Gray clouds constantly shrouded the sky.
In the center of the Eternal Palace, the crooked Eternal Tower stands tall.
Using the tower as the focal point, it radiates outward over a thousand meters. This enormous circular area is the headquarters of the entire Eternal Palace.
A circle of silver metal lines serve as markers, buried in the ground around the circular area.
Looking down from high above, the Eternal Palace resembles a gigantic silver hollow circle.
Threads of blue electric arcs continuously disperse from the center toward the surroundings.
Zhang Rongfang slowly approached the edge. He didn’t use body technique lightweight skills but simply walked silently like the others around him, with his head bowed, and stopped at the outer edge of the silver line.
"Halt."
Inside the silver line, the ground slowly rose, and from the black soil emerged a bald head made entirely of silver metal.
A retractable metal probe eye grew at the center of its forehead.
"What’s your business here?" The bald head asked, its voice seemingly transmitted electronically and devoid of emotion.
Zhang Rongfang glanced around at the others with his peripheral vision.
Those entering the silver line seemed to have all gone through interrogation by this metal bald head.
"Here to upgrade the furnace." Zhang Rongfang patted the burning fire at his chest.
"Register your name." The silver bald head continued.
"Rongxin, Rong as in melting, Xin as in mood. I’ve bought a Martial Arts Atlas here before." Zhang Rongfang replied smoothly.
"Rongxin... all right, you can come in." The silver bald head seemingly confirmed something, then retracted back into the soil and disappeared.
Zhang Rongfang glanced at the other Spiritual Line parasites coming and going; they seemed accustomed to such interrogations.
He took a breath, lifted his foot, and stepped forward.
Yet his foot suddenly suspended in the air, not landing.
Suspended there, Zhang Rongfang looked up at the Eternal Tower.
The surrounding ground continuously flashed with dense blue electric arcs.
All electric arcs crazily converged in this direction.
"Have I been discovered?" He withdrew his elevated right leg, his gaze straight at the high levels of the Eternal Tower.
There, a blurred silhouette in black clothing was staring in this direction.
Suddenly, the silhouette raised a hand and pointed here.
In an instant, blue light shone brightly, and the entire ground of the Eternal Tower converged into a beam.
Zing!!
The electric beam instantly illuminated the position where Zhang Rongfang was.
Its speed far surpassed the speed of sound, crossing the kilometer distance in a flash.
A massive electric ray column, over ten meters thick, like a blue stone pillar, fiercely struck Zhang Rongfang.
The surrounding travel groups stirred into chaos, quickly distancing themselves from Zhang Rongfang and cautiously observing the situation here.
A tall figure leaning against the tower body also slowly stood up, gazing in the direction of the electric arc convergence.
"Heartless Travel Group’s Laf pointed out that all under him were dead.
And now, another Heartless Travel Group’s Rongxin emerges... Hills, go check it out." Laf’s voice transmitted somewhere into the ear of the silhouette.
"I understand."
The silhouette lifted its head, revealing a face full of silver patterns and a sinister look.
His face, along with his neck, was covered with marks and burn scars.
Silently, black sand automatically appeared under his feet.
The black sand, like clouds, raised him up, slowly approaching Zhang Rongfang.
Not just him, within the range of the Eternal Tower, countless blurred silhouettes with their heart flames burning in various halos rapidly approached the same direction.
At this moment, the thick electric light column had already accurately hit Zhang Rongfang standing on the ground.
But the electric light didn’t truly strike the flesh; instead, it was precisely intercepted by a semi-circular blood shield.
A large amount of electric arcs and blood fought against each other, neutralizing, and emitting thick black smoke.
"Discovered so soon?" Zhang Rongfang was somewhat surprised. He thought his disguise was impeccable.
But now it seems that something might have gone wrong somewhere.
Boom, boom.
Heavy footsteps slowly approached.
The electric light soon dispersed, revealing the scene inside the Eternal Palace area.
Tall silhouettes over three meters tall were fanned out, constantly approaching from the front.
Each of these figures appeared to be half-cyborgs with mechanical metal implanted into their flesh.
Their hearts burned with red firelight, their eyes flashing faint blue light.
Every individual’s facial skin revealed hints of exposed metal material.
The surrounding travel groups quickly distanced themselves, seemingly quite wary of these emerging figures.
"This is the Eternal Tower. It does not welcome unidentified outsiders."
Among the group, the leader was a man with braided black hair scattered, and a square face covered with small, strange purple symbols.
"Interesting, how did you find my anomaly?" Zhang Rongfang, merged with the memory of Zhaoyu Pavilion’s Rongxin, had mastered the common Lockwen language here.
He studied the sudden appearance of Spiritual Line parasites with interest.
"The Heartless Travel Group leader Laf has already registered here. Rongxin is already dead." The leading man replied solemnly.
"Leave, this is not the place for you. Evil Spirit Bodies cannot enter here, attempting to cross will trigger the automatic counterattack of the Eternal Palace."
He paused.
"The earlier incident was just a simple warning. Once you truly step into the range, you will face automatic counterattacks ten times stronger than before!"
The man’s voice explained coldly.
Evil Spirit Bodies appear every day, and no one knows why so many of them exist.
