Chapter 71.2: White Tiger Duke's Mansion
Nowthat they’d recovered, everyone once again ascended into the air. Afterbeing tormented by Elder Xuan, they all began to enjoy the feeling offlying slowly. At the very least, their complexions improved somewhatfrom doing so. If one were to use Elder Xuan’s previous speed along with both his strength and his flying-type soul tool as references, they’ddbe able to calculate that Elder Xuan would be able to travel to anycorner of the entire Douluo continent within a week. Huo Yuhao wasgrowing more and more curious about Elder Xuan’s true strength. Thelatter shouldn’t be just any Titled Douluo; it was likely that even Dean Yan Shaozhe wouldn’t be able to compete with Elder Xuan in cultivationalone.
At that moment, the sky had already begun to brighten; thesun had risen from the east and bathed their bodies in a faint goldenglow.
A large military camp slowly appeared in front of them. This camp was set up right next to the mountains, while a few more campswere visible in the Ming Dou Mountain Range itself.
The word‘military camp’ was somewhat inaccurate; the undulating cotton walls tothe west of the camp were over thirty meters tall and nearly fiftymeters wide. Just how large of a project was this!?
Even though it wasn’t quite daytime yet, an endless number of military carriages thatwere carrying blocks of stone away from the mountains could still beseen.
At that moment, Dai Yueheng was flying relatively close toHuo Yuhao. Their relationship had deepened slightly after their previous talk. He smiled and asked, “Yuhao, is this your first time visiting anarmy camp?”
Huo Yuhao nodded.
Seemingly familiar with thematter, Dai Yueheng explained, “The southern, eastern, and southeasternregions of our Star Luo Empire borders the ocean. We’re second only tothe Sun Moon Empire in size. Our army consists of two sub-armies: theEastern Army and the Northern Army. Of these, the Eastern Army is themost important, as it has to guard against the Sun Moon Empire. Itstotal military strength numbers around five hundred thousand.”
“The Ming Dou Mountain Range has treacherous and ever-changing terrain,making it extremely hard for troops to march through. Furthermore, every country now has specialised soul masters who scout the mountain rangeevery day. Both the Sun Moon Empire and our empire station our troops at a relatively low-lying part of the mountain range that’s advantageousfor them, of which there are only three in the entire mountain range.The mountain range itself spreads towards the south, and takes up almost two-thirds of the border; the other third is a soul beast-containingforest that’s around half the size of the Great Star Dou Forest. Thisforest is known as the Great Ming Dou Forest, and is an area populatedby a variety of soul beasts. It isn’t as dangerous to us soul masters as the Great Star Dou Forest, but it’s even more dangerous than the former to an army. This is due to the fact that the soul beasts there are even more aggressive than the ones in the Great Star Dou Forest. It’sbecause of this, that we’ve stationed our troops at relatively low-lying parts of the Ming Dou Mountain Range.
“Oh, right. Yuhao, I haven’t asked you this yet, but where are you from?”
Huo Yuhao had originally calmed down somewhat when he heard Dai Yueheng’sexplanation, but his expression changed yet again when he heard thisquestion. He lowered his head and said, “I’m also a citizen of the StarLuo Empire.”
“Oh? Which part of the Star Luo Empire? I didn’tthink that we’d be fellow citizens!” The smile on Dai Yueheng’s facegrew much larger.
“A small village near Star Luo City,” Huo Yuhao replied, “I’m sure that you wouldn’t have heard of it.”
Dai Yueheng chuckled. “Even better! Not only are we fellow citizens, we’reeven from the same area. I also grew up near Star Luo City!”
Asthe two conversed with each other, they arrived at the army camp.However, the White Tiger Bodyguards who were leading the way didn’tdescend. Du Leisi, who’d led the pack, raised his right hand andreleased something similar to a flare that released a multicolouredarray of light. Afterwards they continued forwards unobstructed.
However, Huo Yuhao was able to tell with his visual acuity that a large numberof defensive fortifications had immediately reacted the moment they’dapproached the barracks. A somber atmosphere seemed to have pervaded the entire camp. Even though it was still early in the morning, a largenumber of soldiers had already begun their training drills. Not onlywere they orderly, but they also released an awe-inspiringly murderousair; they seemed like a pack of iron-blooded lions.
“The EasternArmy has the most elite troops within the Star Luo Empire,” Dai Yuehengproudly said. “The hundred thousand men from the Central Legion you seein front of us are elites amongst elites.”
Even though Huo Yuhaohadn’t ever seen his biological father before, he was still somewhataware of the inner workings of the White Tiger Dukedom. As the marshalof the empire, the White Tiger Duke commanded the Eastern Army. At thesame time, he was also the Legion Commander of the Eastern Army’sCentral Legion. The amount of trust that the Star Luo Empire’s imperialfamily had in him could be seen from this. Supposedly, the hundredthousand men in the Central Legion were enough to rival the combinedfighting strength of all of the other soldiers in the Star Luo Empire.Although this was somewhat of an exaggeration, the strength of theCentral Legion could be clearly seen with a single glance.
Theyflew past one barrack after another. Once they’d flown for nearlyfifteen minutes more, a large, leather tent appeared in their field ofvision.
