Ju Zi could naturally hear his voice from her commander's tent. Furthermore, several messengers were already reporting what was happening outside to her.

Ju Zi was still feeling a little melancholic. The reason for that was that she had just received news about the Evileye Tyrant Soul Engineer Legion's commander, Xia Xuanchen, through their transmission soul tools.

The Evileye Tyrant and Imperial Dragon Legions had been successful in their ambush against Ling Dou City, and they had successfully destroyed Dou Ling City's royal palace. But just as they were prepared to retreat, many evil soul masters appeared to ambush them, which resulted in the two legions sustaining heavy losses. Even the Imperial Dragon Legion's commander, Xu Tianyuan, had perished.

Ju Zi's first reaction was to restrict this news when she received it. At least, she had to do it before Xia Xuanchen and the others got back.

Evil soul masters ambus.h.i.+ng two beast-ranked soul engineer legions was big news, and she couldn't hush this matter up even with her reputation as the War G.o.d Empress.

What did beast-ranked soul engineer legions represent? They represented the military, not to mention that the Imperial Dragon Legion was involved. The Imperial Dragon Legion represented the royal family.

Xu Tianran himself would have to deal with this matter carefully even if he were here himself, because this matter involved both the military and the royal family, let alone Ju Zi.

And the evil soul masters? They represented the Holy Ghost Church, who had two Ultimate Douluo! Furthermore, the Holy Ghost Church's supreme leader, Zhongli Wu, was supervisor to their army right now.

Ju Z I didn't understand why the Holy Ghost Church would suddenly ambush two beast-ranked soul engineer legions, but she believed Xia Xuanchen.

From her perspective, Xia Xuanchen was the weakest among the four beast-ranked soul engineer legions' commanders. However, he had the clearest mind, and that was the reason why she gave him that heavy responsibility.

Xia Xuanchen had a.n.a.lyzed the Holy Ghost Church's aim in detail in his transmission. The Holy Ghost Church was antagonizing the military, and they were going after the soul engineer legions' strength. At the same time, they went after the Imperial Dragon Soul Engineer Legion's commander, Xu Tianyuan. The storage-type soul tool that Xu Tianyuan was carrying on his body had disappeared during the attack, and there were likely to be several Cla.s.s 9 stationary soul cannon sh.e.l.ls in that storage soul tool. They didn't know how many there were exactly.

Was that reason enough? That reason wasn't enough for normal people. Attacking two beast-ranked legions was big news, after all! But for the Holy Ghost Church, who had always been selfish, and who had only cared about themselves to the point where they didn't care about innocent lives, this reason couldn't be any more normal.

Ju Zi was very clear what the Holy Ghost Church's true leader, Ye Xishui, used to charge her Death G.o.d.

Not long ago, the Holy Ghost Church had used several tens of thousands of spirits from soldiers who had perished to attack the Beast G.o.d. Furthermore, Zhongli Wu had personally led a team to chase down and kill Di Tian.

Zhongli Wu and the others had returned. There had been more than ten evil soul masters when they had left, but a third of them had disappeared when they returned. Zhongli Wu's expression had been stern and solemn, and it was evident that their plan wasn't successful. The Beast G.o.d wasn't that easily a.s.sa.s.sinated, and this outcome also benefited Ju Zi. This was what she had hoped to see.

However, there was an uproar within the army when Zhongli Wu and the others used the souls of dead soldiers for that purpose.

The Holy Ghost Church's powerful individuals got away with it, but Ju Zi had to take a lot of pressure.

There was a reason for the army's fury. Soldiers sacrificed their lives for the country, and they were already heroes, but their souls after their pa.s.sing ended up being used by Holy Ghost Church's evil soul masters. They were even converted into avenging spirits, and that was a fact that the army couldn't tolerate at all. The conflict between the Holy Ghost Church and the military was continuously building up. Under such circ.u.mstances, it wasn't hard to imagine that the news that Xia Xuanchen had brought back wouldn't just be lighting a fuse. That news would cause a violent conflict between the army and the Holy Ghost Church.

Ju Zi wasn't that afraid of the Holy Ghost Church. The military had many formidable individuals, and there were quite a number of Cla.s.s 9 soul engineers. The army even had several beast-ranked soul engineer legions supporting them.

But what about Radiant City? There were two evil soul masters there, and one of them was the Death G.o.d Douluo, Ye Xishui. The Holy Ghost Church's foundations were also at Radiant City. If something happened here, the Holy Ghost Church would make a move in their capital.

She didn't care about Xu Tianran's life, but she cared about her son's life! Furthermore, the Sun Moon Empire was in an excellent position. She couldn't afford for it to fall into disarray.

Ju Zi was even more conflicted under such circ.u.mstances, and she found it difficult to make a decision despite her intelligence and calibre. She could only temporarily suppress the army's fury. At least, she couldn't let a conflict happen between the army and the Holy Ghost Church before her setup was complete. That wasn't beneficial for her.

