Unrivaled Tang Sect Volume 41

Book 41: The War Goddess' Terrifying Prowess

Chapter 564: Injuring the Beast God, Holy Ghost Blood Sea

The Sun Moon Empire’s military camp was actually designed with several considerations in mind. Every camp surrounded a single soul tool deployment area. The soul tool deployment area would then be able to activate its linked defensive soul tools to protect the camp when they were attacked by their enemies.

When the multiple dark blue hurricanes began to expand, they were already almost touching the linked defensive barriers. The four nearest linked defensive barriers turned dark blue within a few seconds. Even though they did not disintegrate instantly like the tents, the linked defensive barriers began to consume an insane amount of energy.

Every soul engineer within these soul tool deployment areas was frantically trying to inject soul power into their various soul tools. They were very well aware that they would have no chance of surviving if they were to allow the dark blue hurricane to sweep into the soul deployment area.

Huo Yuhao paused for a little more than ten seconds before he regained his ability to move. Even though his body was a little shaky, he was still able to stand up and stabilize himself immediately.

When he looked up at Di Tian in the sky again, his eyes reﬂected the fear in his heart.

After this recent breakthrough, he now possessed his second soul core. He could sense from his own soul power that he was deﬁnitely stronger than someone who had just become a Titled Douluo. He believed he was somewhere between Rank 92 and

93. In addition, his soul power had undergone a transformative change because his second soul core was formed from the Yin Yang Complement technique. Every single strand of soul power had been compressed, and his Ultimate Ice and spiritual power were now perfectly fused. His martial souls were no longer individual, and could fuse perfectly without any deliberate control.

Huo Yuhao believed his power now exceeded that of any normal Transcendent Douluo. At the same time, one must remember the Icy War God’s Armor on his body!

The boost given to him by the world’s strongest human- shaped soul tool was immense. After this breakthrough, he was ﬁnally able to fully control the capabilities of the Icy War God’s Armor, as well as some of the capabilities of the Morning Dew Dagger. These were the reasons why he was conﬁdent of

challenging Di Tian.

However, it was only after clashing with Di Tian head-on that Huo Yuhao fully understood why Di Tian was called the strongest individual in the world. His strength and abilities were still way above his expectations.

Just that previous blow alone was sufﬁcient to make Huo Yuhao realize how he had underestimated Di Tian’s power. If Di Tian were to have followed up that blow and pursued him, Huo Yuhao would have been dead by now.

Of course, Elder Xuan, who was watching vigilantly by the side, would never allow Di Tian to take action against Huo Yuhao. However, this was enough to show the enormous gap between his and Di Tian’s abilities.

He should be proud of his feat of blocking Di Tian’s blow at his current tender age. However, it was still not enough in Huo

Yuhao’s opinion. It was still a long way off from what he had expected from himself.

Huo Yuhao kept his gaze on Di Tian as he panted lightly. He slowly raised the Morning Dew Dagger in his hand as he channeled the soul power in his body into the dagger continuously. Following which, he circulated the same soul power back into his body as every bit of cold elemental energy was absorbed into his body.

Even though he did not have the help of his Spirits, the Morning Dew Dagger was able to make up for it. It was only after he had truly experienced its might that Huo Yuhao ﬁnally knew how powerful the dagger was. If he did not have the Morning Dew Dagger and the Icy War God’s Armor, which together had negated close to seventy percent of Di Tian’s blow, he would have died there and then. How could Huo Yuhao have taken Di Tian’s frightening blow, which was infused with darkness and spatial energy, on his own?

“Boom! Boom!”

Two linked defensive barriers shattered at the same time. Following which, everything within the soul tool deployment

areas was enveloped by the dark blue hurricanes.

It was important to note that there were ﬁfty thousand soldiers within each of the soul tool deployment areas. In addition, there were several precious soul tools and soul engineers inside as well.

However, their other protective soul barriers managed to withstand the hurricanes as the remaining dark blue hurricanes slowly faded away.

Huo Yuhao was confused as to why Di Tian did not continue attacking him. Suddenly, a mystical power suddenly emerged within the Sun Moon Empire’s military camp.

It was a dark red light which was extremely slim, yet very long. It suddenly appeared after the two soul tool deployment areas were destroyed. After appearing in mid-air, it stopped right above the two soul tool deployment areas.

Following which, countless enraged and extremely fearful avenging spirits started to gravitate rapidly to the dark red

light. The dark red light was expanding at an incredible speed before it formed a long spear in mid-air.

“Huh?” Di Tian was a little startled as he stared at the dark red spear warily.

Huo Yuhao was also looking at that long spear. He was naturally able to sense that it was aimed at Di Tian with his superior spiritual detection ability.

At the same time, Ju Zi, who was hiding in the core area of the camp, ordered coldly, “ Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion, get ready! Fire! Concentrate your ﬁrepower on Di Tian!”

Streaks of light started to rise from the Sun Moon Empire’s military camp as they transformed into a beam of the purest red light, which surged towards Di Tian, who was hovering in mid-air.

The reaction from the Sun Moon Empire shocked the powerful cultivators from Shrek Academy. They would never have expected the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legion to attack Di Tian. Isn’t that the same as seeking one’s own death?

Unless the Sun Moon Empire is able to recognize the need for humans to unite against soul beasts? That can’t be it. That is not something the Sun Moon Empire would do!

Of course, that was impossible. Right from the beginning, Ju Zi had been trying to get Zhongli Wu to attack Di Tian. Now, she was also commanding the soul engineer legions to strike Di Tian. There was only one reason for her decisions. She wanted to help Huo Yuhao!

Ju Zi had never planned to attack Shrek Academy. After Huo Yuhao had returned her son to her, revenge was no longer the most important thing in this world. In her eyes, the most important things for her were the two men in her life. One of them was Xu Yunhan, while the other one was naturally…

Hence, Ju Zi had already made up her mind the moment Huo Yuhao suddenly appeared on the battleﬁeld. She was initially not planning to make a move. After all, it was best for Di Tian and the Holy Ghost Church to be engaged in a mutually disadvantageous battle. However, she could not care anymore after seeing how Di Tian slashed his sword at Huo Yuhao. When she saw that, she felt as if her heart had almost stopped. That sensation was simply unbearable!

Thus, she did not hesitate to order her troops to attack Di Tian. She simply could not afford to allow Di Tian to attack Huo Yuhao again.

Of course, there was no one present here who could understand her true intentions. Even Huo Yuhao, who was involved in this whole saga, could not tell why she was making these decisions. After all, no one would have expected the Sun Moon Empire’s commander to make her decisions based on her feelings for a single man. Besides, Ju Zi’s orders had been given at an extremely timely moment. She issued the orders precisely when Zhongli Wu ﬁrst made his move. This seemed more like a combined effort with the Holy Ghost Church rather than a selﬁsh decision. Hence, no one would challenge her decision.

The reason why Di Tian did not continue to attack Huo Yuhao was because Elder Xuan was watching vigilantly by the side. On top of that, he was a little lost right now. He did not know what he should do to Huo Yuhao. While he was aware that he must not kill him, he was also aware that catching him would be extremely challenging.

The presence of the powerful soul masters from the Shrek Academy was bound to make things difﬁcult for him. On top of that, Huo Yuhao had already acquired his second soul core

using the Yin Yang Complement technique. If he were unable to put up a ﬁght, he would deﬁnitely be able to ﬂee successfully. Di Tian was not conﬁdent of abducting Huo Yuhao when he was also up against the powerful cultivators from Shrek Academy and Elder Xuan—an Ultimate Douluo.

Just when he was hesitating, the attacks from the Sun Moon Empire’s soul tools reached him.

Di Tian let out a cold grunt as he waved his humongous hand in front of him. Instantly, a black light formed before him. The black light was like an expanded dragon scale with pointed edges. It ﬂoated before Di Tian as it attempted to block the linked offensive soul tool attacks coming towards him.

However, it was only able to block the soul tools for a short instant.

The pitch black scale seemed to pause for a while as a look of surprise ﬂickered across Di Tian’s usually calm face. Following which, he instantly vanished from where he was. More than ten streaks of light shot through the black scale and tore the void behind him to shreds.

Di Tian reappeared a couple of hundred meters from where he had been. A frustrated expression had replaced the shocked look on his face. He could not imagine how these humans were able to become so powerful. The power of the humans’ attacks had already exceeded his expectations. What exactly was that

power? The total energy stored in the attack had already exceeded the power he had. It was simply too frightening for him. Was it possible for humans or a group of soul masters to collectively produce such power?

Back when he launched the beast wave against Shrek City, Di Tian had witnessed the destructive ability of soul tools. Even though he had been wary then, those soul tools were not as powerful as the ones he was witnessing now.

However, it was very different now. These soul tools were clearly able to threaten him. This was a frightening prospect for him to fathom. The existence of such weapons meant that the Great Star Dou Forest could be in danger at any moment!

The beams from the linked offensive soul tools did not disappear after penetrating Di Tian’s black scale. Instead, they swept horizontally as they tried to chase after him.

This was an opportunity that Huo Yuhao would deﬁnitely seize. Of course, he did not intend to attack Di Tian. He was going to ﬂee.

In a ﬂicker, he concealed himself within the air as he sped out of the range of the Sun Moon Empire’s military camp.

At the same time, he used his spiritual power to contact the people from Shrek Academy. Through his Spiritual Detection Sharing ability, he was able to direct everyone back to Shrek City.

Huo Yuhao was already very satisﬁed to have destroyed two soul tool deployment areas with Di TIan’s help. This was effectively equivalent to a tenth of the entire Sun Moon Empire’s troops.

In addition, it was good that Di Tian was now ﬁghting the Sun Moon Empire. Such battles were better viewed from afar.

The destructive ability of the linked offensive soul tools was simply overwhelming. Di Tian might be ﬁne if he were only hit

once. However, if all of them were to land on his body, even he might not be able to take it!

Di Tian ﬂickered around the sky as he used his mastery over spatial power to avoid the attacks of these linked offensive soul tools. At the same time, he lifted the Dark Dragon Sword in his hand.

These despicable humans! How dare they try to attack me!

They shall pay the price for their audacity!

At this instant, a deafening howl suddenly echoed in the sky.

A dark red light ﬂickered in the air.

When the dark red light vanished, the sky suddenly turned red. It now resembled an ocean of blood as red clouds surged in the sky.

Di Tian immediately tried to step into the space before him which he had opened up. However, he was shocked to discover that the space around him had been sealed. He was actually unable to break this spatial barrier to freely ﬂicker around.

It was during this short moment when the linked offensive soul tools started to sweep towards him again.

Di Tian was ultimately Di Tian. Even though he was shocked, he was able to react in time. He swept the Dark Dragon Sword in his hand horizontally as he ripped the space next to him apart. This was enough to absorb more than two-thirds of the linked offensive soul tools, while the remaining third landed on his body.

The black sun and purple moon suddenly appeared behind him again as Di Tian’s body paused in mid-air. After some of the linked offensive soul tools swept past his body, the aura his body was radiating instantly became overwhelmingly intense as his eyes lit up with a golden glow. It was apparent that the Beast God had been enraged.

However, at this instant, a ﬂash of dark red suddenly appeared before him without any warning as it pierced right into his chest.

It was a devilish looking, long, and blood-red spear. It was so frighteningly red that it seemed as though fresh blood was about to drip from its tip. What was most scary about it was

how Di Tian was suddenly surrounded by a sea of blood which immobilized him before the spear appeared. There was no way he could have evaded the spear’s attack.

This must be the thing that sealed the space around me! Di Tian immediately understood that at the ﬁrst instant. However, this red spear had simply caught him off-guard. At the same time, Di Tian was busy trying to deal with the attacks from the linked offensive soul tools. Under such circumstances, the long red spear was able to pierce into his chest.

Di Tian’s body was tougher than any known rare metal. Hence, after he was pierced, Di Tian released a loud cry as he swept his Dark Dragon Sword horizontally before him.

A painful grinding sound could be heard as the red spear was sliced in half. However, the tip of the spear suddenly drilled itself into Di Tian’s body. Countless vengeful howls could be heard echoing about in the sky. The blood sea was also fervently trying to consume Di Tian. At this moment, the linked offensive soul tools had ﬁnally stopped their attacks. Such powerful attacks were often incapable of being executed in a sustained fashion. Otherwise, the soul tools would overheat, and end up being damaged. However, they had

already played their part. The red spear was the real weapon that could actually harm the Beast God.

Di Tian’s body was trembling in the air as he furiously slashed his Dark Dragon Sword downwards in the direction of the Sun Moon Empire military camp.

The blood sea was forcefully ripped apart as a dragon’s roar echoed in the sky. The linked defensive protective barrier of a soul deployment area within the Sun Moon Empire military camp immediately cracked. A streak of purple-black sword light ﬂashed and headed for one of the tents.

A ﬂash of blood-colored light emerged from the tent instantly as it countered the sword light which was coming down on it.

Four of the twelve evil soul masters who were sitting with their legs crossed in the tent spat out a mouthful of blood at the same instant. Zhongli Wu’s face also turned pale.

Di Tian’s howl could be heard from ﬁfty kilometers away. He raised the Dark Dragon Sword in his hand before slashing it at

the blood sea. Another crack formed in the sky, and he crept into it despite knowing how the space around him had been sealed. Nonetheless, he disappeared into the crack.

The blood sea continued to ripple furiously as it circulated in the air in search of Di Tian. However, it eventually disintegrated after failing to locate its target.

A dissatisﬁed look formed on Zhongli Wu’s face. “How could he have ﬂed like this? Nonetheless, he has been pierced by the red spear, and must now be seriously injured. Follow me into the Great Star Dou Forest.” As he spoke, he quickly rose from where he was as he led a group of evil soul masters to chase Di Tian into the Great Star Dou Forest.

With their group’s ability, even if all twelve of them were to link up together, it was still unlikely that they could harm Di Tian. However, they had not only used their own powers for the blow earlier. They had borrowed the vengeance from tens of thousands of avenging spirits. Zhongli Wu had burned these spirits into the red spear that had pierced Di Tian. It was able to seal all the space around him in that instant and deal a heavy blow to him. Even though the spear was unable to penetrate Di Tian’s body fully, a part of it had successfully pierced through his body and released the frightening

vengeance into him. The frightening vengeance would wreak havoc within his body until he was fully consumed by it.

This was why Zhongli Wu was so eager to hunt him down. If they were really able to take Di Tian down, the Holy Ghost Church would truly become unstoppable. He would then take over Di Tian as the strongest individual in the world!

After witnessing this scene, Huo Yuhao, Elder Xuan, and the rest were able to ﬁnally heave a sigh of relief. The Beast God was ﬁnally gone. He would probably not threaten Huo Yuhao for the time being.

It was only after Huo Yuhao lifted his Icy War God’s Armor’s visor that Elder Xuan saw how pale his face was.

“Wah!” Huo Yuhao spat out a mouthful of blood as his body started to sway left and right. He was only able to not fall with the help of Elder Xuan.

“Let’s talk after we have return.” Elder Xuan supported Huo Yuhao with his arm as he mustered his soul power and brought

both of them back to Shrek City. Yan Shaozhe and the others followed behind them.

The battle which had just occurred had so many close shaves. At the same time, it had allowed them to witness the Sun Moon Empire’s frightening capabilities.

Even Di Tian could not gain the upper hand over the linked offensive soul tools with the power he possessed. On top of that, the Sun Moon Empire had the backing of the Holy Ghost Church. The Holy Ghost Church was even able to hurt the Beast God, and force him to retreat.

The people from Shrek Academy had not even found the time to celebrate Huo Yuhao’s success before they were once again overwhelmed by that demoralizing revelation.

Elder Xuan brought Huo Yuhao back to the Sea God’s Pavilion directly. When they came before the Golden Tree, Huo Yuhao knelt before it and prayed to it just as before.

“Teacher, thank you for lending me a hand. I have ﬁnally made a breakthrough, and completed my second soul core. You

can rest assured that I will deﬁnitely do my best to defend Shrek City, and stop the Sun Moon Empire from destroying our Academy.”

Elder Xuan, who was standing beside Huo Yuhao, turned around and hid his face from him. He naturally knew that Elder Mu would not be able to hear Huo Yuhao’s voice again. However, how could he bear to tell him the truth?

After paying his respects to the Golden Tree, Huo Yuhao stood up and returned to the Sea God’s Pavilion with Elder Xuan.

“How are you?” Elder Xuan asked. Even though both of them had two soul cores, Huo Yuhao’s cultivation method was entirely different from his. Even Elder Xuan was unable to use his soul power to see the condition of his body.

Huo Yuhao said, “I’m ﬁne. My body is just a little shaken after taking the Beast God’s blow. However, my body’s regenerative ability seems to have become a lot more powerful than it was previously. I should be ﬁne in no time.“

Elder Xuan nodded and said, “That’s great. Anyways, congratulations! You now ﬁnally own your second soul core. And it’s a second soul core formed from the Yin Yang Complement technique. I believe that you should be able to surpass me in no time, and become the number one soul master in our Academy. In fact, you might even possess the ability to challenge the Beast God. Di Tian must have come to look for trouble after sensing that you were about to make your breakthrough. Fortunately, we managed to tide over his attacks. In fact, I believe that Di Tian might also be in a sticky situation right now. Just now, I saw a group of evil soul masters heading in the direction of the Great Star Dou Forest. Di Tian must have sustained serious injuries, and now they’re going to hunt him down.”

A sly smile formed on Huo Yuhao’s face as he said, “Those evil soul masters have no idea what they’re getting into. They must be mad to even think about hunting the Beast God.”

Elder Xuan nodded in agreement. “The Great Star Dou Forest does not only have Di Tian. It also houses the Emerald Swan, the Bear Lord, the Myriad Demon King, and many other powerful soul beasts. Those evil soul masters might not be able to get the better of them.”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “I don’t think Emerald Swan and the rest can actually hold up against those evil soul masters. The collective strength and power they are able to draw from is immense. They must have absorbed the souls of the soldiers which were killed by the spillovers released by my battle with Di Tian. That’s why they were able to harm Di Tian. With the power that they now wield, they would be equivalent to a few Transcendent Douluo. However, they have probably overestimated the extent of the injuries the Beast God has sustained.”

“Oh?” Elder Xuan was surprised by Huo Yuhao’s words. “Is it not serious enough? I thought the attack was already pretty powerful.”

Huo Yuhao replied, “Yes, it was very powerful. It contained the vengeance of tens of thousands of avenging spirits, and possessed immense destructive power. However, it is also important to note that Di Tian also possesses Yin Yang Equilibrium soul cores. With these soul cores, it will be extremely difﬁcult for him to sustain heavy injuries.”

“Quick, tell me what’s so special about your Yin Yang Equilibrium soul cores, ” Elder Xuan asked curiously.

Huo Yuhao explained, “After the Yin Yang Equilibrium soul cores are formed, the power of the two soul cores will fuse with one another. If I were to phrase it another way, the powers would be reorganized, puriﬁed and compressed after colliding against one another. This allows my soul power to possess spiritual power and Ultimate Ice characteristics. At the same time, the brand new soul power will also take the form of a whirlpool. This whirlpool-shaped soul power was deﬁnitely the product of the fusion between my soul power and spiritual power. It possesses extremely destructive capabilities. At the same time, it is also able to compress my soul power to the most compact state possible. I can sense how the total volume of my soul power had increased to three times its original amount after I made my breakthrough. In addition, my ﬁghting power has increased to ﬁve times what it was before my soul power compression.”

“The brand new soul power produced by the Yin Yang Complement technique is extremely resistant to any external energy or power. Even though the vengeance from the spear was extremely intense, I believe Di Tian’s Yin Yang Equilibrium soul power, which he must have cultivated for many years, will deﬁnitely be able to dissolve the vengeance. Besides, his body is dark-type. Even though he should deﬁnitely be injured, his injuries should not be as serious as the evil soul masters have imagined. Those evil soul masters are really unwise to intrude

into the Great Star Dou Forest and challenge the Beast God on his home ground.”

After hearing Huo Yuhao’s explanation, Elder Xuan exhaled deeply. It seems like it’s really not easy for any soul master to ﬁght the Beast God—especially with the power he possesses!

Even though the status of soul engineers had been on the rise

—in fact, they seemed to be overtaking soul masters in terms of prestige—as soul tools continued to become more advanced, the most powerful individuals still remained at the top of the pyramid.

For example, the Beast God was deﬁnitely able to ﬂee no matter how many soul engineers were sent after him. No one would be able to hold him down. And if he were to go all-out and attack, he would deﬁnitely be more frightening than any soul engineer legion.

As he thought about soul engineer legions, Huo Yuhao suddenly recalled the short interaction he had with the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion. It was truly a force not to be meddled with. If they were to clash head-on with the Beast God, who knew if they could actually slay him? Huo Yuhao knew that he would eventually have to face the world’s most powerful soul engineer legion in the future when they clashed head-on with the Sun Moon Empire.

Elder Xuan said, “Yuhao, you’ve said enough. Go and treat your injuries. I will keep watch over you. You should consolidate your powers now that you’ve made your breakthrough. It would have been great if Wutong was around. Who knows? Both of you might just be able to stand up to Di Tian if both of you were to link up together.”

Huo Yuhao revealed an awkward smile as he shook his head. “I am afraid there might now be a problem with my martial soul fusion with Wutong after my breakthrough. My soul power has fundamentally changed, and might not be able to fuse with her soul power anymore. However, I think our martial soul fusion skills should still be usable. If she is around, I think both of us should be able to defend ourselves.”

“Where did this little brat run off to? Why is Wutong not with you at such an important time?” Elder Xuan asked.

Huo Yuhao replied, “Elder Xuan, I shan’t hide it from you. I have gotten her to go to the Dou Ling Empire and persuade the people there not to send their troops over to Shrek City.”

Elder Xuan did not seem to be surprised by what Huo Yuhao had revealed. Instead, he sighed and said, “Yuhao, do you

know what will happen if everyone were to know what you have done?”

Huo Yuhao lowered his head and said, “It’s really obvious that this is a trap. I really don’t want them to fall into this trap. At the same time, I know my actions will not be able to change the outcome. The Dou Ling Empire and Star Luo Empire will not be able to pass up this chance to cooperate with us and defeat the Sun Moon Empire. However, if they were to really come and assist us, I’m afraid…”

Elder Xuan sighed and said, “Even though Wutong was fairly emotional the other day, I could tell that what she had suggested was very likely true. However, you must understand that no matter how likely her proposition was, the Academy can never take such risks. This is because we simply cannot afford to fail. Hence, when such moments arrive, we have no choice but to prioritize the survival of our Academy.”

“Even though we were able to inﬂict some damage on the Sun Moon Empire thanks to your efforts, at the same time, we caught a glimpse of how powerful their army has become. Even Di Tian had no choice but to avoid a direct blow from some of their attacks. Needless to say, we would probably not be able to

withstand their blows either. If we were really to clash head- on, what do you think our odds of beating them are?”

Huo Yuhao nodded. “I understand your dilemma. Hence, I can only do what I can to improve the situation. Following which, I went into my closed-door cultivation and attempted to make my breakthrough in the hopes of threatening the Sun Moon Empire with my new abilities. Elder Xuan, once I have recovered, I hope to pay a visit to the Sun Moon Empire’s military camp.”

Elder Xuan’s eyes widened slightly before he replied, “Sure, go ahead. In fact, this is a good time to do that.” He did not bother asking what Huo Yuhao planned to do at the camp. After hearing what Wutong had said previously, he could roughly guess that Huo Yuhao and the War God Empress had a peculiar relationship going on. Now that the evil soul masters had headed to the Great Star Dou Forest, it was a good chance for him to ﬁnd her.

Elder Xuan personally sent Huo Yuhao to his room in the Sea God’s Pavilion before ordering his people to head to the Tang Sect and inform the people there that Huo Yuhao was well.

After crossing his legs and sitting up straight, Huo Yuhao’s mind returned to its tranquil state. Following which, he began to recount the collision he had had with Di Tian.

That blow from Di Tian must have been close to his full power. Even though his dark-type power was not particularly frightening, it became invincible once it was combined with his spatial power

The Yin Yang Equilibrium soul cores in his body started to rotate as small whirlpools of soul power started to circulate within his passageways, releasing a mystical sensation.

Even though Huo Yuhao had sustained some concussive injuries, they were not particularly serious because of his Icy War God’s Armor. In addition, he had fully absorbed the energy from the Dragon Pill. This gave his body strength and resistance which was beyond that of any human.

The soul power which was infused with his spiritual power and Ultimate Ice circulated along the path dictated by the Mysterious Heaven Technique under his control. After a few circulations, the injuries in his body vanished.

Even though it was unbelievably tough to use the Yin Yang Complement technique to cultivate one’s second soul core, it promised many incredible beneﬁts after it was completed.

Even Huo Yuhao was unable to accurately measure how much soul power he could control now. However, he was certain that he should be able to take on powerful cultivators like Yan Shaozhe one-on-one even if he didn’t have Tang Wutong with him.

Having a second soul core formed from the Yin Yang Complement technique granted him regenerative ability that was far beyond that of a Titled Douluo or Transcendent Douluo, who both only had one soul core. He had a massive advantage over them when it came to his soul power’s strength and ﬂexibility, as well as the duality of his soul power.

Di Tian’s soul power also possessed dual characteristics. However, his duality was a fusion of his dark-type power and spatial power. It was important to note that the spatial power did not belong to him. Instead, he had spent hundreds of thousands of years accumulating and experimenting to gain an understanding of the spatial power which surrounded him. Following which, he integrated this understanding of spatial power into his own dark-type power and used his spatial power

to replace his relatively weak spiritual power. Hence, Di Tian’s soul power actually contained three different kinds of power. However, his spiritual power was relatively weaker than the others.

Huo Yuhao knew that he still had a long way to go. Acquiring his second soul core was equivalent to opening a new door of possibilities. There was plenty for him to explore and look forward to.

While he had started to get the hang of how to use his Icy War God’s Armor, he had only come into contact with the tip of the iceberg when it came to the capabilities of his Morning Dew Dagger.

After all, the Morning Dew Dagger was an actual godly weapon! Today, the Morning Dew Dagger had already helped him negate a large part of the power from Di Tian’s slash, which had transcended space. Otherwise, he would deﬁnitely have sustained heavier injuries. However, Huo Yuhao believed that his life would not be at any risk. He could sense that Di Tian did not want to kill him.

Of course, he would not feel grateful towards the Beast God because of this. He was very clear why Di Tian did not want to kill him.

As nightfall came, Huo Yuhao gently stretched as he ﬂoated from his bed to the ground. As he stretched, his entire body radiated a powerful aura. It was as though he were a gigantic dragon

After completing the cultivation of his second soul core, Huo Yuhao had ofﬁcially stepped into the league of the most powerful cultivators. Even though Shrek Academy had plenty of powerful cultivators, he was deﬁnitely qualiﬁed to call himself one of them now.

Huo Yuhao took in a deep breath, and allowed the air to circulate within his body before exhaling. The air that escaped from his mouth seemed as though it had left his body in a spiral manner. Even though there was no soul power in his breath, Huo Yuhao felt as though everything around him was in his control.

After his ﬁght with Di Tian and the cultivation he had just completed, he had now developed a basic understanding of his

body’s current situation.

As of now, Huo Yuhao’s soul power should be somewhere around Rank 92. His actual soul power volume was closer to that of a Rank 96 Transcendent Douluo. However, his soul power possessed dual characteristics, and had been formed through Yin Yang Equilibrium. At the same time, his soul power possessed rapid regenerative ability, and was a lot more ﬂexible than normal soul power. Coupled with his twin martial souls, he would not even be at a disadvantage if he were to ﬁght with a Rank 97 Transcendent Douluo based solely on soul power. If he were to bump into powerful cultivators like Long Xiaoyao again, he still might not be able to defeat them, but he would not be powerless like before.

He was able to melt into the night sky by developing that intent. There was no need for him to deliberately execute a soul skill.

This was obviously an ability that belonged to a Transcendent Douluo. After becoming a Transcendent Douluo, one’s soul skills would fuse perfectly with one’s body. The soul skill would naturally be executed according to one’s intent. There was no need to deliberately release one’s martial soul or

activate one’s soul rings. The speed of the execution would hence be faster as the power of the effect became enhanced.

As he ﬂoated out of the Sea God’s Pavilion, Huo Yuhao soared high up into the sky before vanishing out of sight.

Elder Xuan, who had been meditating in his own room, opened his eyes as he revealed a warm smile. Elder Mu, I have found you a successor.

The azure sky was very clear. Perhaps it was because the battle earlier in the day had blown away all the clouds and mist. The night view was spectacular.

Countless stars decorated the sky. They were like sparkling diamonds sewn on a dark blue piece of silk. The view was particularly moving.

Because of the radiant moon, the night did not seem as dark and depressing as it would have been. The moon allowed Huo Yuhao to look far ahead.

While he was ﬂying through the sky, the sensations which were attacking his senses were completely different from before.

After acquiring his second soul core, everything seemed to have changed. His cultivation level, senses, spiritual power, and even his understanding of the world had become different.

If his understanding of the world was formerly but the tip of the iceberg, he was now capable of appreciating everything, and drawing out the universal laws that governed the patterns around him. He felt as if he could be in control of anything and everything around him, no matter what circumstances he found himself in.

This sensation was particularly special and pleasant. Even Huo Yuhao was unable to explain why it felt this special. He merely felt that even the smallest particles in the air could transform under his control and according to his intent.

And the original three-dimensional world that Huo Yuhao was familiar with now seemed to have disintegrated into isolated segments. After acquiring his second soul core, he seemed to have understood some ideas about the spaces and

the gaps between dimensions. Even though he was far from reaching Di Tian’s level, he believed he would be able to eventually attain a deep understanding of spatial power if he were to continue developing his understanding of this state.

He no longer seemed to require any soul power to ﬂy. It was as if the air had become a part of his body. With simple intent, the air would propel his body forward. Controlling the speed of his motion was also controllable by his intent.

Chapter 565: Abduction!

It turned out that he no longer needed a ﬂying-type soul tool after gaining his second soul core. As for his speed limit, Huo Yuhao gave that an attempt too. He was deﬁnitely faster than supersonic speed. Once he reached a certain speed, he felt that he was able to break through space.

It was only now that he realized that the Beast God’s ability to transcend space wasn’t very special. It was achievable once his speed reached a certain extreme, and once he was able to understand the mysteries of space. He couldn’t do so now, but he would ﬁnd a way to do it in the future.

The formation of his second soul core opened a new door for him. The existence of this door also gave him the opportunity to work towards the peak of this world.

He soon covered ﬁfty kilometers just as he was silently comprehending everything.

Huo Yuhao let all types of soul tools scan his body, but he wasn’t afraid of being discovered. This was because he was like

a part of the air right now.

Even the Beast God couldn’t do this, as he didn’t have Imitation. After forming his second soul core, Huo Yuhao’s Imitation had also reached a peak. It was no longer just simply imitating. It was more like a transformation. He could transform into anything he wanted to, including air.

The destruction caused in the day could still be seen. Watching from the sky, it was clear that one entire region was completely empty. Even from the sky, Huo Yuhao could still sense the aura of darkness and Ultimate Ice coming from that section. This plot of land would take a long time to neutralize these forces. Before they were neutralized, no living matter could survive here. Even any living organism above it was affected.

Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection was unleashed like a huge web. The entire Sun Moon Empire camp was covered. Very soon, Huo Yuhao found who he wanted.

He drifted down and landed in the base.

Ju Zi was distracted in her seat at this moment. There was an uncertain look in her eyes. One couldn’t blame her for feeling this way. She was still very confused.

In the day, she had watched as Di Tian stuck Huo Yuhao with a sword. That was also a very key reason why she was determined to attack the Beast God.

Everything that had happened afterward was under her control. The only thing she was unsure about was how Huo Yuhao was. He actually clashed against the Beast God. Although he was much stronger than he was before, would the Beast God’s attack have left him with serious injuries?

“Can I enter?” A clear voice sounded from outside, which caused Ju Zi to lift her head.

“Who is it?” After she asked, she subconsciously covered her mouth. This was because she realized that the voice didn’t come from outside the tent, but was ringing inside her head

“Whoosh whoosh!” A few ﬁgures quickly dashed into the tent.

“Marshal, what’s going on?” The people who entered were all dressed in ﬁery-red human-shaped soul tools. They were members of the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion.

Among the ﬁve soul engineer legions in the Hand that Protects the Nation, only Ju Zi’s thirty bodyguards, the team and vice-team leaders of the respective soul engineer legions, and the entire Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion were equipped with human-shaped soul tools.

