Chapter 538: Capital of the Orc Empire

Chapter 538: The Beastman Empire's Imperial Capital

Li Wei turned his head for a glance behind him.

Though he couldn't clearly see Minos’s figure,

he could sense that Minos was still alive.

A trace of regret flickered in Li Wei’s heart—such a golden opportunity had slipped by without killing Minos.

Next time, there might not be another chance.

After witnessing his Great Solar Explosion Art, Minos would surely never give him the chance to use it again.

Li Wei turned back and patted Sheng Xi’s back gently.

“Let’s go. We must find the Sacred Dragon Legacy.”

Sheng Xi let out a dragon’s roar, piercing through the clouds and soaring high into the sky.

Thus began their journey in search of the Sacred Dragon Legacy.

Guided by an instinctual pull from her bloodline, Sheng Xi flew swiftly in one direction.

The silhouette of the great dragon cut across the heavens as beasts below scrambled frantically to flee.

Even former rulers of the skies now cowered on the ground, burying their heads in dirt, terrified of drawing attention from the passing dragon.

Wherever Li Wei and Sheng Xi passed, no trace of beastly creatures remained.

They traveled onward, traversing long distances.

Before them, Li Wei saw a massive wall stretching hundreds of miles across the horizon.

Sheng Xi slowed her flight.

“Li Wei, I can feel it—the Sacred Dragon Legacy lies just ahead.”

Li Wei looked down, narrowing his eyes slightly to make out the people within the city below.

“This is… a beastman city?”

Such a vast beastman metropolis—it must be none other than the imperial capital of the Beastman Empire.

Why would the Sacred Dragon Legacy be here?

Li Wei patted Sheng Xi’s back once more. “Don’t do anything rash. Let’s go down first and take a look.”

Of course, the imperial capital of the Beastman Empire wasn’t some place where two individuals could simply stroll in uninvited.

Although defeated by the Human Empire and driven to the barren lands of the north,

the Beastman Empire remained immensely powerful.

Not even at its peak could the Human Empire completely exterminate them.

The Beastman Empire possessed countless superhuman experts capable of rivaling humanity’s strongest warriors.

To barge into their imperial capital recklessly—if they provoked one of those top-tier beastmen, neither Li Wei nor Sheng Xi were certain they could win.

So, Li Wei and Sheng Xi disguised themselves skillfully, pretending to be beastmen to sneak into the imperial capital.

For someone like Li Wei, who mastered the art of illusionary transformation, this task proved quite simple.

Unless they encountered a legendary-level beastman warrior, the risk of exposure was minimal.

With ease, Li Wei and Sheng Xi blended naturally among the crowd, heading toward the gates of the beastman capital.

Due to racial differences, the physical appearances of the beastmen varied wildly in size and build.

Li Wei transformed himself into a wolfman whose physique resembled that of a human.

Sheng Xi took the form of a smaller rabbit-person.

They stood behind a towering ape-man over two meters tall.

“You two, move aside! Don’t block the way!”

A booming voice rang out. A pigman warrior approached—his body bulging with fat and muscle, nearly three meters tall and wider than two meters across.

Hearing the shout from behind, the ape-man in front of Li Wei glanced back.

Immediately stepping aside, he dared not obstruct the path.

In the world of beastmen, strength determined status; courtesy based on order held little value.

Power entitled privilege.

Seeing that the small rabbit girl showed no reaction, the pigman snorted coldly, pushing past her deliberately—and kicked hard at Sheng Xi, aiming to send her flying.

But Sheng Xi wouldn’t tolerate such arrogance.

She raised her hand lightly—and unleashed force far beyond what the pigman warrior could withstand.

Whoosh! Bang!

The pigman warrior landed flat on his rear with a painful thud, grunting loudly as laughter erupted around him from amused onlookers.

It was truly unexpected—

this seemingly frail little rabbit girl had casually tossed aside a burly pigman warrior.

Getting up slowly, the pigman glared furiously at Sheng Xi. “Damn it! Are you trying to die?!”

Quickly stepping forward, Li Wei tried to defuse the situation with a forced smile.

“No need to get angry, no need. It was all just an accident—you simply lost your balance and fell…”

The pigman fixed Li Wei with round, bell-like eyes.

“A stinking wolfman like you thinks you have the right to speak? Get lost!”

Sighing inwardly, Li Wei felt helpless.

He didn’t wish to cause trouble or draw unwanted attention.

Yet that didn’t mean he’d forever endure the arrogance of fools.

This brute brought destruction upon himself—he alone bore responsibility.

Just as Li Wei prepared to act,

guards stationed near the gate cast hostile glances at the group, shouting sharply: “If you’ve got business, deal with it elsewhere! Don’t loiter here blocking traffic!”

