"Lord." Jian Huaishuang walked to Chen Zhou's side. "The paper people have driven the hundred corpse patchworks to the city gates."
Chen Zhou nodded, his gaze falling on the city walls.
The flesh-colored vines seemed to sense something and began to writhe. The human-face sores on the vines opened their eyes, staring in unison at the army of hundred corpse patchworks outside the city.
Then, countless flesh-colored tentacles shot down from the walls, lashing out at the patchworks like whips.
"Crack!"
A tentacle struck a hundred corpse patchwork, tearing away a large chunk of rotten flesh.
The rotten meat fell to the ground, still squirming, and quickly grew a new human face.
The hundred corpse patchwork didn't react and continued walking forward.
More tentacles lashed down, sending rotten meat flying, but they didn't care. They continued forward step by step until they reached the base of the wall and began to climb.
Chen Zhou squinted for a moment before realizing those vine-like flesh objects weren't plants at all—they were merely strips of meat covered in sores.
It looked like the handiwork of the Plague-Eating Stove.
But the Plague-Eating Stove was long dead, leaving behind a vast expanse of uncontrolled human-face sores that acted solely on instinct. They were no match for such a massive number of hundred corpse patchworks.
As time passed, the flesh-colored vines on the walls grew increasingly weak.
Their whipping motions slowed and weakened. Some even began to fester on their own. The human-face sores twisted one by one, letting out piercing screams before exploding and oozing pus.
The hundred corpse patchworks took the opportunity to scale the walls, tearing and biting at the vines.
Soon, the vines on an entire section of the wall were devoured.
With the vines gone, the hundred corpse patchworks swarmed over the wall and into the city.
Chen Zhou looked up.
Above him, a wisp of an auspicious cloud had appeared at some point.
It was faint and thin, shimmering with a subtle golden hue and a soft glow at the edges. Against the gray-green sky, it looked strikingly out of place.
Chen Zhou was slightly stunned.
The guidance of the Auspicious Noble's auspicious cloud—it had been a long time since he'd seen it.
Could there be someone with a special destiny within the ruins of the Royal Capital in Tianchi Province?
Chen Zhou immediately sharpened his focus and determined the direction the auspicious cloud was pointing.
Straight ahead.
Deep within the Royal Capital.
Chen Zhou was in a good mood. He hadn't expected this trip to the Royal Capital to yield an unexpected gain. He wondered what kind of auspicious god destiny it would be this time.
"Let's go." Chen Zhou stepped toward the city gates. "Let's go in and take a look."
Jian Huaishuang nodded and followed.
The two passed through the city gates and stepped into the ruins of the Royal Capital.
The scene inside was even more dilapidated than the outside. Collapsed buildings were everywhere; some appeared to have been scorched by fire, leaving only charred frames.
Others looked as if they had been burst from the inside by something, reduced to a pile of rubble.
The streets were overgrown with gray-green moss that felt soft and spongy underfoot, like treading on rotten meat.
But even the rubble and moss were covered in human-face sores—dense, overlapping clusters, as if someone had plastered countless faces across the entire city.
Some sores had their eyes closed, others were open. Some were crying, some laughing, and some were muttering to themselves.
"Save me..."
"It hurts so much..."
"Kill me..."
Countless voices intertwined, creating a distracting cacophony. Chen Zhou frowned, and his Ghost Domain expanded, sealing out all the noise.
"Huaishuang."
"Here, Lord."
"Have the paper people scatter the hundred corpse patchworks as much as possible. Drive them into every corner of the ruins and see if there's anything unusual."
Jian Huaishuang nodded and immediately contacted the paper people of the Corpse Soul Sect through his mind.
The paper people were very obedient. They immediately flew in groups to the various hundred corpse patchworks, hopping around and gesturing wildly.
"Come on, come on! This way, this way!"
"Don't just stay in one place, it's so boring!"
"Move it, move it! Let's go see the scenery over there!"
The hundred corpse patchworks probably found the paper people less tasty than the human-face sores, as few paid them any mind, continuing to eat the sores on the ground.
The paper people grew anxious. Some went up to push, some to pull, and some even rode on the necks of the patchworks, pointing toward the distance and shouting, "Giddy up! Giddy up!"
The hundred corpse patchworks were finally annoyed and reached out to grab the paper people.
The paper people laughed and dodged, continuing to provoke them.
"Can't catch me! Can't catch me!"
"You're too slow! Can you go any faster?"
"With that speed, you want to eat me? Keep dreaming!"
After chasing for a while and failing to catch them, the patchworks gave up and went back to eating human-face sores.
The paper people didn't give up and harassed them again.
After repeating this several times, they successfully separated the hundred corpse patchworks, scattering them to various corners of the Royal Capital ruins.
Jian Huaishuang observed every location through the eyes of the paper people.
"Lord, no anomalies have been found yet."
Chen Zhou nodded, his gaze falling on the auspicious cloud above.
The cloud remained, pointing clearly straight ahead.
"Keep watching," Chen Zhou said. "I'm going over there to take a look."
Chen Zhou walked alone through the dilapidated streets, across scarred plazas, and through collapsed halls.
The auspicious cloud above followed him, guiding the way.
After walking for about fifteen minutes, the cloud stopped.
Chen Zhou looked up. Ahead was a field of ruins.
Judging by the architectural style, this should have been a manor. Although it had collapsed into a mess, the remaining stone pillars and foundations suggested it had once been quite grand.
Two stone pillars still stood at the main entrance, carved with intricate patterns that faintly resembled some kind of totem.
The lintel had collapsed, leaving only half a crossbeam with three large characters carved onto it.
Chen Zhou scrutinized them.
"Filth's End... Manor?"
No, the last character wasn't "Manor," it was...
"Palace of Filth's End?"
He took a few steps closer to be sure.
It was indeed the Palace of Filth's End.
Chen Zhou raised an eyebrow.
Palace of Filth's End?
The name sounded like the former residence of the True Lord of Purity and Filth.
Chen Zhou looked inside the ruins. There were significantly fewer human-face sores here than elsewhere—only a few scattered ones, and they were all withered as if they had been dead for a long time.
The auspicious cloud hovered motionless above these ruins.
Chen Zhou frowned and expanded his Ghost Domain to perceive the ruins.
Strange.
He couldn't sense the presence of any living being.
Chen Zhou sensed carefully once more but found no trace of life within the ruins, only dead things like hundred corpse patchworks and human-face sores.
It was completely like a dead zone.
But if there was nothing, why would the auspicious cloud stop here?
Was the person with the auspicious god destiny hidden? Or were they already dead?
Chen Zhou checked again.
Still nothing.
He thought for a moment, then turned back.
A short while later, he returned with a few hundred corpse patchworks.
Wrapped in his Ghost Domain, the patchworks walked forward dazed. When they reached the edge of the ruins, Chen Zhou released the domain. They froze for a moment before continuing forward.
After a few steps, they suddenly stopped.
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