Ye Yulin squinted and said, “Without a doubt, these enemies come from the three empires of the original Douluo Continent. I rushed there and saw a protective soul barrier. That means that those people constructed a soul formation outside Radiant City as a defensive measure. This soul formation was also constructed at such an opportune time. It seems to coincide with the period of time that our aerial surveillance soul tools were chain-bombed. It’s terrifying if they had planned and calculated everything. This would also mean that they are the ones responsible for bombing our soul tools.”

Xu Tianran took in a deep breath and suppressed his anger. “Can someone tell me how our aerial surveillance soul tools were bombed? If our enemies were responsible for it, how did they do so without anyone’s knowledge?”

Another Worshipped said, “According to my observation and judgment, our aerial surveillance soul tools are likely to have self-destructed. If it was the work of our enemies, we would have discovered it immediately. At the same time, we would have used our soul formations to stop them. Whatever it is, they wouldn’t have been able to destroy all our surveillance soul tools.”

“Self-destructed?” Xu Tianran glared. Following this, he felt an excruciating pain in his chest, and had no choice but to suppress his anger once again.

That Worshipped laughed bitterly. “From the current situation, that seems to be the case. If it wasn’t, there is another possibility, that explosive charges were installed on our aerial surveillance soul tools. That’s the only way they could all be bombed at the same time under some kind of control. This also means that it’s likely our enemies possess some kind of ability that helped them to escape the detection of our soul tools, and at the same time, sneak their way to install explosive charges on them.”

Once he said this, everyone went silent.

His analysis was shocking. If the invading enemies were able to mysteriously sneak their way past the aerial surveillance soul tools, did that also mean that they could also sneak into the palace? Wouldn’t they be able to do anything they wanted if that was the case?

This time, the Class 9 stationary soul shell only exploded after breaking through their defense. What if their enemies had placed a Class 9 stationary soul shell in the palace? It was unimaginable.

Ye Yulin nodded and said, “Old Shen is right. I find it very weird too. The light was distorted in their soul formation. Given my ocular and spiritual power, I was still unable to tell what was going on. Then, three of us advanced at the same time, and seven to eight enemies came forward to deal with us. They were very strong. I believe they had to be at least Soul Douluo. However, most of them weren’t soul engineers, but soul masters. Their martial souls were very strong too, especially that of the leader. He seemed to be wearing a human-shaped soul tool, which exuded an extremely strong chilly energy. They coordinated with one another very well. Also..”

Ye Yulin recounted his fight with Huo Yuhao and the rest. After his recounting, most of the senior officials in the Sun Moon Empire found it ridiculous. Such opponents couldn’t be dealt with easily!

“From the situation then, I believe that they must have possessed some kind of concealment-type soul tool. That’s why they were able to get close to Radiant City without being detected. Some of the stronger ones can even isolate the detection abilities of most of our surveillance soul tools. At the same time, they also possessed soul tools that are offensively strong. I believe there were at least two thousand stationary soul cannon shells raining down on our soul formations. Only the three empires of the original Douluo Continent are capable of coming up with something like this. Perhaps this was their trump card.”

“On the battlefield, they can’t challenge the War God Empress. That’s why they came up with such a strategy. They exploited our hollowness at the back and attacked us. However, I don’t understand how they were able to move so quickly. They were just in the south, but soon came close to Radiant City. Even if they were all soul engineers, it’s not possible that all of them have been equipped with Class 8 flying-type soul tools.”

Xu Tianran furrowed his brow and also went into deep thought. This was really an incomprehensible situation. Every one of them was confused. This was because they hadn’t found out what their enemies were really like.

The more unknown an enemy, the more terrifying he was. This was something that everyone understood.

“Your Majesty!” At this moment, Ye Xishui suddenly spoke.

“What?” Xu Tianran turned toward Ye Xishui, and suddenly became respectful. Ye Xishui was an Ultimate Douluo. In terms of cultivation, she was already the best in the Sun Moon Empire. Moreover, she even controlled the Death God.

“Tell me what you think.” Xu Tianran didn’t directly call her Ye Xishui. He had a more personal connection with her, but everyone knew that she held true authority in the Holy Ghost Church. That was why he naturally didn’t dare to directly call her by her name in front of all the gathered officials.

Ye Xishui said, “They don’t have to come from the three empires to possess such strength. Don’t forget, there’s another place that’s capable of all this.”

Xu Tianran suddenly thought of something, and his expression instantly changed. “Are you talking about Shrek Academy?”

Ye Xishui nodded. “That’s right, I’m talking about them. Think about it, Your Majesty. The Heavenly Soul Empire was wiped out on the battlefield. While Shrek Academy stepped in, they only managed to save some of the remaining members of the regime. They didn’t manage to achieve anything substantial. That’s not very characteristic of Shrek Academy. What happened wasn’t a true representation of their strength. Perhaps they did really conserve their strength. However, why can’t it be that Shrek Academy wasn’t at full strength?”

“According to our intelligence, Shrek City has been expanding over the past few years. It has something to do with the soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest. Remember that kid called Huo Yuhao? After constructing the Spirit Pagoda, he ended the hostility between the Great Star Dou Forest and Shrek Academy. A few years ago, he demonstrated his concealment abilities when the Star Luo Empire regained control of the Ming Dou Mountain Range. Then, he was only discovered because he triggered my spiritual barrier. He even borrowed the Beast God Di Tian’s strength to resist me. He also appeared on the battlefield once, and caused us to lose many aerial surveillance soul tools. It seems like he’s the one responsible for all this. If he’s the one who came up with the new soul tools that Shrek Academy has developed, I wouldn’t be surprised at all.”

