Eve of the Lantern Festival!

Over the next few days, the atmosphere in Heaven Dou City quietly began to change.

On the surface, everything seemed normal.

Street vendors still cried their wares, pedestrians still came and went, and the guards at the city gates still checked those entering and leaving according to routine.

But Huang Yun's Lightning Falcon Eyes quickly caught those subtle abnormalities. The guards at the gates had been replaced by unfamiliar faces, their gazes far sharper than before. Every young person entering the city received an extra look.

There were also many unfamiliar faces in the city. Those people walked with steady steps and alert eyes; at a glance, they were clearly well-trained scouts.

Huang Yun did not return to the city.

He hid in a dense forest dozens of miles outside Heaven Dou City, only observing the activity within the city from afar each morning and evening.

With his current strength, forcing his way into the imperial palace was no longer feasible. The combined defense of Ge Long's Yazi Martial Soul and those scouting-type Soul Masters made a frontal breakthrough extremely difficult. Moreover, after this incident, the palace's security would only become even tighter than before.

But he knew clearly that if he wanted to obtain the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, he could not leave behind any trace of his movements in Heaven Dou City, much less allow anyone to connect him to the identity of The Flash.

Just as he was considering his options, news began circulating within Heaven Dou City.

The Heaven Dou Lantern Festival, the empire's grand annual celebration.

That night, the entire city would be lit up. The imperial palace would open the eastern Imperial Way for the people to admire the lanterns. By then, the crowds would be immense and the lights dazzling, making it the liveliest time of the year.

That was the key.

Huang Yun heard a piece of news from passing merchants and travelers: during this year's Heaven Dou Lantern Festival, a special lantern would be hung in the center of the eastern Imperial Way outside the palace. It was said to be a national treasure taken from the Treasury, entirely azure and translucent, with something like a vast sea flowing within it. It was incomparably beautiful, a rare and peerless treasure seen perhaps once in a thousand years.

At the time, he was crouched in a tree, gnawing on dried rations. The instant he heard the news, the food nearly fell from his hand.

The Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud?

They were taking it out of the Treasury and hanging it on the street for display?

Huang Yun's chewing stopped, and his brow furrowed slightly beneath his mask.

This made no sense.

The imperial Treasury had just been infiltrated. Rather than hiding his treasure more securely at once, the emperor was instead making a grand show of displaying it?

Either he was insane, or it was a trap.

Huang Yun stuffed the last bite of dried rations into his mouth, leaned against the tree trunk, and closed his eyes to think for a while. Gradually, clarity came to him.

Luring the snake from its hole.

Xue Ye was betting that he would come again, so he had put out the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud as bait and laid a net across the heavens and earth, waiting for him to walk into it.

"The old emperor's pretty shrewd."

Huang Yun opened his eyes, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.

But he did not immediately dismiss the plan.

Walking into a trap even when he knew it was there looked foolish, but if handled properly, a trap could also become an opportunity.

What he needed to do was not force his way in, but find a way to create chaos amid the encirclement and fish in troubled waters.

Besides, he still had one card left to play.

That trump card was his Lightning Falcon Eyes. With their extreme range and dynamic tracking ability, he could determine from afar whether that lantern was real before deciding what to do next.

If the lantern was fake, he would remain still and never make a move.

If it was real...

Huang Yun jumped down from the tree and stretched his limbs. A preliminary plan had already formed in his mind.

There were still three days until the Heaven Dou Lantern Festival. He planned to use those three days to prepare thoroughly, enter Heaven Dou City to scout the area, confirm the terrain of the Imperial Way, the layout of the surrounding buildings, the best escape routes, and the possible locations of hidden sentries.

All of that had to be done in advance.

The next morning, Huang Yun changed into an inconspicuous set of gray cloth clothes and put away his mask, revealing a youthful face appropriate for his age.

It was his first time walking through Heaven Dou City without a mask. No one would pay him much attention; after all, there was nothing unusual about an ordinary-looking youth wandering the streets and alleys.

He entered through the eastern gate, calmly passing through amid the flow of people entering and leaving the city.

After entering, he headed toward the imperial palace. When he was still two streets away from the palace perimeter, he stopped, circled around instead, and found a vantage point overlooking the Imperial Way. He sat on the second floor of a two-story teahouse, ordered a pot of tea, and drank it slowly.

The Lightning Falcon Eyes activated soundlessly. A faint violet glimmer flashed deep within his pupils, and in less than a breath, he took in the entire terrain surrounding the Imperial Way.

The Imperial Way was about three zhang wide. Low palace walls and viewing pavilions stood on both sides, and the positions of the windows and the structures of the corridor pillars created numerous blind spots.

A wooden frame had indeed been erected in the center of the Imperial Way. A lantern covered by red silk hung above it, with only a corner of its base exposed. A faint azure glow could be seen seeping through the gaps in the fabric.

Huang Yun's gaze lingered on the lantern for a moment as he silently calculated the distance and angle.

Then he swept his gaze toward the pavilions on both sides of the Imperial Way and the shadows cast by the palace walls.

Although the penetrating ability of his Lightning Falcon Eyes was only at the beginner stage, he could already vaguely sense weak Soul Power fluctuations hidden behind the walls. Their positions were concealed, and there were quite a few of them.

The trap had been prepared long ago.

Huang Yun raised his teacup and took a sip, his expression calm and entirely unremarkable.

He remained in the teahouse for about half an hour, committing every detail around the Imperial Way to memory. Then he left the tea money behind and rose to depart.

Over the next two days, he used the same method to observe the Imperial Way at different times and from different angles at least five times.

Each time, he discovered new details: where additional hidden Soul Power fluctuations had appeared, where faint breathing could be heard behind a stretch of palace wall, and which pavilion windows opened and closed unnaturally, revealing that someone was lying in ambush inside.

He even used the penetrating ability of the Lightning Falcon Eyes to detect an exceptionally powerful Soul Power presence in one pavilion. It was steady and weighty, far beyond the level of a Soul Saint. It was likely a Soul Douluo-level palace consecrator standing guard.

"One Soul Douluo, one Soul Saint, Ge Long's Yazi, plus the Imperial Guards and scouting-type Soul Masters."

Huang Yun silently took stock in his mind.

The lineup truly was lavish. If he tried to force his way through head-on, his current level fifty-seven Soul King strength would indeed be no different from walking into a net.

But that did not mean he had no chance.

He possessed an advantage no one else had: he had always remained hidden in the shadows, while his opponents only had a vague impression of him. They did not know his exact methods or the full extent of his trump cards.

Dragon Shadow Flash, Thundercloud, Clone—his opponents had seen some of those abilities, but he still had a killing move he had never used in front of Ge Long.

Dragon Shadow Flash.

Combined with the explosive physical force of the External Dragon Tail, and paired with Lightning and Teleportation, he could execute a multi-stage displacement in an extremely short time. His speed would far surpass what Ge Long had witnessed before.

If that lantern truly was the Vast Sea Cosmic Shroud, he was confident he could seize it and retreat before anyone could react.

If the lantern was fake, he could immediately pull back. With his speed, leaving unharmed would not be a problem.

The prerequisite was that he had to accurately determine whether the lantern was real or fake.

Whether the penetrating ability of the Lightning Falcon Eyes could accomplish that would depend on the actual situation on the night of the Lantern Festival.

Huang Yun sat cross-legged in the forest outside the city, resting with his eyes closed.

Tomorrow was the Heaven Dou Lantern Festival.

When that time came, everything would be revealed.