Volume 30, Chapter 374.3: Hand that Protects the Nation

“That was so scary. Brother, do we still need to be searched?” Nan Qiuqiu cried out to the small team leader, whose face was grim as he prepared to ascend the city walls.

The team leader waved at her and said, “Enter the city, quickly. We’ll have time for it later…” As he said that, he waved the piece of coarse paper he held in his hands.

Nan Qiuqiu smiled and batted her eyelashes at him once more. Only then did she enter the city with Ye Guyi.

At this moment, no matter how lovesick the team leader was, he did not dare to abandon his post.

The six of them from the Tang Sect were able to enter the city just like that without having to be checked.

They quickly re-grouped.

Xu Sanshi gave Nan Qiuqiu a thumbs-up as he said, “Qiuqiu, you were excellent! I didn’t know you were such a good actor. He was not the only one who fell for it. Even I fell head-over-heels for you! Haha!”

Nan Qiuqiu said unkindly, “Spare me your crap, or else I’ll complain about you to Sister Nannan. Your words are honeyed, indeed. We got in not because of my acting skills, but rather because of Huo Yuhao’s accurate character judgment.”

Ye Guyi nodded and said, “Qiuqiu is right. While his plan sounded dangerous, it was actually pretty risk-free.”

He Caitou said, “We did not have to wait for nothing in the past two months. Had we mounted our rescue attempt immediately after they locked up the prisoners, security would have been much tighter, and we would not have been given such an opportunity. Let’s go and find a place to rest. We’ll wait for Yuhao to enter.”

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Outside the city...

The series of explosions were naturally caused by Huo Yuhao. As for himself, he had escaped the scene of the explosion long ago.

The origin of these explosions was the Infernal Gate

Huo Yuhao would not use Necromancy in front of his companions, especially not in front of Ye Guyi and her Holy Angel. However, this did not mean that he would not use it.

His closed-door training for the past few months had benefited him greatly. One could say that he was able to fully master all of the various odd abilities he had learned during the past seven-plus years of training and cultivation. His skills had reached a new level.

At the same time, he became more mature and stable. He was finally able to overcome some of his mental barriers.

With a simple necromantic spell, he summoned a group of skeletal soldiers and jiangshi, which charged fearlessly toward the positions of the two soul engineer legions. One could imagine the result. In less than ten seconds after the appearance of these undead creatures, they were detected by the high-altitude surveillance soul tool. They were then bombarded mercilessly by the soul engineer legions.

After fifteen seconds of non-stop bombardment, the entire area where the Gate of Hell was located looked as if it had been trampled flat by a herd of wild animals. Every blade of grass was obliterated.

What about Huo Yuhao? He had disguised himself with Imitation after he unleashed his Gate of Hell. Then, he rejoined the trade delegations in the queue.

Like them, he could not enter the city after the gates closed. No one knew when would the gates open once more. The sudden appearance of undead creatures would surely be investigated. However, it was likely that the investigation would yield no result.

Huo Yuhao knew that after the investigation revealed nothing, the gates would open once more.

Huo Yuhao followed his companions with Spiritual Detection. At this moment, he sensed that they were inside the city.

Now that’s everyone’s in, it’s easier for me.

Huo Yuhao smiled slightly as he looked at the giant soul power detector on the city wall. A cold smile crept across his face. Do they think they really can stop me with those tools?

He observed his surroundings. The traders were complaining. He quietly left the trade delegation and sat down somewhere with shade.

Many people from the trade delegations did the same. Since they could not enter the city, they took the time to rest. His actions were not suspicious at all.

However, even though he was sitting down, he was extremely busy. His eyes were closed, and soul power flowed slowly through his body. His entire person entered a strange state.

He unleashed his gentle spiritual power as it carefully wrapped itself around the soul power in his body. Then, he quieted down the soul power in his body completely.

Normally, the soul power in a soul master's body would circulate continuously during one's daily cultivation, forming a cycle. It was nearly impossible to stop that, but Huo Yuhao was able to do so.

This method allowed him to seal his soul power with his spiritual power. This entire process took an hour. Only then was he able to prevent even the slightest hint of soul power from seeping out of his body. He temporarily became an ordinary person with extraordinary spiritual power.

After he did this, Huo Yuhao slowly stood up as he felt his body adjust to its new state.

When a soul master lost his soul power, he would definitely feel weak. However, he did not care too much about that. His walking pace had also slowed visibly.

