The Unrivaled Tang Sect

The first figure that appeared was actually Huo Yuhao’s spiritual avatar. Once bitten, twice shy, and Huo Yuhao was a lot more careful after the painful lesson he had learned from his previous experience. He used his spiritual avatar to investigate what was happening outside, and his original body appeared only when he made sure there was no danger. It was a lot safer. 

The black crack closed, and the two shadows disappeared into the air at the same time with Imitation. They snuck out of the tent together. 

Security within the Sun Moon Empire’s camp was clearly a lot tighter than before. There were soldiers patrolling even where the evil soul masters resided. 

The patrolling soldiers carried specific types of surveillance soul tools. They didn’t use them to investigate inside the tents, but they swept across the air and the ground continuously, aiming to detect soul masters who were adept at concealing themselves, and prevent them from sneaking inside. 

However, such simple surveillance was useless against Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection.

Huo Yuhao used his avatar to scout the path ahead, keeping his Spiritual Detection within a fixed range. He didn’t touch any tents at all, and inched forward carefully from memory. 

Huo Yuhao needed a safe spot to bring his companions back safely. Wherever he opened the large gate to his spectral demiplane, it would have to reappear at the same location if reopened from within. Hence Huo Yuhao had appeared in the tent that he had stayed in before. 

The Holy Ghost Church definitely didn’t know his spectral demiplane’s characteristics. The only thing he was worried about was that Nangong Wan would reveal something, and if his identity as the Masquerade Douluo was revealed, his enemies would have the chance to set a trap. 

Reality proved that Nangong Wan was still quite intelligent. He was the Holy Ghost Church’s Second Elder, and he had probably concealed his betrayal very well. That was equivalent to covering Huo Yuhao’s identity, and so his stealthy operations were a lot more relaxed. 

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It took a full hour, but Huo Yuhao finally left the Sun Moon Empire’s army camp after going past many patrols and surveillance soul tools. 

It wasn’t difficult for him to get out with his abilities if he wanted to; increasing the number of patrols was futile. As long as they didn’t do continuous blanket sweeps, he would always be able to find cracks in the defense. He had been through so many battles, undercover operations, and reconnaissance missions that he had become increasingly familiar and adept with his skills in these areas. 

But even after he was out, he didn’t let down his guard at all. He swiftly flew towards the Heavenly Soul Empire’s camp, and went straight into the territory that the Heavenly Soul Empire controlled before he flying into the sky and proceeding towards Heavenly Spirit City. 

Huo Yuhao was actually the most worried about Yan Shaozhe, as Elder Song would always smile and say nothing when he asked her about him. 

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Huo Yuhao finally returned to the small courtyard that Shrek Academy has been assigned to. He was startled as he entered the courtyard, because he witnessed Yan Shaozhe and Princess Wei Na coming out from the living room, chatting as they walked. 

Huo Yuhao descended from the sky, immediately alerting Yan Shaozhe, who saw who it was. Relieved, he said, “You’re finally back, Yuhao. You have pretty good restraint! Is everyone alright?”

“Yea… yes, we’re fine. Dean, you…” Huo Yuhao spoke with his eyes wide and his jaw agape.

Yan Shaozhe smiled as he placed his index finger on his lips. Princess Wei Na quickly stepped forward as she faced Huo Yuhao with a look of pleasant surprise on her face. “You’re back, Yuhao! How is it? Where’s everyone else?”

Huo Yuhao naturally wouldn’t reveal his secret in front of Princess Wei Na. He replied hurriedly, “Don’t worry, princess, everyone else is safe. I’m back here to check on things.”

Wei Na exclaimed, “Shrek is worthy of their name! There hasn’t been anything we could do with the Sun Moon Empire, but a single operation from Shrek Academy has destroyed one of their soul engineer legions! If we can destroy another one or two of them, we might really be able to sound the horns for an assault.”

Huo Yuhao forced a laugh and said, “That’s easier said than done! We relied on cheap tricks this time. The Sun Moon Empire has made sufficient preparations against it happening so easily. To tell you the truth, princess, we had to use a stationary soul cannon shell that we obtained from the Sun Moon Empire a long time ago. If you want us to execute another operation like that, you’ll have to give us a weapon of that standard before anything else. I’m afraid you don’t have any.”

It was Princess Wei Na’s turn to laugh bitterly. She couldn’t even bring out a Class 8 stationary soul cannon shell, let alone a Class 9 one!

The Heavenly Soul Empire had lost a lot of their territory, equivalent to losing large amounts of resources. They barely had enough to sustain their armies, while they had to rely on the Star Luo Empire and the Dou Ling Empire for anything else. 

Princess Wei Na said sincerely, “Anyhow, I have to thank everyone for this operation. With what has happened, the Sun Moon Empire shouldn’t be launching any offensives against us in the near future, which should give us sufficient time to prepare and build up our strength. We will develop as many soul tools as we can, and think of ways to hold them back at the same time.”

