Chapter 158 Gasping in Cold Air

Although the demon city was indeed crude and the Human King's Residence could hardly be called magnificent, compared to the caves where fierce beasts lived, it was still considered the most "luxurious" human dwelling in the extraterritorial realm.

Several beast lords were too massive and could only land with Xu Zhe in the residence's courtyard.

The courtyard was designed to be extremely spacious, measuring tens of thousands of square meters, fully deserving to be called a manor.

Moreover, the soil in the courtyard was clearly much more fertile and planted with many green vegetation, forming a stark contrast with the lifeless yellow earth outside.

Clearly, this was fertile soil specially moved by the demon clan from elsewhere, all to please those so-called lords.

In the courtyard, close to the buildings, over a hundred young human women with bright attire, fair skin, and beautiful appearances were already standing in a row, waiting.

Xu Zhe was astonished. Through his spiritual sense, he could clearly perceive that there were at least a thousand human female auras in this Human King's Residence.

However, only about a hundred had come out to wait. Every single woman possessed fine features, and a few even had exceptionally explosive figures that seemed capable of making one blush just from a second glance.

Of course, Xu Zhe was an exception.

Compared to Chu Xiaotong, Lin Keyi, or even Gu Jiaer, the hundred-odd women before him were definitely inferior; not a single one could rival them.

"Deputy Commander Lan, most of these women were sent by the Bai family, and some were secretly abducted by our scouts within the human race. However, most have already served those lords, and now only these hundred remain pure maidens. You may command them as you wish, to do whatever you please," the fox-faced beast lord said, looking at Xu Zhe with a smiling, lecherous expression.

Xu Zhe: "???"

Good grief, out of thousands of women here, only a hundred were still pure maidens?

What kind of lords were those?

Devils of lust, no less!

Yet the Bai family was truly disgusting to stoop to such acts, abducting female cultivators and sending them to the demon clan for others to enjoy!

Come to think of it, Zhu Chongli had previously been appointed by the Four Continents Council to investigate whether the Cold Crow Army was trafficking prisoners. Could some of those female prisoners have been sent here?

Xu Zhe suddenly recalled previous events, and the clues suddenly connected.

Regardless, he would record this first.

He would expose them later and see if the Bai family survived.

"Deputy Commander Lan, has anyone caught your eye? Shall we select a few first?" the fox-faced beast lord asked at this moment.

"No need for now. Just arrange a room for me first; I prefer quiet and do not wish to be disturbed," Xu Zhe shook his head slightly and smiled.

Even though his heart was filled with extreme revulsion towards all this, deep sympathy for these human women, and anger at the actions of the demon clan and the Bai family, his face betrayed no improper emotion, remaining very calm.

With his tens of thousands of years of experience from his past life, he had seen all forms of life. His calmness now was not merely hiding joy and anger, but rather a composed serenity born of seeing it all before.

"Is Deputy Commander Lan dissatisfied with these women?" The fox-faced beast lord was slightly startled and asked.

"Lord Fox misunderstands. I simply have some new insights regarding the Great Dao recently and need some quiet time to comprehend them," Xu Zhe shook his head with a smile.

He wasn't lying. The heavenly fires and dragon-shaped black winds he had encountered consecutively while traveling recently had inexplicably stirred his Righteousness Demon-Sealing Scripture.

He felt it necessary to quiet his mind, contemplate and investigate, and properly comprehend what exactly had moved him.

Hearing Xu Zhe's explanation, the fox-faced beast lord was immediately relieved and said with a hint of envy, "I see. Then I wish Deputy Commander Lan success this time, to comprehend the Great Dao and advance further."

"I suppose I should congratulate Deputy Commander Lan in advance," the bull-headed beast lord laughed aloud.

The other beast lords chimed in as well, feeling envious in their hearts.

They knew very well that at Deputy Commander Lan's level, which already belonged to the Demon King tier within the demon clan, making further progress in realm and strength was exceedingly difficult.

To think this Deputy Commander Lan possessed such astonishing talent, advancing toward the mid-stage of Tribulation Transcendence so quickly—it was truly admirable and enviable.

After some polite pleasantries, the several beast lords took their leave.

In the vast manor-like Human King's Residence, only Xu Zhe, a handsome man, and a thousand women remained.

Xu Zhe did not know the current plight of the nearly thousand women who had not appeared, but the gazes of the hundred women who had shown themselves were almost entirely focused on him.

Compared to being the center of attention everywhere he went in the past, the gaze of these mere hundred people would not make him uncomfortable.

However, the eyes of these hundred women clearly held a plea for help, and some were even filled with utter despair, their eyes dim, lifeless, and somewhat vacant.

"Sigh, what a sin..."

Xu Zhe shook his head and sighed inwardly.

Nothing could be done to help them right now; he could only take it one step at a time.

After all, the appearance of these women was not part of the initial plan and was truly an unexpected situation.

"Return to your quarters. Unless summoned, do not come to disturb me."

Xu Zhe looked at them, waved his hand, and signaled for them to withdraw.

The numerous women were all startled, looking at each other in dismay, but none dared to move away.

Seeing this, Xu Zhe said nothing more and walked on his own toward the cluster of buildings.

According to the fox-faced beast lord, any room here could be chosen at will. However, for the sake of caution, he still needed to pick one with a good location to facilitate a retreat at any moment.

"My lord!"

Just as Xu Zhe stepped into the corridor, a woman's call came from behind.

Xu Zhe paused his steps and turned to look.

From the crowd emerged a woman with a hot figure and a bewitching appearance.

"My lord, might I have a word in private?" the woman asked softly with a hint of allure on her lips.

"No." Xu Zhe refused directly, without even thinking.

It seemed there were also sophisticated people among these women, who were thinking of latching onto a powerful backer to rise in rank even under such circumstances.

