There was only one other possibility besides these two empires. The person who had just come to investigate came from one of the Heavenly Soul Empire"s reclusive sects. This was the only plausible explanation.
Ju Zi felt a headache come on when she thought about “reclusive sects”. As of now, they had conquered more than two-thirds of the Heavenly Soul Empire"s territory, but the Sun Moon Empire had also sustained heavy losses. Their greatest losses weren"t in the war – instead, their greatest losses occurred when they were fighting those reclusive sects.
The Heavenly Soul Empire had a long history, which could be traced back ten thousand years. Back then, the Heavenly Soul Empire was still called the Heaven Dou Empire, and this empire was formed by the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Dou Ling Empire. There were many soul masters in the Heavenly Soul Empire, and there were many reclusive sects as well.
Even though these reclusive sects didn"t want to have anything to do with the Heavenly Soul Empire in normal days, the Sun Moon Empire was their enemy in the end. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and they had to work together against their common enemy. Reclusive sects were always very secretive with what they did, as they focused on protecting themselves. They were always doing hit-and-runs against the Sun Moon Empire, and that highly irritated her. Even though these people didn"t have a decisive impact on the war, they were consistently causing damage to the Sun Moon Empire.
They had appeared in the Ming Dou Mountain Range before, and now they had appeared far into the Heavenly Soul Empire"s northeastern region. It seemed like this sect, who was adept with the art of concealment and reconnaissance, didn"t just have one person who was good at these things. What was more frightening was the ice-type domain attack that had a reach of a thousand meters in diameter. Based on this range, that person should be a powerful t.i.tled Douluo.
t.i.tled Douluo were always terrifying as an enemy. A t.i.tled Douluo was just one person, and his powerful strength, in addition to the fact that he was hiding in the darkness, meant that he was a threat whenever and wherever. Even if this person didn"t care about lashing out against normal soldiers, he was still a great threat to the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion. Without talking about other things, this person would destroy every single one of their aerial surveillance soul tools if he attacked a few more times. He could cause her entire army to go blind.
Ju Zi"s hands gradually clenched into fists. Cold light flickered in her eyes – she had to find a way to remove this threat, no matter what.
Huo Yuhao had already returned to Dragon City at this point. The soul-stirring thrill from before was just another unimpressive experience among all his past experiences.
He returned to the cloth store. Nan Qiuqiu was still awake, and was waiting in the courtyard for him.
“Why did you take so long?” She asked with a frown.
Huo Yuhao said, “The situation is more serious than I had imagined. The Sun Moon Empire"s Fire Phoenix Legion is hidden amidst the army of twenty thousand.”
Nan Qiuqiu was thrown into shock. How could she not know about the Fire Phoenix Legion? “What are they trying to do?” she said nervously, “Do they wish to destroy Dragon City?” If a legion with an overall fighting strength such as that one wanted to cause destruction, destroying an entire city really wasn"t anything much.
Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “How can that be? If that were the case, then they wouldn"t have to expend so much energy to penetrate Dragon City with soul tools and technology. However, I wasn"t able to discover their goal.”
Nan Qiuqiu frowned and said, “Then what should we do? We should continue investigating and figure out what"s happening. There must be something they want, with such a powerful soul engineer legion around.”
Huo Yuhao stared at her with a strange look in his eyes. “Yes, investigating is the right way to go. But there"s no we – there"s only me.”
Nan Qiuqiu"s eyebrows immediately went vertical. “What do you mean? You intend to abandon me and go alone?”
Huo Yuhao said sincerely, “Qiuqiu, did you notice the disturbance outside just now?”
Nan Qiuqiu was momentarily stunned, and said, “I didn"t hear any disturbance, but I did see faint flickers outside the city. That was you?”
Huo Yuhao nodded as he recounted his experience in detail.
“I managed to escape, but by a hair"s breadth, with my own abilities. If you were with me, neither of us would have been able to escape.” Huo Yuhao spoke with a very pained look on his face.
Nan Qiuqiu was rude and unruly, but she definitely wasn"t unreasonable. She stared at him and said, “You can"t put it like that. Are you saying that I"m a burden?”
Huo Yuhao said nothing, and he just stared quietly at her.
Nan Qiuqiu was a little embarra.s.sed and annoyed at his stare. She grunted furiously and said, “Fine, so I am a burden. I won"t follow you, then. But since they have already discovered you, their defenses will be much tighter. How are you going to find out what they want?”
Huo Yuhao said, “I wanted to find intel directly, but since I can"t do that, then I can only follow them. Since they have come all the way to the northern regions, their destination can"t be far. I will definitely be able to find out what they want as long as I follow them. Don"t worry, I will be more careful with the lesson I"ve just learned.”
Nan Qiuqiu contemplated for a while. Even though she wasn"t convinced, she had no choice but to admit that she was a lot weaker than Huo Yuhao was. Huo Yuhao would be burdened if he had to take another person with him.
