Chapter 54 Ancient Palace
“Looks like all of the Elders of Spirit Ruins Paradise have been disturbed into rushing over.”
At this time, the sky was already darkening, and a vast sky full of stars was visible.
The two of them once more traveled several kilometers, unwittingly arriving at a destroyed land. Here, not a blade of grass grew, it was a completely barren. Only broken stones and cracked rubble were present.
At night, this place was full of a mysterious air, and a faint black mist lingered.
“Countless millennia have already passed. How could these remains still lack any plants or life? It really is a strange place. It’s so barren that there’s not even any bird crap here,” Pang Bo muttered in a somewhat dissatisfied tone. He was hungry and thirsty, and was hoping to find some wild fruits to satisfy his hunger.
Just as he finished saying this, his body was suddenly smashed back by a powerful force. He was sent staggering back before falling down. Ye Fan was flabbergasted, unable to believe his own eyes. Pang Bo quickly jumped back up, and seeing what was there, his scalp turned numb and he quickly retreated.
In front of them was a huge icy-cold corpse lying there motionlessly. Old skin covered its bones, wrinkled like withered firewood.
“What…is happening, where did this dried corpse come from?” Pang Bo felt scared, not understanding. Anyone who was smashed aside by a dried corpse would feel uneasy.
Ye Fan was also extremely bewildered. They had not seen any corpse before, and they didn’t understand just where this corpse came from. They looked all around them. These worrying ruins were empty of anything except rubble. But this didn’t put them at ease. In fact, it made them even more nervous. This was a set of abandoned ruins that had been that way for countless years. Or was it really possible there were some hidden evil creatures?
The sky dimmed, submerging the ruins in deeper darkness along with a faint mist.
“It’s so eerie, and it also seems to be getting colder…,” Pang Bo nervously said. His whole body emitted a cold air. “Where did this huge corpse come from? Did it fall out of the sky?”
“We should quickly leave.” Ye Fan also felt that this situation wasn’t encouraging so he didn’t wish to stay here for long.
“Just what damnable place is this, why is it so strange?!” Pang Bo quietly said as cold air blew past his back.
Bang!
Another huge corpse appeared, once more knocking Pang Bo onto his back. He laboriously got up, and saw another huge withered corpse.
“Who…who is this rude to just randomly drop huge corpses?!” This joke was not at all laughable. The two of them felt cold, and goosebumps appeared all over their bodies as they looked all around.
The two huge corpses were just lying there. A couple of clothes were stuck to them. But when they fluttered in the breeze, they turned to dust. Who knew just how many years they had existed for?
Bang!
Another huge corpse appeared, once more knocking Pang Bo down.
“You fucker, you think I’m easy to bully?!” Within Pang Bo’s fear was also an indignant feeling. Ye Fan was right behind him, but he wasn’t knocked down even once.
“What kind of strange thing are you, quickly appear!” Ye Fan shouted.
BOOM!
A powerful earthquake suddenly rocked the ancient ruins, sending Ye Fan flying and also knocking Pang Bo a great distance.
Bang, bang, bang…
This time, it wasn’t just Pang Bo. Ye Fan was also repeatedly knocked down, and huge withered corpses dropped from the sky one after another. Ordinary bodies would have already had their bones broken under this smashing, and the two of them only managed to avoid this danger due to their powerful physiques.
Over ten huge corpses had now appeared on the ground. This place was eerie and bone-chilling, making them feel like they had been trapped in an ice. Both of them felt a burst of fear, not knowing why all of this was happening to them.
Whoosh.
Just at this moment, Ye Fan felt all the hair on his back stand up, seeming to sense some sort of thing quickly approaching his head. He quickly rushed forward and dodged to the side.
Two indistinct green rays brushed past him, stopping beside the corpses. They were like ghost lights, constantly pulsing. Moreover, at this moment, the ruins became black as ink. The sky full of stars above them was submerged in darkness, and could no longer be seen. In fact, they could no longer even see their hands in front of their faces.