These guards that were standing guard outside Ju Zi’s tent were all elites among the elites in the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion.

Ju Zi waved her hand and said, “Nothing. I might have heard wrongly earlier. All of you can leave now.”

“Yes.” While the guards were a little perplexed, they still retreated after performing a simple check of the tent.

Ju Zi returned to her seat and sat down. She gently pressed her right hand to her chair handle. Around the tent, a spiritual

barrier silently went off.

In that short period of time earlier, she had already known whose voice that was. Is he here? Is he really here?

“Ju Zi.” The voice sounded once again. Ju Zi was stunned. She subconsciously covered her mouth. This was because she was astonished to discover that Huo Yuhao had appeared in front of her without any warning.

“You…” Ju Zi was in a daze. Before she could even open her mouth, Huo Yuhao had already pulled her over with one hand.

At this instant, countless images surfaced in Ju Zi’s head. She subconsciously wanted to grab the handle on the other side. However, she stopped after her hand moved slightly. Huo Yuhao wasn’t restraining her. Instead, she stopped of her own accord.

A sorrowful feeling surged in her heart. Is he ﬁnally going to make a move on me? Has he made up his mind?

Ju Zi mocked herself and shut her eyes. She had many tricks up her sleeve to deal with Huo Yuhao. The tent was full of traps. If she used the installations in the tent to stop Huo Yuhao for even a moment, she was conﬁdent that someone would come to save her.

However, she didn’t do so. Rather, she didn’t do anything. At this instant, she even felt as if the shackles on her had been removed. Dying under his hands was probably the best relief that she could get.

Huo Yuhao placed his hand on Ju Zi’s shoulder. Following this, a pitch-black door appeared behind him. Lights ﬂashed, and both he and Ju Zi vanished into that door.

Ju Zi only felt that her soul had left her body. Everything around her distorted, but there was a weird force protecting her. Nothing in the outside world could touch her body.

And then, everything returned to normal. Ju Zi’s legs shook, and she found her footing again.

Everything around her brightened up. The air was slightly cold and sinister. When Ju Zi opened her eyes, she discovered that she was on a little mountain with Huo Yuhao. Not far from this mountain was a huge base. There were many soul engineers training there. The lighting here was also dimmer than usual, like it was night time.

Ju Zi was shocked as she asked Huo Yuhao, “Where are we?”

Huo Yuhao smiled and replied, “This is my place.”

“Your place?” Ju Zi was curious. She wasn’t afraid of dying in Huo Yuhao’s arms. Right now, she wasn’t fearful at all.

Huo Yuhao asked a little cheekily, “Do you really think I’ll tell you the secret of this place?”

Ju Zi shook her head and said, “Whatever. Why did you bring me here?”

Huo Yuhao laughed slightly, “For no reason. We are friends. I only invited you here as a guest. Can’t I do that? Let’s go and

get a cup of tea.”

As he spoke, he proceeded in the direction of the base.

Ju Zi stomped the ground. Although she didn’t know what was going on, she still followed him. For some reason, she felt that she would be in grave danger if she left his side.

Ju Zi wasn’t wearing any armor right now, only a red dress.

It seemed like she was a young but rich lady.

“Marshal!” The soldiers all came up to greet Huo Yuhao when they saw him. They were all delightfully surprised to see him.

Huo Yuhao and the others from the Tang Sect had been gone for some time without returning. Although there was food and water here, they were still very lonely. The three soul engineer legions were loving the war against the Sun Moon Empire. It was truly exciting. Furthermore, they were also very happy to plunder the Sun Moon Empire.

It was also their ﬁrst time seeing Ju Zi. When they saw her, they appeared very playful. Although Ju Zi wasn’t as pretty as Tang Wutong, she had a very special aura about her. This left a deep impression on others, especially her delicate skin. These soul engineers unwittingly took another few glances at her.

Huo Yuhao brought Ju Zi to where he stayed in the base.

Although Ju Zi kept on following him, she was still observing everything around her. Since she hadn’t died, everything here was very important to her. Being observant had become a habit that she followed in her life.

Huo Yuhao didn’t bother her, and didn’t stop her either.

After entering his room, someone delivered tea and some snacks. After this period of restructuring, this base was already very similar one on to the Douluo Continent.

“Please, enjoy some tea.” Huo Yuhao raised his own teacup and took a sip.

Ju Zi didn’t move, only silently sat and watched.

Huo Yuhao smiled as he asked, “Why are you looking at me?”

“Tell me, where is this place? Yuhao, I didn’t expect you to have such a big secret.” Ju Zi said with a serious face.

Huo Yuhao smiled and replied, “Didn’t I tell you earlier that this is my place?”

Ju Zi’s eyes suddenly brightened. “You can control spatial power?”

After hearing her question, Huo Yuhao was astonished. “Can you actually tell?”

Ju Zi groaned, “While I might not be particularly strong, you must not forget that I’m the Sun Moon Empire’s War God Empress. I’m always in touch with the most senior ofﬁcials in the Sun Moon Empire, especially their top soul engineers. In terms of my experience, I’m not lacking compared to others. It’s just that I don’t believe you can control such a big plot of

space, given your abilities. This isn’t just ordinary spatial power anymore. Even Di Tian couldn’t possibly create an entire plane that belongs to him. I understand everything now. The sneak attacks on the Sun Moon Empire were indeed committed by you. With such a plane and your ﬂying speed, you can indeed appear in any corner of the Sun Moon Empire. No wonder you were so difﬁcult to deal with. Even His Majesty was hurt by your attack.”

Huo Yuhao said, “So Xu Tianran really was hurt. It’s a pity we couldn’t kill him. Otherwise, the Sun Moon Empire’s army would collapse on its own.”

Ju Zi suddenly laughed. “I think so too. It’s a pity that you didn’t kill him. However, I have to tell you that the Sun Moon Empire wouldn’t be in chaos even after he dies. This is because I’m still here.”

“What if you were dead too?” Huo Yuhao’s voice suddenly turned cold.

The smile on Ju Zi’s face became even more captivating, “Don’t try to scare me. That trick won’t work on me. I’ve already seen through you. If you could really bear to kill me, you wouldn’t have brought me here. You would have killed me when we were in the tent earlier.”

As she spoke, she leaned on the sides of the table and stood up. Then, she moved in front of Huo Yuhao and looked at him, saying, “You can’t bear to kill me, right?”

Huo Yuhao was forced to move back a little. As he looked at Ju Zi, he felt very helpless. She was simply too clever! Yes, he wouldn’t have brought her here if he was determined to kill her.

“Yes, I can’t bear to kill you. However, since you’re here and have seen my greatest secret, do you really think I’ll let you off?”

Ju Zi laughed and said, “It’s not important whether I go back. The more important thing is, how will the Sun Moon Empire’s army react if I go missing? Should I analyze things for you? If you plan on keeping me captive, I would say that’s a wrong move.”

“What?” Huo Yuhao was a little astonished as he looked at her. In fact, he had really wanted to keep her captive in here. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought her here.

In terms of military matters, Ju Zi was an absolute genius. Without their marshal, the Sun Moon Empire’s army would be without a leader. When that happened, there was bound to be internal chaos. That would make them easier to deal with.

Ju Zi laughed and said, “If I’m around, Shrek City will be ﬁne. However, I can’t guarantee that if I go missing. I can even say that Shrek City will be in danger. Think about it. If I’m missing, wouldn’t Shrek naturally be the most likely culprit? Given that, the Sun Moon Empire’s army and my subordinates will ﬁrst think of attacking Shrek and asking for me.”

“If I’m held captive here, I can’t send any instructions. Once they can’t ﬁnd me, they’ll deﬁnitely enact vengeance on Shrek City. Do you really think that Shrek can handle our army? You should have seen how strong we were when we dealt with Di Tian today.”

Huo Yuhao said, “I can bring you back to Shrek City and make you appear on the city walls. Once your subordinates see that you’re there, will they dare to attack the city?”

Ju Zi laughed coldly and replied, “You’re overthinking things. In this world, there are at least two people who can command the army. One is my husband, who’s the current Emperor of the Sun Moon Empire. Once I’m captured, they’ll immediately send word back to Radiant City. My husband can even forsake his own son. What do you think he’ll do for me? Furthermore, that would only give him the perfect reason to

attack Shrek City. If I’m dead, he can easily ﬁnd another person to replace me. That person is the military supervisor of the Sun Moon Empire’s army, Zhong Liwu. You should know how vicious the Holy Ghost Church is. If I’m in the army, I can still suppress them. Once I’m gone, you should know about the hatred between the Holy Ghost Church and Shrek City. He can’t wait to lay his hands on Shrek City. When that happens, he’ll deﬁnitely activate all my subordinates to attack. In addition, he also wants me dead. If I’m dead, there’s one less person in the empire that can restrain him. Isn’t that a good thing for him? He can kill two birds with one stone.”

“If they can destroy Shrek City, those from the Holy Ghost Church are willing to pay any price. After destroying Shrek, they’ll strengthen their control over the Sun Moon Empire’s army and launch an all-out war. When that happens, who can stop them? Do you really think that the Sun Moon Empire’s army is better under their control, or mine?”

Ju Zi left Huo Yuhao wide-eyed in shock with her words. As he looked at her serious face, he couldn’t speak for a long time.

His reason for ﬁnding Ju Zi today had been very simple. He wanted to hold her captive to alleviate the crisis that Shrek was currently facing. At least he could threaten the Sun Moon

Empire, so that they wouldn’t act recklessly. After that, he could also judge who Ju Zi’s real target was.

However, Huo Yuhao hesitated after hearing her words. This was because every word she said made sense.

Ju Zi raised her teacup and blew into it. She blew the tea leaf on the surface away and tasted the tea. She revealed a relieved look on her face. “Drinking a cup of hot tea is really a joy. Didn’t you want to keep me captive here? You can go now. Don’t worry. I know this is your independent space. Anyway, I can’t escape. You just need to ask someone to send me three meals every day. I can’t wait for some rest. I really have to thank you. Go on, you can go. Quickly, return. Otherwise, things wouldn’t be great for Shrek if a master like you isn’t around.”

Huo Yuhao looked at how calm Ju Zi was as she sipped her tea. He sighed and said, “Ju Zi, did you know? I was almost tempted to kill you after hearing your words.”

The teacup in Ju Zi’s hand shook slightly, and she smiled. She placed the teacup on the table before staring at Huo Yuhao. “Alright! Do it then. At least keep my corpse intact after you

kill me. Please bury me too. In fact, I’m more interested in staying in your heart. If you kill me, you’ll be unsettled for the rest of your life. You’ll remember me forever then. I’ll be satisﬁed if that’s the case. Come on, do it.”

As she spoke, she had already shut her eyes. Her long eyelashes touched the bottom half of her face. She was abnormally calm.

Huo Yuhao only felt something stuck in his chest as he looked at Ju Zi. He slowly stood up. If he really wanted to kill her, would he have waited until now?

Huo Yuhao let out a long sigh as he left the room and took in a deep breath of the cold air in the demiplane. He knew that he had lost. Although he held Ju Zi captive here, he still lost to her eventually!

Ju Zi shut her eyes for a brief moment and didn’t move at all. When she reopened her eyes, Huo Yuhao was no longer in the room.

She also stood up and revealed a ﬁerce look on her face, “This guy has no conscience! To think that I risked ﬁghting the Beast God trying to save him. Hmph, guys really are jerks.”

After she ﬁnished speaking, she also laughed. Eventually, did he also not lay a hand on her?

She picked up her teacup once again. She didn’t leave the room, but continued to sip her tea quietly. After she ﬁnished her own teacup, she took Huo Yuhao’s teacup and slowly sipped on it too. She didn’t mind that he had used it earlier.

After the pot of tea was ﬁnished, Huo Yuhao returned to the room. When he saw that Ju Zi was holding his teacup, he was stunned for a moment.

“Ju Zi, what do you want? Are you really helping Xu Tianran rule the continent? You should know that this war will kill many people. Your family died in war. Why are you so intent on continuing this war?

Ju Zi turned cold. “I’m continuing this war? Huo Yuhao, ask yourself. If I wasn’t in this war, would it not happen? If I’m not

around, will the Sun Moon Empire lose its ambition? Without me, can you deal with the Sun Moon Empire’s soul tools? That’s right, war kills people. However, I can touch my heart and tell you one thing. At least the number of people dying in this war is the lowest ever in history when I’m the one orchestrating everything.”

“Things change in this world. The Douluo Continent requires a powerful nation to unite and rule it. Why aren’t the three empires as strong as the Sun Moon Empire? It’s because they are technologically inferior. A uniﬁed empire can use technology to the beneﬁt of its citizens. You should also have noticed that the Sun Moon Empire’s technology has entered the Heavenly Soul Empire after we occupied it. At the start, their people were still very resistant, and unwilling to listen. However, as time passed, aren’t they already slowly starting to recognize us? This is the charm of technology. People’s lives will only get better with progressive technology, and the future will also be brighter. That’s why I believe that a uniﬁed empire is absolutely necessary. Of course, who rules this empire is a different thing.”

Huo Yuhao silently listened to Ju Zi. After hearing her words, he gently shook his head. “We have different beliefs. We can’t watch as our empires get attacked. That’s why I was unwilling to face everything at the start. However, I’ll need to

face things eventually. We are on opposing sides. The Sun Moon Empire is very strong, but it might not be able to rule the entire continent in the future. The foundation of the three empires of the original Douluo Continent can’t be corroded so easily. If things go bad, the people who really suffer are the civilians.”

Ju Zi said, “You don’t have to say all that to me. We don’t have a consensus when it comes to this. I have no desire for power or authority. I followed Xu Tianran for revenge. However, my desire to exact revenge has slowly died down over the past few years. Now, I have a son. I must pave the way for him.”

“You’ve also seen how Xu Tianran treats my son. The last time, little Yunhan almost died outside. If you didn’t bring him back, I can’t imagine what would have happened to him. That’s why I must become strong and make my son the most powerful person in this world. I’m not ﬁghting for Xu Tianran, but my son. In the future, my son will become the true master of this world. No one can stop me. The only way is to kill me. If you are intent enough, I can tell you a secret.”

Huo Yuhao was stunned. “Using your life in exchange for a secret? What is it?”

Ju Zi smiled, and her gaze turned gentler as she looked at him. “It’s a secret you’ll never guess. However, you can only

know if you are determined enough to kill me. When you stab my heart, I’ll tell you.”

Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly. “You’ve already seen through me clearly. You know I won’t lay my hands on you. That’s why you’re so calm. I can’t even hold you captive right now. However, you’ve also seen this independent dimension of mine. If I want to intentionally cause destruction, the Sun Moon Empire will deﬁnitely be greatly affected.”

Ju Zi replied, “You can try then. Let’s see whether I unify the continent faster, or you cause damage to the Sun Moon Empire faster.”

Huo Yuhao furrowed his brow and said, “Aren’t you worried at all? Don’t forget that Xu Tianran was once hurt by me.”

Ju Zi said, “Yuhao, if you can do one thing, I might be able to delay the invasion of the Douluo Continent.”

“What is it?” Huo Yuhao was curious as he looked at her.

“Help me kill Xu Tianran!” Ju Zi exclaimed with the utmost seriousness.

“What?” Huo Yuhao hadn’t expected her to say this. “He’s your husband! You, you want to murder your husband?”

Ju Zi laughed coldly. “Husband? He was never my husband. Neither was I ever his wife. I’m only a tool for him to use. Or rather, everyone around him are like tools to him. This includes my son. Originally, I still had some feelings for him. I wouldn’t be here today if not for him. However, I no longer owed him anything the day he decided to forsake our son. In the near future, I must kill him. My son can only ascend the throne if he’s dead. All the problems will cease to exist as a result of that. That’s why you must kill him to delay the invasion of the Douluo Continent. I’ll only have the freedom to pull our troops back if we kill him. Of course, I still need to deal with the Holy Ghost Church after he’s dead. It’s also because of this that I won’t unite the continent temporarily. So what do you think? If you can do that, I can promise that no war will be waged in the next ten years. You can also help the Star Luo and Dou Ling Empires develop over those ten years. Let’s see whether they can catch up to the Sun Moon Empire. If you can do that, this world will still be split into three.”

Huo Yuhao felt as if it were his ﬁrst time meeting Ju Zi. He stared at her, and couldn’t utter a word for some time.

Ju Zi had actually asked him to kill Xu Tianran. She was very unfamiliar to him in this manner. Right now, it seemed like she was only genuine when talking about her son.

“Ju Zi, I didn’t know you’d become like this. No matter what, Xu Tianran is the father of your son! Although I really wish for him to die, you shouldn’t. I don’t want you to become a cold- blooded creature.”

Ju Zi laughed coldly. “Father of my son? If that’s the case, would he have laid his hands on his son? Although I’m not a good person, I’m a person of ﬂesh and blood. I’m a real woman. However, Xu Tianran isn’t a real man. He didn’t just lose his legs when he was attacked by his biological younger brother. He also lost his manhood. My son is mine. He has no relation to Xu Tianran. To have a Crown Prince and stabilize his throne, he forced me to artiﬁcially inseminate a kid. Did you know that? Do you know how much I’ve suffered over these years?”

Tears ﬂowed as she laughed coldly. Ju Zi was shaking uncontrollably.

Huo Yuhao was also in a daze. Of course he didn’t know that she had suffered so much.

Xu Tianran and Ju Zi were actually only husband and wife in name. He had even forced Ju Zi to artiﬁcially inseminate herself. This had to be the Sun Moon Empire’s greatest secret. If it spread, both Xu Tianran and Ju Zi would be doomed.

However, Huo Yuhao wasn’t thinking about this. He only realized why Ju Zi hated Xu Tianran. A man, who was her husband, actually let her inseminate herself with some other guy’s semen. How cruel was this? To a woman, this was even more cruel.

“I’m sorry, Ju Zi. I didn’t know.”

Ju Zi took a few steps forward and came in front of him. She lifted her head to look at him. Right now, both of them were less than thirty centimeters apart.

“I don’t need you to apologize. Although I hate Xu Tianran, I love my son. That’s why you can help me kill Xu Tianran, if that’s possible. However, you must never harm little Yunhan. If you can do this, I don’t need you to care about anything else. I’ll think of a way to stop the Sun Moon Empire from waging a war for the next ten years. What do you think?”

Huo Yuhao was really moved. The Star Luo and Dou Ling Empires could achieve a lot in ten years. Although there was still a huge gap between these two empires and the Sun Moon Empire in terms of soul tool technology, they had the opportunity to catch up if they had ten years to plan and prepare. After ten years, he would also become stronger. When that happened, he could possibly control the entire war.

However, this matter involved many things. Huo Yuhao was still hesitant. “Let me consider it.”

Ju Zi nodded and said, “I’m not in a rush. However, don’t worry. No matter what, I won’t really attack Shrek City. You told me that the city is your home. Why would I destroy your home?”

Huo Yuhao asked, “What’s your true intention? Apart from forcing me back from the Sun Moon Empire, what else do you want if you are not intending to attack Shrek? Is your target the Dou Ling Empire or the Star Luo Empire?”

Ju Zi looked at him and smiled without saying anything.

Huo Yuhao looked at her. “Answer my question and I’ll send you back.”

Ju Zi sighed and replied, “So what if I answer you? Even I promise not to attack Shrek Academy, will those from the academy believe you? Even if they do, will you take a risk with the academy?”

Huo Yuhao furrowed his brow. “You’ve calculated it perfectly already!”

Ju Zi chuckled, “Yes! Am I not clever? However, I don’t really think I’m smart. If I were, I wouldn’t have let you get away back then. Then there wouldn’t be Wang Dong’er.”

Huo Yuhao turned his head away and avoided her passionate gaze. He sighed and said, “Come on, let me send you back.”

Ju Zi laughed, “What are you so scared of? I won’t eat you.” As she spoke, she took a step forward and came closer to Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao subconsciously took half a step back. He lifted his right hand and pressed it on her shoulder to keep her at arm’s length.

“Is she really that good?” Ju Zi asked as she stared at Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao silently looked at Ju Zi, but he didn’t utter a word. When he was still learning in the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy, he didn’t know that Wang Dong’er was a girl. If he had known that then, he wouldn’t have been able to accept anyone else in his heart.

Huo Yuhao’s feelings for Ju Zi were complex. Indeed, Ju Zi was the ﬁrst girl to walk into his heart. It was just that he was very confused about that feeling. Then, Huo Yuhao had felt a

yearning in his heart. After this, he realized that his yearning was actually for Wang Dong’er.

Things changed with the passage of time. He was really dumbfounded when Ju Zi asked him such a question now. He wasn’t willing to harm her, but he couldn’t just speak blindly.

Ju Zi only watched him silently. After a while, her tears started to ﬂow. “Yuhao, I only hope that you remember that I won’t harm two people in this world – my son and you.”

Huo Yuhao shook a little. Given his spiritual cultivation, he could naturally sense that her words were ﬁlled with emotions. They weren’t a pretense.

He nodded gently before he revealed a long look on his face, “I’m really not willing to face you on the battleﬁeld. At least we’re still friends.”

Ju Zi asked, “Can you give me a hug?”

Huo Yuhao hesitated for a moment. Eventually, he opened his arms wide and gently hugged her . However, he didn’t pull her close to him.

Ju Zi pushed him away, “You’re really patronizing. But I’m happy enough.” After she ﬁnished speaking, she suddenly turned around and ran away. She ran outside.

Huo Yuhao quickly followed her outside.

As she stood in the base, Ju Zi looked into the distance. In the distance, the soil was barren, and there were still many hills. There was nothing green, and no sign of life could be seen.

“It’s really magical. I don’t know why such a place exists. I know you won’t tell me. I won’t probe either. Send me back. After I return, I’m still the War God Empress. Everything I told you earlier still holds.”

“Okay.” Huo Yuhao gently sighed. He didn’t recite any incantations before a pitch-black door opened behind them.

Huo Yuhao grabbed Ju Zi’s shoulder with one hand. Their ﬁgures ﬂashed. They crossed the threshold and vanished.

Chapter 566: My Target is the Dou Ling Empire

The light changed once again as everything seemed to have returned to normal. Huo Yuhao brought Ju Zi out of the huge black door as they returned to her tent.

Ju Zi turned around and took a last glimpse at the mystical sight behind her. Even now, she was still slightly startled by the experience she had just had. “So this is your deepest secret that you have been hiding from everyone?” she asked gently.

Huo Yuhao did not answer. All he did was stare at her as complex emotions overwhelmed him.

Ju Zi continued, “You’re still too kind. You had a great opportunity to kill me just now—or at the very least imprison me. Actually, I was not completely truthful earlier. If I am not around, the army might just attack Shrek City. However, with the power that all of you possess, you will still have a good chance of surviving our attacks. As long as you are able to withstand the ﬁrst wave of attacks, you might just stand a chance at defeating us. However, you have just let this chance

slip away. Now that I am back here, there’s no way you can catch me again as long as I choose not to allow you to do so.”

Huo Yuhao sighed and said, “I know.”

Ju Zi’s eyes widened in disbelief, and she asked, “Then why did you send me back?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “I couldn’t make up my mind. You’re right. I am just too kind. However, I hope that you will never challenge my limits again. You should not be overly conﬁdent about your abilities either. If I really have to kill you someday, you will never be able to run away from me.”

Ju Zi revealed a smile on her face. It seemed as though she was not worried in the slightest about Huo Yuhao’s threatening words. “If you really have this capability, you should kill that man ﬁrst. If you kill him, I will adhere to our ten-year promise.”

Huo Yuhao squinted his eyes as multiple thoughts ﬂeeted across his mind. He knew it was somewhat against his conscience to kill Ju Zi. However, he had no psychological

barrier when it came to killing that man. Nonetheless, would he really be that easy to kill? Huo Yuhao knew he had to take down the entire Imperial Soul Engineer Legion in Radiant City in order to kill him.

“I’ll take my leave.” Huo Yuhao waved his hand at Ju Zi before beginning to fade into the air.

Ju Zi was a little frustrated by his response as she suddenly spoke, “I will tell you who my target is.”

“Huh?” Huo Yuhao, who was about to leave the tent, suddenly stopped and reappeared. He turned around and stared at Ju Zi in disbelief.

Ju Zi stood up and walked towards Huo Yuhao. “Yuhao, believe it or not, I only called you and promised to tell you this secret because I wanted to see you once more before you leave.”

Huo Yuhao was startled by her words. As he sensed her affection for him, his mind turned into a complete mess.

“My target is the Dou Ling Empire. You probably could have guessed it as well. You were just unsure if your guess was correct, that’s all.” Ju Zi smiled.

Huo Yuhao stared at her and nodded. Following which, his body ﬂickered as he vanished into thin air.

Ju Zi stood where she was as a faint smile appeared on her face. It was as though Huo Yuhao had never left her. It was only after a good long while that the smile on her face faded away. Following which, she was back to her usual professional self as she returned to her commander’s seat. Afterward, she reactivated the spiritual barrier she had shut down as she started to ponder something.

After leaving the Commander’s Tent, Huo Yuhao soared up into the sky. Every single detection wave and ﬂuctuation from the surrounding surveillance soul tools was instantly tricked by his Imitation.

He only stopped when he reached an altitude of ﬁve thousand meters.

He turned around to look at the huge Sun Moon Empire camp beneath him. Huo Yuhao was a little disappointed in himself for not having the determination to deal with Ju Zi once and for all.

Even though she behaved in a gentle manner in front of him, Huo Yuhao could sense how scary she was. From the start till the end, he did not manage to seize the initiative in their interaction. Ju Zi had delicately used every weakness in his heart to her advantage. It was truly frightening to see such a woman as your enemy’s commander.

After all, she was not called the War God Empress for nothing!

Huo Yuhao felt that the scariest part about Ju Zi was how she had only spoken the truth. Her rigorous analysis of her schemes and how her opponents would react had forced him to dismiss any ideas of imprisoning her.

It would deﬁnitely be more challenging to fend off an enraged Sun Moon Empire led by the Holy Ghost Church than to handle a calm and collected Ju Zi. Shrek City could not afford to be involved in a head-on clash like that.

In addition, Ju Zi had a good grasp of what was on his mind. She knew where his limits lay, and how Huo Yuhao would deﬁnitely let her go after she revealed to him that she would never attack Shrek City. She had also accurately predicted that Huo Yuhao would believe her without any doubt. Perhaps this was because she had shut off the spiritual barrier and put down her defenses before him. She knew Huo Yuhao would never

attack her after she did all of that.

The air high up in the sky was extremely refreshing. After his short pause in the air, Huo Yuhao sped back to Shrek Academy.

Just as Elder Xuan had said, the only thing he could do after failing to convince the Elders in Shrek Academy was to stop Ju Zi’s operations.

After returning to Shrek City, Huo Yuhao headed straight for the military drill ground. Following which, he opened the Spectral Gate to release the three soul engineer legions back into their own respective training areas. At the same time, they brought out huge amounts of resources and rations.

These resources were sufﬁcient for Shrek City to set up multiple soul tool deployment areas within the city. With the addition of the three soul engineer legions, Shrek City’s defenses would deﬁnitely be improved tremendously. They would even be able to hold off the Sun Moon Empire’s all-out attack for an extended period of time.

After ﬁnishing all of these things, the sun had started to rise. Huo Yuhao headed back to the Tang Sect instead of returning to the Academy. He had already given instructions for the leaders within the soul engineer legions to submit their reports on the progress of their tasks at the military drill ground to the Academy.

Huo Yuhao was surprised to learn that Bei Bei and Tang Wutong had already returned to the Tang Sect.

He could not care about disrupting their rest as he dashed to his room to look for Tang Wutong.

“Wutong, how did it go?”

Even though dawn was only barely breaking, Tang Wutong was able to leap out of her bed to hug Huo Yuhao right after she was woken up. That was the responsiveness of a Titled Douluo!

After returning, she had heard about Huo Yuhao from the others. Even though the others might not be entirely sure what he had done, Tang Wutong had no trouble guessing what Huo Yuhao did while she was away.

In fact, she was clear that he had sent her away so as to prevent her from inﬂuencing his decision. If she was around, she would have deﬁnitely not allowed him to cultivate his second soul core with the Yin Yang Complement technique at this critical time.

“Bang!” The power of the seal was absolutely frightening. While Tang Wutong was hugging Huo Yuhao tightly, Huo Yuhao was not spared by the seal. The seal forced him away from Tang Wutong and threw him across the room.

Huo Yuhao was forced into the wall before he slid down and landed on the ﬂoor. He was exasperated to discover how powerful his future father-in-law’s seal was. The seal was actually able to adjust its power based on his current strength.

Even though he now possessed two soul cores, he still felt a lot of pain after being tossed aside by the seal. At this instant, Huo Yuhao started to question how powerful his future father- in-law exactly was. His seal was so powerful that it could adjust its power based on the other person’s ability. It was important to note that Huo Yuhao could even ﬂee successfully from an Ultimate Douluo. However, he stood no chance against the seal at all. He had thought that he would be able to hug Wutong properly now, but it seemed like he was still a long way from being able to do that!

Tang Wutong let out a cold grunt and said, “I hugged you because I was very worried about you. But you deserve to be tossed aside by the seal. How dare you attempt to force a breakthrough when I’m not around? Have you ever considered my feelings? What should I do if you had failed?” As she spoke, her eyes started to turn red as tears welled up in them.

Following which, Tang Wutong sniffed a few times before racing forward to Huo Yuhao. She picked him up before snifﬁng his body.

Shit! Huo Yuhao started to panic, but he ensured that his anxiety did not show on his face.

“Explain.” Tang Wutong let out a burst of cold laughter as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. He could see the rage within the violet pupils of her eyes.

Huo Yuhao’s heart skipped a beat as he tried to squeeze out a reply. “Weren’t we talking about serious matters? How did it go with the Dou Ling Empire? Any news from them? Did they listen to what you had to say? Did you manage to ﬁnd the Heavenly Sun Douluo?”

Tang Wutong pouted and said, “I managed to ﬁnd the Heavenly Sun Douluo and passed your message to him. But it was apparent that they were not persuaded by my words. In fact, elite troops from the Dou Ling Empire are already on their way to Shrek City. They should be here by tomorrow at the latest. When I reached their empire, they had already dispatched their elite troops. They had sent four soul master legions and two hundred troops in total.”

Huo Yuhao facepalmed and exclaimed, “Shit! Ju Zi’s planning to attack Dou Ling Empire.”

After hearing his words, Tang Wutong showed a serious expression as she asked, “Explain yourself. Why is there a perfumed scent on your body?”

Huo Yuhao sighed as he lowered his head and started sharing how he had planned to abduct Ju Zi, but ended up being persuaded by her. He did not dare to hide anything from Tang Wutong. After all, her big round eyes seemed as though they could see through any of his lies—even if they were white lies. Hence, he decided that it was better for him to be truthful than to be caught lying. After all, that would be detrimental for their relationship. On top of that, Huo Yuhao did not think he had been unfaithful towards her!

Tang Wutong was visibly angrier after hearing his explanation.

“So you hugged just because she asked you to?”

“I only hugged her shoulders lightly!”

“That’s still wrong.”

“I can’t believe how unreasonable women become once they’re jealous!”

“So what if I’m unreasonable? Go and ﬁnd her if you want. Who knows? She might order her troops to retreat if you promise to marry her. In fact, they might even turn around and overthrow Xu Tianran. You would have effectively saved all of us!” Tang Wutong replied sarcastically.

Huo Yuhao sighed and said, “Alright, I was wrong. I will deﬁnitely bring you along the next time I look for her.”

“You must be punished if you have done something wrong.” Tang Wutong glared coldly at him.

“I need to be punished? I have already admitted that I was wrong.” Huo Yuhao looked at her with innocent eyes.

Tang Wutong suddenly pounced on him and gave him a deep and intense kiss.

Huo Yuhao’s eyes widened as a warm and beautiful sensation traveled straight into his brain. His mind immediately went completely blank. Even his Yin Ying Complement soul cores seemed to be powerless in this situation.

Following which, it was needless to say that he ended up in the wall again.

Huo Yuhao experienced an inexplicably blissful feeling when he was sliding down from the wall again. Ultimately, his Yin Yang Complement soul cores were still very useful. The pain he felt from being thrown by the seal disappeared much faster than before. The pain was nothing if he could be kissed like this all the time. No matter how strong the seal was, he did not have to fear it, especially when his skin was now unbelievably thick after absorbing the Dragon Pill.

