BXBX NOVEL Chapter 554: The mysterious island
Together, they traveled for half a day at least without stopping at any location, until they reached an island located in the middle of the ocean, thousands of kilometers away from any mainland.
At one glance, the island doesn't look much different from others. It's a tropical island filled with palm trees at the edge of a thick forest and sandy beaches here and there, etc…
However, when Mark scanned the place using his Eyes of God skill, he saw a mysterious barrier around the island.
Upon entering that barrier, Mark found the change of scenery. Instead of a forest, there were a bunch of large towers and pyramids located on barren land; all of them screamed of ancient structures.
One of such structures particularly attracted both of their attention. It was a stone tablet with mysterious writings.
Shang Jiao couldn't help but point at it, just as Mark was about to ask it too, "What was that?"
The hooded woman shook her head, "Even we have no idea about it. The language is indecipherable."
As they passed by the stone tablet, Mark took a good look at it to commit to his memory to think of it later and continued to observe the surroundings.
"We call these Ancient Mystical Towers or some call it Elemental towers too," The hooded woman started explaining the structures around them, "Fire and Ice, Water, Earth and Metal, Lightning and thunder, Wind, Light and Dark, Space, and unknown. All of these towers existed for thousands of years, long before we discovered this place.
We explored everything but the central one, which doesn't give us access. We had a theory though. As for those pyramids, it was constructed by us. Each pyramid is dedicated to our past leader."
"What do these towers contain exactly?" Shang Jiao couldn't help but ask.
The mysterious woman answered, "They are the pathways to other planes. Each tower will take you to a different plane of existence, although the location isn't fixed. There's a 99% chance of ending up in a world ruled by spirit beasts. The Space tower will randomly send you to a habitable world within our plane."
"and that unknown..." The princess pointed at the central tower and commented, "I guess that is connected to the immortal plane or celestial plane?"
The hooded woman shook her head, "Our predecessors assumed the same first but over the years, we have discovered that the leaking out of that unknown tower had energy similar to the one that binds us to the land. Hence, our assumption is that it is connected to a forbidden realm, like some kind of prison that holds evil souls."
"Hmm?" Mark couldn't help but furrow his brows in deep thinking as a memory came to his head, "Is it the same Void realm, the place that mage came from? The origin of the unnamed box?" He wondered.
Soon, they reached a structure that looked like an incomplete pyramid. Through dimly lit corridors and stairs, they changed directions several times before reaching an altar with the statue of a wingless dragon trying to eat its tail, which was surprisingly levitating in the air.
"It's the Void Serpent God, our principal deity," said the woman, raising her head to look at the beast.
"It looked quite similar to Ouroboros though," thought Mark, scanning its details. Obviously, the name wasn't displayed, but he found out one interesting thing. "Is this the entrance to that place?" He couldn't help but ask, pointing his finger at it.
"Oh, you managed to see it? I wasn't wrong about you, after all," A smile bloomed on the woman's face under the hood. "So, are you ready to get in?" She asked.
Mark simply looked at her and replied, "Yes, but I don't understand why there is a need to hide your identity. Out with it, Miss Xin." Mark followed by reaching out to her hood and lowering it down. She didn't resist it too and revealed her face to them.
Shang Jiao never met her. Hence, she wasn't that unfazed by her. However, Mark looked a bit displeased, "is there a reason why you use different identities to buy them?"
"Then, people would know that I was related to Void Temple," replied the woman. She looked back straight into Mark's eyes, turning serious, "You killed the Werewolf Lord and our Matriarch, and that divided our organization into several factions with everyone wanting to claim the throne. It gave me a window of opportunity to steal our treasury to make a deal with you.
When the news of fifty earth-grade divine weapons used to get traded in your auction reaches the temple, they will eventually figure out the truth and probably start hunting me down. Before that happens, I need to reach the Supreme Being stage and claim the leadership."
She then took out the strength stat pill she won in the auction and handed it to him, "I need the other pill that you promised me."
"Okay," Mark nodded and threw the pill into his inventory before taking out the intelligence stat pill that would help her. However, before handing it over to her, he warned, "I need to remind you that it is best to be taken when you reach the peak stage of the legendary realm, which you haven't reached yet."
"I know," Xin Rui nodded in agreement. She then pointed her finger at Shang Jiao, "Your sister here will help me. She has managed to inherit the Orb of Time from the spirit of this world. Once we remove the curse on her, I'll help her learn how to master it and in return, she helps me by using that power to create a time dimension for me, where the time runs extremely slower."
"I see" Mark nodded and then cast a sidelong glance at his sister. The latter also reacted positively, "I understand." Seeing that, Mark inwardly sighed in relief and spoke, "Anyway, let's get moving."