Helen's Inheritance

Looking at the empty space before him, Gu Ding guessed that he must have been teleported to the twenty-first floor. Based on previous experience, the sixteenth floor should be similar to the previous floors, but the environment before him had no gravel, no weeds, no dead trees, only a ground paved with gray stones.

"We're pretty lucky!" Sea Emperor quickly confirmed Gu Ding's guess. "This is the twenty-first floor."

"Which way should I go?" Gu Ding looked around and felt that all directions seemed the same.

"I don't know either," the Sea Emperor gave a strange reply. "Before we arrived at this level, the detection results were like a fog, with something faintly glowing in the center. But now that we're here, it's like we're inside the fog, with nothing but white all around. If it weren't for your eyes, I wouldn't even be able to detect the ground. There must be some special rule here that can evade my covetousness and detection."

"All the other parts of this ruin hold no secrets for me, except for this one area. Therefore, Helen's legacy can only be hidden in this layer, not anywhere else," the Sea Emperor offered his speculation.

"Then I'll just pick a direction randomly!" Gu Ding turned around again and found that no matter which direction he went, it was the same. This godforsaken place made it impossible to even distinguish between east, west, south, and north, so he had no choice but to randomly choose a direction and run away.

The day passed quickly, and along the way, Gu Ding saw nothing but the gray stone ground.

"Sea Emperor, have you noticed anything unusual along the way?" Gu Ding couldn't help but ask.

"My investigation is useless now, but I've been using your eyes to observe the surroundings. I haven't found anything unusual, except that every single gray stone brick on the ground is exactly the same—shape, size, color. Even the gaps between two bricks are identical," the Sea Emperor stated his findings. "It feels like we're walking through Illusion Array ..."

"Wait, Illusion Array ... this is very likely an Illusion Array. It's precisely because the Illusion Array is useless to you that you can't see this gray stone ground. It's very likely that the mist you're seeing is the true scene of this level." Gu Ding said, stopping in his tracks.

"But I can't detect any signs of any array being set up," the Sea Emperor said, expressing his doubts.

"The reason you can't detect it might be because your access level isn't high enough," Gu Ding guessed. "Tell me, where am I in that fog, and how do I get to the center of it?"

"You've been in the center the whole time. No matter how you move, the mist seems to move with you." The Sea Emperor had noticed from the beginning that Gu Ding's teleportation point was right in the center of the mist.

"I understand!" Gu Ding immediately stopped and sat down cross-legged.

"What do you understand?" The Sea Emperor was confused.

"I only have a guess. Whether it's right or wrong, only time will tell." Gu Ding didn't reveal what he understood. Instead, he sat steadily on the ground, took out the mountain of one-star demon beast corpses, and used his Devouring Flame to engulf them and begin refining them.

Seeing that Gu Ding immediately entered a meditative state, the Sea Emperor didn't ask any further questions. He was puzzled as to why Gu Ding understood things he couldn't, even though he was far more Gu Ding. However, he continued to pay attention to the surrounding movements, as well as the actions of Liliath and the others.

Time passed day by day. The day the ruins were to close was drawing ever closer. Gu Ding remained seated, refining the beast corpse, as the vital energy continuously flowed into it.

Gu Ding sat there cultivating for three days and three nights, refining tens of millions of beast corpses, but the effect of the Myriad Manifestations Emperor Body only increased from 3,000 times to 3,100 times in permanent amplification.

On this day, the Sea Emperor finally noticed that the fog within his detection range was slowly thinning. He immediately notified Gu Ding. "Gu Ding, the fog seems to be gradually thinning."

Gu Ding then opened his eyes and put away the pile of beast corpses that had been lying to the side. But he remained seated and waited patiently.

Under the Sea Emperor's investigation, the fog finally dissipated completely, and he finally discovered a palace not far away.

At that moment, a Gold Palace suddenly appeared before Gu Ding's eyes. The palace steps were less than fifty meters away from where he was sitting.

Gu Ding then stood up, finally realizing that his guess was correct.

"What exactly did you discover back then?" Sea Emperor couldn't help but ask.

"If you were the one who set up this ruin, and you had a treasure you wanted to hide in the maze, where would you hide it?" Gu Ding asked.

"Of course, it's hidden at the deepest part of the maze! Because the further in you go, the less likely outsiders are to escape the maze's illusion, and the lower their chances of obtaining the treasure." The Sea Emperor gave his answer, and he quickly understood, "I get it. If we consider the area covered by this mist as a maze, then the center of the mist is the deepest part of the maze, so the treasure is hidden in the center of the mist!"

"Because the treasure is in the center of the mist, and I was also teleported to the center of the mist, it means the treasure has always been within my reach. And no matter how I move, the center of the mist keeps changing, indicating that my position and the treasure's position are essentially the same as my shadow's position; there's no need to waste energy chasing my shadow. Therefore, I chose to wait," Gu Ding explained.

