Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
After 15 minutes had passed, everyone met up in the area where they had first entered. They hadn’t had adventures like Jiang Chen, but they also didn’t find any treasures.
However, obviously they hadn’t searched the whole Divine Palace in such a short time.
“Jiang Chen, who is this?”
When everyone saw Yue’e, their reactions were even more exaggerated than Duan Yun’s had been, and they were all amazed. It was especially the case for the women, as they were attracted by the demeanor of Yue’e. She seemed like a true fairy who didn’t belong to the mortal world.
“This is…this is my elder sister who has been missing for many years,” Jiang Chen struggled to find a good story. And he hadn’t forgotten what Duan Yun had said when he introduced him.
Yan Yu and her four companions rolled their eyes. The missing sibling crappy excuse had been used by him two times in succession. They were really left speechless!
However, everyone understood clearly that people have their own secrets, and since Jiang Chen wasn’t willing to tell them what was really going on, the others wouldn’t question him intensely.
“You aren’t able to leave the Divine Palace. But the Divine Palace also wants to leave, and it can take you along with it,” Yue’e explained patiently, while disregarding the stares of the people in front of her.
These words distracted everyone from the shock of her appearance. Although they didn’t understand exactly what she meant, they still had a rough idea.
“The greatest supreme treasure is the Divine Palace itself.
“This Divine Palace should have been a Divine Artifact. But now, it can only be considered an Immortal Artifact.
“It’s only after it recognizes someone as its master that it can leave the depths of the sea. And then you will also manage to leave smoothly along with it.
“However, if it doesn’t recognize anyone as its master, you will be trapped here forever until your deaths.”
Jiang Chen believed Yue’e’s words unconditionally, because she was a person from the same era as the Divine Palace, and there wasn’t anyone who understood matters such as this more clearly than she did.
“How can we get it to recognize someone as its master?” Ao Yue asked, concerned.
“There should be a tower or a high building here. You must look for it,” Yue’e explained.
So all the teammates started looking around, and soon they found a tall tower in the deepest corners of the palace.
“Hmm, it’s the Ascending Heaven Tower. You still have a glimmer of hope left,” Yue’e said.
As they listened to Yue’e, odd feelings welled up in their hearts because of the tone in which she spoke. She spoke in a confident and calm voice, and they were all transfixed by what she said and craved to know her secrets.
But Jiang Chen’s expression informed them clearly that even if they questioned him, they would only ask in vain.
After the group reached the tower, they stood regarding one another, but no one took any actions.
“You should all enter inside, and everything will be fine as long as you don’t attack one another. If anyone is recognized by the Divine Palace as its master, then he will deserve it because he will have achieved it with his own skill,” Yue’e said.
Even though everyone had selfish motives, if Jiang Chen insisted on entering the Ascending Heaven Tower alone, the others wouldn’t refuse him. However, they would have points of view about this matter.
“If nothing unexpected occurs, then the Divine Palace’s treasures should be within the Ascending Heaven Tower.
“Even if you don’t manage to reach the tower’s peak, you can still get treasures on every floor.”
Yue’e’s words made the crowd very excited, and they all wished badly to go inside.
After they ascertained that Yue’e wasn’t going to say anything else, the group started taking action.
The Ascending Heaven Tower had nine floors that corresponded to the sky’s nine layers. Every layer had a corresponding trial.
Everyone except for the injured person strode forward, and they managed to open the Ascending Heaven Tower’s gate by just pushing on it.
The first floor’s expanse was vast enough accommodate a great war. But it was to provide stability so that the Ascending Heaven Tower wouldn’t collapse.
The ground was formed by square-shaped bricks, while an ancient era’s mural was depicted on the ceiling.
As Jiang Chen associated the mural with the painting he had seen in the guest-receiving room, he discovered that it seemed like the ancient aura had an auspicious and peaceful ambience.
The previous painting had depicted eight heavenly gods riding clouds, flying over a great sea. As for the mural atop his head, it depicted a distinguished meeting, and many Immortals were attending, dressed well, while fairies with graceful bodies were singing and dancing.
