It doesn't matter what the lord is.

The little slime nodded doubtfully.

The next day, it appeared in the hands of the commander-in-chief of the secret guards.

The commander-in-chief of the hidden guards pinched the little slime's round body, looked at Lid with a pair of dead eyes, and asked:

"Do you really want to take this risk?"

Lid yawned. He had planned to sleep until the next morning, but he was woken up by the passing giants. Three low-level ninth-level giants rushed towards him, howling as if they had discovered a new continent, but Lid shattered their hearts with his Eight Extreme Collapse. The Lacquer Moon Armor and the black crystal entered the little slime's stomach, but the smell of blood still filled the air, making it impossible for Lid to lie down and sleep peacefully.

"I guess so. After all, there is no other way at the moment. Please help me take good care of this guy and don't let it run around."

After Lid finished answering, he took out a package from his pocket and tied it to the little slime. It contained the remaining black crystals that had not been eaten. The little slime looked at Lid with tears in his eyes. The slime balls kept pouring out of its fat body, staining the hands of the commander-in-chief of the hidden guards.

The commander-in-chief of the Hidden Guards said indifferently:

"Your Majesty asked me to protect your safety, but with my realm and cultivation level, it would be easy to be exposed if I went with you. If you are determined to go, I will wait for you here."

Reed nodded.

The commander of the secret guards was a wise man. His attainments in the way of assassins had reached the tenth level, but because of this, he was no longer an ant in the eyes of the eagles in the sky, and it was difficult to cover up easily.

Most of the low-level giants were not even at the tenth level, so if the Hidden Guards Commander was among them, he would inevitably feel a bit like a crane standing out from the crowd. Although he might not be discovered due to his extraordinary concealment skills, his success rate would not be as high as that of Lid acting alone.

Reed thought about it, took the little slime back from his hands, and coaxed the crying little slime like a child, and gave it a few words of advice in a voice that the commander-in-chief of the hidden guards could not hear.

Then he returned the little slime to the commander of the hidden guards and said to the cold-faced man:

"Ten days. If I haven't come back within ten days, you will go back and report to your Lord, saying that I'm dead. If she still has some feelings for me, send Alayya and Shiloh back to Yuxi City. I can be considered to have died in the line of duty, and it would be even better if you can give me some compensation."

The voice of the Hidden Guard Commander was flat:

"I understand. I will tell the Lord your request, and it will be up to Him to decide whether to agree to it."

Lid shook his head and said half complaining and half sighing:

“How heartless.”

After saying that, he touched the little slime and said:

"You should eat and drink as you please, improve your realm as soon as possible, and think about what you should think about as soon as possible. If I don't gain anything from this trip, hope will still fall on you."

The little slime nodded aggrievedly.

Lid turned around and walked north, leaving a trail of footprints behind him that were quickly covered by the snow.

This time, no one followed him.

71. Lurking Begins

After only one morning, Reed had found an excellent target to hide: a low-level giant who had reached the ninth level of perfection.

The ninth-level perfect giant could not sense Lid's realm, so when Lid lightly jumped onto its back, the giant didn't feel anything at all, at most it felt the slight touch of a mosquito landing on its body. The giant reached out to scratch, but because its muscles were too developed, it couldn't actually scratch the center of its back.

Reed hid in the mane on its back, holding two strands of mane in his hands and hanging on its body, restraining his breath.

He originally thought this was an easy thing, but soon realized the seriousness of the problem.

This tribe of giants probably has never known since birth that there is such a high-end operation as bathing in the world.

It was so sour that even the air in front of me seemed dark yellow.

Although Lid held his breath most of the time, he felt that even his eyes were sore from the smoke, and he had to take a huge risk when he occasionally took a breath. He felt that he had never been so miserable in his life. This feeling was like a baby thrown into the toilet right after being born. He couldn't even open his eyes and could only cry loudly, but his helpless tears were not exchanged for sweet food, but a beating from reality.

Lid suddenly remembered that he didn't know whether the researchers in Yuxi City had made black powder. An important component of black powder was saltpeter, which was usually collected in old houses or toilets. If possible, Lid really wanted to bring them here again, maybe they could get a lot of resources.

Although the process is painful, it is the best way.

After restraining his aura, he almost completely merged with this giant with mixed aura, and other giants did not notice his existence at all, whether visually or perceptually. Unfortunately, this giant seemed to have no relationship with the core bloodline of the giants. After enduring the pain for half a day, Lid found that it staggered back to a giant tribe and dominated it. Lid was so angry that he shattered its heart while it was sleeping and left in anger.

The next day, Lid hooked up with another powerful giant, also at the ninth level of perfection, and also did not notice Lid's presence, and also... had a strong smell. At noon, Lid was dizzy from the fumes, and vaguely discovered that this giant had been robbing other giants for food, and other than that, he basically just wandered around. It was obviously a fake that had nothing to do with the high-level giants.

