"Hello, I'm from Knight Temple headquarters. I came out with Lord Long Xingyu for training. May I ask if Lord Long Xingyu is here?"
Outside the Knight Temple, Huo Yuhao presented his identification to the two knights and asked where Long Xingyu was.
"You're Huo Yuhao?"
After hearing Huo Yuhao introduce himself, the two knights' expressions grew somewhat strange.
"That's right. Is there a problem with my identification?"
Huo Yuhao looked at their expressions and asked in puzzlement.
"There's no problem with your identification, but... sigh, you'd better ask Lord Xingyu yourself!"
The two knights hesitated, but in the end, they said nothing more. Instead, they led Huo Yuhao straight into the Knight Temple and headed toward the main hall at its center.
The Knight Temple in the Holy City was far grander than the one at Imperial Dragon Pass. The main reason was that sunlight could reach every building, something he couldn't experience at Imperial Dragon Pass.
Led by one of the knights, Huo Yuhao soon arrived outside an office, where he finally sensed Long Xingyu's presence.
At the knight's signal, Huo Yuhao pushed open the office door and walked in.
Inside, Huo Yuhao found the furnishings extremely simple. Aside from a few cabinets, there was only a desk and several chairs.
Long Xingyu was sitting at the desk, reading a document.
Hearing the door open, he looked up and fixed his gaze on Huo Yuhao.
Then he frowned and questioned him in a displeased tone:
"Why did it take you so long to get here?"
Normally, riding a swift horse, the journey from Imperial Dragon Pass to the Holy City took only about a month. Besides, Long Xingyu had brought Huo Yuhao part of the way.
How had Huo Yuhao taken twice as long to reach the Holy City after he left?
But he also noticed that Huo Yuhao's entire bearing had changed, becoming much colder. In particular, Huo Yuhao carried a distinct smell of blood and killing intent. One look was enough to tell he had been through deadly fighting.
In that case, he had not failed to meet Yang Haoyu's and his father Long Tianyin's expectations.
Hearing Long Xingyu's question, Huo Yuhao bowed slightly and paid his respects before replying:
"Uncle Long, to spend more time training, I deliberately took a detour through places with more magical beasts and fought them in actual combat. That's why I arrived a little late."
"A detour. No wonder!"
Long Xingyu nodded slightly and asked no further questions.
After all, he was in a very good mood now.
Since arriving at the Knight Temple in the Holy City, he had spent his time handling routine affairs and searching for news of his wife, Bai Yue.
Two days ago, he had finally received news of her: Bai Yue had been seen in a place called Odin Town, southeast of the Holy City.
Overjoyed by the news, he had wanted to go and verify it, but Huo Yuhao still hadn't arrived, leaving him restless and irritated.
If Huo Yuhao had been an ordinary knight with no background, he would have left him behind long ago and gone straight to Odin Town.
But Huo Yuhao was Yang Haoyu's grandson. Even with a Divine Throne, Long Xingyu couldn't afford to offend someone like Yang Haoyu, much less when he had become famous by cultivating with the texts Yang Haoyu had left behind. So he could only keep waiting for Huo Yuhao.
He had even been planning to send someone to look for Huo Yuhao, but unexpectedly, Huo Yuhao had arrived just then. What was more, his training seemed to have gone well, which put some pressure on Long Xingyu instead.
Yang Haoyu and his father had clearly asked him to take Huo Yuhao out for training and pass on some experience along the way.
But he had gone off on his own for so long, and Huo Yuhao had grown through his own efforts, while he hadn't helped at all. How could that do?
If Yang Haoyu found out, he would be in trouble.
So, for the rest of the training, he could only take Huo Yuhao along personally. He couldn't be too perfunctory about it either; whatever they encountered, he would have to offer at least some guidance.
With that thought, Long Xingyu frowned at the plain cloth clothes Huo Yuhao was wearing and said irritably:
"Go back and rest, and change your clothes. Wait for me here tomorrow morning. I'll take you on a mission!"
Huo Yuhao was slightly taken aback. He hadn't expected Long Xingyu to actually take him on a mission, so he couldn't help asking:
"Uncle Long, what mission is it?"
As for his clothes, they did smell a little, since they hadn't been washed in a long time.
Although his Ice Spirit Physique could keep his body clean, it couldn't do anything about his clothes.
After all, to move faster, he hadn't actually rested during his training. He had spent most of his time traveling, only stopping to deal with one or two magical beasts when his Spiritual Power detected them along the way.
That was why, despite taking such a long detour, he had spent only a little over two months on the journey.
Long Xingyu didn't answer Huo Yuhao's question. Instead, he got up and left the office to make some preparations of his own.
Having been ignored, Huo Yuhao smiled awkwardly. He then left the office as well and, led by another knight, found a room to stay in.
After washing up, changing clothes, eating, and touring the Holy City's Knight Temple, it was time to rest for the night.
Early the next morning, Huo Yuhao appeared at the office door on time.
He had changed into a clean, dark gray training outfit, and his hair was neatly combed. He looked like a new person.
But when he arrived, Long Xingyu was already there.
Long Xingyu stood in the square before the hall, his hands at his sides and his deep black cloak fluttering gently in the morning breeze.
Through his Spiritual Power, Huo Yuhao unexpectedly discovered that Long Xingyu's emotions were in great turmoil. There was joy, unease, anticipation, and fear.
He didn't know why Long Xingyu's feelings were so complicated, or what the mission was.
"Yuhao, come here," Long Xingyu said.
Huo Yuhao walked up to him, and Long Xingyu reached out his right hand and placed it on his shoulder.
A surge of dense Spiritual Energy poured from Long Xingyu's palm into Huo Yuhao's body, enveloping him completely.
Huo Yuhao felt his body grow lighter, as though something were lifting him up.
"Don't move."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Long Xingyu pushed off with the tip of his foot and shot into the sky.
He carried Huo Yuhao up into the air with him.
The Holy City's outline rapidly shrank beneath their feet. Its houses, streets, and walls all became miniature models.
Wind swept past their ears, but it wasn't biting. Long Xingyu's Spiritual Energy formed a barrier that kept the cold winds at that altitude out.
Huo Yuhao glanced down. They were flying southeast at tremendous speed, more than ten times faster than riding a horse.
The scenery on the ground looked like stretched-out ribbons of color, disappearing behind them before he could get a clear look.
"Uncle Long." Huo Yuhao looked up. "Can you tell me where we're going?"
Long Xingyu didn't look down at him. Gazing straight ahead, he said calmly:
"Odin Town."
"Odin Town?"
Huo Yuhao remembered the name. He had happened to see it while looking at a map, and with his Spiritual Power, he could remember anything he saw.
Odin Town was a small town near the southeastern border of the Temple Alliance, fairly close to Myriad Beast Pass.
Precisely because Odin Town was a small town, Huo Yuhao didn't know why Long Xingyu wanted to go there, so he continued:
"Uncle Long, what are we going there to do?"
Long Xingyu was silent for so long that Huo Yuhao thought he didn't intend to answer.
"Find someone!"