Huo Yuhao was flying very quickly, and he knew that he was safe when his enemies didn"t pursue him.
Since that was the case, he chose to fly upwards. He flew back to a height of almost three thousand meters with the help of his Snowy Dance of Ultimate Ice and Spiritual Interference Domain before he channeled all his strength to escape.
Once he was safe, everything that he had just investigated surfaced in his mind.
The defense on your peak is so tight - how can I discover what your concrete situation is like? What will happen if I unleash Spiritual Shock against the spiritual barrier? What"s going to happen?
Huo Yuhao could faintly see after some calculations that he could possibly tear that spiritual barrier open temporarily if he used Spiritual Shock. However, he could only tear it open temporarily, and his Spiritual Detection was not nearly enough to investigate the circ.u.mstances inside! Unless…
Unless, he snuck through the barrier himself in the short window of time that the spiritual barrier was torn open. This was the only way so that he could scout everything clearly. However, he would undoubtedly be within attacking range of the Death G.o.d, and a single misstep could lead to obliteration.
There were many things that Huo Yuhao could do to protect his life. For instance, he had his spectral demiplane. He considered whether he could phase into the spectral demiplane first after going through the barrier, and then return to his original s.p.a.ce to continue investigating once everything was safe and settled down.
However, he quickly refuted this idea, and the reason was simple - he needed time to enter the spectral demiplane. At least, he needed time for warmup and preparation. He didn"t need much time; five to ten seconds were enough. However, would his enemies give him five to ten seconds? Evidently, they wouldn"t.
This was like back when he and w.a.n.g Qiu"er were trapped within Sunrise City. There were legions of soul engineers looking and patrolling around, and two evil soul masters who were also t.i.tled Douluo had locked onto them. They would undoubtedly be safe if they could jump into his spectral demiplane, but Huo Yuhao wasn"t even confident in jumping over himself, let alone taking w.a.n.g Qiu"er, Nan Shuishui, and Nan Qiuqiu together with him within such a short period of time. Therefore, he chose to burn his spiritual fire, and that eventually led to the tragedy of w.a.n.g Qiu"er sacrificing herself.
If he couldn"t rely on jumping into his spectral demiplane, then he could only rely on his own abilities to investigate before forcing his way back out. However, that probability was way too low.
Once the Death G.o.d was unleashed, he would be obliterated. It was difficult to even run inside the spiritual barrier.
Even though spiritual barriers were not like soul power barriers, which could create direct blockading effects, even somebody with spiritual power at Huo Yuhao"s level would be mired within temporary confusion and a trance if they came into direct contact with it. Even a single moment of confusion and dazzlement would very likely be fatal.
Is this really a mission that"s impossible to complete?
Huo Yuhao continued thinking, as he gradually flew back to territories controlled by the Star Luo Empire. He slowly descended and revealed himself in the air at the same time.
Two silhouettes swiftly came close in midair, and they arrived before him in no time - they were Tang Wutong and Ye Guyi, who were responsible for providing support for him in the sky.
They could see that Huo Yuhao"s eyebrows were tightly knitted together, and they immediately understood that Huo Yuhao"s reconnaissance effort was probably a failure. They didn"t ask much, and they escorted him towards the ground.
Inside the commander"s tent.
The White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu were both waiting there. The White Tiger Duke had returned to the observation deck after he sent Huo Yuhao away. Even though he was very far away, the White Tiger Duke could still see some faint sparkles and flashes in the distance.
The White Tiger Duke only came down from the observation deck after Huo Yuhao met up with Tang Wutong and Ye Guyi, and he returned to the commander"s tent to wait for them.
Xu Sans.h.i.+ and the others met up when Huo Yuhao touched the ground.
Xu Sans.h.i.+ asked quietly, "What"s the situation like, Yuhao?"
Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly and shook his head. "No, I couldn"t scout anything at all. Come, let"s talk inside."
Tang Wutong followed behind Huo Yuhao. When she saw Huo Yuhao returning, she felt as if something heavy was immediately lifted from her chest. Even she was a little surprised - since when am I so concerned about this fellow"s safety?
Xu Jiujiu came forward to welcome him personally once he entered the commander"s tent.
Huo Yuhao forced another laugh and shook his head.
Xu Jiujiu"s expression didn"t change. She smiled faintly and said, "This is but our first try, and failure is the mother of success. Yuhao, everything"s fine as long as you"re back safe."
Even though Huo Yuhao knew that she didn"t really mean some of the things that she said, his mood was still lifted a little. He smiled back and nodded before he swiftly stepped towards and in front of the sand table inside the tent.
The White Tiger Duke looked at Huo Yuhao and asked, "What"s the situation like?"
Huo Yuhao pointed to the Ming Dou Mountain Range"s main peak and lowered his voice as he said, "If my judgment is correct, not only is the Death G.o.d on top of this main peak - I"m afraid even its creator is there as well."
Everybody was momentarily stunned when they heard his words.
The Death G.o.d"s creator? The White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu"s expressions changed slightly. Yes! If there was such as a thing as the Death G.o.d, then, naturally, there was a creator. This soul tool probably wasn"t something that normal people could use. However, according to the intelligence that they had received, the Death G.o.d Douluo hadn"t appeared within the Sun Moon Empire in for thirty years. Did this mean that the Death G.o.d Douluo was truly here in person? That individual who was known as the existence closest to becoming a Cla.s.s 10 soul engineer?
