Elder Xuan clicked his tongue and said, "As of right now, there's no new information about the situation with the bandits, so that's good, however, the situation is still grim. So they're willing to provide us with some high class flying-type soul tools to speed-up our journey."
"But the problem here is that there's a condition: they'll be willing to lend us those soul tools if we let one of them accompany us."
'Ah, I get why he's so pissed off.' Huo Yuhao thought with a nod of understanding.
The mission about dealing with the Envoys of the Death God is a highly classified mission of only the highest ranking officers stationed here, alongside the Eastern Army that the White Tiger Duke led that was helping quarantine the Ma Ding Mountain, so it was essentially important and there should be no distractions.
Bringing along someone with them is obviously a big distraction!
As for the reason why the army didn't get rid of the bandits themselves, simply put, it was out of their jurisdiction. They were the army of the empire, their sole duty is to defend their homeland from invaders and national level threats.
The bandits were simply of a low level threat; sending the Eastern Army, rumored to be the strongest army in the entire Star Luo Empire, to clean up the Ming Dou Mountain Range of bandits, even if they were led by an Evil Soul Master, was simply too overkill.
Instead, a third party organization should be more fitting to deal with these bandits.
Which comes the Shrek Guardians. People who are known to deal with Evil Soul Masters than anyone else in the continent.
"Which idi—ehem, person I meant, that put up this condition?" Huo Yuhao asked, slipping out a bit of frustration.
He couldn't help it. These were supposed to be soldiers, strict and disciplined by rigorous training, they were role models of most youths—especially to those who didn't become a soul master.
He himself had dreamed about becoming a soldier once, he was the son of the Duke after all and his mother would tell him all kinds of war stories.
Huo Yuhao once thought about entering the military to rise up the ranks and surpass his father, but he now had a sect to take care of that it was much better to boast about than having better military achievements.
Elder Xuan glanced at him amusedly, obviously not missing that little slip of the tongue, and replied. "Frustratingly, it was the head of this area. A captain with a Soul Sage cultivation and some impressive achievements under his belt."
Huo Yuhao blinked. "Why didn't you pressure him?"
"What? Do you really think of me as someone who abuses his power over others?"
"Yes." It wasn't just Huo Yuhao who said this; Wang Yan, Ma Xiaotao and her classmates who were nearby showed doubtful expressions.
Wang Yan even added, "Elder Xuan, lying is bad. You're setting a bad example to the kids here."
"..."
'These bastards!' Elder Xuan gritted his teeth, he was sure to toughen their training! Wang Yan, Ma Xiaotao and the others felt a cold shiver run down their spines.
As for Huo Yuhao, he welcomed the chill. The cold never bothered him anyway.
Elder Xuan sighed. "It's not that simple. With the recent scandal with the Dai children, the relationship between the academy and the Star Luo Empire has....slightly strained, to say the least. Making a move against one of their high ranking soldiers, especially by a high ranking elder such as myself, would lead to unforeseen consequences."
"I am not afraid of retaliation, but I am afraid of the students becoming their targets because of me. Many years ago, because of my incompetence, some talented students had died. That incident broke me and caused me to shut myself for many years until....an old friend helped me out."
"Simply put, I do not want history to repeat itself!" Even though he was standing before a group of students, Elder Xuan's voice slightly cracked at the end with his eyes slightly hazy.
The students and Wang Yan didn't say anything, as they too got a bit emotional from hearing his life story.
The mental image that they had on Elder Xuan was that he was a carefree, eccentric and overbearing elder. He carried himself as someone who didn't give a shit to anyone, but clearly, he wasn't always like that.
Time nor success of achieving cultivation near the peak of the soul master did not make him who he is.
He was simply....a broken man that was on the road of recovering.
'So that's why he's been the guard and escort of the Shrek Seven Monsters for the last twenty or so years!' Wang Yan realized with raised eyebrows.
"Will we really be dragging someone along with us?" After a long moment of silence, Huo Yuhao was the one to ask as he just wanted to get this over with.