Their numbers far exceeded those of the groups still wandering on the earth. It’s impossible to kill them all, so expulsion is the best strategy.
"So, you mistook me for an Evil Spirit Body?" Zhang Rongfang showed an innocent smile, "This is actually a misunderstanding. I’m just an ordinary person who just came out of the Interaction Zone and learned the truth of the outside world. Disguise is my innate talent. To avoid contamination, I heard that you can buy the Martial Arts Atlas at the Eternal Palace to build your own Heart-Burning Furnace.
And since the furnace can purify evil breath, I traveled miles to get here."
"So...." Zhang Rongfang’s eyes slowly ignited with blood flames. His voice gradually became soft and magnetic.
"Can I go in now?" he gently asked.
The man with a square face leading the group seemed to be in a trance, his face gradually turned wooden.
"Of course... you may."
He stepped aside, revealing a path inward.
The other men and women who were approaching also became expressionless, clearing the path.
"Thank you, you really are kind people," Zhang Rongfang responded softly.
He took a step forward, his figure suddenly transforming into a streak of blood light, rushing toward the Eternal Tower.
At that moment,
a new wave of massive electric light rose from the ground, flashing from all directions toward Zhang Rongfang like lightning.
The speed of the lightning far exceeded Zhang Rongfang’s reaction time. In an instant, all the currents struck his body.
Blood formed a blood membrane, covering his body, blocking the scattered electric bombardment.
A blue and a red force continuously stalemated.
While this stalemate occurred here.
In a distant ruin.
Two figures entirely in black, wearing helmets and armor, were secretly observing the Eternal Tower through the cracks in the ruins from afar.
"The statue troops directly under the Eternal Palace have been dispatched. Someone stopped the automatic defense system, it seems to be a big deal." One of them whispered.
"The statue troops’ Di Mo and Sandra are terrifying experts who have mastered the highest level of Heart-Burning Furnace. Someone infiltrating the Eternal Palace, and directly being stopped by Di Mo’s deployment, it’s been years since such an event occurred." The other replied.
"I’ll go notify the alliance, you continue to monitor."
"Okay."
One of the figures quickly retreated, silently using body technique to leave in the distance.
The remaining one gazed distantly at the Eternal Palace area.
For the Human Alliance, the Eternal Palace are these hyenas searching the Interaction Zone everywhere, incredibly powerful.
Di Mo and Sandra are powerful parasitic bodies that require multiple adaptors to counter.
These two are Laf’s right-hand men, and have been frontline generals directly confronting the Human Alliance for many years.
As old opponents, the Human Alliance paid extraordinary attention to the movements of these two.
What surprised him, however, was that in the distant view, the members of the statue troops of the Eternal Palace stood blankly on the spot, even making way for a path for that mysterious person to enter.
"What’s going on? Is it possible that it was a parasitic body visiting that they were familiar with beforehand? But why would the automatic defense system activate?" the monitoring Human Alliance member was puzzled.
Just when he couldn’t understand, suddenly in the distant view, the mysterious person who had entered suddenly changed colors at high speed.
In an instant, the fitted long gray-white robe turned into an elegant, luxurious, wide red robe.
Zhang Rongfang’s figure transformed into a blood light, rapidly approaching the Eternal Tower.
In the blink of an eye, a black figure from the side suddenly collided, accurately predicting his path forward.
The black figure’s entire body lit up with blue light, arcs of electricity converged in the palm, and with a booming slap attacked this direction.
A large web of electric arc blue light spread from the palm, covering the surrounding tens of meters, falling down completely.
The opponent’s speed could actually keep up with his own.
Zhang Rongfang was surprised in his heart, but not too unexpected.
The Eternal Palace, as an advanced version of divine beings, the source stream creating stronger Heart-Burning Furnaces, would not have survived long on this chaotic land without a few top experts.
"So...."
He slightly raised his hand.
Countless blood gathered in front of him to form a round shield.
Boom!!!
The blue electric palm fiercely struck the surface of the blood shield.
Huge shock waves exploded outward in circles from the point of collision.
Before Zhang Rongfang could regain his composure, the person shifted to the left like lightning, palm once again bringing electric light, at astonishing high speed, bypassing the blood shield’s defense, and struck inward.
Boom!!
Another new blood shield appeared out of thin air, blocking this strike.
But right after, the person immediately retreated, body appearing illusory, again changing attack routes at astonishing high speed.
For the third time, the blood shield reappeared, blocking the third palm.
But Zhang Rongfang suddenly narrowed his pupils, unknowingly getting within less than half a meter of the opponent.
This person....
From the moment he appeared, to continuously change positions, to now, only a second had passed.
"What speed!"
Zhang Rongfang, with the blood ancestor’s bloodline, had speed and body technique that were extremely terrifying. He usually suppressed opponents with his speed. This was the first time he encountered someone faster than him.
In an instant.
One blood shield after another flashed into existence, blocking that blue figure’s lightning attack.
Bang bang bang bang bang!!
The dense collision sounds accompanied by large amounts of arc and blood splashing everywhere.
The confrontation between the two began intensely from the start.
What surprised Zhang Rongfang even more was the opponent’s martial arts realm was evidently very high.
Their moves were fluid, without any pattern, completely bypassing the preemptive prediction of defense.