Huo Yuhao didn"t look at the White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu"s expressions. Instead, he recounted his reconnaissance mission in the sky and the circ.u.mstances that he had encountered in detail.
Princess Jiujiu couldn"t help but draw a cold breath when she heard Huo Yuhao speak of the spiritual barrier within a one-kilometer radius encircling the main peak. "This means that the Death G.o.d Douluo isn"t just adept with crafting soul tools like the Death G.o.d - he"s also talented in creating powerful spiritual-type soul tools?"
The corner of Huo Yuhao"s mouth twitched. Even though he didn"t say anything in response, his expression was clear enough. This was common knowledge - since he was the soul engineer closest to becoming a Cla.s.s 10 soul engineer, how could he not know how to craft other kinds of soul tools?
The White Tiger Duke then asked Huo Yuhao, "Yuhao, what do you think the cla.s.s of this spiritual barrier is? And what is that white circle of light that tried to scan you?"
Huo Yuhao didn"t hesitate as he replied, "The spiritual barrier is definitely a Cla.s.s 9 soul tool. Even though it"s not as valuable as the Death G.o.d, it"s likely to be the most powerful spiritual-type soul tool in the world today. The white light that was trying to probe me was undoubtedly also a Cla.s.s 9 soul tool. Even though it could only probe outwards explosively and spontaneously, the area that it can cover is simply too great. Ten kilometers! Its detection uses both undulations and spiritual power, and it"s possibly even more powerful than the spiritual barrier. Investigating the main peak with a thing such as this around is far too difficult."
The White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu"s expressions became incredibly black after listening to Huo Yuhao"s words. Just as he had said, a single mountain"s peak had three Cla.s.s 9 soul tools installed for defense and offense. This meant that this peak was completely locked down. They had all experienced Huo Yuhao"s Spiritual Detection before - even he couldn"t complete this reconnaissance task properly under such circ.u.mstances, so there was no need to talk about them.
The White Tiger Duke heaved a long sigh and said, "This expedition was too dangerous. Fortunately, you managed to react in time. Otherwise…"
Huo Yuhao frowned a little as he lowered his voice and said, "However, my trip wasn"t completely wasted. Duke, Princess - if my guess is right, the Death G.o.d is probably more powerful than we imagined him to be."
"Eh? Even more powerful?"
The White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu couldn"t help but draw cold breaths at the same time. The Death G.o.d had already ma.s.sacred so many of their powerful soul masters the last time around. If it was more powerful than they had imagined, how powerful could it possibly be?
Xu Jiujiu asked with great difficulty, "What aspect are you referring to, Yuhao?"
Huo Yuhao lowered his voice and said, "Distance."
"Previously, I was about eight to nine thousand meters away from the Ming Dou Mountain Range"s tallest peak when I attempted detection. Suppose that the white light released from the main peak did reach me, and that would mean it had locked onto my position. This means an attack was bound to come right afterward. I could faintly feel that a red metal object flickered on the main peak, though it disappeared because the white light didn"t touch me."
"My enemies didn"t know what my cultivation rank was, and they must have had expended a lot of energy to activate that special Cla.s.s 9 soul detector. They weren"t afraid to consume energy, and that means they weren"t about to let their efforts go to waste. If they were just going to send soul engineers to run me down, they shouldn"t have any confidence of doing so at such a great distance from the main peak. In the end, they didn"t know what kind of cultivation I possess. Therefore, the most likely case was that the main peak could launch a direct attack against me. Under those circ.u.mstances, during that time, only the Death G.o.d on the main peak would be able to kill me with one strike and with absolute certainty. This means that the Death G.o.d"s attacking range could be more than five kilometers. In other words, it can reach five kilometers when it"s unleas.h.i.+ng an attack over an area, but it can reach further when it"s attacking in a single direction.
The White Tiger Duke clenched his right fist and pressed it against the edge of the sand table as he listened to Huo Yuhao"s a.n.a.lysis. He contemplated momentarily as he lowered his voice and said, "That"s very possible. If that"s the case, the Death G.o.d would still have been able to cause us heavy losses the next time around if we had estimated its range at five thousand meters. It"s possible that even its range for area attacks can reach further than that. If that"s the case, then the Death G.o.d is just too terrifying."
Huo Yuhao said, "We can"t make any other judgments about the Death G.o.d because we are terribly short on information regarding it. I feel that we have to continue our reconnaissance missions, and we should only stop once we figure everything out about this soul tool. The Death G.o.d"s attacking strength is far too frightening - furthermore, its surrounding defenses are tight and strict. One can say that the Death G.o.d is the key to whether we will be able to break through the Sun Moon Empire"s defensive perimeter. As long as we can do something to get rid of it, we will have very good chances of breaking through the Ming Dou Mountain Range"s defensive perimeter. In the end, we have many soldiers and soul masters. Our forward push and momentum will be unstoppable once we break through this defensive perimeter."
The White Tiger Duke answered, "But conducting any more scouting missions against them is just too dangerous. Furthermore, only you possess abilities like that, and I can"t let you put yourself in harm"s way again."