Nine Souls City wasn't the largest city in the Astral World Atavis; however, it was the most popular city. Lying on the edges of the Desolate Plains of the South, it was known as the creepiest city in the world.
The residents there were mainly outcasts and outlaws from all walks of life who invaded this sacred burial city to seek asylum.
However, for the seventeen-year-old Wei Jun, Nine Souls City was home. Wei Jun had been an orphan for as long as he could remember. His father, a fugitive from another world, died in the process of escaping from his enemies, and he had used his last bit of life force to send Wei Jun to Nine Souls City.
Growing up for him had been a struggle, and he had to live every day fighting for his life. As he grew older, he grew accustomed to the ruthless life of the jungle. Survival and strength were the only things that mattered, and if you didn't develop your potential, then you wouldn't last long.
He had been raised by a master grave robber who would heartlessly send a bunch of young orphans like him into the numerous grave houses that made up the city to rob precious items and even the bodies themselves.
These graves were fully equipped with traps and formations that could easily fry one into oblivion with just a teeny misstep, making it almost impossible to survive and walk out of these tombs alive.
Jun had grown more proficient in the dark arts as he lived his life on a blade's edge, going from tomb to tomb until he eventually stumbled upon a tomb that changed his life.
For epochs past, since the ancient Nine Souls City was built, numerous tombs had been raided successfully, and grave robbing was the major lucrative occupation of the city.
However, as time went by, keen individuals began to notice that there were certain graves which had experienced the most iconic of sieges but still stood tall and brilliant in their original glory.
These graves were the graves of legendary experts from different epochs whose might definitely rocked the heavens when they were at their peak. Knowing the impossibility of robbing those graves, a lot of grave robbers chose to avoid them and go for the easy picks, but there were still a rare amount of greedy fellows who couldn't resist the temptations of the treasures such terrifying graves held.
When the thought first occurred to Wei Jun to try his luck at the Black Dragon Palace, he had quickly brushed it aside as wishful thinking.
However, as time went by, with him walking down this familiar street, seeing both young and old trying their best to break into graves, the gleaming black walls of the palace had slowly become his obsession.
He spent his nights dreaming, lusting over the mystical treasures that were surely contained in there.
Then finally the day came. Having resolved himself to raid the palace or die trying, Wei Jun quickly then found himself a band of ride-or-dies like him who were overcome by greed, and they came up with a plan to raid the palace.
"According to ancient records, there was a time when the defense of the palace was slacked to allow the formation core to charge," the second-in-command of the group said out loud.
"That time happens to be tonight." This petite half-wraith was an expert when it came to formations and logical thinking and had been successful in all her previous raids.
"The point is..." she continued.
"That moment is very brief, lasting for just about thirty minutes," she finished with a sigh.
This was her most life-threatening raid yet. This palace had a body count of more than a billion, and since the existence of Nine Souls City, it had never been broken into, making it a virgin tomb.
"No matter how slim the chances are, we are taking them. If you are hesitant, then back out. We strike tonight," Song Gu, the leader of their group, proclaimed. He had made up his mind and no longer cared about preserving his life.
---
Later that night, the population that came for the raid was pitifully few. Including Jun, only five people came. The other fifty-some people had backed out in fear, but one couldn't really blame them. Who would really be willing to risk his life for a ten percent success rate?
"Let's head in," Song Gu said with a final sigh before heading towards the palace entrance.