Chapter 69: A Chaotic Day

Early the next morning, when sunlight once again stained the Palace of the Underworld with gold, Liu Zhi realized that he had spent the entire night within its walls.
He found himself surprisingly energetic despite having not slept at all—far from feeling tired, he was filled with a sense of vigor and strength.
Glancing up at the sky, he noticed that the pair of eyes once hidden in the blood moon seemed to vanish in the sunlight, yet the sensation of being watched from above remained, and divinity still enveloped the palace overhead.
With a single thought, Liu Zhi caused the direct sunlight to gradually diminish; every ray that entered the palace was absorbed by the divine presence in the sky, transformed into the energy of divine power.
Once the sunlight was absorbed, the colors within the palace reverted to their original hues—not as dark as at night, but the sky now bore a pale, early dawn glow.
At the place where the blood moon had been, a pair of crimson eyes appeared, gazing down from above upon everything within the Palace of the Underworld.
"This finally feels like the realm of the dead. When sunlight floods the place, I can't sense any gathering of the underworld's aura," Liu Zhi remarked casually. In truth, he felt nothing of that aura; he simply disliked the city being bathed in gold.
Just as Liu Zhi was about to return to the real world, he noticed flashes of golden light on the eastern side of the palace, at the bottom of the dried lake.
"What's going on here?" he mused, and in a blink, he appeared above the dried lake.
He saw that the pit-like lakebed was strewn with numerous golden vessels.
Beneath those golden vessels lay corpses, each wrapped in white burial cloths.
Liu Zhi recalled finding something similar in the eastern district before the battle began—a depiction from Inca murals, the Incan golden lake burials.
At the time, he had wondered about such a burial method; now, it was unfolding before his eyes.
With this in mind, Liu Zhi reached out toward the lakebed, and a golden artifact fell into his hand.
Before he could examine the item, the corpses wrapped in burial cloth began to writhe, their hands reaching down as if trying to drag something beneath.
Startled, Liu Zhi quickly tossed the artifact back, and only then did the chaos subside.

Gazing at the half-conquered dried lake, Liu Zhi fell into deep thought.
Meanwhile, the three native warriors who had escaped from the City of Gold were finally brought before several chiefs and heroes.
Paco of the Snake Strike Tribe fixed his gaze on them, his eyes like those of a great serpent, as if he wished to swallow them whole.
Paco’s anger was not due to their escape from the City of Gold, nor because Black Kite of the Eagle Tribe had perished.
His fury stemmed from the fact that, in their desperate flight from the serpent’s attack, they screamed and shouted, revealing everything that had happened after entering the City of Gold.
Now, everyone in camp knew that the unit sent to raid the City of Gold had been wiped out, and the demon of the city had been released.
Panic spread through the camp; the situation was evolving in a way Paco dreaded.
A glance at the chiefs revealed that Paco no longer controlled the outcome.
Amidst the chaos of the tents, a man from the Eagle Tribe brandished a long sword and shouted about charging into the City of Gold.
Yet his expression betrayed his true intent—he sought to seize the authority left behind by Black Kite, with no real desire to lead his warriors in avenging Black Kite’s death.
The elder with Incan features grew uneasy, pulling the three Maya chiefs aside, attempting to persuade them to support his plan to enter the City of Gold from the underworld.
Meanwhile, Egji of the Deer-Eater Tribe spoke quietly with a subordinate; Paco had heard rumors that the Deer-Eater Tribe was packing their belongings, apparently planning to withdraw from the conflict.
Watching the chaos unfold, Paco’s forehead veins bulged with frustration.
He slammed the table forcefully. “Settle down, all of you! Say again what happened after you entered the City of Gold—tell us everything you saw.”
The escapees had already recounted their tale several times.
Prompted again, they replied without hesitation.
“We followed the forest path in, a mysterious route woven from branches and trees. Arriving at the designated spot, we found a slide leading downward. As we slid, the demon ambushed us. The demon knew we were coming, waiting at the end of the forest path.”

“Yes, that’s right. The demon ambushed us. As we came off the slide, we collided with those ahead of us; they wouldn’t move at all, clearly controlled by the demon.”
“There was only one demon—a woman with four arms and a serpent’s tail. She wielded four weapons, striking like the wind, slicing our people into pieces.”
“The demon was released by a pale-skinned outsider, who was also controlled by her. That outsider must have been a priest—he could unleash lightning. We had the demon surrounded at first, but the priest used lightning to knock everyone down, giving the demon her chance.”
“Those killed by the demon would rise as skeletons; I saw it with my own eyes.”
“Those skeletons could wield weapons, and some even turned golden.”
The three took turns embellishing their account of the City of Gold.
Yet their story grew more fantastical with each retelling; at first it seemed plausible, but soon they were spinning wild tales.
Paco, ignorant of the truth, listened intently, trying to analyze the enemy’s strength.
But he found himself frustrated; whenever he sought the other chiefs’ cooperation, they were occupied with their own concerns.
The three repeated their statements over and over, nearly driven mad, while the chiefs remained preoccupied.
Finally, Paco slammed the table again.
“I said enough! Do you still wish to stop the demon? Have you considered what happens if the demon escapes the City of Gold?”
Paco’s shout drew the chiefs’ attention, but their expressions revealed they had no intention of following his lead.
At that moment, the Incan elder stepped forward. “Paco, what do you propose?”