Bai Qi did have his own underground palace, but it wasn't as outrageous as the rumors claimed, like gathering hordes of hellish demons to rule the world.
Bai Qi did intend to rule the world, and was gradually implementing his plan, but there was no need for him to gather a large number of hellish demons.
Of the demons related to hell, the only ones Bai Qi found worthy of his attention were his seven siblings. Half of them were released, and the other half were imprisoned in hell. However, whether on the surface or underground, they absolutely would not cooperate honestly with Bai Qi, let alone act as his enforcers.
So, what was the purpose of Bai Qi's underground palace? And who had the authority to enter this mysterious underground palace and conspire with Bai Qi for grand plans?
To answer the first question, Bai Qi established the underground palace for matters that were inconvenient to handle openly. For instance, how to quickly control the political landscape of surrounding countries, turning their high-ranking officials, and even their heads of state, into puppets at his beck and call, or even supporting loyalists to ascend to power. It was also for research and development of alien technology and technology from other worlds, and the development of dangerous forbidden magic, and so on.
Those with the authority to enter the underground palace included Bai Qi's chief scientist, Dr. Otto Wu Dawei, the second-in-command extremist, the Master of Mimicry from the Super God World, Apostle Zero of the Twelve Apostles, Wu, Kuthor's most outstanding three-star general Tuo Tuomaiers, Bai Qi's own daughter Bai Xi and son Yong Huo, the intelligence chief who established the intelligence agency to collect information from all over the world, Hunter Kraven, Bai Qi's chief Black Qi sorcerer and Dean of the Magic Academy, Dao Long, the total commander of the alien demon fleet Atrides, and his deputy commander Krumitz.
Upon hearing the rumors about Kuthor having an underground palace, Bai Qi's first thought was whether Tuo Tuomaiers, the garrulous old bald donkey, had let it slip. After all, it was Miles who had the most contact with Kuthorian officials, making him the most likely to have leaked information.
As Bai Qi dispatched shadow ninjas to investigate the source of the legend, the results greatly shocked him.
The person who initially spread the legend of the underground palace was actually a young man who had just returned from studying abroad in the US. Perhaps he had stayed in the US for too long, and his brain had developed some issues. Upon returning, he incessantly promoted the American ideals of freedom and democracy, and even organized large-scale protests against the local government. However, calling them large-scale protests was an exaggeration, as his entourage consisted only of himself, his seven aunts and eight great-aunts who were begrudgingly dragged along, and a dog from the next-door neighbor.
The young man, however, had severely underestimated the simple folk of Kuthor, especially those who had experienced the warlord era. Upon learning that this fellow was promoting so-called freedom and democracy and advocating for the overthrow of Bai Qi's rule, the locals, without waiting for the police to intervene, spontaneously gathered and gave the young man a severe beating. Afterward, some extremists regularly poured red oil paint on his house, mailed him razor blades, and smashed his windows.
It was a joke. Wasn't Kuthor in such a mess back then, with so many deaths, all instigated by the US? Every bloodthirsty warlord shouted slogans of freedom and democracy, only to have their houses demolished and their loved ones murdered. Now, this young man was pulling the same stunt, so how could he not be hated?
After understanding all this, Bai Qi thought, had this guy been subverted by the US government? It turned out that the guy was genuinely foolish, brainwashed by American political correctness. The underground palace was also something he fabricated based on the American Lizard People conspiracy theory to enhance his own influence.
Having understood all of this, Bai Qi couldn't be bothered anymore, and even felt a slight urge to laugh. He had been so nervous and anxious over such a fool, it was truly embarrassing.
But returning to the present.
At this moment, Bai Qi was seated on the Steel Throne in the underground palace, with burly alien demons standing on either side.
Originally, the guards of the underground palace were mutated creatures. But after the mutated creatures evolved into alien demons in large numbers, the guards of the underground palace were naturally taken over by them.
And in the grand hall, there was a person who should not have appeared: Hal Jordan, universally recognized as the greatest Green Lantern in the universe.
That's right. After an unpleasant parting with Batman, Hal had come to Bai Qi's location and, breaking protocol, had entered Bai Qi's underground palace.
So, had our Hal betrayed the Alliance?
Of course not.
At this moment, Hal was in an unconscious state. His self-awareness was dormant, and his body was being controlled by a symbiote parasitic on his Green Lantern ring.
During this period, Hal would have no memory of anything that happened. Upon waking, the symbiote would construct a plausible false memory and transmit it to Hal's brain.
Of course, such deception would not last long, but Bai Qi could accomplish many things through Hal during this time.
Just like now.
Bai Qi took out a specially made magic container and handed it to an alien demon beside him. The alien demon, holding the container, approached Hal.
Under the control of the symbiote, Hal aimed his ring at the container and released green light.
As the light filled the container, the container began to function, separating the power from the ring and storing it independently. On one side was the power of the ring, and on the other was the dark energy belonging to Basha, which had been intercepted after consuming a large amount of Basha's clones.
Perhaps the excessive manipulation of the ring had drained too much energy from the symbiote. After the last bit of dark energy was injected into the container, the mental control over Hal showed a slight loosening.
Fortunately, Bai Qi discovered this in time and intervened externally, thus preventing the control from being released.
After ensuring that the control would not be released again, Bai Qi reviewed the intelligence gathered by the symbiote during this period. Once he confirmed there were no issues, he allowed it to depart. Sudan Novel Network
After Hal departed, Bai Qi dismissed everyone to his sides and stood alone in the center of the hall.
"Dark plane open, Chronometer activated. Please input command."
"Analyze Green Lantern energy."
"Target: Green Lantern energy. Analyzing..."
"Analysis loaded 10%, 20%... 75%, 90%, 100%. Analysis complete."
After reading the information analyzed by the Chronometer, Bai Qi nodded with satisfaction. He then took out a small box. Upon opening it, he revealed broken Green Lantern rings and one complete ring trapped within a magic barrier. Based on the number of fragments, at least three complete rings could be pieced together.
Combined with the complete one, Bai Qi now possessed four Green Lantern rings.
One had to understand that the Green Lantern Corps, as the enforcers of the universe, were feared by many civilizations. Furthermore, Green Lantern rings possessed self-awareness. When a wielder died, the ring would automatically return to the Green Lantern Corps headquarters or seek out a suitable wielder nearby. It had taken Bai Qi considerable effort to collect so many.