"Then let's begin."
Inside the East Palace, Xu Tianran smiled as he spoke to Zhongli Wu, who sat calmly in his chair, while handing him a list through Ju Zi.
"These are the first to be dealt with. Their positions within the empire are neither high nor low, making them ideal targets. However, I must remind Sect Leader Zhongli: when you act, remember not to leave any trace; eliminate them completely."
Hearing Xu Tianran's chilling words, Zhongli Wu glanced at the list.
Earl of Nanfeng.
Earl of Dongyang.
Earl of Yueguang.
Viscount Heiling.
Four nobles in total. Following the list were their residences, family members, and even their specific cultivation levels.
"It seems His Highness the Crown Prince has spent some time investigating these people," Zhongli Wu said with a faint smile. In his mind, those on the list were already dead men.
"It's alright, but we've chosen the most suitable ones from among these nobles to start with," Xu Tianran said calmly. "Next, once our faction has created public opinion within Mingdu, placing the blame for the evil spirit masters' past misdeeds on the Body Sect, and the situation changes, it will be your turn to act."
"However, this matter must be handled gradually. We can't make a sudden, decisive move. I hope Sect Leader Zhongli understands." "
A gradual approach is of course necessary," Zhongli Wu nodded slightly, then said with some surprise, "Speaking of which, I remember this Earl of Moonlight was once the Moon King, holding a very high position within the empire. I didn't expect him to have declined to this state, to the point that you, Crown Prince, intend to use him as the first target."
Xu Tianran's expression changed slightly at this. "The Moon King is a thing of the past, thousands of years ago. The current Earl of Moonlight is merely a collateral descendant of the Moon Clan. Even his martial soul is Moonlight, not Moon. The true direct descendants of the Moon Clan have long since fled to the Heavenly Soul Empire. Fifteen years ago..." "My father, in alliance with a powerful noble family of the Heavenly Soul Empire, wiped them out, leaving no survivors."
Hearing this, Zhongli Wu became interested. "They fled the empire thousands of years ago, so why wait thousands of years to exterminate their entire clan? Could the Crown Prince explain the reason?"
Xu Tianran hadn't expected Zhongli Wu to enjoy gossip. After a moment's thought, he said, "It's nothing much. Back then, my Sun Moon Continent collided with the Douluo Continent, and war quickly broke out. In the end, due to the intervention of Shrek Academy, the empire suffered a crushing defeat, especially in terms of high-end combat power, which led some nobles to become restless and launch a rebellion."
"Among them was the Moon Clan. In that era, they had three Title Douluos, making them a top-tier force within the empire where Soul Master strength was generally weak. However, they failed to seize power and were forced to flee. To avoid capture by the empire, they scattered and fled, making them extremely difficult to find." "
So it wasn't that thousands of years passed before they were wiped out; rather, the search was too time-consuming. Some emperors even gave up the pursuit, believing it was too much effort and time-consuming. The secrets are too complex for me to reveal. All you need to know, Master Zhongli, is that when the Moon Clan fled the empire, they took something they shouldn't have, even if that item originally belonged to them."
"Fifteen years ago, when my father was still a prince, he allied with a powerful noble family in the Heavenly Soul Empire to destroy a branch of the Moon Clan, but they couldn't find that item, and the matter was left unresolved. So much time has passed, no one knows if that treasure still exists."
"I see." Zhongli Wu's heart stirred slightly. Although still somewhat curious, seeing Xu Tianran's expression of not wanting to say another word, he gave up the idea of asking further.
Why is it considered secret? Because it involves some kind of inheritance.
"Let's end our conversation here for today. It's getting late, so I won't bother you any longer. Farewell." Zhongli Wu stood up, said calmly, and then left.
Watching him leave, Xu Tianran said, "Ju Zi, I'm entrusting you with the task of stirring up public opinion. Can you do it well?" Ju Zi,
standing behind him, clenched her fists, then said in a deep voice, "Ju Zi guarantees that I won't disappoint Your Highness."
"Very good." Xu Tianran nodded with a smile, but there was a hint of coldness in her smile. "It's a pity that my second brother suddenly appeared, so it's inconvenient for me to put you in the army for training. I can only wait a little longer. I promise you, I will definitely send you to an excellent army for training."
Ju Zi said softly, "Ju Zi has always understood Your Highness's heart. I will follow Your Highness's arrangements. There's no rush."
Xu Tianran nodded with satisfaction at these words.
"
Have you heard? It's said that the ones who destroyed Mingdu weren't evil soul masters at all, but people from the Body Sect."
