Chapter 427. Battle in the Ming Dou Mountain Range

Xu Yun thought for a moment, then said, “Alright, you can go. But be careful… that’s weird, I wonder where Dai Luoli is? He’s been gone for a long time.”

Huo Yuhao said, “He mentioned the Duke before this. Could he have gone to find the Duke? Maybe he couldn’t stand the loneliness here anymore.”

Xu Yun was momentarily stunned. “And he didn’t bring you along?”

Huo Yuhao forced a laugh and replied, “Maybe he’s afraid of my beatings?”

Xu Yun’s face became a little strange. “But he seems to be improving very quickly recently…”

Huo Yuhao looked up, and a mischievous grin appeared at the corner of his mouth. “Why, do you want to try?”

“No!” Xu Yun exclaimed almost instantaneously. There was no need to mention being beaten like Dai Luoli was. Her stomach still throbbed painfully when she remembered Huo Yuhao punching her in her abdomen.

Huo Yuhao shrugged. He sounded a little disappointed as he said, “If you are willing to participate, I believe he will work even harder. I’m going to leave now, and if he comes back, make sure he doesn’t go anywhere!” He began to walk faster as he spoke, and ran off to one side before swiftly disappearing into the darkness.

Xu Yun’s other personal guards were following behind her, and were confused about what he was doing, but Xu Yun said nothing, so naturally none of them dared to ask.

—

Huo Yuhao used Imitation to merge into the night sky, and flew towards the Ming Dou Mountain Range. He thought to himself as he flew, I haven’t been back for long, and now I’m going back… what a hassle! I wonder what the White Tiger Duke will achieve with this counterattack?

Huo Yuhao stretched his Spiritual Detection out like a web in all directions as he rose into the sky, and quickly discovered the large armies of the White Tiger Duke moving forward on the ground. The Star Luo Empire had brought out their full strength… however, he could only see legions formed by normal soldiers at this moment.

According to what Xu Yun told him, eight of the Star Luo Empire’s ten great soul master legions had reached their western borders under Princess Jiujiu’s command. Huo Yuhao thought to himself, They should be all the way in front of everyone else, because normal soldiers will only be massacred if they go up against soul tools. But can the Star Luo Empire’s soul masters break through the Sun Moon Empire’s defenses?

Huo Yuhao was still thinking to himself when a place in the Ming Dou Mountain Range ahead suddenly glowed, and large patches of light flickered again and again.

The battle has already begun?

Huo Yuhao contemplated calmly for a moment before picking up his pace once more. He didn’t fly directly towards where the battle was happening, instead taking slight detour, and proceeding towards the edge of the battlefield.

Huo Yuhao wasn’t sure how much strength both sides had invested in a battle as intense as this. He would probably be treated as an enemy by both forces if he ventured forward brashly and was discovered.

The flashes became increasingly clear as he drew closer. Furthermore, most of those flashes were flickering in the sky, and powerful lights were being released continuously as rays of light flowed and circulated in the sky.

—

Huo Yuhao arrived at his destination in fifteen minutes. He carefully reached out with his Spiritual Detection, sweeping it towards the battlefield.

The most intense parts of the battle were happening in the sky. Countless beams from soul rays and soul cannons waltzed left and right through the air, and large patches of energy storms were sweeping up into the sky. Huo Yuhao could reach out with his Spiritual Detection, and only observe the battle from afar. Otherwise, he ran the risk of being torn to pieces.

This battle was clearly one between thousands of soul masters and soul engineers. Such a vast spectacle could be said to represent a contest between the entire Continent’s strongest and most top-tier forces.

Huo Yuhao continued observing from the distance as he carefully approached the Ming Dou Mountain Range from one side. He could see with greater clarity if he was closer, and he had already opened his Eye of Destiny fully to reduce the interference brought about by thee intense soul power undulations.

Astonishment gradually appeared in Huo Yuhao’s eyes. The Sun Moon Empire’s defenses that they had deployed in the Ming Dou Mountain Range truly surprised him.

Huo Yuhao could see only a little bit when he was observing the battle earlier. However, because he was observing from far away, and even when there were no soul power undulations from soul tools, he couldn’t possibly see everything. In this moment, the soul tools’ powers were on full display, and Huo Yuhao could see more than three thousand assault points were firing continuously. These assault points consisted mainly of soul cannons, with soul rays supporting them.

Soul rays were a lot more accurate than soul cannons, and they were easily adjusted and a lot more penetrating. However, their range couldn’t compare to that of soul cannons, and both weapons had their own advantages and were complementary to one another. Soul cannons were responsible for bombarding at a distance, while volumes of soul rays swept out horizontally at any soul masters who managed to break through within a certain area.

