There's a big problem with dreams in this world.

Forget about it. Although she was very clear about the principles of the steam engine and had seen the design diagram of the cylinder in a physics book, knowing the principle in theory and actually operating it are two different things.

This is similar to how she knows that rockets launch by using the reaction force generated by fuel combustion, but she can't build a rocket.

and......

"Just a few flesh giants, it shouldn't be too difficult," Lu Qing thought as she walked into the old capital after leaving Yegos.

The Flesh Giant is a monster created by the Church of the Dead. It seems to be a byproduct of their research into combining blood and void power, both of which were actually byproducts of their research into void potion technology.

This is why the way the blood energy and void power combine within the flesh giant is so similar to the way the blood energy and void power are blocked within the roots of the sacred tree.

The diary suddenly trembled, displaying detailed information about the flesh giant.

"Is it a product created by the Guiji Sect?" Lu Qing asked with some surprise as she looked at the information in the diary. She had thought that the flesh giant was a creature that was born naturally due to the increased concentration of void power, but it seems that she was overthinking it.

"Shh!"

Suddenly, a skeleton hiding behind a corner of the wall swung the blade from the book at Lu Qing as she walked past the corner.

"call!"

The pure white elven fire burned on the skeleton's body, instantly reducing it to ashes. At the same time, three other skeletons scattered on the ground suddenly floated up and assembled in the air.

However, the next moment, blazing elven fire flew out again, and three more pale gray ashes appeared on the ground.

There was no message in her mind about an increase in magic power or soul, which made Lu Qing look at Ling with some confusion.

“The magic essence and souls on these guys don’t seem to be their own.” Ling explained when she saw Lu Qing’s gaze. “After these skeleton soldiers died, their magic essence and souls were absorbed by a terrible guy. Ling’er couldn’t take them from him.”

"If I'm not mistaken, that guy is in the center of the old capital, inside that tall, gray-black castle!"

------------

Chapter 573: Knights, the Square, and the Flames

In the old capital, shrouded in thick fog, besides the undead skeletons scattered on the ground that would assemble together whenever they sensed the presence of a living person, there were countless rotting corpses that emanated a foul stench as they walked.

However, these guys are really not very strong. They can only bully ordinary people or beginners. When they encounter Lu Qing, they are basically at a disadvantage.

It's a pity that these guys won't provide her with magic essence or souls when they die. Otherwise, Lu Qing really wanted to grind around this city, buy the remaining three purple skills, and then push the development level of the Insect Hunter Mask to 100%.

A series of heavy footsteps gradually approached from afar. Upon hearing the sound, Lu Qing jumped to the top of a building next to her and looked in the direction from which the sound came.

A gigantic figure, covered in crimson flesh, was slowly walking through the streets of the old capital. He stared blankly into space, and a foul, pale green liquid flowed from his mouth, dripping slowly onto the ground.

"It's a bit disgusting..." Lu Qing said with some disgust.

“Hmm… the Guiji Sect people all like this style. Let’s finish it quickly and give it to Yesger.” Ling floated beside Lu Qing and spoke slowly.

"Mm." Lu Qing nodded.

Looking at the flesh-and-blood giant in the distance, after thinking for a while, she slowly took off the Wind Elf Bow from her back. "I'll snipe it from a distance before it notices me," Lu Qing thought.

She slowly drew back the bowstring, a sharp gale swirling around her. The next moment, Lu Qing released her fingers, and with a "whoosh," the thick black fog was pierced by the wind element arrow, which then shot straight into the flesh giant's neck. The terrifying penetrating force and the gale instantly tore a large hole in the neck!

"Roar!!"

The flesh giant roared in pain, its body surging with the power of the void and blood energy. Visibly, the wound on its neck began to heal, and it turned its gaze to Lu Qing standing on the roof.

With a roar, the flesh giant strode heavily toward Lu Qing.

Somewhat amazed by the terrifying vitality of the flesh giant, Lu Qing quickly drew her bowstring and fired three wind element arrows!

With the blessing of the card "Eternal Hunter Twins Kindred", Lu Qing easily shot two arrows into the eye sockets of the flesh giant, and the last arrow pierced the flesh giant's heart.

With a thud, the flesh-and-blood giant, which had been running at high speed, fell to the ground. No matter how tenacious its vitality, it was impossible to survive with its eye sockets and heart pierced at the same time.

