Chapter 54: Ancient Palace

**Chapter 54: The Ancient Hall**

“It seems that the elders of the Spirit Void Holy Land have been alarmed and are heading here one after another.”

By this time, night had fallen, and the sky was dotted with stars.

The two walked several more miles and unknowingly arrived at a desolate area. It was barren, a scorched wasteland with only cracked foundations and broken rubble. Nothing else remained. Under the cover of night, a mysterious aura emanated from the place, with faint wisps of black mist swirling around.

“Thousands, even tens of thousands of years have passed, yet no plants have grown in these ruins. It’s truly strange, a desolate wasteland where not even a bird would defecate,” Pang Bo grumbled, feeling a bit discontent. He was hungry and thirsty, but there were no wild fruits to pick.

No sooner had he spoken than he was suddenly struck by an immense force, staggering and then falling into the darkness with a thud. Ye Fan stared in disbelief, hardly trusting his eyes. Pang Bo scrambled to his feet, turned to look, and immediately felt his scalp tingle, backing away swiftly.

Right in front of them lay a cold, lifeless body. Its skin, like withered wood, clung to the bones—it was a mummified corpse.

“What… what’s going on? Where did this mummified corpse come from?” Pang Bo felt a shiver. Being inexplicably struck by a mummified corpse would make anyone uneasy.

Ye Fan was also filled with doubt and surprise; he hadn't seen how the corpse appeared. They continuously scanned their surroundings. The scorched ruins were empty, with nothing but rubble on the ground. However, this emptiness only heightened their unease. This was an ancient land abandoned for countless ages, and perhaps some unclean things truly lingered there.

The sky grew darker, the starlight faded, and the area around the ruins became pitch black, with faint mist swirling.

“Why is it so gloomy and getting colder and colder…” Pang Bo felt a chill run down his spine, a bit nervous. “Where did this body fall from anyway…?”

“Let’s get out of here quickly,” Ye Fan said, sensing trouble. This was not a place to linger.

“What kind of cursed place is this? It’s so sinister!” Pang Bo whispered, a chill crawling up his spine.

Thud!

Just then, Pang Bo was knocked to the ground again. He scrambled to his feet, and beside him lay another mummified corpse.

“Who… who is so thoughtless as to just throw bodies around?” The joke was far from funny. Both men felt a chill and goosebumps as they frantically scanned their surroundings.

Two withered corpses lay on the ground, with some tattered clothes clinging to them that turned to powder at the slightest touch. It was impossible to tell how many years they had been there.

“What are you, come out!”

Thud!

Another corpse appeared, knocking Pang Bo sprawling.

“Damn it, do you think I, Pang, am easy to bully?!” Pang Bo exclaimed, both terrified and indignant that Ye Fan, standing right beside him, hadn't been hit even once.

“What in the world is this ghost? Come out now!” Ye Fan barked.

Boom!

The ancient ruins suddenly experienced a violent tremor, throwing Ye Fan clear off his feet, while Pang Bo also tumbled a considerable distance in disarray.

Thud, thud, thud…

This time, not only Pang Bo but Ye Fan as well suffered repeated impacts as ancient corpses fell from the sky, knocking them both down. If they had been ordinary mortals, their bones would have been broken and muscles torn by now. It was only thanks to their extraordinary physiques that they were not in danger.

Dozens of corpses lay on the ground. The place was eerily sinister and bone-chillingly cold, as if they had fallen into an ice cellar. Both men felt their hair stand on end, utterly bewildered by what was happening.

Whoosh!

At that very moment, Ye Fan felt all the hairs on his back stand on end, as if something was rapidly approaching. Without looking back, he rushed forward, then quickly darted sideways, dodging with lightning speed.

Two eerie green lights brushed past him, stopping dozens of meters away, flickering like will-o'-the-wisps. Simultaneously, the ruins plunged into absolute darkness, becoming so black that they couldn't see their own hands. The stars in the sky were completely obscured, no longer visible.

