Starting from the imperial palace guards, his clones spread all over the world.

Chapter 683 Infiltrating the Demon Palace
As darkness spread across the sky, the four humans and the monkey quietly slipped into their shared destination.

This is a basin surrounded by a huge mountain range, resembling a huge crater formed by a meteorite impact!
The majestic, continuous ring-shaped mountain range acts like a natural wall, tightly surrounding the basin.

Inside the basin was a magnificent city, with only a narrow, throat-like pass splitting open on the north side!
This place was originally a city-state of the Yue people, and was considered a natural stronghold that was easy to defend and difficult to attack. It was impossible for any ground force to conquer it within five hundred years.

But who could have foreseen that the Demon Lord of Wuxu would command the colossal, carrion-skinned owl that blotted out the sky, ripping open the chest of the Yueyi King with its sharp claws! It would devour the brains of the elders! And smear the animal-hide banners fluttering on the hill with filthy blood!

This fortified city also became the capital of the Demon Kingdom.

The city after nightfall is eerily dark and quiet, with not a single person in sight.

Within the city, countless slaves huddled in foul-smelling mud burrows were deprived of the right to make a sound.

Owl warriors ride giant owls, patrolling the skies and monitoring for any possible anomalies in their surroundings.

Any living creature that dares to utter a single whimper will be instantly torn into mincemeat to feed the insects by the giant owls circling the dome and reeking of rotting flesh, and the owl warriors with piercing eyes on their backs!

Infiltrating the city under these circumstances would be extremely difficult.

Even a mouse can't escape the gaze of a giant owl in the sky.

But the people were not without options.

Soon, Suiyan waved his hand, unleashing his special fire skills, and flames immediately spread out.

These flames are extremely powerful; even plants in the rainforest with high water content can quickly burn under their flames.

The blinding crimson flames, like a giant python bursting from the earth, instantly spread and exploded along the rotting fern pile, tangled roots, and slippery ferns! It resembled a ferocious fire python, spreading wildly towards the mountain wall on the north side of Shanghai!
Flames shot up from the swamp, turning half the night sky into an eerie orange-red!
For the mountain people living in the forest, wildfires are undoubtedly a huge disaster.

The towering flames instantly attracted the attention of most of the owl warriors.

The giant owls screeched and circled in the sky behind them.

Large numbers of slaves were urgently mobilized to fight the wildfires.

Chaos immediately erupted in Shanghai.

Liang Jin and his group quickly gathered on the south side, where a small number of Owl Warriors were still patrolling the sky.

As Wu Ling shook his feathered robe, each black feather on it seemed to come alive and flipped over, revealing a bird's eye on the back of each feather!
No, those weren't bird eyes, but tiny mirrors.

The witch's body shook violently as if it were having a seizure!
Thousands of mirrors spun and refracted wildly as she shook!

Whether it was the scorching moonlight, the distant firelight, or even the faint, scattered light within the city... all were greedily captured by these eerie micro-mirrors, instantly transforming into a hazy, distorted, and seemingly countless fragmented dream-like illusionary realm of ghostly mirrors!

The giant owls in the sky were quickly attracted by the light, but strangely, after seeing the light, the giant owls did not warn the owl warriors on their backs. Instead, their eyes became dazed and confused.

Some giant owls even became unsteady in flight, spinning around with strange cries as if out of control! The tattooed warrior on its back screamed in panic and pulled on the reins, but was violently thrown off by the huge inertia of the giant bird's uncontrolled roll, crashing into the darkness below with a dull sound of bones cracking and flesh rotting!

As for the owl warriors on the owl's back, they don't have the same strong eyesight as the night owl at night, so they naturally can't detect the barely visible lights on the ground, and they can't understand why the giant owl has gone mad.

The witch spirit seized the opportunity and said:
"Quick! There are too many night owls, and they're scattered. My soul magic won't last long!"

The group immediately rushed towards the city.

There were some unavoidable sentries along the way. Feng Wu's figure was as nimble as a colorful phoenix as she took the lead, her wing-shaped bronze ancient sword pressed tightly against her forearm!

She moves silently, often eliminating hidden sentries without making a sound.

Each time she returned, blood would drip from her golden bronze sword.

As she cleaned, her breathing quickened slightly, and her voice was as cold and sharp as ice:
"Remember! Our mission is merely to investigate the Demon Lord's strengths and weaknesses and gather intelligence."

“I have already interrogated these sentries and found out that their shift change is every half hour.”

"Therefore, we must evacuate immediately within half an hour and must not engage in prolonged combat!"

These words naturally drew a sarcastic remark from Wu Ling.

It seemed that Wu Ling had always been particularly dissatisfied with Feng Wu's leader-like demeanor.

However, given the urgency of the mission, Feng Wu had to suppress her anger and keep quiet to maintain the overall situation.

Suiyan was unwilling to get involved in the conflict between the two, and simply carried Liang Jin silently forward.

