Wang Chong said nothing, but he recalled a certain piece of information the Stone of Destiny had once revealed.
If his guess was right, that Emperor Wu of Han from nearly one thousand years ago had also been one of those Destiny Bodies the Stone of Destiny had mentioned. He also must have had a Stone of Destiny or a shard of it.
Only an item like this could draw Heaven’s attention and make him go to so much trouble to deceive a mortal sovereign.
Wang Chong’s sole remaining question was which of the nine Destiny Bodies Emperor Wu had been.
However, this was not the only thing that Wang Chong had noticed.
“Great General Huo…”
Wang Chong once more scanned the words on the wall, his mind slightly shaken. He seemed to think of something, but he quickly focused and covered Li Xuantu with his Stellar Energy.
“Let’s go. Heaven should be catching up soon,” Wang Chong sternly said, his eyes fixed above him. For some reason, Wang Chong felt that the situation within the Celestial Palace would be very different from what they had envisioned. Not only that, he also felt that something new and different would be waiting for them at the end of the Heaven-Reaching Path.
And from its aura, it differed markedly from Heaven’s energy.
Whoosh!
A few moments later, there was a howl of wind, and an enormous torrent of energy rushed down from above. Rumble! At the same time, they felt an enormous pulse of energy.
“Watch out! It seems to be another one of Heaven’s seals!”
Li Xuantu’s heart trembled as he stepped forward and warily looked up.
Above them, a giant golden dome covered the exit to the Heaven-Reaching Path.
Auspicious clouds floated across the golden seal, along with numerous unrecognizable divine words. The laws of the Great Dao infused within occasionally erupted with a fearsome power.
After getting through all the previous seals, neither of them had expected to encounter this last seal.
But Li Xuantu quickly sensed something and doubtfully looked up.
“Something’s not right. This doesn’t seem to be Heaven’s power.”
This seal was very strange. Li Xuantu could tell that, for some strange reason, this seal differed in terms of power and character from any of the other seals they had encountered.
“You also sensed it?” Wang Chong’s voice rang out.
Thwish!
As Li Xuantu and Little Nightmare watched, Wang Chong gathered his Stellar Energy and used the power of the Stone of Destiny to convert its aura to Heaven’s.
This bolt of Stellar Energy shot forward and disappeared into that ancient golden seal.
Boom!
Like a boulder had been cast into a lake, the seal was thrown into turmoil, gouts of pure destructive energy erupting from within it.
Crack! Crack! The two of them watched as space was riven in two, torn apart like a sheet of paper, large chunks of space turned to black void.
This sort of power made Wang Chong and Li Xuantu both tremble in fear.
This formation was borrowing the power of nature and the Great Dao. This was a power that was completely different in character from that of martial artists, and this seal presented a fatal threat to even the likes of Li Xuantu and Wang Chong.
But what shocked the two of them the most was the seal’s final shift.
Roooar!
After the destructive energy had erupted, thunderclouds roiled on the surface of the seal, and an enormous true dragon came roaring out.
One, two, three… countless golden dragons charged out, their bodies so solid as to be tangible and rendered in vivid detail. Each of these dragons was hundreds of thousands of feet long, and in a flash, they covered every inch of the seal, turning into an intimidating sea of dragons.
“This is…!?”
Even Li Xuantu, despite his revered and imperial background, was speechless from shock.
The art of formations in the Central Plains had waned long ago. This was clearly not a seal of this era.
Little Nightmare spoke an unbelievable conclusion. “This seal has the power to reject Heaven.”
Wang Chong and Li Xuantu said nothing. They had also noticed this, and they both knew that this clearly didn’t make sense. No one would set up a seal against themselves.
Wang Chong pensively looked up as he once more gathered Stellar Energy in his right hand and prepared to try again.
“Let me try!” Li Xuantu said.
Bang!
He waved his sleeve, and a bolt of energy pierced through the air and disappeared into the seal at the end of the Heaven-Reaching Path. They were ready for what might transpire, but then something surprising happened.