“It’s haunted!” Pang Bo instinctively fumbled beside him, but unfortunately, he hadn't brought the Great Thunderclap Temple copper plaque.

At this moment, apart from the two eerie green lights, they could see nothing else; a black mist had completely engulfed the ruins. The two green lights were each as large as a basin, like two ghostly flames or a pair of colossal eyes, appearing sinister and chilling in the black mist.

“There really are some unclean, filthy things here!” Ye Fan and Pang Bo immediately tensed up.

Whoosh!

This time, the two green lights moved incredibly fast, reaching them in the blink of an eye. They still darted towards Ye Fan, and although Pang Bo tried to help, he was sent flying by four or five mummified corpses.

The green lights moved faster and faster, completely locking onto Ye Fan, darting left and right around him. Finally, with a flash of light, the two green lights vanished, both entering his body.

“Ye Fan!” Pang Bo cried out, but there was nothing he could do to stop it.

At the same time, Ye Fan felt an icy coldness in his Sea of Suffering, as if it had frozen. He immediately activated the profound techniques described in the Dao Scripture, and in an instant, a glimmer of golden light burst forth.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

The sound of a tsunami erupted, and Ye Fan's Sea of Suffering transformed into a surging golden ocean, sweeping the two green lights high into the sky.

Boom!

With a violent tremor, the two green lights, as if startled, burst out of Ye Fan's Sea of Suffering and rapidly retreated. Simultaneously, Ye Fan's Sea of Suffering instantly calmed, and a bean-sized golden light settled there like a divine lamp.

Whoosh!

The green lights were incredibly fast. After bursting out of Ye Fan's Sea of Suffering, they sped directly towards Pang Bo, vanishing into his body in the blink of an eye. Pang Bo only managed a single curse before he stiffly fell to the ground, which greatly alarmed Ye Fan, who quickly rushed over.

“Pang Bo, what’s wrong?”

However, before he could reach him, Pang Bo sat up, his eyes glowing an eerie green. He instantly stood up, letting out a low roar like a wild beast, and stared coldly at Ye Fan for several minutes before finally shifting his gaze.

“What are you? Get out of his body!” Ye Fan demanded.

Boom!

At that moment, a fierce wind began to howl, kicking up sand and stones across the entire ruins. Black mist surged. Pang Bo stood there, his hair swirling around him, then suddenly strode away. The dozens of ancient corpses around him all floated into the air, following him as he flew towards the depths of the ruins.

The area instantly cleared, and the stars reappeared in the sky. From afar, Pang Bo could be seen flying, surrounded by black mist and swirling dust, carrying dozens of ancient corpses with him as he gradually vanished into the distance.

“Pang Bo!” Ye Fan cried out, and began to pursue him.

However, Pang Bo’s speed was incredibly fast at this moment, comparable to that of the elders who traveled on divine rainbows. He vanished from Ye Fan's sight in an instant, moving like lightning.

With Pang Bo’s body possessed, his fate was uncertain. Ye Fan was incredibly anxious at this moment, yet he simply couldn't catch up.

Ahead lay emptiness and vastness. Ye Fan had no other choice but to press on into the depths of the ruins, no longer caring how dangerous it might be.

By late night, Ye Fan had no idea how many miles he had walked, but he finally neared the deepest part of the ruins. Here, the dull thudding sound grew more powerful, recurring at regular intervals. Each thud felt like a hammer striking his heart, leaving Ye Fan pale and stumbling. Even with his constitution, he could barely endure it; an ordinary person's heart would surely have burst by now.

Trees gradually became sparse here, and broken ancient buildings grew more numerous. The spiritual energy also became increasingly dense, exuding a vibrant vitality, making it seem even more like a treasure trove than the Spirit Void Holy Land itself.

Dong!

Another dull thud. Ye Fan climbed a tall mountain and gazed forward. The so-called 'deepest part of the ruins' was just ahead, a dense cluster of ancient buildings. Although they were half-collapsed and had turned into ruins, one could still imagine their former grandeur.