Hehehe! My future father-in-law, let’s see how much longer your seal can hold me back.

Huo Yuhao regained his balance and stood up as he ﬂashed a cheeky smile at Tang Wutong.

“What are you trying to do?” Tang Wutong could sense that Huo Yuhao had some naughty ideas in his head.

Huo Yuhao giggled and said, “Nothing much. I was just thinking that I deserved to be punished a few more times,

since you wanted to punish me earlier.”

Before Tang Wutong could react, Huo Yuhao pounced in her direction. Tang Wutong tried to evade, but Huo Yuhao was able to accurately determine the direction she was heading with his Spiritual Detection. Before she could ﬂee, he had already hugged her and planted his lips on hers.

“Mhhmm…” Tang Wutong was trying to break away from his clutches. However, Huo Yuhao was once again tossed away by the seal in the very next instant. The powerful seal had once again “punished” him.

This time round, Huo Yuhao leaped up before he had even reached the ﬂoor, and pounced towards Tang Wutong again. “Let’s try again! I need a tougher punishment!”

“No!” Tang Wutong had learned her lesson, as she immediately activated her Instant Teleportation Left Leg Bone and ﬂickered away.

However, just when she was about to reappear at another corner of the room, she saw a person with a sly smile before

her.

Both of them shared the same soul skill, and had formerly fused their martial souls. After acquiring his second soul core, Huo Yuhao had a much deeper mastery of spatial power. Hence, he was able to use his Spiritual Detection and sensitivity towards the spatial power around him to accurately determine where Tang Wutong would reappear.

Just when Tang Wutong thought she was about to be forcefully kissed by Huo Yuhao again, Huo Yuhao suddenly stopped in front of her and grabbed her shoulders. He said, “Wutong, let’s stop the punishment here. I have received news from Ju Zi that they’re planning to attack the Dou Ling Empire. However, as of now, we are unable to convince the Elders in the Academy about her plan. I think we have no choice but to make a trip ourselves. Is eldest senior brother back?”

Tang Wutong said, “He is back. I heard that the Star Luo Empire was a lot more receptive. They left some of their elite troops in their land even though they’re still sending some of their people over.”

Huo Yuhao said, “We can’t care about what they plan to do anymore. I will head over and send my regards to eldest senior brother before we leave. We need to head over to the Dou Ling Empire and see if we can stop the Sun Moon Empire from attacking them. Ju Zi will not be able to bring too many of her

troops, because she has to keep some of them here to preserve their ﬁghting power on the main battleﬁeld, and to continue deceiving us. She’ll most likely send her soul engineer legions to attack the weakest point in the Dou Ling Empire’s lines.”

Tang Wutong answered, “Alright. You can go ahead and look for eldest senior brother. I’ll pack my stuff, and we’ll leave right afterward.”

“Okay.” Huo Yuhao replied as he turned around and stepped out of the room. However, he suddenly stopped moving as he turned around and looked at Tang Wutong. He asked gently, “Are you tired?”

Tang Wutong shook her head gently and replied, “Nope. As long as I’m with you, it’s okay to be a little more tired than usual. However, just promise me that you won’t risk your life when I’m not around. Do you know how scared I was when I wasn’t with you during that period of time? I was so afraid that I would lose you when I came back only to ﬁnd out that you

weren’t here. I heard that even Di Tian came after you while I was away.”

Huo Yuhao brushed his hand through Tang Wutong’s long violet hair and said, “Don’t worry. I’ll never risk my life like this again. I only did this because I was conﬁdent that I could pull it off. Right now, Di Tian is entangled in his own affairs, and will not be looking for me in the near future. However, I must share a piece of good news with you. I have managed to remove the reverse scale that Di Tian planted on me during my breakthrough. Alright, I’ll take my leave. You can pack your stuff in the meantime.”

“Okay.” Tang Wutong answered as Huo Yuhao left the room and went to look for Bei Bei.

He was looking for Bei Bei not only for updates on the Star Luo Empire, but also because of Tang Ya. Now that Tang Ya was beginning her recovery process, her own Bluesilver Grass martial soul was naturally reawakened. However, she had not been able to completely fuse with the Bluesilver Emperor. After all, she had not yet reached a bottleneck in her cultivation, and could only allow the Bluesilver Emperor to become her Spirit when she ﬁnally reached Rank 90. Huo Yuhao was going to

check on her current situation. This was especially important since he had taken the Life Guardian Sword away from her.

“Eldest senior brother.” Huo Yuhao did not use his Spiritual Detection to check on the situation in Bei Bei’s room. After all, this would infringe on Bei Bei and Tang Ya’s privacy. His voice was not particularly loud, but it was still able to penetrate through the door.

“Eh? Little junior brother.” After hearing Huo Yuhao’s voice, Huo Yuhao was able to hear someone putting on their clothes in the room. Following which, he heard a dissatisﬁed female grunt. It was obvious that someone in the room was displeased with being interrupted.

It did not take too long before Bei Bei stepped out of the room. He did not seem to be tired at all. In fact, he seemed to have a radiant glow around him.

Huo Yuhao asked awkwardly, “Eldest senior brother, how is Teacher Xiao Ya doing?”

“Well, erm, she’s doing very well.” Bei Bei replied in an equally awkward fashion.

Huo Yuhao was deﬁnitely able to tell what they were doing. He suddenly felt that the predicament he shared with Tang Wutong was very tragic. My dear future father-in-law, when will you appear before us?

“I paid a visit to the Star Luo Empire, and the White Tiger Duke seemed to share the same sentiments as us after hearing your analysis. However, he believes that Shrek City is equally important. Hence, he still decided to send a part of his elite troops over while maintaining a tight defense at the Star Luo Empire. To be honest, the Star Luo Empire is collectively quite powerful. The Sun Moon Empire might not be able to take them down if they don’t mobilize their full power. He also asked me to send you his regards. I also shared with him how we managed to attack the Sun Moon Empire from its within. The White Tiger Duke said he also wanted to see if there’s any way he can deal more blows to them. He believes that we can’t wait passively like this any longer.”

“Alright, eldest senior brother. Now I am clear about the current situation. The Sun Moon Empire plans to attack the Dou Ling Empire. Hence, I am going to pay a visit to the Dou

Ling Empire with Wutong. If we happen to bump into any of the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions along the way, we will deﬁnitely crush them. I have brought all three soul engineer legions back into Shrek City. I will need your help to arrange them for the city’s defense.”

Bei Bei looked at Huo Yuhao and asked, “Little junior brother, I heard that you have become a Titled Douluo?”

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “I was very lucky to have made my breakthrough. Eldest senior brother, you can rest assured that as long as Wutong and I are together, we will be able to retreat safely even if we can’t take down our enemies.”

Bei Bei nodded and replied, “I have never found the need to be worried about the two of you. I will handle matters in the Academy. However, you might be a little vulnerable if it’s just the two of you. Should I get Sanshi and the rest to follow you?”

Huo Yuhao thought for a while before replying, “The Academy should be pretty safe for now. In that case, I’ll probably get them to join us.”

“Are you going to set off now?” Bei Bei asked.

Huo Yuhao nodded. “Time waits for no man. I believe the Sun Moon Empire’s troops must have already set off. The earlier we leave, the likelier it is for us to stop them.”

He understood Ju Zi too well. Even though she might have revealed her target to him, she had probably executed her plan already. It was likely that the Sun Moon Empire had made their move, and were entering from another side the moment the Dou Ling Empire’s elite troops left. Because the border between the Heavenly Soul Empire and Dou Ling Empire was very long, it would be difﬁcult for the Dou Ling Empire to defend against such an incursion.

Bei Bei asked, “Who do you plan to bring along with you?”

“Third senior brother, fourth senior sister, Brother Ji, Ye Guyi and Nan Qiuqiu,” Huo Yuhao replied decisively, “if we bring too many people, we’ll lose the element of surprise. I think just a few of us should sufﬁce. I will leave second eldest brother to assist Teacher Xuan with soul tools. Since he’s not going, ﬁfth senior sister should also stay behind. It wouldn’t be nice to separate them.”

“Alright. Let’s follow your plan then. Let’s go and get them to get ready.”

Fortunately, most soul masters spent a large part of their nights meditating. Hence, there was no such thing as disturbing their sleep. Huo Yuhao was able to get all of them ready within ﬁfteen minutes.

After getting Tang Wutong to join the rest of them, Huo Yuhao opened the spectral gate instead of getting everyone to ﬂy and leave. He brought everyone into the spectral demiplane so that they could continue cultivating in the campsite within the demiplane while he ﬂew alone. This would allow him to move faster than if everyone were to ﬂy with him. At the same time, the others could continue to rest in the spectral demiplane and keep themselves in their best possible form.

Huo Yuhao bade goodbye to Bei Bei, but did not inform the Academy of the details of his trip. Once again, he leapt up into the sky and ﬂew in the direction of the Dou Ling Empire.

After he ascended into the sky, Huo Yuhao closed his eyes and released his spiritual power into his surroundings. He was

relying entirely on his Spiritual Detection to sense the world around him. Flying was no longer an activity which consumed his energy. In fact, he could even rest and cultivate while he was ﬂying.

While he was ﬂying in the sky, he was actually able to develop a deeper understanding of spaces. While he continued to increase his ﬂight speed, he tried to grapple with the transformations in his body, as well as the changes in the surrounding spatial energy during his ﬂight.

Where exactly will the Sun Moon Empire strike? As the only Ultimate Soldier trained by the program, Huo Yuhao was going through the major cities on the mental map of Dou Ling Empire that had formed in his mind.

The city closest to Shrek Academy might not be the best location for the Sun Moon Empire to strike. After all, they could bump into the elite troops from Dou Ling Empire. If he were to try and rationalize what they would do, Huo Yuhao believed that they would try to strike at a place which was the furthest from Shrek City. However, the Dou Ling Empire was enormous. Where should he start looking? He knew he had to acquire some intelligence before he could make a decision.

Even though Huo Yuhao was able to allow his spiritual power to cover an enormous area around him, it was ultimately limited. He would never be able to scan the entire border of a country in a short amount of time.

While he was ﬂying in the air, he also gazed in the direction of the Great Star Dou Forest. He wondered if Di Tian had managed to defeat those evil soul masters. Deep in his heart, he actually wanted the Beast God to emerge victorious.

Even though Di Tian was against him, he only wanted the best for the Great Star Dou Forest, and for himself. Compared to the Beast God, those evil soul masters were a lot more vicious, and were terrible people. Huo Yuhao would be pleased if they were to die at Di Tian’s hands.

Huo Yuhao believed that he should seriously consider Ju Zi’s proposition if he were able to successfully save the Dou Ling Empire. It was ultimately a good deal for them if killing Xu Tianran could be traded for ten years of peace. The current Sun Moon Empire’s army was not something any empire could

defend against. There was another reason why Ju Zi chose to set up camp outside of Shrek City. She wanted a place for her troops to reorganize. If she really were to attack, everyone would suffer huge losses. Perhaps she meant it when she said that she was trying her best to reduce casualties in this war.

The thought of Ju Zi gave Huo Yuhao a serious headache. She had become increasingly frightening, and was now a full- ﬂedged cunning commander. She was no longer his dear senior sister.

Shrek Academy was at the intersection between the Heavenly Soul Empire, the Dou Ling Empire, and the Star Luo Empire. Hence, Huo Yuhao was able to enter the Dou Ling Empire in no time. Very soon, he was able to see the elite troops that were being dispatched by the Dou Ling Empire to reinforce Shrek City. When he looked down at them, he saw how the troops spanned the horizon. It seemed as though they were boundless!

Because he knew that he would not be able to stop them from camping at Shrek City, Huo Yuhao could only continue ﬂying in the opposite direction. He ﬂew northwards along the border of the Dou Ling Empire. By ﬂying in this direction, Huo Yuhao would have a good chance of discovering traces of his enemies.

In the Sun Moon Empire’s military camp.

A series of orders had been issued from the Commander’s Tent as the two soul tool deployment areas that ﬂanked the entire military camp moved out under the night sky. After leaving the main camp, they moved forward gradually by ﬁve kilometers before setting up camp and reestablishing the soul tool deployment areas.

After assembling these two soul tool deployment areas, another two units moved forward.

When morning arrived, twelve soul tool deployment areas were already completed outside of the main camp. Following which, the Sun Moon Empire army moved forward another ﬁve kilometers.

This meant that they were only forty-ﬁve kilometers from Shrek Academy.

They had simply moved forward ﬁve kilometers without giving any warning or showing any signs of belligerence. Their

actions caused the entire Shrek City to become increasingly nervous.

The city defense army had already been stationed on the city walls as they prepared themselves to face the Sun Moon Empire’s troops. The three soul engineer legions that Huo Yuhao had left behind were quickly dispatched to the northern city gate to set up a soul tool deployment area with the soul tools they had looted from the Sun Moon Empire. All sorts of supplies were also being transported to the different units.

The ﬁrst batch of reinforcements from the Star Luo Empire and the Dou Ling Empire had also arrived. They were listening to the orders issued by Shrek Academy. During such moments, both Empires had chosen to trust the Shrek Academy as they allowed the academy to command their elite troops.

Four thousand years ago, the ﬁnal battle against the Sun Moon Continent was exactly the same. They were able to collectively suppress the enemy and force the Sun Moon Continent to become part of the Douluo Continent.

Four thousand years later, the same scene seemed to be repeating itself. Both the Dou Ling Empire and the Star Luo

Empire were hoping that Shrek Academy could repeat their feat from four thousand years ago and defeat their strongest common enemy. Of course, the Heavenly Soul Empire’s remaining troops were also banking on victory to resurrect their empire.

However, the Sun Moon Empire’s attack never came. After moving forward ﬁve kilometers, they kept to their formation and stayed there. In fact, they did not even send out skirmishers to test the strength of Shrek City’s defenses. However, the pressure their troops had created after moving forward was still a lot greater than before.

If the more powerful stationary soul cannon shells were ﬁred from that distance, they could reach Shrek City. Hence, how could Shrek City sit and wait without making the necessary defensive preparations?

Elder Xuan and the other Elders from the Sea God’s Pavilion only heard about Huo Yuhao’s disappearance the next afternoon. However, Huo Yuhao had, at the very least, left three soul engineer legions behind this time around.

Because Elder Xuan could not bear to see Huo Yuhao’s reputation tank, he told the other Elders that he had dispatched Huo Yuhao on a secret mission.

In fact, Elder Xuan really wanted to believe that Huo Yuhao’s analysis of the Sun Moon Empire’s troops was correct. However, no one would dare to take risks with the fate of Shrek City on the line. At least for now, the Sun Moon Empire did not seem to be retreating anytime soon.

There were only three days left before the ten day deadline Ju Zi had given was up. The atmosphere in Shrek City became tenser than before.

More elite troops from the Dou Ling Empire and the Star Luo Empire started to gather within Shrek City as they prepared for the upcoming battle. The soul tools which had been manufactured by the Tang Sect were all being transported to the top of the city walls.

When both the Dou Ling Empire and the Star Luo Empire saw the Academy’s three soul engineer legions, they felt a lot more conﬁdent about their odds of defending the city. It was

almost as though they were able to see Sun Moon Empire’s defeat just by looking at them.

Ju Zi was sitting upright within the Commander’s Tent as she sipped on bird’s nest porridge. She seemed to be very carefree, as though she had already forgotten about last night’s incident.

Of course, she did not believe that Huo Yuhao would be able to do anything to stop her plans after she had revealed them to him. After all, the two soul engineer legions had long since left for the Dou Ling Empire while she was moving her troops closer to Shrek City. Now that the operation was about to begin, there was no way Yuhao could stop them in time. Most importantly, he would never be able to convince the people in Shrek City after she had moved her army forward by ﬁve kilometers.

Three days later, if Shrek Academy was still unable to turn Huo Yuhao over, she would simply give them a few more days. When the elite troops from the Dou Ling Empire received news that their empire had been attacked, she would then launch a feint attack.

Yuhao, Yuhao, do you really think you can achieve anything by yourself when you are ﬁghting against absolute power? However, I must say you are really the kind of guy I like. Your future is extremely bright—especially when you already possess such power when you are just a bit more than twenty years old. If only you could rule the Sun Moon Empire together with me in the future…

After ﬁnishing her bird’s nest porridge, Ju Zi returned to her tent as she sat down and began her cultivation. A gentler expression soon formed on her face.

Yunhan, how are you doing? Do you know how much Mother misses you?

When evening arrived, Huo Yuhao had almost ﬁnished ﬂying through the entire northern part of the Dou Ling Empire. He was only able to complete his scouting so quickly by ﬂying faster than the speed of sound. However, he did not seem to have gained any valuable intelligence from his scouting. He did not manage to ﬁnd any traces of battle.

The borders of the Dou Ling Empire were fairly secure. There were close to three hundred thousand troops stationed

at the border. On top of that, there were all sorts of surveillance soul tools deployed there. Even though their soul tools were still incomparable to the Sun Moon Empire’s, they were still a lot better than what they had had a couple of years ago.

The Dou Ling Empire had beneﬁted from having the Heavenly Soul Empire as their natural barrier against the Sun Moon Empire. Even though they were relatively weaker than the other empires, they were spared from the endless attacks the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Star Luo Empire had to face from the Sun Moon Empire for the past few years, and were able to develop substantially.

Huo Yuhao had already ﬂown to the northernmost part of the Dou Ling Empire. If he were to ﬂy any further north, he would be entering the Extreme North Ice Field.

Even if the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions were very conﬁdent in their abilities, they would never launch an attack on the Dou Ling Empire from the Extreme North Ice Field!

However, Huo Yuhao had not seen their troops at all throughout his entire ﬂight. This is impossible. Unless Ju Zi tricked me?

When he thought about this possibility, Huo Yuhao suddenly became very worried. If Ju Zi were to have tricked him, it would be a massive problem. There was no way he could ﬁnd out where her troops had gone. What would happen if she were to launch an attack on Shrek Academy now?

As these thoughts ﬂooded into his head, the ﬁrst thing that occurred to Huo Yuhao was to immediately return to Shrek City. However, he was soon able to calm himself down.

As he recounted the expressions Ju Zi had while she was talking, as well as her spiritual ﬂuctuations, Huo Yuhao could not believe that she was lying to him. All the signs indicated that she must have been telling the truth. But if that was the case, why was he unable to ﬁnd the troops that she had dispatched? Where exactly were those troops?

Huo Yuhao decided to stop ﬂying to think about the situation calmly. He landed before sitting down and crossing his legs.

He was trying to think from Ju Zi’s perspective. What would I do if I were in her shoes?

As my army closes in on Shrek City, forcing the Dou Ling Empire and Star Luo Empire to reinforce Shrek Academy, what kind of attack would be deadliest to either the Star Luo Empire or the Dou Ling Empire?

It was impossible for Ju Zi to dispatch too many troops because she had to preserve the strength of her front line. In fact, the news received from the remaining troops of the Heavenly Soul Empire had shown how Ju Zi was still wielding the same amount of power as before. This also meant that she did not dispatch any normal troops at all.

This meant that Huo Yuhao’s guess should have been entirely correct. Ju Zi must have only dispatched soul engineer legions. Every legion had a few hundred individuals, and they would be inconspicuous when compared to an army of a few hundred thousand people. Their departure would also not affect the soul tool deployment areas.

If she had only sent a single soul engineer legion, they might not possess enough ﬁrepower. Hence, it was likely that she had

sent two or three soul engineer legions. However, why were they not attacking the border? The Dou Ling Empire’s defense line was still complete, and there were no signs of any previous attacks. The Dou Ling Empire had somehow managed to send their elite troops to Shrek City while keeping their defenses in

proper order. This was about the best they could do. Huo Yuhao suddenly felt that he might have been thinking too much.

Chapter 567: To Behead the Sun Moon Empire

The uneasiness in his heart was growing more intense. He had developed an acute sense of destiny after gaining the power of destiny which had been passed on to him by the Three-Eyed Golden Lion. Hence, whenever he started to feel uneasy, it usually meant that something was actually about to happen.

What exactly is going on here?

Huo Yuhao slapped his forehead and asked himself what he would do if he were Ju Zi.

If they only had two soul engineer legions, it would be of little use to penetrate the Dou Ling Empire’s defensive lines forcefully. After all, they would not even be able to occupy and defend the cities they might conquer without any troops coming to back them up. No matter how strong a soul engineer legion was, the manpower it had was still limited!

Under such circumstances, they can only sabotage…

Wait, that’s it! They can only sabotage!

Suddenly, Huo Yuhao’s heart skipped a beat. He thought of a possibility—a possible action which he had done not too long ago.

That’s right! Ju Zi’s current situation was exactly the same as the time when he brought his three soul engineer legions to perform sabotage operations within the Sun Moon Empire.

The only difference was that Ju Zi’s soul engineer legions would not possess the ability to turn invisible. However, when it came to pure ﬁghting power, her soul engineer legions— which were all legions that were on par with the Hand that Protects the Nation—were deﬁnitely more powerful than the Academy’s three soul engineer legions.

Even though the Dou Ling Empire’s borders were fairly well defended, it would not be impossible for the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions to evade detection from their aerial surveillance soul tools. If that was the case…

Huo Yuhao suddenly understood what was going on. At the same time, cold sweat started to trickle down his back.

What Ju Zi had planned to do was very simple. She was merely repeating what he did in the Sun Moon Empire. She would not allow the two soul engineer legions to run around and perform sabotage operations all over Dou Ling Empire to create panic. After all, without the protection of the spectral demiplane, the soul engineer legions would ultimately be destroyed if they were to strike deep into the Dou Ling Empire on their own.

However, what if she only had a single target? In other words, what if she was only thinking of attacking a single city? How would that pan out？

More cold sweat started to trickle down Huo Yuhao’s back.

That’s right. That must be it.

Ju Zi was targeting the capital of the Dou Ling Empire! Huo Yuhao immediately ascended into the sky without any hesitation as he increased his speed to the maximum. He headed straight for the Dou Ling Empire’s capital.

There was nothing which was more fear-inducing than to destroy the capital and exterminate the royal family of the Dou Ling Empire.

Huo Yuhao had once attempted to do this in the Sun Moon Empire, but failed. However, this time around, the Dou Ling Empire had already sent their elite troops to Shrek City, and thus the defense within their capital must be very weak. Without their powerful troops and cultivators, how could they fend off the two soul engineer legions that were planning to launch a surprise attack on them?

Ju Zi, Ju Zi! You really are a very scary woman!

Once again, Huo Yuhao developed the thought to kill Ju Zi. Every single plan that she had formulated seemed so simple, yet so deadly at the same time.

Huo Yuhao kept accelerating as his ﬁgure transformed into a laser beam. Once in a while, he would disappear into space before reappearing somewhere far ahead. He was so quick that there were repeated sonic booms in the air.

Huo Yuhao understood that the chances of him actually making a difference had become very slim. If Ju Zi had already set all of this up before even setting off to Shrek City, her soul engineer legions—regardless of how many people there were— would deﬁnitely have enough time to head to the capital after inﬁltrating the Dou Ling Empire.

Of course, they would deﬁnitely not be able to move as quickly as he did back in the Sun Moon Empire. But so what? Their current speed would be more than enough. As long as they could disguise themselves on land and take the more obscure paths, they would deﬁnitely be able to reach Dou Ling City—the capital of Dou Ling Empire.

Even though soul tool development within the Dou Ling Empire had been very quick for the past few years, their aerial surveillance soul tool technology was still very lacking. It was impossible for them to dispatch a large number of aerial surveillance soul tools like the Sun Moon Empire did.

There were simply too many possible ways that they could attack Dou Ling City. Even Huo Yuhao could think of multiple ways to use the two soul engineer legions to deal a devastating blow to the capital of the Dou Ling Empire.

It was impossible for the soul engineer legions to not bring Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells on such a mission. How was the capital going to defend itself against such attacks?

As Huo Yuhao continued to speed through the air, he closed his eyes. He had always been losing to Ju Zi when it came to such tactics!

If only I could have ﬁgured all of this out earlier…

If this is about to unfold at the Dou Ling Empire, will the same happen in the Star Luo Empire? I hope Ju Zi didn’t lie to me. She better not do the same thing to the Star Luo Empire.

However, at least the Star Luo Empire still had his father around. Even if something were to happen to the royal family, the White Tiger Duke would still be around to allay everyone's fears. The empire would not be consumed by mass hysteria overnight. Hence, Ju Zi had made the right decision to land a devastating blow against the Dou Ling Empire ﬁrst. All hell would deﬁnitely break loose within Dou Ling Empire. And when that happened, her next target would be…

After streamlining his thought process, everything became a lot clearer.

Ju Zi's real target was ultimately the Star Luo Empire! When chaos broke loose within Dou Ling Empire, their troops would naturally return to their own empire. Nothing was more important than stabilizing their own empire from within.

Under such circumstances, the Star Luo Empire would lose a natural ally, and Ju Zi would then be able to go all-out on the Star Luo Empire.

As long as she was able to take the Star Luo Empire down, the Dou Ling Empire would not even be a problem. She should be able to get them to surrender to the Sun Moon Empire easily.

Besides, the Star Luo Empire was connected to the Sunoon Empire geographically. Huo Yuhao knew that the Star Luo Empire would have no chance of defending themselves if the Sun Moon Empire were to call their Imperial Soul Engineer Legion in for help. The Sun Moon Empire would then be able to sandwich the Star Luo Empire from both sides.

He did not have an answer to the problem which lay before him. This seemed too much like a lost cause. The whole of Ju Zi's strategy had formed in Huo Yuhao's mind. But he was unable to think of a way to counter it. At the same time, Huo Yuhao recognized that his realization might have been too late.

However, he knew he still had to head over to Dou Ling City. If he could reach it on time, he might still be able to rescue some members of the royal family.

Huo Yuhao's ﬂying speed was simply impossible. While he was still at the border of Dou Ling Empire at dawn, he was already deep in the territory of the Dou Ling Empire when the sun ﬁnally started to rise. He was getting closer to Dou Ling City.

However, at this instant, Huo Yuhao could sense continuous, intense soul power ﬂuctuations from afar.

It seems like I was right.

Huo Yuhao sped forward without any hesitation as Dou Ling City came into view. However, when he looked down to gaze at

the city, Huo Yuhao could not help but lose hope.

He could clearly see the thick, dense smoke which was rising up from Dou Ling City. The volume of smoke deﬁnitely could not be released by a few chimneys. Upon closer scrutiny, it seemed as though the entire city was in ﬂames. It was a truly frightening sight.

Intense soul power ﬂuctuations continued to radiate from that direction. As Huo Yuhao continued to get closer to the city, he started to hear the sounds of explosions.

While Huo Yuhao knew the exact location of Dou Ling City, he did not know where its palace was. However, how likely was it that the palace could be spared from the ﬁre that was spreading across the entire city?

Huo Yuhao's answer to that question was negative. He closed his eyes as a painful expression formed on his face. He knew he had arrived too late!

However, when he opened his eyes again, they ﬂashed with an intense murderous intent.

His body ﬂickered as he threw himself across the sky in a parabolic arc towards Dou Ling City. Huo Yuhao was able to see a large number of people ﬂickering within the dense smoke from afar. He saw a few familiar blue ﬁgures, as well as some ﬁgures that glowed with dark yellow light.

It was the Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion. Ju Zi had really sent out one of Sun Moon Empire’s Hand that Protects the Nation. The other soul engineer legion should also belong to the Hand that Protects the Nation. Dark yellow soul tools…? Could they be from the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion? The best soul engineer legion among the four beast lord- ranked soul engineer legions?

Huo Yuhao gritted his teeth as fury and rage ﬂashed across his eyes. He released his spiritual power entirely as it enveloped the entire city.

Since there was no way he could stop them, he planned to avenge all the dead people in Dou Ling City.

After enveloping the city with his Spiritual Detection, Huo Yuhao detected a sizeable area about ﬁfteen kilometers away

from Dou Ling City within an inconspicuous forest that bristled with soul tools.

The size of this soul tool deployment area was at least three times the size of an average Sun Moon Empire soul tool deployment area. From his Spiritual Detection, Huo Yuhao was able to tell that those soul tools were the most advanced models from the Sun Moon Empire.

The fact that the soul tool deployment area was placed in such an obscure position meant that they must have started attacking from that place. At the same time, the forest would provide the best cover and concealment during their escape.

So what if they were to lose it if they were able to complete their attack on Dou Ling City?

I must destroy their path of retreat.

Huo Yuhao could accurately sense the presence of about ﬁfty soul engineers stationed within the soul tool deployment area with his Spiritual Detection. On top of that, their linked defensive barrier was half-open. If something unfortunate

were to happen in Dou Ling City, they could at the very least defend themselves.

Huo Yuhao could not help but admire the wealth of experience that the beast lord-ranked soul engineer legions had. They had even prepared sufﬁcient resources to retreat safely.

Unfortunately, you have bumped into me. In that case…

Huo Yuhao landed quietly at a spot that was not too far from the soul tool deployment area. He silently opened his Spectral Gate and released his companions.

Before he even tried to explain anything to them, Huo Yuhao had dashed towards the soul tool deployment area in front of their eyes.

Huo Yuhao's Icy War God’s Armor immediately formed on his body as its deep blue glow fused with him.

While he was sprinting towards the soul tool deployment area, the soul engineers within the installation were unable to detect his movement with their surveillance soul tools because of his Imitation.

A thin streak of Mayan blue light which was not overly glaring ﬂickered past them. And at the very next instant, Huo Yuhao crept in from the top of the protective soul barrier.

A deafening alarm began to ring within the soul tool deployment area. However, was there any point in that anymore?

After Huo Yuhao successfully reached the linked defensive barrier, even ﬁfty elite soul engineers would be powerless against his enraged Eyes of the Asura.

Instead of using his Morning Dew Dagger, Huo Yuhao used his Ghostcarving Blade to rip apart the half-activated linked defensive barrier.

The Ghostcarving Blade had an immensely destructive effect on any energy form or object. In fact, it was more destructive

than the Life Guardian Sword in this regard.

After slicing the barrier with his Ghostcarving Blade, Huo Yuhao dashed into the soul tool deployment area. His Spiritual Detection had already given him the positions of where the soul engineers were.

As his body ﬂickered, he darted towards one of those positions.

After hearing the alarm, the ﬁfty soul engineers within the area had already reacted to it. All sorts of soul tools were radiating with their own light. The surveillance soul tools were already trying to pinpoint where the intruder was coming from.

Has the barrier been destroyed? The soul engineers who were stationed in the area were all shocked beyond belief. They had believed that the protective soul barrier was so tough that even a Transcendent Douluo wouldn’t be able to break it! On top of that, their surveillance soul tools did not even give them warning. How was that possible?

After that, they caught sight of Huo Yuhao’s ﬁgure as he appeared before them. There was no longer a need for him to use his Imitation to conceal himself.

The interior of the soul tool deployment area was also protected by soul tools, just in case it was breached by their enemies.

After showing himself, ten streaks of Soul Light Rays immediately ﬁred towards him. These Soul Light Rays were designed with extremely vicious intentions. They consisted of Penetrative Rays, Scorching Rays, and Decomposing Rays, a type of ray which was inconspicuous, yet extremely destructive.

However, Huo Yuhao did not even try to avoid these attacks.

He simply allowed them to land.

The Soul Light Rays could not penetrate the Icy War God’s Armor at all. Huo Yuhao raised his right hand and made a pressing motion with it as a golden light ﬂashed in his eyes.

A series of explosions could be heard as the heads of the eight soul engineers who were standing closest to him exploded instantly. Huo Yuhao’s current spiritual power was deﬁnitely on par with that of any Ultimate Douluo. Even though these soul engineers were members of the Hand that Protects the

Nation, they were only cultivators with four or ﬁve rings. They were like paper in front of his Spiritual Blast.

Following which, an intense chill spread within the soul tool deployment area from Huo Yuhao’s body. It was able to instantly envelop the entire area.

Those soul engineers within the area who were trying to attack Huo Yuhao could not help but abandon that idea as they mustered their soul power to counter the impending impact of the cold.

Those soul engineers who were weaker were frozen in mere seconds, while the stronger ones found their movement restricted by the extreme cold.

Chapter 568.1: A Surprise Attack within the Cover of Smoke

Huo Yuhao didn’t trigger Ice Explosion, because now wasn’t a good time to do that. This soul tool front’s soul tools were very advanced, and destroying one would be a sizeable loss. Huo Yuhao didn’t know how the Dou Ling Empire’s royal palace was doing, but he would still attempt to reduce losses as much as possible.

