Volume 44, Chapter 599.2: Xu Tianran's Decision

Ye Xishui suddenly turned around and stared coldly at Long Xiaoyao. “Mu En asked me the same question back then. Do you want to answer on my behalf?”

Long Xiaoyao’s body started to shudder vigorously. One could see the sadness in his eyes.

After seeing how Long Xiaoyao had reacted to her words, Yi Xishui sighed and said, “Forget about it, Xiaoyao. I am in the wrong. I should not have mentioned that. At the end of the day, you have spent more than a hundred years with me even if you were wrong back then. This is something Mu En and Zhongli Wu’s father would never be able to do. I know you are the one who loves me the most. You must have struggled a lot and blamed yourself all these years. Do you know I have long wanted to tell you that I have forgiven you? But I am afraid that once I say that, you will leave me. And when that happens, I will no longer have someone I can trust with my heart.”

The pain in Long Xiaoyao’s eyes had disappeared. Tears started to well up in his eyes instead.

Ye Xishui gently leaned on his body and allowed herself to enter his embrace. “Now, I have really forgiven you. You don’t have to feel bad about that incident anymore. You no longer owe me anything after all that you have done for all these years. Now, you can rest assured and leave. Do what you have always wanted to do. Don’t let me burden you.”

Long Xiaoyao gave her a bitter smile and asked, “You have sensed that something bad is about to happen, right?”

Ye Xishui’s body froze.

Long Xiaoyao sighed and said, “To be honest, it’s been a while since you last threatened me with that. However, I have already gotten used to being by your side. Do you know what I’m trying to say? Even though I won’t help you with your wrongdoings, I have always protected you and stood by your side. Hence, I am partially at fault for those things you have done. We are already on the same boat. Over the course of these hundred years, I have struggled a lot whenever I saw you kill and nurture your evil soul masters. However, I was willing to bear with the pain and conflict in my heart to stay by your side. This is because my love for you outweighs everything else. I am willing to continue to stay by your side even if I can’t stop you from doing what’s wrong. However, if karma does strike back at you one day, I am willing to take it on with you.”

Tears started to stream from Ye Xishui’s eyes. She used her fists to hit Long Xiaoyao’s chest repeatedly.

“Why are you so dumb? Why are you so dumb?!”

Long Xiaoyao smiled and hugged her even tighter than before. “Because I love you! It’s that simple. You were right. I can be proud to say that there’s no one in this world who loves you more than I do.”

Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong had waited quietly for three days, but there was still no news from Ju Zi. However, they learned about how the army was rewarded for their achievements on the battlefield.

The three soul engineer legions had been given permission to enter the city. They were naturally sent back to where they had been housed previously.

Even though the Sun Moon Empire had conquered the Heavenly Soul Empire, they had suffered huge losses. This was especially true considering how many powerful soul engineers they had lost.

Two of the four beast lord-ranked soul engineer legions had been wrecked by their enemies. The thousand soul engineers they had dispatched to reinforce the others were also completely wiped out. On top of that, they had lost about five Class 9 soul engineers. Coupled with the resources and supplies they had expended, as well as the Holy Ghost Church problem, the Sun Moon Empire was fairly shaken by the war.

Of course, this might also be a good chance for the Sun Moon Empire to start afresh for certain things. As long as they maintained their lead in terms of soul tool technology, it was only a matter of time before they made up for the soul engineers and soul tools they had lost.

The Illustrious Virtue Hall had finished reconstruction, but it was no longer in the hands of Jing Hongchen. A large amount of money had been invested in all sorts of research.

A lot of soul tool technology had been exported to the Heavenly Soul Empire, but the bulk of them were soul tools which were mainly for civilian use. Not a single military-grade soul tool was sent to their newly-conquered land. By using those soul tools which were used by civilians, the Sun Moon Empire had amassed a huge amount of wealth and resources from the Heavenly Soul Empire. These resources were all useful for the Sun Moon Empire’s military development.

As the Sun Moon Empire continued to improve its human-shaped soul tools, Huo Yuhao had once asked Ju Zi how their Class 5 and 6 soul engineers were able to use human-shaped soul tools. Even though Ju Zi did not reveal the answer to his question, Huo Yuhao was able to see a tinge of sadness in her eyes.

Huo Yuhao thought about it, and realized that there was only a single possibility.

One would need sufficiently strong spiritual power to control a human-shaped soul tool—at least that was the case for the current soul tool technology in use.

How was one supposed to improve his or her spiritual power? One would usually find one’s spiritual power enhanced after one had attained a higher cultivation. Individuals who were blessed with spiritual-type martial souls could develop their spiritual power separately. Other than these two normal ways, one could also stimulate one’s brain artificially to enhance one’s spiritual power.

If the Sun Moon Empire had achieved some results in this field, they might have used this method to artificially enhance their soul engineers’ spiritual power to make them able to control the human-shaped soul tools.

However, this also meant that these soul engineers would lose their potential. They would not be able to improve their cultivation in the future.

