Chapter 137: Abnormal Land and Palace

Gu Fan became alert, his gaze sweeping into the distance.

All he could see was a stretch of lush greenery; everywhere his eyes reached was covered with oasis vegetation.

In the distance, winding mountain ranges stretched out, with a few clear rivers flowing in between.

On some plains and grasslands, he could even see animals he had never encountered before moving about.

Everywhere radiated a vibrant and thriving atmosphere.

However, Gu Fan had already stopped in his tracks, not daring to take another step forward.

Before entering the rift, he had asked Nanyun about it. Based on all the intelligence gathered in the past, the interior of the rift had always been a dark and oppressive environment.

No one had ever said they encountered such a peaceful landscape.

Moreover, from his current angle, this area was vast.

It wasn't some tiny, hidden spot that would be hard to find.

If it truly existed, it was impossible that cultivators of the Destiny Continent hadn't discovered it after all these years.

Thus, what seemed like a peaceful scene now gave Gu Fan an eerie feeling.

"When in doubt, run!"

Gu Fan immediately turned around and sprinted madly in the direction he had come from.

He had a strong gut feeling—it would be better to return and fight that group from earlier than to continue going forward.

Something about this place felt entirely out of place within the rift.

But after a short while, he had to stop with a gloomy expression.

Despite running full speed for nearly five minutes, he had not left the oasis.

Yet earlier, he had only been momentarily distracted for less than three minutes, and he had not been moving as fast as now.

Why couldn’t he get out?

No!

Gu Fan’s heart trembled.

The real problem was—why did he become distracted?

Based on his personality, even if he relaxed slightly due to the gained distance and safety, he wouldn’t have spaced out for a full three minutes.

That didn’t match his temperament.

According to his original plan, once he was at a safe distance, the first thing he would do was travel back to the Zombie World, store all his Yuan Crystals somewhere secure, and then return.

How could he have drifted aimlessly and wasted so much time?

Realizing this, Gu Fan instantly understood—he had likely fallen into a trap not long after escaping the crowd’s encirclement!

And this place probably wouldn’t let him leave so easily!

With that thought, Gu Fan instead relaxed.

Then, he turned around and cautiously walked deeper into the oasis.

He walked for several full hours.

Given his physical endurance, even without moving at full speed, he had covered nearly a thousand li by his estimate.

Yet there was no sign of an exit.

Gu Fan passed through grasslands, even interacting with some of the animals, discovering that these creatures truly existed.

He also waded through rivers and climbed several peaks.

Everything felt utterly real.

During this process, he also tried to return to the Zombie World.

But to his despair, for the first time since discovering the Bronze Gate, the traversal failed.

The Bronze Gate still existed in his mind, but it showed no response—no matter how much spiritual power he poured into it, it wouldn’t activate.

As if he had never used it to travel before—no reaction at all.

This discovery directly wiped out his greatest trump card.

In other words, unless he perished here, he might be trapped here forever, unable to leave.

Of course, he still had one more option: die and see if he would resurrect through the Evil Lotus.

But even then, he couldn’t guarantee he’d escape this bizarre place upon returning.

And so, Gu Fan walked within this place for several full hours.

Until he saw a massive palace amidst the countless green mountain ranges, standing out strikingly in this sea of green.

Gu Fan understood that this might be the key to whether he could leave, so regardless of life or death, he had to enter it at least once.

Having figured this out, he didn’t hesitate. His figure slowly rose and landed on the plaza in front of the several-hundred-meter-tall palace.

"Could someone have cleaned this place? The palace lies deep within the mountains, surrounded by animals, yet this plaza is spotless without a speck of dust… or perhaps, neither animals nor dust can approach it?"

Gu Fan muttered to himself, when suddenly, the massive palace doors opened.

A cold breeze slowly blew out from the pitch-black interior.

Gu Fan took a deep breath, prepared for anything, and stepped into the palace.

Shua!

The moment he entered, the palace lit up as bright as daylight.

All the candle flames, in coordination with various gem-like luminous pearls, emitted soft radiance, illuminating the entire grand hall.

Gu Fan waited a few seconds and, seeing no danger, continued surveying the interior.

The height of just this first floor was several dozen meters, and in terms of area, it was several times larger than the main hall atop Overlord Peak.

It could be described as extraordinarily vast and luxurious.

Gu Fan walked inside, observing while remaining alert to any danger.

As he reached the opposite side of the entrance, he saw a staircase leading to the second floor.

Gu Fan frowned slightly, seemingly puzzled.

"This first floor has no partitions, no decorations—it feels as though it was never completed..."

He murmured softly, but didn’t linger, and proceeded up to the second floor.

This time, the second-floor hall was different, with many rooms dividing the space.

However, he found that he couldn’t understand the words on the doors. Some carried remnants of spiritual imprint, which he could still perceive and understand through divine sense, while others had lost their imprint, leaving only the characters for him to guess at.

On the first room’s door he ascended to, he sensed through divine sense that the meaning was "Refining Tools".

"Refining Tools—could it be that what’s inside are treasures? Judging from the scale of this palace, the items must at least be of the Magical Tools grade or higher, right?"

Gu Fan did not enter immediately. Setting aside whether he could even open the room or whether there were restrictions inside—

Even if there weren’t, even if he managed to take the treasure, if he couldn’t leave this oasis, it would all eventually be for nothing.

Who could guarantee that the palace’s owner wasn’t still present?

Gu Fan proceeded to the second room. On this door, it read "Spiritual Medicine".

"From Refining Tools to Alchemy, hmm… that makes sense."

On the third room, the spiritual imprint had already dissipated, and Gu Fan couldn’t recognize the characters, so he skipped it.

The fourth room read "Soul Removal".

These two characters, Gu Fan did not understand the meaning of.

The first two rooms were straightforward in their literal sense, but what did "Soul Removal" imply?

Without overthinking it, he looked to the fifth room, which read "Recasting".

"Soul Removal and Recasting… this feels like part of a sequence. Without the middle step, it’s really hard to deduce."

As for the final room, it was likewise unreadable to him.

Gu Fan had no choice but to give up on these six rooms and continued deeper in.

Passing through a vast, empty hall, he once again saw a staircase extending to the upper floor.

Based on his earlier judgment from outside, this palace had at most three floors.

In other words, going further would lead to the final level of this palace.

And also the level most likely to bring unexpected events.

Gu Fan activated all his spiritual power, ready to respond to any surprise attack.

Then, he slowly stepped onto the stairs leading to the third floor!

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