Ju Zi looked up into the sky and muttered to herself, “Perhaps I will give you a present the next time we meet. But I can’t give that to you.”
“Eh?” Huo Yuhao stared at her suspiciously; he didn’t understand what she was talking about.
“Why aren’t you leaving?” Ju Zi asked again furiously.
Huo Yuhao shook his head gently and said, “Farewell. If we meet again, I wish that we won’t have to be enemies. I truly hope that you will still be my senior that I studied with back then, and the same senior who helped treat my injuries. I’m leaving, Ju Zi, and you must take care of yourself. If the day comes that we finally don’t have to fight to the death on the battlefield, I will try my best to protect you and fulfill your wishes.”
Huo Yuhao stared at her deeply before he rose into the sky and flew far into the distance.
Ju Zi stomped her foot heavily as he watched him disappear over the horizon. “Ah—” She began to shout indignantly, and her entire being seemed to descend into hysteria.
She managed to calm herself down after a moment as she said angrily, “Ju Zi, Ju Zi – you say that his heart is soft, but isn’t yours as well? Why can’t you do anything to him? You know very well that he’s possibly the hardest enemy to deal with, and you should kill him. You will no longer have any worries if he is dead, and you will be able to do what you want with nothing in your way.”
She was still talking to herself when circles of fiery-red figures gradually appeared a hundred meters around her. Four enormous soul tools slowly rose as a red shadow swiftly came to Ju Zi’s side. It was the Fire Phoneix Douluo, Luan Feng.
“Why didn’t you give you the order, commander?” Luan Feng frowned as she asked Ju Zi.
Ju Zi turned towards her, and her eyes slowly turned moist as she suddenly plunged into Luan Feng’s arms and sobbed uncontrollably.
Luan Feng was momentarily stunned, and then she suddenly understood something as she heaved a faint sigh and hugged Ju Zi as she shook her head exasperatedly.
Huo Yuhao was still hovering in midair in the distance as he watched everything that was happening on the ground, and a forced smile appeared on his face.
“Ju Zi, did you know that I would rather you have given the order to make a move against me? If that were the case, perhaps I would have been able to harden my heart to deal with you in the future. But because of your softness, my heart cannot be hardened to do anything to you!”
Ju Zi was so scheming, how could he be tricked once again? How could he not have considered that she could have arranged an ambush? Only his spiritual form was there instead of his original body, and if Ju Zi did give the order to attack him, his spiritual form had many ways to escape.
Huo Yuhao was a lot more careful because of the mistake that he had made previously.
But Ju Zi didn’t make a move, and he couldn’t say anything heartless either. They had clashed and sparks flew, but everything had finally dissolved into a heartbreaking farewell.
Ju Zi was angry with herself, but wasn’t Huo Yuhao also hating himself for having a soft heart?
Ju Zi left, and she took her trusted subjects with her. The Extreme North grew calm once more, and all that was left were the marks of excavation.
Huo Yuhao returned to where the Ice Bear King was resting, and he sat down beside him with his legs crossed as he started to meditate. He quickly calmed himself down as he took this opportunity to cultivate in the Extreme North’s bitter cold.
Three days quickly passed, and the Ice Bear King’s wounds were fully stabilized. Huo Yuhao finally returned to his journey with the Ice Bear King once more, and they went straight for Dragon City. He still had to rendezvous with Nan Qiuqiu, who was waiting for him there.
Dragon City wasn’t affected by the Sun Moon Empire at all, and everything was at it was before, though the city was still being penetrated by soul tools and technology. The Sun Moon Empire’s soul tools were still snaking their way through the Heavenly Soul Empire’s aristocrats and citizens’ way of life.
Huo Yuhao took the Ice Bear King, who was in human form, back to the cloth store.
Nan Qiuqiu was already very worried from waiting, and she was immediately overjoyed when he returned.
“You still know to come back. You’ve been gone for so many days, but you didn’t send a message at all.” Nan Qiuqiu planted her hands on her waist as she shouted angrily at Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao placed his index finger on his lips as he lowered his voice and explained. “I was in the Extreme North over the past few days, so how could I have sent a message back to you? There’s someone else here, calm down.”
Only now did Nan Qiuqiu realize that a round fellow had followed Huo Yuhao inside. This person’s waist, head, and torso were all circular, and his egg-like tummy entered the courtyard first before she saw his fat face, which was all smiles.
“Who’s this?” Nan Qiuqiu asked suspiciously.
The Ice Bear King didn’t wait for Huo Yuhao to introduce him, and he took a few quick steps forward as he said to Nan Qiuqiu respectfully, “You must be grandmother. Greetings, grandmother. I am Little Bai.”
“Grand… grandmother…” Nan Qiuqiu stared at him with slack jaws and widened eyes. Huo Yuhao felt his eyes go black, and he couldn’t help but slap the Ice Bear King on the head. “She’s not your grandmother. Don’t spout nonsense.”
The Ice Bear King withdrew his head like a turtle and said aggrievedly, “Grandfather, this lady is quite pretty, so I thought she was my grandmother. So, she’s not!”
Nan Qiuqiu stared at Little Bai’s enormous torso before she turned towards Huo Yuhao and said, “Wait, wait. What is happening, exactly? You have to explain this to me. You’ve been gone for half a month, and you bring back a fat grandson back with you?”
