“Whoosh!”
While everyone was still reeling from shock, several figures shot towards the palace.
Some approached from the rear, others from the front gate, speeding straight in.
However, the instant they touched the floating clouds, their bodies began to burn and disintegrate.
“Sizzle! Sizzle!”
In a flash, those few people were reduced to nothing.
“A restrictive formation!” Everyone cried out in alarm.
Those drifting clouds were actually a deadly restriction. Anyone who rushed in would instantly perish.
At once, all those who had been itching to charge forward forcibly restrained themselves.
Many of them did not belong to the three great powers and had no Martial Saint protecting them. Their only chance of seizing the opportunity first was to take the risk and charge ahead.
Yet that risk clearly included the possibility of dying first.
“Whoosh!”
At this moment, Zhan Meng moved. His figure flashed towards the palace. When he reached the edge of the floating clouds, vast vital energy surged around his body and collided with the clouds, producing fierce crackling sounds while terrifying Martial Saint pressure swept through the area.
In the end, however, Zhan Meng withdrew and retreated violently, his expression grave.
The crowd was shocked again. Even a Martial Saint could not enter?
Now no one else dared to force their way in.
If even a Martial Saint failed, charging forward would be pure suicide.
They could only wait for the restriction to disperse.
Yet after a full quarter of an hour, the floating clouds around the palace showed no sign whatsoever of thinning.
“Could it be that the restriction around this floating heavenly palace will never vanish?” someone sighed.
A quarter of an hour had passed. If the restriction were going to lift, there should at least be some trace of it dissipating, enough for them to estimate how long it would take.
But the clouds encircling the palace displayed not the slightest hint of scattering.
No matter how long they waited, it would probably be in vain. This restriction was likely permanent.
Boom!
Finally, someone could no longer hold back and attacked the floating heavenly palace. The attacker was an old loose cultivator at the Ninth Layer Martial Emperor realm. A colossal palm force carrying unparalleled fluctuations slammed into the side of the palace.
“Sizzle! Sizzle!”
To everyone’s astonishment, the attack passed straight through the cloud restriction and struck the stone platform and the side of the palace, producing a thunderous explosion as sky-toppling shockwaves burst outward.
Yet the palace merely trembled slightly and was not shaken in the least.
Even the power of a Ninth Layer Martial Emperor could not budge it.
This floating heavenly palace truly was extraordinary.
“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” …
More people began to attack. Waves of power poured from all directions, bombarding the floating heavenly palace from every side.
Thunderous explosions rang out continuously, shockwaves soared into the sky, and the palace shook.
However, whether because the palace itself was simply too difficult to move or because the attacks from different directions cancelled each other out, it only trembled and did not shift in any particular direction.
Long Tutian and Zhan Meng both remained still. They wanted to see what would happen once the palace was attacked.
Clearly, the combined might of the crowd was still insufficient to move it.
“It is very likely a treasure, something like the Ji family’s ultimate artifact, the State-Protecting Cauldron,” an old loose cultivator suddenly declared.
These words caused another wave of shock among the crowd.
The younger generation mostly had no idea what the Ji family’s ultimate artifact was.
But the older generation had heard of it. The Ji family’s State-Protecting Cauldron was their clan-suppressing treasure and one of the reasons the Ji family could dominate Yang Province and rank among the continent’s peak powers.
Of course, even among the older experts, most had only heard legends and had never actually seen the cauldron.
Once someone spoke these words, Zhan Meng’s brows instantly furrowed. He had already entertained this suspicion but had not voiced it.
Now that it had been said aloud, even Long Tutian, who might not have considered it before, now knew.
He was well aware of how significant a clan-suppressing treasure of the Ji family’s level was. On the continent, even greater overlord forces would fight desperately to obtain it.
If the crowd learned that this was such a supreme treasure, they would surely risk their lives to seize it.
His chances of claiming it for himself had just grown much slimmer.
Boom!
Zhan Meng finally acted. He thrust his palm forward, unleashing a colossal palm force the size of the entire floating heavenly palace. Terrifying pressure filled heaven and earth, vast and boundless power made the void tremble and howl violently, as though the space before him would collapse under the strike.
In that instant, everyone was horrified. The might of a Martial Saint was simply too dreadful. If that palm were aimed at them, not a single person in its path would survive.
“Rumble rumble rumble!” …
Amidst deafening explosions, the three-hundred-zhang floating heavenly palace was finally shaken. It was sent flying dozens of li away, and a strange transformation occurred: the palace shrank by more than ten zhang in both length and width.
The restrictive clouds surrounding it shrank accordingly.
The crowd was stunned once more.
The floating heavenly palace actually shrank when struck with force?
Joy flashed in Zhan Meng’s eyes.
This palace clearly could not be destroyed by brute force. Since it could be made smaller, there was hope. As for how to restore its original size, that could be studied later.
“Boom!” “Boom!” “Boom!” …
Zhan Meng attacked repeatedly, sending out one massive palm strike after another with his right hand, continuously blasting the palace farther away.
The crowd hastily retreated even further. No one dared to attack alongside a Martial Saint.
Compared to a Martial Saint, their power was negligible.
After he continued bombarding it for some time, the original three-hundred-zhang palace had shrunk by half, now only one hundred and fifty zhang across.
Its position had also been forced hundreds of li away.
Aside from Long Tutian, who swept Lin Xiao along with him, no one dared approach.
“Long Tutian, are you not going to lend a hand?” Seeing Long Tutian merely watching the show and following along, Zhan Meng paused and spoke to him.
Although these attacks would not exhaust his energy and did not reveal his full strength or trump cards, he still felt unhappy seeing someone eyeing the prize yet contributing nothing.
He was doing all the work to shrink the palace. Once it became small enough, Long Tutian would probably swoop in and snatch it, wouldn’t he?
“Elder Ji Lian is here too, yet I don’t see him helping either,” Long Tutian replied with a smile towards the Sacred Heaven Gate Martial Saint, showing no intention of attacking.
Zhan Meng’s expression darkened at these words. The Ji family Martial Saint, Elder Ji Lian of the Western Branch, had also arrived?
And he had not sensed him at all?
Yet Long Tutian had already detected him?
“Whoosh!”
At that moment, a figure suddenly sped over from the distant void. In the blink of an eye, he arrived near the crowd.
He was another white-haired, aged elder, but the pressure radiating from him weighed heavily on everyone within hundreds of li.
This man was none other than the Ji family’s Western Elder, Ji Lian, a Martial Saint realm expert.
Seeing Ji Lian’s figure, Zhan Meng was shocked again. The Ji family’s Martial Saint had indeed come, and Long Tutian’s spiritual sense was truly superior to his own.
Had Long Tutian not pointed it out, Ji Lian would probably have remained hidden, waiting to reap the final benefit.
The crowd was likewise astonished. As expected, the Ji family would not fall behind; they too had sent a Martial Saint.
The Ji family members all secretly breathed a sigh of relief. With their own Martial Saint present, the threat hanging over them was lifted.
“Elder Zhan Meng, long time no see,” Ji Lian said to Zhan Meng. As for Long Tutian, Ji Lian did not even deign to speak.
