661: old capital

Five days later.

Shen Bei arrived at the location the crew member had pointed to.

The time was greatly reduced.

The crew member had calculated the walking time, but Shen Bei had taken to the air, constantly rushing.

The underground cave was truly larger than imagined; even with Shen Bei's flying speed, it still took five days, showing just how unimaginably vast the area was.

Fortunately, along the way, Shen Bei, disguised as an alien, passed through various cities, big and small, without incident.

If he had traveled with a human aura and identity, he would have had to fight his way through.

At the same time.

During his journey forward.

Shen Bei could clearly feel that the surrounding cities were radiating outwards.

Like they were guarding a certain city.

Undoubtedly, at the radiating center, there should be a large city.

It wasn't until Shen Bei reached the center point.

He became even more certain; although there was nothing within his sight but a desolate wasteland, the traces left on the earth's surface clearly indicated that there had been a city here, but it had inexplicably vanished.

Or rather, it had been hidden.

Shen Bei squatted on the ground, peeling back thick layers of soil, and could still see flagstones laid with bricks.

These flagstones were in a damaged state, as if someone had deliberately destroyed them.

"This should be the place."

Shen Bei looked around.

At the same time, he confirmed the map in his mind; the terrain was indeed similar.

Then.

Shen Bei took out the key from his Storage Ring.

True Qi surged.

The key rose into the air.

It grew larger with the wind.

After a burst of light.

Shen Bei's eyes widened, watching everything before him with disbelief.

An extremely vast and prosperous city appeared out of thin air!

Even in Shen Bei's sight, he couldn't see the beginning or end of the city.

It was unimaginably huge!

"Is this the Old Capital?"

Shen Bei tried to walk in, but...

He couldn't get in!

It was clearly right in front of him.

But it was as if an invisible, transparent membrane was blocking him.

"I've come this far, and you're still stopping me?"

Shen Bei was completely dumbfounded.

As long as he got in, he could find Suspended Lantern Sect, and resolving the complete collapse would definitely be a done deal.

Yet, he had found the Old Capital, and it was right in front of him, but he couldn't enter no matter what!

"Damn it."

Shen Bei kicked.

He was still blocked out of thin air, and even the air in front of him didn't ripple in the slightest.

"Quite hard."

As Shen Bei pondered, he felt that this shouldn't be his problem.

Thinking about it, such a large city, and it was the Old Capital.

Its sudden disappearance and concealment must have some Karma.

Then, when the Imperial Dynasty decided to abandon this city, they must have made various preparations for defense.

After a moment of hesitation.

Shen Bei was no longer in a hurry.

And began to fly towards a nearby city.

According to Shen Bei's understanding, the light from the key just now was extraordinarily bright.

He estimated that aliens in the distance would have noticed it and would come to investigate.

Once the Old Capital was exposed, it would definitely be reported to the Imperial Capital.

At that time, the Imperial Capital would surely send people to investigate the reason.

In this way, he could sneak in.

And Shen Bei wasn't worried that others would recognize him; the Imperial Capital was very far from here, conservatively estimated to be tens of thousands of miles away.

The local aliens wouldn't recognize him.

And in the Imperial Capital, Shen Bei had never interacted with the Royal family, so he would be an even more unfamiliar face.

As long as he could sneak in.

A few days wouldn't make a difference.

With a decision made in his heart.

Shen Bei quickly blended into a small city a hundred miles away.

In this city, officials were already in chaos, organizing people to head to the glowing location to investigate.

The surrounding common people also joined in to watch the excitement.

"What was that light? I was almost blinded!"

"It must be some powerful cultivators fighting, right?"

"Just that one strike?"

"How can that barren land produce something strange?"

"What are you arguing about? Let's go and see; what if we pick up something good?"

"Good idea! Let's go, let's go, we'll go too."

...

Shen Bei listened to the aliens discussing on the street, and without changing his expression, slipped into an inn.

After getting a room.

Shen Bei quietly waited there.

