After Xu Qing entered the hand, the Captain gritted his teeth. Grabbing the hand, he swung it around as hard as he could and then hurled it over the wall.

The hand became a streak of light that shot into the palace complex. The moment it entered the complex, the warding spells activated again. However, the hand was extremely tough, so its flesh ended up lacerated and cut down to the bone, but it made it into the courtyard intact.

Before long, the hand’s mouth opened and Xu Qing stepped out. He looked around.

Of the nine palaces that made the phoenix-shaped complex, the middle one was glowing with violet light. Simultaneously, a similarly colored light was shining in Xu Qing’s bag of holding. A jade slip flew out of the bag of holding, moving of its own accord to hover in front of him. It was the same jade slip Arch-Immortal Plumdark had given him, which contained protective power from her. The moment it was out in the open, it pulsed with light.

The light in the palace flickered in response. A blurry figure appeared within the violet light in the palace, floating there and looking at him.

Xu Qing’s heart flip-flopped.

It was none other than Plumdark!

But now that he was closer, Xu Qing could see that she wasn’t exactly like the Plumdark he remembered. It wasn’t in terms of her looks, but rather, her bearing. This person seemed desolate, even emotionless.

Xu Qing stood there for a moment before walking forward. As he approached, the warding spells seemed to make a path for him, allowing him to walk right up to the center most palace. Taking a deep breath, he pushed open the ancient doors.

They opened noiselessly, revealing a pitch black hall.

There were no lamps in the hall, making it very dark and gloomy. In fact, it was so dark the light from outside couldn’t enter.

Xu Qing stood there for a while getting used to the darkness, until he was finally able to see the interior. The hall was almost completely empty. There were no chairs or anything else. However, there was a lonely statue in the middle of the hall. It was easy to imagine how, when the door was closed and the hall was sealed, it would feel very much like a cage. There was only that statue there, standing eternally alone.

The statue was of a woman, but she was not Plumdark. However, she was beautiful. And within that beauty was a gracefulness that came with age. The statue didn’t seem to want to hide that age, as there were some wrinkles at the corner of her eyes. She had a warm smile on her face, and her eyes had been sculpted in a way that made them seem warm and merciful.

In her hand was a lamp that she held as if it were the most precious object in the world. It was a very unique lamp. It was carved from purple stone, and it resembled a blooming bauhinia flower. On the surface of the flower rested a violet phoenix with its wings outstretched. It looked very lifelike.

Upon seeing that lamp, Xu Qing struggled to control his breathing. It was a life lamp, or more precisely, it was a sculpture of a life lamp. Xu Qing had never seen it before, yet it seemed very familiar to him. And the reason was because of a dream Arch-Immortal Plumdark had related to him.

“There’s a dream I have occasionally…. In the dream, the world is pitch dark. I can’t see anything except for a lamp, which is right in front of me…. The lamp is extinguished. It has no light. That makes it almost impossible to see. Nor can I touch it. It’s as if it’s too far away, but at the same time, incredibly close to me.

“In my imagination, it looks like a blooming bauhinia flower. And living on it is a little violet phoenix with its wings spread.

“That lamp has always appeared in my dreams, and it’s always extinguished. And there is never any light in that world.” 1

Xu Qing was visibly stunned.

In the past, he’d assumed the story was just a random dream Arch-Immortal Plumdark had. But then he saw Plumdark outside this hall. And then he saw this carving of a lamp. He had no idea where the real version of the lamp was. In the holy lands? Vanished in time?

Why would Plumdark dream about this lamp? And why did she appear in the violet light outside? What karma connects her to this lamp?

Within the darkness of the hall, the image of Plumdark appeared in front of the statue. She was looking at the statue, her eyes glittering with something like familial admiration, and also extreme bitterness. She looked over her shoulder at Xu Qing, and something flashed through her desolate eyes. She opened her mouth and spoke. 𝘪𝑎.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Xu Qing heard nothing. But after she finished speaking, her expression changed. It became sorrowful. All of a sudden, another figure entered the hall, walking forward and through Xu Qing.

Shivering, Xu Qing looked over his shoulder, then back at the figure that had just walked through him.

It was a tall young man wearing an imperial robe with a four-clawed golden dragon on it. He had a nine-tasseled imperial crown, and though he emanated no aura, a mere glance at him gave the impression of mighty strength. 2

Standing with his back to Xu Qing, he spoke to Plumdark, although Xu Qing couldn’t hear what he was saying.

Plumdark wept as she looked outside of the hall. She seemed overwhelmed with sorrow. That was when Xu Qing realized that, reflected in her pupils was a shattered sky, and an enormous broken face looming there.

Xu Qing suddenly realized that what he was seeing wasn’t real, but rather, was like a recorded image!

Earlier, Plumdark hadn’t been looking at him. She had just been looking in the direction where he was standing.

