Chapter 848 – Old acquaintances Old enemies
An Zheng did not understand what Li Zhongming meant at first, but when he arrived outside on the balcony and looked down, he felt a burst of fear. It was an indescribable feeling, one that caused one’s hair to stand on end.
Li Zhongming’s house was built at a very high location. This was the edge of the underground city, and his house was located at the outermost area. The soil layer from the surface to the top of this underground city was dozens of meters, one could imagine how vast the project was. The layer of soil above his head was embedded with a large amount of shiny objects. After using his Heaven’s Eyes, An Zheng confirmed that they were natural gems that could absorb the light of the sun and moon, and then release them. In other words, there was a giant formation in the soil that absorbed sunlight and injected it into these gems.
Li Zhongming’s family was more like a cave dug out from the edge of the wall, but the exterior was built with brick and stone. The terrace was large enough to accommodate six or seven people without seeming crowded. He looked down with his hand on the railing. He could see very far away.
“Did you find anything?”
Li Zhongming had an unsightly expression as he said, “The people here overestimate themselves, and we overestimate them.” After calculating, no one noticed them digging a hole in the back of the mountain. It’s as if everyone has an invisible spring in their body, and every morning someone tightens it on them and they live their lives according to the rules. ”
He pointed to the people walking below: “They don’t care what’s going on outside, they don’t care what’s going on around them. Every day at dawn, they would go to where they were supposed to go, either to farm or to the workshop. There were merchants, farmers, artisans, everything, but they just didn’t get angry. Their days go from day to day, and they are no longer even sure if there is a world outside. ”
An Zheng’s face changed: What do you mean?
“The upper echelons here are constantly brainwashing them, telling them that the world beyond the surface is basically extinct. They are the lucky ones, but because their ancestors participated in the construction of the underground palace, Daxi Shenghuang bestowed them with the ability to survive underground. There are no longer people outside, so they are the lucky ones. ”
“They believe?”
Yuwen Wushuang asked.
Li Zhongming nodded. “I do. Why not?” None of them had ever gone out before. The first batch that had seen the outside world was long dead. They firmly believed that they were fortunate. Being able to live underground was the greatest gift the Sacred Emperor bestowed upon them. Hence, the loyalty these people had towards the Sacred Emperor was even more resolute than the people outside. It can be said that the Sacred Emperor in the underground city is no longer just an emperor but a god. ”
Yuwen Wushuang sighed and did not say anything else.
“Most of them don’t even know each other. Maybe most of them only know their neighbors. Therefore, even if there was an additional ‘me’, they wouldn’t care about it at all. They don’t even think I’m lying anymore... Since they were like extremely obedient sheep that had already been tamed, there were no more officials to control them. They live by the rules because they’re afraid... Do you see the stone tablet in the distance? There are 199 decrees engraved on it. Anyone who violated any of them would be expelled from the Underground City. Furthermore, everyone believes that the outside world has been contaminated. If we go out, we will die for sure. ”
An Zheng laughed coldly: “It’s another beautiful world.”
“Yeah, it looks really beautiful.”
Li Zhongming’s face was a bit pale. “They don’t think they’re sheep.”
Yuwen Wushuang: “You don’t have the right to judge their thoughts. They think that living here is good for them, isn’t it a kind of comfort for them?”
“Maybe.”
Li Zhongming looked into the distance, “But in my opinion, everyone here is just a walking corpse.”
An Zheng didn’t want to continue this topic. He asked: “About the secrets of the underground palace, how much have you discovered?”
“Nothing.”
Li Zhongming sighed and said, “There’s no one here to restrict you. As long as you don’t violate the 99 decrees, you can live comfortably. “But, no one can get past that …”
He pointed into the distance. “That wall.”
An Zheng knew that there was a granary and an underground weapons warehouse outside of the wall. There should be one or more below the granary. That was the core secret of the underground palace, but from the looks of it, even after entering the underground city, the distance between them was still very wide. No one could cross that high wall, because it was closed. Every door could only be opened from the outside, and the people inside couldn’t get out at all.
“So there’s no point in coming in.”
Yuwen Wushuang said indifferently: “Can we leave now?”
Li Zhongming said, “Although it is impossible to enter from here to the other side of the high wall, I am sure I can still enter another place. It’s just that I don’t know what is there. There was a large restricted area there, guarded by a large number of soldiers and cultivators. It was a separate place, separated by a tall wall. “However, it is obviously still under construction, so a large number of craftsmen will be required to enter.”
“A forbidden zone?”
“Yes, it’estricted area.” It seemed that even the soldiers guarding this area could not enter, and could only be in charge of the security outside the area. The real guards were all people wearing white linen robes, and there was a strange symbol on the clothes … It’s like a pentagram? ”
“Star Observation Pavilion.”
An Zheng muttered to himself.
“Star Observation Pavilion?”
Li Zhongming stared blankly for a moment, then sneered and said, “So those are the people from the Star Observation Pavilion, a group of cold-blooded machine-like people. They had no feelings, and anyone in the room who acted in the slightest way out of line with their rules would immediately be killed. In the eyes of those people, there are only two types of people here. One is themselves, and they have always been like animals, including the soldiers and even the military officers. ”
“What’s the secret?”
