Chapter 796: Chapter 497: Exploration
The Illusion Planet, according to the description, refers to a planet that has a special connection with the Void Realm.
Wang Zhifan’s understanding of this type of planet is limited to what is in the introduction. Even in the copies he acquired, he only heard a few NPCs mention this extremely unfamiliar term without getting more detailed information.
At this moment, with battle preparations complete, he used his granted permissions to arrive at this mysterious planet described as unsafe in the introduction.
With the Cyan Emperor Saber in hand, he focused and looked around, only to find himself in a very strange world.
There seemed to be no land beneath his feet, only a light purple "mist" that allowed walking on it. The mist contained numerous black stones of varied sizes, and some items that were clearly artifacts of civilization, such as metal fragments with neat engravings and a foul-smelling mixture that might be part of a biological cadaver.
Around him, above and below, this scene extended infinitely, nearly invisible yet tangible purple "mist" floated everywhere, dividing the overall space into many layers that differed in level yet remained interconnected.
The mist’s stones, remains, unknown debris, and whirlwinds mixed to form a very peculiar picture.
"Is this a planet? I don’t see any features a planet should have."
For a moment, Wang Zhifan felt perplexed. He had been to many otherworlds but never set foot in a place this strange.
Looking around, there was no land, no atmosphere, no sun, no moon, no stars, only endless light purple mist and the faint appearance of various debris within it.
With a bit of curiosity, he stepped forward, walked across the purple mist he was on, and reached its edge.
Then, as he lifted his foot, he discovered that he wasn’t falling downward but was instead automatically propelled to the upper left, stepping onto another patch of purple mist in an inverted stance in the blink of an eye.
This feeling was very strange; though he felt the gravity was directed downward just moments ago, after a few steps, the gravitational direction shifted nearly 180 degrees.
Confused, he immediately tried to step out of the mist again and quickly confirmed firsthand that gravity in this world was chaotic. Each mist patch had its gravity direction, and once you left it, it was hard to predict which posture you might end up in as you landed.
"What an odd world... Let’s try and find the surprise mentioned in the introduction first."
Having gotten a preliminary understanding of the local features, Wang Zhifan gradually sped up, roaming freely in this empty and surreal-feeling world.
Initially, he explored routes connecting each mist patch, but later, he directly started using the Wind and Thunder Heaven-Treading Skill, traveling wherever his will took him.
During this time, he saw many lifeless stones that could never be treasures, an unidentified spaceship split in half like a giant metal tree, alien remains with huge helmets but very small bodies, and a small purple whirlwind roaming around like a tiny tornado.
He found nothing he could regard as treasure, nor did he encounter any substantial dangers.
"The introduction mentioned that some Illusion Planets might submerge into the Void Realm; maybe this place is the Void Realm."
After some exploration, Wang Zhifan had this thought, reasoning that it explains why he couldn’t find any typical planetary features.
Then, he sped up again and roamed for a while longer until he finally found a place that brightened his eyes just before he lost interest and wanted to leave this world.
It was a huge rock, or you could call it an island, "suspended" without any purple mist around it.
At first glance, the island seemed to have nothing but bare stones, but Wang Zhifan’s perception was strong enough to keenly notice that the interior of the island was hollow, hiding an artificially excavated extensive space.
"Is this a peculiar spaceship? Or perhaps a secret alien warehouse?"
Such conjectures instantly formed in his mind; in this technology-leaning world, his imagination extended this far.
Since there was no purple mist around the island to use as a springboard, Wang Zhifan directly used his Lightweight Skill to head over there.
His proficiency in the Wind and Thunder Heaven-Treading Skill was not low, and coupled with his exceptionally strong foundational cultivation, he could easily traverse the void.
Thus, just seconds later, he reached a place more than ten meters from the island’s surface, but right then, he suddenly sensed danger and stopped in the void.
"Something is watching me, warning me not to approach this island."
Although he couldn’t pinpoint where the enemy was hiding, Wang Zhifan was very sure of this, which stemmed from his combat-honed instincts and was also a message the opposing presence vaguely wanted to convey to him.
"Not letting me pass... then let’s test your prowess."
Without hesitation, Wang Zhifan quickly backed off, creating some distance, and then used an old trick, releasing several Dream Me Avatars to approach the island from different directions.
As the avatars kept getting closer, he soon received the same feedback from them: an unidentified presence warned them not to approach.
And when the avatars were finally less than a meter from the island, he suddenly felt them suffering a powerful invisible attack, instantly compressed into little dots and reduced to nothing in the space.
"Interesting... My avatars are obviously spirit bodies, supposedly immune to ordinary physical compression, yet they were instantly compressed to the point of collapse. This enemy’s strength is not to be underestimated."
