"The fortuitous encounter within Hàn Phong City, are you perhaps referring to the opening of that divine palace?"

Tần Phượng Minh's heart stirred slightly, a flicker of light in his eyes, and he immediately responded. At this moment, in his storage ring, there was still a jade slip given to him by a Ghost Commander cultivator in Hàn Phong City. It was just that time was pressing, and he hadn't yet had a chance to examine it.

"So, Daoist Friend Phí has only just entered the city and already knows of this matter. It seems Daoist Friend also intends to go and try your luck then?" Regarding Tần Phượng Minh's knowledge of the divine palace, the female cultivator surnamed Lục showed little change in expression, because any Ghost Commander cultivator residing here had already been informed by the inn staff.

"Just as I arrived at the Phi Vân Inn, a cultivator from Hàn Phong City gave me a jade slip, which I haven't had a chance to read yet. After examining it, I shall decide." As Tần Phượng Minh transmitted his voice, he flipped his hand, and a jade slip appeared in his grasp, his consciousness immediately sinking into it.

A full hour passed before Tần Phượng Minh withdrew his consciousness. At this moment, his face was constantly shifting with excitement, his expression a mix of shock and a hint of anticipation.

The so-called Divine Palace of Hàn Phong City was not some sacred edifice, but rather a vague, ethereal peak existing within a secret realm near Hàn Phong City. This mountain did not permanently exist, but would appear at an unknown time.

Moreover, its appearance was without warning, seemingly materializing suddenly within the rift.

Its position of appearance was also completely irregular, but each time it appeared, it would cause strange phenomena to arise within that enormous rift. Sometimes, dark clouds filled the sky, thunder roared, and Yin Qi rapidly gathered; other times, brilliant multicolored lights flashed wildly, dazzling one's eyes.

It was precisely because of such strange phenomena that cultivators would discover the divine palace whenever it manifested.

It was called the Divine Palace because on that manifested mountain, there were two characters glowing with brilliant light: "Divine Palace" (Thần Điện).

When that divine palace came into existence, even the oldest records within Hàn Phong City did not clearly state. It was only said in ancient texts that when the divine palace first appeared, the eight directions trembled, causing great powers from millions of miles around to converge on Hàn Phong City.

Everyone believed this was undoubtedly a great fortuitous encounter and wished to enter to explore its secrets.

The high mountain of the divine palace was enveloped by a faint layer of mist on all sides. That mist was thin yet did not dissipate, like a barrier, yet it was quite different from ordinary restrictive barriers. For that mist, while appearing to be mere mist, drifted with the wind, moving around all sides of the mountain, completely shrouding the entire peak.

Yet, no matter what kind of secret treasures or magical attacks people used, they could not disperse the mist in the slightest.

Moreover, any magic treasure struck towards that layer of mist would pass through instantly, without any obstruction. However, as soon as a magic treasure entered the mist, it would immediately lose contact with its wielder. It would then be impossible to retrieve the magic treasure. As for secret technique attacks, if they struck the mist, they would simply be absorbed by the mist, without revealing the slightest anomaly.

Records from that time stated that even a great cultivator's natal magic treasure became trapped within and could not be retrieved, causing that great cultivator to vomit blood on the spot.

It could be said that there was no way to enter the divine palace from any direction around it.

However, directly to the south of the divine palace, two stone platforms floated in mid-air. Before these platforms, tall stone tablets stood firm, revealing two segments of text upon their surfaces.

The text was a peculiar script that no one understood at the time. Out of helplessness, everyone made rubbings of it. After numerous great powers of the cultivation world extensively researched all available ancient texts, examined and meticulously verified it from various angles, repeatedly deliberated, and then combined it with many ancient texts circulated in the Ghost Realm, they finally deciphered it.

After it was deciphered, everyone present was astonished, because an unimaginable truth appeared before them. This truth caused the entire Northern Region to tremble non-stop.

