I Became the Devil Queen's Heart Demon

Chapter 1279 - 490: Empress: I’m Furious Right Now! Wu Lie’s Death?! (Part 2)

Chen Mo took out a new set of clothes from the Heavenly Profound Ring and put it on, following behind the Empress.

This branch tunnel was noticeably calmer, with only occasional aftershocks but no large-scale explosions.

After about the time it takes to burn an incense stick, the tunnel finally reached its end.

A massive stone door stood before them. Chen Mo exerted force to push it open and was instantly shocked by the scene before him.

"This is..."

Behind the stone door was a gigantic hemispherical stone chamber, filled to the brim with piles of skeletons, roughly estimated to be nearly a thousand!

These corpses were dark and black, without a trace of flesh, with bite marks on the joints as if gnawed by beasts. Some wore tattered palace uniforms, clearly inner court palace servants or eunuchs.

Chu Yanli had once mentioned that in recent years, a large number of palace attendants had disappeared from Qianji Palace.

Now it seemed, just as she had suspected, these people all became materials for Wu Lie to prolong his life!

"Ugh—"

The Empress had never seen such a scene before, covering her mouth, her face pale, her stomach churning.

Chen Mo patted her back, channeling a trace of Vitality Essence, which eased her condition somewhat.

Besides these corpses, there were also over a dozen arched doors on the surrounding walls.

Each stone door had a wooden plaque beside it, engraved with words like Internal Affairs Office, Imperial Study, Golden Throne Hall... covering almost half of the Imperial City, except for places where the Empress and other consorts lived.

"If I’m not mistaken, above this stone chamber should be Qianji Palace."

The Empress’s throat moved, pointing at the plaque engraved with "Zichen Hall," she said, "That is Empress Xu’s bedchamber. When I first entered the palace, Wu Lie wanted me to live there, but I refused and moved to Ningde Palace..."

Chen Mo felt a chill down his spine.

He had guessed there might be tunnels beneath the Imperial Palace, but he hadn’t expected it to be so extensively dug through!

Wu Lie seemed to stay in the deep palace for long periods, never stepping outside, but in reality, he could use the earth veins to reach every corner of the Imperial Palace!

No wonder Chu Yanli had said before that Wu Lie was everywhere, possibly lurking in every shadow, that no movement could escape this Emperor’s ears and eyes!

If the Empress hadn’t insisted on changing her bedchamber back then, she might have been living under his surveillance!

Chen Mo looked around and also saw a plaque of Prince Yu Mansion.

It seemed Prince Yu was indeed taken by Wu Lie, and now he might have become part of these skeletons...

Some other arched doors had no plaques and led to unknown places. After pushing them open one by one, he found the entire tunnel to be blocked off.

Wu Lie evidently didn’t want certain secrets to be exposed, thoroughly burying them before leaving.

"These tunnel projects, considering their enormous size and wide coverage, definitely couldn’t be completed in a short time. Judging by the wear and tear of this stone door, it’s been at least more than ten years." Chen Mo rubbed his chin, contemplating silently, "And using a large amount of Demon-breaking Stones, surely there must be some traces left behind..."

Yu Youhan’s eyes flashed as she said, "Judging by the state of these corpses, Wu Lie must devour flesh to maintain his life, and to restore his strength, he inevitably needs more flesh to nourish himself. Next, we need to check in the Capital City for places where people have mysteriously disappeared and see if we can follow the clues to find his hiding place."

"Alright, leave this to me." Chen Mo nodded.

As a commander of the Sky Scale Guard, if a large population went missing in the city, he surely wouldn’t be unaware.

At this moment, Chen Mo noticed a palm-sized depression on the nearby wall. He walked over and pressed it, and with the sound of gears meshing, a hidden door beside it slowly opened, revealing spiraling steps leading upward.

"Let’s go, let’s take a look up there."

"Mm."

Yu Youhan agreed verbally but didn’t move her feet; instead, she opened her arms.

Chen Mo was slightly taken aback but soon understood, wrapping his arm around her slender waist.

Yu Youhan lowered her eyelids, saying quietly, "These surroundings are all Demon-breaking Stones, it’s hard to use cultivation, so it’s faster this way."

Chen Mo chuckled and said, "I understand, Your Majesty, there’s no need to explain."

"I also want a hug!" The Empress wrapped her arms around Chen Mo’s neck, clinging to him like a koala bear.

