Immortality Cultivation: I can use my clansmen’s energy and blood to add points.

"Puff!" The man in black robe spat out blood again, his body flew backwards, fell heavily to the ground, and lay motionless.

"Is he dead?" Qingshuang asked.

"I don't know." Luo Chen said, "But let's leave here first."

"Yeah." Qingshuang nodded.

The three of them helped the injured Mo Han up and left the imperial kitchen.

"Mo Han, how are you?" Luo Chen asked.

"I'm fine." Mo Han said, "I just suffered a minor injury. I'll be fine after a rest."

"That's good." Luo Chen said, "Let's find a place to rest first, and then think of a way to find other keys."

"Okay." Qingshuang and Ling'er responded.

The four of them found a secluded place and rested.

"Let's do this." Luo Chen said, "Let's find a place to rest first and discuss the next action plan. We will take action after daybreak."

"Okay." Qingshuang responded, and the four of them found a hidden place to rest.

"Mo Han, are you okay?" Luo Chen asked.

"I'm fine." Mo Han said, "I just suffered a minor injury. I'll be fine after a rest."

"That's good." Luo Chen said, "You take a rest first. Qingshuang, Ling'er and I will discuss the next action plan."

"Okay." Mo Han responded and closed his eyes to rest.

Luo Chen, Qing Shuang, and Mo Han sat together in a secluded shabby house, while Ling Er sat against the wall, looking pale. The atmosphere was so depressing that it was hard to breathe.

"What should we do next?" Qingshuang broke the silence, her voice a little hoarse.

Luo Chen looked at the injured Mo Han and the silent Ling'er and said, "We have to leave the palace first. It's too dangerous here."

Mo Han covered the wound on his shoulder and grinned: "Hey, I'm not dead yet, what are you afraid of? At worst, I can fight them!"

"Shut up!" Luo Chen glared at him. "Do you think you are strong? If you use the explosive beads a few more times, you will be a meat paste!"

Ling'er raised her head and looked at Luo Chen with complicated eyes, seeming to want to say something but stopping herself.

Luo Chen noticed her gaze and asked, "Ling'er, what do you want to say?"

Ling'er hesitated for a moment and said softly, "I know a secret passage that can lead us out of the palace."

"Secret passage?" The three of them looked at her at the same time.

"Well, this is a secret of the royal family, and only a very few people know it." Ling'er explained, "But I don't know where the exit of the secret passage is."

"It's better than being trapped here and waiting to die." Mo Han said immediately.

"Okay, let's take the secret passage." Luo Chen made a prompt decision, "Ling'er, you lead the way."

The four of them carefully left the dilapidated house, and Ling'er led them through the palace, avoiding the patrolling guards.

"Ling'er, you are very familiar with the palace." Qingshuang couldn't help but ask.

Ling'er smiled bitterly: "I have lived here for more than ten years, how can I not be familiar with it?"

"More than ten years?" Luo Chen keenly grasped this information, "Who are you?"

Ling'er was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "I am..."

"Be careful!" Mo Han suddenly yelled and threw Ling'er to the ground.

Several dark shadows rushed out from the darkness and surrounded Luo Chen and the other two.

"Another lackey of the Holy Church!" Mo Han cursed and drew his dagger.

"You can't escape!" the black-robed leader said grimly, "If you surrender obediently, you can suffer less!"

"Dream on!" Luo Chen snorted coldly and rushed forward first.

A fierce battle broke out again.

The undercover agents of the "Holy Church" were obviously well prepared, with a large number of people and strong strength. Although Luo Chen and the other two fought hard, they gradually fell into a disadvantage.

"Qingshuang, use that!" Luo Chen shouted to Qingshuang during the fierce battle.

Qingshuang was stunned for a moment, then she understood. She took out a small porcelain bottle from her arms, uncorked it, and a faint fragrance spread out.

"What is this?" asked the man in black robe vigilantly.

"'Light of the Pure Soul'." Qingshuang said coldly, "It is specially designed to restrain you evil demons!"

She sprinkled the powder in the porcelain bottle into the air. As soon as the powder touched the bodies of the "Holy Church" believers, it immediately made a "sizzling" sound, as if they were being burned.

"Ah!" The "Holy Church" followers screamed in pain, the black energy on their bodies quickly dissipated, and their strength was greatly reduced.

"Good opportunity!" Luo Chen and Mo Han seized the opportunity and launched a fierce attack.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the man in black robe wanted to escape, but was stopped by Luo Chen.

