Chapter 467: Towering Ancient Castle

Ji Qianrou's appearance, and his deliberate interception of Ye Xinghan, was indeed an unexpected surprise for Yun Che. Ji Qianrou exuded a demonic aura in his words and actions. His arrogance was not merely visible on his face; it was deeply ingrained in his very being—this was the impression Ji Qianrou left on Yun Che.

Yesterday, Yun Che had proactively approached Ji Qianrou, helping him resolve the toad poison that had afflicted him for years. This was partly to thank Ji Qianrou for speaking up for him during the competition, but a larger purpose was to make Ji Qianrou owe him a favor... because for someone as utterly arrogant and self-important as Ji Qianrou, a debt of gratitude had to be repaid, no matter what. He hadn't expected to receive Ji Qianrou's assistance so quickly.

However, he never believed Ji Qianrou would kill Ye Xinghan, and how long he could hold him off was unknown. Therefore, Yun Che didn't relax at all, running at full speed with Feng Xue'er in his arms, leaving a trail of sweat.

Time flowed swiftly. In this desolate, vast world, permeated with mystery and an unsettling strangeness, even the passage of time felt somewhat blurred. When Yun Che began to feel his strength wane, he couldn't be sure how long he had been running—perhaps three or four hours, or maybe seven or eight. His pace slowed, he finally staggered to a halt, then collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath.

In his previous life on the Azure Cloud Continent, years of constant escape were commonplace. Yet, this was the first time in both his lives that he felt such immense psychological pressure and a profound sense of crisis. The sheer vastness of this place meant his well-honed abilities in stealth, disguise, and counter-tracking were useless. Otherwise, if this were a mountainous or forested region, he could have easily shaken off Ye Xinghan, even with Feng Xue'er in his arms. Back then, eight elders from the Burning Heaven Clan, who surpassed him in both power and speed, had jointly pursued him, only to be completely outmaneuvered by him alone.

"Brother Yun... you're sweating so much..." Feng Xue'er said, her eyes hazy.

Yun Che wiped his forehead with his hand and smiled. "For a man, this amount of sweat is nothing. It's just that my cultivation isn't high enough; I ran out of strength too quickly."

"That's not true... Brother Yun is amazing... more amazing than anyone..." Feng Xue'er whispered softly. "Are we... safe now?"

"I don't know, but we should be safe," Yun Che said reassuringly.

"Look ahead!" Jasmine suddenly exclaimed.

Yun Che's heart tensed. He quickly looked up and froze.

Ahead, the vast wasteland was gone, replaced by a towering, dark green wall that stretched straight up into the hazy sky. It extended far to the left and right, its ends beyond the reach of Yun Che's vision, no matter how far he looked. Directly in front of Yun Che, on the dark green wall, stood an open stone gate, a hundred zhang tall and a hundred zhang wide. Elsewhere on the wall, scattered like stars, were numerous stone windows, each several zhang in length and width. All of them were hazy gray inside, revealing not the slightest detail of what lay beyond.

This was...

Yun Che looked up, his mind lost in a prolonged daze. Such an enormous structure, whose edges were completely out of sight, should have been clearly visible from a hundred miles away. Moreover, this place was vast and empty; even if the structure were a hundred times smaller, it would still have been strikingly obvious and visible at a glance. Yet, he had run all this way without ever noticing its presence. His gaze had always been fixed on what appeared to be an endless wasteland! This massive structure seemed to have appeared out of thin air!

"This looks like an enormous ancient castle!" Jasmine said cautiously. "Its aura is incredibly ancient; it must be an ancient structure from primeval times. Perhaps it existed concurrently with this Primordial Profound Ark, rather than being created later."

"Why didn't I see it before?" Yun Che asked, bewildered. "Jasmine, when did you notice it?"

"Just now," Jasmine replied.

"Just now?" Yun Che's face registered surprise.

"Don't be surprised," Jasmine said calmly. "Although this ancient castle is extremely old, the profound formation on its surface hasn't completely dissipated. The entire castle is enveloped in a massive ancient protective profound formation. This ancient formation not only shields the castle from the forces of nature but also possesses extremely powerful concealment abilities! Even though this castle is incredibly vast, you cannot detect its presence unless you are within a hundred zhang of it. Furthermore..." Jasmine's voice hesitated slightly, then continued, "Within this ancient profound formation, there seems to be spatial energy as well. If I'm not mistaken, this ancient castle might be able to move on its own!"

A self-moving castle? That sounded far too fantastical.

"Xue'er, are there any records of this ancient castle in your sect's descriptions of the Primordial Profound Ark?" Yun Che asked Feng Xue'er.

Feng Xue'er gently shook her head. "I've never heard Father or anyone else mention it. It seems there aren't any."

The entire castle was dark green and black, with a simple, ancient architectural style that faintly exuded a vast and heavy aura. Yun Che observed it for a while, allowing his physical strength to recover. He then asked, "Jasmine, just how big is this ancient castle?"

