Gazing at the mountain-like piles of mutated beast corpses before him,

Zhou Huai's expression turned incomparably solemn.

Without a doubt.

Besides the elite team from the Zhou Family and the Liu Clan, he couldn't think of a second possibility for what could cause such large-scale carnage here.

This also meant that the entrance leading to this palace area wasn't just the one occupied by the Evernight Guild.

They must have entered from another entrance.

An indescribable sense of absurdity surged in Zhou Huai's heart.

The Evernight Guild had spent nearly a month, invested a massive amount of manpower and material resources, and spared no cost to wipe out the mutated beast army.

As a result, it instead cleared the obstacles for the people of the Zhou Family and the Liu Clan, allowing them to reach this core area much more easily from other entrances.

What the hell.

They had essentially paved the way for the enemy.

Zhou Huai was somewhat speechless.

At this point, regret was meaningless.

The most urgent task was to hurry up and catch up,

To see if there was a chance to swoop in and reap the spoils.

As long as there weren't any powerful sensory-type Classer in the opponent's team,

Discovering Moria, who was hidden in the shadows, would definitely not be an easy task.

Thinking of this, Zhou Huai hesitated no longer.

He controlled Moria, his figure quietly merging into the ground and turning into an inconspicuous shadow as he rapidly advanced toward the depths of the palace city.

The closer he got to that most magnificent palace,

The more tragic the surrounding battle traces became.

The smell of blood permeating the air also grew increasingly rich.

A large number of palace towers were reduced to ruins in the fierce battle, and the broken walls were splattered with dark green beast blood.

The corpses of the mutated beasts were piled layer upon layer, almost covering the entire white jade avenue.

Soon, the corpses of human Classer began to appear in Zhou Huai's line of sight.

Their manners of death were extremely miserable, mostly torn to pieces by the sharp claws and teeth of the mutated beasts.

It seemed that the closer to the core area, the more terrifying the strength Level of the mutated beasts.

He stealthily advanced another several hundred meters forward.

Waves of violent energy fluctuations, mixed with the angry roars of Classer and the dying shrieks of mutated beasts, came from ahead.

Zhou Huai's spirit lifted, and he immediately accelerated.

Like a ghost, he silently crossed the messy plaza and finally stopped behind a broken dragon-patterned stone pillar.

He raised his head and cast his gaze forward.

The scene before him made his pupils abruptly contract.

Ahead was a flight of white jade stairs hundreds of steps high.

At the end of the stairs stood a massively huge palace.

That palace was entirely cast from an unknown black metal, with flying eaves and bucket arches, and an aura as magnificent as an ancient giant beast crouching between heaven and earth, exuding an overbearing aura as if ruling the world.

At this moment, on those wide white jade stairs, an incomparably bloody slaughter was unfolding.

Dozens of Classer wearing unified standard battle armor were fiercely fighting with countless mutated beasts.

The strength of these Classer was extremely formidable, and every single one of them had a Level of at least level fifty or above.

They coordinated tacitly, with orderly offense and defense, forming an indestructible steel defense line that firmly blocked the tide-like army of mutated beasts on the stairs.

And beneath those stairs,

There were still several figures leisurely watching the battle situation below,

As if that flesh-and-blood Shura field was merely an insignificant play.

Zhou Huai narrowed his eyes.

As expected, they were people from the Zhou Family and the Liu Clan.

Among those figures, he recognized Zhou Feng at a glance.

Beside Zhou Feng, there stood a haughty-looking young man wearing luxurious clothes.

Presumably, that was the eldest young master of the Liu Clan, Liu Ziang.

What made Zhou Huai feel wary were the two gray-robed old men standing behind Liu Ziang.

Those two had their eyes closed from beginning to end, their auras restrained, like two lifeless sculptures.

Yet Zhou Huai could sense a vague, terrifying pressure from them that made his heart leap in fright.

Although it was far inferior to Principal Lin Zhu,

Their strength was definitely not to be underestimated.

Zhou Huai controlled Moria, converging his own aura to the extreme.

Carefully, he approached those few people a little closer once again.