Okay, but don't give up your heart.

As a giant, the most important thing is to contribute to the development of your own race and be loyal to the giant king. What is the point of living in the world for giants without the spirit of progress?

Reed took deep gulps of fresh air, looking for his next target.

During this period, three more giants were replaced, but none of them lived up to their expectations. The Ninth Level Perfection didn't want to repay his boss, and spent all day either occupying the mountain as a king or bullying his own kind. Another giant lived a life with three wives and six concubines, and at night his body twitched, almost shocking Lid back to Lingwu.

Enduring pain without seeing any hope makes people irritable, and Reed ended its life without hesitation while it was enjoying a good life.

Five low-level giants who had reached the ninth level of perfection died at Lid's hands one after another. The sixth giant finally gave Lid hope.

It had no interactions with its fellows around it, occasionally passing by many lakes and hills like patrolling, and spent most of its time on the road. This was the rhythm that Lid liked. Excellent giants should always put their careers first. This giant obviously had a considerable gap in ideological awareness with other giants.

After some inspection, the low-level giant headed north.

It moved very quickly, with a pair of long legs that were suitable for fast walking, and its realm was not low, so Lid had to hold its mane tightly to prevent himself from being thrown off. The giant walked very fast, and seemed to never get tired; Lid could feel the surrounding scenery receding rapidly, and the wind blew his bangs, bringing fresh air.

The giant's speed was much faster than the army's. Lid even suspected that if he continued to run like this, he would soon reach a place further north than Lingwu's army. Because there was no reference, Lid could only rely on his body sense to determine the approximate direction, but it was difficult to estimate how far he had been taken by the giant.

But gradually, Reed found that the surrounding scenery began to change.

It was slowly getting dark.

Although it was still daytime, the dark clouds overhead had gradually changed from gray to dark black. However, the ground was not pitch dark because huge torches stuck in the frozen soil began to appear on the snowfield. Each torch was four or five meters high.

The tops of the torches were burning with blazing fire, but the whole environment still looked spooky. Lid quietly poked his head outside and found that in front of him was another towering mountain - that is, the "bridge between heaven and earth" mentioned by the war ghost at that time. The difference was that this mountain was full of torches, and you could see a huge palace embedded in the mountain halfway up the mountain.

The palace in the human capital was already magnificent and luxurious enough, but the scale of this palace was several times larger than that of the capital. Part of the magnificent hall was built with huge rocks and ancient trees, and the other part seemed to be directly carved out of the mountain, so there was a feeling that the palace was embedded in the mountain.

There were also huge torches lit in the hall. Reed speculated that the grease on the torches might be the fish oil of the merfolk. He had also seen this kind of thing in the royal capital. It was said that top-grade fish oil, as long as it was the size of a fingernail, could burn for thousands of years without going out, and no matter how strong the wind and snow were, they could not extinguish it.

The atmosphere around him began to become complicated. Reed immediately crawled back into the mane on the giant's back, held his breath, closed his eyes, and entered a state of selflessness. He looked like he was asleep, but his senses became unusually sharp.

Lid could sense a gaze from inside the palace, not directed at him, but looking down at all the giants. He estimated that he had entered the surveillance range of the higher giants, but as he expected, there must be a large number of lower giants working for them near the rulers of these giants. The number of lower giants that Lid could sense alone exceeded thousands.

They gathered towards the palace in a mighty force, their deafening footsteps surprisingly uniform.

With their cover, Reed successfully passed the first test and smoothly entered the Bridge between Heaven and Earth.

But next, he must face the pressure of the higher giants at close range and find a way to get more information from them.

72. The Royal Bloodline of the Giants

The wind is cold and the ghost lights are flickering.

The giants walked along the mountain road towards the palace on the top of the mountain, and the surrounding environment became darker. There was no light in the sky, and although torches were placed in the stone walls on the winding mountain road, the light provided by the torches was still limited. Especially when the huge giants filled the mountain road, the entire mountain seemed to be dotted with flames, but the flames could only illuminate a small area around it.

Lid lay on the back of the giant, feeling the air outside become thick as if it had solidified. Countless giants gathered here, and only dispersed around the hall, going to different places to perform their duties. Some giants returned to the hall with prey, and the first thing they did was to present the prey in their hands; some giants were responsible for digging stone walls, expanding the palace, and had already started construction; and some giants served as sentinels outside the palace, standing there ready to fight.

Reed had analyzed from the beginning that the giant he was following was probably performing a job like an inspector, patrolling around on behalf of the higher giants to see if there were any unusual incidents occurring in the giant's territory.

As an inspector, the first thing to do after returning from inspection is to report the results to your superior.

