Chapter 1387 - 408: Madman, You’re Just a Madman!
As the two currently lacked a direct way to contact Shen Hanyi, and given the complex internal situation of the Shen Family, they simply decided to observe the situation for now after a brief discussion.
Then, Zhou Qing took out the three-color communication jade scroll, intending to first contact Lu Yaoyao.
But as the message was sent out, it seemed to vanish without a trace, not yielding any response.
"Strange, is the issue that Lu isn’t at the Shen Family, or is it something that the array is blocking?" Zhou Qing’s brows furrowed tightly.
Second Uncle held the old hen, stroking its shiny feathers with great interest.
He had just heard from Zhou Qing that this old hen could now ignore most three-color restrictions, which surprised him greatly.
He recalled the time when the two of them took it into the Grotto Heaven Forbidden Area’s first coffin at Red Tower Mountain.
Back then, this foolish chicken could only ignore bicolor restrictions, and they had hoped it would snatch some magical treasures.
Yet who would have thought that after entering the restriction, this simpleton would squat stubbornly in place.
No matter how much he shouted from the outside, it wouldn’t even blink an eye, leaving him helpless indeed.
But oddly enough, this dumb creature, which even lacked basic foraging instincts, had mysteriously continued to transform over the years.
Now, it could even look past three-color restrictions.
"Can’t get in touch?" Second Uncle asked.
Regarding Lu Yaoyao, Zhou Qing had already mentioned it to him on the way.
The girl had quite the aptitude, was clingy, and had quite a good personality, making her likable.
Zhou Qing nodded, his worry deepening in his eyes.
"Why don’t we just sneak in and take a look?" Second Uncle said, unconcerned.
"How do we sneak in?" Zhou Qing looked up.
Second Uncle smiled mysteriously, a cunning glint flashing in his eyes: "Follow me!"
After a moment’s hesitation, Zhou Qing followed in Second Uncle’s footsteps.
Before long, the two stood in front of the imposing main gate of the Shen Family—an awe-inspiring sight!
The scene before him made Zhou Qing’s eyes constrict:
A giant archway crafted from an unknown black jade stood in the clouds, with the words "Shen Mansion" in golden characters shining dazzlingly.
Each stroke seemed to contain supreme principles, overwhelming anyone who dared to gaze directly.
Behind the archway, a sprawling complex of palaces appeared like a sleeping giant dragon amidst mist, each building exuding an ancient and majestic aura.
The most striking thing was the five-color restriction covering the entire Shen Family—red, blue, yellow, white, and black divine lights interwoven into a net.
Within the restriction, various ancient fierce beast phantoms could be faintly seen roaming.
This was Zhou Qing’s first time witnessing such a terrifying five-color restriction.
And beneath the archway, twelve guards clad in black iron battle armor stood solemnly, each exuding a terrifying aura of divinity transformation realm perfection.
Such cultivation levels in a fourth-level cultivation country would be considered ancestors capable of establishing sects, yet here they were reduced to mere gatekeepers, highlighting the Shen Family’s profound foundation.
"Such grandeur!" Zhou Qing clicked his tongue in wonder, his gaze falling again onto the five-color restriction enveloping the entire Shen Family.
Thinking back to the three-color sect protection array he had refined for the Taiqing Sect that once drew much envy, it now seemed utterly insignificant.
"How do we get inside?" Zhou Qing asked softly.
"Follow me!" Second Uncle grabbed Zhou Qing by the sleeve and pulled him to a secluded corner.
Then, with a pat on his storage bag, two ancient copper tokens appeared, their surfaces reflecting a cold sheen in the sunlight.
The tokens were dark green all over, covered with fine cracks, with a peculiar sword mark carved on the front, surrounded by nine star patterns.
On the back, an ancient inscription etched the character "Shen," with a stroke as sharp as if cut with a knife, radiating a fierce aura of killing.
"Uncle, these are..." Zhou Qing looked at the tokens in his hand, puzzled and uncertain.
Second Uncle grinned widely, "On my way out of the Desolate Forbidden, I picked up quite a few treasures."
"The unlucky ones killed by forbidden items, their scattered storage bags, magical treasures, all ended up in my hands."
He weighed the tokens in his hand and whispered, "Isn’t there often mercenaries from the Shen Family roaming the Outer Domain? These two tokens were taken from two fairly fresh mercenary corpses."
Zhou Qing’s eyes flashed with understanding upon hearing this.
Those daring enough to venture into the Desolate Forbidden were at least in the divinity transformation realm, and even spirit severing or supreme powers weren’t absent.
No doubt, Second Uncle must have struck a treasure trove?
Yet soon after, he felt something was amiss.
In all his cultivation time, he had only seen two five-color restrictions.
One was the five-colored altar by Second Uncle at the Taiqing Sect’s passage.
The other was the Black Feather Peak array disc seized by the Peng Emperor from Situ Jiuyao.
The Shen Family’s restriction before him was obviously grander.
As one of the top noble families in Nanhuang State, the Shen Family’s restriction couldn’t possibly be bypassed by ordinary mercenary tokens, could it?
Even the Spirit Slash Realm Nangong Xiongba family of the Holy Martial Dynasty had a restriction that could precisely identify the appearance, gaze, and unique vital energy of visitors.
The Shen Family’s restriction would likely be even more profound and hard to fathom.
If discovered, there wouldn’t be any place to escape.
Seemingly noticing Zhou Qing’s concern, Second Uncle chuckled and tossed the tokens in his hand.
"Rest assured, those two bodies seemed to have died not long ago, quite fresh, so the chance of sneaking in is quite high."
He then took out a familiar puppet and handed it over.
This bore an imprint of nascent soul aura enhancement; anyone Zhou Qing had seen could be convincingly transformed.
Back in the day, with its help, Zhou Qing managed to disguise himself as the Peng Emperor and stabilize the border situation for Xuanyuan Shuo.
Zhou Qing, however, did not accept it, as the risk was still too high.
"Oh?" Second Uncle raised his brows, sizing him up, "Since when did you become so cautious?"