Knock, knock, knock—
Just then, the door was suddenly knocked, exceptionally clear in the quiet private room. Chen Junting glanced at the door and called out, "Come in."
As the door slowly pushed open, an ugly man and a short, stout woman walked in from outside.
The man had a shoe-horn shaped face, rough skin, and many large and small bumps on both cheeks, making anyone who looked at him unable to help but frown; although the woman was short and ugly, she exuded a capable aura.
They walked into the private room and went straight to sit at the table.
Seeing this bizarre couple, Chen Junting and Ning Tian exchanged a glance, a hint of doubt flashing in their eyes.
Chen Junting raised an eyebrow and asked tentatively, "Old Gu?"
The ugly man smiled slightly, his voice a bit low. "It's me."
Although his voice had changed slightly compared to normal, those familiar with Gu Tianchen could still pick out some familiar tones.
Hearing Gu Tianchen's answer, Ning Tian beside Chen Junting immediately cast her gaze toward the short, stout woman. With just one glance, she immediately guessed this was Wu Feng in disguise.
"Are you Xiao Feng?"
The woman didn't reply, just placed her hand on her waist buckle and twisted it. Array lines spread all over her body, then dissipated. In a burst of white light, the woman's figure rapidly expanded...
"It was so ugly!" In the complaint, the mixed fiery temper was highly recognizable.
When the white light faded, Wu Feng, with a complaining look on her face, was already sitting next to Gu Tianchen and greeted Ning Tian. "Xiao Tian!"
Then, she gave Gu Tianchen a kick under the table. Obviously, changing into an ugly appearance was Gu Tianchen's idea.
This scene made Chen Junting unable to hold back his laughter. Pointing at Gu Tianchen's current face, he teased, "Old Gu, how did you disguise yourself like this? Walking on the street looking like this, you'd probably scare children to tears."
The implication was—that it's too eye-catching, right?
Gu Tianchen slapped away Wu Feng's foot under the table with one hand, waved his hand dismissively at Chen Junting with the other, and pointed to his disguised face. "Get lost, get lost—what do you know. Over half the ordinary people in this world look like twisted melons and cracked dates. This is just inconspicuous. Don't look at the ugly appearance; it's very safe."
Boo—
Obviously, this earned him a chorus of joking boos from the other three.
Once they had joked around enough and teased each other sufficiently, Gu Tianchen and Wu Feng disguised themselves again. After all, the food would be arriving soon, and the waiter had sharp eyes.
Seeing that quite some time had passed, Wu Feng asked curiously, "Why isn't everyone here yet? Where did you send them?" Saying this, her gaze shifted to Gu Tianchen.
In a sense, they were the last to set off. To prevent a dozen or so people suddenly appearing in the city from seeming abrupt, Gu Tianchen, who was responsible for transporting them, not only opened the Gates of the Void in sparsely populated alleys but also scattered them in different alleys throughout Dongyang City, mostly in groups of one to three people.
She and Gu Tianchen were the last to be scattered.
"That's because besides Old Chen and Xiao Tian, our alley was the closest." Gu Tianchen picked up his teacup and took a sip of hot water. "But I've arranged for everyone nearby. They should be here soon; they probably got slightly delayed on the way."
As if to verify Gu Tianchen's words, it wasn't long before the door was knocked again. Then, a tall, thin man pushed the door open and entered. His eyes were sharp; after scanning the private room, he revealed a smile: "Sorry, I'm a bit late."
Tsk, tsk, tsk—
Listen to that, what a realistic disguise! He even faked his accent.
He pulled off his wristband, and a flash of white light passed. Dugu Xin's somewhat gloomy face appeared before the four people in the room, confirming his identity. Then, he twisted to disguise himself again before finding a seat and joining the ranks of the few people exchanging pleasantries.
As time passed, several more people arrived one after another. Huo Yuhao, Ji Juechen... Shrek's Ma Xiaotao, Zhang Lexuan... the Body Sect's Long Aotian... All were disguised as perfectly ordinary, hard to attract attention.
Until finally, Bang, bang, bang—
The door suddenly shook continuously. After pushing it open, a fat man struggled to squeeze through the doorframe, muttering constantly, "Why do humans make such small doorframes? I can't even squeeze in." When he couldn't get in face-first, he simply turned around and tried to shove his butt in. Obviously, that didn't work either; he ended up stuck in the doorframe.
Everyone took one look and immediately laughed.
Chen Junting pointed at Xiao Bai, his tone carrying amusement. "Suck in your stomach, suck it in. Sigh—" Seeing that it had little effect, Chen Junting sighed helplessly. Then he pointed at Ji Juechen, "Old Ji, help him out."
