67: Silver Moon's whereabouts

"I... I really don't know!" The Beautiful Woman's fingers, like hooks, dug deep into Xiao Zhuo's arm, her hair disheveled, and a desperate whimper, like that of a young beast, squeezed from her throat as she struggled in vain.

"Unwilling to speak?" Xiao Zhuo sneered chillingly, the platinum patterns deep in his eyes surging like a galaxy. "Then I shall take it myself!"

Vast Divine Sense transformed into an invisible sword, fiercely piercing into the Beautiful Woman's Sea of Consciousness! The King-rank Demon's Sea of Consciousness indeed had no Restrictions. Xiao Zhuo's Divine Sense, taking form, entered as if into an uninhabited land, instantly locking onto the pinkish-purple Divine Soul huddled in the corner, trembling.

"Who exactly are you?! When did Jizhou produce a monster like you?!" The succubus's Divine Soul trembled violently, causing the entire Sea of Consciousness space to shiver.

She looked in horror at the Divine Sense Incarnation before her, which shone like a scorching sun, feeling as if every inch of her soul body was being roasted over magma!

Xiao Zhuo turned a deaf ear. The phantom suddenly drew near, his jade-white fingertips, like lightning, pressed against her glabella!

"Buzz—!"

Countless memory fragments flew like a blizzard! Xiao Zhuo rapidly scanned through scenes, from the succubus's birth, until her promotion to King-rank, her joining the Hundred Demon Mountain, and becoming the Silver Moon Venerable King's most favored concubine.

"A lead!" Xiao Zhuo's heart stirred.

As Silver Moon's bedmate, the secrets she knew must far exceed those of ordinary Demons!

In the torrent of memories, a large number of indecent and lewd scenes were instantly filtered out by Xiao Zhuo.

He precisely locked onto the succubus's memories from sixty years after she joined the Hundred Demon Mountain, and quickly searched.

Silver Moon had indeed not returned to her lair! However, a clue was finally captured—

Every year, Silver Moon would leave the Hundred Demon Mountain and travel a thousand li west to Cloud Dream Marsh!

She had even been taken there once.

There was a mysterious valley there, where even the Devilish Qi leaking from the periphery was a hundred times denser than outside!

Mei Ji speculated that there must be an earth-shattering secret in the valley, but Silver Moon strictly forbade her from going deeper, and she dared not disobey.

That time, Silver Moon ventured alone into a dark cave deep beneath the valley.

Mei Ji's task was to guard the periphery, absorbing and refining all the vast Devilish Qi that surged out of the cave, allowing not a single trace to escape!

Xiao Zhuo withdrew his Divine Sense and exited the Sea of Consciousness.

He casually placed the succubus's limp corpse into his storage ring—her Divine Soul had been refined and annihilated by him the moment he performed soul-searching.

Returning to the side of the Soul Prison, Xiao Zhuo followed suit, performing soul-searching on the Dragon Demon's Divine Soul.

The Dragon Demon's memories perfectly matched Mei Ji's account; it too had been brought to the entrance of that valley to carry out the task of refining Devilish Qi.

"As expected!" Xiao Zhuo no longer hesitated. With a thought, the Dragon Demon's Divine Soul in the Soul Prison instantly turned to ash!

With a flash of golden light, he had already rushed out of the underground space, hovering high above the basin.

The dragon blood saber slashed down fiercely!

"Boom!"

The ceiling of the grotto exploded in response! Spiderweb-like cracks spread rapidly, and countless golden saber lights rained down like a downpour!

The low-rank Demons who had fortunately survived below had just looked up when they were crushed into paste by the collapsing boulders! The entire basin, amidst earth-shattering roars, collapsed into a hundred-zhang deep pit!

Before the dust had even dispersed, a dazzling golden light had already ripped through the sky, speeding westward!

On the panel, the Attribute Points notifications were still frantically jumping. Xiao Zhuo glanced at them, feeling very pleased.

After annihilating the remnants of the Hundred Demon Mountain, his panel balance had already exceeded 210,000! This gave him a real sense of confidence in his charge towards the Myriad Manifestations Realm!

"It's just... although there are enough Attribute Points, where will the vast Origin energy needed for the Breakthrough come from?" Xiao Zhuo frowned slightly.

After dealing with Silver Moon, he must quickly search for high-rank qi and blood pills or rare heavenly treasures that can replenish Origin!

As he pondered, his figure suddenly paused!

Hovering in mid-air, Xiao Zhuo took out two yellowed beast skin papers from his storage ring—these were the items he had obtained from the Pengcheng City Lord's Mansion.

The topographical outlines depicted on them were strikingly similar to Cloud Dream Marsh!

Xiao Zhuo had never delved into the mystery of this map. Now, with his Divine Sense covering the two beast skins, he immediately noticed something unusual:

One of the beast skins was new leather made to look old! Although the two maps were largely similar, there were subtle differences in the details!

"Forged!" Xiao Zhuo instantly understood.

The forger must undoubtedly be the deceased City Lord of Pengcheng, Zong Qing!

His Divine Sense penetrated the truly ancient beast skin, and indeed, there was another mystery on the back!

A hidden map, engraved with powerful Divine Thought, emerged, with mountains, rivers, palaces, and pavilions clearly visible, and various places marked with "Pill Pavilion," "Artifact Tomb," "Secret Vault," and other labels!

