Chapter 451: Palace
Han Li felt his vision blur for a moment, and in the next instant, he was already in a completely new environment.
After taking a brief moment to gather his bearings, he inspected his surroundings to find that the terrain was quite flat, and he was situated in a red and barren area that was completely devoid of vegetation and living creatures.
Lu Yuqing was situated not far away from him, and at this moment, she was also gradually returning to her senses.
A whirlwind swept past not far in front of them, raising a cloud of red dust into the air, and there was a primordial aura permeating throughout the entire area.
Han Li slowly swept his gaze over his surroundings, and his brows suddenly furrowed slightly.
Just now, he had attempted to release his spiritual sense to scout the surrounding area, but he discovered that there was a type of restrictive force around his body that wasn't impeding his movements at all, but rendered him completely unable to release his spiritual sense out of his body at all.
"Just how big is this Infernal Frost Immortal Manor? And why are there so many strange things in this place?" Han Li couldn't help but sigh in a slightly exasperated voice.
In contrast, Lu Yuqing wasn't very surprised by this, and she smiled as she said, "When I was a child, I once read an ancient scripture from my father's study. According to that scripture, the Northern Glacial Immortal Realm was formerly known as the Infernal Frost Immortal Region, but for some unknown reason, its name was later changed.
“If this Infernal Frost Immortal Manor has something to do with the former name of the immortal region, then it's no wonder that it's such a massive and complex place."
Han Li was just about to respond when his expression suddenly stiffened slightly, and he was suddenly rooted to the spot with his mouth slightly agape.
Lu Yuqing was quite startled to see this, and she hurriedly asked, "Are you alright, Brother Han?"
Han Li was silent for a moment longer, then replied in an ambiguous manner, "I'm fine, I just suddenly recalled some things..."
Lu Yuqing wasn't entirely convinced, but she didn't ask any further questions.
Han Li's gaze drifted over the surrounding area before settling on a certain direction deep within this barren land, and his brows furrowed ever so slightly.
What had actually cut him off earlier wasn't any thought that had suddenly popped into his mind. Instead, it was his Mantra Treasured Axis.
For some reason, as soon as he cast his gaze toward that direction, the Time Dao Runes on his Mantra Treasured Axis would begin to flash, as if it could sense the presence of time law powers there.
"Which way should we go next, Brother Han? It looks like our spiritual sense isn't going to help us here," Lu Yuqing said.
Han Li hesitated momentarily, then pointed in the direction that his Mantra Treasured Axis was responding to as he replied, "Let's go in this direction first."
"Sure," Lu Yuqing replied with a nod.
Thus, Han Li swept a sleeve through the air to summon that azure spirit boat, and after both he and Lu Yuqing had flown onto the flying boat, it sped away as a streak of azure light.
As they flew through the air, the sound of the howling wind instantly grew louder, and Han Li stood atop the flying boat as he continued to scour the barren land down below.
Looking down from above, he discovered that the terrain here wasn't as flat and level as it had first appeared. Instead, some hills could be seen down below, but they were far too small to be considered anywhere near mountains.
The further they went, the more complex the terrain down below became. Aside from those small hills, a series of plains and ravines of different sizes and depths had also begun to appear on the landscape. The ravines seemed to have been carved out by flowing water, but any bodies of water here had long since run dry.
After flying for a few minutes, Han Li suddenly raised an eyebrow as he spotted a set of ruins that appeared to have once been a city on the distant horizon, and the flying boat instantly accelerated in that direction at his behest.
Upon reaching the edge of the set of ruins, the azure flying boat descended in front of a moat that was over 100 feet wide.
However, the moat was also completely dry, and the parched and fractured earth at the bottom of the moat indicated that it had also been dry for a very long time.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing cast their eyes forward to find that the city wall across from the moat was still relatively intact, but it had clearly been severely ravaged by all types of weapons, and it was quite remarkable that it was still standing.
The two of them made their way toward the city over a nearby stone bridge, and upon reaching the center of the bridge, Han Li suddenly spotted a piece of bone jutting out of the bottom of the dried moat down below.
It appeared to be the curved horn of some type of demon beast, and it was roughly as thick as a grown man's arm.
Han Li stopped in his tracks as he swept a sleeve through the air to release a burst of azure light, which instantly raised that entire section of the ground down below to reveal a complete skeleton.
A hint of surprise instantly appeared on Lu Yuqing's face as she caught sight of the full skeleton, and Han Li was also quite taken aback by what he was seeing.
The skeleton was very strange in appearance, and it was impossible to identify what type of demon beast it had once belonged to. However, one thing that was certain was that it had definitely belonged to an enormous creature that wasn't inferior in size to the Giant Mountain Ape.
The piece of bone that Han Li had presumed was a horn was actually just a section of one of the creature's teeth.
"Do you recognize this beast, Brother Han?" Lu Yuqing asked with a puzzled expression.
"No aura of the beast remains at all, and I can't identify it based on its skeleton alone," Han Li replied with a shake of his head.
While it was true that he didn't know what this beast was, it occurred to him that the skeleton looked as if it could belong to one of the beasts that he had seen on that mural in the hall near the spirit medicine garden from before.