While he saw Elder Xuan in a different light because of his life story, he was more concerned about the current situation.
He didn't like to stay any longer than necessary anywhere near the Star Luo Empire armies. The off chance that he meets his father... he just wasn't ready yet.
Specifically, he wasn't ready to not stab the bastard at the first chance he sees an opening.
Look, he's trying hard here alright!?
Elder Xuan scratched the back of his scraggly hair and begrudgingly nodded. "We have no choice. Let's just hope that whoever they're sending with us isn't a dumbass."
"....I doubt that." Wang Yan said with a twitching smile, the others also shared the same sentiment as they shake their heads.
"Yuhao."
"Hm?" Huo Yuhao turned to face Wang Dong'er, pulling onto the ends of his jacket. "What's up?" He asked.
"You have surveillance of the whole military camp around us, right?" She questioned, knowing quite well that he was a training nut.
He didn't show his soul rings, but they knew he could simply hide them, and Wang Dong'er felt it by their connection that he was constantly using his Sharingan; worrying her the entire journey.
He was already exhausted from simply keeping up with the others whilst using the weight bracelets, how could he have the soul power and spiritual power to keep using his martial soul?
Simple. By having constant short breaks, making him always the last to follow the group, and then keeping up with them when he recovered enough energy and then using Body Flicker Technique and Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.
Since he decided on keeping the foundations of Tang Sect as part of the Akatsuki, Huo Yuhao wanted to try and incorporate the secret techniques with the Shinobi techniques; though honestly he was trying to do this for months now before he got the idea of creating his own sect.
But for the life of him, he couldn't seem to mesh the two techniques successfully! They follow the same concept of 'moving faster', and yes he already overcame the problem of differing circulation of soul power, but it still didn't work. Although they can be used in tangent, it was still not one movement technique.
But one day, he'll create a technique of a mix between Tang Sect and Shinobi, a creation of his own making.
Some might say that he was copying the work of others, but so what? Most techniques nowadays are created by emulating or being inspired by other and older techniques anyway.
Also, he already got permission from the last remaining qualified person to ask permission to mess around with the Tang Sect Secret Techniques.
Maybe one day, he'll make his own original technique that he'll proudly proclaimed his own. But that was far into the future.
Huo Yuhao slightly smiled at her question. "Is there really a need to ask? Yes, I already have the entire military camp in my sights."
"And no need to ask further, I can already tell that you're asking about the person who is going to accompany us in our journey." He narrowed his brows, a strange glint of emotion flickered across his eyes before dissipating.
"It's mere speculation however. Out of everyone in this camp, a girl, around the age of seventeen with short blonde hair with some strands of black mixed together seamlessly seems to be our likely new acquaintance."
"She doesn't seem to be a useless person, judging by her sharp-eyed look and stern expression as she stands before an old man with a cultivation of at least seven rings."
"Does the old man have a scar under his left eye?" Elder Xuan asked.
Huo Yuhao nodded.
"Then she's most likely our new acquaintance indeed."
As soon as he finished saying that, the students started chatting to each other in whispers about this mysterious girl that was going to accompany them; which wasn't unexpected as she wasn't someone they initially expected.
After all, judging by Huo Yuhao's description, she was around the same age as Ma Xiaotao and her group members. Why is someone so young like her in the military? Moreover, why was she given the task of accompanying them?
"She's gotta be someone from an important background."
"No shit, isn't it so obvious? Only a child wouldn't realize it."
"Do you think that she may have caused a commotion so terrible that she is being forced out?"
"Maybe. But why go through the trouble of having her tag along with us? That doesn't make any sense."
"I mean, what else is the reason?"
"I don't know. Probably because the colonel wanted to give her the honor and experience of traveling with us?"
While they were coming up with all sorts of ideas as to why the mysterious girl was coming along with them, Wang Dong'er's ears perked up, her eyes widening.
'Also, it seems like she's....my elder half-sister that I have never met.' Huo Yuhao added, communicating using Spiritual Sharing with Wang Dong'er.
....
AN: You didn't expect this, did you?
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