn’t know was that Bei Bei had set up a merit system while he had been gone. The main point of this system was to reward those who contributed signiﬁcantly.

The resources, gems and gold soul coins that they had obtained earlier were mostly given out by Bei Bei. Bei Bei told every soul engineer in the three soul engineer legions that they would be handsomely rewarded once they attained victory in any ﬁght. They could choose from gold soul coins, soul tools, and other resources. As for how much they were rewarded, it depended on the merit they accumulated.

After setting this system up, he immediately handed out rewards. Over the past ten days, morale didn’t fall because of the presence of these rewards. In addition, with the news that they were about to ﬁght, how could these soul engineers not be excited, given the potential beneﬁts they could reap?

These soul engineers were all intelligent. Many of them chose not to take gold soul coins. Almost all of them wanted soul tools. From the earlier looting sessions they had participated in, which soul engineer didn’t manage to equip himself with more soul tools? The stronger a soul engineer was, the more advantages he would have. This was because

more advanced soul tools could only be used by stronger soul engineers!

Huo Yuhao’s Fort Soul Engineer Legion reaped the greatest rewards. The Fort Soul Engineer Legion inherited all the heavy soul tools they had looted in the ﬁghts earlier.

The other two soul engineer legions had no use for these heavy soul tools. Since this was the case, the Fort Soul Engineer Legion didn’t stand on ceremony, and took control of all the heavy soul tools. After all, Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons couldn’t move very quickly. What was the disadvantage of having more heavy weapons? As a result, the Fort Soul Engineer Legion’s strength grew the most. It was just that they became more and more inﬂexible as a result.

After leaving the demiplane, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong held hands as they rose into the sky. They proceeded towards the south of the Sun Moon Empire.

As they ﬂew in the air, Huo Yuhao also unleashed his Spiritual Detection.

The overall size of his spiritual sea had grown by a third. His soul core and spiritual power had also changed dramatically. The most direct beneﬁt that he obtained was that his Spiritual Detection’s effective range had reached a diameter of more than twenty thousand meters, twice what it was before. This number even exceeded the effective range of the most advanced aerial surveillance soul tool that the Sun Moon Empire could manufacture. Just this skill could be considered an absolute divine skill in war!

Very soon, Huo Yuhao found many soldiers from the Sun Moon Empire in the wilderness. They were scattered, and seemed to be searching for something.

While things were bleak in Eastern Sun City, the city wasn’t too chaotic. However, no soul engineer legion was present there.

It seems like the Sun Moon Empire has responded quite quickly. Rations should have been sent to re-supply Eastern Sun City. Otherwise, things wouldn’t be so stable.

Huo Yuhao wasn’t going to attack Eastern Sun City at this point. The beneﬁts that could be reaped from so were very

small. Furthermore, that would only serve to expose his tracks.

He unleashed his Imitation, which concealed both him and Tang Wutong in the air. Under the effect of Huo Yuhao’s immense spiritual power, even oscillation detectors couldn’t detect his presence now, much less aerial surveillance soul tools. As for spiritual power detectors, they could at most cover the size of a military camp. Huo Yuhao had made himself completely invisible to the Sun Moon Empire.

They ﬂew quickly through the air. Huo Yuhao didn’t rest at all as he ﬂew with Tang Wutong. They ﬂew for four hours before they slowed down and returned to the ground to rest.

Huo Yuhao opened the map and conducted a simple check of where they were. Through the changes in the air temperature, Huo Yuhao was completely sure that they were in the south of the Sun Moon Empire.

Huo Yuhao sensed the humid air and was annoyed as he commented, “I still prefer the cold in the north! Over there, my ﬁghting strength is higher by at least thirty percent.”

Tang Wutong covered her mouth and laughed. “Didn’t your journey to the Ice Sea teach you enough lessons?”

Huo Yuhao nodded deeply and replied, “Of course it has. This journey has taught me not to run and ﬁght in someone else’s place. I won’t even stand a chance. While the Princess of the Sea is powerful, we might still have stood a chance of ﬂeeing even if we can’t defeat her on land or at a fairer venue. However, in the depths of the sea, we were really trapped, and had nowhere to run.”

Tang Wutong asked, “Have you chosen a target?”

Huo Yuhao nodded and pointed at the map.

Seajoy City!

A smirk appeared on Huo Yuhao’s lips. It was not his ﬁrst time visiting this place. When he and the others from the Tang Sect snuck into the Sun Moon Empire by water to save the young talents who were participating in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Soul Dueling Tournament, they passed by this city. They had even rented a boat there.

Huo Yuhao chose to attack this city for two reasons. First, it was an important port in the south of the Sun Moon Empire. Second, it was a way to confuse the Sun Moon Empire. At least, they might be misled that enemies could be trying to invade them from the sea.

After half a day, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong appeared in Seajoy City.

Huo Yuhao re-exited the city after making one round around it. He opened the spectral door outside the city and summoned the three soul engineer legions.

The city was very small. There was no need to deploy so much manpower. However, the soul engineers had been stuck in the demiplane for too long. Hence, Huo Yuhao wanted to let

them out for a breather. Seajoy City was the perfect place to do so.

The defense in the south was much slacker than in the north. This was because the aquatic soul beasts in the south were weaker than those in the north. Furthermore, they were only active in the deep sea. The Sun Moon Empire had specialized ﬂeets to capture oceanic creatures in the southern sea regions. After all, there weren’t any icebergs or other such extreme weather in the south. It made carrying out operations much easier.

There were only two thousand soldiers stationed in Seajoy City. They were only ordinary soldiers, and their abilities were all mixed.

Thirty Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons were ﬁred at the same time. One side of the city walls was immediately destroyed. Next was a simple step – pillage!

The three largest warehouses in Seajoy City were completely cleaned out. Not only were there rations in these three warehouses, but there were also many special products and money that came from several southern coastal cities.

Compared to the north, there was much more money, and much fewer rations. After all, the city was by the sea, which meant that food was not in short supply.

After pillaging the entire city, Huo Yuhao didn’t even usher the soul engineers back into the spectral door. Instead, he directly sent them out.

The Tang Sect and Fort Soul Engineer Legions scattered in two different directions, attacking two different nearby cities.

The southern cities were richer than the northern cities, and there were many more of them too. From the situation in Seajoy City, it could be inferred that the defenses in the other nearby cities weren’t going to be very strong either. This was especially so since the two nearby cities that they attacked were even smaller.

In just one day, three cities were completely plundered. As food wasn’t scarce in the south, Huo Yuhao even decided not to rob the food from these cities. He only targeted the money, as well as trying to ﬁnd rare metals. Although there weren’t many rare metals in these southern cities, there were still some aerial

surveillance soul tools in the sky. Taking them down was equivalent to obtaining rare metals!

After the three cities were completely plundered, Huo Yuhao re-opened the spectral door in the wilderness and sent the three soul engineer legions back into his spectral demiplane.

After this one day of activity, they became much more refreshed and energetic. This was especially since a lot of the money that was looted was divided and given to them directly.

These soul engineers were very free inside the demiplane. Under the organization of those from the Tang Sect, the three soul engineer legions even started to explore the boulder houses in the demiplane. Even though this demiplane wasn’t the most aesthetic of places, it had great utility. It was beginning to develop some scale. They could even leave their valuables in the demiplane when they went out to ﬁght. This enabled them to be equipped properly for ﬁghts.

After returning to the demiplane, Huo Yuhao checked the map and chose other, more populous cities. These cities were their targets for the next day.

Just like this, Huo Yuhao mysteriously led the three soul engineer legions and overran twelve medium-sized cities in the south of the Sun Moon Empire.

He didn’t choose major cities, as they were likely to be better defended. In addition, the medium-sized cities were lacking in manpower, as the front line needed men. Those twelve cities were plundered completely. The amount of money that was taken could ﬁll countless giant warehouses. Right now, the soul engineers weren’t even tempted by gold soul coins anymore; there was a mountain of them in the demiplane.

From those twelve cities, quite a lot of rare metals were also taken from the private collections of the nobility. Twenty-six various aerial surveillance soul tools were also obtained. Although most of them were directly shot down and were damaged beyond repair, the rare metals used to construct them were still useful! It was all good stuff.

……

“Bang!” Xu Tianran smacked the table beside him, and there was a strong killing intent in his eyes.

Five days ago, good news came from the front lines. The Sun Moon Empire had completely overrun the Heavenly Soul Empire. This also meant that the Heavenly Soul Empire was utterly ruined, and annexed into the Sun Moon Empire.

This good news left Xu Tianran, a person who craved power, in very high spirits.

However, bad news started to pour in only a few days after he heard the good news.

There weren’t any traces of the soul engineer legion that had caused chaos in the north. It was as if they didn’t exist at all. Then the south was subjected to a barrage of attacks. In just a few days, twelve emergency reports were received from twelve different cities in the south. The coastal cities in that area were all in danger, causing a crisis.

It was important to know that those cities were very important to the Sun Moon Empire’s economy. The yearly revenue from a medium-sized city in the south was equivalent to that of a major city in the north.

Although there weren’t many casualties in those twelve cities, fear quickly spread, and the amount of destruction that those cities had been subjected to was also very great. Those living in the south were all terriﬁed, which served to destabilize Xu Tianran’s reign!

Don’t tell me that those people who were still in the north a few weeks ago have mysteriously gone to the south? How is that possible?

“Your Majesty! I believe that those thieves must have travelled by water.” The Chief Minister said.

Xu Tianran looked at him, “By water? They attacked the north previously. How can they reach there by water?”

The Ice Sea was to the north of the north of the Sun Moon Empire. Moreover, the Ice Sea was adjacent to the ice plains of the Extreme North. The conditions in the ice plains were very rigorous. No one knew what a further place would be like. To move across the ice plains through the north was impossible.

The Chief Minister said, “Your Majesty, it’s not impossible. What if they didn’t come from the north right from the start? We have a lot of troops at our borders in the north. We also have many aerial surveillance soul tools. It’s not easy for a ﬂy to enter, much less a soul engineer legion. The only place that our surveillance soul tools can’t reach is the sea. If those thieves moved out from the southern ports of the Star Luo Empire and moved around our southern sea using a ship before proceeding to the north along our western shoreline, they would be able to move around two-thirds of our shoreline and reach the north. Although there are icebergs in the Ice Sea, there are very few of them nearer to land. We also have few aerial surveillance soul tools installed there. It’s possible that Oak City and Eastern Sun City were taken down that way.”

“These fellows are very cunning. After they overran Oak City and Eastern Sun City, they immediately escaped on their ship and returned via their original route. They went all the way to the south. When they reached the south, they attacked once again. The journey from north to south is thousands of kilometers long. It gave us the feeling that we are facing many enemies. Once they ﬁnished their attacks, they can immediately escape on their ship again. We wouldn’t be able to ﬁnd any traces of them. From the south, it’s also possible to return to the Star Luo Empire at any time. It’s a brilliant plan!”

After hearing the Chief Minister’s words, Xu Tianran was shocked. That’s indeed possible! It’s actually very possible. If that was really the case, it could well explain why he was so confused.

“But why are they not attacking our western cities?” Xu Tianran was a little confused.

The Chief Minister answered, “The reason why they are not attacking our western cities is mainly because they’re too far from the Star Luo Empire. Radiant City is also quite close to the west. Once we discover a real-time situation and send a strong soul engineer legion to deal with them, they would be exposed. Furthermore, it’s much easier for us to guess what their purpose is if they move from north to west. If they directly return to the south, they can attack and defend. It’s more advantageous for them.”

Xu Tianran squinted. “Chief Minister, what do you think we should do then?”

A cold look ﬂashed across the Chief Minister’s face and he said, “Your Majesty, we must be decisive. These thieves are very cunning. Their commander must be very intelligent. Our

shoreline is so wide. In the depths of the sea, it’s almost impossible to ﬁnd any traces of them. Since they can move from north to south in just over ten days, it’s likely that they’ve already calculated for the presence of icebergs in the Ice Sea. Thus, their ship must be protected and moved by soul tools. It’s likely that there’s a soul formation on their ship. Since they can’t challenge us directly, they are taking the indirect way. Such an enemy is like a parasite. We must get rid of them quickly. Otherwise, they’ll cause more destruction, and shake the foundation of our economy.”

Xu Tianran squinted and said, “Do you mean…”

The Chief Minister nodded. “Your Majesty, we must be decisive. No matter how strong these thieves are, they won’t be able to challenge our Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion. They have been active in the southern coastal cities this time, so they are likely to still be there. We can send more aerial surveillance soul tools to watch that area, and also silently send out the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion. At the same time, we can send a few members of the Worship Hall to follow them. Once we discover their exact location, we’ll destroy them as quickly as possible. We can then regain everything we’ve lost and stabilize the south.”

After pausing for a moment, he added, “The Empress is making a lot of progress at the front lines right now. We must stabilize things at the back and give her the appropriate support.”

Xu Tianran hesitated for a moment, then said, “Alright, we’ll follow you then.”

……

He Caitou looked at all the soul tools that were piled up like a mountain, and couldn’t stop grinning. Although only some of them were still usable, the rare metals that could be obtained from these soul tools were already considered very valuable.

“Yuhao, I’m a little regretful. Before we set out, we should have brought our manufacturing line from the Soul Tool Hall with us. When everyone is bored and has nothing to do, they can manufacture soul tools in the demiplane. In this way, wouldn’t it be more effective?”

Xu Sanshi chuckled at one side. “Caitou, this isn’t a bad idea. It’s a constructive suggestion. The past few days have been good. I wonder what Xu Tianran is feeling right now. We’ve caused so many problems in the south. Yuhao, where are we going next?”

After attacking twelve cities, the three soul engineer legions of Shrek were unhurt. This greatly boosted their conﬁdence. The Sun Moon Empire’s defenses were simply too weak. No one from the three soul engineer legions had even been hurt so far, and they hadn’t suffered any signiﬁcant losses. The

damage they had caused to the Sun Moon Empire couldn’t be measured by money alone either.

The last few cities among the twelve that were taken down even had all their city walls destroyed before the three soul engineer legions retreated. The soul tools used by the soul engineer legions were powered by the soul power of the soul engineers. They quickly recovered their soul power after they returned to the demiplane.

Huo Yuhao said, “We’ve attacked for ﬁve days straight. Radiant City should have received news. Along with our earlier attack on the north, I believe the Sun Moon Empire must be devising a plan to deal with us. However, we’ve not shaken their foundation yet. If we want to them to pull their front line troops back, we need Xu Tianran to be fearful. That’s why we need to continue with our mission.”

Bei Bei smiled at Huo Yuhao and asked, “What’s the plan?”

Huo Yuhao replied, “The only way to make Xu Tianran fearful enough to recall his troops at all costs is by attacking Radiant City.”

“What?”

After hearing his words, all the members of Shrek’s Seven Monsters were astonished. They all opened their mouths wide in shock.

Although their previous victories had left them extremely conﬁdent, they weren’t so conﬁdent that they believed they could take down Radiant City.

What kind of place was Radiant City? It was the capital of the Sun Moon Empire. It was also the biggest city in the world. They had all been to Radiant City before. Tall buildings were everywhere, and many powerful soul tools were hidden there too. Huo Yuhao even claimed that there was a terrifying soul tool that could gather soul power before unleashing it when he went there last time. It deﬁnitely wasn’t inferior to the Death God. Given this, wasn’t attacking Radiant City suicide?

After all, Radiant City had the Sun Moon Empire’s trump card, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion. At the same time, many powerful individuals were guarding the city.

After sensing everyone’s astonishment and doubts, Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “Don’t panic. I’m not talking about a literal attack. As long as we make Xu Tianran fear for his life, it’s enough.”

“Xu Tianran is an anti-hero. The Sun Moon Empire’s research into soul tools is deﬁnitely well beyond the other three empires of the original Douluo Continent. However, Xu Tianran can’t do anything without them. We attacked the north before the south, but did not encounter any effective resistance. This means that the Sun Moon Empire is actually very hollow at the back. Furthermore, as soul engineer legions become more and more important in wars, the Sun Moon Empire is becoming more and more disinterested in recruiting ordinary soldiers. Even with many soldiers, they wouldn’t be able to pose a threat to us.”

“And we’ve also continuously caused a lot of damage and losses to the Sun Moon Empire. They can’t just sit back and do nothing. Even if things are going smoothly at the front lines, how can Xu Tianran govern his empire if things are bad at the back? As a result, they’ll deﬁnitely target us. To doom our soul engineer legions, the Sun Moon Empire can only resort to sending their strongest ﬁghting force, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion.”

“While the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion holds an important position in the Sun Moon Empire and cannot be deployed easily, they can still be moved at critical moments. Although I don’t know how many soul engineer legions there are in the empire, I’m afraid only this elite soul engineer legion can truly defeat us. This is why we must wait for an opportunity, and wait for the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion to come out. When that happens, Radiant City will be empty! Even if there are soul formations there, Wutong and I can still sneak in and perform an ambush. We don’t need to really attack Radiant City. As long as we leave some marks in Xu Tianran’s palace, I believe he won’t be in a good mood.”

After hearing Huo Yuhao’s analysis, everyone looked at each other, and there were rich emotions on their faces.

Xu Sanshi asked, “Yuhao, did you think of this a long time ago?”

Huo Yuhao chuckled and replied, “Not really. I only made several discoveries during this period of time, which led to the development of such an idea.”

Bei Bei asked “Yuhao, if that’s the case, I suggest we expose ourselves more. How can we bait them without leaving traces of ourselves?”

Huo Yuhao said, “That’s what I think too.”

Bei Bei smiled and said, “Since that’s the case, let’s continue to run riot in the south. The southern coastal cities are the furthest from Radiant City. Next, our mission will be completed by the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion.”

Huo Yuhao also looked at him and smiled. The others also wore devious smiles.

Huo Yuhao’s plan was to attack the enemy at a spot that needed to be preserved. If the Sun Moon Empire sent any other soul engineer legion, they would only suffer defeat. Once the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion arrived, their opportunity would have arrived as well.

Heavenly Sea City!

It was an important port in the south of the Sun Moon Empire. There was a plot of land in the southeast of the Sun Moon Empire that extended all the way into the sea. It was a natural harbor. Heavenly Sea City was built on this plot of land. It was also an important training and mustering ground. The biggest shipyard in the Sun Moon Empire was also at Heavenly Sea City.

Ever since the war began, the navy that was stationed at Heavenly Sea City was sent out to seal the surrounding regions around the Star Luo Empire. However, Heavenly Sea City remained the most defensively sound city in the south of the Sun Moon Empire.

Ten thousand soldiers and a large-scale soul formation were also deployed here. There were also seven medium-sized warships here too.

Such a deployment wasn’t because of the Star Luo Empire. Rather, it was used to defend against aquatic soul beasts like Oak City and Eastern Sun City.

There were many aquatic soul beasts, but very few of them were truly strong. The truly strong ones were mostly in the

deeper waters. They rarely came to the shallower parts. However, even so, it didn’t hurt to be wary. This was because there were simply too many aquatic soul beasts. Once a beast wave started, it would likely lead to heavy losses to the port.

Things were also more jittery in Heavenly Sea City over the past few days. There were two hundred soul engineers stationed here. They were responsible for protecting and using the soul formations.

The soul formations in Heavenly Sea City were not in the city, but outside, less than three kilometers from the harborfront.

While Heavenly Sea City was built on a plot of land that extended into the sea, it was elevated. Even when storms and typhoons raged, the waves that formed didn’t really affect the city. There was a cliff close to ﬁve hundred meters high close to the sea.

The soul formations in Heavenly Sea City were all activated during this period of time. Their linked defenses remained active, while the aerial surveillance soul tools in the sky were

constantly drifting around. They were used to guard against any enemies that might suddenly appear.

It was no wonder they were so worried. In just a short ﬁve days, twelve cities had been overrun and completely looted. Although Heavenly Sea City was still ﬁne, everyone became very anxious when news of their mysterious enemies spread. These mysterious enemies had even formed a soul engineer legion. The city gates were sealed, and businessmen, as well as citizens, were checked more stringently as they passed.

The mayor of the city even requested that the soul formations to be moved into the city. However, he was denied.

Was it so easy to move large-scale formations? Some of the larger soul formations were extremely heavy. Furthermore, what if their enemies took the opportunity to strike when they were moving?

Chapter 548: The Spiritual Force in Plants

That was the reason why this soul engineer legion’s commander vehemently denied the master of Heavenly Sea City’s request. Even though he was the commander of a soul engineer legion that wasn’t up to standards, he could hold his own against the master of Heavenly Sea City, who was a Count. Soul engineers had the highest status within the Sun Moon Empire.

They were on high alert and preparing themselves, but could they really stay safe?

Huo Yuhao was standing on the shore less than ﬁve kilometers from Heavenly Sea City. He gazed in the direction of the city’s harbor as he couldn’t help but admire it. “What a excellent harbor! The land that Heavenly Sea City has been built on is relatively elevated, but the ground around them slopes downward. They can build a harbor near the ocean, and look over it comfortably from Heavenly Sea City. The harbor has trade coming in from both sides of the city. What a fantastic place!”

Tang Wutong rolled her eyes. “Are you crying crocodile tears? Are you not going to attack them after praising their magniﬁcent harbor?”

Huo Yuhao replied casually, “Praising and admiring it is one thing, attacking and destroying it is another. It’s not my fault that this empire’s ruler has insisted on starting a war and invading our country. Why do I have to be the villain here if not for that fact?”

Tang Wutong said, “Heavenly Sea City is on high alert, and they are sufﬁciently prepared. They are more well-equipped than Eastern Sun City was. This may not be easy!”

Huo Yuhao smiled faintly and said, “Nothing is impossible! Heavenly Sea City’s defensive capabilities are better than Eastern Sun City’s defenses, but its weakness is also very obvious. Their soul tool front isn’t inside the city, so what does that mean? That means their linked defensive formations can’t effectively defend the city. Why do we have to do things the hard way?”

Huo Yuhao grabbed Tang Wutong’s hand as he spoke and disappeared into thin air.

Darkness covered the skies, and that was good news for Heavenly Sea City’s soldiers.

Heavenly Sea City was a developed commercial city, and it was also where an important military harbor was located, and their armies were of a high quality. The southern regions were ﬂourishing and bustling, and life was peaceful. Soldiers were treated extremely well from day to day, and there were rarely days when they were especially exhausted.

Ever since the recent appearance of that mysterious enemy who had broken through twelve cities and pillaged them, Heavenly Sea City’s atmosphere had become extremely tense and nervous.

Heavenly Sea City was one of the largest cities along the Sun Moon Empire’s southern shore. There were docks and battleships, and it was rich with resources.

Those twelve cities were wealthy, but there was still quite a gap between them and Heavenly Sea City.

That was the reason why Radiant City had sent a strict order that Heavenly Sea City had to be defended. They were to relay any information as soon as they obtained any. Heavenly Sea City had also become one of the cities along the empire’s southern shores which was most likely to be attacked.

The city defense army became vigilant for that very reason. They increased their daily patrols, and their inspection process for merchants and civilians coming and going also became much tighter. Every single individual entering the city had to go through both soul power detectors and spiritual power detectors. They would have to go through more interrogation and investigation if they were found to be soul masters.

The city hustled for a day, and the sun was ﬁnally setting as it went down towards the west. Their tense and busy day was about to end.

The city’s thick gates were slowly shut, and that meant the city defense army could ﬁnally get to rest.

The sky gradually turned dark. On some plains ﬁve kilometers from Heavenly Sea City, light began to bend and contort.

Aerial surveillance soul tools couldn’t discover such ﬁne details by looking down from above. As for oscillation detectors that conducted searches closer to the ground, they would only be activated once those aerial surveillance soul tools discovered something. Naturally, they wouldn’t be scouring this area.

Shadows and ﬁgures popped out one after another under the cover of those contorting light rays, as nine large pitch-black doors opened up at the same time.

Huo Yuhao was standing in front of these nine doors, and those contorting light rays were a result of his Spiritual Interference Domain.

His domain’s strength allowed him to cover a thousand square meters. That was sufﬁcient to cover the nine large doors, which were his spectral gates.

Huo Yuhao wouldn’t have been able to achieve this before. First, his Spiritual Interference Domain wasn’t that strong, and it was hard for him to cover himself if he had to use this

domain and necromancy at the same time. His domain’s area of effect was also much smaller before.

