As he gazed at the distant Immortal Palace wreathed in clouds and mist, Lu Chen's thoughts raced through the twenty-odd years of his life. They amounted to a single word-ordinary!
He had been born in a small southern city, without an influential family background or exceptional talent, and had eventually entered society with an unremarkable education.
His several years of work had hardly been outstanding, either. They had simply been steady and uneventful.
Had he not unexpectedly arrived in the Shrouding the Heavens World, the latter half of his life in his original world would have been almost entirely predictable.
Barring any great rises or falls, he would have worked hard, married, had children, and spent his remaining years in modest comfort and peace.
As for achieving something great or making a name for himself, those were merely dreams.
What were dreams? Things he could only dream about!
Even after coming to a world straight out of myth, must I still fade into mediocrity? Lu Chen asked himself.
No!
Suddenly, his gaze grew resolute, filled with unyielding pride, and a powerful confidence rose within him.
I have a young heart, the ambition to soar above all under heaven, and the advantage of knowing what lies ahead. Then I, too, can aspire to attain the Dao and ascend to immortality!
He would set out with hot blood in his heart, cross the boundless, desolate lands, and grow through fierce battles and contests against the greatest prodigies of all ages. He would witness the arrival of a great era of gods and demons, rise within it, and reach its summit.
In life, what one often had to fear was not being born ordinary, but having a heart content with being ordinary. To climb high and gaze far, to seize even a sliver of opportunity, one had to stake one's life and fight for it!
Turning to look at the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land and the sleeping Ye Fan and the others, Lu Chen resolutely turned away. Clutching the heavy Vajra Treasure Pestle, he strode alone toward the distant, ethereal Heavenly Palace.
He understood that confidence alone would not be enough to shine brilliantly in this world and reach the summit of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands. He also needed all manner of external support. Divine arts, treasures, resources-all were indispensable.
And the fragment of ruins left behind by the Ancient Heavenly Court ahead held the fortune he needed.
Among the dozen or so people brought here by the Nine Dragons Pulling a Coffin, Ye Fan's eventual heights went without saying: he would become the Heavenly Emperor, standing at the absolute summit of all ages.
The others, such as Zhou Yi, Pang Bo, Wang Ziwen, Lin Jia, Liu Yiyi, and Zhang Wenchang, would also achieve no small success. Almost all would reach the pinnacle of the Great Saint realm, enough to reign supreme and become founding patriarchs within a star domain.
In the Heavenly Palace outside the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land, Wang Ziwen obtained a Great Saint-grade item and remnants of a Nine-Turn Immortal Pill. Afterward, he was transported to the Heavenly Soldier Ancient Star, where he rose rapidly and married the daughter of a Great Saint—a model live-in son-in-law of his generation!
The gentle-natured Liu Yiyi likewise entered the Heavenly Palace ruins and consumed a peerless treasure pill. Several thousand years later, even she reached the pinnacle of the Great Saint realm.
Zhou Yi and Lin Jia also obtained tremendous opportunities in that Heavenly Palace. They were then transported into the depths of the universe, where the master of the Dao Palace, a peak Quasi-Emperor, took them as personal disciples.
Lin Jia ultimately reached the absolute pinnacle of the Great Saint realm and spent her remaining years on Earth alongside Liu Yiyi.
Zhou Yi was even more astonishingly gifted. In an era where the greatest prodigies of all ages lived together, he climbed to the realm of alternative Dao attainment, nearly attaining the Dao and becoming an Emperor.
Pang Bo, who followed Ye Fan into the Immortal Domain, likewise obtained an opportunity within the Heavenly Palace ruins.
One could say that Ye Fan's university class produced a remarkable abundance of prodigies, and several of them owed the foundations of their cultivation to the fortune they obtained in the Heavenly Palace ruins.
Now, Lu Chen would venture alone into that Heavenly Palace to seek the foundation of his own Great Dao.
As far as he knew, the first requirement for entering those Heavenly Court ruins was to leave the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land alive. Otherwise, one could not even see the Heavenly Palace.
He undoubtedly met that requirement now. As for everything else, he could only stake his life on the attempt and see how his luck held out.
In his memory, apart from a few of Ye Fan's classmates, the only person who had entered that Heavenly Palace was a peerless Divine King of the Ji Family tens of thousands of years ago. Judging by that, the entrants' strength varied greatly, and there was no special method. One could only rely on luck.
"After consuming the Divine Spring water and Sacred Fruit, I wonder how strong I am now."
Lu Chen gathered his energy and focused his mind. He felt vigor surging throughout his body, enough to tear tigers and leopards apart with his bare hands.
He tightened his grip on the Vajra Pestle and swung it hard at a tree as thick as his waist. With a bang, wood chips flew everywhere. Such a sturdy tree had actually snapped under a single blow.
"Among ordinary people, this strength would make me superhuman. If I encounter normal wild beasts, it should be enough to protect myself." Delighted, he carried the treasure pestle and ran toward the distant Heavenly Palace with great strides.
Before long, relying on his thoroughly transformed physique, Lu Chen crossed several mountain peaks. Only one mountain now separated him from the palaces wreathed in clouds and mist.
Yet no matter how he tried to cross that final stretch, a mountain always remained between him and the Heavenly Palace, as though an endless expanse of space separated them.
"I refuse to believe this. The fact that I made it out of the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land proves I have a destined connection." Lu Chen stared at the vast Heavenly Palace, looming indistinctly through the mist, and did not give up.
He began changing directions, circling the mountain and approaching that land of myth from every angle, over and over again, refusing to relent.
Meanwhile, the others awoke not long after Lu Chen left. Some had regained their youth, while others had become white-haired and aged. Apart from Ye Fan and Pang Bo, they all wailed in despair.
Because Lu Chen had slipped away without a word, some even suspected that he had tampered with their bodies. Of course, not everyone agreed with that notion.
After all, anyone possessing such abilities would be no different from a god. That was simply too unreal.
In the end, they placed their hopes in the distant Heavenly Palace, hoping to find immortals there who could help restore their youth.
Unfortunately, no matter how many mountains and ridges they crossed, they could not approach the Palace Complex within the immortal mist.
Fortunately, shortly after night fell, an Immortal Maiden radiant with rosy light flew across the sky and took them away from the vast primeval wilderness.
"Can I really not get inside?"
At that moment, Lu Chen was still moving around the outskirts of the ethereal Palace Complex, trying to enter from another location.
But no matter which direction he moved in, a mountain peak always stood between him and the Heavenly Palace. The seemingly short distance now felt like an impassable gulf.
Even with his firm confidence, he could not help feeling a little dejected now. He sat on a large blue-gray rock and stared fixedly at the mythical Palace Complex beyond the mountain.
Outside the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land, faint beast roars could already be heard in the primeval forest of towering ancient trees.
However, this place was still very close to the forbidden land that could strip away life, so only wild beasts of low intelligence lived here. Those powerful Great Demons would not readily approach the borders of the Desolate Ancient Forbidden Land.
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