Even though Eastern Sun City was in the north, it was the largest city in that region, and thus was a busy and bustling city. Many northerners were proud of being able to live in Eastern Sun City, and this also meant land within the city had exorbitant prices.
It was evening, and there were fewer and fewer people near the city gates. They had to be prepared against aquatic soul beasts which could appear at any moment, so Eastern Sun City"s gates would close every day after sundown.
A man and a woman carrying simple luggage was walking towards the gates. They seemed very tall, but had normal appearances, and they looked like husband and wife.
The soldiers responsible for standing guard were hiding from the cold in their bunks inside the city gates. Eastern Sun City was a large city, but they weren"t strict with inspecting individuals who were coming into and out of the city. This wasn"t very necessary, as nothing remotely related to war had happened at Eastern Sun City for a long time besides fighting aquatic soul beasts, just like Oak City. This was especially so after much of the Heavenly Soul Empire"s territory had been conquered, and Eastern Sun City became a city towards the back of the Sun Moon Empire"s territory. There were all kinds of surveillance soul tools in the sky, while their enemies wouldn"t choose to attack this place.
The man and woman strode into the city easily.
They were in the north, so the sky darkened relatively early. The sky had turned completely dark just as they entered the city.
The girl glanced at the youth next to her with a look of admiration in her eyes. “You were right. Eastern Sun City"s defenses are slack, like they aren"t defending it at all.”
There was no doubt that this man and woman were Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong, who had used Imitation to change their appearances.
Huo Yuhao laughed and said, “Don"t worship me. I"m just a legend.”
Tang Wutong giggled and said, “I"m hungry, legend. Are we going to find a place to eat? It"s still early.”
“Alright!” Huo Yuhao wasn"t worried at all. There were more than two hundred and fifty kilometers between Oak City and Eastern Sun City, and Oak City would need at least a day to report any information to Eastern Sun City, even if they did so as soon as possible. Oak City"s satellites and transmission soul tools had been destroyed after all, and their resources had been cleaned out. The first thing the local officials had to do was stabilize everything inside the city, while sending out information at the same time.
Huo Yuhao and Tang Wutong needed but two hours to fly to Eastern Sun City. They had more than enough time to execute their plan.
They found a barbeque shop and walked in. The weather in the north was extremely cold, and people who lived here needed to replenish a lot of heat to sustain their daily work and activities. That was the reason why meat and wine were very welcome inside the city.
Roast meat and ale were considered the greatest luxuries for typical citizens. It was dinnertime, so the barbeque shop had quite a few customers. They were about eighty percent full.
“What do you guys want to eat?” The waiter trotted over and asked hastily.
“What do you guys have?” Huo Yuhao replied.
The waiter answered, “You must be from elsewhere. Eastern Sun City is famous for its roasted snow pork.”
“Snow pork? What"s that?” Tang Wutong asked curiously.
The waiter continued, “We rear a species of small pigs, and they have a lot of fat, and taste very rich. Roasting them to about seventy percent is best. They can be marinated with all kinds of sauces, and are best combined with a cup of our local specialty – ale – even G.o.ds will salivate with that combination!”
Huo Yuhao laughed when he heard the waiter talk about salivating G.o.ds. The image of the G.o.d of Emotions cooking surfaced in his mind. No matter how delicious the roast pork here was, it probably couldn"t compare to his culinary skills.
“Alright. Get us some roasted snow pork, and give us some of your signature dishes as well, along with two cups of ale.”
“Alright! Please wait for a few moments, the food is coming right up.” The waiter was like a gust of wind as he swiftly turned and left.
Tang Wutong heaved a faint sigh and said, “If only there weren"t any war going on! Why does the Sun Moon Empire have to invade us?”
Huo Yuhao answered, “The thirst for power. A ruler will start an invasion at all costs in order to satisfy his desire for even more power, and the citizens are the ones who suffer in the end. Even though we are reacting pa.s.sively and at a disadvantage, we are still the ones starting a war. The citizens are still the ones suffering. Even though we have a different starting point, the end result will not be that much different. The only thing we can do is try our best not to hurt those innocent citizens.”
Tang Wutong could feel that Huo Yuhao was a little dispirited. She held his hand that was on the table and said, “Don"t think so much. We"re doing this so that fewer people will suffer the fires of battle.”
Huo Yuhao said, “The main reason why a large city like Eastern Sun City has such lax defenses is because of its geographical location.”
Golden light swirled beneath his eyes as he spoke, and he activated Spiritual Detection.
Huo Yuhao didn"t choose this eatery for nothing. This barbeque shop was located in Eastern Sun City"s central region, and the government office wasn"t far from here. Huo Yuhao"s Spiritual Detection activated at maximum range around him from this location could reach everything within Eastern Sun City.
