112. Entering the Underground Palace

Amid the thick fog, anyone who did not know the exact route might wander this maze for days without ever finding the way out, for each platform was linked to more than ten others. One could easily end up turning in circles, trapped in place.

As he moved forward, Chen Fengyun used his divine sense to leave marks on the platforms he passed, while scanning the surroundings. On a platform off to one side, or along an iron chain, he even discovered a few skeletons. They were likely the remains of people who had once entered the maze and failed to escape.

As he came to understand the structure of the maze, Chen Fengyun realized that it, too, was a great formation, only rendered in physical form. With the fog adding its own veil, the entire labyrinth became even more mysterious.

If one could reconstruct the maze in three dimensions, perhaps many people of exceptional intelligence and mental sharpness would be able to find the correct exit. Yet laid out on a flat plane, and with the fog interfering, one could circle for a very long time without the right path.

“Let’s take this way. It’s a little shorter,” Chen Fengyun suddenly said to Feng Tianbao after crossing five or six platforms.

The route left behind by the elders of the Southern Sect could indeed lead to the true entrance of the underground palace, but it took many unnecessary turns. After Chen Fengyun became familiar with the maze, however, he found a direct line.

“Mr. Chen, you know this maze?” Feng Tianbao asked in surprise.

“This maze is also a formation, only its creator made the formation concrete. With so many platforms and paths, and with the fog interfering, finding the shortest route quickly is no easy task. But I happen to know this formation. Follow me. You can leave marks along the way so it will be easier to return next time.” Chen Fengyun nodded, then moved to the front to lead the way.

Chen Fengyun’s route was essentially a straight line, so although the Southern Sect had entered the underground later than the Northern Sect, by the time they emerged from the maze and reached the entrance to the underground palace, the Northern Sect had arrived there as well.

“How did you get here so fast?” The Northern Sect members were astonished to see the Southern Sect emerge from the maze at the same time, and Zhao Tingfeng was even more shocked as he asked the question.

One had to know that in the past century, their Northern Sect had sent many people underground each time, and they had found several correct routes. Today, they had taken the fastest of those correct routes.

Only Ma Dingdang let her gaze linger on Chen Fengyun for a moment, because she noticed that the person leading the Southern Sect was a young man about her own age.

However, once they stepped into the entrance of the underground palace, Chen Fengyun quietly withdrew into the Southern Sect’s group, so apart from Ma Dingdang, no one in the Northern Sect realized that the one who had led them here was him.

“Ha! That just means our luck is good,” Feng Tianbao did not answer, but Ye Mingfu laughed heartily instead.

The Northern Sect members all furrowed their brows. If the Southern Sect had truly arrived by luck, then it was one thing. What they feared was that someone from the Southern Sect had once entered the underground palace and obtained information unknown even to the Northern Sect.

At that moment, Chen Fengyun paid no heed to the standoff between the two sects. Instead, he looked ahead with great interest at the entrance to the underground palace. It was a three-zhang-high archway, carved from a single block of gray-black stone, with several ancient characters reading the name of the Changbai Underground Palace. A weathered, time-worn aura swept over him.

“So this is the Changbai Underground Palace? I wonder from which dynasty, and from which cultivation sect, this place once belonged, and for what reason it sank into silence beneath the earth,” Chen Fengyun murmured. From those large characters, he sensed a wisp of spiritual fluctuation, enough to confirm that it was indeed the aura of a cultivator.

“Let’s go.” Ma Dingdang had not sensed any strong aura from Chen Fengyun. Though she still had some doubts in her heart, she said nothing and addressed the Northern Sect members calmly.

“We should go in as well. But once inside the underground palace, everyone must be careful. It is fraught with danger.” After the Northern Sect entered, Feng Tianbao also led the Southern Sect in after them.

Chen Fengyun walked at the very rear. When he reached the archway of the underground palace, he reached out and touched it. At once, he felt the shock of the cultivation system, a faint smile appearing on his lips. Then his thoughts shifted, and the cultivation system absorbed a surge of spiritual energy.

“Not bad. It actually increased my attributes by four points. If not for the passage of time, the aura on this archway would be even stronger.” Chen Fengyun smiled in satisfaction as he followed along. If anyone had been paying attention at that moment, they would have noticed that the four characters on the archway had already turned dull and ordinary.

“Whoosh…”

It was only half an hour later that someone finally emerged from the maze and arrived at the entrance to the underground palace. It was Ye Bufan of the capital, accompanied by Ye Yanfeng of the Ye family.

After that, one powerful martial artist after another came out of the maze in succession. For grandmaster-level martial arts experts, although the maze had caused them some trouble, each had his own methods for finding the right path.

By now, the Southern and Northern Sects were already exploring the various regions within the underground palace. Yet because the palace was filled with broken formations everywhere, danger lurked at every turn, and their progress remained limited.

The entire underground world was rather dim. After entering the Changbai Underground Palace, it seemed like a world of ruins: not only was the light even darker, but gray mist also floated through the air.

Chen Fengyun looked out across the land. This world of ruins was vast beyond measure; even his divine sense could not detect its boundaries. In many places, there were blank stretches where powerful formations blocked his perception.

Before the eyes of those from the Southern and Northern Sects, ruins and collapsed structures lay everywhere. Now and then, among the broken walls and shattered remains, one could even spot blackish-red stains of blood and scattered bones.

Yet whenever someone carefully stepped forward to turn over those bones, hoping to find something left behind by the dead, the bones would crumble into dust and disperse at once.

Chen Fengyun used his divine sense to carefully scan the surroundings, hoping to discover something still bearing spiritual energy or some other power, but he found nothing at all. It was as though this world held nothing but desolation and death.

“I wonder what enormous and ancient sect this must have been, to have been reduced to ashes like this,” someone sighed.

Looking out from the ruins before them, one could see dense clusters of buildings all around. It was easy to imagine how prosperous this place must once have been. Yet in the end, even such a thriving and powerful ancient cultivation sect could not overcome the passage of time.

The Southern and Northern Sects advanced not far apart, each following a road ahead to search and move forward. By silent agreement, neither side clashed with the other. Instead, they maintained their own search zones, spreading out with a distance of about two meters between each person so they could aid one another if danger arose.

Chen Fengyun walked among the Southern Sect’s group, while his divine sense enveloped those around him so he could respond quickly if danger appeared. But more of his divine sense seeped into the ground, seeking to discover anything buried within the ruins.

“Hm? What’s this?” Suddenly, Chen Fengyun’s expression changed as he detected a faint flash of spiritual energy fluctuation underground ahead and to the side.