He took a step out and vanished into the soul tool front. He was two hundred meters away when he reappeared, next to an enormous soul tool inside the front.

Someone was just dashing out from this large soul tool right at this moment. He saw Huo Yuhao, and he was momentarily stunned before he raised his hand and ﬁred a soul ray at him.

This person was the soul tool front’s strongest individual, a Class 8 soul engineer.

Huo Yuhao grunted coldly. He didn’t care about that class 8 soul ray, and a circle of blue light rippled on his Icy War God’s

Armor before the soul ray’s destructiveness was completely dispelled. Huo Yuhao pushed out with his right hand, and dark golden light sliced across the sky like a rainbow as it immediately covered that Class 8 soul engineer’s body.

Golden light glowed as an Invincible Barrier appeared. Class

8 soul engineers had many different ways to protect themselves, and this soul engineer was no exception.

Even though he couldn’t tell who Huo Yuhao was, his status in the Sun Moon Empire meant he had seen human-shaped soul tools before. The person before him was radiating an intimidating and magniﬁcent aura, and was someone that he absolutely couldn’t ﬁght against. He activated his Invincible Barrier, and then activated his soul thruster at his chest before his body bolted backward. He wanted to run.

It was a pity, because his Class 7 Invincible Barrier that he had always been proud of dropped to the ground in the next moment.

The Invincible Barrier’s defenses were excellent, but a tremendous force still smashed it heavily to the ground. Five

shocking cracks appeared on the barrier’s surface, like it could shatter at any moment.

Five chilly waves coursed in from those cracks, and the Class

8 soul engineer hurriedly activated another protective soul barrier. Unfortunately, Huo Yuhao wouldn’t give him another chance.

Huo Yuhao tapped his foot on the ground and appeared in front of that Invincible Barrier. He pressed his left hand simply on the barrier’s surface before he turned and left.

The golden barrier immediately turned icy blue, and the person holding the Invincible Barrier had become completely motionless. He had become a statue of ice.

Empress’ Palm, Snowless Glacier!

Not even an Invincible Barrier could block Snowless Glacier’s extreme chills. Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice was at an unrivaled standard after obtaining his second soul core, and his Empress’ Palm resembled the Snow Empress’ glory during her strongest days.

Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection covered the entire soul tool front, and he didn’t discover any other living people. He swiftly reached the main control platform and withdrew his Ultimate Ice’s chill at the same time. Huo Yuhao opened the soul protective barrier and allowed his companions to enter from outside.

“Third senior brother, you guys will remain here and guard this soul tool front. Activate the linked defensive barrier and wait for my return. You’re coming with me, Wutong. We’ll take a look at Dou Ling City. The Sun Moon Empire has deployed two soul engineer legions to ambush the city, and I’m afraid they’re already in a dire situation.”

Huo Yuhao grabbed Tang Wutong’s hand as he quickly ﬁnished his speech and soared into the sky towards Dou Ling City.

Tang Wutong was the ﬁrst person to feel something different as they held hands. She realized to her surprise that her soul power couldn’t fuse with Huo Yuhao’s soul power like before to form Haodong power.

Huo Yuhao’s soul power seemed to become solid, and didn’t allow her soul power to enter.

Huo Yuhao controlled his ﬂight toward Dou Ling City as he explained his soul power’s current situation to her.

Tang Wutong frowned. “That means I have to obtain my Yin Yang Complement soul core before I can use Haodong power with you again?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m the ﬁrst human to possess a second soul core through the Yin Yang Complement method, after all. We can slowly try in the future to see if you can adjust so that our martial souls can fuse again. I think we can still use our martial soul fusion skills.”

“Yes.” Now clearly wasn’t the time to discuss this question, as they arrived above Ling Dou City as they spoke.

There were ﬁres everywhere inside the city, especially toward the city’s central areas. Flames burned into the sky as dense smoke covered everything, and nothing could be seen.

Huo Yuhao’s heart sank. Even though he couldn’t see, he could still sense with his Spiritual Detection! There was an enormous crater that was more than three hundred meters in diameter, and it was almost ﬁfty meters deep. All the structures around that crater had been reduced to rubble and dust, and judging from the buildings around it, that area was likely to have been Dou Ling City’s royal palace!

The Sun Moon Empire is so cruel. The Evil Tyrant and Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legions are so cruel. Since they are so cruel, don’t blame me for not being nice.

Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power erupted. His Spiritual Detection had been covering the city when he was breaking through that soul tool front, and all of the soul engineer legions’ members were within his detection range.

These soul engineers still didn’t know that their soul tool front at the back had been breached, and they were still wreaking havoc within Dou Ling City.

Dou Ling City’s surviving forces were almost completely wiped out. The thing that had bombarded the royal palace was undoubtedly a Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell, and those

two soul engineer legions were currently assaulting the city without any restraint. They were particularly searching for soul masters and soul engineers to attack.

However, they weren’t careless, even though they were very outrageous. The soul engineers formed groups of ten and moved together, and anybody who had the guts to resist were attacked with their full strength at once and killed. The soul engineer legions were also attacking several large buildings to destroy them and cause chaos.

Dou Ling City’s city defense army wasn’t small, but there were very few who were considered formidable. The Dou Ling Empire’s elite soul masters had all travelled toward Shrek City, while most of their powerful individuals had been inside the royal palace, which had been blown up, and the city had sustained heavy losses. How could they gather to ﬁght against two soul engineer legions at a time like this?

It seemed like the Imperial Dragon and Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legions had been holding back for quite some time. They had had to search for the blind spots in the Dou Ling Empire’s surveillance, and inﬁltrate the empire’s territory. They didn’t dare to cross any large cities, so they had to proceed through the wilderness and suburbs. They used their

surveillance soul tools to scout ahead bit by bit, and it was a long and hard journey to reach Dou Ling City. Today was the day that they had decided to launch an offensive.

If Huo Yuhao had been later by another two hours, these two soul engineer legions would probably have already disappeared after their feat.

Huo Yuhao stretched out his spiritual power as he pulled Tang Wutong and disappeared into the smoke. He was using Imitation, and he wasn’t afraid of being discovered at all.

A team of soul engineers swiftly crossed in front of them, and Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong followed them on a whim.

These soul engineers belonged to the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion. This legion was the fastest among the four beast-ranked legions, and Huo Yuhao hated them the most, because they had been the ones who had surrounded and attacked him and Wang Qiu’er. Wang Qiu’er probably wouldn’t have had to sacriﬁce herself if not for this legion.

Huo Yuhao was eager because of his hatred and resentment. He didn’t wait for long before he waved his right hand, and a giant Darkgolden Terrorclaw a hundred meters long cut across the sky.

These soul engineers didn’t react at all before the large claw slashed through them. They all had at least four soul rings, and were all equipped with automatic defensive soul tools. However, their cultivations were too low. How could these four-ringed and ﬁve-ringed soul engineers do anything against a Titled Douluo without linked soul tools?

The smoke became Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong’s best cover. Ten soul engineers perished from a single successful strike, and Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong started searching for the next group of soul engineers along the periphery.

These two beast-ranked legions’ soul engineers were still formidable. If they could gather and unleash their linked offensive soul tools, Huo Yuhao would still have to tuck tail and run, even with his current cultivation.

But they were too arrogant. They had already taken down Dou Ling City, and they had already worked together to take

out almost all of their strongest individuals. Seven Titled Douluo had perished under their linked offensive soul tools, and only then did they disperse to sweep the battleﬁeld.

These soul engineers had storage-type soul tools, and this was the Dou Ling Empire’s capital city. How could they not pillage?

Greed was a sin, and it was because of greed that they didn’t know that they had become the hunted.

Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection was all too effective at a time like this. He didn’t touch the soul engineers who had more than seven soul rings, but he speciﬁcally went for relatively weaker soul engineers.

Huo Yuhao wanted to kill them with one hit, so he didn’t give his opponents any chance to notify their companions.

Tang Wutong didn’t do anything from the beginning to the end, whether Huo Yuhao used his Darkgolden Terrorclaws or Spiritual Blast.

Huo Yuhao killed more than two hundred soul engineers in a short while.

The beast-ranked soul engineer legions were very strict in picking soul engineers. These soul engineers had to be strong enough, they had to be young, and they had to have potential. They had to go through tough training before they were cherry picked and enlisted.

Every beast-ranked soul engineer legion ofﬁcially consisted of three hundred people. Huo Yuhao had now dealt with more than half of a soul engineer legion, in addition to those ﬁfty back at the soul tool front.

The Imperial Dragon and Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legions had lost about half of their initial number.

But it was in this moment that both soul engineer legions’ leaders ﬁnally realized that something wasn’t right, because they couldn’t contact many of their subordinates.

They were still pillaging excitedly before this, but the legion itself wasn’t huge, and there were only so many people. They were also in enemy territory, so they were still comparatively careful. They would communicate with every small team leader after a period of time to conﬁrm everyone’s locations.

But when they were establishing communication once more, they realized to their surprise that many small teams weren’t responding, like they had gone missing just like that.

The two soul engineer legions’ leaders were running scared. They immediately gave the order to gather in the sky and take a roll call.

Dou Ling City was in ruins. The city defense army were still blindly defending themselves against the soul engineer legions’ attacks, and the city was full of agonizing cries and chaos. Citizens were holed up in their houses, and nobody knew when a stationary soul cannon shell would land in their homes. Their walls didn’t give them any security at all.

The attacks suddenly stopped at this moment. Shadows began ﬂying high into the sky one after another, and they were evidently gathering.

“I think they’ve realized,” Tang Wutong whispered in Huo Yuhao’s ear.

Huo Yuhao scoffed and said, “A soul engineer legion together is an extremely formidable entity, but if they are separated, they will die. The Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions have won too many victories, that’s the reason they’re so arrogant, and this hubris is an important reason why they’re losing their lives. Let’s go. We’ll obliterate them so that we can avenge the Dou Ling Empire’s dead.”

Huo Yuhao grasped Tang Wutong’s hand and drifted upward as he spoke before they bolted into the air like a ﬂash of lightning.

Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong became almost entirely like air with Imitation covering them, and they arrived at the soul engineers’ assembly point quicker than the soul engineers themselves.

Huo Yuhao could see six soul engineers hovering in midair with one look.

According to the Sun Moon Empire’s beast-ranked soul engineer legions’ organizational structure, every soul engineer legion had three legion commanders, one head commander and two vice-commanders.

These few should be their commanders. There were two head commanders, who were both Class 9 soul engineers, and there were four vice-commanders, who were Class 8 soul engineers. Huo Yuhao had already dealt with another Class 8 soul engineer back at the soul tool front. These two soul engineer legions had sent their best forces to participate in this operation.

Huo Yuhao held Tang Wutong’s hand and waited quietly.

There were more soul engineers ﬂying up from below at this moment, and they were all gathering at their assembly point.

Huo Yuhao didn’t move, and he just waited quietly with Tang Wutong not far from those commanders.

The six commanders’ expressions were becoming increasingly darker. There was no way they couldn’t, because there were far too few ﬂying up from below. Furthermore, they were mostly missing entire small teams.

These small teams didn’t even communicate at all.

The Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion’s commander was called Xia Xuanchen, and he was replacing the Manic Bull Douluo, Wang Yiheng. He was initially vice-commander before the Tang Sect dealt with Wang Yiheng, and was then promoted to head commander. His strength was still comparatively lower than the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion’s commander.

“Old Xu, something doesn’t seem right! We might be in trouble. Why are we missing so many people?”

The person he referred to as “Old Xu” was the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion’s head commander, Xu Tianyuan. He belonged to the royal family, and the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion was under many of the royal family members’ control. They weren’t entirely obedient to the

Emperor’s authority, and this legion could be considered one of the strongest forces that the royal family controlled.

Xu Tianyuan was also part of the royal family, and he should be considered Xu Tianran’s older cousin in terms of seniority. But the truth was, he was much older than Xu Tianran was, and his status was one of the highest among the Sun Moon Empire’s royal family. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to command the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion.

The Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion’s strength was second only to the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Legion. Their names were very similar, but they represented very different strengths.

The royal family was especially formidable when they came together for certain designations, such as when the many princes were vying for the throne.

However, the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion had always been rather neutral. They didn’t lean toward any prince, and their neutrality was the reason for their continued existence. They only served the royal family, and furthered their needs.

“Yes, something’s wrong. Why are we missing so many people? Can it be because those little bastards are pillaging until they’ve forgotten about discipline?” Xu Tianyuan himself found that a little hard to believe when he spoke of that possibility.

Xia Xuanchen forced a laugh and said, “That’s not quite possible, is it? Even if they’re off pillaging, it’s not possible that we can’t communicate with them. The small team leaders can’t be so shortsighted.”

Xu Tianyuan nodded as he lowered his voice and said, “If nobody else assembles, we will activate our linked defensive barrier and retreat. We’ve achieved our goal, anyway.”

Xia Xuanchen hesitated, then said, “But we’re missing so many brothers.”

Xu Tianyuan gritted his teeth and replied, “What can we do if our enemy has powerful individuals hidden within the city? This is the Dou Ling Empire’s capital city, and I believe news of this ambush has already been sent out. Reinforcements will arrive very soon. Since we have accomplished our mission and

we can’t afford to deal with anything else, we’ll retreat before considering other things. Safety comes ﬁrst.”

“Alright.” Even though they were both commanders of beast- ranked soul engineer legions, the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion’s commander, Xu Tianyuan, was the leader of this operation. Xia Xuanchen felt bad about his subordinates, but he had to be decisive at a time like this.

More and more soul engineers began gathering around them.

Xu Tianyuan suddenly developed a strange sensation at this moment, and Xia Xuanchen felt the same way.

They were both Class 9 soul engineers, and they had to be one of the better ones among their fellows for them to become commanders of beast-ranked soul engineer legions.

“Careful,” Xia Xuanchen growled before he swung his right hand, and a brilliant silver warhammer suddenly appeared in his grip before it blasted out into some empty space.

“Eh?” A faint exclamation could be heard as countless small golden hammers erupted from nothingness and expanded in all directions.

Xia Xuanchen’s hammer was very effective. The silver light diluted some of the golden light when the golden light erupted, but that was it.

Xia Xuanchen and Xu Tianyuan grunted before they ﬂew backwards, and blood ran down their mouths and noses.

The strength of the two beast-ranked soul engineer legions’ commanders were displayed at a time like this. In that moment when the golden light that had appeared out of nowhere erupted, both Xia Xuanchen and Xu Tianyuan patted their chests at almost the same time.

A formidable strength exploded forth from their human- shaped soul tools, and tremendous propulsion forces blasted out in circles.

These propulsion forces didn’t just propel them out like an arrow, but also propelled their vice-commanders and the other

soul engineers who had just assembled around them toward the periphery. They were like snowﬂakes and ﬂowers dancing through the sky for a moment.

Mantra Amidst the Void, Spiritual Tempest!

Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong’s ﬁgures appeared from the air. That previous attack was Spiritual Tempest, one of their formidable martial soul fusion skills.

However, not even Huo Yuhao had expected the Sun Moon Empire’s powerful individuals to react so quickly. They chose the best method to deal with Spiritual Tempest.

The two commanders had erupted with powerful propulsion forces that even Tang Wutong and he were affected by to a certain extent. The other three hundred soul engineers also instantly dispersed, and most of them avoided Spiritual Tempest’s area of effect.

But most didn’t mean all of them, and the heads of some thirty-odd soul engineers closest to Spiritual Tempest’s

epicenter exploded in the air. Blood spurted from the tops of their heads as their corpses plummeted toward the ground.

The four vice-commanders were stunned from that formidable spiritual shock, but Xu Tianyuan and Xia Xuanchen weren’t. Their human-shaped soul tools were Class 9 soul tools, which were equipped with strong defensive capabilities. Furthermore, individuals at their level were undoubtedly equipped with soul tools that could protect them against spiritual attacks.

Therefore, even though they took the brunt of the attack and also felt dizzy, they sacriﬁced two of their precious defensive soul tools meant for spiritual attacks before they forcibly protected themselves against Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong’s Spiritual Tempest.

Huo Yuhao trained his eyes on Xia Xuanchen, especially that silver hammer in his hands.

That silver hammer wasn’t a soul tool. Instead, it was a martial soul. A Class 9 soul engineer had actually used his martial soul at such a crucial moment, and this meant that Xia

Xuanchen wasn’t just a soul engineer. He was a true Titled Douluo at the same time.

There are truly many powerful individuals hidden within the Sun Moon Empire!

But Huo Yuhao didn’t stop. He was faced with hundreds of soul engineers, and any pause meant that his enemies would team up against him. He took this opportunity when both soul engineer legions were in disarray, and he and Tang Wutong pounced at Xia Xuanchen with a ﬂash.

The stronger their opponent, the quicker they had to destroy them. Furthermore, these two commanders were very effective at commanding their soul engineer legions. Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong had to kill them ﬁrst before they could come closer to destroying these two soul engineer legions.

Xia Xuanchen could tell that he was Huo Yuhao’s target when he caught the look in his eyes. Silver light emerged from his body as he released a Class 9 protective barrier.

Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong arrived in a ﬂash. A bright and crisp dragon roar rang out from Tang Wutong’s body as she punched at Xia Xuanchen’s barrier, while Huo Yuhao pushed out with his left hand.

Their attacks seemed simple and unassuming, but Xia Xuanchen’s senses saved him once more in that moment. He could feel the terrifying power contained in that ﬁst and palm. They seemed so simple, but they made him feel like his life was in danger.

Xia Xuanchen didn’t hesitate. Light radiated from his body as a crystal suddenly appeared in his hands. This crystal was oval, and about the size of an infant’s head. There were many intricate and sophisticated carvings on its surface, and it emanated majesty from the moment it appeared.

Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong’s palm and ﬁst landed on his soul protective barrier at almost the same time. Frightening spiritual power and soul power combined as an ear-piercing sound rang from the Class 9 protective barrier. Cracks appeared in the crystal, and terrifying chills and the domineering aura of Tang Wutong’s Radiant Dragon Butterﬂy ﬂooded into them.

Right at this moment, that oval crystal erupted with a layer of brilliant golden light. A formidable propulsion force forcibly pushed Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong backward, and that wasn’t all. The crystal stone covered Xia Xuanchen’s body with a layer of golden light that was shaped like an eggshell.

Xu Tianyuan’s eyes were overcome with greed when he saw the crystal stone in Xia Xuanchen’s hands. Of course he knew what that was. That was a priceless treasure for all soul engineers, even for Class 9 soul engineers?

What is that?

Huo Yuhao was taken aback. His Ultimate Ice was very penetrative, and after he gained his second soul core through the Yin Yang Complement method, normal protective barriers couldn’t block his Snowless Glacier.

But in that moment, Xia Xuanchen’s defensive capabilities repelled his Ultimate Ice, and also produced such forceful propulsions. That wasn’t something that typical soul tools could achieve. What exactly was in his hands?

“Linked ring, lock on!” Xia Xuanchen roared hysterically.

It seemed like he had defended himself against Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong’s attack casually, but only he knew what was happening to him. If not for that strange eggshell in his hands, Huo Yuhao’s Ultimate Ice would have probably frozen him

solid. Even though he probably wouldn’t die, his opponents’ onslaught wouldn’t just stop with that. He would undoubtedly meet his demise if his opponents were allowed to chain their attacks.

Even though it hadn’t been long since he took over as the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion’s commander, his reputation and inﬂuence within his legion were still relatively high. The Evileye Tyrant Legion’s remaining soul engineers quickly activated their linked soul tools as he roared his command.

This linked ring was speciﬁcally meant to deal with enemies who had broken through to their most important areas. Not even Huo Yuhao could deny that the Sun Moon Empire was still far ahead in terms of training and commanding their soul engineer legions.

Circles of blue light glowed one after another, and swiftly formed a circle as intense soul power undulations appeared.

“Linked ring, defensive barrier.” Xu Tianyuan’s reaction speed wasn’t slow either. He gave his order as soon as was possible.

The Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion’s quality was the highest among the four beast-ranked legions, and they moved equally swiftly. Xu Tianyuan’s goal was simple: he wanted to surround Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong. With their linked defense and offense, how could they not kill their opponents with over three hundred soul engineers working together, no matter how formidable their opponents were.

Huo Yuhao heaved a sigh inside. These beast-ranked soul engineer legions are indeed difﬁcult to deal with! If not for those soul engineers that we killed in the chaos before this, we might not have had a chance.

The Dou Ling Empire’s royal palace was in an irreversible situation. However, Huo Yuhao had to ﬁnd some way to obliterate these two beast-ranked soul engineer legions when they were detached from the main army, no matter what. But it was evident that he couldn’t do so now. Even Ultimate Douluo had to avoid two soul engineer legions who had completed their linkup.

A large black door appeared. Huo Yuhao no longer needed any incantations to open a single spectral gate, and he could almost do so immediately.

Huo Yuhao held Tang Wutong’s hand as they disappeared into the spectral gate with a ﬂash.

They could be chased by linked attacks if they ran away, while running out of the linked defense may not be completely safe. Any kind of concealment soul skills would be futile if those linked attacks were executed over an area.

But what Huo Yuhao did, when he escaped into another plane, not even the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Legion could do anything to them, not to mention these two soul engineer legions.

Xia Xuanchen ﬂew next to Xu Tianyuan with a tinge of fear in his heart as he wiped cold sweat from his forehead.

“That was close. They’re extremely powerful, and what’s more frightening is that they have concealment abilities,” Xia Xuanchen said to Xu Tianyuan.

Xu Tianyuan glanced at the oval crystal in his Xia Xuanchen’s hand. He frowned and said, “I’m more worried about that

escape ability that they just displayed. Their auras vanished into thin air. Can that be spatial power? But only Ultimate Douluo can master spatial power. Since when has the Dou Ling Empire possessed such formidable individuals?”

Xia Xuanchen forced a laugh. “Let’s hurry and retreat. No matter where these two are from, it appears that our brothers we’ve lost contact with have met their demise. We should hurry back to the soul tool front, then we can pack up and leave. Ensure that everyone maintains the linked defense so that we can avoid being ambushed again. We have to leave as quickly as possible.”

“Yes,” Xu Tianyuan nodded understandingly.

They were deep behind enemy lines all by themselves, after all. If they were on the battleﬁeld at the front lines, even if their enemies were even more powerful, they wouldn’t be afraid because of their soul engineer legions’ combined strength. However, there were two incredibly strong individuals hiding near them, and they felt like they had thorns in their backs. They could be ambushed at any moment, so retreating back into the Sun Moon Empire’s territory was the best solution. They had sustained severe losses on this

mission, but they had accomplished their mission. They had still managed to do something very laudable.

The two Class 9 soul engineers discussed logistics for a moment before they led their legions back toward their soul tool front. Even though they were already prepared to lose their soul tool front from the beginning, the Dou Ling Empire’s resistance was much weaker than they had imagined, judging from their current situation. A single Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell had immediately dealt with the entire royal palace, and if not for those two powerful people who had appeared afterwards, their two legions would be almost perfectly victorious.

The two soul engineer legions changed formations once more. This time, they tried to keep some space between them, because the two commanders had seen how powerful Huo Yuhao’s group attacks were from his Spiritual Tempest. Therefore, they maintained their ring-shaped formation, but they formed two rings, with one larger than the other.

The Evileye Tyrant Legion was outside, while the Imperial Dragon Legion was inside. The Evileye Tyrant Legion was responsible for maintaining their linked defenses, while the Imperial Dragon Legion would rest inside. They could switch

to maintain their defenses like that, and if they ran into anything, a single soul engineer legion was sufﬁcient for defense. The other legion would augment their defenses, and it could also turn defense into offense.

If they didn’t run into any more enemies, they could proceed at a steady pace by switching around. They were naturally not afraid of running into the Dou Ling Empire’s forces. Unless the Dou Ling Empire concentrated all their soul masters to surround and attack them, they probably didn’t have a chance at all. The empire’s elite forces had all gone to Shrek City, so these two soul engineer legions’ combined strength was almost invincible.

The two legion commanders were almost perfect in their command of their respective soul engineer legions, but their faces were so dark that it was frightening when they returned to their soul tool front.

The soul tool front’s defenses were still open, but they couldn’t communicate with anybody inside. Afterwards, they witnessed the soul tool front’s linked offensive soul tools charging up. They were aimed directly at them.

But what could they do? Their opponents had actually taken over their soul tool front beforehand, which completely exceeded their expectations. They were deep behind enemy lines, and they didn’t even have any time to think. They turned to run, and ﬂew toward the Sun Moon Empire as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, they didn’t know that there was barely anybody inside the soul tool front. They were using the soul tool front’s soul power reserves to activate its linked defensive and offensive soul tools, which came from Milk Bottles. They couldn’t have kept that up for long.

If these two soul engineer legions kept their distance and maintained a continuous onslaught, perhaps they would sustain some losses, but taking back their soul tool front would be relatively easy.

But just as when Huo Yuhao was faced with Ju Zi, when he clearly knew that her target wasn’t Shrek City, Shrek City still couldn’t reduce their vigilance and alertness. This was the same reason why these two soul engineer legions couldn’t stay for any longer despite knowing that the soul engineers inside that soul tool front weren’t strong. Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong’s ambush had left a deep shadow in their hearts.

The two legions hadn’t ﬂown away for long when Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong appeared outside the soul tool front.

They rendezvoused with their companions before Huo Yuhao immediately found Xu Sanshi.

“Sanshi, Dou Ling City’s situation isn’t great. The city has suffered a destructive onslaught, and the royal palace is completely destroyed. I don’t know if anybody from the royal family is still alive. Let’s do it this way. You guys will stay here and proceed toward Dou Ling City. Reveal our identities as Shrek Academy’s members, help them restore order, and search for any members of the royal family who are still alive. Wutong and I will pursue those two soul engineer legions. I don’t believe they can ﬂy all the way back to the Sun Moon Empire. They will have to rest along the way, and that will be our chance. We will take this opportunity when they are separated to try and keep these two legions in the Dou Ling Empire forever. We will avenge the Dou Ling Empire’s royal family.”

Xu Sanshi nodded and said, “Alright, then go. Leave Dou Ling City to us. You’re right, but…”

Xu Sanshi heaved a sigh inside, and everything he could say was too late. The Sun Moon Empire was too cunning. They didn’t just target the Dou Ling Empire; they directly executed an assassination mission against the Dou Ling Empire’s royal palace. Their formidable soul engineer legions could fully unleash their frightening offensive capabilities in a skirmish like this. If the Star Luo Empire ran into a similar situation, they probably wouldn’t do any better than the Dou Ling Empire had. Ultimately, they lost on surveillance and intelligence.

Chapter 569: Xu Sanshi's Experiences

If they were in the Sun Moon Empire, unless they were like Huo Yuhao and possessed abilities that could conceal entire groups and utilize spatial power, they couldn’t possibly succeed in any ambushes with that almost airtight surveillance coverage.

They no longer had to leave anyone behind in their soul tool front. They could wait until the Dou Ling Empire’s situation stabilized before sending someone back to claim it.

Huo Yuhao grabbed Tang Wutong’s hand as they soared into the sky and ﬂew in the direction that those two soul engineer legions had left in.

Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection couldn’t cover an entire country, but pursuing two soul engineer legions wasn’t much.

Inside Dou Ling City.

Smoke and dust permeated the air as most of the royal palace lay in ruins from its center after that frightening onslaught. Only the outer walls were still standing in tatters.

There were agonizing cries everywhere in the city, and the entire city was in chaos.

The city defense army wasn’t small, but they could only blankly attempt to maintain order. The royal palace had been destroyed, and that practically eradicated the Dou Ling Empire’s citizens’ mainstay.

Xu Sanshi took Jiang Nannan, Ye Guyi, Nan Qiuqiu, and Ji Juechen as they arrived beneath Dou Ling City’s walls. They watched the smoke and dust as their expressions became increasingly black.

Xu Sanshi didn’t just have the Heavenly Soul Empire in his blood, as half of his blood came from the Dou Ling Empire, but his mother was also the Dou Ling Empire’s previous princess, the previous emperor’s youngest sister, who was the current emperor’s aunt. Of course, the prerequisite was that the Dou Ling Empire’s emperor was still alive.

Xu Sanshi had followed his mother to the Dou Ling Empire when he was young, and he had seen his cousin, the Emperor, once, though they rarely contacted each other afterwards.

The Dou Ling Empire’s royal family had vehemently disapproved when his mother had married his father. His mother was the previous emperor’s favourite daughter. But the proud princess ﬁnally chose her own prince charming, and she eloped with Xu Sanshi’s father. When she came back, she came back with Xu Sanshi.

Therefore, the Dou Ling Empire’s royal family ostracized Xu Sanshi’s family. This matter was considered his deepest secret; not even Jiang Nannan knew about it.

Xu Sanshi’s heart ﬁlled with many emotions as he watched Dou Ling City mired in dust and smoke. This was his mother’s old home, no matter what! Some blood of the Dou Ling Empire’s royal family still ran through his blood after all.

“Open the gates.” Xu Sanshi gazed at the battlement. The gates were closed at this moment, and soldiers patrolled the battlement in solemnity and dejection.

“Who goes there?” The bows and soul tools on the battlement immediately aimed downward. Everyone within the city was still shaky, fearful, and as tense as could be. Under such circumstances, any suspicious ﬁgure who appeared could be attacked.

“We hail from Shrek Academy. We are here to assist you.” Xu Sanshi spoke as he lowered his voice.

“Shrek Academy? How can you prove that?” The general on the city walls could barely keep his cool.

Xu Sanshi raised his hand and ﬂashed his identity token as a student from Shrek Academy’s inner courtyard.

Telescopic soul tools were necessary for every empire, and those on the city walls quickly saw his identity token before they made him toss it onto the city wall.

Xu Sanshi was worried and impatient, but there was nothing he could do at a time like this, and tossed out his token forcefully.

The token reached the top of the city walls, where it was quickly veriﬁed before the city gates were ﬁnally opened.

A general that was a little older than thirty came out. Even though Xu Sanshi and the others seemed young, he didn’t dare to disrespect them at all, as anybody who came from Shrek Academy couldn’t be judged by their age. The inner courtyard students who were barely more than twenty ae already possessed extremely formidable prowess.

“What’s the situation like inside the city?” Xu Sanshi asked the general.

“I’m not too sure. The enemies’ attack came without warning. They appeared suddenly, and directly attacked the royal palace before attacking all our important positions. We have sustained heavy losses! The royal palace…”

The general’s face was overcome with grief as he stopped there. Even though he didn’t know exactly how the royal palace was doing, he could see the dire situation by gazing in the palace’s direction from the battlements. The general had been standing guard on the battlements when the royal palace had been bombarded by that Class 9 stationary soul cannon

shell, and he felt like the end of the world had come in that moment. The entire palace became an enormous orange-red sphere of light, and the terrifying onslaught came afterward.

The soul engineers who were ﬁghting back inside the city were massacred by their frightening enemies before they started going after the city defense army. Even though the army wasn’t small, they suffered severe losses because they weren’t organized and weren’t able to retaliate. Several large buildings were completely laid to ruin.

Xu Sanshi’s expression was extremely dark, but he was able to keep his cool.

“Even though we can’t be sure if the royal family has any survivors, I hope you can cooperate with me right now to restore order within Dou Ling City. Our companions have repelled the enemy, and both soul engineer legions have retreated. Nobody will attack you for now. Therefore, you don’t have to guard the city gates anymore. Take your men and follow me into the city. We’ll maintain order immediately.”

“Ah? I can’t do that.” The general immediately declined, while his eyes also grew suspicious as he stared at Xu Sanshi.

Xu Sanshi wanted him to abandon his city gates, but how could he do that?

Xu Sanshi didn’t explain. Instead, he pulled off a necklace from his neck.

The chain itself was silver, and very thin, but the pendant hanging beneath was very peculiar. It was a faint golden token, with six jewels embedded on its surface. Every jewel had a different shape and size, but the jewels together formed the words “Dou Ling”, and were also emanating faint soul power undulations.

The general was astonished when he saw this pendant. He turned his eyes back to Xu Sanshi before he went down on one knee.

“Greetings, prince.”

Prince? Jiang Nannan, Nan Qiuqiu, Ye Guyi and Ji Juechen were all surprised when they heard that word. Since when had Xu Sanshi become the Dou Ling Empire’s prince?

Of course, they didn’t know that the previous emperor had given this pendant to his mother when she was his favourite daughter.

