Chance Encounter with a Cloaked Man, Shocking a Mysterious Expert

The night was as black as ink. Huo Yuhao, draped in a tattered cloak stripped from a corpse, sped along a mountain path.

"Damn it, those bastards really are impossible to shake."

He ran while looking back. Although the pursuers Zhu Ruyi had sent had been temporarily thrown off, who knew when they might appear again?

[Thought Palace, plot the optimal escape route.]

The pure white palace unfolded instantly, clearly marking the surrounding terrain.

[Analysis complete: avoid the main roads and take mountain paths. Destination set as Greenwood Town, a border town thirty li away.]

[Route advantages: high concealment, low search efficiency for pursuers.]

[Risk assessment: wild soul beasts, bandits, severe weather.]

"Can't worry about that much. I'll get out of the Star Luo Empire first."

Following the route that had been mapped out, Huo Yuhao deliberately chose the least-traveled paths. After walking for roughly two hours, he suddenly saw the glow of a campfire and heard voices ahead.

"People?"

He quickly hid behind a large boulder and cautiously poked his head out to observe.

In the clearing ahead, more than a dozen carriages formed a circle around a campfire. A group of people bustled about unloading goods, feeding horses, and preparing dinner.

[Thought Palace, analyze the situation.]

[Conclusion: merchant caravan resting. Total personnel: thirty-two.]

[Personnel composition: one caravan owner, fifteen guards, sixteen laborers.]

[Equipment assessment: standard merchant caravan configuration, no heavy weaponry.]

[Opportunity assessment: consider blending in and using the caravan as cover to continue forward.]

"This is a good opportunity." Huo Yuhao narrowed his eyes. "It's much safer to blend into a caravan than to wander through these desolate mountains alone."

But the question was, how could he get in?

He lowered his head and examined his appearance. The tattered cloak concealed him somewhat, but his face was too young, and his bearing did not resemble that of a lowly laborer.

"I need to find a way to change my appearance."

Huo Yuhao took out the soul tool materials he had taken from the guards earlier and began assembling them quickly.

"An audio voice changer... a facial contour adjustment device... and this soul power fluctuation disruptor for disguise..."

More than ten minutes later, a simple set of disguise equipment was complete.

Huo Yuhao put on the facial adjustment device. His originally refined features became rougher, making him look like an undernourished boy of thirteen or fourteen.

Then he adjusted his voice with the changer, making it hoarse and deep.

"Hehe, now even his own mother wouldn't recognize him."

After finishing his disguise, Huo Yuhao took a wide detour and emerged from the other side of the caravan.

"Ah, I finally found people!" He put on an utterly exhausted expression. "Uncles, please have mercy and let me travel with you!"

Several guards immediately surrounded him warily.

"Kid, where did you come from?"

"I... I'm from Greenwood Town. I came out to do business with my uncle, but we got separated." Huo Yuhao wiped at his tears. "I've been wandering through the mountains for days and almost got eaten by wolves!"

"Greenwood Town?" The captain of the guards frowned. "We happen to be heading there."

At that moment, a pot-bellied middle-aged man walked over. He was presumably the caravan owner.

"What's going on?"

"Boss, this kid says he's from Greenwood Town and got separated from his family," the guard captain reported.

The caravan owner looked Huo Yuhao over several times. "Kid, what's your name?"

"My name is... Li Xiaosan." Huo Yuhao casually made up a false name.

"What does your family do?"

"We run a general store. My father's name is Li Daniu."

The caravan owner nodded. "Fine, you can come with us, but you'll have to work. Feed the horses and move cargo every day. We'll provide food and lodging, and when we reach Greenwood Town, I'll give you one tael of silver for travel expenses."

"Thank you, Boss! Thank you, Boss!" Huo Yuhao bowed repeatedly.

[Thought Palace, analyze the probability of successfully blending in.]

[Assessment: 85% probability of successfully integrating into the caravan.]

[Recommendation: keep a low profile and avoid exposing true strength.]

And just like that, Huo Yuhao successfully infiltrated the merchant caravan.

Over the next few days, he honestly did the work of a laborer—feeding horses, moving cargo, washing pots and dishes. He eagerly took on every dirty and exhausting job.

The other laborers soon accepted this "Li Xiaosan," even praising him for being quick and capable, unlike the spoiled children from the city.

[Thought Palace, continuously analyze caravan intelligence.]

On the third night, the analysis results came in.

[Merchant caravan's true destination: Heaven Soul City, a border city of the Sun Moon Empire.]

[Cargo analysis: Ordinary goods on the surface, but prohibited soul tool components are concealed within.]