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power had undergone a qualitative change once more after he fused with the mermaid princess. Now, his Spiritual Interference Domain had truly matured into an extremely powerful domain-type ability.

Furthermore, a thousand square meters wasn’t his limit. What he was doing with his domain’s formidable interference capabilities was equivalent to rendering everything within this area invisible.

Even though Spiritual Interference Domain still left traces and wasn’t as intricate and ﬁne as Imitation, it had a range and area of effect that Imitation couldn’t match up to at all.

Two hundred armed soldiers from the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion stepped out soundlessly from those spectral gates under the cover of his Spiritual Interference Domain.

Nobody made a sound, and they immediately formed up with guidance from Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection after they

appeared and waited quietly.

Huo Yuhao looked up at the sky, and the corner of his mouth curved into a faint smile.

The others from Shrek’s Seven Monsters had stepped out from those spectral gates one after another, along with the rest of the Tang Sect’s stronger individuals.

“Second senior brother!” Huo Yuhao acknowledged He Caitou.

He Caitou chuckled. He shook his hands, and a series of metal clanging sounds could be heard as a heavy cannon appeared on each of his shoulders.

He raised those cannons and pointed them towards the sky.

Faint golden light ﬂickered in Huo Yuhao’s eyes.

“Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom…” A series of dull booming sounds could be heard as black cannon shells were ﬁred one after another. They couldn’t be told apart from the darkness because the sky had already turned dark, and not even aerial surveillance soul tools could identify them.

Fireworks exploded through the sky after several seconds as the eyes above Heavenly Sea City were shattered.

Bei Bei waved his hand and shouted, “Move out!”

The Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion surged into the sky at the same time. They opened their ﬂying-type soul tools behind their backs as they ﬂew towards Heavenly Sea City.

Heavenly Sea City no longer had any eyes in the sky to monitor the situation, so nobody could possibly know where this soul engineer legion had come from. Those aerial surveillance soul tools that were detonated triggered the alarm, but so what? Heavenly Sea City’s soul tool front was on the other side of the city.

Several minutes later, the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion, which was spaced out in a horizontal single ﬁle, appeared outside Heavenly Sea City. They didn’t stop at all as they immediately assaulted Heavenly Sea City’s thick city walls. More accurately put, they were bombarding the city’s walls

with everything they had!

A Class 5 high-powered soul cannon had enough strength to blow a hole more than ten meters wide and three meters deep in those thick city walls.

What about two hundred Class 5 high-powered cannons?

Two rounds. Only two rounds of bombardment were required before Heavenly Sea City’s northern city walls had become a pile of rubble.

“Enter the city!” Bei Bei gave the order as the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion’s soul engineers immediately charged into the city. Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection guided them straight to the city’s warehouses.

Huo Yuhao commanded the soul engineer legion while locking onto the city’s soul tool front, which was outside the city, at the same time.

There was no way the soul tool front wasn’t aware of the tremendous disturbance on this side. However, they no longer had their aerial surveillance soul tools in the sky, so what if they had a soul tool front? They were blind. Did they dare to bombard their own city to deal with their enemies? That wasn’t a possibility at all.

The soul tool front couldn’t defend the city, so Huo Yuhao would just let it defend the harbor.

The master of Heavenly Sea City had just gone to sleep before he was jolted awake by deafening booming sounds. He had just gotten dressed when the reports came in.

The northern city wall had been broken through, and their enemies had appeared. There were at least two hundred soul engineers, and they had already charged into the city, where they were going straight for the city’s warehouses. Heavenly Sea City had lost contact with all their aerial surveillance soul

tools; they were likely to have been damaged or destroyed, judging from the explosions in the sky.

The Sun Moon Empire had put in a lot of effort to improve their aerial surveillance soul tools’ cover. However, any cover was futile against Huo Yuhao’s otherworldly Spiritual Detection.

“Quick, request aid from the soul engineer legions!” The master of the city could only make that one exclamation.

The messenger swiftly departed as the city master sat back down on his bed. His eyes had become a little vacant.

“Why? Why didn’t we discovered any traces at all before the enemy appeared right in front us? What are those aerial surveillance soul tools for? No wonder! It’s no wonder those twelve cities have fallen before us, and not a single piece of information was obtained before they fell. This enemy is too frightening. Does this mean they can render themselves invisible? Why are those aerial surveillance soul tools so useless against them?”

He lamented agonizingly. He was very clear what the city’s fall meant for him, and the situation that he was most afraid of had happened in the end.

This wouldn’t have happened if those soul engineers had been willing to shift their soul tool front into the city! But it was far too late to think about any of that.

The Count was a smart man. He knew that the soul tool front over there couldn’t do anything without the aerial surveillance soul tools, and it was impossible for them to send their Class 3 soul engineers out of their soul tool front to rescue the city. Their superiors wouldn’t fault them as long as they defended their soul tool front, and if their superiors had to blame somebody, it would just be him.

A pained smile appeared on the Count’s face. Heavenly Sea City had fallen.

Yes, everything was within Huo Yuhao’s calculations. What he wanted to execute was a hit-and-run. They were to strike the city once and quickly before retreating at once without any delay. Huo Yuhao’s aim was to pillage the city. Destroying the soul tool front outside the city would of course be fantastic. He

would very much rather the soul tool front’s soul engineers come to rescue the city.

No matter how advanced or formidable the Sun Moon Empire’s soul tools were, everything would be futile if only Class 3 soul engineers were using them.

Both legions had the same number of people. One side was ﬁlled with Class 3 soul engineers, while the other was ﬁlled with Class 6 soul engineers, and it wasn’t hard to imagine what the outcome would be if both sides clashed.

Therefore, Huo Yuhao was hoping for the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineers to get aggressive and charge out from their turtle shell. He was hoping they would charge into the city and ﬁght with him.

If they dared to come, Huo Yuhao and the others would probably annihilate those two hundred soul engineers with several mass attacks. They would probably destroy the harbor outside at the same time.

Unfortunately, whether it was because the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineers were smart or cowardly, they didn’t

appear on the battleﬁeld in Heavenly Sea City after all. All they did was activate their linked defensive formations to the highest possible level.

Heavenly Sea City was a large city, and the pillaging continued until daybreak the next day.

When the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion’s two hundred people who were like kings of the night retreated, Heavenly Sea City had descended into utter chaos.

Huo Yuhao didn’t know before he came that there was an underwater mine in the ocean close to Heavenly Sea City, and it produced a kind of rare metal known as Deep Sea Silver. This rare metal was extremely valuable, and it was an excellent material for forging stationary soul cannon shells. This metal was very tough, and it was most suitable for constructing long- range stationary soul cannon shells.

Huo Yuhao found a warehouse in Heavenly Sea City that was half-ﬁlled with these things, and he packed them into his spectral demiplane.

As for other resources and money, how much did they actually pillage? Huo Yuhao wasn’t sure himself. He opened a spectral gate inside Heavenly Sea City’s warehouses and ﬂew away dramatically after pocketing everything.

The soul tool front outside Heavenly Sea City didn’t attack at all from the beginning to the end, and the pillaging was now complete.

Huo Yuhao left the city, and stopped at a place that was relatively far away. There were no aerial surveillance soul tools in this place, and he wasn’t afraid of being discovered at all.

A spectral gate opened as the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion’s two hundred members returned to their spectral demiplane as quickly as they could.

Huo Yuhao didn’t go back. Instead, he remained outside and found a relatively obscure place before he went into hiding by himself. He didn’t even bring Tang Wutong this time.

They had pillaged thirteen southern cities continuously, and the Sun Moon Empire’s southern shores were in complete

disarray. That was sufﬁcient for now.

What Huo Yuhao had to do next was wait. He had to wait and see if his judgment was correct.

The mission at Heavenly Sea City had been delayed by a day compared to the twelve cities which came before. Everything had been smooth and successful, so he had to wait and see if his strategic goal would be realized.

Huo Yuhao found a small hill and quietly lay down in a thicket. He stared at the blue sky and the rolling white clouds above him, and he felt a certain inexplicable comfort and satisfaction.

The most luxurious thing for him was to just sit there and daydream without thinking about anything, and he was enjoying that rare but wonderful moment right now.

All kinds of images and pictures ﬂashed before his eyes, and everything that had happened in his life surfaced continuously. He was most unwilling to reminisce about his experiences with

Wang Qiu’er and Wang Dong’er, but those memories appeared uncontrollably in his mind.

Qiu’er, are you truly part of Wutong? Wutong isn’t just Dong’er. I can sense your presence in her. If that’s the case, then that’s just fantastic.

There were several important women in Huo Yuhao’s life. His mother was most important to him when he was a child, and his mother’s passing dealt a heavy blow to him. The most fortunate thing that had ever happened to him was when he had met Wang Dong’er, and being together with her gradually made him forget about his hatred and resentment, and helped him ﬁnd peace. That was the reason why he could accomplish what he had today.

What about Qiu’er? She’s still an integral part of my life that I can’t live without. Qiu’er has taught me many things, and I didn’t accept her love from the beginning to the end. Even so, she had always been quietly giving and giving. Soul beasts have feelings too! The person that I have let down the most is Qiu’er.

What will the Continent be like in the future? Huo Yuhao felt a little lost in his heart. Their plan was probably their last

chance, and if they couldn’t achieve their goal, the Douluo Continent’s three native empires would be in danger.

The Sun Moon Empire’s soul tools were too strong. Unless Huo Yuhao could destroy the entire empire, the Douluo Continent’s three empires would be swallowed sooner or later.

It seemed impossible for them to close the gap in soul tool technology for now. The gap was too great. The Sun Moon Empire’s royalty had been holding back for so long, and they probably had sufﬁcient strength long ago. But they were always just suppressing themselves.

Huo Yuhao had fought the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions. He had to say that even though the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion consisted entirely of Soul Emperors, they had no chance of victory if they had to ﬁght against one of the ﬁve legions from the Sun Moon Empire’s Hand that Protects the Nation, if both sides had equal numbers. This wasn’t just because of the gap in their technology. It was also because of the discrepancy in the soul engineers’ understanding of soul tools.

Furthermore, the Sun Moon Empire still had Ju Zi. Ju Zi’s talent at commanding on the battleﬁeld was extraordinary. She was still holding back a little when she faced him, but what about the Douluo Continent’s three empires? How powerful could she be if she unleashed her full potential?

Huo Yuhao could still vividly remember when the Ming Dou Mountain Range was ﬁrst broken through. Who would have thought that that event was just a diversion?

The Sun Moon Empire’s armies were powerful, and they had an intelligent commander. The Sun Moon Empire was practically invincible on the Continent! The truth was, there wasn’t much that could hold their own against them in direct battle.

Everything will be futile if we don’t destroy the Sun Moon Empire’s main forces. The Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance soul tools haven’t been able to detect me, but after suffering huge losses, they probably won’t need too long to come up with a soul tool that can ﬁnd me, considering how advanced their technology is. What I can do now is delay things as much as possible, and prolong the time that the Sun Moon Empire needs to sweep over the entire continent.

A bitter expression appeared on Huo Yuhao’s face as his thoughts stopped there.

He was starting to understand the Heavenly Sun Douluo, who he had participated in the same mission with. Those Titled Douluo were undoubtedly very proud and arrogant. How could they make a move against an infant unless they really had no other choice? They clearly didn’t try to stop Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong with their full strength when the two of them were breaking out.

Huo Yuhao was still very conﬁdent in his own abilities before he ventured to the Ice Sea. But after that expedition, he understood that Titled Douluo were just Titled Douluo, while Transcendent Douluo were just Transcendent Douluo. Back at the Ming Dou Mountain Range when he was breaking out with Tang Wutong, more of why he was successful was because those Titled Douluo and Transcendent Douluos didn’t work together to attack him and Tang Wutong! Otherwise, it would have been almost impossible for them to leave.

Before, a single Ultimate Douluo could intimidate and threaten an entire country. Following the development of soul tool technology, personal ﬁghting strength was waning continuously.

Many soul masters still didn’t properly understand that fact. At least, the Holy Ghost Church hadn’t grasped that reality yet.

Back when Huo Yuhao had encountered the Holy Ghost Church for the ﬁrst time, he didn’t understand why the Sun Moon Empire would work with such an evil sect. Those evil soul masters were so cruel and evil, and their existence would undoubtedly bring calamity to all life. What would the Sun Moon Empire be like if the Holy Ghost Church held power in the end?

But as he continued to ﬁght the Sun Moon Empire, Huo Yuhao witnessed more and more of their truly formidable soul tool technology. He gradually understood that the Holy Ghost Church was just one of the Sun Moon Empire’s chess pieces. Two Ultimate Douluo were extremely powerful, but how would they fare against a soul engineer legion’s linked soul tools? Would they still emerge victorious? Whether the Holy Ghost Church wanted to or not, and even if they were sufﬁciently prepared, could they really threaten Xu Tianran’s rule?

Xu Tianran was a terrifying ﬁgure. The deep-seated and hidden strength of the Sun Moon Empire’s royal family was

even more frightening. Only places like the royal palace and the worship hall were considered the Sun Moon Empire’s true core!

The Sun Moon Empire had made sufﬁcient use of the Holy Ghost Church, and they were making use of them to ﬁght the Douluo Continent’s soul masters. When the Continent was truly united under one ruler in the future and when their soul cannons were turned around, how could they not have enough reason to deal with such an evil sect?

Huo Yuhao was starting to feel cold sweat breaking out through his shirt. He slowly realized that he seemed to see through some things only when he truly sat down quietly to think.

The Sun Moon Empire is so terrifying!

I wonder how the front line is doing. Can combining the Star Luo Empire, the Heavenly Soul Empire, and the Dou Ling Empire’s strength cause some trouble for Ju Zi?

Ju Zi was also one of the most important girls in Huo Yuhao’s heart, for no other reason than the fact that she was the ﬁrst woman who had entered his heart, and that was enough.

Huo Yuhao could still vividly remember how he had felt when he ﬁrst met her, and their experience of going through life and death together afterward left a deep mark in his heart. He still didn’t know that Dong’er was a girl back then. He couldn’t even imagine what the future would have been like if Ju Zi had chosen him back then, and whether he would truly be with her.

Huo Yuhao couldn’t answer that question, and his mind was always ﬁlled with mixed emotions when he thought about her.

Ju Zi said he was too soft-hearted. Yes, Huo Yuhao was soft- hearted when he was facing her. But wasn’t she the same when she was facing him? But she was wife to the Sun Moon Empire’s emperor, and the Sun Moon Empire’s War God Empress. If the Sun Moon Empire continued to invade in the future, he would have to face her sooner or later.

Huo Yuhao’s eyes became a little dim when he thought about the future. He truly couldn’t see how the future would unfurl.

Personally, his aim was to become a member of the God Realm. But what about the Douluo Continent? Would the Sun Moon Empire really conquer everything, and rename it the Sun Moon Continent?

No, absolutely not! The Douluo Continent will be the Douluo Continent, and I am part of the Douluo Continent. I cannot let that happen no matter what price I have to pay.

Huo Yuhao took a deep breath as his thoughts stopped there. He gathered his mind once more, and his spiritual power transformed into countless tentacles as they stretched across the ground in all directions.

Of course, he wasn’t lying here to rest. He was waiting, and he was hoping that the Sun Moon Empire’s main forces would appear.

Heavenly Sea City was the Sun Moon Empire’s most important coastal city in the south. Furthermore, this place was very far from Radiant City. Once the Sun Moon Empire’s

main forces appeared, the next part of his plan could continue. If his plan was successful in the end, he could see some hope for the Douluo Continent.

The thing that Huo Yuhao hoped for most was what the Body Douluo had sacriﬁced himself to achieve, and that was to kill Xu Tianran!

Xu Tianran was a ruthless and ambitious character, and Huo Yuhao still felt a little fearful towards him. He didn’t know why he felt like that, but he was certain that the Sun Moon Empire would fall into disarray if he died. The Douluo Continent could at least catch their breath if that happened.

As for Ju Zi, even though she was formidable commander, Huo Yuhao never treated her like an enemy in his heart for some reason.

Huo Yuhao was aware of this problem. He knew that the reason why he couldn’t become a commander of an army like Ju Zi was because his heart was too soft.

“Eh?” Huo Yuhao was still contemplating as he released his spiritual power, but a strange feeling suddenly appeared in his spiritual sea.

This sensation was very unique. He realized to his shock that there were countless faint spiritual undulations within his Spiritual Detection’s range.

They were fearful and afraid. They were trying to dodge away, but couldn’t run away at all.

Every spiritual undulation was extremely ﬁne and delicate, and a single thought from Huo Yuhao could destroy them. But this was the ﬁrst time Huo Yuhao had felt so many instances of his spiritual power at the same time. This was his ﬁrst experience after his spiritual power had completely entered a very detailed and intricate level.

These faint spiritual tentacles didn’t come from his enemies, or from a formidable individual. They came from the plants that were growing in the earth!

These plants ranged from a small blade of Bluesilver Grass to a large tree that was several dozen meters tall. Every plant possessed its own spiritual power. Some were strong, while others were weak, but they were mostly weak and frail. They were evidently feeling frightened because they could feel Huo Yuhao’s powerful spiritual power.

That feeling was just too strange. Huo Yuhao discovered for the ﬁrst time that plants had spiritual power; even the small Bluesilver Grass was no exception.

That feeling was just too magical. Huo Yuhao subconsciously expressed his friendliness, while he made his spiritual power gentler as he stretched it out even further.

His friendliness was instantly returned. Those frightened and fearful spiritual tentacles immediately stopped trembling, and conveyed excited and happy thoughts to Huo Yuhao.

Their thoughts and minds were so simple. But Huo Yuhao’s heart was still ﬁlled with happiness and satisfaction in this moment.

A single spiritual tentacle didn’t count for anything, but when thousands and millions of spiritual tentacles were conveying their happiness, how could you not be happy? Huo Yuhao was like that, and so he was happy and elated that the friendliness he had released was immediately returned. Furthermore, those strange spiritual tentacles were fusing with his spiritual power, to the point where his Spiritual

Detection could vividly sense the intricate changes that were happening to these plants.

That sensation was extremely strange and unique, like Huo Yuhao had become the leader of all the plants within ﬁve kilometers around him, and his minions and subordinates were reporting their feelings to him. The plants’ spiritual tentacles ampliﬁed him, and Huo Yuhao was consuming less and less spiritual power from using Spiritual Detection. Furthermore, the more spiritual tentacles that returned his friendliness there were, the less spiritual power he consumed.

That’s so magical. Spiritual power can actually be used this way. Huo Yuhao ﬁnally understood how, during his previous encounter, so many aquatic soul beasts could be linked together. That was especially so for the merfolk’s martial soul combination skills. The reason why they could complete their martial soul combination skill probably wasn’t because their

blood and descent were very similar, but because their spiritual power was extremely well-connected.

Huo Yuhao seemed to have grasped some of the spiritual world’s profundities.

He no longer held back as he pushed his Spiritual Detection outward as much as he could, and the benevolence in his heart increased continuously. He felt the feedback that those plants were giving him, and he expressed his love for them at the same time.

Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection was unwittingly extended very far, and his spiritual power gradually reached its limit. But Huo Yuhao was completely stunned at this point.

Yes, he was astonished. He realized to his intense shock that his spiritual power’s range could reach more than ﬁfty thousand meters in diameter.

Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection normally had a limit of twenty thousand meters! That was already a stunning ﬁgure, but that ﬁgure now stood at ﬁfty thousand meters.

Even though this diameter was calculated with his body at the center, and it couldn’t be used in a single direction, he had already surpassed everything in history, and created another miracle. Huo Yuhao believed that not even Ultimate Douluo could stretch their spiritual power across ﬁfty kilometers!

A diameter of ﬁfty thousand meters meant a diameter of ﬁfty kilometers. What an extraordinarily vast area of effect!

Not only was Heavenly Sea City within his senses, but several other cities were also within range of his senses as well.

Furthermore, his Spiritual Detection worked differently this time. It didn’t project everything into his mind three- dimensionally. After reaching ﬁfty thousand kilometers, everything in Huo Yuhao’s vision came from the plants that were cooperating with him. He was viewing the world through their feelings and vision. But that was already sufﬁcient! Even though Spiritual Detection like that wasn’t as complete as his three-dimensional Spiritual Detection was, conducting investigations through those plants’ spiritual undulations was a lot more discreet.

What kind of spiritual detectors would conduct investigations against a plant’s spiritual power? A plant’s spiritual power was too weak, it was entirely negligible.

Huo Yuhao had unwittingly discovered such a mystical ability. How could he not be happy? Furthermore, he could obtain some simple information from these plants. Even though that information wasn’t much, it was direct and easy to understand.

Huo Yuhao relaxed as he felt his spiritual power extend outwards. He was like the king of all the plants within his Spiritual Detection, and all the plants around him were reporting their thoughts and feelings to him.

A plant’s thoughts were very simple. If you expressed your benevolence to them, they would express their friendliness to you. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power was extremely strong.

There were some plant-type soul beasts within his Spiritual Detection, but most plant-type soul beasts were extremely weak. Their subordination to Huo Yuhao was even more

complete, because they could sense exactly how formidable his spiritual power was.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Huo Yuhao. He asked a question with his Spiritual Detection, and used his consciousness to reach all the plants within his spiritual power’s range.

What Huo Yuhao didn’t expect was, after several minutes, a single consciousness that was responding to him appeared in his mind. He was so excited that he jumped to his feet from the thicket he was in.

The question he had asked those plants was simple. Have you seen the Bluesilver Emperor? The king of the Bluesilver Grass?

Plants understood each other best, and Huo Yuhao only had a tiny shred of hope that his question would be answered. But he received a very deﬁnite reply after a few short minutes! Yes, he received a deﬁnite reply!

Tang Ya’s body was still very weak and frail. Even though ingesting the Qiankun Fortune Pill meant she was no longer

deteriorating towards death, her abilities were completely gone. She even needed to lean on something for support when she walked. How could Huo Yuhao be willing to see her like that?

He never expected that the Bluesilver Emperor, which he had tried so hard to ﬁnd within the Douluo Continent’s three native empires to no avail, would be discovered in the Sun Moon Empire. This was truly an unexpected surprise!

Huo Yuhao regulated his breathing and tried his best to stabilize his emotions. Afterwards, he expressed benevolence towards that spiritual undulation that was giving him a deﬁnite reply, and concentrated his Spiritual Detection in that direction to search for the living being that was answering him.

Huo Yuhao was very calm. He knew that he had to be very careful. He knew from how sensitive the plants’ spiritual tentacles were that if overly eager emotions appeared in his spiritual undulations, he could very easily be removed from his current state. Establishing a connection once more would probably be extremely difﬁcult.

Gentle spiritual undulations that were ﬁlled with friendliness travelled soundlessly towards that living being that was giving him a deﬁnite reply.

Huo Yuhao quickly discovered that plant, which had conspicuously stronger spiritual undulations that typical plants. When his spiritual power locked onto it, he realized to his surprise that it was a datura ﬂower.

This ﬂower was no longer just a ﬂower. It was a soul beast, and its cultivation rank was close to a ten year soul beast. Its intelligence was just starting to open up, and there was a single thread of it. It was like an infant which had just been born for a little while, and it only possessed but a few basic and blurry instincts.

Chapter 549: Opening - Phantoms in the Sky

Plant-type soul beasts’ intelligence was activated more slowly than animal soul beasts. They could only be considered intelligent after they had a hundred thousand years of cultivation.

Huo Yuhao didn’t go near, because he was afraid that he would startle this large ﬂower. He was a human after all, and soul beasts were very sensitive towards humans.

Huo Yuhao’s benevolent spiritual power circled over as he conveyed his emotions to that datura ﬂower and inquired patiently.

The datura ﬂower told him that its pollen had sensed the Bluesilver Emperor at a valley not far from this place.

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power could almost cover ﬁfty kilometers! He quickly found that valley.

He hadn’t discovered anything different about that place, but under the datura ﬂower’s guidance, he immediately sensed how different the plants in this valley were from the outside world.

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power could reach ﬁfty kilometers in diameter because of these plants, but there weren’t plants in every single corner within this range. He couldn’t feel any spiritual tentacles in places where there were no plants, so he couldn’t get their help from those areas.

But when he inspected that valley closely, he noticed that there were many plants growing in this valley. However, not a single plant released their spiritual tentacles to merge with his.

Seems like that must be the place!