The Sun Moon Empire had actually set up so many soul tools at the Ming Dou Mountain Range. There were probably more soul tools on the Ming Dou Mountain Range than every single soul tool within the Douluo Continent’s three empires added together.

Huo Yuhao felt fortunate. If he hadn’t triggered an explosion in that massive warehouse, there would probably be twice as many soul tools here today!

There were so many soul tools, and naturally, there were many soul engineers controlling them. The Sun Moon Empire had absolutely made sufficient preparations. With the support of sealed Milk Bottles, even low-level soul engineers could unleash the power of mid-tier soul tools. They could continue operating higher level soul tools as long as there were enough Milk Bottles, and their destructive and offensive capabilities were naturally exponentially boosted.

The Ming Dou Mountain Range was like a giant porcupine at this moment. This “porcupine” continuously straightened its pricks, and didn’t let anyone near.

Huo Yuhao discovered at the same time that the aerial surveillance soul tools in the air had evidently been withdrawn inside an area that the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s firepower could protect. These soul tools were still carrying out their reconnaissance tasks, except their areas of coverage were smaller than before.

As for whether there were high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools much higher in the sky, Huo Yuhao couldn’t detect any for now. He had to concentrate and sweep region by region at such altitudes, and he currently didn’t have the time for that. Protecting himself and making sure that he wasn’t discovered was more important right now.

The Sun Moon Empire’s defenses were strict and tight, but the Star Luo Empire’s battle strategies and tactics were also exceptionally appropriate.

The Star Luo Empire had mobilized at least five thousand soul masters this time, but there were less than five hundred people participating in this assault. However, even the weakest of these soul masters were Soul Sages.

Five hundred soul sages… what kind of frightening power was that? If this fight was one against one, even if there were three times as many Class 7 soul engineers in a fixed area, those soul engineers would be no match for these Soul Sages.

Most soul masters couldn’t be threatened by average and typical soul tools after they became Soul Sages, and only soul tools that were incredibly powerful, or many soul tools trained on them at the same time, could hurt them. Furthermore, these soul masters weren’t blindly committing to the assault. Instead, they attacked in probes, expending the Sun Moon Empire’s inventory of Milk Bottles as they waited for the right opportunity to strike.

This was undoubtedly the best fighting method. The soul masters ground their opponents down continuously, while they relied on their strength as Soul Sages to minimize their own consumption as much as possible. If this was allowed to continue, the time would come when the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineers would be whittled down to nothing. Furthermore, the soul masters would also launch surprise attacks on the aerial surveillance soul tools in the sky. Each one of these things destroyed would reduce the Sun Moon Empire’s vision by a little bit.

Huo Yuhao didn’t have to guess that the White Tiger Duke and Princess Jiujiu had discovered from their probing attack that Dai Luoli’s conjecture was correct. The Sun Moon Empire hadn’t sent their armies into the Star Luo Empire’s borders, and had only taken the Ming Dou Mountain Range, which they had then rebuilt into a defensive front. In that case, since the Sun Moon Empire had already made their move, what was their main target? There was no question that the Sun Moon Empire was heading towards the Heavenly Soul Empire.

All the Star Luo Empire could do now was work on breaking the Sun Moon Empire’s lockdown on the Ming Dou Mountain Range. Afterwards, the Star Luo Empire could directly threaten the Sun Moon Empire’s own territories in a bid to reduce the pressure on the Heavenly Soul Empire.

The Sun Moon Empire had probably predicted this, except they probably didn’t guess that the Star Luo Empire’s reaction would be this quick. However, based on how strong the Sun Moon Empire’s defenses looked, they had deployed at least three soul engineer legions to defend the mountain range. At the same time, they had also mobilized large amounts of low-level soul engineers to support those legions. They had also made use of the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s topography, and the Star Luo Empire faced quite a challenge if they really wanted to advance all the way through the mountain range.

Huo Yuhao could tell that this battle would continue for quite some time without an clear victor from how both forces were fighting. The Star Luo Empire’s great armies were gradually bearing down on their borders, and with the White Tiger Duke’s love for his soldiers, he probably wouldn’t charge forward by using human wave tactics.

Individual strength had become irrelevant and minute on a battlefield of such scale. The Sun Moon Empire had definitely activated every one of their surveillance soul tools, and Huo Yuhao didn’t have any confidence at all in infiltrating their camp. He could only observe the front lines and see where the battle was going from afar, and pray in silence for the Star Luo Empire.

