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The mountain palace.
Big White couldn’t leave his range of activity, so after setting Ye Zichen and Gu Luolin down, he flew back to his own territory.
No wonder the condor said it couldn’t go any further: there was a barrier around the palace.
Ye Zichen and Gu Luolin passed through it without incident. It was most likely there to keep the mountains’ vicious beasts from stepping foot inside.
“The palace is so run-down!” Now that they stood in front of the palace, Gu Luolin couldn’t help but mutter.
The palace was constructed atop a radiant mountaintop. It towered proudly, its foundations so flat, it seemed someone had taken a blade and leveled the mountain before building the palace.
The barrier blocked the endlessly falling snow. Not even winds could get through.
The palace was the only thing on the mountaintop; there were no trees or other plants, nor were there any decorations. It was like someone had just plopped a palace there; the contrast was jarring!
The building was constructed of red brick, like the imperial palaces of old. From a distance, it looked grand and imposing, but it had existed for quite some time without undergoing any renovations at all. As such, it seemed quite dilapidated.
But it wasn’t actually that badly damaged. It was just that Ye Zichen and Gu Luolin’s expectations had been enormous, and this run-down building in no way lived up to them. That’s why Gu Luolin said what she did.
“It’s okay, I guess.” The palace really was nothing like what they’d imagined. Ye Zichen laughed indifferently, then looked away and walked toward the gates.
Just as they’d expected, the gate showed signs of having been pushed open. It was obvious no one had opened the doors in a long time; standing before the gates, they could smell the damp, rotting wood interior.
“Shall we go inside?” Gu Luolin stood beside Ye Zichen and glanced up at him. She was the type to keep her word, and since she’d said she’d follow Ye Zichen’s arrangements, she would, without any stubbornness mixed in.
But she was actually quite afraid. She didn’t know why, but the palace’s surroundings creeped her out.
Unlike before, as they stood before the gates, they could see hints of the red carpet lining the palace interior through the doorway.
“We’re already here. We ought to go in and take a look,” said Ye Zichen.
“Then you walk up front. I’ll follow you,” said Gu Luolin, pulling in her neck. “This place seems a bit dark and creepy!”
To tell the truth, Ye Zichen felt the same way.
There was clearly a barrier. The endless blizzard couldn’t fall inside, and the winds couldn’t enter. And yet, as he stood before the palace’s main gate, he felt an eerie wint.
It was really quite freaky!
“Look…” Suddenly, Gu Luolin tugged on Ye Zichen’s sleeves. She pointed to the slit of the door and screamed shrilly.
Ye Zichen looked over, but he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary. “What is it?”
“Don’t freak out at the drop of a hat! You’re scaring me too!” No matter what, they had to enter the palace. Otherwise, they would have come all this way for nothing.
Ye Zichen licked his lips, then walked up to the main gate and pushed it open a crack.
“Ahh!” Gu Luolin let out another shriek. Ye Zichen practically jumped, but before he could, something even more startling happened:
There was another shriek from within the practice.
“Ahh!!”
Someone was there!
Ye Zichen instinctively pushed Gu Luolin behind him. This was an automatic response; he’d forgotten that her cultivation was actually higher than his.
Only after entering the palace did they discover that the inside was far more decorated than the outside.
The palace walls were inlaid with countless, inestimably valuable luminous night pearls, illuminating the halls completely.
Ye Zichen stood before the doorway and surveyed the interior. He gathered the five elements essences around him as he cautiously looked around.
The one who’d shrieked was presumably one of those who’d entered the palace ahead of him. They might be the “ghostly figure” Gu Luolin had seen earlier too. But given that they’d shrieked, they clearly weren’t Kui Lin. Kui Lin was the Demon Emperor; someone of his status had to be calm. Given Kui Lin’s breadth of experience, he wouldn’t shriek just because someone else had.
The various great emperors were unlikely to shriek either. Could it have been an immortal king?
If so, Ye Zichen could only say they’d been lucky. How else could an immortal king get to the mountain palace so quickly?
Beyond the main gates was the main hall. There was a red carpet on the floor, but there was no one in sight.
Now terrified, Gu Luolin’s childish, or rather, girlish, nature was now on full display. She seemed to have completely forgotten that she was actually a mighty expert. She carefully clutched Ye Zichen’s clothes, then hid behind him, her little head peering out as she looked around.
“Eek!”
“Aaah!”
Suddenly, she shrieked again, and something in the corner shrieked back.
Caught between two shrill shrieks, Ye Zichen shook. He gulped, then looked into the corner, only to realize that there really was someone standing there in the corner.
“Brother Monan!”
When he heard that, the figure in the corner finally popped his head out. After a while…
“Brother Ye!”
This person, who’d beaten him to the palace, was none other than Gou Monan, the same man he’d run into before. After confirming this really was Ye Zichen, Gou Monan clutched his chest with lingering terror. “You really scared the crap out of me!”
“You scared me too!” pouted Gu Luolin.
“My apologies.” Gou Monan scratched his head and chuckled, seeming as simple and affable as ever. Then, he turned to Ye Zichen and smiled. “I didn’t see her by your side earlier? Where’d you find this little sister?”
“I’m his senior!” snorted Gu Luolin.
“That’s right, you’re my senior.” Ye Zichen comforted her briefly, then shrugged at Gou Monan. He seemed to take the hint; he chuckled but didn’t linger on this topic.
They walked further into the palace, side by side. Every floor had five hidden doors. Behind each hidden door were five more floors, as well as five more hidden doors.
“Brother Monan, I seem to recall you saying you wanted to leave?” chuckled Ye Zichen.
“I did want to leave,” Gou Monan laughed back. “When you invited me then, I was worried that with my cultivation, I’d only drag you down. Besides, there were so many great emperors around, I didn’t think I’d be able to obtain much good fortune anyway. I wanted to go, but at the same time…”
“You still wanted to come, didn’t you?”
“Right! I’ve already come this far. I’m unwilling to leave so easily. I thought about it, and decided to try my luck!”
“You were just testing your luck, yet you were the first one to the palace!”
“The first? I doubt it!” said Gou Monan, stunned. “When I got here, the door was already open!”