There was a woman wearing golden feathers on her clothes sitting at the center of the painting. She had an outstanding bearing, and she seemed like a moon surrounded by stars.
“Since this is the case, why was the Xuanhuan Realm destroyed?”
Jiang Chen could now ascertain that the ancient era was a heavenly gods’ era, and that a great war had destroyed the world.
Afterward, the heavenly gods had gone far away and left behind countless beings who lived in distress.
Jiang Chen really wanted to know who the heavenly gods’ enemy had been in the past. However, he was aware that if he questioned Yue’e, she would just shake her head without speaking, or she might say that it wasn’t an appropriate time to inform him of such matters.
Returning to the main topic, after the group of people entered the tower, they started searching, and they quickly frowned. They didn’t see the trial they had expected, and they didn’t even see a staircase.
“It’s here!” Duan Yun had discovered something. He ran toward a wall and pointed his finger into a painting.
When the crowd looked over, they discovered that stairs were coming out of the painting, and, before they could understand clearly how it happened, Duan Yun’s finger ended up inadvertently touching the wall. The hard, firm wall was unexpectedly undulating like water.
“What is this…?” Before Duan Yun could understand what was happening, he was sucked into the wall.
The crowd was startled, while Jiang Chen quickly rushed over there, and he discovered that the wall had returned to normal. When Jiang Chen put his hand on the wall, he only felt an ice-cold, firm sensation.
“There are stairs here too.”
Other people discovered that stairs were coming out of other paintings, and if they counted them, they discovered that the number of staircases was equivalent to the number of people here.
“The trial must be inside it, and Duan Yun’s trial has already started.”
The crowd understood what had happened and didn’t worry any longer about Duan Yun. They just started their own trials.
Jiang Chen, Ao Yue, and Miss Bai exchanged glances and went toward a staircase on a wall. When they extended their hands toward it, they were pulled inside by a suction force.
After a short while, no one was left on the first floor of the Ascending Heaven Tower.
“Is this an opportunity that will help you leave?” Yue’e, who was still outside, muttered to herself, while her shiny eyes became filled with emotions that no one would be able to understand.
Jiang Chen didn’t even get to have a clear idea of where he was sent before he felt a heatwave assaulting him, and, after a few seconds, he was dripping with sweat. Since he had been affected so greatly even though he possessed a special body, it could be discerned how high this land’s temperature was.
When Jiang Chen’s sight recovered, he understood why it was so hot. He was now up in the sky atop an erupting volcano, and a huge amount of ashes were escaping from the volcano’s crater along with smoke, and it made the sky dusky.
When Jiang Chen looked in the distance, he discovered that the space outside the foot of the mountain was warped and seemed like countless mirrors set up against each other.
“Doe this mean that the test is inside a volcano?” Jiang Chen understood everything, and he used his sword art. He depended upon berserk sword wind to scatter the smoke of the ashes.
Jiang Chen landed before the volcano’s crater, and he immediately felt a heatwave assaulting him, while space became twisted due to such a scalding temperature.
When Jiang Chen lowered his head to take a look, he discovered that the glowing magma was fluctuating, and, sometimes, it would shoot up to dozens of yards in the air.
As Jiang Chen looked around, he didn’t understand the test’s content.
“It doesn’t want me to jump inside, does it?” Jiang Chen wasn’t sure of this, as there was only this volcano here, and all secrets should be in it.
As Jiang Chen pondered over this matter, he took off his black robe and left on just his skin-tight outfit that facilitated movement.
Jiang Chen held the Red Cloud Sword in his hand and used the Celestial Phoenix Art so that he could adapt to this temperature, while flying down little by little. Luckily, he had recovered the ability to fly now.
However, the price he had to pay for his prudence was that he had to face a scalding vapor. He was perspiring profusely, while his mouth and tongue were extremely dry. Moreover, the soles of his feet were heating up quickly.
“Well?”
When Jiang Chen was about to start grumbling, he felt a boundless energy surging from beneath him, and, when he lowered his head to take a look, he discovered that the magma was restless and seemed like boiling water.
SPLASH!
As Jiang Chen got to see a silhouette below him that was gradually becoming more distinct and clear, the magma erupted.