This necklace was a symbol of the royal family, and also a symbol of status within the royal family. This necklace could only be given when princes obtained their titles, and there were only a few of these pendants inside the Dou Ling Empire.

Back then, this pendant had been given to Xu Sanshi’s mother because she was doted upon. This meant that Xu Sanshi’s grandfather had bestowed upon his mother a status that wasn’t inferior to a prince.

Afterwards, when Xu Sanshi’s mother had eloped with his father, the pendant became a souvenir. The furious emperor even wanted to take it back, but Xu Sanshi’s mother had hidden it very well. She didn’t want to hand it over, no matter what, and claimed that she wanted to keep it as a souvenir. In the end, it became part of Xu Sanhshi’s property after he grew up.

Not even Xu Sanshi himself had imagined that he would use this pendant one day. How he had dreaded this day! But at a

time like this, the blood of the Dou Ling Empire’s royal family ﬂowed in his body. He had to take responsibility!

Xu Sanshi retrieved the necklace and put it back over his neck. He lowered his voice and said, “At ease. Our affairs are urgent. Follow me into the city immediately, and withdraw the city defense army so that we can maintain internal order. We cannot allow Dou Ling City to descend into chaos again, no matter what. We can’t allow any more people to die.”

“Yes.” The general swiftly got to his feet, and his originally vacant and sorrowful eyes brimmed with conﬁdence. Even though he didn’t know who this prince was, and he had never even seen him before, at least someone from the Dou Ling Empire’s royal family was still around. This meant that there was yet hope! As long as Dou Ling City didn’t fall into irreversible chaos, there was still a chance to turn things around.

The general immediately gave out orders, and withdrew a thousand ﬁve hundred soldiers from the two thousand responsible for guarding the city walls. He led them personally as they followed Xu Sanshi and the others into the city. Dou Ling City really needed to be stabilized at a time like this.

Xu Sanshi revealed his identity and entered Dou Ling City to restore order on this side.

On the other side, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong had caught up with those two soul engineer legions.

They could see their strict and neat formations in the distance. Huo Yuhao heaved a faint sigh inside as he turned towards Tang Wutong and said, “The Sun Moon Empire is far better at training, nurturing, and commanding their soul engineers than we are. Look at their formation, and their linked soul tools. They are much more advanced than we are. They live up to their names as beast-ranked soul engineer legions after all.”

Tang Wutong said, “Then what do we do? I think it’s unlikely that we can keep them here in their current state. Linked soul tools are truly too irritating.”

If the soul engineer legions didn’t have linked soul tools, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong could ambush and obliterate all of these soul engineers by relying on his mysterious Imitation and Spiritual Interference Domain.

But with the legions’ linked defensive barriers, that chance had been reduced to almost zero. The Sun Moon Empire’s legions weren’t afraid of being ambushed as long as they could maintain their linked defensive barrier, and with their strength and preparations against an ambush, that didn’t seem

like a very difﬁcult task. They just had to maintain their defenses at a certain level.

Huo Yuhao contemplated for a moment as his eyes closed into slits. He lowered his voice and said, “Do they really think they can escape my pursuit like that? I wish to see if they can maintain their defenses longer, or if our pursuit is more vicious.”

Huo Yuhao’s storage ring glowed as he spoke, and a single soul cannon appeared in his hands.

This soul cannon wasn’t large, and its opening was only about thirty centimeters in diameter. It was completely black, and radiated gentle soul power undulations.

Huo Yuhao infused his soul power into the cannon, and the cannon immediately hummed softly. He placed it on his

shoulder, and didn’t even have to aim as he pressed the button to ﬁre.

A blinding red light erupted from the cannon and blasted toward the two soul engineer legions in the distance.

This was a normal bursting cannon, and its effects were very simple. It could produce an intense explosive force and high temperatures to cause destructiveness.

Huo Yuhao had crafted this bursting cannon by himself. It was a Class 7 soul tool, but its offensive power was only about that of a Class 5 soul tool.

There was a big difference between a Class 7 soul tool and a Class 5 soul tool. Since its offensive capability was only that of a Class 5 soul tool, then why was the soul tool itself Class 7? The reason was simple: because Huo Yuhao had tried to maximize other aspects. In this case, it was the cannon’s range.

Huo Yuhao’s bursting cannon could achieve a range of ten kilometers, which was ten thousand meters. That could already rival certain stationary soul cannon shells. Even Xuan Ziwen had praised him when he crafted this Class 7 soul tool.

Xuan Ziwen was very strict and demanding, and he typically didn’t praise his students unless they had made some extraordinary achievements. Huo Yuhao was undoubtedly the person who had received the most compliments from Xuan Ziwen, but even then, those instances were few and far between.

A soul cannon that wasn’t a stationary soul tool that could ﬁre at such an extraordinary range was something very rarely seen in the history of soul engineers. Even Xuan Ziwen himself probably couldn’t do it better than Huo Yuhao if he had done it himself.

There was a reason why Huo Yuhao had crafted this soul cannon, and his goal was simple. He wanted to be able to bait his enemies when necessary.

Stationary soul cannon shells were too expensive, and they were also single-use items. Even though Huo Yuhao had expended many rare metals when crafting this soul cannon, and those rare metals were also considered the extremely precious kinds, he could use this soul cannon again and again!

Huo Yuhao had ﬁred his cannon, and the cannon shell accelerated through the air. The cannon shell was streamlined, and it was like a date seed as it went straight for the Sun Moon Empire’s two soul engineer legions in the distance.

This shell’s velocity as it left the barrel wasn’t considered quick, but what was frightening was its acceleration afterward. The shell immediately sped up after ﬂying for a hundred meters, and the shell itself split as part of the original shell propelled it forward, so that the other half could continue blasting forward at an incredible speed.

Everything was accomplished in an energy state! It wasn’t hard to see how extraordinary this was.

“Boom!” An explosion accompanied an orange-red spark as the shell detonated on the soul engineer legions’ defensive barrier.

When Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong had ambushed the two legions before this in the beginning, those soul engineers who had survived didn’t really know what had happened. After Huo Yuhao’s sudden attack that almost killed Xia Xuanchen, and in addition to their sharp decline in numbers, they would be fools

if they didn’t know what was happening under such circumstances.

Therefore, these soul engineers were extremely tense even as they maintained their linked defensive barrier while ﬂying forward.

When the single soul cannon shell exploded on their defensive barrier, almost every soul engineer’s ﬁrst reaction was to raise their linked defense barrier to its highest possible level.

The Evil Tyrant Legion wasn’t the only one; even the Imperial Dragon Legion behaved in the same fashion. Two soul engineer legions’ linked defensive barriers instantly took shape, and they even began charging their linked offensive soul tools so that they could be prepared to attack at any moment. Their reactions were stunningly quick, all extremely correct and precise.

Xu Tianyuan and Xia Xuanchen, as those legions’ commanders, couldn’t ﬁnd any problems with their responses at all.

But a problem did appear. This problem was both simple and direct: where was the enemy?

A single soul cannon was ﬁred, but they couldn’t ﬁnd any traces of their enemy at all. Furthermore, that attack was just a simple soul cannon strike that didn’t do anything to them at all.

The Sun Moon Empire had almost rendered bursting cannons obsolete, because that soul tool didn’t have any special characteristics at all. Only certain cities would use bursting cannons for defense, and broadly speaking, beast-ranked soul engineer legions rarely used them. They preferred more destructive weapons such as piercing cannons, which were more effective against protective soul barriers, or decomposition cannons and whatnot.

They paused in midair for almost ﬁve minutes, and their linked soul tools were maintained at their highest possible levels from the beginning to the end. But their enemy never appeared.

Huo Yuhao held Tang Wutong’s hand, and held his bursting cannon with the other. A cold grin appeared on his face as

Tang Wutong glanced at him confusedly. “What are you doing?”

Huo Yuhao answered, “I’m just telling them that I’m here, so that they’ll be more careful and more vigilant.”

Tang Wutong was extremely intelligent, and she immediately understood what Huo Yuhao was trying to say after a moment’s contemplation. “You’re making them maintain their peak condition at all times! You’re so evil.”

Huo Yuhao said, “I’m evil? They’re not nice people, either. Haih, I wonder how Dou Ling City’s doing. I do hope that third senior brother and the others can help stabilize the situation there. At least, I hope they can maintain internal order.”

Tang Wutong lamented, “Their scheme is so cruel and cunning. If the Dou Ling Empire’s elites at the front lines ﬁnd out about their royal palace, they might just charge out from Shrek City for a showdown with the Sun Moon Empire. If they do that, they will have fallen into Ju Zi’s trap. Ju Zi is so good at this.”

Huo Yuhao nodded silently. He was also more worried about what Tang Wutong was worried about. Ju Zi’s plan just made you helpless in trying to foil it.

“No matter what, we have to obliterate these two soul engineer legions before anything else. We can’t ﬁght the Sun Moon Empire on an open battleﬁeld anymore, so the only thing we can do is weaken their forces continuously. They can produce many soul tools, but training elite and outstanding soul engineers takes time. As long as we can weaken their soul engineer forces continuously, the day will come when the Sun Moon Empire is no longer so formidable.”

The two legions realized that they had been tricked as Huo Yuhao spoke, and they continued on their way. It wasn’t that they didn’t want to search for them, but Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong were too powerful. They didn’t dare to disperse at all! They could only ensure their safety by maintaining their linked defensive barriers, but that meant that they had to continuously expend soul power.

They had already fought back at Ling Dou City. No matter how many elites the Dou Ling Empire had mobilized, Dou Ling City was the empire’s capital city after all, and it still had to be defended to quite an extent. The two beast-ranked legions had

already expended quite some strength dealing with the city defense army.

They had suffered Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong’s ambush afterwards, and retreated immediately. They hadn’t had any proper rest from the beginning until now. At the very least, they had to continue ﬂying.

A soul engineer’s soul power was very limited. Even in the world of soul masters, not many could regenerate their soul power in battle like Huo Yuhao could, to the point that ﬂying wasn’t a problem for him at all.

Even Titled Douluo would still have to expend some energy when maintaining high ﬂight speeds, not to mention the fact that most soul engineers in the two legions only had around four soul rings.

They relied on their ﬂying-type soul tools, Milk Bottles, and other equipment to continue ﬂying for prolonged periods. But this period was ultimately limited, no matter how long it might be, not to mention the fact that they had to maintain their linked defensive barriers as well.

Therefore, the two legion commanders’ expressions darkened when they realized that their enemy hadn’t appeared. They understood what their enemy was doing.

There was a very simple yet effective tactic on the battleﬁeld, and that was harassment.

Harassment meant you couldn’t leave as quickly as you could. Harassment meant you had to maintain vigilance, and that you didn’t have a chance to rest at all.

That wasn’t a problem for top-tier soul engineers, but their subordinates couldn’t do that. Their soul power would be completely expended given enough time, and when the time came when they couldn’t maintain their linked defensive formation, then perhaps the end of their world would arrive.

“What should we do, brother Xia?” Xu Tianyuan whispered at Xia Xuanchen. He didn’t want his men to hear him, because not everyone understood the tough situation they were in.

Xia Xuanchen’s expression was black. “I’m afraid we’re in a lot of trouble, brother Xu. Our enemies are both powerful and

meticulous. Since they’ve chosen to harass us like this, then they will deﬁnitely keep doing it. The only thing we can do is conserve soul power as much as possible, and put as much distance as possible between us and Dou Ling City. Afterwards, we have to ﬁnd a place to rest.”

Xu Tianyuan asked, “Are you saying that we have to ﬁnd a relatively remote area, and one legion will stand guard while the other legion rests, so that we can allow our men to recover their soul power?”

Xia Xuanchen nodded and said, “That’s our only option. These two are extremely formidable, and they are able to jump through space. We may not be able to stop them even if we set a trap, and we will have to pay a hefty price for that attempt. Right now, we can only be conservative, and keep this up as long as we can. As long as we can allow our brothers to recover continuously so that they can maintain their ﬁghting strength, I believe the two of them will retreat, given enough time.”

Xu Tianyuan punched his palm as he spoke with a livid expression. “We’re too stiﬂed. If I ever catch those two fellows, I’ll rip their bodies into a million pieces.”

Xia Xuanchen forced a laugh and said, “Remain calm, brother Xu. Our brothers are watching. This is the only thing we can do. At least, those two don’t dare to attack us in the open. It’s too bad we’re so close to Dou Ling City.”

“Let’s just do it your way. We’ll ask everyone to accelerate and put some distance between us and Dou Ling City before touching down to rest.” Xu Tianyuan was a decisive man, and the two men only discussed it for a few moments before they immediately ordered their soul engineers to accelerate and ﬂy into the distance.

Another bursting cannon shell ﬂew at them right at this moment, and exploded against their protective barrier.

The two soul engineer legions’ tensed-up and sensitive state couldn’t be resolved in a few moments. They were just accelerating when they subconsciously unleashed their linked defenses to boost its strength, and their movement subsequently paused.

“Over there! The shell came from over there. Why isn’t the commander ordering us to attack?” Even though the soul engineers couldn’t see Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong, they could still tell where the cannon shell came from.

They were members of beast-ranked soul engineer legions, and they were typically very arrogant and full of themselves. These soul engineers were starting to grow furious after Huo Yuhao provoked them a second time.

“Keep your cool, everyone. The Imperial Dragon Legion will not use their linked defensive barrier. The Evil Tyrant Legion

will continue maintaining their barrier. Ignore all attacks and continue ﬂying forward.”

Xia Xuanchen calmly gave the order. He was very clear that his enemy, who was in the shadows, hoped to see them fall into disarray. His enemy hoped to see them attack.

The soul engineers’ soul power would be consumed even more quickly if they used their linked offensive soul tools. His enemy would have accomplished his goal if that happened, while their linked attacks would deﬁnitely be useless. Xia Xuanchen had directly clashed with those two before, and he was very clear about how powerful they were. They were Transcendent Douluo at least, and they couldn’t be normal Transcendent Douluo. If he didn’t have that mysterious crystal stone, he would have been severely injured even if he wasn’t killed right away. Furthermore, they also possessed sinister concealment abilities and mastery over spatial power, which forced him to be careful and meticulous. They were in a lot of trouble if one of them was even an Ultimate Douluo, and that person could possibly obliterate them all if he unleashed his full strength!

Therefore, maintaining their defenses was a must, but conserving their soul power was also a must. Since their

opponent didn’t dare to mount a frontal assault, that meant that his enemies weren’t conﬁdent of breaking through by forcing an attack. Right now, they were competing to see who was more patient.

Yes, they were competing in patience. Huo Yuhao was also very patient. Back when he was training as part of the Ultimate Soldier Plan, competing with patience was one of his training’s very important aspects.

He was also waiting to see who was more patient. He was as patient as anyone could possibly be.

Huo Yuhao ﬁred once, and then changed angles before he ﬁred again.

Ten kilometers was deﬁnitely safe. Huo Yuhao’s enemy was a huge target, and his enemy couldn’t lock onto his position. This made them perfect target practice, and his enemy would have range problems if they wanted to hit him. His enemy couldn’t possibly touch him without using stationary soul cannon shells, and such shells were very evident when they were ﬁred. Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong would have sufﬁcient time to dodge even if his enemies used a Class 9 stationary soul

cannon shell. Therefore, their safety wasn’t a problem. What Huo Yuhao had to do under such circumstances was continue harassing his enemy so that he could irritate those two soul engineer legions as much as possible.

Huo Yuhao executed his plan as he ﬁred a cannon shell every one or two minutes.

The two soul engineer legions couldn’t really adapt in the beginning. Soul engineers continued strengthening their linked defenses as Huo Yuhao continued to attack them, but everyone knew the story of the boy who cried wolf. These soul engineers started to adapt after a while. Their enemy was just ﬁring with a bursting cannon, and every single one of these soul engineers possessed soul tools with stronger attacking capabilities than that bursting cannon.

Aren’t you just harassing us? All we have to do is ignore you.

We can rest after ﬂying for a little while longer.

Huo Yuhao continued to harass them even after an hour. However, the Imperial Dragon Legion and Evileye Tyrant Legion’s soul engineers no longer strengthened their linked defensive barrier. The Imperial Dragon Legion’s soul engineers

didn’t even release their own linked defensive barrier anymore, and both parties seemed to be at an impasse. Huo Yuhao’s harassment also seemed to lose its effectiveness.

Huo Yuhao ﬁred another bursting cannon shell before he suddenly withdrew the cannon with a ﬂash of silver light. Another new soul cannon suddenly appeared on his shoulder in the next moment. This soul cannon was different from the bursting cannon. First, it was longer.

This soul cannon was more than three meters long, and even Huo Yuhao’s long frame seemed uncoordinated when he was carrying it on his shoulder. Second, this cannon’s style was different. This soul cannon looked like a long spear. The spear’s tip was at the front, while the back of it looked something like an umbrella, like the tip of a gun, and then there was the spear’s shaft. Only the section on Huo Yuhao’s shoulder seemed relatively thicker.

When Huo Yuhao infused his soul power into it, the entire soul cannon radiated peculiar dark green colors.

Circle after circle of dark green hues coursed forward before all the light concentrated at the cannon’s tip. The green light

was deep and profound, and one could see upon closer inspection that there was actually a tiny black hole that had appeared at this soul tool’s tip.

This black hole wasn’t the kind that swallowed everything. Instead, it was a phenomenon that would happen when the air shattered.

Normally, offensive strength and speed could tear the air apart when they reached a certain level, and this phenomenon would appear. But the space that had been torn apart would swiftly close back together, while the broken space that was happening right now was continuous. The gash didn’t seem like it was about to close at all.

Tang Wutong was purely a soul master, and she didn’t understand anything about soul engineers at all. But even so, she could feel how terrifying this soul tool was.

Huo Yuhao didn’t ﬁre casually this time. Instead, he activated Spiritual Detection as he lifted that soul cannon to his shoulder and aimed.

He was sharing his Spiritual Detection with Tang Wutong, and she could naturally see who he was aiming at: one of the Imperial Dragon Legion’s soul engineers, who was in the inner circle and resting.

“Tch—” An ear-piercing blast could be heard as a dark green ray burst forth. Huo Yuhao released Tang Wutong’s hand in the moment right before he ﬁred, and his body dashed forward like a lightning bolt. Huo Yuhao crossed several thousand meters in a few seconds as he ﬂew forward at full speed, and he neared his enemy’s defensive soul barrier.

Huo Yuhao was less than three kilometers away from the protective barrier when the dark green ray was ﬁred. Everything had been calculated through Spiritual Detection.

The dark green light ﬂashed once before it disappeared, and it was like an extended arrow as it struck the linked defensive barrier.

The barrier quivered as a trace of green suddenly appeared on its surface. The barrier didn’t seem any different on the whole, but a small hole appeared at the spot where the barrier had been struck.

The Imperial Dragon Legion and Evil Tyrant Legion’s soul engineers witnessed a harrowing sight in the next moment. Even if they could live through this ordeal, they would never forget what they saw.

The dark green ray fell accurately on a soul engineer from the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineering Legion.

This soul engineer’s automatic protective barrier was immediately activated, but was obliterated in the next moment. And then his entire body was annihilated.

The soul engineer’s body quivered faintly as the dark green ray struck him, and he couldn’t even cry out before his body was vaporized into countless green specks that dissipated into the air.

Those green dots drifted through the air and seemed to contain a strange force. They couldn’t ﬂy out because of the legions’ defensive barrier.

Startled cries could be heard as almost every soul engineer activated their protective soul barriers at the same time.

That green beam was just too frightening. Even though they were soul engineers, they had never seen something so sinister before. How could anyone know that that green light was threatening their lives?

Huo Yuhao turned and left after his successful strike and escaped into the distance.

Xia Xuanchen and Xu Tianyuan looked on with widen eyes and slack jaws, and their hearts were beating out off their chests. Normal soul engineers couldn’t recognize what that was, but how could they not know?

That soul tool could pierce through their linked defensive barrier and instantly annihilate one of the Imperial Dragon Legion’s soul engineers. Wasn’t that a formidable Class 9 single-target offensive soul tool, a super decomposition cannon?

Back then, Huo Yuhao had convinced Xuan Ziwen with a Class 8 decomposition cannon. The one he was using wasn’t a Class 9 cannon. It was a Class 9 decomposition cannon.

Decomposition cannons were terribly frightening no matter what Class they were. Anybody who was struck had almost no chance to survive.

A decomposition cannon’s most salient characteristic was its ability to decompose all energy. Any protective barrier was like paper to such a cannon, and if the target wished to stop a decomposition cannon’s attack, the target’s defensive capabilities had to be three times stronger than the decomposition cannon’s attacking force.

Not even a Class 9 soul engineer unleashing his protective soul barrier with his full strength could block a Class 9 decomposition cannon’s attack. A linked defensive barrier had to be raised to an extremely high level to stand a chance against a Class 9 decomposition cannon.

These two soul engineers could block this attack if they were at their peak condition. But they were too far from their peak condition right now.

They had lost more than two hundred people, while only half their number was maintaining their linked defensive barrier. They didn’t have a chance at stopping that decomposition cannon!

A single life was taken just like that. But that wasn’t the most frightening fact, because the most frightening fact was that the two legions’ soul engineers began to feel intense fear riling their hearts.

“Don’t panic, everyone. Continue maintaining the linked defensive barrier. That was a Class 9 decomposition cannon, and it cannot be ﬁred continuously. Even Class 9 soul engineers can only ﬁre it once a day,” Xia Xuanchen didn’t hesitate as he hollered at his soul engineers.

Even though decomposition cannons couldn’t be used continuously, Xia Xuanchen was spouting nonsense when he claimed that the cannon could only be ﬁred once per day. But he had no choice but to make that claim, because his legion would fall apart otherwise.

Xu Tianyuan glanced at Xia Xuanchen. He didn’t stop him, but his expression was turning darker and darker.

Their enemies weren’t just Transcendent Douluo. There was a Class 9 soul engineer, and that was something they hadn’t expected even in their wildest dreams.

The bursting cannon that was being ﬁred at long range before this could be considered a normal soul tool that any soul master could use. But they had never heard of the Douluo Continent’s empires possessing a Class 9 decomposition cannon!

Chapter 570: Change of Plans

The price of a Class 9 decomposition cannon was exorbitant.

Even they were not equipped with these cannons.

On top of that, this enemy they were facing could not be detected by any of the surveillance soul tools they had brought with them.

When the Class 9 decomposition cannon was ﬁred, the two Class 9 soul engineers had immediately activated the strongest surveillance abilities they possessed. After all, a Class 9 decomposition cannon could only be ﬁred within three thousand meters. However, they were still unable to pinpoint where that person was. This meant that they could only react passively to that person’s attacks. How were they supposed to not develop a fear of Huo Yuhao?

Xu Tianyuan started to become panicky. He knew it would take them close to eight hours before they reached the territory of the Sun Moon Empire—which was also the former land of the Heavenly Soul Empire. At the same time, they had to do their best to avoid any encounters with troops from the Dou Ling Empire.

If this unknown enemy were to follow them throughout the entire eight hours, it would be a massive disaster for both soul engineer legions. In fact, the current situation of the two soul engineer legions simply would not allow them to maintain their defenses and ﬂy at the same time for eight hours. They had to descend to rest and reorganize their forces.

What should we do?

Xu Tianran gritted his teeth as he communicated with Xia Xuanchen. “We need to let everyone rest. Right now, our teams’ morale isn’t doing very well. If he launches another decomposition cannon and successfully kills another person, we’ll be in trouble.”

Xi Xuanchen looked at him and asked, “Brother Xu, what do you think we should do then?”

Xu Tianran replied, “We need to descend right away. My Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion will take turns with your legion to maintain our defenses. At the same time, we need to make sure our groups huddle together. This will make the linked defensive barrier thicker, and will help to reduce the

effectiveness of the decomposition cannon. Even though we might not be able to stick too close to one another in the air due to the possibility of collisions, we can do so on the ground. Let’s continue discussing this after we let our people recover their energy. We need to think of a way to handle this.”

“I guess we have no choice but to follow what you say.” Xia Xuanchen was also out of ideas.

Both of them immediately gave the order to the remaining members of the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion and Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion to descend.

They chose to rest up and reorganize their forces within a forest. They used their soul tools to clear some of the trees to create an empty plot of land to set up camp. The Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion would take the outer ring, while the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion would take the inner one. Both legions would take turns to maintain their defenses.

At the same time, because of their relatively more compact formation, the strength of their linked defensive barrier was also enhanced.

Xia Xuanchen, Xu Tianyuan and some of the other vice- commanders gathered. They could see the looks of dread on each other’s faces.

They were all members of the Hand that Protects The Nation. Even within the Sun Moon Empire, they were all extremely highly regarded. Even Xu Tianran would speak to them courteously when he bumped into them. This was especially true for Xu Tianyuan, considering how he was part of the royal family.

However, they were in serious trouble this time around. Their enemy who was hiding in the dark was simply too difﬁcult to handle. The biggest problem was ﬁnding their enemy. What was the use of their ﬁrepower if they couldn’t even locate a target? They could only passively wait for the enemy to attack them.

“No, we can’t wait like this. If we continue to wait for him to attack, we will eventually be destroyed by him. In fact, once we lose a substantial number of soul engineers, the others might just start a mutiny.” Xia Xuanchen hammered his ﬁst into the ground, sending a cloud of dust into the air.

Xu Tianyuan nodded and said, “We must ﬁnd a way to lure these two people out before we kill them. We still have a long way to go before we reach our destination. Even if we were to enter what was formerly the Heavenly Soul Empire’s territory, we would still have to ﬂy towards Shrek City and link up with the rest of the army. It would simply take too much time. If this continues, most of us will probably perish along the way.”

The vice-commanders nodded as they waited for orders from their superiors.

“Brother Xia, you’re the quick-witted one among us. Propose something we can work on. Even if it’s a little risky, it’s still better than not having anything to work with.” Xu Tianyuan said.

Xia Xuanchen nodded and said, “I think our central strategy revolves around our need to lure him out before launching an all-out attack against him. From what I have observed, both of them are extremely powerful. They’re probably—at the very least—Transcendent Douluo. One of them could either be a Class 9 soul engineer, or a soul master who possesses a Class 9 decomposition cannon. To locate them, we must ﬁrst destroy their means of turning themselves invisible.”

“Previously, we have already tried to use a variety of surveillance soul tools, but to no avail. The range of the spiritual surveillance soul tools is too small. They can’t be used to locate them. Thus, we have no choice but to go back to basics. First, we will have to bait them into attacking us. Following which, we will employ the carpet bombing method to identify their exact position. Based on our previous observations, they need a bit of time before they can disappear. As long as we are prepared to concentrate our attacking power on them, there’s no way they can escape without being heavily injured. Once they are heavily injured, they’ll probably stop chasing after us. And we would then have achieved our objective.”

Xu Tianyuan’s eyes lit up as he nodded in agreement. “Sounds good! Let’s follow what you have just proposed. We’ll ﬁrst allow everyone to rest up. Afterward, we will need our guys to get ready to do some carpet bombing, while I will bring our four vice-commanders to launched a mini linked offensive attack. I believe our ﬁrepower should be sufﬁcient if we focus all of it on one of them. Brother Xia, I need you to command the rest of our people, including my Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion. As long as they dare to come near us, I am certain they will not be able to retreat without being injured.”

As he looked at the vicious look on Xia Xuanchen’s face, Xu Tianyuan nodded earnestly. “Since Brother Xu is agreeable, let’s do this then. We will work together and get rid of this troublesome duo. This will also allow us to return earlier to report on our work. Now that Dou Ling City has been destroyed, the Dou Ling Empire must be a mess. Who knows? The Commander might have a change of plans, and require us to provide support.”

“Yes.” Xu Tianyuan might have agreed verbally, but his eyes seemed to show the doubt he had in his mind. Similar to his dislike for Xu Tianran, he was also not a big fan of Ju Zi. However, he had to admit that the War God Empress was incredibly capable. Many of the people in the royal family, as well as the Elders of the Sun Moon Empire, could neither ﬁnd a reason to reject her appointment as the Marshal nor afford to disobey her orders. As of now, her popularity in the Sun Moon Empire as the War God Empress was sky-high. In fact, her reputation might have even exceeded Xu Tianran’s to a certain extent. This was especially true after the Heavenly Soul Empire fell victim to her tactics.

As Xia Xuanchen left to prepare the rest of the legions for the trap, Xu Tianyuan and the four vice-commanders sat down and began their rest. The Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion

did not dare to treat their work lightly as they concentrated on maintaining the linked defensive barrier to protect everyone.

Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong were observing everything from above as they ﬂoated in the sky.

“That single blow of yours must have frightened them. Look how they have decided to land and protect themselves in that tight formation of theirs. Will their linked defensive barrier become stronger because of that formation?” Tang Wutong asked Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “Yes. From the looks of their current formation, the decomposition cannon should still be able to penetrate their barrier. However, it probably won’t have enough energy left to kill a person. It seems like these two soul engineer legions will be a lot more difﬁcult to kill than I thought. However, I can already guess what they’re about to do next.”

“Oh really?” Tang Wutong asked curiously.

Huo Yuhao explained, “Even though the decomposition cannon might not be able to deal with them, it should be enough to deter them from returning to the sky. When they are ﬂying, soul engineers must keep a safe distance from one another, because their ﬂying soul tools eject soul power. This distance might be negligible if there are only one or two people ﬂying together. But if they have a few hundred people ﬂying together, they have to spread their linked defensive barrier outwards. This causes the barrier to thin out, resulting in it losing the ability to block my decomposition cannon. And once the number of dead people increases, the legions will crumble from within. After all, none of them would know who the next target would be. Hence, if I were their commander, and I wanted to ensure that all of them retreat safely instead of being blown to bits by me, my next step would involve luring us out before taking us down.”

Tang Wutong smiled and replied, “Then that would be simple. As long as we don’t react to their bait and never appear in front of them, we will be safe. I don’t see how else they can handle us. As long as we wait till they set off again before we make our next move, there’s no way they can trouble us.”

However, Huo Yuhao shook his head as his eyes ﬂashed with a steely look. “Since they want to bait us out with an intentional mistake, let’s take the bait. In fact, we will grab it

with all of our strength, and crush whatever hopes they still have. Let’s go and make our preparations.”

As he spoke, he grabbed Tang Wutong’s hand before turning around and ﬂying into the distance.

In the meantime, the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion was taking a break by meditating, while the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion maintained their defensive infrastructure. They were already a considerable distance from Dou Ling City. It was unlikely that there would be any soldiers chasing after them, considering how chaotic Dou Ling City should be right now.

Very soon, two hours had passed, and the soul engineers from the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion had basically recovered their soul power. However, they had no time to reﬁll their milk bottles.

Now it was time to rotate, as it became the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion’s turn to rest, while the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion maintained the linked defensive barrier.

Xia Xuanchen was able to command both legions in a seamless manner, while Xu Tianyuan and the four vice- commanders continued their meditation, as though everything that was happening around them did not concern them.

Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong had ﬂown up again to see what the current situation was like. After seeing how disciplined they were, Huo Yuhao could not help but frown. His enemies were harder to deal with than he had thought. They were surprisingly composed, even when they were threatened by two powerful soul masters.

“The Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion’s soul engineers have basically recovered their soul power. Now it’s the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion’s turn. Regardless of whether they plan to bait us or leave, they must ﬁrst get back into their best state. It’s apparent that they want to see who is more patient!” Huo Yuhao explained to Tang Wutong.

Tang Wutong grabbed his arm and smiled. “Why should we hurry when they’re not even hurrying? Let’s get back down.”

A thought suddenly appeared in Huo Yuhao’s mind. “Wutong, since they have given us ample time, I have an idea.

Destroying these two soul engineer legions might not achieve the best effect.”

“Huh?” Tang Wutong’s eyes widened.

Huo Yuhao whispered next to Tang Wutong’s ear as he explained his idea to her. Immediately, Tang Wutong revealed a strange expression on her face. “That’s so bad of you! Hmph! Do you dare to say that you aren’t doing this for Ju Zi?”

Huo Yuhao immediately tried to clarify, “Of course not. If I remember correctly, the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion is the most powerful legion that the Sun Moon Empire’s royal family controls directly. The royal family must value this soul engineer legion with great importance. Ju Zi is not the only one who knows how to set up an overt scheme, is she? There is no longer any chance of us winning the war in a direct manner. After the palace in Dou Ling City was destroyed, we don’t even know if any members of their royal family are still alive. Hence, we can only turn the tables around bit by bit. I want you to take ten thousand steps back and consider this. If the Sun Moon Empire were to conquer the entire continent in the future, wouldn’t it be better for it to be under Ju Zi’s control rather than Xu Tianran or the Holy Ghost Church?

