The Great Ruler

In the depths of the old hall, there stood a lotus-shaped platform made of dark red jade. The lotus-shaped platform was softly lit and seemed unusually mysterious.

However, Mu Chen’s current attentions weren’t focused on this extraordinary lotus-shaped platform. Instead, he was staring at the fascinating flowers that were upon to, which were as black as ink.

The flowers were about a dozen hundred feet high, each etched with a pattern that seemed as old as the universe itself. It was as though these flowers had been born out of the existence of the universe, causing them to exude a calm sense of completeness.

However, among these perfect flowers was a broken branch. This ruined the sense of completeness at once.

Mu Chen looked at the broken branch. He knew that when Mandela was seriously injured, she had broken a branch, split the young bud that was upon it, then sealed the original body before using a duplicate body to escape the Ancient Celestial Palace. She did this in order to survive and buy time to wait for a better chance of escape.

At this time, the broken branch was rooted quietly on the lotus-like platform, as if it was in hibernation. But, Mu Chen was still able to feel the faint sense of danger that the bud was exuding. The unfathomable feeling made him shriek inside.

After sighing for a while, Mu Chen smiled, his face showing some relief. He had not expected to find the original body of Mandela.

However, Mu Chen’s happiness was short-lived. He quickly readjusted his emotions and carefully glanced across the hall. Since he had the opportunity to observe the place in advance, he must immediately find out all its hidden dangers.

Inside the hall, many white bones were scattered around, and there were traces of intense war in every corner. Obviously, unimaginably intense battles must have occured here.

The entire hall was silent. However, Mu Chen instinctively felt a sense of danger.

Mu Chen glanced around the hall. After ten breaths, his eyes finally focused intensely on some white skeletons that were gathered under the hall’s stone pillars.

As many remains littered the hall, the bones weren’t particularly eye-catching. However, when Mu Chen carefully examined them, he found that these particular bones were not scattered. Instead, rather the skeletons’ bones were arranged as if they were sitting cross-legged at the bottom of the stone pillars!

While their positioning seemed to be a bit messy, there were faint signs of a spiritual array shape. If Mu Chen had guessed right, the skeletons were maintaining the formation of a spiritual array. If that was the case, this spiritual array should be very formidable!

Mu Chen eyes flashed rapidly. Before this, Mandela had told him that she was seriously injured by Lu Hengyu’s sneak attack. If the latter was going kill her, she could have only chosen to seal herself. Then, she must also have had a certain degree of protection.

Hence, Mu Chen surmised that Mandela had placed her hope in these bones and the formation of the spirit array. However, this only caused Mu Chen to laugh bitterly, as these obstacles that were protecting Mandela were now obstructing his progress!

“This could be troublesome,” Mu Chen mumbled to himself. According to his estimation, even if he asked Xiao Xiao and Lin Jing for help, it would still be impossible to cross the hall and retrieve Mandela’s body.

The situation irritated Mu Chen, as he had not yet entered the Celestial Emperor Mausoleum. Thus, it was impossible for him to directly teleport Mandela in here.

“We need some powerful external assistance.” Mu Chen squinted his eyes. Then, after a long while, an idea flashed in his head…

As Mu Chen’s palm suddenly tightened into a fist, an ancient token appeared in his grip. The commander’s seal was the exact one that he had obtained during the auction. It had belonged to the Second Hall Master! And, the army belonged to the Second Hall lord, so it was a token of the Spirit-slaughtering Troop!

As Mu Chen looked at this ancient commander’s seal, he couldn’t help but hesitate. According to Mandela, although the Spirit-slaughtering Troop had been annihilated, the second main hall lord must have had some special reason to retain a small number of them.

Perhaps it was for the purpose of guarding me?

If he could control the Spirit-slaughtering Troop with this token, it might be possible to get through the hall and bring out the original Mandela. Moreover, Mu Chen thought that the trouble he had encountered recently was providing him with the opportunity to shine. It was his chance to prove his ability to the Hidden Scripture Pavilion!

Mu Chen eyes lit up. Just as a flicker of light appeared in front of his eyes, he glanced over to see Mandela’s body seal. This was a miraculous coincidence of timing! Instead of believing that this was a coincidence, Mu Chen really believed that there was a bigger power controlling all of this, and that the bigger power was probably the mysterious Hidden Scripture Pavillion!

He thought this because he knew that the Hidden Scripture Pavillion wanted to evaluate his performance and see whether or not he could successfully retrieve Mandela’s body. If he succeeded, he would probably be recognized and given the chance to enter The Hidden Scripture Pavillion!

Of course, if he failed and lost Mandela’s body, he would then lose the means to evolve the Great Solar Undying Body! This consequence was simply unacceptable to Mu Chen!

When Mu Chen thought of this, his face tensed up. If he could not retrieve the Mandela’s body, the Emperor of the Great Xia Dynasty would certainly not spare his life! However, the Mandela’s strength as an Upper Earthly Sovereign could only counter Emperor Xia. To worsen matters, Mandela had an archenemy, the Saint Demon King of the Saint Demon Palace. So, he must succeed!

Suddenly, Mu Chen gripped his fists. The expression on his face also became solemn. Immediately, his eyes swept through the light rays in the ancient hall. He figured that this hall was located within the residence of the First Lord, as the word “First” was inscribed everywhere on the stone pillars.

First, I must find the second residence and obtain the remaining Spirit-slaughtering Troop…

While Mu Chen’s thoughts were surging through his head, he immediately felt a strong fluctuation in the space around him. Suddenly, the scene in front of him shifted!

A misty sky emerged in front of him. Under the sky, a grand mountain emerged, and Mu Chen was standing on the top of that mountain!

Among the mountain peaks, there were neverending halls. These halls stood tall and emanated ancient airs. From the peak of the mountain, Mu Chen glanced at the most magnificent hall, which was so enormous, people looked like ants in front of it!

On the top of the hall, a plaque was hung. It was inscribed with golden characters that read “Second Hall.” A golden light was faintly emanating from the plaque.

“Is this the Second Hall?” Mu Chen looked at the big hall and couldn’t help but grin.

He headed straight toward the temple as fast as lightning. After a few minutes, Mu Chen appeared in front of the main hall and began to carefully examine it. He found a seal on the bronze door, which made it impossible for him to open the door.

He frowned, trying to think of some solution. After a while, his gaze suddenly fell on the plaque above the bronze gate. His eyes flashed and he gripped his fists, the Golden Dragon Disciple token appearing immediately in his hand.

The token flashed with a golden light, which directly shone onto the plaque. Suddenly, shiny shreds of light fell from the plaque, then landed on the locked door.

Click.

The bronze gate, which had been firmly locked for thousands of years, was finally opening at this very moment! When Mu Chen realized what was happening, he could not help but let out a huge sigh of relief.

The bronze door opened very slowly, and a flood of ancient air swept through his body. At that moment, Mu Chen seemed to hear countless battle cries in the background, all of which were extremely brutal!

After the door was completely opened, he stepped directly into the Second Hall. The hall was extremely spacious, but this once magnificent temple was a complete mess. Cracks were everywhere, which were telltale signs that this place had experienced a great battle.

However, Mu Chen’s current attentions were focused at the end of the temple, where there was a golden throne. A figure that was wearing a purple robe stood in front of the throne. His aura was strong and dignified.

The aura that that swept over the figure caused a change in Mu Chen’s expression, as the figure with the purple robe was not a virtual shadow, but real flesh and bone! Mu Chen knew that this Second Grand Hall could not house anyone with such an imposing manner other than the Second Hall master! It could be no one else!

Could it be that the Second Hall master was still alive???