The iciness on Xu Tianran"s face mostly vanished after he heard his words. He felt as if an enormous burden had been lifted from his chest as he muttered under his breath, “I"m sorry, Ju Zi, I was overthinking. I will treat you well as long as you don"t betray me.” He then said to the man kneeling on the floor, “You may go, royal physician, and take care of the Empress. Make sure this goes well.”
“Yes,” The royal physician said respectfully, “rest a.s.sured, Your Majesty, as I have checked the Empress" body many times. She is very healthy, and today is the most opportune time for her to become pregnant. I am more than ninety percent confident that I can help the Empress get pregnant.”
The royal physician was just speaking his mind honestly, but he was completely unaware that his last sentence sounded vaguely ambiguous, and Xu Tianran"s eyes flickered murderously in response. Of course, from the beginning to the end, he was never going to let anybody who had anything to do with this live.
“Go. Once it"s complete, I will reward you heavily.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Ju Zi was also in a silent room. She was lying down on a bed, only covered by a clean white gown. Her eyes were very calm, but there was a dash of coldness deep within them.
Xu Tianran, Xu Tianran, Xu Tianran!
Ju Zi repeated that name continuously in her heart.
Xu Tianran, I haven"t misjudged you after all. I have been so loyal to you, but you treat me like that. Good, very good! It"s a pity that no matter how intelligent you are, you are clueless that I have already been prepared for all this. How could I bear a child for a stranger?
“Are you ready, Empress? You might feel some pain in a while.” The royal physician"s warm voice could be heard.
“Alright, royal physician. You may begin.” Ju Zi answered plainly.
“Alright, then. Please give me the seed that you have prepared.” The royal physician spoke respectfully.
Ju Zi lifted her hand, and a small metal tube appeared in the center of her palm as she slowly pa.s.sed it to the physician. There was a tinge of tenderness on her facial expression at this moment, and the name “Xu Tianran” gradually disappeared from her mind, while another name took its place…
……
High up in the night sky.
Four thousand five hundred meters. This was an alt.i.tude of four thousand five hundred meters. Huo Yuhao was hovering silently in midair; he had already appeared once more above the Sun Moon Empire"s army camp. He made sure he was as vigilant as he could be while he quietly observed the army camp beneath him. At the same time, he tried to sense whatever dangers could appear at any moment.
Four thousand five hundred meters. I wonder if the Sun Moon Empire"s ground-based aerial surveillance soul tools can still discover me. Huo Yuhao squinted a little as he bided his time quietly.
Several minutes quickly pa.s.sed, but nothing was happening beneath him. The red light that he had encountered the previous night didn"t appear.
A faint smile gradually appeared at the corner of Huo Yuhao"s mouth.
His eyes gazed at something faintly discernible in the distance, at a cloud that was drifting through the air. He maintained his original position, quietly awaiting something.
Suddenly, a ball of black mist descended from the sky without warning and blanketed his position.
Huo Yuhao looked a little shocked as he immediately dispelled his Imitation and revealed himself from the air.
“Tsk, tsk! I thought, which other powerful soul master could it be? But you"re just a little kid. You"re just a Soul Sage, and you dare to spy on the Sun Moon Empire"s army camp?” A hoa.r.s.e voice that wasn"t pleasing to the ear could be heard. Two black shadows suddenly appeared fifty meters away from Huo Yuhao as the cloud that he was staring at disappeared.
Large and disheveled black mist bore down on him in a circle from all directions and surrounded Huo Yuhao, while the two black shadows stared at him vigorously.
Two yellow, two purple, and five black soul rings glowed on the person who was speaking. The other black shadow, who didn"t make a sound, had an even stronger combination of soul rings. He had one yellow, three purple, and five black soul rings.
They were both t.i.tled Douluo. Furthermore, the auras emanating from their bodies felt very sinister and evil.
“Evil soul masters?” Huo Yuhao exclaimed in surprise.
“Kid, don"t you think it"s a little too late for you to realize that?” The man in black who was speaking before drifted towards Huo Yuhao as he spoke. A bluish-black light gradually grew larger behind him. This bluish-black light shadow looked incredibly terrifying. In the beginning, it looked like a skull, but Huo Yuhao could only see after it swelled that it was a pale human face. He couldn"t even tell if this face was male or female, but there were countless disgusting bluish-black maggots crawling all over it.
The other man in black didn"t make a sound from the beginning to the end. Light glowed from behind him as well, but this light was dark green, and condensed into an enormous centipede with a single eye on its forehead that swayed gently in the air.
Huo Yuhao"s face was completely pale. Wow, two evil t.i.tled Douluo.
Evil t.i.tled Douluo were frightening individuals comparable to Transcendent Douluo in the world of soul masters! Huo Yuhao"s body seemed to tremble from fright.
