get-shopping Chapter 270 Operation Begins
Chapter 270 Operation Begins
Chapter 270 The Operation Begins (4,000 words)
The next day.
Tang Ya led the Tang Clan members to see everyone off. The soul-guided flying vehicles and other soul-guided weapons on these people had been upgraded by the soul masters of the three great empires and Shrek Academy. The difficulty of this mission far exceeded their expectations.
They soared into the air, various flames erupting from their bodies. Their speed was incredible, as they propelled their flying soul tools with almost no regard for soul power consumption. Thousands of meters above the ground, Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei, as captains, flew in front, followed by elites drawn from the three great empires.
The Shrek Academy students included the original Shrek Seven Devils, Wang Qiu'er, and some disciples from various sects and aristocratic families. As for the original members of the Shrek team, none of them participated.
Once the flying soul tool reaches level seven, there's basically no need to worry about the problems that occurred with Elder Xuan. However, the drawbacks are also obvious: the consumption of soul power has increased significantly. Apart from the three Soul Saints from the three great empires, the rest are all Soul Emperors, and long-term flight puts a lot of pressure on them.
However, the three great empires were quite generous, providing some sealed baby bottles, which alleviated their pressure somewhat. However, the number of sealed baby bottles provided by the three great empires was not large, as sealed baby bottles were controlled items by the Sun and Moon Empire, and obtaining this much was already the limit.
The plan of the three empires is actually very simple: they don't need to save everyone, they only need to rescue the royal family members of the three empires. As for the other members, they can deal with them later.
However, what is most painful is that we don't even know where the people are being held. According to reports from spies deployed by the three empires in the Sun and Moon Empire, all we know is that some of them are being held in Maple Leaf City, and these people are being used for personnel exchanges.
The rest is unclear; no useful information could be gleaned. Clearly, the Sun Moon Empire was well-prepared this time. To be honest, neither Tianmeng Ice Silkworm nor Ice Emperor had any hope for this operation.
"Brother Tianmeng, could you help me find out where those people are?" Huo Yuhao asked Tianmeng Ice Silkworm.
"I can try, but once we get to the Sun Moon Empire, I'll try to make as few moves as possible. There are many terrifyingly powerful humans in the Sun Moon Empire. If my aura is detected, we'll all die." Tianmeng Ice Silkworm still hasn't recovered from the terrifying strength of Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui back then.
After Elder Mu left, those two old guys were the strongest humans on the Douluo Continent. Now, Ice Emperor has completely merged with Huo Yuhao and no longer has the strength of one of the three Heavenly Kings of the Far North.
"Be very careful. Some evil spirit masters in the Sun Moon Empire are just as powerful as Elder Mu. If they discover your secret, even if Elder Mu were alive today, he couldn't save you. You need to understand how attractive a 400,000-year-old skeleton and a million-year-old spirit ring are!"
Ice Emperor didn't actually want Huo Yuhao to participate in this operation. Ever since sensing Snow Emperor's presence at the auction, Ice Emperor hadn't heard any news about her. After Poisonous Death's attack on Mingde Hall, he had Huo Yuhao ask Poisonous Death, but the answer he received was that the embryo had been shattered and Snow Emperor had self-destructed...
Snow Empress is dead...
This was the last thing Hyotei wanted to admit, and since then, Hyotei has rarely spoken.
"I understand, Hyotei..."
Watching the scenery rush by beneath their feet, the group split into two teams and headed towards the Sun Moon Empire. One group, led by Wang Qiu'er, went to Maple Leaf City. The other group flew towards the Mingdou Mountains, intending to reach the Sun Moon Empire from a different direction.
If one team gets stuck, the other team can continue to complete the mission.
As the two groups parted ways, Huo Yuhao and his party continued flying southwest. After more than an hour of flying, they slowly landed in a city of the Star Luo Empire to rest.
The consumption of a level 7 soul tool is enormous, not to mention that the number of sealed milk bottles is limited and not everyone can have one, so they need to stop and rest for a period of time after flying a certain distance.
As they continued to advance, they got closer and closer to the Mingdou Mountains. Aside from the first few rest stops in cities, Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei chose secluded places for their subsequent rest stops. As things stand now, what they need to do is avoid the Sun Moon Empire's spies.