Despite his enormous size, he moved with remarkable agility.

Only Liang Jin remained quietly on Suiyan's back, occasionally stroking the jade-faced fire monkey in his arms.

He seemed nonchalant because he was indeed heading in the right direction.

They were getting closer and closer to Bei Yi's body.

So there's nothing for him to rush.

The group soon approached the core area of ​​Shanghai, where a magnificent palace stood.

Unlike the earthen and wooden palaces of the Great Qian Dynasty, this palace is entirely constructed of brick and stone.

Outside the palace, there were originally statues of the gods worshipped by the Yue people, but now they have all been smashed and destroyed.

The square in front of the palace was a place for sacrifices.

In this wild and untamed land of Nanzhou, the custom of human sacrifice is still preserved to this day. Therefore, human bones are often found on the grounds, and internal organs are frequently offered on the altar.

To everyone's surprise, there wasn't a single guard in sight in the vast palace.

The palace was brightly lit, yet eerily quiet.

This inevitably made the group hesitate.

It's unclear whether what lies ahead is a trap or a genuine internal weakness that gives them an opportunity.
But no matter what, the group ultimately couldn't resist the temptation.

After all, if we could find out the details of the Demon Lord of Wuxu, we could help Nanzhou withstand a catastrophe.

If they were to turn around and leave now, then all the joint efforts of so many tribes in this period of time would have been completely wasted.

Such a huge temptation finally made Feng Wu turn her head and look at Liang Jin:
"Great and wise teacher, may I send the spirit monkey into the palace to investigate?"

It is very dangerous for anyone to enter the Demon Palace.

The Jade-Faced Fire Monkey is only the size of a child and is very agile. Even if something happens, it will only result in the loss of an animal and not a human life, making it most suitable for reconnaissance.

Since this great wise teacher is a beast-slaying sorcerer, controlling monkeys to perform such a simple task should not be difficult for him.

But when Feng Wu asked him, Liang Jin just shook his head slightly.

This made Feng Wu frown slightly, assuming that Liang Jin was incapable of completing the task.

This inevitably added to Feng Wu's disappointment, and she couldn't help but complain:

"You monkey, you're useless except for being fast. What else can it do?"

Upon hearing this, Suiyan wholeheartedly agreed:
"It is said that the Queen of Yaoshui is wise and resourceful, and her plans are flawless."

"But now it seems that even Queen Yaoshui made mistakes in her selection of people."

"They sent a useless person who followed us all the way."

Suiyan wasn't a talkative person, so the fact that he directly complained showed that he harbored a great deal of resentment towards Liang Jin.

When he first saw the Jade-Faced Fire Monkey, he was horrified by its terrifying speed.

However, as they traveled along, the Jade-Faced Fire Monkey never showed any other useful abilities.

Even Liang Jin carried the whole way on his back, practically a burden to him.

If Suiyan had known that Liang Jin was useless, he would have abandoned him long ago. Why would he have carried him all the way here?
Wu Ling smiled, seemingly watching the controversy unfold like a spectator.

On the contrary, Liang Jin, the person involved, was disliked but did not blush at all and remained calm and composed.

Feng Wu could only decide:
"Then let's go in and take a look. If anything seems amiss, we'll leave immediately."

As soon as Feng Wu spoke, Wu Ling immediately mocked her:

"Is the Holy Maiden of Wuli going to make decisions for us again?"

"Aren't you afraid that this is actually a trap?"

Feng Wu turned her head, her phoenix eyes filled with coldness as she looked at Wu Ling: "If anything goes wrong, I'll kill you first."

She had been enduring the witch spirit for a long time.

This witch spirit seemed to be deliberately targeting me at every turn, which was completely inexplicable.

This witch's words even praised the Demon Lord of Wuxu, while showing contempt for the resistance of the hundred races.

This inevitably made Feng Wu doubt Wu Ling's true stance.

Wu Ling scoffed dismissively, then headed towards the palace.

Feng Wu gripped the feather-shaped longsword in her hand and followed.

Suiyan, carrying Liang Jin on his back, had no choice but to follow.

The Yueyi were merely a city-state in the Southern Continent, and the scale of their palaces was naturally far smaller than that of the imperial city of the Great Qian Dynasty. Their area was only about the size of one hall in the imperial city, but their height was much greater.

Upon entering the palace, they still did not see a single guard.

It was as if the entire palace was empty, completely devoid of any human presence.

The group followed the wall and arrived at the corridor on the first floor of the palace.

The first-floor corridor leads to the main hall.

However, what greeted everyone's eyes at this moment was a bizarre and bloody scene!

Both sides of the corridor had been converted into prison cells.

The cells were sealed with iron bars, and inside were wild beasts such as tigers, leopards, jackals, bears, rhinoceroses, elephants, and gorillas.

If it were an ordinary ferocious beast, the group would naturally not be afraid.

However, these imprisoned beasts have clearly been specially modified.