In other words, following this giant is the most likely way to directly encounter a higher giant.

As Lid expected, when other giants were still active outside the palace, this giant had already followed hundreds of colleagues and walked directly into the palace. There was a hall when they first entered the palace, or it was a hall for the giants. From Lid's perspective, it was a completely new world, far larger than any building he had seen in human territory, and extremely wide.

The giants on patrol duty walked to the left, where there was a long corridor leading to an unknown place.

Lid was on the lookout for danger when he suddenly noticed a low-level giant with a slightly different appearance coming from the other side of the corridor and heading towards him. This giant was only at the ninth level of perfection, and Lid didn't take it seriously at first, but when the distance between them shortened, Lid's heart began to beat wildly for no reason.

At the moment of passing by, Lid suddenly realized that the low-level giant was not alone. There was a guy of unknown level standing on its shoulder. When that guy passed by, all the low-level giants stopped and lowered their heads to let it and its mount go first.

In just a moment, Reid already had the answer in his mind.

Appearing here, with an unknown realm and being feared by other giants, there is only one possibility that meets these conditions -

Higher giant!

Before seeing it, Lid had imagined countless possible forms of a high giant. For example, it could be tens of thousands of feet tall and could shake the world with one punch, or it could be as still as a mountain and overlook the world with only a pair of ancient eyes. But the moment he actually saw the high giant, Lid felt something that was unexpected but reasonable.

The nine sons of the Dragon King, the Demon King, the Elf Royal Family, Lid had seen at least three of the core bloodlines of the six tribes. They all had one thing in common, which was that they were all dominated by human characteristics.

The high-level giant that now appeared in front of Reed was no exception.

Its body is much smaller than the average giant, only about three meters tall. Perhaps it is not used to being looked down upon, so it specially selected a tall and mighty lower-level giant as its mount. Standing on the shoulders of a 20-meter-tall giant, other lower-level giants can only look up at it.

Compared to those primitive lower-level giants, it looked more like a human male with an unusually developed body. It wore golden ornaments on its neck, wrists, and ankles, and had a lot of strange patterns on its bronze skin. Except for a circle of white cloth around its waist, most of its muscles were exposed, but these muscles were more beautiful than those of other lower-level giants.

The only thing that Reed couldn't understand was that it seemed unable to fully control its own power. Wisps of black mist emerged from the black patterns, and the whole person was like a time bomb. Even the space around it was unstable due to the chaotic power.

Because it was the first high giant that Reed had seen, Reed decided to name it "No. 1".

There were no other higher-level giants around Giant No. 1 to communicate with it, and it had no habit of talking to itself, so Reed didn't think he could get any information from it.

So the moment they passed by, Reed had already lost interest in it and just wanted to be an ordinary handsome guy passing by.

But in the next moment when they passed by, Lid suddenly heard it instruct the mount under it in ancient language:

"Stop."

The low-level giant under his feet stopped walking. No. 1 slowly turned sideways, and looked at the group of giants that Reed was in with a pair of black and red eyes. There was obviously some suspicion in his eyes, and it was obvious that he had noticed something that shouldn't be there.

Lid didn't dare to look at it, because he knew that it could sense his gaze. So Lid kept his eyes open, and the position of his pupils had not changed since the beginning. He would not look at it deliberately, nor would he avoid it deliberately. He observed everything in front of him equally, just like inorganic matter, including all living and non-living parts.

Even so, the higher giants seemed to have noticed something and their eyes were constantly scanning among all the lower giants.

Reed frowned slightly.

He seemed to know how the other party had sensed him. He had restrained his aura very well from the beginning, and his heartbeat and meridians were in sync with the low-level giant who was hiding, so it was basically impossible for people far away to see any clues.

But when he saw Titan No. 1, Reed's body instinctively sensed danger, and his heart beat faster than usual, causing him to be slightly out of sync with the lower-level Titans who were hiding.

The asynchrony was subtle, but still noticeable.

Reed narrowed his eyes, forced himself to change the flow of his breath, blocked a small amount of breath in his chest, and squeezed his heart hard.

The heart, which had been beating vigorously, suddenly slowed down, but the heart muscles suddenly took on heavy pressure, and it felt like they were about to burst. The pain was transmitted to all parts of his body along the nerves, and his brain felt like it was going to shut down. But Lid remained silent, and even his breath was not disordered. His meridians were still functioning normally, and only cold sweat wet his mane where he was hiding.

At the same time, the higher giant glanced around and looked at the lower giant where Lid was hiding.

Under the sharp gaze, nothing seems to escape detection.

73. The truth has only just revealed the tip of the iceberg

Reed endured the pain and tried his best to maintain his disguise.