"Sect ruins map?!" Xiao Zhuo's heart trembled violently!

How could such a treasure fall into the hands of a mere Marrow Cleansing Martial Artist like Zong Qing?

Considering that Zong Qing also possessed a secret art like the Purple Extreme Burning True Method... this unfortunate City Lord must have hidden an enormous secret!

Unfortunately, this secret had, with his death, been buried forever.

Suppressing his doubts, Xiao Zhuo quickly compared the map markings with the valley location in Mei Ji's memory.

"They're adjacent!" His eyes burst with sharp light! This trip, he could kill two birds with one stone!

His escape light rose again, its speed skyrocketing! Target—Cloud Dream Marsh!

With Xiao Zhuo's current cultivation, a thousand li was nothing.

This was also one of the Human Race powerhouses' reliance on their sparse numbers to guard Jizhou under the encirclement of Demons.

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, an endless, vast marsh shrouded in a hazy green mist appeared on the horizon.

Cloud Dream Marsh! Highly toxic miasma permeated and rose, instantly fatal to anything below the fifth rank! Even a True Reversion powerhouse would find it difficult to escape the poison if they stayed too long.

This place was a forbidden zone for the Human Race, and even Demons avoided it!

Xiao Zhuo's Divine Sense spread out, covering the sky and earth, comparing the map with the surrounding environment.

A moment later, his gaze, like lightning, locked onto an inconspicuous valley in the middle of the marsh!

With a flash of golden light, his figure, like a meteor, landed on the peak of the valley!

His Divine Sense, like an invisible tide, surged towards the bottom of the valley.

"Found it!" A sharp glint flashed in Xiao Zhuo's eyes! On the rock wall at the bottom of the valley, a deep, dark lava cave entrance clearly appeared!

However, when his Divine Sense touched the cave entrance, attempting to probe deeper—

"Buzz!"

A powerful and unparalleled invisible force, like an iron wall, firmly blocked his Divine Sense!

No matter how Xiao Zhuo urged it, he couldn't penetrate it in the slightest!

On the mountaintop, Xiao Zhuo's brows were tightly furrowed.

With his Divine Sense blocked from probing, he could only go in person!

He activated Instant Flash! His figure had already appeared at the cold lava cave entrance.

At the entrance of the cave, faint traces of cold Devilish Qi slowly seeped out, their concentration thin, a stark contrast to the vast, surging scene in Mei Ji's memory.

Xiao Zhuo no longer hesitated, stepping into the deep lava cave.

The cave was as dark as ink, and a hundred meters in, the last trace of external light completely disappeared.

But Xiao Zhuo's eyes, tempered by the Purgatory Demonic Body, already possessed night vision, and darkness was like daylight to him.

The cave was silent, with only the hollow echo of water droplets falling from stalactite tips onto the rock surface, adding to the eerie atmosphere.

Xiao Zhuo walked slowly in the absolute darkness for half an hour. Finally, a faint, weak glow stubbornly flickered in the darkness ahead!

"Here!" Xiao Zhuo's spirits lifted, and he activated Instant Flash!

His figure reappeared, already at the source of the light!

The scene before him was breathtaking:

A colossal ancient bronze gate, ten zhang high and covered in mottled verdigris, stood like an ancient beast! From the cracks in the door, wisps of pure Devilish Qi seeped out like living things.

On the rock walls on both sides of the gate, two eerie blue candle flames burned silently, illuminating the giant gate in a mysterious and solemn manner!

"Silver Moon... are you behind the door?" Xiao Zhuo gazed at the giant gate, his Battle Intent rising.

He pointed his fingers like a sword, and the Heaven-Shattering Finger ultimate technique was fiercely unleashed! A golden finger light, condensed to the extreme, tore through the darkness and slammed heavily onto the bronze giant gate!

"Clang—!"

The deafening clang of metal echoed! Grayish-black ripples violently undulated on the surface of the giant gate, and the golden finger light, like a mud ox entering the sea, instantly vanished into nothingness!

"Such a powerful Restriction!" Xiao Zhuo's pupils constricted slightly.

With his current strength, even using the Heaven-Shattering Finger, he probably couldn't shake this door in the slightest!

Here, his Divine Sense was completely suppressed and could not leave his body to probe. Xiao Zhuo's eyes, sharp as torches, carefully scanned the surface of the giant gate—no locks, no holes, smooth as a mirror.

"If there's no specific opening incantation, the mechanism must be elsewhere!"

He turned and began to meticulously search the rock walls around the antechamber.

He didn't miss a single indentation, a single crack.

However, after a round, he found nothing!

"Did I guess wrong?" A hint of doubt had just arisen when Xiao Zhuo's gaze subconsciously swept towards the entrance.

The moment he turned his head, the corner of his eye suddenly caught an anomaly on the opposite rock wall—a palm-sized, slightly darker protruding stone than the surrounding rock wall!

He quickly stepped forward, his fingertips brushing the surface of the stone. The touch was slightly cool, blending seamlessly with the rock wall, easily overlooked if not deliberately observed.

"This is it!" Xiao Zhuo didn't hesitate, exerting force with his five fingers, and twisted sharply!

"Click... Rumble rumble rumble—!"

A muffled sound of machinery rang out! Followed by the ancient roar of the heavy, mountain-like bronze giant gate slowly rising!

Dust rustled down.

Xiao Zhuo's lips finally curved into a cold smile, filled with endless killing intent.