Upon close inspection, Shen Yu noticed injuries on the demonic tree's soul. Not only that, but even the physical body, which was the tree itself, had weakened.
"It must have been injured in some battle, but who could damage a Tier 8 Spiritual Creature's soul to such a degree? Even though it has healed over the years, the marks are still there on its soul," Shen Yu muttered, standing on a branch of the said demonic tree. He looked at it closely and narrowed his eyes, becoming confused by its state.
[You're forgetting something, Master. The question is, how did it get here?]
Shen Yu was surprised, realizing he had indeed overlooked this matter. The system was right; how did the Devourer actually end up in such a desolate space?
The Devourer tends to migrate occasionally after it has sucked a region dry of its Qi, and by that logic, the Devourer shouldn't be here.
He had checked the Qi leylines of the Qing Empire, and there were no signs of them being too dry. Although they were showing signs of depletion, he was sure it was due to the recent effects of the Devourer.
So, it meant that the Devourer had come to the Qing Empire even though it was weak for it. It didn't make sense.
So, why and how did the Devourer actually get here?
His head suddenly snapped towards the west, where he could see a tall wall standing high enough to touch even the heavens.
"The Hollow Mountains..."
Shen Yu's face turned grim. He could think of nothing but the Hollow Mountains that could have injured the Devourer to such a degree.
Even though the Devourer was a calamity to humans, there were Spiritual Creatures that could crush it like an ant. And those Abominations resided in the peaks of the Hollow Mountains.
They were the main reason any sects from the outside world never tried to send their full force to conquer the Qing Empire.
If even a single one of those Abominations decided to come down, then their Sect would cease to exist. There was just no way for them to defeat those Abominations. Even the major Sects were helpless against them.
Well, there was a chance for them if they fought by going all out, but nobody was stupid enough to do it.
However, there was one more question: did the Devourer really come down to the Qing Empire just to recover?
The guards sighed in relief when the Princess walked away and returned to their positions.
Shen Yu was watching everything from above, and he couldn't help but sigh.
"Really? The usual?"
[I mean, just because you hate these tropes because of how much they've been used, you can't deny they actually happen in real life. Even those urban novels you read happened in real life, so this royal family and politics stuff is pretty believable.]
Shen Yu shrugged, still finding it weird. He then came down and entered the building through the metal gates.
After passing through many corridors, he finally reached a grand hall where he could hear noise. He entered it casually, smirking as he remembered those movies where the main character turns invisible and does many things.
[Master... you're really a pervert.]
'Movies! I meant movies! You dirty-minded system. Seriously, I didn't even do anything this time.'
The sight that greeted him upon entering surprised him slightly. Qing Zhiyan was standing in the center of the hall with Hastor standing a few feet behind her.
Now that he was looking at the hall properly, he instantly understood what it was.
'Holy moly! A Raj Darban?'
Jiang Wei exclaimed mentally. Many seats were placed upon small pedestals on both sides of the hall, with many people sitting on them.
'Wait! So, even the Emperor is here?'
Shen Yu thought, turning his head towards the center of the hall, where, on a crimson red throne, a man sat, his cold eyes looking directly at Qing Zhiyan.
The Emperor, Qing Yicheng.
[A/n: Raj Darban = imperial court basically.]