115: Chapter 107 Curfew? The Eldest Princess is Here

“Clang—”

A broken brass gong rang out, and the deathly silent long street instantly came to life. The sound waves were so sharp they made one's eardrums ache.

Xu Mo gripped the underworld emissary token with his backhand and grabbed Pei Duo's arm. Lin Sa's right hand pressed directly onto the hilt of the blade on the outside of her thigh, her center of gravity sinking.

“Don't move!” Xu Mo lowered his voice, speaking as fast as beans pouring out of a jar. “The opening monsters of an SSS-rank instance have absolute rules. Showing your health bar is just giving away your life; it'll trigger the city-wide wipe mechanism! Find cover!”

Pei Duo glanced at the blood-lettered lantern in her hand; its red light was practically a beacon in the white mist.

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On both sides of the street, the ward gates were tightly shut.

“This way.” Pei Duo’s gaze swept across and locked onto a two-story building on the left. Four large characters were written on the plaque: Guiyun Inn.

The three of them crouched and slipped inside. Lin Sa pushed the door open, the wooden boards making a dry "creak." It wasn't locked.

As soon as her front foot crossed the threshold, Lin Sa pulled the door shut behind her, and the wooden latch fell silently into place.

Almost at the same second, the shuffling footsteps of the Night Watchman drifted past the inn's main door, and the sound of the gong gradually faded into the distance.

The inside of the inn was dark and cold. Pei Duo raised the lantern, and the red light spread out.

Xu Mo adjusted his glasses, his gaze quickly scanning the lobby. A chill suddenly ran down his spine.

The tables and chairs were all made of paper. Pale funeral paper was crafted into benches and square tables, their surfaces painted with fake wood grain using low-quality ink. The counter was also made of paper, with a blank ledger resting upon it.

Lin Sa silently moved to a corner, using the tip of her blade to flip open a paper screen. No one was there.

“No scent of living people.” Lin Sa sheathed her blade cleanly.

Pei Duo walked to the paper table in the center of the lobby. On the tabletop sat a set of tea utensils, eerily placed.

One teapot, three teacups.

Steam was sizzling out of the teapot's spout.

Pei Duo reached out and hovered her hand over the teapot; her palm immediately felt the scalding heat.

“Just-boiled water.” Pei Duo’s voice was flat.

Xu Mo leaned in, staring at the three cups, his brow furrowed into a tight knot. “Three cups, exactly three of us. Is the system providing precision hospitality here, or did someone calculate our arrival point in advance?”

Pei Duo didn't touch the tea set; she turned and walked toward the window facing the street.

Outside, the wind had changed.

It wasn't the ghostly sound of the Night Watchman, but the sound of marching—rhythmic and unified, as if it could crush the very ground.

“Clack, clack.”

Iron armor clashing, combat boots grinding against the earth.

Lin Sa quickly approached the window, using her blade tip to poke a small, bean-sized hole in the paper window frame. Pei Duo and Xu Mo also found gaps to look out.

The thick mist at the end of the long street was forcibly torn open by a soaring aura of slaughter.

A squad of heavy infantry stepped out of the mist.

Mingguang Armor, their heart-protecting mirrors glinting with a cold, harsh light under the blood moon; they wore helmets with red tassels that had long been stained a purplish-black by clotted blood. In each person's hand, they held a ten-foot-long Long Saber upside down.

Great Tang Underworld Soldiers. This display of force pushed the sense of oppression to the limit.

Five per row, the column extended backward until it was lost from sight.

Their faces were tightly obscured by black mist; they had no features, only two clusters of ghostly green soul-fire flickering where their eyes should be.

Combat boots stepped on the bluestone slabs, which let out an overburdened "crack," cracks spreading along the street like spiderwebs.

Xu Mo held his breath, his brain calculating frantically. Even the most ordinary soldier in the team had a concentration of Yin energy sufficient to crush the final boss of an A-rank instance.

Thousands of such monsters. This was the foundation of an SSS-rank instance; it defied all logic.

Lin Sa gripped the hilt of her blade tightly, her muscles tensed to the limit.

Pei Duo, however, just watched the window silently.

The black jade pendant pressed against her chest suddenly began to grow hot.

It wasn't a burn, but a deep, heavy vibration. The corner of the imperial seal of china within the jade pendant had awakened.

The First Emperor of Qin's laws of imperial power had sensed the military soul of the Great Tang.

Pei Duo could clearly feel that the emotions coming from the jade pendant contained no killing intent, none of the tyranny she felt when crushing ancient gods in the Eighteenth Layer of Hell.

It was a form of scrutiny. The gaze of a superior across a millennium.