“We’ve irritated a ghost!” Pang Bo subconsciously reached out his arm, but it was a pity that he hadn’t brought the Great Thunderchant Temple copper plaque with him.
At this moment, other than the two indistinct green lights, they were unable to see anything. A black mist had completely enveloped this region of the ruins. The two green lights were around the size of a washbasin. They seemed like two ghost lights, yet also like two large pupils, eerily glowing within the black mist.
“There really are evil things here…” Ye Fan and Pang Bo both immediately became nervous.
Whoosh.
This time, two more green lights quickly charged forward. As before, they charged towards Ye Fan. Pang Bo wanted to help, but he was sent flying by four more corpses.
The two green lights were becoming faster and faster, locking on to Ye Fan from all directions. In the end, the two green lights flashed and they both disappeared into his body.
“Ye Fan!” Pang Bo shouted in alarm. But he didn’t have any way to prevent all of this.
At this time, Ye Fan felt his Sea of Bitterness become ice-cold as if it had been frozen. He hastily used the Dao Scripture’s mystical arts, and a speck of golden light instantly appeared.
Rumble…
Tsunami sounds exploded out, and Ye Fan’s Sea of Bitterness became a vast golden ocean that wildly surged, wrapping up the two green lights and sending them high into his inner space.
BOOM!
With a violent shake, the two green lights shot out from Ye Fan’s Sea of Bitterness, hiding far away. In an instant, Ye Fan’s Sea of Bitterness returned to its regular calm golden state.
Whoosh.
The speed of the green lights was extremely high. After rushing out of Ye Fan’s Sea of Bitterness they went for Pang Bo, entering into his body. All Pang Bo had time to do was curse before directly collapsing onto the ground. This startled Ye Fan, and he quickly rushed over.
“Pang Bo, what happened?”
However, before he even arrived, Pang Bo turned over and sat up. His eyes had become faintly green, and he quickly stood up. A muffled thundering beast roar came from his mouth as he coldly looked at Ye Fan. He held his gaze for several seconds before looking away.
“Who are you? Quickly leave his body!” Ye Fan shouted.
BOOM!
Just at this moment, a powerful gale suddenly surged, enveloping the ruins with sand as the black mist surged. Pang Bo stood within the gale, his hair madly dancing in the wind. He then left the area, and the ten huge dried-up corpses all floated up and followed him towards the depths of the ruins.
His surroundings quickly returned to normal. The sky full of stars reappeared, and in the distance, he could see Pang Bo flying. The black fog, as well as surging sand and dust, wrapped around him as he flew, bringing the huge withered corpses along with him.
“Pang Bo!” Ye Fan shouted, running after him.
However, Pang Bo’s current speed was too fast. He was now comparable to those Elders who could use divine rainbows to fly, and he quickly disappeared from Ye Fan’s sight.
Pang Bo had been possessed by some other thing, and whether he was alive or not was questionable. By now, Ye Fan was incomparably anxious. He was completely incapable of catching up to his friend, and the space before him was now completely empty. Ye Fan didn’t have any other choice, so he started running towards the depths of the ruins. But he could not possibly imagine just how dangerous the ruins in front of him were.
------
Late into the night, Ye Fan didn’t even know many kilometers he had run, but he had finally entered into the deepest parts of the ruins. Here, the muffled sound was even more powerful. It was sounding once every few moments, and also sounded just like a beating heart. Here, Ye Fan’s face was pale and he staggered. His physique had finally reached its limit and it was everything he could do just to stay standing in the face of that muffled sound. If it were an ordinary person, their heart would have already burst into pieces.
Here, the forest trees gradually became sparse,[a] and the broken old buildings possessed more and more Spiritual Qi and vigorous vitality. It was even stronger than the land of the Spirit Ruins Paradise.
Dong.
Another muffled sound came. Ye Fan climbed up a tall hill and surveyed what was in front of him. The deepest part of the ruins was now right before him. There were many buildings, and although they had already half collapsed into ruins, it was possible to imagine how developed it had once been.
