Chapter 71.3 - White Tiger Duke's Mansion

Chapter 71.3: White Tiger Duke's Mansion

“Greetings to the lord Duke.” Wang Yan lead the inner courtyard disciples andouter courtyard disciples behind them in bowing to the White Tiger Duke. The Duke wasn’t just the marshal; he also stood at the apex of nobility on the entire continent. Naturally, they’re manners couldn’t belacking.

The White Tiger Duke shook hands with Wang Yan, then said, “Everyone, please step inside. Let this Marshal act as a host now.”

Wang Yan smiled, then replied in a neither servile nor overbearing manner,“There’s no need for Lord Duke to be so polite. We’ve come this time tocarry out our mission. It’ll be enough if Lord Duke can just give ussome clues to help us out. We know that you have a multitude of problems to deal with every day, so we won’t bother you too much.”

TheWhite Tiger Duke didn’t attempt to remain, he simply nodded slightly.“Since that’s the case, Elder Du, you’re in charge of taking care ofthese distinguished guests. If any of you wish to join the army onceyou’ve graduated, the Central Legion of my Star Luo Empire’s WesternArmy will always have its gates’ open to you. You might not get paidvery well here. However, this is the best choice for men who want toaccomplish something in life.”

Ma Xiaotao suddenly spoke up, “Lord Duke, are you looking down on us women?”

The White Tiger Duke was slightly stunned. He couldn’t help but reveal atrace of astonishment on his face when saw Ma Xiaotao; from his point of view, the young and beautiful woman in front of him held a wild aura.Furthermore, she clearly wasn’t weak.

“It’s not that I’m lookingdown on you, but because there are many inconveniences for women withinthe barracks. However, your cultivation is another cup of tea. If you’re willing to follow this marshal after graduating, I’d be honored toaccept you.”

Ma Xiaotao revealed a brilliant smile, then remained silent; she looked very pleased.

Wang Yan was somewhat helpless. Even though he was the leader of the groupin name, he was still inferior to Ma Xiaotao when it came tocultivation. Naturally, he couldn’t restrict a brilliant student likeher. He apologetically said, “Lord Duke, we won’t bother you anymorethen.”

“Alright then. I hope that I’ll have the chance to meet all of you again.” Once he’d said this, the White Tiger Duke turned towards the leather tent and entered it.

Huo Yuhao felt like a heavyweight had been lifted from his shoulders when he saw the White TigerDuke disappear into the leather tent. He’d never felt this nervousbefore—not even during his fight against Wu Feng when he was muchweaker. Currently, he felt like he was about to collapse.

Du Leisi led them to another tent, where he allowed them to rest after he’darranged for some food to be brought to them. Afterwards, he went togather the information that they needed. Before he left, he glanced atHuo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao with a somewhat doubtful look in his eyes.

Wang Yan said, “We’ll rest for six hours after we finisheating, then head into the Ming Dou Mountain Range. I’m confident thatwe’ll have the information we need by then.”

Everyone was somewhat exhausted after yesterday’s journey. Their current task was to ensurethat their bodies were in peak condition before they set out for a fight in the mountains.

Xu Sanshi couldn’t help but ask, “Teacher Wang, since the White Tiger Bodyguards beneath the White Tiger Duke are sostrong, why hasn’t the Duke simply sent them to eliminate the bandits?”

“He has,” Dai Yueheng replied for Wang Yan, “however, if he sends too manypeople, they’ll catch wind of it and run away. Contrarily, if he sendstoo few people, it won’t be of much use. The bandits from the Hand ofDeath are both rather strong and extremely crafty. They might even have a few spies planted within the army. Father has sent several people inthe past to eliminate them, yet they’ve all returned without any success and a large number of losses. The area in which the bandits havestationed themselves is an extremely sensitive part of the border, thusthe Central Legion can only endure silently, in order to prevent aneedless war. As students of Shrek Academy, we’re different; we aren’trestricted by any countries. As such, we must make sure to thoroughlywipe them out this time.”

Once they’d finished eating, everyoneimmediately began meditating and recuperating. This was already afamiliar task to the inner courtyard disciples, while Bei Bei, XuSanshi, He Caitou, and Jiang Nannan were relatively older, thus theywere able to take everything in somewhat quicker. However, Huo Yuhao’strio were merely twelve years old. This task was truly a bit too earlyfor them. From another standpoint, they were just kids.

However,this matter had been decided by Elder Xuan, and nobody present couldchange that. Wang Yan clearly understood that Elder Xuan hadn’t donethis in order to allow the preperatory team to directly participate inthe massacre. Rather, he wanted them to experience what a mission waslike first-hand, and hasten the growth of their mental maturity. Nomatter how good the academy’s tests and live-combat training was, it was still incomparable to the improvements gained from a real battle in asituation like this. In reality, the main combatants in this missionwould be the seven from the inner courtyard.

Elder Xuan didn’tenter their barracks, as he wasn’t willing to concern himself withgovernment officials. With his strength and status, he alone couldrepresent Shrek Academy. However, an old man like him would never losetrack of his students. Furthermore, he was confident that he could carry these young people through a battle if need be.

After six hoursof meditation, everyone’s exhaustion had been swept away. Noon hadalready passed, and after they’d eaten the lunch that Du Leisi’s men had left for them, Du Leisi himself brought over the information that theCentral Legion had gathered over for them.

According to theinformation he’d gathered, the Hand of Death mainly carried out itsactivities in and around the central region of the Ming Dou MountainRange. When they had a designated target, they’d rush down the mountainand plunder them at the greatest possible speed. The entire bandit group numbered around three hundred in total, all of whom were young men inthe prime of their lives. Of them, about a tenth of their entire groupwere soul masters. Unexpectedly, nobody knew who the leader of theirleader was; the only thing they knew was that he was at the very least a Soul King. Nobody knew exactly how strong he was.

