Begin the Operation

While the Child of Destiny was still dazedly powering up, the scouting party had already assembled.

This was a team made entirely of Titled Douluo, about to delve deep into the secrets of the Star Dou Great Forest.

"Jing Hongchen, what do you mean by this?!"

After leaving Shrek City, Xuan Zi saw a Ninth Level Soul Guidance Master outside the city take out two Ninth Level Soul Guidance Cannon Shells from his Storage Soul Tool, aiming them directly at the prosperous city of Shrek.

"Soul Tools need maintenance, you know. The weather is so nice today. It'd be a shame not to take them out and let them air out."

Jing Hongchen casually came up with an excuse. After all, few people here liked Shrek, and Du Busi even chuckled, wondering when he could get a few from the Sun Moon Empire to play with.

"Are you looking to die?!"

As they drew closer, the group could more clearly sense the terrifying fluctuations radiating from the Ninth Level Soul Guidance Cannon Shells. They silently estimated whether they could survive the blast. Naturally, Xuan Zi could not allow those two shells to threaten Shrek Academy.

"No, no. My grandson and granddaughter are there too. I can't exactly send them to their deaths, can I?"

Jing Hongchen spread his hands, looking utterly innocent.

The major empires had actually discussed in private whether they could secretly join forces and kill the Ninth Level Soul Guidance Master who had stayed behind. The Soul Tools on him could greatly supplement the Soul Tool systems of the Douluo Three Kingdoms.

But now, looking at those two "mushroom bombs" below, they were glad they had not settled on that plan.

Destroying Shrek Academy just to kill a Ninth Level Soul Guidance Master, only to be defeated one by one by the Sun Moon Empire afterward—that would have been laughable.

Xuan Zi's face darkened, but Xian Lin Er behind him persuaded him to let it go. He could only viciously throw out, "Maybe you're cruel enough to deliberately send them to their deaths," before increasing his flying speed and shooting straight toward the Star Dou Great Forest.

The other Titled Douluo had no choice but to speed up as well, struggling to maintain their formation.

Jing Hongchen and the other Ninth Level Soul Guidance Master exchanged smiles, shrugged, and increased the Soul Power flowing into their flying Soul Tools.

It had only ever been a temporary alliance, and the group traveled in silence, following the direction of the golden pillar.

They flew until they had just entered the mixed zone, then stopped flying and chose to proceed on foot.

According to the intelligence, this area already contained a large number of Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. If they continued flying high in the air, they might get tangled up with flying Soul Beasts and then surrounded by ground-based Soul Beasts. A few Titled Douluo might very well die.

Under Xuan Zi's disdainful gaze and the vehement demands of the Titled Douluo from the various empires, they ultimately began slowly advancing from the ground.

They were all Titled Douluo and were highly practiced at concealing their auras. Almost no Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts noticed them along the way.

Whenever a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast charged right at them, it was immediately captured by all eleven Titled Douluo working together. It could be considered the highlight of its life: becoming enemies with eleven Titled Douluo equivalent to Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts at once.

"So far, we haven't discovered anything abnormal in the Star Dou Great Forest. It seems we'll still have to go to the core region and face those Fierce Beasts."

Xian Lin Er frowned slightly. Her black hair was tied up neatly, and she wore white clothes trimmed in gold, looking valiant and heroic.

"I say we just fight our way in. What's with all this trouble? We're wasting time creeping along."

Xuan Zi looked impatient. He had always been hot-tempered and often relied on brute force when faced with problems, so this slow-paced operation was naturally getting on his nerves.

"How about you go in and scout the way for us? Don't worry, we're all at the same level. I'll personally hold a memorial for you every year."

Du Busi raised an eyebrow, his face full of mockery. If Xuan Zi took the initiative to go die, he definitely would not laugh. He promised.

"In your dreams."

Xuan Zi snapped back, unable to resist taking out a wine gourd from his Storage Soul Tool and taking a huge swig. Though he disliked Soul Tools, he had to admit that Storage Soul Tools capable of holding wine were rather nice.

