In the meantime, Huo Yuhao took his leave with Tang Wutong as they returned to the forest to look after the spectral gate.
Even though the all-terrain self-driving forts could not move as fast as the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion, which was in flight, they were not much slower than them. From the air, the forts were basically gigantic metallic b.a.l.l.s running at an incredibly fast speed with their eight long legs. No terrain could stop them from advancing. Before long, they were all out of sight. When the Sun Moon Empire"s reinforcements arrived, all they would see was the rubble.
After entering the forest, the forts disappeared into the black doors. With the experience they had gained from their previous entrance, they were a lot faster this time around. As the nine doors closed, everything became as serene as before. It was almost as though the legions had not appeared at all.
Huo Yuhao had gone into the spectral demiplane along with the rest of them.
Even though he was formerly trained in military tactics in the Ultimate Soldier Plan, what he had learned was primarily individual-based tactics. When it came to controlling a large number of troops, he knew he could not be compared to Ju Zi. However, the gap between him and her was not insurmountable. He believed that he was able to do so with the help of his powerful abilities and his spectral demiplane. This was apparent from the ease with which they were able to win the previous battle and retreat upon attaining victory.
However, he still believed in the need to reflect and review what they had done well and what they could improve on. This was necessary for them in order to perform better during subsequent battles.
As everyone gathered at the top of a knoll within the spectral demiplane, everyone could see the excitement written on each other"s faces.
This was not only Huo Yuhao"s first time leading troops, but also Tang Sect"s first time fighting in a battle! All three soul engineer legions had partic.i.p.ated and showcased their different abilities on the battlefield.
In fact, they were not able to showcase their full suite of capabilities because of how weak their opponent was. Nevertheless, the destruction they had caused and the resources they had looted had given the team"s morale a huge boost.
When they left the Tang Sect for this mission, Huo Yuhao had ordered them to bring only ten days of rations. Much of their storage s.p.a.ce had been used to bring resources which would be useful for actual combat.
His objective was simple. He wanted to use the loot from their previous battles as their resources for the next battle.
They had managed to plunder a huge amount of rations from the Sun Moon Empire in their previous battle. These rations would be enough to last them for an extended period of time. In addition, they were also able to acquire several different kinds of soul tools. Those they were unable to bring away in time were completely destroyed. The Sun Moon Empire had definitely suffered a huge loss.
“Yuhao, that was truly an incredible battle. If we keep this up, we"re going to be rich! What"s our next target? Are we going to focus on the next area where the soul tools are stationed? If we can destroy all of these areas established by the Sun Moon Empire outside of the Ming Dou Mountain Range, I"m sure we can to strike fear deep into the heart of the Sun Moon Empire. At the same time, the Star Luo Empire would be able to help us occupy their attention from the other end.” He Caitou was undoubtedly one of the most excited individuals among the rest. He had obviously forgotten his unhappiness with the generous usage of the stationary soul cannon sh.e.l.ls.
As he was the main person in charge of logistics and supplies, he was now feeling like a wealthy man.
Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “No, we have not come here to attack such installations. Even though we do have the power to destroy all of these installed soul tools, that would undoubtedly expose our existence. Besides, I am sure the Sun Moon Empire has its means to counter these scenarios. If we were to be overly absorbed in these battles, we would definitely lose at some point in time. Because of how small our unit is, we cannot afford to lose anyone! Hence, we must not give them a chance to catch us. We must retreat quickly right after striking them. And we must do it in a clean and quick fashion.”
He Caitou was surprised by Huo Yuhao"s reply. “So we"re giving up on this battlefield? We"re not continuing?”
Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “We need to adopt a macro perspective. Our intent is to influence the entire war, not just any small plot of land. Our biggest advantage is our speed! By ferrying everyone in the spectral demiplane, I can bring everyone to any corner of the Sun Moon Empire within two days. Hence, our best strategy is to strike them in different parts of their Empire. It would be a losing battle for us if we were to fight head-on with them.”
