Princess Xu Jiujiu was startled upon hearing this, and then a flash of light suddenly lit up in her fatigued eyes as her voice involuntarily rose a few decibels: "Where are they?"
When she asked this question, there was not the slightest doubt in her tone regarding the accuracy of the information.
That was the trust accumulated from interacting with Huo Yuhao over many years, requiring no superfluous explanation.
Huo Yuhao replied in a steady tone: "They are right in the Demon Forest of the Sun Moon Empire. They are locked up in the base camp of the Holy Spirit Cult, guarded by a large number of Evil Soul Masters."
"On the outer perimeter, Soul Engineer regiments of the Sun Moon Empire are lying in ambush, just waiting for you to go and rescue them."
Since this was a trap set by Sun Moon, even without the message transmitted by Yun Ming, the Sun Moon Empire would likely still have allowed the people of the Three Douluo Nations to step-by-step discover the location where those captives were held.
Princess Xu Jiujiu frowned upon hearing this, her expression growing a bit heavier and more solemn than before.
Having experienced the failure of the previous assassination attempt on Xu Tianran, she was far more cautious than before.
Wanting to penetrate deep into the hinterland of the Sun Moon Empire to save people—how could it be easy?
Yet those people had to be rescued; the families of frontline generals and the imperial Bloodline—the life or death of these individuals directly concerned the battle situation on the front lines.
Looking at her heavy expression, Huo Yuhao spoke up: "Rest assured, Sister Jiujiu, the Spirit Pagoda will help."
Princess Xu Jiujiu raised her head to look at him, a trace of genuine gratitude flashing in her eyes.
But her tone still carried a sense of prudence: "Everything still needs to be discussed at length."
Huo Yuhao nodded: "Indeed."
His goal this time was not only to rescue people, but also to seize this opportunity to uproot the Holy Spirit Cult completely.
Just moments ago, he had once again perceived the prompt of the divine trial within his Spiritual Sea, giving him yet another reason why he had to participate in this matter.
Although the Spirit Pagoda was developing rapidly, after all, it had only been a few years since its establishment.
When calculated carefully, its high-tier combat power was still far too scarce.
Take Titled Douluo for instance; currently, there was only Huo Yuhao alone in the Spirit Pagoda.
Of course, as long as he was willing, he could completely summon people from that era Ten Thousand Years later.
After all, in that era, he was also the Pagoda Master of the Spirit Pagoda, and the Titled Douluo-level powerhouses under his command were not few.
But now time was tight regarding the rescue mission and could not be delayed, nor did he have the leisure to shuttle back and forth between the two eras to mobilize personnel.
Three days later, a list of powerhouses for the joint operation was delivered into Huo Yuhao's hands.
Aside from the powerhouses of the Three Douluo Nations, the list also contained a name that did not surprise Huo Yuhao—none other than Shrek Academy.
That academy, which claimed to "never intervene in mainland affairs," had once again gotten involved.
However, this was a good thing for Huo Yuhao; although Xuan Zi was unreliable, his level 98 combat power could still help out quite a lot.
Everyone agreed to gather at Tianxing City, which was the current frontline where the Star Luo Empire and the Sun Moon Empire were waging war.
Scorched marks from soul cannon bombardments still lingered on the city walls, and pedestrians on the streets were far fewer than usual, while an aura mixed with gunpowder smoke and dust drifted faintly in the air.
They planned to set off from here, cross the Mingdou Mountain Range, thrust straight into the Sun Moon hinterland, and head directly for the Demon Forest.
Because they were operating deep within the hinterland of the Sun Moon Empire, not a single participant's cultivation this time was lower than a Spirit Douluo.
However, there were quite a few Titled Douluo-level combatants; the Star Luo Empire dispatched the Tiansha Douluo, Julit Douluo, and Suixing Douluo.
The Douling Empire sent the Tianyang Douluo and Xuanming Douluo, while the Heavenly Soul Empire sent the Jinshen Douluo and Body Douluo.
As for Shrek Academy, it sent Xuan Zi, Yan Shaozhe, Xian Liner, and Zhuang Yusen—each and every one of them was a veteran Titled Douluo-level combatant.
Looking at the people who had already gathered together, Huo Yuhao estimated in his heart that although the lineup was already extremely powerful, trying to rescue people under the encirclement of the Holy Spirit Cult and the Sun Moon Soul Engineer regiments was probably still somewhat lacking.