What was most astonishing was that the endless expanse of ancient buildings encircled a volcano. Flames shot skyward, and within the circular crater, molten lava boiled and surged. Although it wasn't overflowing, it was terrifying enough to turn half the sky fiery red.

The sight of countless majestic ancient buildings encircling this volcano was incredibly bizarre.

At that moment, Ye Fan was utterly shocked, for he witnessed an unbelievable sight: within the volcano's crater, as the boiling lava surged, a magnificent ancient hall, entirely crystalline, bobbed and sank, occasionally surfacing.

Dong!

The dull thud emanated from deep within the volcano, or more precisely, from the ancient hall that floated and sank in the lava. It was resplendent and incredibly clear, exuding an aura of ancient times, while streams of divine radiance flowed around it.

Among the ancient buildings below the volcano, a five-meter-long divine bird, gleaming with golden light and wreathed in arcs of electricity, appeared. This was the Lightning Bird that had battled the Scaled Ape King two days prior. Its presence here, perfectly unharmed, left no doubt as to the fate of the Scaled Ape King.

The Lightning Bird was a true super fierce bird. Elder Wu Qingfeng had said that even he would have to make a detour if he encountered it. It dominated that section of the ruins, and no other creature dared approach.

Of course, it was not the only formidable presence. In other clusters of buildings, there were nearly twenty other fierce birds and savage beasts, all exotic species, mostly unheard of and unseen, each incredibly mystical. For example, a silver-winged centipede, as thick as an arm and two meters long, shimmered entirely as if cast from silver. It lay quietly among the ruins, with no other creatures daring to cross even half a step near it. There was also a fierce beast resembling a wild ox but with a lion's head and covered in dense blue scales. Standing over ten meters tall, it resembled a small mountain among the ruins and also claimed its own territory.

Nearly twenty such terrifying creatures were enough to signify the horror of the ruins' depths. At this moment, they completely surrounded the volcano, intently watching the ancient hall that continuously rose and sank in the lava.

It was then that Ye Fan finally spotted Pang Bo, standing among the ruins below the volcano, and let out a sigh of relief. Elder Wu Qingfeng and several other elders had him surrounded; though they hadn't attacked, they had him trapped.

Nearly twenty elders from the Spirit Void Holy Land had arrived, a number comparable to the fierce birds and savage beasts, indicating that the two sides were fairly evenly matched in strength.

“That’s…”

Suddenly, Ye Fan realized he had underestimated the number of beings present; there were also creatures on the volcano itself. A two-meter-tall burly man, whose arms were completely covered in scales, gleamed brilliantly in the light of the lava. Beside him stood a young woman, who had no arms but possessed a pair of golden wings, and whose long hair shone like golden threads. On equal footing with them was a giant serpent with horns on its head and sharp claws on its belly, completely transcending the definition of a snake, already considered a mythical flood dragon.

Ye Fan's heart tightened. He immediately realized these were legendary Great Demons, capable of taking human form.

“And there’s more…” Ye Fan was startled again, discovering three more suspected Great Demons on the other side of the volcano. One of them was an extraordinarily colossal man, three meters tall, who, despite having a complete human body, possessed two bull horns on his head.

At the same time, Ye Fan also spotted four or five actual humans, one of whom seemed to be the Sect Master of the Spirit Void Holy Land, whom he had seen from a distance before. Beside him were four white-haired, white-bearded elders, also not far from the crater.

The positions were clearly tiered by strength: below the volcano were over a dozen fierce birds and savage beasts, along with a group of elders from the Spirit Void Holy Land, while higher-level beings stood upon the volcano itself. Their objective was identical: all had come for the ancient hall in the lava.

All the powerful beings intently watched the crater. There, the lava boiled, and the ancient hall, shimmering with divine radiance, bobbed up and down, as if the power of time itself flowed within it, exuding an aura of primordial antiquity.