Without the threat from aerial soul tools, Huo Yuhao felt much more at ease with his flying-type soul tool and Imitation.
This feeling accompanied his ascent five hundred meters into the sky, and then it vanished quickly.
To the north, he could clearly see that there were rows of dark-blue figures landing near the city. These dark-blue figures only numbered in the hundreds, but the formless awe and pressure they exuded almost suffocated him.
When he saw these dark-blue figures, Huo Yuhao’s face changed instantly. While he had never personally seen the most powerful soul engineer legions of the Sun Moon Empire, he was able to ascertain the extent of the threat with his spiritual awareness. The pressure he felt from those hundreds of figures surpassed what he had felt from the soul engineer legions stationed outside the city.
The Nation Protecting Hand. Only the five most powerful soul engineer legions of the Sun Moon Empire could exert such pressure.
The Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legions were tasked with protecting Radiant City. Unless the emperor left the city, they would not leave the capital so easily. And yet, these figures, each giving off a dark blue light, were from one of the Beast Lord-ranked soul engineer legions. No matter which one it was, its presence here would be catastrophic!
The two five hundred-man-strong soul engineer legions stationed around Sunrise City were comprised of soul engineers who had two or three rings. Their entry requirement was two rings, and while their overall strength was formidable, they depended primarily on coordinating the use of their soul tools, fighting as a group, and positioning their soul tools strategically to fight.
For the Beast Lord-ranked soul engineer legions, they were all comprised of soul engineers who were equivalent to Soul Ancestors. Each of them could use flying-type soul tools, and could attack from both land and air. Their commander was a Class 9 soul engineer. All three hundred of the soul engineers in such a legion were extremely formidable! The explosive power and fighting abilities of a Beast Lord-ranked soul engineer legion was greater than a heavily-armored cavalry legion of more than ten thousand men.
Their direct fighting abilities were terrifying. Coupled with their flying abilities, how far could the hostages run should they start their pursuit?
Why were they so fast? How can this be possible?
Just as he was coming to terms with his shock, Huo Yuhao suddenly sensed a signal from He Caitou. He Caitou no longer had access to his Spiritual Detection, but he remained in contact with him via a method used by soul engineers. With a simple soul power frequency emitter which he had pre-installed, Huo Yuhao was able to locate him accurately when he used it.
He descended sneakily, and was able to find He Caitou not far from the city gates.
He Caitou’s face was grim as he said, “Yuhao, how is it? Did we manage to get them out?”
Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “Yes, we did. They’re all rushing out according to our original plan. However, they’ll still need time.”
He Caitou said solemnly, “Radiant City has already sent back-up. My aerial surveillance soul tools were instantly destroyed.”
Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “I saw that. I wonder how long the explosion at the northern city walls can hold them off. Second senior brother, go. Rendezvous with everyone else. I’m off to look for Qiuqiu. You have to escape as fast as you can. Don’t worry about us.”
He Caitou was momentarily stunned as he said, “Yuhao…”
Huo Yuhao raised his hand and did not let him continue. He smiled brightly and said, “Second senior brother, believe in me.”
He Caitou inhaled. He knew that at this moment, time was of the utmost importance. He nodded vigorously and said, “Be careful. If you face overwhelming obstacles, don’t force it. I’ll make a move first.” With that, the light behind his back lit up, and a dark light flashed. After the light from the flying-type soul tool was completely shielded, he shot into the sky and disappeared.
This operation was built on destroying all aerial surveillance soul tools. If not, how could they fly so smoothly in the air?
Unlike what he told He Caitou, Huo Yuhao did not go and find Nan Qiuqiu immediately. On his forehead, his Eye of Destiny opened once again. He unleashed his Spiritual Detection to its maximum extent, which covered the skies above Sunrise City. His spiritual intent also expanded massively.
As he did all this, he quickened his pace toward the place where he expected Nan Qiuqiu to be.
Before long, he stopped and looked up in a certain direction. A purple-gold light started to shine from his Eye of Destiny. Not far from where he was, a low rumble sounded in the sky. A figure descended unsteadily from the heavens and fell down to the city.
As a qualified commander, the first thing one would do upon arriving at such a chaotic scene would be to obtain information. Even though the commotion in the northern part of the city was greater, there was no way no one would be deployed to investigate the other parts of the city. What Huo Yuhao had to do now was stop these people and buy time for his comrades.
While he was clear that he could not hold them back for long, any amount of time was good enough.
——
“Bastards! Is this how you look after the hostages?” Ma Xiaotao bellowed as she looked at the Zhong brothers.
