Xiang Shaoyun put a lot of strength into the swing, and even a sovereign-grade puppet would be directly cut in two. But his saber actually struck something hard, creating a crisp clank. Money moved as though he could read Xiang Shaoyun's mind and instantly turned small before coiling around the attacker, trying to figure out who the attacker was.

Money was as strong as a Demon Sovereign, and the attacker had not expected to be caught. The attacker was dragged before Xiang Shaoyun, but it continued resisting and attacked Money's body. In his pain, Money released the attacker.

Even so, Xiang Shaoyun was able to get a clear look at who the attacker was. The attacker was an ancient zombie clad in a set of armor. It carried a rope in hand, the same rope it had used to attack Xiang Shaoyun.

Without any hesitation, Xiang Shaoyun sent a blanket of flame toward the zombie. He assumed that the zombie was also under the control of an evil spirit like the zombies he had encountered outside. But this time, he was mistaken. The zombie was still moving freely amid the flame and continued attacking with the rope.

"This is an actual puppet zombie!" Xiang Shaoyun exclaimed in alarm and proceeded to swing his saber repeatedly, pushing the zombie back again and again.

The zombie had an astonishingly strong defense, and it did not fear his attacks. It continued sending its rope at Xiang Shaoyun, as though its goal was to capture instead of to kill him. Xiang Shaoyun naturally wouldn't give it a chance. He moved away from Money and spun around the zombie. An inch-long golden radiance appeared around his fingers as he stabbed the radiance at the zombie's neck like it was a dagger.

Finally, the zombie's head was severed. The zombie collapsed onto the ground and could no longer attack. After putting the corpse away, he found that Money was gone.

"Money, where are you?" Xiang Shaoyun shouted.

He received no reply. It was as though Money had vanished into thin air.

"This is a terrifying illusory formation. I need to break the formation before I can get out of here," muttered Xiang Shaoyun. He started using the profundity of earth to receive feedback from the ground beneath him, trying to look for the formation's weak point.

The profundity of earth was supposed to allow one to have a clear grasp of one's surroundings, and it had never failed Xiang Shaoyun. But this time, it failed him.

He could sense some formation lines from the ground, but there were a lot of them, and they spread out and covered an extremely wide area. Not even the profundity of earth could let him fully sense the entire formation. It was as though he was only seeing the tip of an iceberg.

"This is a powerful and massive formation," he exclaimed in admiration when he sensed the formation's profoundness.

Xiang Shaoyun didn't know much about formations, but he had read some books about them. He had also heard some simple theories from Zhuge Zhantian. When Xiang Shaoyun noticed just how powerful the formation was, he became even more cautious. He moved slowly, trying to search for the path of survival.

His senses found a certain path, and he followed it. He took the first step, and when nothing happened, he took the second step. That went on for nine steps until everything before his eyes suddenly changed.

A small path appeared before him. The alley was only wide enough for one person. The green path on the ground emanated an ancient sensation, and the mist that seemed everywhere couldn't enter the pathway, as though the path was the path leading to freedom.

Xiang Shaoyun trod the path, knowing that it either led to the outside world or to an importation location within the palace. Whatever the end result might be, he had to walk the path to figure out more.

The path wasn't short. Even after walking for an hour, the end was nowhere to be seen. However, Xiang Shaoyun was currently standing on elevated ground, and he was now overlooking all the dense mist.

Many zombies could be seen roaming around in the mist. They were akin to prison guards in charge of capturing all the intruding disciples.

Fortunately, the zombies weren't killing the disciples. They merely caught all the disciples and threw them somewhere that seemed to be some sort of burial ground with thick corrosive aura and a massive amount of death aura. If the caught disciples couldn't resist the auras, they might eventually turn into zombie puppets and then fall under the formation's control, becoming part of the palace's guards.

Xiang Shaoyun felt a chill creep up his back when he saw the disciples being captured. If it wasn't for his extraordinary reaction time, he would have probably suffered the same fate.

He also saw Jiang Qi's group charging along with two zombies approaching them. He couldn't just stand around and watch on as she was captured. He hurriedly transmitted to her, "Immediately move to your right, or all of you will die. This is an illusory formation. Nobody can escape this place."

Jiang Qi reacted quickly and moved to the right. She also told her companions to do the same. Ultimately, only three of them were able to escape, whereas the zombies captured the other four.

Xiang Shaoyun did not attempt to rescue the four. Instead, he moved faster along the path, constantly looking around for Money and Xia Liuhui.

Soon, he found that, like him, Money was also on a path. However, Money's path led to an entirely different location. They could see each other, but their paths were separated by thick mist, and they had no way of approaching each other.

"Money, let us both search for our own opportunities," Xiang Shaoyun transmitted.

"Ok. Be careful, boss," replied Money.

Money then vanished, traveling farther down his path, while Xiang Shaoyun continued searching for Xia Liuhui. At the same time, Xiang Shaoyun was also trying to see if any Overlord Legion members had been tossed into the burial ground.

After scanning the burial ground and finding that nobody close to him was there, he started moving faster down his path.

After an indeterminate amount of time, he finally reached the end and found himself at a big city, a big floating city, to be precise. He was currently standing before the door of a towering palace.

The palace looked ancient and exuded a majestic aura, as though it was the most exalted being in existence. On the pillars around the palace were sculptures of dragons and phoenixes. The walls inlaid with gold markings, the massive vermilion door, the bell by the entrance, and the qilin statues before the door all signified just how extraordinary the ancient palace was.

Hanging above the door was a wooden signboard with three golden words: Celestial King's Palace. It was a domineering name, and the three words emanated a massive pressure that gave one a sensation that these were words not to be blasphemed.