novelHand that Protects the Nation
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When these two forces worked together, even a powerful entity like the Holy Ghost Church had to be wary, much less an ordinary person.
Other than the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion, the empire also had four other Beast Lord-ranked soul engineer legions. They were the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion, the Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion, the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion, and the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion.
These four soul engineering legions were all named after powerful kings among soul beasts. Among them, 'Imperial Dragon' referred to the Purplebrilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon. This was a powerful but extinct soul beast. In the Sun Moon Empire's imperial family, some of its scions possessed this powerful bloodline martial soul. One of the main reasons that Xu Tianran was able to ascend to the throne was that he inherited this martial soul, unlike the Sun that the other descendants of the Imperial Family possessed. His Purplebrilliant Heaven Destroying Dragon and the Earth Dragon Sect's bloodline martial soul, Ruby Dragons, were similar in some aspects, but they were also distinctly different from ne anther.
The element of the Ruby Dragons was Annihilation, while the element of the Purplebrilliant Heaven Destroying Dragons was Catastrophe, which was more tyrannical than the Ruby Dragons' Annihilation. Legend had it that the Purplebrilliant Heaven Destroying Dragons' ancestor was a Second Dragon which had accompanied the Dragon God, and was also known as the Ancestor of the Second Dragons. However, as it was too destructive, it was personally destroyed by the Dragon God.
The Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion was naturally named after the Darkgolden Terrorclaw Bear. This terrifying beast was legendary in all countries.
The Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion took its name from the mythical Fire Phoenix. It only recruited female soul engineers, and its current leader was the Empress of the Sun Moon Empire, Ju Zi.
The last legion, the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion, was named after the only one of the Ten Great Savage Beasts that lived in the Sun Moon Empire's borders, the Evileye Tyrant King. This beast was ranked second among the Ten Great Savage Beasts, and was infamous throughout the entire Sun Moon Continent. It had hidden itself, and no one knew if it was alive or dead. However, since the Sun Moon Empire decided to name an entire legion after it because of its ferocity, one could tell how fearsome it was.
There was a legend surrounding the Evileye Tyrant King. When the Sun Moon Continent first crashed into the Douluo Continent, the Evileye Tyrant King once went to the Great Star Dou Forest to find the Beast God, Di Tian.
No one knew what happened between the Evileye Tyrant King and the Beast God, but when the former returned to the Sun Moon Empire, it vanished without a trace.
Di Tian was still the Beast God, and was still ranked first among the Ten Great Savage Beasts. However, after that battle, the Evileye Tyrant King was able to retreat in one piece from the Great Star Dou Forest, establishing its title as the second-most powerful beast among the Ten Great Savage Beasts.
The four soul engineer legions each had their specialties. For example, the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion was all-female. The Terrorclaw Soul Engineer Legion was filled with buff men, the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion was the best at fighting, and the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion specialized in speed.
To join any of them, one's soul power had to be at least Rank 40, which was the equivalent of a Soul Ancestor. Each Beast Lord-ranked soul engineer legion had three hundred members. Other than Ju Zi, who led the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion, the other legion commanders were all Class 9 soul engineers. The vice-legion commander of the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion was a Class 9 soul engineer, too.
Together with the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion, they were collectively known as the Hand that Protects the Nation. They were the five pillars which supported the Sun Moon Empire.
Other than these five soul engineer legions, the other soul engineer legions had lower entry requirements. They were comprised of five hundred men each, and as long as one had more than two soul rings, one could join. Right now, there were six of these legions, totaling three thousand men, all stationed in different locations.
Other than them, the major regional armies of the Sun Moon Empire each recruited legions of soul engineers, too. However, their organization was not standardized, and even the imperial family could not control all of them. Many of them belonged to the nobility, like the rebellious ones Huo Yuhao and the others had met earlier on.
On the battlefield, even a low-level soul engineer legion was stronger than a cavalry legion of ten thousand men. They were highly destructive, and because they were few in number, they could use their soul tools very flexibly. Normally, a single soul engineer legion could decide the outcome of a battle.
The five major soul engineer legions could also turn into aerial soul engineers. Their many years of training allowed them to work together seamlessly, and their morale was strong. Commanded by top soul engineers, they would be the backbone of the Sun Moon Empire's future conquests.
