158: A trick, a strange palace.

Compared to Nanny's curiosity, Lin Fan was mostly confused.

Everyone stood in the sand sea.

Lin Fan's mind was made up.

This desert was strange, but finding the person was more important. There had to be a result for Sima Ziqiu's matter first.

"Go," Lin Fan said, simple and clear.

Nanny nodded her small head, and their Divine Sense spread out like an invisible net in all directions.

The three Martial Emperors stood aside, silent. Although they were Seniors, they had long become accustomed to relying on these two young-looking juniors as their backbone throughout their journey. The secrets on these two were too many.

Soon, Nanny's eyes lit up.

"Senior Brother, over there," she pointed to the front left.

Lin Fan also sensed it; it was an extremely faint but incredibly familiar trace of Internal Energy.

"Follow up."

Lin Fan called out, skimming the sand surface, and sped toward the depths of the desert.

Though the three Martial Emperors had myriad questions in their hearts, they could only suppress them.

What kind of master sect did these two belong to, to possess such unfathomable investigative methods?

Flying.

Flying non-stop.

One day.

One night.

The surrounding scenery remained unchanged. It was still that boundless sea of sand.

The trace of Internal Energy suddenly cut off not far ahead.

Completely without a single trace.

The five people hovered in mid-air, their brows tightly furrowed.

"Little friend Lin," a Martial Emperor finally couldn't help but ask, "Could it be that we're going the wrong way? This place... seems to have nothing unusual."

"Impossible!" Nanny retorted without thinking. "We won't make a mistake!"

Lin Fan also nodded, explaining, "Seniors, you may not know, but my sect's secret technique is special. Sima Ziqiu's trace indeed ended right here."

The three Martial Emperors were even more surprised upon hearing this.

But then, how to explain the scene before them?

Could it be that Sima Ziqiu could just disappear into thin air?

The atmosphere became somewhat stagnant.

Nanny, this little girl, was already impatient by nature, and now she was even more infuriated by this bizarre scene.

"What a ghostly place!"

With a lift of her jade hand, a fire ball the size of a human head condensed in her palm.

Then, without thinking, she fiercely threw it towards the seemingly empty Void Realm ahead!

"Whoosh--!"

The fire ball whistled out with scorching heat waves.

However, a strange scene occurred.

The fire ball flew out no more than a hundred feet before it vanished into thin air, as if wiped away by an invisible hand!

Not even a ripple was stirred.

"Hmm?"

Lin Fan's pupils suddenly constricted!

He found something was wrong.

He also raised his hand, and a green vine, condensed from pure wood-attribute magical power, shot out like a spiritual snake towards the direction where the fire ball had disappeared.

The result was exactly the same as with the fire ball.

The vine vanished without a trace the moment it reached that area, like a clay ox entering the sea.

"There's something strange."

Lin Fan's figure flickered, and he had already appeared before that area.

He stretched out his hand, cautiously probing towards the seemingly empty Void Realm ahead.

His palm disappeared.

As if it had been swallowed.

The hearts of the three Martial Emperors instantly rose to their throats.

But the next moment, Lin Fan retracted his hand.

His palm was perfectly intact.

"It's indeed an illusion."

Lin Fan understood in his heart, no longer hesitating in the slightest, and actually stepped directly into the Void Realm ahead.

One step out, and the world transformed!

The endless sand sea before his eyes instantly disappeared. In its place was a vibrant primeval forest.

He took a step back.

Before his eyes, the desolate desert reappeared.

"This... this is?!"

The three Martial Emperors were already dumbfounded, their minds barely able to keep up.

Nanny's beautiful eyes also shone with brilliant light.

"Let's go, we'll go in."

Lin Fan called out, leading everyone to step into the Void Realm once more.

This time, everyone arrived in this unfamiliar forest.

Ancient trees reached the sky, vines climbed everywhere, and the air was filled with a refreshing fragrance of grass and wood.

It was simply two different worlds from the desolate desert outside.

"Look over there!"

Nanny pointed into the distance.

At the end of the forest, a majestic mountain soared into the clouds.

And on the summit of that mountain, there was actually a palace with an extremely peculiar style.

The palace was entirely constructed from an unknown white giant stone, with a rounded dome and giant stone pillars standing all around, full of exotic flair.

It greatly resembled the European architecture of Lu Yuchen's previous life on the Western Continent.

"Divine Sense... cannot probe?"

Lin Fan's brows furrowed slightly. He found that his Divine Sense was blocked by an invisible force, making it impossible to ascertain the reality within the palace.

"Let's fly over and take a look."

The five people no longer hesitated, transforming into five streams of light and flying towards the palace on the mountain peak.

But after flying for a full fifteen minutes, they were shocked to discover.

The palace was still in the distance, neither near nor far.

The distance between them and the palace had not shortened at all!

"This place is strange," Lin Fan stopped and slowly said, "It seems... we can only walk up."

The five people descended from mid-air and began to walk towards the high mountain.

This time, the seemingly distant distance finally began to shorten.

An hour later, the five people arrived at the foot of the mountain.

But when they looked up at the sky, the oppressive feeling in their hearts grew even stronger.

The sun in the sky remained high in the center, not moving a bit.

It was as if time was static here.

"This Secret Realm... is strange everywhere," Lin Fan murmured, "It seems... it has nothing to do with Martial Dao."

...

At the same time.

Inside the exotic European-style palace on the mountain peak.

Sima Ziqiu's figure was prostrate on the ground, trembling all over, his handsome face now filled with extreme piety and fanaticism.

Before him was a human-shaped statue several zhang tall.

The statue had wings on its back and a handsome face, yet it exuded an unspeakable evilness.

If Lu Yuchen were here, he would recognize it at a glance.

This was clearly the legendary... Angel!

A fallen, dark angel!

Suddenly, Sima Ziqiu, who was prostrate on the ground, slowly raised his head.

A curve appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"They've arrived."