A Bite of Douluo Continent

The last time the Imperial Tutor appeared at the court assembly was a long time ago, so every minister looked at the old man sitting lazily below the emperor with some curiosity in their hearts. Why is this person here?

The second reason is the content of the memorial submitted by the Imperial Chancellor Zhou Yuan at this moment.

The Cold Food Festival will close tomorrow; today is the last day of business.

All the ministers were familiar with this restaurant, which had only appeared a month ago and had aroused great vigilance in the court. In fact, most of the ministers in the court were regular customers of Hanshi Restaurant.

As more and more people went to eat at the Cold Food Festival, these ministers no longer went every day, but only every few days. Therefore, not all ministers saw the notice board in front of the Cold Food Festival last night.

As soon as Zhou Yuan said this, the courtiers inevitably fell into turmoil.

"Silence." Xu Haolong patted the armrest of the throne, his expression becoming slightly serious.

Why is this always the case during the Cold Food Festival?

I had already forgotten about it, but it still insisted on causing trouble.

close the door?

There are about three months left until the Sun Moon Continent is discovered in Douluo Continent.

The fact that a restaurant that came from Douluo Continent suddenly closed its doors at this critical juncture speaks volumes.

"This group of people from Douluo Continent is probably going back." Xu Haolong's eyes flashed coldly. "Obviously, Sun and Moon cannot let them leave. Although Hanshi has been under our noses all along, they must still have people in the shadows responsible for gathering information. We don't know exactly how much they have found out, so it's better to kill a hundred innocent people than let one guilty person go free!"

"Your Majesty is wise." Zhou Yuan bowed slightly. "I share the same thought. If they leave Sun Moon and return to Douluo Continent, Douluo will surely know our plans in advance, which will be detrimental to our strategy. It would be best if we could stop them, but if not..."

A chill crept into his eyes. "Then, for the sake of my Sun Moon Empire's grand plan, we can only let them be buried here."

Upon hearing this, the courtiers immediately echoed his sentiments.

Although they enjoyed the dishes served during the Cold Food Festival, one thing is one thing, and personal feelings are meaningless in the face of such an important event.

Seeing that the ministers all shared this view, Xu Haolong nodded and was about to arrange for people to prepare in advance when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a thoughtful expression on De Hongchen's face. A thought struck him, "What does the Imperial Tutor think about this matter?"

"This old man?" De Hongchen raised an eyebrow, a hint of a half-smile in his eyes. "I go to Hanshi every day; the food there is indeed delicious."

Upon hearing this, a low chuckle rippled through the assembled officials.

It is common knowledge that the Imperial Tutor is a great lover of food.

Xu Haolong shook his head helplessly. "Imperial Tutor, I'm asking about the closing of the gates during the Cold Food Festival."

"This?" De Hongchen shook his head. "I'm just a researcher of soul tools; I don't care about such things."

Xu Haolong felt a sense of relief and was about to speak when he heard De Hongchen add quietly, "But have you ever thought about why we need to give advance notice when the Cold Food Festival closes?"

As De Hongchen finished speaking, the court fell silent.

Yes, if Hanshi really wanted to run away, shouldn't he have left when no one was paying attention?

Why did it give advance notice, even a full day in advance?

Keep in mind that a day is enough time for the Sun and Moon Empire to deploy its forces to keep them there.

"Your Majesty, I know that!" Not long after, Zhao Zhiyuan's smug voice broke the silence. "Normally, restaurants would notify their customers in advance if they were to temporarily close or temporarily suspend operations, which is why the Cold Food Festival put up a notice in advance..."

"Shut up, you idiot!" Ye Changhong couldn't help but scold. "Is Hanshi Restaurant an ordinary restaurant? Why should it follow so-called restaurant rules?"

After uttering a few curses, Ye Changhong stepped forward from among the officials and said, "Your Majesty, I believe there is something wrong with this matter. The other side may be planning to ambush us."

