Imperial Palace, Imperial Clan Court Underground Palace.
Going down three thousand stone stairs, the air was filled with the smell of stale spices and something deeper, like the sour smell emanating from dry bones soaked in potion.
The deepest part of the Underground Palace is a Stone Chamber sealed by the blue Copper Lock chain.
Stone Chamber's door has been pushed open from the inside, or in other words, it was knocked open by something from the inside.
The green Copper Lock chain was broken into several pieces and scattered on the ground.
Old Emperor stood in front of the Stone Chamber door. The bright yellow Dragon Robe on his body had not been changed for an unknown period of time. The gold threads on the collar and cuffs were all frayed. The whole person was so thin that only a handful of bones were left. His face was close to his cheekbones, and his two eye sockets were sunken. The Death Qi under his eyes was thicker than the Blood Qi of a living person.
There were two people standing in front of him.
No, it should be said that they are two things that can still stand.
The one on the left is wearing Dark Robe, the style of the last dynasty. Her hair is already white, but it is not the whiteness of aging, but the whiteness that has faded after Eroding by a certain law. Each hair strand seems to be made of glass, reflecting cold light in the dim light of the Underground Palace. There are no wrinkles on the face, and it is abnormally smooth, as if someone has pasted a piece of paper on the skull.
The one on the right is even weirder. He is short and skinny. He is wearing a military commander's armor from a hundred years ago. The rust on the armor has grown on the skin and flesh. It is hard to tell which is iron and which is flesh. His eyes are white and have no pupils, but they can rotate.
Old Emperor faced these two things, bent down, and gave a great salute that he had never given to anyone in his life.
"Two ancestors, I know I have disturbed your Qing Dynasty, but Great Qian's country is at a critical moment of life and death."
The one on the left, White-Haired Thing, opened his mouth, and the sound he made seemed to come from the bottom of Dry Well. It was hoarse, hollow, and echoed.
"How many generations."
Old Emperor was stunned for a moment.
"Back to my ancestors, I am the seventeenth generation of Great Qian."
White-Haired Thing stood for a long time, with no expression on his paper-like face.
"The Seventeenth Generation is almost here."
"What's so fast?"
White-Haired Thing did not answer this question, but turned his head and looked at the Rust-Armored Thing on the right.
"Old Zhao, do you still have yours?"
Rust-Armored Thing's mouth without lips opened and closed, and the sound was even worse than the other one, as if he was chewing iron pieces.
"Here, he's not dead yet. He's been hungry for three hundred years, so his temper may be a bit strong."
"Let it out."
Old Emperor took a step forward, "What are the two ancestors talking about? Is it usable?"
White-Haired Thing finally turned his attention to Old Emperor and looked at him for a long time, until Old Emperor began to sweat on his forehead.
"The Death Qi on you is too heavy, Seventeenth Generation."
"I know."
"You know it and you ask if it can be used? Why do you think we have been sleeping for hundreds of years?"
White-Haired Thing raised one hand. The skin of that hand was translucent, and the blue-black blood vessels and withered white bones could be seen underneath.
"When Great Qian was founded, Taizu dragged back three things from the battlefield of Northern Border Demon Realm. One was Demon Suppression Golden Seal, the same was the Dragon Slaying Sword, and the other one was this one under our feet."
He tapped his finger towards the ground.
Under the floor of Stone Chamber, there was an extremely low vibration. It was not a sound, but a pure physical tremor. The entire wall of the Underground Palace shook, and a layer of centuries-old dust fell.
Old Emperor's expression changed.
"Ancestor, Demon Suppression Golden Seal has been destroyed, Dragon Slaying Sword has also been broken, both of which were lost in the hands of that evil obstacle."
White-Haired Thing was silent for a while, and for the first time a slight change appeared on that expressionless face, as if some ancient emotion was slowly seeping out from under the ice that had been frozen for hundreds of years.
"All destroyed?"
"It's all destroyed."
"Taizu had to trade Barbarian Beast with a broken back spine in exchange for these two things. Seventeen generations of you can't even defend them."
Old Emperor gritted his teeth and the sweat on his forehead became even denser.
"I am incompetent, but I cannot let Great Qian's country be destroyed in the hands of Heavenly Prison's warden."
White-Haired Thing put his hands back into his sleeves and stood there for a long time.
Rust-Armored Thing suddenly spoke.
"Okay Old Li, stop putting on airs, the Seventeenth Generation is also his own son, so after scolding you, you still don't have to help."
White-Haired Thing snorted, noncommittal.
Rust-Armored Thing turned to Old Emperor. The two white eyes without pupils were looking at who knows where, but their tone was much more direct than the other one.
"What you want is down there Fourth Layer, Sealing Array Disc is at Third Layer, I'll go get it."
He took two steps toward the door and turned back.
"If this thing is released, you won't be able to control it for too long. You'd better think clearly about your chances of winning against that bastard Heavenly Prison."
Old Emperor's eyes revealed a ruthless look under the shadow of Death Qi.
"I don't need long, just enough to grind him into a pulp."
Rust-Armored Thing heyed, not sure whether it was a smile or a sigh.
"Follow me and don't go astray. If Third Layer's Formation makes a wrong step, you won't even be able to leave any bones."
