Chapter 424.3. Sparing Nothing for the Rescue

A few soul engineer legions teamed up together to launch a lightning assault, and completely overwhelmed the Star Luo Empire’s Northwestern Field Army. Disregarding the fact they had Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells to open the way for them, they still managed to demonstrate the strength of soul engineer legions.

Suddenly, the entire continent was in an uproar.

The Sun Moon Empire didn’t launch any attacks on the neighboring Heavenly Soul Empire but deployed several soul engineer legions at the border.

After learning that the Sun Moon Empire had attacked the Star Luo Empire, the Heavenly Soul Empire deployed the Body Sect to lead a bunch of strong soul masters to launch a surprise attack the next day. However, they were intercepted by the Holy Ghost Church. Given the number of strong evil soul masters in the Holy Ghost Church, as well as the strength of their evil abilities, the Body Sect was forced to return without making any advances. If they didn’t retreat, they might have been encircled by soul engineer legions, which would have made it difficult for them to flee.

On the other side, at the Star Luo Empire’s Western Border, the Sun Moon Empire’s military had already made their way into the Star Luo Empire’s territories through the huge gap they had made. However, they didn’t rush to attack, but quickly took control of several forts that had belonged to the Northwestern Field Army at the border. They consolidated their gains and strength at the border. Even so, everyone knew that they weren’t going to stop attacking.

Ever since the Sun Moon Empire’s Crown Prince Xu Tianran had ascended the throne, the three other empires on the continent knew that this war was unavoidable. However, there had been a huge explosion in the Sun Moon Empire’s Radiant City, causing the empire to suffer huge losses. The hostages that they had held captive were also freed. In everyone’s opinion, the Sun Moon Empire should be laying low for some time. However, they made their move before half a year was up. They were irresistible!

A storm was brewing over the continent, and a war of survival and destruction was about to begin. However, Huo Yuhao still returned to Imperial Radiant City that night.

——

When he returned, it was almost midnight. However, Dai Luoli and Xu Yun were still waiting for him. Although they didn’t know what Huo Yuhao’s exact cultivation was, they knew that his abilities should be quite good, given that he could completely suppress them. Since he was able to sneak out to explore, he should be able to bring back some news.

Right now, the Star Luo Empire’s military had sealed all information very tightly, so there wasn’t much news leaking out.

“Tang Dong, how is it?” Dai Luoli quickly went up and asked Huo Yuhao after seeing him sneak in through a window and change into his military uniform.

Huo Yuhao replied, “The defense of the front line has indeed fallen. However, our troops seem to have successfully retreated. From afar, I saw that the White Tiger Duke’s flag has already been withdrawn. He should be fine.” He naturally wasn’t going to tell Dai Luoli everything. It would be contradictory to his plan.

After hearing that the White Tiger Duke was fine, Dai Luoli heaved a sigh of relief. “It’s great that my father is fine. Do you know where he retreated to?”

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “I’m not sure, but I’m certain he’s within our territories. As for which city he retreated to, I’m not sure. Don’t harbor any thoughts of finding him now. To you, the thing you should be focused on is to perform well in the defense of Imperial Radiant City. Once our enemies arrive, we’ll go all out to kill them. The White Tiger Duke can’t take care of you right now.”

After Huo Yuhao pinpointed what he wanted to do, Dai Luoli turned red and nodded. He replied, “Alright, I’ll listen to you.”

Xu Yun, who had been standing to one side without making a sound, suddenly stood up and said, “Since the White Tiger Duke is fine, I’m relieved too. I’ll go and find some more news. The two of you can rest first.” After she finished speaking, she walked out.

Huo Yuhao directly sat cross-legged on his bed and entered deep meditation. To him, it had been an exciting night!

The room they were in right now had been allocated to them by Xu Yun. Xu Yun lived right beside them. The two of them had a room all to themselves. Even though they were bodyguards, this was already very good treatment.

——

When Huo Yuhao awoke from his deep meditation, it was already the evening of the second day. Dai Luoli wasn’t in the room. After he grabbed a bite to eat, he returned to his bed and sat down.

While it was a close shave yesterday, he managed to gain a new understanding of the control of his spiritual power. After getting his Martial Soul True Body, unleashing his soul skills through it had provided him with valuable experience.

Huo Yuhao discovered that he couldn’t use his avatar to directly unleash the powerful soul skills he had, given his cultivation. However, it was much easier for him to use some auxiliary-type soul skills. For example, he could use his Imitation, Spiritual Interference Domain, and Mass Enfeeblement.

As his cultivation increased, his spiritual power gave him abilities that were similar to his avatar. Although his avatar didn’t possess the abilities of his actual body, the greatest benefit to having an avatar was that it could be forsaken at any time!

This was the greatest enhancement in terms of his spiritual cultivation. It was a pity that he wasn’t able to divide his attention, given how great his spiritual power was. He couldn’t control both sides perfectly at the same time. This was the next step he was trying to achieve.

Ever since he had crossed Rank 70, his soul power had improved at a faster rate. Even though he didn’t have the Haodong Power anymore, he was still likely to become an eight-ringed Soul Douluo within five years, given his current speed. This included the assumption that he didn’t meet with any favorable circumstances.

