Chapter 21

In the early morning of Snow Rock City, just as the sun was rising above the distant horizon, the guards on the city gates could see a white blur making its way towards them. It was coming out of the tree line over 10 kilometres away but was travelling extremely fast. All of the guards released their martial spirits and took out their respective weapons ready to fight the unknown threat, mostly likely a spirit beast as it came from the forest. They hadn't rung the alarm yet as no matter the situation they were required to first identify the enemy. This was due to there being several eccentric cultivators in the past visiting the city for food who looked like spirit beasts travelling and had caused the guards to hastily ring the bell. This caused the City Lord much frustration and he had therefore decreed this new ruling.

After only forty seconds, with all of the guards tense and on edge, they began to hear what sounded like maniacal laughter from the entity. This caused the guards to tense up even more, as even though the entity was confirmed to be a cultivator, that laugh was not one of a sane man. Finally, after taking only a minute and a half to cover the entire ten kilometres, it skidded to a stop in front of the gate. The white glow faded to allow the guards to see the figure within. The figure, no human boy that stood there only looked to be twelve to fourteen years old and had one of the largest grins on his face they had ever seen.

The figure smiled even wider.

"HELLO!" The boy called out. "IS THE GATE OPEN YET?"

Hearing this exclamation, the guards all eased up, sheathing their weapons and suppressing their spirits once again.

The head guard called out, "Yes, go right ahead."

The boy grinned once again before running in, only this time at a much more normal pace for someone his age.

Yuhao, the boy who had, at last, entered Snow Rock City, was still feeling the aftereffects of his Armoured Charge skill. He had just held the skill for the longest time period since receiving it, over two and a half hours. If someone were to have measured his speed right before he arrived at the city, they would have clocked him going over ninety-five metres a second. With the added benefit of him not feeling the air resistance, Yuhao was able to experience quite a joyful moment and something no one on Earth had ever experienced without the use of a vehicle. While this speed is easily beat by much stronger spirit masters, they would have to be at least a Spirit Emperor to do so. With him being only a Spirit Elder, and just a rank 30 without his third ring, at that, Yuhao could not imagine how fast he could be travelling when he himself is a Spirit Elder. By that time, he could possibly be travelling even faster than Spirit or even Titled Douluos, given that he has the time to use the skill to increase his speed. Now that was something to put an even bigger smile on his face.

The main street of Snow Rock City had many of the same characteristics as Soutuo City, Yuhao realised. There were several shop fronts of all varieties, ranging from clothing and blacksmithing to medicinal and general trade. The only key difference was that each store was built specifically to keep the cold temperature out of its interior. This quality was similarly shared by many of the inhabitants and spirit master populace as they wore heavier and thicker clothing to insulate heat, with the exception for those spirit masters with either heat or cold inclined martial spirits that allowed them to negate this need.

Yuhao, himself, was just wearing the same white shirt, black pants and leather boots he has worn his entire trip. He was not one, in either lifetimes, to dress up in bright colours or match that of current fashions and trends. As long as the clothing fit him and was comfortable, he was more than happy.

As Yuhao walked along the street, reminiscing on past events in Soutuo City, he got his first look upon the City Lord's mansion right in the centre of the city. Not far from that, only one hundred metres away was the location of the top-rated restaurant in the empire. It was called The Divine Bennu.

The story behind the name is that it is the martial spirit of the owner, who, through use of his sacred bird spirit, traversed the continent and sea, in search for herbs, meats, new recipes and cooking techniques to expand his massive collection. After over forty years of expanding his cooking knowledge and skills, he, like the legend of the Bennu bird being a symbol of self-creation, created his restaurant entirely from his own two hands.

The Divine Bennu was very unique and exotic in the way it functioned. One such feature was that the restaurant was only open during the hours before lunch. This was a habit the owner, the sole chef and cook for the restaurant, created, to allow him to not only pursue his passion for cooking, but to also allow him time to cultivate freely and gather ingredients for his dishes. However, the most controversial features are the fact that the restaurant does not have a menu, the restaurant does not ever serve the same meal twice and no one has ever left the restaurant disappointed in what they were given.

It was very mysterious how the owner knew what to serve his customers. Some attributed it to a rare treasure he found somewhere during his travels, while others theorised it came from an ability of his spirit. Yuhao personally believed it must involve a treasure as even Spirit Douluos who have eaten here, claim to not have sensed any spiritual power being used to sense them in any way, shape or form.

The owner's method, however, will probably not ever be discovered. Many years ago, before the restaurant was acknowledged as number one in the empire, there a raid conducted by a group of evil Spirit Sages and Spirit Emperors with the aim of stealing the 'supposed' treasure the owner had. In the fight, it was discovered that the owner was actually a Titled Douluo and before any major damage occurred, he had wiped out all attacking spirit masters in a blinding flash of light. Since that fight eight years ago, no one has had the courage to fight anywhere near the restaurant, lest they incur the wrath of the owner.

Knowing all of this, Yuhao couldn't help but feel mixed emotions. He had a strong determination to leave an everlasting legend on the continent, much like the owner, and respected him for bringing his passion to the top. However, this was his first experience in a high-class restaurant outside of Soutuo City and he had a small hope to experience a proper wuxia young master moment.