Both belonged to the Huaxia dragon vein, both were the foundation of eternal empires!

The Great Tang Underworld Soldiers advanced to the main entrance of the Guiyun Inn.

The leading heavy-armored general suddenly halted his steps.

As he stopped, the entire army behind him froze instantly, even the lingering sound of armor friction was cut off. Their discipline was absolute, moving as one.

The general slowly turned his head, facing the inn.

Two clusters of ghostly green soul-fire pierced through the paper window, locking onto Pei Duo with unerring precision.

Lin Sa’s dagger was drawn half an inch, and Xu Mo’s hand on the underworld emissary token was slick with sweat.

Pei Duo, however, raised her hand and pressed down slightly, signaling the two not to move.

Through her clothes, she pressed the burning jade pendant, meeting the gaze without any hesitation.

The general watched Pei Duo silently. He didn't draw his sword, nor did he give an order.

He felt that supreme aura of imperial power. Though she was not of the Tang's Li clan, it was the oldest and most legitimate "Mandate of Heaven" on this land!

Bloodline suppression.

The general suddenly raised his iron-gauntleted right hand, formed a fist, and slammed it heavily against the heart-protecting mirror on his left chest.

“Bang！”

A muffled thud vibrated through the long street.

This was a military salute. The highest tribute to the legitimate imperial power of Huaxia.

After finishing the salute, the general lowered his hand, turned his head, and continued forward.

The Great Tang Underworld Soldiers set off again. Long Sabers like a forest, iron armor like a tide, they silently disappeared into the depths of the thick mist.

Only after the sense of oppression had completely dissipated did Xu Mo let out a long breath, the clothes on his back sticking to his skin.

“So this is the Chang'an curfew.” Xu Mo wiped away cold sweat. “Those wandering the streets are all monsters that don't belong to this dimension.”

“But they are the army of Huaxia.” Pei Duo let go of her hand. “As long as we don't break the rules, they won't turn their blades on their own people.”

Lin Sa pressed her dagger back into its sheath. “The strength of that leader just now was unfathomable. If we really clashed, we wouldn't last ten seconds.”

“The system threw us here just to play the 'kill with a borrowed knife' game.” Xu Mo’s mind raced. “As long as we trigger the curfew rules, the Great Tang Underworld Soldiers will crush us into dust. The system won't even have to get its hands dirty.”

Pei Duo didn't respond; she turned and walked back to the paper table in the lobby.

The water in the pot was still steaming.

“Who exactly poured this tea?” Pei Duo stared at the three cups.

There were no living people in the inn, and the underworld soldiers were outside. The appearance of this tea was too sinister.

She reached out two fingers and pinched the edge of one of the paper cups; the touch was surprisingly hard.

She lifted the cup.

Under the bottom of the cup lay a square piece of yellow paper.

On the yellow paper, a line of characters was written in cinnabar with a flourishing hand. The handwriting was very fresh, and the cinnabar even had a moist sheen.

Pei Duo pulled the yellow paper back and, by the light of the red lantern, saw the words clearly.

Xu Mo and Lin Sa also leaned in.

The paper clearly read: “Third quarter of the Zi hour, execution at the West Market. Eldest Princess, save them.”

Pei Duo’s eyes instantly turned cold.

Eldest Princess.

In this SSS-rank forbidden instance, someone had recognized her identity and was asking her for help!

“West Market.” A map of Chang'an City immediately appeared in Xu Mo’s mind. “The Great Tang West Market is both a commercial center and an execution ground. The Third quarter of the Zi hour... there's less than half an hour left!”

“Who is asking for help?” Lin Sa got straight to the point.

Pei Duo stared at the handwriting, a sense of familiarity welling up in her heart. This brushwork was identical to what she had seen while reviewing dossiers in the Underworld.

“When my brother tore up his return ticket and stayed in the Thriller World years ago, he wasn't just a commander without an army.” Pei Duo’s voice was heavy. “Under him, he had the Ten Kings of Hell, the Black and White Impermanence, and the entire imperial court.”

Xu Mo reacted instantly, sucking in a breath. “The one asking for help is an emissary from the Underworld?!”

Pei Duo folded the yellow paper and tucked it into her sleeve.

“The system blocked the Japanese God System, cut off my connection with my brother, and threw me into Chang'an City not just to kill me.” Pei Duo raised her eyes, which were full of hostility. “It’s also holding my brother’s people captive in Chang'an!”

Execution.

The system wants to publicly execute an emissary of the Underworld at the Great Tang's execution ground. This is like shitting on the Underworld Son of Heaven's head!

“Half an hour.” Pei Duo snatched up the blood lantern with the character for "Night" on it. “Let's go.”