Tang Wutong burst into laughter and said, “Look at how nervous you’ve become. I was only testing you. Do you really think I don’t trust you?”

Huo Yuhao also smiled and said, “Of course I know you will believe me. But I still think there’s a need to explain. It is a form of respect for you. Come, let’s descend.”

As he spoke, Huo Yuhao pulled Tang Wutong’s hand and disappeared into the woods. Of course, the place they descended to was quite far from where the two soul engineer legions were.

In the meantime, the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion were still patiently recovering their soul power. It had been a long time since they were attacked by Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong. Even though the Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion would not become complacent because of this, they were still grateful for the peace that they had been enjoying for the past few hours.

It now seemed like Xu Tianyuan was right to say that the enemy only had one chance to strike them with the Class 9 decomposition cannon.

Xia Xuanchen had been monitoring their surroundings for any movement. In fact, he did not even dare to sit down and

cultivate. The next thing he was about to do was set up the trap. This trap had to trick the enemy into believing that both of them had a chance of defeating the legions.

He was ultimately different from the soul engineers under him. He could never relax when he knew that his enemies were still out there lurking around. He believed that they would not give up so easily after following them into the forest. It was common for strong soul masters to have patience that could outlast most people. How could they have attained their powers without the ability to withstand loneliness and be patient?

A signiﬁcant amount of time went by very quickly. Very soon, the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion would all have fully recovered the soul power they had expended. Following which, it would be time for them to complete their trap. This also happened to be the most dangerous moment. It was understood by everyone that some of them had to be sacriﬁced in order to bait their enemies. However, Xia Xuanchen could not help but feel a sense of fear about his mysterious, powerful enemies, who seemed to be wielding Class 9 decomposition cannons.

“Commander, one of our surveillance soul tools has indicated that someone is heading in our direction.” A soul engineer from the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion suddenly reported. His words startled Xia Xuanchen.

“Someone’s coming? How many of them?” Xia Xuanchen immediately became very alert as he questioned his subordinate rapidly. Could they have lost their patience?

“There are a lot of them. They seem to be coming towards us by land. On top of that, they are currently surrounding us.” The soul engineer who was providing the update was visibly nervous, because the size of the enemy force was simply enormous. The only possible people who they could encounter in the Dou Ling Empire must be their enemies. And these enemies seemed to have managed to pinpoint their location, and were now surrounding them.

A solemn look formed on Xia Xuanchen’s face. Their reinforcements have arrived? If that’s the case, the odds against us have become a lot worse. However, he was not really afraid of their reinforcements. After all, the Dou Ling Empire was the weakest empire on the Douluo Continent. In fact, they did not even have a proper soul engineer legion. No matter how many people—including soul masters—they had sent to

surround them, Xia Xuanchen would not be afraid of them. After all, they were going up against two beast lord-ranked soul engineer legions that were part of the Hand that Protects the Nation. Even though these legions had lost more than a third of their people, the bulk of their force—especially the most powerful soul engineers—were still present.

“Get everyone other than the ﬁve commanders to get ready for battle.” Xia Xuanchen ordered.

He was no longer concerned about the trap for now. He knew he had to focus on fending off the enemies that were surrounding them before he could think about the trap. In fact, he believed their attack could help act as a trap or bait for his two other enemies. He might just be able to kill two birds with one stone.

While he was issuing orders, Xia Xuanchen quickly moved over to the surveillance soul tools. It was apparent that running their aerial surveillance soul tools in a foreign land would not be as effective as running them in their own territory. Hence, they had only brought land surveillance soul tools with them. Even though they had a smaller range, they were a lot more accurate.

Xia Xuanchen could see a lot of red dots scattered on the screen of the surveillance soul tool. If every red dot represented a single enemy, he was actually unable to determine how many people they were up against.

These enemies were apparently very calm and composed as they moved towards them slowly. Even though they were not moving very fast, they had already completely surrounded them, and were advancing at a very steady speed.

As of now, the soul engineers still did not know what their enemies looked like. The dense forest prevented them from seeing their enemies. However, it was enough for them to know that their enemies were approaching them.

Every single soul engineer within the legions was ready for battle. This included the soul engineers from the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion, who had recovered a large portion of their energy, but were ultimately still not fully recharged.

After taking some time to analyze their situation, Xia Xuanchen ordered, "Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion, ﬁre

your Soul Light Rays and clear the trees that are blocking our way.”

Fighting in forests had always been relatively disadvantageous for soul engineers. This was because soul engineers specialized in ranged attacks. It was a lot harder for them to take aim when there were trees surrounding them.

After hearing Xia Xuanchen's orders, streaks of blue rays started to sweep around them as they cleared every tree within a thousand meters of them. This created a large amount of space outside the linked defensive barrier. There would be no hiding for any enemy who chose to appear before them. They would be subjected to the powerful soul tool attacks from both legions.

After a short and intense wait, the soul engineers could ﬁnally see their enemies.

However, they could not help but shudder after seeing what their enemies looked like.

No matter how strong their enemies were, the members of the two beast lord-ranked soul engineer legions had never experienced fear before the battle had even begun. However, these enemies before them were able to strike fear in their hearts. Because they were not humans.

What are those things?

Huge skeletal structures wielding irregular bone knives were trodding towards them. Some of them were just armed with a single bone.

A few of them were green zombies, which were hopping forward. Some of those zombies had humongous stomachs as foul-smelling liquid dripped from their bodies.

On top of that, some of their enemies were extremely strange-looking. They saw headless knights, humongous frankensteins, and all sorts of scary-looking creatures they had never seen before in their entire life. All of these creatures were radiating a powerful aura of death.

No normal human being would feel good after sensing such a powerful, dense aura of death.

These soul engineers were no exception. Xia Xuanchen was also not exempt from this rule. He had never expected the calm and patient enemy he had imagined in his mind to be a spectral army.

This was simply beyond his imagination. He had never expected to be facing an enemy like this.

Xia Xuanchen ran towards Xu Tianyuan without any hesitation as he woke the commander of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion up.

When Xu Tianyuan and the other four vice-commanders were woken up from their meditation, their jaws dropped upon seeing the spectral creatures trodding towards them.

Xu Tianyuan immediately ﬂew into a rage as he clenched his ﬁst and exclaimed, "Those bastards! I knew it! I was wondering how our enemies could have gotten their hands on Class 9 decomposition cannons! After all, those cannons are guarded

with secrecy, even within our empire. Now everything’s starting to make sense. I can still remember how resistant I was back then when His Majesty wanted to form an alliance with the Holy Ghost Church. I remember telling him how we should never associate ourselves with those evil soul masters. I am now certain that those evil soul masters are targeting us after learning about our independent mission. They have taken

advantage of a golden opportunity to eradicate us while we are still in the Dou Ling Empire."

Xu Tianyuan was not the only one who had these thoughts. Even Xia Xuanchen and the other vice-commanders shared the same sentiments.

One of the vice-commanders from the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion spoke aggressively, “I don’t think there are any powerful cultivators from the Dou Ling Empire who can threaten us. If there is someone like that, he or she would have been dispatched to the main battleﬁeld. If they had someone who could conceal themselves and control spatial power to a certain extent, they would have sent him to perform reconnaissance work, and stop us from destroying the Heavenly Soul Empire. It seems like the truth has ﬁnally come to light. Those evil soul masters from the despicable Holy Ghost Church! Our army has never been on good terms with them. I can see how they are trying to take this opportunity to

weaken the army and the War God Empress’ strength. By doing this, they would have triumphed over us. Who would know the nature of our death now that we are far away from any ally? They’ve probably sent more than two evil soul masters, judging from the number of spectral creatures.”

After hearing the vice-commander’s words, Xia Xuanchen’s face revealed the deep hatred he had developed for the Holy Ghost Church. Now that the evil soul masters had revealed themselves, this meant that they were conﬁdent of killing all of them here. They were certain that this secret would be buried with their bodies. It was truly a matter of life and death for both parties.

Xu Tianyuan spoke coldly, “It won’t be so easy for them to kill us. Brother Xia, right now, we can only ﬁght with our lives in order to survive. Those evil soul masters must be hiding somewhere. We need to put all of our trump cards on the table. We need to let them know that our beast lord-ranked soul engineer legions are not to be meddled with.”

Xia Xuanchen nodded and said, “Brother Xu, you can rest assured that during important junctures like this, my Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion will not scrimp on resources. We will deﬁnitely do our best to ﬁght for our common survival.

Today, I shall lead our brothers to victory along with you, Brother Xu. Once we get back to the camp, we will give those bastards from the Holy Ghost Church hell!”

“Yes, we’ll give them hell when we get back!” A few of the vice-commanders exclaimed furiously in unison.

Soon, they started to take out all sorts of soul tools and started to take aim. Suddenly, an unknown signal was issued from outside of their linked defensive barrier. Following which, the spectral creatures which were slowly trodding towards them suddenly charged towards the barrier like ﬂoodwater during the monsoon season.

Soul Light Rays and soul cannons ﬁred repeatedly at the spectral creatures under the command of a few of the more powerful soul engineers. At that instant, countless spectral creatures were blown to pieces. Their bones, organs and all sorts of strange innards were scattered all over the ground.

Huo Yuhao was ﬂoating in the sky as he watched the entire battle from a distance with Tang Wutong.

Both of them were slightly startled by the ﬁrepower the two beast lord-ranked soul engineer legions were exhibiting.

Even though they had always regarded these two soul engineer legions highly, they still could not help but gasp after witnessing the power they wielded.

By now, it should be apparent that these spectral creatures came from Huo Yuhao’s spectral demiplane. The number of spectral creatures his spectral demiplane contained was seemingly limitless. Even Huo Yuhao did not know where they were coming from. He was only aware that there was a maximum number of spectral creatures which could exist within his spectral demiplane at any point in time. After this limit was reached, the total count would not increase. However, if any of the spectral creatures were to die or disappear, the demiplane would regenerate new spectral creatures to make up for the deﬁcit.

Now, Er Bai, Little Bai’s original body, had truly become the king among all the spectral creatures within the spectral demiplane. He ruled over almost every single spectral creature within the demiplane. Most of the spectral creatures, with the exception of the powerful ones like the Bone Dragon, abided by his orders. Hence, when Huo Yuhao activated his Spectral Calamity, the spell was a lot more powerful with Er Bai leading the spectral creatures.

However, the beast lord-ranked soul engineer legions’ destructive power was simply too overwhelming. The Abomination was one of the most powerful spectral creatures within the entire spectral demiplane. It was nearly invincible on land. Even though it was humongous and possessed

incredible defensive power, it was still extremely agile and fast.

However, its powerful body, which it had always been proud of, could not withstand the devastating blows from the beast lord-ranked soul engineer legions. There was no way they could get close to the linked defensive barrier. In addition, because of their huge size, they were easy targets for the soul engineers. Hence, countless Abominations collapsed to the ground after shrieking their last howl.

More and more spectral creatures were turning into carcasses outside the protective soul barrier. However, the wave of spectral creatures that were swarming towards the protective soul barrier appeared to be endless.

Even though Huo Yuhao was not trying to kill these soul engineers, he was not prepared to let them go so easily. If they were allowed to return to the Sun Moon Empire without a challenge, he would not be able to achieve his objective.

Xu Tianyuan and Xia Xuanchen were oblivious towards his movements in the sky. Huo Yuhao had just put away a soul tool that probably symbolized death in their eyes. It had belonged to the Starsky Douluo. It was the Sunmoon Divine Needle!

With Huo Yuhao’s current ability, he was deﬁnitely able to harness the full potential of the Sunmoon Divine Needle. He had originally planned to use it to destroy the trap they had planned to bait him with. Following which, he would destroy all of the soul engineers with Tang Wutong with any method and skill that they possessed. After all, they had more than just Spiritual Tempest as their martial soul fusion skill!

However, he decided against that. He felt that the Sunmoon Divine Needle was not very suitable for the circumstances before them. Even though it was incredibly powerful, it was also easy to recognize, Once he used the Sunmoon Divine Needle, he would have blown his cover. It would be extremely disadvantageous for Huo Yuhao to allow the enemy to know who he was. Hence, he decided not to use it. After all, he was the only other known user other than Ye Yulin.

Every single soul engineer in the protective soul barrier was in a hyper-excited state as they rapidly ﬁred the soul tools in their hands. As they saw how the spectral creatures collapsed

and died before their eyes, they felt as though an unknown primal need within their bodies had been satiated.

Xu Tianyuan and Xia Xuanchen slowly heaved a sigh of relief. Even though these spectral creatures looked extremely fearsome, they were still unable to stand up to the ﬁrepower of the beast lord-ranked soul engineer legions.

Since that was the case, they no longer found a need to worry about them. No matter how strong the evil soul masters were, they would eventually tire themselves out from sustaining their continuous summoning of so many spectral creatures. And when that moment eventually arrived, it would be the legions’ turn to retaliate and kill them.

After all, every beast lord-ranked soul engineer legion had their own trump card. As the legion commanders, Xu Tianyuan and Xia Xuanchen wielded the best soul tools in the legions. For example, the Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell and the high energy compression milk bottles were soul tools which were only carried around by the legion commanders.

High energy compression milk bottles were built from a new technology that the Sun Moon Empire had recently developed.

Every single milk bottle was worth as much as a Class 9 soul tool. It could contain as much soul power as a Class 7 soul engineer possessed.

On ﬁrst sight, it seemed as though the cost-beneﬁt analysis of this milk bottle did not make much sense. However, it was important to note that a Class 7 soul engineer was equivalent to a Soul Sage. A Soul Sage was at an entirely different level from a Soul Emperor. The amount of soul power a Soul Sage could store was hence deﬁnitely an impressive amount.

To put it simply, if a Class 5 soul engineer were to wield a high energy compression milk bottle, he would be able to ﬁght continuously for several hours with his Class 5 soul tool without worrying about running out of soul power.

As for the power of a Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell, there was no need to explain how destructive and effective it was in wartime.

The Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion mainly stocked up on high energy compression milk bottles, while the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion was the legion with the greatest number of Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells among the

Hand that Protects the Nation. This was something that even Xu Tianran did not know.

The Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion had always been led by a member of the royal family. Even though these members were extremely loyal to the royal family, that did not mean that they must be loyal to the Emperor at that point in time. Hence, they would usually hide and stock up whatever Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells they were given.

Among all the Class 9 soul engineers, only a selected group of soul engineers knew how to make Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells. The royal family of the Sun Moon Empire not only controlled the wealth of the empire, but also all sorts of rare metals! Hence, by exchanging rare metals for Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells with the Class 9 soul engineers, the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion was able to stock up on these weapons, and become more powerful.

This was something that only the legion commanders of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion knew. Hence, if the Imperial Soul Engineer Legion were to go all-out, even the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion might not be able to defeat them. The Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion was effectively bribing their way to victory!

This was also why the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion was extremely highly regarded by members of the royal family. In fact, most of them felt that as long as they could control the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion, they could, to some extent, control the entire destiny of the Sun Moon EMpire.

Xu Tianyuan was the current commander of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion. As a person who was obsessed with power, he would most deﬁnitely bring a huge pile of those weapons that could decide the destiny of an empire.

However, the Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells they had used to bomb Dou Ling City were the ones which were drafted for use by the army. They did not belong to him. However, he was now prepared to use all of his trump cards to ensure his legion’s survival.

Even though the deaths of the soul engineers from his Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion caused him a lot of pain, he knew how the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion would not truly become weaker as long as he held onto these trump cards.

“Boom! Boom! Boom…” Countless spectral creatures continued to crumble under the ferocious attacks of the soul engineer legions. Smoke was starting to envelop the group as horrifying howls from the dying spectral creatures threatened to deafen the soul engineers.

After a short moment, the world around them suddenly became quiet. Every single spectral creature which was within sight of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion and the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion had been shredded to pieces.

Is it ﬁnally over?

The soul engineers within the linked defensive barrier were all panting. Fatigue caught up with them as the adrenaline in their bodies started to wear off.

Xia Xuanchen looked at the screen of a surveillance soul tool before ordering, “Do not drop your guard. It is not over yet. Our enemies are still here. They seem to be clustering together right now.”

Yes. Even though there were no longer any spectral creatures near them, the screen showed what there were still large numbers of spectral creatures surrounding them deeper in the woods. These spectral creatures could attack them at any moment.

This short pause was a good chance for the tense soul engineer legions to catch their breath. It was easy for them to tire themselves out if they were to maintain their fast-paced attacks for extended periods of time.

It seems like there are really evil soul masters controlling these spectral creatures from behind the scenes. They have probably stopped their attacks after watching how we were able to slaughter their spectral creatures with ease. Instead of intentionally stopping to control the rhythm of the battle, they probably stopped out of fear.

It is said that evil soul masters have to give up a lot to breed and nurture their own avenging spirits or spectral creatures. Every single death means that they’re a little weaker than before. Hmph! Let’s see how much longer you evil soul masters can maintain your attack. Our soul engineer legions have never backed down from head-on battles like this!

Both Xia Xuanchen and Xu Tianyuan shared the same sentiments. Unfortunately, they did not know that the person who was controlling the spectral army was not in the least bit concerned about the deaths of his spectral creatures.

Huo Yuhao’s current spiritual power was already leaps and bounds ahead of his original spiritual power. Back when his spectral creatures were dying under the legions’ ﬁre, he had already noticed some of the ﬁner details that most people would have missed out on.

After every spectral creature died, its carcass would release an inconspicuous energy ﬂuctuation. This streak of energy would return to the spectral demiplane through the spectral gate.

Initially, Huo Yuhao thought he was seeing things. However, upon closer scrutiny, he realized that he was not hallucinating. The streak of energy was actually the spectral creature’s spirit ﬁre.

This also meant that only the body of the spectral creature had died. The spectral creature’s spirit ﬁre would just return into the spectral demiplane.

It was important to note that the spirit ﬁres, which belonged to the spectral creatures within the spectral demiplane, were created by the Calamity Necromancer Electrolux himself. There was actually light-type energy within every single spirit. Hence, even Ye Guyi—who was extremely adept at puriﬁcation

—could not purify the spirits within the spectral demiplane.

Chapter 571: The Terrifying Beast Lord Soul Engineer Legion

If their spirit ﬁre wasn’t completely extinguished, these spectral creatures wouldn’t truly die. They could re-absorb power from the spectral demiplane and re-form their bodies.

However, a lot of energy had to be expended to reconstruct undead from spirit ﬁre. The source of this energy was the spectral demiplane.

Through his understanding of spectral demiplanes over these past few years, Huo Yuhao had gradually come to understand that the spectral demiplane was a spatial dimension that Electrolux had opened on his own. It wasn’t as stable as a main dimensional plane like the Douluo Continent. More simply put, the spectral demiplane was like a dimensional plane that was formed using pure energy. Everything inside it was made using energy.

During the process of creation, Electrolux must have used some kind of unknown method to pour in extremely stable energy. This stable power was enough to ensure self-

sufﬁciency. Once the spectral creatures were released from inside to ﬁght, this stable energy would be drained.

Of course, the energy was drained at an extremely slow speed.

However, if this persisted and the energy wasn’t replenished, the energy in the demiplane would sooner or later be completely drained. When that happened, the entire demiplane would collapse.

Of course, such a situation wasn’t realistic.

The more he understood necromancy, the more Huo Yuhao admired and respected Electrolux.

When Electrolux was creating the spectral demiplane, he didn’t just make it stable. He even created a magical ﬂow.

This ﬂow was similar to photosynthesis after plants absorbed water.

If the spectral creatures in the demiplane died in the outside world, some of the energy in the demiplane would indeed be lost. However, this loss would be very little. In that case, how was the energy in the demiplane replenished? It was actually a very simple process – through the non-spectral creatures that went in and out of the demiplane.

Simply put, if Huo Yuhao opened his demiplane and walked in, all the energy in his body would receive some kind of special guidance and transformation within it. A part of his aura would cause a chemical reaction inside the demiplane, thereby increasing the amount of energy in the demiplane. This reaction would only stop after the internal energy of the demiplane was saturated.

What aura did Huo Yuhao bring in? It was light.

It was the aura of light from the outside world. The aura of light that came from sunlight and from one’s heart were the sources of such energy.

As a result, if the inheritor of the demiplane possessed the aura of light in his body, and their abilities weren’t evil in

nature, there wasn’t a very high risk that the demiplane would be drained of energy.

Huo Yuhao had brought in three soul engineer legions before! How strong was the power of light that came from three thousand people? As a result, the energy in the demiplane was in a saturated state.

Even so, Huo Yuhao wouldn’t overly drain the energy in the demiplane. After all, these spectral creatures were the foundation of this demiplane. If he drained the energy of this plane too much, there would be problems. Moreover, their existence constituted an army for Huo Yuhao. Although it wasn’t very convenient to use them on the battleﬁeld, they were still very useful in special circumstances, such as now.

What did an army need? Apart from strength, it needed a marshal!

This was also the reason why Huo Yuhao let the spectral army take a break temporarily.

Although the goal of the spectral army was to expend the energy of these two soul engineer legions and not to defeat them, it was still very draining for them to do so. It was naturally best for them to conserve as much as possible.

Suddenly, low-pitched incantations could be heard from all directions. Liches started to straighten their bodies among the spectral creatures. They raised bone staffs. Right now, they were reciting the same incantations as Huo Yuhao.

A terrifying spectral aura quickly rose, and a dense greyish fog engulfed the entire forest. All living creatures in the forest quickly ran for their lives. They didn’t dare to come into contact with the greyish fog.

A terrifying strength was brewing. Both the Imperial Dragon and Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legions were under immense pressure right now. They unwittingly increased the strength of their protective soul barriers. This was because they didn’t know how strong of an attack they were going to be subjected to next, and they also didn’t know when it would come.

They were being drained physically and mentally.

Spectral creatures were naturally ugly and ﬁerce. Any ordinary human’s ﬁrst reaction when facing spectral creatures would be fear and anxiety. Under such a circumstance, they would be mentally drained much faster than they would be in a normal ﬁght. This was what Huo Yuhao was trying to achieve too.

Right now, the situation was like that. Even Huo Yuhao didn’t expect that the spectral creatures would be able to drain these two soul engineer legions so much.

The recovery of their mental fatigue was even slower than the recovery of their soul power.

The two soul engineer legions had been consecutively attacked by Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong. Many soul engineer lives were lost. Right now, they were all alarmed and scared. How could they not be fearful in the face of so many spectral creatures?

Xia Xuanchen and Xu Tianyuan’s train of thought was very clear. In fact, they were well-aware that the enemy in hiding didn’t have the intention of defeating two beast lord-ranked

soul engineer legions using a spectral army. The enemy’s true intention should have been to force them back into the sky.

Since this was the case, there must be some kind of trap in the air. If the enemy was an evil soul master, it was highly possible that he wasn’t the only one.

This was why both legion commanders were very composed right now. They could only wait for the enemy to reveal himself. They weren’t too concerned about the spectral army. However, they had neglected their soul engineers’ psychological changes.

The incantations lasted for a minute. Following this, a greyish air current swept towards the linked defensive barrier formed by the two soul engineer legions.

Without any orders, all types of soul tools were immediately unleashed. They were used to dissipate the greyish air current that was surging towards them.

However, the two soul engineer legions were astonished to ﬁnd that their attacks didn’t have any effect on the greyish air

current.

Yes, there wasn’t any effect at all. It didn’t even achieve the slightest effect.

How’s this possible? The same thought appeared in everyone’s mind.

After this, they found that the greyish air current stopped when it was some distance away from them. After this, it settled to the ground. It didn’t invade their defensive formation.

Just as the soul engineers heaved a sigh of relief, their eyes opened wide at the next instant.

The bones and mangled corpses that were originally on the ground re-formed as they were nourished by the greyish air current. They turned into skeletons and vampires that crawled up from the ground.

It was important to know that there were many spectral creatures that had died on the battleﬁeld under the hands of soul tools. Right now, the revival of these spectral creatures caused the entire place to be populated.

The more terrifying thing was that every soul engineer developed the belief that spectral creatures couldn’t die any further. This was the scariest part.

In fact, spectral creatures could only remain ‘alive’ for a restricted period of time. However, these soul engineers didn’t know that! They also didn’t notice that these spectral creatures that were revived weren’t as strong as the Abominations and Terror Knights. They were only skeletons and vampires, which were on the lower tiers among spectral creatures.

Humans could unleash terrifying strength in the face of fear.

This was something not to be doubted.

As a result, the ﬁghting strength of the two soul engineer legions was completely unleashed.

Dazzling lights struck the spectral army, causing many of the spectral creatures to be torn to pieces.

The skeletons and vampires took only a few steps before they were torn apart.

Countless soul engineers were roaring furiously. They were unleashing their strongest soul tools in the most maniacal way possible. They were attacking furiously.

An energy storm raged, and frightening soul rays and cannon shells caused this entire region to turn into a region of death.

There were no longer any corpses. When the spectral creatures collapsed this time, their bodies directly turned to dust. Even the ground started to cave in a little because of this intense clash between the spectral creatures and the two soul engineer legions.

From above, only a huge ball of light could be seen. Nothing else could be seen at all.

At the very start, Xu Tianyuan and Xia Xuanchen were very comforted by the offensive strength of their two soul engineer legions. However, they felt that something was amiss very soon. Their soul engineer legions were a little too ﬁerce, and there seemed to be something wrong with their morale. It wasn’t just at a high; there was something else.

Fear? Xia Xuanchen soon realized that his soul engineers were all fearful right now.

He had ﬁnally realized it. However, his realization came too late.

Xia Xuanchen shouted almost without hesitation. He commanded everyone to stop attacking. However, every soul tool was currently being unleashed at full power as the hundreds of soul engineers did their best to muster the greatest of their offensive ability. How far could his voice travel? No one heard him. Everyone was frantically and furiously attacking. There was only one thought in their heads

– decimate all the spectral creatures in front of them.

The situation was a little out of control right now.

Xia Xuanchen tried to knock a few soul engineers down. However, these soul engineers immediately jumped up after they were knocked down. After they jumped up, they continued attacking. Unless they were knocked out, they wouldn’t stop at all.

Such a frantic attack only slowly ceased after ﬁve minutes, when there were not many spectral creatures left to kill.

Xia Xuanchen and Xu Tianyuan both looked very glum.

While soul engineers were well-respected in the army, they were still soldiers in the end. The duty of soldiers was to listen to orders. Once soldiers stopped listening to orders, it meant that the entire army was out of control. That was the most terrifying thing.

For the soul engineers that stopped, their fear slowly vanished as they were excited. They had completely killed all the spectral creatures. There was even no sight of any broken limbs on the ground.

However, all of them were very fatigued as their fear disappeared. Many of them dropped to the ground panting. This was the after-effect of over-excitement.

At this moment, they might not be physically exhausted, but they were certainly mentally exhausted!

Xia Xuanchen suddenly thought of something, and his ﬁgure ﬂashed. He rushed towards the few soul engineers among the legion who were in charge of surveillance.

However, it was a pity that he was still a step too slow. A soul engineer who was in charge of surveillance subconsciously exclaimed, “Why, why are there still so many spectral creatures outside?”

Xia Xuanchen shut him up. However, he had already said something that he shouldn’t have before Xia Xuanchen could cover his mouth.

The soul engineers who were both excited and fatigued right now were immediately stunned when they heard his words.

There’s more? There’s more of them? What about the hard work that they had put in earlier?

A deeper fear than before immediately swept over them at this point.

A few soul engineers who were weaker and greatly drained from earlier suffered mental breakdowns. They charged towards the outside of the protective soul barrier as they

screamed frantically. They were trying to ﬂee. All of their faces were contorted at this point.

“Bang, bang, bang, bang…”

Soul rays shot out accurately. Headshot!

The ﬁrst six soul engineers who had charged out immediately collapsed into a pool of blood.

All the soul engineers subconsciously turned their attention to where the soul rays came from. They only saw the grim- looking Xu Tianyuan.

“Silence! Whoever dares to rebel shall be killed.” Xu Tianyuan’s cold voice could be heard by every soul engineer. This also roused their fear of military discipline.

Xu Tianyuan raised his right hand, and a completely jade- blue soul cannon shell appeared in his hand. “What’s there to be frantic about? All of you are useless. Have you forgotten who you are? Who are we? We are part of the Hand that

Protects the Nation of the Sun Moon Empire. We are a beast lord-ranked soul engineer legion, a strength to behold. No matter what enemy we face, they can only submit to us. What’s there to fear? Do you see this? Do you see what’s in my hand? It’s a Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell.”

“So what if there’s another attack like earlier, but only ten or hundred times stronger? We can easily destroy them. Are all of you scared just because they’re ugly spectral creatures?”

“Observe, watch closely. See how many spectral creatures will survive this time.” As he spoke, Xu Tianyuan’s hand ﬂashed with light again, and a giant cannon appeared on his shoulder. A vice-legion commander personally inserted the jade-blue shell into the cannon.

Xu Tianyuan didn’t even deliberately aim. As a jade-blue light shone, the shell immediately shot out.

In the forest in the distance, a terrifying jade-blue light brightened the entire sky. A massive wave of energy swept over them, and it seemed like the entire world had turned jade-blue at this instant.

The detector in the observer’s hand revealed that more than a third of the red spots had disappeared. No traces were left behind.

This was the strength of a top-grade shell!

The soul engineers’ morale and sense of fear slowly returned to normal as the jade-blue light ﬂashed. The soul engineers lowered their heads. They stood up and repented for their behavior earlier.

Xia Xuanchen silently heaved a sigh of relief, and gave a thumbs-up to Xu Tianyuan.

However, Xu Tianyuan knew things weren’t all that smooth. Earlier, he shouldn’t have used that Class 9 shell no matter what. Those spectral creatures were only summoned by evil soul masters. They weren’t capable of ﬁnding the evil soul masters. The Class 9 shell would only serve to make their enemies more prudent, and therefore more difﬁcult to deal with in the future.

However, did he have a choice? The morale of his troops had been very low, and they were about to carry out a mutiny. He couldn’t think of a better way to react to the situation.

What he didn’t know was that Huo Yuhao was a little unsettled right now. He hadn’t expected the other party to use a Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell.

Fortunately, his Spiritual Detection covered the entire place. He felt that things weren’t right when Xu Tianyuan took out the Class 9 shell. He immediately ordered his spectral army to divide into two ﬁles and retreat to the sides of the trajectory that the shell was moving in.

Even so, his spectral army still sustained heavy losses. Of course, both he and Tang Wutong managed to hide far away.

Although Huo Yuhao had gained the upper hand in this confrontation, his advantage was greatly reduced after the other party unleashed a Class 9 shell.

Of course, Huo Yuhao had a Class 9 shell with him too. However, he couldn’t bear to use it. He would not touch it

unless the situation was truly desperate. It was simply too valuable.

He’s gone all-out by using a Class 9 shell. After a moment of temporary shock, Huo Yuhao quickly calmed himself down.

The enemy chose to use a Class 9 shell even when he wasn’t supposed to use it no matter the circumstance. What did that signify? It meant that the enemy had lost a little control after being subjected to pressure by him.

The six soul engineer legions who had attempted to ﬂee earlier were the best proof. Since this was the case, Huo Yuhao was bent on applying more pressure. Furthermore, he was going to try another method.

Under Huo Yuhao’s orders, the spectral army quickly retreated. The destructiveness of a Class 9 shell was simply too terrifying. Any living creature would be decimated under such an attack. Even an Ultimate Douluo wouldn’t dare to directly resist the strength of a Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell.

To prevent sustaining more losses, Huo Yuhao commanded his spectral army to cease attacking. After all, did he only have one strategy?

It was crucial to remember that he wasn’t just a powerful Titled Douluo. He was also a Class 9 soul engineer. As a soul engineer, he was very familiar with the abilities of a soul engineer. For example, a linked defensive barrier might be able to isolate energy and spiritual attacks, but it couldn’t isolate the effects of temperature.

While temperature was also a form of energy, the difference was that it could be conducted in many ways apart from air. It was almost impossible to completely isolate temperature changes. At least, it wasn’t plausible based on current soul tool technology.

“They’re gone. The spectral creatures have vanished.”

Rapturous cheers sounded within the protective soul barrier.

Xu Tianyuan really heaved a sigh of relief this time. At the same time, he felt very proud of himself. The enemy had

ﬁnally retreated after he used a Class 9 shell. Did this also mean that their attacks would cease? Yes! How many people could remain composed in the face of a Class 9 shell? If the shell killed a portion of their enemies earlier, it would be even more perfect.