Bei Bei nodded in agreement. “Little junior brother is right. We cannot be overly content with our small victories. We need to stretch the battlefield across the entire Sun Moon Empire in order for them to feel the pain that we are about to deliver to them. We must make them panic by striking their most vulnerable parts. This will allow us to create the greatest amount of opportunity and, at the same time, give them the greatest amount of fear. As long as we can affect the foundation of their Empire and threaten their rule, we would have accomplished our objective.”
Xu Sanshi said, “Yuhao, you are our Chief Commander. Everyone here is a member of our family. There"s no need for you to be overly courteous. Just let us know where you want us to head to, and we will follow your orders without any complaints. Let"s give the Sun Moon Empire a lesson, and show them what happens when they mess with us!”
Huo Yuhao revealed a faint smile. “We should all rest up first and recover what we have expended earlier. I will also be resting for a short while before setting off for our next location. This time around, I want to play a game of chess against the Sun Moon Empire. I want them to receive news that their entire Empire is being attacked at multiple places—at the same time!”
Even though Huo Yuhao had expended quite a bit of his energy, it was not overly significant. He went to cultivate with Tang Wutong, whereas the others went for meetings with the higher-ups within their legions to perform after-action reviews.
……
In the Heavenly Soul Empire.
Ju Zi was floating in mid-air silently while being surrounded by a sea of fiery red. The Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion was stationed around her as they looked to protect from any harm.
As she looked into the distance, it seemed as though her mind had drifted away.
It had been a while since the entire army had moved out. However, Ju Zi was still feeling very uneasy. The reason for her unease was simple—it was because of that person.
If her child was still unfound, she would perhaps not be as conflicted as she was right now. She would only feel enraged, and would channel the hatred within her into bloodl.u.s.t as her troops stormed forward onto the battlefield.
But now that her child had been returned to her, the hatred in her heart had become a lot fainter. Her child"s return had resulted in an inexplicable change in her att.i.tude. In fact, this newfound feeling was slowly taking over the deep hatred in her heart.
And this feeling was directed towards her child—definitely not towards her husband.
Other than the child, the rest of her feelings was directed towards that person.
That day, after Huo Yuhao had left, Ju Zi had cried for a long time. It was only after she had calmed down that she thought of this: he did not disappoint me.
In her heart, Huo Yuhao"s image was becoming better, whereas Xu Tianran"s was worsening.
Nonetheless, Ju Zi continued to lead the army out for their conquest. She left her child in the palace because she was not allowed to bring the Crown Prince of a country out from Radiant City. The truth was that when she was requesting that liberty from Xu Tianran, she was still hopeful that she might be given permission to bring him out. In fact, it was more like she was trying to convince herself to give Xu Tianran one last chance.
Unfortunately, Xu Tianran turned her down resolutely. And this made Ju Zi certain about the decision she was about to make. In her mind, a perfect plan was gradually taking shape.
Yuhao, where are you now? Will you be in the enemy"s camp? I really don"t want to see you on the battlefield. But I really miss you…
A bitter expression formed on her delicate face. She was suffering from the conflict within her heart. But at the same time, she was excited by the possibilities which lay ahead.
She started to laugh at herself. Back then, I even told him that his biggest problem was his emotional weakness. But why do I feel an inexplicable weakness in my heart whenever I think of him? Yuhao, oh, Yuhao... I am really regretting my decision in the past… If I had chosen you back then, and followed you to leave Radiant City, everything might have turned out differently. At the very least, I would have had a chance to fight for a place by your side.
However, she understood that there was not much point crying over spilled milk. There was no way she could undo what she had done after choosing to take this path. All she could do was try and make things easier for him. Huo Yuhao, you can rest a.s.sured that I will never hurt you regardless of the circ.u.mstances. Because you are my…
As she thought about this, Ju Zi"s heart softened once again. Right now, she did not resemble a War G.o.d Empress. She was more like a young girl who was thinking about her boyfriend.
“Issue my orders. Everyone is to rest for the next three days. Set up the defensive soul tools and be on high alert. Double the range of the aerial surveillance soul tools and push them forward by a thousand meters. I want more visuals on the situation of the Heavenly Soul and Dou Ling Empires.”
“Roger!”