The next day.

News on the street was flying everywhere.

There were all sorts of rumors.

The surrounding aliens no longer had any concept of the Old Capital.

They completely couldn't understand why a huge city would appear in a barren place.

There were even rumors that it was a barrier.

Shen Bei remained still.

Occasionally going out to gather information, he stayed in the inn for a full five days.

On the third day.

Shen Bei received news that the Imperial Capital had already dispatched personnel to investigate the situation.

The opportunity was coming!

Soon.

On the sixth day.

A team of over a hundred people entered the city where Shen Bei was staying to rest.

The attire of this team was clearly that of the Royal family, all uniformly dressed in golden outfits.

Walking on the street, they made the surrounding common people look like bumpkins.

The Royal team did not stop at any inn, directly taking up residence in the local government office.

Over the next three days.

Small detachments constantly traveled back and forth between the Old Capital and the small city.

According to Shen Bei's estimation, they were likely gathering intelligence.

He guessed they would enter soon.

Indeed.

This day.

The entire Royal team set out collectively, heading to the Old Capital.

By this time, all sorts of news had spread, becoming common knowledge.

A large number of aliens rushed over to join the excitement, and they couldn't be dispersed.

Even though the Royal team was exceptionally dignified, they were helpless against the surging crowd of alien people.

They could only let them watch the show from outside.

"Have you heard? This big city was originally called the Old Capital!"

"Ah? What does that mean?"

"Stupid! It means it was the original Imperial Capital, later abandoned and hidden."

"Hiss!!! Is there such a history? How did you know?"

"My great-uncle's second son's nephew's brother-in-law works as a gatekeeper at the government office, and he heard the news."

"This relationship is so messy, it doesn't sound reliable!"

"More reliable than me! It's true!"

...

Shen Bei hid among the common people, listening to the various rumors among the aliens, which had turned into a communication convention.

Some of the news was indeed very accurate.

It was just that they were puzzled; according to the news, the Old Capital had been very well hidden by a barrier.

To the point that local people didn't even know about it.

All history related to it had also been erased.

But why did the Old Capital appear out of thin air?

This was a bit perplexing.

Not only the common people were perplexed, but also the Royal team.

In front.

Two Royal aliens, clearly the leaders, looked at the vast city with grave expressions.

"So this is the Old Capital... As a Royal family member, I had heard of it, but never seen it. This is my first time."

The alien speaking had two horns on his head, a typical alien face, and his pupils were purple gold in color.

The other person said, "Your main task is on the earth's surface, seizing opportunities to stir up internal conflicts among humans, so it's natural you haven't seen it. By the way, I heard that your name on the earth's surface has become famous throughout the human world, capable of making children stop crying?"

"You even heard about that; your intelligence work is quite good."

"Nine Lives Raven, even if you just grab a random human, they would have heard of him."

The fellow called Nine Lives Raven smiled silently, "My recent focus has been on a human. This guy rose too quickly, but strangely, he recently disappeared. I don't know where he went; I can't find him no matter how hard I look. I suspect he's in our territory."

"That would be hard to find; the area is simply too vast," the other person said.

Nine Lives Raven continued, "No matter how large the area, he still needs to eat, drink, and relieve himself. I don't believe he can live as a wild man in the mountains. I have a feeling he's hiding among us."

"Don't be silly; humans and us look different. You can tell at a glance. Any human appearing anywhere is met with shouts of 'kill him'."

"No, I mean, this guy might have transformed into one of us aliens."

"Is that possible?" The Sixth Prince said sarcastically, suspecting Nine Lives Raven was an idiot.

"A guess, no evidence. After this Old Capital incident is handled, I'll go back to the human world and investigate thoroughly."

Just then.

Another alien stepped forward, "Fourth Prince, Sixth Prince, everything is ready. We can begin to enter."

The Fourth Prince Nine Lives Raven nodded, "Sixth Brother, you still open it."

Although the Sixth Prince was somewhat displeased, he still said, "Understood."