Xia Xuanchen also appeared much more relaxed. He came to Xu Tianyuan’s side and whispered, “Brother Xu, let everyone rest ﬁrst. We can’t leave in such a state.”

“Yes.” Xu Tianyuan nodded. The earlier outburst had caused many of the soul engineers earlier to be greatly drained, whether it was in terms of their spiritual or soul power. They couldn’t possibly leave without resting. At the same time, they needed to observe the situation further to determine whether their enemies had really retreated.

“Members of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion are in charge of maintaining the protective soul barrier. Members of the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion, take the time to rest.” Xu Tianyuan immediately gave an order.

“Brother Xia, should we continue with our earlier plan?” Xu Tianyuan softly asked Xia Xuanchen.

Xia Xuanchen replied, “Even if we want to continue on with it, we still have to wait for some time. Let everyone recover ﬁrst.”

Xu Tianyuan was astonished as he said, “The Dou Ling Empire’s weather is so weird. It’s always so gloomy. Eh, it’s snowing?”

It was already deep into autumn. The Dou Ling Empire was close to the north of the Douluo Continent, while its capital, Dou Ling City, was also close to the north of the empire. This was why its temperature was lower compared to other empires.

Snowﬂakes started to fall from the sky, and they drifted before they landed on the ground. It was only after a short while before the ground turned into a patch of white.

Normally, low temperatures weren’t an issue for these soul masters. The soul engineers of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer were still chortling as they saw their protective soul barrier being engulfed by a layer of snow.

The protective soul barrier didn’t have any temperature on its own. However, the great number of soul rays and shells that had been used to attack earlier caused the temperature inside and outside the barrier to differ slightly.

This was why the snow quickly melted when it fell on the barrier. However, a layer of snow still formed on the barrier, as there was simply too much snow falling. From afar, it seemed like a giant white semicircular object. It was very interesting.

“The temperature in the Dou Ling Empire is really ridiculous. It’s really getting a little cold.” One soul engineer said softly. At the same time, he pulled his clothes closer to the center of his body.

Many soul engineers were sweating from their earlier outburst. As it snowed, the temperature fell drastically. Many of them started to pull their clothes closer to the center of their bodies as a means of keeping warm.

The snow gradually got heavier and heavier. On the surface of the barrier, the accumulated snow also started to thicken. The temperature didn’t fall further, but the soul engineers inside the barrier still felt cold.

Xu Tianyuan commanded a few people to start a ﬁre to keep the rest warm. At the same time, they were also taking turns to eat.

Very soon, piping hot soup was sent to Xu Tianyuan and Xia Xuanchen. Both of them were still full of soul power. They didn’t need to meditate. After taking a few mouthfuls of soup, their bodies started to warm up. They also began to relax.

“Brother Xia! I didn’t expect things to be so successful at the front line and problematic at the back end for this mission.”

A cold light ﬂashed in Xia Xuanchen’s eyes. He downed his soup and said, “When we return, we must not rest until we deal with the Holy Ghost Church. How dare they lay their hands on us? They must be sick of living.”

Xu Tianyuan squinted and exuded a killer aura. “Holy Ghost Church, bloody Holy Ghost Church. I wonder if they’re gone. Right now, I actually do wish they haven’t left. It’s a pity that our detectors can’t ﬁnd their exact location. Otherwise, even if a Class 9 shell can’t kill them, it’ll still be enough to skin them. Since when have we become so passive?”

Xia Xuanchen said, “I really hate that fellow who can conceal himself. It’s our ﬁrst time meeting such a soul master. He can conceal himself and prevent us from ﬁnding him. Otherwise, he’d be dead even if he were an Ultimate Douluo, given the combined strength of our two soul engineer legions.”

Xu Tianyuan said, “Let’s not talk about that for now. Let’s rest ﬁrst. Later, we still need to carry out our plan.”

Xia Xuanchen stood up and said, “I’ll take a look at the detectors. We can’t see the outside because of the snow. We can only observe using our detectors. It’s best if we avoid any problems.”

Xu Tianyuan said, “Things should be ﬁne for now. My shell would have hurt many of them. In my opinion, they would have escaped if they’re clever enough.”

Xia Xuanchen nodded, but he was very cautious, and therefore he still went to check.

He returned very quickly. Everything appeared to be ﬁne outside. No enemies had appeared.

The temperature inside the barrier was rising due to the ﬁre that had been lit. However, the temperature outside the barrier was very low due to the falling snow. Very soon, a layer of ice formed on the surface of the barrier due to the temperature difference between the inside and outside of the barrier. Furthermore, this layer of ice was thickening.

No discoveries were made by the Sun Moon Empire’s detectors, but right now, there was one person silently standing outside the protective soul barrier.

This person’s body temperature was exactly the same as the external air temperature. Thermal detectors were useless against him. Even the oscillations released by oscillation detectors couldn’t manage to detect anything abnormal as they passed through his body. No one discovered any special changes that came from his body.

This person stood outside just like that. His left hand was still on that layer of ice.

The temperature outside was already below zero. The snowﬂakes in the sky were getting thicker and thicker as they drifted. It was just that the layer of ice blocked the view of those covered by the barrier.

No one realized that there were a few strange forces within that layer of ice. The undulations coming from these few forces weren’t very strong, but they fused perfectly with ice. They also helped to isolate the temperature inside and outside the barrier.

Thermal detectors were used to detect external heat, but they couldn’t judge external temperature. This was why the soul engineers within the barrier didn’t know that the temperature in the outside world was dropping very rapidly.

Time passed second after second. The snow outside the barrier kept getting thicker and thicker along with the layer of ice.

After taking turns to rest and eat, the Imperial Dragon and Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legions remained for another four hours. They were even taking turns to sleep and, used sleep to recover their minds.

Right now, all of them were feeling rather optimistic.

Xu Tianyuan was delighted as he commented, “There’s no movement outside. It seems like they’ve really retreated. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have let us fully recover.” After four hours of rest, he and Xia Xuanchen were back in their peak condition.

However, he forgot that they had wasted four hours of time, even though they had managed to recover within these four hours. To some people, four hours was sufﬁcient to do many things.

“Brother Xu, should we leave now?” Xia Xuanchen asked Xu Tianyuan.

Xu Tianyuan nodded and said, “The layer of ice and snow is already quite thick. We should leave soon and return. Let’s be

more wary of any enemies later.”

Xia Xuanchen nodded and said, “Everyone, be alert. Every ten of you will form one team and unleash a linked defensive barrier. Keep a tight formation. We’re preparing to leave.”

All the soul engineers were excited as they discovered that they were about to leave. They had been in here for a long time. They had even fought earlier. They wanted to return and get some proper rest.

Protective soul barriers were formed, and the massive barrier that was covering everyone slowly weakened.

However, they were astonished to discover that there was still a semicircular barrier outside even though their own protective soul barrier had weakened. It was a barrier made out of ice and snow!

“All the snow has turned to ice!” The largest protective soul barrier had now completely disappeared, and was replaced by smaller protective soul barriers. The snow outside didn’t

continue to fall. It was like they were in a house made of ice. It was very special.

“Try using soul rays.” Xia Xuanchen said.

Immediately, a soul engineer unleashed a soul ray. Suddenly, a hole appeared, revealing sunlight from outside. At the same time, a gust of chilly air rushed in from this hole.

“Haha, this is really interesting. I didn’t know that our protective soul barrier could still make a house.”

Xu Tianyuan and Xia Xuanchen were both astonished. It was also their ﬁrst time encountering something like this. However, they couldn’t afford to remain here any longer. Xu Tianyuan immediately gave an order, “Every small team will be a unit. Every unit will ﬁre a soul ray to get rid of this layer of ice. We’ll immediately rise into the air once we leave. We must remain close to one another. Begin.”

The row of soul engineers in front immediately raised their soul tools and ﬁred at the layer of ice!

A series of cracking sounds were heard. The layer of ice was destroyed, revealing the outside world.

Gusts of indescribably chilly air immediately over swept them. These gusts of air struck the barriers that the soul engineers had formed earlier. While the air currents were blocked, the chill still engulfed everyone.

It was really a world of ice and snow outside. Only white could be seen. Snowﬂakes were dancing everywhere amidst raging winds. They were completely unaware that the outside world had become like that because the layer of ice had blocked their vision earlier.

Just as they were astonished, they also felt the chill invading their bodies.

The temperature dropped to below negative ﬁfty degrees Celsius almost instantly. This was even after their protective soul barriers had isolated part of the cold.

Every soul engineer felt as if ice water had been poured on them. Their blood was about to freeze. Such a sudden change

caused them to shudder. All of them subconsciously shuddered, and their movements also became a little stiff.

However, they were soul masters. They quickly circulated their soul power and tried to resist the chill that was invading their bodies. However, this didn’t seem to work at all.

“This is not good.” If Xu Tianyuan and Xia Xuanchen couldn’t tell that something was wrong at this point, they were not ﬁt to be legion commanders.

This extreme level of chill was beyond their idea of ordinary. It was even getting worse, especially when the snowﬂakes made clanging noises as they scraped the surface of the protective soul barriers.

“Rush out! Rise into the sky.” Xia Xuanchen shouted without any hesitation.

Right now, rushing out was their main priority. Evidently, they had fallen into the enemies’ trap. They couldn’t think about how they did this at this point. However, such a soul skill couldn’t possibly engulf the entire world no matter how strong

it was. Once they rushed out and rose into the sky, they would naturally escape the cold.

Xia Xuanchen reacted very quickly. He was also the ﬁrst to rush out.

However, it was also at this moment that the snow dome that had left them in awe earlier blew apart without any warning.

“Boom boom boom!”

As tremendous booms rang out, countless blocks of Ultimate Ice blew apart. The terrifying explosive force instantly turned into extremely strong air currents that engulfed the protective soul barriers that the soul engineers had formed.

Earlier, ten people had been assigned to one protective soul barrier. This meant that there were many protective soul barriers subjected to this terrifying explosive force.

The combination of ten soul masters with cultivations between four rings and ﬁve rings was still quite strong.

However, they didn’t stand a chance against a Titled Douluo. This was the difference in absolute strength.

Chapter 572: Perfect Surprise Attack

No one expected this explosion at all. This was because they couldn’t sense any soul power undulations coming from outside earlier. Given this, none of them were prepared. Furthermore, all of them were also affected by the extreme chill. They weren’t able to unleash their soul power to the greatest of their abilities.

When this huge explosion occurred, the weakest four soul engineer teams, who were also closest to the layer of ice, were instantly torn to pieces!

Forty soul engineers were blown apart just like that! Xia Xuanchen, who was about to rush out, was also ﬂung back by the terrifying explosive force.

Suddenly, chaos ensued.

They unleashed their defense to their maximum capabilities!

Blinding golden light shone, and Xu Tianyuan shot out a beam of golden light from his chest. This beam of golden light turned into a barrier that attempted to resist the falling snowﬂakes. He quickly rushed to Xia Xuanchen’s side. Both of them joined forces to lift a protective soul barrier and rushed forward.

The explosion came too quickly, and it was terrifying.

However, it also disappeared very quickly.

After the explosive force vanished, they found that three more out of the thirty-plus soul engineer small teams had their protective soul barriers crushed, as they weren’t strong enough. Although they weren’t directly blown apart, they all froze into ice statues due to the extremely low temperature.

The more frightening thing was that they blew apart just after they turned into ice statues, and the remnants of their corpses scattered across the ground. It was a complete mess.

Seventy soul engineers had turned into dust just like that. The protective soul barriers of a few small teams were also blown apart. However, they tried their best to summon their

soul power, and managed to seal their barriers amidst the chaos. This was the reason why they managed to avert disaster.

As they rushed out from the ice and snow, the two Class 9 soul engineers unleashed their strongest attacks at the same time. They swept in all directions. Soul rays and cannons ﬁred everywhere.

At this moment, the two beast lord-ranked soul engineer legions still demonstrated their quality even though they had suffered heavy losses. Every small team chose to rise into the sky at the ﬁrst instant. In addition, they stuck very close to one another too.

Xu Tianyuan, Xia Xuanchen and the four vice-legion commanders were the last to ﬂy up. They showed why they were the commanders, as they watched the retreat of their troops.

Just like Xia Xuanchen had predicted earlier, the chill in the air gradually disappeared after they rose ﬁve hundred meters into the air. Everything reverted to normal.

However, most of the soul engineers were also pale from being frozen.

Seventy out of the three hundred soul engineers had been lost. There were two soul engineer legions at the start, but now there was only one left.

Xia Xuanchen looked very grim. He was completely pale. The reason was very simple. Among the seven small teams that had been wiped out earlier, six of them had belonged to his Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion.

The Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion was the most adept at speed. However, there was still a gap between the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion and the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion in terms of absolute ability. As a result, the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion fully demonstrated their advantage in terms of overall abilities right now. They sustained considerably fewer losses.

Xu Tianyuan scanned the area, and found out what the problem was. He tapped Xia Xuanchen’s shoulder. “Old Xia, don’t panic. When we return, we’ll give you more men from the reserve regiment. We have to use our linked defensive

formation. We must not let our enemies take advantage of us again.”

This explosion came too abruptly, leaving them at a loss as to what to do. Xia Xuanchen and Xu Tianyuan thought that they were already being very cautious. However, who knew that they were still tricked. Even up until now, they didn’t know where that explosion, which was as strong as a Class 8 stationary soul cannon shell, came from, and how those blocks of ice were blown apart.

They re-activated their linked defensive formation. For safety’s sake, the soul engineers from the two soul engineer legions unleashed this formation together. The light that came from their protective soul barrier was also extremely pure.

“Come on, let’s ﬂy further ﬁrst before speaking. For someone to have created that situation earlier, it must be some kind of domain-type ability. Such an ability is also very draining. Although we can’t ﬁnd those scoundrels, I believe it won’t be easy for them to pursue us. Let’s leave this place ﬁrst.”

The soul engineer legions quickly ﬂew toward the west. It was very draining for two soul engineer legions to maintain a

protective soul barrier and ﬂy at the same time. They couldn’t continue ﬂying for too long. However, they couldn’t be bothered about that at this point. It was paramount for them to leave this dangerous region.

Xu Tianyuan looked much better than Xia Xuanchen. At least his side didn’t suffer as much. Xia Xuanchen might have felt a little better after being comforted by Xu Tianyuan, but he was still very grim. The difference between the reserve troops and the ofﬁcial troops was still very big. A lot of time was needed to nurture a qualiﬁed member of the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion. This time, he had really incurred a huge loss! Almost two-thirds of the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion was gone.

At this moment, an anxious voice sounded. “Commander, this comrade seems to be unable to hold on anymore.”

Xu Tianyuan turned his head, and saw a soul engineer of the Imperial Soul Engineer Legion carrying another person not far behind him. The soul engineer that was being carried looked very pale. One of his arms and one of his legs were broken. He looked terrifyingly pale, as he had lost too much blood. Even his eyes were dim and lifeless.

Xu Tianyuan’s face contorted a little. He also turned a little gloomy. He drifted to the side of this soul engineer and sighed, “Comrade, have a safe journey. When we return, I’ll think of a way to avenge you.”

As he spoke, he lifted his head and pressed it against that injured soul engineer’s forehead.

This was a rule in the army. If an injured person couldn’t be saved in time, his commander could help him die, and he would die as a hero on the battleﬁeld. Not only would he be given a grand burial after he returned, but his family would also be given a generous pension. Even his commander had to personally extend his condolences to his family.

That soul engineer revealed a comforted look on his face. He shut his eyes and was ready to accept his imminent death.

Xu Tianyuan didn’t use too much strength. He had originally planned to retract his soul power the moment he touched this soul engineer’s forehead. Otherwise, he might destroy the soul engineer’s corpse if he used too much strength. He was also a comrade. Xu Tianyuan couldn’t bear to lay his hands on him.

Xia Xuanchen turned around. No matter who, he wouldn’t be willing to see something like this. The rest of the soul engineers all lowered their heads.

At this moment, Xu Tianyuan’s body shook. That injured soul engineer silently pressed his palm on his chest.

Xu Tianyuan had originally thought it was a subconscious action. However, an indescribable sense of crisis rose in his heart in the next moment.

He didn’t even need to react before his automatic protective soul barrier and Invincible Barrier activated.

Blinding lights and intense soul power undulations alarmed everyone.

It was a pity that they reacted too late.

A deep-blue whirlpool had silently appeared on Xu Tianyuan’s chest. He was a Class 9 soul engineer, but his protective soul barrier and Invincible Barrier were both torn to

pieces by this whirlpool. That pale-white hand also pressed against Xu Tianyuan’s chest at this point.

Following this, a terrifying Spiritual Blast exploded out from the center of the injured soul engineer’s body.

The soul engineers that were closest to him were immediately blown apart. Even the vice-legion commanders were ﬂung far away by the frightening impact of the spiritual power.

Xia Xuanchen was no exception. He was ﬂung dozens of meters away.

His body stiffened in mid-air. His ﬂying-type soul tool also immediately went out.

That injured soul engineer and the soul engineer who had reported earlier were instantly vaporized.

After this, the linked defensive barrier distorted slightly.

Two ﬁgures also disappeared completely.

The linked defensive barrier only served to isolate external attacks. It couldn’t defend against any attacks that came from within. The people inside could leave, but no one from the outside could enter.

Only the linked defensive barrier of a soul formation could be controlled to work both externally and internally.

It was only after those two ﬁgures disappeared that Xu Tianyuan knocked into the barrier just like the other soul engineers.

Xia Xuanchen rushed over instantly and tried to pull him back.

However, it was too late!

“Boom!” Xu Tianyuan’s body instantly blew apart and turned into countless pieces, scattering all around.

Xia Xuanchen’s protective soul barrier was immediately activated, which protected him from harm. However, many soul engineers around him were blown up or injured. Those two people had actually escaped without leaving any traces.

“Bastards! Bastards——!” Xia Xuanchen roared furiously. All the soul engineers from the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion were all reacting sorrowfully too.

Xu Tianyuan had commanded this soul engineer legion for a long time now. Now that he was dead, the impact on the entire Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion was very great.

Who would have expected that a Class 9 soul engineer and a prince of the empire would die just like this? He couldn’t resist his enemies at all.

Every soul engineer let out sorrowful cries. However, they didn’t even see their enemies clearly. They didn’t even know how their enemies had snuck in.

A few thousand meters away, Huo Yuhao slowly appeared as he held Tang Wutong’s hand. Of course, only they could see

each other. Those from the Sun Moon Empire couldn’t see them at all.

Without a doubt, those two that had attacked Xu Tianyuan earlier were Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong. More accurately speaking, it was a perfect surprise attack and assassination.

If they had attacked with all their might earlier, it was likely that very few soul engineers within the protective soul barrier would have survived. The two soul engineer legions might even have been completely wiped out.

However, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong didn’t do so. They had a more far-sighted plan. This plan was much more signiﬁcant for destroying the entire Sun Moon Empire army.

Huo Yuhao had controlled the snow and used his Ice Explosion Technique. As for how he managed to force the soul engineers to rise into the sky, he had actually in fact only used a part of the strength of his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice.

If Huo Yuhao had really wanted to wipe them out, he would have fully unleashed his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice as the soul engineers rose into the sky. The soul engineers were in groups of ten. Very few of them would have been able to resist such a strong attack.

However, Huo Yuhao didn’t do that. He only used his Ice Explosion Technique to destroy a few small teams. At the same time, he quickly snuck in as a few of the small teams revealed ﬂaws. He killed two of them and used his Imitation and Spiritual Interference Domain to successfully blend in.

When the linked defensive barrier was fully unleashed, he had actually achieved his goal.

If Huo Yuhao were an ordinary Transcendent Douluo, it wouldn’t be easy for him to kill a Class 9 soul engineer so easily. However, he already had his second soul core right now, his Ultimate Ice second soul core. This meant that he could directly tap into the strength of his second soul core. The deep- blue whirlpool earlier had been a physical manifestation of the strength of his second soul core.

His Ultimate Ice soul core combined with his Snowless Glacier!

All it took was one palm strike to kill.

Xu Tianyuan was killed almost instantly. Then, Huo Yuhao calmly ﬂed with Tang Wutong. He used his Spiritual Blast instead of his Spiritual Tempest. He was already being very merciful. This was because he needed to conserve energy for them to return. They became one of the factors causing

instability in the Sun Moon Empire.

Of course, he left something special before he left. This left a deeper impression in the minds of these Sun Moon Empire soul engineers.

The ﬂying inside the protective soul barrier had stopped by now. The remaining soul engineers in the two soul engineer legions were only half their original number.

Xia Xuanchen’s expression couldn’t just be considered gloomy anymore. He was even in a bit of a daze. He had some understanding of Xu Tianyuan’s abilities. As a Class 9 soul engineer, Xu Tianyuan was equipped with the best soul tools, even though he wasn’t the strongest himself.

He had human-shaped soul tools, automatic defensive soul tools and the treasure of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion on him. Wait a minute, where’s the treasure?

Xia Xuanchen immediately realized an important problem. His eyes brightened, and he quickly searched for it inside the barrier.

Within the linked defensive barrier, Xu Tianyuan’s belongings would still remain even if his body blew apart.

However, Xia Xuanchen immediately turned very grim when he couldn’t ﬁnd anything after searching for a long time.

It’s gone? The treasure of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion is gone. This means that our enemies have taken it. This also means that those who attacked us were here for the treasure, rather than to kill us.

Yes! Evil soul masters pursued such objectives!

At this moment, someone’s heavy breathing jolted Xia Xuanchen awake. He subconsciously looked to his surroundings. He was stunned to ﬁnd out that more than ten soul engineers had turned completely pale. However, their eyes were blood-red. Their auras were also very heavy.

“Not good. It’s the ability of evil soul masters. They’ve been controlled. Kill them!” Xia Xuanchen shouted, and made a move ﬁrst.

After a few more breaths, Xia Xuanchen’s furious roars echoed in the barrier. “Bastards. Holy Ghost Church, I’ll not let you off!”

In the distance, Tang Wutong sighed. “Yuhao, I feel a little uncomfortable inside.”

Huo Yuhao hugged her slender waist. “I know. However, this is war. People die in wars. In fact, even though I meddled with their bodies, they should be able to recover on their own after some time. I can only try my best not to kill using necromancy. Do you think I’ve become crueler?”

Tang Wutong gently shook her head and said, “No, you’re right. War is cruel. If our enemies don’t die, you will be the one to die. If we kill one more soul engineer from the other party, we can save lives on our side.”

Huo Yuhao sighed and revealed a glow on his face. He coldly said, “Ju Zi was right. I was too soft in the past. This is war. If we want to control and change it, we need to change these habits. However, fret not. I’ll try to stay true to my heart.”

“Furthermore, I’ve been misunderstanding in the past. Wutong, losing to Ju Zi on the battleﬁeld is actually very normal. This is because our overall abilities are some way off from the Sun Moon Empire. That’s why we’ve always been led by the nose by Ju Zi. However, this doesn’t mean that we don’t stand a chance. If we can’t succeed overtly, we can only scheme. We can only use other ways to defeat them if we can’t beat them openly. This is what I can do as an Ultimate Soldier. Let’s go. We should return and see how things are in Dou Ling City. I hope we can help them achieve stability and minimize any chaos.”

“Alright.” Tang Wutong nodded, and they turned around and ﬂew in the direction of Dou Ling City.

They retreated, but the remaining members of the two soul engineer legions were still leaving slowly. They were all ﬁlled with rage, like a soul cannon shell. They could blow apart at any time!

Dou Ling City.

When Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong returned to Dou Ling City, they were stunned to realize that smoke was no longer billowing from the city. Furthermore, the overall situation seemed to be rather stable too.

The sky had turned dark by now. There wasn’t anyone on the streets, but there were many soldiers patrolling. Evidently, there was a curfew in the city.

Huo Yuhao secretly heaved a sigh of relief when he saw this. He led Tang Wutong as they silently entered the city. At the same time, he unleashed his Spiritual Detection to ﬁnd his teammates.

The area his Spiritual Detection could cover was simply too big under the effect of his twin soul cores. Although it wasn’t enough to cover the entire city, they were still able to quickly ﬁnd traces of Xu Sanshi and the others, given their speed.

Finding them was also very easy. This was because Xu Sanshi and the others were close to the ruins of the imperial palace.

They had been there for ten hours.

Huo Yuhao directly communicated with Xu Sanshi using his Spiritual Detection. At the same time, he brought Tang Wutong towards them.

Lights ﬂashed, and Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong silently appeared beside Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, Ye Guyi, Nan Qiuqiu and Ji Juechen.

They weren’t the only ﬁve here right now. There were a lot of people standing in the ruins of the imperial palace. Many of them were still wearing armor.

When two people suddenly appeared, they reacted very agitatedly. Suddenly, soul power undulations surged, and many people unleashed their martial souls.

Xu Sanshi lifted his hand and said, “They’re on our side.

They’re my juniors.”

Huo Yuhao was astonished to discover that Xu Sanshi sounded very awe-inspiring. After hearing his words, the soldiers and soul masters calmed down. However, they were still shocked to see Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong.

Yes! How did these two get in? How did no one noticed them?

What kind of powers do they possess?

Huo Yuhao seemed to be asking Xu Sanshi something with his eyes. Xu Sanshi also turned his head to look at him. When he saw Xu Sanshi’s eyes, Huo Yuhao’s heart sank. His eyes had turned red, and the whites of his eyes were ﬁlled with streaks of blood.

It was Huo Yuhao’s ﬁrst time seeing such a situation. Normally, Xu Sanshi was very happy-go-lucky. Among the members of Shrek’s Seven Monsters, he was deﬁnitely the clown. He was very strong, but he shared a good relationship with everyone else. He was even like Jiang Nannan’s punching bag.

But right now, Xu Sanshi released a strong killing intent from his body. His entire demeanor had changed.

“Little junior, how are those soul engineers?” Xu Sanshi asked. His voice also sounded very hoarse.

Huo Yuhao replied, “The two soul engineer legions were the Imperial Dragon and Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legions. We killed half of them, including the legion commander of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion. The rest ﬂed. However, they don’t know that we are the ones who ambushed them. Under my guise, they should have mistaken evil soul masters as the culprits.”

“Okay, thanks Yuhao.” Xu Sanshi nodded and turned his head again. Not only did his killing intent not go down, but it was even trending towards a rise.

Huo Yuhao shifted laterally. He came to Jiang Nannan’s side and softly asked, “Fourth senior, what’s wrong with third senior? What’s with these soldiers too? How are things in Dou Ling City? Has the imperial family…”

Jiang Nannan shut him up using her eyes. After this, she transmitted to him, “Things aren’t good. The Sun Moon Empire chose a very good time to attack. It was when the Dou Ling Empire’s imperial family was gathering. That’s why

almost the entire imperial family has been killed. They were all bombed to death. Things are very chaotic in Dou Ling City. Even I didn’t know that the royal blood of the Dou Ling Empire runs in Sanshi’s body. He used some kind of token to enter the city. After that, he gradually curbed the troops and maintained order. This is the reason why the chaos has been suppressed. We were all gathered here now waiting for you to return. At the same time, we are discussing our next move.”

The Dou Ling Empire’s imperial family has been wiped out?

Everyone is dead?

Although he had ﬁgured out this was the likely result earlier, Huo Yuhao still couldn’t help but turn grim when he heard it. The Sun Moon Empire is really too vicious. Ju Zi is too vicious!

Right now, he was a little regretful that he hadn’t killed everyone from the two soul engineer legions to avenge the Dou Ling Empire.

However, Huo Yuhao was also shocked that Xu Sanshi was actually of royal blood. None of them were aware of it earlier! They really only found out by chance.

It was more useful for Xu Sanshi to exploit his royal identity rather than his identity as a student of Shrek Academy. No wonder he was able to maintain order in Dou Ling City within such a short period of time.

However, this was still not enough! The Dou Ling Empire needed a backbone right now.

“Your Highness, the imperial family is bare now. We need your leadership.” An old general who was about sixty years old took a few steps forward before he knelt on one knee.

Xu Sanshi’s expression changed unpredictably as he looked at him.

Not far away, another elder who was roughly the same age and who was wearing an ofﬁcial uniform said, “No. We still need to consider his identity. How can we make a decision so hastily?”

The old general was furious. “Screw your nonsense. I’ve tolerated you for so long. If not for your hesitance, we would’ve come together to chase after those bastards. If you dare to spout further nonsense, I’ll kill you right now.”

“Commander Li, now is not the time to act rashly. Anything regarding the imperial family is of paramount importance!” That elder laughed bitterly.

The general who was addressed as ‘Commander Li’ said, “We’ve already seen what His Highness has done ever since he came. If not for the fact that he came in time to maintain order in the city, the city would have been in great chaos. It wouldn’t have hung on until now. Right now, the elites from the empire have gone to Shrek as reinforcements. If there’s internal chaos within Dou Ling City, the Sun Moon Empire will surely exploit the situation. His Highness has already proven with actions that his identity is real. He’s likely to be the sole survivor of the imperial family. If we don’t protect him, who else do we protect?”

That elder in the ofﬁcial uniform was the chief of all the ofﬁcials in the Dou Ling Empire, and the current Premier. He appeared very grim, and he was also very hesitant. If the empire was without a leader, there would certainly be big problems. At such a time, the Dou Ling Empire would crack if such a problem appeared. It might even break apart.

However, how could the throne of an empire be passed on so easily? What if this person was a spy from the Sun Moon Empire? Even though he had a token with him, surely the Sun Moon Empire was capable of smuggling or stealing it through improper means if they wanted to, right?

This was why this Premier was very hesitant. He didn’t dare to agree to the suggestion.

At this moment, Xu Sanshi opened his mouth. He hoarsely said, “I’m not coveting the throne. However, the Dou Ling Empire has been subjected to such a great blow. Even if we want to ﬁnd the other members of the imperial family, we’ll still need time. That’s why I need to temporarily assume control of the throne. Premier, I understand your concerns. Let me tell you about my background.”

When he said this, all the ofﬁcials that were present were immediately drawn to him.

A man had to be capable of doing things. At such a moment, Xu Sanshi stepped up not because he wanted authority, but because he wanted to save the Dou Ling Empire.

“My surname is Xu, and my full name is Xu Sanshi. Honestly, I’m not proud to claim to be a member of the Dou Ling Empire’s imperial family. This is because my parents’ marriage wasn’t met with blessings from the imperial family, which caused them to elope.”

When he said this, a few of the older ofﬁcials revealed pensive looks on their faces. This story appeared to be very familiar.

Xu Sanshi continued speaking, “Yes, my mother was called Xue Ying. The Emperor of the Dou Ling Empire was my biological uncle. My father is the master of the Mysterious Underworld Family. I’m sure everyone can recall this. I was still a kid when I last came to the Dou Ling Empire.”

The Premier revealed an enlightened look on his face. “So you are actually the son of Princess Xue Ying? The token that you have belongs to her too?”

Xu Sanshi nodded silently.

The Premier said, “If that’s the case, we can recognize you. Since you inherited the token from Her Highness, that also means that you are at least a Prince. Right now, you are the only remaining member of the imperial family. We can accept you as a Prince. However, you have to prove that your mother was Princess Xue Ying.”

Xu Sanshi calmly said, “I inherited my father’s martial soul, which doesn’t belong to the imperial family. However, I believe that the martial soul of our Mysterious Underworld Family is still quite reputable in the continent. Everyone, please watch carefully.”

As he spoke, Xu Sanshi lifted his hand. A pitch-black shield silently appeared in front of everyone.

A dim golden glow soon spread from this shield. Very soon, the surface of the shield turned golden. A small snake was slowly slithering on this turtle-shaped shield.

Xuanwu Shield!

Yes, Xu Sanshi’s Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle had longed evolved into the Xuanwu Shield!

Commander Li was perplexed as he asked, “Oh? Isn’t this the Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle? It’s supposed to be black.”

Xu Sanshi nodded and replied, “Yes, mine is no longer a pure Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle. The martial soul of my family possesses a certain blood lineage of a Xuanwu. I was lucky to have stimulated this blood lineage during my cultivation, causing my Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle to evolve into the Xuanwu Shield.”

As he spoke, his soul rings slowly rose from his feet.

When everyone saw eight soul rings around his body, they were shocked. The entire place also descended into silence.