“Alright, alright. You go, then. I"ll wait in Dragon City for you, and we"ll head to our own destination from before after you come back. But you must be careful.”
Huo Yuhao laughed and said, “Qiuqiu is a reasonable lady, indeed.”
“Don"t do that. I"m going to sleep. Hurry and leave if you must.” Nan Qiuqiu turned around and went back to her own room after that.
Huo Yuhao heaved a sigh in his mind as he watched her elegant profile. Qiuqiu is a nice girl, and I can"t let her become like Qiu"er back then, no matter what.
His heart began to ache when he thought about w.a.n.g Qiu"er. Dong"er should still be alive no matter how her situation was, but Qiu"er was already… This had become an agony deep in his heart that would last forever.
Huo Yuhao sighed as his thoughts stopped here, and returned to his own room. After this night"s hustle, the Sun Moon Empire wouldn"t move out throughout the night, so it wouldn"t be too late for him to follow them in the morning.
Huo Yuhao snuck out after finishing breakfast the next day. Nan Qiuqiu didn"t escort him out, but she sulked in her own room after he left instead.
Am I not just a little weaker than you? I"ll catch up to you! Nan Qiuqiu decided that she would go into closed-door cultivation during the days that Huo Yuhao wasn"t around, and she began to work hard inside the cloth store.
Huo Yuhao left the city through the eastern gate just like he did the previous day. He returned to the forest that he was hiding in previously. He wasn"t hasty to go out this time – instead, he began to meditate in the middle of the forest as he observed the movements of the Sun Moon Empire"s army in the distance.
He wasn"t stupid. He had dealt such a heavy blow to the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion the previous day, so the defenses within their army camp had to be incredibly strict. He would be going to certain death if he took the risk to investigate at this time. Since that was the case, he chose to observe from afar, since his aim was to follow them anyway.
The maximum range of his Spiritual Detection meant nothing could possibly go wrong if all he wanted to do was follow an army. Only if the Sun Moon Empire could redirect all their aerial surveillance soul tools to his location so that they could conduct surveillance closer to the ground across all positions could they possibly discover his presence.
There wasn"t much disturbance within the Sun Moon Empire"s great army. Everything seemed very calm and peaceful one day after, as if nothing had happened last night.
Huo Yuhao was very patient. He wasn"t fl.u.s.tered at all as he just cultivated quietly inside the forest. He would just wait it out – his enemies weren"t hasty, so why should he be?
He simply used his spiritual power to detect in a single direction from time to time, and he would sweep over the Sun Moon Empire"s camp to make sure that the Fire Phoenix Legion was still around before he continued cultivating.
He had gained quite some inspiration from last night"s battle. Furthermore, he had been focusing his energy on studying Ultimate Ice over recent weeks. That was something that needed a lot of time for him to slowly grasp. At the same time, he needed time to absorb the Manifold Mysterious Ice Essence in his body. Cultivating anywhere made no difference to him. As for the exposed outdoors, that was a piece of cake.
Three days pa.s.sed like that in the blink of an eye. The Sun Moon Empire finally couldn"t stand the loneliness anymore, as they set off to depart.
Huo Yuhao had to admit that this army was very outstanding. They didn"t create much of a disturbance as they moved out, and their formations were very neat and strict. The army on the periphery began to move first, and they took down their tents, while the soldiers responsible for impedimenta took everything apart and packed it up. The soldiers formed up in neat lines as they proceeded towards the north.
Huo Yuhao quickly saw the Fire Phoenix Legion"s team. The legion"s members were also walking on the ground, and their formation was very neat. They didn"t act all high and mighty just because they were soul engineers.
They can"t hold back any longer? A faint smile appeared at the corner of Huo Yuhao"s mouth as he stood up. He wasn"t worried at all. He couldn"t follow too closely, as he would be easily discovered if he came too close. He just had to follow them from several kilometers out. With his Imitation, those aerial surveillance soul tools in the sky couldn"t possibly discover his presence as long as he maintained a sufficient distance.
Huo Yuhao followed far behind once the army had completely uprooted and moved on. He didn"t follow behind them for long, proceeded on their flank as he gradually shifted forward.
He knew that for him to complete his reconnaissance mission, or even to ruin the Sun Moon Empire"s mission, he had to allow his enemies to lower their guard first. Therefore, he couldn"t allow his enemies to discover his presence, no matter what. His enemies would believe that he was already gone, given enough time, and that he had never returned after escaping the other day. As for making a move, he wouldn"t do anything unless as a last resort.
Huo Yuhao followed at a distance just like that. The Sun Moon Empire"s army continued pushing forward as they went straight towards the north.
The army was moving very quickly. They were almost always jogging; they would jog for an hour before they walked for a bit, and then jog again. This army was moving at a spectacular speed, and their overall quality was very obvious.
The army went a hundred kilometers north after one day. The air was starting to become increasingly cold. They stopped to set up camp and cook food.