Chapter 698: The Palace That Rises to the Ground (1/2)

As Nie Tian’s soul awareness descended about a thousand meters underground, it once again ran into the mysterious ward left there by the Ancient Fragmentary Star Palace.

Like an enormous film, the ward sealed a vast space under the forbidden region, not even letting air through.

Nie Tian had made numerous attempts with his psychic awareness before, and not once had he managed to penetrate the ward and get a sneak peek at what had been lying there for thousands of years.

However, this time was different.

As his soul awareness touched the mysterious ward, changes suddenly occurred to the three fragmentary star marks that were branded on his chest.

He had only fully refined the first fragmentary star mark by now.

The first fragmentary star mark recorded the first part of the Fragmentary Star Incantation, from which Nie Tian had learned three powerful magics: Starstrike, Starshift, and Starfall.

However, he hadn’t had a chance to refine the other two fragmentary star marks yet.

Even so, it seems that that didn’t prevent all three fragmentary star marks from serving their magical use. At this moment, they suddenly flew out of his chest, morphed into three bright stars, and sank deep underground.

Through his soul awareness, which was in the depths of the earth, he saw that the three fragmentary star marks flew into the ward like rocks that were thrown into a lake, causing ripples to appear on the mysterious ward.

Immediately afterwards, his soul awareness was pushed up towards the earth’s surface by an unknown force.

Merely a couple of seconds later, his soul awareness returned to him.

RUUUUMBLE!

A heaven-shaking, earth-moving quake came from the depths of the earth.

Nie Tian’s expression flickered as his eyes snapped open, then he saw the earth fluctuating like a carpet that was being shaken.

The rumbles grew more and more deafening as the fluctuations spread from the place Nie Tian was sitting on far into the distance.

Soon, Nie Tian realized that the entire Void Illusion Mountain Range had started to shake. Even Shatter City, Ash City, and the Land of the Abandoned, which were rather far from this region, seemed influenced.

At the center of the forbidden region, the rocky bottom of a huge crater suddenly crumbled and sank, creating a deep hole that rapidly spread in every direction.

While lands shook and mountains were rocked, something enormous gradually rose from the depths of the earth.

“W-what’s hapening, Nie Tian!?” Li Langfeng asked with a stutter.

He had a feeling that Nie Tian was causing these great changes.

However, Nie Tian hadn’t been doing anything but sitting beside him with his eyes closed. Could he have caused such upheavals just by doing that?

“I don’t know either.” With these words, Nie Tian rushed towards the central area, where something was rising from a deep hole in the earth, thinking that he was finally going to uncover the secret that had been hidden underground for an unknown amount of time.

RUUUUMBLE!

The earth continued to tremble as all of the rocks in that area shattered and sank into the deep hole.

The tip of a magnificent ancient palace rose to the earth’s surface, like a huge monster that had barely gotten its head out of a deep pit.

After rushing to the site, Li Langfeng’s eyes brimmed with shock and disbelief as he asked, “What... what the hell is that?! Why was there a palace in the depths of the earth?”

Nie Tian didn’t know how to answer his questions.

He only stared blankly at the grand palace that was still slowly rising, causing a larger area around it to crumble and sink.

The palace was greenish-black. Countless star formations could be seen engraved on its surface.

Upon first glance, Nie Tian realized that those star formations were very similar to the ones that were carved on the inside of the lofty mountain peaks in the Realm of a Thousand Devastations and the Realm of Mystic Heaven.

It was just that the star formations on the surface of this magnificent palace were now dim and lifeless, as if only when they were infused with star power would they display their magical use.

Like an enormous beast that had awoken from its deep slumber, the majestic palace gradually rose to the earth’s surface.

Loud rumbles continued to shake heaven and earth.

Every Qi warrior in the entire Realm of Split Void felt the changes. It didn’t matter whether they were in Shatter City, Ash City, the Land of the Abandoned, or the Void Illusion Mountain Range.

One figure after another started converging on the forbidden region from different directions with worried expressions on their faces.

Several minutes later, the ancient palace that had been buried in the depths of the earth for many years finally stood before Nie Tian.

Compared to the Heaven Palace Sect’s former headquarters, which had been destroyed by the Phantasms’ ancient starship, this palace was even larger and more magnificent. Its surface seemed to be covered in countless star formations. Not a single spot was left out.