Douluo Continent: Starting with a Heavenly Fire Judgment

Chapter 462 Smoke Bomb

"Pfft!"

Seeing Ji Lin's regretful expression, she covered her mouth and chuckled softly after a long while, "Alright, I won't tease you anymore. Let's go take a look at the city wall."

The two flirted and teased each other as they walked toward the city wall.

By this time, it was already dark. After dinner, the atmosphere in the city was unusually relaxed. However, because the enemy could arrive at any time, the defenses on the city walls remained quite tight, especially on the west side.

Looking at the soldiers on and below the city walls, as well as some soul-guided detection devices, Ji Lin shook his head and said, "As expected, in terms of soul-guided detection devices, we are still far behind the Sun Moon Empire. This level of reconnaissance and detection is simply not enough to defend against the enemy's spying."

After a long pause, his expression changed. "Xiao Lin, what do you mean?"

Ji Lin pointed to the sky above him and said, "About three thousand meters above us, there is a high-altitude detection soul guide device of the Sun Moon Empire."

Xu Jiujiu's face turned grim. "A soul-guided probe three thousand meters high?"

Generally speaking, even powerful experts at the Title Douluo level rarely fly higher than 1,000 meters. The higher you fly, the greater the energy consumption. Even on a clear day, you absolutely cannot see anything beyond 3,000 meters. The Star Luo Empire's air detection soul tool can only maintain detection up to 500 meters in the air, which is already quite good.

Ji Lin sighed softly and said, "This is the difference in soul tool technology! Without soul masters, if the Sun Moon Empire were given three months, they could have swept through the three great empires. This is the confidence that the Sun Moon Empire dared to face the three great empires at the same time with the strength of a single nation! They truly have a solid foundation."

After a long while, she nodded. It was the truth, and she had to admit that there was a world of difference between their soul tool technology and that of the Sun Moon Empire.

"It seems our every move is being watched by the Sun Moon Empire!"

Ji Lin said, "More or less, but even the Sun Moon Empire probably doesn't have many of these ultra-high-altitude detection soul guides. Each one is very expensive to manufacture, so they can only be used for detection in some important locations, and the detection accuracy will definitely not be high."

Ji Lin has a file on the Sun Moon Empire's top-secret military soul tools, which comes from his future wife's family, the Hongchen family.

According to the records, this kind of ultra-high altitude detection soul tool is very difficult to operate due to the great distance. If not handled properly, it will immediately go out of control. Moreover, because it is too far from the ground, the ultra-high altitude detection soul tool has almost no detection effect in the dark. It is still in the experimental stage. The Sun Moon Empire obviously wants to use this war to test this kind of soul tool.

Of course, no matter how low its accuracy is, it has no problem detecting large-scale military operations on the ground, which can play a significant role in warfare.

Even a titled Douluo cannot detect a high-altitude detection soul tool that exists three thousand meters in the air from the ground. Unfortunately, the Sun Moon Empire encountered a freak like Ji Lin with excessive mental power.

This soul tool, capable of long-distance control, continuous hovering flight, and ultra-high-altitude detection, has already entered the category of level eight soul tools. This is a really good thing! Since the Sun Moon Empire has delivered it to his doorstep, he won't be polite.

Soon, Chi Yuan dragged a huge sphere about two meters in diameter to Ji Lin and Xu Jiujiu's side. This was the Sun Moon Empire's ultra-high-altitude detection soul tool. A height of three thousand meters was nothing to Chi Yuan. The main body of this ultra-high-altitude detection soul tool was the huge sphere with a diameter of two meters. The bottom was made of synthetic crystal, and there were four metal sails on top to keep it levitating in the air. It had twelve internal energy bottles to provide the necessary energy. When it was flying, these sails were retracted. They would only open after it reached the designated position to help it stay levitated.

It can also adjust its angle and position in the air to cope with various severe weather conditions. The Sun Moon Empire spent many years studying it, and it was only completed after Xuan Ziwen's sealed milk bottle appeared. Otherwise, it would not have been able to conduct long-term exploration at all.

This high-tech level eight soul tool was naturally given to Xu Jiujiu. Ji Lin himself had no use for it. This thing should be taken back to the soul masters of the Star Luo Empire for research. In the field of ultra-high-altitude detection, it could save at least ten years of research time.

The Sun Moon Empire also left various protective measures on this ultra-high-altitude detection soul guide, but unfortunately these measures were all useless in front of the quasi-god Chi Yuan.

In fact, Ji Lin and Chi Yuan had previously gone to the West to investigate what the Sun Moon Empire was planning. However, the Sun Moon Empire had gone all out this time. Their territory was covered with high-altitude detection soul guides, a carpet-like coverage with no blind spots, even more exaggerated than Mingde Hall.

Meanwhile, those high-altitude detection soul tools also have a special function to detect mental power. This is intelligence that several mental-type soul masters of the Star Luo Empire learned through bloody lessons.

