Chapter 478: Discussion Among the Ministers
The matters that the ministers could think of were naturally also considered by the Sun Moon Emperor seated upon the imperial dragon throne. His expression gradually became extremely solemn. He snatched the memorial that the attendant was about to present to him and impatiently opened it to read. The more he read, the darker his expression became.
After quite a while, he slowly raised his head and looked toward a man standing at the very front of the ministers, currently frowning in thought.
"Hall Master Hongchen. When it comes to spirit tools, Mingde Hall understands them best. The World Command was personally created by the Imperial Teacher Hongchen as well. I have a few questions I would like to ask."
"I would not dare refuse." Yao Hongchen was still somewhat shaken by the amount of hidden information contained in Xu Jiyun's earlier words. Hearing the emperor call his name, he immediately stepped forward several paces. "If Your Majesty has any questions, this subject will certainly answer everything he knows."
"Hoo…" The Sun Moon Emperor let out a long breath, as if trying to suppress all the unease within his heart. When he opened his eyes again, the majesty belonging to a ruler had returned to his face.
"Since the Douluo Continent has no spirit tool heritage, is it possible that they discovered us earlier than we discovered them?"
"Th-this…" Yao Hongchen pondered for a moment before shaking his head with a serious expression. "Your Majesty, this subject believes that to be impossible."
"You must know that when my late father's World Command first ascended, it did not immediately discover the coastline of the Douluo Continent. It was only during later tests of its maximum observation range—when it was raised almost to its limit—that traces of the Douluo coastline were detected."
"The maximum altitude of the World Command is fifteen thousand meters. At such heights, there is almost no air, the natural energy of heaven and earth is nearly nonexistent, and there are terrifyingly low temperatures. Even if the Douluo Continent possesses so-called Limit Douluo with spirit power levels reaching ninety-nine, this subject does not believe they could reach such a forbidden zone for life."
"Even if we take a step back and assume they really could briefly appear at such altitudes, they would not have prophetic foresight. Our Sun Moon Continent only discovered them through sheer coincidence. How could those few Limit Douluo experts just happen to fly up to such heights for no reason? What—just to check whether a continent might be approaching Douluo?"
After Yao Hongchen finished speaking, faint laughter even spread among the ministers.
Indeed, according to the intelligence, there were only two or three experts of such strength in the entire Douluo Continent. Would they suddenly have nothing better to do than fly above fifteen thousand meters into the sky—and then just happen to discover the Sun Moon Continent?
How could something so absurd possibly happen?
Hearing Yao Hongchen's explanation, the emperor's expression relaxed slightly before he spoke again.
"Then, Hall Master Hongchen, do you believe that a person with strength equivalent to a Fifth-Level Spirit Engineer could break through the countless detection spirit tools densely placed along the coastline and secretly infiltrate the Sun Moon Continent?"
"Th-this…"
This time, Yao Hongchen did not dare to guarantee anything. Combining the emperor's previous question, he had roughly understood what the emperor meant. After thinking for a moment, his tone weakened somewhat.
"That… is possible."
"The entire coastline of the Sun Moon Continent is covered by life-detection spirit tools manufactured by the high-ranking Spirit Engineers of Mingde Hall working around the clock. There are no blind spots. These life-detection spirit tools were once modified based on suggestions from my late father. They can simultaneously detect life aura and spirit power fluctuations, greatly improving detection accuracy compared to previous devices—but they are not omnipotent."
"According to the intelligence, people of the Douluo Continent do not use spirit tools, but over long evolution they have developed spirit masters. Although we Spirit Engineers also possess Martial Spirits, our development and utilization of them must inevitably be inferior to theirs."
"And Martial Spirits are endlessly varied. If someone happened to possess a special Martial Spirit with the ability to evade detection…"
Yao Hongchen paused briefly before continuing,
"However… this subject believes that relying solely on a five-ring spirit master to break through the detectors would still have an extremely low probability."