Huo Yuhao could feel himself getting excited. They had been searching for so long, and they had announced so many bounties over the past two years, while they had increased the rewards more than once. Even then, they couldn’t ﬁnd the Bluesilver Emperor at all. He hadn’t expected to ﬁnd a clue in this place.

He was just about to stand up and proceed towards that valley to search when he sensed something, and lay back down in the thicket. He was using Imitation, and he was just like a bush himself, as he didn’t release any part of his aura at all.

Huo Yuhao widened his eyes in surprise. Damn, the Sun Moon Empire is worried after all!

Beyond the horizon at the limits of his senses, Huo Yuhao could feel a large mass of aerial surveillance soul tools ﬂying towards Heavenly Sea City.

There were aerial surveillance soul tools both high in the sky and closer to the ground, and some were only ﬁve hundred meters above the ground. He didn’t use Spiritual Detection to detect them directly because they were too far away, so he could only observe them through the plants around them.

Huo Yuhao noticed several dozen surveillance soul tools that were extremely close to the ground roaming around by observing everything, and many silhouettes surged high across the sky at the same time.

Seems like my judgment is correct. The Sun Moon Empire is concentrating their stronger forces to eradicate us.

A faint smile appeared at the corner of Huo Yuhao’s mouth. Two pieces of good news had appeared one after another. How could he not be happy?

He had to take a rain check for that valley, but the valley wasn’t about to uproot itself and run away. He would execute his mission ﬁrst before returning to search for the Bluesilver Emperor.

Huo Yuhao was just lying there quietly, and it didn’t take long before those lower surveillance soul tools reached his location and swept past him!

Those surveillance soul tools that were responsible for surveillance lower to the ground contained thermal detectors, oscillation detectors, and even spiritual detectors.

Even though there were relatively fewer spiritual detectors, there were enough to give Huo Yuhao a surprise. Has the Sun Moon Empire really understood? Even if they haven’t yet

understood, they must have considered problems in that respect, and they’ve increased their spiritual detection capabilities.

How lucky!

Those spiritual detectors swept across Huo Yuhao, but didn’t react at all. Their spiritual undulations didn’t discover anything out of the ordinary.

Of course, Huo Yuhao wouldn’t give them a chance to discover anything. His spiritual aura had become identical to the plants around him, like he was completely assimilated into the thicket. Huo Yuhao also regulated his body temperature to be identical to everything around him, and his soul power was completely shut off. In addition to Imitation, he was just like a shrub. Spiritual detectors wouldn’t detect his presence even if they were just a foot in front of him as long as he didn’t move.

Those lower surveillance soul tools quickly ﬂew by, and the aerial surveillance soul tools appeared immediately afterwards.

Huo Yuhao didn’t have to use Spiritual Detection to conduct a deep investigation. He could use his own Spirit Eyes to see those aerial surveillance soul tools very clearly.

It didn’t take long before he witnessed hundreds of aerial surveillance soul tools whiz by in the sky above him. They were dispersed as they ﬂew in all directions, and all kinds of surveillance waves covered a tremendous surface area as they were like an enormous web that blanketed everything around Heavenly Sea City.

A faint smile appeared on Huo Yuhao’s face. Go search! You’ll never ﬁnd us.

Huo Yuhao’s eyes suddenly froze in this moment.

Shadows formed neat lines roughly a thousand meters in the sky as they ﬂew rapidly in Heavenly Sea City’s direction. Dark golden colors ﬂickered on their bodies, and they were still relatively conspicuous as the sun shone on them. Their silhouettes would become especially blurry during nighttime, and the light around them contorted faintly.

Huo Yuhao drew a cold breath at what he saw. A single term appeared in his mind: human-shaped soul tools!

Has the Sun Moon Empire really developed human-shaped soul tools?

Yes, those dark golden shadows were soul engineers who were all covered in dark golden armor.

How could Huo Yuhao not tell if that armor was just normal armor, or human-shaped soul tools? Yes, those were human- shaped soul tools.

Every single human-shaped soul tool was about three meters tall, and they were completely covered in dark golden armor. There were three pairs of ﬂying-type soul tools outstretched behind their backs as they raced through the air.

There were three hundred people. Three hundred people raced above him in an instant, and every single person emanated frightening auras.

The location of the eyes on their helmets radiated faint red colors. Light bent around them, and they seemed to assimilate into the air around them. Except, they were in the sky, and they didn’t seem like they could ﬁnd anything to integrate into.

Huo Yuhao swallowed some saliva. What he was most worried about had happened after all. The Sun Moon Empire had ﬁnally made a breakthrough in their research into human- shaped soul tools, and their development seemed extremely strong.

According to his investigations, the strongest legion in the Sun Moon Empire’s Hand that Protects the Nation was the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Legion, and they were formed from three hundred soul engineers who were at least Soul Kings.

But when these soul engineers ﬂew over him, how could Soul Kings compare with their soul power undulations?

Not even Soul Sages could match up to the strength of those soul power undulations. They clearly belonged to Soul Douluo, and that was especially so for the several dozen soul engineers

who were ﬂying at the forefront. Every single one had auras that were so deep and profound that they were undoubtedly Titled Douluo.

Huo Yuhao had always known that the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion was strong, but he didn’t expect them to be that powerful.

A soul engineer legion like that could reach Heavenly Sea City from Radiant City in less than four hours if they ﬂew with their full strength.

They quickly ﬂew over Huo Yuhao’s head. Huo Yuhao stood up quietly, and took a deep breath as he gazed in the direction they were ﬂying in. The Sun Moon Empire! This is the Sun Moon Empire’s strength!

Huo Yuhao pursed his lips tightly as he forced down the helplessness in his heart. He surged into the sky, and his Class 9 ﬂying-type soul tool opened and activated at once.

“Boom–” A dull boom could be heard as Huo Yuhao’s body broke the sound barrier and raced in Radiant City’s direction.

Time, time! What he needed most was time. He wanted Radiant City to feel alarmed and fearful, so time was most important for him. He had to complete his mission before the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion returned to Radiant City.

It was already afternoon, and evening would come in two hours. Huo Yuhao could reach Radiant City before evening if everything went smoothly. The Imperial Soul Engineer Legion would take some time to search for them, and they would also need about four hours for their journey. It was likely that they couldn’t return to Radiant City by tonight.

And once he started operating inside Radiant City, he trusted that the Sun Moon Empire would ﬁnd a way to inform the Imperial Soul Engineer Legion and seek their aid. From that moment onwards, he would only have four hours. What he could accomplish within those four hours was up to his own ability.

Huo Yuhao was resilient and determined. After his initial shock from the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion’s formidable equipment, he quickly calmed down as he tried to recall everything he had seen while he surged through the sky.

The Sun Moon Empire couldn’t possibly have more than three hundred Soul Douluo. That was impossible! Not even the Star Luo Empire, which had the most soul masters, had so many high-level soul masters.

But the Imperial Soul Engineer Legion’s soul engineers had auras that were clearly no different from that of a Soul Douluo. This meant that the soul engineers’ armor possessed excellent ampliﬁcation effects, and they were probably Class 8 soul tools.

A single Class 8 soul tool wasn’t much, but what about three hundred of them? What kind of power was that? The Sun Moon Empire had enough power to ﬁght the Holy Ghost Church with just this single soul engineer legion. At least, they would have enough to intimidate and deter them from making any rash moves.

But the Sun Moon Empire didn’t have what many eight- ringed individuals, so how were they using these Class 8 soul tools? This was a doubt that Huo Yuhao couldn’t wrap his head around.

Using soul tools which belonged to higher classes wasn’t impossible under normal circumstances, but a single class was the limit. Soul tools with higher classes had more requirements and conditions, and they became increasingly harder for soul engineers of lower classes to use.

Huo Yuhao was referring to normal soul masters. Graduates from Shrek Academy almost all possessed the ability to use soul tools above their Class, and that was due to their stable and consolidated foundations with their cultivation. But what about the Sun Moon Empire? Most of their soul masters relied on medicine or certain auxiliary soul tools to boost their soul power. But what about their foundations? They probably didn’t have any foundations, and everything was the result of undue haste. Many soul engineers found it difﬁcult to improve further after obtaining three soul rings, not to mention using soul tools above their current Class. Only several three-ringed soul engineers using a single Class 4 soul tool could be successful.

Under such circumstances, if the Imperial Soul Engineering Legion’s soul engineers were all Soul Kings, how could they cross three Classes and use Class 8 soul tools that only Soul Douluo could use?

Even if the Sun Moon Empire had some way to raise their cultivation to six-ringed Soul Emperors, they still couldn’t use Class 8 soul tools. Boosting a soul master’s cultivation beyond

Soul Emperor using medicine was futile unless the medicines used were natural treasures. Normal medicine wouldn’t be useful at all. Huo Yuhao didn’t believe that the Sun Moon Empire could forge something like the Qiankun Fortune Pill. If that was possible, Xu Tianran himself would probably have become an Ultimate Douluo a long time ago.

These doubts circled in Huo Yuhao’s mind, and it was clear that he wouldn’t ﬁnd the answer. Unless he faced the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Legion head-to-head, all he could do for now was speculate.

Facing them head-to-head?

Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly as that phrase occurred to him.

How were they going to ﬁght?

Three hundred soul engineers who were at least Class 8 didn’t even need linked soul tools. If they gathered their ﬁre, even the Death God Douluo, Ye Xishui, and the Dragon Emperor Douluo, Long Xiaoyao, would have to run away, not to mention himself. If they used linked soul tools and locked onto their target, that destructive force could probably incinerate and vaporize an entire city in the blink of an eye.

Such ultimate power hadn’t been used on the battleﬁeld yet. It wasn’t hard to imagine the outcome if they appeared on the battleﬁeld.

Compared to this soul engineer legion which was fully equipped with human-shaped soul tools, the equipment of Shrek Academy’s three soul engineer legions was no different from that of a beggar.

Huo Yuhao felt his heart sink when that thought occurred to him. His good mood because his plan was successful and because he had found the Bluesilver Emperor’s whereabouts vanished into thin air.

Huo Yuhao wanted to maintain prolonged ﬂight, so he kept his speed at the speed of sound. This was the only way that he could ﬂy continuously while expending a lot of soul power.

A Class 9 soul tool ﬁring at full power could achieve an incredible speed. Huo Yuhao could see Radiant City far in front of him after a little over the hour.

There were aerial and low-altitude surveillance soul tools in the skies above and around Radiant City. The Sun Moon Empire had become even more wealthy after they conquered more than two-thirds of the Heavenly Soul Empire’s territory. Over the past two years, they had probably used all the wealth and resources that they had obtained from the Heavenly Soul Empire on developing soul tools to reach where they were

today.

Huo Yuhao didn’t ﬂy directly into Radiant City. He didn’t fully understand Radiant City’s soul tools, and could even feel a tinge of fear from the bottom of his heart. He didn’t know how advanced the Sun Moon Empire had become with their soul tool technology. That was especially so when he witnessed their successful construction of human-shaped soul tools.

Huo Yuhao descended to the ground when he was about twenty-ﬁve kilometers from Radiant City. He used Imitation and hurried along, and he was a much smaller target on the ground. He used Spiritual Detection as far as he could to avoid any surveillance soul tools that could discover his traces.

Radiant City was a city without walls, but that didn’t mean it didn’t have strong defenses. On the contrary, Radiant City possessed high-energy compression array soul tools, and the

city’s offensive and defensive capabilities were the absolute best on the continent.

Huo Yuhao found an unassuming bush ﬁve kilometers from Radiant City and stopped. He lay down on the ground and replenished what he had consumed from ﬂying at high speeds while attempting to extend his consciousness once more to feel the plants’ spiritual undulations around him.

Huo Yuhao quickly succeeded following his previous experiment. These plants’ situations were similar, especially so because Huo Yuhao directly released benevolent spiritual undulations and quickly attained their approval. Huo Yuhao’s spiritual tentacles swiftly merged with those plants’ spiritual tentacles as he stretched them out into the distance.

This was undoubtedly the safest surveillance method. Huo Yuhao risked being discovered by abilities like spiritual barriers if he used Spiritual Detection for surveillance, but extending his spiritual tentacles through those plants meant there was no way he could be discovered.

Radiant City was a city like a forest of metal and steel. But even then, there were quite a few plants within it, and they

were evenly distributed throughout the city.

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power stretched out and quickly entered Radiant City. However, his spiritual power could stretch out with himself at the center when he connected with those plants, though he couldn’t project his spiritual power in a single direction. Therefore, he could only reach twenty-ﬁve kilometers in Radiant City’s direction. In addition to the ﬁve kilometers between Radiant City and himself, he could only reach twenty kilometers into Radiant City.

Twenty kilometers could cover typical cities several times over, but Radiant City was just too large. Huo Yuhao was twenty kilometers in, but he couldn’t even reach half of Radiant City.

But that was sufﬁcient for now.

Radiant City’s aerial surveillance soul tools were mostly located around the city. But Huo Yuhao would be making a grave mistake if he thought this meant that they had fewer surveillance soul tools inside the city.

The surveillance soul tools inside Radiant City were all on the ground, and they seamlessly covered every single corner.

Radiant City lived up to its reputation after all! Large cities along the southern shores like Heavenly Sea City were a far cry from Radiant City. Huo Yuhao’s ﬁrst thought after his spiritual power reached its limit was that Radiant City was impregnable.

Yes, Radiant City gave him a feeling that it was impregnable.

That was just incredible. A city as large as that could give him a feeling that it was impregnable? That almost made him feel a little abnormal.

This wasn’t Huo Yuhao’s ﬁrst time at Radiant City, and every visit gave him different sensations. There was no doubt that Radiant City had changed a lot over the past two years, but one couldn’t observe those changes simply by looking with his or her eyes. Only someone who could investigate and observe every inch of the city could discover the city’s frightening hidden strength.

Perhaps not even the Holy Ghost Church is aware...

The corner of Huo Yuhao’s mouth curved into a mocking smile. If the Death God Douluo, Ye Xishui knew of the strength hidden within Radiant City, who knew how she would feel.

Huo Yuhao couldn’t reach the royal palace from his current position, but he tried his best to stretch his spiritual power ever further. He discovered something that piqued his interest: a high-energy compression array soul tool.

Huo Yuhao was currently on Radiant City’s southern side, and the high-energy compression array soul tool he had discovered was also on Radiant City’s southern side. A patch of buildings and structures encircled this high-energy compression array soul tool, and there was also an enormous soul tool front deployed in the area. A hundred and ﬁfty soul engineers were responsible for guarding it, and Huo Yuhao could tell from this soul tool front’s scale that their offensive and defensive capabilities could probably cover half of Radiant City.

Radiant City’s four corners were probably arranged in similar fashion.

Back when the Body Douluo had launched a hysterical assault which he had paid for with his life, Xu Tianran had relied on the tremendous soul power stored within these high-energy compression array soul tools and unleashed the largest protective barrier in history to protect himself.

Even though those defenses didn’t allow him to completely dispel the Body Douluo’s attack, that was mostly because they were far too scattered. Huo Yuhao had witnessed how frightening high-energy compression array soul tools could be from that episode, and the soul power contained within such soul tools was just too vast. It wasn’t hard to imagine the kind of explosive ﬁghting strength that a single soul tool front could achieve by relying on even one such soul tool.

Four such high-energy compression soul tools were enough to make Radiant City impregnable.

No, not four. There must be more than four!

Huo Yuhao suddenly thought of how Radiant City’s imperial palace suddenly became like a stronghold when it came under attack. That transformation could only be achieved with tremendous power, and it had to be supported by an equally

vast power. This also meant that there was likely to be another high-energy compression array soul tool inside the imperial palace.

Impressive, Sun Moon Empire! Radiant City could truly be described as impregnable with defenses like that. That was especially so if the Imperial Soul Engineer Legion was inside Radiant City. This meant that, in this world, only a God would probably have the strength to damage and destroy Radiant City.

Huo Yuhao couldn’t help but think about the God of Emotions, Rong Nianbing. His strength was far from enough. At least, he didn’t have enough strength to unleash the Morning Dew Dagger’s full potential. Otherwise, how the Princess of the Sea force him into such a sorry position in the Ice Sea?

Huo Yuhao circled around Radiant City for about a quarter of its circumference before he laid down in the vegetation and continued his investigation. Radiant City’s circumstances were almost identical to his speculations, and there was a large soul tool front deployed on every side, each of which drew power from a high-energy compression array soul tool, while there were soul engineers operating it from within.

Huo Yuhao discovered after several attempts that if he wanted to use his spiritual power to detect the plants’ spiritual undulations, his body also had to be in contact with plants.

For instance, he would have to lie down in Bluesilver Grass, or in a thicket. He could also lean against a tree trunk. If his body wasn’t touching any plants, there was no way he could sense their spiritual undulations.

Huo Yuhao wasn’t in a hurry. At least, the Imperial Soul Engineering Legion wouldn’t return tonight without an alarm. Therefore, he still had enough time.

He didn’t enter Radiant City, instead relying on his Spiritual Interference Domain and Imitation as he hid behind a large tree, opened a spectral gate, and returned to his spectral demiplane.

Huo Yuhao had already informed everyone about the plan, so all three soul engineer legions had made their preparations to take off inside his spectral demiplane.

Huo Yuhao immediately called a meeting once he returned, and gathered all the Tang Sect’s senior members.

Huo Yuhao didn’t tell Bei Bei that he had discovered the Bluesilver Emperor’s whereabouts. Now was not the time to tell him about that, because it would affect his mood. Huo

Yuhao simply told everyone what he had discovered in his surveillance of Radiant City.

Everyone’s faces turned black as they listened to his description, and that was especially so when they heard Huo Yuhao describe the Imperial Soul Engineering Legion.

“This is more troublesome than we thought,” Bei Bei frowned as he spoke. “The Sun Moon Empire can’t possibly guess our plan, but Radiant City’s defenses are probably already at their weakest. This is the Sun Moon Empire’s capital, and their defenses are undoubtedly tight and strict. Judging by the current situation, it’ll be very difﬁcult for us to cause any signiﬁcant losses to Radiant City. It’s hard for us not to be discovered even with your Spiritual Interference Domain, unless we can destroy the aerial surveillance soul tools around Radiant City as soon as possible. But if we do that, the city will be warned.”

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “It is quite difﬁcult to destroy the aerial surveillance soul tools aroundRadiant City, because they’re are all linked to a soul tool front beneath them. That enormous soul tool front will attempt to intercept as soon as an attack is discovered.”

Xu Sanshi said, “It is hard for us to succeed with the current situation. Why don’t we choose another target? Even if we don’t attack Radiant City, I believe that they will bring their armies back as long as we can cause utter chaos within the Sun Moon Empire.”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “The Sun Moon Empire is already placing a lot of emphasis on us. The only thing is they don’t understand how we operate. This opportunity will only come once in a blue moon, and the Sun Moon Empire will be a lot less mobile without the Imperial Soul Engineer Legion around. The Sun Moon Empire losing their ﬂexibility and mobility gives us a chance to retreat. Therefore, we cannot give up this opportunity, no matter what. We will never know when another opportunity like this will arise again.”

Bei Bei smiled faintly at Huo Yuhao and said, “Seems like you already have a plan, little junior brother. How do we go about it?”

Huo Yuhao’s eyes closed into slits. “We have to start from those aerial surveillance soul tools. Aerial surveillance soul tools are very expensive, and destroying one will already give the Sun Moon Empire some heartache. Furthermore, we can

only complete our ambush by destroying those aerial surveillance soul tools. My plan is as such…”

Huo Yuhao brieﬂy explained what he was thinking.

Everyone nodded as they listened to his description, but Tang Wutong was the only one who frowned. “That’s too dangerous, Yuhao. If you’re discovered, you will be immediately attacked by linked soul tools. Even though we all trust in your ability, those linked soul tools’ offensive powers are far too strong.”

Huo Yuhao replied, “I wouldn’t have the conﬁdence before getting Li Ya as my Spirit, because the Sun Moon Empire has advanced their research into spiritual detectors. But fusing with Li Ya has elevated my spiritual power to a much more intricate level, and I can mask and imitate everything around me more perfectly. This means that the Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance soul tools will have a hard time detecting me, while only spiritual detectors can do that in the ﬁrst place. However, the greatest problem with a spiritual detector is its range. I can tell from the Sun Moon Empire’s current deployment of spiritual detectors that their current research product only has a range of about ﬁve hundred meters. Under such circumstances, I can just do what I need to do high in the sky, and target those aerial surveillance soul tools and ignore

the low-altitude ones, and they won’t discover me. Those aerial surveillance soul tools linking together with the soul tool front on the ground is most effective because there’s sufﬁcient space for the soul tool front to intercept any attacks against them. Those low-altitude surveillance soul tools are a lot easier to deal with.”

Everyone nodded continuously as they listened to Huo Yuhao’s convincing discussion. Tang Wutong was the only one who still had some hesitation in her eyes as she stared at him.

“Alright, since that’s the case, it’s settled. You have to be careful, Yuhao. Nobody can help you on this, and you have to prioritize your safety above everything else. You have to leave as soon as something goes wrong. At most, we’ll just abandon this opportunity altogether.” Bei Bei reminded Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao nodded. “Don’t worry, eldest senior brother. I will be as careful as I can. The Sun Moon Empire is too conﬁdent in their aerial surveillance soul tools. After this mission, they will realize that we aren’t moving quickly from place to place by sea, and they will be confused about our abilities. Since that’s the case, we shall give them a good one this time.”

Tang Wutong arrived beside Huo Yuhao and said, “Let me go with you. We can back each other up if we’re together.”

Huo Yuhao shook his head. “No, Wutong. It’s different this time. I’ll be a more ﬂexible by myself, and I won’t be discovered so easily. With my current spiritual power, it’s likely that I won’t be discovered even if spiritual detectors sweep over me. But if you’re around, the spiritual detectors and oscillation detectors can easily spot you if they sweep over you. Don’t worry, I’ll be careful.”

Tang Wutong quietly reached out and pinched his waist as she glared at him threateningly.

Huo Yuhao’s facial muscles twitched. “Don’t worry, I’ll be as careful as I can possibly be, for you.”

Tang Wutong gently leaned into his arm. “I’ll be waiting for you. Be careful.”

“Yes.”

Huo Yuhao pulled He Caitou with him and went straight over to the warehouses. Bei Bei immediately gathered the three soul engineer legions and prepared for battle. He ordered the Heavy Artillery Soul Engineer Legion and the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion over to the warehouses to shift something.

The sky had already turned completely dark when Huo Yuhao came out of the spectral demiplane an hour later. He gazed at Radiant City in the distance, and he could see light and ﬁre across thousands of homes. He had to concede that this city, which was the largest one on the continent, would leave a very deep impression on anybody coming here for the ﬁrst time. The city’s scenes at night were the most beautiful that Huo Yuhao had ever seen.

Huo Yuhao heaved a faint sigh. I’m sorry, Radiant City’s peace is destined to be broken tonight.

Huo Yuhao already had his Icy War God’s Armor on by now. He used his spiritual power to control the dark blue hues so that they didn’t shine, and his entire body seemed to disappear into the night sky. Not a single trace of his armor’s intense chills was released.

Huo Yuhao would be extremely careful even without Tang Wutong’s reminder. His life and death was linked to the three soul engineer legions, because his spectral demiplane was a double-edged sword. If Huo Yuhao was alive, everyone inside his spectral demiplane could become an army of ghost soldiers,

but if he died, then everyone in the Tang Sect and the three soul engineer legions would never leave his spectral demiplane.

This wasn’t because he didn’t want to release everyone before he came out. They were too close to Radiant City, and everyone would be easily discovered if they came outside.

Therefore, he had to take this risk. He wasn’t taking this risk for himself. He was representing several thousand soul engineers. He was also representing the Douluo Continent’s last hope. He didn’t have a choice not to be careful!

With his Icy War God’s Armor, Huo Yuhao could vividly feel thick soul power ﬂowing through the armor and entering his body continuously. The armor was almost like part of his skin, and perhaps even part of his skeleton. He didn’t feel any discomfort or difference, besides the fact that his entire body became a little fatter.

Huo Yuhao controlling the Icy War God’s Armor was different from when the Snow Empress was doing it. The reason was because unleashing this human-shaped soul tool’s full potential required Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power. The Snow Empress didn’t understand it enough, so she could only use it

to amplify her abilities and defend herself.

