Chapter 168: CH. 168 | Golden Palace
Without warning, the half ruined cultivation altar flared to life with its own golden radiance. Li Qingxue’s eyes narrowed.
That golden glow bore an uncanny resemblance to the aura Lin Tian carried whenever his transformation mode awakened.
The light kept blazing brighter, sharper, until Li Qingxue felt panic creeping in.
"Lin Tian!"
"The altar just lit up out of nowhere!" she called out, her voice sharp with alarm.
Lin Tian, deep in cultivation, snapped his eyes open the moment he sensed it. He tried to rise and step away from the golden altar. But something far stranger happened instead.
A pillar of golden light shot skyward, sealing Lin Tian within it like a cage. A powerful boom of qi rolled through the air, and ancient script tore free from the altar’s surface, drifting weightless around him.
Li Qingxue rushed toward the altar, desperate to reach him, but the instant she touched its edge, a violent surge of energy hurled her back, sending her sprawling as blood spilled from her lips.
"Qingxue?!" Lin Tian called out.
"I’m fine," she said, pushing herself up and wiping the blood from the corner of her mouth, "This golden pillar... it’s no simple barrier."
"Can you break through it?" she asked again.
Lin Tian looked down and shook his head. Much of the altar had crumbled away, leaving the ancient patterns and script carved into its surface too damaged to read in full.
"I can’t... it seems—"
WHOOSH!
A blinding flash of golden light burst from the altar, forcing Li Qingxue to shut her eyes tight against the glare.
The booming qi faded from the air, and the wind that had raged since the pillar first appeared settled into stillness.
She opened her eyes and froze, shock washing over her face. Her heart pounded, her cheeks drained of all color.
The altar before her had gone dark, its golden light extinguished, and with it, Lin Tian had vanished completely.
She spun in every direction, searching desperately for any trace of his qi. It was no use. He was simply gone.
"W-Where... did he go?"
Elsewhere, Lin Tian’s eyes snapped open, and what greeted him left his heart hammering, shock plastered across his face.
He no longer stood on the altar island. Before him now rose a floating island crowned by a massive palace, its towering spires wrapped in white marble streaked with gold.
A brilliant golden qi aura radiated from the place, flowing with perfect stillness, as though woven directly into the fabric of heaven and earth itself. The grandeur of it was such that even the clouds seemed to keep their distance, leaving the sky above unnaturally clear.
The palace gate stood ten meters tall, white and resplendent, elegance radiating from every inch of it.
Never in his life had Lin Tian imagined a place like this could exist within the Saintess Valley’s hidden dimension.
Where am I?
He stood atop an altar etched with a complete formation of ancient patterns and script, perched on the summit of a stone cliff, the only thing separating this altar from the golden palace beyond.
Curiosity getting the better of him, he tried flying toward the palace.
But the moment he moved, an overwhelming wave of cultivation pressure slammed into him, driving him down to his knees, blood spilling from his mouth, his very soul shaking under the weight.
The instant he let go of the thought to fly, the pressure vanished as suddenly as it had come. Lin Tian pushed himself back up, one hand pressed to his aching chest, still reeling from the shock.
"If I can’t fly there, then how am I supposed to reach it?"
"And why would this altar drag me here in such a mysterious way, of all places?"
He stood in silence, studying the gate ahead, which showed no sign of opening on its own.
His cultivation eyes flared to life, scanning for any hidden array that might explain why he’d been brought here. He found nothing.
After turning the problem over for a long while, Lin Tian decided to test his luck. He summoned a white qi orb at his fingertip and sent it flying toward the golden palace island.
In an instant, the white orb shattered, obliterated by the pressure of golden qi that lashed out against it. Yet he himself felt nothing at all.
Golden qi? Could this... be connected somehow to the Primordial Grand Heaven Transformation?
That demon from Sect Yuanmo said something about an Ancient Emperor, back when he saw my transformation.
Trusting his instincts, Lin Tian activated the Primordial Grand Heaven Transformation for the second time that day, with no idea what toll it might take on his body this time around.
But without it, he had no hope of unraveling the mystery locked within this Golden Palace.
His body shifted, his robe transforming to match the same golden hue, qi flowing like molten gold through his veins, his hair bleaching white and trailing long down his back, a halo ring settling into place as the final mark of the transformation.
If golden qi was enough to shatter my white orb, what would happen if I released a golden one instead?
Lin Tian raised his hand, summoning a golden qi orb at his fingertip, and released it forward. The orb sailed smoothly through the air, drifting straight toward the golden palace’s grounds.
No hostility answered it. No crushing pressure rose to meet it. His golden orb struck the palace’s white marble door cleanly.
The entire door blazed gold, then swung open, a powerful gust of wind sweeping out to wash over Lin Tian. The sound of it thundered like rolling drums, commanding every ounce of his attention.
So this golden palace holds some connection to the Primordial Grand Heaven Transformation. Could it also be tied to the Ancient Emperor himself?
Once the doors parted, the golden qi manifested into a staircase of hundreds of steps, bridging the palace gate to the cliffside altar where he stood.
With flight forbidden to him, Lin Tian steadied his resolve to uncover whatever secrets this palace held. He took his first step forward, holding his primordial transformation steady.
With every step he pressed onto the golden stairs, a ripple of qi stirred beneath his feet, faint in force but lending the place an air of quiet majesty that Lin Tian couldn’t help but feel.
His steps finally came to a halt before the palace gate. He stood frozen, taking in the breathtaking grandeur of what lay within.
Nature here thrived in perfect balance, every structure meticulously kept, white marble and gold the two elements he encountered again and again, trees growing thick and lush, spiritual qi so abundant and pure it seemed to hum in the air itself.
Off to the side, he could clearly make out buildings bearing the distinct architectural style of the Qin Kingdom.
No, wait. The architecture, the ornamentation, all of it far more intricate and refined than anything the Qin Kingdom ever built, which meant this place had stood long before the kingdom itself was ever founded.
Among the many structures scattered across the grounds, one drew Lin Tian’s attention forward.
A grand palace building stood at the heart of it all, radiating a qi aura both powerful and unnervingly steady.
He moved to approach it, but his steps faltered the instant he noticed a strange distortion of light rippling across the palace walls.
Curiosity flaring, he activated his cultivation eyes and found the walls and every surface of the palace covered in intricate golden runes, ancient and impossibly complex.
An ancient array... if I so much as touch it carelessly, it could trigger some defense mechanism built to kill.
Even so, he had no idea which direction to take. Countless buildings dotted the grounds, and only this one grand palace within the complex bore the protection of an ancient rune array.
Not a single soul stirred anywhere nearby, not even a lingering fragment of spirit. The place was silent, still, and at peace.
Yet that very stillness only stoked Lin Tian’s curiosity further.
He turned toward one of the nearby buildings, "Maybe... I’ll start by searching through each of these structures, one by one, and find out what’s really going on here."