Huo Yuhao turned a little agitated, and was even unable to control himself. He pulled the handkerchief close to him, and his lips were trembling slightly.
But why? Dong’er, why won’t you appear in front of me? Why won’t you stay? Don’t you know how much I miss you?
In the opposite tent, Tang Wutong was in a deep sleep right now. She didn’t cultivate the night before. After she returned, she quickly fell into a deep sleep. There was even a slight grin on her face right now.
The titles earned by Huo Yuhao and the others were quickly conferred to them. No permission was even sought from the imperial family of the Star Luo Empire.
No matter whether it was accepted, everyone else apart from Huo Yuhao was conferred the title of a Baron. Huo Yuhao was conferred the title of a Viscount.
Even though the titles of Baron and Viscount were the two lousiest ones in the peerage system, their titles were able to be inherited. This made them different. This meant that their future generations could enjoy the same titles! However, they weren’t given any land for their contributions.
Ten million gold soul coins were directly given to Huo Yuhao. Such a monetary reward was barely enough for him to purchase a high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool.
Ten million? If the Sun Moon Empire knew about it, they would be infuriated. Just the materials alone cost more than ten million! However, given their contributions, the reward given by the Star Luo Empire was considered passable.
After breakfast, the White Tiger Duke personally came to visit Huo Yuhao. He was stunned to discover that Huo Yuhao was different from how he had been over the past few days. He was full of energy right now, as if he had been given new life. His entire body was filled with strength. He had already washed himself up and changed into a clean set of clothing.
“Duke.” Huo Yuhao received the White Tiger Duke.
“Yuhao, you’ve earned yourself a great merit this time. How are you?” The White Tiger Duke asked amiably.
Huo Yuhao smiled and replied, “I’m already fine. Apologies for last night. I always suffer from side effects after using my self-invented soul skill.”
The White Tiger Duke nodded and said, “It’s great that you’re fine. You’ve already been conferred a title, which is a decision that Her Highness and I came to after we discussed it with each other. We’ve lowered the value of your reward mainly because we have to take the feelings of our soldiers into account. Do you understand? Don’t worry, we’ll report what you’ve done to His Majesty. I believe he’ll have other rewards for you.”
Huo Yuhao smiled and replied, “No worries. I’m fine with the rest. It’s already good enough that I’ve been made a Viscount.” Did he really only value the title of a Viscount, and one that was hereditary? He had already taken his first step out.
Dai Hao smiled and said, “Yes! As a Viscount, you can grant your wife and heirs titles too. Given your abilities, your potential is unlimited as long as you’re willing to serve the empire.”
Huo Yuhao’s eyes brightened when he heard that his wife and children would be given titles too. However, he was in a good mood today, and managed to conceal his emotions.
“Duke, has the high altitude aerial surveillance soul tool been returned to the Star Luo Empire?”
“Yes, it’s already been sent back. After this time, I believe that the Sun Moon Empire’s defenses will become tighter. Wang Yiheng has already been killed, which is a huge blow to them. What other plans do you have in the future?”
Huo Yuhao nodded and replied, “I’ll continue to pester them. As long as I keep them on their toes and drain their energy, I’ll be able to survey the Death God.”
The White Tiger Duke furrowed his brow and said, “You still want to survey the Death God? You can’t do that. It’s too dangerous.”
Huo Yuhao smiled and replied, “Duke, don’t worry. Before I’m fully confident, I won’t take the risk. What’s the Sun Moon Empire’s reaction been?”
Dai Hao shook his head and said, “They haven’t reacted yet. I can’t wait for them to do something. It’s best if they want to exact revenge.”
After hearing his words, Huo Yuhao’s eyes flashed. He immediately knew that the White Tiger Duke would have come up with some kind of plan to complement his own plan. No wonder the White Tiger Duke was so notable.
Although the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions were strong, the Star Luo Empire’s soul masters wouldn’t be afraid of them if they were detached too far from the defensive system set up in the Ming Dou Mountain Range. The White Tiger Duke naturally wished that the Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion would lose their cool after Wang Yiheng’s death, driving them to attack. However, it seemed like the leader over at the Ming Dou Mountain Range was able to resist such a temptation. It seemed like things were very calm in the Sun Moon Empire.
Huo Yuhao asked, “Duke, I’ll make another trip and observe whether they’ve changed their surveillance soul tool setup.”
The White Tiger Duke nodded and said, “Be careful.”
“Alright.”
Huo Yuhao was perfectly fine observing them from some distance away, given his immense spiritual power. Surveillance soul tools weren’t sensitive towards spiritual power.
After an hour, Huo Yuhao brought back accurate news.
All the surveillance soul tools that belonged to the Sun Moon Empire had been pulled back in the direction of the Ming Dou Mountain Range. This time, he didn’t manage to locate any soul tools at all, though he didn’t know whether it was because the Sun Moon Empire had pulled all of them back. In this way, the Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance on the Star Luo Empire’s troops would be significantly reduced.
After receiving this news, the White Tiger Duke was delighted. With Huo Yuhao around, they were no longer devoid of information.
“Report!” An anxious voice could be heard from outside.
“Come in.” The White Tiger Duke, who was in a good mood, gestured towards Huo Yuhao. He was signaling to Huo Yuhao to sit down and take a rest.