And the most startling thing was that these buildings actually encircled a volcano. Blazing flames soared from the ring-shaped mountain crater. Surging lava boiled within, and although it didn’t flow out, it was still extremely frightening, turning half the sky red[b].
The endless numbers of grand and ancient buildings circled the volcano, a very strange sight.
Ye Fan was astonished because he saw an inconceivable scene before him. A sparkling and imposing ancient palace was floating within the surging lava, from time to time drifting up.
Dong.
The muffled sound came from inside the volcano, or to be more accurate, it came from within the ancient palace floating within the lava. The light of the palace was brilliant and extremely resplendent, possessing an air of experiencing countless years. Divine light circulated about it.
Within the surrounding ancient buildings was a five-meter long divine bird whose whole body sparkled with golden light, electric arcs curling around it. This was the Lightning Bird that had fought with the Scaled Ape King two days ago. It was still unhurt. With its appearance here, the fate of the Scaled Ape King was obvious.
The Lightning Bird was truly a superior and ferocious creature. Even Elder Wu Qingfeng had said that he could only avoid it if he were to meet one. It monopolized that region of the buildings, and no other creatures dared to approach.
Of course, it wasn’t the only existence here. Within the other regions were almost twenty ferocious beasts, each unique and mostly rare to the point that Ye Fan didn’t even know their names, each one powerful beyond compare.
For example, there was a silver-winged centipede as thick as an arm and two meters long. Its whole body shone like it was made of silver. It was calmly lying within a certain building, and other creatures didn’t dare to take even half a step in its territory.
There was also vicious bull with a lion’s head, whose whole body was covered in cyan scales. It was over ten meters tall, just like a small mountain. It stood within a certain ruin, monopolizing that region.
Almost twenty frightening creatures like that were here, enough to illustrate how terrifying the depths of the ruins were. At this moment, they were surrounding the volcano, nervously watching the ancient palace floating within the lava.
At this moment, Ye Fan finally noticed Pang Bo. He was standing within one of the ruins under the volcano. Elder Wu Qingfeng and the other Elders were surrounding him. Although they didn’t attack him, they did trap him.
Almost twenty Elders had come from the Spirit Ruins Paradise, almost matching exactly with the ferocious beasts. It could be said that their strength was almost equal.
“That’s…”
Suddenly, Ye Fan realized that he had not noticed a couple people. Standing on top of the volcano were a couple of creatures. A two-meter tall man with arms covered in scales was standing above the lava, bright and dazzling. Beside him was a maiden. She didn’t have arms, only a pair of golden wings. Her head was also crowned by long golden hair, flickering in the light. On equal footing with them was a huge serpent with a horn on its head and sharp claws on its abdomen. It had already exceeded the classification of a snake, and could now be considered a legendary Flood Dragon.
Ye Fan’s heart shivered. He immediately realized that these were the legendary Greater Demons who could already take human shape.
“There’s also…” Ye Fan was once again startled to find that the other side of the volcano had three other suspected Greater Demons. One of them was an extremely large man, at least three meters tall. Although he had taken human form, two bull horns were still on his head.
At the same time, Ye Fan also noticed five true humans. One of them was someone he had once seen from a great distance, the Sect Leader of Spirit Ruins Paradise . Beside him were four white-haired and white-bearded old men. They were not far from the volcano’s crater.
The positions they took were completely based on strength. Underneath the volcano were dozens of ferocious beasts as well as the Elders of Spirit Ruins Paradise. On top of the volcano were the higher existences. Their goals were all the same - that ancient palace hall floating within the lava.
These strong forces were all nervously watching the volcanic crater. The lava there was surging and flaring, and divine light flickered out from the palace. The power of time seemed to circulate within it, and people could feel the aura of the Ancient Desolation.
[a]um, i thought this place was so barren not even birdshit was present? Forest?
[b]And he didn't notice half the sky turning red from like MILES away?