Their eyes were bloodshot and glazed over, and their skin and flesh were torn in many places. It was as if their bodies had been stretched out of size, causing the leather to burst. However, beneath the exposed bright red flesh, one could vaguely see countless worms slowly wriggling inside.

Even though they were injured, they stood still, with only two tentacles occasionally twitching slightly as they extended from their nostrils, seemingly gathering information from their surroundings.

Upon seeing this, Liang Jin immediately recognized that the tentacles in the nasal cavities of these beasts were the same parasites found in the brains of the corpses of the tragic dead.

Upon seeing these wild beasts, everyone was initially on guard.

But they soon discovered that these beasts did not seem to be activated.

They just stood there blankly, completely unresponsive to everything around them.

Such a strange situation made Wu Ling, Feng Wu, and Sui Yan all glance at Liang Jin.

Because the one who can create these ferocious beasts controlled by Gu worms is none other than the Beast Gu Cave Witch.

Everyone believed that Liang Jin was a Beast Gu Dong shaman who might be able to provide useful information.

But Liang Jin remained silent, clearly not offering any advice.

Wu Ling smiled dismissively as always, not even deigning to offer Liang Jin a sarcastic remark.

Feng Wu, however, couldn't help but sigh in disappointment:
"If anything happens, I will do my best to protect you."

"But you should also be prepared that I will prioritize protecting those who are valuable."

Now that she's in the heart of Shanghai, where danger lurks everywhere, she's anxious and can't help but hope that those around her can play a vital role.

Liang Jin turned to look at Feng Wu, and suddenly spoke after remaining silent:
"I don't need your protection."

"Perhaps, you'll actually need my protection."

Upon hearing these ungrateful words, Feng Wu simply shook her head slightly, not bothering to say anything more.

Suiyan, however, was somewhat displeased. He directly placed Liang Jin, who was on his back, on the ground.
"I'm tired after carrying you all the way."

"Since you're so capable, you can leave on your own."

At first, Suiyan was interested in chatting with Liang Jin, but after discovering that Liang Jin was a useless burden, he rarely wanted to talk to him anymore.

At this moment, seeing Liang Jin taking advantage of the situation and then acting arrogant, Sui Yan finally couldn't help but teach Liang Jin a lesson.

Seeing this, Feng Wu hurriedly said:
"Suiyan, stop fooling around."

"You know perfectly well that the Great Teacher of Virtue is physically disabled. Wouldn't leaving him here at this time put him in danger?"

"Keep carrying him on your back, let's keep going."

Suiyan replied coldly:

“Feng Wu, Wu Ling is right.”

"You are the Holy Maiden of Wuli, and perhaps in the future you will be the Queen of Wuli."

"But we are not your subordinates, and we are not required to take your orders."

Upon hearing this, Feng Wu's phoenix eyes flashed with a cold light.

Since Suiyan had already spoken, he decided to be completely frank:

"The most important thing for us on this mission is to bring back crucial information about the Demon Lord."

"As long as we can bring the intelligence back, it doesn't matter how many people can go back."

"This is a mission where I could lose my life at any moment, how could I possibly carry a burden on my shoulders?"

At this point, Suiyan stretched out his hand and pointed at Liang Jin:
"If you're afraid of dying, then stay here and don't try to cause us any trouble."

"If we return safely and you are still alive, I will take you back with me."

"But now, I will never care about you!"

After saying that, Suiyan left.

Clearly, he was determined to teach Liang Jin a lesson because of Liang Jin's seemingly pretentious remark.

Seeing this, Feng Wu had no choice but to say to Liang Jin:

"It's really dangerous inside. Instead of coming in with us to take the risk, you should just stay here and not wander around."

"When we come back, I will definitely have Suiyan take you with me."

Liang Jin smiled faintly and remained silent.

Feng Wu couldn't delay any longer and could only continue her journey.

Wu Ling completely ignored Liang Jin; her attention was entirely focused on Feng Wu.

As for the Jade-Faced Fire Monkey, it didn't play any role along the way, so it made no difference whether it was there or not, and the three of them naturally stopped caring about it.

As the three left, only Liang Jin and the jade-faced fire monkey on his shoulder remained in the corridor.

Liang Jin looked in the direction the three had disappeared and gave a cold smile:
"Just as I expected, they are all high achievers with high aspirations."

“You can’t handle it if you’re provoked even slightly.”

It turned out that Liang Jin had deliberately angered the three of them and made them leave.

He was impersonating someone else from the beginning, using these three people.

Now, Liang Jin not only learned a lot about the situation in Nanzhou through them, but also successfully reached his destination.

The [Thousand Mile Tracking] system shows that Bei Yi's corpse is in this demon palace.

In particular, Liang Jin discovered even more interesting things through the [Thousand Mile Tracking] panel, which further convinced him to act alone.

"It seems that there are indeed top experts in the Southern Continent."

"Perfect, let you go and clear the way for me first."

(End of this chapter)