Two things walked out of Stone Chamber one after another and went down the deeper stairs.
Old Emperor followed, walked a few steps, stopped, and spoke into the darkness behind him.
"According to my oral instructions, Imperial Guards except for one thousand Armored Guards who are left guarding the palace gate, the rest will be transferred to the direction of Heavenly Prison and are waiting for orders."
Someone responded in the darkness, and footsteps retreated upwards.
Old Emperor Keep going down.
When we reached Third Layer, the ground was shaking so much that we needed to hold on to the wall to stand firm.
Rust-Armored Thing squatted in front of a huge bronze Array Disc. Two hands that were so rusted that they were stuck to the flesh were groping on Array Disc. Every time a mechanism was turned, the vibrations on the ground became stronger.
White-Haired Thing stood aside, facing the entrance of the passage that was sealed by the iron curtain further down, and a clear emotion finally appeared on that paper-like face.
Old Emperor recognized it, that was because he was afraid.
An old Monster who is at the top of his Half-step Dharma Aspect is afraid of something beneath his feet.
"Ancestor, what level is that thing?"
White-Haired Thing never looked back.
"When Taizu dragged it back from Northern Border, it was already half dead. Three of its four legs were broken, and half of its body was chewed off by Great Demon. In this state, Taizu still spent the lives of three thousand elite soldiers to lock it up."
His voice was dry and cold.
"For three hundred years, Old Zhao and I took turns feeding it with our own Essence Blood, raising it from half-dead to the level it is now."
"What is it now."
White-Haired Thing turned his head to look at Old Emperor. In his eyes under his white eyebrows, the thin layer of ice-like indifference cracked.
"Stronger than me."
Array Disc The last mechanism was unscrewed.
All the vibrations coming from under the floor stopped at that moment.
Unusually quiet.
Rust-Armored Thing stood up from Array Disc and took three steps back.
White-Haired Thing also took three steps back.
Old Emperor was subconsciously driven back by the actions of the two people, and his back pressed against the cold stone wall.
The silence lasted for a long time.
Then, the ground beneath my feet cracked.
It wasn't cracked, but was smashed by something from below. A complete bronze floor tile was split into two halves in the middle and flew out to both sides, revealing the black hole Abyss underneath.
A claw extends from Abyss.
The claws are so big that one of them takes up half of Stone Chamber's ground. Each of the six toe claws is as thick as an adult's waist. When grasped on the broken ground, it makes a harsh sound of metal rubbing against Shitou.
Then comes the second paw.
Then the third one.
That thing climbed up section by section from Abyss. With each section it climbed, a layer of gravel fell from the ceiling of Stone Chamber, and the entire structure of the Underground Palace groaned in pain under its weight.
Old Emperor saw the whole thing clearly.
Three intact giant claws support the ground, and the fourth leg is a healed severed limb. The body is covered with dark gray scales, each scale is engraved with dried blood lines, and a row of spikes on the back extends from the base of the neck to the end of the tail. The shape of the head is between a dragon and a beast. The eyes are Crimson color, as red as if two balls of living fire have been stuffed into the eye sockets.
It squatted in the Underground Palace, and just breathing blew the clothes and hair of everyone in the room back.
Old Emperor's lips are trembling.
"This is Heaven Devouring Hou."
White-Haired Thing didn't answer. He just retreated to the corner of Stone Chamber and stood together with Rust-Armored Thing. Both of their eyes were fixed on the giant beast, and Aura all over their bodies were raised to the highest level.
Heaven Devouring Hou's Crimson eyes swept over everyone in Stone Chamber, and stopped for a moment on Old Emperor.
It opened its mouth.
It was not a roar, but a very low cry, so low that it seemed like a resonance coming from the depths of the movement of heaven and earth. The sound wave penetrated the stone wall and spread upward, and the entire foundation of the Imperial Palace shook three times with this sound.
Above Divine Capital, all the people raise their heads.
In the dark blue sky, a crack opened from the Imperial Palace direction and expanded to all directions.
In a residential house in the south of the city, someone's hand holding a rice bowl shook and the bowl fell to the ground and broke.
In front of East City's Demon Suppression Division yamen, Captain, who was on duty, looked at the crack in the sky and turned pale.
In the ruined hall of the Eastern Palace in the north of the city, Crown Prince Zhao Heng was looking down at a secret report. The moment the low whistle came, the tea cup in his hand broke by itself, and the hot tea was poured into his hand, but he did not react at all. He just raised his head and looked out the window.
"He's crazy."
Crown Prince's voice is extremely light.
The staff next to him came up and lowered their voices.
"Your Highness, Imperial Clan Court are all open over there, leaving none of the three seals behind. His Majesty is going to take out all the foundations."
Crown Prince put the broken cup pieces away from his hands and stood up.
"Command, Six Inner City Gates are all locked up, Eastern Palace Personal Guards retreat to Light-Holding Gate, no one is allowed to go out without my warrant."
"Your Highness won't help Heavenly Prison?"
Crown Prince glanced at the staff member. There was no anger in that look, only a cold precision.
"I won't help anyone. After they finish fighting, the one who is alive will be my opponent."