Volume 44, Chapter 599.3: Xu Tianran's Decision

The Unrivaled Tang Sect

“Haha!” Huo Yuhao burst into laughter. It seemed almost as if he had already forgotten about all those things that had made him sad. He was always very happy when Tang Wutong was around.

As they walked on, they soon came within the vicinity of the palace. Huo Yuhao was pretty familiar with the palace, after all, he had entered more than once.

Today, he was simply walking around aimlessly with Tang Wutong. However, Huo Yuhao realized that three days had passed, and Ju Zi still had not contacted them. He felt that he should try to establish contact with her to determine what their next move ought to be.

Huo Yuhao was confident that he would be able to sneak into the palace with Tang Wutong with ease.

However, just when he came close to the outer wall of the palace, he suddenly sensed impending danger. This sensation was very sudden, but extremely intense.

Tang Wutong, who had gotten ready to enter the palace with him, realized that he had stopped.

“Let’s go.” Huo Yuhao held Tang Wutong’s hand as he continued down the street. He remembered clearly that there was a barbeque store which had pretty good food. The smell of the burned charcoal was extremely dense, and their meat was very tender and juicy. 

There should not be that many people in the middle of the afternoon. I should bring Wutong along to eat some barbeque meat.

Huo Yuhao’s memory was very good, and he managed to successfully locate the restaurant. Both of them ordered some barbequed lamb and beef, as well as some of their barbequed innards. On top of that, they requested two cups of wheat wine.

It did not take very long before they were served. It was truly a remarkable dining experience to munch on barbequed meat and sip wheat wine.

“Why did you not enter the palace just now?” Tang Wutong transmitted her words to Huo Yuhao while munching on the meat normally.

Huo Yuhao also replied by transmitting his thoughts to her. “I don’t know why, but I sensed something threatening just when I was about to enter. It was almost as though something bad was about to happen. Perhaps there’s someone within the palace who is able to threaten our lives. It seems like the Sun Moon Empire’s surveillance soul tools might have improved once again. This is really bad!”

Tang Wutong was also startled. She knew how powerful Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power had become after both of them had become Transcendent Douluo. Even though his Spirit Eye was still lacking its ninth soul ring, his ability to sense danger was definitely on par with that of an Ultimate Douluo with the boost he had received from the Three-Eyed Golden Lion.

Huo Yuhao had failed to detect the two Ultimate Douluo previously only because they were never in real danger. Hence, one could guess from Huo Yuhao’s reaction that the palace was incredibly dangerous.

I can’t believe how strong the Sun Moon Empire has become!

Because the barbequed meat was really fantastic, Tang Wutong revealed a very satisfied expression. Afterward, they sat where they were and asked for two more cups of wheat wine before sipping their wine slowly.

In the meantime, Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power was creeping along the walls of the palace as he tried to envelop the entire compound with his spiritual power. However, he did not try to project his power into the palace. Instead, he simply wrapped it around the compound like a spiritual barrier and surveilled the compound from a vantage point.

This method of surveillance would definitely not give away his existence even if the palace had set up multiple surveillance soul tools within its compound. 

On the surface, it seemed as though the palace was still its tranquil self. The guards who were on patrol were still moving around in an orderly fashion. The aerial surveillance soul tools were still exactly the same as they were before.

Could I have been wrong? Huo Yuhao was puzzled by what he was seeing. No, I can’t be wrong. Even if I am wrong, I need to be very careful.

After so many years of training, Huo Yuhao was able to compose himself very quickly. Taking risks would only lead to disastrous outcomes. Even the most powerful soul masters were no exception to this rule.

After he composed himself, he made sure his Spiritual Detection did not enter the palace as he observed the interior of the palace from the outside.

He was not anxious at all. In fact, there were many ways he could survey the palace without entering it physically. He only needed to see if there was a point in employing those methods.

Very soon, they were done with their second cup of wheat wine.

“Let’s head back.” Huo Yuhao suddenly stood up. Just when he was going to foot the bill, the expression on his face suddenly changed. Very quickly, he returned to where he was sitting and exclaimed, “Can we have two more cups of wheat wine?”

Tang Wutong was not startled by the sudden change of plans. She understood that Huo Yuhao must have discovered something to have decided to change their plans. She waited patiently for her third cup of wheat wine to be served.

Huo Yuhao shared his Spiritual Detection with her so that she would be able to see what he was seeing.