[Magic Element +350]

"In the end, he's just a fool." Lu Qing said, looking at the flesh giant lying paralyzed on the ground in the distance.

If the flesh giant possessed consciousness, then after Lu Qing fired the first arrow, it should have chosen to hide behind complex buildings to conceal its form. This would have prevented ordinary archers from seeing the target and thus from accurately hitting vital points with their arrows.

Of course, as mentioned here, those were ordinary archers. If it were Lu Qing, she would use her hearing to determine the general location, and then use the powerful predictive ability brought by her master-level archery skills, combined with the effect of intuition, to snipe the target.

Ultimately, the difference in strength between the two sides is too great. Even if the flesh giant possesses intelligence, it would still be no match for her. Saying this is just a casual remark.

After jumping off the roof of the building, Lu Qing arrived at the corpse of the flesh giant. After thinking for a while, she decided that it would be better to carry the giant on her back and drag it back.

However, just as she was about to do so, a series of orderly footsteps reached her ears. Looking in the direction from which the sound came, Lu Qing saw a group of vengeful spirits wearing Vanhusdan Knight armor running quickly toward her.

That was the Old King's Knights. Upon hearing the roar of the flesh giant, they rushed over to quell the riot.

Just as Lu Qing was ready for battle, an unexpected scene unfolded. The vengeful spirits of the Old King's Knights arrived beside Lu Qing but did not immediately attack her. Instead, they stood respectfully in place, kneeling on the ground.

Then, a vengeful spirit who looked like the captain came before Lu Qing and respectfully gave her a knightly salute.

"You still have consciousness and recognize me?" Lu Qing asked, looking at the vengeful spirits in front of her with some surprise.

"......"

The vengeful spirit did not answer Lu Qing. After bowing to Lu Qing, he made the vengeful spirits behind him stand up again, and then walked towards the flesh giant behind Lu Qing.

Lu Qing was curious about what these vengeful spirits of the old royal knights wanted to do, so she didn't stop them.

She watched as the vengeful spirits dragged away the flesh giant's body, then walked towards a square in the old capital. Lu Qing followed them to the center of the square and discovered that it was piled with a large number of flesh giant corpses.

"Are the Old King's Knights also hunting flesh giants?" Lu Qing wondered, looking at the scene before her.

"Whoosh!" Blazing flames rose up as the vengeful spirits of the Old King's Knights, torches in hand, attempted to incinerate the piled-up giants of flesh and blood.

Seeing this, Lu Qing quickly stopped the Old King's Knights. She still needed to use the corpses of these flesh giants to make a deal with Jaegers, so how could she let them burn the corpses of the flesh giants?

To her surprise, when she stood in front of the corpses of these flesh giants, the vengeful spirits of the Old King's Knights actually stopped moving.

Lu Qing tried to communicate with them, but found that no matter what she said, these vengeful spirits would ignore her.

No, rather than ignoring her, it's more accurate to say that these vengeful spirits simply couldn't understand Lu Qing's words. Upon seeing Lu Qing, they would bow, and if Lu Qing tried to stop them, they would also stop what they were doing.

But no matter what, he couldn't communicate with these vengeful spirits, as if... some kind of program.

With mixed feelings, Lu Qing dragged the corpses of the two flesh giants away from the plaza. About half an hour after Lu Qing left, blazing flames rose from the center of the plaza...

Having returned to the edge of the old capital's city walls without any risks along the way, Lu Qing, carrying the corpses of two flesh giants, arrived before Yegos.

"My God, you've only been gone for less than two hours and you've already brought back two corpses of flesh giants?" Jaegers said, looking at the corpses behind Lu Qing with astonishment.

“These flesh giants aren’t that powerful. I’m more concerned about other things,” Lu Qing said, putting down the flesh giant’s corpse.

"What's the problem?" Jaeger asked, somewhat puzzled.

“Those old kings’ knights, you told me they were dangerous, but when I encountered them…” Lu Qing recounted what happened when she encountered the old kings’ knights, wanting to hear the response from Jaegers, the “local.”

------------

Chapter 574: May your soul rest in the kingdom's homeland.

"Did you encounter those old royal knights?"

"No... When I met them, they wanted nothing more than to draw their swords and kill me on the spot."

