Chapter 13: Heavenly Palace Ruins

**Chapter 13: Heavenly Palace Ruins**

“This is…” Despite being mentally prepared, disappointment was evident on everyone’s faces.

Influenced by them, the others also looked up at the night sky and soon noticed the two moons hanging overhead.

“How can this be?” Many couldn’t help but exclaim. Their last shred of hope for returning home was shattered. They would never see their families again. Many female students sobbed uncontrollably, and everyone understood that they were truly far from Earth, with no way back.

“Mars... has two satellites, equivalent to the moons... seen from Earth…” Cade murmured in halting Chinese, then quickly spoke a lot in English, conversing with Li Xiaoman.

Over several decades, various space probes had transmitted valuable data about Mars back to Earth. The two satellites orbiting Mars are extremely small celestial bodies. Due to their small size and and distance from the surface, Phobos appears about half the size of Earth’s moon when viewed from Mars. Deimos is even smaller but brighter than other stars, resembling a miniature moon.

After someone familiar with Mars explained all this, everyone was deeply disappointed. It seemed there was no way home now. Their primary task was to find a way to survive.

They had already moved six hundred meters from the five-colored altar, much closer to the faint light source, which now seemed only about five hundred meters away. Without further delay, they continued forward.

Under the night sky, a gentle breeze brought a hint of coolness.

After walking another hundred meters, they were getting closer and closer to the light source. Just then, someone cried out, discovering a collapsed building. It appeared to be an ancient pavilion that had crumbled under the erosion of time.

“An artificially constructed pavilion. There must be humans on this desolate planet; we’re sure to find a way to survive.”

“Is this really Mars? Why are there human structures? The air, temperature, gravity, and so on are not much different from Earth, merely like a desert on Earth.”

Despite the immense disappointment, they did not despair but were filled with many questions.

“We’ve even seen dragon corpses; what’s this compared to that? Perhaps this is a special region on Mars.”

“Perhaps. A magnificent five-colored altar was built here, capable of drawing in the nine dragon corpses and the bronze coffin. It wouldn’t be wrong to call this a sealed land of gods.”

“If our guess is true, and this is merely a special region on Mars, then our living space might not be very large.”

At these words, everyone fell silent.

“If this is merely a small sanctuary on Mars, then what escape do we have?!”

Everyone’s emotions surged; this concerned their life and future, and no one could remain calm.

“Ah…” A female student suddenly shrieked, her cry echoing particularly far in the night.

“What’s wrong?” Everyone’s expressions changed, and they quickly asked.

“A skull! A human skull!” The female student’s face turned pale, her body trembling as she stumbled backward.

Not far from the collapsed pavilion, half of a white skull was exposed in the sand. The female student had just stepped on it, which explained her terror.

All the male students gathered around. Pang Bo kicked the skull out of the sand. It was clearly an adult’s skull, existing for an unknown number of years, almost completely weathered. Its bone structure was no longer smooth, covered in rough cracks.

What was astonishing was a perfectly regular round hole on its forehead, about the thickness of a finger, as if pierced by a sharp object. The edges of the hole were very smooth.

“It seems this place is full of unknowns and variables. Although this is just a skeleton, left years ago, it’s best we remain cautious.”

The unfamiliar environment and uncertain factors sent shivers down their spines.

“What are those things ahead?”

Under the hazy night sky, the stars and moons were not very bright, allowing them only a vague glimpse of an undulating outline ahead, like a pile of jumbled rocks, uneven and jagged.

As they approached, everyone was stunned. This was, in fact, a ruin, and what blocked their path was only a small part; a much larger expanse of ruins stretched horizontally into the distance.

Broken walls and scattered rubble seemed to tell an unknown story of the past. Under the night moon, the area appeared exceptionally desolate. In the past, this must have been a continuous expanse of magnificent palaces, but now it was a scene of desolation.

This was a vast ruin, covering a wide area. The solid foundations were all constructed from huge stones, making it possible to imagine the grandeur and scale of these palaces in their time.

And the light source was at the end of this ruin, behind a broken wall.

“Are we… truly on Mars? There was once a magnificent palace complex here?”

“How much manpower would such a massive project have required to complete?”

“What caused this place to become a ruin, with all the tall, grand buildings collapsed?”

Everyone almost forgot their fear. The enormous ruins before them filled everyone with awe. If they truly were on Mars at this moment, it was all too incredible.

Ye Fan calmly stated, “Actually, it’s nothing. We’ve experienced so much today that, by conventional standards, shouldn’t have happened. Even if someone told me that this vast ruin before us is the remains of a heavenly palace, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Pang Bo sighed, “Heavenly Palace ruins… that’s truly possible, especially since we’ve even seen dragon corpses.”

Hearing these words, everyone couldn’t help but be startled. Heavenly Palace ruins – perhaps this wasn’t mere fantasy!

The light source was ahead, gently radiating from behind that broken wall, creating a faint, indescribably ethereal and sacred glow.

“What exactly is that?”

The light source shimmered at the end of the ancient ruins, making the broken walls appear even more desolate and mysterious.

*Crunch*, *crunch*, *crunch*…

As they stepped on the rubble, sounds echoed far into the open night. They passed collapsed palaces and finally traversed the massive ruins. Ahead, the broken wall, though partially damaged, was still four or five meters high, making one wonder how magnificent it must have been in its prime.

“Let’s see what that light source truly is!”

The group cautiously skirted the massive broken wall, reaching the end of the ruins. Immediately, a sensation of profound comfort washed over them, as if a divine light had swept through the void and entered their vision.

They had now completely emerged from the ruins, appearing behind the broken wall, clearly seeing the light source ahead.

Fifty meters ahead, an ancient temple stood quietly. Inside, an old lamp cast a tiny, bean-sized light, illuminating an ancient Buddha.

In front of the ancient temple, an old Bodhi tree, gnarled like a coiled dragon, was entirely withered, save for five or six scattered green leaves about two meters from the ground. Each leaf was translucent, sparkling with green light, like divine jade.