Xuan Ziwen had once told Huo Yuhao about how the Sun Moon Empire had researched ways to heighten a human’s spiritual power through methods of stimulation. However, they had never actually practiced them because of the powerful side-effects. Xuan Ziwen had admitted that he had no idea to what extent was the Sun Moon Empire able to suppress those side-effects. If the side-effects were truly that harsh, the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion might not be that invincible after all.

The army was rewarded for their acts of bravery, and was given good food and alcohol for the next two days. Subsequently, other than key personnel who were asked to stay behind, the rest of them were given a break.

At the end of the day, soul engineers were extremely highly regarded, even within the army. There were not many restrictions imposed on them. It was the same even after they returned to Radiant City. In fact, they were given a ten-day break after they returned.

As for how the three soul engineer legions planned to replenish their manpower, Huo Yuhao was not clear about that. However, it did not seem to be a big problem judging from the emotional fluctuations shown by the commanders above.

Huo Yuhao had been enveloping the entire military camp with his Spiritual Detection. One of the most valuable bits of intelligence which he had gotten was how the Sun Moon Empire had planned to take a longer time to reorganize their troops.

The military order had already reached the army, which was still waiting at the southern border of the Heavenly Soul Empire. While they were locked in a standstill with the Star Luo Empire, they were being resupplied. The supplies naturally came from the Heavenly Soul Empire.

It seemed like the Sun Moon Empire was really planning on resting up and reorganizing their troops. It did not look like they would go to war anytime soon. Even if Huo Yuhao and Ju Zi’s plan were to fail, the Sun Moon Empire probably wouldn’t launch any major military operations within a year. This was definitely good news.

However, this news was still fairly meaningless. After all, it was impossible to verify. Hence, the other empires, especially the Star Luo Empire, must still be on guard and get ready for war.

Huo Yuhao had no idea how much the Star Luo Empire had developed in the past few years. He believed that they should have improved a fair bit without the stress and pressure of actually fighting a war.

Huo Yuhao couldn’t help but think of that man when he was thinking about the Star Luo Empire. He believed that he should really go back and settle that matter once he had taken down Xu Tianran and gotten a confirmation from Ju Zi that she would not invade either empire in the next ten years. He felt that it was also time for him to pay his respects to his mother.

It pained Huo Yuhao to think about his mother. Even though his intense hatred was already gone, the bitterness and pain were still very present in his heart.

Huo Yuhao would often think to himself how great it would be if his mother was still alive. He believed that he would definitely be able to give her a good life with his current abilities.

Unfortunately, this was only something he could imagine. He knew that it was impossible to resurrect anyone. No matter how strong he had become, he would never be able to bring his mother back to life.

Hence, he must settle that matter. He needed to look for him and get closure. Huo Yuhao knew it was necessary to make things right for his mother. On top of that, he also had scores to settle with that Duchess!

Huo Yuhao was instantly infuriated by the thought of her. Even if he could choose not to exact revenge on the others, he would never let her go just like this. If not for the Duchess, his mother would never have died.

Dai Huabin was still young and rash back then, so Huo Yuhao could forgive him. However, the Duchess could not be forgiven. After all, his mother would definitely still be alive if not for her.

“Yuhao? What’s on your mind?” Tang Wutong squeezed Huo Yuhao’s hand.

Now that the soul engineers were taking a break, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong naturally left the camp. Huo Yuhao had also changed out from the annoying human-shaped soul tool he had had to wear for the past few days. After changing into normal clothes and disguising themselves with some simple makeup, they started to stroll leisurely through the streets of Radiant City.

Tang Wutong was really enjoying the way they were walking these streets without any worries. However, she was ultimately still able to sense the change in Huo Yuhao’s mood.

Huo Yuhao shook his head gently and said, “It’s nothing. I was just thinking about my mother.”

Tang Wutong squeezed his hand and said, “Don’t worry too much about it. Once we’re done with this, let’s go and pay respects to your mother, alright?”

Huo Yuhao smiled and said, “That’s great. But you should stop calling her my mother. She’s now also your mother. I feel so sad that she’s unable to see her beautiful daughter-in-law.” After finishing his sentence, Huo Yuhao almost choked up with his emotions.

Tang Wutong blushed and asked, “Then when do you plan to marry me?”

Huo Yuhao replied, “If this thing proceeds smoothly, I will marry you after we have paid respects to my mother. Is that alright?”

Tang Wutong was displeased with his answer. “Is this how you propose to a girl?”

Huo Yuhao laughed, “I guess not. I will propose to you officially again once we get back.”

Tang Wutong burst into laughter and said, “There’s no need for that. Do you think I’d really care about such things after we’ve been through so much together? Alright, I will promise you. I will definitely try my best to contact my parents once we are done with things over here. I’ll...”

“What will you do?” Huo Yuhao teased her.

“Hmph! I won’t tell you.” Tang Wutong turned around.

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