"Heh heh, Your Highness, let me see what you're busy with!" With a bizarre laugh and a strange incantation mumbled from his lips, the Seven Emotions and Six Desires Bewitching Charm Talisman suddenly burst into thirteen leaf-like fragments that adhered to Gu Yechen's body, his form gradually merging with the air. Forming an Earth Evasion hand seal, a burst of yellow earthen energy erupted, and Gu Yechen instantly vanished into the ground.

Deep beneath the Yafike royal palace lay countless detection instruments, yet from a great distance, Gu Wuchen had already discovered them. Coupled with the efficacy of the Bewitching Charm Talisman, he moved as if through unpatrolled territory, delving underground and closely tailing Fuyamei. He was less than five meters from Fuyamei, able to clearly hear the labored breathing of the few elders clad in opulent robes.

After rushing forward for about three kilometers, they reached a small elevator room at the end of the corridor. Fuyamei tapped the doorway with the Scepter of Yafike, and rippling waves of a ghostly blue light swept over them from all directions, meticulously scanning Fuyamei and her entourage again and again.

"Queen of the Yafike Kingdom, Fuyamei!" Wielding the scepter, Fuyamei issued a low command.

The richly robed elders, jolting awake as if from a dream, shakily retrieved tokens from their waists, holding them high for the faint blue waves to pass over.

"Yafike Kingdom State Affairs Minister Puke Ya!" "Yafike Kingdom Political Affairs Minister Dofidai Pu!" "Yafike Kingdom Political Affairs Ministry Internal Affairs Minister Dorujin!" "Yafike Kingdom Military Affairs Ministry Planetary Defense Affairs Office Governor-General Minister Kail Mo!"

In total, nine old men carefully reported their names. Each time they uttered their titles, a bright flash would emanate from their tokens, after which the tokens, like fully charged fluorescent lamps, emitted a faint aura, and a line of text corresponding to the announced official title would appear on the token.

The scanning waves vanished. Fuyamei turned around and sneered at the group of elders who were sweating profusely from tension. "Remember your stations. After this confirmation ceremony, your identities and ranks have been recorded in the core superbrain of the Yafike Kingdom. From now on, any decree you issue will carry formal legal weight."

Giving the elders, whose faces had just begun to show a sliver of relief, a fierce glare, Fuyamei scolded, "But understand one thing: just as I can make you new kingdom dignitaries, I can make you vanish just like your predecessors. Obey me, and you and your families will flourish. Disobey me, and you and your families will cease to have any reason to exist."

"We obey, Your Esteemed Majesty!" The nine elders bowed in terror, pledging their fealty to Fuyamei.

"Very good. What you are about to see is the Yafike Kingdom's greatest secret... it is also our kingdom's greatest burden... and, of course, our kingdom's greatest opportunity," Fuyamei said with a peculiar expression. "As high ministers of the kingdom, you must know what transpires here, but should any of you leak a single word, you know the consequences."

The nine old men hastily bowed even deeper, swearing solemn oaths that they would never reveal a single syllable concerning the matter within.

With a soft hum, Fuyamei took out a seal carved from a crystal, no larger than three thumbs placed side-by-side. She pressed the seal onto the elevator door, and the three-meter-thick door opened silently. She stepped inside first. The nine elders exchanged glances, a mix of elation, fear, and confusion washing over them, and then they hurriedly rushed in.

Gu Yechen closely trailed the last elder, the Court Affairs Minister of the Yafike Kingdom, into the elevator. The heavy doors shut, and the elevator rapidly descended.

The spacious elevator was utterly silent. Gu Wuchen stood quietly in the center while the nine ministers attentively hovered nearby. Gu Wuchen, however, paced restlessly within the cabin, his spiritual sense constantly probing the surrounding activity. Where this elevator was going was incredibly deep; Gu Yechen’s divine sense could not even reach the bottom of the shaft. The surroundings were thick, solid rock strata, reinforced with dozens of meters of alloy plating—a monumental undertaking. After a long time, just as the nine elderly and frail ministers were beginning to ache and sway as if about to collapse, the elevator finally started to decelerate. Despite the smooth anti-gravity mechanisms, everyone felt their bodies sinking heavily downward. The nine old men were directly pinned to the floor, utterly unable to move, evidence of the astonishing speed the elevator had attained after its prolonged acceleration.

The elevator door, also three meters thick, slid open. Fuyamei took a deep breath, settled her spirit, and stepped forward.

After traversing another corridor several kilometers long, they arrived before a vast hall, round at the top and square at the bottom. The walls of the hall, decorated with a sacred solemnity reminiscent of a temple, were carved with immense bas-reliefs depicting valiant knights battling demons. The supremely exquisite carving work made the towering, majestic knights and the evil, powerful demons seem utterly lifelike.

However, when Gu Wuchen saw those demons, he was greatly astonished—such familiar imagery!

If calculated based on the height ratio of those knights, the demons stood approximately three meters tall in reality. They were clad in purple-gold armor so exquisitely and decadently ornate that it bordered on the perverse, enveloped in thick layers of energy flames. Golden light flickered faintly within their crystal-inlaid eyes. Floating high in the air, they continuously launched attacks of fire, ice, and other projectiles. Coupled with their faces so handsome they bordered on the demonic, and the dense golden magic patterns beneath their fair skin, the appearance of these demons...

"The Romans?" Gu Wuchen was truly dumbfounded.

He immediately hurried to the left side of the hall entrance, where what appeared to be the first set of giant reliefs was located. He began to scrutinize these vivid, masterful sculptures with intense concentration.

Initially, there was a group of naked primitives, drinking blood from raw meat, struggling laboriously in the dense forest. They fought wild beasts, battled venomous insects, wailed in agony under the torrential rain, and trembled under the terrifying might of lightning and thunder. This relief was steeped in a profound bitterness, manifesting the suffering of their ancestors as they fought for survival in the raw elements with vivid clarity.

As their intellect gradually awakened, these primitive people developed their own rudimentary civilization and tribal culture. They learned husbandry and fishing, learned to cultivate crops, and learned to mine natural ores to forge tools.

After countless more years, primitive villages began to appear across the land. Neighboring tribes engaged in rudimentary barter, and conflicts erupted between tribes that were not entirely friendly.