Unrivaled Tang Sect

Ju Zi was now executing that plan, and had already completed the first step in her proposal. Everything was proceeding according to her strategy.

This time, the Sun Moon Empire’s mobilized army was smaller than the Star Luo Empire had imagined; they only had two hundred thousand soldiers. However, they were all the sharpest and most elite soldiers. Six of the Sun Moon Empire’s ten great soul engineer legions were participating in this war, and three of them belonged to the Hand that Protects the Nation: the Fire Phoenix, the Evil Tyrant, and the Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legions!

The Evil Tyrant Legion and the Terrorclaw Legion were responsible for attacking the Star Luo Empire. Ju Zi deeply lamented the fact that they couldn’t kill the White Tiger Duke, who was rescued by someone from a hopeless situation. If the White Tiger Duke was dead, Ju Zi believed that her plan would have been one hundred percent successful!

The Star Luo Empire’s western forces would be sent into disarray without the White Tiger Duke in command, and would be messy and chaotic for a long period of time. She could then execute and complete her strategy casually.

She was surprised that the White Tiger Duke wasn’t killed, but she still stuck to her plan, relying on their formidable surveillance. The Sun Moon Empire’s control over the borders was simply too strong. They were watching every single move the Star Luo Empire was making.

Just as Huo Yuhao had guessed, Ju Zi was waiting for the best opportunity!

The Starsky Douluo, Ye Yulin was among those inside the tent. This tent wasn’t at the Star Luo Empire’s borders. Instead, it was located not far from the Heavenly Soul Empire’s borders.

After the Starsky Douluo missed his chance to kill the White Tiger Duke Dai Hao, he immediately brought his two soul engineer legions back within the Sun Moon Empire’s borders and rendezvoused with Ju Zi as fast as he possibly could.

Only the handful of powerful individuals inside this tent truly knew Ju Zi’s battle strategy and plans.

The Evil Tyrant Legion’s commander, Wang Yiheng, lowered his voice and asked, “Marshal, are we going to continue waiting?”

Ju Zi lowered her voice and said, “We can’t wait any longer, and the time is almost right. One of our high altitude aerial surveillance tools has been discovered, and that is quite ominous. I’m afraid that problems may arise if we continue waiting. The Dou Ling Empire’s reinforcements for the Star Luo Empire are in position there, and our plan is starting to take shape. We don’t need to seek perfection, so we can make a move on our side. Master Ye, may I trouble you to inform the Holy Ghost Church so that they can cooperate with us? We will make a move at daybreak tomorrow. Generals, go back and get ready. We have to do everything in one breath this time. We have to break through all the way to Heaven Dou City!”

“Yes!”

These generals and powerful individuals were more than a little unconvinced of Ju Zi in the beginning, but they had done everything according to her plan, easily destroying the Star Luo Empire’s border defenses, and almost killing the White Tiger Duke. They were now starting to be convinced, especially by Ju Zi’s baffling style of deploying and mobilizing their soldiers. Many times, these generals were still confused, when they had already achieved the goals of their battle strategies. The intel that they had received from the front lines confirmed that the Star Luo Empire was being pulled along in the way that they wanted, and even the White Tiger Duke, who was a reputable marshal across the entire Continent, didn’t discover their plan!

Ju Zi placed a lot of emphasis on surveillance. This time, she had deployed almost every single surveillance soul tool in the empire, and even mobilized the aerial surveillance soul tools that the empire’s cities used for defense. Her reasoning was simple: if they used these surveillance soul tools at the borders, why would their cities need those surveillance soul tools for defense, as long as their borders weren’t broken through?

Ju Zi got to her feet. Lights flickered in her beautiful eyes. Xu Tianran wasn’t very mobile and because of his status, she was practically battling on Xu Tianran’s behalf. He trusted her more than anyone else. Her revenge had begun, and even though the Heavenly Soul Empire wasn’t the Star Luo Empire, destroying the Heavenly Soul Empire was a prelude to decimating the Star Luo Empire.

War is about to break out on all fronts. Where is that fellow? What is he doing? I hope I don’t meet him on the battlefield.

——

Huo Yuhao quietly returned to Imperial Radiant City and went back to the room that he shared with Dai Luoli. Obviously, Dai Luoli wouldn’t be coming back for quite some time. Huo Yuhao had sent him off to the city that the White Tiger Duke was stationed in before he discreetly returned to his room. He had exhorted Dai Luoli again and again before they separated to not not reveal anything about him.

“Why are you standing there, princess?” Huo Yuhao saw Xu Yun standing next to the window once he came in .

Xu Yun turned around and glared at him. “Do you two still have the awareness that personal guards should have? Where did the two of you go for the entire night?”

“Uh…” Huo Yuhao shook his head exasperatedly as he stared at Xu Yun’s indignant expression. Xu Yun was different from Dai Luoli. She was part of the Star Luo Empire’s royal family, and she couldn’t know about the things that Dai Luoli knew.

“Dai Luoli has disappeared. I was looking for him in the city just now, but I didn’t find him even after searching for a long time. I was just about to find you and ask you where he’d gone.”

“He’s disappeared?” Xu Yun was momentarily stunned as she heard Huo Yuhao’s words. “When did he disappear?”

Huo Yuhao answered, “He disappeared not long after dinner! I don’t know where he’s disappeared to. He said nothing as he left in the cover of the night, and he hasn’t come back since then.”

Xu Yun frowned tightly and said, “The city’s gates have been sealed. Where could  he possibly be? Let’s go, we’ll go search for him again.”

