Continued Northward! Time to Watch the Show!

He no longer hesitated. He got up, settled the bill, and left the tavern.

Under the cover of night, Lan Aotian did not return to the inn. Instead, he went straight out of Häagen-Dazs City and found a secluded mountain forest.

The Palm Blue Silver World flickered faintly. He did not enter it, but through the special connection with the Small World, he sent a strand of thought into Lan Xin's consciousness as she cultivated inside.

"Lan Xin."

"My Emperor!" Lan Xin replied with respect and delight.

"How is the cultivation progress of the three of you?"

"Reporting to My Emperor, this servant, Lan Yu, and Lan Ye have initially mastered combat techniques in human form. Our cultivation is stable, and we have achieved minor success in the first layer, the 'Seed Concealment Chapter,' of the 'Blue Silver Creation Technique.'"

"Very good. There may be many disturbances in the outside world in the short term."

"Continue cultivating diligently, all of you. Pay particular attention to concealing your auras. Without my summons, you are not to leave This World."

"At the same time, urge all the people to cultivate faster and improve their cultivation as much as possible."

"Understood!"

After severing the connection, Lan Aotian gazed toward Heaven Dou City in the north, his eyes deep and unfathomable.

Tang San had revealed the Clear Sky Hammer. Like a massive stone thrown into a calm lake, the ripples it stirred would inevitably spread across the entire continent.

And he, the Blue Silver Emperor who had quietly entered the world, was already caught within those ripples.

"Tang Hao, you must be having quite a headache right now, aren't you?"

Lan Aotian could imagine how frantic Tang Hao, hidden in the darkness, must be as he faced his son's identity being exposed and the frenzied counterattack that Spirit Hall was sure to launch.

The loss of Ah Yin's seedling and Spirit Bone from Holy Soul Village would likely make matters even worse.

"Still, the murkier these waters become, the more opportunities I may have."

He moved, transforming into a faint blue silhouette that nearly merged with the night, and sped toward the north.

His destination was the hinterland of the Heaven Dou Empire, closer to the center of power and the storm.

He wanted to witness this storm caused by Tang San with his own eyes, and find opportunities and a foothold for the Blue Silver Grass Clan within it.

Spirit Hall's attention had already been drawn toward Tang Hao and the possibility of "reviving Ah Yin." But where this fire would ultimately spread remained unknown.

His blue hair swept across the Night Sky, like a streak of unusual color quietly slicing through the threads of fate.

After leaving Häagen-Dazs City, Lan Aotian did not travel at full speed.

Like a genuine traveler, he sometimes rode the gentle breeze in low-altitude flight and sometimes strolled leisurely along the official road, carefully sensing this land belonging to the Heaven Dou Empire.

The farther north he went, the denser the population became, and the shorter the distances between towns and villages grew.

Soul Masters appeared far more frequently. Soul Elders and Soul Ancestors were no longer uncommon, and he could occasionally even sense the passing aura of a Soul King.

The fluctuations of Soul Power in the air also seemed somewhat more active than in the border regions.

Five days later, the outline of a majestic city appeared on the horizon.

The city walls stood over thirty meters high and were built entirely from sturdy grayish white granite, gleaming with a cold, hard luster beneath the sunlight.

The wide moat flowed slowly, the drawbridge had been lowered, and an endless stream of carriages, horses, and pedestrians passed through.

Above the city gate, a massive horizontal tablet bore four characters etched in powerful strokes—Sylvester City.

This was the capital of the Balak Kingdom, as well as one of the most important transportation hubs and military strongholds in the south of the Heaven Dou Empire. Its prosperity far surpassed that of Häagen-Dazs City.

Lan Aotian restrained most of his aura and followed the crowd into the city.

The surrounding din instantly rose by several levels.

The main road was wide enough for eight carriages to travel side by side. Shops and towers stood in orderly rows on both sides, their signs and banners dazzling in every color.

Pedestrians in all kinds of clothing brushed shoulders with one another, among them no shortage of extravagantly dressed Soul Masters and merchants.