He checked the state of his body, and ascertained that his soul power had been completely compressed by his spiritual power and sealed in the corners of his dantian. Only then did Huo Yuhao rejoin the trade delegations. This time, he took advantage of their belief that the city gates would not re-open so quickly and quietly slipped to the front of the queue.

The soul engineer legions did not take long to complete their checks. After an hour, they sent word to the city, and the gates of Sunrise City opened once again. The inspections of the trade delegations continued.

After fifteen minutes, Huo Yuhao stood in front of the soul power detector.

The gentle green light swept over his body. To be fair, Huo Yuhao was quite nervous too. However, he had a backup plan. If his identity was exposed here, there was no way the soul engineer legions in the distance could strike him, as there were many civilians and traders around. With his power, he could charge into the city if he really needed to. Even if they searched the entire city, he was confident of escaping detection with all his various abilities.

The soldiers looked at the soul power detector and then at Huo Yuhao, who was disguised as a laborer for one of the trade delegations. He waved his hand, indicating to Huo Yuhao that he could enter.

Huo Yuhao sighed in relief. He was happy that his plan had worked. In other words, by suppressing his soul power with his spiritual power, he had now learned that he would be able to fool a soul power detector.

There were two types of soul power detectors. The first type would detect its target’s internal soul power, and the other would try and sense if its target was releasing soul power. The soul power detector on the city wall belonged to the second type. The combination of both soul tools would be ideal in rooting out soul masters, as it could detect soul masters who were concealing themselves and those who were pretending to be ordinary people. At this moment, Huo Yuhao was able to use his immense spiritual power to elude detection and enter the city.

After he entered the gates, Huo Yuhao walked at a reasonable pace toward the inner part of the city.

This was indeed a medium-sized city. The Sun Moon Empire’s cities were visibly different than those of the Star Luo Empire and the Heavenly Soul Empire. Even if the buildings were not particularly big, they were much bigger than the buildings in the original three countries of the Douluo Continent. Many of them had pointed roofs, too.

Huo Yuhao naturally did not pay attention to these, but instead was looking at the defenses inside the city. What shocked him most was that even as he moved forward, he could not detect any powerful auras inside the city. The city gates had many soul engineers manning and observing the surveillance soul tools, but none of them were particularly powerful. The people on the streets walked about as they carried on with their daily lives, no different from the citizens of any other city.

As Sunrise City’s defenses were tight, all Shrek Academy knew was that the prisoners were kept here. They did not know where were they held specifically, or if there were any powerful people guarding them.

As a result, this operation was very difficult for the Tang Sect. Of course, Shrek Academy had created some opportunities for them.

First of all, they were given time. They were in no rush to enter the city. As long as full-scale war did not break out, they still had a chance to rescue the captives. This time, Elder Xuan and the rest were well-prepared when they caused the border commotion. The eight Transcendent Douluo wreaked havoc near the border with tacit cooperation from the Star Luo Empire and the Heavenly Soul Empire. This caused quite a bit of trouble for the Sun Moon Empire. For now, they would devote all their attention to the border.

Thus, Huo Yuhao’s objectives were to first ascertain the location where the captives were kept, the strength of their guards, and the regional defenses of Sunrise City. This intelligence was more important than the rescue mission. Elder Xuan had told Huo Yuhao before he left that his priority was reconnaissance. If they had a chance to save the captives, it would be great. If not, they should not take risks.

Huo Yuhao soon discovered the marks left by his companions. However, he did not rush to meet them, but instead strolled leisurely through Sunrise City.

He was dressed like a laborer. While he was tall for his age, his clothes were rough. His face and hairstyle were ordinary, and no one would notice him.

As Huo Yuhao walked, he slowly released the suppression his spiritual power exerted on his soul power.

How could it be easy to seal one’s soul power with one’s spiritual power? The feeling of a loss in power was horrid. Releasing the seal was troublesome, too. He could not release all of his compressed soul power at once. If he did let it burst forth, his passageways would be severely affected by the sudden outburst. All he could do was slowly release the seal, allow his soul power to seep out slowly, and circulate through his body once more.

Huo Yuhao was in no rush. As he walked, he observed his surroundings. With his spiritual power, he was able to notice details most ordinary people could not even without using Spiritual Detection. He memorized the areas he walked through so any subsequent operations would be easier.

He walked for two hours, and the sky started to dim. By then, he had released all his soul power and was back at his prime.