After hearing Ye Xishui’s words, Xu Tianran also recalled Huo Yuhao. However, he continued furrowing his brow. “Is that even possible? How old is he? He wasn’t even twenty when he represented the Tang Sect in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament. Although years have passed, he’s still barely twenty.”

Xu Tianran’s impression of Huo Yuhao was still very deep. This wasn’t just because he was very strong. It was also because he appeared in a wheelchair back then. That left a deep impression on him.

Ye Xishui snorted. “Nothing is impossible. He’s the closed-door disciple of the Dragon God Douluo Mu En. He also possesses twin martial souls. Earlier, Ye Yulin mentioned that his opponent wore a human-shaped soul tool, and exuded intense chilly energy from his body. I think it’s likely that it’s this kid. He possesses an Ultimate Ice martial soul.”

Xu Tianran was in disbelief as he said, “However, Old Ye said that his opponent’s ability was definitely at the standard of a Titled Douluo. Without the use of powerful soul tools, he wasn’t confident of defeating his opponent.”

Ye Xishui sighed and said, “Your Majesty, you must not be deceived by appearances. Furthermore, there are extremely talented people in this world. From the current situation, the three empires, or rather, the two empires, aren’t the only ones who can truly threaten us. It’s Shrek Academy. Your Majesty, you just need to give the order to the War God Empress to assault Shrek City and destroy them. Then, the mastermind will also cave in naturally. When that happens, no matter what methods they use to fight, they must return to Shrek City. On an open battlefield, they won’t be able to achieve much.”

“You must not do that.” The Chief Minister stood up and said, “I think that now is not yet the time to challenge Shrek Academy directly. Your Majesty, please think through it first.”

“Chief Minister, please tell me what you think.” Xu Tianran nodded at him, signaling him to speak his thoughts. Although there were problems with the Chief Minister’s strategy this time, it was mainly because their enemies were too extraordinary. They couldn’t be judged using common logic. After calming down, Xu Tianran was in a much better mood. He still valued the opinion of his wise Chief Minister very much. He was also aware of Ye Xishui’s hatred of Shrek Academy. That was why it was inevitable that she would mix some of her personal opinions into her professional judgment.

The Chief Minister said, “Earlier, the Supreme Worshipped also mentioned that Shrek Academy has a long history. They were already the number one academy on the continent ten thousand years ago. We don’t know how strong they are. The most recent war involving Shrek City was the beast wave from the Great Star Dou Forest. As the habitat of the strongest soul beasts on this continent, including five out of the Ten Great Savage Beasts, the Great Star Dou Forest is very strong and terrifying. Even so, Shrek City remained firm, though it was subjected to a relentless beast wave. Shrek City even used some kind of special power to keep Di Tian from appearing on the battlefield.”

“The Supreme Worshipped also mentioned earlier that Huo Yuhao can borrow Di Tian’s strength. What does this mean? If we turn our attention to Shrek City, we might catalyze an alliance between Shrek City and the Great Star Dou Forest. When that happens, it might lead to a complete disaster for our army.”

“I believe that Shrek Academy is still the most neutral force on the continent. Even though it’s likely to be more inclined towards the three empires due to its geographical location, and once fought us because of the three empires, things are different this time. The Heavenly Soul Empire has already been wiped out. If we defeat both the Dou Ling and Star Luo Empires, Shrek City will have no choice but to compromise even if it doesn’t want to. The prerequisite is that we don’t touch them. At least speaking from the current situation, we cannot treat Shrek City as our main target. Otherwise, the Star Luo and Dou Ling Empires can use Shrek City as a core to resist our army. Along with the soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest, I can’t imagine the consequences.”

“Rubbish!” Ye Xishui shouted coldly, “You don’t know anything. The Great Star Dou Forest and Shrek Academy teaming up together? That’s nonsense. Although Huo Yuhao’s Spirit Pagoda has made relations more cordial between the forest and the academy, you must not forget the inherent dilemma that exists between humans and soul beasts. Will soul beasts come forward in large numbers to aid humans? That’s just ridiculous. They can’t wait for humans to kill one another. Then, no humans will try to obtain soul rings anymore. Your analysis is just plain stupid.”

“I’m only thinking for the empire,” The Chief Minister replied coldly, “please watch your words. Shrek Academy is a holy ground to the three empires of the original Douluo Continent. In addition, it’s the same for many hidden sects. They share a close relationship, and this has been the case for thousands of years. Once we target Shrek Academy, it’s like inviting all the sects in the three empires to come together to fight us. Is that going to be beneficial for the empire?”

After listening to the Chief Minister’s words, Xu Tianran couldn’t help but nod. Shrek Academy was too significant. Thousands of years ago, they had teamed up with the three empires of the original Douluo Continent to defeat the Sun Moon Empire. The Sun Moon Empire and the Sun Moon Continent were then fused into the Douluo Continent.

This time, the Sun Moon Empire was the aggressor. Suddenly, they had occupied the Heavenly Soul Empire in such a short period of time. The three empires had misjudged the Sun Moon Empire’s advantage in terms of soul tools. This was an important reason for their failure.

Shrek Academy was not yet involved in the war. And in fact, the Sun Moon Empire’s advantage in terms of soul tool technology was even greater this time. From the current situation at least, Shrek Academy still had yet to fully join in the war.