Most of the ofﬁcials who knew Princess Xue Ying could roughly gauge how old he was. He’s only twenty-plus years of age! He can’t even be thirty yet. Does he actually have eight rings at this age? What does this mean? It means he’s an absolute genius!

The Shield of the Xuanwu Turtle was already one of the strongest defensive-type martial souls. What about the Xuanwu Shield? It was even more legendary.

Who would have expected Xu Sanshi to possess such a legendary martial soul? He even had eight rings. It was really unbelievable.

The Premier was the most composed right now. He subconsciously asked, “Your Highness, how did your martial soul mutate? According to my knowledge, even the current master of the Mysterious Underworld Family didn’t experience success with a mutation of his martial soul. I’ve not heard of anyone in the past few generations of the Mysterious Underworld Family who has managed to successfully evolve his martial soul into a Xuanwu Shield.”

Although he was putting out his doubts, it was evident from his greeting that he had in fact recognized Xu Sanshi’s identity.

Xu Sanshi nodded. He naturally knew that he would be posed this question.

“Everyone, I have another identity. I’m actually from Shrek Academy!” As he spoke, he retrieved a badge that only belonged to inner courtyard students in Shrek Academy and wore it in front of his chest.

“Regarding this, you can send someone to verify it with Shrek. As my teammates and I twice represented the academy in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament and emerged as champions, we were given the title of ‘Shrek Seven Monsters’ for defending the glory of the academy.”

“All of you should also know that we have another genius in the academy. He’s also one of the members of Shrek Seven Monsters. He came up with a very special ability known as Spirits. He used Spirits to alleviate the need for soul masters to kill soul beasts, as soul masters can still obtain abilities that are similar to soul rings from Spirits. They are even stronger than soul rings. I’m also one of the beneﬁciaries of his invention. Currently, I have a hundred thousand year Spirit, a Golden Tortoise.”

Yes, it was a hundred thousand year Spirit! In fact, everyone saw that his eighth soul ring was blood-red. This was why they were so astonished.

However, they were all stirred when Xu Sanshi unleashed his Golden Tortoise.

Of course the senior ofﬁcials of the Dou Ling Empire knew about Spirits. Those who could obtain Spirits were among the minority. There were even fewer people who could obtain such a powerful Spirit.

Spirits had created a huge uproar in the world of soul masters. The Dou Ling Empire had even constructed its own Spirit Pagoda, and started to dig deeper into the mysteries of Spirits.

Right now, Xu Sanshi had unleashed his Spirit, which was extremely strong. How could everyone not be moved?

However, they were even more astonished after this.

“Earlier, Shrek Academy was threatened by the Sun Moon Empire’s army. That’s why we asked the Dou Ling and Star Luo Empires for help. However, the academy discovered that this might be a ploy. The Sun Moon Empire took this opportunity to lay its hands on the Dou Ling Empire. That’s why we were sent over. Even though there’s only seven of us here, I believe the tragedy might not have happened if we were here earlier. This is because there’s someone else here too. He’s currently the second strongest soul master in Shrek Academy, only

inferior to the Master of the Sea God’s Pavilion, Elder Xuan, who’s an Ultimate Douluo. This person is also the future Master of the Sea God’s Pavilion and the founder of the Spirit Pagoda, Huo Yuhao.”

Chapter 573: Prince Xu Sanshi

The second strongest person in Shrek Academy! Even though he was only the second strongest, it was still equally shocking!

After all, Shrek Academy was not just any institution. Even the Sun Moon Empire had to admit that it was not one of the strongest academies, but the strongest academy in the world.

Even though the Holy Ghost Church had been building up reserves of power for thousands of years, they still did not dare to use the evil soul masters they had nurtured to launch an attack on Shrek Academy. They did not dare to challenge Shrek Academy even though they had two Ultimate Douluo. And that was because of the huge amount of reserves it had built up over tens of thousands of years.

Back when the soul beasts launched the beast wave against Shrek City, they were ultimately still unable to destroy Shrek City even though they had ﬁve of the Ten Great Savage Beasts among them. This showed exactly how powerful Shrek Academy was.

One could only imagine how powerful their second strongest cultivator was. On top of that, this person was rumored to be the founder of the Spirit Pagoda. This piece of information further shocked everyone from the Dou Ling Empire.

Huo Yuhao was not particularly pleased with his third senior brother’s introduction of him. However, he knew he should not make him look bad in front of the Dou Ling Empire. Hence, he stepped forward and stood beside Xu Sanshi as he nodded towards the people whom Xu Sanshi was addressing.

When the higher-ups from the Dou Ling Empire saw how Huo Yuhao was even younger than Xu Sanshi, they seemed to be mildly amused..

Xu Sanshi immediately clariﬁed, “I will urge everyone not to doubt his abilities just because of his tender age. He is, in fact, a talent which is only produced once in a thousand years from our Academy. He currently already possesses the ability of a Transcendent Douluo, and also has twin martial souls. Just now, he personally went after the two Sun Moon Empire soul engineer legions which attacked us, and has already conﬁrmed their identities. They were the two beast-ranked soul engineer legions—the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion and the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion. Yuhao and his beloved

pursued the legions, and destroyed more than half of their soul engineers. On top of that, they were able to kill the legion commander of the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion. If they were not concerned about the situation at Dou Ling City, they would probably have killed every single enemy who had attacked our city.”

Xu Sanshi’s words were indeed a little exaggerated. He had merely said what he understood and guessed. Little did he know that his guesses were actually spot-on.

The old prime minister’s jaw dropped as he looked at Huo Yuhao. “Are you really the pagoda master of the Spirit Pagoda?”

Huo Yuhao nodded gently and said, “Yes, I am. I know it’s a little hard to believe it because of my age. In that case, let me try to provide some evidence to support these claims.”

As he spoke, Huo Yuhao strode forward. At the next instant, an immensely powerful aura exploded from his body as his soul rings started to gradually rise from his feet.

When everyone saw how his ﬁrst soul ring was white, they could not help but frown. Isn’t a white soul ring a ten-year soul ring?

However, they soon noticed how the white soul ring was radiating a brilliant golden color. Following which, black rings started to rise from his feet. When it reached the sixth soul ring, they saw a rose gold soul ring. Afterward, the remaining soul rings were all red.

This meant that the colors of Huo Yuhao’s nine soul rings were gold, black, black, black, black, rose gold, red, red, and red.

What kind of soul ring collection is this?!

However, this was not going to be the last thing which would startle them. Huo Yuhao squinted as he released his invincible spiritual power and enveloped the entire ruins of the palace.

Everyone could sense a gentle stream of spiritual power ﬂowing into his or her spiritual sea. Following which, they

could see more than half of Dou Ling City from their spiritual seas.

They were not only seeing the silhouette, but every single detail of the city.

It was important to note that there were close to a thousand people present before them! How much spiritual power did it require to share these images with so many people?

To be honest, Huo Yuhao’s Spirit Eyes only had eight soul rings. His Ultimate Ice martial soul was the one with nine soul rings.

However, Huo Yuhao had used his Imitation to make some slight adjustments to his abilities to leave a deeper impression on the crowd. After all, his spiritual power was already on par with that of an Ultimate Douluo. It did not matter whether he was short a single soul skill.

Huo Yuhao was very clear about what he had to do right now. He needed to help his third senior brother stabilize the current

situation. If possible, he wanted to help his third senior brother become Emperor.

The Dou Ling Empire needed stability more than anything right now. It was only possible to quell their fears by demonstrating strong power. This would then convince them to acknowledge his third senior brother’s status and identity.

This also happened to be the ﬁrst time Huo Yuhao had tried to perform Spiritual Detection Sharing on a few thousand people. It was not as simple as what he did when he was leading the soul engineer legion. He did not have to project the details of close to half a city to more than a thousand people back then!

The two soul cores within Huo Yuhao were rotating furiously as they tried to replenish the spiritual power he was expending. Even though his current Spiritual Detection Sharing was consuming a lot of spiritual power, he was deﬁnitely able to maintain it for an extended period of time.

After a couple of minutes, Huo Yuhao ended his Spiritual Detection Sharing and returned to Xu Sanshi’s side. He said, “I believe everyone present was able to see the current situation

of Dou Ling City. To be honest, the entire incident was very tragic. We had, in fact, already reached the Dou Ling Empire before the attack after receiving news that the Sun Moon Empire would deﬁnitely attack the Dou Ling Empire. However, we did not know where the enemy was, or how they would try to attack you. Hence, we focused our efforts on the borders, and wasted too much time there.”

“Who would have known that the Sun Moon Empire would try to sneak in and head straight to Dou Ling City without anyone knowing? By the time we discovered what they were trying to do, it was already too late. We could not stop the tragedy from unfolding in time. Regardless of whether it is my third senior brother or my other peers from the Shrek Academy, we only have one objective, and that is to help the Dou Ling Empire. We are not here to wrest away any political power. I hope all of you can believe that we come in peace.”

Huo Yuhao’s words made the Dou Ling Empire’s military staff blush in embarrassment. His words meant that the entire Dou Ling Empire’s security troops were not even aware that the Sun Moon Empire’s two soul engineer legions had managed to sneak past the security at the borders and move towards the capital. If they wanted to push the blame on someone, the military staff and generals present should all have been put to death.

At this instant, a heavy silence fell upon the crowd. The strength Huo Yuhao had demonstrated had already convinced everyone of his power. His feat of using his own spiritual power to share the entire situation of the Dou Ling City with all of them was truly unheard of!

Xu Sanshi’s identity was more or less conﬁrmed. At most, they would send some people over to Shrek Academy to verify it one last time.

So what was going to happen next?

The prime minister walked towards Xu Sanshi before kneeling on the ground with one knee. “Your Highness, the Dou Ling Empire is currently in an extremely precarious predicament. Now that we have veriﬁed your identity, can I get Your Highness to lead us and rebuild the palace? In addition, I hope that Your Highness can temporarily take over His Majesty’s position to provide some much-needed reassurance to our people.”

Xu Sanshi nodded gently. He no longer had any reservations at this point. Usually, he would never have chosen to stay here

to become a Prince, or take on any kind of high-level administrative position. However, now that the Dou Ling Empire was on the verge of crumbling, he had no choice, especially when his mother was the Princess of this empire. He could not allow the Dou Ling Empire to fall before his eyes.

There would be a huge political problem within the Dou Ling Empire if the royal family had no descendants to take the throne. The entire empire would become fragmented as everyone would try to seize political power and set up their own government. And when that happened, the empire would collapse by itself. How would the Star Luo Empire then protect itself against the Sun Moon Empire without support from the Dou Ling Empire?

Hence, it was undeniable that the Sun Moon Empire’s mission had been very successful. If not for Xu Sanshi’s unexpected appearance, it would still have been very successful even if the two beast lord-leveled soul engineer legions were all killed.

Huo Yuhao sighed in despair. Right now, the only thing he could do was support Xu Sanshi.

The surrounding ministers and staff started to kneel down before Xu Sanshi after the prime minister and Commander Li had done so. All of them started to pay their respects.

From the looks of the current situation, Xu Sanshi was deﬁnitely the aptest successor to the throne. It was most important for the Dou Ling Empire to stabilize the hearts of its people and its military.

Xu Sanshi got both the prime minister and Commander Li to stay behind as the three of them held an emergency meeting to make three important decisions. The ﬁrst decision was to make sure that news of the attack on the palace was kept secret.

The second decision was that Xu Sanshi would continue to chair the court meetings as the prince regent, since he was the only possible successor from the royal family.

The third decision was to prioritize providing reassurance to the people within Dou Ling City. After all, they could not afford to lose the conﬁdence of their people. They would announce to the citizens that the palace did not sustain heavy losses, and that the majority of the royal family was only hurt.

Only a few of them were dead because of the explosion. The prince regent would take over the duty of ruling the empire only because His Majesty was currently injured.

They would deﬁnitely not allow the elite troops at Shrek City to hear of this news. The worst thing that could happen to the Dou Ling Empire was chaos! It would be a huge tragedy if their army at the front line were to mutiny. It would also be terrible if the people in their empire started to lose conﬁdence in the royal family and decided to overthrow them.

Besides, it was not the right time to get the elite troops to return. It was vital for them to stabilize the capital before discussing what their next move should be.

It was hence expected that Xu Sanshi would temporarily stay in Dou Ling City.

After discussing with Xu Sanshi, Huo Yuhao decided to allow Jiang Nannan, Ji Juechen, Ye Guyi, and Nan Qiuqiu to stay behind and assist him. After all, it would be too much for him to handle alone. In the meantime, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong would speedily return to Shrek City and relay what

had happened to the Academy. They needed to change their strategy and act when the opportunity arose.

After all, Huo Yuhao’s plan for both the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion and the Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion was far from over. In order to control how the following events would turn out, he needed to understand the current situation of the two legions.

“Third senior brother, good luck with your work here.” Huo Yuhao hugged Xu Sanshi and gave him a pat on the back.

Xu Sanshi sighed before saying, “I never expected something like this to happen. I'll pen a letter right away and get my family members and my mother to come here. I really hope my mother won’t do something foolish after seeing…”

As he spoke, he became even more depressed, After all, the royal family of the Dou Ling Empire was his family! Now that they had been wiped out, how could he not be depressed?

“Yuhao, I’ll settle things over here. Even though I don’t have much experience in governing an empire, I’ll do my best to make sure everything stays stable. I’ll need your help to take care of matters at the Academy, as well as the Dou Ling Empire troops at the front line. The Dou Ling Empire cannot afford to take another hit like this.”

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “Third senior brother, try your best to stabilize things here as soon as possible. It would also be

good if you could start on the reconstruction of the palace immediately. I will try to delay your army’s return while you settle these things. The war has only just begun, and I have no idea what the future will hold for all of us. However, regardless of how things might turn out, we will all do our best to defend

our land against the Sun Moon Empire.”

After bidding goodbye to Xu Sanshi and the other people from Dou Ling Empire, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong ﬂew back to Shrek City overnight.

Reality proved Huo Yuhao’s prediction correct. Of course, it was not entirely his own prediction when Ju Zi had already informed him personally. Even though she had not lied to him about her plan, Huo Yuhao took a little too long to fully grasp her plan.

While the two of them were ﬂying across the night sky, Huo Yuhao revealed a solemn expression, while Tang Wutong could not help but frown.

Yes, the war had only just begun. The Sun Moon Empire’s army was still at Shrek City. Now, the entire continent was becoming increasingly chaotic. The Sun Moon Empire had

undeniably gotten the upper hand. If things were to continue this way, no one could be sure when they would suddenly launch an all-out attack on them.

This time around, even though they had managed to take out what was equivalent to a beast-ranked soul engineer legion, the entire royal family of the Dou Ling Empire had been wiped out. This meant that internal problems within the Dou Ling Empire would start to surface, and the Dou Ling Empire’s ﬁghting power would deﬁnitely decrease.

The next target for the Sun Moon Empire would deﬁnitely not be Dou Ling Empire. They would go for the Star Luo Empire. Once the Star Luo Empire was out of the picture, taking down Dou Ling Empire would be a piece of cake. It seemed like Huo Yuhao would have no choice but to ﬁght alongside that man.

When he thought about this, Huo Yuhao could not help but reveal an awkward expression.

After going through so much, the hatred in his heart was a lot less intense than before. This was especially true after seeing what had happened to Ju Zi. She had given up on too

many things because of the hatred in her heart. Even though she was now the War God Empress, she was not leading a blissful life!

Perhaps, the right time for Huo Yuhao to settle his relationship with that man was coming soon.

As this thought surfaced in his mind, Huo Yuhao could not help but feel a little apprehensive about meeting him again. He was not very willing to face that man—the person whom he had once hated unconditionally but had now started to gain some respect from Huo Yuhao.

By the time Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong returned to Shrek City, it was almost dawn. Shrek City was very quiet, but the belligerence in the air was palpable.

After Shrek City was rebuilt, it was a lot larger than before. It was almost as big as the entire Radiant City. Right now, Shrek City was housing hundreds of thousands of troops, which were elite troops from the Star Luo and Dou Ling empires. They seemed to be ready to decide victory once and for all with the Sun Moon Empire’s army. Of course, the remaining troops of the Heavenly Soul Empire were also within Shrek City.

The current Heavenly Soul Empire army had about seventy thousand people. Even though they had lost a lot of their elite troops, those who were able to survive were truly the cream of the crop from the Heavenly Soul Empire. In fact, some of the survivors were members of the Body Sect.

However, the fact was that both the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Body Sect had already been destroyed by the Sun Moon Empire. They were now a long way from what they were in the past. Whenever Huo Yuhao thought about Princess Wei Na’s pale face and soulless eyes, he could not help but sigh. Wars were truly cruel things.

After ﬂying straight into the academy and across Sea God’s Lake, they landed on Sea God’s Island. There was no time for them to rest. After all, every new piece of information could decide the outcome of the war.

Even though Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong were already Titled Douluo, they would still feel tired like normal people. However, now was deﬁnitely not the time for them to catch up on any form of rest.

Both of them sped into the Sea God’s Pavilion. As usual, Huo Yuhao prayed before the Golden Tree before stepping into the pavilion.

They did not try to conceal their auras, and their arrival awakened the Elders from their meditation.

Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong stood silently as they waited in the hall.

Tang Wutong squeezed Huo Yuhao’s hand and whispered, “Yuhao, be careful with your words later. Don’t mess it up.”

Huo Yuhao naturally understood what she meant as he nodded.

It did not take too long before the Elders of the Sea God’s Pavilion started to come down the staircase. After seeing how disheveled they looked, the Elders revealed a look of surprise. They had thought that both Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong were still in Tang Sect. Elder Xuan had given an alternative explanation for their absence from the conference for the past few days. He had told them that Huo Yuhao had chosen to stay

in the Tang Sect to consolidate his currently unstable powers after making his breakthrough.

When Elder Xuan saw the frustration written on Huo Yuhao’s face, he was already able to make an educated guess as to what had probably happened. He gradually headed over to his seat as he waved towards Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong. “Yuhao, Wutong, take a seat.”

However, Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “I am sorry, Elder Xuan. I don’t think I can get myself to sit down. I would prefer to stand.”

Elder Xuan took a deep breath as a light ﬂashed in his eyes.

He saw the determined the look in Huo Yuhao’s eyes.

He nodded and said, “Okay then. I believe both of you must have something to say. If not, you would not have come here to wake us up with your spiritual auras before dawn.”

Huo Yuhao nodded before bowing before the Elders with Tang Wutong. After straightening his back, he said, “I have just returned from the Dou Ling Empire with Wutong.”

“The Dou Ling Empire?” After hearing what he had said, the Elders present could not help but gasp in surprise.

Elder Song couldn’t help but ask, “What were you doing in Dou Ling Empire?”

Huo Yuhao closed his eyes as a look of pain formed on his face. “I went to Dou Ling Empire to witness the death of their entire royal family.”

“What?” After hearing his words, everyone’s eyes widened in disbelief. Even Elder Xuan lost his composure as he stood up and glared at Huo Yuhao. “Yuhao, you must take responsibility for your words!”

Yuhao complained, “Responsibility? Sure, I can take responsibility for everything. However, no matter how responsible I am, can I resurrect the thousands of lives of the royal family who have perished? Just a while ago, Dou Ling City was attacked by two beast-ranked soul engineer legions dispatched by the Sun Moon Empire. The capital of the Dou Ling Empire was bombed by a Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell. The entire palace was reduced to rubble, and no one

from the royal family was found alive after the explosion. This was because the entire royal family was attending a gathering in the palace. Hence, no one was spared from the explosion. By the time I arrived, the entire city was already enshrouded in smoke.”

Following which, he elaborated on how he had brought his peers from Tang Sect to the Dou Ling Empire, and how he had guessed the method of operation the Sun Moon Empire had planned to take. Afterward, he moved on to share what had happened at the palace, as well as how he handled the two soul engineer legions.

Huo Yuhao spoke with an unnaturally low voice. The pain and desperation in his voice were obvious.

"No matter how many Sun Moon Empire soul engineers I kill, I can never reverse what has happened to the royal family! The Sun Moon Empire has employed methods which are extremely vicious, and it has already calculated how Dou Ling Empire will crumble because of this attack. In the meantime, the elite troops from the Dou Ling Empire are waiting for an improbable battle within our city walls."

A heavy silence fell upon the hall in the Sea God's Pavilion.

Following which, the Elders' breathing became more intense.

In their eyes, it was unimaginable that the palace of the Dou King Empire would be attacked.

Elder Zhuang couldn’t help but ask angrily, "What was the army stationed in the Dou Ling Empire doing? How could they not know when two entire soul engineer legions inﬁltrated their land?"

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, "Even if it was the Star Luo Empire, the outcome would not have been much different. The Sun Moon Empire deﬁnitely has a technological advantage which grants them the ability to sneak a few hundred soul engineers in without being detected. After all, all the empires have an incredibly long border. The main problem is that the elite troops from the Dou Ling Empire were not present. They had all been dispatched to reinforce Shrek City. The Sun Moon Empire struck them when the capital was at its most vulnerable state. Otherwise, would they have fallen so easily?"

One of the Elders apparently took Huo Yuhao's words very personally as he said coldly, "In that case, are you blaming us

for this unfortunate event? Are you blaming us for not listening to your suggestion? Do you expect us to give up on defending Shrek City? Do you think they would stop sending reinforcements if we told them to do so?"

Huo Yuhao went silent. Of course, he knew he could not blame the Elders for this tragedy. Everyone present here had the Academy's interest at heart.

He shook his head and apologized, "I am sorry for losing control of my emotions earlier. I just can't forget the image of the palace turning into ruins before my eyes. I am really sorry. I don't think I am suitable to remain as a member of the Sea God's Pavilion anymore. I hereby request that the Elders remove my appointment."

As he spoke, Huo Yuhao pulled Tang Wutong backward as they bowed politely before the Elders before turning around to leave.

"Stop!" Elder Song exclaimed furiously as he called out to Huo Yuhao.

At this moment, not every Elder from the Sea God’s Pavilion was present. Yan Shaozhe, Cai Mei’er, Xian Lin’er, Qian Duoduo, and Zhang Lexuan were absent from the current conversation. As the younger members of the Sea God’s Pavilion, they had all set off for the front line, ready to take on the Sun Moon Empire’s forces.

Hence, the Elders who stayed behind at the Sea God’s Pavilion were the older ones.

Huo Yuhao stopped walking, but his head remained lowered.

Elder Song scolded, “This is the Sea God’s Pavilion—not your Tang Sect. Do you think you can come and go as you please? Do you think you can just quit as you wish?”

Huo Yuhao’s head remained lowered as he kept quiet.

Elder Song stared coldly at him before continuing, “I know what you’re thinking. You must be thinking that our decision

was wrong. You must be blaming the attack on Dou Ling Empire and the deaths of the royal family on our request for help! Am I right?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “Elder Song, that’s not true. It’s just that sometimes, I feel that the Academy is weighed down by too many responsibilities. Our heritage, which is over ten thousand years old, is both the foundation of our strength and an immense burden on our shoulders. This burden stops us from analyzing our situation rationally. In fact, it makes us overly conservative about everything we do. I just want to say that I am not blaming the Academy for everything that has happened. I am just feeling a little down. However, this war is far from over. Right after this, I intend to head to the battleﬁeld and continue ﬁghting.”

“If we were to ﬁght the Sun Moon Empire head-on, there’s absolutely no chance of us winning. Hence, I can only rely on unorthodox methods. In other words, I might need to rely on what is seemingly unscrupulous to weaken their forces. This is the only way that we might stand a chance against them. I cannot allow the Academy to be shamed because of what I plan to do. Hence…”

“What?” After hearing his explanation, the Elders present seemed to have lost their rage as a look of surprise formed on their faces.

They had all thought that Huo Yuhao wanted to leave the Sea God’s Pavilion because he had lost his temper. Little did they expect him to want to leave because of a mature consideration.

Elder Xuan said, “Yuhao, do you really think that we can’t tolerate any scheming ploys or some unscrupulous methods? Even though the Academy’s reputation is extremely important, it should not be allowed to become a burden to our strategies. You are right to say that our Academy’s heritage is sometimes a burden. However, it is a burden that we need to take on and be responsible for. I admit that we need to accept partial responsibility for the death of the Dou Ling Empire’s royal family. However, Shrek City cannot afford to fall at all costs. This is something that cannot be debated.”

Huo Yuhao said, “I am sorry, Elder Xuan. In order to go up against the Sun Moon Empire, I might even utilize abilities which are similar to those of evil soul masters. This is something the Academy has never allowed. I cannot allow the Academy to lose its reputation because of my actions. I can imagine how the Sun Moon Empire would use this reason to

attack the Academy in the future. I can only avoid shaming the Academy by leaving all of you.”

Elder Xuan spoke plainly, “Foolish lad, you’re thinking too much. What’s wrong with that?”

“Huh?” Huo Yuhao’s jaw dropped. How could it be ﬁne for people to spread news that Shrek Academy had produced evil soul masters?

“Even though evil soul masters are our enemies, there is no power in the world that is objectively right or wrong. There are only evil people who harbor ill intentions against other humans. Powerful abilities when utilized in times of war are commonly considered evil abilities. But when they are used in other areas in beneﬁcial ways, they are usually considered good abilities. This is the same for the abilities of evil soul masters. Do you really think we don’t know how you once utilized that power to help the Academy when the beast wave attacked us previously? If you remember correctly, none of us reprimanded you for that.”

“On top of that, the Academy’s ten thousand years of heritage has indeed given us a huge responsibility. However, at

the same time, it has given us a reputation which will not be easily shaken by the Sun Moon Empire’s rumors. Do you know why the Sun Moon Empire’s army doesn’t dare to make a move on us? Other than you as a personal reason, they fear that they might lose the support of their soldiers and soul engineers if they were to attack us.”

“After all, our Academy is the number one academy in the entire world. It is where every soul master in the world dreams of joining. No soul master would treat us lightly, and the soul masters and soul engineers from the Sun Moon Empire are no exception.”

“As for what happened to the Dou Ling Empire, we are all very sorry to hear about their tragic fate. However, we can’t change what has already happened. All we can do is help the Dou Ling Empire stabilize their empire. At the same time, we can help protect them from the Sun Moon Empire’s army. Yuhao, just go ahead and do whatever you had in mind. The only thing which we, the old fellows, can do is stay within Shrek City and ensure that the bulk of their army stays here.”

Elder Song slowly walked towards Huo Yuhao. She was a lot shorter than him, and hence could only tilt her head upwards in order to look him in the eyes.

“Young one, sometimes, when it comes to certain things, we just have to change the way we look at them. Even if the Star Luo Empire and Dou Ling Empire were to fall, as long as their elites remain alive within Shrek City, there will still be hope.”

“Our Academy has already released all our soul tool research ﬁndings, as well as the information regarding martial souls in our library, to all the elite soul masters from the three empires currently staying within Shrek City. We might not be a country, and might not be the best when it comes to war, but our strength lies in passing on knowledge and tradition!”

After hearing Elder Song’s words, Huo Yuhao was startled! He had never expected the Academy to be using this method to counter the Sun Moon Empire’s schemes.

The Heavenly Soul Empire, Dou Ling Empire and the Star Luo Empire’s elite troops largely consisted of soul masters! There were more than ten thousand soul masters currently in Shrek City. That was almost a third of the total number of soul masters within the entire continent. It was probably close to half of the total number of soul masters within the three original empires of the Douluo Continent.

Shrek Academy was actually choosing to release all the research ﬁndings they had on soul tools, as well as the cultivation methods they had developed over their ten thousand years of history, to all these soul masters. This meant that all of these soul masters were, to a certain extent, being

nurtured by Shrek Academy. Even if the war turned out to be a disaster for all three empires, as long as these soul masters were to inherit the spirit and learnings of Shrek Academy, they would always have a chance at restoring the three original empires of the Douluo Continent.

It seemed like the Academy had its own unique way of handling its responsibilities. It was, in fact, protecting the three original empires in its own way. This selﬂess spirit transformed the doubt in Huo Yuhao’s heart into guilt.

The look in Elder Song’s eyes turned softer as she gently patted Huo Yuhao’s shoulder. “Young man, it is good that you have a kind and brave heart. But you must remember that the Academy will never become your burden or your sole responsibility at any point in time. As long as we old fellows are still around, we won’t allow you to take on every responsibility out there. It is only after all of us have passed away when your generation will take the baton from us. And before that happens, the Academy will only be a supportive force behind you. We already chose to believe in you

unconditionally the moment you became a member of the Sea God’s Pavilion. So go ahead and do what you want to do.”

“Elder Song…” Huo Yuhao’s voice started to tremble. In fact, tears were starting to well up in Tang Wutong’s eyes.

Elder Xuan stood up and walked to Elder Song’s side as he revealed a solemn expression. “Elder Song is right. As long as we are alive, we will bear this heavy responsibility. But you are also not wrong to say that we have been overly conservative and protective of what the Academy has achieved. Indeed, we are lacking the mentality and courage to do what is ultimately right. You have already matured and grown a lot. Now, you possess the ability to protect yourself. So run along and do what you think needs to be done. I believe that the two of you will be able to turn the tables. And while you’re working on that, Shrek City will never fall into the hands of our enemies when all of us present here are still alive.”

Huo Yuhao suddenly took a few steps backward before he kneeled down with a loud thud. He lowered his torso to pay his respects to every single Elder present. After doing so thrice, he stood up again and left the hall with Tang Wutong.

As Elder Xuan watched him leave, he revealed a heartening smile on his face. “This lad has really matured. I really admire Elder Mu for having such a great disciple. As long as he is around, the spirit of Shrek Academy will never be extinguished. I’m really curious as to what he can achieve in the future.”

Elder Song gazed into the distance as she said, “This lad is right. We’ve been bundling too many responsibilities onto ourselves. I really hope that the continent can tide through this difﬁcult period together.”

Elder Xuan asked, “What do you think this lad’s next move will be?”

Elder Zhuang stood up and said, “I don’t think I can guess what he’s up to next. But judging from the look on his face, it should probably be something that will be extremely shocking to the rest of the world. If not, he would never have chosen to leave the Sea God’s Pavilion at this juncture with the character he has.”

Elder Xuan started to frown. It seemed as though he might have an inkling of what Huo Yuhao was about to do.

After leaving the Sea God’s Pavilion, Huo Yuhao held onto Tang Wutong’s hand as they left Shrek Academy for the Tang Sect.

Bei Bei had not taken his rest. In fact, no one from Tang Sect had rested at all.

Since the Sun Moon Empire’s army had camped outside Shrek City, the entire Tang Sect had been working like a machine. The reason was that only the Tang Sect’s Soul Tool Hall was capable of producing the powerful soul tools that could strengthen the defensive capabilities of Shrek Academy.

This time around, the Star Luo Empire and Dou Ling Empire did not only sent their elite soul masters and troops, but they had also brought large amounts of rare metals with them.

Now that Shrek Academy had shared its research ﬁndings with everyone, the different empires no longer cared about personal interests as they pooled their resources to protect each other’s empires. The Heavenly Soul Empire’s fall was an important reminder for them to unite and ﬁght off their common enemy!

With sufﬁcient materials, the soul engineers within Shrek Academy could begin their work. Averaging only four hours of rest every day, the soul engineers invested the rest of their time working on soul tools.

Even though Bei Bei did not know how to build soul tools, as the eldest senior brother of the Tang Sect, he helped to delegate the work along with Tang Ya. Some of the soul masters from the Star Luo Empire and Dou Ling Empire who had the gifts to become soul engineers even volunteered to help out under their instruction.

This was not only a learning process for them, as they tried their best to help alleviate the manpower shortage problem in the Tang Sect.

Hence, the Tang Sect had been running with a heavy toll on its manpower.

“Little junior brother.“ A tired Bei Bei’s heart sank after seeing the unpleasant expression on Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong’s faces.

The ﬁrst thought that hit him was that something wrong must have happened. “Where are Sanshi and the rest? Did they get…” Bei Bei gasped.

Cerita silat IndoMandarin

Unrivaled Tang Sect Volume 41

Chapter 564: Injuring the Beast God, Holy Ghost Blood Sea

Chapter 565: Abduction!

Chapter 566: My Target is the Dou Ling Empire

Chapter 567: To Behead the Sun Moon Empire

Chapter 568.1: A Surprise Attack within the Cover of Smoke

Chapter 569: Xu Sanshi's Experiences

Chapter 570: Change of Plans

Chapter 571: The Terrifying Beast Lord Soul Engineer Legion

Chapter 572: Perfect Surprise Attack

Chapter 573: Prince Xu Sanshi

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