Around Sunrise City, which seemed plain and ordinary, the Sun Moon Empire had stationed two of the six soul engineer legions, each of which comprised five hundred men. This was a testament to the importance of Sunrise City to the Sun Moon Empire. Furthermore, this was just its outer city defenses!
Huo Yuhao and his companions had reached the outskirts of Sunrise City one day ago, but they were in no rush to enter it. Instead, they intermingled with a trade delegation, and stayed outside the city for a day.
With Huo Yuhao present, it was akin to having a highly-effective surveillance soul tool. Despite the Sun Moon Empire's technological prowess, no soul tool could rival Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection when it came to surveillance!
After his closed-door cultivation, Huo Yuhao had merged all his skills together. He had also obtained a deeper understanding of his concrete-material realm spiritual power.
Right now, he was scanning the entire area. He was able to detect anything within a fifteen-hundred meter radius. If he concentrated his spiritual power in a particular direction, he would be able to sense everything there, be it the differences in obstacles, terrain, or the weather, up to a distance of five to seven thousand meters.
This was without using his Eye of Destiny!
After a night's rest, Huo Yuhao was able to gather enough intelligence. He was well aware that there were powerful people guarding the captured soul masters. To avoid startling them, he did not try to survey inside the city.
There were many different types of martial souls, and each day brought new changes to the development of soul engineering. He could not be sure that no one from the Sun Moon Empire would be able to sense the presence of his spiritual power, and so he acted very cautiously. If they failed this time, their chances of success next time would be even tinier.
There were only seven of them there. It was impossible to win based on brute force alone. Hence, they had to depend on the opportunity Shrek Academy created for them, as well as their own wits.
After a night's worth of detection, Huo Yuhao discovered that the two soul engineer legions of five hundred men were divided into ten groups. These were stationed at various locations outside Sunrise City.
Sunrise City was surrounded by open plains. All one thousand soul engineers had taken up positions in the plains. Soul cannons, which were weak individually, were deployed in huge quantities around the city. There were also some high-level soul tools nearby. One could say that Sunrise City, in its current state, was akin to a city of under threat of death. If the army of soul engineers wished, they could level the city in a very short time.
They were not the problematic ones, though. Those were the many surveillance soul tools on the walls of Sunrise City. After one scan, Huo Yuhao found out that they comprised long-range all-terrain soul detectors, short-range thermal detectors, medium-range aerial soul detectors, triggered targeting-type soul tools, and a huge amount of high-altitude surveillance soul tools.
One could say that even if a fly flew out from Sunrise City, the soul engineers in charge of these surveillance soul tools would be able to detect it.
Huo Yuhao could conceal himself with Imitation, and he could use his Ultimate Ice to prevent his body heat from being picked up by the short-range thermal detectors. However, that was all he could do. There was nothing he could do against the triggered targeting-type soul tools!
That type of soul tool sensed the fluctuations of one's soul power. When he used his Imitation and Ultimate Ice, his soul power would definitely fluctuate. At that moment, if his foes were locked onto his location, Huo Yuhao would be bombarded by every single soul engineer stationed outside. This was akin to being carpet-bombed. With the high density of soul engineers nearby, there was no way he could escape.
"Yuhao, what can we do?" After breakfast, the Tang Sect discussed this issue in hushed voices.
At this moment, a long line had already formed outside Sunrise City. Right now, anyone entering or leaving Sunrise City would be searched and screened. This was why there were trade delegations stationed outside the city. Searching one such delegation would require a whole day, or even more.
Huo Yuhao and the rest were able to blend in with these trade delegations. As there were many traders, no one had noticed them.
Huo Yuhao said, "I've scanned this place carefully. It's impossible to sneak inside, as there are too many surveillance soul tools. Almost every type of surveillance soul tool is present. It'll be troublesome to go in via the city gate, as they have soul power detectors which can sense the fluctuations in our soul power. They can then determine our strength based on our soul power fluctuations."
Xu Sanshi frowned and said, "It's already been a few months, and yet they're still so vigilant. We can't even enter the city like this. How can we save them? Furthermore, they captured over six hundred people. Even if we do enter, can we save them all? Escape will be difficult too, with so many soul engineers both in and around the city. Can we even escape?"
Huo Yuhao said, "It's difficult indeed, but there's still a chance. We need to react accordingly."
"We'll go in swords waving, " Ji Juechen said coolly.
Xu Sanshi waved at him and said, "Bye bye!"
| ← Ch. 0912 | Ch. 0914 → |