"Want to run? Not that easy!" Luo Chen slapped the black-robed man on the chest.

The man in black robe resisted hastily, but was knocked away by Luo Chen's palm, spitting blood.

"Elder!" The other "Holy Church" believers cried out and wanted to rescue, but were entangled by Mo Han and Qing Shuang.

Luo Chen pressed forward step by step, forcing the man in black into a desperate situation.

“Go to hell!” Luo Chen roared and slapped the black-robed man on the crown of his head.

"stop!"

Just then, a voice suddenly sounded.

Luo Chen paused, and saw Ling'er standing in front of the man in black robe.

"Ling'er, what are you doing?" Luo Chen said angrily, "Get out of the way!"

"Don't kill him!" Ling'er begged, "Please, don't kill him!"

"He is the elder of the Holy Church and our enemy!" Luo Chen said, "Why are you protecting him?"

Ling'er's eyes were filled with tears, and she said in a trembling voice: "Because... because he is mine..."

"Ling'er!" The man in black robe suddenly interrupted Ling'er, "Don't say anything!"

Ling'er looked at the man in black robe, her eyes filled with pain and struggle.

"Ling'er, what secrets do you have?" Luo Chen asked, "What is your relationship with the Holy Church?"

Ling'er took a deep breath and said slowly: "I am the biological sister of the Emperor of Tianyuan Empire..."

"What?!" Luo Chen and Qing Shuang were both shocked.

"This...how is this possible?" Mo Han also couldn't believe it.

Ling Er smiled bitterly and continued, "Back then, in order to fight for the throne, my father did not hesitate to cooperate with the 'Holy Church' and offered me to the 'Holy Church' in exchange. The 'Holy Church' used me to control my father and made him their puppet..."

"So, you have been working for the 'Holy Church' all the time?" Luo Chen asked.

"No, I didn't!" Ling'er shook her head and said, "I have been looking for an opportunity to escape the control of the Holy Church and save my brother..."

"Then why did you stop me from killing him?" Luo Chen asked, pointing at the man in black robe.

"Because... because he is my brother's personal bodyguard and the undercover leader of the Holy Church in the palace." Ling'er said, "If he dies, the Holy Church will definitely notice my betrayal. By then, I will no longer have a chance to save my brother..."

"So that's how it is..." Luo Chen understood Ling'er's difficulties.

"Luo Chen, please, let him go." Ling'er begged, "As long as I can find the Chaos Artifact and stop the plan of the 'Holy Church', I can rescue my brother. At that time, I will tell you everything I know..."

Luo Chen looked at Ling'er, his heart full of contradictions.

"Luo Chen, believe her." Qing Shuang suddenly said, "I believe she is not a bad person."

Luo Chen was silent for a moment, and finally nodded.

"Okay, I promise you." Luo Chen said, "But you have to remember your promise."

"Thank you, Luo Chen." Ling'er said gratefully. Luo Chen retracted his palm and said to the man in black robe: "You are lucky this time. If I meet you next time, I will definitely not let you go!"

The man in black robe snorted coldly and said nothing.

"Let's go!" Luo Chen turned around and left with Qingshuang and Mo Han.

Ling'er looked at their backs, her eyes filled with complicated emotions.

"Ling'er, are you okay?" asked the man in black robe.

"I'm fine." Ling'er shook her head. "We must find the Chaos Artifact as soon as possible and stop the plan of the Holy Church."

"But, Luo Chen and the others..." The man in black robe was a little worried.

"Don't worry about them." Ling'er said, "They will be our helpers."

"I hope so." The man in black robe sighed.

Luo Chen and the other two fled all the way and finally arrived at the entrance to the secret passage that Ling'er mentioned.

"It's here." Ling'er said, pointing to a hidden rockery.

Luo Chen went forward to check and found that there was indeed a stone door behind the rockery.

"How to open it?" Mo Han asked.

Ling'er took out a jade pendant from her bosom and pressed it into a groove on the stone door.

The stone door slowly opened, revealing a deep passage.

"Let's go in." Ling'er said.

The four people walked into the passage and the stone door slowly closed behind them.

The passage was pitch black, and you couldn't see your hand in front of you.

"Light the lamp." Luo Chen said.

Qingshuang took out a tinderbox and lit an oil lamp.

With the dim light, they found that the passage was very narrow and could only accommodate one person.