As he watched, Plumdark shook her head and spoke. She seemed to be saying something critical. The figure in the imperial robe eventually extended his hand, as if asking Plumdark to leave with him. Plumdark decisively shook her head. The young man in the imperial robe stood there for a long moment. Then he took a small violet bottle out of his robe. Walking up to the statue, he poured a few drops of liquid from the bottle onto the violet lamp.

The liquid was transparent, like lamp oil.

Having done that, he put the nearly empty bottle down to the side. Then he turned, revealing a face full of grief and bitterness. When Xu Qing saw his face, he was shocked to find that the young man looked very similar to Plumdark. Apparently they were brother and sister.

The young man left, walking through Xu Qing and out of the hall…. After he was gone, the doors of the hall slowly closed.

Plumdark knelt in front of the statue, her face a mask of sorrow. Gradually, the hall started to turn dark again. The lamp carving had oil in it, but the darkness continued to gather until everything disappeared.

Everything turned very cold. When darkness and gloom filled the hall, the only thing that remained was a sigh that echoed out before fading into nothing. A moment later, the darkness vanished. It turned into a violet light that swept back toward the distant wall of flesh.

When the violet light was gone, the coldness disappeared. Everything returned to normal for Xu Qing.

The Captain stood next to him, panting for breath.

“Well this is annoying, little Junior Brother. I wonder who lived here back in the day. That was really tough, especially the violet light which—”

The shadow by the wall hastened back to Xu Qing, where it trembled and sent him emotional fluctuations of embarrassment and terror.

“Scared… can’t get… in.”

Xu Qing frowned and looked at the courtyard beyond the wall.

“Eldest Brother,” Xu Qing interrupted, “I feel like this place is familiar. Did you hear that just now?”

“Familiar? Hear something?” The Captain looked stunned.

“It was like a sigh came from that violet light just now,” Xu Qing said solemnly.

The Captain’s expression flickered, and he was about to say something when a rumbling sound echoed out from the safety zone about 250 kilometers away. Despite the great distance involved, the sound was very clear, and they even felt the ground tremble. Then their command swords vibrated as a notification came in.

“The third wave has arrived. Furthermore, Seventh Prince has new orders for those who came in the first wave. For seven days, you have been working hard here in Forbidden by the Immortal. Dramatic events may be unfolding, so you may all leave over the course of the next three hours. Those who came in the second wave may leave after they have been here for seven days. The same pattern holds for the third wave.”

Xu Qing and the Captain looked at each other. There was no way they were going to leave, so they put their command swords away and looked back at the wall of flesh.

The Captain had been about to ask Xu Qing about the sigh he mentioned, but before he could, something occurred to him. Eyes widening, he looked at Xu Qing. Xu Qing apparently had thought of the same thing, as he also turned to look at the Captain.

“The third wave is already here?”

“Last I remember, the second wave had just shown up….”

Their pupils constricted simultaneously as they took out their command swords again to review the contents of the notification. Both of them focused on the same thing, and it caused waves of shock to roll through them.

“Seven days?” The Captain’s eyes narrowed.

“When we arrived at this palace complex, it was the fourth day, and the second wave had just arrived.” Xu Qing’s expression became incomparably serious.

“As far as I can tell,” the Captain said, “we’ve only been here for about the time it takes an incense stick to burn. But based on the information from the command sword, it’s been three days!” His eyes glittered. “What were we actually doing during those three days?”

Xu Qing’s expression was very unsightly as he looked past the wall of flesh at the nine palaces. He suddenly got the sensation that he had forgotten something. At the same time, he felt like this area seemed very familiar. It was a feeling very much like what he had experienced back in D-132. Without any hesitation, he tapped into the power of his D-132 heavenly palace and sent it throughout his body.

The Captain’s expression was grim. The image of a face appeared in his pupils and his aura turned very cold as he looked in the same direction as Xu Qing, at the wall of flesh.

A long moment passed, and they slowly backed away from the area. As they did, the nine palaces began to crumble and disappear. Seeing that, Xu Qing and the Captain stopped in place. The moment they did, the crumbling stopped. Eyes blank, they took a few steps forward, which caused the crumbling to reverse. Then they backed up, and it started again. After they had backed up about 3,000 meters, the palace complex had crumbled into nothing, as it would have thanks to the ravages of time. However, there was one thing that didn’t crumble. An old statue.

It was in such bad shape it was impossible to tell much about it. Its facial features weren’t visible. It wasn’t possible to tell if it was male or female. It didn’t even have arms. The only thing visible was a lamp.

And next to the lamp was a violet bottle, right there in the middle of the ruins.

1. Plumdark explained her dream in chapter 380. ?

2. The robes with the four-clawed dragon would be for princes or other royalty, as opposed to the emperor himself. And the crown with nine tassels would also be worn by high-ranking people other than the emperor (with the emperor having a twelve-tasseled crown). ?

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