Jaegers frowned, stared at Lu Qing for a while, and then said thoughtfully, "Could it be that the reason they won't attack you is because of your identity?"

Jaegers seemed to have thought of something, and inspiration burst forth in his mind, instantly connecting many things that he couldn't understand before.

"Ah, I understand!" Jaegers exclaimed, suddenly raising his head.

"Oh! What do you know?" Ling exclaimed, startled by Yegos.

“I had secretly observed those old king knights before, mainly to record their patrol routes, but I unexpectedly discovered a lot of strange things.”

"When I first arrived in the old capital, I went to the cathedral and found some information about the city's defenses, including the patrol routes of the Royal Knights in emergency situations."

"After observing the Old King's Knights for several days, I discovered that their patrol routes were exactly the same as the route map I had found."

As Jaegers spoke, he began rummaging through the trash beside him, and soon found a tattered map of the city's defense routes at the very bottom.

“I knew that vengeful spirits would act according to their habits from their previous lives, so I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time,” Jaegers continued.

“Besides the patrol routes, there are some other things that concern me. These vengeful spirits of the Old King’s Knights do not attack the corpses and skeletons on the streets, but they do attack the flesh giants.”

“I couldn’t understand why this was happening until you told me that they would burn the flesh giants together. That’s when I remembered a law of Vanhustan.”

"It's not really a law, just a way of dealing with it. Those people or things that have been corrupted by the void will be burned to ashes in the open square, under the holy tree and the sun."

"Those vengeful spirits of the old King's Knights are still carrying out their orders from when they were alive, that must be it!" Jaegers said with some excitement, "The reason they attack outsiders but not skeletons and corpses is..."

"It's probably because the skeletons and corpses are tainted with the aura of the king and queen. The vengeful spirits have a completely different sensory system than us. They may know the aura of the king and queen after they transformed into vengeful spirits and have remembered it."

"And I, as an outsider, am part of the disturbance to the city's stability, just like the flesh giants, which is why I was attacked by them."

"The reason you won't be attacked is simple: they know you are Princess Vanhustan."

"You mean, the vengeful spirits of those old royal knights still possess their own consciousness?" After listening to Yeggs's words, Lu Qing asked after thinking for a while.

“That’s not the case.” Jaegers shook his head and said, “Wraiths don’t have a conscious mind. A normal wrathful spirit will act without any rules and may even attack any living person it sees.”

“Wraiths that act according to rules… to be honest, I don’t know either, but what they do is definitely not something they do after careful consideration, but rather… as if it were preordained.” Jaegers paused slightly, searching for the right words in his mind.

"Like a program?" Lu Qing understood what the other person meant.

"Program?" Now it was Jaeger's turn to be puzzled.

Without answering Jaeger's question, Lu Qing seemed to have thought of something and frowned slightly, saying, "But there are too many vengeful spirits in the Old King's Knights. Do all these vengeful spirits act according to the same set of rules?"

“I actually had a guess about that too…” After hearing Lu Qing’s words, Yeggs put the question about the program out of his mind and said, “Do you remember what I told you, that the living people killed by the Old King’s Knights would also become one of them?”

"Didn't you say you'd become part of them?" Lu Qing asked with a strange expression. She had thought she would be devoured or something, but it turned out she would become a member of the Old King's Knights.

“Well, I hope you understand what I mean.” Jaeger’s face showed a hint of embarrassment as he said, “I suspect that there is actually only one vengeful spirit of the Old King’s Knights.”

"Only one?" Lu Qing wasn't stupid; she instantly understood the meaning behind Yegges's words.

"So many vengeful spirits in the Old King's Knights are actually controlled by the same vengeful spirit?"

“That’s right.” Jaegers nodded, then, as if remembering something, a glint of light flashed in his eyes. “And I also roughly know his location. Do you want it?”

.......

“Right there,” Jaegers said, lying on the second floor of a building with a collapsed roof, pointing to a figure standing in front of a deep pit in the distance.

"I discovered this by chance while exploring the old capital. That guy has been standing there since I arrived in the old capital, wearing Vanhustan knight armor, but he doesn't patrol with the other knights of the old capital."

“How could this be…” Lu Qing looked in surprise at the figure standing in front of the deep pit in the distance. She recognized that vengeful spirit.