He received the list and looked it over. After that, he nodded and said, "The list is right. Quickly prepare the goods. I"ll come here tomorrow night at this time to collect them. I"ll also pa.s.s you the remaining five hundred thousand gold soul coins then."
"Alright. We"ll follow your arrangement." The middle-aged man was excited as he put the card away. After that, he sent Chen An out of the room.
Huo Yuhao saw everything with his Spiritual Avatar, and was speechless. Chen An is too greedy. I gave him five hundred thousand gold soul coins as a deposit earlier, but he only offered two hundred thousand to the seller. Furthermore, the list that Huo Yuhao saw earlier was accurate. However, the price was only half. This meant that Chen An was going to pocket half of the one million four hundred thousand gold soul coins involved in this deal. He was swindling both parties.
However, Huo Yuhao had still managed to achieve his goal. This was the place he was looking for.
After he stopped following Chen An, Huo Yuhao"s Spiritual Avatar slowly shadowed the middle-aged man and he continued to investigate…
Morning
The weather in Radiant City had finally took a turn for the better. The sun was s.h.i.+ning brightly, and caused the city to become extremely dazzling.
After a night of rest, everyone from the Tang Sect had recovered. Only Xu Sans.h.i.+ was still healing under the care of Jiang Nannan, as his injuries were slightly more serious.
In the early morning, the Tang Sect was already welcoming two guests - Xu Jiujiu and Wei Na, the two princesses.
After seeing Bei Bei, Wei Na proceeded towards Xu Sans.h.i.+"s room as Bei Bei led her. She used her Snow Lotus to treat his injury, which revealed the sincerity of the Heavenly Soul Empire. Xu Jiujiu mentioned that she wanted a private conversation with Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao smiled as he said to Xu Jiujiu, "Your Highness, eldest senior is the one who decides matters in the Tang Sect. You don"t have to talk to me privately."
Xu Jiujiu looked at him deeply and replied, "Alright, time is tight. I"ll get straight to the point. Currently, I have three t.i.tled Douluo and around forty detectives with me in Radiant City. Along with my troops and fifteen preparatory squad members, they form the entire strength that I have in Radiant City."
Huo Yuhao listened to her seriously, but didn"t make a sound.
Xu Jiujiu continued. "When we first came to Radiant City, we didn"t discover much. However, we realized that something was amiss after we reached the round-robin stage. We sent three waves of detectives back to the empire to deliver news, but they all disappeared without a trace. Do you remember Grandma Yi Man? Her t.i.tle is Starcloud, and she has a Rank 93 cultivation. As the three waves of detectives disappeared, she personally returned to the Star Luo Empire. However, we lost news of her as well. We were alerted because of this. After this, we tried to investigate the matter, and discovered some clues. There seems to be trap around Radiant City - it has become a situation where we can only enter, but not leave."
After hearing her words, Huo Yuhao was also shocked. He had known that the Sun Moon Empire was going to do something, but he didn"t expect them to be so daring.
Radiant City was the largest city on the continent. It wasn"t easy to seal the entire perimeter of a city like that.
With Huo Yuhao"s intelligence, he immediately discovered a serious problem.
"Your Highness, do you mean that the Sun Moon Empire is trying to deal with all non-Sun Moon Empire teams in this tournament?" Huo Yuhao furrowed his brow when he said this. His doubts had been answered. The greatest problem for the Tang Sect now was their overall abilities and lack of manpower. They couldn"t investigate on such a large-scale like the Star Luo Empire. Huo Yuhao also believed that Xu Jiujiu wasn"t lying, and the situation was only going to become more serious.
Xu Jiujiu nodded and said, "It"s highly possible. In addition, they aren"t just targeting us. They are also trying to deal with the secret forces that have followed us on our journey here. For example, there"s the Star Luo Empire, the Body Sect and Shrek Academy. We are all the elites of the various empires. Our team members even more so. By capturing all of us, it"ll be a huge blow to the various empires. Furthermore, it also means something else if they dare to do this."
Huo Yuhao"s eyes flashed with a cold look. "They are prepared for war, aren"t they?"
Xu Jiujiu took in a deep breath. "That"s right." She seemed to be put in a spot as she muttered those two words. What did it mean if the Sun Moon Empire was prepared for war? It meant that they were going to invade the Heavenly Soul and Star Luo Empires. It was going to be a big war! However, were the three empires of the continent prepared?
Huo Yuhao took in a deep breath. He knew that at least the Tang Sect wasn"t prepared.
"Thank you, Your Highness, for delivering such valuable news to me. What are you going to do? After yesterday"s negotiations, I believe you and Princess Wei Na have reached an agreement."