Ji Lin had some guesses about the Sun Moon Empire's plans, but he wasn't entirely sure. If it was really as he thought, the situation would actually be in his favor, which was the scenario he hoped to see. Therefore, he didn't force Chi Yuan to investigate the intelligence.

Seeing how tired Xu Jiujiu had been these past few days, Ji Lin felt a little sorry for her. To put Xu Jiujiu at ease, Ji Lin decided to go and investigate again with Chi Yuan to confirm his suspicions.

After greeting Xu Jiujiu, Ji Lin and Chi Yuan headed west, flying westward for two hundred kilometers without taking much time.

Having already been here once, although they hadn't gone deep, Ji Lin and Chi Yuan still easily evaded the soul-guided devices that could detect mental energy, gradually approaching the Mingdou Mountains. When they were only ten kilometers away from the Sun Moon Empire's military camp, Ji Lin finally extended his mental energy over there.

Ji Lin probed for more than ten minutes before withdrawing his mental energy. He then made a hand gesture to Chi Yuan, and the two turned around and flew back in the direction they had come from.

A smile crept onto his lips; just as he had expected, things were developing in a direction that suited him.

"What's going on? What's happening?"

Xu Jiujiu had been waiting for Ji Lin, and upon seeing him return, he rushed forward immediately.

"Hehe! Sister Jiu Jiu, the Sun Moon Empire has tricked everyone this time. They really pulled off a big stunt."

"what?"

After a long while, he blinked blankly, not understanding what Ji Lin meant.

Ji Lin laughed and said, "The Sun Moon Empire never intended to attack our Star Luo Empire. We are not their target. Their previous actions were all smokescreens. Whether it was bombing the Northwest Army Group with level-nine fixed-position soul-guided cannons or besieging Duke White Tiger, they were all smokescreens."

She was stunned for a moment, but being as clever as she was, she quickly realized, "You mean, the Sun Moon Empire didn't intend to attack us, and we were tricked?"

Ji Lin nodded and said, "That's right. The Sun Moon Empire played a trick on us. Those detection soul tools were to prevent people from discovering that there was no large army of theirs in the Mingdou Mountains. There was no Sun Moon Empire army stationed there, only a large number of defensive soul tools that built a defensive fortress. Obviously, they had no intention of attacking, otherwise they wouldn't have spent so much money to build a defensive fortress."

Xu Jiujiu frowned and said, "The target isn't us? Then who could it be? Could it be...!"

Ji Lin laughed heartily, "That's right, Sister Jiu Jiu. Through this attack, the Sun Moon Empire has attracted the attention of the entire continent, making everyone think that they are going to attack our Star Luo Empire. Now, the main force of the Star Luo Empire is defending the Western Jiang, the reinforcements of the Dou Ling Empire are also on our side, and the Tian Hun Empire has also sent some reinforcements. Under these circumstances, who do you think the Sun Moon Empire's target is?"

He gasped, then exclaimed in shock, "The Heavenly Soul Empire!"

She whirled around and glared at Ji Lin, saying, "You guessed it all along, didn't you? No wonder I've been so busy these past few days, and you weren't worried at all! Ugh! I'm so angry! You even kept it from me!?"

Seeing that Xu Jiujiu was angry, Ji Lin quickly explained, "I only had a vague guess, I have no evidence, I didn't mean to hide it from Sister Jiujiu."

After a long while, she crossed her arms, her chest heaving with rapid breathing, and looked at Ji Lin with a half-smile, saying, "Are you happy now? Things are developing in a direction that works in your favor. Aren't you happy?"

Ji Lin chuckled awkwardly, "Aren't you happy, Sister Jiu Jiu? The Sun Moon Empire's target isn't us, you should be relieved too."

After a long sigh, he said, "It's a relief, at least we have more time. But I'm sorry to Vina. Promise me, Xiao Lin, that you'll try your best to spare Vina's life."

Ji Lin said calmly, "If it's Sister Jiu Jiu's wish, I won't lay a hand on Vina, but that depends on whether she can live that long."

He also had a good impression of Vina, and the two had even cooperated before. If Vina could live to that time, Ji Lin wouldn't mind letting her live. After all, this was Douluo Continent, and it wasn't impossible to leave the former royal family alive.

"The Sun Moon Empire spent such a huge price, using several elite Soul Master Corps and Level 9 fixed-position Soul Guidance Cannons, and was about to defeat us, but they actually chose to switch their attack to the Heavenly Soul Empire. I really don't know if their commander is smart or stupid."

He exclaimed in amazement after a long while.

Ji Lin laughed and said, "Although it's a good idea to crush us in one fell swoop, we are not to be trifled with. The Star Luo Empire has the deepest foundation among the original Douluo Three Kingdoms. Although we were caught off guard, we still retain most of our combat power. The Sun Moon Empire can't bombard us with level nine fixed-position soul-guided cannons every day. Those things are becoming increasingly rare. In comparison, the Heavenly Soul Empire is weaker than us. Moreover, this feint attack is extremely insidious. The Heavenly Soul Empire will suffer a great loss when it is caught off guard."

(End of this chapter)