Huo Yuhao said, “The entire Sun Moon Empire army is here. Ju Zi should be here too. There are four beast lord-ranked soul engineer legions helming soul formations at the mountain tops. In the mountain valley, there are eight other soul formations. Although they’re weaker, they’ve been built very close to one another. They complement the soul formations at the mountain tops very well. Above the valley, in a region covering a few hundred kilometers from the center, there are all types of aerial surveillance soul tools. This is a trap! Even we would be discovered if we made any moves inside, and it wouldn’t be easy to escape. Ju Zi is really vicious! She’s targeting the Death God Douluo and the Darkness Holy Dragon. It’s too domineering. Have they really fallen out so badly?”

Tang Wutong chuckled and commented, “It’s all your doing. If you didn’t frame them, things wouldn’t be like this.”

Huo Yuhao also laughed. “Do you know how I feel right now?”

Tang Wutong was confused as she looked at him.

Huo Yuhao laughed, “Right now, I feel that we have to carefully make our way in from the outside and slowly tear apart her impenetrable defense. We’ll then thwart her plans. Although it’ll take some time, I feel confident for some reason.”

“If my earlier plan didn’t succeed, the Holy Ghost Church would undoubtedly want to deal with me first. Two Ultimate Douluo won’t be easy to deal with. However, it seems like Ju Zi is going to help us take the pressure this time. From her current setup, she must be pretty confident that the Death God Douluo will come and seek trouble. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have prepared like this. Let’s watch and observe first, and let them fight among themselves. When they’re almost done, let’s step in. As for killing those reinforcements, of course it’ll be the doing of the Holy Ghost Church.”

Tang Wutong laughed. “You can do whatever you want. Anyway, if you are the antagonist, I’m the woman of the antagonist.”

“Haha! I must be a thief, and you’re the thief’s wife.”

“Sounds bad. What thief’s wife? I’m much better than that!”

The two of them quickly picked up speed and flew into the distance.

Mountain valley. Commander’s tent.

Ju Zi was seated in the commander’s tent. Right now, her warrior robe was gone. She was only in an official uniform, just like how she was in the palace. She creased her brow and paced up and down the tent. No one knew what she was thinking about.

After Xu Tianran’s instructions were delayed for a long time, they finally reached her. Xu Tianran sternly admonished her for what she had done, but he didn’t mention any punishment. He only said that she would be punished after she returned from the war against the Dou Ling and Star Luo Empires.

His edict was very interesting. Everyone could tell that he was protecting her. Only Ju Zi knew that he wasn’t just protecting her; he was also weakening her!

Evidently, Xu Tianran knew that the Holy Ghost Church would be mad after he passed this edict. Of course, he wasn’t afraid of the Holy Ghost Church in Radiant City. He had the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Engineer Legion to protect him. Along with the soul formations in Radiant City, even Ultimate Douluo couldn’t easily lay their hands on him.

Xu Tianran was also not the one who killed the soul masters from the Holy Ghost Church. It was Ju Zi’s soul engineers in the army. She was even the commander of the three armies. It would be a surprise if the Holy Ghost Church didn’t vent their anger on her.

Fortunately, she had entrusted her son to Xu Tianran before she left the imperial palace. It was unlikely that he would come into any danger. Xu Tianran was being distrustful of her right now. He was always very distrustful. He must believe that she wielded too much power after they stabilized things in the Heavenly Soul Empire. This was why he was weakening her through the Holy Ghost Church.

Of course, this matter could be argued the other way around too. He wished to borrow her strength to weaken the Holy Ghost Church. The only way to do so was to kill them all.

The Sun Moon Empire had already demonstrated its absolute advantage on the continent. This meant that the Holy Ghost Church was expendable now. Given this, it wasn’t a bad idea to wipe out the evil soul masters once and for all. At least, this was something that all the citizens and officials were willing to see. If so, why not?

Xu Tianran was just going to be an observer. He was clearly aware that he had to stand on Ju Zi’s side. She wielded a lot of power, and she was very clever too. As for the Holy Ghost Church, he didn’t think too much of them. Now that the army had rebelled, it was equivalent to the Holy Ghost Church being ostracized by the Sun Moon Empire. They couldn’t return to their former glory anymore.

Just like Jing Hongchen, the Holy Ghost Church had served its purpose.

