362: Been waiting for you for a long time!

"Whoa—"

With a clear whinny, the luxurious, gold-gilded, jade-inlaid carriage slowly came to a halt on a deserted bluestone street.

Just then, the clanging sound of metal colliding suddenly rang out from the depths of a nearby alley.

Dozens of burly men in black, wielding cold, gleaming horse-chopping sabers, swarmed out and surrounded the carriage.

The leader, a burly man with a thick beard and a face full of flab, slammed the back of his saber onto the carriage shaft, shaking the carriage curtains: "Who are you people, daring to trespass here?"

"If you don't want to live, just say so!"

"Get lost right now!"

The guard driving the carriage suddenly pulled on the reins, causing the jujube-red horse to rear up on its hind legs.

He wore a dark iron helmet and chainmail armor, and the bronze beast head on his sword hilt glinted coldly in the sunlight.

The guard glared fiercely, the scar at the corner of his eye contorting with his rage: "Damn it, are you blind?"

The guard leapt down from the carriage, his chainmail clinking crisply with the movement.

He rested one hand on his sword hilt, cold light leaking between his fingers, and the murderous aura radiating from him actually forced the surrounding crowd to retreat half a step.

It was as if it were not the carriage that was surrounded, but these saber-wielding men.

"Who the hell are you? I don't know you. Are you tired of living?"

"I think you're looking for..." Seeing this, the burly, bearded leader roared and prepared to swing his saber.

However, before the word "death" could leave his mouth, his wrist was suddenly grabbed tightly by his deputy.

The deputy's face was as pale as paper, his Adam's apple bobbing violently, and he pointed with a trembling finger toward the carriage: "Boss! Wait! Something isn't right!"

"Boss! This carriage..."

Under the scorching noon sun, the entire carriage was like a mobile Golden Throne Hall.

The carriage body was framed with rosewood, covered in gold-traced cloud patterns, and the pearls embedded in the wheel rims shimmered brilliantly in the sunlight.

What was even more shocking was the dark purple embroidery on the curtain—a five-clawed Dragon with its head raised and tail swishing—which was something only the Crown Prince of the Wenjing Dynasty was qualified to use.

"Purple robes, five-clawed Dragon!"

"Are you kidding me?!"

The bearded man's eyes widened to the size of saucers, his long saber clattered to the ground, and his back teeth chattered uncontrollably.

Someone in the back muttered "His Highness the Crown Prince," causing the leader and his deputy to drop to their knees in unison.

They slammed their foreheads hard onto the scorching stone road, not even daring to breathe.

There was nothing to say; kneeling was the only option!

In the Wenjing Dynasty, apart from the high and mighty Emperor, none was more noble than His Highness the Crown Prince.

"Thump, thump—"

Two dull thuds echoed across the bluestone.

The bearded leader's muscles were taut, his forehead pressed firmly against the cold ground.

In his line of sight, the Dragon patterns on the gold-threaded cloud-patterned boots shimmered with fine golden light in the sun, the dense stitching exquisite.

At this moment, beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down the man's temples, leaving dark marks on the bluestone.

It was actually real!

Oh no, His Highness the Crown Prince has arrived; won't my master's orders be ruined!

"Where is Mo Gui Alley?"

This voice fell, unhurried and calm.

The man's Adam's apple bobbed violently a few times before he dared to slowly lift his sweat-soaked face.

The noon sun made him squint; in his vision, he first saw a hem of dark purple clothing embroidered with hidden patterns, then a piece of mutton-fat jade hanging at the waist.

When he finally tilted his head up completely, he met Lu Xuan's eyes looking down at him from above.

Those eyes were purely black, as calm as a stagnant pool, and so indifferent that it was as if he were looking at a dead object, without even a ripple of emotion to be found.

"Replying to... Your... Your Highness the Crown Prince, it's... it's over there!"

The man's voice seemed to be squeezed from his throat, his Adam's apple bobbing violently, "It's... it's the third alley on the west side..."

His calloused palms pressed tightly against the scorching bluestone.

