Chapter 13: Heavenly Palace Ruins
"This is..." Despite having mentally prepared themselves, disappointment was written plainly on their faces.
Influenced by these few, the others also looked up at the starry sky and quickly discovered the fact that two moons hung in the sky.
"How can this be?" Many couldn't help but shout, their last shred of hope for returning home shattered. They would never see their loved ones again. Many female classmates burst into sobbing. Everyone now understood that they were truly far from Earth, with no way back.
"Mars... has two satellites, equivalent to... the moon seen from Earth..." Kade muttered in broken Chinese, then quickly switched to English, speaking rapidly as he conversed with Li Xiaoman.
Over the past few decades, various space probes had transmitted a wealth of precious data about Mars back to Earth. The two satellites orbiting Mars were both extremely small celestial bodies. Considering factors like their altitude, if observed from Mars, Phobos would appear about half the size of the moon as seen from Earth. Deimos was even smaller, but brighter than other stars—a miniature moon.
After those with some knowledge of Mars explained all this, everyone was deeply disheartened. There seemed to be no way out now. The primary task at hand was to find a way to survive.
They had already moved six hundred meters away from the Five-Colored Altar, drawing much closer to the faint light source. It now appeared to be no more than five hundred meters away. The group wasted no more time and continued forward.
Under the night sky, a gentle breeze brought a slight chill.
After advancing another hundred meters, they grew nearer to the light source. Just then, someone cried out in surprise, spotting a collapsed structure. It appeared to be an ancient pavilion, toppled by the erosion of time.
"A man-made pavilion. There must have been humans on this desolate planet. We can surely find a way to survive."
"Is this really Mars? Why are there human-built structures? The air, temperature, gravity—none of it differs much from Earth. It's just like a barren desert back home."
Though filled with endless disappointment, the group hadn't lost all hope. They had many questions.
"We've seen dragon corpses. What's this compared to that? Maybe this is just a special region on Mars."
"Perhaps. There's a grand Five-Colored Altar here that could receive those nine dragon corpses and the bronze coffin. Calling this a sealed land of the gods wouldn't be far-fetched."
"If our guesses are true and this is only a special region on Mars, then our living space probably isn't very large."
At these words, everyone fell silent.
"If this is just a small patch of habitable land on Mars, then what way out do we have?!"
Their hearts churned with turmoil. This concerned their very survival and future—no one could remain calm.
"Ah..." A female classmate suddenly let out a scream, echoing far into the night sky.
"What's wrong?" The others paled and quickly asked.
"A skull! A human skull!" The female classmate's face lost all color. Her body trembled uncontrollably as she stumbled backward.
Not far from the collapsed pavilion, half a snow-white skull was exposed in the gravel. The female classmate had just stepped on it, no wonder she was so terrified.
All the male classmates gathered around. Pang Bo kicked the skull out of the sand with his foot. It was clearly an adult skull, unknown how many years old, nearly weathered to dust. The bone was no longer smooth, covered in rough cracks.
What was startling was a perfectly round hole on its forehead, about the thickness of a finger, as if pierced by a sharp weapon. The edges of the hole were very smooth.
"It seems this place is full of unknowns and variables. Though this is just old bone left from years ago, we'd better be careful."
The unfamiliar environment and uncertain factors sent chills through their hearts.
"What are those up ahead?"
Under the hazy night sky, the stars and moons weren't very bright. They could only vaguely see a series of undulating shadows ahead, like piles of rubble connected together—uneven and jagged.
When they drew close, everyone was stunned. This was a vast ruin. What blocked their path was only a small part; an even larger expanse of ruins stretched horizontally into the distance.
Broken walls and scattered tiles seemed to tell a story of unknown events. Under the night moon, it felt especially desolate. This place must have once been a continuous stretch of magnificent palaces, but now it was a scene of bleakness.
This was a massive ruin, covering a wide area. The solid foundations were all built from huge stones, giving an idea of how grand and vast these palaces must have been.
The light source was at the far end of the ruins, behind a broken wall.
"Are we... really on Mars? There was once a grand palace complex here?"
"How much manpower would it take to complete such a massive project?"
"What caused this place to become ruins, with all those towering buildings collapsed?"
The group almost forgot their fear. The immense ruins before them left everyone in awe. If they were truly on Mars, this was utterly unbelievable.
Ye Fan said calmly, "Actually, it's nothing. We've experienced so much today that, by normal logic, shouldn't have happened. Even if someone told me right now that this vast ruin was the site of a Heavenly Palace, I wouldn't be surprised."
Pang Bo sighed, "Heavenly Palace ruins... that's really possible. After all, we've seen dragon corpses."
Hearing these words, everyone was momentarily stunned. Heavenly Palace ruins—perhaps this wasn't just wild speculation!
The light source was ahead, gently rippling out from behind the broken wall, creating a faint halo of light around it—inexpressibly hazy and sacred.
"What exactly is that?"
The light source flowed at the end of the ancient ruins, making the broken walls and rubble seem even more desolate and mysterious.
"Crunch," "Crunch," "Crunch"...
The sound of their footsteps on the rubble echoed far into the empty night sky. Passing by one collapsed palace after another, they finally traversed the vast ruins. Ahead, the broken wall, though partially damaged, was still four to five meters high. One could only imagine how majestic it must have been in its prime.
"Let's see what that light source really is!"
The group carefully circled around the massive broken wall, arriving at the end of the ruins. They immediately felt a refreshing aura wash over them, as if a divine light had swept across the void, entering everyone's sight.
They had fully emerged from the ruins, standing behind the broken wall, and could now clearly see the light source ahead.
Fifty meters in front of them, an ancient temple sat quietly. A green lamp and an old Buddha statue—a single point of lamplight, small as a bean.
In front of the temple, an ancient Bodhi tree stood, gnarled like a coiled dragon. Its trunk was withered, with only five or six green leaves scattered sparsely two meters above the ground. Each leaf was crystalline and translucent, shimmering with green light like jadeite divine jade.