He wasn’t even twenty years old yet. In five years, he would only be around twenty-four years old. When he was thirty, he might even be close to becoming a Titled Douluo.

Furthermore, he wasn’t any ordinary soul master. He was a soul master with an Ultimate martial soul.

A simple example would be last night’s fight. If Dai Hao had possessed an Ultimate martial soul, he would have been able to inflict significant casualties on the two soul engineer legions, given his cultivation, even against their formidable defenses. Furthermore, a Titled Douluo with an Ultimate martial soul wouldn’t be afraid of the Sun Moon Divine Needle, either!

Huo Yuhao thought of something. Yes! I brought back a Sunmoon Divine Needle yesterday. That Starsky Douluo has suffered great losses this time. Not only did I get back the Sunmoon Divine Needle that I gave the White Tiger Duke the last time, but I even got an additional one for free. I indeed have great fate with this Starsky Douluo.

It was very difficult for Huo Yuhao to use a Sunmoon Divine Needle, given his current cultivation. However, he had twin martial souls. His overall soul power was much greater than other soul masters of the same rank. Furthermore, his soul power was also much purer, given his Ultimate martial soul. If he unleashed his full strength and risked everything, he might be able to unleash an attack from the Sunmoon Divine Needle once. This was because he still had one more advantage, his immense spiritual power! He didn’t have to drain too much of his soul power to accurately aim a Sunmoon Divine Needle.

Of course, only a nine-ringed Titled Douluo could unleash the true strength of a Sunmoon Divine Needle. He had managed to unleash that strike yesterday because he was fortunate. After sneaking in an attack against the Starsky Douluo, he had gained control over a fully-charged Sunmoon Divine Needle. His spiritual power wasn’t inferior to a Titled Douluo, and thus aiming and firing it that time didn’t pose much of a problem.

At this moment, Dai Luoli returned. He looked quite frantic.

“You’re back? How’s the situation outside?” Huo Yuhao looked at Dai Luoli. He was already much calmer compared to yesterday after he learned about the invasion and saved the White Tiger Duke.

Dai Luoli looked very gloomy as he said, “It’s bad. They’ve already calculated the losses that we’ve suffered. More than seventy thousand soldiers from the Northwestern Field Army are dead. Among them, more than fifty thousand were combat troops. They all died from soul tools. There are also more than twenty thousand people who are injured, and ten thousand people missing. I’m afraid that those missing are unlikely to be alive. This means that more than eighty thousand of our soldiers were killed after the Sun Moon Empire’s surprise attack yesterday.”

After he finished speaking, Dai Luoli’s eyes had already turned red. He punched a wall beside him hard enough to crack it.

Huo Yuhao also turned gloomy. The Sun Moon Empire was too vicious. They had used Class 9 soul tools against ordinary soldiers. This was very rare in the history of the continent. This time, the Star Luo Empire had finally seen how terrifying soul tools were.

Class 9 soul tools were threatening to Titled Douluo, but this wasn’t absolute. It depended on the Titled Douluo’s cultivation. However, the destructiveness of a Titled Douluo could not compare to that of a Class 9 stationary soul cannon shell.

This wasn’t to say that Titled Douluo couldn’t cause mass destruction, but time was required for them to do so. However, Class 9 stationary soul cannon shells didn’t need any process. Once they blew apart, they could wipe out a huge amount of lives. They were too scary.

“What’s next? What’s the situation now?” Huo Yuhao suppressed the rage in his heart and tried to stay calm.

Dai Luoli painfully said, “What else can we do? We’ve requested help from the capital and the other two empires. At the same time, we’ve tightened our second line of defense and deployed all our resources there.

“My father has indeed returned. However, he didn’t come to Imperial Radiant City, but went to Dawn City instead, which is a hundred kilometers away. That city is about as large as this one. The Northwestern Field Army has also changed their strategy and expanded their area of defense so that the Sun Moon Empire can’t use soul tools to break down their defense again. My father has also submitted a script of penitence to His Majesty, expressing his wish to fight to the death in Dawn City. Right now, the orders are that we have to delay the Sun Moon Empire’s military with all our might to buy some time for reinforcements to arrive. We can’t let them gain any further ground.

“The Northwestern Field Army has operated here for years. Whether it’s in terms of city defense or military strength, this city is better than the interior cities. Once our line of defense here is breached, our enemies will charge forward without any obstacles. I’m afraid they’ll be unstoppable. I estimate it’ll take half a month for any military reinforcements to arrive. However, a few soul master legions have been deployed to assist us.”

Huo Yuhao nodded. This was probably the best that could be done for now. In their current situation, the Sun Moon Empire could still be resisted once the Dou Ling Empire’s reinforcements arrived, given the deep foundations of the Star Luo Empire. After all, the Star Luo Empire was the strongest of the three native empires on the Douluo Continent. The Star Luo Empire also had the greatest number of soul masters in the entire continent, including the Sun Moon Empire. There were more than ten thousand soul masters in ten soul master legions, a force that couldn’t be ignored.