...Meanwhile, in the Heavenly Arcana...
As soon as Qin Nan landed, he scanned his surroundings with the left eye of the Divine G.o.d of Battle.
Following a glance, he was stunned.
The ground was an eerie white, while the soil had a mysterious gigantic rune that did not seem to be glowing. Besides that, the s.p.a.ce only had a circ.u.mference of three hundred li, with the end leading to total darkness, as if the place were floating in the rift.
On top of that, an enormous ancient palace was floating above the ground. The palace had nine layers. It was fairly dilapidated as if it had gone through an ancient calamity. It felt deathly quiet and not a single trace of Qi could be felt.
"Why is this place so small?"
Qin Nan was extremely confused.
Normally, one would expect the Heavenly Arcana to be more s.p.a.cious and magnificent than the Upper Arcana.
"Master, it looks about right. It does prove my speculations."
Skeleton Xiao Hong said.
She, the two hounds, and one mouse approached him from the distance.
"For a long time, the authorities have a.s.sumed the Heavenly Arcana to be extremely mysterious, which contains a great fortune. They even thought they would find the last kin of the Heavenly Fortune Tribe living here. However, from what I speculated, this Heavenly Arcana is only an entrance."
Skeleton Xiao Hong continued.
"An entrance?"
Qin Nan was shocked.
"That's right." Skeleton Xiao Hong said slowly, "In the past, the Heavenly Fortune Tribe went through a calamity great enough to wipe out the entire tribe. In order to survive, they had no choice but to disappear from the Canglan Continent. Therefore, in order to let the remaining people of the tribe reunite with them, they constructed the Ancient Battleground and the Heavenly Arcana as the entrance to the main area."
Qin Nan immediately came to a realization.
Although Xiao Hong's words were mere speculation, it was highly convincing. It explained why they needed people of the Heavenly Fortune Tribe to reveal the Upper Arcana Sacred Mountain. It was a precaution to stop other people from entering the Heavenly Arcana.
"Xiao Hong, what was the calamity that the Heavenly Fortune Tribe was involved in?"
Qin Nan was suddenly puzzled by the question.
The Heavenly Fortune Tribe had been the strongest among the Eight Ancient Tribes. It possessed a formidable background and yet the calamity was able to pose a threat to their existence. How terrifying could it have been?
"I have no idea. I've only regained half of my memory. The other half has yet to be awakened. I only know that the people of the Heavenly Fortune Tribe were involved in some secrets related to the Nine Heavens and the South-Heaven Gate, thus the calamity."
Skeleton Xiao Hong said while shaking her head.
"Secrets of the Nine Heavens and the South-Heaven Gate?"
Qin Nan was not surprised by the first half of the sentence. He already knew Skeleton Xiao Hong had regained a part of her memory. However, the second half of it brought a flicker to his eyes.
"Since it's something to do with the South-Heaven Gate, I should ask Madam Heavenly Fortune about it if I have the chance."
Qin Nan mumbled in his heart. He quickly glanced at the two hounds and one mouse.
"If it's really the entrance to the Heavenly Fortune Tribe, are you guys going?"
Qin Nan asked.
"Hehe, master, we are surely going to the Heavenly Fortune Tribe."
The two hounds shook their tails with their eyes full of antic.i.p.ation.
The Big Sis had told them that the Heavenly Fortune Hounds were highly respected in the Heavenly Fortune Tribe. They would surely find lots of treasure there.
"Squeak squeak."
The Heavenly Fortune Mouse's eyes flickered with a mix of antic.i.p.ation and unwillingness.
It had come from its nature and the urge to reunite with the tribe.
"Alright, we'll go."
Qin Nan wore a smile.
He had joined the Anti-Heaven Alliance and was aiming to achieve the Martial Monarch Realm on his own. He would surely be targeted by many enemies. As such, it would not be wise to let them stay by his side. He would rather let them return to the Heavenly Fortune Tribe, as it might end up providing them with some fortunate encounters.
However, as their master, he had the responsibility to escort them to the tribe.
Qin Nan and his crew flew toward the palace.
Although the Heavenly Arcana was not vast, Qin Nan could still sense great murderous intent along the way. If it weren't for the Heavenly Fortune Blood on them, they would surely have triggered the traps.
Not long after, Qin Nan pushed the door of the palace open and stepped onto the first floor.
The floor was empty apart from ancient paintings on both sides of the walls. Inside the paintings were people who had mysterious runes on their skin. They were praying, wors.h.i.+ping, calculating fortune, observing the sky, exploring, etc.
Qin Nan and Skeleton Xiao Hong did not feel anything extraordinary, but the two hounds and one mouse were rather intrigued. They were inspecting the painting closely and were not willing to miss out on a single detail.
Time gradually pa.s.sed. Qin Nan and his crew soon arrived on the eighth floor.
"Huh?"
Qin Nan came to a stop.
He had been simply ignoring the paintings, but one of them suddenly caught his eyes.
Inside it was a vast ocean, with a mysterious young man standing on the surface of the water. A mysterious pavilion was floating behind him. He coldly stared ahead at the countless figures charging in his direction. He seemed fearless.
The young man was none other than the owner of the Martial Serendipity Pavilion.
"This must be a record of the battle that the Martial Serendipity Pavilion went through in the past. I can't tell how strong the Martial Serendipity Pavilion was back in the day..."
Qin Nan murmured. He had always been curious about the ident.i.ty of the Martial Serendipity Pavilion.
Qin Nan did not skip the paintings like before, but took closer looks at them.
Among the rest of them, the Martial Serendipity Pavilion did not appear, but three of them had the South-Heaven Gate in them.
Among these three paintings, two of them had countless figures charging toward the South-Heaven Gate. It was depicting the scene of the experts in the past attacking the South-Heaven Gate.
The last one was rather strange. A blurry figure was sitting on top of the South-Heaven Gate. It was hard to tell the meaning behind it.
"The door to the ninth floor is quite different. It's most likely that we need the Heavenly Fortune Blood to go through it."
After finis.h.i.+ng inspecting the drawings, Qin Nan glanced at the entrance to the ninth floor and said.
Skeleton Xiao Hong turned around to the two hounds after hearing this.
"d.a.m.n it, Big Sis, we do have our own pride… Alright, we're sorry."
The two hounds immediately surrendered when they saw Skeleton Xiao Hong drawing out a fiery sword. They immediately reached out their paws and fired out drops of Heavenly Fortune Blood. The door emitted a glow as it was pulled open to the sides.
At the same time, an imperious voice exploded from the ninth floor like thunder.
"Who dares to infiltrate the Heavenly Fortune Palace!"
Following the voice, a formidable aura swept toward the group.
The aura belonged to a Martial Monarch.