“It"s too late to be afraid. The two of us wouldn"t have had to make this trip if we didn"t have to capture you alive. Alright, kid, follow us down. Otherwise, I"ll let you have a taste of my Avenging Spirit Mask. I"ll let it consume your spirit bit by bit, and that feeling, tsk, tsk…”
Avenging Spirit Mask. This was the first time Huo Yuhao had heard of a martial soul like that. It seemed like a mutated martial soul, and it was definitely an evil martial soul.
“Two seniors, I"m just a scout responsible for collecting intelligence. Why do you have to cause trouble for me?” Huo Yuhao forced a laugh as he spoke.
“Hahahaha! Kid, you don"t have to insult us with words. Are you going to let us capture you without resisting, or do we have to make a move on you?”
Huo Yuhao gritted his teeth and said, “I can let you capture me, but can I know your t.i.tles? At least, I will know whose hands I"ve fallen into.”
The evil soul master who possessed the Avenging Spirit Mask said, “There"s no harm in telling you. I am the Masquerade Douluo, and this is the Heavenly Centipede Douluo.”
“I didn"t expect us to meet again. You"re a spy after all.” A familiar voice could be heard, and it came from the Heavenly Centipede Douluo, who hadn"t spoken at all until this point. He suddenly lifted the black veil that was covering his face and revealed himself.
Huo Yuhao"s expression changed a little when he saw him, and that was because he knew this evil soul master. He was the Duskwater Alliance Master, and he seemed to be the Holy Ghost Church"s Second Elder.
Huo Yuhao had always been careful, and that was the reason why he would always change his appearance even when he was conducting aerial surveillance. However, the look that he had chosen to take on was the same as the ident.i.ty he had used to partic.i.p.ate in the Radiant City Elite Soul Engineering Tournament, Tang Wu. That was the reason why he was immediately recognized by Nangong Wan.
“We finally meet again, Alliance Master Nangong.” Huo Yuhao replied, but his expression seemed a lot calmer than before.
Nangong Wan gritted his teeth when he saw Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao had helped the Duskwater Alliance eventually win the championship during the Radiant City Elite Soul Engineering Tournament, and he took away all his prizes. Nangong Wan was prepared to take him in as his disciple back then, but because Huo Yuhao"s performance was far too outstanding, and especially because of his necromancy, even the Holy Ghost Church"s vice-leader paid attention to him. She believed that he was the Holy Ghost Church"s Holy Son, who had yet to appear in this world. But who knew that Huo Yuhao would immediately disappear after the compet.i.tion, and take away countless rare metals, the Sunmoon Divine Needle, and a Cla.s.s 9 stationary soul cannon sh.e.l.l, Annihilation Storm.
The Sunmoon Divine Needle was still alright, as the Starsky Douluo, Ye Yulin had taken that out. However, it wasn"t easy for the Holy Ghost Church to obtain Annihilation Storm, and the original intention was for it to urge soul engineers to put effort into the compet.i.tion. But Huo Yuhao had vanished into thin air, in the mess of that enormous explosion, without a trace.
In the aftermath of the great explosion, Nangong Wan had tried hard to find him, but how could he find Tang Wu? And now he had met Huo Yuhao once more today, and Nangong Wan could tell from where he had appeared that he was a spy. Furthermore, he was the Heavenly Soul Empire"s spy. How could he not be angry?
The vice-leader had berated him for not being able to find Huo Yuhao.
“Yes, it"s been a long time. Should I call you Tang Wu, or by another name?” Nangong Wan said coldly.
Huo Yuhao smiled plainly and said, “You can just call me Tang Wu.” Of course, he wouldn"t be so foolish as to reveal his ident.i.ty. Furthermore, he wasn"t just a soul engineer when he met Nangong Wan back then. He had also presented himself as a necromancer.
“Alright, Tang Wu. I want to see how you can run away this time!” Nangong Wan said coldly.
Huo Yuhao grinned and said, “Run? Why would I run? The two of you are the ones who shouldn"t run away later.”
“Eh?” The Masquerade Douluo and the Heavenly Centipede Douluo were momentarily stunned as a green shadow bolted towards them like a ghost from far away. It took but a few blinks of the eye for her to arrive beside Huo Yuhao. Wasn"t that the Greenshadow Douluo, Elder Song?
Huo Yuhao had departed at the same time as Elder Song, but they didn"t travel together. Huo Yuhao was attracting the attention of the ground-based aerial surveillance soul tools from four thousand five hundred meters up in the sky, while Elder Song watched him from six thousand meters. Six thousand meters was the limit that humans could reach, and n.o.body but Transcendent Douluo could reach that alt.i.tude. The Sun Moon Empire"s surveillance soul tools couldn"t possibly reach that height.
However, Huo Yuhao didn"t expect two evil t.i.tled Douluo who wanted to capture him alive. This was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. If he could capture a t.i.tled Douluo, it would be a lot easier for him to discover Tang Ya"s location.