Volume 35, Chapter 496.2: The Walking Corpse Tang Ya
“Yan Shaozhe?” The Third Elder immediately shifted his attention to Nangong Wan as he asked in confusion, “Yan Shaozhe? Wasn’t he Dragon God Douluo Mu En’s disciple back then? He should be a Transcendent Douluo by now...”
Nangong Wan nodded and said, “That isn’t all. If I remember correctly, he is also the next heir of Shrek Academy’s Sea God’s Pavilion.”
The Third Elder sat down beside Nangong Wan and grunted coldly as he said, “Let him come. After all, our battle with Shrek Academy is a matter of when, not if. We have more than ten thousand soldiers in our great army, and we also have the Sun Moon Empire’s five great soul engineer legions, while the Supreme Leader is holding down the fort in person. Even if all of Shrek Academy’s elites were here, their effectiveness on a battlefield such as this one would be very limited.”
Nangong Wan chuckled and said, “That sounds about right. Hurry up and eat.”
The Third Elder looked up at Huo Yuhao, who was beside Nangong Wan, and asked, “Old Seven, I heard you’ve chased your two mistresses away?”
Huo Yuhao’s expression darkened as he replied, “Third brother, don’t pick on my scabs. The Supreme Leader scolded me yesterday, so how can I not change? If you’re interested, those two girls can belong to you. I’m just afraid that you can’t take it.”
The Third Elder laughed and said, “Nonsense. You know I don’t like such things.”
Huo Yuhao laughed coldly and said, “How can that be? Why do I remember that you imprisoned a lady back then? It’s not that you don’t like such things, but that you are very focused in your love, hahaha!”
The Third Elder blushed as he said suspiciously, “How did you know that?”
Huo Yuhao was naturally referring to the Third Elder imprisoning Nan Shuishui, which not even Nangong Wan knew about. Huo Yuhao said plainly, “As long as you’ve done something, somebody will know. You’re already so old, third brother, so why are you still embarrassed? Alright, I’ve had my fill. I’m going back, and you can continue chatting with second brother. I didn’t sleep well last night, so I’m going back to cultivate so that the Supreme Leader can’t say that I’ve been lazy.”
Huo Yuhao stood up after his speech and walked out. He didn’t want to say anymore, as he was bound to say something wrong if he did. It was better to minimize any interaction with these evil soul masters.
The Third Elder said unhappily to Nangong Wan, “Second brother, why does Old Seven seem so weird today?”
Nangong Wan laughed and replied, “That’s probably because he isn’t in such a good mood after the Supreme Leader chided him last night. But you know what’s up with Old Seven, it’s very difficult for him to improve with that martial soul of his.”
Huo Yuhao saw that Tang Ya had also stood up to walk out before he left the canteen, and an idea occurred to him as he slowed his steps.
Tang Ya maintained a steady pace as she walked towards her tent after leaving the canteen. The evil soul masters didn’t reside very far from the canteen. Huo Yuhao naturally shared a path with her, and he pretended to run into her as he slowed and said respectfully, “Holy Lady.”
“Yes,” Tang Ya acknowledged as she walked across his path, expressionless. She didn’t pay any attention to him at all.
Huo Yuhao made a quick judgment in his mind. From Tang Ya’s current situation, her mind had to be affected by some kind of restriction or spell, and her martial soul had been infected by evil toxins. However, those evil toxins were catalyzing her growth and improvement, and from the aura that she was giving off, she should be an eight-ringed Soul Douluo.
Evil soul masters cultivate really quickly! Back then, teacher Xiao Ya was still quite some distance away from eldest senior brother’s cultivation, but she has surpassed him now.
Huo Yuhao watched Tang Ya disappear into her tent before he returned to his own.
Today’s result is good. At least, I’ve seen Tang Ya, and that proves Nangong Wan’s intel is accurate. Now, I have to figure out how to take her away.
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Huo Yuhao crossed his legs and began to meditate after he returned to his room, but his brain began to spin rapidly.
How can I take Teacher Xiao Ya away safely? Furthermore, I have to ensure that we don’t sustain any injuries or losses.
The Sun Moon Empire’s camp was rather peaceful because there were no battles, and only the occasional sounds of training soldiers could be heard from time to time. This area where the evil soul masters resided was separated from the rest, and there were no soldiers patrolling the area, so there wasn’t much noise.
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A day quickly passed. Huo Yuhao didn’t wait for Nangong Wan to arrive at midday as he went ahead to the canteen to eat. He deliberately went ahead early to avoid the powerful evil soul masters before he returned to his tent to continue cultivating.
From the other evil soul masters’ perspective, the Seventh Elder began to put in effort after the Supreme Leader had scolded him, so nobody suspected him.
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Darkness befell the heavens as the sky became completely dark before Huo Yuhao opened his eyes in his tent.
