The Unrivaled Tang Sect

Sunrise City was surrounded by fields. Although it would be difficult, they would still have a chance. Before even leaving, the Sea God’s Pavilion had talked about this exact matter during a meeting. However, the most troublesome matter would be escaping after being surrounded. How would running from an area which was filled with plains as far as the eye could see be easy? This was especially so at this moment, considering that the hostages were all somewhat injured. It wouldn’t take a genius to deduce that they would be assaulted from afar.

And thus, Shrek Academy had decided to make a bold and costly decision.

There was only one way to escape from enemy sightlines in an area filled with plains--with speed!

The only way they could escape from enemy attacks within a short amount of time was to rely on an astonishing amount of speed. How could they increase the speed of the hostages they were rescuing? By using flying-type soul tools!

Huo Yuhao’s team had brought a total of eight hundred flying-type soul tools with them. Although they were all of the lowest class, and were even somewhat crude, the Tang Sect and Shrek Academy, as well as the Star Luo and Heavenly Soul Empires, had done all they could.

These eight hundred flying-type soul tools had been placed in the wilderness by Xu Sanshi and the rest in advance. Once the hostages were able to escape, they would immediately equip these flying-type soul tools.

Although many modern soul masters were still against the use of soul tools, a large majority of them had come into contact with them. After all, who wouldn’t want to experience the thrill of flying at four rings? Because of that, flying-type soul tools were the soul tools that most soul masters had used. It wasn’t as though every single soul master had used them, but the number of soul masters who hadn’t was very small. Moreover, soul masters could adapt to the use of flying-type soul tools relatively quickly. Even if they hadn’t used them before, they would be able to after experimenting for a few minutes.

Every single flying-type soul tool was equipped with a map. After that, everyone from the Tang Sect offered a prayer and split up.

Every single hostage, including those who came from the various sects and academies, flew off in different directions. However, they only had a single objective--to get to the harbor city where Huo Yuhao had rented a boat. The only way they could escape from the enclosure of the Sun Moon Empire was by the sea. 

This was Huo Yuhao’s rescue plan!

The speed at which the hostages broke free from the enclosure could only be described as ‘astonishing’. In reality, even Xu Sanshi and the rest didn’t think that they would be that destructive. Without any of the experts from the Soul Engineer Legion obstructing them, a close-combat clash between them and ordinary soul engineers was like smashing an egg against a rock. This was the main reason why the hostages were able to instantly crush the military line held by the Soul Engineer Legion.

The battle between the subordinate army and the soul engineers was a unilateral slaughter. It didn’t even take five minutes before the entire front was completely destroyed. Moreover, the splitting of Sunrise City’s troops due to the need to rescue their soldiers and to scout out the situation in the northern part of the city meant that they couldn’t stop the hostages at all.

Huo Yuhao’s plan could be said to be nearly perfect. At the very least, the hostages were already flying through the air and disappearing into the boundless night sky.

Throughout this entire process, he had controlled a few key points very well. First, he was able to judge the strengths of the northern, eastern, and western parts of the city very well, and find an accurate time to misdirect them.

Although their enemies might have guessed that they were trying to misdirect them, the secret location of the water prison gave the people from the Holy Ghost Church somewhat of a backing to rely on. Even the two soul engineer legions and the city defense troops stationed by the city didn’t know that there were that many soul masters being kept in the water prison.

With Ma Xiaotao cooperating with them, they were able to pull off a misdirection very effectively.

The second key point was destroying the moat with his Ice Explosion. The amount of time he had to do this was very short.

If they had forcefully charged out while similarly destroying the water prison when the moat was still there, it would definitely have cost the hostages a lot of time, as well used a longer route. However, Huo Yuhao was able to save a lot of time by blowing open a path and freezing the moat.

After that, both Huo Yuhao and Xu Sanshi had used their respective soul skills to save a lot of time as well. Because of that, it had only taken around fifteen minutes for the entire plan to be carried out.

“Holy Lady, what should we do?” Zhong Tian turned to Ma Xiaotao.

Ma Xiaotao flew into a rage. “What should we do? You go give an explanation to the leader!” With that, she turned around and flew back towards the city.

The Third and Fourth Elders looked at each other and sighed simultaneously. Their opponents had already fled into the distance, and although it wasn’t easy to escape from a plain, could they really go and chase after them with the current number of people they had? With only the six of them, what if they were to fall into a trap while chasing after the hostages? They didn’t know who had come to rescue the hostages! They could discern how strong the hostages were, but they didn’t know how strong the rescuers were!

At this moment, several blue figures had appeared in the sky. Several hundred rays of blue light rushed over from the southern city, forming a river of stars in the sky.

“All of you are not to move, or else we’ll kill you,” a vigorous and forceful voice spread out through the sky above the southern city.

