# Chapter 465: The Towering Ancient Castle
Ji Qianrou appearing and deliberately blocking Ye Xinghan was indeed an unexpected pleasant surprise for Yun Che.
Ji Qianrou's words and actions all exuded an aura of sinister evil, and his arrogance wasn't just written on his face, but deeply engraved into his bones—this was the impression Ji Qianrou left on Yun Che.
Yesterday, Yun Che had taken the initiative to speak with Ji Qianrou and cure him of the toad poison that had plagued him for years. This was both a gesture of thanks for Ji Qianrou's verbal assistance during the matches and, more importantly, to make him owe a favor... because for someone as arrogant and prideful as Ji Qianrou, a debt of favor was something that absolutely had to be repaid one way or another.
He hadn't expected to receive Ji Qianrou's reciprocation so soon.
But he absolutely did not believe Ji Qianrou would kill Ye Xinghan. Even how long he could hold him back was unknown, so Yun Che did not let his guard down for an instant. He carried Feng Xue'er with all his might, leaving a trail of sweat behind him.
Time flowed quickly. In this desolate, empty world filled with mystery and strangeness, even the passage of time became difficult to perceive. When Yun Che began to feel exhausted, he could no longer determine how long he had been running—perhaps three or four hours, perhaps seven or eight. His speed slowed, and finally he staggered to a stop, collapsing onto the ground with heavy gasps for breath.
In his past life on the Cang Yun Continent, years of fleeing had been routine. But never in either of his two lifetimes had he felt such heavy psychological pressure and sense of crisis. This place was simply too empty, rendering all his skills in concealment, disguise, and counter-tracking utterly useless. Otherwise, if this were a mountain range or forest, even carrying Feng Xue'er in his arms, he could have shaken off Ye Xinghan with relative ease. Back then, eight elders from the Fen Tian Gate—all superior to him in both strength and speed—had jointly pursued him, and he had led them around by the nose.
"Brother Yun... you're sweating so much..." Feng Xue'er said with hazy eyes.
Yun Che wiped his forehead and smiled. "For a man, this little bit of sweat is nothing. I can only blame my insufficient cultivation for running out of strength so quickly."
"That's not true... Brother Yun is amazing... more amazing than anyone..." Feng Xue'er said softly. "Are we... safe now?"
"Hard to say. We should be safe by now," Yun Che comforted her.
"Look ahead!" Mo Li suddenly spoke.
Yun Che's mind sharpened, and he quickly looked up. Then he froze.
Ahead, the empty wilderness had vanished. A deep cyan-black wall rose high, extending straight up into the gray sky above, and stretching far to the left and right, reaching who knows where. With Yun Che's eyesight, he couldn't see the top or either end.
Directly in front of him, on the cyan-black wall, was an open stone door. The door was a hundred zhang tall and a hundred zhang wide. Other positions were scattered with stone windows, each several zhang in length and width, their interiors gray and indistinct, revealing nothing.
What is this...
Yun Che looked up, his mind lost in a long trance. A structure this massive, with no visible edges, should have been clearly visible from a hundred li away. Moreover, this place was completely open. Even a structure a hundred times smaller would have been strikingly conspicuous and easily spotted at a glance.
But he had been running this entire time and had never seen it at all. Ahead of him, it had always been nothing but wilderness!
This massive building seemed to have appeared out of thin air!
"Looks like a huge ancient castle," Mo Li said cautiously. "Its aura is extremely ancient, belonging to an ancient structure. It might even coexist with this Primordial Mystic Ark, rather than being generated later."
"Why didn't I see it before?" Yun Che asked in surprise. "Mo Li, when did you first notice it?"
"Just now," Mo Li replied.
"Just now?" Yun Che's face showed astonishment.
"Don't be surprised," Mo Li said calmly. "Though this castle is extremely ancient, the profound formation power on its surface hasn't completely dissipated. The entire castle is shrouded in a massive ancient guardian profound formation. This ancient profound formation not only protects the castle from natural forces but also possesses extremely strong concealment abilities! Although this castle is enormous, you won't discover its existence until you're within a hundred zhang of it. Moreover..."
Mo Li's voice hesitated slightly, then continued: "This ancient formation seems to contain spatial power as well. If I'm not mistaken, this castle might be able to move on its own!"
A castle that moves on its own?
That sounded too fantastical.
"Xue'er, in your sect's records about the Primordial Mystic Ark, is there any mention of this castle?" Yun Che asked Feng Xue'er.
Feng Xue'er gently shook her head. "I've never heard Father or the others mention it. Probably not."
The entire castle was a uniform cyan-black, its architectural style simple and ancient, faintly releasing a vast and heavy aura. Yun Che observed for a good while, his stamina somewhat restored, then asked, "Mo Li, how big is this castle exactly?"
