In the imperial palace, Xu Tianran was sitting in his wheelchair, looking up at the night sky outside the window.
"It's so late; the person who should be arriving soon, right?"
"Mm." Ju Zi, standing behind Xu Tianran, responded softly.
Suddenly, an aged voice rang out through the air, "Since you've come, there's no need to hide. Come out, all of you."
As the voice fell, a large number of guards instantly surged forth, surrounding the study where Xu Tianran was located. Rays of light from illumination soul tools crisscrossed and flashed, illuminating the entire night sky brightly.
Long Xiaoyao's figure appeared out of nowhere, suspended in the air in the imperial palace. His black robe gently swayed in the night breeze.
At the Mingyue Hotel, Huo Yuhao watched the commotion near the palace from afar and turned to look at He Caitou behind him.
"Senior Brother He, Elder Xuan has already made his move. The Titled Douluo guarding the soul tools and materials in the city should also be drawn over there. It's time for us to set out."
"Alright." He Caitou took out the black cloak he had prepared long ago and completely concealed his figure. "Little Junior Brother, can you confirm the location?"
"Mm." Huo Yuhao nodded. "That Chen An had impure intentions. I followed him once and saw the person he was secretly trading with. Later, I sensed the presence of a Titled Douluo."
"If it weren't some important place, the Sun Moon Empire wouldn't have sent so many experts to guard it."
Soon, three figures left the Mingyue Hotel under the cover of Huo Yuhao's Imitation soul skill.
They had to leave people behind to take care of Beibei. Not many had left the hotel with Huo Yuhao, but with storage soul tools available, just the three of them were already sufficient.
Amid the continuous rumbling from the sky, flashes of light occasionally streaked across the palace's airspace. The entire sky was like a canvas, freely painted with various colors, sometimes emerald green, sometimes deep yellow, by the many experts.
At the same time, piercing alarms also sounded within Illustrious Virtue Hall. After three years, Illustrious Virtue Hall was once again facing an assault. However, having experienced a surprise attack once before, Illustrious Virtue Hall's response measures were clearly much more mature than three years ago.
Of course, these changes had little to do with Huo Yuhao and his group at this moment. The three figures had already stealthily approached the side of a certain courtyard.
From the outside, it appeared no different from the surrounding buildings, utterly unremarkable. But Huo Yuhao knew that this place was filled with mechanisms and stored many valuable items.
Ever since learning about the existence of alloys, Huo Yuhao had guessed that the Sun Moon Empire had already used alloys to make significant advancements in soul tool technology. Last night, he had immediately contacted the relevant people from the three great empires.
After a night of discussion, they had finally settled on a plan to delay the Sun Moon Empire's war preparations.
The most ideal scenario was successfully assassinating Xu Tianran, but everyone knew this was the action with the slimmest chance of success. Their real objective was to destroy the Sun Moon Empire's existing soul tools, with Illustrious Virtue Hall as the primary target.
Meanwhile, people from the three great empires would also take this opportunity to attempt to break through the Sun Moon Empire's blockade of Mingdu.
As long as the disturbances in Mingdu could attract the redeployment of the outside armies, giving the three great empires' forces a chance to transmit messages outward, more actions could be taken afterward.
As for Huo Yuhao and the others, although he had participated in the plan discussions, his strength was still somewhat lacking. However, they were not limited to simply waiting for news at the Mingyue Hotel. With Mingdu in chaos, there were still many things they could do.
Recalling the entire plan in his mind, Huo Yuhao had already directed He Caitou and Wang Dong to break through the mechanisms in the courtyard and enter the underground passage inside.
"Be careful. I haven't entered this place before either, so I don't know exactly what's inside. Prepare for combat."
He Caitou and Wang Dong silently nodded.
The moment the final gate opened, brilliant butterfly wings rose behind Wang Dong. His wing-blade slashed forward, and under the guidance of Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection, the soul masters guarding inside were struck down before they could even react.
Only after letting out a light breath of relief did the group have time to look at the items stored around them. With just one glance, all three people's expressions changed simultaneously.
Within the entire warehouse, at least thirty or more types of rare metals were displayed. Some metals were ones that even Huo Yuhao, as a soul engineer, was seeing with his own eyes for the first time.
"So many rare metals…" He Caitou's eyes also gleamed. "The person trading with that Chen An… could it really be someone from Illustrious Virtue Hall?"
"It's hard to say. During this Soul Engineer Tournament, the Duskwater Alliance was able to produce so many rare metals. It's possible they truly have overt support from some power."
Huo Yuhao shook his head as he spoke. "Never mind that for now. Since we're here, let's collect them first. Whether for the academy or the Tang Sect, these things are priceless treasures."
As he spoke, he extended his spiritual power to carefully scan the area once more. Then, his figure suddenly paused.
"Yuhao, did you discover something?"
Huo Yuhao glanced at Wang Dong. "It seems this place doesn't only have this one level. There's another secret passage leading underground."
Saying so, he approached the nearby wall and lightly knocked a few times. Sure enough, with a creaking sound from the adjacent shelf, a secret passage appeared before them.
"You two quickly collect the rare metals here. I'll go down and take a look first."
"Mm, be careful."
Huo Yuhao nodded, said no more, and slipped into the secret passage.
However, when he followed the passage to the lower level, the huge underground warehouse was empty. There was only one object on the table in front of him.
Approaching a few steps, Huo Yuhao finally saw clearly that it was merely an extremely ordinary metal mask. But when he made out the patterns on it, his expression suddenly changed.
It was as if he suddenly remembered something. He turned to look back, only to see a black cloak rising high and descending toward his head.
Using Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track Step underfoot, Huo Yuhao's figure flickered several times, attempting to dodge the black cloak's attack.
But the cloak pursued relentlessly. Just as he seemed to have pulled away, it suddenly appeared in front of him again, about to envelop him.
Huo Yuhao quickly calmed himself. With a thought, his spiritual power instinctively extended forward. But in the next instant, a wave of chill rose from his heart.
He could sense no one's presence ahead, empty and desolate, as if it were a world filled with dead silence. The moment his spiritual power made contact, it simply "died" within, unable to be withdrawn.
With his level of spiritual power, even when facing someone whose spiritual power surpassed his own, he had never experienced anything so bizarre.
Then, he heard a familiar voice sound from in front of him.
"What? The Soul Engineer Tournament finals haven't even started yet, and you're already in such a hurry to come here and collect your reward?"
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