“I don’t know. I only tried to get close once. I participated in the recruitment of craftsmen, but I could only work on the outskirts of the restricted area. Those people from the Star Observation Pavilion also seemed to be strictly forbidden from talking about it in front of outsiders, so most of the time they acted like mutes. I can’t stand their looks. When they look at me like I’m a normal person, it’s really like they’re looking at things like pigs, cows, horses, sheep. ”
“The Star Observation Pavilion would not create a forbidden area here for no reason.”
An Zheng thought about another forbidden area in the Star Observation Pavilion … When he was in the Jinling, he found out that the four marshal of the Sanctuary who had been demoted to guard the tomb were actually related to the Star Observation Pavilion. They had secretly cooperated with the Star Observation Pavilion in doing something important in the Royal Tomb. This matter was so important that the four Marshal Saint realm cultivators had to be asked to protect the Royal Tomb. Every single Saint-level marshal waeak-level cultivator of the Great Xi Empire. One could imagine how important it was for them to have four guards.
The news that An Zheng had received was that it was very likely that the people of the Holy Emperor Chen Wunuo who relied on the Star Observation Pavilion in the imperial mausoleum were creating something, and the creation of this thing was related to the collection of the blood of all the beasts and the various great families. That waerrifying thing. Once it was created, it could change the entire world’s situation. In the hunting grounds of the Jinling, the Old Bull had mentioned some things, but because they were short on time, the Old Bull did not say much.
Therefore, An Zheng speculated that the underground palace’s lower secret area and the forbidden area of this underground city were all directly related to the secret inside the imperial mausoleum.
“Wait for me here.”
An Zheng glanced at Yuwen Wushuang: “All you need to do is take care of me, you stay here.”
Yuwen Wushuang frowned slightly: “Why did you arrange for me to do what?”
“You don’t know anything.”
An Zheng went down from the deck and walked along the main street. Yuwen Wushuang stood on the balcony and watched as the figure disappeared into the distance. He felt that this person seemed to have touched his heartstrings in some way. There was a mysterious relationship being linked together by her without any reason. The reason for that was because women could often forcefully make unrelated people related … And all sorts of relationships.
An Zheng walked along the main street toward the restricted area. The reason he did not bring Yuwen Wushuang and Li Zhongming along was because he did not trust any of the Yuwen Clan members. Li Zhongming seemed to say something very sincerely, but he was sure that he had more to say, because Li Zhongming didn’t trust him either. There were many things that he could only say to Yuwen Wushuang, so An Zheng gave him the chance.
Doing things by himself was much more convenient than taking Yuwen Wushuang and Li Zhongming along.
While walking down the street, An Zheng looked at the faces of the people around him, most of them looked pale white, because they would never see the sun throughout the years. Even if the gems were emitting the light of a moving sun, there was still a huge difference. However, the people here did not look sick. From An Zheng’s own observation, Li Zhongming had his own suspicions. Yuwen Wushuang had said one thing right, the people here were very satisfied with the peace here. Therefore, An Zheng could not help but think that if someone told them that the outside world was still alright, they might not be able to accept it, although people in the outside world would think that it was not a cruel thing to do.
The closer they got to the restricted region, the more soldiers there were. However, no one questioned them. This was to say that they firmly believed that this place was safe; they never thought that someone would be able to dig a hole here. There were inns, restaurants, and even casino buildings. An Zheng entered a restaurant a few hundred meters away from the restricted region and sat down near the window to order some dishes. If he continued onward for a few dozen meters, he would reach an empty space with no buildings.
There were many people in the restaurant, including a few Star Observation Pavilion people dressed in white linen robes. This was the restaurant closest to the restricted region, so the business was not bad. Those soldiers and Star Observation Pavilion’s people would come over to take a seat when they were not on duty.
Just then, An Zheng saw a familiar figure, so he immediately turned his head. He did not use the Cultivation Power, but only stood up. Relying on his own muscles, he could easily avoid everyone from leaving through the back door. The mask looked a little similar to An Zheng’s appearance, just that it was a little thinner. Even if a person’s facial features slightly changed, the difference would be very great.
He sat down in the same seat as before. The waiter was stunned for a moment and mumbled to himself, “Why does it seem like he has a completely different person?” An Zheng was also bold, he actually still dared to return to take his original seat.
A few people slowly walked in from outside. The one in the lead was one of the four Marshal of the Absolute Monarch Sanctuary whom An Zheng had seen before … Mu Jianli.
The moment he saw Mu Jianli, An Zheng knew that his guess was right. The secrets of this underground palace must be directly related to the secrets of the Jinling’s Royal Tomb. Even though the two places are thousands of miles apart, there must beleportation array. This teleportation circle could be located in the underground city, this so called forbidden area, in order to make it easier for the people of the Star Observation Pavilion to come and go.
Mu Jianli and the others followed An Zheng upstairs, and directly entered a private room. Before entering the private room, Mu Jianli’s footsteps paused, and he turned around to glance at An Zheng. There waint of doubt in his eyes as he turned around and entered the room.
An Zheng knew that Mu Jianli was very strong, so he used the sealing power of Dao Sect to seal all of his Cultivation Power and auras. He didn’t know if he could hide it from Mu Jianli, but he knew that he must take this risk … Because amongst those people, besides Mu Jianli, he knew two other people. One was the crouching Buddha, and the other was someone who should have already died in his hands.
Chen Zhongqi
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