The bull led Li Qiye across the sky vault to a place circled by the celestials. An ancient palace floated there, seemingly endless in size just like a planet.

It seemed simple with no plaque and words on the entrance, perhaps nameless.

All existences seemed tiny in comparison while standing before its stateliness.

The doors were shut tightly, looking like a divine wall. No one should be able to open it.

“It’s here.” The bull said.

“A big showing, quite expensive too.” Li Qiye’s eyes narrowed while looking at the palace.

“Desolate Saint left powerful measures here and concealed everything, not wanting others to find out.” The bull added.

“A bit interesting. Looks like Desolate Saint had such thoughts.” Li Qiye assessed.

“Sir, you’re invited inside.” The bull bowed and said in a respectful manner.

“Oh? You can’t go in?” Li Qiye asked.

“I am not on good terms with Desolate Saint so it is improper for me to enter, please excuse me.” The bull looked awkward.

“Just say that you’re suppressed, no need to act cool.” Li Qiye revealed.

“Ahem, a few things have been decided a long time ago, I can’t change it.” The bull cleared its throat.

Li Qiye ignored the thing and didn’t force it to enter while walking closer to the bronze gate.

It looked impenetrable, clearly made by Desolate Saint himself. The seal was filled with the power of a progenitor.

It existed on both sides too, meaning that outsiders couldn’t enter and no one could get out either.

This seal was indeed impressive but not enough to trouble Li Qiye. He had full control over the light laws of the academy.

In fact, his personal laws exceeded the academy itself, thus he could open anything in this system, including the seal ahead.

He placed his palm on the gate. “Buzz.” Numerous ancient runes appeared and gathered together to form a large plate.

Laws and runes moved around on this plate in a chaotic manner. Outsiders would need a long time to understand it.

Li Qiye, on the other hand, didn’t need to read them. He rotated his palm and changed the direction of the plate, causing it to turn at increasing speed.

“Buzz.” The runes jumped out and lined up to form a complete chapter of words. They then imprinted themselves back onto the plate.

“Pop!” The plate sank into the gate and the runes spread out

“Creak.” The sealed gate slowly opened. 

Li Qiye didn’t bother looking at what was inside before walking straight in without a care. It seemed that he didn’t mind any potential danger inside.

“Sir, I wait for your triumphant return.” The bull shouted behind him.

“Bam!” The gate closed after his entry. The bull continued to stare at the gate, wanting to see everything inside.

Unfortunately, he was under multiple restrictions and couldn’t go inside.

“Sigh, what is that demon thinking? Stuck in stagnation yet still torturing me like this.” He stared at the gate with anticipation.

***

Darkness greeted Li Qiye in this main hall. One wouldn’t be able to see their fingers in front of them, at least regular people.

However, it was as bright as day for Li Qiye. His gaze could illuminate every corner in this place.

This particular hall was vast beyond imagination, seemingly capable of containing an entire world.

He slowly walked forward, each step encompassed a thousand miles.

It didn’t take long before he made it far enough to be stopped by a towering peak.

Upon closer inspection, this was actually a squatting monster. Its sheer size made it look like a mountain from far away.

“Pop!” The monster opened its eyes, seemingly adding two suns to the sky due to the high location of its head. The light coming from them clearly illuminated the area.

It was quite intimidating. Even the experienced masters would feel their legs giving in. The monster’s eyes could drain someone’s soul away.

However, Li Qiye was completely unaffected by the gaze as if it was no big deal.

“Rumble!” The monster began looking down. It could see that Li Qiye wasn’t afraid of it. The puny human didn’t bother to look at it at all.

Thus, it stopped coiling and spread out its full form, revealing its true unimaginable size - big enough to almost cover the entire hall.

“Raaa!” The thing it previously coiled around was a mountain of skulls. 

Because of the movement, many skulls started rolling down. Some fell down in front of Li Qiye.

The owners of these skulls must have been amazing. One could still see divinity sparking from the eye sockets. They were either invincible True Emperors or mighty Everlastings!

“Xshh…” Hissing could be heard as the fiend’s head started moving closer towards Li Qiye.

It had the body of a serpent with black scales, the head of something resembling a dragon or tiger, long tail, and three wings that could flap smoothly like the flow of water. It also had a comb on top of its head. From the distance, it looked just like a crown.

Though it wasn’t actively exerting its aura, a chilling energy emanated across the hall after it woke up. This affinity began to freeze the place.

This freezing aura was still useless against Li Qiye. He casually stood there and stared at the fiend.

“Nightking Phoenix, interesting, why did Desolate Saint leave a dark creature like you here?” Li Qiye said.

Few actually knew this name. However, those who did would become afraid because it was an extremely evil creature. Its darkness could corrode everything.

So why did a saint famous for his light leave a dark creature here in this mysterious place?

“Whoosh!” The creature’s eyes narrowed after hearing Li Qiye. 

If anyone else was around, they would feel their soul being taken away right now.