In the sixth-year cafeteria of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, a group of Sun Moon students were whispering amongst themselves, which piqued the curiosity of the Shrek students sitting on the other side, who pricked up their ears to eavesdrop.
Even Huo Yuhao couldn't help but be stunned.
The Body Sect destroyed Mingdu?
Did he hear wrong?
Or were these guys wrong?
"You just found out? Now there are rumors everywhere in Mingdu that the Body Sect killed them, but I don't know if it's true or not."
"I feel it's true, after all, the Body Sect just attacked our Mingde Hall." A student gripped his chopsticks tightly, looking indignant.
"Speaking of which, what exactly is the Body Sect?"
"Uh..."
The sounds of communication and explanation rose and fell.
Huo Yuhao listened, silently finished his meal, and went straight to the laboratory in the teaching building because Xuan Ziwen had given him a task: to go out and conduct a test experiment.
Standing in the elevator, the sound of sliding echoing in his ears, Huo Yuhao's mind was filled with thoughts.
It was clearly the Holy Spirit Cult's stronghold that leaked the evidence of their murders, but now, after so much time, the public opinion has shifted to the Body Sect being responsible. It seems the Holy Spirit Cult has been secretly making moves; after all, who else but them would do such a thing?
Thinking this, Huo Yuhao scanned his identity card and smoothly entered the laboratory.
He paused as soon as he entered, because Ju Zi, who hadn't appeared for several days, finally showed up.
"Yo, Yuhao, you're here." Although they weren't very familiar, Ke Ke still greeted him with a smile. Today, she was dressed in a light blue outfit; although not particularly slender, she was still petite and charming.
"Good morning." Huo Yuhao greeted her politely, then looked at Ju Zi, who was dressed in a white outfit. "Senior, you're here too."
Ju Zi smiled and said, "Teacher Xuan gave me a task; I couldn't refuse."
"What are you planning to do?" Huo Yuhao asked.
Ju Zi explained, "We're going to the Jingyang Mountains to test the soul tools."
"Hmm?" Huo Yuhao's expression remained unchanged, but he chuckled slightly to himself. He thought he wouldn't encounter the same thing Huo Yuhao experienced in the original story, but it seemed to have happened again in this life.
"When exactly do we depart?" Huo Yuhao asked.
Ju Zi said, "That depends on Teacher Xuan's arrangements. Don't worry, Ke Ke and I have done this mission twice before, so we're quite familiar with it."
"I see." Huo Yuhao nodded.
"Sister Ju Zi, what have you been doing these past few days?" Ke Ke changed the subject, pulling on Ju Zi's arm and asking curiously.
Ju Zi's eyes flickered slightly, and she smiled, saying, "Nothing much, I just left for a bit. What's wrong? I've only been gone a few days, and you miss me so much?"
Ke Ke said helplessly, "With you gone, I'm basically the only one in the lab. It's so boring. Teacher Xuan is usually at Mingde Hall too."
She didn't mention Zi Mu and Wang Shaojie to avoid offending Huo Yuhao, which was clever of her.
Ju Zi tapped Ke Ke's brow with her delicate white finger. "Relax, I won't go out anymore. I'll stay and keep you company, okay?"
Ke Ke giggled. "Sure."
Huo Yuhao stood silently to the side, glancing thoughtfully at Ju Zi. With his spiritual power, he could sense a strong change in Ju Zi's emotions when Ke Ke asked her what she had been doing.
She was probably hiding something.
"Everyone's here, right? Perfect timing." Suddenly, the laboratory door opened, and Xuan Ziwen, dressed in a researcher's uniform, walked in. He glanced at everyone and smiled.
"Professor Xuan," the three called out in unison.
"Find a place to sit, let me tell you something." Although Xuan Ziwen had a smile on his face, he looked very tired. Indeed, the damage to Mingde Hall had exhausted him, the chief researcher.
After Huo Yuhao and the other two sat down, Xuan Ziwen said seriously, "Ju Zi took leave a few days ago, so I postponed the testing task. Now that everyone's here, let me explain. I need you to go to Jingyang Mountain Range to test the latest all-terrain detection soul tool, and then analyze the data on the all-terrain detection soul tool's advantages and disadvantages for me."
"This is also your end-of-year assessment task. If you don't do well, hehe, don't blame me for being tough next year."
Looking at Xuan Ziwen's smiling face, Ke Ke chuckled awkwardly, "Professor Xuan, don't worry, we guarantee to complete the task."
Ju Zi also made a serious promise.
Xuan Ziwen shook his head, then turned to Huo Yuhao and said, "Yuhao, your strength is outstanding. We might encounter occasional dangers on the way to the Jingyang Mountains, so I'll have to trouble you to help us out."