This leather tent was much larger than the other armytents. Furthermore, it was hexagonal in shape, and was made entirely ofdark-brown leather. There weren’t too many guards around it. Only twosquads of the White Tiger Bodyguards, each of which numbering aboutthirty, patrolled the perimeter.
Huo Yuhao’s gaze quickly landedon a single person who was standing in front of the large tent. Although their figure was somewhat unclear, he was still able to sense astartling pressure from them; it was the sort of tyrannical pressurethat came from the combination of a powerful cultivation and an aura ofslaughter. That person seemed to be training his fists, though he hadn’t released his martial soul. His movements were simple and succinct, yet a muffled explosion of air would appear whenever he punched outwards.
Du Leisi, who’d been flying in front, slowed down, then descended alongwith everyone behind him. They began to sense the violent fluctuationsin the air when they were a hundred or meters in the air.
HuoYuhao focused his gaze and was able to clearly see the man in front ofthem. He was currently facing towards them, his golden hair flutteringfreely about in the wind. His upper body was naked, which revealed hisrugged, copper-colored muscles. His tall figure was almost two meters in height, and one could see just how stalwart his chiseled face was fromthe side.
His seemingly slow movements had a very natural andflowing tempo to them. Every step he took and every punch he releasedwere followed by a muffled explosion of air. The valiant undulations ofqi and blood he was releasing had reached the very pinnacle, which inturn caused Huo Yuhao to feel his blood roil about somewhat as hecontinued to stare.
That man slowly pulled back his fist, thenstood up straight as if he’d sensed their arrival. He exhaled, inhaleddeeply, then released a lion-like roar. A gale instantly erupted in theseveral hundred meters surrounding the leather tent; it truly resembledthe descent of an actual lion. The stern aura coming from him causedevery single disciple of Shrek Academy to feel their hair stand on end.
The pressure that Ma Xiaotao emanated during battle was already relativelyastonishing, but she was still quite a ways away from the tall man infront of them.
Is that him? Huo Yuhao was stunned, andall sorts of mixed feelings suddenly arose in his heart. He’d neverexpected to meet his father in such a situation. Was this the man thathis mother could never forget? The man who she held no regret for, evenwhen she lay on her deathbed?
As everyone slowly landed, theforemost Du Leisi had already stepped forward. He bowed slightly andsaid, “Marshal, the young master and people from Shrek Academy havearrived.”
Everyone was able to see his full appearance at thispoint: He didn’t look a day over thirty, and his facial features wereproper. His deep azure eyes each contained flickering pupils. He lookedsomewhat thin, yet his entire body gave off a metallic feeling. This was especially true of his gaze, which flickered like an enormous blade asit swept across everyone, which caused them to involuntarily stopmoving. However, his gaze quickly turned warm.
Handsome, stalwart, tall, and an iron-blooded temperament. When they saw him, even theHeaven’s Chosen of Shrek Academy felt like serving him. An extraordinary splendor repeatedly flickered through Ma Xiaotao’s eyes; a steel-likeman like this was just her type.
Dai Yueheng stepped out of line,then took a few quick steps forward. He kneeled down in front of thattall man, then said respectfully, “Father.”
There was no doubtabout it—the tall man in front of them was definitely the currentIron-Blooded War God who stood above everybody in the Star Luo Empire,Dai Hao. He was also Dai Yueheng and Dai Huabin’s father, as well as Huo Yuhao’s…
The moment Dai Yueheng said the word ‘father’, Huo Yuhao felt all the blood in his body surge towards his head. His eyesinstantly turned red, and he was nearly unable to control the flood ofemotions he felt.
It’s him, it’s him! This is the person mymother was harmed by, yet couldn’t forget. He’s the father I’ve neverseen before! It’s truly him…
His mother’s smiling face instantly filled every corner of Huo Yuhao’s spiritual sea, and he nearly began to cry.
Wang Dong silently stepped to the side, blocking Huo Yuhao from view. At the same time, he stretched his right hand out, planning to sober him up by grabbing his sleeve. However, he didn’t think that his hand would justso happen to grab Huo Yuhao’s special area.
Wang Dong’s bodystiffened, and he immediately let go as if he’d been electrocuted. Hispretty face instantly turned bright red, but luckily everyone else hadbeen captivated by the White Tiger Duke.
Oddly enough however, his grab was incredibly effective. Huo Yuhao only felt his lower bodytighten up, and his originally teary eyes vanished. The mixed feelingsin his eyes subsequently transformed into those of astonishment. Eventhough Wang Dong hadn’t used much force, the feeling of being assaultedcaused him to wake with a shudder.
“What’re you doing?” Huo Yuhao whispered astonished.
Wang Dong acted as if nothing had happened. “Waking you up a bit.”
“Then do you want me to grab that part of your body when I wake you up next time?”
“Screw off…”
Despite what had happened, Huo Yuhao’s heart had stabilised quite a bit afterthis interruption. Furthermore, he and Wang Dong were standing in theback, which had made their actions difficult to notice.
At thatmoment, Dai Yueheng stood up and whispered a few words to the WhiteTiger Duke Dai Hao, who then took a few large strides and smiled.“Greetings to Teacher Wang Yan and the various talented students fromShrek Academy.”