"Little… Fifth Brother, isn't this a bit too risky?"
In the spectator stands, the figures of Huo Yuhao and He Caitou had vanished at some point. In a luxuriously decorated corridor, the air was slightly distorted as He Caitou's voice came through.
"Fourth Brother, you saw the situation in the arena just now. A place like this absolutely shouldn't be allowed to continue existing. I must investigate what exactly is behind all this."
"Moreover, judging from their fighting style, this place is definitely connected to evil soul masters."
There was one more sentence Huo Yuhao didn't say out loud.
Although the academy had tried to conceal it, he had still heard news about Ma Xiaotao—she was currently somewhere within the Sun Moon Empire. By following the clues here, he might be able to find traces of her.
He Caitou nodded slightly upon hearing this.
In truth, even without Huo Yuhao saying it, he also wanted to figure out what exactly had happened in Mingdu. Under his father's former rule, the Sun Moon Empire had never been like this.
This was the capital of the Sun Moon Empire, yet even here, such things existed. The rest of the country had probably long since changed beyond recognition.
Along the way, no one had discovered their tracks. Looking at the room just ahead, He Caitou gripped the soul tool in his hand tighter and said no more, closely following behind Huo Yuhao.
However, the moment they confirmed no one was around and pushed open the door, Huo Yuhao suddenly pulled him and rushed back outside.
"Fifth Brother, what happened?"
"We've probably been discovered," Huo Yuhao said, breathing somewhat rapidly.
"There's someone in the room?"
"No, but my Spiritual Detection picked up a soul tool responsible for alarms." At this point, Huo Yuhao paused slightly. "I've seen it before at the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy."
"You're saying this underground arena is backed by the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy?"
"I can't be sure." Huo Yuhao shook his head. Because he was still concealed by his soul skill, He Caitou couldn't see the motion. "But there must be some connection between them."
While speaking, Huo Yuhao pulled He Caitou and quickly ran down the corridor. The people they passed seemed to sense something and turned their heads slightly, but saw nothing.
"Elder."
Just as Huo Yuhao and He Caitou rounded a corner, voices suddenly came from ahead.
Their footsteps abruptly halted. They looked left and right, but for a moment couldn't find anywhere suitable to hide.
"Fourth Brother, quick, press yourself against the wall."
"Got it."
Without time to think, He Caitou pressed his body tightly against the corridor wall. Beside him, Huo Yuhao continuously released spiritual and soul power, using his soul skill to completely mask both their figures and auras.
"Second Brother, what exactly went wrong?"
Huo Yuhao and He Caitou held their breath, listening as the footsteps and conversation grew closer.
"Someone just broke into my room. I still don't know where they've gone now."
"Third Brother, Eighth Brother, I'll go back to my room first to check if anything is missing. Third Brother, you go check the warehouse, nothing there can be lost. Eighth Brother, search nearby for any signs of outsiders."
"Understood."
As the voice finished speaking, three figures that looked very similar appeared in Huo Yuhao's field of vision.
But soon he realized the three figures weren't actually identical; they only appeared similar because all three wore identical cloaks embroidered with silver patterns.
The leader beneath his cloak wore luxurious attire, just like the merchants of Mingdu.
The other two also wore black beneath their cloaks, except one of them had a metal mask on his face. Some kind of special array seemed engraved inside it, blocking even Huo Yuhao's spiritual power from seeing the face beneath.
He Caitou tilted his head, pressing his body as flat as possible against the wall behind him. His heart felt like it was about to leap out of his throat. Yet when he saw the three approaching figures, his body stiffened as if paralyzed, momentarily losing all sensation.
"Eighth Brother, why did you suddenly stop?"
In the corridor, the Third Elder turned back and looked at Lin Xiao, who had abruptly halted, with slight confusion.
"Third Brother, you go to the warehouse as Second Brother instructed. I'll stay here and check if anyone is hiding." Lin Xiao's tone was calm as usual. The Third Elder didn't think much of it, nodded, and continued forward.
Lin Xiao stood in place, watching the backs of Nangong Wan and the Third Elder disappear, then suddenly turned his head as if admiring the patterns on the corridor wall.
Huo Yuhao stared at the mask mere inches away from him. His body was already stretched taut as a bowstring. Even Tianmeng Ice Silkworm and the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion in his spiritual sea didn't dare make a sound, afraid of disturbing him.
Titled Douluo, and three of them had appeared at once.
Huo Yuhao could feel the aura emanating from the person before him; that peculiar sensation could only belong to a Titled Douluo.
The cloak of the person in front of him lifted slightly, and Huo Yuhao could almost feel the hem brush lightly across his calf.
Holding his breath, desperately suppressing his heartbeat, terrified that even the slightest sound would be heard.
Fortunately, the person only paused for a brief moment before continuing forward.
"Huu—huu—"
Hearing the footsteps gradually fade away, Huo Yuhao immediately tugged He Caitou and silently left the corridor.
Only Lin Xiao, who had reached the end of the corridor, turned back once more.
Huo Yuhao's Imitation soul skill was indeed excellent, especially when supported by his immense spiritual power.
Whether aura or light refraction, he could completely blend with the surroundings, even fooling the perception of some Titled Douluo.
But Huo Yuhao's cultivation was still too low; there were forces he could neither control nor comprehend.
He and He Caitou could conceal their auras, but in Lin Xiao's eyes, the strange spatial fluctuations immediately revealed the anomaly in the corridor.
However—
After becoming an Elder and obtaining the list of the most core disciples, he had discovered that the Holy Spirit Cult was far larger than imagined. Simply destroying the headquarters in the Evil Forest had been far from enough to shake the foundations of this enormous organization.
As Nangong Wan had said, certain negative emotions were instincts carved into human nature, present from birth.
Once some soul masters gained power, those desires only grew stronger. Without sufficient mental fortitude to control their strength, even if their martial soul was ordinary, they would still fall and become evil soul masters.
Thus, evil soul masters on the Douluo Continent were almost endless. Wherever there was no restraint, the Holy Spirit Cult's influence would quickly grow again…
Perhaps letting the people from Shrek Academy stir things up a little wouldn't be so bad.
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