The armor’s wings gradually opened behind it. It was a Class 9 soul tool, but it was different from Huo Yuhao’s ﬂying-shaped soul tool. The Icy War God’s Armor didn’t consume Huo Yuhao’s own soul power, so it could take him over seven thousand meters in the air. This fact alone was something that no other soul tool in the world could achieve.

There were two great dangers at high altitudes: lower temperatures and thin air. The Icy War God’s Armor negated the extreme cold’s effects, and the armor itself could absorb energy from the low temperatures around it and feed that energy back to Huo Yuhao. Thin air was fatal to other soul masters, and was a condition they couldn’t recover from. But that wasn’t a problem for the Icy War God’s Armor.

Huo Yuhao had already attempted to go beyond ten thousand meters in the sky with this human-shaped soul tool. That was an entirely different world, and he wouldn’t fall even if he

didn’t use any soul power to control himself. He would just be hovering in very thin air, and that feeling was both mystical and frightening at the same time.

Huo Yuhao didn’t know if he was the ﬁrst human to ﬂy at such a height, but he didn’t see any other living beings at that altitude.

He tapped his feet against the ground as his wings blasted off. He used his Spiritual Detection to open a path under the cover of Imitation, and surged into the air in the moment when there weren’t any surveillance soul tools sweeping his path.

The Icy War God’s Armor’s energy was all contained inside it, and Huo Yuhao didn’t have to release any soul power at all for his armor to take him high into the sky. What he needed was to communicate with his armor through his consciousness.

Huo Yuhao reached a thousand meters in the blink of an eye. Most low-altitude surveillance soul tools were no longer effective at this height, but Huo Yuhao was going even higher.

Two thousand meters, three thousand meters, four thousand meters, ﬁve thousand meters.

He went all the way to six thousand meters before he controlled his armor to stabilize himself as he hovered in midair.

Chapter 550: The Attack Starts!

The temperature at an altitude of six thousand meters was very low, but such low temperatures were considered a good source of replenishment for the Icy War God’s Armor. The thin air was ﬁlled with elements of ice, which the Icy War God’s Armor processed to replenish the energy that it expended before it stored the energy that it was absorbing, compressed it, and fed back a portion of it to Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao was full of admiration for this armor. I’m like a Transcendent Douluo with this armor on! Even though the Sun Moon Empire has already produced human-shaped soul tools, mine is crafted from unrivaled materials, and it has cost Teacher Xuan many years of thought and effort. This super human-shaped soul tool is also crafted from the Tang Sect’s mechanical technology, so the Sun Moon Empire’s human- shaped soul tools are still relatively weaker.

Huo Yuhao was already starting to move as he thought. His Spiritual Detection expanded as far as he could push it. He was six thousand meters in the sky, and he didn’t believe that the Sun Moon Empire could place any spiritual barriers at this height.

Not even high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools could be placed at this height.

But Huo Yuhao was still full of praises for the capabilities of the Sun Moon Empire’s aerial surveillance soul tools. At least, he discovered that there were still aerial surveillance soul tools ﬁve thousand meters in the sky, and even though there weren’t many, every single one was relatively large, and their construction was extremely intricate and sophisticated. If not for his mission, Huo Yuhao would really want to take one back to study it.

Huo Yuhao ﬂoated forward, and the ﬁrst things he went for were those high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools that were ﬂying around ﬁve thousand meters in the sky.

He observed quietly for a few moments, and he could already tell what kind of soul tool they were.

These are clearly satellites! They were used for transmissions and communication, and they were enormous. They could transmit all kinds of information within two hundred and ﬁfty kilometers, and as long as there was one such soul tool within two hundred and ﬁfty kilometers, the Sun Moon Empire would

be able to transmit information across long distances. They wouldn’t even have a problem communicating at a range of more than ﬁve thousand kilometers.

But these satellites didn’t possess any offensive or defensive capabilities, and they weren’t able to detect anything around them.

Huo Yuhao slowly came up to a satellite as he placed a small round metal piece that was about the size of his palm within a tiny crack.

Huo Yuhao was using both Imitation and Spiritual Interference Domain at the same time. He activated his personal defenses to the highest possible level to prepare for worst case scenarios, and his Spiritual Detection covered a vast area around him from the beginning to the end. He was prepared to retreat at any moment. After all, he wasn’t entirely sure about the Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance soul tools.

The ﬁrst metal plate was installed successfully without anything changing at all.

Huo Yuhao retreated silently after completing his task. He observed for a few moments, and surveyed the surveillance soul tools around him to see if anything was happening. The nearest soul tool front beneath him remained stable and quiet, and he heaved a sigh of relief.

The ﬁrst attempt was most important, because it laid the foundations for what he was about to do next.

Huo Yuhao quickly began to shift around in the sky. He wasn’t afraid of troubling himself, as the surveillance soul tools ﬁve thousand meters up were furthest away from each other. He didn’t move down to the soul tools beneath him to install those metal plates. He installed the metal plates on all the aerial surveillance soul tools above Radiant City at that height, and only then did he ﬂy down to four thousand meters.

He continued in a similar fashion. Even though he was ﬂying very quickly, three hours had gone by after he ﬁnished installing the metal plates on the aerial surveillance soul tools three thousand meters up.

There were sixty-three surveillance soul tools of many different kinds three thousand meters in the sky, and every

one was very far from the others. Huo Yuhao also had to be very careful, and that was an important reason why he was taking so long. If he didn’t have his Icy War God’s Armor, he would even have to take breaks before continuing.

Huo Yuhao’s following task was even harder, because there were more than four hundred surveillance soul tools of all kinds between an altitude of ﬁve hundred meters and one thousand meters. There were around two hundred and seventy at a thousand meters, and there were more than one hundred and sixty at ﬁve hundred meters.

Huo Yuhao planned to forgo the surveillance soul tools at ﬁve hundred meters. He would deal with them later on, but he had to install the metal places on the surveillance soul tools at one thousand meters.

But this altitude was also the most dangerous. The surveillance soul tools hovering at a thousand meters were inherently extremely powerful, while the surveillance soul tools at ﬁve hundred meters would sweep both toward the ground and into the air. Therefore, Huo Yuhao had to use Spiritual Detection to avoid the surveillance soul tools that could discover him as much as possible.

Huo Yuhao paused for a little in the air and readjusted his condition.

He relaxed for a little before he reduced his Spiritual Detection’s range, which was initially spread over a large area, to a small but intricate area of effect. He kept his Spiritual Detection’s range to around a thousand meters in diameter so that he could conduct a more detailed surveillance of all the energy changes around him. This included the surveillance soul tools’ waves and undulations, and how they were changing.

Everything was within his grasp as he drifted down. He didn’t cause any disturbance at all as he arrived next to a surveillance soul tool that was patrolling in a pattern. He ﬂicked his wrist dexterously as he sent another metal plate into a blind spot that the soul tool itself couldn’t detect. Huo Yuhao somersaulted in the air with a ﬂash as his ﬂying-type soul tool accelerated and moved him a hundred meters horizontally. He avoided several spiritual surveillance waves as he ﬂew.

Huo Yuhao quickly changed directions as he shifted to another side and ﬂoated downwards, and he dealt with another surveillance soul tool with yet another dexterous ﬂick of his wrist.

Huo Yuhao’s understanding of hidden weapons meant he was still conﬁdent of doing this properly even if he had to do it over long distances. But doing that was a lot less discreet than going up close to those surveillance soul tools.

Huo Yuhao had to be very careful with each installation. He couldn’t allow any mistakes at all. He could expose himself with even a tiny error. What he was doing would determine whether his plan could be executed successfully, so how could he afford to be careless?

Huo Yuhao was moving a lot faster here than he was at the higher altitudes. He turned, spun, and danced through the air as he stuck metal plates to aerial surveillance soul tools continuously. His movement was like rolling clouds and ﬂowing water as he didn’t stop at all, and all those surveillance soul tools had nowhere to hide under his Spiritual Detection.

Anybody who could watch those surveillance waves in the sky would be overwhelmed with admiration at what Huo Yuhao was doing. Every movement and every acceleration zipped through and between dozens of intersecting surveillance waves at the same time. There were some close

shaves where Huo Yuhao had to use Instant Teleportation to avoid them.

Even though not every kind of surveillance wave could discover him, Huo Yuhao had to put safety ﬁrst as he tried his best to keep any wave from touching him.

After he completed the last installation at one thousand meters, he paused in the air before he accelerated and disappeared beyond the horizon.

Huo Yuhao could feel some dizziness in his brain, which was a sign of consuming too much energy. He had consumed too much energy and not spiritual power, because he could still take this with his spiritual power.

The sky had turned dark, as most of the lamps and lights that resembled the stars in the night sky had disappeared. Huo Yuhao ﬂew far into the distance and descended to the ground at a relatively obscure and remote area.

He crossed his legs and sat down on the ground as he panted deep and heavily. Huo Yuhao’s face was a little pale, and his

eyes were ﬁlled with fatigue. However, there was also excitement in his eyes.

Huo Yuhao was entirely certain that nobody else in the Douluo Continent could achieve what he had just done. Not even Ultimate Douluo could do that.

Huo Yuhao looked up at the sky. Even though he couldn’t see the surveillance soul tools he had worked on, his eyes were full of satisfaction in this moment.

A gorgeous shadow emerged from Huo Yuhao’s body. It was Li Ya, the mermaid princess. She sat down beside him just like that, and brought her tail up close and placed her arms around it like a young girl sitting on the ground hugging her knees.

A beautiful song could be heard, but Huo Yuhao was the only person who could hear it. Wonderful melodies circled around his spiritual sea, and his fatigue disappeared like silk spun from cocoons. He was recovering all the spiritual power that he had expended at an incredible speed.

This wasn’t Huo Yuhao’s soul skill. Instead, this was the mermaid princess’ innate ability. She didn’t speak to him, but was just singing so beautifully with a faint smile on her face.

Everything was dark around him, but it was also quiet and tranquil. Huo Yuhao quickly entered meditation as he listened to Li Ya’s song.

He was still this mission’s main director, and he had to recover what he had expended as quickly as possible.

Consuming soul power was nothing much. He hadn’t consumed much soul power because he had his Icy War God’s Armor to replenish him. However, Huo Yuhao needed to rest because he had used too much spiritual power, and especially so when consuming too much energy made him feel fatigued.

Huo Yuhao’s soul core absorbed spiritual power continuously as Li Ya sang to him, and that accelerated his regeneration.

Huo Yuhao got back to his feet after an hour, and his eyes were already full of life and vigor.

Li Ya didn’t go back into his body. Instead, she just hovered quietly beside him.

Huo Yuhao raised his right hand as deep chanting sounds could be heard, and a grey soul ring appeared on his body.

This wasn’t the ﬁrst time that Li Ya had seen his grey soul ring, so she didn’t feel conﬂicted or resistant at all. Huo Yuhao was in such a state when he completed the contract with her after all. This ring was evil, ﬁlled with light and a little strange, but she was slowly starting to accept it.

Huo Yuhao had begun to chant his spell, and deep and dull incantations rang out. Huo Yuhao used Imitation and Spiritual Interference Domain so that he could hide Li Ya and himself.

Li Ya hovered next to Huo Yuhao, and a mystical scene occurred. Soul rings appeared from the bottom of her mermaid’s tail one after another, and one would realize upon closer inspection that they were the soul rings Huo Yuhao had attached to his Spirit Eyes, every single one of them.

The eighth soul ring, the one that was blood red, glowed as Huo Yuhao’s incantations were suddenly mixed with another crisp and bright voice.

Every glyph or word that he chanted was accompanied by an identical one in this crisp and bright voice, and this voice belonged to Li Ya.

Li Ya was a hundred thousand year soul beast, and she had given a total of four soul skills to Huo Yuhao. Two were from soul rings, and two were from soul bones.

The soul skill that she was using on Huo Yuhao’s behalf was one from her soul rings: Mermaid’s Duet.

The reason why his eight soul rings attached to his Spirit Eyes would appear on Li Ya’s body was because of one of her soul bone skills that she had bestowed on Huo Yuhao, Merfolk Control.

Merfolk Control was entirely auxiliary, but it was very effective. It could release a merfolk’s spirit when absolutely necessary to control Huo Yuhao’s soul skills, and it could unleash his other soul skills on its own while expending only half of the spiritual power normally required.

That was just a soul skill. That wasn’t just a soul bone for Huo Yuhao as, more importantly, he had Li Ya as his Spirit! Therefore, Li Ya using this soul skill meant that she was temporarily controlling his Spirit Eyes’ soul skills as his Spirit, and the overall effect was undoubtedly superior.

Merfolk Control’s effect on normal soul masters probably wasn’t that evident, but it was very different for Huo Yuhao because he had twin martial souls! Even though he could switch between his martial souls, switching still required energy. He also couldn’t unleash them as quickly as he could when he was in his normal state.

But that was different with Merfolk Control. Li Ya could support him according to his whims. When Huo Yuhao was using his Ice Jade Empress Scorpion in battle, Li Ya could use all kinds of auxiliary spiritual-type soul skills to help him. That was like another Huo Yuhao appearing temporarily to ﬁght. He

could also save half of his spiritual power when using his Spirit

Eyes’ soul skills.

Of course, Huo Yuhao’s soul bone would have to consume soul power as he was conserving spiritual power.

However, Merfolk Control couldn’t grasp every single soul skill. First, she could only use those spiritual-type soul skills. She couldn’t use Huo Yuhao’s Eye of Destiny, or the Three-Eyed Golden Lion’s destiny skull’s soul skills.

This meant that Li Ya couldn’t use Spiritual Blast, Destiny’s Demise, Spiritual Dispossession, and Destiny’s Adjudication, because those had belonged to Wang Qiu’er. When she sacriﬁced herself for Huo Yuhao, he became the only one who could use her strength.

Merfolk’s Duet, which was his eighth soul skill, was comparable to Merfolk Control. Merfolk’s Duet could double

the effects of any of Huo Yuhao’s spiritual-type soul skills.

That didn’t include those soul skills that Wang Qiu’er had bestowed on Huo Yuhao, but that was enough!

For instance, Huo Yuhao’s incantations were considered a spiritual-type soul skill, while this was also considered his third martial soul.

What was the effect of doubling his necromantic spells’ effects?

The answer was quickly presented in front of Huo Yuhao.

Eighteen spectral gates quickly opened and spaced out in a line. Huo Yuhao had to strengthen his Spiritual Interference Domain’s area of affect so that he could cover every single gate.

Huo Yuhao glanced at Li Ya with a surprised look on his face, and she gave him a sweet smile. Merfolk’s Duet only consumed half of what he would normally need for soul power and spiritual power with Merfolk Control.

What did eighteen spectral gates mean? This meant that Shrek Academy’s three soul engineer legios could come out and retreat twice as fast as they would have otherwise!

Huo Yuhao nodded in Li Ya’s direction before he turned towards Radiant City. There was a remote in his hands.

“The show is about to begin!”

Huo Yuhao pressed the button on his remote heavily as he spoke, a thread of strange undulations mixed with soul power and spiritual power travelled into the distance.

“Boom—”

The silent night sky above Radiant City was suddenly jolted by deafening booms as enormous sparks and ﬂowing lights crackled above Radiant City.

The city’s peace was disturbed, and ear-piercing alarms could be heard in the next moment as all kinds of surveillance soul

tools in the sky were fully activated. Radiant City’s four large soul tool fronts were also fully activated at the same time.

But would that be useful?

The corner of Huo Yuhao’s mouth curved into a mocking smile as he continued pressing the remote in his hands.

“Boom, boom, boom…”

“Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!”

Intense explosions rang out continuously high in the air, as the loud sounds of those detonations travelled far through the sky. Brilliant ﬁreworks crackled one after another in the sky.

The soul engineers within their respective soul tool fronts inside Radiant City were all completely stunned by what they were witnessing.

The reason was because they hadn’t detected any attacks at all, so why would their aerial surveillance soul tools explode one after another?

The screens that those aerial surveillance soul tools were connected to on the ground went black at once as exclamations could be heard in every corner of the city.

But that didn’t change how those aerial surveillance soul tools were exploding in the sky.

The sky above Radiant City was like a magniﬁcent ﬁrework show as intricate ﬁreworks crackled again and again. There were many different colors, and there were many different sizes. A vast area of the sky above Radiant City was lit up.

Xu Tianran was jolted awake amid the loud explosions. When he rushed out from the royal palace and witnessed the sparks and ﬁreworks in the sky, he froze.

What… what is going on? What exactly has happened?

Nobody could answer him. As the aerial surveillance soul tools in the sky continued to explode, Radiant City’s defense system was completely activated. Soul engineers got to their battle stations and posts as they tried to control all kinds of surveillance soul tools and attempt to discover some trace of

what was happening.

But the explosions in the sky didn’t seem like they were going to stop at all. Radiant City couldn’t get anything from their monitoring; the only thing they could get was darkness in that instant after the explosion!

Radiant City was destined to be overwhelmed by darkness this night. The royal palace’s linked defenses were activated as those terrifying explosions continued, covering the entire palace. The four soul tool fronts didn’t activate their defenses, because they would have to use their high-powered compression array soul tools if they did. They had expended much from the last time they used it, and they couldn’t even activate it again. They had to conserve power so that they could defend the soul tool fronts. At a time like this, who would care about the citizens?

Everything had happened too abruptly, to the point where Radiant City’s imperial guard couldn’t react in time. The entire

city descended into chaos amid the explosions in the sky that were like rolling thunder.

Radiant City had become completely blind, and that was Huo Yuhao’s ﬁrst step.

Just as those explosions were happening, Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons were swiftly pushed out from those eighteen black spectral gates one after another.

The soul engineers didn’t make a sound at all, but when they saw the brilliant ﬁreworks that were lighting up the sky in the distance, they opened their mouths in shock.

They almost didn’t know where they were, but this ﬁrework show was the grandest one they had ever witnessed in their lifetimes.

A cold dash of light ﬂickered across Huo Yuhao’s face. He withdrew the remote in his hands. The ﬁrst step was the most important one, and he ﬁnally completed this task that he had spent so much energy and almost half of the entire night on.

Huo Yuhao shared Spiritual Detection with everyone and relayed his instructions.

Three hundred Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons formed up in a single line as they quickly got into formation.

After the Heavy Artillery Soul Engineer Legion came out, the Fort Soul Engineer Legion’s soul masters and the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion’s soul masters quickly rushed out from those eighteen spectral gates.

The Fort Soul Engineer Legion’s soul engineers didn’t appear with their forts. Most of them were pushing some heavy soul tools as they appeared beside the Heavy Artillery Soul Engineer Legion.

They quickly set those soul tools up, and He Caitou was their commander.

The Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion’s soul engineers were wearing their equipment and supporting the other two legions from one side, and everyone nervously got to work.

Huo Yuhao closed his eyes and regulated his breathing as he listened quietly to the explosions in the sky. Tang Wutong, Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, Xiao Xiao, and the rest of the Tang Sect’s senior members arrived beside him as they gazed into the distance.

Everyone’s eyes ﬂowed with astonishment and respect as they witnessed the magniﬁcent ﬁreworks in the sky. Huo Yuhao had accomplished this by himself! He was like the Sun Moon Empire’s nightmare, and he made what was impossible, possible. He could still ﬁnd loopholes and weaknesses in Radiant City’s airtight defenses.

The explosions far in the sky ﬁnally stopped after about a dozen minutes. Metal fragments and dust fell from the sky as dense smoke covered the entire city.

Radiant City was dark before, but the entire city lit up once more as the city’s defense army was mobilized. They increased their vigilance and defenses across the city, and activated their backup aerial surveillance soul tools and released them into the air. The royal palace’s linked defensive barrier was still being maintained.

But right at this moment, the Heavy Artillery Soul Engineer Legion’s three hundred Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons divided into three rows as they formed up behind Huo Yuhao.

The dark cannons emanated sinister auras, and every single soul engineer’s breathing was rough and heavy. The stunning scenes of the night far in the distance had already told them where they were, and those who were smarter could already ﬁgure out what had just happened.

Even though they didn’t know how their commander detonated the aerial surveillance soul tools above Radiant City, they understood that they would forever remember today’s battle. They didn’t know if such a scene would happen again in the future, but they were brimming with belligerence and the will to ﬁght.

Huo Yuhao suddenly opened his eyes, and everyone could see two beams of golden light that were each about a meter wide and almost material blast out from his eyes.

Terrifying spiritual undulations burst forward unforgivingly, and the same voice appeared in every single soul engineer’s mind.

“Stationary soul cannon shells, prepare to ﬁre.”

Every Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannon could hold forty-eight shells. They would only use Milk Bottles and the soul masters’ soul power under normal circumstances to compress and amplify before ﬁring.

But today was different. They had received an order before they moved out, that those forty-eight shells would be changed for stationary soul cannon shells. This meant that every Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannon now contained forty-eight stationary soul cannon shells. The shells that the Heavy Artillery Soul Engineer Legion were loading were almost half of the Tang Sect’s annual production.

Spiritual Detection allowed the dark sky in those soul engineers’ eyes to become three-dimensional images, and every single person had a different target.

“Fire!” Huo Yuhao shouted as the Heavy Artillery Soul Engineer Legion’s three hundred Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons ﬁred at the same time, for the ﬁrst time in history.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…” Howling sounds appeared one after another. The rhythm was rich, like a grand and magniﬁcent symphony.

Pillars of ﬁre and light ﬂashed from behind the Tang Sect’s members as they left brilliant trails behind them as they ﬂew towards Radiant City.

Three hundred Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons ﬁred at the same time, and every blast ﬁred sixteen stationary soul cannon shells.

He Caitou’s facial muscles twitched continuously as he looked on. That was all precious money!

Four thousand eight hundred stationary soul cannon shells were all ﬁred at once. Even the Sun Moon Empire, who had mastered the most powerful soul tool technology, wouldn’t do something like this.

But Huo Yuhao did that. He wasn’t stingy at all as he blasted away.

Four thousand eight hundred stationary soul cannon shells rose into the air, and in that moment, those bright and brilliant ﬂashes dispersed and ﬂew in all directions. They were like ﬂowers thrown into the air, and that feeling was ﬁlled with wonder.

Bei Bei muttered under his breath, “Did little junior brother integrate the Tang Sect’s hidden weapon techniques into artillery ﬁre?”

The Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons were being developed continuously. Every two cannon barrels could aim at one target. Under normal circumstances, it was almost impossible for the aimers to hit eight different targets with sixteen barrels.

But Huo Yuhao didn’t have this problem. Huo Yuhao could divide his mind with his frightening spiritual power, and it was he who gave those cannon crews all two hundred and forty precise targets.

Those cannons were ﬁred in order and not at the same time, and that was the reason why everything came together like a symphony.

Those explosions naturally occurred one after another.

The aerial surveillance soul tools had been almost entirely annihilated, but the low-altitude soul tools at ﬁve hundred

meters were still around. Even though most of them just swept across the ground for surveillance, they gave immediate feedback when so many soul cannon shells appeared at the same time in the distance.

The four soul tool fronts around Radiant City activated their linked defenses almost as soon as was possible. They didn’t know what their enemies were attacking, so that was undoubtedly the best response.

Intense explosions ﬁrst came from these four corners!

Radiant City’s soul tool fronts no longer had their aerial surveillance tools, so they were in a disadvantaged position. They could only use their internal ground-based aerial surveillance soul tools to lock onto those stationary soul cannon shells that were ﬂying over.

But everything happened too suddenly and too quickly, and they couldn’t possibly intercept every single shell.

“Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom…”

Explosions rang out from Radiant City’s four corners. Some shells exploded in the sky, and some exploded on a soul tool front’s defensive barrier. Firecrackers seemed to fall towards the ground as they sparked in every corner.

Just as these explosions continued at the city’s four corners, sparks and ﬂashes appeared once more in the sky. But these explosions were a lot closer to the ground, because the low- altitude surveillance soul tools were the ones that were being blown up!

Almost half of the more than two hundred low-altitude surveillance soul tools were eradicated in the blink of an eye. The four soul tool fronts could barely struggle to defend themselves, not to mention the fact that they didn’t have the time to cooperate with their low-altitude surveillance soul tools so that their soul tool fronts could intercept those attacks.

“Second round, ﬁre!”

Huo Yuhao had already given his second order to ﬁre when the ﬁreworks cracked open at the city’s four corners.

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…” A second symphony could be heard as another four thousand eight hundred stationary soul cannon shells were ﬁred, and rocketed toward Radiant City.

