There was one last important task to attend to before he activated the Great Formation of Heavenly Soul Confinement.
Veluriyam Capital’s fate hinged upon it. In fact, the entire human domain’s did as well.
Jiang Chen’s rule of the city had begun with the Pagoda’s Six Palaces of Heritage. Each foray in had rewarded him handsomely in all manner of things.
Only one of these six palaces remained before he was at the grand secret. The truth of the ancient Veluriyam Pagoda would be laid bare to him, including potential records of the ancient demon-sealing war.
Thus, passing the sixth palace’s examination was a priority.
Veluriyam’s young lord had proceeded through the first five palaces with marginal difficulty, if any at all. He had been tried and tested, yes, but his talents had been more than enough to overcome all of them with ease.
It could be said that Jiang Chen had accomplished a feat unmatched since antiquity.
He had surpassed that ancient era.cHe recalled all the guardian seniors. Master P’eng, Venerated Skysoarer, the Grand Marquis, the Mad Fiend, and Old Pill Rune.
Each one of them was distinct in personality, but all had been reliable and sincere.
Who, or what, would he find in the sixth palace?
What did the Veluriyam Pagoda have left to tell him?
Jiang Chen looked forward to the conclusion very much. He hoped that the pagoda’s master had left clues and artifacts from back then, that he might learn and gain what was needed to triumph over the demonic horde. Otherwise, the human domain currently lacked anything remotely of note.
“I hope the Six Palaces of Heritage won’t let me down this time either.”
This was the prevailing thought in his mind as he embarked.
The fourth palace had required initial empyrean, while the fifth, mid. Jiang Chen had passed through both with buttery smoothness. The sixth palace called for advanced empyrean realm. The higher the level, the better.
Jiang Chen was ninth level empyrean now and one step away from breaking into ultimate divinity. In theory, the sixth palace wouldn’t pose a challenge to him.
After brisk preparations, he quietly entered the Veluriyam Pagoda.
Activating the sixth palace’s spacetime seal, he felt himself transported into a different space. His heart was as calm as a pool of undisturbed water.
He was quite familiar with how the palaces moved him about. There was no cause for alarm.
As the energies that had brought him here slowly dissipated, Jiang Chen stepped onto solid ground once more. His vision clearing, he saw that he had entered into a different world.
Something startled him. His eyes widened! He stretched out both hands to touch what he saw drifting down in the air.
It was a soft drizzle of rain.
He really could feel a thin curtain of liquid precipitation!
“How can there be rain here? Aren’t the six palaces supposed to be enclosed in their own spaces? Why would there be weather?” Jiang Chen found the revelation incredible.
A misty haze permeated his field of view as far as the eye could see. Turning his gaze downward, he saw a grassy path underfoot.
The trees all around were sprouting, a sign of early spring.
This couldn’t be, right?
Jiang Chen was even more astonished. It hadn’t been spring when he’d entered the palace. Had the season itself changed, or had so much time passed during the process of his transportation? No, the latter seemed impossible. It’d taken him a blink of an eye to get here.
He almost wondered whether he was dreaming, but careful examination of his senses told him that it wasn’t so.
For a time, he couldn’t comprehend what he was perceiving.
Jiang Chen headed forward along the small path. There was a magic that drew him deeper in, a silent note calling for his presence.
There was no end or destination in sight. He walked for about two hours when a large pond suddenly blocked his way. It was populated with lotus plants, both lush leaves and vibrant flowers.
Several frogs leaped to and fro between leaf and water, causing ripples whenever they touched the pond’s surface.
Jiang Chen felt his heart skip a beat. He’d walked from spring into the height of midsummer!
Had he come to the wrong place? But the spacetime seal in his hand wasn’t showing any anomalies.
Yes, he was within the sixth Palace of Heritage.
The young man sighed softly. This place had managed to intensely pique his curiosity. What mysteries did this place hide? How could the seasons pass as one passed through space?
As expected, rays of autumn sunlight struck a hillock even further ahead. The abundant harvest in a nearby field betrayed the autumnal nature of the scene.
Jiang Chen felt a bit numb at this point.
The seasonal images weren’t anything special, but the fact that they seemingly coexisted and flowed into each other here was markedly so.
The sixth palace was a lot more complicated than he had first imagined. Jiang Chen sobered up; he had thought before coming here that the sixth palace would be a continuation from the previous five, though with an increased difficulty.
That didn’t seem to be the case.
Past the hillock, the terrain gave way to hills and mountains that climbed ever higher. The peaks in the distance were decorated with wintry snow.
Jiang Chen scaled the mountain, basking in the cutting arctic winds that blustered all about him. He closed his eyes in meditative contemplation. In this moment, he was one with the wondrous power of nature. It was as if the pristine snow all around him was imparting a lesson of profound wisdom.
“Hahaha, I understand!” Suddenly, inspiration struck. “This is the sixth palace. A secret realm, controlled by the whims of its master alone. Sun and moon, spring and fall. Life and death and the essence of creation itself – aren’t these the things at the heart of a world? Is the sixth palace a microcosm unto itself?”
Jiang Chen opened his eyes once more, striding into the icy expanse before him.
He had a strong feeling he was close to the truth of this palace.
Gradually, the snow all about him began to sublimate into white mist. In fact, nothing existed save a bleary haze.
The world had returned to a primordial chaos, eliciting an experiential change in Jiang Chen’s heart as he experienced the sublimity of existence.
