Master's Bro's Brilliant Idea (Bonus Chapter with Thanks)

That night...

At the edge of a forest outside Dragon City.

Jiang Hao pulled his padded coat tight, breathed out a cloud of frost, and looked down at Dragon City, buried beneath a blizzard in the valley below.

"Yeah, it really is cold here." Sixth Bro had curled in on himself against the cold.

A month had passed since Jiang Hao and the others left Heaven Dou City. They had arrived early on the outskirts of Dragon City.

"How's it looking, Old Rogue? When will Owl and Fan Zi get here?" Sixth Bro rubbed his reddened hands together and yawned.

"Let's get into the tent. It's too cold out here." Jiang Hao ruffled Sixth Bro's hair as he spoke.

Not long after setting out, Jiang Hao had found an excuse to bring them into the group.

With those dozen or so people added, the group of clones numbered over forty. They sat loosely around a large tent pitched between several carriages.

"What do we do now? When will Captain Xiao arrive? Why did he suddenly make this decision?"

Qingzhu had spent the whole journey unable to understand what these people were thinking.

Beside her, Baozi Bro patted her shoulder. "You'll get used to it. Captain Xiao has always been cautious. We offended the Xuanming Sect over a single trading caravan's shipment, so of course the first thing he'd do was move our base.

"It was the same last time. Once we're strong enough, we can fight our way back."

He skewered two more buns and held them over the coals, muttering, "Ever since we entered the Far North, all our Martial Souls have been affected one way or another.

"If we didn't have Brother Long, our human furnace, we'd probably be even colder. Even the buns would freeze." Beside him, Sixth Bro looked puzzled.

"Your Martial Souls have all been affected? Why hasn't mine?"

He spread his hands in confusion and summoned his Martial Soul. It was still a river flowing upward from below, with droplets continually appearing and gathering at its base. There was no sign of the cold freezing it.

"No idea. Your Martial Soul is pretty strange. If Martial Soul Awakening gave us any insight or information, we'd have known what the thing was long ago."

The many clones exchanged thoughts within the Spiritual Sea, and the entire tent fell silent.

They all understood what lay behind that shared observation: none of them was a separate individual. When their Martial Souls awakened, no hints appeared in their minds. Their attributes and abilities were things they had to discover for themselves.

With a whoosh, Jiang Hao slapped the tent flap and stepped outside. "Come help Captain Xiao and the others. They brought too much cargo. The horses froze to death on the road, and the carriage wheels are stuck in snowdrifts."

At Jiang Hao's urging, the nearby clones rose and wrapped their clothes more tightly around themselves.

They wound scarves warmed above the stove back around their faces, then trudged into the boundless sea of snow, leaving one footprint after another.

Qingzhu, bundled up on the other side, still could not understand how these people knew where the others were without communicating. Did someone in the group have a Soul Skill that let them sense one another?

Only after walking another kilometer did she see the ten carriages.

Jiang Hao glanced at the group of more than four hundred behind them and quietly felt reassured.

Having all the other clones come along would waste too much time and attract too much attention.

These people made up the Thirty-Person Group's public-facing numbers.

"Wind Dragon Fang is a kilometer ahead. Follow the official road down the slope and we'll reach Dragon City. We'll camp up front tonight," Owl Bro said. Training Bro began harnessing two ten-year Soul Beasts, which they had just caught in the Soul Beast forest and which could withstand the bitter cold, to the carriages.

Push together!

Jiang Hao pulled Owl Bro along to walk at the very front.

"I've calmed down now. I've waited all these days because I wanted to hear it from you personally."

At that, Owl Bro poured out everything he had gathered.

"After we left the Star Dou Great Forest, we left two people behind to keep watch. We waited half a month before setting out.

"They're at the very back of the group now.

"They're both flying Soul Masters, so they're faster. They should catch up in about a week.

"After we left, the Xuanming Sect sent people there. The Body Sect did too.

"We cleaned the place up thoroughly, so neither side found anything. There's no way they know where we went."

Jiang Hao nodded. The Xuanming Sect had probably traced the shipment there, while the Body Sect had most likely come because Fatty Liu and the others reported what had happened.

Owl Bro continued. "I've gathered information on the Xuanming Sect lately. Their businesses cover some unusual ground.

"Real estate is their mainstay. Entertainment ventures, themed bars, and medicinal products are their newer industries.

