Chapter 275: The Operation Begins

The next day.

Tang Ya led the members of the Tang Sect to see everyone off. The flying Soul Guidance Devices and other Soul Guidance weapons on these people had all been upgraded by the Soul Engineers of the Three Great Empires and Shrek Academy. The difficulty of this mission far exceeded their imagination.

Taking flight, various flames appeared on everyone's bodies. Their speed was extremely fast, and they were driving their flying Soul Guidance Devices with almost no regard for soul power consumption. At an altitude of several thousand meters, Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei flew in the lead as captains, with elite personnel drawn from the Three Great Empires following behind them.

The students from Shrek Academy, in addition to the original Shrek Seven Devils, also included Wang Qiu Er and some disciples from sect families; as for the members of the original Shrek Battle Team, none of them participated.

Once a flying Soul Guidance Device reaches the seventh level, one basically doesn't need to worry about the problems Xuan Lao encountered back then. However, the drawback is also quite obvious: the consumption of soul power has increased significantly. Except for the three Soul Saints from the Three Great Empires, the rest of the members are all at the Soul Emperor level, and long-duration flight puts a great deal of pressure on them.

However, the Three Great Empires were truly generous, providing some sealed milk bottles, which eased their pressure somewhat. But the Three Great Empires did not provide many sealed milk bottles, because sealed milk bottles are items controlled by the Sun Moon Empire, and being able to obtain these was already the limit.

The plan of the Three Great Empires is actually very simple: they do not seek to save everyone, they only need to rescue the royal family members of the Three Great Empires; as for the other members, they can be dealt with slowly.

However, what is most painful is that they don't even know where the personnel are being held right now. Moreover, according to reports from spies deployed by the Three Great Empires in the Sun Moon Empire, all that is currently known is that a portion of the people are being held in Maple Leaf City, and these people are being used for personnel exchanges.

The rest is unclear; no effective information can be gathered at all. Clearly, the Sun Moon Empire has made full preparations this time. To be honest, Tian Meng and the Ice Empress hold absolutely no hope for this operation.

"Brother Tian Meng, will you be able to help me find the location of those people when the time comes?" Huo Yuhao asked while looking at Tian Meng.

"I can try, but once we reach the Sun Moon Empire, I will try to act as little as possible. There are many humans with terrifying strength within the Sun Moon Empire. If my aura is discovered, we will all die." To this day, Tian Meng has not recovered from the terrifying strength of Long Xiaoyao and Ye Xishui at that time.

After Mu Lao passed away, those two old fellows became the strongest humans on the Douluo Continent. Now that the Ice Empress has completely fused with Huo Yuhao, she no longer possesses the strength she had back then as one of the Three Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North.

"You must be as careful as possible. There are Evil Soul Masters in the Sun Moon Empire whose strength is not below that of Mu Lao. If you are ever discovered by them, even if Mu Lao were alive, he wouldn't be able to save you. You must know how great the attraction of a 400,000-year Trunk Bone and a Million-Year Spirit Ring is!"

The Ice Empress actually did not want Huo Yuhao to participate in this operation. Ever since she sensed Xue Di's aura at the auction house last time, the Ice Empress had never received any news about Xue Di. After Du Busi ambushed Mingde Hall, she had Huo Yuhao ask Du Busi, but the answer received was that the embryo had been shattered and Xue Di had self-detonated...

Xue Di is dead...

This is the thing the Ice Empress least wants to admit. Since then, the Ice Empress has rarely spoken again.

"I know, Ice Empress..."

Watching the scenery beneath their feet flash by, the group split into two paths and headed toward the Sun Moon Empire. One group, led by Wang Qiu Er, headed toward Maple Leaf City. The other group flew toward the Mingdou Mountain Range, intending to head to the Sun Moon Empire from another direction.

In case one team falls, the other team can still complete the mission.

As the two teams parted ways, Huo Yuhao's group continued flying toward the southwest. After flying for more than an hour, they slowly landed in a city in the Star Luo Empire to rest.

The consumption of seventh-level Soul Guidance Devices is enormous, not to mention that the number of sealed milk bottles is limited and it is impossible for everyone to have one, so they need to stop and rest for a period of time after flying for a certain distance.

As they continued to advance, they also got closer and closer to the Mingdou Mountain Range. Except for the first few rests where they chose to stay in cities, for the subsequent rests, Huo Yuhao and Bei Bei chose places that were rarely visited by people. Judging from the current situation, what they need now is to avoid the spies of the Sun Moon Empire.