"An ambush?" Xu Haolong narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Among the people from Douluo Continent, there is at least one expert at the Title Douluo level, which we all know. I cannot be sure whether a Title Douluo or a level nine Soul Master is stronger, but their strengths are certainly not much different. In this situation, if the other side fights desperately, it is enough to severely injure several level nine Soul Masters."

"And this is only the enemy's apparent strength. If the enemy has more people outside of Mingdu, our casualties in the pursuit may be even more severe. The high-level combat power of our Sun Moon Continent is already inferior to that of Douluo Continent. If there are further losses under such circumstances, the consequences will be unimaginable."

Ye Changhong's expression was quite solemn. "After so much time, I think Qi Han and the people behind him must have some suspicions about us. Perhaps this is a test. They want to see if anyone in the court really knows that Han Shi comes from Douluo Continent. If someone knows, they can take action to weaken the high-level combat power of my Sun Moon Sect. If they don't know, they can leave safely."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yuan looked up and exchanged a glance with Xu Haolong, his eyes filled with a meaningful look.

Yes, Qi Han knew the true identities of the ministers who were dining at the Cold Food Festival.

The information that Qi Han inadvertently revealed to Fang Qing, a spy in the Secret Service, is enough to prove this point.

However, Zhou Yuan and Xu Haolong did not tell any ministers about this matter, thinking they could use it against them later. But since Han Shi did not show any abnormality, the two almost forgot about it.

The idea Ye Changhong mentioned at that moment suddenly reminded the two of this point.

It was not a test, as Ye Changhong believed, but a blatant trap!

Han Shi already knew the identities of the officials, yet he still chose to announce the departure time in advance. Wasn't his purpose to wipe out all the forces that tried to intercept him?

What an arrogant guy!

Zhou Yuan and Xu Haolong felt a chill run down their spines at the same time.

To dare to act like this in the face of the full power of an empire—are all the people of Douluo Continent such madmen?

This put the empire in a precarious position.

Send a large number of powerful individuals to hunt them down?

If this causes heavy casualties among the empire's high-level experts, how will they face the Douluo Continent three months later?

Or... should we just let them go?

Xu Haolong clenched his fists, his eyes filled with resentment.

Damn it, the empire is so powerful, yet they can't do anything about them?

"Your Majesty." De Hongchen, sitting below Xu Haolong, glanced at Xu Haolong's expression, his eyes flashing slightly before he smiled and asked, "I would like to know why Your Majesty wants to stop the Cold Food Festival?"

"As the Imperial Tutor knows, Han Shi comes from Douluo Continent. Their people must have secretly gathered a lot of intelligence on Sun Moon Continent. If this intelligence is transmitted back to Douluo Continent, it will be very disadvantageous to us," Xu Haolong explained.

"I see." De Hongchen nodded, then changed the subject, "I think Your Majesty doesn't need to worry so much."

As Gu Chou spoke, he slowly turned his head to look at the person below, and said with a smile, "This old man would like to ask, how long did it take the Third Prince to return from Douluo?"

Xu Jiyun was slightly taken aback, but immediately replied, "Imperial Tutor, my men and I used soul tools to accelerate our journey, traveling at full speed day and night, and it took us fifty days."

"Then, Third Prince, how long do you think it will take for this group of people from Douluo Continent to return?"

“This…” Xu Jiyun frowned and pondered for a moment, “Their overall strength is stronger than our original team, but without the help of soul tools to accelerate the ships, their efficiency will inevitably be low. It should take at least two months.”

“So…” De Hongchen laughed, “When Han Shi arrives at Douluo Continent, there will only be one month left before the sun and moon are exposed to Douluo. How much do you think can be accomplished in one month, Your Majesty?”

One month…

Xu Haolong's expression softened slightly.

The fact that Douluo Continent learned about the situation on Sun Moon Continent a month in advance naturally had some impact on the plans.

However, compared to the potential loss of high-level combat power when intercepting the enemy, it seems acceptable.

"Does the Imperial Tutor mean... to let the other party leave?" Xu Haolong asked, a hint of interest in his eyes.

"Your subject disagrees with the Imperial Tutor's idea."