"The Mystic Water Pill and the Black Tortoise Divine Pill are their best-selling medicinal products.

"The Xuanming Sect has Strongholds in several major cities. I couldn't find out how strong their Soul Masters are, but I'd estimate their inner and outer sects have more than ten thousand people.

"Most of the weaker ones are around one or two rings.

"There may be close to a hundred stronger members, if we count those with four or five rings. I couldn't find out about anyone above that. All I know is that they have a Titled Douluo."

"Ten thousand. That's the absolute limit," Jiang Hao mused.

"There can't be more than that. And probably half of them only have one ring and work as guards or staff.

"Three or four rings would already put someone among the sect's upper-middle ranks. There can't be many at the very top.

"They probably have only a handful of Titled Douluo and Soul Douluo.

"People like that would hold elder positions in the Offering Hall.

"That day in Heaven Dou City, we badly wounded one of their Soul Douluo.

"But given how quickly they recover, he's probably healed by now. We either wipe out the Xuanming Sect in one stroke or leave it alone. Once we beat the grass and startle the snake, we'll face wide-ranging attacks from their strongest fighters.

That was what troubled Jiang Hao most. Even against a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast, careful planning and enough distance could keep the clones' losses to a minimum.

But a human Titled Douluo was highly intelligent. Using the same approach against one would be courting death."

Jiang Hao sighed. "Anything else?"

Owl Bro looked a little uncomfortable, but he said it anyway. "The Xuanming Sect came knocking afterward, in Heaven Dou City. Guess who they went to?"

"Northern Snow Trading House?"

Jiang Hao had left a clone to keep watch over Xiaoxiao in case the other side grew desperate. No word of trouble had come from there, so nothing had happened to her. That left only Northern Snow Trading House."

"No. They went to the Dou Ling Empire's imperial family. Now the whole Dou Ling Empire has put out warrants for the Thirty-Person Group and the Fatui. Only Evil Soul Masters are pursued more aggressively."

"There's one more thing you'll be interested in. I picked up rumors that a Titled Douluo from the Body Sect attacked the Xuanming Sect's headquarters not long ago.

"He killed one of their Soul Douluo and seriously wounded another before the Xuanming Sect's Titled Douluo stopped him.

"He also wrecked a third of the Xuanming Sect's buildings. Now the Xuanming Sect is searching the entire continent for the Body Sect's base, saying they'll join forces with the major powers to wipe it out.

"That report is also how I determined the Xuanming Sect has a Titled Douluo."

"Holy shit! That's huge!"

"One Soul Douluo dead and another seriously wounded? Is the Body Sect really that fierce?" Sixth Bro suddenly stuck his head between them.

"Where did you come from?" Owl Bro exclaimed. He had not noticed Sixth Bro at all.

But Sixth Bro went on. "Once I reach Titled Douluo myself, the Xuanming Sect will be in trouble if they so much as look at me with both eyes."

"Enough, you two. Stop fooling around."

Jiang Hao pulled them apart, and Owl Bro added, "One more thing. Before I left the Thirty-Person Group's camp, I sent the Earth Dragon Sect an invitation. I told them Master's Bro had made a small breakthrough in his research and figured they'd be interested."

"New research?" Jiang Hao looked at Master's Bro and tried to read his memories.

In an instant, a vast flood of memories burst from deep within his mind, flashing past like a series of slides.

Wait. There's something wrong with this perspective. Why can I see Master's Bro himself in Master's Bro's memories?

Today's third update! The previous chapter, Chapter 44, was a four-thousand-character chapter and counted as two updates. This is the third, with one more to come shortly. This chapter is a thank-you bonus~

Thank you to all my dear readers for supporting Main Body Old Rogue over the past two weeks. Thank you for the recommendation votes and monthly tickets. The first thing I do every morning is read the comments to see if anyone has spotted another problem so I can fix it right away.

Special thanks to

Huoying Sifeng Remnant Dream!!! Zhuyi Wo Underworld River Bumei Wo Yongcun Xi DE Lifeng Qianhe Jinyan Anchan Shenjun Tangyu Xiaoqi Zhou123yej Songque, and everyone else for your monthly tickets, continued reading, and wholehearted support.

Four updates today, totaling nine thousand characters.

To all my new readers, if you have any good ideas for the clones, please leave them in the comments below. I'll check this post every day~

Let's go~