Setting Off! Destination: Sun Moon Empire

Chapter: Departure! Target: Sun Moon Empire

"If you're talking about the best school... then it has to be the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Academy. I'm not sure if they're still accepting transfer students, but if not, the Mingdu Soul Engineer Academy next door isn't bad either."

Wang Dong pulled a map from her storage soul tool and began marking it for Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu. Huo Yuhao asked curiously, "Wang Dong, I remember you saying you didn't really like soul tools. How come you're using a storage soul tool now?"

Wang Dong's tone faltered in embarrassment. "Some things are still quite practical in daily life... and my way of thinking has changed a bit since that day! Otherwise, I wouldn't be setting my sights on the Sun Moon Empire. Seriously, are you planning to go check out these two academies?"

"Mm." Huo Yuhao nodded. "Let's settle on that for now."

"Good, then we'll head to the Sun Moon Empire via the border of the Heaven Dou Empire." Wang Dong winked at the two of them. "I can't handle things on the Star Luo side, but I can manage to get exit permits for the Heavenly Soul side."

"Then I'll leave it to you, Wang Dong."

The route to the border between the two countries did not overlap with the path to the Extreme North, which left Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu full of curiosity about everything along the way.

At first, Wang Dong insisted on carrying her large backpack, claiming it gave her a sense of travel; but after three days of the arduous journey, she silently sorted the items inside and tucked them into her storage soul tool.

Huo Yuhao spent a few copper soul coins at small stalls to buy some novels to read on the road. The most popular novels in the three Douluo nations were naturally stories about those who became gods ten thousand years ago. Whether it was the Chronicles of Shrek's Seven Devils or the Legend of the Tang Sect...

After reading for a few days, Huo Yuhao discovered that the stories in each book were different, and they didn't quite match what was introduced during the entrance ceremony at Shrek Academy, making it impossible to tell which were true.

Chi Qiu recorded the exotic flowers and plants she saw as she walked; some were things not found in the Star Dou Great Forest, which felt very fresh to her. Since arriving in the human world, she had learned to write and take notes.

Seeing Huo Yuhao's collection of street-stall unofficial histories, she thought that perhaps soul beasts also needed a history book, or an encyclopedia. This might prevent many of those who had gained intelligence from repeating the tragedies of their predecessors.

When they reached the border of the Heaven Dou Empire, the three stopped renting carriages and proceeded on foot. Wang Dong first dragged Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu to the last commercial street nearby and asked the clerk at a tailor shop to outfit them with new attire.

When they left the shop, Huo Yuhao was wearing a plain, narrow-sleeved short shirt with ink-colored flowing cloud patterns embroidered on the collar; a deep cyan sash was tied around his waist, where his storage soul tool and White Tiger Dagger were secured; he wore simple trousers and boots.

He looked simple and capable, his plain clothes complementing his ink-black hair and emerald eyes. It swept away the stale air of his old clothes and lacked the excessive gaudiness forced upon children by the Shrek uniform; he now looked quite like a normal youth.

Chi Qiu chose a wine-red dress with golden dragon patterns; the buttons were copper-colored, and the collar and cuffs featured fine gold-leaf trim. She wore a dark brown shawl over it, which cleverly masked some of the color, making the flamboyance of the outfit appear slightly more restrained.

Wang Dong still wore her white clothes and trousers with the gold-blue butterfly pattern. Once Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu had changed into their new clothes, she was the first to get excited. "Good, good, good! I told you my aesthetic sense was fine. This looks much better than the Shrek uniform."

"It seems you had a lot of resentment toward it?" Chi Qiu clearly didn't have much research into human clothing and aesthetics.

"Of course! Who taught Shrek that if they couldn't design something, they should just add metal elements to the uniform? It's heavy as death! Don't you dare tell me that's part of their physical training for students."

Listening to this rant, Chi Qiu smiled imperceptibly. "It is indeed heavy. This outfit feels much lighter and more breathable."

By comparison, Huo Yuhao didn't have much of a reaction to the change in clothing. However, he did agree that it felt lighter; previously, when training at Shrek, the uniform was so stifling that he would be drenched in sweat, making him feel like showering twice a day wasn't enough.

"Are we going straight across now?" Huo Yuhao pointed to the border marker not far away, making an astonishing statement from someone with no travel experience.

"How could we do that!" Wang Dong looked speechless. "Brother Yuhao! This is a national border; it's heavily guarded, and the Sun Moon Empire and Heavenly Soul aren't on good terms. If you just walk across like that, the moment your left foot crosses the line, you'll be riddled with holes by the Sun Moon Empire's soul ray cannons."

