He’d actually found a passage into the inner palace!
Ye Zichen was fully aware of how important this news was, so he followed Gou Monan without any dilly-dallying.
“Does everyone know about this?” Ye Zichen couldn’t help but arch his brow. En route, they encountered numerous experts headed the same way, and based on their serious expressions, they were all headed toward the same place.
Gou Monan laughed and scratched his head in response, looking utterly earnest. “I won’t lie to you. I’m not the one who found this passage; I heard about it from other people, then came back to tell you.”
“There’s nothing to be embarrassed of,” said Ye Zichen with a laugh. “I’m just happy you came back for me. If you were anyone else, you might have long since left on your own. Why come back for useless baggage like me?”
“Brother Gu, don’t belittle yourself.”
“I’m just stating a fact!”
Cultivation boundary!
At the end of the day, there was a gap in cultivation.
Yes, Ye Zichen hadn’t been cultivating long. Becoming a ruler in a hundred years meant he was monstrously talented. But the Divine Mausoleum didn’t care how long you’d been cultivating; all that mattered was strength.
Just about everyone here was a titled emperor, an imperial expert. Where would ordinary rulers even find out about the mausoleum?
Those who had, and who’d come to test their luck, had mostly died in the outer palace. Alternatively, they were still stuck in the corridor.
Ye Zichen had been lucky to run into Gou Monan. Otherwise, given the aura he gave off, he didn’t think the other imperial experts would show mercy on him.
After a few turns, Gou Monan led Ye Zichen to a small palace outside the main palace walls.
“Brother Gu, do you still remember this place?” Laughed Gou Monan.
Of course Ye Zichen remembered; he’d been here before. There had definitely been treasures inside, however, it was obvious someone had gotten there first. All the treasures had already been ransacked.
So Ye Zichen and Gou Monan simply circled twice and, after realizing there was nothing to gain here, left.
He hadn’t expected to come back here, but according to Gou Monan’s intel, there was a secret door into the inner palace in here.
When he saw Ye Zichen nod, Gou Monan chuckled. “Earlier, we were just worried about hunting treasure, so we didn’t investigate thoroughly. Look at those two stone statues…”
Gou Monan pointed at a pair of statues outside the palace. Ye Zichen had wondered about them when they’d last been here. This type of statue was normally placed outside the door as guardians, yet these were placed inside the building.
Just as Ye Zichen was wondering what was so special about the statues, Gou Monan walked up to them, then forcefully pushed the statue on the right. Both statues moved about ten centimeters back, and a doorway appeared between them.
The door opened to a staircase, and before Ye Zichen could head over, the other experts headed in this direction surged in without a care in the world.
“So this is…” Ye Zichen trailed off.
Gou Monan nodded. He saw that quite a few people had gone down already, so he immediately urged Ye Zichen on.
There weren’t too many steps; after about a hundred, they reached a sc=egret room.
It was vast -about the size of three soccer fields – and empty, save for the people standing there. Based on their auras, all of them were extraordinary.
“Why are there so many people here?” Just as Ye Zichen exclaimed over the sheer number of people present, he heard a familiar, delighted laugh.
“Ye-zi.”
Ye Zichen turned and saw Yang Jian, the Great Sage, Pu Jingwan, and Venerate Spirit Treasure. The whole group rushed over. Gu Li’s group was with them too.
“We finally found you!” Yang Jian burst into hearty laughter. Then, he turned to the monkey and cursed him out. “I told you Ye-zi would be fine! What were you so worried about?”
“Exactly which one of us was so worried, they couldn’t shut up about it?” The Great Sage rolled his eyes like mad.
Only then did Ye Zichen realize that there were four passages leading into the room. That meant that people from all four exterior palaces had gathered here now.
“Brother Ye?” Gou Monan frowned and looked at Ye Zichen.
Ye Zichen knew that he’d been exposed, so he could only smile bitterly. “Please don’t take offense, Brother Monan. My real name is Ye Zichen.”
“So that’s how it is! No wonder I sometimes had to call you several times before you responded.” Gou Monan let out a burst of hearty laughter. “No harm done. Given the circumstances, I can understand why you’d want to use a fake name.”
“Thanks for understanding.” Ye Zichen smiled.
“Ye-zi, he…” Yang Jian indicated at Gou Monan.
Ye Zichen took the hint and introduced him. “This is a friend I met after we separated, Gou Monan. He’s from the Yao Realm’s Northern Kingdom. If not for him, I might not have been able to survive in this place.”
Afterward, Ye Zichen introduced his friends to Gou Monan. After a moment’s hesitation, he introduced Gu Li’s group too.
“I didn’t expect you to have so many experts at your side, Brother Ye. It seems you’re no ordinary man. If I’m not mistaken, you’re that Ye Zichen,the man who changed the lay of the God Realm and the master of the Tenth Divine Mountain. That’s you, isn’t it?” Gou Monan laughed.