Ji Juechen, whose mouth was curved slightly upward in an unnoticeable smile, heard this and withdrew that last sliver of a smile. Then, propping up Xiao Bai's shoulders, he leaped right through the door crack that was only a short distance from the top. Once outside, a few bang, bang, bang— deep, muffled thuds later, Xiao Bai's massive body was "flung" in from outside the door. Fortunately, Gu Tianchen, who was closest, had quick eyes and deft hands. He pushed his palm forward, opening a Gate of the Void, letting Xiao Bai crash right into it. When he reappeared, he was already sitting securely in his seat, swaying. Incidentally, it was quite a spacious seat.
Ji Juechen walked in at this time, placing his untouched cup of hot water in front of Xiao Bai. He glanced at the fist mark on Xiao Bai's belly that had just recovered from its indentation. On his expressionless face, only his eyes revealed a hint of apology. "Drink some hot water, take it easy."
"Oh, oh." Xiao Bai looked blank and downed the hot water in one gulp. As for it being boiling hot... do you think the Ice Bear King is joking with you!
In Chen Junting's Spiritual Sea, Xiao Bai's performance was entirely watched by the Snow Empress. For the first time, an embarrassed expression appeared on this iceberg beauty's face as she "smacked" her own cheek.
What came instead was the Mad King's confused and wronged voice. "Ouch, Snow Empress, why are you hitting me?"
"...It hurts to hit my own face."
Amidst the bursts of laughter from everyone in the outside world, the door to the private room was gently knocked, and then the waiter walked in politely. "Everyone, the food is ready."
One delicious dish after another was served. The most eye-catching, of course, was the whole roasted snow pig. Perfect in color, aroma, and taste, while not exactly making the people present drool, it certainly opened their appetites.
After the waiter placed all the dishes neatly and brought out a few jars of good wine, he smiled and said, "Everyone, the food is all served. Please enjoy. If you need anything, just let us know."
"Okay." Chen Junting swept his gaze over the scene and spoke up. "We don't need anything else for now; you can go out first."
"Right away."
The moment the waiter exited and closed the door, invisible array lines spread from beneath Chen Junting's feet, covering the room. This way, they wouldn't have to fear eavesdroppers.
Chen Junting took the lead, using the small knife on the table to slice off a piece of roasted pork skin—crispy on the outside and tender on the inside—and placed it in Ning Tian's bowl. At the same time, their disguises silently faded away.
Ning Tian picked up her chopsticks and put it in her mouth. Instantly, a hint of pleasant surprise flashed in her eyes. Although it couldn't compare to the delicacies of the Sect, this snow pig meat genuinely tasted different from regular pork; it was rich in fat. After roasting, this rich fat had completely seeped into the lean meat. It was fragrant but not greasy; one bite filled the mouth with a rich, savory meat juice. It was incredibly delicious.
Chen Junting picked up his chopsticks. Seeing that the others were just staring, he raised an eyebrow, used soul power to float over a jar of wine, filled everyone's cups, and said, "What are you waiting for, start eating. We'll talk about everything else after we finish."
Once these words were spoken, everyone dropped their disguises. One by one, they removed their disguising items. Amidst flashes of white light, everyone or beast revealed their true forms. Of course, Xiao Bai's true form was his human one.
Since none of them were ordinary people, even with the girls present, the food was mostly gone in a short while.
Only Xiao Bai, eating human delicacies for the first time, was left holding the nearly devoured snow pig, feasting away while hugging a wine jar and muttering vaguely, "This is much better than anything I've eaten before. Compared to this, I feel like the cooks in those military camps need to learn from them."
Just as these words left his mouth, a flash of white light crossed Chen Junting's Spiritual Sea. The Snow Empress, unable to hold back any longer, appeared beside Xiao Bai and grabbed this "dummy's" ear.
"Ah—, eh? Snow Empress?"
As soon as he looked up, the Snow Empress slapped his face. "A bear should act like a bear, look at you!"
"Ah? Mom, I'm a bear to begin with." Seeing that things were going south, Xiao Bai immediately changed his tune, hoping to summon the Snow Empress's maternal love. Unfortunately, his bearish wisdom failed.
Smack—
"You still dare to talk back!"
Seeing this, everyone immediately looked away, unable to bear watching. This wouldn't normally be a big deal, but right now... a mother lecturing her son—what could "outsiders" say? So, the few of them left Xiao Bai aside and started chatting about other things.
