Monster Paradise

“I’ve learned from many people that according to legend, there are three founders of the inner world. One is a member of the Dragon Tribe, another is a nine-tailed demon fox, and the last is an eminent monk from the Buddhist Tribe. This point I managed to verify later from an underground channel; it isn’t just a mere legend.

“However, these three founders were only active for a little while during the initial stages of founding the inner world. Subsequently, they went quiet very rapidly.

“After the three founders faded into the background, high-level Heavenly Gods sprang up one after another not long after. Most of these were short-lived. This situation only stabilized 3,000 years ago, when six overlords each took over various territories to maintain a system of checks and balances.

“Among these six, two of them were the earliest to emerge—almost within 100 years of the three founders going quiet.

“One of the two is a four-faced individual with four faces, each with a different character. Each character has different divine abilities and techniques.

“The other is three-tailed a snake lady who is an expert in illusory techniques and inherently bewitching.

“As for the most likely candidates who possess information about the castellan’s seal, going by the timeline, it would definitely be these two. It’s even possible that they might have the castellan’s seal fragments with them…”

Lin Huang briefly described the results of his investigations, at the same time using Divine Power to project the pieces of information he had discovered one at a time.

Of course, only the three of them sitting at the table could see these projections, as Virtuoso had set up an illusion barrier around the area where the table was.

Outsiders were only able to see that the three of them were drinking and chatting.

Saber9 only spoke after looking over the information Lin Huang had gathered.

“What I’ve discovered is similar to Lin Xie.

“After finding out about the three founders, I spent a great deal of effort to find out information about them after they went quiet, but to almost no avail. Whatever I found out can’t be verified. There are dozens of versions alone about where the three of them eventually ended up.

“Subsequently, I also changed the focus of my investigation to the six overlords instead. However, I didn’t find anything useful as I was worried about alerting people.”

Lin Huang could not help nodding when he heard that.

“I had the same idea that you did—I originally wanted to get information from their subordinates. However, after careful consideration, I abandoned the idea, as I don’t want to alert anyone.”

“Targeting their subordinates is the right thing to do, but we’ll have to plan it thoroughly first.” Virtuoso nodded as well. “After all, these six are top powerhouses among Heavenly Gods. It would be far too difficult to take them on directly.

“Moreover, even though Lin Xie has narrowed the targets down to two people based on the timeline, there’s no guarantee that this is accurate at all. There’s still a possibility that these two people know nothing about the castellan’s seal, and the secret is held by the remaining four. We need to obtain more accurate information before making our final conclusions.

“We need to find a chance to lock onto our target and succeed on our first try!

“If we fail the first time, the remaining five will definitely be even more on their guard. This will significantly increase our difficulty in retrieving the castellan’s seal.

“I’ve carried out some investigations over the last two days. The information I managed to obtain is basically the same as what both of you have mentioned.

“The castellan’s seal is most likely divided into three fragments, and they’re in the hands of the three inner world founders. As for the disappearance of the three of them, they might have gone into hiding deliberately to prevent people from seizing the castellan’s seal. Perhaps something might have happened to them as well, such as being robbed, or something else.

“If that’s the case, someone among the current six overlords should know about the castellan’s seal.

“The second possibility is that the castellan’s seal fragments are in the possession of one of the six current overlords.

“If that’s true, then this would be the most beneficial to us. This is because as soon as we identify the person with the fragments, all we’ll have to do is to find ways to retrieve the fragments.

“The third possibility is the most problematic one, which is that after the three founders went into hiding, the castellan’s seal fell into the hands of some unknown individual. The emergence of the six overlords has nothing to do with the castellan’s seal, while all six of them have no clue about the castellan’s seal at all.

“If that’s the case, it means that everything we’ve done previously is a waste of time. We’ll have to look for clues again.”

“If it’s the third possibility, I think there’s no need for us to waste any more time in this phantom city. Let’s just go straight to the next one.” The expression on Saber9’s face did not seem as if he was joking; he really did look like he was planning on doing that.

Although what he said was out of pique, it was still considered a logical strategy.

This was because, based on the current situation in this phantom city, searching for new leads all over again might be even more difficult than going to another phantom city to look for the castellan’s seal afresh.

“After all, we’ve only had two days, and the information the three of us obtained is limited. From the limited information we have at present, all three possibilities are plausible. Let’s sort out the details of the information we’ve individually obtained, and then discuss our next move.”

As Virtuoso spoke, they arranged the information they had gathered and sent it to Lin Huang and Saber9 through mental transmission.

Lin Huang and Saber9 shared their information as well.

It did not take the three of them very long to respectively process the integrated information.

Virtuoso glanced at the two of them. “I’ll go first.

“There’s no way we can confirm which of the three possibilities the castellan’s seal falls under. However, the most promising breakthrough currently would be the six local overlords.

“Based on Lin Xie’s analysis, the four-faced individual and the three-tailed snake lady are undoubtedly the most likely candidates among the six. Furthermore, apart from the timeline, there aren’t any more clues to prove that the other four have an even higher chance of possessing information on the castellan’s seal.

“Therefore, I think it’s best to choose these two as our first target.”

Lin Huang nodded slightly at this point.

Beside him, Saber9 nodded as well. “I’ve no comments.”

“Then let’s try our best to obtain more information from the subordinates of these two individuals over the next few days…” Virtuoso continued, “First ascertain a name list of their subordinates and some basic information on these underlings, then take action when they’re alone….

“There’s one thing that we need to take note of—don’t kill them,” Virtuoso suddenly reminded everyone, “These subordinates might have something like a Soul Lamp warning system set up—when a member dies, the corresponding Soul Lamp will be destroyed. We would set off an alert if that happened.”

Lin Huang nodded slightly when he heard this. Saber9, on the other hand, frowned a little.

“If we go our separate ways, even if Lin Xie and I manage to interrogate them, there’s no way for us to erase their memories…”

Lin Huang remained silent when he heard what Saber9 said. He did not explain that he possessed such a technique.

Virtuoso glanced at Saber9. “Stun them, then I’ll deal with it.

“Make contact with any subordinates that we can speak with, no matter what their status. We’ll try our best to obtain more information about the four-faced individual and the three-tailed snake lady. It’s alright if we obtain a lot of repetitive information…”

Virtuoso sketched out the plan briefly. After that, the three of them soon began discussing the exact details of how to carry out the plan.