Fortunately, however, he had his own preparations; coupled with his plan, there should be no major problems.
Because it was currently wartime, the Sun Moon Empire had deployed a large number of detecting Spirit Tools above the border; as long as any Spirit Master passed by, their tracks would be captured at the very first moment.
The Three Douluo Nations had always been greatly troubled by this; it was precisely these detectors that had rendered many of their tactical plans ineffective.
This time, however, Huo Yuhao was well-prepared. To the Sun Moon Empire, which was currently famous for Spirit Tools, the Spirit Tool technology from Ten Thousand Years later was an existence of completely crushing superiority.
He distributed a silver-gray bracelet to everyone; it was thin and fit closely against the wrist, with fine energy patterns embedded inside.
After putting it on, the group easily bypassed Sun Moon's aerial blockade. Those detecting Spirit Tools suspended high above the clouds seemed to have collectively gone blind, completely unresponsive to the aura of the crowd sweeping through the air.
After crossing the border, everyone lowered their heads to glance at the bracelets on their wrists, their gazes filled with shock and emotion.
Once again, they truly experienced how advanced the Spirit Pagoda's Spirit Tool technology was, and at the same time felt that with the Spirit Pagoda's participation, the success rate of this rescue operation could be significantly boosted going forward.
The Spirit Tool provided by Huo Yuhao could isolate the detection of Sun Moon Empire's high-altitude detecting Spirit Tools, but it could not escape the perception of a Spirit Master's own mental force.
In just two short days, the group covertly marched all the way, stepping into the Demon Forest deep within the Sun Moon Empire.
Although this forest was not as vast as the Star Dou Great Forest, the number of Spirit Beasts within it was by no means small, and along the way, they did encounter quite a few gazes lurking in the dark.
However, whenever such moments arose, everyone only needed to slightly release their aura outward for a fleeting instant, and those Spirit Beasts would retreat on their own, not daring to rashly attack.
Just like that, the team pushed forward all the way toward the depths of the Demon Forest.
As they grew closer and closer to the Holy Spirit Cult's headquarters, Huo Yuhao's voice suddenly resounded clearly within everyone's Spiritual Sea: "We are almost there. Everyone, be careful from here on out; quite a few powerhouses of the Holy Spirit Cult are nearby."
His mental force was like a spread-out net, having already captured the faint and elusive formidable auras in that region ahead.
Hearing this, everyone turned solemn, though their pace did not slow down; instead, each of them raised their vigilance to the highest level.
About half an hour later, Sect Master Du Busi, who was walking at the very front, suddenly halted his steps.
He raised one hand, signaling the people behind him to stop.
The team stopped in unison, like a stream of water abruptly cut off.
Amidst the trees ahead, a black-robed figure slowly stepped out from the shadows. That person had a withered, thin face with a sinister smile.
He swept his gaze across the crowd, his voice hoarse and shrill: "Hehehehe! I didn't expect you people to truly not fear death, actually daring to come here."
This person was none other than the eighth Elder of the Holy Spirit Cult, the Sleep Nightmare Douluo.
Facing these Spirit Masters before him, many of whose cultivations surpassed his own, not the slightest trace of fear could be seen on his face.
Following closely after, another figure slowly stepped out from the shadows beside him. That figure was so tall it was nearly bloated, and the wide black robe was almost on the verge of being split open.
His voice was deep and resonant, as if squeezed out from the depths of his throat: "So many people broke through Sun Moon's defense line, yet not a single person came to report it. Sun Moon's Soul Engineers are truly useless."
When the sixth Elder, Hatred Douluo, spoke, his gaze instinctively glanced toward the right mid-air.
A cold snort came from that direction. Following the sound, the crowd looked over and saw a tall man standing on the branch of a giant tree, with a stern expression and an aquiline nose that appeared particularly prominent under the cover of the tree shadows.
His attire was clearly different from the previous two Evil Soul Masters; he wore standard combat robes whose style belonged to the Soul Engineers of the Sun Moon Empire.
His name was Wang Yiheng, commander of the Evil Monarch Soul Engineer Regiment, a Class 9 Soul Engineer, and also a core figure in the joint defense deployed here by the Sun Moon Empire and the Holy Spirit Cult.
Standing high above, his gaze overlooked the crowd below like a falcon, without rushing to make a move.
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A/N:
I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. I would appreciate some Power Stones if you can spare any. Leave a review if you like the story. Thank you.