Even though Huo Yuhao was able to allow his spiritual power to cover an enormous area around him, it was ultimately limited. He would never be able to scan the entire border of a country in a short amount of time.

While he was flying in the air, he also gazed in the direction of the Great Star Dou Forest. He wondered if Di Tian had managed to defeat those evil soul masters. Deep in his heart, he actually wanted the Beast God to emerge victorious.

Even though Di Tian was against him, he only wanted the best for the Great Star Dou Forest, and for himself. Compared to the Beast God, those evil soul masters were a lot more vicious, and were terrible people. Huo Yuhao would be pleased if they were to die at Di Tian’s hands.

Huo Yuhao believed that he should seriously consider Ju Zi’s proposition if he were able to successfully save the Dou Ling Empire. It was ultimately a good deal for them if killing Xu Tianran could be traded for ten years of peace. The current Sun Moon Empire’s army was not something any empire could defend against. There was another reason why Ju Zi chose to set up camp outside of Shrek City. She wanted a place for her troops to reorganize. If she really were to attack, everyone would suffer huge losses. Perhaps she meant it when she said that she was trying her best to reduce casualties in this war.

The thought of Ju Zi gave Huo Yuhao a serious headache. She had become increasingly frightening, and was now a full-fledged cunning commander. She was no longer his dear senior sister.

Shrek Academy was at the intersection between the Heavenly Soul Empire, the Dou Ling Empire, and the Star Luo Empire. Hence, Huo Yuhao was able to enter the Dou Ling Empire in no time. Very soon, he was able to see the elite troops that were being dispatched by the Dou Ling Empire to reinforce Shrek City. When he looked down at them, he saw how the troops spanned the horizon. It seemed as though they were boundless!

Because he knew that he would not be able to stop them from camping at Shrek City, Huo Yuhao could only continue flying in the opposite direction. He flew northwards along the border of the Dou Ling Empire. By flying in this direction, Huo Yuhao would have a good chance of discovering traces of his enemies.

In the Sun Moon Empire’s military camp.

A series of orders had been issued from the Commander’s Tent as the two soul tool deployment areas that flanked the entire military camp moved out under the night sky. After leaving the main camp, they moved forward gradually by five kilometers before setting up camp and reestablishing the soul tool deployment areas.

After assembling these two soul tool deployment areas, another two units moved forward.

When morning arrived, twelve soul tool deployment areas were already completed outside of the main camp. Following which, the Sun Moon Empire army moved forward another five kilometers.

This meant that they were only forty-five kilometers from Shrek Academy.

They had simply moved forward five kilometers without giving any warning or showing any signs of belligerence. Their actions caused the entire Shrek City to become increasingly nervous.

The city defense army had already been stationed on the city walls as they prepared themselves to face the Sun Moon Empire’s troops. The three soul engineer legions that Huo Yuhao had left behind were quickly dispatched to the northern city gate to set up a soul tool deployment area with the soul tools they had looted from the Sun Moon Empire. All sorts of supplies were also being transported to the different units.

The first batch of reinforcements from the Star Luo Empire and the Dou Ling Empire had also arrived. They were listening to the orders issued by Shrek Academy. During such moments, both Empires had chosen to trust the Shrek Academy as they allowed the academy to command their elite troops.

Four thousand years ago, the final battle against the Sun Moon Continent was exactly the same. They were able to collectively suppress the enemy and force the Sun Moon Continent to become part of the Douluo Continent.

Four thousand years later, the same scene seemed to be repeating itself. Both the Dou Ling Empire and the Star Luo Empire were hoping that Shrek Academy could repeat their feat from four thousand years ago and defeat their strongest common enemy. Of course, the Heavenly Soul Empire’s remaining troops were also banking on victory to resurrect their empire.

However, the Sun Moon Empire’s attack never came. After moving forward five kilometers, they kept to their formation and stayed there. In fact, they did not even send out skirmishers to test the strength of Shrek City’s defenses. However, the pressure their troops had created after moving forward was still a lot greater than before.

If the more powerful stationary soul cannon shells were fired from that distance, they could reach Shrek City. Hence, how could Shrek City sit and wait without making the necessary defensive preparations?

Elder Xuan and the other Elders from the Sea God’s Pavilion only heard about Huo Yuhao’s disappearance the next afternoon. However, Huo Yuhao had, at the very least, left three soul engineer legions behind this time around.

Because Elder Xuan could not bear to see Huo Yuhao’s reputation tank, he told the other Elders that he had dispatched Huo Yuhao on a secret mission.

In fact, Elder Xuan really wanted to believe that Huo Yuhao’s analysis of the Sun Moon Empire’s troops was correct. However, no one would dare to take risks with the fate of Shrek City on the line. At least for now, the Sun Moon Empire did not seem to be retreating anytime soon.

There were only three days left before the ten day deadline Ju Zi had given was up. The atmosphere in Shrek City became tenser than before.

