Chapter 461: Watching the Commotion in Yinxu Hall

When Donghui Zhenren began to fight with the Grand Marshal, he quietly released Adao from his robes.

Therefore, in the Yinxu Hall right now, apart from those Demon Soldiers lying on the ground, there was only Adao.

Adao carefully crouched in the shadows, and not until he was certain those Demon Soldiers would not get up again did he cautiously poke his head out.

In the past, Lingxiang had only ever led Adao into the Demon Palace, but had never entered the Yinxu Hall; today was the first time.

After all, she had to face the Demon Lord and a crowd of ill-intentioned Demon Race ministers; how could Lingxiang dare to bring Adao to take such a risk?

Furthermore, given Adao's status, those guards outside the hall would never have allowed him to meet the Demon Lord.

Let us say that Adao poked his head out and looked around at the Demon Soldiers covering the floor, unable to help but mutter to himself: "They call themselves the Demon Race, so why are these guys so fragile? And they each boast of being brave and fierce; they really know how to gild their own faces."

When he finally walked past, Adao even cast a glance at the Demon Soldiers on the ground and spat fiercely, cursing under his breath: "Shameless!"

Crossing past this group of "soundly sleeping" Demon Soldiers, Adao looked left and right, surveying his surroundings.

The hall was vast and gloomy, with waves of medicinal fragrance assailing his nostrils, yet it inexplicably could not mask the pervasive scent of decay.

Adao could not help but shiver, feeling a bit unnerved, yet he still braced his courage and began to search around.

When he and Zhanli left, Lingxiang was still at the Shiyang Hall, but this time when he went to look for her with Long Qi, her figure was nowhere to be seen, which was why the two of them had broken into the Demon Palace.

Besides that plague-ridden Demon Lord, who else would order Master around like that?

Yet here, let alone Lingxiang, he could not even see the shadow of the Demon Lord.

Adao, acting like a little adult, pinched his chin and fell into deep thought.

He remembered hearing Master say once that there was a secret chamber in the Yinxu Hall, and the switch was on the Demon Lord's throne.

Thinking of this, Adao hurriedly went up to check, but after searching front, back, left, right, up, and down for a long time, he could not find any trace of a mechanism.

How strange; it is just a chair, so where could the mechanism be hidden?

Adao could not help but feel some regret: if he had known today would come, he should have asked Master for more details; now, where was he supposed to find that confounded mechanism?

Just as Adao was feeling vexed, a loud boom rang out, followed by a violent shaking.

It was the commotion outside!

Perhaps due to his childish nature, Adao could not help but lie on the threshold to look outside, where he saw the eaves shorn in half and the ground littered with broken tiles.

Good heavens! Uncle-Master Chengxin and Uncle-Master Donghui were being too excessive; they didn't even think to restrain themselves. If they accidentally caused the Yinxu Hall to collapse, the Demon Lord wouldn't matter, but what would happen to him and Master?

Tsk! Why were these old folks so hot-tempered? They were nothing like Master, who was always smiling and never got angry.

As Adao muttered to himself and was about to go back to look for the mechanism, he heard a series of sighs and discussions coming from above his head and beside him.

"Isn't the Grand Marshal a civil official? How could he be so powerful?"

"What does being a civil official have to do with it? That is just your prejudice."

"How so?"

"Think back to when the Grand Marshal first cleared out the treacherous ministers in the court, and later personally stood guard; only then did the current Sovereign's throne become secure."

"That powerful?"

"Isn't that what I'm saying? I also heard that in the early years, the Grand Marshal followed the Former Demon Venerable and accompanied him on three expeditions to Fengdu, performing many meritorious deeds, which is how our Demon Race gained a foothold in the Underworld."

Adao first gave a start, then bit the bullet and looked up, only to see the Demon Soldiers who had been lying on the ground just moments ago watching the excitement with great vigor, as if they were watching a play; all that was missing were benches, small tables, melon seeds, and tea.

They...

Weren't they beaten down by Uncle-Master Chengxin and Uncle-Master Donghui? How were they acting as if nothing had happened? And those Demon Soldiers seemed not to care about Adao at all; the Demon Soldier above Adao's head even nudged Adao's little head, saying, "Watch the show properly, don't move around."

Hiss!

This...

Is this reasonable?

Is this appropriate?

"Um..." Adao did not know what to say. After deliberating for a long time, he asked cautiously: "Aren't you all guards of the Demon Palace? Why aren't you helping?"

As if they had heard a thunderbolt from a clear sky, those Demon Soldiers first looked at each other, then turned in unison to look at Adao, their expressions as if they had choked on filth, their faces full of disbelief.

"Hey! You little brat! What kind of crazy talk are you spouting?!"

Adao was confused: What was wrong? Did he say something wrong?

"That is the Grand Marshal; how could we possibly intervene?"

The voice above Adao's head said excitedly, and the others followed suit in agreement.

"Exactly, exactly!"

"But... but you are palace guards," Adao said with a look of bewilderment, "Isn't this your duty?"

!

"Our lives are lives too!" the voice above his head said, craning his neck as if it were a matter of course.

Hearing this, Adao rolled his eyes instantly: so they were just afraid of dying...

A guard to the side chimed in: "Besides, it's not like we volunteered to be guards; we were forced into it. As long as we keep up appearances, that's enough; there's no need to be so serious."

Adao curled his lip in disgust: whether it be mortals or the Demon Race, there were shirkers everywhere...

However, he had heard Master say long ago that the outside rumors about the Demon Race were not true, and the subjects were not all violent, but were merely forced to submit due to tyranny.

Now it seemed that was indeed the case; it was his own prejudice.

Just like how the outside world always said demons were evil, but the Demon Race merely followed the laws of nature, just like his own grandmother.

Grandmother lived peacefully in the City Lord Mansion only for the sake of cultivation and had never harmed anyone; it was just that the old steward was meddlesome and beat her brothers to death.

Their Yellow Weasel Clan valued family affection above all else; the old steward's actions angered Grandmother, which was why she moved against the City Lord's wife.

Fortunately, she met Master.

Besides Grandmother, there was no one in the world better than Master.

In a flash, Adao understood; regardless of the world's prejudices, as long as Grandmother and Master were well, no one else mattered.

Thinking this, he felt much more at ease. Adao quietly shrank his body, lowered his head, and fell into deep thought:

These guards had once taken Adao and Zhanli around the palace city, so they were half-acquainted, and they knew perfectly well whose person Adao was.

Now that the senior uncles had broken into the Demon Realm, and Adao and Zhanli had happened to appear, even traveling together with the Daoist Sect, anyone with a discerning eye could see at once that this matter had everything to do with Adao.

Yet they were able to speak to him calmly; presumably, the Demon Lord was not a figure of absolute loyalty to them either.

It was just like the common folk in the mortal world: as long as they were fed and clothed and had a home to return to, they did not care who was emperor.

Forget it, forget it; as long as it does not affect saving Master, let them be.

Adao withdrew from watching this group of guards, preparing to go back to look for the mechanism, but the moment he turned his head, he saw a cold glint flash in the shadows of Yinxu Hall; before he could react, he was pulled to the side by the guard beside him.

Only a dull thud was heard, and a Nine-Ring Broadsword was embedded in the very threshold where several people had been watching the excitement.