Scolded thus, the pigman didn’t dare utter a single word in reply.

He shot a venomous glare at Li Wei and Sheng Xi before muttering loudly, “If you’ve got guts, come after me.”

With that, he spun around and strode off toward an open area nearby.

Taking several steps, he turned back—

only to find that the wolfman and the bunny had already ignored him entirely, walking calmly through the city gates.

The guards gave Li Wei and Sheng Xi only a cursory inspection of their identities before allowing them entry without issue.

The guards naturally couldn’t detect anything amiss.

Li Wei and Sheng Xi’s identities were both traceable.

They weren’t fabricated out of thin air—on their way here, they had encountered a group of beastmen and conveniently adopted two usable identities from among them.

Putting away the beast tokens that signified their identities, Li Wei and Sheng Xi entered the imperial capital.

Though it was rather odd to see a wolfman and a rabbitman walking together,

the imperial capital housed all kinds of beast races—it wasn’t particularly strange.

Even natural enemies becoming close friends was considered normal.

After all, the beast race capital prided itself on embracing all things.

As they walked along the road, Sheng Xi tugged at Li Wei’s sleeve and pointed toward a nearby corner. “What are they doing?”

Li Wei turned his head and saw two serpentine beastmen shamelessly entwined in an alley.

He quickly covered Sheng Xi’s eyes and said, “Don’t look. It’ll soil your eyes. They’re up to no good.”

“Two male snake beastmen—what else could they be doing? Definitely nothing decent.”

Li Wei was inwardly astounded and shocked.

He hadn’t expected beast race customs to be so open—they were actually doing *that* right in public…

Sheng Xi muttered, “So what? I’m not ignorant. Isn’t it just reproduction? But why are both of them males…”

“That’s enough. Enough already. Let’s not talk about this anymore.”

Li Wei hurriedly tried to make her forget the whole thing.

Changing the subject, he asked, “So, now that you’re here, have you sensed where exactly the Sacred Dragon inheritance is?”

Hearing this, Sheng Xi snapped back to attention. “It’s over there.”

She raised her finger and pointed ahead.

Li Wei looked up and frowned.

“That’s the beast race imperial palace. Are you sure it’s there?”

The palace wasn’t like the city gates—anyone who wanted to enter could just stroll in.

Sheng Xi nodded firmly. “Yes, that’s definitely it. I can sense it.”

Then she furrowed her brow. “But something feels off. It seems like something is blocking my perception.”

“I can only feel it vaguely—and the closer we get, the more unclear it becomes…”

When they were still hundreds of miles away, Sheng Xi could barely make out what lay within the beast race palace.

But now that they were here, she was even less certain.

It felt foggy, as if viewing flowers through mist—only a vague outline visible.

That was how Sheng Xi felt now: only able to perceive the general direction.

Li Wei also felt a headache coming on.

He glanced around and said, “There’s no other way—we’ll have to find a way inside.”

The two began gathering information within the beast capital about the royal palace,

trying to find some method of entry.

With little success, Li Wei eventually resorted to lurking outside the palace, watching for opportunities.

“Hmm? Someone’s coming out.”

Li Wei perked up as the palace gates opened and a group emerged.

They looked like members of the royal guard.

Who knew what they were up to.

This was the perfect chance.

If they disguised themselves as members of the guard, they might just sneak into the palace.

Li Wei and Sheng Xi exchanged glances and prepared to act.

The royal guards headed straight out of the capital city—an outcome perfectly suited to Li Wei’s plans.

If he acted within the capital, he feared being discovered.

Once outside, even if things got noisy, he wouldn’t care.

Following the royal guards, Li Wei and Sheng Xi left the capital.

As they passed through a forest, the two exchanged a glance and struck decisively.

Sheng Xi unleashed a localized dragon aura.

The intimidating pressure enveloped every member of the guard.

In an instant, everyone froze in place, unable to move, minds blank.

Only the captain, whose strength surpassed the others, retained a sliver of consciousness.

Realizing they were under attack, he immediately tried to raise an alarm to draw the attention of nearby city guards.

The next moment, a magical formation blazed across the sky before his eyes.

“Human mage!”

Shock jolted through the captain’s heart.

Why would a human mage be here?

This was deep within the Beast Empire!

*Dream Wander Technique!* *Sleep Spell!*

Li Wei had acquired the Dream Wander Technique during the time when dark cultists used the Sleep Spell to ambush Gu Ze and the others.

The Sleep Spell was merely a branch of the Dream Wander Technique.

When Li Wei cast it, its power far exceeded that of the dark cultist’s version.

The beastmen, already stunned by the dragon aura, offered no resistance as they were dragged into the dream world—one after another collapsing into slumber.

