As the Marshal of the Star Luo Empire, Dai Hao naturally didn't converse with Wang Nan and his companions for too long. After a brief chat, he arranged for the previous officer to lead the two to a guest room.
"My name is Pan Yue, and I currently serve as a Commandant under the Marshal. Please feel free to make any requests you may have."
"Commandant Pan, you are too kind. Speaking of which, I do have a matter. I just heard the Marshal say that he conducted some investigations into those Evil Soul Masters. I wonder if I could borrow the investigation results?"
"Of course." Pan Yue seemed well-prepared and quickly brought out some intelligence, most of which documented the places these Evil Soul Masters had visited.
Watching Wang Nan and Gongyang Mo peruse the intelligence, Pan Yue began to recount the events from not long ago.
"Speaking of which, these Evil Soul Masters acted very covertly. Although the Star Luo Empire and the Sun Moon Empire are not at war, small groups of Sun Moon Empire troops often appear around Tianming City to destroy facilities and villages."
"Many common people were displaced as a result, and these Evil Soul Masters targeted precisely these people. Women and children are inherently less physically strong than adult males, and it's common for them to go missing during an escape. Therefore, no one initially noticed the existence of these Evil Soul Masters."
"But six nights ago, a patrol of soldiers in the villages around Tianming City encountered these Evil Soul Masters. The soldiers suffered heavy losses, but they still fought to the death and managed to leave behind two enemies. That's how we learned that such a group of Evil Soul Masters was operating around Tianming City."
Pan Yue's tone held a hint of anger as he spoke.
"The Marshal ordered a search for the Evil Soul Masters' traces, but it seems something has happened on the Sun Moon Empire's side recently. The armies near the border have suddenly increased, and all soldiers with spirit power hold important positions, needing to constantly guard against the Sun Moon Empire's movements. Every time we could spare some time, these Evil Soul Masters would disappear without a trace, so we've found nothing until now."
Wang Nan knew very little about military matters and did not press for details. He simply held the intelligence and carefully looked through it for a moment, then looked at Pan Yue.
"Commandant Pan, do you have a more detailed map of the area around Tianming City?"
"Yes, please wait a moment." Pan Yue turned and left the guest room. As a Commandant, he had to lead troops into battle, so he naturally wouldn't carry such a thing as a map with him.
A moment later, Pan Yue walked in with a map. Wang Nan reached out to take it, but Pan Yue did not let go immediately.
"Forgive my impertinence, but you two may not know that maps are crucial in the army. Please do not disseminate the information on the map."
"Naturally." Only after Wang Nan and Gongyang Mo agreed did Pan Yue release his grip.
Wang Nan opened the map and only then understood why Pan Yue was so cautious. The map not only marked the various villages and facilities near Tianming City but also indicated various terrain features and road conditions. If this were to fall into the hands of the Sun Moon Empire, they would have already lost half the battle before it even began.
However, Wang Nan had little interest in these details. He picked up the previous materials about the Evil Soul Masters and carefully cross-referenced the locations recorded in the materials with the map.
At first glance, the Evil Soul Masters' movement routes seemed completely random, with traces of their activity all around Tianming City, but very quickly, he focused his attention on the area west of Tianming City.
The southwestern part of the original Douluo Continent bordered the Sun Moon Continent, with the Mingdou Mountain Range serving as the boundary. Although Tianming City was the Star Luo Empire's first city to resist the Sun Moon Empire, it was not actually situated directly on the border between the two countries. There was a large area east of the Mingdou Mountain Range and west of Tianming City, and this was precisely the most chaotic place.
After a moment of thought, Wang Nan raised his head, "Thank you, Commandant Pan. Please keep these items safe. We will depart tomorrow."
"Thank you for your hard work." Pan Yue took the items and left the room.
"Is something wrong?" Gongyang Mo was familiar with Wang Nan and knew from his expression that Wang Nan must have made a discovery.
"It's just a guess; I can't be sure yet."
Although Wang Nan said this, he felt in his heart that his guess was probably spot on.
Perhaps in the eyes of most people, Evil Soul Masters were a group of people who indiscriminately killed and acted recklessly, with no discernible pattern to their actions.
But Wang Nan knew that there was actually an organization of Evil Soul Masters on this Continent called the Holy Spirit Cult, and even more coincidentally, the Holy Spirit Cult's headquarters were located within the Sun Moon Empire and had some collusion with the Sun Moon Empire.
These Evil Soul Masters always appeared at opportune moments when the Star Luo Empire's army was in motion, and their goal was not merely to kill. In fact, according to Commandant Pan, they didn't even know Evil Soul Masters had appeared until they discovered the truth about the missing population.
Unlike ordinary Evil Soul Masters who kill indiscriminately, their targets were children, and they had to conceal their tracks, all while being conveniently located on the Sun Moon Empire's border. Wang Nan already knew about the Holy Spirit Cult, and these current circumstances couldn't help but make him think in that direction.
"Tomorrow, we'll start searching from west of Tianming City. I hope Ye Xiaosheng's spirit tool detector will be effective."
…
In fact, by the time Wang Nan and Gongyang Mo left the city, it was already the evening of the next day. The two did not use flying spirit tools, nor did they even release their Spirits. They simply wore dark clothes and moved close to the ground.
The army certainly had spirit tools similar to telescopes readily available, and this was a border area between two countries. Given Gongyang Mo's conspicuousness, he would likely be targeted by the Sun Moon Empire's spirit tool cannons as soon as he approached the Mingdou Mountain Range.
Therefore, they chose to leave the city to investigate at night. Anyway, a spirit tool detector doesn't rely on light to find traces of Spirit Masters.
Ye Xiaosheng's upgraded spirit tool detector had a detection radius of about three kilometers, which, purely in terms of distance, already surpassed Huo Yuhao's Mental Detection.
It wasn't until deep into the night that Wang Nan and Gongyang Mo found a secluded spot, sat down to rest for a while, and recovered their stamina.
"No wonder the White Tiger Duke sought help from the academy." Gongyang Mo took two gulps of water and said in a low voice, "We've been searching with the spirit tool for so long, and we haven't even encountered a single Evil Soul Master."
"We finally found traces of Spirit Masters twice, but they were just the patrol teams leaving Tianming City. Not to mention the ordinary soldiers under the White Tiger Duke, even if other Disciples from the Inner Courtyard came, they probably wouldn't find this mission easy to complete."
"Indeed." Even while resting, Wang Nan kept his eyes on the spirit tool detector's screen. "I told Xiaosheng that this is the correct way to use a spirit tool, but he didn't believe me."
As he was speaking, Wang Nan suddenly saw a large cluster of white dots appear on the spirit tool detector's screen in the northwest direction. Undoubtedly, this was a team composed of Spirit Masters.
Wang Nan stood up and looked toward the northwest.
'I knew it! With the answer in hand, how could I not find them?'