Infiltrating the Palace

The unaging pine waved its branches, wanting to snatch them, but seeing Chen Zhou blocking its way, the branches stopped mid-air.

It immediately retracted its branches, shielding the remaining unaging pine cones tightly. It even twisted its trunk around, turning its back to Chen Zhou as if nothing had happened.

The Nine-Age Crane peeking out from behind Chen Zhou’s head triumphantly spat the pine cone from its beak into his hand.

Then it thought for a moment, and seemingly deciding it wasn't enough, it endured the pain and lowered its head to pluck a few feathers from beneath its wing.

It pushed the pine cone and the feathers together toward Chen Zhou.

Chen Zhou raised an eyebrow. "For me?"

The Nine-Age Crane shook its head.

Chen Zhou looked thoughtful. "For Song Zi'an?"

The Nine-Age Crane nodded frantically, its eyes filled with anticipation.

Its meaning was clear: it wanted that silly boy to know it was doing fine.

Chen Zhou smiled and put the items away.

"Alright, I'll deliver them."

Chen Zhou then summoned a drifting ghost fire to seal the pine nut and feathers.

"Deliver this to Jian Huaishuang. Have him carry it once he leaves seclusion, and then meet up with the dragon carp at the provincial capital."

The ghost fire accepted the command, engulfed the items, and drifted away unsteadily.

Only after completing all this did Chen Zhou completely dissipate his incarnation, his consciousness returning to the side hall of the imperial palace in the provincial capital.

By now, the night in the provincial capital had deepened.

The red rain outside fell harder, pattering against the glazed tiles with a crackling sound, like a never-ending downpour of blood.

Chen Zhou opened his eyes and sat up from the bed.

He glanced to the side. Song Zi'an, whose soul had been slightly damaged and who had gone through great emotional turmoil, was already fast asleep, clutching his big black pot.

Wu Gou was nowhere to be seen, likely busy digging tunnels underground.

Only the piglet lay at the head of the bed, blowing bubbles out of boredom.

"Hngh..."

Seeing Chen Zhou wake up, the piglet immediately nudged his hand with its snout, expressing its annoyance.

It was too boring here.

The entire provincial capital at night was a city without dreams—no sweet dreams, no nightmares. It couldn't even find a snack to satisfy its cravings.

It missed the buffet back in the City of the Wrongfully Dead.

"Since there are no dreams to eat, let's go find something else."

"Song Zi'an said he smelled the scent of crane feathers. It just so happens to be a dark and windy night; let's go scout the depths of this palace."

Chen Zhou patted its head soothingly. Then, with a flicker of his body, he transformed into a mass of shadow and merged into the night.

Taking the piglet with him, Chen Zhou began his nighttime exploration of the palace.

The palace was vast, but also very empty.

The halls that looked somewhat normal during the day took on a completely different appearance at night.

Human-skin lanterns hanging under the eaves emitted a faint red glow. Pale-faced palace maids drifted about, the sound of long fingernails scratching against the walls echoing here and there.

Occasionally, a squad of purple-faced malevolent ghost guards could be seen patrolling, their feet never touching the ground as they drifted past.

However, Chen Zhou remained within his Ghost Domain, moving along without hindrance, undetected by anyone.

He avoided the ghosts and headed straight toward the imperial kitchen.

The closer he got to the kitchen, the heavier the stench of blood became, eventually overpowering the earthy smell of the red rain.

Before even entering, he saw many ghosts gathered outside.

Most were low-level hungry ghosts or the spirits of maimed palace servants. They were currently huddled at the kitchen door, greedily inhaling the steam wafting out from inside.

"Gurgle..."

The piglet's mouth began to water at the sight of so many ghosts.

It wasn't a picky eater. Although these lonely souls and wild ghosts didn't taste as good as dreams, they were enough to serve as a snack.

The piglet opened its mouth, and fiendish qi surged, instantly pulling the dozens of ghosts in front of the kitchen into a deep dream.

It placed them together with the burly man from the enforcement squad it had pulled in earlier, letting them torment each other in a recurring nightmare.

Whether it was a living being or a dead soul, it could only eat the dissipated energy once they started dreaming.

Chen Zhou patted its head. "Take it easy. Don't alert the enemy for now."

The piglet signaled that there was no problem; it would release them at dawn, and no one would remember what they had dreamed. After all, dreams were easily forgotten.

With the ghosts blocking the door gone, Chen Zhou pushed the door open and entered.

The interior of the kitchen was large but appeared very dilapidated. The stoves were covered in dust, and the pots were cold. It had clearly been abandoned for a long time, with no signs of a fire ever being lit.

The ghosts here had no need for cooked food.

However, the chopping blocks in the kitchen were piled high with chunks of meat.

Bright red, slightly twitching chunks of meat.

Chen Zhou walked forward and examined them closely.

It was all very fresh meat with clear textures, but it certainly didn't look like pork, beef, or mutton. It didn't even look like human meat.

At least, not normal human meat.

After all, Chen Zhou had relied on zombie meat from the secret realm to build his early fortune, and he had seen too many severed limbs on the battlefield later on. He was quite familiar with the structure of human flesh.

Chen Zhou wasn't a chef, so he couldn't tell if the meat before him was what produced the scent of crane feathers Song Zi'an had mentioned.

But he could sense that the blood-flesh energy within this meat was extremely low.

It didn't even reach the first-stage; it was just the lowest grade of ordinary flesh.

"Something's wrong."

"If it's just ordinary meat, how could it attract so many ghosts outside?"

Lost in thought, Chen Zhou casually sliced off a piece of meat, planning to take it back for Song Zi'an to examine, as he was the professional.

However, the moment the meat was sliced off...

The remaining mass of meat on the chopping block suddenly began to writhe violently. Countless flesh buds grew frantically, and in just a few breaths, a new piece of meat had grown out, filling the gap where he had just cut.

It was as good as new.

This level of regeneration was definitely not something an ordinary demon beast could possess.

He inexplicably felt that this trait was somewhat similar to the realm earthworm Piao had devoured, yet it seemed to be of an even higher grade.

"Could this meat be the fodder Yin Wudao uses to feed the ghosts in this city?"

A type of infinitely proliferating meat?

Where was the source?

Chen Zhou searched the kitchen but found no source for the meat, nor did he find any living creatures or even a single crane feather.

Finding no further clues in the kitchen, Chen Zhou stowed the sliced piece of meat and turned to leave.

Next stop: the old emperor's bedchamber.

Since Yin Wudao said the old emperor was gravely ill and bedridden, he had to see if this nominal lord of the provincial capital was actually dead or alive.

The closer he got to the bedchamber, the quieter the surroundings became.

There were no ghost patrols and no palace maids wandering about.

Even the torrential red rain seemed to turn much gentler once it reached the air above the bedchamber.

"Very strange."

Chen Zhou stood outside the bedchamber, looking at the dark hall.

Logically, such an important place should have been heavily guarded by layers of ghosts. Even an insignificant place like the kitchen had a circle of ghosts around it, yet there wasn't a single ghost shadow here.

There was only a restriction that, in Chen Zhou's eyes, was essentially optional.

The restriction was very weak—the kind that kept out honest men but not scoundrels. Any cultivator with even a bit of skill could break through it.