The palace itself seemed to have been coated by a bright silver metal, while countless protective formations that could be activated in an instant if someone was bold enough to attack it were engraved on its walls.
As for the hundreds of guards that were situated around the palace gate and were vigilantly staring at their surroundings, they were there to make sure that no one would even think of sneaking inside the palace.
Surprisingly, every single guard had already reached the Nascent Soul stage, and even without approaching too close to them, Shun Long could feel that most of them were actively using their soul sense every now and then, making sure that no one was sneaking past them to enter the palace.
Naturally, even for Nascent Soul stage cultivators, using their soul sense too often was extremely draining and it would quickly exhaust them mentally as well.
At that moment, Shun Long noticed the look in Jiang Chen's eyes suddenly turning serious, as Jiang Chen looked at him and spoke in a low, almost inaudible voice
''Infiltrating this palace and killing the crown prince isn't going to be easy for us.
Unlike the 'Polar star continent' that I was living in with my father which is jointly governed by 2 peak powers, the 'Blue star continent' is one of the continents that only has one peak power controlling the entire continent fully!
The royal family of the Tang dynasty is precisely the power that controls this continent.
After all, my father once told me that the continents around the central region all need to have at least one Dao Emperor realm expert governing them, so it is likely that the Tang dynasty will also have such an expert!
Since the crown prince of the Tang dynasty is going to become the next king of the Tang dynasty in the future while he is also protected by a Dao King according to the mission, it's very likely that he is related to that Dao Emperor one way or another.''
Shun Long's eyes flashed with a bright light, as he nodded his head barely a moment later, agreeing with Jiang's Chen's words before he actually fell into deep thought.
At the same time, Liu Mei, Xingyi, and Bai Longtian all nodded with serious looks on their faces the moment they heard that.
Liu Mei already knew about the matter of a Dao Emperor needing to control every continent since Jin Wenling had mentioned this to Shun Long in the 'Alchemist's Guild' in Heaven's Dome city.
As for Bai Longtian and Xie Xingyi, as the 'young white lord' and the granddaughter of the old chief of the Xie family, they both knew about this matter already even though the Night star continent didn't actually have a Dao Emperor expert overlooking it.
Naturally, Shun Long already knew from Little Black that a Dao Emperor was hidden inside Tang city the moment that he stepped foot inside the city itself.
This was why he wasn't in a hurry to enter the palace and assassinate the crown prince.
Besides, with a Dao King protecting the prince in secret at all times the C-rank faction mission only became even more difficult.
After thinking seriously for a while, Shun Long turned his gaze towards Xie Xingyi and asked
''Xingyi, can you sneak past the palace walls and take a look inside?''
Although others couldn't do it, Shun Long knew that Xingyi was an exception and could do this thanks to her Vanishing Shadows unique physique.
Nodding her head, Xie Xingyi flashed an extremely beautiful smile at Shun Long before she answered
''Don't worry brother Long, leave it to me.''
Xie Xingyi didn't hesitate to agree before her body started to merge into the shadows, completely disappearing from everyone's vision.
This was what she naturally excelled at the most. Unless the difference between her's and her opponent's soul sense was too big, it was impossible for Xingyi to be found out if she was careful enough.
This was why Shun Long had asked her to do this, since he knew that despite the fact that the palace guards were occasionally scanning the areas around them with their soul sense, they would be unable to spot her as long as she was careful.
Naturally, there was always a certain degree of risk of one of the guards having a soul sense much stronger than the rest, or a powerful late-stage Nascent Soul guard or even a Dao King realm guard to appear, but Shun Long had already seen that most of the guards around the city walls were at the early stages, while less than a third of them had reached the middle stages.
Although there would definitely be some experts at the late stages of the Nascent Soul and perhaps even Dao King realm experts like the one who was rumored to guard the crown prince inside the palace, it was impossible for the Tang dynasty to have the Dao Kings work like the Nascent Soul stage cultivators and supervise the corridors of the palace.
If anything, the Dao Kings would only supervise the most important and sensitive places within the palace instead.
Thus, unless Xingyi entered too deep inside the palace, Shun Long knew that she would most likely be safe.
..
5 hours had already passed by, before Shun Long and the rest all saw the familiar figure of a stunning, blonde-haired beauty in black robes, appearing in front of them seemingly out of thin air.
Although her face was dripping with droplets of sweat due to her overusing her unique physique for so long, the gorgeous smile on her face only made her look even more beautiful than before.
After taking a moment to catch her breath, Xingyi smiled brightly as she said
''Brother Long, there are more than 3.000 guards inside the palace, but most of them are in the early and middle stages of the Nascent Soul. As for those who have reached the late stages of the Nascent Soul, they shouldn't be more than 200.
I could sense some powerful auras inside the palace that had definitely exceeded the Nascent Soul stage, but I couldn't get too close to them. However, after looking around the palace for more than an hour, I finally found the crown prince's chambers.''
