After Ye Ziyun arrived in the Endless Desert, she discovered some fragments of memories from her previous life.
And in Xiao Ning'er's dreams, there were actually scenes of her entering the Black Demon Forest in her past life!
This was absolutely no coincidence!
What on earth was going on?
Nie Li vaguely sensed that his rebirth was definitely not a simple matter! The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became—who had such great power to set up a scheme like this?
Nie Li felt that if he wanted to unravel all the mysteries, the first step was to find the Book of Time-Space Demon Spirit, and then travel to the Dragon Ruins Domain. In the Small Linglong World, he would never find the answers.
Looking at the painful expression on Xiao Ning'er's face, Nie Li suddenly understood something. His meeting with Xiao Ning'er was no coincidence. Xiao Ning'er's fate was the same as Ye Ziyun's—she was destined to be bound to him, no matter what. He would bring both Ye Ziyun and Xiao Ning'er along and find the answers to everything.
The group searched through the Endless Desert, continuing for several days straight.
According to Nie Li's memories, the Desert Divine Palace should be somewhere nearby.
"Nie Li, are you sure this Desert Divine Palace of yours is around here? Look, Duan Jian has been flying in the sky for so long, searching for days, and there's absolutely no sign of any Desert Divine Palace!" Lu Piao said in frustration from the side.
"The Desert Divine Palace is nearby. Let's keep looking!" Nie Li was silent for a moment, then said solemnly.
"Alright then, let's keep going!" Seeing how certain Nie Li was, Lu Piao nodded.
The group continued searching in every direction.
Nie Li's brow was tightly furrowed. The Desert Divine Palace from his memories was right here, but why had they searched for days without even catching a glimpse of it? A massive and magnificent palace like that shouldn't be so hard to find after all this time.
Walking through the endless yellow sand, Nie Li carefully recalled everything from his past life. Slowly, he seemed to sink into a mysterious and profound state of mind.
As he walked, memories from his past life continuously flashed through his mind.
In his previous life, he had walked alone through the vast desert, companions falling one by one at his side, until he too sank into an unconscious state, as if sleepwalking. And beneath the scorching sun in the distance, a massive and magnificent divine palace appeared before his eyes.
Back then, he had been deeply awestruck by that palace, believing it to be the legendary heaven—the dwelling place of the gods.
He walked step by step toward the Desert Divine Palace, his entire body enveloped in golden light. He made his way all the way to the front of the palace and pushed open the golden doors. The blinding white light made it impossible for him to open his eyes. He struggled to look and saw the grand reliefs inside the temple—carvings of various figures, each with a different expression. There were giants clad in golden armor, maidens without a single stitch of clothing, and all manner of bizarre creatures. Beneath these colossal statues, a long road stretched out, leading forward.
Following that winding road all the way ahead, he arrived at the altar at the very front of the great hall, which was covered with all manner of scrolls, densely packed with text. Right in the very center sat the Book of Time-Space Demon Spirit.
From that mysterious and unfathomable Book of Time-Space Demon Spirit, a strange power slowly emanated outward. Nie Li reached out with his right hand and picked up the book. From that moment on, his fate changed entirely.
...
Nie Li had been lingering in this mysterious and profound state, images continuously surfacing in his mind, his gaze vacant as he walked forward.
Sensing something off about Nie Li, Du Ze and the others quickly followed at his side, looking at him with confusion, unsure of what was happening.
Lu Piao reached out to push Nie Li, trying to wake him up, but Du Ze stopped him. Nie Li's state seemed to be similar to being in the middle of cultivation.
After walking forward for several thousand meters, Nie Li suddenly snapped awake. He opened his eyes and looked ahead, his steps faltering as he froze on the spot!
Everyone followed Nie Li's gaze forward. It was a vast expanse of desert with no Desert Divine Palace to be found. Instead, scattered across the desert were the remains of statue after statue, many of them broken and incomplete, heavily weathered by the elements.
These statues seemed to have endured countless ages, their forms no longer recognizable.
As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but desolation.
Wild winds howled, kicking up clouds of sand, as if lamenting something—the very picture of ruins.
"How can this be?" Nie Li stared blankly at the scene before him. In his past life, when he had come to this Desert Divine Palace, it had been so magnificent and imposing, a palace forged by the gods themselves, indestructible by any being. But in this life, arriving at the same location, it had already become nothing more than a heap of ruins.
"Nie Li, what's going on? This is the Desert Divine Palace you were talking about? Didn't you say it was a tremendously magnificent palace? How is it a pile of ruins?" Lu Piao looked at Nie Li in bewilderment.
Du Ze and the others were equally puzzled, because before they had set out, Nie Li had mentioned many times that the Desert Divine Palace was incredibly grand, like that of an ancient deity.
But when they arrived, the scene before them was nothing like that.
Nie Li had probably learned of the Desert Divine Palace's existence from some treasure map or ancient text, but upon arriving, they found that the palace had long since been destroyed—most likely by Demon Beasts.