Seeing that those people still showed no reaction, he breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed that this team didn't have any Classer specializing in perception.

Otherwise, given Moria's current Level, it would be almost impossible not to be discovered at such a close distance.

At this moment, Liu Ziang's haughty face was filled with undisguised excitement and wild joy.

He turned his head sideways to look at Zhou Feng beside him.

"Zhou Feng, do you think that legendary Divine Artifact might be inside this grand hall?"

Hearing this, Zhou Feng wore a polite smile on his face.

"This is also my first time encountering such a wondrous sight, so I dare not jump to conclusions."

"However, in my view, there's an eight or nine out of ten chance it is right inside!"

One of the gray-robed old men standing behind Liu Ziang slowly opened his murky old eyes and nodded calmly.

"Young Master, what Chairman Zhou said is correct."

"In this area, the strength Level of the mutated beasts is also the most formidable."

"If there really is a Divine Artifact here, then it is most likely hidden within this main hall."

Hearing this, the smile on Liu Ziang's face grew even thicker.

He seemed to have already seen the scene of himself holding the Divine Artifact, returning to the Clan, and receiving the worship of everyone.

"Hahaha! Good!"

"When I bring the Divine Artifact back this time, let's see which of those old fogies in the Clan still dares to look down on me!"

Just as a few of them were conversing,

The battle on the stairs had also drawn to a close.

Although the mutated beasts here were powerful in strength and fearless of death,

But after all, there was no Hell-level BOSS holding down the fort.

Facing the encirclement of dozens of elite Classer above level fifty, their defeat was only a matter of time.

Soon, as the last mutated beast let out an unwilling wail, it crashed heavily to the ground.

The entire white jade staircase was completely cleared.

Various colored blood slowly flowed down step by step along the stairs,

Ultimately gathering into a shocking stream at the bottom of the stairs.

The thick smell of blood soared into the sky, making one nauseous.

Those Classer who had just ended the battle wiped the blood off their faces one after another.

They quickly lined up on both sides, bowing their heads and welcoming the arrival of Liu Ziang with an incomparably respectful posture.

Liu Ziang's face wore a smug smile as he tidied up his spotless luxurious attire.

He took the lead, stepping on the white jade stairs soaked in blood, walking step by step toward that magnificent palace.

Zhou Feng and the two gray-robed old men followed closely behind.

Soon, the group arrived in front of the giant palace's doors.

Liu Ziang raised his head, his gaze falling onto the antique plaque directly above the palace.

The plaque was entirely cast from unknown bronze, and inscribed upon it in flying dragon and dancing phoenix strokes were three ancient characters filled with endless majesty.

"Eternal Hall…"

Liu Ziang gazed at those three characters, chanting them softly.

He seemed to see the scene of the emperor ruling the world from ages past, sitting above the Nine Heavens, commanding millions of troops, and looking down upon all living beings.

"Good name!"

"What a magnificent aura!"

Liu Ziang couldn't help but let out a heartfelt exclamation, the excitement in his heart growing even harder to suppress.

He slowly reached out his hand, about to push open the tightly closed palace doors.

However, the moment his hand touched the cold door panels,

A withered palm gently pressed down on his shoulder.

"Young Master, wait a moment."

The gray-robed old man who had spoken earlier had arrived by his side at some unknown time.

He cast a strange look at Zhou Feng.

"This ruin was brought to us by Mr. Zhou."

"Why don't we let Mr. Zhou open this door as well?"

As soon as these words were spoken,

Zhou Feng's expression changed imperceptibly.

Hearing this, Liu Ziang nodded in deep agreement.

He withdrew his hand and said with feigned politeness,

"Zhou Feng, please."

Yet the smile on Zhou Feng's face grew even brighter.

He bowed slightly.

"Being able to serve Young Master Ziang is Zhou's honor."

After finishing, he took a deep breath, pressed his hands firmly against the cold palace doors, and shoved them open with a fierce push.

"Screeech——!"

A teeth-aching friction sound suddenly resounded in this dead silence of a space!

That ancient door, which didn't know how many years it had been sealed away, finally had a crack slowly pushed open at this moment!