More elite troops from the Dou Ling Empire and the Star Luo Empire started to gather within Shrek City as they prepared for the upcoming battle. The soul tools which had been manufactured by the Tang Sect were all being transported to the top of the city walls.

When both the Dou Ling Empire and the Star Luo Empire saw the Academy’s three soul engineer legions, they felt a lot more confident about their odds of defending the city. It was almost as though they were able to see Sun Moon Empire’s defeat just by looking at them.

Ju Zi was sitting upright within the Commander’s Tent as she sipped on bird’s nest porridge. She seemed to be very carefree, as though she had already forgotten about last night’s incident.

Of course, she did not believe that Huo Yuhao would be able to do anything to stop her plans after she had revealed them to him. After all, the two soul engineer legions had long since left for the Dou Ling Empire while she was moving her troops closer to Shrek City. Now that the operation was about to begin, there was no way Yuhao could stop them in time. Most importantly, he would never be able to convince the people in Shrek City after she had moved her army forward by five kilometers.

Three days later, if Shrek Academy was still unable to turn Huo Yuhao over, she would simply give them a few more days. When the elite troops from the Dou Ling Empire received news that their empire had been attacked, she would then launch a feint attack.

Yuhao, Yuhao, do you really think you can achieve anything by yourself when you are fighting against absolute power? However, I must say you are really the kind of guy I like. Your future is extremely bright—especially when you already possess such power when you are just a bit more than twenty years old. If only you could rule the Sun Moon Empire together with me in the future..

After finishing her bird’s nest porridge, Ju Zi returned to her tent as she sat down and began her cultivation. A gentler expression soon formed on her face.

Yunhan, how are you doing? Do you know how much Mother misses you?

When evening arrived, Huo Yuhao had almost finished flying through the entire northern part of the Dou Ling Empire. He was only able to complete his scouting so quickly by flying faster than the speed of sound. However, he did not seem to have gained any valuable intelligence from his scouting. He did not manage to find any traces of battle.

The borders of the Dou Ling Empire were fairly secure. There were close to three hundred thousand troops stationed at the border. On top of that, there were all sorts of surveillance soul tools deployed there. Even though their soul tools were still incomparable to the Sun Moon Empire’s, they were still a lot better than what they had had a couple of years ago.

The Dou Ling Empire had benefited from having the Heavenly Soul Empire as their natural barrier against the Sun Moon Empire. Even though they were relatively weaker than the other empires, they were spared from the endless attacks the Heavenly Soul Empire and the Star Luo Empire had to face from the Sun Moon Empire for the past few years, and were able to develop substantially.

Huo Yuhao had already flown to the northernmost part of the Dou Ling Empire. If he were to fly any further north, he would be entering the Extreme North Ice Field.

Even if the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions were very confident in their abilities, they would never launch an attack on the Dou Ling Empire from the Extreme North Ice Field!

However, Huo Yuhao had not seen their troops at all throughout his entire flight.?This is impossible. Unless Ju Zi tricked me?

When he thought about this possibility, Huo Yuhao suddenly became very worried. If Ju Zi were to have tricked him, it would be a massive problem. There was no way he could find out where her troops had gone. What would happen if she were to launch an attack on Shrek Academy now?

As these thoughts flooded into his head, the first thing that occurred to Huo Yuhao was to immediately return to Shrek City. However, he was soon able to calm himself down.

As he recounted the expressions Ju Zi had while she was talking, as well as her spiritual fluctuations, Huo Yuhao could not believe that she was lying to him. All the signs indicated that she must have been telling the truth. But if that was the case, why was he unable to find the troops that she had dispatched? Where exactly were those troops?

Huo Yuhao decided to stop flying to think about the situation calmly. He landed before sitting down and crossing his legs.

He was trying to think from Ju Zi’s perspective.?What would I do if I were in her shoes?

As my army closes in on Shrek City, forcing the Dou Ling Empire and Star Luo Empire to reinforce Shrek Academy, what kind of attack would be deadliest to either the Star Luo Empire or the Dou Ling Empire?

It was impossible for Ju Zi to dispatch too many troops because she had to preserve the strength of her front line. In fact, the news received from the remaining troops of the Heavenly Soul Empire had shown how Ju Zi was still wielding the same amount of power as before. This also meant that she did not dispatch any normal troops at all.

This meant that Huo Yuhao’s guess should have been entirely correct. Ju Zi must have only dispatched soul engineer legions. Every legion had a few hundred individuals, and they would be inconspicuous when compared to an army of a few hundred thousand people. Their departure would also not affect the soul tool deployment areas.

If she had only sent a single soul engineer legion, they might not possess enough firepower. Hence, it was likely that she had sent two or three soul engineer legions. However, why were they not attacking the border? The Dou Ling Empire’s defense line was still complete, and there were no signs of any previous attacks. The Dou Ling Empire had somehow managed to send their elite troops to Shrek City while keeping their defenses in proper order. This was about the best they could do. Huo Yuhao suddenly felt that he might have been thinking too much.