Chapter 468.1. Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion

The Sun Moon Empire had a lot of confidence in their overall strength in this war. The invention of linked soul tools gave them an absolute advantage. However, in terms of high-level fighting strength, the Sun Moon Empire didn’t have enough to defeat the Douluo Continent’s three native continents and Shrek Academy by themselves. Therefore, they had to rely on the Holy Ghost Church’s power.

The Holy Ghost Church was very formidable. Without discussing other things, the existence the Death God Douluo, Ye Xishui, and the Dragon Emperor Douluo, Long Xiaoyao meant they had two Ultimate Douluo. That was enough to intimidate countless powerful Titled Douluo.

From Ju Zi’s perspective, if there weren’t any unforeseen incidents, there wouldn’t be any problem with Ye Xishui standing guard at the Ming Dou Mountain Range. But who knew that the Star Luo Empire managed to break through in the end?

Afterwards, the White Tiger Duke had used a very venomous strategy, and Ju Zi was still held back no matter how powerful she was.

The White Tiger Duke had dispersed the Star Luo Empire’s soul master legions, and deployed five legions with thirty soldiers in a team, which formed one unit. He divided them to go deep into the Sun Moon Empire to destroy things.

They focused on destroying the Sun Moon Empire’s granaries and armories in their respective cities. The Star Luo Empire had almost as many soul masters as the Sun Moon Empire did, and they didn’t have many soul engineers. However, soul masters were as destructive as soul engineers when they unleashed their destructive power!

There were at least a hundred and fifty units of soul masters scattered into the Sun Moon Empire’s territory. They retreated after an assault wherever they were attacking, and they immediately escaped beyond the horizon. They didn’t give the Sun Moon Empire a chance to surround and kill him. They were practically engaging in guerilla warfare, and they caused many losses to the Sun Moon Empire after little more than a month.

The Sun Moon Empire’s royal family had to pull back a few soul engineer legions because of that, and to defend their territory. They even deployed two of their royal soul engineer legions, which were like their trump cards, so that they could surround the Star Luo Empire’s units and establish defensive perimeters. Only then were they able to suppress the Star Luo Empire’s soul masters that were undercover in their territory.

But they were in a standoff at the moment.

The Sun Moon Empire could only produce large amounts of aerial surveillance soul tools and rely on their surveillance to fight against the Star Luo Empire’s soul masters in their territory.

However, aerial surveillance soul tools were expensive to craft. The Sun Moon Empire’s territory stretched over many kilometers, so they couldn’t possibly cover every inch of land. Otherwise, the White Tiger Duke’s strategy wouldn’t have been so hard to deal with.

Nobody was a match for the Death God Douluo in face-to-face battle, but the Death God Douluo was just a mortal, and not actually a God. She couldn’t stretch her strength to cover overly large areas.

The soul masters who were undercover in the Sun Moon Empire preoccupied them, while the White Tiger Duke himself led his remaining soul master legions to create defensive structures and perimeters at the Ming Dou Mountain Range with the Star Luo Empire’s Northwestern Field Army. They regained everything that they had lost before.

The Sun Moon Empire could only maintain their current situation because the Star Luo Empire was holding them back. They didn’t have more strength to continue their invasion, and this was especially so because the Sun Moon Empire didn’t dare to attack in Shrek Academy’s direction. Even the Holy Ghost Church were fearful of Shrek Academy.

The Douluo Continent’s three native empires knew about Shrek Academy’s battle against the Great Star Dou Forest’s beast wave, and the Sun Moon Empire had also received similar information.

Xu Tianran turned pale with fright when he heard that Shrek Academy had pushed back the Great Star Dou Forest’s immense army, and when he heard that the Dragon God douluo, Mu En, had reappeared.

The Darkness Holy Dragon, or the Death God Douluo, Ye Xishui had told him long ago that everything between them could be discussed or worked out, but they would never directly participate in attacking Shrek Academy.

Xu Tianran didn’t have those two Ultimate Douluo in his war against Shrek Academy. As of now, he didn’t have any confidence in fighting an open battle against Shrek.

Ju Zi personally returned to Radiant City, and they went through a series of military conferences after a deep chat with Xu Tianran. They finally decided that they should stabilize the current situation and consolidate, and that they had to assimilate as much of the territories that they had conquered in the Heavenly Soul Empire as possible. The commander that Huo Yuhao admired and respected was actually Ju Zi. Her reputation in the Sun Moo Empire was growing exponentially throughout this war.

The Sun Moon Empire’s current situation wasn’t as good as it was in the beginning, and that was because the Death God Douluo hadn’t been able to defend the Ming Dou Mountain Range, and had nothing to do with Ju Zi’s war strategies and tactics.

The Sun Moon Empire had conquered two-thirds of the Heavenly Soul Empire’s territory with minimal costs and losses by following Ju Zi’s war plan. She had earned a lot of credit for the Sun Moon Empire’s glorious victories, expansion, and conquered territories. This was especially so because the she had feigned an attack against the Star Luo Empire in the beginning, when her real target was the Heavenly Soul Empire, and when she made sure that the Star Luo Empire’s intel and surveillance were locked down. She had accomplished great feats.

