The Star Luo Empire is suffering defeat after defeat in both its offense and defense.

Although none of the 300,000 Holy Soul Knights of the Spirit Empire were Soul Masters, each of them possessed martial arts and movement techniques comparable to Soul Masters' soul skills. While the Star Luo Empire's 500,000 soldiers seemed to have an advantage in numbers and Soul Master resources, in actual combat, they experienced firsthand how formidable the Spirit Empire's soldiers were.

Their most prized Soul Master combat power proved utterly ineffective against the opponent's exceptionally coordinated tactics and unpredictable formation changes.

It's impossible to develop such combat synergy and masterful formation changes in a short period of time.

This only shows that the Martial Soul Empire had been plotting this for a long time and had been secretly training for many years to produce so many brave and skilled legions.

Centered on the humanoid martial soul fusion skill "Enchanting Charm" unleashed by Xie Yue and Hu Liena, the crimson mist enveloped the Star Luo Empire's soul masters and ordinary soldiers, who were like leeks waiting to be harvested, utterly powerless to resist.

The battle was almost overwhelming. After Qian Yuelong joined the fray, the ice beneath the feet of the already precarious Star Luo Empire soldiers shattered, plunging them into the abyss of despair of defeat.

Of the 500,000 elite soldiers who came with overwhelming force, less than 100,000 survived. Among them, the 2,000 Soul Masters that Dai Hao had assigned to the army were either killed or maimed, and none of them escaped back to Xingluo. Those who survived became prisoners of the Martial Soul Empire.

The battle lasted from day to night.

Qian Yuelong listened to the reports of casualties from the various knight commanders and looked up at the night sky.

Thick, dark clouds obscured the moonless night sky, not a single ray of starlight could penetrate, and the air was still filled with a heavy, lingering stench of blood. Even though Qian Yuelong was dressed neatly, she was still surrounded by an aura of lingering ferocity and a sharp, blood-soaked presence.

"Pass down the order: after clearing away the corpses from the battlefield, rest on the spot. Tomorrow morning, leave only one thousand Holy Soul Knights to appease the people and handle their resettlement. The rest of you shall continue to advance, quicken your pace, and try to reach Jialing Pass within seven days to join up with Her Majesty the Empress's army."

"Yes, Holy Maiden!"

The assembled knight commanders received their orders and withdrew.

Qian Yuelong sat down on the ground beside the orange-red campfire, resting and recuperating while closing her eyes to meditate.

About half an hour later, Qian Yuelong suddenly felt several gazes fixed on her.

Although subtle, it was as clear as ink spreading on white paper in front of Qian Yuelong.

She opened her eyes and looked up in the direction where the line of sight was denser.

Several Soul Masters wearing robes bearing the emblems of the Six-Winged Angel and the Holy Sword of the Martial Soul Empire stood fifty meters away, quite surprised to see Qian Yuelong looking directly at them.

Qian Yuelong blinked, looking at the six familiar yet long-lost faces. She stood up from the campfire, patted the dust off her skirt, waved away the Holy Soul Knights who thought she had something to say and wanted to come up and ask, and followed the Soul Masters to the back of the corner of the tent.

"Sister Helan, what are you doing here?"

Qian Yuelong was quite surprised to see several familiar yet unfamiliar faces that she hadn't seen in a long time.

The source of Qian Yuelong's gaze, as she turned the corner, was the Black Chess Team members she had encountered during her childhood training at the Martial Arts Arena in Luger Town.

Although they had maintained contact over the years, it was mostly through letters. Coupled with various tedious government affairs, Qian Yuelong was too busy to spare any time, and she hardly saw them at all in the last few years.

"Because we were worried that you might need help, Yuelong, we didn't apply to join Her Majesty the Empress's army, but specifically applied to be stationed at the rear," Yu Yaya chuckled.

Just as Tang San and his companions had predicted, the Spirit Empire would leave behind a number of spirit masters to garrison any town they occupied.

Guan Feng and his group were one of the Soul Master squads that rushed to guard the town after receiving the good news.

Who knew that the town they were supposed to be stationed in had already been reduced to ruins in the attack on Tang San and his group, and the stationing mission had turned into assisting in the reconstruction.

The Martial Soul Empire's recruitment and battlefield selection are very humane. Apart from knights who come from the original sect forces, other knights who join freely can choose whether to follow along to the front line to fight or to become a logistics support team.

Although they had all become Qian Yuelong's subordinates, due to Qian Yuelong's emphasis, they still treated her as an equal in private.

Qian Yuelong glanced around at everyone, "Where's Brother Guan?"

Helan Shu, whose demeanor was becoming increasingly mature and sophisticated, looked at Qian Yuelong, who was not seriously injured, and her tense nerves relaxed slightly: "Brother Feng and the other captains of the Soul Master teams went to hand over with the knight commanders of the other regiments. We heard that you were attacked during the day and were worried, so we inquired and thought we would come to check on you. Fortunately, you were not injured."

Qian Yuelong blinked. "I'm not a child anymore. These days, the only ones who can hurt me would be at least a few Title Douluos. I can handle one of them."

"Indeed, you're already a Title Douluo." Helan Shu, who had already reached the Soul Emperor level, sighed.

Qian Yuelong smiled and pointed to her tent: "When Brother Guan comes back, how about we go sit in my tent together? It's been six years since we last saw each other, let's catch up?"

A mere all-nighter is nothing for a Soul Master's robust physique.

“Great, I’ll tell you about our experiences over the years. Especially Xiaohe, you wouldn’t believe it, but this kid quietly did something big!” Yu Yaya pointed to the black-haired youth standing at the back.

The slender young man, dressed in a dark-colored Soul Master robe, nodded to Qian Yuelong, who was looking over. As always, he was a man of few words and wore only the durable Soul Master robe.

Compared to the tight but warm atmosphere on the Spirit Empire's side, Tang San's situation was much worse, as he was rescued by Sword Douluo Chen Xin and brought back to the Star Luo Camp.

They suffered heavy losses in this surprise attack mission.

Although they managed to salvage the only Title Douluo, the losses far exceeded the value of Tang San alone.

The dispatched Soul Master spies waited patiently until the Spirit Empire's army left, then blended into the resettled civilians and searched for several days without finding any trace of Ning Rongrong and the others.

They were nowhere to be found, neither alive nor dead.

After waiting for half a month without seeing his daughter and future son-in-law return, Ning Fengzhi guessed what was going on and aged considerably in an instant.

At the next high-level meeting, everyone was at a loss and could not come up with any way to break the deadlock.

"Based on Qian Yuelong's marching speed, they will be able to join Bibi Dong's 500,000-strong army in less than three days."

"Once the two armies join forces, we will face 800,000 elite troops... Although the Star Luo army still has a million strong force, the Spirit Empire's army may have 40,000 Soul Masters assisting them, not to mention more than a dozen Title Douluos..."

"Sigh... Even though our army is almost twice the size of the Spirit Empire's, the cultivation techniques and martial arts practiced by our ordinary soldiers are almost enough to turn them all into Soul Masters..."

"Damn it! Are we really just going to have to wait for the Spirit Empire to march straight in and storm into the Star Luo Imperial Palace?!"

Sighs and groans could be heard constantly coming from the conference table.

Then another hoarse and cold voice rang out, drawing the attention of all the generals and Dai Hao.

"No... there's one last way..."

Emaciated and resembling a walking corpse, Tang San, exuding a chilling aura, finally uttered his first words in days.

He raised his head, revealing his bloodshot eyes.

Like a venomous snake lurking in the dark, eyeing its prey, it sends chills down your spine for no apparent reason.