I just reached the maximum level, and you want me to be a puppet emperor?

Chapter 744 Or is this just a coincidence? (Please subscribe and vote with monthly tickets)
On one side of the wall, there was a huge corkboard covered with all sorts of parchment task lists, from finding lost pets to hunting dangerous monsters, from escorting caravans to exploring ruins.

Many people gathered around the task board, pointing and whispering among themselves.

Li Chen discreetly walked to an empty table near a corner and sat down. From this position, he could hear the conversation of several experienced mercenaries with strong auras at the next table.

He ordered a simple ale, but didn't drink it. He just held the cold ceramic glass in his hand, like a weary traveler taking a rest, but in reality, all his attention was focused on the conversation at the next table.

There were four people at that table: three men and one woman.

One of the burly men, with a hideous scar on his face, took a big gulp of wine, wiped his mouth, and said, "'Wind Whisperer' family has really gone all out this time, buying up 'Rending Wind Demon Wolf' crystal cores at a high price. They'll take as many as they can get! I don't know what they're going to do with them, but they desperately need these. Guys, after we pull this off, we'll be living it up for a while!"

The "Windwhisperers" family he mentioned is a prestigious half-elf family in Silvershine City, renowned for producing excellent archers and enchanters.

It is said that there are no pure elves in this world; all are half-elves.

Another lean, sharp-eyed man shook his head and sighed, saying, "I won't be going with you this time. I've taken on a side job as a bodyguard, escorting a shipment to the 'Wailing Corridor'."

"What?! 'The Sighing Corridor'?!" As soon as he finished speaking, the other three people at the table, including the female mercenary who had been silent and fiddling with a dagger, all showed expressions of shock and disbelief.

The scarred, burly man nearly spat out his drink. His eyes widened, and he whispered, "Are you fucking crazy?! Is that place even fit for humans? I heard that decades ago, a powerful figure at the Saint Realm confidently went in, wanting to explore its secrets, and what happened? He never came out! Not even a bubble! That was a Saint! How many lives do you think you have to throw in there?"

A bitter and helpless look appeared on the lean man's face. He rubbed his fingers together and said in a low voice, "Of course I know it's dangerous! But what can I do? My wife is seriously ill and needs a high-ranking priest from the Temple of Life to stabilize her."

And it also requires medication, which you know is expensive. This time, the employer is asking for an extremely high price; the deposit alone is enough to hire a pastor. For this money, I have no choice but to take the plunge!

His words were filled with a resolute determination born of the pressures of life.

Upon hearing this, the others also fell silent and stopped trying to dissuade him. They simply patted him on the shoulder with complicated expressions.

When making a living on the border, everyone has their own unavoidable circumstances.

Li Chen listened quietly to the sound, his eyes flickering slightly beneath his hood.

He seemed to recall seeing a few words about the name 'Wall of Sighs' in some ancient document.

It is said to be a dangerous place connecting to an unknown space, filled with strange laws and powerful beings, even more dangerous than the edge of the ancient battlefield outside Silvershine City.

Was the Pope's itinerary before his disappearance related to such a dangerous place? Or was it merely a coincidence?
He silently memorized the fact that the "Wind Whisperer Family" had acquired a large number of Riftwind Demon Wolf crystal cores and the place name "Wailing Corridor".

These seemingly insignificant pieces of information may be the fragments that piece together the truth.

He placed a few copper coins on the table, and like an ordinary passerby, quietly got up and left the noisy tavern. Next, he needed more specific sources of intelligence.

Before long, Li Chen easily found the Wind Whisperer family's base in Silvershine City by relying on the fragmented information he collected in taverns and alleyways.

As a highly influential half-elf family in the city, their residence was quite conspicuous.
It was a castle with an elven style, situated on a high ground in the eastern part of the city.

The castle is built of silver-white stone, with smooth and elegant lines. Its towering spires seem to pierce the clouds, and ivy that emits a faint glow is wrapped around them. A pale blue, almost transparent magical barrier surrounds the castle, like an inverted bowl, protecting the entire castle area and faintly exuding the ever-flowing aura unique to the wind element.

It is a large-scale, heavily guarded place. Ordinary outsiders can only enter through the heavily guarded front drawbridge or the more secluded back door. It is almost impossible to sneak in silently.

However, is Li Chen an ordinary person?
He stood in the shadows at a distance, calmly observing the barrier.

This level of defense might be considered sturdy for ordinary cultivators or even average experts, but in the eyes of him, a Saint Realm expert who had already reached the pinnacle of the continent, it was full of exploitable flaws.

He recalled the time when he surrounded and killed Romanov, and how Master Wanfeng and Master Qingxu joined forces to forcibly break through the barrier of that veteran Saint Realm cave.

The techniques of those two masters of formations were already exquisite, and the resulting fluctuations were negligible. If Romanov himself had not been inside the cave and possessed keen spiritual senses, outsiders would have had no chance to detect them.

"The method is good, but it can be made even more refined," Li Chen thought to himself.

He plans to draw upon its principles and, combined with his own profound understanding of spatial laws and energy structures, make improvements.

What he was going to do was not to break through by force, but to use his own precise power, which far exceeded the limits of the barrier's ability, to instantly "open" a "door" that could only be passed through by one person, at a certain "node" where the energy flow of the barrier was weakest and the rules were most complex, and then merge into it like mercury, and then close it up in an instant.

The entire process needs to be extremely fast and extremely precise.

Unless there happens to be a top-tier expert of equal or even greater level inside the Wind Whisperer family's castle at this very moment, and this expert is intently monitoring every change in the barrier, there would be absolutely no way to detect his infiltration.

What if there really was such a powerful figure in charge?

A faint smile curved at the corner of Li Chen's lips, a calm and confident expression stemming from his absolute strength.

If that were the case, things would be simpler.

When has Li Chen ever been afraid of anyone?
He has dominated the continent so far, relying not on mere concealment and disguise, but on overwhelming strength.

If the situation requires, he wouldn't mind letting the Wind Whisperer family, and even the entire Silvershine City, witness what a true "top-tier expert" is.

At that time, it won't be him infiltrating to investigate; instead, the other party will have to rack their brains to figure out how to deal with an uninvited figure who is capable of overturning the chessboard.

Of course, that's a last resort.

For now, he still prefers to gather intelligence quietly, avoiding alerting the enemy.

Because if there are any clues here, they can only be investigated secretly. Once a powerful figure of that level reveals their hand, it will be very difficult to find any clues.

Having made up his mind, Li Chen's figure, like a wisp of smoke blending into the night, silently approached the pale blue barrier, searching for the perfect "entry point".

(End of this chapter)