The tent was very dim, but Huo Yuhao’s eyes were bright as the stars in the night sky.
It’s time to test the waters. A thread of white light emerged from Huo Yuhao’s eyes, and his entire body seemed to quiver as the light around him contorted a little.
A figure appeared soundlessly in front of him. This figure was small and cute, and about as large as an infant, but it looked identical to Huo Yuhao.
The light became increasingly material, like it was a real tiny person. This was Huo Yuhao’s spiritual avatar, which he had conjured with his concrete-material spiritual power.
Huo Yuhao had created a spiritual soul core, so his spiritual avatar was much stronger than before. His spiritual avatar could use some of Huo Yuhao’s soul skills, and people couldn’t even tell that his avatar was made from energy just looking at it.
The mini-Huo Yuhao glanced at his original body before he vanished into the air with a flash., using Imitation.
Huo Yuhao’s spiritual avatar could only use his Spirit Eyes’ soul skills. However, using a soul skill would consume part of his spiritual avatar’s origin energy, and once his avatar’s origin energy was depleted, it would crumble.
Huo Yuhao’s spiritual avatar left the tent under the cover of Imitation, and soundlessly approached Tang Ya’s tent. Huo Yuhao didn’t go inside once he arrived outside Tang Ya’s tent. Who knew whether Tang Ya had a spiritual barrier around her? Huo Yuhao would reveal his original body if he was discovered, and everything that he had discovered before would go to waste.
Huo Yuhao circled around Tang Ya’s tent, then circled another time around a large golden tent not far from there before he snuck further away.
He wouldn’t go into a tent to investigate things right now, because he could be easily ambushed or trapped if he did so. He had to be sure about the army camp’s situation as a whole before anything else. Furthermore, there was a more important place he had to find.
Huo Yuhao could only use his spiritual avatar to rove briskly around the army camp because he couldn’t use Spiritual Detection, though he could roam around quite freely and casually using Imitation.
The Sun Moon Empire’s army camp undoubtedly had all kinds of surveillance soul tools, but these surveillance soul tools were directed outwards, not inwards.
Who would be so bored as to investigate their own soldiers’ situation? The reason why Huo Yuhao made his spiritual avatar so small was both to conserve spiritual power and also because a small body was harder for the surveillance soul tools to detect.
Huo Yuhao moved very quickly, and he went almost one full circuit around the army camp before he quietly returned to his own tent. His spiritual avatar returned to his original body, and everything returned to normal.
Huo Yuhao’s eyes opened again, and the “Masquerade Douluo’s” expression turned extremely solemn.
Huo Yuhao could see a lot more clearly after investigating at such close proximity. The Sun Moon Empire’s layout was seamless, and almost entirely impenetrable.
There were many soldiers guarding their five soul tool camps. There were no surveillance soul tools pointed inwards in the army camp’s other places, but there were some around the five soul tool locations. Everybody who came near had to be interrogated.
Huo Yuhao didn’t dare let his spiritual avatar go close to those soul tool camps. Furthermore, he could feel that there were linked formations continuously activated within those fronts. Even though he wasn’t sure that they were doing, he had no doubt that they possessed formidable defensive or offensive capabilities. One misstep and he would be discovered, and become cannon fodder.
Huo Yuhao had originally hoped to find one of the Sun Moon Empire’s storage soul tools, or a warehouse that housed stationary soul cannon shells, which he could detonate at the appropriate time. He would create much chaos in the army camp if that happened, and cooperating with the Heavenly Soul Empire when the time came would be most effective.
But it seemed like he had to change his plan, because he couldn’t find any warehouses that stored soul tools. There was no question that these warehouses were contained within those soul tool camps, which meant that he would have to break through their defenses if he wanted to bomb those warehouses. Not even Elder Song could do that, even if she was here, let alone him!
What should I do? Huo Yuhao’s eyes squinted as he contemplated long and hard. This was very important for him, because insufficient chaos wouldn’t give them sufficient time.
The night was peaceful, and everything seemed to return to tranquility. The Sun Moon Empire increased their ground-based aerial surveillance, but they didn’t discover anything. The Heavenly Soul Empire also seemed particularly calm and quiet.
The Holy Ghost Church’s evil soul masters discovered that, over the past two days, their Seventh Elder had become particularly hardworking. He didn’t touch any girls, and he remained in his tent to cultivate intently. He was almost not seen at all during the day.
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Dinner, on the second night...
Huo Yuhao deliberately called Nangong Wan before eating dinner, and they walked towards the evil soul masters’ canteen together.
'Third Elder, can you find an empty and remote place for me? It would be better if this place wasn’t inside this core area, and best if it was near any of the five soul tool forts. The place must be quiet and uninhabited.' Huo Yuhao sent to Nangong Wan telepathically.