However, it was entirely normal. People like this, as long as they were clever enough, often lived quite long and led splendid lives.

"Wait, my lord, this humble woman has no other intentions; I simply know of a stroke of fortune existing in this place that might interest you," the woman suddenly switched to voice transmission and said to Xu Zhe.

"Oh?"

Xu Zhe instantly grew interested, stopped once more, and narrowed his eyes slightly: "Tell me about it, then."

The woman hurriedly parted her lips again and transmitted her voice: "My lord, this humble woman was originally a disciple of the Jade Pool Holy Land, and once..."

"Wait, you don't need to say anymore. I'm not listening. Goodbye." Xu Zhe interrupted her voice transmission without the slightest hesitation, turned around, and walked away.

How could anyone from the Jade Pool Holy Land be trusted?

Run quickly.

"My lord, you..." The woman widened her eyes in utter astonishment, watching helplessly as Xu Zhe walked away from her and disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Never had she imagined that this man known as Deputy Commander Lan would be so vigilant; he hadn't even finished listening before simply walking away like that.

"How did it go?" At this moment, a voice came from afar, ringing in the woman's ear.

"Elder Sister, I failed. This man is very vigilant; this method probably won't trick him," the woman replied in a deep voice.

"Do you know his background?" that voice asked.

"Those demons call him Deputy Commander Lan. Coupled with his early-stage Tribulation Transcendence cultivation, he should be the one from the Vermilion Bird Army of the Southern Celestial Continent," the woman replied.

"Lan Zhen? It's actually him! Ha, I never expected him to betray the human race as well. Never mind, lead the sisters back first. I will handle this personally, and I shall certainly succeed."

"Yes!"

...

Before long, Xu Zhe had chosen a room and pushed the door open to enter.

Although the room was in a secluded location and not very large, its location was advantageous.

Should anything go wrong, he could directly jump out the window over the residence wall, and outside the wall was the city wall—a good shortcut for escape.

Xu Zhe walked around the room, swept through with his spiritual sense, and confirmed there was no surveillance before going back outside. He vaulted over the residence wall and arrived beneath the city wall.

Aisde from briefly examining the mottled, dilapidated yellow-earth city wall, Xu Zhe reached out a palm and pressed it gently against it.

"Whoosh!"

An invisible barrier flashed instantly, and his palm distinctly felt a resistance.

"It really is an ancient protective array."

Xu Zhe murmured, then brought two fingers together and swiftly traced upon the city wall.

Soon, array runes materialized, rapidly forming within the barrier of the protective array and gradually growing bright.

A moment later, as the final array rune was outlined, Xu Zhe quickly withdrew his hand.

A large swath of array runes on the city wall flashed with brilliant light before instantly dimming, their patterns vanishing as they merged into the city wall.

"With this teleportation array, the retreat route is basically secured. However, this teleportation array ultimately borrows the foundation of the demon city's protective array, and it seems it will affect the power of the protective array..."

Xu Zhe pondered for a moment and shook his head: "It should be fine. As long as no natural disasters descend, there won't be much of a problem."

He returned to the room and casually set up a few simple shielding arrays to isolate outside prying eyes.

However, such simple arrays basically could not stop anyone above the Soul Formation stage, but they could serve as a warning. If anyone forcefully broke through the shielding array to spy, Xu Zhe would be able to perceive it immediately.

Having done all this, Xu Zhe found a rush mat and sat down cross-legged.

Exhaling lightly, he slowly closed his eyes. The spiritual Qi within his body gradually surged, his spiritual sense slowly drifting, and he began to comprehend the stirring brought by the Righteousness Demon-Sealing Scripture.

He was very curious why, when the heavenly fires and dragon-shaped black winds appeared, he had experienced an unexplained stirring.

This stirring seemed to be generated by the fluctuations of spiritual Qi within his body, which then transmitted to his heart, causing palpitations and vaguely pulling at some kind of existence.

And now, as he began to grope for that existence and explore that stirring, his spiritual sense drifted, as if entering a pitch-black, hollow world.

He sensed nothing at all, only feeling his entire body enter a state of relaxation, like falling heavily into a lump of cotton, and then his whole body began to sink slowly downwards as if in a swamp.

Meanwhile, outside the demon city, across the boundless Southern Demon Domain, the space in countless regions vaguely appeared distorted.

Clouds surged in the vault of heaven, wisps of sparks splattered, and gradually burned into patches of fire.

Golden, red, blue, black... all kinds of colorful heavenly fires manifested in the dark night sky.

They seemed to be summoned by something, surging continuously like flowing rivers, rushing toward the same direction.

In the distance, a phantom-like black dragon, resembling a violent wind, coiled in the air, twisting its massive, thick body as it chased those heavenly fires and sped forward.

They shared a common destination—the demon city.

...

"Thump, thump, thump..."

Inside the Human King's Residence.

Xu Zhe abruptly opened his eyes, covered in cold sweat, as if waking from a nightmare.

It was the knocking on the door outside the room that woke him.

"Who is it?"

Without time to dwell on it, Xu Zhe swept his gaze toward the door and said in a deep voice.

"Lan Zhen, after all these years, are you still willing to see me once?" A crisp, pleasant female voice came from outside the door.

Xu Zhe was instantly startled. No way, he could run into an acquaintance of Lan Zhen just like this?

"Who are you?" Xu Zhe thought for a moment and asked calmly.

Since the other party had revealed information about not seeing each other for many years, asking for her identity was a reasonable question.

"Sigh!"

The woman outside let out a melancholy sigh: "After all these years, you can't even recognize your mother's voice anymore?"

"???"

Xu Zhe instantly widened his eyes, took a breath through his mouth, and felt a chill.

The person outside was Lan Zhen's mother?

Was this damn thing messing with him?