"Hehe, then I'll have to trouble you, Zi Ye!" Xiao Hua chuckled inwardly as he accompanied Zi Ye out of the main hall.
Fairy Hongxia and the others soon emerged from the quiet chamber as well. They had naturally received Xiao Hua's message and put on a show of greeting Zi Ye. Yet when Fairy Hongxia saw Zi Ye immediately take Xiao Hua's hand again and lead him onward, her gaze fell upon their joined hands, and she curled her lips in displeasure.
Led by Zi Ye and surrounded by a crowd of maidservants, they passed through more than a dozen palace buildings and crossed several dozen plazas before finally arriving before a palace built against the mountain. Its style was utterly different from the buildings they had seen earlier.
The palace was predominantly black, with occasional splashes of blood-red. Uneven patterns ran through the black walls, resembling both bones and skeletons, covering the entire exterior. The doors were adorned with countless beast heads, large and small alike. Every one of them looked incomparably savage, and their features differed from one another. As Xiao Hua looked on, he was truly impressed. He could not imagine where the craftsmen who had built this palace had found so many bizarre beast-head designs!
By now, numerous soul warriors stood in formation along both sides of the palace. Their heights were uniform, and they wore dark-black armor. The armor somewhat resembled the attire of sword cultivators, but it bore strange beast heads and peculiar bone patterns, giving it an air of deep mystery.
The soul warriors stood in ranks beginning at the palace entrance and extending for dozens of zhang, all the way down to the foot of the steps and into the vast plaza.
Houtu Village had countless palaces and just as many