Chapter 265: Underground Exploration The First Day

"Ordinary demon monarchs have a much harder time moving underground than I do," Meng Chuan thought to himself. "They can usually only burrow about a hundred *li* deep. Any further down, the rocks are too solid, and their progress becomes too slow. Burrowing a hundred *li* deep… for an ordinary demon monarch, it's like traveling several thousand *li* on the surface."

"Therefore, Triple Heaven demon monarchs generally stay within a hundred *li* underground."

"As for Quadruple Heaven great demon monarchs, due to King Baiyu's reconnaissance, they typically reside between one hundred and two hundred *li* underground." Meng Chuan nodded slightly. The ground network was also tracking demon monarch lairs; although it couldn't compare to King Baiyu, it had roughly discerned the patterns of the demon monarchs' hidden nests.

The land stretched boundlessly.

Within the two-hundred-*li* underground range, finding demon monarchs was incredibly difficult without powerful detection methods.

Meng Chuan first flew upwards, reaching a depth of eighty *li* underground.

"Let's begin." At a depth of eighty *li* underground, Meng Chuan kept his Thunder God-Eye open, his electromagnetic domain fully scanning the surroundings. He then transformed into a streak of light, darting westward in a straight line, beginning a sweeping search.

There were numerous demon monarchs in the human world, but the land was vast, and they could be at different depths within two hundred *li* underground, making it like searching for a needle in a haystack to find them! The ground network usually tracked demon monarchs based on their escape trails, and only with luck could a demon monarch lair be discovered.

To conduct a 'sweeping search' underground, the detection range had to be wide enough and the flight speed fast enough to be efficient. Otherwise, it would truly be better to wait on the surface and pursue demon monarchs when they attacked.

He took a deep breath.

With the electromagnetic domain's sensing ability, he could ensure he flew in a straight line.

"With so many demon monarchs infiltrating from the Demon Realm, they are still hard to find underground," Meng Chuan thought as he flew. His electromagnetic domain continuously scanned three *li* in all directions—up, down, front, back, left, and right—yet he found no demon monarchs.

Meng Chuan flew at ultra-high speed, piercing through countless rocks. At eighty *li* deep, it was entirely solid rock.

After flying for a full quarter of an hour, covering over ten thousand *li*, Meng Chuan finally discovered a demon monarch lair.

"Hmm?" When his electromagnetic domain detected the demon monarch lair, Meng Chuan was pleasantly surprised, as flying over ten thousand *li* underground, constantly scanning through nothing but rock, was a true test of patience.

Meng Chuan excitedly examined the lair, his electromagnetic waves enveloping it. This lair was located nearly three *li* to his upper left, a palace carved out of the rock. Inside the palace were over a hundred ordinary demon creatures, five Double Heaven demon monarchs, and two Triple Heaven demon monarchs.

"Come, drink."

"Drink up."

The seven demon monarchs were completely drunk.

"Fox Demon Monarch, you've done well, done well, stealing fine wine from the humans!" The Elephant Demon Monarch, seated at the head of the table, laughed heartily.

"Big Brother, this is just a minor skill. Infiltrating human cities and charming mortals allows for easy acquisition of large quantities of fine wine. It's more troublesome carrying the wine back to the lair," the Fox Demon Monarch chuckled, while a lesser demon diligently poured wine beside him. These ordinary demon creatures were personally escorted and protected by the demon monarchs to the lair. Relying solely on ordinary demon creatures? They wouldn't be able to infiltrate this deep.

The hundreds of ordinary demon creatures, once brought in, would never leave. They served only one purpose: to attend to the demon monarchs.

"If only we had spatial pouches, it would be much more convenient."

"Spatial pouches? Are they really that easy to obtain?"

"Cheers."

The demon monarchs drank, lost in their drunken revelry.

In the human world, they could only hide underground. Simply stealing wine was easy. But if they were to slaughter humans? That would attract gods and demons, and it would be a fight to the death.

"Currently, within the range of two or three prefectures, there's only one team of gods and demons. We'll slaughter some mortals and immediately flee. Those god and demon teams won't be able to catch us."