The Three Great Empires have spies in the Sun Moon Empire, and the Sun Moon Empire naturally has spies in the Three Great Empires.

The development of Soul Guidance Devices is extremely rapid. The reason why the Three Great Empires attach such importance to the development of Soul Guidance Devices is that they were beaten so badly by the Sun Moon Empire's Soul Guidance Devices in their early years that they almost didn't recognize their own parents. Having suffered such a big loss, they naturally know the benefits of Soul Guidance Devices. The reason for avoiding cities is to reduce some unnecessary trouble; after all, some cities are no-fly zones without permission.

Moreover, the movements of their group are a bit too conspicuous. The previous few stops were because that was part of the plan; some of their supplies and intelligence needed to be handed over there.

The long journey left everyone exhausted. Although the soul power consumption was excessive, Huo Yuhao remained full of energy as he looked at the map.

"In another day, we will reach the southern border of the Star Luo Empire. There is no way to enter the Sun Moon Empire by taking the normal roads. The Sun Moon Empire is under martial law now; we can only see if we can take the maritime trade routes."

"Captain, I can find some merchant fleets in the South Sea. I think we can disguise ourselves as merchants to head to the Sun Moon Empire," a team member from the Star Luo Empire said slowly.

Huo Yuhao's eyes lit up with joy, "Good, when we reach the port, the matter of the merchant fleet will be left to you."

"Yu Hao, can we succeed by taking the water route this time?" Xu Sanshi couldn't help but ask.

Bei Bei said: "There is risk, but judging from the current situation, we cannot pass through the border via the normal land route. Since the last negotiation, according to news from the Star Luo Empire, the Mingdou Mountain Range has been under even stricter martial law, and some new faces have been brought in. Although no conflict has broken out between the two sides, the situation is much more severe than in previous years."

"In other words, is Wang Qiu Er's team just bait?" He Cai Tou asked while looking at Huo Yuhao.

"Not entirely bait. That team has experts from the Three Great Empires and the Academy following in secret. Regardless of whether they succeed or fail, their situation is much better than ours, and their mission is also more severe than ours. This time, our mission is not so much about saving people, but mainly about finding the place where the hostages are being held. With our overall strength of Soul Emperors and three Soul Saints, we can still retreat unscathed if we encounter a Soul Engineer regiment of a thousand people, but if we encounter those elite Soul Engineer legions from last time, I'm afraid we won't be able to protect ourselves."

Their plan is not entirely to split into two paths, and the rescue plan does not necessarily have to be completed. They are very clear about their own strength; they are not so arrogant as to think that they can succeed while under the watchful eyes of the Sun Moon Empire's army by relying on themselves alone.

Not to mention anything else, the Mingdu City Defense Army alone sent them scurrying for their lives last time...

The shadow of the last time still leaves Xu Sanshi and the others with lingering fears even now. When they were fleeing in Mingdu, the Mingdu City Defense Army poured out endlessly like a nightmare, and all kinds of Soul Guidance Devices bombarded them wildly. The combat power of the Mingdu City Defense Army alone already surpassed more than half of the armies of the Three Great Empires. Those City Defense Army troops were well-trained, and the person in charge of commanding them at that time also had extremely strong command capabilities, coupled with the blessing of Soul Guidance Devices, the combat power that erupted at that time was truly astonishing!

"That's true, we can't handle the Mingdu City Defense Army alone..." Jiang Nannan still hasn't forgotten those terrifying City Defense Army troops.

If they hadn't been inside Mingdu city at the time, she wouldn't have doubted for a second whether those guys would have directly brought out Fixed Soul Guidance Cannonballs...

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 hidden will the risk of us being exposed be greatly reduced. Therefore, no matter what situation we encounter next, try not to have conflicts with the people of the Sun Moon Empire."

The Extreme Individual Soldier Plan taught this kind of method of penetrating behind enemy lines, but when thinking of the glorious battle achievements of the Body Sect directly raiding Mingde Hall, Xu He didn't find it strange anymore, not to mention that Du Busi is the big brother leading the Body Sect's band of ruffians...

Ahem... Body Sect Master.

If it were up to He Cai Tou to choose a plan, his plan would be similar to Huo Yuhao's, but he wouldn't choose to act as a group; instead, he would break up the whole into parts, choose a destination in advance, and then act separately to rendezvous at the destination.

Crossing the Star Luo Empire, after two days of travel, they had already rushed from Shrek Academy to the southern border of the Star Luo Empire.

"Fan Xi, the matter of the ship is left to you. Our identities now are traveling merchants. Everyone, disguise yourselves; our current attire doesn't look like merchants at all," Huo Yuhao reminded everyone.

