“You mean that there are other secret pa.s.sages in Gray Castle leading out of the Death Swamp?” Yun Jiuge asked solemnly.

“Uh-huh,” Zi Shang said and nodded. This was why he had to go and see for himself.

“I'll go with you,” Yun Jiuge said. Whether Yun City could successfully take root in the Secret Realm depended on their battle with the Gray Castle. She had to make this trip.

“If you leave, what about your awakening plan?” Zi Shang asked. He didn't want to bring Yun Jiuge along.

She never allowed the human-beast hybrids to take risks and was too overprotective.

“The awakening plan is right on track. It doesn't matter whether I'm here presiding,” Yun Jiuge said. Previously, when the human-horse hybrid clan and human-cow hybrid clan had awakened, she was also not present.

“Furthermore, isn't there Advisor Jun?” Yun Jiuge said, looking at Advisor Jun with a smile.

“Yes,” Advisor Jun said and made a note in the booklet. He was currently overseeing the implementation of the awakening plan.

“Don't worry. If there's any problem, just leave it to me,” Yun Jiuge said, seeing that Advisor Jun's brows were furrowing. She empathized with him, but able people should take on more work, and this stress was also beneficial for his spiritual advancement.

“Rest a.s.sured, I'll take care of the arrangements. If there's nothing else, I'll go now,” Advisor Jun said. He put away the booklet, flapped his wings, and left the room. His figure flew like lightning back and forth between delegating tasks.

“You really want to go?” Zi Shang asked Yun Jiuge persistently. “I can handle it by myself. Isn't it better that you stay here in Yun City?”

“Why are you so nervous?” Yun Jiuge said, looking Zi Shang up and down. She asked suspiciously, “Is there something shady that you're hiding from me!”

“What could I possibly be hiding from you?!” Zi Shang said, speechless. He was going to investigate the situation of Gray Castle, not to have an affair. What was so shady about that?

“Then what are you so nervous about?” Yun Jiuge said and glanced at Zi Shang. She began thinking about what she needed to prepare.

Zi Shang sighed helplessly and tried to negotiate with her. He said, “Okay, you can come with me, but we should wait until the human-fox hybrid clan awakens tomorrow. Their ability will be useful.”

The puppet human-beast hybrids' Cognitive Imprint were controlled by Qiu Sen, and the illusions created by the human-fox hybrid could help them break free of this control.

“Okay, how about I awaken a human-wolf hybrid?” Yun Jiuge said. The human-wolf hybrids had a keen sense of smell and were good at following trails. With them, it would be easier to follow the clues and find Gray Castle more easily.

“The human-wolf hybrids have their heads and necks blocked with Demon Qi. It's too difficult to remove it,” Zi Shang said with a frown. He didn't have much time to wait.

“I only need to awaken one to lead the way,” Yun Jiuge said. She had learned a lot from her research on the Golden Light during this time, including how to extract a Golden Light blood seed from blood samples of the human-beast hybrids. As long as she buried it into the bodies of ordinary human-beast hybrids, they could safely awaken.

“Then try it!” Zi Shang said. He knew that Yun Jiuge loved to do research. As long as it did not affect the construction of Yun City, he would not stop her.

“Help me pick one,” Yun Jiuge said. She brought Zi Shang to the cell where the human-wolf hybrids were held. This was where the human-cow hybrids were keeping guard.

Although the human-wolf hybrids were controlled by Demon Qi, their bodies still needed food.

As long as the human-cow hybrids fed them on time and cleaned the cells regularly, they were fine.

“This one then!” Zi Shang said. He had taken a fancy to the leader of the human-wolf hybrid clan.

“You really know how to make things difficult for me,” Yun Jiuge said and sighed. The leader of the human-wolf hybrid clan had the most Demon Qi, which made it the hardest to get rid of.

“You asked me to pick one,” Zi Shang said with a shrug. “Instead of wasting time on a useless person, why not awaken a capable person.”

“It's him then!” Yun Jiuge said. She thought Zi Shang made sense and took the leader of the human-wolf hybrid clan out of the cell. A strange smell suddenly appeared.

The human-cow hybrids only cleaned the cell and were not responsible for cleaning the human-wolf hybrids. It was natural that he would stink after vomiting for so many days.

“Clean him and bring him to the treatment room,” Zi Shang told the human-cow hybrids in charge of the cell.

“Okay,” the tall and strong human-beast hybrid immediately answered and nodded seriously. Together with the other clan members on duty, he scrubbed the leader of the human-wolf hybrid clan thoroughly and brought him to Yun Jiuge.

After was.h.i.+ng, the leader of the human-wolf hybrid clan was quite handsome. He had striking facial features, and with gray misty eyes, his whole body had a ruthless temperament.

Yun Jiuge took out the Golden Light blood seed.

The blood seed was about the size of a soybean and shone with a red light. Inside, there seemed to be blood faintly flowing in it. It possessed a very strong life force.

“If you take this outside, you might get robbed!” Zi Shang said. He took it and smelled it, and found that the blood contained the Light of Life. If it was consumed by mortals, it could increase their life span by ten years.

“Of course, it was me who refined it. But the blood of these human-beast hybrids is really good. Even though they cannot cultivate, they have extremely strong vitality, which is very beneficial for bloodthirsty demon cultivators,” Yun Jiuge said.

“These human-beast hybrids should be glad that they met you. If they met other cultivators, they would have been made into blood pills,” Zi Shang said. To be honest, smelling this viscous pure blood, Zi Shang himself was tempted.

“Other cultivators can't use Spiritual Power here. They'll only be torn to pieces by the human-beast hybrids,” Yun Jiuge said. If she wasn't able to use her Holy Power, there would also have been terrible consequences.

“Nangong Yue and the other Core Formation masters who have come in through other channels haven't been torn into pieces. Who knows what's going on now,” Zi Shang said and narrowed his eyes.

“Maybe they went to a different Secret Realm from us, or they're secretly planning some conspiracy,” Yun Jiuge said. She also often thought about this problem, but couldn't think of a reason why.

“So we've to get stronger before they start their conspiracy,” Zi Shang replied.

“Why is it that every time I listen to you a.n.a.lyzing the current situation, I've a feeling that we're in danger and that time is pressing?” Yun Jiuge said suspiciously. Zi Shang was saying this intentionally!

“Your feeling is right. Quickly awaken this human-wolf hybrid and let's set off early,” Zi Shang said, patting Yun Jiuge's shoulder to encourage her.

“If you weren't here talking nonsense, wouldn't I have been done long ago?” Yun Jiuge said. She grabbed the Golden Light blood seed back and inserted it in the human-wolf hybrid's left arm.

There was a painful expression on the human-wolf hybrid's face. The reddish Golden Light started spreading from his arm to his heart and began fighting with the Demon Qi.

“This will not do,” Yun Jiuge said. Looking at the fading Golden Light on the human-wolf hybrid, she turned and said to Zi Shang, “We need to let him into the Dungeon and activate the Illusion.”

“It's too wasteful to create the Nine Serenities Yin Illusion just for him alone. Ask A'ze to bring the human-fox hybrid called A'sang over to try,” Zi Shang said and shook his head. There were a limited number of Spiritual Stones that they had brought over, and they all needed to be used on the blade.

“Okay, we shall let him try it!” Yun Jiuge said. She called in A'ze and asked him to bring A'sang over as fast as possible.