[Guard strength: The captain is a three-ring Soul Elder; most of the others have one or two rings.]

[Special discovery: The identity of handyman Number Seventeen is questionable.]

"Number Seventeen?" Huo Yuhao thought back. "That guy who always wears a cloak?"

He observed more closely and found that the man was indeed strange.

The other handymen all had rough hands and feet, but this man's hands were delicate, and even the way he walked did not resemble someone who did heavy labor.

Most importantly, when Huo Yuhao occasionally observed him with his Spirit Eye Martial Soul, he discovered that the man's soul power fluctuations were terrifyingly strong.

At least Soul Emperor level!

Holy shit, a Soul Emperor disguised as a handyman? This is getting interesting.

[Thought Palace, infer this person's motives.]

[Possibility One: An undercover agent monitoring the caravan's illegal activities.]

[Possibility Two: A fugitive using the caravan as cover to evade pursuit.]

[Possibility Three: A spy carrying out a special mission.]

[Recommendation: Make contact cautiously and determine his background.]

Two more days passed, and then an opportunity came.

That night, when Huo Yuhao got up to relieve himself, he spotted the mysterious cloaked man crouching behind a carriage, furtively studying something.

"Interesting."

Huo Yuhao quietly crept over and hid behind another carriage to watch.

The cloaked man had spread out a blueprint and was studying it carefully by moonlight.

It was a soul tool design blueprint!

Moreover, some of the symbols and patterns on it bore a striking resemblance to the blueprint his mother had left behind!

What the hell is going on?

Huo Yuhao's heart jolted. Could this mysterious person be connected to his mother?

[Thought Palace, comparing symbol similarity.]

[Analysis result: Symbol match rate 67%; they belong to the same technological system.]

[Inference: The soul tool technology mastered by this person is connected to Huo Yuhao's mother's technological inheritance.]

[Recommendation: Take the initiative to make contact, but probe carefully.]

Let's do it!

Having made up his mind, Huo Yuhao approached with light, silent steps.

"Ahem."

The cloaked man instantly gathered up the blueprint and turned around warily. "Who's there?"

"Relax, it's me, Li Xiaosan." Huo Yuhao raised both hands. "I just got up to relieve myself. Didn't expect to run into you."

The cloaked man scrutinized him for a few moments. "Kid, you didn't see anything, understand?"

"See what? I didn't see a thing." Huo Yuhao put on an innocent expression. "But..."

"But what?"

"That thing you were studying... it looked like a soul tool design blueprint?"

The cloaked man's body visibly stiffened. "You understand soul tools?"

"Just a little." Huo Yuhao spoke modestly. "My father taught me some basics before."

"Is that so?" The cloaked man grew interested. "Then tell me, what is the core principle of soul tools?"

"Soul power conduction, energy conversion, and... rune resonance," Huo Yuhao answered casually.

The cloaked man's eyes lit up. "Not bad. Your foundation is solid. Then do you know what a 'three-dimensional spatial rune array' is?"

Huo Yuhao's heart skipped a beat. He had seen that exact concept in his mother's blueprint!

"I know a little." He pretended to think. "It means constructing what was originally a flat rune array into a three-dimensional structure, greatly improving energy efficiency."

"You..." The cloaked man was stunned. "How could someone your age know such advanced theory?"

"My father taught me." Huo Yuhao continued lying. "He said it was a secret technique passed down through our family."

The cloaked man fell silent for a moment, then spread the blueprint out again. "Kid, come take a look at this."

Huo Yuhao stepped closer and saw that it was an extremely complex soul tool design blueprint, densely covered in all kinds of runes and circuits.

"This is... an offensive soul tool?"

"That's right, the Class 7 soul tool, the 'Thunder Sword.'" The cloaked figure nodded. "But there's a problem with this energy circuit design. It always produces energy backflow. Where do you think the issue lies?"

Huo Yuhao examined it carefully as the [Thought Palace] ran at full speed.

[Analysis complete: The seventh-layer circuit and the third-layer circuit have a frequency conflict.]

[Solution: Add a buffer rune to the fifth-layer circuit, or adjust the phase of the seventh-layer circuit.]

"The problem is here." Huo Yuhao pointed to a spot on the blueprint. "The frequency of the seventh-layer circuit is creating resonant interference with the third layer."

The cloaked figure's eyes went wide. "You... you actually saw it?"

"Just luck. Pure luck."

"No!" The cloaked figure suddenly grabbed Huo Yuhao by the arm. "Even a Class 7 soul engineer would need a long time to spot that problem. How could a little brat like you see it at a glance?"

"Who exactly are you?"

Just then, several plumes of signal smoke suddenly rose in the distance!