After the Crown Prince was returned, Xu Tianran had given at least half of the army to Ju Zi. In the current campaign, there were only a few Cla.s.s 9 soul engineers who could influence her tactics. The position of the Commander of the Three Forces was slowly becoming hers.
The war must go on. In Ju Zi"s heart, she knew it was impossible for her to let go of the hatred she had. In addition, she was no longer only fighting the war as a form of revenge. She was also building the foundation for her son"s throne.
When it came to this, Xu Tianran had made several good predictions. He knew that he was infertile, and only had the Crown Prince as his son. Regardless of how big the future of the Sun Moon Empire would be, it was ultimately going to be handed over to Xu Yunhan. That was why Xu Tianran was so daring to put so much power into Ju Zi"s hands. Of course, he was also confident in his ability to rein her in.
……
Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong were flying across the sky with their hands interlocked with one another.
After waking up from his cultivation and returning to that little forest, he realized how a large part of the sky above him was already covered by aerial surveillance soul tools.
After the area where the soul tools were stationed had been destroyed, it had alerted all of the Sun Moon Empire"s troops which were stationed near the Ming Dou Mountain Range. They were currently doing their best to find where their enemies were.
This showed that Huo Yuhao"s previous worries were legitimate. It was definitely not a wise decision to fight head-on with the large number of troops the Sun Moon Empire had stationed in this area.
After activating Imitation, Huo Yuhao concealed both himself and Tang Wutong as they fled at the speed of sound with their Cla.s.s 9 flying soul tools at full throttle.
The aerial surveillance soul tools were useless against Huo Yuhao. The Sun Moon Empire had spent several days trying to find this mysterious unit which had attacked them, but to no avail. The only news they had received was how a large legion of all-terrain self-driving forts had attacked them.
During the battle, Huo Yuhao and his people did not kill everyone. After all, there were close to five thousand normal soldiers there. They had only planned to disrupt their operations and flee; they did not want to do any unnecessary killing.
Without any other clues, this battle in which the Sun Moon Empire suffered huge losses could only be concluded as an unsolvable mystery. The news was delivered to Radiant City as soon as possible.
Oak City was a mid-sized city in the northern part of the Sun Moon Empire. It was very close to the northern frontier. However, it was different from the frontiers of the original Douluo Continent. The Sun Moon Empire was surrounded by the ocean on its northern border. It bordered the Ice Sea—the expansive sea which was on the west of the core regions of the Extreme North.
Even though it was called the Ice Sea, the sea was not actually frozen entirely. This name was merely given to it because of its incredibly low temperatures.
Because of how low the temperature was, there were always blocks of ice floating on the surface of the water. Occasionally, one might even see an entire iceberg floating in the ocean. The weather at the Ice Sea was truly unbearable.
Oak City might just be a mid-sized city, but it was already incredibly large considering how few cities there were in the northern parts of the Sun Moon Empire. It was the center of commerce in the northern regions. Many specialties of the north were traded in Oak City before being transported to the southern parts of the Sun Moon Empire for sale.
Some of these northern specialties included the fish in the Ice Sea. These fish were extremely popular among its people.
The northern regions had a much lower population density than the southern parts of the Sun Moon Empire. Because this place was also very close to the west, it was considerably far from the Wasteland of the Extreme North, and was often considered the safest place in the Sun Moon Empire. Hence, there weren"t many troops stationed here. Only a thousand troops or so were in charge of the safety of Oak City, as well as some of the smaller cities in the vicinity.
There were two figures which were silently standing on the top of a hill about fifty kilometers away from Oak City. They were looking at the city, which was uniformly grey in color.
Oak City was extremely close to the Ice Sea. It was only about twenty-five kilometers away. Hence, it was possible to look at the Ice Sea by finding a vantage point at a higher alt.i.tude.
“What a great view! It"s really different from what we"re used to back where we stay!” Huo Yuhao exclaimed.
Tang Wutong wrapped her arm around Huo Yuhao"s arm before exclaiming, “Yeah! Look at the Ice Sea in the distance. It looks so mysterious! I really want to check that place out if we have time. There must be many soul beasts in the Ice Sea. I wonder how strong they are… They must be pretty strong in order to survive under such harsh conditions.”