Douluo: Divine Fire Xuanyuan

Chapter 537 The Sun and Moon Invade Again: Vina's Movements

Several days later, Jing Hongchen began to carry out the emperor's orders, leading an army to secretly cross the maple forest on the border between the Tianhun Empire and the Sun Moon Empire.

This time, Jing Hongchen made more thorough preparations. His soul-guided probe never stopped operating along the way, and its detection range and depth were greatly enhanced, so even underground could not hide from him.

Although he knew that nothing should happen on the way, Vina's ruthlessness in the previous war still frightened many people.

Unexpectedly, their Sun Moon Empire became a frightened bird of their own developed soul-guided element bomb.

With such careful precautions in place, and given that there were no ambushes along the way, Jing Hongchen passed through the maple forest without incident.

Soon, they arrived at the gates of Maple Leaf City, which was now a ghost town.

Actually, calling it an empty city isn't quite accurate. Xue Mo did indeed transfer the city's defense troops away beforehand, leaving only a small number of security troops, but the people were still there.

Seeing the city gates wide open, Jing Hongchen did not enter the city directly. He saw Wu Yan waiting on the city wall, so he flew up to the city wall alone.

He then released dozens of soul-guided probes that flew towards the city, leaving no place unchecked.

"Hehe, as expected of the Master of Mingde Hall, such caution and prudence are truly admirable," Wu Yan praised.

"After all, I, the leader of this hall, have come here with more than just my own life on my shoulders. The soldiers under my command are all counting on me," Jing Hongchen said. Although he had agreed to Yuwen Tuo's conditions, he would fulfill his responsibilities to the best of his ability.

About 35 minutes later, more than a dozen soul-guided probes flew back to his side. After confirming that there was no problem, he ordered the army to slowly enter the city.

The people in the city knew absolutely nothing; they simply saw that their city had been occupied by the Sun and Moon Empire.

Jing Hongchen immediately ordered the city to be sealed off. First, all the people should stay at home and avoid going out unless necessary. The city was a no-go zone. Second, the army should immediately set up a defensive line around the city, with concealed soul-guided cannons set up on the city walls and detection soul-guided devices placed outside the city.

This is done to prevent information from being leaked.

After everything was done, he ordered his men to return to the border region of the Sun Moon Empire and report to Kong Deming, the true commander-in-chief of the army.

Hearing that everything went smoothly, he was finally relieved. It seemed that Xue Mo genuinely wanted to serve his Sun Moon Empire.

Actually, if Orange were here, she would probably still have doubts. It's certainly a good thing that everything goes smoothly, but it's strange if it goes too smoothly.

Ultimately, this time they're not just sending a few people to do things, they're sending hundreds of thousands of troops. Do they really think they can keep all the intelligence from leaking out?

Are the spies of the Heavenly Soul Empire all useless?

Unfortunately, the remaining people of the Sun Moon Empire did not have her military awareness, and some were blinded by the benefits they were about to gain. This was also the reason why Yuwen Tuo reminded Vina that in that great battle, even if it meant letting Ye Yulin, a level nine soul master, escape, she had to kill Ju Zi.

If there's an orange on the other side, their various tactics won't be very effective, and she'll easily see through them.

Kong Deming wasn't actually stupid; otherwise, he wouldn't have become a level ten Soul Master. However, firstly, he was overly confident in his abilities, and secondly, he believed that even if the Heavenly Soul Empire had a conspiracy, as long as they were cautious and didn't act too aggressively, gradually eroding the Heavenly Soul Empire's territory, then no matter how many schemes they had, it would be useless. As long as they established defenses in each city until they occupied Heavenly Spirit City, even if Xue Mo had problems, it would be too late.

By then, the entire Lima Plain will have been incorporated into the Sun Moon Empire and connected to its original territory, making it both offensive and defensive, with no disadvantages whatsoever.

"Pass down the order: have Jing Hongchen leave his troops behind for three days. After three days, proceed to the next city," Kong Deming commanded.

"Yes, sir!" The messenger, dressed as a ten-year-old soul beast horned horse, swiftly galloped across the maple forest to deliver the message.

Meanwhile, on another border of the Heavenly Soul Empire, in the Eastern Army Group adjacent to the Douling Empire, Vina felt uneasy for some reason.

She had recently won the war and was sent here by the emperor to train the Eastern Army Group and the Soul Master Corps with Jiang Peng.

The emperor did this in order to get Vina away from him.

"Nana, what's wrong?" Long Aotian asked with concern.

Vina shook her head. "I don't know. I feel a little lost. By the way, Aotian, haven't my teachers arrived yet?"

"No, don't you think about where this is? The Eastern Army Group is only defending against the Douling Empire. Do you think the Douling Empire would dare to offend our country now? We have you, Jiang Peng, Nana, Cao Jinxuan, and Xiaobai here. Even if Tianyang Douluo personally led his army, we could repel him. Why would we need our elders to come?" Long Aotian laughed.

“Yes, maybe I’m overthinking it. How is Junior Brother doing? How long is he going to play dead? He said he was going to lure Shrek out, but they’ve already returned to Shrek City. Why hasn’t he taken action to deal with them yet?” Vina still had doubts in her mind, namely that Yuwen Tuo’s actions at this moment were not in line with his personality.

With his current strength, slaughtering the remaining Shrek members would be as easy as slaughtering pigs and dogs. In addition, given his decisive and swift personality, he never hesitates to kill. His current inaction is somewhat strange to her.

Long Aotian thought for a moment and said, "My sister-in-law said they seem to be farming."

Vina was taken aback. "Farming?"

"Yes, they say they want to bring about a great revival of life in Sunset Forest, so they've been very busy lately."

"Junior brother is truly thoughtful." Vina knew that Yuwen Tuo's intention in doing this was actually for the sake of the Body Sect.

Back then, the Body Sect hunted down seven 100,000-year-old soul beasts in the Star Dou Great Forest, enraging the kings of the Star Dou Great Forest and triggering a beast tide. In that battle, both the human and soul beast sides suffered heavy losses.

The number of soul beasts has been decreasing rapidly over the past ten thousand years, and the Body Sect is indeed to blame for that battle.

From the beginning of the Soul Absorption Technique to the restoration of Sunset Forest, Yuwen Tuo has been atoning for the sins of the Body Sect and also trying to completely quell the anger of those Soul Beast Kings. When Yuwen Tuo chooses to join a faction, he will stand firmly on that faction's side. He will take the benefits without hesitation and bear the responsibilities without any objection.

Another, somewhat selfish, point is that the Star Dou Great Forest has too many powerful and dangerous Soul Beast Kings, and it doesn't really welcome disciples of the Body Sect. If the Sunset Forest also has more Soul Beasts in the future, it will be more convenient for the Body Sect to collect Soul Spirits there. After all, collected Soul Spirits can grow together with their masters, and it doesn't matter if the collected ones aren't too strong at first. What's more important is their cultivation later on.

Within the Body Sect, there are the "Tan Shen Mi Jian" (a unique internal and external martial arts manual) and the "Body Secret" (a secret technique) that surpass other sects, giving them a permanent advantage over other sects in terms of acquired cultivation.

(End of this chapter)