"At every coastal city there exists an eighth-level Life Detection Spirit Tool, while outside the cities seventh-level Life Detection Spirit Tools are used to ensure there are absolutely no blind spots in the entire detection network. Mingde Hall has even left spare detectors in every city to prevent situations where a device malfunctions and cannot be replaced in time. In other words, the intruder must at least possess the ability to evade detection by a seventh-level spirit tool in order to infiltrate the Sun Moon Continent."
"A five-ring expert almost certainly cannot achieve that. However, if the infiltrators were not alone—if there were individuals with seven rings or above specifically responsible for concealment… then it would still be possible to avoid detection by the life-detection spirit tools."
Yao Hongchen's expression looked somewhat helpless.
"Your Majesty, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the Life Detection Spirit Tools produced by Mingde Hall. But no matter what, it is impossible to cover the entire coastline with ninth-level Life Detection Spirit Tools. Using eighth-level spirit tools as the primary coverage is already the absolute limit. There is truly nothing that can be done about this…"
Yao Hongchen's meaning was quite clear.
It was almost impossible that the Douluo Continent had discovered them earlier, but the possibility of later infiltration was not low. After all, the coastline of the continent was enormous. There were not enough ninth-level Spirit Engineers, nor could they produce so many ninth-level spirit tools. So this situation could not really be blamed on Mingde Hall.
Although it carried a slight hint of shifting responsibility, it was nonetheless the truth.
The Sun Moon Emperor sighed softly. Combining the detailed memorial in his hands with what had been said, he had already guessed that this restaurant called Han Shi had slipped in secretly from the coastline.
With such a vast coastline, trying to stop a powerful individual from secretly infiltrating was extremely difficult.
This matter truly could not be blamed on the life-detection spirit tools produced by Mingde Hall.
"Pass this memorial around for everyone to read," the emperor said, handing the document to an attendant, who then distributed it among the ministers below.
After some time, once the major officials had all finished reading the detailed contents of the memorial, the emperor spoke again.
"By now, the Douluo Continent has likely already discovered something. This Han Shi may simply be the vanguard. How should we respond? Let each of you speak your thoughts."
"Your Majesty, allow me to lead men to completely destroy that Han Shi!" One of the ministers in military uniform immediately stepped forward, his eyes filled with eagerness. "It's just a mere restaurant—nothing worth mentioning. A few spirit-guided cannon shots would reduce it to ashes."
The atmosphere in the court suddenly became rather strange.
"Nonsense!" The Prime Minister, standing at the head of the ministers, darkened his expression and immediately rebuked the reckless man. "Didn't Hall Master Hongchen just say it? The owner of Han Shi could not possibly have come to the Sun Moon Empire alone. Right now he is only the one visible on the surface—there must be others hiding in the shadows."
"If we blast Han Shi into nothing, wouldn't we completely cut off our only clue? We'd also alert the enemy and frighten whoever is hiding in the dark."
"Uh…" The general scratched his head, only now realizing the issue. He quickly shrank back awkwardly. "Your Majesty, I was just joking… hahaha…"
"Hmph. You fellows from the Terrorclaw Spirit Engineer Legion only know how to fight with your heads down, never how to use your brains," another military officer beside him mocked. Then he stood up and spoke.
"Your Majesty, this restaurant owner named Qi Han must be a key figure. At present, not only can we not eliminate him immediately, even capturing him for interrogation might alert the enemy."
"This subject, Ye Changhong, commander of the Evileye Tyrant Spirit Engineer Legion, is willing to personally go to Han Shi and test this man."
<+>
Tn: I updated the story daily, but if you want to see more chapter of this story ahead of time, please go to my Patreon.
Latest Chapter: Chapter 505: Qi Han's Choice[1]
Link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/becoming-food-in-155496005[2]
[1] https://www.patreon.com/posts/becoming-food-in-155496005
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/becoming-food-in-155496005