When Chen Junting put down his chopsticks and used a napkin to wipe the corners of his mouth, his expression had already turned serious. "Yuhao, how was your observation?"
It turned out that ever since entering this tavern, Huo Yuhao's spiritual detection had already spread out, scouting the entire Dongyang City. And the reason Chen Junting and the others chose the Dongyang Tavern wasn't just because the food was good; the location also had a purpose. This tavern was located in the central commercial district of Dongyang City, and not far from it was the City Lord's Mansion.
"I've basically figured it out."
"Then tell us."
"The entire Dongyang City has about one hundred and fifty Soul Engineers. Also, within the city, there are two soul tool bases, one in the northeast and one in the north. The setup in the northeast is larger in scale than the one in the north. Moreover, both soul tool bases have very powerful spiritual detection soul tools, so I didn't get too close. But judging from the surrounding layout, the northern one should be for defending against sea soul beasts, while the northeastern one is a transit station."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
Chen Junting's face looked indifferent. Because the entire Dongyang City didn't even have a single Class 9 Soul Engineer, and the two major soul tool bases weren't top-tier existences either. They were absolutely no problem for their team of over a dozen people.
"Then let's assign the tasks." His gaze shifted to Xiao Bai, who was being scolded by the Snow Empress with his head lowered.
"Xiao Bai."
"Eh—, Big Dad!"
Chen Junting was still not quite used to this form of address at first. Although Xiao Bai was his mount, calling him "Master" didn't feel right. If he called him "Big Brother" or something else, it would be fine, but Xiao Bai insisted on calling him "Big Dad." This...
However, Xiao Bai had his own twisted logic regarding this. The Snow Empress was his mother, so if he called Chen Junting "Big Brother," wouldn't that mess up the generational hierarchy? Thus, he called him "Big Dad."
Seeing that he wouldn't change it, Chen Junting couldn't be bothered to say anything more. Let him call it; it was just a title, after all.
"In a moment, you take the others to the City Lord's Mansion. Don't make a sound; first, take control of the entire City Lord's family. Understand?"
"Got it!" Xiao Bai waved a pork rib. "Slaughter them all."
"No!"
"You can't!" ×2
Hearing Xiao Bai's plan, not only did Chen Junting speak up to stop him, but Dugu Xin and Huo Yuhao also immediately voiced their dissent. "The City Lord can't die; we have to keep him alive."
Fingers tapping on the table made a tap-tap sound. He shifted his gaze to Dugu Xin. "Xin, once the City Lord of Dongyang City is taken down, you will stick this onto his brow." Chen Junting extended his right palm, and a demon talisman appeared on his hand.
"What does this do?"
"A type of magic to control him."
Chen Junting didn't explain in detail. This item was something his teacher, Elysia, had recently researched and developed for him based on soul magic. Naturally, it wouldn't work on those with strong spiritual power. But for the City Lord of Dongyang City, it was more than enough.
"Once you control him, just stay in the City Lord's Mansion and wait for us to return. As for his daily duties, let the City Lord do whatever he normally does. No matter what happens in the Sun Moon Empire's rear, make him act deaf and blind, continuing to provide logistics to the Sun Moon army over there. When the time is right, we'll do something ruthless."
Hearing this, Xiao Bai's eyes shifted slightly. He didn't really care about it himself, it was just... humans really were "humans," making even a beast's heart tremble. Even Big Dad was the same.
Dugu Xin, hearing this, reached out and took the demon talisman. He examined it curiously; just this tiny little thing could control a person's mind? That was truly incredible. "Don't worry, I understand this task."
Chen Junting nodded slightly. "Mm." Although Dugu Xin was ruthless, he was reliable in his actions. One could say that besides Yuhao and Xiao Tian, he was the most careful here. However, since Huo Yuhao and Ning Tian had to go to the North Sea, the matters here could only be left to Dugu Xin.
"Alright, that's all for now." Chen Junting swept his gaze over the people around him. "When the time comes, Xiao Tian, Old Gu, and I will take Yuhao to the Sea Princess's side to get his eighth soul ring. So for these next few days, you all should lie low. Once we return, we'll head to the Evil Demon Forest. By then, Senior Di Tian and the others should also arrive based on the Reverse Scale's positioning."
After speaking, his gaze implicitly turned to Huo Yuhao. Once Yuhao obtained his eighth soul ring and sixth Spirit, it should be about time. If we drag it out any longer, it will be difficult. I just hope he has pretty much comprehended that sword technique by now.
------------------------------------------------------
40+ Chapters Ahead: patreon.com/EphemeralShadow
There's something for free patrons too! Free Patrons receive 1 chapter in advance :)