After confirming that the height, appearance, servant status, and identity token were all normal, the palace servant inspecting Elara showed an apologetic expression. With his left hand, he took out a box containing an animal's gallbladder, and with his right hand, he gently pierced it with a needle.
Instantly, a sharp pain surged from Elara's abdomen, as if someone had stabbed her from the inside with a thick steel needle.
She didn't hide the pain. The palace servant only pierced once to confirm the presence of the palace's secret medicine inside her body, then respectfully bowed and let her enter the Imperial Palace.
Inside the Imperial Palace.
The Salvia Emperor, having finished his dinner, was resting under the service of several palace servants.
After entering the palace hall, Elara didn't rush to activate the Map Tracker to mark the Salvia Emperor.
In this part of the palace, it appeared that only the Emperor and the palace servants were present.
But in the shadows at the top left and top right corners of the palace ceiling, Elara could clearly sense two extremely dangerous auras. From the moment she stepped into the palace, they had enveloped her. If she made any wrong move, those two auras would strike fatally in an instant.
Two of them... Elara lowered her eyes and walked to the Salvia Emperor's side, obediently and humbly.
So the top three assassins from Blood Garment Tower's Heavenly List were guarding the Salvia Emperor in pairs?
Were these two ranked first and second? Or second and third?
Where was the one who wasn't present hiding now?
Elara kept her head down and followed the appearance of a proper palace servant, submissively walking to the front of the Salvia Emperor. "Your Majesty, everything inside the forbidden palace has been prepared."
The Salvia Emperor, enjoying the servants' care, opened his eyes sleepily.
He was very young, appearing to be just seventeen or eighteen years old, yet his whole body gave off a weak and decaying feeling.
Standing beside him, Elara even felt that there was a faint aura of death seeping from his body.
This was not the state of a young man, but of someone on the verge of death.
The Salvia Emperor responded slowly. With the support of the servants, his body swayed slightly as he stood up.
When they were about two hundred meters away from the forbidden palace, all the other servants stopped as if by instinct, handing the Salvia Emperor over to Elara.
Elara held onto the Salvia Emperor and quietly used the Map Tracker to mark him.
The two extremely dangerous auras still pressed heavily on her. Fortunately, the Map Tracker only required physical contact and did not need any extra action.
After marking him, Elara slowly guided the Salvia Emperor into the forbidden palace.
The two dangerous auras followed them in without the slightest distance.
Inside the forbidden palace, the dim candlelight still made everything look gloomy and dark.
After entering, the Salvia Emperor pushed away Elara's support, took three prepared incense sticks from the altar, walked to the sacrificial table, and forced himself to complete a few worship movements. Then, he randomly inserted the incense into the front of the sacrificial table.
"That's enough... I'm tired. Let's go back to the palace. Summon Consort Xue, Consort Yue, and Consort Qing to serve me..."
After the ritual, the Salvia Emperor seemed unwilling to stay in this ghostly place even a minute longer. He urgently wanted to leave.
But just as he stood up, a startled cry suddenly rang out behind him. "Your Majesty, be careful!"
The Salvia Emperor looked up and saw a shadowy figure rushing at him like lightning, holding a dagger and aiming to stab him like a ghost.
"Protect His Majesty!!!"
Elara cried out in shock, but without leaving any trace, she subtly slowed down her movements and perfectly acted like a palace attendant who had wanted to save the emperor but was so terrified by the sudden danger that she nearly lost her soul.
Because she intentionally slowed down, she could not catch up with Uno, who had charged in to assassinate the Salvia Emperor.
Just as Uno was about to strike the Salvia Emperor, a figure suddenly darted out from the shadows and blocked Uno's dagger.
Clang!
A sharp, metallic clashing sound rang out.
The figure who appeared was one of the two auras that had been hiding nearby—one of the top three assassins on the Heaven List of Blood Garment Tower.
Being ranked in the top three of Blood Garment Tower's Heaven List, this assassin was indeed far more powerful than any killer Elara had encountered before.
The moment he attacked, his movements were so fast they seemed almost invisible, leaving only afterimages.
If she hadn't undergone enhancement and breakthroughs in the "Core Palace," Elara might not have been able to follow his movements at all.
But now Uno was facing off against the Blood Garment assassin!
Uno was already very strong, and after receiving intense training from the "Core Palace," his strength now far surpassed his previous level!
The Blood Garment assassin was fast, but Uno was faster!
And not just faster—he was also much stronger in terms of strength and internal power!
Within just a few seconds of exchanging blows, Uno caught the assassin's weakness! With a muffled sound, Uno struck the assassin hard, sending him flying into the wall of the forbidden palace while he clutched his wound!
After defeating one assassin, Uno, dressed in tight black clothing, instantly lunged again toward the terrified Salvia Emperor.
But at that moment, another dangerous aura hidden in the air suddenly flashed in front of the emperor.
The second Blood Garment assassin moved!
And it seemed that this assassin was wary of Uno's strength. As soon as he appeared and Uno's dagger flashed toward his waist, the fabric where Uno struck suddenly emitted a strange glow, rippling like water that had been disturbed.
The next second, Uno's pupils widened slightly. Watching below, Elara paused for a moment and saw a layer of translucent pale-purple scale armor appear on the assassin's body!
At the instant Uno's blade struck, the scale armor rippled in layers, not only absorbing most of the damage and force but even reflecting seventy to eighty percent of the damage back to Uno!
Faint traces of electricity surfaced on the scale armor, as if trying to travel along the dagger into Uno's body!
Elara's face still showed "terror," but her eyes were fixed on the pale-purple scale armor.
As expected, the top three assassins from Blood Garment Tower carried divine artifacts!
Judging by this translucent scale armor that could reflect damage and emit electricity to paralyze enemies, the divine item must be of a high grade!
At least mid-low or mid-grade level!
With such a divine artifact, Uno didn't get greedy. He instantly withdrew his dagger, not allowing the purple current to reach him.
But just as he backed off, the first assassin he had knocked back returned again! Now, together with the armored assassin, they attacked Uno with powerful speed and strength!
Seeing this, Uno cast a heavy glance toward the Salvia Emperor beneath his black clothes, then immediately turned and darted out of the forbidden palace.
The two Blood Garment assassins chased after him right away!
Once both killers were lured away by Uno, the Salvia Emperor, who had collapsed on the ground, finally seemed to come to his senses. He scrambled up, stumbling and staggering as he fled deeper into the forbidden palace.
As the close attendant who had served the emperor since childhood, Elara naturally had to follow the Salvia Emperor and "stumble" her way deeper into the palace.
Two of the three assassins from Blood Garment Tower had already been drawn away.
But where was the last one?
Elara continued running while checking her surroundings.
In the back of the forbidden palace, the panicked Salvia Emperor ran toward the tribute area Elara had just moved away from.
He frantically shoved aside all the tribute offerings and gasped for breath while reaching out to press a certain brick on the wall.
With a heavy grinding sound, a stone door about a meter wide opened beside the floor tiles Elara had just shifted, revealing a deep and dark passageway that led underground.
The Salvia Emperor rushed down in panic.