The reason whythere was so little information about them was because the Hand of Death never left any survivors; their methods were extremely brutal.

The most recent piece of information was from roughly half a month ago:They’d fled into the Ming Dou Mountain Range after looting a group ofmerchants. This report also included the general direction in whichthey’d fled.

The army only had this much information because there was a possibility of a quarrel if they were to enter the domain of theSun Moon Empire. As such, the Western Army couldn’t help them out atall, to the extent that they couldn’t even bring the flying-type soultools they’d been lent into the mountains.

However, time was ofthe essence; they still had to participate in the Continental AdvancedAcademy Soul Duelling Tournament. Hence, they immediately set off oncethey’d obtained a map. They first flew to the entrance to the mountainsunder the guidance of the White Tiger bodyguards, then descended andhanded back their flying-type soul tools. After that, they immediatelyentered the Ming Dou Mountain Range and began to utilize the mapprovided by the army to navigate the mountains.

“Maintain yourformation. Dai Yueheng, Chen Zifeng, and I will remain in front.Control-type and auxiliary-type soul masters will remain ten metersbehind us. Huo Yuhao, come over here. Follow me, and make sure to keepyour Spiritual Detection up. Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, you two keep up therear. Let’s set off!”

The person who’d sent out their commands was their leader, Ma Xiaotao. Huo Yuhao felt very depressed when he wasexpropriated by her. Thus, he could only follow her orders and releasehis Spiritual Detection Sharing.

His omni-purpose skill once again helped enormously. In complicated terrain such as a mountainous forest, the three-dimensional image provided by his Spiritual Detection was anenormous benefit. Even though Huo Yuhao could only extend it ten metersfrom him, these ten meters were still enough to allow everyone to enjoyits benefits.

With Ma Xiaotao’s trio leading the way, theytravelled forwards at an extremely rapid pace. The effectiveness of Chen Zifeng’s Soulchasing Sword was extremely evident; as he hold his swordin front of them, the brambles in front of them were all cut apartrather quickly. Combined with Dai Yueheng and Ma Xiaotao’s strengths,they were easily able to cut a smooth path through the foliage in frontof them. They’d already penetrated deep into the Ming Dou Mountain Range by the time that the sky had begun to dim.

When Wang Yan saw that the sky was beginning to dim, he reminded Ma Xiaotao, “Let’s let everyone take a rest and eat something.”

Ma Xiaotao nodded. “Everyone, let’s rest where we are for now. Don’t light a fire, so that we don’t alert them inadvertently. I’m afraid thatwe’ll have to continue our search throughout the night.”

Thestudents sat in a circle to rest, but Teacher Wang Yan soundlessly left. Ma Xiaotao didn’t pay any attention to the fact that he’d left.Instead, she turned towards Dai Yueheng, who was next to her, and said,“Dai Yueheng, your father’s rather handsome.”

“When my father wasyoung, he was the number one noble of our Star Luo Empire,” Dai Yuehengindifferently replied, “it wasn’t because of his looks, but because ofhis ability. He didn’t enter our Shrek Academy to study, but ratherfollowed his father onto the battlefield at the age of thirteen. Hebegan as an ordinary soldier, then was able to accumulate enough meritsto be promoted to a squadron leader, then a team leader, then a mid-team leader, then a large-team leader, then a battalion commander, then aregimental commander… all the way up until he managed to become a Legion Commander at the mere age of twenty-three. At that time, nobody knewwhere he’d come from. After a large battle, my father achievedoutstanding merits, and was called to the imperial capital to hold apost. When he accepted a reward from His Majesty, His Majesty recognised him due to the similarities in his appearance and my grandfather’s.Overjoyed, His Majesty entrusted the Western Army’s Central Legion tohim. Furthermore, he even stated that ‘with Dai Hao, the empire willhave no worries for a hundred years’ in front of all of the ministers.”

Ma Xiaotao’s eyes lit up. “If you put it that way, is your father still a hero?”

Dai Yueheng revealed a trace of pride in his eyes. “My grandfather saidthat father’s talent is comparable to that of our ancestor’s, the leader of the first generation of Shrek’s Seven Monsters. Father is nowforty-three years old, and he’s commanded the army for twenty yearsalready. How could the number of battles he’s participated in be limited to just a thousand? You know how strong the Sun Moon Empire is, but myStar Luo Empire’s western border has always been invulnerable to attack. That’s all due to the presence of my father! If we were to say thatonly one person could be called a hero in my Star Luo Empire, then thattitle definitely deserves to go to my father!”

Ma Xiaotao’s eyes immediately brightened even more. “Then how many wives does your father have?”

Dai Yueheng was stunned, and his gaze immediately turned somewhat strange.“Only my mother. In our generation, there’s only my brother Huabin andI. My father’s extremely self-disciplined in the field of women. He’salways said ‘if a man can’t control his lust towards women, he won’thave any large accomplishments’. Why do you ask?”

Ma Xiaotao stared at him, “Can’t I admire him? A man like your father is definitely a true man. You should learn from him.”

A light flickered through Dai Yueheng’s eyes. “Once we’ve finished thistask, I’ll have completed thirty Guardian missions. Once I’ve graduatedfrom the academy, I’ll enter the army. However, I won’t stay in theWestern Army; I’ll head to the North, even though there are fewer warsthere. I want to follow the same path as my father: I want to carve outmy own path, solely relying on myself.”