Huo Yuhao nodded, but said nothing else. 

Wei Na still wanted to chat with him for a little bit, but she saw that Yan Shaozhe had been standing there waiting the whole time. It was clear that they had internal matters they wanted to discuss, so she could only take her leave. 

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Huo Yuhao swiftly took a few steps forward after he watched the princess leave and came before Yan Shaozhe. He grabbed the Dean’s arms subconsciously and looked him up and down. 

“Dean Yan, you, you’re…” Huo Yuhao didn’t know what to say. 

Yan Shaozhe smiled faintly and said, “You’re not the only one who’s confused. I think the Holy Ghost Church’s Supreme Leader, Zhongli Wu is probably even more perplexed. He must still be wondering how the Dean of Shrek Academy’s Martial Soul Department died just like that. Hahaha!”

Huo Yuhao released his hands and whispered, “How did you escape?”

Yan Shaozhe smiled and replied, “Little junior brother, even though there’s a huge age gap between us, you should still address me as senior brother. I am your true eldest senior brother! As for how I managed to escape, it’s actually very simple…”

He leaned beside Huo Yuhao’s ear and whispered something, and Huo Yuhao’s eyes widened after listening to his explanation. “There’s actually such a magical…”

Yan Shaozhe placed his index finger to his lips and laughed as he said, “It’s alright as long as you know, but you can’t talk about it. This is your senior brother’s secret to saving his life.”

“Yes, I’ll keep your secret.” Huo Yuhao felt his heart skip a beat. Yan Shaozhe’s secret was just too magical, but he also had to keep this secret. Otherwise, if malicious people knew about it, they could specifically target his ability, and his skill wouldn’t be effective anymore. 

Yan Shaozhe said, “Come, let’s go into the room. Get everyone out, and we can return.”

“Alright.”

---

Huo Yuhao began to chant as they returned to the living room, and opened his spectral demiplane. Yan Shaozhe looked on as Elder Song and the others came out of the demiplane one after another. He couldn’t help but say with a sigh, “Yuhao, even though I really don’t like this ability of yours, I have to say that it can be considered a godly skill when used in certain situations! You have contributed even a secret like this to the Academy, that’s…”

Huo Yuhao chuckled and said, “The Academy is my home. The Academy has given me everything that I have today, and I belong to the Academy. There’s nothing to say about contributions.”

Elder Song smiled and said, “You’re right. On the other hand, the Academy will belong to you guys in the future. Alright, it’s time for us to bid farewell to the Heavenly Soul Empire.”

Even though their mission had many twists and turns, they had finally completed their task. They had helped the Heavenly Soul Empire complete their reconnaissance and dealt a huge blow to the Sun Moon Empire’s army. Most importantly, they had managed to rescue Tang Ya! 

Their mission had killed many birds with one stone. They had to return to the Academy as quickly as possible, because Elder Song, Dean Yan, and everyone from the Tang Sect had many things they had to deal with, after all.

Huo Yuhao replied, “Let’s bid our farewells tomorrow morning. I’ll take this opportunity to write down everything that I have learned in detail, and hand that to the Heavenly Soul Empire. That should help them.”

Elder Song nodded and said, “That’s fine.”

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They stayed for another night, and everyone regained their peak condition besides Tang Ya. The Ice Bear King, Little Bai, chose to remain in Huo Yuhao’s spectral demiplane.

Everyone bid their farewells to the Heavenly Soul Empire the next day. The Heavenly Soul Empire longed for them to stay, but everyone from Shrek Academy still refused politely as they left Heavenly Spirit and returned to Shrek Academy. 

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The Tang Sect, Shrek City...

Elder Song and Yan Shaozhe immediately returned to Shrek Academy once they returned to Shrek City. They also had to report this mission to the Academy and record it. 

Everyone from the Tang Sect naturally returned there. 

Tang Ya had awoken from her deep slumber. After her treatment that day, she had fallen into a deep slumber for a day and a night before coming to. The sinister aura on her body was a lot weaker after she woke up, but her mind was still not clear. She still appeared very muddleheaded, and there wasn’t any color in her eyes. Fortunately, her aura of an evil soul master was no longer as dense, though her soul power seemed to dissipate a little along with those evil toxins. She was no longer aggressive. 

Bei Bei accompanied her every day to speak to her, but Tang Ya never said anything from the beginning to the end. She was just sitting there like a stone, and she would do that for the entire day. Bei Bei had to help her eat, sleep, bathe, and even when she had to go to the toilet, like she had lost her basic ability to live.

Bei Bei wasn’t unhappy about any of that. He took care of Tang Ya patiently, and rejected Xiao Xiao and Jiang Nannan’s offers to share his burden. He told them that he owed Tang Ya far too much over these years, and it took them so much effort to finally take her back. He was perfectly willing to protect her like this for eternity; to love her, and care for her.