The Star Luo Empire almost didn’t use any soul tools at all to retaliate against the Sun Moon Empire’s soul tools. A soul master’s range was very limited most of the time, and this was true even for powerful Titled Douluo. Soul Engineers had an advantage in this regard.

The Star Luo Empire had to suffer because they were not as advanced! With the Star Luo Empire’s national strength, if they had focused on developing soul tools as much as possible after the Sun Moon Empire had launched their first Holy War back then, the situation today wouldn’t have been so bad. The Star Luo Empire’s ideology that soul masters were invincible didn’t change because of that war. Instead, the ideology was further strengthened.

Hopefully, this war would allow the Star Luo Empire to wake up a little earlier. Even though it was delayed, if the Star Luo Empire could win this war, then it wouldn’t be too late.

After some time, the bombardment from the soul cannons and soul rays that were firing from the Ming Dou Mountain Range gradually began to weaken. Sealed Milk Bottles couldn’t sustain them indefinitely, after all. Soul tools that were strong enough to threaten seven-ringed Soul Sages consumed a lot of soul power. After such a long time, the Sun Moon Empire had consumed an uncountable number of Milk Bottles, and their soul engineers had consumed far too much soul power.

The Star Luo Empire naturally realized that the Sun Moon Empire’s defenses were starting to weaken, and they began pushing forward gradually to put more pressure on their opponents.

The Sun Moon Empire’s soul cannons and soul ray attacks suddenly strengthened a little, and forced the Star Luo Empire’s soul masters back. However, after this resurgence, they seemed to have consumed the last ounces of their strength, and their firepower weakened even further.

The Star Luo Empire seemed to have gained the upper hand completely. In the end, they had thousands of soul masters who hadn’t joined the battle yet. Once their top-tier soul masters achieved an unambiguous and decisive advantage, then their regular soul masters should have no problem charging down the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s defensive perimeter. The mountain range’s topographical advantages were nothing much to these soul masters.

However, Huo Yuhao was still observing the battle from afar when he suddenly felt a little stifled. He kept having this feeling that something was wrong, and he even felt a faint ominous sensation.

The Star Luo Empire’s soul masters were pushing forward once more, while the Sun Moo Empire’s resistance was conspicuously weaker this time. The soul masters were slowly pushing forward to the point where they could use long-range soul skills to attack the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s defensive front, where the soul engineers were stationed.

Is my premonition wrong? It seemed like the Sun Moon Empire had no strength left to continue resisting, and strong lights were starting to flicker on many of the Star Luo Empire’s top-tier soul masters. The circles of light from soul rings were even more glaring in the night sky, a sign that these soul masters were about to unleash long-range attacks. There were so many seven-ringed Soul Sages that as long as even a third of them could unleash their offensive capabilities, it would be a great blow against the Sun Moon Empire. The Sun Moon Empire would have almost no chance to turn the tides of battle when that happened.

Huo Yuhao was still thinking to himself when he suddenly grunted, and plummeted from the sky.

An indescribable fear coursed over his body in an instant. The Spiritual Detection he had released was shattered, and he felt as if the entire world was being annihilated in that moment. He hurriedly activated his soul power to control his body, but his terror made him quiver and tremble uncontrollably.

That… what is that…?

He had only felt an aura as apocalyptic as this once before, when the Beast God, Di Tian, erupted in uncontrollable fury above Shrek City, as he prepared to decimate Shrek City, whatever the cost.

But back then, Di Tian’s strength wasn’t released in the end.

This frightening aura that suddenly appeared in this moment was spreading out quickly.  A ray of white light burst out from one of the Ming Dou Mountain Range’s tall peaks without any warning at all.

This white pillar was as thick as a water tank, but it didn’t feel or seem very powerful at all. It was ghastly white in color, and transformed into a pillar several thousand meters long as it appeared in the sky and swept outwards horizontally.

What kind of light was that!? Time itself seemed to freeze in the moment that this pillar appeared, and all space was sliced open wherever it crossed. However, the typical phenomenon that would happen when air was being torn apart, where immense suction forces were produced, didn’t occur. It felt as though space in another world had been completely frozen and intimidated by this pillar.

It was too quick, to the point where nobody had the time to react.

The top-tier soul masters that were suppressing the Ming Dou Mountain Range were a lot more compact than before, and this white pillar swept across the people that were packed close together.

Emptiness!

After this white pillar swept across them, the first feeling that everyone else felt was emptiness!