Goddess Atlas, Starting from the Queen

Chapter 108 Who was the first to discover this black mist?
Upon hearing her subordinate's reply, Mu Yunyan became very interested in the black aura that had appeared at the Lu family manor.

She then said, "Report this to the Spirit Suppressor."

"Yes, Commander."

At this point, the subordinate asked, "Should we send a commander to take a look?"

The structure of Zhenling Guard and Qingyun Guard is the same. Zhenling Envoy is the highest-ranking official in Zhenling Guard. Below Zhenling Guard are commanders of thousands, commanders of hundreds, generals, junior officers, and captains.

Although Mu Yunyan was only a captain in the Zhenling Guard, a rank lower than a centurion, her position as captain carried the most power, second only to the Zhenling Envoy.

The reason is simple: she is the daughter of the Spirit Suppressor, and since she joined the Spirit Suppressor Guard, almost all the evil spirit problems in the capital have been solved. All the Spirit Suppressor Guards admire her greatly, and even the commanders of the thousand-household units listen to her.

Moreover, Mu Yunyan is not just the daughter of the Spirit Suppressor; the Supervisor of the Star Gazing Tower also thinks highly of her, and it is a foregone conclusion that Mu Yunyan will become the next Spirit Suppressor.

When the Town Spirit Envoy is not present, Mu Yunyan can freely mobilize any of the thousand-household commanders, which is different from the Qingyun Guard of the Northern Town Command, who cannot act arbitrarily without orders from their superiors.

The reason Mu Yunyan was able to do this was because the Zhenling Guard dealt with evil spirits. The entire Zhenling Guard operated on merit; whoever was capable in dealing with evil spirits was the one to be obeyed. Given the abilities Mu Yunyan had demonstrated over the years, even if she held a low rank, she could still command the officers to work.

Mu Yunyan thought for a moment, then said, "This matter involves the tomb of the old Prince Xiaoyao, so it would be more prudent for me to go there in person."

After all, the old carefree king was a king of equal rank, and any problems with his tomb would have a great impact, so they must be handled with great care.

Early the next morning, Mu Yunyan led more than a dozen Zhenling Guards to the Lu family's estate, including a commander of a thousand and several commanders of a hundred.

Upon arriving at the manor, Mu Yunyan and her group heard the sounds of soldiers drilling inside. Hearing the deafening roars of the soldiers, Mu Yunyan and the Zhenling Guards were all stunned.

The Prince Xiaoyao Mansion has long since fallen into decline, and now it has very few personal guards left. So why would there still be the sound of soldiers training?

Soon, the Zhenling Guards entered the manor gate with their doubts. When they passed the manor's training ground, they were once again shocked by the soldiers there.

The Prince of Xiaoyao's mansion has suddenly gained one or two thousand soldiers?

Isn't the Carefree King already on the verge of death? Why is he recruiting so many soldiers?
Although they were curious, Mu Yunyan and the others did not ask any questions.

They are the Spirit Guards, who only deal with evil spirits. It doesn't matter to them whether the Prince of Xiaoyao has a thousand or two more soldiers, or even if the Prince of Xiaoyao has tens of thousands of soldiers. They are just curious at most.

Upon entering the manor, the Zhenling Guards began to busy themselves, taking out various tools to check whether there were any evil spirits in the Xiaoyao Prince's Mansion.

However, after their investigation, they found no evil spirits or the black aura reported by the Prince of Xiaoyao.

Mu Yunyan was about to call a soldier from the Xiaoyao Prince's Mansion to ask when she saw Li Yunfan come to them in person.

Li Yunfan looked at Mu Yunyan and said, "I didn't expect you, Commander Mu, to come in person."

Mu Yunyan was not only famous in the Star Gazing Tower, but also in the capital. Li Yunfan naturally knew her as well.

Mu Yunyan asked, "Commander Li, we don't seem to have found the black aura that the Prince of Xiaoyao's Mansion mentioned?"

Li Yunfan said, "That black mist has no color; people only inhale it when they are practicing martial arts."

Mu Yunyan glanced at the various tools in the hands of the Zhenling Guards and continued, "Our compasses for searching for evil spirits didn't react at all, so this is probably not an evil spirit." At this moment, Mu Yunyan asked, "Since this black mist has no color, how did Commander Li know it was black?"

Li Yunfan did not answer their questions immediately, but said, "Chief Mu, why don't you come with me to see the tomb of the old Prince Xiaoyao first?"

Mu Yunyan didn't ask any more questions. Led by Li Yunfan, she and a group of Zhenling Guards arrived at Lu Xiaoyao's grave.

As they approached the tombstone, they clearly felt a sense of oppression, and the surrounding air seemed to drop significantly, with gusts of cold wind blowing.

It was noon, and the blazing sun was directly overhead. They had been sweating profusely on horseback all the way to the village, but as soon as they arrived at Lu Xiaoyao's tomb, they immediately felt cool instead of hot.

At this moment, Mu Yunyan vaguely sensed that black energy was indeed emanating from Lu Xiaoyao's tombstone, but it was more of a feeling than a visible sight.

Mu Yunyan turned to a Zhenling Guard beside her and asked, "Commander Liu, have you noticed anything?"

Liu Lang replied, "It seems that Lu Xianren's tombstone really does emit some kind of black aura, but I didn't see it; I just sensed it."

"Moreover, as soon as I approached Lu Xianren's tomb, I felt my internal energy being suppressed."

Liu Lang was a first-rank martial artist. Among their group, apart from Mu Yunyan, he had the highest cultivation level, and his senses were just as keen as Mu Yunyan's.

Upon hearing Liu Lang's reply, Mu Yunyan thought to herself that her intuition was indeed correct; there was indeed black energy, but this black energy could only be sensed, not seen.

This is truly bizarre.

The eyes are the organs that distinguish colors, but the black aura they are sensing is due to their body's intuition.

Mu Yunyan then took out a ghost-catching compass, bit her finger, and dripped a drop of blood onto the center of the compass. The compass needle then spun wildly, but after spinning round and round, it eventually returned to its original position, indicating that there were indeed no evil spirits in this place.

There are two possibilities if there are no evil spirits present, yet they still feel physically unwell.

One possibility is that there are indeed no evil spirits here, and the so-called black aura is something else.

Another possibility is that there is a great terror in this tomb, and that the evil spirit is so powerful that it can block the compass's tracking.

This was the first time the members of the Zhenling Guard had encountered such a being that they could sense discomfort but could not track with a compass.

For a moment, a sense of panic arose in the hearts of the Zhenling Guards. All eyes turned to Mu Yunyan, awaiting her instructions.

At this moment, Mu Yunyan drew her sword from her waist, raised her hand, and laid the sword flat.

The next moment, the surrounding spiritual energy surged into her sword, and the unseen black energy also flowed into the sword in her hand.

But this time, unlike her previous intuitive perception, when the black energy surged into the sword in her hand, she could clearly feel its presence.

Mu Yunyan then sheathed her sword and said to Li Yunfan beside her, "Commander Li, can you tell me now how you discovered this black aura?"

"Also, who was the first to discover this black mist?"

(End of this chapter)