Someone from the Palace

"The Celestial Dungeon is my home. I'm proud to be a dungeon guard," Xiao Ran said.

"What a good opportunity." Sister Hong's eyes lit up. She slapped the ground with her palm and propelled herself forward. She ratcheted up her powers to the maximum and transformed into a plume of dense spectral cloud that shot out.

"You can't escape."

Xiao Ran waved his right hand, and the Empyrean Conflagration Holy Fire burst forth.

In the blink of an eye, he appeared behind her.

"No…"

The terrifying flames flared up and incinerated her into ashes in a flash. They spiraled back to their original size before returning to his palm.

The Golden Tome of Creation appeared and revealed her individual information and her crimes.

She was more evil than Sister Qian from Chunfang Court. She absorbed the Yang energy of nearly three hundred people.

The golden pages spun and showed two items. 50,000 Mastery Points, five years of spiritual soul energy evolution.

He added the 50,000 Mastery Points to the Phoenix Essence Sword Technique.

Its realm level didn't change, but its power did increase a little.

The Spiritual Master Evolution advanced further again. He was now only 110 years away from breaking through to the Earth Realm.

Xiao Ran shook his head. "The Golden Tome of Creation doesn't care about demons below the level of the Connate Realm."

A stream of spirit energy was injected into Little Zhou's mind.

"Miss Li!" Little Zhou woke up groggily and looked around.

The elegant courtyard was gone, leaving only the dilapidated courtyard house and Xiao Ran standing all alone.

"Brother Xiao, where are they?"

Xiao Ran briefly recounted what had happened.

Upon hearing that they were all ghosts, Little Zhou got such a big shock that his innards almost turned green.

"Do you still miss her now?" Xiao Ran asked with a smile.

"Brother Xiao, you must keep this matter a secret for me. Don't let anyone know about it, or I'll lose all face."

"You won't be able to hush it up."

This was because when they went for the blind date, everyone in the Celestial Dungeon had found out about it.

At the thought of this, Little Zhou wished he could slap himself in the face. "Were they really wiped out by the Divine Sword Guards who were passing by?"

"Yeah," Xiao Ran nodded.

It was almost noon time.

"I have to go back to work."

They left the courtyard house and headed back to the Celestial Dungeon.

They arrived at the Celestial Dungeon just in time for lunch.

Old Zheng's eyes lit up. He waved his hand and called out, "Brother Xiao, over here."

Xiao Ran sat opposite the two of them. Old Zheng passed him the bowl and chopsticks and asked curiously, "Did Little Zhou succeed?"

"Ask him yourself," Xiao Ran answered cryptically.

He picked up his chopsticks and started eating.

After asking twice, Old Zheng had no choice but to give up.

After their meal,

a dungeon guard found Xiao Ran and passed him five taels of silver, asking for his help to send a demon on his way to the underworld.

He took the document and the Ethereal Pouch and proceeded to the ninth floor.

His target was a Verdigris Blood Venomous Aquila. It was a Level 9 Master Realm demon and was covered in poison. Even the demonic aura it emitted contained lethal poison.

"I hail from the Great Viridian Mountains. You can't kill me." The Venomous Aquila stammered in terror.

Xiao Ran took out the torture devices silently and wiped the long sword clean.

The document requested that his wings should not be damaged and should be harvested in pristine condition.

"Aren't you afraid that we will take revenge?"

Xiao Ran flicked his longsword, and the sword blade reverberated with a low hum. He looked at him expressionlessly, "Have you ever thought about those innocent people you ate?"

A scornful expression appeared on the Venomous Aquila's face. "A bunch of worthless creatures. They deserve to die."

"You're a worthless creature right now," Xiao Ran said.

"You…"

Swish!

The sword slit his throat and severed his head cleanly.

He removed the wings, then dissected the body for other materials, and put them into the Ethereal Pouch.

The Golden Tome of Creation appeared. Flipping open to a random page, it displayed three items: 100,000 Mastery Points, a bottle of Black Jade Heretical Poison, and 10 years of soul evolution.

