"Brother Danzo, we're about to enter the Heavenly Soul Empire," a young merchant guild guard reminded Huo Yuhao enthusiastically.
Huo Yuhao rode a tall, white-scaled horse, equipped with a simple balancing soul tool, allowing even a novice like him to easily control the steed.
During this time, Huo Yuhao had successfully become acquainted with some members of the Dingyi Merchant Guild.
These guild members frequently traveled between the original Douluo Three Kingdoms, and some had even been to the Sun Moon Empire.
They knew most of the continent, including many places not described in detail in the original work.
For example, in the central part of the Star Luo Empire, there were the Tiger Fury Mountains, Tiger Might Mountains, and Tiger Roar Mountains. These three mountain ranges formed a core delta, an important gathering place for soul beasts in the Star Luo Empire, mainly tiger-type soul beasts.
South of their city, Beiming, lay a vast Cataclysmic Mountain Range, composed of the Cataclysmic Mountains and the Catastrophe Mountains.
That mountain range is prone to various natural disasters. It's said that a Soul Master once ventured deep into that range and encountered a peculiar lion-dog-like Soul Beast.
This Soul Beast was six meters long, covered in brilliant golden fur, resembling a giant lion, but with a black, demonic face like that of a canine.
The Soul Master was a level 96 Super Douluo, his Martial Soul being the Terror Armored Rock Bear. Judging from its name, he was clearly a Title Douluo specializing in strength.
In his perception, this Soul Beast's cultivation was only 30,000 years; with his Super Douluo level, he could easily kill it.
Therefore, he initially didn't take it seriously, merely releasing Soul Power fluctuations to try and force it back.
Unexpectedly, this enraged the beast, causing it to unleash its unique domain. Within the domain, it lost its mind and clashed head-on with the Super Douluo.
Incredibly, the Super Douluo was severely injured, half his body nearly blasted into a pulp by some immense force.
Had he not possessed a long-range teleportation Soul Bone Technique, he probably would have died there.
After that, virtually no high-level Soul Masters ventured into that mountain range.
The guild member who told Huo Yuhao this story told him to take it with a grain of salt, as its age was too ancient to be verified, and many didn't believe a 30,000-year-old Soul Beast could defeat a Super Douluo.
Furthermore, the Soul Beast lacked dragon-like characteristics, indicating it didn't possess dragon blood. How could a lion-dog type Soul Beast accomplish something even dragons struggled with?
However, Huo Yuhao knew the story was likely true.
Upon hearing the description of the Soul Beast, he recognized it as the extinct Golden Lion Mastiff from the Legend of the Dragon King.
The Golden Lion Mastiff was the ancestor of all canine Soul Beasts; in the original story, even Tang Wulin, a level 90 Soul Beast with the Golden Dragon King bloodline, was nearly killed by a 10,000-year-old Golden Lion Mastiff, demonstrating its formidable power.
This was precisely Huo Yuhao's purpose in befriending these guild members: to learn about the continent's secrets and extract useful intelligence from them.
For example, he now knows there's a golden-haired lion-mastiff over 30,000 years old in the Cataclysmic Mountain Range, so he won't have to run around so much if he needs it later.
Soon, the convoy passed through the North Bright Canyon ahead, and on the other side of the canyon was the territory of the Heavenly Soul Empire.
During the crossing of the canyon, Huo Yuhao saw many abandoned war fortifications, and judging from the degree of oxidation and damage to the metal, they probably hadn't been maintained for a thousand years.
Huo Yuhao turned to the enthusiastic merchant guard and asked, "Brother Li, this place, as the border between Tianhun and Xingluo, should be a strategic location. Why are these fortifications so dilapidated?"
"And there isn't a single army stationed on either side of the canyon?" Hearing
Huo Yuhao's question, Li Fei pointed west and said, "Brother Danzo, you may not know, but almost all of Xingluo's army is currently stationed in the Mingdou Mountains."
"Only some key passages along the border with the Tianhun Empire have military camps."
"The high-level military preparedness of the Tianhun Empire was abolished a thousand years ago. It's said that a powerful figure from Shrek Academy persuaded them to focus their efforts on defending against the Sun and Moon Empire."
Huo Yuhao nodded thoughtfully.
Leaving the North Ming Canyon, a vast, boundless expanse of lush grassland came into view.
The green waves surged like billows in the wind, occasionally punctuated by a few unknown butterfly-like soul beasts fluttering among the leaves, like stars leaping from the azure waves.
Having never witnessed such a sight in his previous life, Huo Yuhao was stunned. The rich aroma of earth and grass in the air made him feel as if he were in a dream.
Or rather, even in his dreams, he wouldn't have dared to imagine such beauty in his previous life.
Seeing Huo Yuhao's intoxicated expression, Li Fei couldn't help but say, "I'm always awestruck when I pass through here. My hometown is in the eastern desert of the Star Luo Empire. That place is nothing but sand and rocks; sometimes you can't even see a bird for hundreds of miles!"
