Lin Cai shouted in anger.

"Yes!"

Without further hesitation, the two of them performed a body technique and rushed towards Zhenbei Prison, blending in with the highly-skilled guards positioned around the prison.

It was clear they, like Lin Cai, were part of the royal family’s forces.

Seeing his two subordinates head to the prison to gather information, Lin Cai scanned the surroundings carefully.

Since Jiang Feng first left the Purple Bamboo Forest, ran towards the North City Gate, and was brought back to the Purple Bamboo Forest, the royal family had ordered him to stay hidden.

He sensibly refrained from approaching the Purple Bamboo Forest again, fearing he would encounter Jiang Feng and be killed with a single palm strike.

Now that the royal family ordered them to guard Zhenbei Prison, Lin Cai dared not get too close because he had received news earlier that evening that Jiang Feng had left the Purple Bamboo Forest again, mysteriously disappearing and hiding in the southern area of the Dragon Capital.

Thus, this pavilion, positioned north of Zhenbei Prison, took into account the strong spiritual sense of cultivators, and Lin Cai asked the royal family’s disguise master to help him completely change his appearance.

Not only did his appearance, physique, and body change, but he also used a special cultivation technique to conceal his primordial power aura, choosing to guard at a place further from Zhenbei Prison.

He didn’t believe that Jiang Feng could find him like this.

"Wangcai."

Suddenly, a voice sounded behind him.

Lin Cai, disguised as an aged man late in life, was startled, and primordial power in his body instantly threatened to erupt, allowing him to escape far from this pavilion.

Yet an invisible force sealed him, rendering him unable to even cry out for help.

"Wangcai, in just a few months, how did you become like this? Didn’t you tell me before that you would be waiting for my orders outside the Purple Bamboo Forest? Why did I never see your figure? Are you avoiding me?"

Jiang Feng approached Lin Cai.

"Immortal Master Wang... it was the Second Prince who coerced me into tricking you into the Purple Bamboo Forest."

Even Lin Cai wouldn’t be foolish enough not to realize that the ordinary innate realm cultivator in front of him was actually the fellow Daoist Wang who had escaped from the Purple Bamboo Forest and was being hunted by the royal family.

His expression was more pitiful than crying.

He never could have anticipated encountering Jiang Feng again, and on this secret pavilion, no less.

"Don’t be nervous; I won’t harm you. Just tell me what plans the royal family has and what exactly is going on with the underground palace? What’s inside it?"

Jiang Feng asked in a calm tone.

"I don’t know, I... ah, I know some things, and I’ll tell."

Lin Cai, still trying to prevaricate, suddenly felt a needle-like pain rushing through his veins, causing him cold sweat and minute cries of anguish.

"There are many legends about the underground palace. Some Immortal Masters believe it to be the Demon Sect’s headquarters, the place where the Demon Sect imprisoned strong cultivators from the Immortal Sect a thousand years ago.

It’s rumored that Immortal Masters from the Yun Gui Sect and mighty ones from the Divine Sect were once imprisoned there.

Inside, there are treasures and legacies left by powerful figures of various immortal sects before their death. Whoever enters can gain great fortune.

Tonight, the constraints of the underground palace are at their weakest. The royal family, Yun Gui Sect, and Divine Sect all aim to seek ancestral opportunities and inheritances inside.

You are blessed with fortune; I think the opportunities and inheritances within the underground palace belong to you alone."

Lin Cai spoke repeatedly and did not forget to curry favor with Jiang Feng at the end.

"The more I hear it, the more it sounds like you’re trying to lure me into the underground palace to die for nothing."

Jiang Feng sneered coldly.

"No... I dare not, please believe me; I said it’s only a rumor. Whether the underground palace is truly the Demon Sect’s headquarters, I’ve never been certain.

I didn’t intentionally deceive you into the Purple Bamboo Forest; I was wrong."

Lin Cai looked utterly terrified, collapsing on the floor in fear. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"How did the Second Prince become a Divine Sect disciple? How many cultivators are there in the Imperial City? What trump cards does the royal family still hold?"

Jiang Feng asked again.

"The royal family established a cultivation marketplace near Laojun Mountain that attracted Divine Sect powerhouses to investigate. By coincidence, the Second Prince was favored by a Divine Sect disciple. It’s rumored that the Second Prince is so obsessed that he swore not to rest until he inherits the throne of the Great Tang. The Divine Sect, in order to fulfill his wish, gave him ten years to compete for the throne against other princes, after which he’d enter the Divine Sect for cultivation.

As for the exact number of cultivators in the Imperial City, I really don’t know, and the royal family’s trump card, I believe, is the Divine Sect and the Emperor of the Great Tang."

Lin Cai repeatedly bowed his head to the ground as he answered.

"The Emperor of the Great Tang is also a cultivator?"

Jiang Feng pondered with a frown.

He had long suspected that the royal family had the backing of the Divine Sect; otherwise, how could the Second Prince easily mobilize the Six-armed Divine Emperor?

"No, His Majesty is not a cultivator; he is a Martial Arts God powerhouse, just like Xiao Zhan, able to suppress Immortal Masters with martial arts."

Lin Cai hesitated a bit before speaking.

"Martial Arts God? Martial Cultivator?"

Jiang Feng was taken aback.

As someone who grew from Ninth-Grade Skin Refining to the Fourth-Layer Qi Condensation Realm, Jiang Feng was no stranger to martial cultivators. To be precise, before becoming a cultivator, he was a martial arts powerhouse himself.

Becoming a cultivator was smooth and natural.

Though there was a harder path to tread when crossing the innate realm threshold, a path of martial cultivator.

Due to its difficulty, it also accompanied tremendous allure.

Martial cultivators often have divine powers to guard them, can form external incarnations, and can even achieve an indestructible body, capable of suppressing mountains and rivers, breaking the void, nothing is too difficult.

Some can’t resist this allure and choose the path of martial cultivation, but due to its arduous journey, very few succeed.

Unexpectedly, the Emperor of the Great Tang was a martial cultivator.

And based on what Lin Cai said, he was a martial powerhouse with divine skills of great success.

As for Xiao Zhan.

Jiang Feng should have realized sooner.

The last time werewolves attacked Zhenbei Prison, Xiao Zhan single-handedly fought four werewolves, and he wasn’t at a disadvantage. In the end, he even chased the Demon Sect Leader southward.

Even the one-eyed old Liu Jinhu and others were no match for him.

With Celestial Profound Realm strength, it seemed he could contend equally with powerhouses of Ruyi Realm Perfection, without losing the upper hand at all.

And now, upon learning that the Emperor of the Great Tang’s strength surpasses Xiao Zhan,

it made Jiang Feng increasingly wary of the royal family.

"Immortal Master, as long as you’re willing to spare me, I’m willing to become your servant, to work like an ox or horse for you, to scale mountains of knives or plunge into seas of fire!"

Lin Cai kowtowed as he spoke.

"Very well."

Jiang Feng nodded.

Lin Cai rejoiced and was about to kowtow again when he saw Jiang Feng flick his fingertip, emitting a flame that fell upon him.

Before he could even let out a scream, his body was engulfed in flames, instantly reduced to ashes.