Chapter 4224: The Ancient Forest Within the Palace
Lin Moyu's aura grew ever stronger. Ever since he entered the Heavenly Void Palace, he'd maintained Power Gathering mode, holding himself in a half step Chaos Realm state. Within the Heavenly Void Palace, half step Chaos Realm was just enough to ensure self preservation; like an invincible chess piece able to wreak havoc on the board, but still only a piece, not the player. At this moment, Lin Moyu aimed to overturn the board either become the player himself, or end the game for everyone.
Controlling the guardian puppets was nearly an impossible task; subduing them by force would even be easier. Since that was the case, he'd just break down the door directly.
Lin Moyu realized one thing: with the fruit planted by the Causal Ring, every choice he made would be the correct one.
Power surged, thunder roared within him, and his aura leapt to the next level. The difference between half step Chaos Realm and true Chaos Realm was vast like the gap between Eternity and the Great Dao Realm, hundreds or thousands of times over.
Fatty was so startled by Lin Moyu's surge in power that she stood to the side with huge, shocked eyes, unable to speak a word.
Inside the Heavenly Void Palace, domain rules could not reach, so Lin Moyu had no fear of being expelled by domain rejection.
"World Annihilating Palm of the Great Dao!"
Lin Moyu, now in Chaos Realm, unleashed a palm strike with his full force.
A massive handprint appeared in the void, drawing upon the power of the Dao; all the Dao forces were gathered up, instantly refined into primordial Dao energy.
The handprint slammed down on the great door. The door burst with dazzling radiance, resisting the World Annihilating Palm. Lin Moyu was smashed to pieces, but immediately revived in a flash of violet light. Watching, he saw his attack was steadily crushing the resistance.
Both sides' forces were sources of Dao power, but the World Annihilating Palm had a unique trait: it could refine the Dao force it struck, turning it into its own. So, for every bit the imprint pressed forward, the door's power was depleted; but so too did the hand's power decline.
"Power Gather!"
Lin Moyu's aura surged again. The scene replayed itself if he couldn't overturn the board in one strike, then he'd do it twice; if twice wasn't enough, he'd do it three times.
Once more, Lin Moyu broke into Chaos Realm, launching another World Annihilating Palm. Without pause, he cycled in and out of Chaos Realm, dying and being reborn with every strike; this was nothing new to him, just routine by now.
With ten consecutive strikes, the door could no longer withstand him. With a thunderous crash, it finally shattered.
The door wasn't opened it was battered to pieces by brute force.
Lin Moyu looked at his handiwork with satisfaction, muttering, "Another way to deal with an insolvable array is to simply break it by force."
This was a valid alternative; Lin Moyu had also considered, if the World Annihilating Palm failed, he'd simply use his Catastrophic Scepter. He refused to believe this door could block such a divine weapon.
Fatty was not only shocked but also a little bewildered: "So… you can do it like that?"
Lin Moyu grinned. "There's nothing you can't do. Let's go."
With that, he strode across the shattered door in two or three steps, Fatty hurrying to follow.
As Lin Moyu passed through, the undead servants instantly vanished as though they'd never been there.
The two guardian puppets, deprived of opponents, simultaneously returned to their posts at the two sides of the heavenly gate. Their job was to guard the door; whether the door was intact or destroyed was none of their concern. They were only puppets without intelligence incapable of reflection, acting solely on orders.
Beyond the door was a grassy prairie, and ahead, an ancient dense forest. In the depths of the misty woods stood a spired hall faintly visible.
Fatty pointed to the barely discernible hall: "That's the center of the Heavenly Void Palace."
Looking at the spired hall, Lin Moyu felt it looked oddly familiar and he could also see the Ferry of Tribulations, which had arrived from afar, currently parked atop the spire.
Around the tower, Great Dao energy billowed, forming drifting clouds. Lin Moyu could also see a certain figure inside hiding sneakily among the mists; it was the butler (the steward). The butler, though formless, could blend himself with the Dao force, making him difficult to spot. But as long as one had a soul, the Undead Eye could always find it.
The butler never expected that his presence would be so easily detected.
"So lively!" Lin Moyu laughed. His hunch was correct the butler's goal was indeed the heart of the Heavenly Void Palace.
Fatty was puzzled, "What's so lively?"
Lin Moyu just smiled, "Nothing, just that the ancient forest of the palace lies ahead, right?"
Fatty took the cue: "That's right. We're in the heart of the palace now. To reach the center, we have to go through the ancient forest, and the forest is very dangerous."
"What kind of dangers?" Lin Moyu pressed.
Fatty shook her head. "I only know it's dangerous, but as for what the risks are, I don't really know…"
Once again, a half solution. Fatty was essentially a guidepost and little more; she wasn't withholding information she simply wasn't aware of it herself.
At the edge of the forest, Lin Moyu saw ancient trees of various heights and girths, rooted in graceful disorder across the ground these trees had existed since the construction of the Heavenly Void Palace, now countless years old.
Thick and towering, they seemed to have grown to their limit; compared to the tree he'd seen in the small garden, these were even more formidable.
Each tree held peak Eternal level combat power. Plus, given their nature, every tree had countless branches and roots, capable of forming warriors or transforming into weapons; when all activated, they could lock down the whole ancient forest.
At that point, it wouldn't be a matter of numbers even if Lin Moyu summoned an army of undead, there would be too few able to truly fight at the front.
Just imagining it, Lin Moyu realized that his undead servants would never breach this defense. It was as if his own tactic of surrounding the enemy with undead was now being used against him: no matter how many he deployed, they'd never get through.
In addition, the ancient forest offered more than just trees. Through his Undead Eye, Lin Moyu saw that each tree had a soul, all of about equal strength. But deeper in, closer to the center, there were even more powerful souls.
Such souls exceeded even the power of Eternity Lin Moyu judged them to be half step Chaos level. There were roughly ten of them in the area near the center.
Closer still to the very core, there was a soul of even greater power this, Lin Moyu judged, would be the real challenge.
Now, Lin Moyu had two choices: One, keep using Power Gathering, raise himself to Chaos Realm, then open a way with the World Annihilating Palm, blasting his way inside. Two, find a way to break through the situation, because with such a careful arrangement from the palace's master, there had to be a correct method he just had to figure it out.
He pondered over the intentions behind such an elaborate design: since his arrival in the Heavenly Void Palace, everything related to divine runes and formation arts. Clearly, the palace master sought someone skilled in formations but after solving a portion, Lin Moyu had rebelled, overturning the plan instead of following the intended route.
Since he'd come this far, he might as well keep going on his own path come what may.
Lin Moyu resolved to force his way through, but not relying entirely on Power Gathering and brute strength…
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