Now every minute and every second was a torment for him. The pain of forcing his heart to stop beating was far beyond the upper limit of human endurance. Lid relied on his strong mental strength to not faint. But the high giant did not leave. Lid estimated that there were at most 30 seconds left, and he had to slow down the pressure on the heart, otherwise there would be a risk of myocardial rupture.

The high-level Titan now has two choices: trust his own judgment or doubt his own judgment. If he believes that the sense of disharmony he just felt is true, he will probably carefully check all the low-level Titans, and then Lid will definitely be exposed, arrested and executed, and die miserably.

Its gaze lingered on the giant where Lid was hiding for a moment, then it moved its gaze away and looked at the next giant. This high-level giant seemed to be preoccupied and did not intend to spend too much time on the investigation, and its investigation was a bit sloppy. After scanning all the low-level giants present, it spoke to its mount in ancient language:

"Let's go."

The low-level giant under its feet took another step and walked away. Lid watched its figure disappear at the end of his vision, but he didn't dare to relax at all, and still tried his best to control his heartbeat. The blood flow was getting slower and slower, and the area around his vision gradually began to darken, and this darkness was spreading further.

Only after the feeling of being watched completely disappeared did Reed breathe a sigh of relief. He gradually released the pressure on his heart, shivered all over, and blood flowed from the corners of his mouth.

The lesser giant he was hiding behind scratched his back again, but still couldn't find where Lid was.

Reed's body was still tense and he didn't dare to rest.

He was like a person who had just finished a marathon. He had already exhausted all his strength, and even his hands and feet were somewhat out of control. But at this moment, he was suddenly chosen as a target by a huge monster, so he had to drive his tired limbs to run again. This was basically a desperate effort, and there was undoubtedly an element of gambling in it, betting on whether the danger would disappear first or he would fall first.

These lower-level Titans did not report to the higher-level Titan just now, which meant that the No. 1 higher-level Titan was not their direct superior, and it also meant that they would have to meet other higher-level Titans next. By then, the situation that Lid would face would probably be more complicated than what he had just encountered.

However, the atmosphere here matched Reed's previous guess. He felt that the high giants must know about the things that happened in the giants' territory. If there was singing and dancing here, it meant that these things were nothing in the eyes of the high giants, and Reed's trip would probably be in vain. However, the atmosphere here was low and depressing, which meant that the situation was not optimistic for the high giants.

Reed followed the low-level giant where he was hiding and continued to walk deeper into the hall, while trying to steady his breathing and slow his heartbeat as much as possible, further restraining his breath without exposing himself.

Deep in the hall, the breath of high-level giants has become more and more, like peaks standing there, forming a mountain range that is so high that you can't see the top. Lid is now an explorer under the mountains. There are countless dangers on the mountains, but Lid must survive these dangers and dig out the secrets hidden in the mountains.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the low-level giant that Lid was hiding in stopped. Lid looked out through the gaps in the mane and found himself outside a dark room.

The size of this room was probably as big as a human castle, with countless torches lit inside. The feeling of being stared at by someone reappeared, and Lid unconsciously began to suppress the beating of his heart.

In the room, a high-level giant spoke a language that Lid had never heard of. Lid didn't know what it meant, but it felt like the sound that ordinary people make when calling their pet cats and dogs. It was probably just some meaningless onomatopeia. Because the intelligence of the low-level giants is not high, the high-level giants and the low-level giants should not be able to communicate through ancient language. Perhaps only the special low-level giants like No. 1's mount can understand some simple ancient languages.

The low-level giants went in one after another to report, but they did not report their work through a formal language, but only through some onomatopeia and some inexplicable body movements to convey information. This certainly involved Lid's blind spot in knowledge, but Lid did not care at all about what these low-level giants said, he only cared about the reactions of the high-level giants.

When it was the turn of the low-level giant where he was hiding to enter the house, Reed hardened his heart. The power flowing in his body was like an invisible hand that suddenly grasped his heart. His heart almost completely stopped beating for a short period of time, and blood rushed to Reed's throat one after another. Every part of his limbs was in extreme pain, but Reed still had to maintain his sanity to ensure that the power ran smoothly as much as possible and no one could see anything wrong.

There were three high-level giants in the room, two males who looked similar to No. 1 we had seen before, and a pretty female giant. The female giant was wearing more cloth, and although she still had the wild style of a primitive tribe, it at least covered her key parts. She kept wiping her eyes with her hands, and seemed to be crying, while the two male giants were probably comforting her, one holding her hand and the other gently patting her back.

They all looked somewhat similar to No. 1, and they were all high-level giants living in the palace, so they might be siblings. It was precisely because their three people were not paying attention to this low-level giant that Lid managed to get away with it.

After the lower giant made a few gestures, one of the male higher giants waved at it, and the lower giant immediately retreated.

The high-level giants communicated in ancient language, so Lid could hear a few words clearly -