Yuwen Tuo left Heaven Dou City.
He had walked for less than an hour when he met Jing Hongchen, who had personally come to pick him up.
It was impossible for the Sun Moon Empire to send a large number of people to the inland regions of the Douluo Continent. At the Mingdou Mountain Range, Star Luo's 500,000 strong army was strictly guarding every inch.
Therefore, only he, the Hall Master, could personally escort Yuwen Tuo to ensure his safety.
"Greetings, Your Highness the Imperial Prince!" Jing Hongchen now appeared much more respectful towards Yuwen Tuo than before.
After all, from the moment Yuwen Tuo decided to go to the Sun Moon Empire, he was destined to be the Imperial Prince of the Sun Moon Empire, and even someone qualified to contend for the throne.
"Hall Master Hongchen, thank you for coming to pick me up," Yuwen Tuo chuckled.
"Your Highness, why the thanks? You are royalty, and I am your subject. Protecting you is my duty. Your Highness, as soon as you heard of His Majesty's serious illness, you immediately decided to rush here. This filial piety moves the heavens. His Majesty will surely be very pleased to see you," Jing Hongchen said.
"However, our journey may not be very peaceful," Yuwen Tuo said. If he were one of the people from the original Three Empires, he wouldn't just watch himself return to the Sun Moon Empire so easily.
After all, innate Rank 20 Soul Power was no joke. Moreover, Yuwen Tuo's cultivation realm was extraordinarily high. The bottleneck of Super Douluo would probably pose no difficulty to him. He might even break through to the Limit Realm in the future.
No country could tolerate the emergence of a Limit Douluo in the Sun Moon Empire.
"Your Highness, rest assured, your subject will do his utmost to protect Your Highness's safety!" Jing Hongchen said, taking out a red, emblem-like object from his embrace. "Your Highness, please take this.
Consider it a gift from your subject. This is a Rank 9 defensive soul tool I personally crafted, 'Red Dust's Blessing.' It is several times superior to the Rank 9 soul tool given to the Heavenly Soul Empire. It will surely keep you safe."
"Thank you! I will repay you in the future." Yuwen Tuo unceremoniously accepted Red Dust's Blessing. He hadn't expected that this soul tool, which originally belonged to Huo Yuhao in the novel, would eventually fall into his hands.
This was a one-click trigger type defensive soul tool. If danger arose, the wearer could sense it beforehand and it would automatically attach to the Soul Master's body.
Normally, it could be activated or deactivated with a thought. Its defensive effect was equivalent to the user condensing all their Soul Power for their strongest attack without activating a Soul Skill, yet the Soul Power consumed was only one-fifth of that strongest attack.
The best aspect of this Rank 9 soul tool was that it was suitable for Soul Masters of any rank, not exclusively for Titled Douluo. Even a One-Ring Soul Master could use it. If it were in the hands of a Titled Douluo, they could instantly possess Super Douluo-level defensive power.
And in Yuwen Tuo's hands at this moment, it would be difficult for anyone below Soul Douluo to harm him.
When he said he would repay him, he wasn't joking. He disliked owing favors to anyone. In the future, he would surely fight his way out of the Sun Moon Empire, and then he would inevitably turn against Jing Hongchen. If this favor existed, he wouldn't be able to bring himself to kill him, so he absolutely had to repay it.
In fact, Yuwen Tuo had considered using Meng Hongchen, that lovesick girl, to subdue Jing Hongchen, but he dismissed the idea after thinking about it.
Firstly, he didn't want to achieve his goals by deceiving a girl's feelings. He didn't even want to deceive Ma Xiaotao, against whom he had a grudge, let alone Meng Hongchen. Secondly, although Jing Hongchen doted on Meng Hongchen very much,
if Yuwen Tuo merely wanted to use Meng Hongchen as a connection to have Jing Hongchen help him contend for the throne, it might be possible. However, Yuwen Tuo's ambition was not there, and he would eventually become an enemy of the Sun Moon Empire.
No matter how much Jing Hongchen doted on his granddaughter, he might not necessarily abandon the entire Mingde Hall and betray the Sun Moon Empire just for Meng Hongchen.
