Chapter 378

As he spoke, He Caitou started to get busy again. He installed soul tool after soul tool in every corner of the room.

What he didn’t know was that his reputation as the Origin of Destruction would start to become notable after this mission, and he would also become one of most well-known fighting soul engineers on the continent.

—

Jing Ziyan was also busy. At this point, she was in her own room, adjusting her storage-type soul tool. At times, she would retrieve items that looked like stones.

These stones weren’t very eye-catching, and they were only slightly bigger than an adult man’s fist. However, Jing Ziyan was very careful, because she had once witnessed how destructive these stones were.

Ji Juechen was sitting on a chair not far away, and silently watched her as she busied herself. He suddenly said, “Can you stop smiling?”

Jing Ziyan was shocked, and a ‘stone’ in her hand suddenly slipped. Jing Ziyan hurriedly reached out and grabbed it again. After that, she patted her chest and said, “Hey, can you not scare me when I’m dealing with these things? If they explode, we’ll be critically hurt, if we don’t die!”

“I just couldn’t take it anymore. Furthermore, I remembered Huo Yuhao said before that they have to be detonated. Even if they drop on the ground, they won’t explode,” Ji Juechen said.

Jing Ziyan snorted. “What can’t you take anymore? Even if it won’t explode, we need to be careful. It’s better to be safe. It’s not like you’ve ever seen the strength of these things.”

Ji Juechen said, “I couldn’t take your expression anymore. Do you know how sinister you looked earlier? You looked just like a little fox.”

Jing Ziyan snapped, “You’re more like a little fox. Have you ever seen a little fox carrying a bunch of bombs? Eh, why are you so talkative today? It’s not like you.”

As she spoke, she picked up a few of the bombs before she turned around and looked suspiciously at Ji Juechen.

Ji Juechen’s cold expression suddenly changed, and Jing Ziyan was shocked. Is he embarrassed? Or is he being shy?

“Heavens! What’s wrong with you, Juechen? Are you sick?” Jing Ziyan walked towards him as she spoke.

“Stop!” Ji Juechen suddenly shouted.

Jing Ziyan immediately stopped and gave him a doubtful look.

“I’m fine, I’m not sick.” Ji Juechen smacked his own forehead, as if he were trying to calm himself down.

“Then what’s wrong with you?” Jing Ziyan stared at him doubtfully.

Ji Juechen lowered his head and seemed to be thinking of something. Fortunately, this didn’t last very long. He suddenly lifted his head again and said to Jing Ziyan, “Ziyan, how long have we known each other?”

“Oh, several years already. We got to know each other when no one was willing to interact with you when you first entered the Academy. Back then, you were only admitted to the Academy to make up the numbers. After that, you found a suitable path, and I watched you progress to where you are now. Why?”

Ji Juechen’s gaze suddenly became determined. “Let’s get together.”

Jing Ziyan was confused as she said, “Haven’t we always been together?” However, she was stunned when she looked at Ji Juechen’s eyes clearly. Three of the stones in her hand fell out and crashed to the ground.

It did prove that the stones wouldn’t explode. However, Jing Ziyan’s expression was extremely terrified at this moment. She was frozen in disbelief, and couldn’t imagine what was happening to her right now. Her expression perfectly displayed how she was feeling.

“You, what are you… speak clearly, what do you mean?” Jing Ziyan’s voice was trembling uncontrollably, as if the most terrifying thing in this world had happened to her.

Ji Juechen lowered his head again, and didn’t dare to look her in the eyes. He muttered, “I said that we should get together. You are right. We’ve known each other for years, and you’ve always been by my side – helping me, encouraging me and taking care of me. Although I never once commented on any of it, I know it in my heart.

“After Huo Yuhao unleashed his three skills that day, I realized that I’ve been detached from this world for too long. There shouldn’t just be swords in my world, because swords can’t help me reach the peak that I’ve always wanted to reach. I should be like a normal person. I should have relationships. I only know one lady, and that is you. In addition, I feel like I can only think of you. Let’s get together, shall we?”

As he raised his head again, Jing Ziyan saw a trace of anticipation and nervousness in his eyes.

“I’m not pretty.” Jing Ziyan seemed to grit her teeth as she said these few words. Her eyes were already on the verge of tearing up at this moment.

“You are the only lady in my eyes. You are just like my sword. Also, do you think I’m very concerned about your beauty?”

Jing Ziyan shifted her head to one side and tried to stop her tears from flowing.

“I’m not gentle, either. I’m competitive, and I like to fight! I might beat you up at any time!”

“Those are precisely the reasons why we should get together.” Ji Juechen seemed to become a little tense. “Are…are you willing?” He started to seem a little depressed right now.

This was probably the most he had spoken in the past ten years, and it was also the day where his mood had experienced the greatest changes. At this moment, he suddenly realized that his sword intent had met some kind of problem. It was as if it had been punctured by some ridiculous thing.

Jing Ziyan raised her head, and her tears flowed down her cheeks. “Heaven! You’ve finally opened your eyes.”

When she looked at Ji Juechen again, her gaze had already turned sharp. She took one step forward and came over in front of him. After this, she sat on his lap and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. They looked into each others’ eyes at this close distance.

“From this moment onwards, you are my man. You can’t turn back, and there’s no time limit. Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this day? From today onwards, Yuhao is my benefactor. Scoundrel!”

Her tears flowed again, but she kissed his lips as if she had gone crazy, and held tightly onto his head. Her tears also flowed onto his face in an instant.

