"Brother Danzo, we're about to enter the Heavenly Soul Empire." A young guard from the Merchant Association said enthusiastically to Huo Yuhao beside him.
Huo Yuhao was riding a tall white-scaled horse. A simple balance-type Spirit Tool had been installed on the saddle, allowing a novice like him to control the horse with ease.
During this period, Huo Yuhao had become familiar with several members of the Dingyi Merchant Association.
These merchants often traveled between the three former Douluo Empires, and some had even been to the Sun Moon Empire.
They knew most places on the continent, including many regions the original novel never described in detail.
For example, in the central region of the Star Luo Empire were the Tiger Fury Mountains, Tiger Might Mountains, and Tiger Roar Mountains. The three ranges formed a triangular core area—an important Spirit Beast habitat dominated by tiger-type Spirit Beasts.
South of their current location, North Bright City, stretched the vast Calamity Mountain Range, made of the Disaster Mountains and Cataclysm Mountains.
That mountain range was plagued by natural disasters all year round. It was said that a Spirit Master once ventured deep inside and encountered a strange lion-dog-type Spirit Beast.
The beast was six meters long, covered entirely in bright golden fur, with the body of a giant lion but a black dog-like face twisted like an Asura demon.
The Spirit Master was a Rank 96 Super Douluo, with the Terror Armored Rock Bear as his Martial Soul—a name that clearly indicated his strength-oriented specialty.
Yet in his perception, the beast's cultivation was only around thirty thousand years. With his Super Douluo level, he should have been able to kill it easily.
So at first he paid it no mind and merely released a wave of Spirit Power to scare it off.
Unexpectedly, this enraged the beast. It activated a unique domain and, within that domain, entered a berserk state and clashed head-on with the Super Douluo.
Unbelievably, the Super Douluo was severely injured—half of his body was almost smashed into pulp by some overwhelming force.
If he did not possess a Spirit Bone Ability that allowed long-distance teleportation, he would likely have died there.
After that incident, high-level Spirit Masters almost never attempted to explore that mountain range again.
The merchant telling this story to Huo Yuhao said it was just something to listen to casually. It was too ancient to verify, and most people didn't believe that a thirty-thousand-year Spirit Beast could defeat a Super Douluo.
Besides, the beast had no dragon characteristics, meaning it lacked dragon blood. How could a lion-dog-type Spirit Beast accomplish something even dragon-blooded beasts struggled to do?
However, Huo Yuhao knew the story was likely true.
From the description alone, he realized this beast was the extinct Golden Fur Lion Mastiff mentioned in The Legend of the Dragon King.
The Golden Fur Lion Mastiff was the ancestor of all canine-type Spirit Beasts. In the original story, even Tang Wulin—who possessed Golden Dragon King blood at Rank 90—was nearly solo-killed by a ten-thousand-year Golden-Maned Lion Mastiff. This proved how terrifyingly strong this species was.
This was exactly why Huo Yuhao wanted to befriend the merchants—to learn the hidden secrets of the continent and extract useful information from them.
For example, he now knew there was a thirty-thousand-year Golden Fur Lion Mastiff living in the Calamity Mountain Range. If he ever needed it in the future, he wouldn't have to search all over the continent.
Soon, the caravan passed through the North Bright Canyon ahead. Beyond the canyon lay the lands of the Heavenly Soul Empire.
While crossing the canyon , Huo Yuhao noticed many abandoned defensive structures. Judging from the rust and damage, they had not been maintained for over a thousand years.
He turned to ask the enthusiastic caravan guard, "Brother Li, logically this should be a strategic location at the border between the Heavenly Soul and Star Luo Empires. Why are these fortifications so dilapidated?"
"And why isn't there a single stationed army on either side of the canyon?"
Hearing this, Li Fei pointed westward and said, "Brother Danzo, you may not know this—these days, almost all Star Luo troops are deployed around the Ming Dou Mountain Range."
"Only a few key choke points on the Heavenly Soul border have garrisons."
"The high-level military precautions against the Heavenly Soul Empire were abolished a thousand years ago. Apparently, powerful figures from Shrek Academy persuaded both empires to shift their focus to defending against the Sun Moon Empire."
Huo Yuhao nodded thoughtfully.
As they left the North Bright Canyon, an endless ocean of lush grassland unfolded before them.
The green waves rippled like the sea in the wind. A few butterfly-type Spirit Beasts danced lightly through the waves of leaves, like stars leaping from an emerald tide.
Having never seen such a sight in his previous life, Huo Yuhao was stunned. The thick scent of earth and grass in the air made him feel as if he were dreaming.
Or rather, even in his previous life's dreams, he would never have dared imagine such beauty.
Seeing Huo Yuhao's enchanted expression, Li Fei couldn't help but say, "Every time I pass through here, I'm shocked again. My hometown is in the eastern desert of the Star Luo Empire—there's nothing but sand and stone. Sometimes you won't even see a bird for hundreds of miles!"
"But this scenery lasts only for this stretch. After this, it's mostly mountains."
