Zhou Qi closed his eyes and quickly connected all the doubts accumulated along the way south in his mind.
Seven empty cities, tens of millions of corpses disappearing out of thin air, annihilation of life without trace, the old man's inconsistent answers, "Chen Youliang" that does not exist in the sect, City-Protecting Grand Formation of the Body Integration Realm...
The final destination is the Cloud Marsh Imperial City in front of us, where people seem to live and work in peace and contentment.
All the seemingly scattered doubts are intertwined into a dense network of fog, covering the entire Cloud Marsh Kingdom.
Zhou Qi suddenly opened his eyes, his eyes flashed, and he whispered in a low voice:
"It's really not that simple."
At this moment, a rapid and sonorous sound of horse hooves came from the end of the long street, breaking the hustle and bustle of the streets and alleys.
A group of Imperial City cavalry with bright armor and fierce momentum galloped past. The leading knight held up the bright yellow flag and shouted loudly:
"The king's decree!"
"Tomorrow at noon, we will worship the sky at Black Mountain in the north of the city to celebrate the retreat of the beast tide! All the people in the city, young and old, must be present to watch the ceremony!"
"Anyone who violates this will be punished as a traitor to the country!"
As soon as the edict came to the ground, people along the street stopped to watch, and then started talking among themselves in whispers.
Zhou Qi stood at the entrance of the alley, looking through the layers of people and looking at the towering dark mountain in the north of the city.
Sacrifice to heaven?
A Nascent Soul Cultivator, who is already cultivating against the heavens, is still engaging in rituals to offer sacrifices to the heavens.
Simply ridiculous!
"Okay, let's take a look and see what the hell this Cloud Marsh Kingdom is doing!"
Zhou Qi did not move forward.
He stood on the side of the street, watching the cavalry team disappear at the end of the long street, and listened to the excited chatter of the people around him gradually dissipating, before turning and walking into a secluded alley.
Zhou Qi stood still among them and slowly activated a spell.
Formless Secret Art.
This Secret Method sounds extremely magical, but each time it is cast, it consumes a lot of Divine Sense, and the duration cannot be too long.
But now is the most appropriate time.
He slowly kneaded the secrets in his sleeves with his hands, and the breath around his body converged inward little by little. The fluctuations in breathing, heartbeat, body temperature, and spiritual power all dropped to almost nothing.
After counting, Zhou Qi opened his eyes.
His figure was still in place, but his whole body seemed to have become a piece of transparent water vapor, blending into the surrounding environment.
Zhou Qi walked out of the alley.
People are still coming and going on the long street, and the sounds of vendors are heard one after another.
Zhou Qi walked to the most crowded place with such swagger.
A salesman carrying a load walked toward him, his steps hurried, and the load almost brushed Zhou Qi's shoulders, but he didn't even look at him.
Several children chased and fought, running past Zhou Qi. One of them even bumped into his sleeve, but it seemed like he had hit a ball of air. He didn't even look back and continued to laugh away.
Zhou Qi looked calm as he walked through the bustling crowd and walked in the direction of Imperial City.
Imperial City's outer city wall is extremely majestic.
On the ten-foot-high city wall, there is an arrow tower every hundred steps.
The guards on the arrow tower were wearing armor and holding swords, and their eyes were scanning the city back and forth like hawks.
At the base of the city wall, every ten feet there is a monk wearing silver armor standing still.
These silver-armored monks are all Golden Core Realm cultivation level.
In a remote dynasty like Cloud Marsh Kingdom, monk Golden Core Realm is already considered to have top-notch combat power.
He walked straight past these silver-armored monks.
At the closest point, I was only half a foot away from a silver-armored guard.
The other party's eyes swept over the location of Zhou Qi, and his pupils did not change at all, as if they were seeing air.
Zhou Qi passes through the outer city wall and enters the first level area of Imperial City.
There are still many people here.
Most of them were palace maids, chamberlains, and some civil servants in official uniforms, walking hurriedly through the various palace passages.
Zhou Qi Mixed in the crowd, it was like being in a deserted place.
But just when he was about to step into the second level of the city gate, his steps suddenly stopped, and a warning signal rang in his heart.
Looking up, above the second city gate, a layer of pale golden light curtain spread slowly.
The light curtain seemed thin and soft, but the Spiritual Power's secrets could escape, but Zhou Qi's pupils suddenly shrank.
Dozens of illusory golden dragons as thick as a thumb slowly swam along the edge of the light curtain.
Coiling Dragon Formation.
The golden dragon in the formation is not a living creature, but a spiritual body condensed by the formation patterns. It is the eyes and ears of the entire City-Protecting Grand Formation, guarding the main entrance of the palace.
The moment Zhou Qi approached.
The dozens of little golden dragons that were swimming lazily suddenly all stagnated, and then, as if they were disturbed by something, they all turned their heads and swam in the direction of Zhou Qi.
An extremely sharp probing force, like dozens of invisible sharp needles, stabbed towards the location of Zhou Qi.
Zhou Qi felt his scalp numb, and the chill in his heart rose sharply.
Formless Secret Art can deceive the Divine Sense detection of all monks under Mahayana.
But at this time, the golden dragon on the city gate array reacted violently, and there was a faint tendency to target him.
This can only explain one problem.
Heavenly level formation!
The person who planted this Coiling Dragon Formation was a Mahayana monk!
Zhou Qi barely hesitated.
He suddenly took a step back, and at the same time pushed Formless Secret Art to the extreme, leaving a faint afterimage of his body on the spot, and the person had quietly retreated dozens of feet away.
The dozen or so golden dragons lingered near the city gate for a while, but in the end they couldn't detect it and slowly swam back to their original position.
Zhou Qi stood in the distance, with cold sweat dripping down his back.
He stared at the city gate, the shock in his eyes still not completely dissipated.
"Coiling Dragon Formation...Mahayana formation..."
If Formless Secret Art hadn't been a bit mysterious, he would have most likely been exposed just now.
Zhou Qi slowly exhaled a breath, made a decisive decision, turned around and retreated in the direction outside Imperial City.
Since there is a tiger in the mountain, it is better to wait for the tiger to come out of the mountain on its own.
Tomorrow's heaven-sacrifice, since the king himself is presiding over it, the ghost behind it will definitely show up.
Zhou Qi walked through the crowd, like a fish swimming in the water, and left Imperial City quietly.
He stopped on a low hill on the west side of Imperial City.
Zhou Qi found an old pine in the forest, leaned against the trunk, took out a recovery pill for Spiritual Power, drank it, and began to close his eyes and regulate his breathing.
In the evening, just after Mao hour, a faint sound of drums came from the direction Imperial City.
The sound of the drum was deep and deep, one after another, shaking the earth and making the birds in the forest flutter around.
Zhou Qi opened his eyes and looked down the mountain.
The streets of Imperial City were already densely packed with people.
The people walked out of their homes and formed a turbulent flow of people, moving towards the north of the city.
There are women holding children, young people supporting old people, farmers wearing coarse shorts, and wealthy businessmen wearing silks.
There were also Imperial City officers and soldiers knocking on doors door to door to urge them.
There were so many people and the noise could be heard ten miles away.
Zhou Qi was condescending and looked at him coldly.
"Coming."
He straightened up and turned into an inconspicuous green shadow, sweeping towards the north of the city with the mountain wind.