Chapter 465: Chapter 465: Breaking Into Palace City

Although this journey is perilous, there are also rewards to be gained.

Now that a group of world NPCs is causing trouble in the real world, Li Rui needs to quickly gain power, as time is of the essence.

The ritual of giving keys by those Prophets outside has a cooldown, making each opportunity to enter specified Secret Realms extremely precious. So, if they can get the Dragon Thunder this time, next time they can head straight to the direction of the Ghost Cry Giant Ridge and meet the Shenxiao Palace Master, who is Chongxu’s master.

Moreover, if they don’t obtain all the Dragon Thunder fragments with Chongxu’s help this time, the difficulty may not be any lower next time.

Furthermore, with the timeline being so chaotic right now, Li Rui even doubts whether they can enter this Secret Realm next time.

"Daoist, shall we go in then?"

"Young hero, noble deeds." Chongxu bowed slightly.

Li Rui asked, "But the problem is, how do we get in?"

Chongxu smiled slightly, "Charge in."

"....."

In Li Rui’s impression, the Daoist didn’t seem like such a person.

Guan Gui said, "I can use resurrectors to attract enemies, and we can enter the royal city amidst the chaos."

"Alright."

Chongxu gave him a deep look. Fengdu indeed has means of necromancy, and they’re quite formidable, but it makes Chongxu, the Shenxiao Palace Daoist, somewhat uneasy.

With Cheng Mingyue’s assistance, Guan Gui began summoning coffins, and in an instant, dozens of resurrectors shrouded in sinister Qi emerged from them.

He took out a bell and shook it lightly, summoning more shriveled corpse demons crawling up from the ground, instantly forming a sizeable force.

"Wait, let me use a few items."

Before Guan Gui ordered the resurrectors to charge, Li Rui stopped him and began using the items from his inventory.

Except for the last three—Rabbit, Dragon, Snake—and the Monkey used initially, the rest of the Thunder Hearts can be used.

These are all pseudo-legendary level items, basically in the same vein as that extraordinarily timed Thunder Heart (Monkey), all with Epic Level effects and Legendary Level duration.

[Thunder Heart (Horse): Stamina increased by 20%, duration 30 minutes.]

[Thunder Heart (Goat): Fire Attribute damage increased by 40%, duration 15 minutes.]

...

[Thunder Heart (Tiger): Physical damage increased by 30%, duration 30 minutes.]

With eight long-duration buffs, Li Rui’s confidence was greatly boosted.

"We’re ready to move."

Chongxu nodded and scattered a stack of talismans, instantly creating hundreds of Golden Armor Guards, not inferior to Guan Gui’s resurrectors, and appearing with more ease.

What’s more terrifying is, Guan Gui can summon a large number of resurrectors because summoning is his primary method, whereas Chongxu creating these Golden Armor Guards is just incidental; he can still cast more powerful spells himself.

This old Daoist is among the top-tier NPCs in the world.

Li Rui thought, if he meets the Shenxiao Palace Master next time, he hopes to persuade them to help deal with the disaster stirred by Zuo Qiutian and others.

With the peak forces of the Eastern Continent joining, the odds of winning would greatly improve.

While mulling over this, Chongxu had already darted ahead; his Thunder Mountain seemed to have no cooldown, swiftly closing the distance to the royal city gate.

Jingming, seeing his master make a move, hurriedly followed, with Li Rui and the others behind.

Once they rushed out completely, the various Barbaric Beasts patrolling outside were immediately drawn in, but the commotion caused by the Golden Armor Guards and the army of resurrectors was quite loud, allowing the five of them to smoothly slip into the royal court’s inner city amidst the chaos.

Upon entering behind the wooden city walls, Li Rui immediately realized that it was actually an illusion barrier.

From the outside, one couldn’t see what was within; only upon entering did they find the whole place completely transformed beyond recognition.

Though visibly, the royal court contained many sculptures and ornaments showcasing the Emperor’s majesty, they were now draped with tangible Evil Qi, resembling layer upon layer of webs.

"This way!"

Guan Gui called out, silently leading the way ahead. He had earlier summoned speedy resurrectors to lead the way, so if any danger arose, they could serve as sacrifices.

Everyone naturally followed close behind, advancing deeper into the royal court.

This place was already heavily guarded, and became even more so after several Barbarian Monarchs came in to plot a grand scheme. They brought their most trusted subordinates to prevent any critical mishaps.

Seizing the power of the Barbarian Emperor is something unprecedented in the Golden Scale Marsh, since generations of Barbarian Monarchs have used the Dragon Thunder origin as the symbol of authority, handed down through the ages.

With this, one naturally commands obedience from all Barbaric Beasts, making mutiny a rare thought.

Yet, Zuo Qiutian’s methods proved unusual; it’s uncertain how he managed to incite these Barbaric Beasts to rebel one after another, even imprisoning the Barbarian Emperor.

Even the inner city of the royal court was modified, with all stationed Barbaric Beasts transformed into Fierce Beasts, augmented with bloodthirsty Qi, making them far more ferocious than before.

Fortunately, Li Rui’s side boasted top-tier combat strength in Chongxu, whose wide sleeves fluttered, releasing talismans that danced in the wind, striking out bolts of Golden Thunder from them.

"Daoist, this way."

The inner city was chaotic; Chongxu alone faced the army of Barbaric Beasts, while Li Rui and others sought a path from behind, notifying him upon finding one, as they headed towards the Palace City where the Barbarian Emperor was held.

When they reached the palace gate, Barbaric Beasts from all sides had already caught up and surrounded them.

Li Rui leaned against the palace gate and said solemnly, "Thunder Generals and Barbarian Monarchs haven’t appeared from start to finish; they must all be within the Palace City."

Cheng Mingyue frowned, "What about these Fierce Beasts at our back?"

Her buffs mainly applied to Li Rui and Guan Gui; someone like Chongxu, with such a level difference, would see much diminished effects from auxiliary skills, nearing negligible.

"This place is already steeped in malevolent Qi."

As Chongxu spoke, he took a step forward, raising the pure white Duster, "These Barbaric Beasts have also been tainted; if not eradicated, they’ll eventually worsen."

While speaking, he tossed the Duster into the air, allowing it to fly above; its seemingly endless bristles rapidly grew, each extending a hundred meters or more.

Yet they weren’t as serene as when in Chongxu’s hands, twisting frantically like thousands of struggling dragons.

Scratch scratch scratch!!

The Duster suspended in mid-air resembled a living entity, piercing through any Barbaric Beast that dared approach, the plaza outside the palace gate instantly filled with a rancid stench of blood, all of it black.

Li Rui realized that the Duster wasn’t merely like a living thing; it truly was, kept docile only in Chongxu’s hands—or rather, the old Daoist had always been suppressing it.

Chongxu’s ultimate move quickly dealt with most of the fallen Barbaric Beasts, leaving the rest less arrogant, only nervously pacing at the perimeter.

"Enter the Palace City; they won’t dare follow."

Li Rui glanced at the countdown, finding that over twenty minutes had elapsed since entering the Secret Realm, making time extremely tight.

With two loud bangs, he and Guan Gui broke open the tightly shut palace gate from both sides, continuing their rush into the Barbarian Emperor’s palace.

Immediately upon barging in, they saw four imposing humanoid Barbaric Beasts standing in the corners, surrounded by three silver-armored commanders, amidst a field of elite Barbaric Beasts.

"Ah... so many." Jingming seemed eager to turn tail and leave.

"Hey hey hey, why aren’t they playing by the rules?"

Cheng Mingyue complained, "Shouldn’t each stage have a boss standing by, allowing us to fight through them one by one?"