Huo Yuhao didn't continue the conversation. Still seated on horseback, he gently released his spiritual power, quietly feeling the wisps of wind flowing past him.
For the first time, Huo Yuhao genuinely felt that he was living in a completely new world—a world filled with vitality—reminding him that this world was far more than the fixed ink drawings on the pages of his past life.
Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea was undergoing an unnoticed transformation. If he were to open his status panel now, he would find that his original 800 points of spiritual power were slowly increasing.
The Authority of [Understanding] had also reached a control level of 3%.
...
After a full day of traveling, they were still nine hundred li away from their destination—Xuanfeng City—which they would reach by tomorrow afternoon.
Nighttime in the Heavenly Soul Empire was far less safe than in the Star Luo Empire. The caravan didn't dare continue moving and had no choice but to spend the night in a mountain valley.
In a secluded corner of the valley, Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao sat beside a campfire roasting their food.
Li Fei, who had just finished setting up his tent in the distance, walked over. Huo Yuhao picked up a freshly roasted skewer of fish and handed it to him.
Li Fei wiped the sweat from his forehead, sat down across from the fire, took a bite of the fish, and began chewing.
His eyes lit up.
"Brother Danzo, your grilled fish is incredible! I've traveled all over and never tasted anything like this."
Xiao Xiao nodded in strong agreement. She had never eaten such delicious grilled fish even back in the merchant association.
"I agree! This is even better than the grilled fish at Shishen Restaurant in Heaven Dou City!" she said, shaking her little head while chewing, her words muffled.
Huo Yuhao gently shook his head, indicating they were exaggerating. Then something seemed to occur to him. He looked at Li Fei and asked:
"By the way, aren't there any cities around here? We've been traveling for so long and haven't seen a single one."
This question puzzled not only Huo Yuhao; Xiao Xiao also stared at Li Fei with her big glimmering eyes, full of curiosity.
Though she was the young miss of the merchant association, she had hardly ever left home due to various reasons. She too was curious about the Heavenly Soul Empire's situation.
Li Fei gazed helplessly at the campfire and said: "The Heavenly Soul Empire and the Dou Ling Empire used to be a single nation—the Heaven Dou Empire.
"When the split happened, the two new empires fought for hundreds of years, draining their national strength. Once the war finally ended and both sides wanted to recuperate, the Sun Moon Empire arrived.
"The war that swept across the continent utterly destroyed the economies of the Heavenly Soul and Dou Ling Empires.
"Prices skyrocketed in the Heavenly Soul Empire, cities overflowed with refugees, and there were even cases of cannibalism. So masses of people fled the cities and moved to the fertile Heaven Dou Plains, where Shrek Academy was located and offered protection.
"As a result, almost no cities remain along the Heavenly Soul Empire's borders. Most cities are now concentrated in the Heaven Dou Plains. The influx of cheap labor even caused Shrek City to rapidly grow into one of the most prosperous cities on the continent."
After explaining everything to the two, Li Fei finished the fish quickly in two or three big bites. Without even wiping the grease from his mouth, he stood and said to Huo Yuhao:
"Alright, brother, I'm heading to the outer perimeter to keep watch. The inner circle is up to you two."
Once Li Fei vanished into the darkness, Huo Yuhao shooed Xiao Xiao—who clearly wanted to stand guard with him—into the tent as if he were chasing a chick.
"Tsk, Uncle, you have no sense of sympathy," she complained, making a funny face before pulling the tent flap closed and extinguishing the soul lamp inside.
Huo Yuhao sat cross-legged beside the tent and entered meditation. At the same time, he gently stirred his spiritual power, letting it resonate with his Spirit Power to vibrate the surrounding air and send out silent special pulses.
He simulated ultrasonic waves through synchronized vibration of spiritual power and Spirit Power. The reflected waves were received with spiritual power and sent to the brain for analysis. Though this method was less convenient than his original Spiritual Detection, it consumed far less soul power and had a much greater range.
He simulated ultrasonic waves through synchronized vibration of spiritual power and Spirit Power. The reflected waves were received with spiritual power and sent to the brain for analysis. Though this method was less convenient than his original Spiritual Detection, it consumed far less Spirit Power and had a much greater range.
Fortunately, Huo Yuhao's Martial Soul was the Spirit Eyes, and after evolving into the Mangekyō form, it allowed for extremely fine control of spiritual power. A normal person would probably need ten years to learn this technique.
By the latter half of the night, the moon had been covered by dark clouds without anyone noticing. The campfire had long burned out, leaving only dim red embers glowing faintly in the valley.
Suddenly, Huo Yuhao's spiritual power stirred. His sonar-like wave detected something rapidly approaching from the east side of the valley.
"One… two… three…"
Huo Yuhao's eyes snapped open. He stared toward the east. In the pitch-black darkness, he could faintly see birds being startled into flight.
Without the slightest hesitation, he shouted to everyone in the valley:
"Everyone, be alert! Something's approaching from the east!!"