Huo Yuhao nodded and said, "No problem."
"Thank you." Xuan Ziwen smiled slightly, then said something else, "Go talk to your Shrek Academy team leader now and see if he'll allow it. If not, I'll personally lead the team this time. If he allows, you can set off at noon."
"Okay." Huo Yuhao replied, standing up, "Then I'll be going now."
With Xuan Ziwen's approval, Huo Yuhao left the laboratory.
Qian Duoduo hesitated for a moment about Huo Yuhao leaving to do a mission, but finally agreed, though she didn't forget to remind him to be careful.
On a sunny afternoon, the three of them, fully prepared and carrying Xuan Ziwen's mission pass, successfully left the academy.
Private flying was not allowed within Mingdu, so the three of them had to first leave a place far from Mingdu before flying towards the Jingyang Mountains, 500 kilometers away. However,
as soon as they arrived at the nearby streets, Huo Yuhao and Keke noticed something amiss.
Restaurants, milk tea shops, flower shops, fruit shops, clothing stores, general stores... it could be said that many people were discussing one thing: who attacked Mingdu, the Evil Soul Masters or the Body Sect?
Huo Yuhao discovered that almost 60% of the people supported the Body Sect's ambush, causing a large number of deaths, given the example of the Mingde Hall and the fact that the Mingde Hall had offered a bounty for the Body Sect's deeds. But 40% believed it was the Evil Soul Masters, since only Evil Soul Masters would collect corpses.
Among the supporters of both viewpoints were some hot-tempered individuals. During the arguments, the red lines escalated, and fights broke out, attracting a crowd of onlookers.
Ju Zi silently observed all this, lost in thought.
"Every day, I feel Mingdu is getting more and more chaotic," Ke Ke complained helplessly. "One minute it's the Body Sect, the next it's the Evil Soul Masters."
"Mingdu is the largest city on the Douluo Continent. It's normal for people to discuss even the slightest thing. We should just live our lives normally," Ju Zi chuckled.
For some reason, Huo Yuhao noticed that when the surrounding people were talking, the majority supported the Body Sect's attack on Mingdu, and Ju Zi's facial expressions changed slightly.
Giving Ju Zi a meaningful look, Huo Yuhao suddenly stopped, a murderous intent flashing in his eyes. Although his strong spiritual power wasn't outwardly displayed, it made Ke Ke and Ju Zi, who were standing nearby, tremble, their spines turning cold, their breath catching in their throats.
"What's wrong?" Seeing the strange expressions on the two women's faces, Huo Yuhao asked, feigning confusion.
Ju Zi and Ke Ke exchanged a glance, their faces full of confusion. The feeling they had just experienced was like being choked, an unbearable agony. It
vanished in the blink of an eye—it was so strange.
However, looking left and right, all they saw were moving crowds, nothing noteworthy. The two girls could only shake their heads to indicate they were alright and continue on their way.
As they walked, Huo Yuhao's soul power surged, his eyes gleaming slightly. With his shared mental detection activated, everything within a thousand meters was within his field of vision.
Just now, several gazes had been fixed on him, filled with hostility.
"Found you." When his mental detection swept across the fourth floor of a restaurant directly opposite the Sun Moon Royal Soul Master Academy, Huo Yuhao spotted four figures whose gazes followed his movements.
The restaurant's location was excellent; it offered a view of the academy gate and the streets on either side.
The four men had cold expressions and unhealthy skin tones. One of them had unusually sharp, dark green fingernails, as if concealing deadly poison.
"An evil spirit master..." Huo Yuhao's heart stirred slightly, and a guess suddenly formed in his mind.
He only withdrew his gaze after walking far away and out of sight.
"Is it him?" Inside the restaurant, the black-clad man with sharp fingernails asked his colleague in a cold voice.
He held a drawing, clearly depicting a portrait—none other than Huo Yuhao's. Strangely, the Huo Yuhao in the portrait didn't appear to be his current age; he looked several years younger.
After careful observation, he immediately nodded in confirmation, "That's right, the person the young master is looking for is him."
"Very good." The black-clad man with sharp fingernails smiled sinisterly. His fingernails grazed the window, and wisps of poison spread, corroding the wooden frame covering the glass mirror. "We've waited so long, we've finally found him. Let's go back and report."
The group exchanged smiles. If they handled this matter well, the young master's reward would be no joke.
He was the Grand Elder's last disciple!
After spending some time away from Mingdu, the three of them prepared their flying gear.
Keke and Ju Zi both used level-five flying soul tools, exquisitely crafted. When soul power was injected into the core array, the wings unfolded, and a faint layer of light appeared on the surface, indicating their exceptional quality.