As someone who had come from the palace, he had once seen the profile of this Crown Prince from afar at the Heaven Worship Ceremony.

At this moment, his mind was blank, with only the instructions his master had given him before he left buzzing in his ears.

Those words seemed to have a life of their own, spilling uncontrollably from his trembling lips: "There is an old, hundred-year-old locust tree at the entrance of the alley... behind the tree. Behind the tree is..."

"Mo Gui Alley!"

By the last few words, his voice was as thin as a mosquito's hum, and his forehead slammed back onto the ground, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

Lu Xuan looked in the direction of the man's trembling finger and saw a towering ancient locust tree rising from the ground at the alley entrance, its thick trunk blocking the entire alley completely.

The bark was covered in gullies carved by time, shimmering with an eerie, blue-gray luster in the sunlight.

In less than a few breaths, Lu Xuan and Peng Lie arrived there.

Their gazes pierced through the narrow gaps between the tree trunks.

Inside was a small alley paved with gray bricks, extending straight, the ground as clean as new; not even a single fallen leaf could be found.

There was no moss or weeds in the gaps between the stone bricks, as if someone meticulously maintained it every day.

"Lu Xuan, wait."

Peng Lie suddenly pressed down on Lu Xuan's shoulder, his gray beard moving without wind.

His cloudy eyes stared fixedly into the depths of the alley, "There is a sinister Qi inside..."

Gray mist churned faintly in the depths of the alley.

Despite it being the noon sun, it seemed to be blocked out by some invisible thing.

As soon as the four words "sinister Qi" were spoken, a blazing light suddenly burst from Lu Xuan's eyes; his gaze was like a hungry wolf seeing prey, and his breathing even became rapid.

"Grandfather, proceed according to the plan!"

Peng Lie's gray eyebrows furrowed imperceptibly, a flash of confusion crossing his cloudy eyes.

While in the carriage, this usually composed grandson had indeed solemnly instructed him.

If he encountered any sinister or evil things, he must spare its life and leave it for him to deal with personally.

This strange request had stunned Peng Lie, an old Jianghu hand who had seen many storms, at the time.

However, although he was full of doubts, looking at the unusual gleam in his grandson's eyes,

Peng Lie ultimately just gave a deep "Hmm."

After stepping over the gaps in the ancient locust tree's roots, the gold-threaded, cloud-patterned boots crushed a faint mark into the moss.

Lu Xuan walked in without hesitation, and Peng Lie followed closely behind.

When their figures were completely swallowed by the alley, the branches and leaves of the hundred-year-old ancient locust tree moved without wind, and the hanging aerial roots quietly closed like a curtain.

The guard driving the carriage outside the alley felt his eyes blur, and the figures of Lu Xuan and Peng Lie had already vanished without a trace.

Even the bearded man and his group on the side discovered with horror.

The footprints that Lu Xuan and the other had left on the tree roots as they walked past had also now eerily vanished, as if no one had ever stepped into that deep, secluded alley.

"Whoosh!"

A bone-chilling sinister wind suddenly swept past Lu Xuan's ear; the coldness penetrated straight to the bone marrow, as if countless tiny ice needles were stabbing into his skin.

But this frigid aura came fast and went even faster, disappearing in an instant.

Lu Xuan turned his head sharply to see that Peng Lie was already shrouded in a blood-red Gale Force.

The scorching wave of Qi scorched the surrounding air until it twisted and deformed.

In Peng Lie's right hand, which was wrapped in red Gale Force, he was gripping a hideous and terrifying ghost head tightly.

The ghost's face was twisted, black blood flowing from its eye sockets, and its mouth, with fangs exposed, was still emitting a "clucking" strange noise.

"I have been waiting for you for a long time!"

Lu Xuan's lips curled slightly, and a brilliant golden light suddenly burst from his eyes.

Behind him, twelve golden Dragon phantoms broke through the air, their scales shining with sacred radiance, and as their whiskers flew, they brought forth bursts of Sanskrit chants.