Given that the mural depicted a battle, Han Li couldn't help but wonder if the battle depicted on the mural had taken place at this very place.
However, as soon as this possibility occurred to him, he immediately realized that this couldn't be true. The battle depicted on the mural had been one of a massive scale, and if it had truly taken place here, then this city would've definitely been completely razed to the ground.
After crossing the stone bridge, Han Li and Lu Yuqing arrived at the city gates to find a large plaque hanging overhead, bearing the words "Moon Lake City".
After passing through the city gate, a disturbance suddenly arose in Han Li's heart, and he couldn't help but stop in his tracks again.
The dozen or so active Time Dao Runes on the Mantra Treasured Axis in his body were flashing incessantly, and they were reacting even more urgently than before.
Han L's brows furrowed slightly as he cast his gaze into the city to find that it had already been reduced to complete ruins. There were collapsed buildings everywhere, and some demon beast and human remains could be seen protruding out of the piles of rubble, but they were nothing more than bones.
Han Li and Lu Yuqing made their way down the main road deeper into the city, and it was more of the same, with more rubble and collapsed buildings littering the landscape. Only as they reached the core area of the city did they spot a golden palace that was over 1,000 feet tall in the distance.
Compared with all of the other buildings that they had seen on the way here, this golden palace was exceptionally well preserved, with only some cracks on its walls and a slightly collapsed roof.
Aside from that, the palace was glowing with dazzling golden radiance, as if there were a golden membrane over its surface that was reflecting the light of the sun.
Han Li was just about to approach the palace when he felt a burst of heat flash through his storage bracelet.
His brows furrowed slightly as he stopped in his tracks once again, then flipped a hand over to produce a glowing green jade box.
A faint crack rang out as he opened the jade box to reveal a gray eyeball inside. The eyeball looked as if it had been carved out of stone, and waves of faint gray light were constantly emanating from it.
"What's this?" Lu Yuqing asked with an intrigued expression.
"It's the eye of a Primordial Fei Beast," Han Li replied in a concise manner.
Lu Yuqing could tell that Han Li didn't want to elaborate on the matter, so she didn't ask any further questions.
Han Li examined the eye of the Primordial Fei Beast for a moment to find that all that it was doing was releasing faint waves of gray light. He was unable to tell what was happening, so he could only hold it in the palm of his hand as he continued to approach the golden palace.
Upon reaching around 1,000 feet away from the golden palace, Han Li's eyes suddenly narrowed slightly as he grabbed onto Lu Yuqing's arm, then dragged her behind a collapsed wall for cover.
As it turned out, there was a silver-robed woman standing at the foot of the gate of the golden palace. She was making a hand seal with one hand and holding a damaged Drigug in the other while casting a series of incantation seals toward the palace gates. [1]
Lu Yuqing took a glance at the silver-robed woman over the collapsed wall, then exclaimed, "Why is she here?"
Han Li hurriedly raised a finger to his own lips to make a silencing gesture.
Even though there was a spiritual sense restriction here, the silver-robed woman was clearly a very formidable Golden Immortal cultivator, and they could be overheard if they weren't careful.
The woman was none other than Qiu Ling, and the Drigug that she was holding was riddled with antiquated runes.
Rays of golden light were emanating from its surface, and they were connected to a peculiar circular design on the gates of the golden palace, seemingly undoing the restriction on the gates.
Han Li could sense clear time law fluctuations emanating from both the Drigug in Qu Ling's hand and the golden palace gates, and his brows were tightly furrowed as he carefully peered over the collapsed wall.
Only then did he notice that there was a strange figure next to her.
Even though it was resting on its haunches, the creature was still standing at 70 to 80 feet tall, and at first glance, it resembled a yellow wall. Only upon closer inspection would one be able to notice the peculiar spirit patterns all over its body.
The creature had its back facing Han Li, so he wasn't able to see what it looked like, but it reminded him very much of the Primordial Fei Beast that he had slain all those years ago.
This creature was far smaller in stature than that Primordial Fei Beast, but the outline of its body, the coloration of its skin, and those peculiar spirit patterns were all virtually identical to that of the Primordial Fei Beast.
A perplexed look appeared on Han Li's face, and he took a glance down at the eyeball that he was holding.
Right at this moment, the faint white light that was emanating from the eye suddenly brightened significantly, resembling a beacon that had suddenly lit up in the night.
The strange creature that was resting on its haunches next to Qu Ling instantly sprant to its feet, then turned around to reveal a hideous face with a flat nose, a massive mouth, and a huge single eye situated at the center of its head.
Sure enough, this was just a miniature Primordial Fei Beast!
The Primordial Fei Beast let loose a thunderous roar as a thick pillar of white light shot out of its eye, hurtling directly toward Han Li and Lu Yuqing.
An alarmed look appeared on Han Li's face as he grabbed onto Lu Yuqing's wrist, then sprang up into the air to evade the pillar of white light before descending onto the main path leading to the golden palace.
As a result, the two of them were completely exposed.
1. A Drigug or Kartika is a Buddhist knife used for ceremonial purposes. ?
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