"You fly with wings?"
Exclamations echoed. Ju Zi and Keke, having just donned their flying soul tools, were completely stunned when they saw Huo Yuhao. Behind him were a pair of wings resembling the aurora borealis or crystal, their layers of light shimmering and translucent under the sunlight.
"Is there a problem?" Huo Yuhao asked in return.
Keke froze, and Ju Zi quickly said, "Although the wings can grant you the ability to fly, we're flying over 500 kilometers this time, so we're in a rush. Your wings might not be able to keep up."
"Oh, that," Huo Yuhao smiled, "Don't worry, my wings aren't the fastest, but they're second only to level seven or higher flying soul tools."
"Second only to..." Ju Zi and Keke paused, looking at the beautiful wings with surprise, but seeing that Huo Yuhao didn't seem to be joking, they didn't say anything more. "Then remember to call us if you can't keep up."
"Okay," Huo Yuhao chuckled.
As the tail flames surged from the nozzle, Keke and Ju Zi quickly ascended into the sky, while Huo Yuhao simply spread his wings and soared into the air.
Why use the White Dragon Wings to fly? It's simple: they can continuously absorb sunlight, which Huo Yuhao could use to inject solar power into the undead demiplane while traveling.
Right now, the undead were all lining up to undergo modification.
Initially, Ju Zi and Ke Ke were worried that Huo Yuhao wouldn't be able to keep up, but they quickly put that thought aside.
Huo Yuhao was not only faster than them, but he also flew the entire way without showing any signs of fatigue. His stamina truly astonished them.
Mingdu was over 500 kilometers from the Jingyang Mountains. After flying 400 kilometers, the two women said they couldn't keep going and needed to rest.
However, it was already past 4 PM, so the three of them chose a streamside spot as a temporary campsite to rest.
Gazing at the picturesque riverside landscape, Orange's eyes darted around, and she suddenly chuckled, "Yuhao, help us set up the tent, we're going to catch some edible animal."
Huo Yuhao was about to mention that he had a ton of food in his storage ring, but then he remembered that when a teacher came to inspect the dorm, he had eaten it all with the Shrek students. Helpless, he could only say, "I'll set up the tent, you guys hurry back."
Orange licked her pink lips, clearly remembering Huo Yuhao's barbecue skills. She pulled Keke away quickly; the nearby area was forested, so there was probably no shortage of normal animals.
Shaking his head, Huo Yuhao immediately began setting up the tent and gathering some wood for later use.
...
"You found him? Are you sure it's him?"
Inside the manor, in the luxuriously decorated living room, Dai Huabin grabbed the shoulders of his subordinate, speaking excitedly, his grip tightening unconsciously.
"Hiss... Young Master, I've confirmed several times, that person is indeed Huo Yuhao you mentioned." The evil spirit master with green fingernails gasped, feeling as if his shoulders were about to crack from Dai Huabin's grip.
"Good, good, good." Dai Huabin paced back and forth, extremely excited. He suddenly stopped and looked over, saying, "You've done a great job. I'll talk to the teacher and give you the rewards you deserve."
"Thank you, Young Master." Several evil spirit masters' eyes lit up with joy, and as if rehearsed, they instantly knelt down to express their gratitude.
"Alright, all of you, step back. Remember, continue to monitor him." Dai Huabin said, barely suppressing his excitement.
"Yes, sir." The men bowed respectfully and then left.
"Huo Yuhao, Huo Yuhao, you actually came to the Sun Moon Empire." Dai Huabin's chest heaved, his eyes burning with fury.
Huo Yuhao was like a thorn, embedded in his heart for so long; the hatred was etched into his very bones.
Being expelled from Shrek Academy, being slapped by his mother, Dai Yueheng's smugness, Zhu Lu's advances towards Huo Yuhao...
Recalling those events, a dark glint appeared in Dai Huabin's eyes, and faint dark patterns emerged from his skin.
"Huabin."
Suddenly, a calm voice rang out, startling Dai Huabin. "Teacher," he called respectfully.
"Now, go to the main altar immediately to report. Next, a mission is assigned to you brats." Gui Wujing's voice transmission rang out.
Dai Huabin's expression was cold and unchanging. The so-called mission was simply killing; he had already killed over three hundred people.
"Remember, you must complete the mission perfectly. According to sect tradition, the sect leader will select a few juniors to reward. The reward could be a soul bone, a soul tool, or even killing someone for you. Didn't you want to kill that enemy of Shrek Academy? The opportunity is right in front of you. Whether you can seize it is up to you."
A ripple appeared in Dai Huabin's originally cold and calm eyes.
The reward could be killing someone…
....................
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