''Let's go to the palace in the central region!''

Little Black then soared in the sky, quickly leaving the forest of giants.

Shun Long observed the 20m tall trees below him, as they became smaller and smaller in his eyes.

Surprisingly, the region around the giant forest seemed to be just a plain desert.

Although the scorching sun in the 'Vermilion realm' could be avoided under the protection of the tall trees back in the forest, the temperature in the desert was suffocating even for earth grade cultivators.

However, Shun Long was barely affected by it on top of little Black's back, as they continued to fly towards the central region, following the half-fiend village chief's map.

2 days later, Shun Long and little Black seemed to have arrived at the end of the desert, when a huge purple fog appeared in front of them.

The thick fog seemed to shoot up in the sky, as it completely surrounded the central region.

According to the map in Shun Long's hands, the 'King's palace' was just behind this fog.

Little Black was stunned when he found out, that even his soul sense was unable to pierce through the fog.

Seeing that little Black's soul sense was actually obstructed, Shun Long thought for a bit before he said

''Return back to the 'Stone of Time' for now.''

Little Black looked at Shun Long worriedly who smiled as he explained

''Right now, we are too close to the central region. With the number of sects that have entered the 'Vermilion realm', it will be too dangerous if you are exposed.''

Little Black nodded his head and landed on the ground, before he returned back inside the 'Stone of Time'.

Although he knew that there were probably no dangers for Shun Long in the purple fog, he still couldn't help but be worried because of the obstruction that it posed to his soul sense.

Looking at the thick purple mist in front of him, Shun Long circulated his 'Monarch's Hourglass' as well as his golden eyes before he entered inside.

After stepping inside the fog, he noticed that aside from impeding his vision, the fog didn't seem to have any other effects.

Although Shun Long was confident that his 'Monarch's Eternal body' could protect him from many different kinds of poisons, as an alchemist, he could only count on himself if he somehow still got poisoned in the end.

Without little Black's soul sense and with his own vision obstructed, he could only walk straight ahead until he reached the other side of the fog.

2 days quickly passed since Shun Long had entered the purple fog, when he could finally hear faint voices ahead of him. 

Speeding up his footsteps, he soon reached the end of the purple fog, where a vast plain field appeared in his eyes.

Beyond the plain fields, was a magnificent white palace, that seemed to have been situated there for countless years. ...

In front of the palace gates were 2 statues, one of a handsome young man, and the other of a voluptuous woman that could invoke countless desires in the eyes of the young men here.

Shun Long was surprised to see more than 1000 disciples sitting cross-legged on the plain fields, while even more of them were slowly making their way towards the white palace.

From the struggle of their movements, it was obvious that not just anyone could reach the palace gates.

Seeing that no one seemed to have paid any attention to his arrival, Shun Long followed the crowd as he started walking towards the palace as well.

Shun Long didn't feel anything abnormal, until he was 500 miles away from the palace gates. At that moment, he felt the eyes of the 2 statues lighting up for a second as a wave of pressure crashed upon his body.

This pressure could instantly bring any early-stage earth grade expert to his knees, and yet, in front of Shun Long's 'Monarch's Eternal body' it felt like nothing more than a gentle breeze.

Shun Long seemed to be walking leisurely towards the palace, but he could still feel the pressure around him increasing with every step that he took forward.

It seemed that, to at least reach the palace gates, one needed to have a certain level of strength.

As he approached closer to the palace, Shun Long noticed a group of inner and outer disciples of the 'floating cloud sect' who had almost reached the palace gates.

Shun Long noticed that although their advancing speed was extremely slow, it was still steady, as they all walked as a unit one behind the other.

When he saw the people in this group, a chilling look flashed through his eyes as he hastened his speed. 

The last person in this group was a handsome young man dressed in outer disciples robes. There was a determined look in his eyes, as he stared at the white palace gates in front of him, completely unaware that Shun Long was also staring at him at the same time.

This was the eldest son of the dead Xiao marquess.

Based on his aura, Shun Long could guess that Xiao Juyan was close to breaking through to the early rank 7 in earth grade. 

After his brother had 'mysteriously died' in the sect, Xiao Juyan had done everything he could to become stronger and take revenge. He didn't know how he would face his father when returned back to the 'Sky Fortune Kingdom', if he didn't kill his brother's assassin. 

Although he was certain in his heart that the person who had killed Xiao Shitou was Shun Long, it was impossible to do anything against him since he hadn't left behind any clues that night. 

At the same time, Shun Long's mind had similar thoughts as Xiao Juyan.

Having killed both his brother and his father, Shun Long didn't intend to allow Xiao Juyan to live. If he ever returned back to the 'Sky Fortune Kingdom' and heard that his father had also died, it was very possible that he would choose to take his anger on Shun Long's family.

Finally, a few minutes later, Shun Long had arrived just 100m away from Xiao Juyan.

After making sure that there was no one around him, Shun Long immediately activated his 'Monarch's Domain' as time around Xiao Juyan completely came to a halt.

With his eyes completely focused on Xiao Juyan's back, Shun Long slashed the air in front of him with his finger, as he opened a tiny space tear.

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