Chapter 588: Since Evidence Has Already Been Left

The room was not only large and spacious but also exceptionally opulent.

There was an ice-blue long desk that looked very high-end, appearing to be for official business. Yet, there was also a luxurious daybed, seemingly for rest.

A large full-length mirror, a dressing table, and a brocade robe hung on a hanger, spread wide like the character ‘大’. The robe was exquisitely embroidered with a riot of flowers and soaring phoenixes, exuding an indescribable nobility.

It was women's attire, and though the room’s atmosphere made it unclear if it belonged to a woman, a faint, pleasant fragrance permeated the air.

The bead and gauze curtains hanging at the doorway were clearly made of exceptional materials.

A quick glance around the entire room revealed that nothing was ordinary; it all exuded an extremely high-end sense of nobility, clearly belonging to a wealthy family.

This certainly matched Young Master Nan's family background; he was wealthy, after all.

Could this be Young Master Nan's home?

But then he felt something was wrong. How large was Young Master Nan's Worry-Free Pavilion? Based on previous experience with the two-realm passage, the exit should still be a considerable distance from the target location, as indicated by the golden thread’s extension speed and his own time spent at the exit.

The Worry-Free Pavilion couldn't possibly cover such a vast area.

Whose home in the vicinity of the Worry-Free Pavilion did he end up in?

This was entirely possible; it was just a bit too coincidental to appear right inside someone's room.

He used his right eye’s special ability to extend his vision and scan the surroundings. A quick sweep made his heart pound as he noticed quite a few people sparsely distributed nearby.

Losing all inclination to observe the room further, he strained to keep hold of the golden thread and moved towards the window. He found the window seams so tightly closed that not a sliver of the outside view was visible, so he gently pushed open a crack to peek out.

With that push, he discovered the window was also extraordinary; it opened without any resistance or the usual creaking sound, even with a bit more force.

His right eye couldn't discern the specific reality outside, so he switched to his left. A single glance startled him so much that he immediately pulled his head back.

He even wondered if he had seen incorrectly. Peering out again, he saw magnificent jade palaces and towers stretching endlessly. His room seemed to be in a higher, elevated area, and the sparsely distributed individuals were clearly guards in Celestial Court armor.

The item was sent to the capital of the Dongsheng Kingdom, so this couldn't possibly be the Celestial Court. Could the exit have appeared in a heavily guarded royal precinct?

If that were true, it would be a very serious problem.

That shouldn't be right. The royal precinct was far from where Young Master Nan lived. Based on previous entry and exit experiences, the 'Death-Defying Incense' golden thread shouldn't extend such a long distance, should it?

Could the item Young Master Nan possessed have fallen into the royal court's hands?

"Chuntian, Chuntian..." Wu Jinliang's voice vaguely drifted from the other end of the two-realm passage.

Shi Chun immediately lowered his voice and replied, "Quiet."

He dared not speak loudly; how could he in this dreadful place?

Wu Jinliang, unable to hear him and worried something was wrong, flashed out like a cannonball, almost hitting the wall. He quickly pushed with his hand to steady himself before landing.

Shi Chun turned to look at him.

Wu Jinliang, startled, scanned the surroundings and asked, "Where is this?"

"Shhh!" Shi Chun quickly put a finger to his lips, signaling him to be quiet.

Wu Jinliang immediately tiptoed to another window, gently pushed open a crack, and peeked out. It was better not to have looked; one glance made his face change drastically. He quickly turned, leaned against the wall, and squatted down. His eyes darted around as he whispered, "Chuntian, that scale out there... we haven't run into the heart of the royal court, have we?"

Shi Chun gently pulled the window shut. "Most likely," he said.

Wu Jinliang asked with a mix of surprise and uncertainty, "The item Young Master Nan had fell into the royal court's hands?"

Shi Chun glanced at the entrance to the two-realm passage. "What I'm worried about now is the one sent to Shen Moming," he said. "If the one Young Master Nan had has gone astray, can the one Shen Moming has be kept safe?"

