Long Bai did not talk too much and simply walked through the corridors of the Calamity Palace. His aura was calm and completely reserved, he looked like a man slowly approaching old age walking normally with nothing to stand out about him. However, Xie Feng knew very well that the middle-aged man in front of him was everything except normal and ordinary.
As he walked a few steps behind Long Bai, Xie Feng was again lost in his own thoughts as the same feeling of tranquility and peace that he felt the first time he entered this place enveloped him again.
Suddenly, the voice of Long Bai, who had been silent for some minutes, brought Xie Feng to his senses:
“What do you think about this place?”
Long Bai did not look back and continued to move forward in silence, so after thinking for a moment, Xie Feng looked at one of the paintings hanging on the murals and answered honestly:
“This is a wonderful place. A few days ago I was in the King’s Palace in Ciudad Eminentis, but it couldn’t compare to this place,” Xie Feng shook his head.
Long Bai snorted and scoffed: “The Palace of the King of the North? How could the palace of a normal human being compare to the palace that was home to a God! Even the Palace of the Emperor of the whole Adastreia Continent cannot be compared to the Calamity Palace!”
Long Bai’s voice sounded very confident, as if his words were the absolute truth and irrefutable and although Xie Feng was never in the Emperor’s Palace, since even when the players reached level 50 it was not at all normal to enter the Emperor’s Palace, he somehow felt that the words of the serious-looking man walking in front of him were true.
Xie Feng was ready to nod, however, he was soon surprised and asked in confusion: “Long Bai, you have just said that the Calamity Palace was the home and resting place for a God? You mean the Goddess of Creation?”
“Goddess of Creation?” Long Bai stopped his steps and looked at Xie Feng over his shoulder with a stunned look. Soon, the face that showed no obvious emotion from the first moment was contorted: “HA HA HA HA! Goddess of Creation? Child, it’s been a long time since someone made me laugh like this!”
“This…” Xie Feng’s mouth opened slightly and he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t understand what was so funny about what he said, so he also didn’t understand why Long Bai was laughing out loud. Confused and a little uncomfortable, Xie Feng rubbed the back of his head and waited for the Light Saint Dragon to finish laughing.
Long Bai removed the tears that were at the edge of his eyes and shook his head, “Do you know the reason why I call you child?”
Xie Feng shook his head silently, but then said in an insecure tone of voice, “I guess it’s because of the age difference or maybe because I’m weaker than you?”
Long Bai sighed and continued walking, he continued: “No. It has nothing to do with age or strength… It is about the experience! The current you are like a child who has just learned to walk, on the other hand, I already walked on every path that life has in store… Even for paths that I should not have walked”.
Long Bai’s voice faded slightly at the end, but he soon recovered and explained: “The Goddess of Creation, also known to most people as the Protector Goddess; she is the only human being who succeeded in reaching the Saint level throughout the entire history of the Adastreia Continent… Although I never fought against the Protector Goddess, I know I would not lose to her… This Calamity Palace was, is, and will continue to be the place of unsurpassed existence!”
“Now tell me… Do you think that me, a Dragon with the power to destroy cities and entire kingdoms, would fear a person with a power similar to mine?” asked Long Bai.
Xie Feng shook his head and denied with a simple “No”. After all, no one with similar or higher power would be willing to serve a weaker being. In the past even when Emperors were protected by powerful warriors it was because the Emperor always had a trick card in his hands. So what reason would Long Bai have to become the servant of the Goddess of Protection? No reason!
Long Bai nodded and said seriously, “Right, no!” After that, he was silent and walked in constant steps. When he saw that the talk was over, Xie Feng also walked in silence.
The only thing that could be heard were the footsteps of both of them resounding within the huge walls.
After walking for about five minutes, Long Bai took Xie Feng to the deepest part of the palace. Arriving in front of two large and majestic doors made of a strange kind of wood, Long Bai said, “It is here.”
Xie Feng stopped and looked at the door that was about ten feet high without saying a word.
“You go in, I do not have the right to access this room,” Long Bai urged Xie Feng and stepped aside.
“What? You don’t have the right to enter this place but I do?” Xie Feng asked in astonishment. What did Long Bai mean that he had no right? Then why did he, who had not even met Long Bai for more than twenty minutes, have it?… But no matter how much Xie Feng asked, Long Bai closed his eyes and stood aside with his body leaning slightly against one of the walls, silent as if he were asleep.
Seeing that he would not get any more answers, Xie Feng walked slowly and closed the distance between him and the big door. Taking a deep breath, Xie Feng extended his right hand and pressed it on the door; only by applying a bit of force did the door open enough for a person to pass through.
Taking one last look at Long Bai, Xie Feng took a step forward.
Since Xie Feng obtained the Pearl of Light, his eyes could see through the darkness as if the bright rays of the sun penetrated the mantle of night. However, the strange thing was that after he entered the room, all he could see was darkness.
As strange as it may seem, after what happened in the previous hall where the throne was, Xie Feng became completely sure that Long Bai had no bad intentions against him. Perhaps for that reason, Xie Feng looked around without worrying too much.
After looking around for a moment, all Xie Feng could see was darkness and a path in front of him. With no options, he started to follow the path that would lead him to an unknown destination.
The path was not particularly long as Xie Feng had imagined. After only a minute, he finally saw a white light filtering from what appeared to be a small door at the end of the passage.
Narrowing his eyes, Xie Feng went through the door from which the light came. The first thing he did was look both ways carefully, but there was absolutely nothing on his left or right side.
When Xie Feng looked forward he finally found something… A lonely statue was standing there. The statue was the same height as Xie Feng and was clearly a man. But, when Xie Feng approached and saw the facial characteristics of the statue, he was so surprised that he unconsciously took a step backward.
Although the man who was portrayed in the statue looked more mature, his gaze much firmer and more penetrating, Xie Feng was absolutely certain that the statue was a grown-up version of his appearance in the virtual world!… Although the statue was made of an unknown material and the colors could not be projected, Xie Feng was sure it was him!
With eyes wide open due to the surprise and shock, Xie Feng looked at the statue carefully and noticed two things; a spear in the statue’s right hand and some words written on the base on which the statue was resting. Xie Feng went a little closer and saw two words there:
“Ye Zexian… Is this the name of this person?” Xie Feng muttered under his breath, still confused by what he was seeing.
Xie Feng’s confusion was too great to describe in words. He felt that somehow he was getting into a place full of quicksand from which he could not escape and that the best thing for him would be just to let go while he looked for answers to all the strange things that were happening to him.
Why did the Ring of the God of Destruction and the Pearl of Light suddenly choose him as its owner? Why did he feel a strange sense of calm since entering the Calamity Palace?… Xie Feng had many questions that could not be answered by anyone but himself, and to find those answers, he had no choice but to walk the path that was ahead of him.
After taking a deep breath, Xie Feng forced himself to calm down. Very quickly he recovered his composure and focused on the spear that was in the right hand of the statue.
Unlike the statue which was a representation of a person, the spear was undoubtedly real; its shaft was blood red with strange black runes engraved along it, between the shaft and the blade there was a small decoration that gave the weapon an aura of nobility. The blade of the spear was very strange and not at all similar to the normal spears that Xie Feng had seen in the real world of medieval times; the blade had spikes on its edges to hurt the opponent’s flesh after being pierced while the spike had a terrifying bloody sheen on it.
Although it appeared to be a Bisarma Spear, it really wasn’t, and although the design was a bit strange, it didn’t look bad at all. On the contrary, Xie Feng was so enchanted that he unconsciously reached out and gently caressed it.
***
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