Ji Juechen was stupefied, completely stupefied. He only felt a force that he had never experienced or imagined before coming from Jing Ziyan’s body. This force had nothing to do with her soul power or fighting, but it struck his heart with an unprecedented momentum. His sword intent melted at this point. Jing Ziyan’s slightly salty yet soft lips, and the inexperienced kiss that she planted on his lips, lit a fire in his heart.

Gradually, Ji Juechen recovered from his shock. His hands wrapped around Jing Ziyan’s waist as he hugged her tightly. He started to be the active one. While he was as inexperienced as Jing Ziyan, he was more aggressive and offensive as he sensed that force.

His love was like his sword – they both needed a flash of realization. Just like Jing Ziyan had said, he had finally gotten it right. The feelings that he had been keeping in his heart for so long had finally erupted, and they couldn’t be stopped.

In this perilous city, they had finally taken that defining step, and removed the thin barrier between them.

——

Huo Yuhao, Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi arrived at the south end of the city. They were less than fifty meters from the south wall.

It was noon, and the three of them found a small, ordinary restaurant to dine at. This restaurant also fit their status according to their dress.

After ordering a few small dishes, they started to eat their lunch.

Huo Yuhao was sitting in a corner of the restaurant, Xu Sanshi sat next to him, while Ye Guyi sat opposite him. It was very difficult for anyone to notice him.

He unleashed his Spiritual Detection, and directed it underground. It drilled through the ground like a sharp awl.

Penetrating the city wall to survey the area beyond it would take a toll on his spiritual power, while going over the city wall would change the direction of his spiritual power, which would make it difficult to control. Thus, Huo Yuhao chose to go underground.

The south wall was indeed more tightly guarded than other places in the city. As Huo Yuhao scanned upward, he discovered that there were more thermal and soul power detectors here than at the northern city gate.

Furthermore, there were also a few hidden offensive soul tools above this wall. The outer perimeter was tightly guarded.

Huo Yuhao kept on moving his spiritual power diagonally downward. The foundation of the city wall only reached a depth of ten meters. After ten meters, Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power managed to extend beneath it.

As he ranged further underground, he exhausted his spiritual power greatly. It was only because of his immense spiritual cultivation that he was able to unleash such strong spiritual power and control.

After reaching close to thirty meters underground, Huo Yuhao felt less resistance to his spiritual power as it entered water.

City moat. This has to be the city moat.

Huo Yuhao was delighted, and continue to move his Spiritual Detection down. At the same time, he also moved it further to either side.

The water was a little polluted, but the senses from his spiritual power were detached from his body. They weren’t like his vision.

Very soon, Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power had swept more than fifty meters of polluted water, but he didn’t discover anything. There was only silt at the bottom of the moat. With his spiritual power, he could only go ten meters below the layer of silt before he started to feel dizzy.

Huo Yuhao lifted his head and shut his eyes slightly. He took a deep breath to soothe his spiritual power.

“How is it?” Xu Sanshi asked softly.

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, “I can’t. There’s too big of an area to survey. The length of the south wall is quite extensive. I can only search slowly. Third senior, cover me. I’ll try to use my Eye of Destiny. Perhaps I’ll be able to sense more that way.”

“Alright.”

Huo Yuhao gulped down a glass of clear water in front of him before he placed his elbows on the table. His palms were naturally supporting his forehead, but covered the center of it.

His Eye of Destiny opened. When it opened, Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi had a feeling that Huo Yuhao was illusory. A strange aura came from his head, but this feeling only lasted for an instant. However, they could still clearly see that Huo Yuhao had become different… even scarier.

Huo Yuhao unleashed his spiritual power again, the penetrative abilities of his spiritual power a few times stronger now. In a matter of seconds, he entered the moat once again.

Under his control, his spiritual power swept its surroundings and covered a greater area.

He couldn’t do this all day. After all, it wasn’t possible to construct anything under this layer of silt. Furthermore, Feng Ling’s words weren’t very clear, and he wasn’t able to determine the actual location of the water prison. From what Feng Ling had mentioned, he only recalled three useful phrases – south wall, city moat, and water prison.

As he scanned his surroundings, he soon reached two hundred meters in distance. As the area that he covered grew, he was able to detect more things with the help of his Eye of Destiny.

He slowly sensed traces of a gloomy, despondent aura. This feeling came mostly from the eastern end of the south wall. He quickly shifted the direction of his Spiritual Detection. Indeed, this despondent feeling became stronger and stronger the more he moved east.

The draw on his spiritual power kept on increasing, and Huo Yuhao called to the Skydream Iceworm, “Brother Skydream, give me a hand.”

Skydream’s lazy voice sounded in his spiritual sea. “Okay.”

The ring on Huo Yuhao’s finger that the Skydream Iceworm had changed into lost its glow. In Huo Yuhao’s spiritual sea, the Skydream Iceworm surfaced, and slowly released the strength of his pure spiritual origin into Huo Yuhao’s spiritual sea. Suddenly, Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power became much stronger.

His spiritual power continued to move east, and he finally found something suspicious.

It was at a position around three hundred meters to his east, and around three meters below the river bank close to this side of the south wall. There was an iron fence which was constructed out of thick, fine iron. The despondent and gloomy aura came from there, which meant it either had to be the entrance and exit of the water prison, or an opening for the flow of water into or out of the water prison.

Huo Yuhao heaved a sigh of relief after making this discovery. There were finally clues.

He quickly retracted his Spiritual Detection and shut his Eye of Destiny.

Just this short while had caused his spiritual power to be greatly drained. If not for the fact that it was already in the concrete-immaterial realm, he wouldn’t have been able to take it.

“Let’s go. Let’s take a walk.” Huo Yuhao secretly signaled to Xu Sanshi and Ye Guyi before they quickly settled the bill and left the restaurant. After that, they proceeded towards the south wall.