Chapter 334: Sub Palace of the Icebound Temple
At the moment when Ye Chen was dragged into the mysterious passage by the glowing tendrils, he was directly struck by an unknown force that knocked him out.
When Ye Chen awoke again, he found himself within a massive hall.
"Where is this?"
"Could it be that this is the place the mysterious passage at the bottom of the Nine Nether Pond leads to?"
Ye Chen surveyed the grand hall he was in, which was over a thousand feet in length, width, and height. What astonished him the most was that the hall was entirely crystalline white, radiating an endless chill as if it were a palace made of ice and snow.
On the four walls and the dome of the grand hall, numerous complex and mysterious carvings were engraved. These carvings turned out to be diagrams of human figures practicing meditation in a seated position. With a sweep of his Divine Sense, Ye Chen investigated these patterns and discovered that the total number of diagrams on the walls and dome was exactly eight hundred and ten.
Having delved into the bottom of the Nine Nether Pond, found the luminous tendrils that were incredibly powerful, and been inexplicably brought into this ice and snow hall, with its eight hundred and ten mysterious diagrams— all this completely scrambled Ye Chen's thoughts.
Ye Chen knew that this exploration of the Nine Nether Pond had exceeded his expectations!
He originally thought the Nine Nether Pond was merely hiding a Water Element Five Elements Secret Treasure, but now it seemed that the secrets contained here were definitely not as simple as just a Water Element Five Elements Secret Treasure!
As Ye Chen was examining the mysterious grand hall and speculating about everything that had suddenly occurred, a voice reached his ears.
This voice was strikingly identical to the one he had heard at the bottom of the Nine Nether Pond.
It was also strangely unlike the voices of the Barbaric Wilderness Continent!
In the end, this voice also switched to a language Ye Chen could understand, "Congratulations, intruder, congratulations on passing the first stage of the selection and arriving at the 'Sub Palace' of the 'Icebound Temple.'
Icebound Temple Sub Palace?
First stage selection?
Ye Chen remembered that earlier at the bottom of the Nine Nether Pond, he had heard this voice mention that he met the criteria for the first stage selection, which was why he wasn't killed.
Now it appeared that by passing this so-called first stage, he had arrived here.
Icebound Temple Sub Palace.
This place emanating an endless chill, crystal clear as snow, which looked like an ice and snow hall was known as the Icebound Temple Sub Palace.
Where there's a Sub Palace, there surely must be a main hall.
Where could the main hall be?
Ye Chen pondered in his heart.
While Ye Chen was contemplating, the voice continued, "Intruder, since you have passed the first phase of selection and come here, I will also convey to you the matters of the Icebound Temple."
"What happens here is related to whether you can survive, and further relates to some secret news of my master, so listen carefully."
The voice spoke indifferently, but it made Ye Chen's Mind and Spirit focus.
Related to whether I can survive?
And related to the master of this voice?
The glowing tendrils at the bottom of the Nine Nether Pond, which he couldn't harm in the slightest even with his full strength, had already made Ye Chen realize that the mysterious power here could easily kill him.
Matters concerning life and death were, of course, not to be taken lightly by Ye Chen.
Moreover, the power exhibited by the glowing vines let Ye Chen know that the owner of this voice was very likely a being who had transcended the Heavenly Saint Realm, possibly even surpassing the Void Sky True God—maybe even more!
All this, of course, caused Ye Chen to gather all his Mind and Spirit to listen to the words spoken by this voice.
And the first sentence that came next from the voice completely changed Ye Chen's expression.
"My master," the voice said, "is not from the Barbaric Wilderness Continent, nor from the Minor Spirit Realm of the Upper Realm Barbaric Wilderness Continent, also known as Celestial Spirit Star. My master comes from another star, another continent; my master is a great Divine King!"
Divine King!
Those two words caused an explosion in Ye Chen's mind.
Ye Chen had long heard that above the Void Sky True God, there was an even more powerful realm of the Space-Time God King.
In the past, the older generation of Void Sky True Gods from Jiang Yao's Divine Phoenix Clan were attempting to break through to the Space-Time God King Realm, which is why they had travelled to other regions, inadvertently providing an opportunity to the Vermilion Bird Clan and the Flying Spirit Clan, the two powerful God Clans, to attack the Divine Phoenix Clan.
According to legends, the Void Sky True God comprehends the Laws of Time, while the Space-Time God King fully grasps both the formidable Laws of Time and Space, a true power able to traverse the void and the stars!
Ye Chen had never expected that his exploration in the Nine Nether Pond would lead him to a secret associated with the existence of a "Divine King."
Furthermore,
The voice had also stated that its master, the great Divine King, came from another planet.
Ye Chen had never imagined that he would encounter someone from another planet on the Barbaric Wilderness Continent!
Ye Chen himself had only arrived in the Barbaric Wilderness Continent through the transportation of his Divine Soul by the Starlight Tower from Earth, and so he was very aware that this world was not as simple as just the Minor Spirit Realm or the Barbaric Wilderness Continent.
Now, the words spoken by the voice made it clear to Ye Chen that beyond the Minor Spirit Realm, there might be countless planets and continents—much like Earth was just one of the myriad continents.
Ye Chen's Mind and Spirit were violently shaken as the voice, seemingly sensing Ye Chen's excitement, continued to speak: "The starry sky is vast and infinite."
"Intruder, although you are an extremely talented genius on this continent, you are still very weak when compared to the entire cosmos and the numerous Star Domains."
"Although my master has become immensely strong and has cultivated to the 'God King Realm,' he is not the most powerful being. Above him, there are existences who can dominate Star Domains, those in the even greater 'Divine Venerable Realm'!"
"True Gods are merely strong beings on ordinary planets. Only Divine Kings can truly traverse the cosmos, while the great 'Divine Venerables' are the true powerhouses of the Star Domains!"
Boom! Boom! Boom! Continue your journey on empire
The words spoken by the voice were like a sudden enlightenment, broadening Ye Chen's horizons.
Ye Chen finally understood the more powerful Realms!
It turns out that above the True Qi Realm, Spirit Sea Realm, Rotating Pill Realm, Heavenly Saint Realm, and the Void Sky True God Realm, there also exist the God King Realm and the Divine Venerable Realm!
Moreover, Ye Chen had a feeling that even the Divine Venerable Realm may not be the limit, as the Zi Ji Star Lord who left him the 'Primordial Star Scripture' might possess a Realm even higher than the Divine Venerable Realm!
Ye Chen felt that he still had countless journeys to undertake, to traverse the Barbaric Wilderness Continent, the Minor Spirit Realm, and even countless planets and the Endless Star Domains—that would be the only way not to let down the inheritance of the Primordial Star Scripture that had brought him to the Barbaric Wilderness Continent!
"Intruder," the voice continued, "after my master was gravely injured by another powerful being, he ultimately fell on the Barbaric Wilderness Continent. Before his fall, he placed five Sub Palaces in five different regions of the Barbaric Wilderness Continent."
"This Sub Palace is one of those five, and I am the Hall Spirit of this Sub Palace."
"Thirty thousand years have passed since my master fell. Throughout these thirty thousand years, my selection mechanism has not shut down, which means that no one has acquired my master's legacy, no one has been deemed worthy to enter the primary hall of my master!"
"Intruder, I hope you can pass the assessment of this Sub Palace and be worthy to enter my master's primary hall, to become my master—the inheritor of the great Divine King's legacy!"