The three great empires had spies in the Sun Moon Empire, and the Sun Moon Empire naturally also had spies in the three great empires.
The development of soul tools has been extremely rapid. The reason why the three great empires attach so much importance to their development is because they were severely defeated by the Sun Moon Empire using soul tools in their early years. Having suffered such a great loss, they naturally understand the benefits of soul tools. The reason for avoiding cities is to reduce unnecessary trouble, since some cities are no-fly zones without permission.
Moreover, their actions were too conspicuous. The previous stops were part of the plan, where they needed to exchange some supplies and intelligence.
The long journey had left everyone exhausted. Although their soul power had been greatly depleted, Huo Yuhao still looked at the map with great enthusiasm.
"In another day, we will reach the southern border of the Star Luo Empire. It is impossible to enter the Sun Moon Empire by normal means. The Sun Moon Empire is now under martial law. We can only see if we can take the sea trade route."
"Captain, I can find some caravans in the South China Sea. I think we can disguise ourselves as merchants and go to the Sun Moon Empire," a member from the Star Luo Empire said slowly.
Huo Yuhao's eyes lit up with joy. "Alright, when we arrive at the port, I'll leave the caravan's affairs to you."
"Yuhao, will our waterway journey work this time?" Xu Sanshi couldn't help but ask.
Beibei said, "There are risks, but judging from the current situation, we can't cross the border by normal land routes. Since the last negotiation, according to news from the Star Luo Empire, the Mingdou Mountains have been placed under even more martial law, and some new people have come. Although there haven't been any conflicts between the two sides, the situation is much more severe than in previous years."
"So, Wang Qiu'er's team was just bait?" He Caitou asked Huo Yuhao.
"It's not all bait. Their team has powerful figures from the three great empires and academies secretly following them. Regardless of their success or failure, their situation is much better than ours, and their mission is also more arduous. This time, our mission is secondary: rescuing people. The main task is to find where the hostages are being held. With our combined strength of Soul Emperors and three Soul Saints, we can still escape unscathed if we encounter a thousand-strong Soul Master Corps. However, if we encounter those elite Soul Master Corps from last time, we probably won't be able to protect ourselves."
Their plan wasn't entirely about splitting up their forces, and the rescue operation didn't necessarily have to be completed. They were well aware of their own capabilities and weren't so overconfident as to think they could succeed on their own, even with the Sun Moon Empire's army watching them with predatory eyes.
Putting everything else aside, the Ming capital's city defense forces alone routed them last time...
The trauma of the previous incident still haunts Xu Sanshi and his group. During their escape from Mingdu, the city's garrison poured out like a nightmare, bombarding them with all sorts of soul-guided devices. The fighting power of the Mingdu garrison alone surpassed that of more than half of the armies of the three great empires. These garrison soldiers were highly trained, and their commanders possessed exceptional leadership skills. Combined with the enhancements from the soul-guided devices, their combat prowess was truly astonishing!
"That's true, we can't handle the city defense army of Mingdu alone..." Jiang Nannan still hasn't forgotten those terrifying city defense troops.
If they hadn't been inside Mingdu City at the time, she wouldn't have doubted whether those guys would have just pulled out fixed-mount soul-guided cannons and fired them...
Huo Yuhao looked around at everyone and said, "This time we need to avoid the eyes and ears of the Sun Moon Empire. Only if we are sufficiently concealed will the risk of our exposure be greatly reduced. Therefore, no matter what situation we encounter next, we should try our best not to clash with the people of the Sun Moon Empire."
The Extreme Individual Soldier Program taught this method of infiltrating behind enemy lines, but when Xu He thought of the Body Sect's glorious record of directly raiding Mingde Hall, he wasn't surprised. Not to mention that Poison Undying was the leader of the Body Sect's bandit gang...
Ahem... Sect Master of the Body Sect.
If we follow He Caitou's plan, his plan is similar to Huo Yuhao's, but he will not choose to act collectively. Instead, he will break up the group into smaller groups, choose a destination in advance, and then disperse to meet at the destination.
After two days of travel, traversing the Star Luo Empire, they had arrived at the southern border of the Star Luo Empire from Shrek Academy.
