As those words fell, the being on the Divine Seat could not help chuckling softly.
"You really are... naive..."
"But... you do indeed have that right."
"You... won."
"The Boundless Celestial Palace... from this moment onward... belongs... to you..."
And as the final word fell, the scene directly before Zhou Heng dissolved completely.
Like the curtain falling on a play, all the light, sound, and phantoms vanished without a trace in an instant.
Everything fell silent, yet the mottled, decaying Celestial Palace remained.
Those cracks, those scars, every mark left by the years-all lay there, undeniably real.
As though its initial brilliance and grandeur had been nothing more than a superficial facade.
The true Celestial Palace was this ruined sight.
By then, Zhou Heng had taken that final step and stood directly before the Celestial Palace.
The entire Celestial Palace was empty and deathly silent. Apart from the four aged stone pillars supporting it, there was only an elegant, handsome man seated at its very center and a chessboard set before him.
Though Zhou Heng had vaguely suspected something, his pupils still contracted the instant he truly saw that figure.
He strode toward the man, covering three steps in one.
"My young friend Zhou..."
"I've been waiting here for you for quite some time."
The man slowly turned his head, wearing that smile Zhou Heng knew so well, with its hints of teasing and carefree ease.
"You probably never imagined..."
"That we would meet in the Sea of Stars like this, did you?"
That elegant, handsome man was none other than "Bard · Youtier," the first of the Twelve Hero Kings Zhou Heng had witnessed after logging into "Boundless Endless."
Zhou Heng did not rush to answer.
He sat down opposite "Bard · Youtier," his gaze falling on the