Wu Jinliang's face changed drastically; he instantly understood. Even if they retreated to the Underworld now and tried to use the 'Death-Defying Incense' to communicate with Shen Moming's path, they might still end up back in the heart of the royal court.

The key problem now was that they had ended up in the heart of the royal court with no way to escape.

He immediately took out a pair of communication talismans and said, "I'll contact Shen Moming and them to ask."

Shi Chun stopped him. "If the items have fallen into the royal court's hands," he said, "can you guarantee that they haven't been controlled by the royal court?"

Wu Jinliang was dumbfounded. "What do we do then?" he asked. "We can't just wait here. Calculating the time, their souls should be almost retrieved, right?"

Shi Chun pursed his lips and decisively said, "After we return to the Underworld, let's try moving our position."

Wu Jinliang pressed on, "What if we still end up in the royal court? This is considered lucky; at least we're in a room. If we reappear in public view and are spotted directly, that would be terrible."

Shi Chun replied, "That's not the worst. If they only obtained one item, they wouldn't easily open the soul-restraining pouch. But if they obtained both, it's hard to say if they'd open one to check first."

"..." Wu Jinliang was dumbfounded again. If that were truly the case, it would mean that after entering the Underworld, they might never be able to come out again. He immediately complained repeatedly, "We were careless, Chuntian. You're such a shrewd person, how could you not have left an escape route in Juquzhou? If worst comes to worst, slipping back to Juquzhou would work too."

Shi Chun replied, "I'm talking about the worst-case scenario. It's unlikely they would easily open it if they couldn't control what's inside."

Wu Jinliang said, half-laughing, half-crying, "Is this something we can easily gamble on?"

"So let's just try it," Shi Chun said, throwing out a corpse he had brought from the Underworld. Noticing the Underworld clothing on the corpse was too obvious, he quickly stripped it naked.

Wu Jinliang, recognizing a task Shi Chun often performed, understood at a glance. With a pounding heart, he said, "You're going to try the 'Death-Defying Incense' here?" He stood up and lightly stomped his foot on the ground. "It's not easy to tunnel underground here," he explained. "I don't have that much ability to tunnel under the royal court!"

Shi Chun replied, "Don't bother tunneling; there's no time. Let's do it here. My cultivation technique can slightly control the scent's diffusion. Once we're gone, there's nothing that can be done if it diffuses further."

Wu Jinliang exclaimed, "Chuntian, don't be foolish! Even if it works, it's useless if there are no captured souls outside!"

Shi Chun snapped, "Stop nagging, I have my ways. Hurry!"

Alright, given their past, Wu Jinliang still trusted that Shi Chun wouldn't be foolish at a crucial moment. He immediately pulled out the 'Death-Defying Incense', hooked it with a finger, and set it ablaze.

Shi Chun quickly cast a spell to cooperate, guiding the burning smoke towards the Underworld corpse.

The golden thread he controlled with his other hand began to vibrate, showing signs of retracting. This immediately made him feel uneasy, but he did not disturb Wu Jinliang.

In the heavily guarded royal precinct, magnificent jade palaces and towers stretched endlessly. At the connecting points of the left and right wings were the residences of the Left Grand Marshal and Right Grand Marshal, respectively.

At this time, inside the Right Grand Marshal's mansion, within a pavilion with tightly closed doors and windows, an old man with white hair and beard, dressed in plain clothes, was pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back. This was the same person who had previously taken the letter from Young Master Nan.

Beside him were several others, including a disheveled man in black who stood at a table, holding two soul-restraining pouches and manipulating something in mid-air, swirling them in a way that onlookers couldn't quite comprehend.

The man in black finally stopped and tied the mouth of one pouch, then cupped his hands and reported to the pacing old man, "Reporting, Right Sage, there is indeed a soul restrained in the pouch. However, it wasn't human in life; it seems to be a dog."