"Fan Xi, I'm leaving the boats to you. We're now merchants, so everyone should dress up. Our attire isn't like it is in class," Huo Yuhao reminded everyone.
"Wang Dong, is Su Yu here?" Huo Yuhao habitually said Wang Dong'er's name when she was still disguised as a man.
Wang Dong'er blushed. "He should be here. I told him about this plan. He said he would meet us at the border if necessary, but once we enter the Sun Moon Empire, he won't interfere anymore. If we get captured, maybe the Hall Master will give him face and we won't be in any danger."
"That would be great. There are seven or eight hundred people captured this time. With just nineteen of us, we can't rescue them all. What we need to do is find out the situation of the hostages first. As for whether we can rescue them, it's still unknown. So what we need to do now is protect ourselves. Everyone, take a rest and we'll prepare to board the ship later."
After settling everyone in, the Soul Emperor of the Star Luo Empire named Fan Xi began arranging the passenger ship, while the rest of the people began their disguises.
Jiang Nannan's blonde hair was so eye-catching that, at Huo Yuhao's request, her blonde hair was dyed black, and even their clothes had to be changed.
Wang Dong'er is still dressed as a man, and her long, light blue hair has been dyed black and tied into a neat high ponytail. Although her face is disguised to some extent, Wang Dong'er's temperament is still quite proud and independent.
Out of necessity, Wang Dong'er's identity became that of a wealthy young master from a merchant caravan...
Appearance can be changed, but temperament is something that is hard to change. Just like Beibei, his outstanding temperament cannot be disguised as that of an ordinary person.
Fortunately, the other traits can be changed. Huo Yuhao was able to disguise himself well as a caravan guard because, although he was a nobleman's illegitimate son, he had never received a nobleman's education.
Looking at the shimmering sea, everyone had mixed feelings. This group of people had basically all experienced the chaos in the Ming capital during the Sun Moon Empire.
What was thought to be a great victory celebrated worldwide turned out to be a grand carnival for the Sun and Moon Empire.
They were pressed for time and had hoped that Huo Yuhao would showcase his culinary skills, but they were greatly disappointed.
Fan Xi did not disappoint them, managing to acquire a large ship laden with goods, including specialties from the three great empires, silk, porcelain, and so on...
The food on the ship was plentiful, although this was all thanks to Fan Xi, who described the ship as belonging to his family.
Flying over the sea is a very dangerous thing. Encountering a storm at sea is a minor matter, but if you encounter a group of sea spirit beasts, even a titled Douluo would probably perish on this boundless sea.
The overall strength of sea spirit beasts is actually much greater than that of land spirit beasts, provided that the Silver Dragon King is eliminated. Humans on the Douluo Continent have little exploration of the sea, so the sea spirit beast population is quite powerful, and their numbers far exceed those of land spirit beasts.
Neither the Star Luo Empire nor the Sun Moon Empire possessed a very limited naval force. On the one hand, if human fleets were to be armed on the high seas, they would easily clash with sea spirit beasts. Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, the development of the navy on the Douluo Continent almost stagnated.
To put it bluntly, the problem is that the ships aren't strong enough and the cannons aren't effective. Once you have spirit metal, build a few aircraft carrier fleets, amphibious assault vehicles, spirit submarines equipped with level 9 fixed-position soul-guided shells and miniaturized Mingdu soul-guided matrix actuators, and spirit metal soul-guided fighters. See if the sea spirit beasts dare to cause trouble. If they do, send them a few more level 9 fixed-position soul-guided shells. If level 9 isn't enough, go for level 10!
It has nothing else but a big fist!
Range is truth, caliber is justice!
Look at any sea spirit beast, can it withstand a few level nine fixed-position soul-guided cannonballs? In the power system of Douluo Continent III, a level thirteen fixed-position soul-guided cannonball is comparable to a demigod.
In other words, level 10 is equivalent to peak Douluo, level 11 is equivalent to limit Douluo, and level 12 is equivalent to demigod.
Of course, this is also a benchmark after the rapid increase in combat power in Douluo III. If we were to classify combat power according to that of Douluo II, it is estimated that level 9.5 would be comparable to a peak Douluo.
Someone is watching me write, I'm really writing!
(End of this chapter)