The Heaven Dou Royal Knights' column raced along the highway.
Five days had passed since they left the Farack Kingdom.
The journey had been peaceful.
Xue Yao leaned against the soft cushions. In his hand, he held a wind-attribute crystal core, his eyes closed as he silently absorbed its energy.
Just then,
the carriage gradually slowed. At last, it came to a steady stop by the roadside.
"Viscount, we're nearly out of the supplies we brought. The men up ahead reported that there's a city not far from here."
"This subordinate would like to lead a group into the city to buy some dried food and fresh water. We can also get some concentrated feed for the horses."
Xue Yao opened his eyes.
He tossed the crystal core into his storage ring and pulled aside a corner of the curtain.
"What city is up ahead?"
"My lord, it's a small city on the border of Fasinuo Province. It's called Nuoding City."
Nuoding City.
At the sound of those three words, Xue Yao's hand paused slightly as he lifted the curtain.
His relaxed gaze instantly turned extraordinarily deep, and even took on a trace of wariness.
Nuoding City—he knew this place all too well.
It was the beginner village where the original story began.
By his reckoning, Tang San should have enrolled by now.
That Yu Xiaogang, who talked such utter nonsense and whom he had once insulted until he cried, was surely with him too.
However, Xue Yao couldn't muster the slightest interest in the pair of master and disciple.
A level-29 good-for-nothing and a newly awakened brat with only level ten. If they ran into each other now, Xue Yao could crush them both with one hand.
What truly gave him a headache
was the powerful backer behind Tang San.
The Clear Sky Douluo, Tang Hao!
Xue Yao let the curtain fall and leaned back against the cushions, his mind racing as he calculated.
In Xue Yao's eyes, Tang Hao was an utterly unreasonable "troublemaker."
That wasn't meant as an insult. It was just that Tang Hao never acted according to common sense.
Other Titled Douluo, at least, cared somewhat about their reputations and took their status and the rules into consideration.
Tang Hao didn't.
That roughneck who spoiled his kid had nothing but using his hammer to talk on his mind.
In the original story, Zhao Wuji was a teacher who had merely given Tang San a bit of a lesson during an assessment. That very night, Tang Hao cornered him in the woods and beat him until he looked like a pig's head.
The Spirit Hall's pope? Tang Hao beat him up whenever he felt like it.
A level-95-or-higher Super Douluo who completely disregarded the rules and could fly into a frenzy at any moment—
he absolutely couldn't afford to provoke him now.
Xue Yao was clear-headed.
He was currently a level-31 Soul Elder. If he used all his trump cards, he could kill a five-thousand-year-old Sub-Dragon in an instant.
He even dared to take on an ordinary Soul King.
But if he faced Tang Hao's Clear Sky Hammer—
forget about him alone. Even with the fifty fully armed Heaven Dou Royal Knights outside,
they probably wouldn't withstand a single blow from Tang Hao's hammer.
"A wise man doesn't stand beneath a wall in danger."
Xue Yao silently repeated the saying to himself.
He was a modern man who relied on his brains and believed in logic.
Until he was absolutely sure he could stay alive, the farther he kept from an unreasonable nuclear weapon like that, the better.
"Captain."
Xue Yao's voice came from inside the carriage. Through the curtain, it sounded exceptionally cold and hard.
"This subordinate is here!" The knight captain hurried closer.
"You may enter the city to resupply. But I have three demands."
"Please give your orders, my lord."
Xue Yao stared at the carriage door and spoke each word distinctly.
"First: once we enter the city, move quickly. Buy only necessities. No haggling, and no trouble. We must leave the city within two hours."
"Second: everyone stays in tactical formation. No one is to leave the group to drink or look for entertainment."
"Third—and most important—"
"There's a place in this city called Nuoding Primary Soul Master Academy. Tell every man that no one is allowed to go anywhere within a mile of that academy!"
"If anyone gets curious and goes over to look around, even if he's only passing by—"
"I won't wait until we return to Heaven Dou City. I'll cut off his head right there."
Outside the carriage,
the knight captain trembled all over, and cold sweat instantly broke out on him.
He had no idea why.
Nuoding City was nothing but a remote, impoverished backwater. That so-called primary academy probably had no more than a few Soul Grandmasters teaching there.
Why was the viscount acting as if he faced a formidable enemy? Why had he even issued such an exceptionally strict death order?
But he didn't dare ask.
Having witnessed Xue Yao kill a Sub-Dragon in an instant and received the Gold Soul Coins Xue Yao had generously rewarded him with,
the fifty knights now obeyed Xue Yao's orders without question.
"Yes! This subordinate understands!"
"If anyone dares to go anywhere near that academy, I'll cut him down myself!"
The knight captain accepted the order, then turned to lecture his men.
Half an hour later,
the Heaven Dou Royal Knights' column slowly entered Nuoding City.
This small city, where one hardly ever saw a Soul Elder, got the shock of its life that day.
Fifty cavalrymen in silver heavy armor. The murderous aura forged by years of training could be sensed from far away.
The gate guards didn't even dare ask questions. They simply bowed and let them pass.
The commoners along both sides of the street were even more frightened. They hid beneath the eaves and didn't dare so much as breathe too loudly.
Inside the carriage,
Xue Yao sat cross-legged on the soft couch.
He didn't relax in the slightest.
From the moment he entered the city, he kept his nerves taut.
He closed his eyes.
An extremely faint, yet extraordinarily keen stream of azure Soul Power slipped soundlessly through the gaps in the carriage and drifted outward.
He didn't use his mental power to scan a wide area.
A powerhouse like Tang Hao was far too perceptive when it came to mental power. Even a slight sweep could easily alert him.
Xue Yao used the wind instead.
He pushed his extreme affinity with the wind element to the limit.
He imagined himself as an extraordinarily precise radar, sensing the currents of air flowing through Nuoding City.
Around ordinary people and low-ranked Soul Masters, the air currents were calm.
But around an exceptionally powerful high-ranked Soul Master—
no matter how well he concealed himself, his vast reserves of Soul Power would still be like a massive reef.
When air flowed past him, it would inevitably create an exceedingly subtle, unusual pause or distortion.
Xue Yao was searching for that "reef."
He sat quietly, his breathing exceptionally steady.
In his mind, the current patterns throughout Nuoding City gradually took shape.
"There's a vortex of air currents west of the city. Its fluctuations are around level thirty. It's probably the master of the Spirit Hall branch."
"North of the city... there are several fluctuations in the twenties. That should be where Nuoding Academy is."
Xue Yao silently analyzed the information he sensed.
He avoided the direction of Nuoding Academy, afraid of disturbing something he shouldn't.
Time passed bit by bit.
The royal knights outside worked quickly.
They bought up the entire stock of several grain shops, paying without hesitation.
The whole process passed without a single conflict.
Before you continue