“To the West Market?!” Xu Mo grabbed her, panicked. “The curfew is still in effect outside! As soon as we step out, we'll run into a patrol like the one just now. We don't even know where the West Market is, let alone what kind of inescapable net has been laid at the execution ground!”

“I know it's a trap.” Pei Duo looked at Xu Mo, her tone brook no argument. “But these are my brother’s people. Since I’ve accepted this imperial seal of china, I will never watch people from the Huaxia Underworld be executed by some damn system on their own territory!”

Lin Sa didn't waste a word; she walked straight to the door, her hand gripping the latch. Her attitude was clear: wherever the Eldest Princess pointed, she would strike.

Xu Mo nearly ground his back teeth to pieces and suddenly let go. “Lunatics. Your whole Pei family are lunatics!”

He irritably pushed his glasses and took out the underworld emissary token. “Chang'an City has 108 Wards, laid out like a chessboard. We should be near the East Market now. To get to the West Market, we must cross Zhuque Avenue. That's the main thoroughfare with the densest troop presence; we absolutely cannot take the main streets.”

“Take the ward walls.” Lin Sa suggested. “Scale the walls to avoid the streets.”

“There are Wuhou Outposts and hidden sentries on the walls.” Xu Mo immediately rejected the idea. “And an SSS-rank instance most likely has a flight ban; jumping up there would make us sitting ducks.”

Pei Duo walked to the door and sneered.

“No need for all that trouble.” Through her clothes, she heavily patted the jade pendant on her chest. “If the system wants to play with a curfew, then we'll play a big game with it.”

She turned to look at Xu Mo and Lin Sa.

Pei Duo stuffed the blood-lettered lantern into Lin Sa’s hand.

“Lin Sa, carry the lantern. Xu Mo, lead the way.”

After saying that, Pei Duo pressed both hands against the inn's main door and shoved it open.

Outside, the red moon hung high, and the mist swirled.

Pei Duo didn't hesitate and stepped over the high wooden threshold.

The moment her sole touched the bluestone slab!

The black jade pendant on her chest erupted with a ring of blinding black-gold light. The light poured out like liquid silver, flowing down her legs and directly into the ground of Chang'an City.

“Buzz——”

An extremely low dragon roar, seemingly from the deepest depths of the earth, exploded throughout Chang'an City!

The thick mist on both sides of the street was forcibly pushed aside by an incredibly overbearing force.

Fifty meters ahead, a squad of patrolling Great Tang Underworld Soldiers suddenly halted.

“Swish—”

The entire squad turned in unison, the ghostly green soul-fire beneath their helmets staring intently at Pei Duo's direction.

Pei Duo didn't stop her pace.

She strode forward toward that squad of underworld soldiers that could insta-kill an A-rank player. The black-gold imperial power laws spread frantically beneath her feet, forcibly paving an illusory grand avenue on the deathly silent long street!

“Eldest Princess of the Underworld is here!”

Pei Duo’s cold voice echoed through the empty street. “I am borrowing the path to the West Market. Those who block me shall be executed according to the law!”

The general of that squad of Great Tang Underworld Soldiers looked at the rolling black-gold light beneath his feet and slowly raised his right hand.

“Clatter—”

The entire squad instantly split to both sides, standing neatly against the base of the walls, leaving the widest passage in the center of the street open.

Long Sabers planted in the ground, iron armor lowered.

They bowed their proud heads.

Pei Duo kept her eyes straight ahead, walking with her head held high between the two rows of Great Tang Underworld Soldiers.

Xu Mo and Lin Sa followed closely behind. Xu Mo looked at the terrifying underworld soldiers on both sides bowing their heads, feeling like his CPU had completely fried.

In an SSS-rank instance, having the opening monsters line up to welcome you? What kind of dimensional strike is this?!

The three of them stepped onto the black-gold avenue and headed straight for the West Market.

And at this moment, on the second floor of the Guiyun Inn.

A paper window was silently pushed open from the inside, leaving a narrow slit.

A pair of dead-fish eyes with no pupils, only whites, stared fixedly at the arrogant departing figures of Pei Duo and her group.

From behind the window came a sticky, nauseating sound of chewing.

“Chomp... chomp...”

A pale, bloated hand reached out of the window, black mud under the fingernails. In that hand, a piece of mangled, bloody flesh was gripped tightly.

If Xu Mo were here, he would recognize at a glance that the shape of that mangled flesh was clearly a tongue that had been forcibly ripped out—a tongue belonging to an emissary of the Underworld!

“Eldest Princess...”

The dark figure behind the window swallowed the mangled flesh in its mouth and let out a blurred, greedy murmur.

“The meat... smells so good...”