Dai Luoli said angrily, "That's excitement? I might have died!" Even though he had already stopped moving through the air, his butt was still quivering as his legs shook uncontrollably. He was still panting heavily.
"Look at your fur," Huo Yuhao pointed out to him.
Dai Luoli looked down subconsciously, and was surprised to see that his white fur had become a faint red after he unleashed his martial soul. Furthermore, he wasn't in the hysterical state that he was in back then!
"Do you know what this means? The spiritual element in your martial soul is fusing with your original martial soul, the White Tiger's element. When your fur is entirely blood-red in color when you release your martial soul under any circumstance, it means the evolution of your martial soul is complete. When that happens, your martial soul should be stronger than typical White Tigers, and any offensive soul skills should contain spiritual elements."
The corner of Dai Luoli's mouth twitched as he listened to Huo Yuhao's explanation. "Are you really my biological brother?"
"Of course," Huo Yuhao said seriously.
Dai Luoli forced a laugh and said, "Can we not use such methods where I'm frightened to death next time!? Do you know that I really thought I was going to die just now?"
Huo Yuhao chortled and said, "This will only work if you feel such sensations. Otherwise, how can your martial soul's mutations be entirely triggered and released? If your mutations were so easily released, why haven't you been able to do so over the past ten years? Intense excitement is the best way to accelerate that release. However, I've already used this method before, so it won't be as effective and inspiring next time. Let's go."
------
He activated his flying-type soul tool, and Huo Yuhao brought Dai Luoli into the air once more. He kept them at roughly a thousand meters in altitude as they flew west.
Huo Yuhao had already used his spiritual power to survey everything as far as he could around them, and had not detected any other high-altitude aerial surveillance soul tools.
The sky was limitless. Even though he could cover quite a large area with his spiritual power, he couldn't possibly search every inch of the sky. Of course, Huo Yuhao had his plans. These high altitude aerial surveillance soul tools would only appear in locations of substantial strategic importance. For example, they would only appear over cities responsible for frontier defense, or at important travel routes. He should have an easier time if he searched for those soul tools in those kinds of places. They were all Class 8 soul tools! Such soul tools would be very useful in the future...
However, Huo Yuhao had to take a look at the western front before all that. He had to see what the Sun Moon Empire had in mind, since they hadn't launched another invasion for such a long time.
Huo Yuhao flew towards the west, and quickly covered two hundred kilometers. However, he started to slow down after about a hundred and fifty kilometers.
"Impressive... the Sun Moon Empire has really invested everything into this! There are aerial surveillance soul tools everywhere. They are covering every single corner like a carpet. There aren't any blind spots at all." Huo Yuhao paused in midair and couldn't help but marvel at the sight.
Dai Luoli's vision wasn't that good, but he had support from Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection. He could see masses of aerial surveillance soul tools in the three-dimensional spiritual world of Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection. Within that range, there were more than fifty such soul tools, and there were even more further from their position.
"Elder brother, do you think you can conceal us from those things?" Dai Luoli asked nervously. After flying for a period of time, his emotions had settled down from being scared shitless just now. He knew that Huo Yuhao was doing everything for his own good, and after his martial soul's mutation accelerated with that episode, he clearly felt that his soul power had risen further, and he was about to break into Rank 40.
Huo Yuhao said, "I can't conceal us from every single type they have out there, but my Spiritual Detection's area of effect is large enough. We just have to avoid those specific types."
There were several aerial surveillance soul tools among those in the sky that were specifically meant to detect spiritual power. However, these spiritual power detectors had relatively smaller ranges, and the level of spiritual power they could detect was limited in the end. Huo Yuhao concealed his own spiritual power exceptionally well, and he wasn't afraid of these soul tools discovering him. However, he would be discovered if he used Imitation and entered those spiritual power detectors' areas of effect. Those were the soul tools that Huo Yuhao had to avoid.
They proceeded forward slowly, Huo Yuhao continuously avoiding the aerial surveillance soul tools that could detect them as they gradually neared the Ming Dou Mountain Range.
Huo Yuhao marveled in silence as he flew. The Sun Moon Empire's fighting style was so much more advanced than the Douluo Continent's three native empires.
The Sun Moon Empire emphasized aerial surveillance, and would use soul engineer legions to initiate blitz attacks. These soul engineers executed accurate and precise attacks and decapitation strikes. In addition to the fact that the Sun Moon Empire's industrial standards were far superior to those of the Douluo Continent's three native empires, the victor in this war was truly hard to predict!
Huo Yuhao had to make judgments and evade surveillance soul tools continuously, so he was flying at a much slower speed than normal. It took fifteen long minutes before he finally got past where those large swathes of aerial surveillance soul tools reached. The Ming Dou Mountain Range came into view far on the horizon underneath the night sky.
Huo Yuhao didn't fly too close. Instead, he stopped when they were about ten kilometers away from the Ming Dou Mountain Range, and opened the Eye of Destiny on his forehead.