Jing Hongchen had no idea about Yuwen Tuo's many thoughts. He then gave Yuwen Tuo a brand new flying soul tool, and the two flew towards the Mingdou Mountain Range at extreme speed.
Yuwen Tuo didn't comment on Jing Hongchen's character, but he was indeed very dedicated to his duties.
It was just a pity that, in the original novel, he seemed to have bad luck from beginning to end. During the academy exchange period, many of Mingde Hall's resources were exploited by Huo Yuhao. Later, he helped Xu Tianran ascend the throne,
only to be exiled by Xu Tianran to Heaven Dou City to be its lord. After finally getting a brilliant grandson, Xiao Hongchen, it was unfortunate that due to drug use and premature development, he would find it difficult to break through to Titled Douluo in this lifetime.
His life was simply a tragedy.
After flying for half a day, they approached the Mingdou Mountain Range.
They landed here. The Mingdou Mountain Range was the border between the Sun Moon and Star Luo Empires, and flying over it arbitrarily was forbidden.
Therefore, when the Shrek monitoring group came here to perform their mission, the military couldn't even lend them flying soul tools.
If spotted by the Star Luo army patrolling the mountains, they might be shot down.
Thus, the two could only traverse the Mingdou Mountain Range on foot. They soon arrived at a canyon between two cliffs.
"Your Highness, through this canyon ahead lies the border of the Sun Moon Empire," Jing Hongchen said.
"Yes, but, passing through safely may not be easy!" Yuwen Tuo said with a chuckle, looking around. "This is truly a good place for an ambush."
He wasn't worried about an ambush. In fact, for him, while this killing intent was dangerous, it could also serve as an excuse for many things he would do later.
As his voice fell, a cold aura came from the two not-so-tall hills between them. Both were Soul Masters, and Jing Hongchen was even a Titled Douluo, extremely sensitive to danger.
Countless falling rocks rained down from the hills on both sides, not only abruptly but also falling very neatly.
"Hmph, falling so neatly. It's probably not a large army ambush, but a master breaking the rock walls." Jing Hongchen waved his hand, and around him, a full two hundred and fifty-six soul cannons appeared.
This was Jing Hongchen's ability. He was indeed Xiao Hongchen's biological grandfather, possessing the same Golden Toad Martial Soul as him. Their fighting style was truly inherited, but his Martial Soul didn't possess the powerful divine beast bloodline of Xiao Hongchen's Three-Legged Golden Toad.
Fortunately, he still had the level of a top-tier Martial Soul, and his ability to control metal was not bad. Because of his powerful cultivation, he was currently hundreds of times stronger than Xiao Hongchen.
These two hundred and fifty-six Rank 5 soul cannons were merely a small test of his skill.
Numerous soul cannons fired simultaneously, instantly blasting all the falling rocks in the sky into rock slag.
"Come out, with such cultivation, why hide your head and tail?" Jing Hongchen called out.
Being able to blast so many huge rocks in an instant, the newcomer was not simple. At the very least, he was a master of the Titled Douluo realm.
"Jing Hongchen, why should I fear you!" An old man in a gray robe slowly descended from above the cliff.
He wore no mask but appeared openly, showing no intention of hiding his identity.
In this world of Martial Souls, hiding one's identity seemed pointless anyway. Unless one fought without a Martial Soul, who wouldn't know the Martial Souls of famous masters? And who would dare to say they could defeat a Rank 9 Soul Engineer Jing Hongchen without using a Martial Soul?
A Limit Douluo might be able to, but Yuwen Tuo was certain that neither Du Busu before his breakthrough nor Gluttony Douluo Xuan Zi could.
Since he couldn't hide his identity, concealment was naturally meaningless.
Assassination turned into open killing.
A scorching, domineering surge of fire power suddenly erupted from the gray-robed old man's body. Jing Hongchen's two hundred and fifty-six Rank 5 metal soul cannons almost melted at a visible speed.
Jing Hongchen smiled faintly. "Heh heh, a Titled Douluo with such powerful fire control is rare in the world. It must be the guardian deity of the Dou Spirit Empire, right, Crown Prince Tianyang?"
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