Conducting surveillance before executing their mission was Huo Yuhao"s standard fighting strategy. Eastern Sun City was a large city after all, and it was different from Oak City. Huo Yuhao still had to be careful.
His spiritual undulations actually became weaker rather than stronger when he was using Spiritual Detection as his spiritual power improved. But this weakness wasn"t in terms of his detection capabilities. Instead, it was the spiritual undulations produced during the detection process that became weaker.
It would be harder to discover his Spiritual Detection this way. Even spiritual detectors had to lock onto their targets" locations by sensing spiritual undulations. When spiritual undulations were weak to a certain extent, not even spiritual detectors could lock onto their targets.
Furthermore, Huo Yuhao"s control over his Spiritual Detection was improving even as the spiritual detectors were evolving.
Back when he had first faced off against the Death G.o.d, the Death G.o.d Douluo had discovered him because he had used Spiritual Detection, and that created a lot of trouble for him. He was almost unable to escape. But now, such circ.u.mstances wouldn"t have happened.
The reason for that was because Huo Yuhao could release a concrete-material spiritual avatar when he was sensing danger, and he would use this spiritual avatar to activate Spiritual Detection. That way, even if his enemies" spiritual detectors discovered him during the detection process, they would only be locking onto his spiritual avatar.
Huo Yuhao could control his spiritual avatar to run in a different direction from his body. He didn"t have to worry about anything as long as he kept a single thread of his spiritual power from that spiritual avatar. Therefore, Huo Yuhao"s strongest characteristic wasn"t his fighting ability, but rather his ability to survive.
Huo Yuhao had a chance to survive even if he encountered extraordinarily powerful individuals like the Dragon Emperor Douluo, Long Xiaoyao.
But he still needed some luck. In the end, Ultimate Douluo controlled the secret of s.p.a.ce, and escaping from their hands wasn"t easy at all. Huo Yuhao could still lose his life, even from a single shred of danger.
Huo Yuhao"s spiritual power expanded into the distance, and more than half of Eastern Sun City was quickly within his detection range. He didn"t share his Spiritual Detection with Tang Wutong because there was too much information, and that would cause a relatively large shock to her senses.
It didn"t take long before their roasted meat and ale were served. The waiter looked at Huo Yuhao, who was just sitting there with his head slightly lowered like he was dozing off. But the waiter didn"t pay him too much mind because business was too busy, and he hurried away after putting down the food.
There was a sharp knife on the plate of roasted pork to cut those large pieces.
Tang Wutong cut a piece and placed it into her mouth. Her eyes began to flow with pleasant surprise. Snow pork did taste different from normal pork. The snow pork was rich with fat, and all that lard entered the lean meat after roasting. It was fragrant but not too greasy, and thick aromatic juices filled her entire mouth once she took a bite. It was very delicious.
Huo Yuhao seemed to wake up from his brief nap after a few moments. He raised his head and glanced at Tang Wutong with a faint smile on his face and said, “How does it taste?”
Tang Wutong had a sip of ale. “It"s very good, you should have some.”
“Alright,” Huo Yuhao had a piece of roasted meat. He was as astonished and impressed as Tang Wutong was, and it didn"t take long for them to clear the food that they had ordered. The ale wasn"t that good, but it was fresh, and it was very effective at washing away the pork"s oiliness.
“Let"s find a place to stay.” Huo Yuhao held Tang Wutong"s hand after paying the bill and stepped out of the barbeque shop as they walked towards a street in the east.
The sky had already turned dark, and the weather was very cold. There was hardly anybody on the streets. Huo Yuhao wrapped an arm around Tang Wutong"s slim waist as he asked gently, “Are you cold?”
Tang Wutong smiled as she shook her head. “I"m not cold! I enjoy this cool and refreshing feeling.” Of course, she wouldn"t ask that same question back to Huo Yuhao. He was a soul master with Ultimate Ice.
Huo Yuhao said, “It would be more appropriate if we deployed the Tang Sect Soul Engineer Legion after this. We need to be agile, and it seems like we have to split up this time.”
Tang Wutong was a little surprised. “Is there a problem?”
Huo Yuhao answered, “A little. This city has a stronger military force than our initial judgment. They have roughly a hundred and fifty soul engineers, and there"s a soul tool front inside Eastern Sun City, towards the northern side. It should be used to defend against aquatic soul beasts. It seems like aquatic soul beasts appear very often in this place. Otherwise, there should be no reason for them to deploy a soul tool front in a place like this. Furthermore, there are actually many powerful spiritual detectors around that soul tool front. I was already discovered from a slight contact before this, and might have been locked onto if I hadn"t reacted quickly enough.”
Tang Wutong thought for a moment. “We might have some problems if we can"t sneak our way inside. We will likely be exposed if we let them unleash their soul tool front"s offensive and defensive capabilities. Even if we charge and force our way inside, they will have sufficient time to relay information out of the city.”