His rose-gold Eye of Destiny opened, and Dai Luoli was overcome with astonishment once more. He felt as if his spirit were about to be sucked out of him as he stared at that peculiar vertical eye. Fortunately, his martial soul's spiritual elements had been Awakened, and he had certain foundations in spiritual power. He hurriedly turned his gaze away when Huo Yuhao reminded him.
The combined effects of Huo Yuhao's Eye of Destiny and his Skull of Destiny allowed him to reach a maximum distance of ten kilometers with his Spiritual Detection in a single direction. Of course, doing so would consume a lot of spiritual power.
Huo Yuhao's spiritual power touched the Western Mountains in the distance, and he gradually started sweeping the area horizontally. Afterwards, he surveyed the base of the Western Mountain, where the Star Luo Empire's army camps were originally located. Huo Yuhao's expression gradually became extremely grave and solemn.
Dai Luoli didn't make a single sound. He didn't even dare to take deep breaths. There were aerial surveillance soul tools all over the place, and one mistake could likely expose their location. He was very intelligent, so he hadn't said a single word ever since they entered this region. He allowed Huo Yuhao to lead him, and all he did was survey and observe his surroundings.
---
Huo Yuhao continued surveilling for more than ten minutes. He didn't say anything at all when he was done, but turned around and carefully flew back the way they had come.
Dai Luoli realized that his elder brother's expression was as black as could be. Evidently, Huo Yuhao had realized something important, but even though he was worried and anxious, he couldn't open his mouth to ask! He could only wait quietly until they flew out of this region.
They flew more quickly on the way back, since they had prior experience. Huo Yuhao didn't attempt to destroy the aerial surveillance soul tools when they left the region which was under heavy surveillance. Instead, he hurriedly sped up and flew towards Imperial Radiant City.
"Luoli."
"Yes." Dai Luoli hurriedly acknowledged when he heard Huo Yuhao call his name.
Huo Yuhao lowered his voice and said, "I'm afraid you can't continue concealing your identity. You will look for your father immediately after you return, and I will take you and fly into that city. You'll find someone to reveal your identity to, and tell him an important piece of intel. The Sun Moon Empire is playing a large and deadly scheme this time. Everyone has been tricked."
"Ah?" Dai Luoli felt the fine hair on his neck stand on end when he heard his words.
"What are you talking about, elder brother? What scheme is that?"
Huo Yuhao lowered his voice and said, "The Sun Moon Empire isn't planning to attack the Star Luo empire at all. We are not their targets."
"Wait, wait a minute," Dai Luoli was a little confused as he said, "Why won't they want to invade the Star Luo Empire? They've used Class 9 soul tools and forcefully blasted open a path, and they've also utterly crushed our Northwestern Field Army!"
Huo Yuhao took a deep breath, and a thread of fear flashed beneath his eyes. He only felt how terrifying the Sun Moon Empire was when war truly broke out . No wonder they had to seal the Star Luo Empire's surveillance so tightly and strictly! They were actually using a double bluff strategy.
"Do you know what I discovered just now? Let me tell you, the Sun Moon Empire took over the Northwestern Field Army's camp, but there isn't a single soldier from the Sun Moon Empire in that place, or anywhere in its vicinity. There are only voluminous defensive soul tools set up on the Ming Dou Mountain Range, and they've built the Ming Dou Mountain Range into something like a fortress."
"I still don't understand!" Dai Luoli muttered a little exasperatedly.
Huo Yuhao lowered his voice and said, "That means the Sun Moon Empire never had any intentions to invade us. They mobilized their great armies to launch an all-out attack before this, but everything was an illusion, and they did that so that they could deceive us into thinking that they are launching a great invasion against us. Their soldiers haven't crossed the mountain range, so how are they going to launch a great invasion? Those who started this war were those highly mobile soul engineer legions, and their rearguard entered the Ming Dou Mountain Range after them and placed large amounts of defensive soul tools on our side to form a defensive front, as well as an aerial surveillance front."
"They've done all that so that they can sever all information and surveillance from the Ming Dou Mountain Range, so that we are unsure about what their true circumstances or situation is."
Dai Luoli asked, "How are these actions beneficial for them?"
Huo Yuhao's expression was frighteningly grave and stern. "Their actions are beneficial for them because they've managed to conceal their true aim in this war. They never intended to invade the Star Luo Empire with their full strength. Damn it, I should have thought about this a long time ago. If I had been the one launching an invasion, and if I really wanted to invade the Star Luo Empire, I would definitely do everything in one go; how could I pause in the middle like that?
"I would have gone all the way to destroy the Star Luo Empire's second defense perimeter, and I would have ruined the granaries and all military supplies and stores, or I would pillage and loot the cities. Afterwards, I would consolidate and stabilize defenses in the areas that I have conquered, and wait for more soldiers to arrive. I wouldn't stop my invasion right at the border!"