Furthermore, Ju Zi felt a little strange. Who did the Holy Ghost Church deploy to ambush the two beast-ranked soul engineer legions?

Ju Zi had a rough estimate of the Holy Ghost Church's soul masters. The Sun Moon Empire had also thoroughly investigated that matter before.

Ju Zi was very aware of those two soul engineer legions' capabilities. Even if they were more relaxed after their successful attack on Dou Ling City, anybody who wanted to ambush them had to be extremely powerful.

Undead creatures? Many undead creatures. That does sound like the Holy Ghost Church's methods. But there were a few doubts in Xia Xuanchen's report that attracted her attention.

Their enemies could hide themselves. That fact alone made Ju Zi's heart skip a beat.

There were soul masters who knew how to conceal themselves, and there were also evil soul masters who could do the same. But she knew of only one person who was adept at hiding himself and fighting battles alone! Furthermore, Xia Xuanchen also told her that there was somebody who possessed incredible abilities of ice and snow among the evil soul masters who had attacked them. The evil soul masters had relied on a kind of domain-type ability of ice and snow to create a death trap and besiege them.

Ice and snow? Stealth capabilities?

Ju Zi wouldn't be fit to be known as the War G.o.d Empress if she still didn't suspect him when these two capabilities existed at the same time.

Ju Zi could only force a laugh when she thought about that person.

Ju Zi finally had a taste of her own medicine, and how awkward the situation was. She knew what her opponent was doing, but there was nothing she could do to stop it. She couldn't even expose her opponent's ident.i.ty.

Wasn't that right? She was positive that Huo Yuhao was likely the perpetrator who had ambushed the two beast-ranked soul engineer legions, and the Tang Sect's other members had probably a.s.sisted him as well. But she couldn't reveal that. Why couldn't she? Because she also wanted to deal with the Holy Ghost Church! Huo Yuhao had crushed two of the Sun Moon Empire's beast-ranked soul engineer legions and framed the Holy Ghost Church. In some sense, he was helping her.

But the timing wasn't right, was it? Furthermore, Huo Yuhao had also killed Xu Tianyuan. Xu Tianyuan was a prince who held the highest authority! His death meant the royal family's strength and authority would be reshuffled once more, and she had had a decent relations.h.i.+p with Xu Tianyuan.

Huo Yuhao's act messed everything up, but she simply couldn't reveal his ident.i.ty.

She would waste her past efforts if she did that. If the army and the Holy Ghost Church's relations.h.i.+p was bridged, and if both the army and the Holy Ghost Church wanted to attack Shrek City, then that would be worse for her.

Ju Zi had made use of Shrek Academy's responsibility to defend themselves many times, while Huo Yuhao was the one who was using her in this moment. Ju Zi had to admit that she shouldn't have told Huo Yuhao back then that she was targeting the Dou Ling Empire, because that fellow was just too smart.

But Ju Zi didn't feel like she had lost. Dou Ling City's royal palace was laid to ruin, and even if both beast-ranked soul engineer legions were ma.s.sacred in the end, she would still be the ultimate victor. Reality proved that Huo Yuhao and the others were too late after all.

The situation was very messy, and that forced Ju Zi to divide her mind to deal with all sorts of problems. She was still very busy with work when she heard Huo Yuhao's voice from outside.

Ju Zi's first reaction when she heard Huo Yuhao's voice was, So the person who ambushed the two legions wasn't him?

Yes! If he was the one who did it, why would he be back so quickly? And what is he trying to do? Does he really think that I wish to capture him? Or is he trying to use our relations.h.i.+p to stump me? No, that's not how he does things.

Ju Zi was a little taken aback, and her mind felt a little blank. Just as Huo Yuhao himself had said, he had to give Ju Zi a surprise to deal with her. He had succeeded for the moment.

Xia Xuanchen's report meant that the two legions' remaining soldiers would only return to the army at night.

That was because they had to cover a lot of ground, and another reason was that they had become extremely tense and alarmed after Huo Yuhao ambushed them continuously. They had no choice but to be careful! Furthermore, their previous exploits made them extremely fatigued. They were already trying their best to reach their camp by nightfall.

Therefore, Ju Zi immediately realized after her momentary blankness that Huo Yuhao was probably still using her.

A smart person who wished to trump another had to think more meticulously. If Huo Yuhao had precisely calculated the time that these two legions needed to return, what was he doing, exactly?

“Pa.s.s my order. The Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Legion is to be mobilized, and they will escort me to take a look at what that fellow is doing. All soul tool fronts, prepare linked defenses but hold fire. Notify all soul engineers Cla.s.s 8 and above to gather in the sky and prepare for battle.”

Ju Zi gave a series of orders before she walked out of her tent.