Chapter 360: Chapter 199: Refinement, Infiltrating the Imperial City (Part 3)

On one hand, he didn’t need to fabricate another identity.

On the other hand, it could also help Jiang Feng avoid a lot of trouble.

It was late at night.

Jiang Feng left Shuitang Lane and arrived at his own grave on Black Iron Mountain.

No grass had grown on the grave mound.

Several incense sticks and candles, burned down to bamboo sticks, were stuck before the tombstone; clearly, some people had visited him, and not just once—there were quite a few more flasks of yellow rice wine as well.

Jiang Feng could almost see Uncle Huo, together with Prison Chief Wang, Jail Chief Ma, and Prison Chief Feng, coming to his grave in a group, eating pickled vegetables and tofu, recounting the recent events that had happened in Dragon Capital.

He could picture Han Dong carefully pulling out weeds from the grave mound.

These were about the only people he could think of.

After a while, his figure disappeared from Black Iron Mountain, reappearing near Zhenbei Prison.

Ever since the Demon Sect Traitors infiltrated Dragon Capital and fought to seize the treasure in the underground palace, the city had been put under martial law with a nightly curfew.

Aside from patrols, only the carriages of the nobles were left on the streets.

That battle some months ago—

All three outer layers, inside and outside Zhenbei Prison, had collapsed. The underground palace was exposed to the eyes of the world; countless were dead or wounded. Now Zhenbei Prison was tightly surrounded, not only heavily guarded, but additional walls had been built all around.

Yet no wall, no matter how solid, could block Jiang Feng’s spiritual sense.

He hid himself in a pavilion at the northeast corner of Zhenbei Prison, melting into the darkness. His spiritual sense slowly expanded toward the prison, advancing at a cautious pace to avoid any cultivators inside.

As his spiritual sense reached inward,

Jiang Feng saw familiar faces.

Prison Army Commander Chu Tianhe was stationed at the underground palace gate, his troops all around. The entrance was blocked by an iron gate—even Chu Tianhe couldn’t go inside.

Jiang Feng didn’t see Han Dong.

He noticed the exposed underground palace had been sealed again, yet his spiritual sense could still seep through. His vision pierced the ground, witnessing for the first time the situation inside the underground palace.

He had imagined intricate corridors, crammed with connected secret chambers, but what Jiang Feng’s spiritual sense found was actually a vast plaza within the underground palace.

It felt incredibly spacious—its size, as if several times that of Zhenbei Prison.

He was puzzled.

Though this was his first time seeing the underground palace, he’d heard more than once that people had been trapped inside; if the underground palace was so expansive, even thousands of troops wouldn’t be crowded!

Why was it so different from the rumors?

"No, what I’m seeing is the underground palace one level down."

Jiang Feng thought in alarm.

He hadn’t expected the underground palace to have two layers.

The maze of tunnels and tightly linked secret rooms—that was the first layer; the real underground palace was actually on the second level.

"Howl!"

Suddenly, Jiang Feng’s spiritual sense caught the roar of a wolf.

In the underground palace, he glimpsed a sweep of firelight, rolling like waves from a distance. In the heart of the flames, a pair of blood-red eyes appeared.

Jiang Feng had a bad feeling.

His spiritual sense withdrew at once. Sitting in the pavilion, Jiang Feng’s eyes snapped open, pulling all his spiritual sense back. His face was flushed red, as though illuminated by firelight.

"Wolf King?"

"There’s actually a blood wolf hiding in the underground palace."

"How did the Six-armed Divine Emperor not notice it?"

"Did it slip in just recently?"

"Looks like it’s completely unrealistic to try and figure out the origin and uses of the Qinglong Cauldron in the underground palace and find some divine skills and techniques to cultivate."

"I wonder if the Emperor of the Great Tang knows there’s a blood wolf hidden down there?"

"Should I find a way to tell him?"

Jiang Feng was a little torn.

Many familiar faces like Chu Tianhe were still guarding Zhenbei Prison. Even if they were cannon fodder in the first place, if the Wolf King rushed out, Zhenbei Prison would become a sea of blood and not a single member of the prison army would survive.

But Jiang Feng couldn’t linger. He had to get out of here first.

To avoid being targeted by the Wolf King.

By the time he returned to Shuitang Lane,

Jiang Feng checked his current Fortune Point.

Fortune: 467,554

Up by a bit over sixty thousand.

Just coming into contact with it through his spiritual sense was so dangerous—if he’d entered the underground palace and run into it for real, the result would be unimaginable.

It looked like Jiang Feng had to abandon the idea of entering the underground palace.

He hadn’t expected that now, as a cultivator, the underground palace was still out of reach.

Luckily, safety always came first.

There was no harm in backing off—he didn’t feel frustrated, only grew more cautious.

In the days that followed, Jiang Feng never went back to Zhenbei Prison again. His focus shifted from the underground palace to the Imperial City Academy.

The Emperor of the Great Tang was unfathomable and mysterious.

Disciples from Yun Gui Sect often showed up in the Imperial City, so as for this deep, inner palace, Jiang Feng’s wariness was at least as strong as toward the underground palace, if not stronger.

He didn’t dare charge in recklessly.

Instead, he lingered around the Imperial City for several days.

He was waiting for an opportunity—

Waiting for the moment when the top experts in the Imperial City left, so he could sneak in and investigate.

Two months later,

Jiang Feng heard an important piece of news.

The Emperor of the Great Tang would be leading the civil and military officials in three days to pay respects at the imperial mausoleum.

Jiang Feng was overjoyed.

With the Emperor leaving the city, the top experts of the Imperial City would surely follow; at the very least, the guards couldn’t be as tight as before. Even if it was dangerous, it would be much less risky than normal.

Three days later,

The emperor’s procession departed the Imperial City. All the officials waited at the city gate and then followed behind the emperor’s carriage, on foot toward the imperial mausoleum.

Jiang Feng stayed far away,

not daring to probe what cultivation the Emperor possessed or what he looked like, worried his spiritual sense would be noticed as soon as it touched upon the Emperor.

He only moved after the procession was long gone from sight.

Jiang Feng entered the Imperial City as well.

Given his current cultivation, the visible security forces of the Imperial City were simply no obstacle; he slipped easily to the area near the Academy.

After a careful look around, Jiang Feng quietly snuck in.

The Emperor was out holding a ceremony,

the officials had gone with him—

Almost all the nobles who could enter the Academy had also gone, and since it wasn’t an easy place to get into at the best of times, today the Academy was especially deserted.

Across all its levels, there were very few people at all, making it extremely convenient for Jiang Feng to take action.

He headed straight for the very top floor.