I Can See Your Combat Power
Chapter 1201 - Chapter 1201 Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety-Four Scouting

Chapter 1201: Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety-Four: Scouting Ahead Chapter 1201: Chapter Four Hundred and Ninety-Four: Scouting Ahead Yun Xiu said wordlessly, “You’re being… too optimistic, aren’t you?”

“It’s not optimism,” Tang Luo waved his hand and said with ease, “It’s a reasonable deduction based on facts. The more impenetrable the fortress appears to be, the more flaws it has inside. That’s because everyone knows that the Xiang Residence not only houses top experts but also top-level formations. Whoever comes will not have an advantage. As a result, everyone feels very safe, and it is this feeling of safety that marks the beginning of carelessness.”

“I think we can scout out the path tonight. If things go as expected, on a cold winter night with heavy snowfall, the guards might not stand watch or patrol but hide indoors by the fire.”

“That makes sense!” Yun Xiu thought for a moment and nodded, “Then you stay at home, and I’ll do the scouting!”

“Eh, no, no,” Tang Luo objected, “Why are we splitting up? Aren’t we partners?”

“Partners are partners, but you’re too weak right now,” Yun Xiu held up a finger and shook it, “With your current cultivation, you can’t even perform light-body qigong, let alone hold your breath for a long time. What if you’re discovered?”

“Fine then, you go by yourself. Just scout out the new layout of the Xiang Residence and don’t go too deep,” Tang Luo conceded.

“Got it, I’m a professionally trained intelligence officer, have a little faith in me, will you?”

“Okay, go early and come back early!”

After smiling and nodding to Tang Luo, Yun Xiu directly opened the Spirit World Passage and leaped in.

It was impossible to be worry-free, and the thought of letting Yun Xiu go alone was out of the question.

But Tang Luo had no plans to follow Yun Xiu through the Spirit World Passage; after all, such close-range tracking was too inefficient.

He casually took a conical hat from the rack, put it on his head, stepped out of the door, and rose into the air against the wind and snow.

Only when he had ascended above the clouds did Tang Luo move towards the inner city, and soon he arrived above the inner city.

After reconstructing the Undying Battle Body, the enhancement of the flesh by the fifth-grade divine runes had never stopped. Although there was no energy replenishment from body-forging pills, the Two Ambiguity Innate Qi was the best nutrition for strengthening the physique.

Although the Middle Dantian’s ten-patterned liver and gall Divine Storage had not been activated, Tang Luo’s enhanced vision allowed him to see even farther than when he had acted as a lookout on North Mountain’s Tongtian Platform.

In other words, as long as he dispersed the clouds, he could stand high above in the sky and have a bird’s-eye view of the entire Xiang Residence or even the whole inner city, from such a distance, martial artists who hadn’t cultivated pupil techniques couldn’t see even his shadow.

Upon arriving above the inner city, Tang Luo activated his Undying Battle Body. The silver radiance of the divine runes awakened the Northern Black Tortoise True Intent, and the Dharma Aspect formed from the condensed snow clouds was vast and misty, which cleared all the obstructive dark clouds away.

Tang Luo then stood on the shell of Xuanwu, overlooking Luo Mansion below. After waiting for quite a while, he finally spotted a small figure stealthily poking their head out in a remote corner of the Xiang Residence.

Just as he had guessed, in this snowy night when the heavens were sealed by snow, the guards couldn’t even perform their routine patrols, let alone detect the secret of leaving no trace on the snow.

Yun Xiu, with her Cloud Veil Body Painting, casually followed behind that patrol guard and took her time strolling around the entire front courtyard of the Xiang Residence.

However, when trying to enter the middle court, she encountered her first difficulty. Who knew who had designed the Xiang Residence, but they had built the Spirit Beast Garden in every part of the front courtyard and middle court.

Compared to human sloth, the perception of spirit beasts is extremely sharp, and the Beast Tamers of the Xiang Residence are all quite experienced, never feeding the spirit beasts their fill.

On this wintry night, hungry spirit beasts are even more sensitive than usual, set to roar fiercely at the slightest hint of a foreign presence.

Passing through the front courtyard is not difficult, but the real challenge lies in how to avoid the watchful eyes of the many spirit beasts in the middle courtyard. Reason told Yun Xiu that the chances of being discovered if she carelessly entered the middle courtyard were extremely high.

Having reaped enough for the day, Yun Xiu opened the Spirit World Passage behind a fake mountain and quietly left.

Watching from above, Tang Luo saw Yun Xiu leave and decided not to linger, returning through the void before Yun Xiu arrived home, and sat obediently in the small courtyard, looking as though he had been waiting for a long time.

“I’m back!”

A woman with snow-capped hair popped out of the Spirit World Passage opened directly on the snowy ground of the courtyard. Seeing Tang Luo’s obedient sitting in the house, Yun Xiu brushed the snow off her shoulders and asked in surprise, “You actually stayed home and didn’t follow?”

“Heed the advice and you’ll be full of rice!” Tang Luo appeared extremely well-behaved, “For a simple scouting mission like this, how could it possibly trouble Miss Yun? I just waited at home.”

“Ha ha, well said!” Yun Xiu, flattered, closed the door and sat opposite Tang Luo. She took up a pen and began drawing the layout of the entire front courtyard of the Xiang Residence.

Although it was called the front courtyard, it was actually larger than the average six-entry household, as if designed to confuse outsiders with its intricate maze of layouts, corridors, waterside pavilions, and annexed buildings. Even those living inside would struggle to remember its entirety.

Yun Xiu had merely walked with the patrol team once but had drawn a landscape of the front courtyard that was almost exactly to scale, which impressed Tang Luo, “Impressive. To memorize such a complicated layout in such a short time is remarkable!”

“Now you know how capable I am.”

Yun Xiu smiled proudly, then pointed to the middle courtyard of the Xiang Residence and said, “Although I’ve got the layout of the front courtyard all figured out today, it will be more difficult moving forward.”

“What happened?”

“The Xiang Family has gotten smart, perhaps anticipating that the guards could slough off, so they designed the entire middle courtyard as the Spirit Beast Garden. It’s filled with spirit beasts raised by the Xiang Family, which will reveal any intruder as soon as they detect a foreign qi.”

Yun Xiu gestured towards the blank space representing the middle courtyard of the Xiang Residence and speculated, “I think Xiang Loulan and the fake Yun Xiu might be living in the middle courtyard!”

“Why not the back courtyard?”

Tang Luo pointed to the Qiankun Tower, “If they want to be absolutely safe, wouldn’t it be better to arrange for them to stay directly in the Qiankun Tower?”

“I also thought so at first, but then I gave it more thought. If Xiang Loulan and the fake Yun Xiu were living in Qiankun Tower, then why would the Beast Tamers be so harsh on the spirit beasts, maintaining them in a state of hunger, almost as if they are in a battle-ready state? Thus, there must be someone very important inside the middle courtyard that they have to guard with their lives without any lapse!”

“Your judgment is likely correct.”

Tang Luo tapped on the map for a while and concurred, “Even if they were placed in the Qiankun Tower, a strong person’s perception during meditative seclusion isn’t that sharp. On the other hand, those hungry spirit beasts will roar and howl at the first sign of trouble. The noise is enough to alert the powerhouses in Qiankun Tower. And with the back courtyard just over a hundred yards away in a straight line from the middle courtyard, for a strong person, it’s almost instantaneous. Together with the front courtyard guards, it’s enough to create a pincer attack!”