The patrolling City Guard was well equipped and sharp-eyed, maintaining basic order.

He keenly noticed that discussions about the Continent's High-Level Soul Master Elite Competition could be heard almost everywhere in the city, and the excitement surrounding it was exceptionally high.

"Have you heard? The fifteen teams that qualified from our Heaven Dou Tournament Area set out for Spirit City three days ago!"

"That fast? Didn't they say there would be a period of rest?"

"Rest my ass. I heard Spirit Hall was pressing them hard."

"After all, the Finals are being held in Spirit City, and Pope Bibi Dong is personally attending!"

"Tsk, tsk. This really is going to be a clash between dragons and tigers."

"I wonder how far those freaks from Shrek can go."

"Hard to say. The Golden Generation of Spirit Hall is no pushover."

"But that Tang San... the Clear Sky Hammer, huh? Just thinking about it is exciting."

"The Clear Sky Sect probably can't stay hidden anymore..."

Lan Aotian listened without revealing anything and confirmed that the people from Shrek and the others had already left Heaven Dou City for Spirit City, where Spirit Hall's headquarters was located.

This meant that the center of the storm had temporarily shifted.

However, the atmosphere in Sylvester City had not relaxed because of this. Instead, there was a sense of oppression before a storm.

He soon discovered the reason.

There were visibly more Soul Masters on the streets wearing Spirit Hall's standard uniforms.

They patrolled in groups of three or entered and left important locations, their wary eyes sweeping across their surroundings.

They paid particular attention to Soul Masters with stronger auras or unusual appearances.

Lan Aotian even sensed that several key entrances and exits of the city were quietly guarded by auras at the Soul Emperor level or above. Mental Power spread like an invisible net, slowly sweeping over the people coming and going.

It seemed that Tang San's identity being exposed, along with the associations it might trigger, had already set Spirit Hall's enormous machine into high gear.

Even though the main force had gone to Spirit City, the various Branch Halls had still received orders to heighten their vigilance and search for suspicious signs.

For Lan Aotian, this was both trouble and an opportunity.

The trouble was that he needed to be even more careful about concealing his unusually distinctive life aura and appearance.

The opportunity was that this kind of state of heightened security was often accompanied by the circulation of information and the redistribution of resources.

He first found a medium-sized inn in the city with a good reputation and checked into "Qingfeng Yuan."

The environment here was quiet and secluded, and most of the guests were Soul Masters or merchants with some status, making it less likely that he would attract attention.

After settling in, Lan Aotian began his operations.

His first stop was Sylvester City's largest trading center—"Hundred Treasures Pavilion."

It was a magnificent five-story building jointly operated by the Balak Royal Family and several major merchant guilds.

There seemed to be an influence of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect behind it as well, and its reputation was outstanding.

Here, Lan Aotian saw even more rare medicinal herbs and materials. There was even a Five-Hundred-Year-Old Dragon Blood Ganoderma carefully stored in a jade box, with a listed price of eighty thousand Gold Soul Coins.

But the few main ingredients needed for the Transformation Pill were still nowhere to be found.

He asked the manager on duty about them. The other party was far more professional than the Shopkeeper in Häagen-Dazs City, but also more direct.

"Jadeite Ganoderma? Earth Vein Blood Ginseng? Ghost Vine Crystal?"

"Esteemed guest, ordinary shops could never possibly have those three items."

"This old man has worked at Hundred Treasures Pavilion for forty years, and I have handled Earth Vein Blood Ginseng only once. That was twenty years ago, when a Soul Douluo senior obtained it by sheer luck in the depths of Star Dou Great Forest. He later sold it to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect."

"As for Jadeite Ganoderma and Ghost Vine Crystal, neither has appeared in Sylvester City in the past decade."

"Perhaps clues can only be found at the top auctions in Spirit City, in the secret treasuries of the royal families of the two empires, or among the collections of the Upper Three Sects."

The manager was a gray-haired old man with formidable Soul Power cultivation. Hearing this, he shook his head.