Chapter One Hundred: Palace

At long last, the story had officially passed the hundred-chapter mark. A small celebration, and, at the end, a plea for a few recommendations and some added bookmarks.

Suddenly, a thunderclap exploded from the ground below, deafening in its force. Then the sky opened and rain began to fall.

“Blood-red rain?”

Lin Fan’s expression changed. He cast a divine art to keep the rain at bay, and only then did he notice something profoundly strange.

If one were to call it rain, it would be more accurate to call it blood. Even the air carried the faint stench of gore.

“What is going on?”

An indescribable dread filled Lin Fan’s heart, making his scalp tingle.

“It is about to emerge, but the best chance has already been missed. In the span between divinity and demonhood, there is but a single thought.”

The Wild Ginseng spoke, its voice trembling with terror.

“Who is going to emerge?”

Lin Fan asked. He snatched up the Wild Ginseng at once and darted away, because he had seen a streak of blood-colored divine light racing straight toward him.

“It is useless. You are all chosen. None of you can leave this place. You can only wait for that person to awaken.”

The Wild Ginseng slipped into Lin Fan’s Universe Pouch and left him with those final words.

The blood-colored divine light in the distance surged faster and faster, far beyond anything Lin Fan could match. In the blink of an eye, it had landed upon him.

Lin Fan only felt his whole body grow light, as if he were about to drift upward. The blood-colored light seemed murderous, yet in truth it did him no harm at all.

“Where is it taking me?”

Before long, Lin Fan was lifted into the air, borne away by the blood-red radiance, and carried off into the distance.

It seemed like only an instant had passed, yet also like countless years. When his awareness returned to his body, Lin Fan found himself in a vast courtyard. The place was in utter ruin, with shattered bricks and broken tiles strewn everywhere.

“What place is this?”

Lin Fan frowned and stepped forward cautiously, afraid of disturbing something hidden here.

Just then, a voice filled with surprise and delight rang out.

“Brother Lin, how did you end up here?”

The figure of the Young Master Falling Petals appeared in the distance, his robes stained with blood, clearly having only just come through a fierce battle.

“I was brought here by a beam of light. And you? What place is this, exactly?”

Seeing a familiar face, even Lin Fan felt a little pleased. The Young Master Falling Petals had left him with a favorable impression; he was someone worth befriending.

“Don’t ask. After we arrived at Mount Wangwu, we were separated. After that, I fought my way here through rivers of blood. There are strong ones everywhere. It has been brutal beyond measure.”

The Young Master Falling Petals looked somewhat exhausted, and he remained extremely wary, glancing around in every direction. Only after confirming that no one was nearby did he continue.

“This is a ruin, most likely something left behind from the ancient past. Killing intent is everywhere. What’s more, I discovered that the people who once disappeared at Mount Wangwu have all appeared here as well. However, most of them have already lost their sanity and become walking corpses.”

“Walking corpses? What exactly is going on?”

Lin Fan’s brow furrowed, yet there was an inexplicable gleam in his eyes.

“Walking corpses means—”

The Young Master Falling Petals’ tone turned icy. He suddenly extended a hand and grabbed directly for Lin Fan’s shoulder.

Radiance flashed, murderous intent raged, and in an instant the winds rose and clouds churned. The earth itself seemed on the verge of splitting apart.

“A pity. I had originally wanted to learn more secrets from your mouth, but this will do. You can die now.”

A cold smile appeared at the corner of Lin Fan’s lips. Without changing expression, he struck with a punch. Vast blood energy surged skyward, sweeping across all directions with overwhelming force.

“You?”

The face of the “Young Master Falling Petals” changed dramatically. He sensed a terrifying power crashing toward him, unstoppable as it crushed dry weeds and shattered rotten wood.

But it was already too late. Lin Fan changed his fist into a claw, spreading his fingers wide. Blazing light swallowed the front.

A miserable scream rang out. The “Young Master Falling Petals” coughed blood, his body breaking apart as streams of fresh blood burst forth.

Lin Fan stopped attacking and stood with his hands clasped behind his back, looking down on the other man with an air of superiority.

“How did you see through me?”

The “Young Master Falling Petals” changed color. He turned out to be an impostor.

“If you want no one to know, don’t do it in the first place. Did you think others could not see it? I never imagined that someone from the Ghost Domain would appear here.”

Lin Fan sneered. The vertical eye in the center of his brow faded away. Just now, he had used the technique of aura reading to see through the true face of the man before him.

“What? How did you know I am from the Ghost Domain?”

This time, the man before Lin Fan truly turned pale, even horrified.

“Only someone from the Ghost Domain would use such methods. I nearly fell for it too, but unfortunately, you were still a little short.”

Lin Fan reached out again and seized the man by the throat.

“Cough, cough... but I will not tell you. Once you have come to this place, no one will leave. Every one of you will die sooner or later.”

A cloud of black mist shot out from the top of the Ghost Domain man’s head. He had actually chosen to take his own life.

The Ghost Domain?

Lin Fan tightened his hand slightly and directly crushed the man into pieces.

“Why would there be people from the Ghost Domain here? Could their reach already extend into the Ancient Buddha Domain?”

Lin Fan thought to himself. He decided to leave this place. At the same time, a brilliant light came from afar, bright as the sun in the highest heavens. A massive palace appeared ahead, luxurious to the extreme, with strange phenomena unfolding one after another. Endless immortal cranes danced through the air, making it seem like a blessed land of the immortals.

“How strange. This is clearly a wasteland, so how could there be such a structure? And there are even signs of human habitation.”

A dense cloud of confusion spread without end. Lin Fan simply could not understand what was happening. It was as though, after the death of the Ghost Domain man, he had entered an entirely different world.

“Wind and cranes, a land of alarm?”

Lin Fan murmured to himself. An immortal crane flew toward him from the front, with a boy attendant seated upon it.

“Are you Lin Fan?”

The boy looked down on others from above, glancing at Lin Fan with an air of supreme arrogance.

“And who are you?”

Lin Fan was somewhat displeased, though he did not show it. Even so, his bearing remained unyielding.

“Come with me. My master wants to see you.”

The boy frowned, clearly not expecting Lin Fan to carry himself like this.

“Who is your master?”

Lin Fan felt as though he had fallen into a quagmire. At this point, he had to be cautious in everything.

“He will not harm you. I advise you to come along. Otherwise, when heaven and earth descend into chaos, without my master’s protection, all of you will die.”

The boy said no more. He urged the immortal crane beneath him into the sky and flew toward the distant palace.

Lin Fan hesitated for a moment, then followed. Better to believe there was a threat than to dismiss it. Besides, he also wanted to know exactly who the master of that palace was.

“When you meet my master later, be very careful with your words. My master has a bad temper, and his greatest hobby is killing geniuses. Still, if you are chosen, then your future will be radiant. To become a king or a founding ancestor will be no problem at all.”

The boy gave a proud smile. By now they were almost at the palace. A vast and majestic aura swept outward, noble beyond measure, as if a supreme ruler were seated there, looking down upon the whole world.