Amid the crowd's shock and confusion, the Fallen Emperor Mountain, located tens of thousands of miles away, underwent a violent and terrifying transformation. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth from an area spanning over a hundred thousand miles surged frantically toward that location.
The cultivators who had been staying within the Fallen Emperor Mountain to cultivate were all pale with horror. They immediately activated their movement techniques and fled toward the outer edges, but it was already too late. The moment they moved, an unimaginable imperial might descended from the heavens. The sheer force of this imperial might was hardly any weaker than what radiated from the very center of the Fallen Emperor Mountain.
The imperial might was omnipresent. Everyone felt it — as if, somewhere in the depths of their minds, a pair of cold, indifferent eyes was gazing down upon them.
Under the scrutiny of those eyes, they felt as insignificant as ants. Their movements froze, and they didn't even have the strength to lift a single finger.
Fortunately, this wave of imperial might came quickly and departed just as swiftly. By the time the cultivators realized they had regained their freedom and tried to move again, they were horrified to discover that the spiritual energy of heaven and earth in the surrounding area had coalesced into visible clusters. The spiritual energy drawn from over a hundred thousand miles away had become visible to the naked eye, shimmering in countless colors, as if the entire Fallen Emperor Mountain had suddenly sprouted countless bubbles in a single instant.
Within each of those bubbles lurked energy fluctuations that sent shudders through one's heart.
A tremendous rumbling erupted from beneath their feet. The earth cracked open, spiderweb-like fissures spreading in every direction, jagged and interlocking — a sight of absolute terror. Many cultivators, caught completely off guard, plunged into these chasms and were ruthlessly obliterated by strange, eerie forces, with no chance to even resist.
In the span of a dozen breaths, the cultivators who had been cultivating inside the Fallen Emperor Mountain suffered countless casualties, and wailing filled the air.
Only those whose strength was not particularly great and who had remained near the outer edges were fortunate enough to escape the calamity.
Tens of thousands of miles away, Fei Zhitu, Qian Tong, and the others were equally ashen-faced. Despite the vast distance preventing them from seeing things clearly, they could distinctly sense the disturbance emanating from the Fallen Emperor Mountain. They exchanged glances, and in each other's eyes they saw both bewilderment and dread.
Before Qian Tong could even ask Fei Zhitu and the others what they had done to cause such a change at the Fallen Emperor Mountain, the anomaly suddenly subsided. The continuous, deafening rumbling vanished without a trace in that instant, yet the air between heaven and earth was saturated with an extremely dangerous aura.
That sliver of calm before the storm — it made one's heart clench with unease.
The spiritual energy continued to gather toward that location in silent, invisible streams, faster and more terrifying than before.
Moments later, a blinding burst of radiance exploded from somewhere within the Fallen Emperor Mountain. A bolt of lightning split the clear sky, its thunder shaking people dizzy. The radiance bloomed so intensely that no one could look directly at it.
A sensation akin to the destruction of heaven and earth descended from the skies, and every person's face turned deathly pale.
When the radiance finally dissipated and everyone looked toward the Fallen Emperor Mountain once more, they were struck dumb with astonishment.
There, above the Fallen Emperor Mountain, a palatial structure had appeared — though no one could say exactly when. The palace was ancient and austere in design, exuding an aura of primitive wildness. Runes of gold and silver shimmered around its exterior, flowing like fish through water.
At that very moment, the palace was slowly ascending into the sky. Its speed didn't appear particularly fast, yet from within it emanated an unfathomable imperial might that seemed to blanket the entire Dark Star.
"What is this…?" Ning Xiangchen stared blankly at the palace. Suddenly, as if remembering something, his expression changed dramatically — a complex mixture of shock, excitement, and unease.
"The Emperor's Garden!" Fei Zhitu and Qian Tong both cried out simultaneously.
Several Saint King Realm juniors heard them refer to the mysterious palace by that name, and their eyes immediately lit up with expressions of disbelief.
Yang Kai felt the same way. Long ago, he had learned that the Dark Star contained three great forbidden zones.
The first was the Scorching Flame Desert, which he had personally visited. The dangers within went without saying — last time, over ten thousand elites from various major sects had entered, yet fewer than sixty percent made it out. Nearly half of them had perished inside, and that was during a period when the power of the Flame Zone was weakened.
Had the Scorching Flame Desert opened during a normal cycle, the death toll would have been even higher.
The second was what Fei Zhitu and the others had just named — the Emperor's Garden.
Rumor had it that this was the private retreat of the Starry Sky Great Emperor! That title alone was enough to stagger the imagination.
As for the third forbidden zone, it was Ghost Soul Island, located in the Wuyou Sea upon the Dark Star.
The first forbidden zone had always existed somewhere on the Dark Star, opening once every few centuries. Every faction on the Dark Star was reasonably familiar with it, and each opening brought countless benefits to the various powers.
The second forbidden zone, the Emperor's Garden, however, had never been entered by anyone. It would occasionally make a fleeting appearance before vanishing without a trace. The cultivators of the Dark Star had only heard of its existence. Over thousands or tens of thousands of years, some had witnessed its brief, brilliant manifestation, but not a single historical record documented anyone ever setting foot inside.
And the third forbidden zone, Ghost Soul Island, was even more elusive — rumor had it that anyone who had seen it was already dead, making it far more mysterious than even the Emperor's Garden.