Xu Jiujiu cursed in her heart. This sly fox. I"ve already said so much, but he"s not telling me his position.
"That"s right, we"ve reached an agreement. If we want to break out, we must band together. Although there are only a few teams left, we are still considered quite familiar with one another. As long as Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect, as well as both Wei Na"s team and mine team up together, we"ll become a force to reckon with. We"ve been investigating thoroughly. Radiant City is so huge, so it"s very difficult to seal it completely. We should gather our strength and escape in a particular direction."
"However, there"s another problem regarding the war. It seems like the Sun Moon Empire is prepared, but we are not. That"s why we need to try to earn more time for ourselves. We can"t just directly leave. We need to deal a larger blow to the Sun Moon Empire before we leave, and slow them down. In this way, we"ll have more time to prepare."
Huo Yuhao was in awe. Her Highness"s thought process is quite clear. Although she doesn"t know the arrangements of the enemy, she knows what the critical thing is - stall our enemy.
"Yuhao, we"ve interacted several times, but I still am not familiar with your academy. Can you tell me what the strength of your academy is for this tournament? If your academy is willing to cooperate with us on this mission, it"ll be much better."
Huo Yuhao shook his head. "Your Highness, we are representing the Tang Sect this time. We are really unclear on the academy"s arrangements. However, I can introduce you to our eldest senior sister in the inner courtyard of the academy. You can discuss the details with her."
Xu Jiujiu seemed a little pensive. After a moment, she nodded and replied, "Sounds good. I"ll need to trouble you then."
Huo Yuhao smiled and thought to himself - sounds good? That"s your purpose, isn"t it?
After this brief conversation, both parties left pleased. Huo Yuhao had obtained valuable information, while Xu Jiujiu also achieved her goal.
---
At this point, the Tang Sect"s hall was getting more and more crowded. Wei Na had already done her best to heal Xu Sans.h.i.+, and a.s.sured him that he could fight the Holy Ghost Church the next day. Zhang Lexuan also arrived with w.a.n.g Qiu"er.
Zhang Lexuan was stunned when she saw Princesses Wei Na and Jiujiu on the Tang Sect"s side. Although she wasn"t familiar with them, she had naturally been observing them. After all, they represented two different empires! And Wei Na also represented the Body Sect.
The Tang Sect"s hall was now packed.
There was Bei Bei, Huo Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong"er from the Tang Sect, Zhang Lexuan and w.a.n.g Qiu"er from Shrek Academy, and the two princesses. The seven of them represented four different parties.
Wei Na and Xu Jiujiu looked at each other. Xu Jiujiu nodded her head gently.
Zhang Lexuan smiled and said, "It"s really crowded in here. It"s the semifinals tomorrow. Bei Bei, how"re your preparations?"
Bei Bei replied, "We"ve prepared everything that we need to. Tomorrow"s fight will be very important. We"ll do our best."
Zhang Lexuan nodded slightly and pretended not to know the two princesses. She asked, "These two are?"
Bei Bei rushed to introduce them to one another. After the three of them greeted one another, Xu Jiujiu seemed to turn a little anxious. She expressed her wish to converse in private with Zhang Lexuan. This time, Princess Wei Na also wanted to join in on the conversation.
Zhang Lexuan didn"t reject her request. The three of them borrowed one of the Tang Sect"s rooms and began to discuss matters with one another.
The hall became much more quiet after they left. Only the three from the Tang Sect and w.a.n.g Qiu"er remained.
Bei Bei looked at Huo Yuhao and w.a.n.g Dong"er before he looked at w.a.n.g Qiu"er. He couldn"t help but shake his head helplessly. He turned to Huo Yuhao and said, "Was Princess Jiujiu sincere earlier?"
Huo Yuhao nodded slightly. He recounted everything Xu Jiujiu had said to him earlier. He didn"t withhold any information because w.a.n.g Qiu"er was around. After all, this was a matter that concerned both Shrek Academy and the Tang Sect. Moreover, he already thought of her as a trustworthy friend after their many ordeals together.
After hearing Huo Yuhao"s report, Bei Bei turned serious. w.a.n.g Dong"er laughed coldly, "They are obviously trying to make use of us as messengers. Their real goal isn"t to work with us, but with the academy."
Whatever w.a.n.g Dong"er could tell, Huo Yuhao naturally could tell too. Bei Bei laughed and said, "This is normal. They have t.i.tled Douluo following them, but we only have the few of us. No one will bother with us if things really escalate to a conflict between the truly strong individuals. However, they are not wrong to treat us as a part of the academy."