He Caitou closed his eyes painfully, but the Tang Sect’s soul engineers were more overcome with shock and passion.

This was a modern battle! They were launching long-range attacks against their enemies by relying on ﬁrepower. Every one of them was conﬁdent because their enemies were far away, and there were eighteen spectral gates behind them that they could retreat through. It wasn’t hard to imagine how high their morale was.

“Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom…”

The explosions were almost seamlessly connected. This time, more shells were aimed into the air besides suppressing those four soul tool fronts.

There were almost no more low-altitude surveillance soul tools after that round, and some of Radiant City’s backup aerial

surveillance soul tools hadn’t even reached their optimal locations before they were blasted back to the ground.

“Prepare for the third round. Second senior brother! Give it to me.” Huo Yuhao reached out with his right hand to He Caitou, who had appeared next to him.

He Caitou’s eyes were full of longing, and he couldn’t bear to comply, but he didn’t dare to hesitate for even a second at a time like this. Light ﬂashed as an enormous cannon with a silver barrel appeared in his hands, and he passed it to Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao reached out and grabbed this heavy cannon, which was two meters long and had a barrel opening with a diameter of two hundred and ﬁfty millimeters, and placed it on his shoulder.

Huo Yuhao went down on one knee and peered through the scope. His left hand held the cannon barrel, and he trained it in front of him while he wrapped his right hand around the central part of the barrel’s thickest part. He was like a statue, and he didn’t move at all.

“Xu Tianran, take a hit from my Tai Ah!”

“Third wave, ﬁre!”

“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”

Every stationary soul cannon shell stored in the Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons was ﬁnally ﬁred in the last wave, down to the very last one.

Forty thousand eight hundred Class 4 stationary soul cannon shells surged into the air. This time, they didn’t disperse, as they only had one target.

The four soul tool fronts defending Radiant City at its four corners had all been bombarded by hundreds of stationary soul cannon shells. Even though they were only Class 4 shells, they were still stationary soul cannon shells!

They couldn’t use their high-powered compression array soul tools, and their linked defenses were falling apart under such circumstances. The soul engineers and soul masters

within those soul tool fronts had consumed too much of their soul power, and two-thirds of their backup Milk Bottles.

Nine thousand six hundred stationary soul cannon shells had been ﬁred in the previous two rounds! An attack of this scale was unprecedented for Radiant City’s soul tool fronts ever since their establishment.

But how could they have the capacity to resist the third wave?

All four thousand eight hundred stationary soul cannon shells in the third wave were aimed at the royal palace. The shells zipped across the sky and appeared above the royal palace in the blink of an eye.

But right at this moment, the royal palace’s outermost walls suddenly lit up as sixteen golden pillars surged into the sky.

These sixteen pillars of light burst straight up to more than ﬁve hundred meters in the sky. They swept across the heavens as they cooperated with each other excellently.

“Boom, boom, boom, boom…”

Explosions crackled continuously across the sky. The stationary soul cannon shells didn’t fall, and most of them were detonated in the sky as those sixteen pillars swept over them.

These pillars’ trajectories were evidently premeditated, as they swept across the areas that had the densest concentration of stationary soul cannon shells.

The remaining Class 4 stationary soul cannon shells fell inside the royal palace, but most of them couldn’t do anything at all as they clashed against the palace’s formidable defensive barrier. They created pretty ripples one after another before they were destroyed.

The sixteen golden pillars were like sixteen divine pillars that protected the royal palace.

But just as they were sweeping across the sky, another beam of white light hovered ﬁve thousand meters in the sky above the royal palace.

It was a beam of white light that resembled a white spear, with its tip pointed downward. Its entire body radiated bright white colors, and as those sixteen golden pillars moved, it also moved.

It disappeared in a ﬂash!

This white beam of light was just too quick. It seemed to descend from the heavens as it pierced right through the explosions beneath it.

Anybody who could see clearly would realize that this white beam adjusted its angle continuously as it ﬂew, and it avoided the most concentrated regions of those explosions. It didn’t allow any of the explosive forces to touch it.

The sixteen pillars didn’t manage to eradicate all the stationary soul cannon shells in the end, and there were still some who collided with the royal palace’s protective barrier.

Right at this moment, the white beam of light that seemed like a shooting star also arrived, and immediately struck the

barrier’s surface.

“Tch—” Ear-piercing sounds could be heard as the white beam began to spin vigorously. It was like a drill as it impaled the royal palace’s protective barrier.

Alarms rang out within the soul protective barrier, and the light radiating from the protective barrier grew extremely intense as it worked at maximum capacity.

Chapter 551: The Retreat Starts!

However, the white light continued to drill inwards at an incredibly fast and stable rate. Even though it was making a super annoying sound, it was truly a sight to behold.

Streaks of light from the interior of the palace ﬂew towards this white light as they attempted to destroy it.

However, it was during this short period of time when the white light suddenly froze before dipping downwards. Even though it did not penetrate the barrier, it was stuck on the surface of the palace’s protective barrier.

Just when the soul engineers who were responsible for defending the interior of the Palace were about to let out a sigh of relief, an even ﬁner streak of white light drilled out from its tip before entering the interior of the Palace.

Even though the walls of the Palace were incredibly thick and ﬁrm, the white light was able to drill itself in without making any noise at all.

"Shit!"

Xu Tianran had been standing in front of his sleeping chamber, and had just witnessed the series of events which happened in the sky. He immediately knew something bad was about to happen the moment he saw the white light dip.

An intense purple light exploded from his body as a purple- gold human-shaped soul tool enveloped his body instantly. At the same time, Xu Tianran bent down and brought his limbs close to his body to minimize his surface area. He increased the intensity of the purple-gold light around him as he tried to use the light to protect his body.

He was able to do all of the above in an incredibly short amount of time. No one present would have been able to catch what he was doing with their eyes.

Just when Xu Tianran was ﬁnished, the entire Palace started to tremble!

"Booommm!"

A deafening explosion could be heard from the bottom of the Palace. Following which, a white pillar of light shot straight up into the sky from the ground.

This pillar was not very big initially. It was only about as thick as an arm. However, it rapidly expanded as it encroached into the space around it. In addition, it radiated white ripples towards its surroundings.

At this very instant, every single building in the Palace was enveloped in a golden barrier. The barriers were trying to shield the buildings from the white light.

However, the white light was just too powerful for the barriers, as it consumed the buildings with ease.

The palace guards were effectively useless against such overwhelming power. They were instantly vaporized when the white light enveloped them.

However, at this instant, the Sun Moon Empire started to show their trump cards.

Countless images lit up one after another within the Palace. Even though these images were of several different colors, all of them transformed into barriers as they launched themselves towards the white light.

At the same time, the protective soul barriers within the Palace started to concentrate their energy and contract. The sixteen golden pillars launched themselves towards the white light as they formed more barriers to contain it.

The place that the white light had landed in was the central area of the Sun Moon Empire’s Imperial Palace.

Right now, Xu Tianran could sense an incredibly frightening amount of soul power ravaging his body.

Countless streaks of light were exploding from his body. All of these streaks were coming from the defensive soul tools which had been designed for him by the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineers. The soul tools were being destroyed by the invincibly sharp soul power as they put in their last bit of effort to defend their user.

Even though Xu Tianran was swept up in the powerful white ripples, he was ultimately able to survive because of his human-shaped soul tool, as well as the powerful defensive soul tools.

However, when he crept out from the white light, there were already several cracks in his human-shaped soul tool. On top of being covered with dirt, his leg prosthetics had also been torn to pieces. Hence, he could only use his arms and body to crawl out.

Outside of Radiant City.

Huo Yuhao was struggling as he tried to pass the gigantic silver barrel to He Caitou.

“Retreat!”

The three hundred heavy artillery pieces sped towards the Spectral Gate. At the same time, a golden light lit up from their sides and formed a golden barrier that enveloped all of the heavy artillery and the Spectral Gate.

Huo Yuhao bit the tip of his tongue lightly as he tried to concentrate on the task at hand. Tang Wutong was continuously injecting her spiritual power into him to stabilize the state of his body.

Li Ya silently appeared as she released Merfolk Control once again. Ripples of light dissipated from her body as they turned the interior of the protective soul barrier cloudy and opaque.

Just when they were about to be done with their preparations, streaks of light could be seen shooting up into the air from the distance as they headed for where Huo Yuhao and his peers were.

This reaction was expected of Radiant City! After all, it was the capital of the Sun Moon Empire, and the biggest city in the entire world.

After being repeatedly attacked, it was ﬁnally Radiant City’s turn to retaliate.

Even though they did not have the help of aerial surveillance soul tools to locate the precise position of Huo Yuhao and his

peers, they could roughly tell where they were from the location where the stationary soul cannon shells shot into the sky. Hence, they decided to suppress Huo Yuhao and his peers with carpet bombing, and prevent them from continuing their attack.

However, all of this was within Huo Yuhao’s expectations. Hence, he had deployed the linked defensive barriers he had looted from the Sun Moon Empire’s Eastern Sun City and the soul tool front at the Ming Dou Mountain Range.

These soul tools were the pride of the Sun Moon Empire. However, they were now protecting the people of Tang Sect with the support of milk bottles.

While the Heavy Artillery Soul Engineer Legion was retreating into the Spectral Gate, the Fort Soul Engineer Legion and the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion were in charge of sweeping the group and covering them from the rear. Huo Yuhao and the rest were scheduled to be the last few to enter.

Even though the carpet bombing method was effective at covering large areas, its attack was too spread out to strike anything effectively.

Although there were a few explosions above the barrier occasionally, they were not able to penetrate the barrier.

Very soon, the three hundred cannons had entered the Spectral Gate.

The eighteen doors had allowed them to retreat at twice the usual rate. It only took them ten minutes to completely retreat. This also meant that the rest of the people would be able to enter at an even faster rate.

After the enormous explosion, almost eighty percent of the Palace had turned into ruins.

Streaks of light rose into the sky above the Palace. Three of them ﬂew straight towards where Huo Yuhao and his peers were. Their movement was so fast that they resembled bolts of lightning.

Huo Yuhao had been monitoring every single movement within the Radiant City with his Spiritual Detection.

After sensing the movement of those three different ﬁgures, he was mildly startled. Those three ﬁgures were radiating immensely powerful auras.

They were all Class 9 soul engineers from the Sun Moon Empires’s Imperial Shrine!

A pillar of light which consisted of two colors—silver and gold—suddenly fell from the sky and slammed into the linked defense barrier. The barrier instantly became bright gold and silver as it released a deafening screeching sound. As the barrier tried to fend off the attack, the soul energy stored in the milk bottles decreased rapidly.

This is…

The Sunmoon Divine Needle.

The Starsky Douluo was here!

Even though Huo Yuhao frowned upon realizing that, he was not afraid of him.

He had long foreseen that this would happen. No matter how sudden their attack was, they were only ten miles away from Radiant City. This distance was nothing for Class 9 soul engineers. Hence, he was expecting them to attack them as they were retreating.

This was why he had planned for himself and the stronger cultivators within the Tang Sect to stay at the back of the group.

Huo Yuhao ordered, “There are three Class 9 soul engineers coming our way. Wutong and I will take the Starsky Douluo. Eldest senior brother, you will take the Class 9 soul engineer on the left. Third senior brother, you will be in charge of the one on the right. Fifth senior sister and Ji Juechen, both of you will assist eldest senior brother. Guyi and Qiuqiu, both of you will help third senior brother. Fourth senior sister, you will help ensure that the rest can retreat smoothly. Second senior brother, I will need you to provide us with covering ﬁre, and to assist us wherever necessary! Let’s move out!”

The destructive ability of three Class 9 soul engineers was deﬁnitely more than what three Titled Douluo could achieve. If they were to ﬁght one-on-one, a Titled Douluo would not fear a

Class 9 soul engineer. However, when the soul engineer was given sufﬁcient time and distance, his or her destructive ability would be incredibly strong. Hence, Huo Yuhao and the others had to seize the initiative and attack them before they destroyed the barrier. If not, countless Tang Sect soul

engineers would perish under their attacks.

The most important thing for the legions now was time. Huo Yuhao was deﬁnitely able to get the three legions to ﬁght the three Class 9 soul engineers. In fact, the soul engineers would deﬁnitely not be able to defeat a single legion of two hundred soul engineers.

However, now was not the time for them to get entangled in a battle. If they were to continue to ﬁght and delay their retreat, they might not be able to leave anymore when more reinforcements arrived.

It was important to understand that they were still within the attacking radius of the nearest soul tool installation. Hence, Huo Yuhao had decisively ordered everyone to retreat instead of bracing themselves for battle.

The three Class 9 soul engineers might be powerful, but so were the higher-ups of Tang Sect. If the Tang Sect’s high-ups were the only ones involved in the battle, it would also be a lot easier for all of them to retreat together. After all, they had developed impeccable chemistry after working with one

another for all these years.

Ye Yulin stared coldly at the light barrier beneath him from afar. Because of how the light waves were bending around each other, it was impossible for him to see what was within the barrier. However, he could tell from the ﬂickering of the light that there were a lot of people inside it. Nonetheless, he was unable to tell what they were doing.

Ye Yulin did not try to get closer to them, even though he was very conﬁdent in his abilities. After seeing how they were able to penetrate the defenses of the Palace, he believed that these attackers were fairly strong. In addition, he believed the last streak of white light must have been a Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell which was built speciﬁcally to penetrate protective barriers.

Nonetheless, he also understood how the cannon shell must have expended a lot of energy to drill through the barrier. Hence, the explosion within the interior of the palace did not

seem to possess the power that a true Class 9 cannon shell was supposed to have. However, it was still undeniable that the shell had dealt a lot of damage to the palace.

The mission for him and the other two Class 9 soul engineers was to delay these people. As long as they were able to delay them till the other reinforcements from Radiant City arrived, they would be able to launch an all-out attack on this group of people who had caused an incredible amount of damage to Radiant City.

To be honest, Ye Yulin was not overly enraged by the destruction around him. After all, the losses belonged to the empire, and not him. He was more curious about the person who was able to organize such a powerful sneak attack on Radiant City. This group of people was somehow able to take down all of the aerial surveillance soul tools above Radiant City! Also, they were able to suppress the four soul tool installations around Radiant City and prevent them from supporting the city. They had most deﬁnitely used more than a thousand shells in the attack earlier. This was not something that any small group could accomplish. It must have been organized by another empire.

On top of that, the Sun Moon Empire was somehow totally unaware of this force. They were completely oblivious the whole time this force transported their ammunition to Radiant City. Even if this group were to attack with stationary soul cannon shells, they would have to launch them somewhere close to the city. How did they manage to pull it off?

After releasing the Sunmoon Divine Needle, Ye Yulin began to recover his soul power through a milk bottle. Even though his soul tool was incredibly powerful, it tended to consume a lot of soul power. At this instant, he saw a few ﬁgures ﬂying out of the linked defense barrier, and two of them were heading in his direction.

After letting out a cold grunt, Ye Yulin swung his right hand in the air as multiple streaks of light ascended into the sky. The way these streaks of light left his body made it seem as though they had grown out from him. As they climbed higher into the sky, they rapidly grew bigger before transforming into intensely bright balls of light. They were like stars that were ﬂoating above Ye Yulin’s head.

There was a reason why he was called the Starsky Douluo. When it came to pure ﬁghting power, Ye Yulin was deﬁnitely one of the best in the Sun Moon Empire. After his stars

gathered in the sky, he locked his spiritual power on the incoming enemies.

However, he suddenly felt an intense sense of danger within his heart. He immediately looked at the two cultivators who were ﬂying towards him. He realized there was a purple-gold glow in one of their eyes.

His automatic spiritual defense soul tools were instantly activated. A necklace that was hanging in front of his chest suddenly exploded with blinding light as a spiritual barrier instantly formed in front of him.

“Bang!” A loud metallic sound could be heard. Ye Yulin naturally ducked his head as he looked at the state of his Sobering Necklace. Several cracks could already be seen forming on it.

What a powerful spiritual attack!

Even though his Sobering Necklace was able to negate a large part of the attack, the violet spiritual ripples still made Ye Yulin temporarily incapable of locking onto his opponent.

Hence, his two opponents were able to get within a hundred meters of him with their incredible speed.

Ye Yulin was a Class 9 soul engineer who was skilled in ﬁghting. Hence, he did not panic as he made a tapping motion with his right hand in a calm and collected fashion. At that instant, multiple streaks of light were released from the balls of light above his head. They collectively formed a huge net as they attempted to block his two opponents’ path.

At the same time, Ye Yulin retreated at an incredible speed. He left a sequence of faint ﬁgures that resembled him as he moved a distance of ﬁve hundred meters in the blink of an eye.

A soul engineer who specialized in long-range attacks must possess the following important skills: defending, reacting, and evading.

The two people who were charging towards Ye Yulin were none other than Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong.

Huo Yuhao had left Li Ya within the protective soul barrier to maintain the Spiritual Interference Domain, so as to maintain

the secrecy of the entire force’s numbers.

Meanwhile, the few of them had rushed out to engage the Class 9 soul engineers.

Ye Yulin was truly very powerful. The streaks of light that were heavily intertwined in front of him contained an immense amount of destructive power. Even Huo Yuhao didn’t dare to just barge through the net. He could only pull Tang Wutong aside as they paused their attack. This allowed Ye Yulin to increase his distance from them.

Tang Wutong extended the wings behind her back as she paused and ﬂoated in mid-air. Huo Yuhao also did not go after Ye Yulin. However, his eyes were still sparkling as his Spiritual Detection ability remained fully focused and locked onto the Starsky Douluo’s body.

Tang Wutong grabbed onto Huo Yuhao’s Icy War God’s Armor at his waist as she released countless balls of light from her wings. The balls were going straight for the “stars” in the sky which were released by Ye Yulin.

After stopping and stabilizing his body, Ye Yulin glanced around at his surroundings coldly before locking onto his two opponents. He started to charge his Sunmoon Divine Needle, which was getting ready at a higher altitude.

Of course, he was able to tell that the two soul masters nearing him were both Titled Douluo. However, it was the person who was wearing the dark blue human-shaped soul tool that surprised him more.

The person’s human-shaped soul tool might be smaller than the one researched by the Sun Moon Empire. However, its smaller size did not mean that it would be weaker. The aura radiating from the person created an inexplicable sense of fear within him. Despite his wealth of experience, he was unable to tell what material that human-shaped soul tool was made of. The material seemed to provide depth in color, yet it was remarkably clear, as though it was carved entirely out of gemstones. At the same time, he was unable to detect any soul power rippling out from the person. The person’s presence seemed to be concealed by the armor. This made the their movements extremely unpredictable.

Hence, Ye Yulin was preparing to use his strongest possible attack to attempt to destroy them. Now he was genuinely

curious about what lay beneath the barrier. As long as they were still here, they would not be able to run away when his reinforcements arrived shortly.

While he was thinking about it, Ye Yulin transmitted a series of encoded messages through his communication soul tool. He believed that the nearest soul tool installation would provide him with long-range ﬁre support shortly. However, their target would not be the two people before him; it would be the protective soul barrier.

However, at this instant, Ye Yulin was surprised to see an orange-red light emerging from the protective soul barrier beneath him.

The streak of orange-red light was ﬂying at an insanely quick speed, but it was constantly twisting and turning in its ﬂight path.

This is…

Ye Yulin’s eyes widened in disbelief. This was a guiding ﬂare!

These people have actually developed guiding ﬂares! He could not believe what he was seeing.

Guiding ﬂares were basically designed to counter areas where powerful soul tools were installed. A guiding ﬂare contained immense soul power ripples which could attract the attention of all surrounding surveillance soul tools. And because most of the soul tools that were designed to intercept enemy attacks were all designed to ﬁre upon detection, the guiding ﬂare was able to get the entire installation to ﬁre at it. This would allow Huo Yuhao and his peers to waste their enemy’s ammunition and energy. At the same time, it would be the perfect decoy when they prepared to launch their real attack on the enemy.

And as expected, the guiding ﬂare was heading towards the soul tool deployment area which was closest to Radiant City.

I can’t believe these fellows are actually so well-prepared!

Just as Ye Yulin had predicted, right after the guiding ﬂare shot out, a black ﬁgure emerged. If Ye Yulin did not notice the commotion down there, he might have missed the black ﬁgure.

However, after appearing, the black ﬁgure immediately disappeared from Ye Yulin’s vision.

This…

Shit! Ye Yulin immediately shouted into his communication soul tool. “Defense. I want everyone to go into full defense mode. Be careful of the guiding ﬂare and any sneak attacks. Do not prioritize providing support ﬁre anymore.”

Tonight’s sneak attack was simply too sudden for Radiant City to handle. Even till now, all of the soul engineers were still unclear about the potential extent of this attack, and whether there was going to be a follow up to it. Hence, their utmost priority was to protect Radiant City instead of killing their enemies. Having seen how powerful the initial attack was, Ye Yulin knew he had to be extra careful. He did not want to be responsible for any failure to defend against the second wave.

Huo Yuhao’s face revealed a sly smile. However, his expression was not visible to anyone, because his entire body was concealed within the Icy War God’s Armor. He gently raised his right hand as a deep blue dagger appeared in his

hand. There was a layer of white icy dew on the surface of the dagger’s blade.

Yes, it was the Sigh of the Frozen Goddess, Morning Dew Dagger!

Tang Wutong held onto Huo Yuhao’s waist—or rather his armor—tightly before she spun three hundred and sixty degrees in the air. Following which, she tossed Huo Yuhao outwards in the direction of the Starsky Douluo.

After being thrown out a hundred meters, his entire body suddenly radiated an intense white light as he sped across the sky like a meteor. He resembled a bolt of lightning that was about to strike Ye Yulin.

Icy Meteor! This was the ability Little White had given Huo Yuhao. It was able to instantly increase Huo Yuhao’s ﬂying speed to three times his usual speed. At the same time, his Ultimate Ice’s explosive ability and defensive ability were doubled.

The most powerful thing about Icy Meteor was its singular collision. It only had one chance to strike its target, just as a meteor only had one attempt to hit any astral body. When Huo Yuhao was using the Icy Meteor, he was able to enhance his offensive power to that of an Ultimate Ice Titled Douluo. And because he was also wearing the Icy War God’s Armor, it was

pretty much equivalent to an all-out attack from a

Transcendent Douluo!

Hence, Ye Yulin felt immensely threatened by Huo Yuhao’s Icy Meteor. Even though he had just released the soul skill, Ye Yulin already felt as though the meteor had hit him.

Ye Yulin was immensely startled by Huo Yuhao’s power. This is deﬁnitely the power of a Transcendent Douluo!

Ye Yulin had always been very conﬁdent in his abilities. He believed that as long as he kept a respectable distance between him and his opponent, he was even capable of fending off the attacks of a Transcendent Douluo!

A soul engineer must put an adequate distance between him and his opponent in order to showcase his abilities. However, there were no such requirements for soul masters.

Hence, if the battle were to be fought within a certain range, a soul master would most deﬁnitely win.

As the ball of white light rapidly enlarged before his eyes, Ye Yulin did not even hesitate as he activated his Sunmoon Divine Needle, which had just ﬁnished charging.

After he had repeatedly improved his Sunmoon Divine Needle, its attacking power had become far greater than before. Even a Transcendent Douluo would suffer tremendously under its attack. At the very least, the attacker would be struck down from the sky.

The gold and silver pillar of light descended from the sky instantly. Even though it was not particularly radiant, it contained an insane amount of destructive energy.

Only a fool would try to block the Sunmoon Divine Needle head-on.

Ye Yulin gazed from afar as he watched the impending collision between this pseudo-Transcendent Douluo and his

Sunmoon Divine Needle.

Suddenly, the white light disappeared. However, the person who was within the white light reappeared.

What is he thinking? Is he trying to kill himself? Without the protection of his powerful soul skill, he will die. Ye Yulin was very puzzled by Huo Yuhao’s actions.

However, he saw that person waving his hand towards him.

The other two battles had already begun. One of them was led by the Eternal Defense, Xu Sanshi, as he fought alongside the Holy Angel, Ye Guyi, and Nan Qiuqiu.

Even though Xu Sanshi was only an eight-ringed soul master, his defensive ability was unparalleled among all known martial souls after his martial soul had evolved into the Xuanwu Shield.

With the full-power defense of his Xuanwu Shield protecting him, Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu, the three of them charged

towards a Class 9 soul engineer.

Even though they might not be soul engineers, they were still well-equipped with soul tools!