Huo Yuhao answered with a forced smile. “He’s my distant relative, and I am his senior.” He could only explain everything like that. Otherwise, Nan Qiuqiu would probably hammer him with a lot more questions with that immensely curious personality of hers.
Distant relative? Nan Qiuqiu glanced at Little Bai a few times suspiciously. She felt that this fatty wasn’t simple at all.
Huo Yuhao lowered his voice and said, “Qiuqiu, I ran into quite a big problem this time. I managed to figure out what the army was here for. They were here to excavate rare metals at the Extreme North’s borders, and they have already discovered where the veins of rare metals are. They have retreated, but I cannot guarantee that they won’t return in the future. We have to relay this information back as soon as possible, so that the academy can be prepared for a response.”
Nan Qiuqiu asked, “Then what about the matter that eldest senior brother entrusted to us? Are we not going?”
“Of course, that still has to be done,” Huo Yuhao said exasperatedly, “That’s the reason why we have to split up. I’ll write a letter, and you’ll deliver it to eldest senior brother so that he can pass it to Elder Xuan personally. I will complete the task that eldest senior brother has given us.”
Nan Qiuqiu’s eyebrows rose as she retorted, “Hmph, I knew it – you just aren’t willing to do anything with me, and you’re always looking for ways to chase me away.”
Huo Yuhao forced a laugh and said, “Shit, isn’t this happening because the plans can’t keep up with what’s happening? This matter is too important. Furthermore, I’ll use a container to store a piece of Divine Ice Crystal, and you’ll bring that back for teacher Xuan so that he can inspect it and decide whether it’s suitable for crafting soul tools, and what kinds of soul tools the crystal is appropriate for. There’s something in it for you too.”
There was quite a large amount of the crystal, and everything came from the Earthdragon Sect. Nan Qiuqiu would definitely get a piece of whatever soul tool they could craft out of it. Of course, those Divine Ice Crystals wouldn’t have their ice spirits. That wasn’t because Huo Yuhao was stingy, but because those without Ultimate Ice martial souls couldn’t use ice spirits at all. Divine Ice Crystals without ice spirits were just top-tier rare metals, and soul tools could still be made from them through certain methods.
Nan Qiuqiu’s expression became a little better after she heard his words. “I’ll follow you this time, then. But remember – you owe me.”
“What do I owe you?” Huo Yuhao asked.
Nan Qiuqiu grunted and said, “I don’t care. You just owe me.”
“Alright.”
Huo Yuhao wrote the letter before he passed a piece of Divine Ice Crystal to Nan Qiuqiu so that she could take them back. He didn’t give her all of it, because it wasn’t safe, as she would be holding too many precious items with her.
Huo Yuhao escorted Nan Qiuqiu out of Dragon City to express how apologetic he was. He watched her depart before he turned around and went deep into the Heavenly Soul Empire with the Ice Bear King, in the direction of the Setting Sun Forest.
The Setting Sun Forest wasn’t far from the Heavenly Soul Empire’s capital, Heaven Dou City. Huo Yuhao couldn’t help but heave a sigh inside when he thought about Heaven Dou City, because that was where the Tang Sect had originated! But now, the city was in the Sun Moon Empire’s hands, and he had to help the Heavenly Soul Empire retake this city in the future, if that was possible.
Huo Yuhao had already decided how he was going to proceed. He had to visit the Setting Sun Forest to check if Big Mao and Second Mao were alright, and if they were fine, then all was well. Then he would have to scout around the Heavenly Soul Empire’s territories. He was by himself, and it was thus a lot easier for him to conduct reconnaissance duties of any kind. He wanted to see the Sun Moon Empire’s deployments, and he also wanted to find out how many of the Holy Ghost Church’s men were inside the Heavenly Soul Empire. He also wanted to search for traces of Tang Ya and Ma Xiaotao.
This process would probably take quite a long time, and that was one of the reasons why he didn’t want to take Nan Qiuqiu along. It was a lot easier for him to escape alone, but things would be different if Nan Qiuqiu was with him.
Huo Yuhao relied on his powerful Spiritual Detection as he flew through the air. Even though he ran into some of the Sun Moon Empire’s aerial surveillance soul tools, he managed to evade them cleverly.
Huo Yuhao was concerned about the Ice Bear King’s injuries, so he deliberately controlled his flying speed. They arrived outside Heaven Dou City after two days.
Heaven Dou City’s defenses were a lot tighter compared to Dragon City. Huo Yuhao could see from far away that there were many aerial surveillance soul tools above the city. The Sun Moon Empire’s flag swayed in the wind on the city wall, and there were many soldiers patrolling and standing guard.
He couldn’t see what was happening inside the city clearly, but he didn’t dare to go any closer from the air.
Huo Yuhao stared at Heaven Dou City, and he thought that the Sun Moon Empire had to have many soldiers stationed inside, judging from the situation. Heaven Dou City was the Heavenly Soul Empire’s capital city, and it was one of the most renowned and ancient cities on the continent. The Heavenly Soul Empire must have launched continuous assaults or ambushes from their forces in the shadows, and that was probably the reason why the defenses around Heaven Dou City were so tight. If those reclusive sects were the ones making moves, Heaven Dou City was evidently their best target.