The seething seal calmed down, and Li Xuantu’s bolt of Stellar Energy vanished into the seal without a ripple, a mud doll dissolving into the ocean. It was like Li Xuantu had never attacked at all.
“This place is getting stranger and stranger. How could the Celestial Palace have a seal that doesn’t belong to Heaven?” Li Xuantu sternly said.
In terms of aura, this did not seem like a seal set down by Heaven, and now, Li Xuantu was at least seventy percent sure that this wasn’t Heaven’s seal.
Wang Chong said nothing, his brow creasing.
After a few moments of thought, Wang Chong calmly said, “It’s still too early to say. Heaven might have sensed our movements and placed this seal to deceive us. We need to make sure first!”
The lives of millions of people in the capital were at stake, so Wang Chong did not dare to be careless.
Buzz!
In a flash of light, Divine Embryo 1 emerged and shot toward the seal. There was a ripple as Divine Embryo 1 went into the seal and then came back out. His body was completely normal and uninjured, as if that seal had never existed.
All of them looked up, unable to speak.
They had just verified their conjecture and could be sure that this seal was not targeting them.
“I don’t get it, I really don’t. What is going on here?”
Li Xuantu’s eyes were confused as he looked up.
No one would set up a dangerous trap in their own home, and neither would Heaven.
The Celestial Palace was his personal ritual tool, and it should have been an extension of Heaven’s body. He should have been able to do whatever he wanted within the Celestial Palace.
Something like this should not have existed.
Moreover, Heaven was possibly the strongest expert since ancient times. If he had not set down this seal, then who had?
Who was so formidable that they could set up such an enormous formation in Heaven’s own domain?
If this formation was effective, did it not mean that Heaven couldn’t enter his own ritual tool?
Most bizarrely, how was it that someone of Heaven’s capabilities wasn’t able to remove the seal?
Li Xuantu once more thought back to Wang Chong’s words that the Celestial Palace was damaged. He hadn’t quite understood at the time, but he was now sure that if this enormous seal had not been set down by Heaven, there was something wrong with the Celestial Palace.
And it was a very big problem!
He had used the Celestial Palace to place a seal over the capital, with a plan to sacrifice millions of people. Perhaps this really was to solve the Celestial Palace’s problem.
Wang Chong said nothing, though he had also drawn these connections.
While Li Xuantu had only realized these oddities now, Wang Chong had begun to realize that there was a problem from the moment they had encountered that ‘Ge Zhu’ from the Wei-Jin period.
This was a problem for Heaven, but it was a chance for them.
“Master…” Little Nightmare suddenly spoke, and it emerged from Wang Chong’s Foundation Dimension to appear at their side.
This sudden action drew the attention of both of them.
“What’s wrong?” Wang Chong asked, turning his head.
Little Nightmare had been inside the Foundation Dimension all this time, communicating with them mentally. This was the first time it had emerged in the Heaven-Reaching Path.
“For some reason, I feel… that this energy is familiar!” Little Nightmare gravely said as it looked up.
Buzz!
Both of them were surprised by these words, and they turned attentively to Little Nightmare.
“You’ve seen this seal before?” Wang Chong said.
Li Xuantu attentively listened.
“No!”
Little Nightmare shook its head, confusion in its eyes.
“I just feel that this seal… has a familiar energy within it, though it’s not a lot.”
“Carefully think it over. Can you remember anything?” Li Xuantu said.
If Little Nightmare could recall, they might be able to find out what had happened in the Celestial Palace and what Heaven wanted to do.
“It’s been too long. I can’t remember.” Little Nightmare strained its mind, but in the end, it couldn’t think of anything.
Rumble!
As they were talking, a fierce vibration came from behind them. Wang Chong trembled. He had earlier set down a seal that would trigger when anyone passed through it.
It was clear that Heaven had caught up.
“It’s too late. Let’s put that problem to the side for now and head into the Celestial Palace first!”
Wang Chong immediately wrapped up Li Xuantu and Little Nightmare with his Stellar Energy and shot through the seal.
Bang!
Not long after they had gone, a boundless golden energy appeared where they had been standing.
It was Heaven!