Chapter 914: Moving Deep
As they approached Blue Flame City, they ran into several scattered teams of Earth Ghoul clansmen. Each team was carrying bundles of white arms behind their backs.
The quartet had zero mercy for these Earth Ghoul clansmen. They killed them the moment they ran into them.
Along the way, they killed almost a hundred.
Several hours later.
Jiang Zhuzhe enveloped the crystalline war chariot in a ball of b.l.o.o.d.y light before they appeared stealthily in the clouds above Blue Flame City.
“Blue Flame City is down below.” Jiang Zhuzhe pointed.
Qin Lie looked down and concentrated.
Unlike the cities they pa.s.sed by, Blue Flame City was bustling with activity. He could see a lot of figures moving about with his eyes alone.
“There are at least tens of thousands of people that are gathered in Blue Flame City. They were all girls or young kids,” Eddie said softly.
Qin Lie’s face abruptly darkened.
“It’s daytime right now, so the powerful martial pract.i.tioners of the Earth Ghoul Race had probably gone underground to damage the defensive barrier around Shadow Earth Palace. When it’s nighttime, they would come out to feed and rest for a while. We will be slipping underground in stealth and head to Shadow Earth Palace when that happens.”
Controlling the crystalline war chariot with his mind, Jiang Zhuzhe descended from the clouds and spread his tremendously vast soul consciousness throughout the whole Blue Flame City like mercury.
He seemed to know Blue Flame City very well.
“There are about two thousand Earth Ghoul clansmen in Blue Flame City.”
A moment later, he added, “There are… only three Soul Altar experts, however.”
“There is one two-level Soul Altar expert and two one-level Soul Altar experts down there.” Eddie took over and said to Qin Lie, “With our strength, it shouldn’t be too much trouble to kill all the Earth Ghoul clansmen down there.”
Both he and Jiang Zhuzhe were three-level Soul Altar experts, while Gilbert was as strong as a two-level Soul Altar expert.
Even without Qin Lie, they would be able to eliminate every Earth Ghoul sentinel in Blue Flame City.
“Blue Flame City and Black Jade City are connected by a spatial transportation formation. Therefore, the top experts of the Earth Ghoul Race in Black Jade City can come as reinforcements very quickly.” Jiang Zhuzhe shook his head in objection towards Eddie’s suggestion. He said, “The entire Earth Ghoul Race should have nearly ten Soul Altar experts in total, and there are at least three people who had reached the third stage of the Imperishable Realm. Moreover, an Earth Ghoul clansman named Andrew is the most terrifying of them all. It is said that he is at the peak of the Imperishable Realm, and he is only one step away from entering the Void Realm.”
“If he comes over from Black Jade City with several Soul Altar experts by his side, we will be in some trouble.”
“Of course, with our level of strength it is not a problem for us to escape the Heavenly Calamity Continent intact.”
“However, it’ll probably be impossible to release this other group of evil dragons in Shadow Earth Palace as a result.”
Gilbert grew anxious when he heard this. He hastily said, “Don’t act recklessly, please.”
“We wait until it’s nighttime. Then, those Earth Ghoul Race experts underground will come out and use some living humans to activate their secret arts.” Jiang Zhuzhe seemed to have a plan since the beginning. “When that happens, we will slip underground under the cover of the night and approach Shadow Earth Palace from another direction.”
“How are you so sure that they’ll come out to feed when it’s nighttime?” Qin Lie looked astonished.
Jiang Zhuzhe smiled easily and said, “I’ve come here once some time ago.”
“You’re saying that you purposely came over to observe the Earth Ghoul Race for my sake?” Qin Lie grew suspicious. “You guided us of your own volition in hopes of freeing the evil dragons inside Shadow Earth Palace. Don’t tell me that you did this out of the kindness of your heart?”
“Didn’t we agree to this earlier?” Jiang Zhuzhe smiled.
“Nowhere in our agreement was it said that you will personally get involved in this matter and help awaken the evil dragons in Shadow Earth Palace yourself.” Qin Lie snorted and said, “Now say it, what else are you plotting? I don’t believe that you’re this selfless.”
Jiang Zhuzhe grew embarra.s.sed.
“There should be other things inside Shadow Earth Palace except those slumbering evil dragons. I may have need of those things…” he explained.
“Other things? What things?” Qin Lie asked seriously.
“Ancient corpses.” Scarlet light flashed across Jiang Zhuzhe’s eyes. “Blue Flame City was originally a powerful ancient country. The royal family of this ancient country is rumored to have possessed the ‘blood of true dragons.’ After they pa.s.sed away, their clansmen buried their bodies in Shadow Earth Palace. This ancient country once ruled the Heavenly Calamity Continent before Blood Fiend Sect rose to power, so this means that this royal family was extremely powerful.”