The three of them might not possess Class 9 ﬂying soul tools, but they were still supported by soul thrusters. After all, it was not possible to produce that many Class 9 ﬂying soul tools in such a short amount of time.

A powerful soul master’s body was deﬁnitely a lot stronger than that of a soul engineer. Hence, the thrust force which came from their soul thrusters was very powerful.

Xu Sanshi initiated the attack, since his body was the toughest among the three of them. He was instantly able to break the sound barrier when he revved up the three Class 9 soul thrusters behind his back. With his Xuanwu Shield in front of him, Xu Sanshi was like another meteor on the battleﬁeld as he closed in on the Class 9 soul engineer.

This Class 9 soul engineer was the weakest one among the three soul engineers.

Huo Yuhao did not determine their relative strengths based on their soul power. This was because it was incredibly hard to determine the soul power of a Class 9 soul engineer. They had too many soul tools providing support and boosting their power. Even their attacking means were probably heavily inﬂuenced by their soul tools. Hence, soul power would be a

bad gauge of their abilities.

Huo Yuhao had based his estimation on their relative spiritual power. This Class 9 soul engineer had the weakest spiritual power among his peers. Spiritual power was the most important factor in the later stages of training for soul engineers.

With the help of the soul thrusters, Xu Sanshi brought the two ladies towards this soul engineer. The soul engineer immediately lost his composure as he started to use different soul tools to repeatedly attack Xu Sanshi and the girls. He was trying to stop them from getting closer to him.

However, there was a reason why Xu Sanshi was called the Eternal Defense. A series of mystical ripples formed on the Xuanwu Shield as it negated a large part of the attacks

launched by the soul engineer. They were effectively unstoppable.

However, the Class 9 soul engineer also possessed a fair bit of combat experience. While he continued attacking Xu Sanshi and the rest, he activated his own soul thruster, which was on his chest, as he rapidly retreated in a bid to increase the distance between him and Xu Sanshi.

It was clear that according to Huo Yuhao’s arrangement, Bei Bei’s group was relatively stronger. Bei Bei, Xiao Xiao, and Ji Juechen were all eight-ringed Soul Douluo. In fact, they were not just any Soul Douluo. Their cumulative power would deﬁnitely be stronger than that of a Titled Douluo. Xiao Xiao was adept at controlling and defending, whereas Ji Juechen was extremely competent in attacking. Bei Bei, on the other hand, was very versatile. Hence, even Huo Yuhao would not even be conﬁdent of defeating them if they were to team up against him.

On the other hand, Xu Sanshi’s team seemed to be relatively weaker. But looks could be deceiving.

After their previous battle with the Myriad Soul Douluo, Ye Guyi had spent a considerable amount of time meditating and digesting her gains. Huo Yuhao could only roughly guess how strong she was now. Her soul power should be close to Rank

80. She was probably only just lacking her eighth soul ring.

The Holy Angel martial soul was one of the top-tier martial souls in the world. With the power of her martial soul, Ye Guyi would be a formidable force. Her Holy Angel would truly awaken once she attained her eighth ring. In the future, when she reached the Titled Douluo rank, her powers would not be weaker than that of a cultivator who possessed an Ultimate Strength martial soul.

Even though Nan Qiuqiu might be a little weaker than the rest, she was still a Soul Sage. On top of that, she possessed the Annihilation martial soul. The power of the Rouge Dragon was starting to show after she had attained the rank of a Soul Sage. In addition, she was also wearing a set of Icy War God’s Armor. Even though her armor did not possess the same spiritual control system and was not made of Divine Ice Crystals, which contained ice spirits, Xuan Ziwen had already enhanced this human-shaped soul tool to its maximum potential. Because Nan Qiuqiu received this armor earlier than Huo Yuhao, she was already very familiar with it. Nonetheless, the most important person in this trio was still Xu Sanshi. His

individual ability was even more effective than Bei Bei’s on the battleﬁeld. The power of his Xuanwu Shield, which could be shown in team ﬁghts, was simply overwhelming.

For example, right now when the Class 9 soul engineer released his soul thruster and retreated rapidly, Xu Sanshi’s Xuanwu Shield lit up as his Golden Tortoise appeared behind his back silently.

The light on the Xuanwu Shield suddenly became illusory. Following which, the Class 9 soul engineer felt as though his body was being gripped by a hand. It was almost as if he were being tugged tightly by some mysterious force. Before he could react, the world around him seemed to have ﬂipped as he appeared in front of Xu Sanshi. This was the enhanced version of Xuanwu Displacement — Xuanwu Summoning. After the Xuanwu martial soul was truly awakened, Xu Sanshi possessed the powerful ability to instantly pull his opponent towards him. No matter how strong the opponent was, he would be able to pull them in till he or she was right in front of him. As long as the opponent was within a hundred meters of him, he or she would deﬁnitely be vulnerable to this soul skill.

Similar to the Xuanwu Displacement, this was an amazing soul skill! It was especially so for a defense-type soul master.

He could help his peers escape from their common enemy in an instant. Also, he could pull his opponent towards him in the blink of an eye. On top of that, the Xuanwu Summoning— which was the enhanced version of the Xuanwu Displacement

—was a soul skill that even Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Duplication could not copy. Xu Sanshi was the only one who could use it. The Class 9 soul engineer immediately started to panic as he activated his protective soul barrier and his Invincible Barrier. Layers of light enveloped his body like a cocoon.

While Xu Sanshi was performing the Xuanwu Summoning, the ﬁfth soul ring on his body lit up. The Golden Tortoise behind his back immediately fused with his body. Following which, his entire body—which now resembled a gigantic tortoise—collided heavily against the barrier of the Class 9 soul engineer before him.

Turtle God’s Strike!

Xu Sanshi’s ﬁfth soul skill!

This soul skill’s attacking power was considerably strong. It also happened to be one of the few attacking soul skills Xu Sanshi possessed. In fact, it was closer to being a soul skill that

could be used both offensively and defensively than a purely attacking-type soul skill.

The enormous vibration, coupled with the awkwardness of being pulled right in front of his opponent, created a sense of fear within the Class 9 soul engineer’s heart. However, he soon realized that his opponent’s attacking power was not very strong. After all, Xu Sanshi only had eight rings!

His barrier was still able to protect his body. In addition, he was also knocked away by the blow, which helped him increase the distance between himself and his opponents.

It was a good thing for a soul engineer to come out from a battle unscathed. It would be even better for the soul engineer to have a good amount of distance between himself and his opponent.

However, just before he could indulge in this satisfying thought, the space around him started to contort, and seemed as though it had started to cease to be real.

A light ﬂashed, and the Class 9 soul engineer who had been knocked away suddenly disappeared in mid-air, and was replaced by a dark blue ﬁgure who was none other than Huo Yuhao.

“Booomm!” The gold and silver pillar of light slammed heavily into the place where Huo Yuhao was supposed to be. However, Huo Yuhao was no longer there to receive the blow. The person who was trying to withstand the full blow of the Sunmoon Divine Needle had become the Class 9 soul engineer who was knocked away by Xu Sanshi. Everything was according Huo Yuhao’s plan. All three battles were being monitored by Huo Yuhao through his Spiritual Detection.

When Xu Sanshi was rushing towards the Class 9 soul engineer at full speed, Huo Yuhao had already shared his plan with him through Spiritual Sharing.

The chemistry that Shrek’s Seven Monsters had was simply incredible. When Xu Sanshi used his Xuanwu Summoning to pull the Class 9 soul engineer towards him, Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu stopped their attacks temporarily as Xu Sanshi knocked the soul engineer away . All of this were done in support of Huo Yuhao’s plan!

The Turtle God’s Strike knocked the soul engineer to a position thet was closer to Huo Yuhao, who used his Spiritual Duplication on the Xuanwu Displacement before changing places with the Class 9 soul engineer. Hence, the Sunmoon Divine Needle that was supposed to land on Huo Yuhao ended

up landing on the Class 9 soul engineer.

Even though everything seemed to be very slow in the above description, events unfolded rapidly the moment both sides came into contact.

When the Starsky Douluo realized that something was wrong, his Sunmoon Divine Needle had already been tossed out in the direction of the Class 9 soul engineer.

The Sunmoon Divine Needle’s attacking prowess was ranked among the top ﬁve Class 9 soul tools. It was not to be doubted. Huo Yuhao had accurately determined that the Class 9 soul engineer that Xu Sanshi had faced was the weakest among the three Sun Moon Empire soul engineers.

All of his barriers disintegrated instantly under the power of the Sunmoon Divine Needle. However, it was undeniable that this Class 9 soul engineer had incredible survivability. Just

when his entire body was about to be enveloped by the Sunmoon Divine Needle’s attack, a silver light suddenly ﬂashed from his body as his entire body was transported to an area thirty meters away. He managed to escape alive.

Nonetheless, there were huge patches on his body that were already charred. He also spat out a mouthful of blood.

A bright streak of light ﬂew across the sky as a gigantic purple-gold pillar of light appeared. This pillar illuminated the entire vast black sky, as though dawn had arrived.

Chapter 552: Activate the Guiding Cannon!

The Class 9 soul engineer, who thought he had just managed to escape from the jaws of death, was consumed by the intense purple-gold light before he could even let out a scream. The few remaining defensive methods he had did not even stand a chance against this streak of purple-gold light.

How could Huo Yuhao’s plan be complete without Tang Wutong’s involvement? The Dragon Dance of the Radiant Sun was the ﬁnal blow!

The combined efforts of everyone helped slay a Class 9 soul engineer.

After realizing he had attacked the wrong person, the Starsky Douluo revealed an expression of grief and regret. His expression worsened when he saw how his companion perished under the Dragon Dance of the Radiant Sun. His eyes revealed a hint of hesitation.

And right now, the soul tool installation he had feared was about to be attacked did not seem to be under any form of

threat from the enemies.

Ye Yulin immediately understood that they had been duped. The guiding ﬂare was real, but the dark ﬁgure that followed after it was not any powerful offensive soul tool. It was a misjudgement he had made under the pressure of his circumstances. And because of his error, the soul tool front was not able to provide support ﬁre.

Just when Ye Yulin wanted to contact them again, a huge pressure started to act on him.

A dark blue entity was heading towards him after forming an elegant parabolic ﬂight path in the night sky. The speed at which the person was moving could only be achieved with the help of a Class 9 ﬂying soul tool.

Ye Yulin could no longer afford to ponder how his enemies were able to secure the help of such a powerful Class 9 soul engineer. He immediately turned and escaped without any hesitation.

After releasing the Sunmoon Divine Needle twice in a row, he had expended a considerable amount of his soul power. On top of that, he had already witnessed the death of his companion with his own eyes. There were a total of ﬁve soul masters circling around him. Even though he was very egotistical, he was not foolish enough to think that he would be able to go up against ﬁve powerful opponents at the same time.

Hence, he chose to ﬂee without hesitating. After all, he also possessed a Class 9 ﬂying soul tool!

At this instant, streaks of light exploded in the distant sky. Following which, there seemed to be a mysterious wave which rippled through the air.

Bastard! Ye Yulin was enraged to see those streaks of light. Of course he knew what those things were. Those soul cannon shells were not destructive. They were called interference shells. After exploding, they were able to release powerful interference waves which could temporarily disable all communication and surveillance soul tools.

Huo Yuhao’s objective was apparent, because there were no surveillance soul tools near them. He was trying to cut off all communication between Ye Yulin and the other troops of the Sun Moon Empire. In fact, he had just been about to signal the soul tool front.

Ye Yulin seemed to become increasingly frustrated with how events were unfolding. In fact, there was also a growing sense of fear in his heart. His enemy was somehow able to predict every single action he was about to make. Huo Yuhao always seemed to be one move ahead of him. Hence, he was not ready to become complacent. There was no point in trying to delay these enemies anymore. It was of the utmost importance for him to escape and save his own life.

On the other side, the Class 9 soul engineer who was facing Bei Bei and the rest was also in a dangerous predicament. He made a few feints before releasing a series of powerful attacks to force them back. Following which, he also released his Class 9 ﬂying soul tool and tried to ﬂee. Of course, the path he chose to take fell within the effective radius of the interference shell.

Huo Yuhao and the others pretended to chase after them for a short while before quickly returning to the protective soul barrier.

After their short battle with the soul engineers, most of the heavy artillery had already retreated into the spectral demiplane.

In this short amount of time, one of the soul engineers had fallen, while the other two had ﬂed. It was truly an exciting battle for the higher-ups of Tang Sect. Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao immediately focused his spiritual power to maintain the spectral gate, which had started to fade.

Previously, the gate had been kept opened by Li Ya. Fortunately, Huo Yuhao returned just when she was about to run out of energy.

After successfully exiting the area that the interference waves affected, the soul engineers immediately contacted the soul tool front. The soul tools began to charge their long-range weapons with energy as they aimed at the linked defensive barrier where Huo Yuhao and the rest were.

Right now, all of them were racing against time. There were more ﬁgures emerging from the Sun Moon Empire’s Palace as they raced towards Huo Yuhao’s position.

Just as Huo Yuhao had expected, they were lucky that the Sun Moon Empire’s Imperial Soul Engineer Legion was not around. If not, they would deﬁnitely not be able to ﬂee.

Meanwhile, a blinding white pillar of light surged into the sky from Radiant City! Its powerful glare instantly illuminated half of the entire city. The people who were closer to the white light felt as though day and night had been reversed.

Just as his surroundings were illuminated by the white light, the faces of Huo Yuhao and his peers who had yet to retreat also became white.

Huo Yuhao was instantly alerted by this powerful beam. Even though they were almost done with retreating, the Fort Soul Engineer Legion and the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion were still not done yet. They needed a little more time.

Even though they didn’t know exactly how powerful the white light was because of how far away it was, Huo Yuhao knew that the white light was deﬁnitely released by whichever soul legion was defending Radiant City. They must have revved up their linked offensive soul tools in order to generate so

much power. Even if it was done without the support of the high-energy compression array soul tools, its power was still not to be underestimated.

The entire sky—along with its clouds—had turned white. Even though the white pillar at Radiant City had disappeared, the white color in the sky was becoming increasingly intense with every moment that passed.

Huo Yuhao focused his gaze on the sky. There was a gigantic white ball of light, which was at least a hundred meters wide, high up in the sky. It was following an incredible parabolic path as it headed for him and the others.

“Shit!” Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection had been feeding his peers with his observations. Hence, his companions were all able to see what he had seen. Xu Sanshi immediately lowered his body without any hesitation as he prepared to launch himself into the air.

As the strongest defense-type soul master among Shrek’s Seven Monsters, Xu Sanshi knew he had to be the one to block the ball. This was especially true because he possessed both the Xuanwu Shield and the Golden Tortoise spirit.

Jiang Nannan became incredibly tense as she prepared to soar into the air with him. She knew it was impossible to hold him back in such moments. Hence, she decided to join him instead!

“Hold up.” Huo Yuhao ﬂickered to their backs as he placed his hands on their arms to stop them from ﬂying up.

“Yuhao!” Xu Sanshi growled angrily at Huo Yuhao. In his eyes, this was not the time to hesitate. If they delayed their response, the entire team could be wiped out.

“There seems to be a problem with its aim!” Huo Yuhao shouted.

At this instant, the gigantic white ball was already descending from the sky. There was a trail of white smoke behind it as it raced towards the group. Even though it was not moving very quickly, it exerted a frightening amount of pressure on everyone—including those who were under the linked defensive barrier.

It only took a few seconds before the ball fully descended from the sky and landed heavily at a place roughly two hundred meters away from their linked defensive barrier.

The ground initially trembled lightly before the vibration’s amplitude increased tremendously. Their vision started to blur as the ground beneath them appeared to melt under the constant shockwaves rippling through the ground.

The white shockwaves collided with the linked defensive barrier in an extremely violent fashion.

“Beep! Beep! Beep!” A deafening alarm started to ring. The linked defensive barrier was showing signs of crumbling under the immense pressure from the shockwaves.

At this instant, the Fort Soul Engineer Legion was almost done with their retreat. Only the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion and Shrek’s Seven Monsters were still waiting in the barrier.

“Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion, listen to my orders! Get ready to launch our linked offensive soul tools! As for the rest

of you, retreat! Eldest senior brother, leave with the rest of them.” Huo Yuhao’s voice echoed in everyone’s ears.

Bei Bei growled, “No way. I’m the one in charge of the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion. You’re the one who needs to leave ﬁrst.”

Huo Yuhao immediately turned around to look at Bei Bei before speaking with a serious tone. “Eldest senior brother, I will stay behind with Dong’er to lead the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion. Please trust me. I would never put my loved one’s lives in danger. There will only be hope for us to bring the entire Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion to safety if I stay behind. Trust me! The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion is not in Radiant City right now.”

Having shared an intimate relationship all these years, Bei Bei was deﬁnitely able to understand what Huo Yuhao was hinting at. He looked at Huo Yuhao before saying, “We will wait for you then. Everyone, I need you to retreat with me.” Following which, he waved his hand at his junior brothers and sisters as they charged through the spectral gate.

At this instant, another streak of powerful white light was launched from Radiant City into the air. Once again, the blinding white light illuminated the city as the frightening power reappeared within the linked defensive barrier.

Everyone knew that the linked defensive barrier would deﬁnitely be unable to withstand another blow. It was no longer supported by any soul engineers, and its materials were not comparable to that of their enemies.

The only reason why the previous attack missed was that they did not have any aerial surveillance soul tools to help them lock onto their target. It was merely launched with some primitive calculations done by a few Class 9 soul engineers. Since it only deviated from the target by two hundred meters, this time around, they were not going to miss.

“Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion, follow me up into the sky.” Huo Yuhao ordered as he pulled Wang Dong’er’s hand and led their ascent.

The Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion was the most powerful soul engineer legion among the three legions. It not only had the best equipment but also the strongest soul masters. They consisted only of soul masters with at least six rings. In fact, they were all direct disciples of the masters within Shrek Academy. They not only revered Huo Yuhao greatly, but also idolized him. Previously, Huo Yuhao had already led them to countless victories. Hence, none of them hesitated when he gave them the order to ﬂy. All of them started to ascend into the sky as they followed the directions given by Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection.

After ascending into the sky, Huo Yuhao did not immediately evade the enemy’s attack. He merely gazed at the gigantic ball of light, which was formed from the white pillar of light that surged up into the sky.

Beneath the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion, the last few members of the Fort Soul Engineer Legion and the higher-ups of Tang Sect had entered the spectral gate.

“Prepare to ﬁre the guided cannon!”

Every single soul engineer within the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion lined themselves up as they placed a small yellow cannon on their shoulders.

“Take my position as the center. Fire at full power.”

Huo Yuhao placed a similarly small cannon on his shoulder.

However, his cannon was golden.

The golden beam of light that was blasted out of the cannon ascended only thirty meters before stopping in mid-air. A golden ball was formed rapidly at the tip of the golden beam of light.

At this instant, the white ball which was ﬁred from Radiant City had reached its maximum height, and was starting to fall towards them.

Two hundred streaks of yellow light were subsequently ﬁred in the next two seconds. They were not aimed at the white

light of light. Instead, all of them landed on the ball that Huo Yuhao had ﬁred.

Huo Yuhao’s eyes lit up, and the strength of his spiritual power was raised to its maximum. At the very next instant, the cannon on his shoulder vibrated and released a powerful golden pillar of light that had a diameter of more than ten meters.

The white light and the golden light seemed to instantly fuse in mid-air. While the golden beam seemed to pale in comparison to the gigantic ball of white light, it was somehow able to stop the ball in its tracks. Following which, a golden layer of light formed on the ball of white light.

Upon seeing that, the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion cheered triumphantly.

Huo Yuhao made a tossing action with his hand, and the ball of white light ﬂew out far away as it headed back towards Radiant City.

Yes, this was the power of the guided cannon—one of the linked offensive soul tools that the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion possessed. These powerful cannons were usually used to handle top-tier stationary soul cannon shells ﬁred by their enemies. However, this time around, Huo Yuhao used it to counter the enemy’s linked offensive soul tool.

Guided cannon shells did not possess any offensive power on their own. Instead, it used the most gentle and ﬂexible of ways to counter the soul power in the enemy’s attacks.

It was only after the frightening ball of white light was sent towards Radiant City that Huo Yuhao was ﬁnally able to look at the damage beneath him.

From high above, he was able to see the insane amount of destructive energy in the previous ball of white light that Radiant City had launched towards them. There was a huge crater which was over two hundred meters deep and a thousand meters wide. Everything was gone except for a small patch of ground that Tang Sect’s linked defensive barrier had protected.

“Let’s go!” Huo Yuhao waved his hand and brought the two hundred soul engineers along with him. At the same time, the eighteen spectral gates closed.

Everything had gone according to his plan. After ascending high into the sky with the rest of the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion, Huo Yuhao and everyone else was ﬁnally out of the attacking range of Radiant City’s soul tool deployment area.

If he had chosen to retreat through the spectral gate earlier, he would most deﬁnitely not have been able to escape before the second ball of white light landed on them.

Meanwhile, the biggest problem at Radiant City was that they didn’t have a strong soul engineer legion that could pursue Huo Yuhao and his team. Even though the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion was weaker than the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion, it was far superior to any normal soul engineer legion. In addition, most of their aerial surveillance soul tools had already been destroyed. Without any reconnaissance ability, they would not be able to go after Huo Yuhao and his team effectively. Hence, Huo Yuhao could convince Bei Bei to let him stay behind after mentioning how the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion was not present.

This was because the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion could only retreat safely if Huo Yuhao were to stay behind with them.

As the frightening ball of white light headed back towards the Radiant City, Huo Yuhao believed that its power could deﬁnitely rival that of a Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell. The soul tool deployment area within Radiant City was also deﬁnitely one of the strongest deployment areas he had ever seen.

If this toy were to land within the city…

At this instant, another white pillar of light surged up into the sky in an inclined fashion. It shot towards the ball of white light that was heading for Radiant City. The ball was instantly hit by the white pillar.

“Boom!” A loud explosion could be heard from all the way up in the sky. Once again, the entire sky turned a bright white. This time around, Radiant City was illuminated by the explosion.

“What a shame!” Huo Yuhao sighed as he shook his head.

They were still not able to deal a greater blow to Radiant City.

However, after this blow, they now had enough time to retreat. Without any aerial surveillance soul tools to lock onto them, the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion was able to retreat rapidly without any threat from the soul tool deployment areas within Radiant City.

However, it was still possible for them to be chased by high- level soul engineers. However, other than guiding the white ball away, the guided cannon shell would probably have deterred the stronger soul engineers from doing so!

Even if the enemy was a high-level Class 9 soul engineer, or even the Deathgod Douluo herself, he or she would have to consider if his or her own abilities were sufﬁcient to deal with a powerful soul engineer legion which was able to use linked offensive soul tools.

Huo Yuhao held onto Tang Wutong as they increased their altitude. He had ordered their two hundred soul engineers to ﬂy into the distance, while both of them would sweep behind them.

Huo Yuhao released his Spiritual Detection in all directions. He was keeping an eye on the situation in Radiant City. He wanted to make sure that no one was coming after them.

The truth was that the frightening high altitude collision earlier had released powerful shockwaves. Even though the position of the explosion was not within the interior of Radiant City, the shockwaves had pretty much made it impossible for anyone to ﬂy out of the city. Even if someone wanted to go after them, he or she would be deterred for safety reasons. In addition, all the aerial surveillance soul tools that had just ascended into the sky were also destroyed by the big explosion. There was essentially nothing left of them. It would be near impossible for them to monitor Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong’s movements.

It was only now that Huo Yuhao ﬁnally heaved a sigh of relief. Following which, he held Tang Wutong’s hand as they chased after the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion ahead of them.

After ﬂying close to ﬁfty kilometers and making many deliberate turns to shake off any possible surveillance tools or troops that might be following them, Huo Yuhao led all of

them into a small forest. Even though he was struggling with his spiritual fatigue, he repeated the incantations to open the spectral gate. However, because he was spiritually incapable of opening nine doors, he was only able to open three doors for them to enter with Li Ya’s help.

Following which, the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion, along with Tang Wutong and Huo Yuhao, streamed into the spectral demiplane. Even though they did not lose a single person in this huge battle, all of them were in dire need of a rest.

The bright colors above the Radiant City lasted for a good ten minutes before the sky started to darken again. However, the entire city had been consumed by mass hysteria.