"Wait for me a moment," she said. "I'm going to handle the exit permits."

Wang Dong turned and headed toward a black-brown, single-story building not far away. The style of the building was heavy and solemn, with no overly bright colors on the main body, only the front door painted in an airtight red. A plaque under the eaves, with gold characters on a red background, was particularly eye-catching, reading "Heaven Bless Heavenly Soul."

This must be the place to process the exit permits. Huo Yuhao gently nudged Chi Qiu. "Wang Dong will probably take a while. How about we go take a look over there?" After saying this, he pointed toward the vicinity of the border marker, where soldiers from both countries were patrolling. Chi Qiu understood immediately that Huo Yuhao was interested in the soul tools equipped on the Sun Moon Empire soldiers.

"Don't get too close," Chi Qiu said. "My Golden Perception tells me it's dangerous. Just activate your Spiritual Detection around here."

Huo Yuhao acknowledged her, and then Spiritual Detection Sharing was quietly activated.

During the process of fusing with the Ice Empress, his Sea of Consciousness had expanded to twice its size while enduring extreme pain. Both the power of destiny and the power of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm had replenished his Sea of Consciousness in time, leaving Huo Yuhao with an astonishing reserve of spiritual power.

A golden light flashed in his emerald eyes, and his Spiritual Detection had already swept out five hundred meters; under the fan-shaped detection, his scanning range was further improved. Soon, the detection range quietly enveloped the advancing Sun Moon Empire soldiers.

Seeing the situation of these soldiers clearly, Huo Yuhao couldn't help but break into a cold sweat. He had to be thankful that no one here had spiritual cultivation exceeding his own. The weakest in this squad was a three-ring Soul Elder, and their captain was a six-ring Soul Emperor. The soul tools they were equipped with ranged from level three to level six, all possessing terrifying lethality.

Chi Qiu also saw it through the sharing; those soul tools had exceeded her imagination. As expected, the Soul Tool Department of Shrek was only a corner of the world of soul tools.

"So powerful," Huo Yuhao couldn't help but exclaim. "Just thinking about being able to study in this kind of soul tool atmosphere makes me a little excited."

"Now I also hope to learn a bit more about these things," Chi Qiu nodded. She was thinking about the future of soul beasts.

The two squatted there, watching intently for a long while, and only stopped observing when Huo Yuhao's spiritual power began to drop.

By this time, the sky had turned dark, and the last sliver of twilight was struggling on the western horizon. The solemn door creaked, and Wang Dong hopped out with light steps, jogging back to the two of them.

"It's done." Wang Dong took out three items that looked like tokens. "What a hassle."

In truth, it shouldn't have been a hassle, as the Heaven Dou Empire didn't conduct census or registration, nor did they issue the documents required for identity verification. As long as the reason you gave wasn't too outrageous, you looked like a Heavenly Soul citizen, and your identity wasn't suspicious, they would let you pass.

However, Huo Yuhao was a "black household" from Star Luo with no identification, Chi Qiu was from the Star Dou Great Forest, and she, Wang Dong, had grown up in the Clear Sky Sect and had never been to other parts of the Heaven Dou Empire, so she didn't look like a Heavenly Soul citizen either. Because of this, Wang Dong had spent so much time arguing to convince the person in charge.

"Ahem, listen up!" Wang Dong cleared her throat and put on a stern face. Huo Yuhao and Chi Qiu also cooperated by acting like they were listening to a lecture. Wang Dong waved the tokens in her hand, looking like a teacher imparting knowledge:

"When we go out in a moment, if the people on the Heavenly Soul side ask you where you plan to develop after finishing your studies in the Sun Moon Empire, say you plan to return to the three Douluo nations."

"After crossing over, if the people on the Sun Moon Empire side ask the same question, say you plan to stay in the Sun Moon Empire to develop."

"Did you understand?"

Huo Yuhao nodded thoughtfully.

Chi Qiu shook her head. "Doesn't that mean we're lying to one side regardless of whether we choose to return to the three Douluo nations or stay in the Sun Moon Empire? What if we get caught?"

Wang Dong waved her small hand. "You're so naive, Miss Qiu! The three Douluo nations don't even register identities. By the time we finish school, it will have been several years; who would remember? If you still want to return to the three Douluo nations to develop by then, you'll probably have to repeat this line of questioning all over again."

Chi Qiu's pure heart as a soul beast received a bit of a shock.

"Then let's go," Huo Yuhao said. "It's getting late. We need to find a place to rest once we cross over."