She turned and walked out as she spoke, and Huo Yuhao could only follow her.

They searched the city for a while, but how could they possibly find any trace of Dai Luoli? Eventually, a whistle that signaled an emergency assembly rang out. The sun was about to peek out over the horizon, and Xu Yun immediately shivered coldly when she heard this whistle. She blurted, “Is the enemy here?”

Huo Yuhao lowered his voice and said, “Calm down, don’t be worried. Let’s gather our people first and await orders.”

“Alright.” The astonished look on Xu Yun’s face faded away at Huo Yuhao’s reminder, but she was still breathing heavily. After all, this little princess hadn’t participated in a war before. She couldn’t help but feel her heart beat faster when she thought that the Sun Moon Empire’s army might have crossed over to her side.

Every soldier stationed in the city swiftly assembled, and every officer that was ranked battalion commander or higher was summoned for a conference.

Huo Yuhao followed Xu Yun to the military headquarters. Xu Yun went in for the meeting, and he waited outside. He didn’t even need Spiritual Detection to eavesdrop on this meeting for him to imagine that this emergency meeting had nothing to do with the Sun Moon Empire invading them. The Sun Moon Empire didn’t even have soldiers at the Star Luo Empire’s borders, so how could they launch an invasion? This meeting probably happened because the news that he had instructed Dai Luoli to pass on to the White Tiger Duke was taking effect.

Xu Yun came out after a few moments, and her expression was clearly a lot more relaxed than before.

“We’re not being invaded,” she told Huo Yuhao softly.

“Oh? Then what was the meeting about?” Huo Yuhao asked obligingly.

Xu Yun was very excited. “The White Tiger Duke has come up with a plan: we’re preparing a counterattack on the Ming Dou Mountain Range, and we will attack as soon as possible. This time, our reserve troops will also participate, and we will be responsible for providing support. Recruits will be all the way at the back, so no harm should come to them, and we will treat this as a training exercise. But no matter what, the recruits are still going to an actual battlefield! Come, let’s hurry back.”

They’re counterattacking at the Ming Dou Mountain Range? Huo Yuhao was momentarily stunned when he heard the news, but he understood immediately afterwards.

The White Tiger Duke… he lives up to his name as one of the most reputable marshals of his generation!

It seemed the White Tiger Duke had believed the intel that Dai Luoli conveyed to him. At a time like this, the Star Luo Empire couldn’t support and reinforce the Heavenly Soul Empire in time, even if they wanted to. Furthermore, that could only happen on the basis that Dai Luoli’s conjecture was true.

With the White Tiger’s Duke’ intelligence, his decision should be a probing attack, so that he could observe and find out how the Sun Moon Empire was deploying its armies by attacking the borders. If the situation was what Dai Luoli had said, then the Star Luo Empire’s best choice would be to use their full strength to take back control over the Ming Dou Mountain Range. Afterwards, they would invade past the Sun Moon Empire’s borders, putting pressure on the Sun Moon Empire so that they wouldn’t dare use their full strength against the Heavenly Soul Empire.

This decision was far better than reinforcing the Heavenly Soul Empire directly. The Dou Ling Empire’s reinforcements should be used directly against the Ming Dou Mountain Range. They were only several hundred kilometers away, and were much further from their destination if they were to travel towards the Heavenly Soul Empire. They were too far away to save the Heavenly Soul Empire, so the best choice was to attack the invaders and draw their forces away from the Heavenly Soul Empire.

Hopefully this decision will be effective, Huo Yuhao sighed to himself. At the same time, he asked himself, If I were the marshal, what would I have done? Could I have been like the White Tiger Duke, and made such an immediate and decisive choice?

He definitely would have made the same choice, but Huo Yuhao knew that he wouldn’t have been as decisive as the White Tiger Duke. Huo Yuhao was more confident in dealing with the Sun Moon Empire, because nobody could do better than him at targeting and destroying the Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance soul tools.

The Star Luo Empire’s reserve troops were mobilized, but the situation should be like Xu Yun had said; they were to treat this like a training exercise. The White Tiger Duke was probably leading his most elite troops into battle in a situation like this, but he still hadn’t forgotten to train his soldiers. At the very least, he intended the urgency of this war to temper his soldiers so that he could better control the entire situation.

Imperial Radiant City’s four gates quickly opened wide. The armies would be a lot quicker if they exited from all four gates at the same time, while their lines and progress would be staggered if they all had to leave through the same gate. Huo Yuhao and the other recruits were furthest away from the battlefield, so they were naturally placed behind everyone else.

“Battalion commander!” Huo Yuhao followed Xu Yun out of the city, and called out to her from beside the horse she was riding.

“Yes?” Xu Yun glanced at him. Xu Yun had always had her doubts about Huo Yuhao, but because she had absolute faith in Dai Luoli, in addition to the fact that Huo Yuhao might be from the White Tiger Duke’s Mansion, she had forced herself to accept him. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao had given her reminders at crucial moments in several instances. She didn’t even realize it, but she was subconsciously starting to rely on this “Tang Dong”.

“I want to take a look at the situation in front, and then I will bring back firsthand news for you. How’s that?” Huo Yuhao whispered.

“You want to go to the front lines?” Xu Yun exclaimed softly.

Huo Yuhao tilted his head slightly.

Xu Yun was hesitant. “That’s too dangerous, no?”

Huo Yuhao chortled and said, “How dangerous can that be? I’m just going to take a look from far away. Furthermore, you’ve forgotten that I’m also a soul master! Don’t worry, I’ll come back to find you very quickly.”