While the Zhong brothers were older, they did not dare to show any signs of discontent in front of her. All of their heads were bowed, and the dozens of evil soul masters around them were as quiet as crickets.
The Third and Fourth Elders stood behind Ma Xiaotao. Their faces were green.
They had just come from the northern part of the city. When they were there, they could not help but inhale a breath of cold air when they saw the huge explosion. The Third Elder accurately deduced that only a Class 8 stationary soul cannon shell could be this destructive. All of the positions for the soul engineers’ soul tools were obliterated, and at least two hundred soul engineers were dead or injured. Only some more powerful ones were able to escape after detecting the incoming attack.
The eastern city walls and the western city walls had been destroyed as well. At this moment, Ma Xiaotao ordered everyone to investigate in depth. They had to locate the enemy, but Third Elder and Fourth Elder were both highly-experienced thanks to their age. They immediately deduced that someone was trying to create a diversion. Their target was the hostages!
Persuaded by them, Ma Xiaotao had to return with them. However, at this moment, another explosion rocked the northern city walls. This time, Ma Xiaotao brought the two elders on a detour to see what was going on. When they saw the dark-blue figures appear, her heart sank. She knew that they were in trouble.
Indeed, when Third Elder and Fourth Elder saw the soul engineer legion, they instantly asked to return to the southern part of the city to look after the hostages. After all, they had just arrived.
The southern city wall was blown to bits by Huo Yuhao, who had used his Ice Explosion on the moat. The hostages all rushed out of the city, but the Zhong brothers had not pursued them. Instead, they waited for their return. How could Ma Xiaotao not take this chance to blow up in anger?
Zhong Tian chuckled bitterly and said, “Holy Lady, it’s not that we don’t want to give chase. You know that there were more than five hundred hostages. They all had at least four soul rings, and there were a whole bunch of Soul Douluo, Soul Sages, and Soul Emperors. If we gave chase, we would have died!”
Ma Xiaotao said angrily, “Didn’t you say that there was enough Soul Eradicating Powder? How did they find the antidote to it? Only the Leader has the antidote for the Soul Eradicating Powder. If you don’t use enough of it, it’ll lose its effect. How did you guard those hostages?”
Zhong Tian said as if he had been wronged, “Holy Lady, you can’t blame me! Why don’t you ask those under me? We definitely used enough Soul Eradicating Powder. Earlier, the legs of the hostages were soft as jelly.”
Ma Xiaotao said coldly, “Go get some water from the water prison and assess the amount of Soul Eradicating Powder inside. Do you think that I have wronged you?”
“Wait a minute, Holy Lady,” the Third Elder said solemnly. “Now’s not the time to find out who was responsible. The most important thing right now is to re-capture all the hostages. We should move immediately. While there are many powerful people among the hostages, their bodies should have deteriorated from their stay in the water prison. Now is the best time to pursue them. As long as we can delay them, they will all be caught when the Sun Moon Empire’s soul engineer legions catch up.”
Ma Xiaotao’s eyes glinted as she said, “Alright. Everyone, pursue them with me.” She had no way of delaying them anymore. If not, they would sense that something was amiss. The killing intent in her heart had been triggered. She was ready. When they caught up to the hostages later, she would ambush the elders. As long as these two Titled Douluo were injured, the hostages could easily defeat the remaining evil soul masters. The main problem now was that the soul engineer legion, coming from the north, would soon reach them.
“Let’s go!” Ma Xiaotao, along with Third Elder and Fourth Elder, as well as the Zhong brothers, rose into the air as they began their chase.
When they left the city, the two elders and the Zhong brothers all had ugly expressions on their faces. This was because it was completely silent and peaceful outside the city. Hundreds of hostages had seemingly disappeared without a trace. All that was left were the ruined positions the soul engineers had formerly manned.
“This is impossible! They rushed out only fifteen minutes ago. How…how did they take so little time?” The three Zhong brothers were stunned.
No matter how one put it, there used to be three hundred soul engineers, an entire soul engineer legion, outside the city! Among them were Class 6 and Class 7 soul engineers. Even if they could not resist the many soul masters, they should have been able to delay them!
How could they know that Xu Sanshi and the rest went teleporting from afar and and dropped in on the soul engineer legion, attacking them from the inside? The soul engineer legion was split up. The most powerful soul engineers were instantly eliminated by the group of soul masters led by Huo Yuhao. The other soul engineers, who had two to three rings, how could they resist so many hostages, all of whom were savage with hate! The disappearance of the hostages was another trick Huo Yuhao had played on them.