"A dog?" The old man stopped pacing and turned back, looking somewhat surprised.

He had specifically found someone who cultivated Underworld techniques to identify it, and he hadn't expected it to identify as a dog.

He couldn't understand why a dog's soul required such elaborate handling.

He was about to ask if the other person had made a mistake, since the man had said 'seems to be', but the next moment, his gaze suddenly sharpened, fixating directly on the tied soul-restraining pouch.

Although he was not an Underworld cultivator, a certain level of cultivation allowed one to detect unusual occurrences nearby.

Immediately afterward, he saw the Underworld cultivator's face change. He quickly reached for the other soul-restraining pouch and repeatedly swept it through the air.

In his eyes, the soul in the pouch was actually escaping from within. He quickly tried to remedy the situation by catching it, but even when the other pouch caught it, it was useless; it could still escape through the bag walls. He immediately exclaimed, "Right Sage, this is bad! The soul is escaping! The soul-restraining pouch can't control it!"

To be able to escape from a soul-restraining pouch, the old man immediately concluded that this soul was definitely not ordinary. This aligned with why the item had been delivered so secretly. He immediately said in a deep voice, "You must capture it!"

What could the Underworld cultivator do? He could only frantically wave the soul-restraining pouch and give chase. He quickly broke through the window and went after it.

This action immediately alarmed the guards of the Right Grand Marshal's mansion. However, the old man appeared floating in mid-air.

With a wave of his hand, he immediately dismissed all the guards.

Chasing and chasing, they soon reached the boundary guarded by the royal court's sentries. The Underworld cultivator dared not trespass. As soon as the old man arrived, he quickly reported, "Right Sage, this soul is not normal. A normal soul couldn't run this far; it would have long since vanished into the netherworld. This soul doesn't belong to the Underworld; instead, it seems to be heading somewhere specific."

The old man didn't need to be told; he had already determined it wasn't a normal soul; otherwise, why would it take such effort? He immediately asked, "Where did it go?"

"Over there," the Underworld cultivator said, pointing towards the higher ground of the royal court.

The old man immediately flashed to the royal court guards. After personally negotiating for a bit, he turned back and gestured for the Underworld cultivator to continue. This time, however, a team of royal court personnel followed to observe.

Meanwhile, inside the room, Shi Chun had already seen the situation he expected: golden threads had appeared on the Underworld corpse. This meant his judgment was correct: Underworld creatures could also be used to enter and exit the two realms.

"Alright, let's go, back to the Underworld," Shi Chun said, stopping Wu Jinliang and casually throwing several soul-restraining pouches into the opulent room.

Wu Jinliang, who had stopped his work, glanced over and asked, "What do you mean? Why are you throwing them away?"

Shi Chun replied, "They won't possibly open all of them immediately. After we enter the Underworld, let's first try if the one with Shen Moming works. If not, we'll immediately try to connect with the opening here and see."

"Ah, since we've already left a bunch of evidence that someone was here, then..." Wu Jinliang immediately turned and leaped to the ice-blue long desk, touching it and repeating "Good stuff, good stuff" to himself. He then casually put it into his Qiankun bag.

He then ran to the mirror and looked into it. Twisting his body, he let out a surprised "Eh?" "This is a treasure mirror!" he exclaimed. "Just by twisting your body, it knows your intention. Look, it can show your side, and even your back when you're facing it directly. Good stuff, good stuff."

Naturally, he casually put it away as well.

He then bounced to the luxurious robe and touched it.

The golden thread he controlled vibrated violently. Shi Chun looked back with anger. "What are you dawdling for?" he snapped. "The souls are retrieved, and people are coming. Hurry!"

So Wu Jinliang stopped touching and admiring things everywhere. Without further thought, he waved his hand and swept up everything in the room that could be taken. Only then did he urgently follow Shi Chun and escape into the two-realm passage.