The empire Titled Douluo nearby looked helpless but did not dare speak. They were merely ordinary Titled Douluo, rookies who had only just entered the rank. If they had truly been powerful, why would they have been sent to scout? Faced with these big shots, all of whom outranked them, they could only tremble in fear.

Jing Hongchen paid no attention to Xuan Zi and Du Busi's bickering. Instead, he took a strange device from his Soul Tool and placed it on the ground, then produced a screen in his hand.

The Titled Douluo were drawn to Jing Hongchen's actions. The Douluo Three Kingdoms side knew far too little about the Sun Moon Empire's Soul Tools and wanted to know exactly what he was doing.

"This is a Soul Power Detector, the Sun Moon Empire's latest research achievement. It can detect Soul Power fluctuations within a five-kilometer radius."

Jing Hongchen noticed their gazes but did not care. These Soul Tools all had self-destruct devices, and they were the kind of Soul Tools that remained difficult to guard against even if one knew about them. After all, very few people could completely suppress their own Soul Power fluctuations.

It was usually used in conjunction with surveillance Soul Tools throughout the empire. However, with war about to break out, vast quantities of resources had been devoted to military purposes, so only a few hidden areas had been equipped with them.

Xuan Zi's eyes lit up. With such a thing, they would not have to fear Soul Beast ambushes at all. If he had possessed one while leading his team back then, he would not have been directly rammed by a Beast King and ended up as the sole survivor.

Seeing the Soul Tool before her, Xian Lin Er deeply felt the enormous gap between Shrek Academy's Soul Tool technology and that of the Sun Moon Empire. It was not a gap of decades or even a century, but of several centuries and dozens of generations.

Even something as simple as displaying information on a screen was beyond what Shrek Academy's Soul Tool Department could accomplish. The Soul Tool Department specialized only in combat and mostly focused on assisting individual battles. Its ability to support warfare was nearly nonexistent, much less civilian applications.

Jing Hongchen did not concern himself with the others' thoughts. He activated the Soul Power Detector to help detect the Soul Beasts. After all, he was not confident that he could survive on his own, and helping others was helping himself.

Dots of light appeared on the screen. The stronger the detected Soul Power fluctuation, the larger the dot.

"Are the Soul Beasts here really this densely packed?"

Jing Hongchen's expression turned ugly. The screen was covered in densely packed dots of light, almost completely surrounding them.

Information processing technology had yet to be developed, so the detector could only make rough classifications.

Jing Hongchen turned a knob beside the machine, and most of the dots on the screen quickly vanished, leaving only sparse dots scattered across it. He had set the display range to Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.

"Someone carry the machine. We can avoid provoking as many Soul Beasts as possible."

Jing Hongchen shook the screen in his hand. His side could not be the only one putting in effort; the others had to do some grunt work too.

Xuan Zi stomped his right foot, making the ground tremble. The machine, along with the chunk of earth beneath it, floated into the air.

"Let's go. We should get in there faster."

He was quite interested in the thing and had the machine float at his side as he examined it repeatedly.

Jing Hongchen said nothing more. He remained deeply wary of that old bastard at Rank Ninety-Eight. At worst, he could just detonate it; he had another one anyway.

..."Lu Master, they've arrived."

Ten Thousand Demons King opened his eyes. A wisp of flame rose and fell within his originally bewitching gaze.

"And it seems there are two groups. The other group appears to be Evil Soul Masters."

Nearly all plant-type Soul Beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest were his eyes and ears. Naturally, he knew that humans also had a group of Evil Soul Masters who often slaughtered Soul Beasts to improve their Soul Rings.

"Go on, show them the splendor of demons!"

Lu Wu lay peacefully on the back of the Three-Eyed Golden Lion as he spoke to the gathered demons.

The Three-Eyed Golden Lion slowly rose to her feet. Her golden-red fur drifted gently in the breeze, like a burning flame.

The order she had received was to find a good position and watch the battle, to watch her "uncles and aunties" defeat the humans.

After all, in Lu Wu's eyes, this was nothing more than a show.

Please keep reading, please keep reading!!!