682 - The Nine Serenities Temple (2)

This was the first time that Ye Qingyu had set foot into Long Life State.
The moment he landed, he felt an imposing force, hidden under the land, faintly discernible and very mysterious.
The surrounding greenery, trees, and vegetation were overflowing with spiritual qi, and were not the slightest inferior to the Snow capital. He drew a deep breath of the extremely fresh air. The scenery along the yellow slate path was incredibly beautiful, as though he was situated in paradise.
Under the leadership of Shi Tiezhan, Ye Qingyu soon came to the center of the Long Life State, where a huge thousands of meter Brute God statue was. A huge stone gate of more than a hundred meters tall began to open like the mouth of a giant beast, connecting to a giant paved pathway.
The passage steps led to an underground area of unknown depth.
Continuing downwards through this stone gate, it took some time before reaching the true core area of the desert imperial court.
“Palace Lord Ye, my King has been looking forward to meeting Palace Lord. My King has surrendered to the Snow capital and had already sent out envoys, but we heard that the Lord of the Light Palace is on patrol and will pass the desert, so we especially invited Lord to the Nine Serenities Palace.”
The commander of the Cold Iron and Stone Dragon army was more than four meters in height and had a tough physical body, as though he was casted from iron, like a fierce prehistoric beast. He should have given people a rough and violent feeling, but instead his tone was extremely gentle, unexpectedly like a scholar, so Ye Qingyu was quite surprised.
“Thank you.” Ye Qingyu smiled, carefully studying the stone walls of the giant corridor.
Evidently to prevent the vegetation and rivers on the ground from being destroyed, the giant passageway did not have too many side paths, leading hundred of meters into the depths of the ground before it became a flat-leveled ground. After a dozen of highly guarded gates, an incomparably magnificent and eye-popping underground city caught Ye Qingyu off guard.
Countless forks in the path were now seen along a paved pathway.
It was like a main road suddenly connected to many alleys, one path crossed into another extremely naturally.
Desert Brute Race citizens came and went. The giant underground city was not empty at all.
Besides the fact that the overhead lights, which were powered by formations, were not quite the same to real sunlight, the shops on both sides of the street as well as stalls on the roadside were selling a variety of fruits, food, tools, and even a variety of water. There were even Brute Race soldiers riding the sand lizard back and forth like the wind... Everything made even the experienced and knowledgeable Ye Qingyu a little surprised.
Such an incredible underground city most likely had only been seen by a few human beings. He was unsure of the number of years that the Desert Brute Race had been operating here, but despite the many residents here, the air was still extremely fresh and clean.
The appearance of the battle pet of Shi Tiezhan caused a stir in the street.
The reverent gaze of countless Brute Race citizens were projected onto Shi Tiezhan, and then fell on Ye Qingyu who only reached the waist of the Brute Race expert beside him. Confused and surprised, many began to discuss spiritedly. It was evident that it was many Brute Race citizens’ first time to see a living human being.
Perhaps it was because Shi Tiezhan deliberately wanted to show off the grand underground city to Ye Qingyu, they traveled at a slow speed and also went around some alleys, it took them about half an hour later before they reached the Nine Serenities Palace.
The two words Nine Serenities carried a mysterious connotation. It referred to the deepest part of the ground.
It corresponded to Immortal world, the heaven had the nine levels of heaven, the ground had the nine levels of land.
The Nine Serenities Palace was the first main hall of the palace of the Desert Brute King.
It was also the most mysterious, guarded, and terrifying place in the vast desert.
A set of dark stone steps led to the deepest part of the underground giant city.
There, the light dimmed, and a huge black palace was hidden in the depths of darkness.
“Lord Ye, my King is in the divine palace waiting for your arrival,” Shi Tiezhan cupped one fist in the other, saying to Ye Qingyu, “Nine Serenities Palace is a sacred place of my race, only those summoned by the King are allowed to enter. Palace Lord Ye, please go in.”
Ye Qingyu glanced at him, nodded thoughtfully, stepped forward, and set foot on the black stone steps.
A chill was diffusing out from the surface of the stone steps.
With every step along the way, the temperature dropped a few degrees.
When Ye Qingyu came to the main entrance of the Nine Serenities Palace, there were already tiny ice crystals lingering in the air. It was unbelievably cold. A layer of frost already coated a few strands of his hair, and the chill actually broke through Ye Qingyu's protective yuan qi.
“Somewhat interesting.”
The corner of Ye Qingyu's mouth was curved upwards.
He already sensed that the Desert imperial court was not that simple.
This Nine Serenities Palace, was even more not simple.
With a gentle push, the palace gate automatically creaked open, revealing a gap.
The inside was so dark that it seemed as though all the light had been devoured by the palace.
Ye Qingyu was taken aback for a moment, and then without the slightest hesitation, stepped into the palace.
The next moment, with a loud boom, the huge door of the main hall slammed shut, and was completely closed.
The echoes lingered around for a long time.
It was as though he had stepped into another world. It was empty and deep, surrounded by darkness, like nothing existed here. Ye Qingyu felt he had come to a dark and desolate universe, where he was floating in the air.
Almost at the same time, a voice sounded.
“Brother Qingyu, long time no see.” ——