"Wang Dong, is Su Yu there?" Huo Yuhao habitually said the name Wang Dong'er used when she was disguised as a man.

Wang Dong'er's face flushed, "He should be. I told him about the plan this time, and he said that if necessary, he would meet us at the border, but once we enter the Sun Moon Empire, he will not intervene again. If we are caught, perhaps the Hall Master can give him some face, and we won't be in life-threatening danger."

"That couldn't be better. There are seven or eight hundred people captured this time. Relying on just the nineteen of us, it's impossible to save them all. What we need to do is to first investigate the situation of the hostages clearly. As for whether we can rescue them, that remains an unknown. So what we need to do now is to protect ourselves well. Everyone, rest for a while, and we will prepare to board the ship later."

After settling everyone down, that Soul Emperor from the Star Luo Empire named Fan Xi began to arrange the passenger ship, and the rest of the people also began their own disguises.

Jiang Nannan's golden hair was simply too eye-catching. At Huo Yuhao's request, her golden hair was dyed black, and even their clothing and such all had to be changed.

Wang Dong'er is still in men's clothing, and that powder-blue long hair has also been dyed black, tied into a clean and neat high ponytail. Although her face has been disguised to a certain extent, Wang Dong'er's temperament is truly a bit too proud and independent.

Having no other choice, Wang Dong'er's identity is a wealthy young master of a merchant fleet...

Appearance can be changed, but temperament is very difficult to change, just like Bei Bei; his prominent temperament also cannot be disguised as an ordinary person.

However, fortunately, other traits can be changed. Huo Yuhao can disguise himself very well as a guard for a merchant fleet. This is because although Huo Yuhao is considered an illegitimate child of a noble, he has never received any noble education.

Looking at the sparkling sea, everyone's mood is complicated. This group of people has basically experienced that chaos in Mingdu of the Sun Moon Empire.

They thought it was a great victory celebrated by the whole world, but the result was a carnival celebration for the Sun Moon Empire.

Their time is very tight. They originally thought Huo Yuhao would be able to show off his culinary skills, but the result was a huge disappointment for them.

Fan Xi did not let them down; he managed to get a large ship, and the ship was loaded with goods, such as specialties of the Three Great Empires, silk, porcelain, and so on...

The food on the ship was very rich, although this was also because everyone was benefiting from Fan Xi. According to Fan Xi's description, this ship is an industry of his family.

Flying on the sea is a very dangerous thing. Encountering storms on the sea is a small matter, but if one encounters schools of Sea Soul Beasts, even a Title Douluo would likely have to drink hatred here on this boundless sea.

The overall strength of Sea Soul Beasts is actually much stronger than that of Soul Beasts on land. Of course, the premise is to wipe out the Silver Dragon King. Humans on the Douluo Continent have very little exploration of the sea, so the group of Sea Soul Beasts is quite powerful, and their numbers are far greater than those on land.

Whether it is the Star Luo Empire or the Sun Moon Empire, the naval power of both countries is extremely limited; on one hand, if human fleets were to carry weapons on the open sea, they would easily come into conflict with Sea Soul Beasts, so after weighing the considerations, the development of navies on the Douluo Continent has almost stagnated.

To put it bluntly, it is still because the ships are not sturdy and the cannons are not sharp; once Spirit Metal is produced, you could build a few aircraft carrier fleets, amphibious combat vehicles, Soul Guidance submarines equipped with Level Nine Fixed Soul Guidance Cannonballs and miniaturized Mingdu Soul Guidance Matrix launchers, and Spirit Metal Soul Guidance fighter jets—just see if the Sea Soul Beasts would dare to act presumptuously; if they dare, just send them a few more Level Nine Fixed Soul Guidance Cannonballs, and if Level Nine isn't enough, then use Level 10!

We may not have anything else, but our fists are big!

Range is truth, and caliber is justice!

Just look at which Sea Soul Beast can withstand a few Level Nine Fixed Soul Guidance Cannonballs; in the power system of Dou III, Level 13 Fixed Soul Guidance Cannonballs are equivalent to a Demigod.

That is to say, Level 10 is equivalent to a Super Douluo, Level 11 is equivalent to a Peak Douluo, Level 12 is equivalent to a Limit Douluo, and Level 13 is equivalent to a Demigod.

Of course, this is the equivalence after the sharp increase in combat power in Dou III; if calculated according to the combat power division of Dou II, it is estimated that Level 10 would be equivalent to a Peak Douluo.