He added the 100,000 Mastery Points to the Phoenix Essence Sword Technique but its level remained the same.

There was a big leap in the Spiritual Master Evolution but there was still a hundred years to go before he could achieve a breakthrough.

Black Jade Heretical Poison: Any practitioner below the Profound Realm will lose all their skills within 15 minutes.

He dragged the demon's body into the Earth fire.

After handing the document and the Ethereal Pouch to the dungeon guard, Xiao Ran left as the guard thanked him profusely.

Back on the ninth floor,

before his butt could warm up the seat, the lieutenant summoned him. When he reached the antechamber on the first floor, all the dungeon guards were there.

A woman in palatial attire stood there, her face hidden behind a moon-white veil.

She stood there motionless, exuding an air of authority.

Behind her stood two palace maids and a group of Divine Sword Guards.

"Your Highness, everyone is here," the lieutenant said respectfully.

"Take me there."

"Your Highness, this way please!"

A group of people followed them, heading towards the inner zone.

"Brother Xiao, do you know who she is?" Old Zheng asked in a low voice.

"Must be some princess, I guess," Xiao Ran surmised.

"That's right! Her Highness the Elder Princess Xia Luoran."

"Never heard of her." Xiao Ran shook his head.

On the ninth floor,

the foul sinister atmosphere billowed portentously. Some dungeon guards found it extremely difficult to endure, breaking out in cold sweat and shivering uncontrollably.

"You guys keep watch here. You, follow me," the Elder Princess ordered.

"Yes, Your Highness," replied the lieutenant and braced himself for what would follow.

The Elder Princess walked in front with only two palace maids. As soon as the surrounding foul sinister atmosphere reached her, it was dispersed by the purple glow emanating from her body.

Not long after they went in, a palace maid returned and looked around. "Who's Xiao Ran?"

"Me." Xiao Ran walked up from behind.

"Come with me."

With that, the palace maid entered the Purgatory.

Xiao Ran followed her.

In the Purgatory, in cell number 1.

The Elder Princess and the others stood outside the cell. The lieutenant remained bowed down, trying to breathe as softly as possible. He glanced at Xiao Ran who just entered and ordered anxiously, "Quickly open the cell door."

Xiao Ran took out the key and opened the cell door.

The Elder Princess entered the cell and the palace maid gestured to the two men to wait by the side.

It was not known what they were discussing inside. After about seven to eight minutes, a heated argument could be heard inside. A while later, the Elder Princess stomped out with an icy expression and stopped in front of Xiao Ran.

"Take good care of my aunt. If anything happens to her, I hold you answerable."

"All right," Xiao Ran replied.

The Elder Princess came and left quickly.

Thump.

The lieutenant's legs gave way and he collapsed to the ground.

"My Lord, are you all right?" Xiao Ran helped him up.

The lieutenant wiped off the cold sweat on his forehead. He was thoroughly scared out of his wits but pretended to be relaxed. "I'm fine! You must take good care of the princess."

After he left, Xiao Ran walked over and was about to lock the cell door.

The Eldest Princess let out a soft moan, and the suppressed pain exploded. Her expression turned ferocious, and the thick demonic aura gushed out from her body and attacked her consciousness. "Hurry up and beat me!"

Xiao Ran was hesitant. "Your niece asked me to take good care of you."

"I can't take it anymore."

The Golden Phoenix rushed out, quickly revolving around her. Golden light scattered down, protecting her final shred of rationality.

Before she lost her consciousness completely, the Eldest Princess rushed up, grabbed Xiao Ran's hand, and slapped it on her head.

As the demonic energy dissipated, she let out a long breath.

"Comfortable."

"Don't do that. Your niece—"

"Beat me!" The Eldest Princess begged.

More and more demonic energy flowed out from her body. In an instant, the prison cell turned into a demonic realm.

"Hitting you can be taken to mean taking care of you, right?" Xiao Ran asked.