"Where does this passage lead to?" Luo Chen asked.

"I don't know either." Ling'er said, "I only know that this passage can lead you out of the palace. As for where the exit is, I have never been there."

"It seems that we can only try our luck." Mo Han said.

The four of them moved forward cautiously along the passage.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, they finally saw a ray of light ahead.

"Exit!" Mo Han shouted excitedly.

The four of them quickened their pace and walked towards the light.

When they walked out of the passage, they found themselves in a wilderness.

"Where is this..." Luo Chen looked around and found that this place was very unfamiliar and he had no idea where it was.

"We escaped successfully!" Qingshuang said happily.

"Yes, we finally escaped!" Mo Han also breathed a sigh of relief.

Ling'er frowned and said, "This is not within the territory of the Tianyuan Empire."

"What?" Luo Chen and Qing Shuang were both stunned.

"Not in the Tianyuan Empire?" Luo Chen repeated, incredulous. He looked around, and saw overgrown weeds and unfamiliar rolling mountains in the distance. There was no familiar sight at all.

"How is this possible?" Qingshuang was also dumbfounded, "How could the secret passage lead here?"

Mo Han scratched his head, bewildered: "Could this secret passage be used to teleport across borders? This is too ridiculous!"

Ling'er's face turned pale, and her lips trembled slightly: "I... I really don't know..."

Luo Chen took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. Now was not the time to pursue responsibility. The most urgent task was to figure out where they were and how to return to the Tianyuan Empire.

"Ling'er, think carefully, is there any record about this secret passage in the royal books?" Luo Chen asked.

Ling Er tried to recall and shook her head: "No... This secret passage is the biggest secret of the royal family. Except for the emperors of all dynasties, no one knows of its existence, let alone any records of it."

"Damn it!" Luo Chen cursed in a low voice.

"What should we do now?" Qingshuang looked at Luo Chen with a hint of uneasiness in her eyes.

Luo Chen was silent for a moment, then said, "Let's find a place to stay first and find out what's going on here. Then, we can find a way to go back."

The four walked along the wilderness for a long time and finally saw a small town in the distance.

The town is not big, with only one main street and low houses on both sides. There are few pedestrians on the street, which seems a bit deserted.

The four of them walked into the town and found an inn to stay in.

"Waiter, tell us where is this place?" Mo Han asked the waiter.

The waiter looked at the four people, his eyes flickering: "Sir, you are from out of town, right?"

"Yes, we are from..." Mo Han was about to say Tianyuan Empire when he was interrupted by Luo Chen.

"We came from the south and passed by here." Luo Chen said.

The waiter smiled and said, "I see. This is Qingyun Town, which belongs to... uh... no man's land."

"No man's land?" Luo Chen frowned.

"Yes, this place is not under the jurisdiction of any country." The waiter explained, "A few hundred years ago, this was the capital of a small country. Later, that small country perished, and this place became a no-man's land."

"I see." Luo Chen nodded.

"Sir, what are you doing here?" asked the waiter.

"We are here... to do business." Luo Chen said casually.

"Oh, then you better be careful." The waiter lowered his voice and said, "It's not safe here."

"What do you mean?" Mo Han asked.

"There are often robbers here, and some... uh... unclean things." said the waiter.

"Unclean things?" Luo Chen's heart moved.

"Sir, you'd better leave here early." The waiter advised.

"Thank you for the reminder, little brother." Luo Chen said, "We will pay attention."

After sending the waiter away, the four of them returned to their room.

"It seems that we have to leave here as soon as possible." Qingshuang said.

"Yes." Luo Chen nodded, "However, before we leave, we have to figure out where this place is and why the secret passage of the palace leads here."

"Luo Chen, do you think this place could be related to the 'Holy Church'?" Mo Han suddenly said.

Luo Chen's heart trembled, this possibility is very high.

"Ling'er, have you ever heard that the royal family of the Tianyuan Empire has any connection with some 'no man's land'?" Luo Chen asked.

Ling'er shook her head: "No."

"It seems that we have to investigate it ourselves." Luo Chen said.

The four decided to first inquire about the situation near Qingyun Town to see if they could find any clues.

The next day, the four left the inn and wandered around Qingyun Town.

"Hey, what is that?" Mo Han suddenly pointed to a mountain in the distance and said.

Luo Chen looked in the direction of Mo Han's finger and saw an ancient building vaguely visible on the mountain peak. (End of this chapter)