*Thud!*

The captain struggled against the dual assault of dragon aura and sleep spell.

Suddenly, a heavy blow struck the back of his head.

His consciousness vanished instantly, and he collapsed face-first onto the ground.

At the moment of losing awareness, all resistance crumbled,

and he too was pulled into the dream realm by the Sleep Spell.

Sheng Xi lowered her right hand, which had knocked out the captain, and turned to look at Li Wei.

Li Wei stood motionless in place, eyes tightly shut, also immersed in the dream world.

The surrounding area had already been concealed by Li Wei with a magical array beforehand; even passing beastmen could not discover the unconscious group.

Saint Xi guarded Li Wei's body outside, keeping watch and protecting his safety.

Li Wei was submerged in the dream realm, using dreams to extract intelligence from the members of the guard unit.

If he used violent interrogation, it might not yield much useful information.

But through dreams, these beastman guards would unknowingly reveal vast amounts of intelligence.

Before long, Li Wei opened his eyes.

He said, "We can deal with them now."

Saint Xi exhaled a breath of dragon fire, reducing all the fallen beastman guards on the ground to ashes.

Li Wei cast an illusionary transformation spell—he transformed into the captain of the beastman guards, while Saint Xi became an ordinary member of the guard unit.

The captain was a tiger-headed man clad in standard-issue armor.

After transforming, Saint Xi appeared as a guard whose race was hard to discern.

However, Li Wei knew that she had taken the form of a fox clan member.

Once the transformations were complete, Li Wei and Saint Xi exchanged glances, sizing up each other’s new appearances, then chuckled softly.

"Let's go. This time we should be able to slip in unnoticed."

Through the dream infiltration, Li Wei had already ascertained what this small beastman guard squad was set to do.

They returned to the gates of the imperial capital.

As they approached, the beastmen queued at the gate quickly stepped aside, making way for them.

Li Wei and Saint Xi strode confidently into the city.

Even the guards at the entrance did not check their identities but greeted him obsequiously instead.

Saint Xi glanced down at her armor and murmured, "This pelt is quite handy indeed."

Li Wei replied, "In the Beastman Empire, strength reigns supreme—it's natural for such things to happen. Even in human empires, it's much the same."

"It's just that compared to the Beastman Empire where power alone commands respect, human empires have many more rules—or perhaps one could call it another kind of strength derived from political influence."

Saint Xi sighed, "You humans are truly complicated."

Li Wei gave a slight laugh without responding.

Unconsciously, the two arrived back at the palace gates.

Seeing Captain Gorte return so soon after leaving, the palace guards looked puzzled.

"Captain Gorte, what's going on?" asked one of the guards.

Li Wei glanced at him and said, "Don't ask about matters beyond your concern."

"Open the gate—the mission has encountered unexpected complications."

Hearing this, the guard hurriedly nodded and replied respectfully, "Of course, Captain Gorte, please proceed carefully."

Two beastman guards promptly opened the side gate of the palace, allowing Li Wei and Saint Xi to enter.

Having gained entry to the palace so easily, Li Wei couldn't help but let out a quiet sigh of relief.

It seemed the defenses within the beastman royal palace weren't as stringent as imagined—this was certainly good news.

Li Wei turned to Saint Xi and asked, "Which direction?"

Saint Xi closed her eyes briefly to sense the surroundings before pointing ahead.

"Do we really need to go further inside?"

Thought Li Wei.

Together, they walked deeper into the palace grounds.

"Oh? Isn't Gorte supposed to be on assignment? Why are you here?"

"And who is this person beside you?"

Hearing the voice, Li Wei turned and saw a tiger-headed official dressed like a court officer looking directly at him.

He rapidly recalled intelligence gathered from Gorte during the dream infiltration.

Remembering the name of this beastman official standing before him.

"Greetings, Executive Officer Isaac. There were some unforeseen developments en route, so I've come back to seek guidance from our commander."

Using a pre-prepared excuse, Li Wei smoothly deflected Isaac's inquiry.

Isaac frowned suspiciously. "For something like this, couldn't you simply send someone else back instead of coming yourself?"

Li Wei responded calmly, "Given its confidential nature, I'm afraid I cannot elaborate further for you, sir."

"I see. Then go find Corison first."

With that, Isaac shook his head slightly and turned away.

Li Wei watched his retreating figure until he disappeared from sight.

Only then did he quickly lead Saint Xi away swiftly.

He didn’t want to encounter any more acquaintances of Gorte’s.

Halfway along the path, Isaac met Commander Corison.

"Corison, what secret mission did you assign to Gorte?" Isaac questioned.

"Secret mission? It was merely a minor task—why has it suddenly become classified?" Corison replied with visible confusion.

"Hmm?" A realization dawned upon Isaac.

(End of Chapter)