Gou Monan brought up the name “Ye Zichen” the first time they met, but since Ye Zichen was still somewhat wary, he didn’t respond to it. Now that Yang Jian and the others were here, there was no point in hiding, so he nodded in confirmation
“Haha, as I thought! To think I’d be so lucky as to befriend someone on your level, Brother Ye!” said Gou Monan.
“I was lucky to meet you too, Brother Monan,” laughed Ye Zichen.
After chatting casually for a bit, Ye Zichen and his friends learned what each other had encountered.
The Great Sage and Yang Jian had been lucky; they found themselves in the place. Although they didn’t get along perfectly, if they joined forces, they could torment even the likes of the Demon Emperor.
As such, they’d swept their entire region, seizing roughly seventy percent of the treasures there.
Pu Jingwan had encountered Gu Li’s group. She didn’t know how Gu Li had done it, but his whole group of four hadn’t just wound up in the same quadrant; they’d even wound up together. Out of consideration for both her out safety and because of An Lu’s warm invitation, Pu Jingwan swallowed her pride and traveled with Gu Li and his companions.
“Venerate Spirit Treasure, you…”
Ye Zichen was just about to ask when he realized it was pointless. The answer was written in Venerate Spirit Treasure’s eyes. Given his cultivation, he could handle other imperial experts without breaking a sweat, even if they came in groups.
“We were rather lucky; none of us died. You might not know this, but even though it seems like there are a lot of people here, who knows how many died outside?” Yang Jian glanced around the room. “Be careful. I’m afraid there’s a sick, murderous fiend in here somewhere.”
“You had one on your side too?” Ye Zichen’s eyebrows shot up.
As soon as the words left his lips, Pu Jingwan and An Lu stared. “You guys had one too?”
Soon, the entire group looked at each other. After a while, Yang Jian glanced at Venerate Spirit Treasure.
Venerate Spirit Treasure didn’t speak, but he nodded. His meaning was obvious.
This was clearly a sealed-off space. Yet for some reason, Yang Jian felt a cold wind brush past his neck.
A deranged serial killer had appeared in all four quadrants! That was rather terrifying!
“I hadn’t thought there’d be four such beasts.” Gou Monan suddenly gnashed his teeth and cursed.
The others didn’t quite understand his reaction, so Ye Zichen explained on his behalf. “One of his close friends was killed by that murderous devil.”
They all understood, and when they looked at Gou Monan, their gazes contained a hint of pity.
“You don’t need to look at me like that,” he said with a low, vicious roar. “I won’t just let Dahai’s death go. His killer is most likely in this very room. He’d better not let me discover him! If I do, I’ll be certain to avenge my brother’s death!”
Everyone in the room was packed in together, and they’d split into groups. From their conversations, it seemed everyone was discussing the killer. Clearly, the murderer had left deep shadows on all their hearts.
Although just about everyone here was an imperial expert, so were the victims!
Not even imperial lords were completely safe; they were among the victims too.
From this, it was clear that the killer’s cultivation was quite high. Furthermore, no one had seen the killer’s face and lived to tell the tale!
A killer standing before you holding a knife in the open wasn’t scary. What was scary was a killer lurking in the shadows.
“Four serial killers? Not necessarily!” Venerate Spirit Treasure suddenly laughed.
The rest of the group looked at him, not quite understanding what he was trying to say.
Were there more than four?
Before they could ask, Venerate Spirit Treasure’s next words shocked them. “Way I see it, there’s just one!”
“One?” The others’ eyes widened.
Yang Jian seemed at a loss for words. “What are you saying? All four regions had a serial killer, yet you say there was just one? …what, are you saying he can split into avatars?”
“Does he need avatars?” Venerate Spirit Treasure sneered.
“Explain it to me!” Said Yang Jian.9
“Isn’t this place the best possible explanation?” Venerate Spirit Treasure gestured to the surrounding four walls. “You can reach all four exterior palaces through here. The killer must have gone through this page to reach the other four quadrants and realize his murderous plans.”
An even denser dark mist seemed to enshroud their hearts. If that were really the case…
“But why would he do that?” asked Pu Jingwan.
Venerate Spirit Treasure gestured, “I don’t know.” He was just making inferences, and besides, he wasn’t a perverse serial killer. How could he possibly understand the man in so much depth?
“There’s something wrong with his brain. He found this secret passage but instead of going to the inner palace, he went around killing people. I have a hard time believing….” Yang Jian sneered.
Venerate Spirit Treasure didn’t argue. He’d already given his analysis, and it was up to the others whether they believed it or not.
“Enough. Let’s give the killer no more thought. It doesn’t matter whether it’s four people or just one. If we travel together, so long as we don’t split up, it doesn’t matter how many of them show up. They won’t be able to touch us.” Ye Zichen chose just the right moment to change the subject. “There should have been people at all four exterior palaces. Did any of you run into the Demon Emperor or the God Emperor…?”
“We ran into the Demon Emperor,” said Gu Li, who’d been playing the part of the good listener all this time. “I even greeted him politely. We didn’t see the God Emperor, though!”
The others shook their heads. Then, suddenly, a new voice appeared from behind and muttered, “Zhou Wu most likely won’t be able to come!”