Ju Zi had been lauded as the Sun Moon Empire’s military genius after the war, one who only appeared once in a blue moon, and even the queen’s halo wasn’t as bright as her own commander’s. Ju Zi had increasingly more authority and influence. Besides the Sun Moon Empire’s royal legions, the other four beast-ranked soul engineer legions were under her control. She was the commander-in-chief of the great army that was invading east.

Xu Tianran trusted Ju Zi the most, and that was the reason why he was very assured that she held all the authority.

She didn’t disappoint him. After conquering large areas of the Heavenly Soul Empire, Xu Tianran was very supportive of penetrating those territories with soul tools and technology. Xu Tianran admired and respected Ju Zi, and he knew that he couldn’t devise such strategies by himself. He held her in very high regard.

This time, she had discreetly led an army of twenty thousand to the Heavenly Soul Empire’s northeastern region to investigate some mineral resources in the north.

What were wars fought with? They were fought with resources and money.

The Sun Moon Empire had been accumulating reserves for many years, and they were considered sufficiently prepared. However, Huo Yuhao had shaken them at their very core after the massive explosion that he had triggered inside Radiant City. Money and resources were continuously expended after the war started, and that was especially so for their rare metals. They were starting to run low. Therefore, the Sun Moon Empire had been trying to strengthen their search for mines and minerals recently, especially within the Heavenly Soul Empire. They would undoubtedly excavate and mine anything they discovered as quickly as possible.

Ju Zi had received reliable reports from her people in the Heavenly Soul Empire saying that there was an enormous mine in the Heavenly Soul Empire’s northern region, in the areas bordering the Extreme North. There were more than ten veins of rare metals that they could excavate there.

She had sent someone to investigate the matter previously, and the report was confirmed. This mine was very close of the Dou Ling Empire’s northern borders, and it was positioned between the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Dou Ling Empire.

Before the Sun Moon Empire had started this war, the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Dou Ling Empire had just discovered the existence of this mine. They hadn’t had time to excavate it before the war had started.

Therefore, the Sun Moon Empire would likely clash with the Dou Ling Empire if they wanted to mine these resources.

The Sun Moon Empire had very formidable tools for detecting rare metals. Ju Zi had instructed experts to do a serious investigation of this area before coming here, and her experts had told her that this mine held an extremely large volume of rare metals. If they could extract it, they would have enough to support another war.

Ju Zi had reported that to Xu Tianran once she managed to confirm those reports.

Rare metals had undoubtedly become the most important resource after accompanying soul engineers into the history of war. Xu Tianran wasn’t assured at all to leave such important resources in the hands of just anyone. He decided after discussing with Ju Zi that she was to personally lead the Fire Phoenix Legion here, and she was to be in charge of excavating this mine.

Besides this army of twenty thousand, there was to be an enormous team of excavators that would arrive later. However, they were going to mine in the Extreme North, and the weather would greatly affect the speed and progress of excavation. The team needed time to prepare. Therefore, Ju Zi came first so that she could conquer and assimilate this entire place before making other plans.

Huo Yuhao wouldn’t know about all this if he had left with Nan Qiuqiu before. Destiny worked in such mysterious ways, and a single episode of deep meditation created an opportunity for him such that he could do reconnaissance like he did.

How could she not be dejected? She hadn’t accomplished her true aim of being here, and yet she had sustained such heavy losses. It wasn’t hard to imagine how expensive soul detectors that were equipped to beast lord-ranked legions were, and even she couldn’t bear a sixty percent loss! This was a colossal blow. Furthermore, she couldn’t fathom what kind of soul master could achieve this feat. If that individual was a soul engineer, not even the Sun Moon Empire had any results in using soul tools for the art of concealment. Ju Zi didn’t believe that the Douluo Continent’s three empires could surpass the Sun Moon Empire in this respect.

If a single soul master did everything by himself, then wouldn’t this soul master’s abilities be far too powerful? He could conceal himself, and he could unleash ice-type soul skills over large areas. She had never heard of any Titled Douluo that could achieve all that!

“Pass down my orders – everyone in the Fire Phoenix Legion is to move at once. Everyone will hold oscillation detectors to search within thirty kilometers of the army camp. However, don’t affect Dragon City, so that we don’t affect our plan to assimilate the city through our technology.”

“Yes!” Her subordinate soul engineers acknowledged at once and departed swiftly.

Ju Zi frowned tightly as she calculated in her head, and considered where that person who was investigating them came from. The Heavenly Soul Empire shouldn’t have any strength left to conduct such reconnaissance in the northern regions, and they would definitely use an individual with such impressive scouting abilities on the battlefield. The Dou Ling Empire was in the same situation. They were teamed up with the Heavenly Soul Empire, and their army was in a standoff against her own army on the battlefield. They wouldn’t have anybody to deploy into the northern regions. She hadn’t even attempted to excavate those mines yet!