"Hmm, speaking of which, it's faster to accumulate merit in the human world."

"It's just that these days are a bit stifling. In a while, we'll go out and slaughter again. This time, we'll definitely slaughter over ten thousand humans."

"Slaughter some and then quickly escape. If we linger too long, we might get caught."

The demon monarchs chatted and drank casually.

"What was that?" The demon monarchs suddenly froze.

Streaks of dazzling dark-red light appeared in the great hall, moving like lightning, piercing through the heads of all the demon monarchs with soft thuds.

"No!"

"Human god and demon!" Only two Triple Heaven demon monarchs reacted, but they still couldn't evade. Their heads were pierced by Dark Star True Essence.

In the blink of an eye, all seven demon monarchs and over a hundred ordinary demon creatures in this demon lair were dead.

"Killing these demon monarchs is saving lives," Meng Chuan said. He appeared in the hall, his face cold. Hearing the demon monarchs' earlier conversation had only fueled his anger; every demon monarch had too many human lives on their hands.

With a wave of his hand, Meng Chuan directly stored the bodies of the seven demon monarchs and their personal artifacts into his Grotto-Heaven Pearl.

"In just a little over a quarter of an hour, I killed seven demon monarchs. This is indeed much faster than on the surface," Meng Chuan mused. Because he was responsible for rescuing the six prefectures, rescue missions only occurred once every ten days to half a month. Ordinary demon monarchs attacking cities wouldn't have Meng Chuan assigned to them; after all, he couldn't be everywhere at once. Usually, Meng Chuan would fly aimlessly around Jiangzhou City, intercepting demon monarch attacks when he found them.

Even so, killing two or three hundred demon monarchs in a year was considered good.

"Next!"

Meng Chuan continued to fly.

The Great Zhou Dynasty was vast and rich in resources. The route he took from east to west was approximately twenty thousand *li* long. Further west lay the territory of the Black Sand Dynasty.

After flying twenty thousand *li*, Meng Chuan had found only this one demon monarch lair.

"Keep going."

Meng Chuan continued flying, covering another twenty thousand *li*, from west to east, parallel to his previous route. This was also the rule for a sweeping search: to miss almost nothing, scanning repeatedly.

This time, over twenty thousand *li*... Meng Chuan found no demon monarch lairs.

He kept flying!

Meng Chuan flew nonstop for a full six hours, covering approximately twenty thousand *li* for twenty complete passes. Sixteen of these passes were at a depth of eighty *li* underground, and four were at a depth of one hundred sixty *li* underground, attempting to find Quadruple Heaven great demon monarchs.

With a soft thud, he burst through the surface.

Meng Chuan flew from the East Sea back towards Jiangzhou City. The sky was dark; it was already evening, and the fatigue on his face was undeniable.

Although maintaining the 'Thunder God-Eye' divine ability was very easy, sustaining it for a full six hours still left Meng Chuan's spirit incredibly exhausted, and his primordial spirit felt somewhat lethargic. He had to go back and rest.

With a sigh, Meng Chuan flew amidst the clouds and mist, realizing at that moment how incredibly light it felt not to use the Thunder God-Eye.

He soon arrived at Jiangzhou City. Meng Chuan descended, returning to the Lake Heart Pavilion in the Meng Manor.

Liu Qiyue was already waiting in the hall, and plates of food were laid out on the dining table.

"You're back." Liu Qiyue's eyes lit up. Immediately, an invisible flame power permeated the food, raising its temperature.

Meng Chuan zipped into the hall, immediately smelling the fragrant, steaming dishes.

"It smells wonderful," Meng Chuan praised. Returning exhausted after a full day and being greeted by the aroma of food, he felt quite satisfied.

"You'er and An'er just finished eating and have gone to rest," Liu Qiyue said. "How was your first day out?"

"Tiring, but exhilarating," Meng Chuan said, sitting down and downing the tea his wife had poured for him. He chuckled, "Today, I found a total of eleven demon monarch lairs, slaying one hundred and sixteen demon monarchs and several thousand ordinary demon creatures. I finally understand how King Baiyu alone can be equivalent to an entire sect, killing twenty to thirty thousand demon monarchs in a year."