They were shocked to see a familiar figure striding towards the main gate of the palace from their vantage point. The figure was dressed in a big red robe. Her overpowering aura was radiating from her body in a haughty fashion.

She was none other than the Death God Douluo, Ye Xishui. Huo Yuhao believed that she must be intending to make some sort of statement to have decided to come to the palace at this time. After seeing her appear, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong naturally could not leave. Both of them hated Ye Xishui to the core. This fact would not change even though she had chosen not to attack them because of Long Xiaoyao.

What is Ye Xishui doing at the palace in the middle of the day? It was important to note that evil soul masters often found their powers more limited in the afternoon. The reason was that their powers were often tied to spirits, and spirits were often weakened when daylight was strongest. Hence, it was very strange for the Death God Douluo to choose to come at this time. Did she not consider the possibility of a fight?

As Ye Xishui strode into the palace, the guards by the door bowed to her in respect. No one dared to stop her as she continued to walk towards the inner part of the palace.

However, Huo Yuhao was definitely able to sense the transformation within the palace from his vantage point after she entered the gates.

Four lights suddenly appeared at the four corners of the palace. These lights were not very intense, and looked just like any normal light. They were not particularly large—roughly ten meters in diameter or so. However, Huo Yuhao could feel the same threatening sensation once those lights lit up. In fact, the sensation was way more intense than before.

Huo Yuhao became incredibly worried. At the very next instant, Huo Yuhao instantly understood what those lights were. It was important to note that he was a Class 9 soul engineer with a detection ability that even Ultimate Douluo would not be able to rival.

Those are…

Those are high-energy compression array soul tools!

Weren’t those soul tools set up at the four corners of Radiant City? When did they install them within the palace too? They were a lot smaller than the high-energy compression array soul tools that were installed around Radiant City. On top of that, they were not radiating any soul power. Hence, Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong were not able to tell exactly how powerful they were. However, they believed that these soul tools could not possibly be weak.

Previously, those high-energy compression array soul tools had left an extremely deep impression on Huo Yuhao. They had managed to protect over a hundred thousand civilians under the command of Xu Tianran. At the same time, they had protected his life. A Rank 98 Transcendent Douluo was unable to destroy it even after he ignited his own life energy.

On top of that, Xu Tianran had only borrowed power from one of the four soul tools. This meant that they should probably be able to protect all of Radiant City if all four of them were activated at the same time. That would be an incredible amount of power!

Of course, Huo Yuhao also knew that it would take a long time for them to store up so much power. Nonetheless, this was sufficiently impressive.

Now, it seemed like even the palace was equipped with these soul tools. They were definitely more than sufficient to protect the entire palace regardless of whether they were used to attack or defend. In addition, if they were really high-energy compression array soul tools, this meant that the Sun Moon Empire had already developed methods to produce smaller high-energy compression array soul tools. It would not be long before they equipped their soul engineer legions with these frightening weapons! That would truly be a nightmare.

Huo Yuhao did not know how they were recharging these high-energy compression array soul tools. It would not be very practical for them to recharge them manually. Who knew how many soul masters they would need to be fully recharged?

After seeing all of this, Huo Yuhao definitely could not leave. He needed to observe and learn more. After all, these high-energy compression array soul tools concerned his next plans. It was likeliest for him to kill Xu Tianran within the palace. After assassinating him, he would have to flee from the palace safely.

If Xu Tianran were able to control all of these high-energy compression array soul tools, he would definitely be able to protect himself from any Ultimate Douluo who planned to assassinate him. 

Hence, Huo Yuhao knew he had to pay attention to the details.

After taking a few steps into the palace, Ye Xishui suddenly stopped before she looked up into the sky.

This shocked Huo Yuhao! What a powerful detection ability! Even though I was simply surveilling from the sky, she was able to tell that I was there. An Ultimate Douluo is really a lot more powerful than any Transcendent Douluo. However, I don’t think she knows where we are.

Just when Huo Yuhao was reassuring himself, a black figure entered the barbeque restaurant.

“Give me a beef tenderloin. Make it very tender. I want it medium-well. Also, give me a cup of wheat wine.”

Huo Yuhao immediately slapped his forehead. Tang Wutong also let out a helpless sigh. The reason was that the person who had just entered the restaurant was none other than Long Xiaoyao.

Both of them looked at one another as they saw the startled expression on each others’ faces.

Long Xiaoyao had naturally seen them. This powerful soul master walked towards their table, pulled out a chair and sat in front of both of them.