It turned out that the spatial rift in Hàn Phong City was, before the ancient Three Realms Great War had even begun, a clan's forbidden ground of the Horned Race (Giác Nhân tộc) in the Spirit Realm. The Divine Palace was a strange treasure personally refined by a supreme great power within the Horned Race, used to house the clan's collection. This treasure was hidden within the spatial rift, and only the power of the Horned Race's clan could summon it to appear in the world.

Furthermore, this Divine Palace was also a trial ground for lower-level disciples of the Horned Race. Cultivators who entered it would not only be immediately teleported into a certain space, but that location would also contain many dangerous existences, and most importantly, it held treasured artifacts of the Horned Race.

Be it elixirs, magic treasures, or even ancient cultivation techniques, all could be found within.

It was said to be like a treasure pagoda, divided into five levels. Just one level contained 9,999 independent spaces. Each teleported cultivator would enter a unique space. Only by personally breaking through the trial in that space could one obtain a sealed treasure within.

Although there was more than one treasure in each independent space, as soon as one treasure was retrieved, one would immediately be teleported to the next higher level. Even lingering for a moment was impossible.

One would proceed layer by layer, until reaching the very pinnacle and obtaining the complete inheritance of the Horned Race.

However, cultivators who entered would face restrictions whose power would vary according to the cultivator's cultivation level. Even a Peak Nascent Soul (Hóa Anh đỉnh phong) cultivator should not hope to easily overcome the encountered restrictions.

Furthermore, it was not a simple matter for cultivators to enter. Qualified cultivators needed to collectively unleash their spiritual sense (thần niệm) power, using the strength of many, to meet the will-controlling conditions within the divine palace's secret treasure, causing it to reveal a path, only then could they step inside.

Besides this, there was absolutely no other method that could be used.

The Great War of the Three Realms ultimately caused the Horned Race to flee far away to avoid calamity. However, this strange treasure, refined by their ancestors, was difficult to take with them, and thus remained within the spatial rift.

And as the Great War impacted, space twisted and shifted. The spatial rift, which originally appeared in the Spirit Realm, ultimately detached with a piece of the True Ghost Realm due to the collision of the Three Realms, and settled here within the Ghost Realm.

Unbeknownst how many tens of thousands of years passed, this spatial rift no longer drifted, slowly stabilized, and became completely fixed at the location of Hàn Phong City.

And the founding ancestor of Hàn Phong City, precisely because he discovered the existence of this rift, ultimately chose to establish this enormous city here.

After carefully reading the scroll in his hand, Tần Phượng Minh finally understood the existence of the spatial rift floating above Hàn Phong City. He also learned what the so-called divine palace was all about.

However, regarding the conditions for entering the divine palace, Tần Phượng Minh was somewhat startled.

On those two stone tablets, it was clearly stated that there were two conditions for entry: one was a cultivator of the Core Formation (Thành Đan) realm, and the other was a cultivator of the Nascent Soul (Hóa Anh) realm. Additionally, for those meeting these two realms, their spiritual sense (thần thức) needed to be one level higher than their current cultivation realm. That is, a cultivator at the early stage of Core Formation would need their spiritual sense to reach the middle stage of Core Formation. Or a cultivator at the middle stage of Core Formation would need their spiritual sense to reach the late stage of Core Formation.

For anyone who did not meet these conditions, they simply would not have the ability to ascend those two stone platforms. Even if they managed to ascend, they might perish on the platforms.

Although everyone at the time had clarified how to open the divine palace's restrictions, they were still greatly disappointed, because that divine palace, each time it appeared, would only linger in the spatial rift for one month before vanishing without a trace again.

This caused many cultivators to feel disheartened, as it was impossible for everyone to constantly reside in Hàn Phong City, but there were exceptions; many Ghost Lord (Quỷ Quân) cultivators had taken up residence in Hàn Phong City, awaiting the divine palace's next opening.

But what left countless cultivators speechless was that each time the divine palace manifested, there was no fixed interval. Sometimes it would be several hundred years, other times over a thousand years. It could be said that encountering it even once in one's lifetime was a blessing worth praying for.

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