Even though there were not many civilian casualties, everyone, regardless of their status, was awakened by the huge commotion above their homes. Even though they were no longer asleep, none of them dared to leave their homes. Most of them were just looking at the events which were unfolding from their windows.

Hence, they were able to see the numerous mystical sights which were happening in the sky above them. In addition, they

heard plenty of frightening explosions. Most importantly, they witnessed a huge explosion in the direction of the palace.

The closer a person stayed to the palace, the higher the status a person usually had. Even though the Palace did not allow any high-level structures near its compound, the explosion was still visible from a distance. The sight of the scary Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell ripping through the palace’s layers of defenses before striking the core area of the palace startled everyone who managed to catch a glimpse of it.

The palace was not just any other place within Radiant City. It was the core of the entire Sun Moon Empire! Even though Xu Tianran had just ascended the throne not too long ago, he was able to bring enormous progress to the entire Empire as he conquered a large part of the Heavenly Soul Empire. In fact, his reputation was sky high after it was recently declared that the Heavenly Soul Empire had fallen into the hands of the Sun Moon Empire. He was already canonized as this generation’s holy leader.

However, his reputation would deﬁnitely take a huge hit due to what had just happened. In fact, no one knew whether their leader was even still alive. How could anyone sleep without

knowing what was going on in the palace? It was bound to be a sleepless night for everyone within Radiant City.

Countless alarms, explosive sounds and human voices could be heard everywhere within Radiant City. They were further worsened by the messy lights coming from different soul tools as fragments and shards fell from the sky. The world’s number one city had turned into a mess. The adverse impact that Huo Yuhao and his team had left on Radiant City far exceeded the actual destruction they had dealt.

In the palace within Radiant City.

Xu Tianran’s face was as pale as death. Other than the rage and anger in his eyes, he pretty much resembled a dead man.

This was probably his biggest setback since ascending the throne. Xu Tianran had never expected that he - an Emperor of an empire with the strongest soul tools - would be directly attacked by soul tools from his very own palace.

The stationary soul cannon shell had left a particularly deep impression on him. Its powerful penetrative ability was

unparalleled by any of the Class 9 soul tools within the Sun Moon Empire. Even though its overall power was not invincibly strong, he would have guessed that that cannon shell was specially designed to counter the Sun Moon Empire’s linked defensive barrier.

Xu Tianran was certain that there was not a single linked defensive barrier in the Palace which could have blocked that blow. In other words, if Huo Yuhao and his group had possessed a sufﬁcient quantity of those shells, they would have been able to destroy the entire Sun Moon Empire. That was a scary prospect for him to think about.

If that kind of stationary soul cannon shell was not invented by the Sun Moon Empire, it must have come from one of the three original Empires. However, since when did they have the ability to manufacture such powerful soul tools?

Ye Xishui, who was dressed in a long black robe, stood beside Xu Tianran. Because she was also staying within the Palace, she was able to react immediately after the explosion. However, because she did not stay at the core area of the Palace, she did not sustain any direct injuries from the explosion.

She chose to stay behind to protect Xu Tianran instead of going after the enemy because there was nothing more

important than the Emperor's life.

As Xu Tianran began to gain greater control over the Empire, Ye Xishui realized that she was starting to lose control over him. His power was increasing steadily, and the Sun Moon Empire seemed to be a lot tougher than she had thought.

However, under such circumstances, Ye Xishui could only allow the Holy Ghost Church to develop in this manner. At the end of the day, Xu Tianran was almost like her disciple, and was—at least for now—one of the most ardent supporters of the Holy Ghost Church within the royal family. It was crucial to protect his life right now, when the Sun Moon Empire was going to war with the other Empires. If he were to somehow die during this time, there would be no guarantee that his successor would support the Holy Ghost Church in the same way.

Ye Xishui had originally thought that she would be able to control everything. However, she had started to doubt herself. After witnessing the latest soul tools that the Sun Moon Empire was developing, she started to fear the powers they exhibited. She was also not conﬁdent of going up against the entire Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion.

It was important to note that the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion only took orders from the Emperor himself.

Hence, after weighing the pros and cons from several perspectives, Ye Xishui decided to fully support Xu Tianran. At the same time, she would try to ﬁgure out how to exert greater inﬂuence on the Sun Moon Empire. Thus, she did not go after Huo Yuhao and his group.

Xu Tianran coughed loudly as he spat out a mouthful of blood. The servants by his side immediately handed him a clean towel to.

Xu Tianran revealed a frustrated look on his face as he threw the towel aside angrily. Instead of using the towel, he wiped his mouth furiously with the back of his hand.

Actually, Xu Tianran was extremely gifted in cultivation. However, his gifts were adversely affected after a very tragic incident. When he was younger, he lost his legs while trying to wrest the throne from his brothers. At that time, he lost a lot of blood and vitality. Because of this, he was only able to attain the rank of Titled Douluo after using all sorts of top-tier

medicinal herbs. However, his actual abilities were still a little short of a Titled Douluo.

Previously, when Du Busi sacriﬁced his life to strike a deadly blow against him, Xu Tianran had sustained an extremely serious injury. Even though he had been undergoing therapies and all sorts of conditioning training, he was unable to fully recover from those injuries. Now, he was attacked by a Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell. It was truly a series of unfortunate events for him. As his injuries piled up, the origins of his martial soul and spiritual power could only recover through protracted rest and conditioning. Even though he had tried to undergo therapies with the help of healing-type soul masters, the effects were not particularly promising. In addition, the loss of his two legs had burdened his body tremendously, and would delay any form of recovery.

The Imperial Physician was afraid to tell him the truth. However, Ye Xishui had told him that even with the support of the best herbs in the entire world, he could at best live for another ﬁfty years. Because he was currently about forty to ﬁfty years old, he could at most live to a hundred. This was simply too short for an Emperor who had attained the rank of Titled Douluo.

How could Xu Tianran be in a good mood under such circumstances?

More ﬁgures started to appear by Xu Tianran’s side. All of them were silent as they stood by him. It could be said that Radiant City had just suffered its biggest setback ever. In fact, it was even worse than the huge explosion in the underground ammunition depot. Even though that explosion had affected half of the city and resulted in civilian casualties and damages, it was ultimately an internal mistake. It was not because of Radiant City’s inherent lack of defensive strength.

This time round, the Palace had been directly attacked! Their enemies were somehow able to penetrate their defenses and hurt the Emperor directly. This was a huge blow to the soul engineers of the Sun Moon Empire.

While Xu Tianran’s body had to be fully supported by a chair, he did not show any signs of fatigue. He knew well enough that he must not allow his body to collapse at this important juncture. If not, the optimistic image he had just constructed would crumble.

“Is the Prime Minister here?” Xu Tianran asked with a hoarse voice.

“Your Majesty, I have just arrived.” The Prime Minister appeared from behind as he bowed before Xu Tianran. It was apparent that he was panicking as he addressed him.

Xu Tianran stared at him coldly before saying, “Is this the enemy you were referring to? The enemy who can change directions at top speed on the ocean?”

The Prime Minister revealed a bitter expression as he replied, “I understand. It’s my fault.”

“You may stand by the side for now,” Xu Tianran ordered coldly. The Prime Minister was no longer entitled to a seat.

All the ministers rushed over at the ﬁrst instant. It was not only an important moment to declare one’s loyalty to Xu Tianran, but also to understand the Emperor’s situation. If Xu Tianran were truly dead after this attack, they would begin to hatch their own individual plans.

The members of the royal family were the earliest to arrive. Even though the Princes who had fought him for the throne had all died, it was not possible for Xu Tianran to put all their descendants and family members to death. That was something which the seniors in the royal family would never allow. If he were to really do that, he would anger some of the people who were eyeing his throne, and spur them to act rashly.

Hence, it was important to note that there was more than one person present who was hoping for Xu Tianran to die.

"Is the Prince okay?" Xu Tianran asked.

A member of the Hall of Consecration quickly stepped forward before saying, “The Prince’s palace was protected by the Eternal Star Domain. Your Majesty, rest assured that all is well.”

“Okay.” Xu Tianran nodded. How could he not know that the Prince was protected by a soul tool? The Eternal Star Domain was known as the strongest defensive soul tool in the entire Sun Moon Empire. It was supposed to be used to protect his quarters. However, since Ju Zi had left to campaign, Xu

Tianran had placed the Eternal Star Domain with the Prince to reassure her that the Prince would be safe even when she was not around.

Even though the Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell earlier was incredibly powerful, its power was insufﬁcient to breach the defense of the Eternal Star Domain. Hence, the Prince was naturally safe and sound.

It was apparent that Xu Tianran had purposely asked that question in front of certain individuals just so that those people could hear the answer and dismiss certain thoughts that were forming in their heads.

After hearing how the Prince was ﬁne, there were some faces that were visibly disappointed. As long as the Prince was still alive, even if Xu Tianran were to die, they would not have a chance of becoming the Emperor.

Xu Tianran seemed to reveal a mocking smile before he asked an old man beside him. “Elder Kong, when is the Imperial Soul Engineer Legion returning?”

This man who was addressed as Elder Kong was a tall and burly man. He had short and spiky grey hair, and was wearing a yellow long robe. Such robes were supposed to be worn only by members of the royal family, though it was apparent from his surname that he did not belong to the royal family.

All this while, he had been standing on the other side of Xu Tianran. His face revealed a calm and collected expression, as though he had nothing to do with what had just happened. However, if one were to pay closer attention to him, one would notice the shapeless energy he was radiating, which formed a barrier over himself and Xu Tianran. It was almost as if he was his guardian.

Elder Kong was, in fact, standing closer to Xu Tianran than Ye Xishui, and the aura he radiated did not pale signiﬁcantly in comparison to hers.

After hearing his words, Xu Tianran nodded gently before ordering, "Tell them it is my order that they track down our enemies at all costs. Is Elder Ye back?"

"Your Majesty, I am here." Two people were walking very quickly towards the Emperor from afar. It was illegal to ﬂy

above the Palace. This rule still applied to anyone from the Hall of Consecration.

Ye Yulin was in no better state than Xu Tianran. While Xu Tianran was heavily injured, Ye Yulin was very frustrated.

During that humongous explosion earlier, he had been caught by the shockwave while he was in the air. Even though he tried to rapidly descend to avoid it, he still lost two precious defensive sool tools in his bid to keep himself alive.

The energy storm in the air made it impossible for him to track the enemy's movements. He was only able to roughly make out the shape of several soul tools within the linked defensive barrier before he landed on the ground. Other than the soul tools, he could not tell how many people were inside the cloudy barrier.

"Elder Ye, who were those people? Have you found out who they are?" Xu Tianran was surprisingly calm when he asked this question.

Anger would only harm his already injured body even more. It was only appropriate for a great character to stay calm in critical moments like this.

Ye Yulin spoke with a deep voice. "Our enemies are very strong, and they are probably from the other three Empires. If I’m not wrong, they have more than one soul engineer legion."

After Ye Yulin ﬁnished his sentence, the room went silent.

They had more than one soul engineer legion? What does this mean?

It was still understandable if this attack was carried out by one or two individuals with the help of powerful soul tools. After all, there were bound to be people who could sneak past the Sun Moon Empire's aerial surveillance soul tools. However, something must be wrong if an entire legion could sneak past the surveillance soul tools. On top of that, more than one legion managed to sneak in!

Ye Yulin continued, "Your Majesty, I have already dispatched my people to investigate this matter. I would recommend that

we stop our attacks temporarily. Our enemies might have retreated, but they have left some clues behind."

Xu Tianran stares at Ye Yulin before saying," I need you to tell me the details. I want to know more about these enemies."

Chapter 553: An Attack from Shrek?

Ye Yulin squinted and said, “Without a doubt, these enemies come from the three empires of the original Douluo Continent. I rushed there and saw a protective soul barrier. That means that those people constructed a soul formation outside Radiant City as a defensive measure. This soul formation was also constructed at such an opportune time. It seems to coincide with the period of time that our aerial surveillance soul tools were chain-bombed. It’s terrifying if they had planned and calculated everything. This would also mean that they are the ones responsible for bombing our soul tools.”

Xu Tianran took in a deep breath and suppressed his anger. “Can someone tell me how our aerial surveillance soul tools were bombed? If our enemies were responsible for it, how did they do so without anyone’s knowledge?”

Another Worshipped said, “According to my observation and judgment, our aerial surveillance soul tools are likely to have self-destructed. If it was the work of our enemies, we would have discovered it immediately. At the same time, we would have used our soul formations to stop them. Whatever it is, they wouldn’t have been able to destroy all our surveillance soul tools.”

“Self-destructed?” Xu Tianran glared. Following this, he felt an excruciating pain in his chest, and had no choice but to suppress his anger once again.

That Worshipped laughed bitterly. “From the current situation, that seems to be the case. If it wasn’t, there is another possibility, that explosive charges were installed on our aerial surveillance soul tools. That’s the only way they could all be bombed at the same time under some kind of control. This also means that it’s likely our enemies possess some kind of ability that helped them to escape the detection of our soul tools, and at the same time, sneak their way to install explosive charges on them.”

Once he said this, everyone went silent.

His analysis was shocking. If the invading enemies were able to mysteriously sneak their way past the aerial surveillance soul tools, did that also mean that they could also sneak into the palace? Wouldn’t they be able to do anything they wanted if that was the case?

This time, the Class 9 stationary soul shell only exploded after breaking through their defense. What if their enemies had placed a Class 9 stationary soul shell in the palace? It was unimaginable.

Ye Yulin nodded and said, “Old Shen is right. I ﬁnd it very weird too. The light was distorted in their soul formation. Given my ocular and spiritual power, I was still unable to tell what was going on. Then, three of us advanced at the same time, and seven to eight enemies came forward to deal with us. They were very strong. I believe they had to be at least Soul Douluo. However, most of them weren’t soul engineers, but soul masters. Their martial souls were very strong too, especially that of the leader. He seemed to be wearing a human-shaped soul tool, which exuded an extremely strong chilly energy. They coordinated with one another very well. Also…”

Ye Yulin recounted his ﬁght with Huo Yuhao and the rest. After his recounting, most of the senior ofﬁcials in the Sun Moon Empire found it ridiculous. Such opponents couldn’t be dealt with easily!

“From the situation then, I believe that they must have possessed some kind of concealment-type soul tool. That’s why

they were able to get close to Radiant City without being detected. Some of the stronger ones can even isolate the detection abilities of most of our surveillance soul tools. At the same time, they also possessed soul tools that are offensively strong. I believe there were at least two thousand stationary soul cannon shells raining down on our soul formations. Only the three empires of the original Douluo Continent are capable of coming up with something like this. Perhaps this was their trump card.”

“On the battleﬁeld, they can’t challenge the War God Empress. That’s why they came up with such a strategy. They exploited our hollowness at the back and attacked us. However, I don’t understand how they were able to move so quickly. They were just in the south, but soon came close to Radiant City. Even if they were all soul engineers, it’s not possible that all of them have been equipped with Class 8 ﬂying-type soul tools.”

Xu Tianran furrowed his brow and also went into deep thought. This was really an incomprehensible situation. Every one of them was confused. This was because they hadn’t found out what their enemies were really like.

The more unknown an enemy, the more terrifying he was.

This was something that everyone understood.

“Your Majesty!” At this moment, Ye Xishui suddenly spoke.

“What?” Xu Tianran turned toward Ye Xishui, and suddenly became respectful. Ye Xishui was an Ultimate Douluo. In terms of cultivation, she was already the best in the Sun Moon Empire. Moreover, she even controlled the Death God.

“Tell me what you think.” Xu Tianran didn’t directly call her Ye Xishui. He had a more personal connection with her, but everyone knew that she held true authority in the Holy Ghost Church. That was why he naturally didn’t dare to directly call her by her name in front of all the gathered ofﬁcials.

Ye Xishui said, “They don’t have to come from the three empires to possess such strength. Don’t forget, there’s another place that’s capable of all this.”

Xu Tianran suddenly thought of something, and his expression instantly changed. “Are you talking about Shrek Academy?”

Ye Xishui nodded. “That’s right, I’m talking about them. Think about it, Your Majesty. The Heavenly Soul Empire was wiped out on the battleﬁeld. While Shrek Academy stepped in, they only managed to save some of the remaining members of the regime. They didn’t manage to achieve anything substantial. That’s not very characteristic of Shrek Academy. What happened wasn’t a true representation of their strength. Perhaps they did really conserve their strength. However, why can’t it be that Shrek Academy wasn’t at full strength?”

“According to our intelligence, Shrek City has been expanding over the past few years. It has something to do with the soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest. Remember that kid called Huo Yuhao? After constructing the Spirit Pagoda, he ended the hostility between the Great Star Dou Forest and Shrek Academy. A few years ago, he demonstrated his concealment abilities when the Star Luo Empire regained control of the Ming Dou Mountain Range. Then, he was only discovered because he triggered my spiritual barrier. He even borrowed the Beast God Di Tian’s strength to resist me. He also appeared on the battleﬁeld once, and caused us to lose many aerial surveillance soul tools. It seems like he’s the one responsible for all this. If he’s the one who came up with the new soul tools that Shrek Academy has developed, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.”

After hearing Ye Xishui’s words, Xu Tianran also recalled Huo Yuhao. However, he continued furrowing his brow. “Is that even possible? How old is he? He wasn’t even twenty when he represented the Tang Sect in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament. Although years have passed, he’s still barely twenty.”

Xu Tianran’s impression of Huo Yuhao was still very deep. This wasn’t just because he was very strong. It was also because he appeared in a wheelchair back then. That left a deep impression on him.

Ye Xishui snorted. “Nothing is impossible. He’s the closed- door disciple of the Dragon God Douluo Mu En. He also possesses twin martial souls. Earlier, Ye Yulin mentioned that his opponent wore a human-shaped soul tool, and exuded intense chilly energy from his body. I think it’s likely that it’s this kid. He possesses an Ultimate Ice martial soul.”

Xu Tianran was in disbelief as he said, “However, Old Ye said that his opponent’s ability was deﬁnitely at the standard of a Titled Douluo. Without the use of powerful soul tools, he wasn’t conﬁdent of defeating his opponent.”

Ye Xishui sighed and said, “Your Majesty, you must not be deceived by appearances. Furthermore, there are extremely talented people in this world. From the current situation, the three empires, or rather, the two empires, aren’t the only ones who can truly threaten us. It’s Shrek Academy. Your Majesty, you just need to give the order to the War God Empress to assault Shrek City and destroy them. Then, the mastermind will also cave in naturally. When that happens, no matter what methods they use to ﬁght, they must return to Shrek City. On an open battleﬁeld, they won’t be able to achieve much.”

“You must not do that.” The Chief Minister stood up and said, “I think that now is not yet the time to challenge Shrek Academy directly. Your Majesty, please think through it ﬁrst.”

“Chief Minister, please tell me what you think.” Xu Tianran nodded at him, signaling him to speak his thoughts. Although there were problems with the Chief Minister’s strategy this time, it was mainly because their enemies were too extraordinary. They couldn’t be judged using common logic. After calming down, Xu Tianran was in a much better mood. He still valued the opinion of his wise Chief Minister very much. He was also aware of Ye Xishui’s hatred of Shrek Academy. That was why it was inevitable that she would mix some of her personal opinions into her professional judgment.

The Chief Minister said, “Earlier, the Supreme Worshipped also mentioned that Shrek Academy has a long history. They were already the number one academy on the continent ten thousand years ago. We don’t know how strong they are. The most recent war involving Shrek City was the beast wave from the Great Star Dou Forest. As the habitat of the strongest soul beasts on this continent, including ﬁve out of the Ten Great Savage Beasts, the Great Star Dou Forest is very strong and terrifying. Even so, Shrek City remained ﬁrm, though it was subjected to a relentless beast wave. Shrek City even used some kind of special power to keep Di Tian from appearing on the battleﬁeld.”

“The Supreme Worshipped also mentioned earlier that Huo Yuhao can borrow Di Tian’s strength. What does this mean? If we turn our attention to Shrek City, we might catalyze an alliance between Shrek City and the Great Star Dou Forest. When that happens, it might lead to a complete disaster for our army.”

“I believe that Shrek Academy is still the most neutral force on the continent. Even though it’s likely to be more inclined towards the three empires due to its geographical location, and once fought us because of the three empires, things are different this time. The Heavenly Soul Empire has already been wiped out. If we defeat both the Dou Ling and Star Luo

Empires, Shrek City will have no choice but to compromise even if it doesn’t want to. The prerequisite is that we don’t touch them. At least speaking from the current situation, we cannot treat Shrek City as our main target. Otherwise, the Star Luo and Dou Ling Empires can use Shrek City as a core to resist

our army. Along with the soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest, I can’t imagine the consequences.”

“Rubbish!” Ye Xishui shouted coldly, “You don’t know anything. The Great Star Dou Forest and Shrek Academy teaming up together? That’s nonsense. Although Huo Yuhao’s Spirit Pagoda has made relations more cordial between the forest and the academy, you must not forget the inherent dilemma that exists between humans and soul beasts. Will soul beasts come forward in large numbers to aid humans? That’s just ridiculous. They can’t wait for humans to kill one another. Then, no humans will try to obtain soul rings anymore. Your analysis is just plain stupid.”

“I’m only thinking for the empire,” The Chief Minister replied coldly, “please watch your words. Shrek Academy is a holy ground to the three empires of the original Douluo Continent. In addition, it’s the same for many hidden sects. They share a close relationship, and this has been the case for thousands of years. Once we target Shrek Academy, it’s like

inviting all the sects in the three empires to come together to ﬁght us. Is that going to be beneﬁcial for the empire?”

After listening to the Chief Minister’s words, Xu Tianran couldn’t help but nod. Shrek Academy was too signiﬁcant. Thousands of years ago, they had teamed up with the three empires of the original Douluo Continent to defeat the Sun Moon Empire. The Sun Moon Empire and the Sun Moon Continent were then fused into the Douluo Continent.

This time, the Sun Moon Empire was the aggressor. Suddenly, they had occupied the Heavenly Soul Empire in such a short period of time. The three empires had misjudged the Sun Moon Empire’s advantage in terms of soul tools. This was an important reason for their failure.

Shrek Academy was not yet involved in the war. And in fact, the Sun Moon Empire’s advantage in terms of soul tool technology was even greater this time. From the current situation at least, Shrek Academy still had yet to fully join in the war.

Chapter 554: Elder Kong

Ye Xishui said, “Shrek Academy will join the war sooner or later. What’s the difference if it’s now or if it’s later? Furthermore, this matter clearly has something to do with Shrek Academy. Attacking Shrek Academy is the most direct and effective option. Don’t tell me that you’re going to ignore the fundamentals? Do you have a better plan?”

The Chief Minister said, “We’ve already occupied the entire Heavenly Soul Empire. At this time, consolidation is key. We can ask the War God Empress to temporarily send some stronger individuals back. We can continue the war once we take care of things internally. At the same time, we can also consolidate our reign over the Heavenly Soul Empire, and use their wealth to further our research and manufacturing of soul tools. Stability should be our utmost priority. Your Majesty, it’s very important to stabilize our back! Without the War God Empress to protect you, I’m a little worried about your safety.”

Xu Tianran’s expression changed slightly. “I don’t need a woman to protect me. I have the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion. However, we need to ﬁnd these enemies in our territories quickly. Does anyone have a good plan?”

He swept his gaze across all the senior ofﬁcials. Most of them were silent.

Ye Xishui said coldly, “Your Majesty, my opinion is completely professional. Huo Yuhao relied on his spiritual power to conceal himself. If he has really cultivated to a Titled Douluo in a short few years, he’s likely to be a major threat to our empire as a Titled Douluo with an Ultimate martial soul. We need to get rid of him as quickly as possible. We’ve not even invented concealment-type soul tools yet, thus it’s impossible for Shrek Academy to have done so. In my opinion, that soul engineer legion that snuck into our territories is likely to have relied on Huo Yuhao’s concealment abilities. If we attack Shrek Academy, at least we’ll force him and his soul engineer legion to retreat. That’s the best way.”

“If Your Majesty wants to rule the entire continent, you’ll need to deal with Shrek Academy soon. The conﬂict between us and Shrek can never be resolved. A victor must be decided. Don’t tell me you want to wait until they become more powerful? As long as the War God Empress quickly destroys Shrek City, the world of soul masters would most certainly become divided. I believe that she can do this, given her military intelligence. As long as Your Majesty agrees, I’m willing to lead the Holy Ghost Church to coordinate with the War God Empress.”