Chen Mo smoothly supported her hips, and the Empress’s body couldn’t help but tremble slightly. She hadn’t fully recovered, and besides some pain, there was an accompanying peculiar feeling.

She sneaked a glance at Yu Youhan, her face reddening, remaining silent.

Chen Mo exerted force with his feet, flying upwards, reaching the top of the stairs in just a few breaths.

He pushed open the hidden door above his head and leapt out, leaving the tunnel and entering a hall.

The surroundings were dimly lit, with silence reigning, and the doors and windows were sealed with wooden boards, the air filled with a damp, decaying smell.

"This is the Emperor’s chamber? It truly is quite eerie..." Chen Mo shook his head in disapproval, and was about to start searching when suddenly, something caught his eye, making his body freeze.

Slowly turning his head, he saw a luxurious dragon bed not far away.

Its frame made of nanmu wood, lacquered in vermilion, detailed with red-gold; crimson silk drapes hung down, embroidered with a five-clawed black dragon soaring through clouds.

Through those sheer drapes, one could vaguely see a figure leaning against the bedhead!

"Who goes there?!"

With a wave of her hand, Yu Youhan flipped the drapes.

Upon seeing the person’s appearance, the three were instantly stunned.

That person wore a black dragon robe, with a crown on his head; his emaciated form seemed nothing but skin and bones, devoid of flesh, having his chest split open and organs completely excavated.

Though his face was distorted and blue-black, one could still barely recognize his original visage.

"Wu, Wu Lie?!" the Empress stepped back two steps, exclaiming, "He’s already dead?!"

Chen Mo also felt bewildered.

No wonder he hadn’t initially detected any presence, because this was a dead man! But how could Wu Lie be dead here?

Yu Youhan’s eyes flickered with a green light, she observed carefully for a moment, then said, "Though some method was used to delay decay, judging by the Spirit Platform shrinkage, this corpse has been dead for at least over a month."

For a cultivator, the extinction of the Divine Soul is the true sense of death.

And once the Divine Soul disperses, the Spirit Platform will shrink; this change is irreversible.

"More than a month?" Chen Mo’s mind spun rapidly, suddenly realizing, "No, this isn’t Wu Lie! This is Prince Yu!"

The two brothers both carried the Chu family’s blood, their appearances strikingly similar, even if the Chief Imperial Pharmacist and Imperial Physician were to examine the corpse, nine out of ten would mistake it for the Emperor himself!

Tap, tap, tap—

At this moment, dense footsteps could be heard from outside the hall.

"Stop! The Emperor’s chamber is a restricted area, no entry allowed!"

"I am Commander Gao Yuheng of the Divine Strategy Army, ordered to manage the Inner Court’s gate and oversee the palace’s protection duties! This is His Majesty’s decree!"

"Subordinate greets Commander Gao!"

"Sudden upheaval in the palace, this Commander suspects someone is attempting treason and assassination, join me in the palace to serve the King immediately!"

"Yes!"

The sound of armor clashing was extremely piercing; a large troop was closing in on the chamber!

"Damn it..."

Chen Mo’s face turned exceedingly grim, realizing he had been set up again.

If these guards were to storm into the palace, witnessing this scene, the name of regicide would be firmly established, implicating all connected to them!

Meanwhile, shadows spread across the dome above, a murderous aura firmly locking onto them, the Heavenly Shadow Guards responsible for palace protection had been triggered!

Nevertheless, Yu Youhan’s lips curved slightly into a sneer, "Ha, the more he resorts to such shabby tactics, the more it shows Wu Lie is at his wit’s end, going so far as to feign death to buy time, seems his situation is worse than imagined."

The Empress frowned and said, "Though we know this is feigned death, if caught by those guards, it would be hard to explain, perhaps we should leave this place first..."

"No need, if we kill them all, naturally there will be no witnesses." Yu Youhan said indifferently.

Empress: "..."

Swoosh—

Sensing the killing intent, the shadow shot from the dome, moving astonishingly fast!

A flash of cold light, and in an instant, Yu Youhan was cleaved in half!

Yet the next moment, that remaindered body vanished like a bubble, the shadow realizing something was wrong, tried to flee, but the air became impossibly heavy, as if a mountain pressed against it, making it impossible to move.

With the shadow fading away, a figure in ink-patterned armor slowly emerged.

Slender jade fingers pointed at his forehead, causing his body to tremble violently as dense cracks spread across the armor.

Yu Youhan’s eyes blazed like flames, cold as frost, "I am very angry right now, your mind better have some useful information, or you’ll die very miserably."