Having the genes of a demon king, I never intended to be a kept man.

Arsen, Duke's Palace.

"Duke!"

A subordinate in black appeared behind Wang En and knelt down, saying respectfully, "Ye Ge and the others have already set off for their escort mission, and they have now arrived at the Great Wall, the second line of defense!"

"Yes, I understand," Duke Wang En replied expressionlessly.

He stood on the wooden bridge in his garden and tossed pieces of fish food from the bag in his hand into the garden pond.

"Proceed according to the original plan." Wang En's eyes were icy cold: "This time, I, the Duke, will personally witness the annihilation of the Ye family!"

"Yes!" The black-clad subordinate darted away.

Duke Wang En then grabbed a handful of fish slices from the bag and threw them all into the pool.

Countless piranhas swarmed to the surface, vying for food. Their sharp teeth snapped open and closed, making a "crunching" sound. Some piranhas even tore at each other for a few pieces of food, and soon the entire pond was stained crimson with blood...

Duke Wang En's eyes were sinister: "Hmph... Ye family brat, don't think you're the only one who knows how to use schemes. Compared to me, you're still too green!"

......

The train has arrived at the station.

The Night Song team got off the high-speed rail and arrived at the majestic Great Wall, the second line of defense.

Standing at the foot of the Great Wall in person is undoubtedly a more breathtaking visual experience.

Nangong Qiuyue tilted her head back, staring at the hundred-meter-high metal city wall in front of her, and blinked hard: "Teacher, such a tall building, stretching for millions of miles, how exactly was it built a thousand years ago?"

"No historian has been able to answer this question to this day, so how would I know?" Cang Feng shrugged.

"Huh? Doesn't the imperial court know this?" Nangong Qiuyue asked in confusion. "Wasn't the Great Wall built on the orders of the late emperor?" As she spoke, she turned to look at Long Ying.

Cang Feng said, "That's right, but the engineers who were in charge of building the Great Wall have all passed away several generations ago. The court originally had important documents and records, but for some reason, they were all lost. So many advanced techniques have actually been completely lost by now."

Long Ying paused for a moment and said, "Actually, compared to the technology of building the Great Wall, what we, as descendants of the royal family, find more difficult to study is the building materials. You should know that the main external material of the Great Wall is Soul Steel, which is a pink-quality extraordinary material."

Undoubtedly, this is an enormous expense! Even if all the soul mines in the human territory were dug up, it would be impossible to extract so much soul steel!

"Well, all I can say is that this is indeed the greatest miracle in the history of our human race that has yet to be solved," Cang Feng said. "Alright, enough chit-chat, let's go."

The group arrived at the city wall. Several armed imperial soldiers immediately approached and gestured to block their way: "What is it?"

Cang Feng showed the War Academy's iron badge and said, "Mission number 0226, we are here to take over the transport mission."

Several Imperial soldiers' expressions brightened when they saw the "sword and musket" emblem on the iron plaque. Their attitude immediately changed, and they clenched their left fists in front of their chests in an Imperial salute: "So you're friends from the War Academy, hello!"

"Your quest items are ready, please follow us."

After a while, Ye Ge and the others saw the supplies they needed to escort.

It was a huge, dark, rectangular iron box, completely sealed with iron chains, and further sealed with three layers of level nine runes, as well as two electronic combination locks.

Ye Ge thought to himself, it seems that what they are escorting is indeed very important. Only a Saint-level Rune Master can complete this kind of level nine rune seal.

However, if it's truly important, assigning a few low-level transcendents still in the first stage (Yellow, Profound, Earth, Heaven) to escort it seems somewhat unreasonable...

"These are very important supplies," the Imperial soldier said solemnly. "Please make sure they are delivered safely to the Spirit Demon Kingdom."

"Don't worry," Nangong Qiuyue patted her chest, looking confident. "We've got it covered!"

Xia Xiyao raised her hand and tapped the black iron box that resembled a coffin, asking, "Can I put it in my spatial ring?"

“No.” The Imperial soldier shook his head: “Items sealed with runes cannot be stored in any spatial artifacts, so this is the only way you can transport them.”

Xia Xiyao: "Oh..."

Several Imperial soldiers helped load the black iron box into an off-road transport vehicle.

Cang Feng adjusted his glasses: "Let's go, get in the car."

The six people boarded the off-road transport vehicle. Cang Feng was in charge of driving, Ye Ge, as the team leader, sat in the passenger seat, Bai Xue Ling had transformed back into her little cat form and was perched on his shoulder, while the others were in the back.

The off-road transport vehicle slowly started and, as the city gate opened, quickly drove out of the Great Wall.

Beyond the second line of defense, the Great Wall, the weather and environment gradually became increasingly harsh.

Everyone frowned as they looked out the car window at the surroundings.

Homeless scavengers can be seen everywhere in the wilderness, wandering among ruins and garbage heaps with sacks in their hands. They are dressed in tattered clothes. There are many adults and elderly people with children, and several children are fighting, seemingly fighting over a piece of moldy bread.

The cracked ground, the polluted black soil and vegetation, and the occasional black streams—all these conditions are still evident in the area where many people linger to drink water and wash.

Occasionally, one could see scattered villages and towns, all equally dilapidated. These towns seemed to have been built by scavengers using broken planks and nails found in the wilderness. Night Song felt as if she had come to the slums of Feizhou on her previous life's Earth.

Several scavengers were sitting by the roadside when they saw Ye Ge and his group's car and immediately gave them cold stares.

Their eyes were sinister, and their gaze followed the movement of the off-road transport vehicle, making people feel very uncomfortable.

Xia Xiyao couldn't help but ask, "Why were those people looking at us like that just now?"

"Speaking of which, just now on the train..." Gao Shenxue said softly, "Several wandering samurai looked at us with those kinds of eyes."

Ye Ge thought to herself, "So Xue'er noticed it too."

"They're probably a savage force from the wilderness," Cang Feng, who was driving, said.

Night Song asked, "The savage forces of the wilderness?"

“Hmm.” Cang Feng said, “Between the second and third lines of defense, it is basically a no-man’s-land of the empire. In this place, violence and crime are rampant. In order to survive, some people have formed a group of forces in the wilderness.”

Night Song remembered the plot: these groups were basically gangs in the wilderness. There were no imperial troops stationed in many places, and these scavenger groups were the strongest force in this land.

"The Blood of Darkness, wasn't it also created by these wilderness factions?" Night Song asked.