At that moment, Zhou Yuan suddenly spoke up.

His expression turned slightly grim, as if he had thought of something. "Your Majesty, I suddenly realized that the people from Douluo Continent may have taken away more than just intelligence."

"There are no soul tools in the Douluo Continent. If they take away all kinds of soul tools, or even the methods of making soul tools... our advantage will be completely lost. There are countless soul tool academies within the empire. It is hard to guarantee that they have not obtained something. This is more terrifying than them knowing our deployment plan!"

Upon hearing this, the courtiers immediately erupted in clamor.

Xu Haolong's expression also changed slightly.

They live on the Sun and Moon Continent and are used to the existence of soul tools, but for the Douluo Continent, the inheritance of any soul tool has been completely severed.

Although it is inevitable that the technology of soul tools will gradually flow into Douluo Continent as the two continents begin to communicate and exchange ideas, it is definitely not now!

The Sun Moon Empire's plan included using soul tool resources and methods for making low-level soul tools to exchange for various precious resources from the Douluo Continent.

According to intelligence reports, the price of soul bones in Douluo Continent is much lower than that of Sun and Moon Soul Bones. If one can use the production methods of various obsolete or unusable low-level soul tools to exchange for a large number of high-age soul bones, it would be a huge profit.

But what if the technology of soul tools were to leak into the Douluo Continent ahead of time…

No!

Xu Haolong's expression suddenly turned sinister.

No one can stop the Sun Moon Empire from making this money!

Immediately, his expression became somewhat conflicted.

Stopping the enemy would naturally prevent Douluo Continent from learning about soul tools and various intelligence related to the Sun Moon Empire in advance, but it could cause heavy casualties among high-level soul masters, affecting subsequent plans.

If we could stop the other party and prevent the secret from being leaked, it would be ideal if we could do so without losing manpower.

But how can one have it all in this world...?

Although he knew he was being delusional, Xu Haolong couldn't help but ask, "Is there any way to stop them without causing casualties among my high-level Sun and Moon Realm warriors?"

A hush fell over the assembled officials. After a long while, one minister cautiously spoke up, "Could we... deploy the Soul Master Corps... Ugh!"

As soon as the minister finished speaking, another minister who was on good terms with him rushed over and covered his mouth. He smiled awkwardly at the angry ministers and said, "Brother Zhang may not have slept well last night and is a little confused. Please don't take offense."

What a joke! That's the Soul Master Corps!

Yes, there are indeed no high-level combatants in the Soul Master Corps. The commander of a standard Soul Master Corps is only an eighth-level Soul Master, and some are even only seventh-level. The members are generally at the fourth or fifth level. However, each Soul Master Corps is created by the Empire with countless efforts, and the Soul Tools they are equipped with are worth countless amounts of money.

With these top-tier soul tools and over a thousand soul masters starting at level four, they could indeed wipe out the group from Douluo Continent, but this soul master group would probably be completely destroyed.

To stop the people from Hanshi Festival, an entire Soul Master Corps was sacrificed?

It would be better to let the high-level combatants take action!

Disappointment couldn't help but show in Xu Haolong's eyes.

After waiting for so long, all I got was this stupid suggestion.

Is it really the only option to sacrifice some high-end combat power and leave the enemy completely behind in Sun and Moon?

"Your Majesty, it's not impossible to avoid casualties..."

De Hongchen suddenly spoke, instantly rekindling hope in Xu Haolong's eyes, "Does the Imperial Tutor have a solution?"

“My method can’t keep them all in the Sun and Moon Realm,” De Hongchen smiled. “However… it can still trap them for a few years.”

"A few years is fine too!" Xu Haolong showed no disappointment; on the contrary, he became even more excited.

In a year or two, all the plans will be almost complete, and by then everything in the hands of Hanshi and his group will have lost its value and will be nothing to worry about.

"Imperial Tutor, what is your plan?"

"Does Your Majesty still remember that I disappeared for eight years before I became a level ten Soul Master?" De Hongchen's eyes held a hint of nostalgia.