"Now that the palace has appeared, let's go in and take a look!" The Sea Emperor also seemed a little excited. Although he could detect the existence of the palace, he still knew nothing about what was inside. His detection was blocked by a strange rule and he could not detect anything inside the palace.

Gu Ding also stepped onto the palace steps and walked towards the main hall.

Above the main gate of the main hall is a golden plaque with the words "Suppress Demons" clearly written on it.

As they approached the door, before Gu Ding could even reach out to push it open, the door creaked open automatically.

Gu Ding paused for a moment, but immediately stepped through the gate.

As soon as he stepped through the gate, a beam of light shot towards him. Gu Ding quickly dodged, but couldn't avoid it. After being hit by the beam, Gu Ding didn't feel anything unusual. "What's going on?"

Suddenly, a mechanical female voice rang out:

Age: 15

Cultivation level: Demigod

Cell Comprehensive Index: Eight Stars

Mental Strength Index: Five Stars

Divine Source Strength: Thirteen Stars

Martial Dao Domain: Three Stars

Martial Dao Intent: Subtle Mastery

Does it possess forbidden power: Yes

Divine Fire Levels: a+, a+, a+, a

Potential rating: a

Overall rating: b+

Detection result: Good

Gu Ding hadn't expected such a beam of light to sweep over him. His personal information had been probed; generally speaking, only Smart Watch that had been linked to him could detect his body data. Other methods were ineffective. Therefore, this kind of probe annoyed Gu Ding.

"Hello, young man, that was just a routine probe, no offense intended." A woman stepped out of the darkness, dressed in red armor and with a slender figure.

Gu Ding was immediately startled. He hadn't noticed anyone else in the hall from the beginning, and even after the other person left, he still couldn't sense their presence.

"I can't detect her presence!" The Sea Emperor felt uneasy. This was the first time he had encountered a situation where he could clearly see the other person standing there, but couldn't detect anyone.

"It's normal that you can't detect my presence, because I'm just a projection right now." The woman continued walking towards Gu Ding.

Gu Ding then got a clear look at her; she was a strikingly beautiful woman with short hair. After looking her up and down, he suddenly felt she looked somewhat familiar.

"She is Helen!" The Sea Emperor recognized her immediately.

"My name is Helen. You should have heard of me before you entered the ruins." The woman introduced herself with great ease. "I perished more than 200,000 years ago. This is just a projection. The one speaking to you is a fragment of my consciousness."

"Hello, my name is Gu Ding." Gu Ding finally felt a little relieved. "Where exactly is this place?"

"This is the Ancient Demon Suppression Hall, a place for training Demon Suppression Expert," Helen explained.

"Although the Demon Race and humans are no longer allies, there's no need to suppress them. Humanity's greatest enemy right now should be the insectoid race." Gu Ding felt somewhat confused.

"The demons we're talking about are different from what you're referring to. You're talking about the Demon Race of our native plane, but the demons I'm referring to are invaders from other planes. Invaders from other planes, regardless of their race, can all be called demons. For example: the insectoid race, the Abyss Clan, the Nether Race, the gods... and many other races." Helen explained earnestly. "These invaders from other planes are the enemies of all humanity. The Demon Suppression Hall is also there to cultivate beings to fight against these creatures."

"So, the main task is still to kill the insectoids?" Gu Ding roughly understood what the other party was saying.

"The Zerg are powerful now, so you can understand it that way." Helen nodded.

"I don't quite understand. Do you mean I need to join this organization called the Demon Suppression Hall?" Gu Ding asked with a slight frown. He didn't want to join any organization, which was the main reason he chose to become Interstellar Pirate in the first place.

"The Demon Suppression Hall is not an organization; it is actually a special kind of inheritance palace with teleportation and reward functions. Only those who are recognized can obtain the key to this palace and thus gain access to it. Inside this palace, you can accept corresponding challenges to obtain rewards and improve your strength. In short, it is a platform that allows you to obtain more high-quality cultivation resources."

"The reason I was able to become the strongest in the Shallow Sea Zone and kill the Starry Sky Giant Beast with the High-rank God when I was alive was because I always obtained the best cultivation resources from the Demon Suppression Hall, which far exceeded those of other strong people in the Shallow Sea Zone."

Helen pulled out a golden key. "There are nine keys to the Demon Suppression Hall, each held by one of nine different people. This is one of them. The vast majority of my wealth is stored in the Demon Suppression Hall's warehouse, which requires this key to open. My memories and legacy, as well as the legacy and memories of those powerful individuals who used this key before me, are all contained within this key. Now I'm giving it to you; from now on, you will be the owner of this key."