Meanwhile, the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord made the first moves in rapid succession. He first found Monk Huikong of the Pudu Cult and told him about the Ancient Battlefield's pocket dimension, then explained that he had already persuaded Meng Zhao. Monk Huikong readily agreed.
Next, he would seek out the one he regarded as the greatest challenge—the toughest bone to gnaw: the Holy Infant Child.
The Heavenly Demon Palace Lord had not actually known of the Holy Infant Child at first. Unlike the Demon Master's Successor, whom he had placed under surveillance from the beginning, he had learned of him through Beitang Sheng's channels.
The Holy Infant Sect was indeed part of the Demonic Path, yet the Holy Infant Child had emerged from demonhood into righteousness and held a place within the righteous path. His cultivation was immensely profound, unfathomable even to ghosts and gods. Beitang Sheng had once hoped to recruit him, only to return empty-handed several times, which showed just how difficult he was to deal with.
Yet because of this, the Heavenly Demon Palace Lord had learned a crucial piece of information. For others, finding the Holy Infant Child was harder than climbing to heaven, but he could pinpoint this top expert of the current age with great precision.
Liang Prefecture, Gu'an County Seat, Orphanage.
The Orphanage was a welfare institution jointly established by the Gu'an County Seat magistrate's office and the county's powerful clans, families, and wealthy merchants. It took in infants, children, and youths left without anyone to raise them for various reasons—essentially an ancient version of a welfare home.
This Orphanage was also one of only six large-scale, formally established, widely known places for taking in children throughout Liang Prefecture.
The institution stood six li outside Gu'an County Seat, occupying a stretch of unclaimed