"You'd best not try to go around it," Jasmine said unhurriedly. "Its size is far beyond your imagination; even I cannot perceive its edges. It would be utterly impossible for you to go around it before this world closes."

"That big!!" Yun Che's face showed his astonishment.

"Don't you want to go inside and look?" Jasmine said flatly. "This is an ancient structure within the Primordial Profound Ark. Even I've become interested in it. Perhaps the ancient treasures those people have been searching for all these years are right inside."

Yun Che stood up. After confirming there were no unusual auras behind him, he slowly walked forward, his head slightly tilted back.

Soon, his footsteps brought him to the front of the ancient castle's main gate. At this point, Yun Che was just a few steps away from the gate. It was a hundred zhang tall and wide, completely open, yet all Yun Che could see beyond it was a hazy grayness, with no clear view of the outside scene. He stopped, held his breath, and after carefully sensing the aura within for a moment, he finally stepped inside.

It was as if he had instantly entered another world. The light, aura, atmosphere, and even the keenness of his sight and hearing had undergone massive changes. Before him lay a vast and extraordinarily empty hall. Towering stone pillars reached for the sky. The floor tiles, surrounding walls, ceiling, and the array of pillars were all the same dark green-black color, exuding an extremely ancient smell and aura.

Yun Che turned around, his gaze falling upon the entrance he had just passed through. All he saw was a hazy grayness, with no clear view of the outside. After a moment's thought, he quickly retreated. The surrounding world shifted again, and Yun Che was back in the desolate area before the ancient castle. The distinct footprint he had intentionally left on the ground proved that this was where he had stood before. Confirming that he could exit without any obstruction after entering, Yun Che felt relieved and entered the ancient castle once more.

The hall was exceptionally vast, much larger than the ranking battle arena where Yun Che had been yesterday. Yun Che's gaze swept around as he slowly walked forward. The sound of his footsteps and his deliberately held breath were extraordinarily clear in the immensely empty hall.

What exactly was this place?

Yun Che walked for a long time before finally reaching the edge of the hall. Along the surrounding walls, approximately every twenty zhang, there was a stone door. Some doors were open, others closed. Beyond the open doors were various passages leading to unknown places. At the far end of the hall was a tall, circular stone platform, roughly ten zhang high and a hundred zhang wide. To the right of the platform was a tall stone staircase leading to the second floor of the ancient castle.

"Jasmine, have you found anything?" Yun Che stopped and asked.

"I don't know about other things, but I can confirm that there's no aura of any living creature here, nor any sign of living beings having been here besides yourself. This must be an ancient place that has been completely forgotten! Let's explore; perhaps we'll discover something unique. Even the lowest-grade exotic treasure left from ancient times would be an immense gain."

Yun Che nodded. After a moment of hesitation, he walked towards the wide stone staircase and began ascending. He didn't know how many floors the castle had, but since even Jasmine couldn't perceive its upper limit, he couldn't even begin to guess. He wouldn't be surprised if it turned out to have thousands, or even tens of thousands, of floors.

As he slowly climbed the stone staircase, Yun Che's gaze swept downwards, observing the vast hall on the first floor from above. Just as his sight landed on the circular platform, his eyes suddenly narrowed, and his steps halted. In that brief moment, he had faintly sensed a flicker of red light.

The space was incredibly quiet, and its color was a uniform dark green-black. Thus, even though the red glow was extremely faint, it stood out remarkably and unusually. Without hesitation, Yun Che hugged Feng Xue'er tightly, leaped down from the stone staircase, and landed steadily on the platform, his gaze fixed on the spot where the red light had appeared.

"What did you find?"

"...I'm not sure yet."

Yun Che walked forward slowly towards the edge of the platform. At that moment, the very faint red light flickered across his eyes again. He quickly stopped, his gaze firmly fixed on the crack between two dark green-black stones on the platform. Yun Che crouched down, bringing his eyes closer. Sure enough, between the two dark green stones he had pinpointed, within the narrow, almost imperceptible crack, a very faint red light weakly emanated, appearing and disappearing intermittently.

There was something underneath! This was an ancient ruin, as Jasmine had called it, undoubtedly dating back to an incredibly distant past. Yet, the object beneath was still emitting a shimmering light of power, indicating it was an extraordinary treasure. However, if it were a truly powerful and rare treasure, the Sky Poison Pearl should have reacted. Why was the Sky Poison Pearl completely silent?

Yun Che extended his palm and struck fiercely at the crack. With a "thud," his palm rebounded, leaving his skin and bones throbbing with pain. Yet, the two dark green-black stones remained perfectly intact, without the slightest change.

"You want to shatter it? With your strength, that's absolutely impossible! Xia Yuanba is a mid-stage Tyrant Profound Realm practitioner, and he couldn't even crush an ordinary stone outside. The stones of this castle are far tougher than those outside. Even if you struck them with full force for decades, you wouldn't cause the slightest damage," Jasmine said mercilessly.