“Therefore, the royalty buried at Shadow Earth Palace were probably terrifyingly powerful experts before their deaths.”
“These people’s corpses may be useless to others, but I can use the Corpse Progenitor’s secret art to refine them into powerful Corpse Demons such as the likes of Pu Ze.”
“Before the Earth Ghoul Race invaded the Heavenly Calamity Continent, I had tried to break apart the restrictions put on Shadow Earth Palace multiple times.”
“Unfortunately, the barriers and restrictions in this place are a little special. Even I wasn’t able to break them apart.”
At this point, he looked at Gilbert and said, “The evil dragons slumber in Shadow Earth Palace. The royalty of that ancient country possess the ‘blood of true dragons’ only because they have copulated with the evil dragons. Therefore, I have reason to believe that an evil dragon like you should be able to break apart those barriers and restrictions.”
“I knew that you weren’t that kind.” Qin Lie snorted coldly.
“We are just taking what we need respectively.” Jiang Zhuzhe answered with a smile.
“Those dragonmen corpses may contain the evil dragons’ bloodline. Do you need them?” Qin Lie looked at Gilbert.
Gilbert shook his head disgustedly. “What will I do with those ancient corpses?”
“Alright.” Qin Lie turned his head and told Jiang Zhuzhe, “If there really are ancient corpses like this, you may lay claim to all of them. But that is all.” With Eddie and Gilbert by his side, he could haggle with Jiang Zhuzhe however he wished.
“No problem.” Jiang Zhuzhe cheerfully accepted.
After they came to mutual understanding, they continued to wait for nighttime.
It was very late at night. Short and small Earth Ghoul clansmen walked out of a big, black hole in succession at the giant square of Blue Flame City.
They let out loud noises the moment they came out. Clansmen of weaker realms immediately pa.s.sed over several arms to them.
“Select another nine hundred human girls and send them all underground later. We will use their souls to fuel our secret art and forcefully break through the barrier of that palace.”
“Lord Hark said that we should be able to break down the defensive barrier at Shadow Earth Palace if we repeat this another seven times.”
“Dammit, I can’t believe how powerful the defenses outside Shadow Earth Palace are. We’ve used up one hundred thousand sacrifices and we still can’t break through them.”
“We’re almost done. So what if we have used up one hundred thousand sacrifices? Human lives are cheap anyway.”
The Earth Ghoul clansmen chatted while chewing at human arms. They thought nothing of human lives at all.
“If we cannot exterminate the three ghoul races completely, every human being living in the Land of Chaos will eventually be slaughtered like cattles.” Jiang Zhuzhe narrated to Qin Lie everything those ghouls were saying. “If you decide to attack the Heavenly Calamity Continent immediately after you go back, don’t forget to count me in.”
Surprise entered Qin Lie’s eyes.
“I am a human, after all,” Jiang Zhuzhe said calmly.
“Okay.” Qin Lie nodded.
“Come down with me. We will find a different direction instead of entering into Earth Shadow Palace directly from Blue Flame City.” Jiang Zhuzhe landed the war chariot outside the city.
Jiang Zhuzhe hid the war chariot in a dense forest outside the city. Then, he led Qin Lie and the others into a large tree stub.
Inside the stub there was a hole that led to a dark cave underground. Obviously, it stretched further and reached Shadow Earth Palace too.
“How long have you been plotting to enter Shadow Earth Palace?” Qin Lie was astonished.
He discovered that Jiang Zhuzhe was too familiar with Shadow Earth Palace. Not only was he able to detect the Earth Ghoul Race’s movements accurately, he had established an underground pa.s.sage to Shadow Earth Palace since a very early time.
There was no way his interest was a spur of a moment thing. He must have plotted and executed his plans systematically for a long time already.
“Three hundred years or so,” Jiang Zhuzhe said indifferently.
Qin Lie’s expression changed slightly.
Jiang Zhuzhe chuckled and cast a glance at Gilbert. He said, “If I haven’t allied with Qin Lie, I would’ve killed all the slumbering evil dragons down there and try to refine a couple of corpse dragons after entering Shadow Earth Palace.”
“You dare!” Gilbert grew furious.
“That plan is in the past.” Jiang Zhuzhe smiled and didn’t grow angry at his slight. “Now go, I hope that you can break through the defenses around Shadow Earth Palace. If you cannot, then your kin will be eliminated by the Earth Ghoul Race all the same.”