The Chief Minister hurriedly said, “Your Majesty, you must not do that. Your Majesty, there’ll be no going back once you do that. If you don’t succeed, all our previous victories will have been for nothing! Please think it through. We are in an advantageous situation right now. It’s best to pursue stability.”

Ye Xishui ﬁnally became angry. An icy-cold chilly intent shot out from her eyes. The surrounding temperature fell dramatically, and she unleashed a terrifying oppressive force.

Once the Death God was infuriated, even the weather could change. Everyone could sense her terrifying aura, which threatened to tear their bodies apart.

At this moment, Elder Kong, who had been standing beside Xu Tianran all this while, took a step forward. Green lights ﬂashed on his body, and a gentle force spread out. It reached towards Ye Xishui, clashing with her aura.

Ye Xishui snorted coldly, and Elder Kong also shook slightly. Although he was slightly disadvantaged, he didn’t suffer too greatly.

Elder Kong looked at Ye Xishui. He was now directly facing the Death God Douluo.

Both of them were pitting their auras against each other, and they didn’t give in at all.

When Ye Xishui erupted in anger, the Chief Minister immediately turned pale. However, everything returned to normal once Elder Kong made a move. Elder Kong was not completely overwhelmed when he faced the Death God Douluo by himself. If this spread, it would astonish the world of soul masters and soul engineers.

Ye Xishui groaned, “Kong Deming, do you really have to pit yourself against me?”

Elder Kong replied, “This is the Imperial Palace. Supreme Worshipped, please watch your behavior in front of His Majesty.”

Ye Xishui twisted her head to look at Xu Tianran, “Your Majesty, is this what you want?”

Xu Tianran coughed. “Supreme Worshipped, please calm down. I know you are only thinking for the empire. However, we need to really ponder this matter. It has too many implications. Where’s the Military Chief?”

The Military Chief rushed out from a corner. “Your Majesty, I’m here.”

“Tell me your suggestions,” Xu Tianran demanded.

Ye Xishui stood to one side and silently looked at Xu Tianran. She retracted her aura, but continued to look cold. She felt that he was straying out of her control.

Ye Xishui very well knew who Kong Deming was. He was the Master of the Worship Hall of the Sun Moon Empire. He was one-quarter royal blood, and was only loyal to the imperial family. He was also the top soul engineer in the Sun Moon Empire.

Yes, the strongest soul engineer in the Sun Moon Empire wasn’t the Death God Douluo Ye Xishui, but this person who

only appeared to be inferior to her. Ye Xishui even had to admit that she was inferior to him.

Kong Deming was already more than one hundred and ﬁfty years old. He was the chief of all the Class 9 soul engineers in the Sun Moon Empire, and a Rank 94 Titled Douluo. However, very few people knew that he had twin martial souls. Not only was he the strongest soul engineer in the empire, but he was also a very strong soul master.

If not for the fact that he placed most of his energy on researching soul tools, he might not actually be inferior to Ye Xishui, Long Xiaoyao and any other Ultimate Douluo in terms of his cultivation.

He was also the closest to becoming a Class 10 soul engineer.

Ye Xishui’s knowledge of soul tools wasn’t very good. After all, she was a soul master. Her Death God was mainly constructed by Kong Deming. That’s why even Ye Xishui had to give in to Kong Deming a little too. She was well-aware of how strong he was.

If she had to appraise Kong Deming, she could only use the word ‘unpredictable’. This was because no one had seen Kong Deming make a move for at least ﬁfty years. No one knew how powerful he actually was. Whether it was Long Xiaoyao or Ye Xishui, they had no conﬁdence in beating him. This showed how strong he was.

Initially, Kong Deming rarely came out from the Worship Hall. He devoted all his energy to his soul tool research. It was only recently that he ﬁnally appeared in public after he successfully researched human-shaped soul tools.

What left Ye Xishui surprised was that Kong Deming actually fully supported Xu Tianran. He was completely on his side. Ye Xishui had no choice but to refrain from offending him, and her perception of Xu Tianran also changed. She knew that she couldn’t threaten his life.

When the explosion occurred, Kong Deming was researching soul tools in his own laboratory. If he were by Xu Tianran’s side, Xu Tianran wouldn’t have been hurt.

When Kong Deming stepped out, all the other soul engineers immediately unleashed their auras, which combined with his.

This was power! He was the true number one soul engineer of the Sun Moon Empire. Even Jing Hongchen had to be respectful to him. The same applied to Ye Yulin.

Seeing that Ye Xishui had retracted her aura, Kong Deming also returned to Xu Tianran’s side, and his own aura returned to normal too.

As the Military Chief spoke, he also glanced at both of them occasionally, especially Kong Deming. Seeing that Elder Kong didn’t give any gestures, he continued speaking.

“Your Majesty, I think that both the Supreme Worshipped and Chief Minister are both right. However, both their ideas are ﬂawed in their own way. Given the current situation, being overly aggressive or overly conservative is not ideal.”

“Oh?” Xu Tianran was a little stunned as he looked at the Military Chief. He had called him out to act as a balance between both the Chief Minister and Supreme Worshipped. Who knew that he actually had a constructive suggestion? This gave Xu Tianran a delightful surprise.

The Military Chief said, “The Chief Minister’s proposition is indeed apt, but we are doing very well now. If we call the War God Empress back right now, I’m afraid we’ll miss out on a good opportunity. But this is also not the time to attack Shrek Academy. That’s why both their suggestions are problematic.”

The Chief Minister snorted coldly and jibed, “Stop beating around the bush. If you have a plan, just say it.”

The Military Chief looked at the Chief Minister. Everyone knew that neither of them liked each other. The Military Chief was also usually the one that was constantly repressed. In terms of abilities or experience, he was inferior to the Chief Minister. His only advantage was his age.

The Military Chief conﬁdently said, “Why not do it this way? We shall inform the War God Empress about the situation in the empire and let her decide what to do. Our enemies are very active right now, and their strategy is a little unclear. In terms of military matters, Her Majesty is the next best, apart from Your Majesty. Why don’t we let her judge the situation and give you suggestions? She’s at the front line, and thus she’s naturally more aware of the situation there. If she thinks it’s a good time to attack Shrek Academy, I think you can make a decision.”

The Military Chief was clever in the sense that he could correctly judge the relationship between Xu Tianran and Ju Zi.

As the Emperor, Xu Tianran would only pass the authority of the entire military to someone if he trusted that person. Moreover, the Crown Prince came from the Empress. No one would suspect her loyalty to the empire and Xu Tianran. Currently, no one challenged the Crown Prince for the throne. Given this, how could Xu Tianran not possibly trust his wife?

The Chief Minister didn’t have any good ideas, so he pushed all the responsibility to Ju Zi. His analysis was also very logical. That’s why his idea wasn’t a reﬂection of his abilities, but how he was very politically intelligent.

Indeed, the Chief Minister’s expression changed when he heard his words. However, he couldn’t rebut him at all.

On the other side, the Death God Douluo Ye Xishui also furrowed her brow. After this, she slowly nodded.

They only agreed with the Military Chief’s words because Ju Zi was both loyal to the empire and also very strong.

Ju Zi was the one who had led the empire to victory over the Heavenly Soul Empire. Ye Xishui had joined in that operation too. After attacking the Ming Dou Mountain Range, she suddenly turned back and assaulted the Heavenly Soul Empire. At the same time, all information was sealed. This series of missions was part of the ﬁghting strategy that had played a very crucial role in the war.

After this, the Sun Moon Empire was relentless, and occupied most parts of the Heavenly Soul Empire. Some people even commented that the Sun Moon Empire would have dominated the entire continent by now if not for the fact that the War God Empress was pregnant with the Crown Prince.

After Xu Tianran listened to the Military Chief, he appeared much more cheerful. Yes! It’s necessary to get Ju Zi’s opinion right now. After all, she’s the one in control of the front lines. She’ll know how to deal with the current situation.

Xu Tianran turned to Kong Deming and asked, “Elder Kong, what suggestions do you have?”

Kong Deming said, “Our enemies were also a little lucky to have successfully pulled off their attacks. At the same time, they must have known that the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion is not in Radiant City from some unknown channel. If you want me to judge the situation, I believe that our enemies might not just possess concealment abilities, but also spatial abilities.”

“Spatial abilities?” After hearing these two words, Xu Tianran was astonished. So was Ye Xishui.

If someone else said this, they would laugh it off. However, Kong Deming was different. He was currently the person with the most expertise in soul tool research.

As for spatial abilities, only Ye Xishui among everybody present could be associated with it. Only an Ultimate Douluo could really develop any kind of spatial abilities. Even Kong Deming couldn’t. There was also an unbridgeable gap between current soul tool technology and spatial abilities.

After Ye Yulin listened to Kong Deming’s words, he seemed to be very pensive.

Xu Tianran said, “Elder Kong, please be more speciﬁc.”

Kong Deming nodded and said, “Little Ye just recounted the entire story, but he missed out one point. He thought that the enemies are two soul engineer legions. However, he only saw one legion retreating. What about the other legion then? The other soul engineer legion should be the one ﬁring all the

shells. From the ﬁred shells, I believe they came from Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons, which are manufactured by the Tang Sect. We’ve also obtained Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons from the Heavenly Soul Empire. I’ve taken a simple look at them.”

“The internal structure of the Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons manufactured by the Tang Sect is very exquisite, but these cannons have self-destruction components. I couldn’t really examine them well. There are some elements of non- core formations that were used in these cannons. I believe this is the reason for the Tang Sect’s meteoric rise. Such Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons can continuously ﬁre shells, and the number of shells that can be ﬁred is great. However, they aren’t small. Given this, they’ll need a large number of such cannons if tens of thousands of shells are to be ﬁred. This is very important. They were only able to suppress us because they had so many shells. They should have more than a hundred Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons. If they want to retreat, they can’t possibly do it with just a single individual’s concealment soul skill. Even an Ultimate Douluo can’t do that. This is why I believe they must possess some kind of spatial ability, which allows for the rapid shifting of all these soul tools.”

Xu Tianran was horriﬁed. “Don’t tell me there’s a spatial soul tool? How is that possible? Even you…”

Kong Deming gestured and said, “I’ve indeed not researched any soul tools related to spatial abilities, but I can’t be sure that there’s no talent in this world who’s capable of doing it. However, from the current situation and the foundation of soul tool technology that’s currently present, I believe it’s difﬁcult for spatial soul tools to have been invented. After all, spatial storage is already the limit. The transport of people, and at such a large scale, is yet to exist. We have to investigate this matter carefully. If it’s really a spatial soul tool, we must risk everything to obtain it. That’ll be very signiﬁcant to the development of our soul tools.”

Xu Tianran nodded and said, “What do you suggest then?”

Kong Deming said, “Let’s report the situation to the War God Empress ﬁrst. If the Supreme Worshipped is right, Huo Yuhao is likely to be the one responsible for the spatial soul tool, or for concealing two soul engineer legions. We must bring him here and make him confess everything. I’m also very interested in this young man, who has invented Spirits and established the Spirit Pagoda. There’s one thing the Death God Douluo was right about. This young man is bound to be our

nemesis in the future. If we can’t win him over, we must get rid of him quickly.”

At this moment, a loud boom suddenly sounded from afar.

Kong Deming subconsciously blocked Xu Tianran, and bright green light immediately covered both of them. The other soul engineers present also quickly reacted. They instantly unleashed their strongest defensive-type soul tools.

The earlier attack left them extremely alarmed. This sudden boom scared them.

Ye Yulin’s expression changed. “The sound came from the soul formation that previously belonged to our enemies. Don’t tell me they’re back?

Kong Deming furrowed his brow. “No. The sound doesn’t seem right.”

In just a matter of seconds, news was transmitted over. The soul formation, where many soul tools were left over,

experienced a chain explosion. All the remaining soul tools were completely blown apart. In addition, it was also learned that those soul tools all came from the Sun Moon Empire.

Xu Tianran almost spat out blood again. He immediately dismissed the meeting. He wanted to write a letter to the War God Empress personally. At the same time, martial law was imposed. There were strict checks to sieve out any possible enemies.

While Radiant City was on high alert, the atmosphere in the spectral demiplane was very joyous.

Three hundred Zhuge Divine Crossbow Cannons were all successfully brought back. Even though they ﬁred more than half their remaining stock of soul cannon shells and caused very little damage to the Sun Moon Empire, they still managed to achieve their strategic goal. The depletion of material resources was nothing compared to the success of their strategic plan.

After meditating for an entire day, Huo Yuhao ﬁnally recovered to his peak state.

Without even guessing, he knew that the surrounding atmosphere in Radiant City was very tense. He didn’t rush to go out either. After Bei Bei heard that he was awake, he immediately called for a meeting.

Right now, there was no aura of death in the spectral demiplane. The three soul engineer legions were all celebrating. It was no wonder they were like that. Although they had ﬁred many soul cannon shells this time, they were ﬁghting Radiant City! It was the core of their enemies’ backyard.

They had managed to escape completely unharmed in such a ﬁght. It was unimaginable.

Whether it was the Heavy Artillery Soul Engineer Legion or the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion, they all gained invaluable experience during this ﬁght. Even though it wasn’t a direct clash, the atmosphere had been very tense. Huo Yuhao’s commandeering had left a deep impression on the soul engineers in these two soul engineer legions. It was also very beneﬁcial to their future development.

Huo Yuhao revealed a delightful smile on his face. He clasped his palms in front of his chest. As he looked at his teammates sitting around him, he greeted them before taking a seat beside Bei Bei.

Tang Wutong also came with him, and sat beside him.

Bei Bei was all smiles right now. “Alarm bells should be ringing for the Sun Moon Empire this time. Our experiment has also succeeded. It’s just that we don’t how Xu Tianran is. We don’t know if he’s been killed.”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and answered, “I’m afraid not. There are many defensive installations in the imperial palace, along with many soul engineers. It might still be possible if it were before they researched human-shaped soul tools. However, the possibility is very low right now. It seems like Xu Tianran has many defensive-type soul tools on him, which protect him very well. However, I don’t believe that we’ve not had any inﬂuence over him. We bombed the palace this time. I wonder what their reaction will be.”

Xu Sanshi laughed, “The best situation is if they pull their people back from the front lines. In that case, we’ll have

achieved our goal. Furthermore, we can continue to cause trouble in the Sun Moon Empire in the future, restraining and weakening them. In the near future, we might even bring the Sun Moon Empire down.”

Bei Bei snapped, “If it were that easy, would our empire be in so much torment? After the attack on Radiant City, they’ll deﬁnitely target us. The Sun Moon Empire is technologically advanced. They might research soul tools to target us speciﬁcally. Yuhao, that’s why you shouldn’t enter Radiant City anymore.”

Huo Yuhao was stunned. Bei Bei had rejected the suggestion that he was about to propose. He laughed bitterly. “Eldest senior, how did you know what I planned to do? I only want to see how we’ve fared. At the same time, I want to know more about the situation at the front lines. After all, information should ﬂow most smoothly in Radiant City.”

Bei Bei shook his head determinedly and said, “Our operation was already very dangerous. I can’t let you continue to take risks. What’ve we achieved is already very good. Under such a circumstance, we must try to stabilize our situation ﬁrst. If we want to obtain intelligence, I’d rather we waste more time trying to gather it at the front lines. After all, given your speed,

you can ﬂy there and back in a day. We can’t touch Radiant City anymore. There are too many strong people there. If things go awry, you might be trapped. Then, all we’ve done will go to waste.”

Seeing that he was so determined, Huo Yuhao didn’t persist. If he was the brains and life and soul of the team, Bei Bei was the backbone. He had the utmost respect for his eldest senior.

Bei Bei said, “We need to stay as far from Radiant City as possible. Yuhao, when the sky is dark, go out and quickly return. Let’s return to the academy and take a look. We want to bring news back, and also take a look at the situation at the front line before we proceed with our next operation.”

“Alright.” Huo Yuhao had no objections to Bei Bei’s suggestion. It was better to stabilize things too. However, he didn’t mention that he one other thing to do before he returned.

Among everyone, He Caitou was the only one who was a little unhappy. He said, “Yuhao, let’s attack more soul formations in the Sun Moon Empire when we return. We’ve been greatly drained this time too!”

Xu Sanshi laughed, “Caitou, since when have you become a slave to money?”

He Caitou snapped, “It’s money! Do you know how many soul cannon shells we’ve used this time? We even left a defensive soul formation. I feel heart-ache! It’s not easy to manufacture. We don’t have the manufacturing ability of the Sun Moon Empire.”

Bei Bei commented, “Caitou is right. When we return, let’s not attack Radiant City. We’ll mainly attack places where there are soul formations, and try our best to cause destruction. From there, we can improve our abilities.”

He Caitou was thinking about gold soul coins, and he muttered to himself, “If only we could rob the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion. If our Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion can change into human-shaped soul tools too, who’s going to be afraid of them? Hehe.”

“Cheh!” Everyone scowled at him.

Were they even capable of challenging the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion now?

Only Huo Yuhao looked a little pensive.

Plundering the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion was deﬁnitely not possible. However, they could learn new things if they could obtain a human-shaped soul tool from the Sun Moon Soul Engineer Legion and pass it to Teacher Xuan. This would greatly beneﬁt Shrek Academy in their development of human-shaped soul tools in the future.

After all, only Huo Yuhao and Nan Qiuqiu were equipped with human-shaped soul tools, even though Teacher Xuan had managed to create a few. They were used for close-combat, and couldn’t be replicated.

If they couldn’t be replicated, they couldn’t be mass produced. This wasn’t a good thing. Huo Yuhao was a Class 9 soul engineer himself. He was also curious how the Sun Moon Empire managed to mass produce human-shaped soul tools. It was important to know that the strength of the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions would rise by another tier now

that they had managed to mass produce human-shaped soul tools. They would be even more difﬁcult to deal with.

Everyone continued to rest. When night fell, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong silently left the spectral demiplane and re- appeared in the small forest where they had opened the spectral door.

The wind was gentle, and the night was extremely quiet. The fragrance of plants lingered in the air, and the buzzing of bugs and chirping of birds could be heard.

Huo Yuhao held Tang Wutong’s hand as they walked out from the spectral demiplane. They took in a deep breath. The night breeze was refreshing, and they immediately felt invigorated.

No matter how safe the spectral demiplane was, it wasn’t as comfortable as the Douluo Continent. This was where they truly belonged!

Huo Yuhao didn’t rush to leave, but leaned against a tree.

Tang Wutong was a little curious as she looked at him. She asked, “What are you doing?”

Huo Yuhao placed his index ﬁnger on his lips and gestured to her, “Shh!” After this, he called her over with his hand.

Tang Wutong walked in front of him, and became even more puzzled.

Huo Yuhao pulled her to his side and let her lean on his shoulder. He gently caressed her pinkish-blue hair. He also shared his spiritual world with her using his Spiritual Detection Sharing.

Spiritual Detection Sharing? Tang Wutong had the feeling that Huo Yuhao was acting weirdly. However, her eyes unwittingly opened wide in the next instant.

This…

His spiritual senses extended without any boundaries. This wasn’t very strange. However, joyous and gentle undulations

were nourishing her spiritual world within his spiritual senses.

There seemed to be countless little living spirits that were telling her how beautiful the world was. They were telling her about themselves. Her spiritual power fused into that ocean of joy, while her spiritual senses also spread outward.

It was a beautiful feeling. Tang Wutong’s spiritual power wasn’t as strong as Huo Yuhao’s. This was why she felt it more deeply as she was immersed in this world. Her own spiritual power was also enhanced amidst this feeling.

If it were someone else, Huo Yuhao might not have been able to do this. After all, he couldn’t share the minor changes in his spiritual world with anyone else. However, Tang Wutong was different. Their martial souls were compatible, and they even had Haodong Power. They were very closely connected. This was why he and Tang Wutong were like a single entity when he completely let go of his body. It was as if they had unleashed the Raiment of Light and summoned the Goddess of Light. In this situation, Tang Wutong could clearly sense everything that he sensed.

As time passed, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong seemed to fuse with their surroundings. They became a part of the plants around them. If one didn’t use their eyes to see, it would be impossible to detect their auras at all.

When Tang Wutong reopened her eyes, the sky was already hazily bright. The chirping and buzzing of birds and bugs became much softer. The forest was moist as dew formed. It was dawn.

Huo Yuhao opened his eyes along with her. The two of them looked at each other and revealed grins on their faces. They were so telepathic that they didn’t need to communicate with words anymore.

In just a few hours, Tang Wutong seemed to have completely changed. She improved signiﬁcantly after her spiritual world completely fused with the world of plants.

Cultivating under such a circumstance was equivalent to receiving the help of countless plants. At the same time, their spiritual power was helping the plants too. These plants that cultivated along with them were deﬁnitely more likely to

become plant-type soul beasts in the future, and develop their own sentience and intelligence.

Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong took out their dry rations and ate a simple meal. After this, they continued on their journey. Through his observation of the outside world using his spiritual power that was connected to the plants, Huo Yuhao had determined that the surrounding environment was safe.

After ﬂying for a while, Tang Wutong revealed a strange look. “Aren’t we returning? This place doesn’t seem right.” The direction they should be taking to return was supposed to be east, but Huo Yuhao was clearly dragging her to the west.

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “I want to give eldest senior a surprise. That’s why I didn’t mention this earlier. You’ll know later.”

Tang Wutong pursed her lips, but didn’t probe further. She shut her eyes and let Huo Yuhao guide her as they ﬂew, and she continued to understand the feeling that those plants gave her last night.

Such an enhancement was extremely important to her. She was already a Titled Douluo. If she wanted to further improve her cultivation, it was very critical for her to raise her spiritual cultivation. This would deﬁnitely speed up the increase of her abilities.

They proceeded west, and went around Radiant City. Although aerial surveillance soul tools occasionally appeared where they passed, Huo Yuhao would always be able to ﬁnd them beforehand. His spiritual power was very strong. He was in fact the strongest surveillance soul tool in the world right now. There was no need for him to worry about being found out.

They made a round from the west before making one big round and ﬂying towards the south. Undoubtedly, they were getting further and further from Shrek Academy as they ﬂew in this direction.

After ﬂying for a good two hours, Tang Wutong couldn’t help but ask, “Yuhao, what are we going to do?”

Huo Yuhao laughed mysteriously and replied, “Do you still remember what happened last night? I want to bring you to

the place where I ﬁrst had that feeling. You’ll naturally understand when we get there. We’re almost there. Don’t be anxious.”

Another hour passed. Huo Yuhao ﬁnally proceeded towards ground level as he held Tang Wutong’s hand. Right now, the sky had already turned bright, and the sun was shining very strongly. The temperature in the south was much higher than in the north. Right now, the ground temperature was no longer low. Heat was quickly invading their bodies. However, Huo Yuhao exuded a cool and refreshing aura, dissipating all the heat.

Huo Yuhao guided Tang Wutong to the ground, and explained the situation. He roughly conﬁrmed their location before he laid down with Tang Wutong.

His spiritual senses extended once again, spreading outward.

Under the enhancement of the plants, it spread extremely far.

Not long afterward, Huo Yuhao stood up. Right now, Tang Wutong had a good idea of what was going on. Huo Yuhao must have had discovered something. Whatever he discovered

was undoubtedly very important too. Otherwise, he wouldn’t rush here at such a time.

He rose up, and didn’t use any ﬂying-type soul tools. Huo Yuhao pulled Tang Wutong and quickly proceeded in one direction. Very quickly, a mountain valley appeared within their sights.

“It should be here!” Looking down from the edge of the mountain valley, the cliff seemed rather smooth. Thick Bluesilver Grass grew everywhere. The refreshing fragrance of grass swept over with the wind. There were many varieties of colorful ﬂowers in this grass. They were beautiful. This ocean of grass and fresh ﬂowers spread all the way into the mountain valley. It felt as if it were embellished with gems.

Cerita silat IndoMandarin

Unrivaled Tang Sect Volume 39

Chapter 547: Repeated Blows

Chapter 548: The Spiritual Force in Plants

Chapter 549: Opening - Phantoms in the Sky

Chapter 550: The Attack Starts!

Chapter 551: The Retreat Starts!

Chapter 552: Activate the Guiding Cannon!

Chapter 553: An Attack from Shrek?

Chapter 554: Elder Kong

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