Huo Yuhao didn’t stand on ceremony. He sat down beside the White Tiger Duke’s seat.
“Duke, intelligence from the Heavenly Soul Empire.” A soldier rushed in and kneeled down on one knee in front of the White Tiger Duke before passing a letter to him.
Intelligence from the Heavenly Soul Empire? It’s finally here? Huo Yuhao and White Tiger Duke were both jolted. The situation in the Heavenly Soul Empire was extremely important to the Star Luo Empire. It could possibly affect the entire war.
Dai Hao quickly tore the letter open. He only scanned it a few times before his expression changed – he turned pale. His hand that was holding onto the letter started trembling.
Huo Yuhao, who had just sat down, also immediately stood up. From Dai Hao’s expression, he could tell that the situation in the Heavenly Soul Empire wasn’t good.
“You can leave first.” Dai Hao tried to suppress his own feelings and waved to the soldier.
The soldier retreated, and only he and Huo Yuhao were left in the tent.
Huo Yuhao didn’t probe further. At this point, perhaps the White Tiger Duke needed to calm down. If the White Tiger Duke could reveal anything, he would have told Huo Yuhao everything.
“Yuhao, the entire Douluo Continent might experience a catastrophe this time.” The White Tiger Duke sighed and passed the letter to Huo Yuhao.
After hearing his words, Huo Yuhao’s heart sank. After receiving the letter, he read it.
“The capital of the Heavenly Soul Empire, Heavenly Dou City, has been occupied by the Sun Moon Empire. More than one-third of the Heavenly Soul Empire’s territory had been taken over, and the empire is still being invaded at an alarming speed. Everything to the west of the Heaven Dou City has landed in the hands of the Sun Moon Empire. The Body Sect’s leader, Du Busi, has been seriously hurt, and we are unsure whether he will survive. The Body Sect has lost half of its members and four out of the six soul master legions of the Heavenly Soul Empire have been destroyed. The remaining two are protecting the imperial family, which is retreating toward the east.”
“The Sun Moon Empire has deployed more than three hundred thousand soldiers, including seven soul engineer legions. Apart from the Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion, the other beast lord-ranked soul engineer legions are all involved in this mission. The Holy Ghost Church has deployed many evil soul masters to aid in this mission as well. Du Busi was hurt by two evil soul masters. One of them appears to be the leader of the Holy Ghost Church. The Ultimate Douluo, Long Xiaoyao, did not make an appearance. Right now, the Heavenly Soul Empire is doomed. The two remaining soul master legions we have and the reinforcements from the Dou Ling Empire are planning a rendezvous with whatever remaining troops we have.”
Huo Yuhao’s expression changed after reading the contents of the letter. Even though he could guess where the Sun Moon Empire was going to attack, he didn’t expect their attack to be so ferocious. Since the start of the war, only a few weeks had passed. However, the capital of the Heavenly Soul Empire had already fallen?
It was important to note that the Heaven Dou City was the first, big city on the continent since ten thousand years ago. It was as notable as the Star Luo Empire’s Star Luo City. In just a few weeks, the city had already fallen. The Heavenly Soul Empire’s defenses had crumbled. This was completely unbelievable. Given such a speed, the Sun Mon Empire would take at most half to a month’s time to completely occupy the Heavenly Soul Empire. When that happened, not only could they threaten the borders of the Star Luo Empire and Dou Ling Empire, but they could even threaten Shrek Academy, which was in the center of the three empires.
The White Tiger Duke and Huo Yuhao were both silent in the tent. Such a situation was worse than what they had expected.
“Yuhao, what should we do?” The White Tiger Duke suddenly asked.
After hearing his question, Huo Yuhao knew that even the White Tiger Duke had started to panic, even though he was normally very calm.
The Star Luo Empire’s strength was all concentrated in the west, but they were restrained here by the Sun Moon Empire because of the Ming Dou Mountain Range. Given such a situation, the White Tiger Duke didn’t have much of a choice. However, there wasn’t a single choice that allowed him to completely deal with the situation they were facing.
Retreat? If the Sun Moon Empire tried to force their way over the Ming Dou Mountain Range, we would lose a lot of territory. Our citizens wouldn’t have enough time to evacuate either.
Continuing to directly fight the Sun Moon Empire is a bad choice too. Attack? Against the Death God, going in without a plan is suicide. We might sacrifice countless lives and suffer irreparable damage without even making progress. Once our losses become too severe, what will we have to fight the Sun Moon Empire?
Save the Heavenly Soul Empire? What’s there to save? Furthermore, what can the Star Luo Empire do if all our forces go over to reinforce the Heavenly Soul Empire?
If the Star Luo Empire’s troops reinforce the Heavenly Soul Empire without guarding Star Luo City, how will we be able to react if we are directly threatened by an invasion from an elite force of the Sun Moon Empire from the south?
These questions kept on popping up in the White Tiger Duke’s head. However, he couldn’t find a way to deal with the problem.
This was why he asked Huo Yuhao. Just like Huo Yuhao had predicted, the White Tiger Duke was in a state of panic right now.
Suddenly, the curtains were pulled open, and a pale Princess Jiujiu walked in. As soon as she entered, she couldn’t help but ask, “Duke, what should we do?”