Even Ma Xiaotao, who was about to fly back towards the city, had no choice but to stop.

Those figures had arrived very quickly. Within the blink of an eye, they had surrounded all of the evil soul masters.

Rays of blue light instantly formed a wide net within the air, trapping Ma Xiaotao, the Third and Fourth Elders, and the three Zhong brothers within it.

“Don’t attack, we’re with you.” Zhong Tian said hurriedly. At the same time, he took out a medallion from his chest.

They had noticed that every single one of these people who were clad in bluish light had a flying-type soul tool on their backs. They were dressed in black warrior robes, and had the pattern of an enormous blue eye on their chests. This group of people wasn’t dressed in a simple manner, considering that their outfits were seemingly made of metal. The reason why they saw the blue lights was due to the light from the eyes on their robes.

Those blue eyes had pupils as deep as the abyss, and although they were only patterns on a robe, it still seemed as though they could devour everything around them. There were even countless dark blue patterns around the sides of these pupils that resembled veins.

This was the Evil Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion!

Ma Xiaotao was inwardly astonished. This was one of the Sun Moon Empire’s four great Beast Lord-ranked soul engineer legions. With the Evileye Tyrant as its symbol, this soul engineer legion was famed for its speed and surprise attacks. Clearly, they were the most suitable troops to assist Radiant City.

An elderly man whose robe glittered with a bright blue eye walked over to the evil soul masters.

“The only people who are with you are those who follow you. You can talk after being tied up.” This elderly man had a tall figure, an aquiline nose, and large eyes that shone with an ominous glint. His cruel and untamed aura gave off the impression that he didn’t like strangers.

“Who are you trying to tie up?” Ma Xiaotao’s cold voice rang out. As there was quite a distance between her and the other evil soul masters, she quickly turned around.

“No moving!” the Evil Tyrant Legion immediately shouted out angrily.

“Scram!” There was no need to even mention Ma Xiaotao’s identity as an evil soul master. Even at Shrek Academy, she had always been famed for her temper. Moreover, she had been looking forward to causing a mess.

Blazing phoenix flames instantly rose from her body as two yellow, two purple, three black, and one red soul ring appeared, along with the resounding cry of a phoenix.

The somewhat chilly air in the sky instantly heated up. What was even more terrifying, however, was that ripples had appeared in the air ten meters around Ma Xiaotao. All of the lock-on effects of the soul tools targeting her were instantly rendered useless.

Why did the Zhong brothers respect Ma Xiaotao so much? Other than her position in the Holy Ghost Church, it was because of her undeniable strength. The Holy Ghost Church had spared no costs to help her obtain her eighth soul ring, which was a hundred-thousand year one. The leader of the Holy Ghost Church, Zhongli Wu, had even said that she was the first in line to be his successor.

The moment Ma Xiaotao released her martial soul, a smidge of dark-red was immediately added to the pitch-black night sky. She comfortably unfurled the blazing, dark-red wings of her Dark Phoenix, and the soul engineers closest to her were astonished to find that their soul tools had become extremely hot. Not only were they unable to fire them, but they even started to melt.

“Halt!” A sharp voice rang out. This voice came loftily and abruptly, yet was abnormally sharp. Even with Ma Xiaotao’s cultivation, she trembled, and the phoenix flames she released withdrew slightly.

A pitch-black figure shot out from the rear of the Evil Tyrant Legion, then sharply shouted at the leader of the legion, “Commander Wang, are you trying to start a civil war? These are men from our national religion, and this is our Holy Lady. If you don’t quickly capture those hostages, who’s going to take responsibility for this?”

The face of the elderly man who had an aquiline nose twitched slightly. Only then did he raise his hand to order all of the soul engineers to lower their weapons. At the same time, he sighed inwardly. Although he was confident in taking on Ma Xiaotao in a fight, he was scared of the losses he would receive.

However, Ma Xiaotao was cursing inwardly. Although she couldn’t beat all of these people, Huo Yuhao’s escape would be helped if she could stall them. That was why she had provoked them. If they started a fight here, it would naturally give Huo Yuhao’s team a great advantage. She was simply not afraid of what this Evil Tyrant Legion could do to her. 

From the expression of their leader, she could tell that they detested evil soul masters. Even though this was the case, however, they wouldn’t dare to openly go against the national religion and the Holy Ghost Church had already been declared the Sun Moon Empire’s national religion!

“Chase them. They can’t have run too far. Head to the south. Also, use our long-range communication soul tool to tell the City Guard to release all of the aerial surveillance soul tools they have. Pass on this message: a hundred of you are to stay here and guard Sunrise City. The rest of you are to follow me!”

As he spoke, the aquiline-nosed elderly man was already rising into the air. The enormous wings of a flying-type soul tool unfurled behind his back, and twelve lights simultaneously shot out, transforming him into a stream of light shooting into the distance.