The Holy Ghost Church’s greatest mistake was its arrogance. It was too arrogant, believing that the Sun Moon Empire couldn’t deal with Shrek Academy without them.

When it came to this, the three empires of the original Douluo Continent had made the same mistake. They had looked down on the strength of soul tools.

Xu Tianran and the Sun Moon Empire had used facts to prove that soul tools could help them dominate the entire continent. After this fact was established, what further use was the Holy Ghost Church? The evils of the Holy Ghost Church had already incurred a lot of wrath. Getting rid of them completely was something everyone would be happy to see. The dirty spots of the past had to be cleaned, and they had to be cleaned completely.

What Xu Tianran wanted was to rule the entire continent properly, not in an evil manner.

This was why he had thought of this good idea after pondering over it. He was going to let someone else settle his problem without implicating him.

As for Ju Zi’s life, did it really matter compared to his future? Of course, if she really died, he would still be very sad. At least, she was the most loyal and caring among all his subordinates. Xu Tianran had even thought of it. If Ju Zi died, he would announce to his people that he would not marry anyone else in the future. Anyway, he already had a Crown Prince. Whether he had an Empress didn’t matter anymore.

The cold smile on Ju Zi’s face widened. She could completely see through Xu Tianran’s mind right now. She could even imagine his expression when he gave this edict.

A distrustful anti-hero. This was her appraisal of him. However, she despised him more and more right now.

I wonder how Yuhao is. Tang Wutong was severely hurt by Zhong Liwu that night. Did he manage to treat her after he left?

When she thought of Huo Yuhao, the coldness in Ju Zi’s heart turned into worry. Even though she knew that he was her greatest threat in the future, she still couldn’t help but think of him. If she had to lose to someone in the future, she wished it would be to Huo Yuhao. It wasn’t shameful losing to someone she deeply loved. Perhaps it was even a form of bliss. When that happened, she might really be freed.

All types of ideas surfaced in her mind. After two hours, she returned to her seat and sat down a little lethargically.

After she willingly took the rap for her subordinates, her reputation in the army grew unprecedentedly high. All the generals admired and respected her.

They were resting here because they were waiting for Xu Tianran’s edict. Apart from admonishing Ju Zi, Xu Tianran had also instructed her to proceed with her attacks until they ruled the entire continent. Supplies would be sent over. As for the threat the Holy Ghost Church posed, he didn’t mention a single word at all.

Are you still thinking of using me as a tool to help you rule the entire continent? A cold look flashed across Ju Zi’s eyes. Xu Tianran, you’re really bold! Your selfishness will doom you. You only have three to four years left to live. Unless I’m dead, you are doomed!

When she thought until here, Ju Zi looked very cold. Her entire face was filled with killing intent. Fortunately, she was the only one in the tent right now. No one saw her. The edict had already been crushed into waste paper in her hand.

A boom suddenly sounded, jolting Ju Zi awake. She subconsciously put on her human-shaped soul tool and rushed outside to take a look.

Once she exited the tent, she immediately saw the brightly-lit sky. On the mountaintops surrounding the mountain valley, four soul formations had already fully unleashed their linked defensive barriers. It was just that the light coming from the protective soul barrier in the southeast was much dimmer, and rocks were falling from the sky on that side.

Fortunately, only soul engineers were stationed there. Not many people were hurt as soul rays were used to deal with the falling rocks.

Advanced-tier soul engineers quickly gathered close to the commander’s tent. They all looked into the sky, and they appeared very serious.

Only Ju Zi looked steady. There was even a scornful look on her face, “What’s meant to come will always come. It’s a pity that she’s more foolish than I thought. Is she really trying to overcome my defensive formations with brute force?”

“Marshal, we must not be complacent. After all, she’s the strongest person in the empire. It’s best to be prudent.”

In the sky, a dark-red figure flashed. There was a huge projection behind this figure. This projection was around a hundred meters tall, and was completely dark red. There was a giant pointed tower surrounding its arms. Red light had just retracted from the tip of the tower.

When the southeast side of the soul formations was attacked, the linked defensive barrier was automatically activated. However, it was still overcome. Huge losses were incurred. More than a third of the soul formation was wiped out. This was why the effect of the linked defensive barrier in this direction wasn’t very ideal.