"But this is only part of the journey where you can see it. Beyond that, it's mountains."
Huo Yuhao didn't continue the conversation. On horseback, he slightly extended his spiritual power, carefully feeling the gentle breeze flowing around him.
This was the first time Huo Yuhao truly felt that he was living in a completely new world, a world full of life, making him realize that this world was far more than the fixed ink on paper in his previous life.
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A silent transformation was taking place deep within Huo Yuhao's spirit. If he were to open his interface now, he would find that his original 800 points of spiritual power were slowly increasing.
His control over the [Understanding] Authority had also reached 3%.
After a full day of travel, they were still 900 li away from their destination, Xuanfeng City, and would arrive by tomorrow afternoon.
The Heavenly Soul Empire was not as safe as the Star Luo Empire at night, so the caravan dared not travel rashly and could only spend the night in a valley.
In a secluded corner of the valley, Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao sat by a campfire, roasting food.
Li Fei, who had just set up his tent in the distance, walked over, and Huo Yuhao picked up a skewer of roasted fish from the campfire and handed it to him.
Li Fei wiped his sweat, sat down opposite the campfire, took a bite of the fish, and began to chew.
Then his eyes lit up and he said, "Brother Tuanzang, your roasted fish is absolutely amazing! I've never tasted anything so delicious in all my travels."
Xiao Xiao nodded in agreement; she had never eaten such delicious roasted fish in the merchant guild either.
"I agree! This is even better than the grilled fish at the God of Cookery in Tiandou City!" She shook her head, chewing the fish and speaking indistinctly.
Huo Yuhao gently shook his head, indicating that it was too much praise. Then, as if he had thought of something, he looked at Li Fei and asked,
"By the way, aren't there any cities around here? We've been walking for so long and haven't seen a single one."
This question wasn't just puzzling Huo Yuhao; Xiao Xiao also stared at Li Fei with her bright eyes, expressing her curiosity.
Although Xiao Xiao was a young lady from the merchant guild, she had rarely left home for various reasons, and she was also curious about the situation in the Tianhun Empire.
Li Fei looked helplessly at the campfire in front of him and said,
"The Heavenly Soul Empire and the Douling Empire used to be one country called the Heavenly Dou Empire."
"When they split, the two empires fought for hundreds of years, causing their national strength to decline. Just as the two empires were trying to recuperate after the war, the Sun Moon Empire arrived."
"That war that swept across the continent completely destroyed the economies of the Heavenly Soul and Douling Empires at the time."
"Prices in the Heavenly Soul Empire skyrocketed, cities were full of refugees, and even cannibalism occurred. As a result, a large number of residents fled the cities to the more fertile Heavenly Dou Plain, where Shrek Academy was located."
"This led to the Heavenly Soul Empire having virtually no cities on its borders, with many cities concentrated on the Heavenly Dou Plain. The cheap labor of civilians even made Shrek City one of the most prosperous cities on the continent!"
After explaining the reasons to the two, Li Fei quickly finished his grilled fish in a few bites, and without wiping the crumbs from his mouth, stood up and said to Huo Yuhao:
"Alright, bro, I'm going to keep watch on the outer perimeter. You guys take over the inner circle."
After Li Fei disappeared into the darkness, Huo Yuhao shooed Xiao Xiao, who was reluctant to keep watch with him, into the tent like a chick.
"Tch, Uncle, you're so heartless."
Xiao Xiao made a face at Huo Yuhao before pulling the tent shut and turning off the soul-guided lamp inside.
Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged beside the tent, entering a meditative state. At the same time, he subtly channeled his mental power in conjunction with his soul power to vibrate the surrounding air, emitting silent, special fluctuations. He
then received these reflected waves to probe the surrounding area.
This technique was something Huo Yuhao had recently figured out. In his previous life, he was at least a planetary engine repairman, so he was quite familiar with the principles and methods of generating ultrasound.
He simulated ultrasound by using the resonance of his mental and soul power. The reflected ultrasound was received by his mental power and then transmitted to his brain for analysis. Although this method wasn't as convenient as the mental detection in the original story, it had the advantage of extremely low soul power consumption and a long detection range.
The disadvantage was that it required the brain to process the large amount of information brought back by the sound waves precisely and quickly.
In other words, Huo Yuhao's martial soul is the Spirit Eye, and after evolving into the Kaleidoscope, it allows for precise control over mental energy. It would probably take a normal person ten years to learn this skill.
In the latter half of the night, the moon was obscured by dark clouds, and the campfire had long since burned out, leaving only the faint red glow of embers in the valley. Suddenly,
Huo Yuhao's mental energy stirred; his mental detection wave sensed something rapidly approaching from the eastern part of the valley.
"One, two, three…"
Huo Yuhao abruptly opened his eyes, looking towards the eastern part of the valley. In the pitch-black night, he could vaguely see birds being startled.
Without hesitation, Huo Yuhao shouted to everyone in the valley:
"Attention everyone, there's something happening in the eastern part of the valley!!!"
(End of Chapter)