"You'd better not try to go around it," Mo Li said unhurriedly. "Its size far exceeds your imagination. Even I can't perceive its boundaries. Trying to bypass it before this world closes would be absolutely impossible."
"That big?!" Yun Che's face showed shock.
"Don't want to go in and take a look?" Mo Li said flatly. "This is an ancient structure on the Primordial Mystic Ark. Even I've become interested in it. Who knows—maybe the ancient treasures those people have been searching for all these years are inside."
Yun Che stood up. After confirming there were no unusual auras from behind, he half-raised his head and walked slowly forward.
Soon, his steps reached the front of the castle gate. He was now just a few steps away from the gate, which was a hundred zhang wide and fully open. But all Yun Che could see was a hazy gray, unable to make out anything inside. He stopped, held his breath, and carefully probed the aura within for a moment before finally stepping inside.
It felt as if he had suddenly entered a completely different world. The light, atmosphere, and even the sharpness of his sight and hearing underwent enormous changes. Before him was a vast and exceptionally spacious hall. Stone pillars stood like giants reaching to the sky. The floor tiles, surrounding walls, ceiling, and the rows of pillars were all the same cyan-black, releasing an extremely ancient flavor and aura.
Yun Che turned around, his gaze falling on the entrance he had just passed through. All he saw was gray haze, unable to see any scene outside. He thought for a moment, then quickly stepped back.
The world around him switched again. Yun Che had returned to the wilderness area before the castle. The conspicuous footprint he had deliberately left earlier was still there, proving this was where he had stood before.
Confirming that he could exit without any obstruction after entering, Yun Che felt reassured and entered the castle again.
The hall was exceptionally spacious, even larger than the arena where the ranking battles had been held the previous day. Yun Che swept his gaze around, walking forward slowly. The sound of his footsteps, along with the carefully suppressed sound of his breathing, was particularly clear in the vast, empty hall.
What kind of place is this?
Yun Che walked for a long time before finally seeing the edge of this hall. On the surrounding walls, stone doors appeared every twenty zhang or so. Some doors were open, others closed. Behind the open doors were various passages leading to unknown destinations. At the far end of the hall was a tall, circular stone platform, about ten zhang high and a hundred zhang wide.
To the right of the platform was a tall stone staircase leading to the second floor of the castle.
"Mo Li, have you noticed anything?" Yun Che stopped and asked.
"I don't know much else, but I can confirm there's no sign of any living creature here, nor any trace of any living being aside from you having arrived. This place should be an ancient region long forgotten! Take a look around—you might find something extraordinary. If you come across an ancient treasure, even the lowest grade, it would be a tremendous gain."
Yun Che nodded. After hesitating for a moment, he walked toward the wide stone staircase and began climbing upward. He didn't know how many floors this castle had, but since even Mo Li couldn't sense its height limit, he couldn't even begin to guess. Even if he discovered it had thousands or even tens of thousands of floors, Yun Che wouldn't be surprised.
As he slowly ascended the stairs, his gaze swept downward, observing the vast first-floor hall from above. When his eyes landed on the circular platform, his gaze suddenly sharpened, and his steps stopped.
Because in that instant, he had vaguely sensed a flash of red light passing before his eyes.
This space was incredibly quiet, and the color scheme was entirely cyan-black. So that faint red light, though extremely weak, was strikingly conspicuous and unusual. Without a second thought, Yun Che hugged Feng Xue'er tight and leaped down from the stairs, landing steadily on the platform. His gaze locked onto the spot where the red light had appeared.
"What did you find?"
"...Not sure yet."
Yun Che stepped forward, slowly walking to the edge of the platform. At that moment, the faint red light flashed before his eyes again. He quickly stopped, his gaze firmly fixed on the gap between two cyan-black stones on the stone platform.
Yun Che crouched down, bringing his eyes close. Sure enough, in the narrow crevice between those two cyan stones—so fine it was nearly invisible to the naked eye—an extremely faint red light weakly emanated, flickering on and off.
There's something beneath this!
This was an ancient relic as Mo Li had called it, its age undoubtedly extremely remote. Yet the object below was still emitting the glow of power—it was bound to be an extraordinary treasure.
But if it were a sufficiently powerful and precious treasure, the Heavenly Poison Pearl should have sensed it. Why was the Heavenly Poison Pearl completely unresponsive?
Yun Che extended his palm and slammed it forcefully against the crevice. With a "bang," his hand was bounced back, hurting from flesh to bone. But the two cyan-black stones were completely unharmed, without even the slightest change.
"You want to break it? With your strength, that's absolutely impossible! Xia Yuanba, who is a mid-stage Overlord Emperor, couldn't even shatter an ordinary stone outside. The stones within this castle are much harder than those outside. Even if you attacked with all your might for decades, you wouldn't cause the slightest damage." Mo Li said ruthlessly.