Chapter 61: Ghost King's Domain
"Of course," replied Balthazar. Patting his chest, he drily remarked, causing a peal of laughter to escape from the spectators.
"Divine Palace's elder, don't you worry! My father will assist in suppressing the Hall of Templars, as they were the perpetrators of such an incident. At the least, the Demon Palace would cease exploring the frontier around their territories, and then see if they can't comply with our requests."
"T-that, you can't do that! Controlling our territories like that, the Demon Palace is just abusing their authority!"
Hearing Balthazar's statement, Tierus suddenly came to, blurting out before reddening with shame. Balthazar narrowed his eyes as he strode towards the latter, his handsome face sporting a teasing, merciless smirk.
"Oh great noblesse from the Alderan Family, then why don't you tell everyone, who risks the safety of their respective immortals to explore the constantly expanding void, the ever-stretching frontier of the Immortal Realm? Come, come, this great immortal is waiting for your answers, but his ears won't be stretched for too long."
"What safety? We're immortal, death is merely a limited slumber!" Tierus protested, life returning to his paled countenance as he jerked to a standing posture, glaring at Balthazar. "Dreading death so much, how cowardly. The Hall of Templars is not as fearful as your Demon Palace!"
"My, oh my. Because we're immortal, we do not die. You're entirely correct on that, since a lengthy slumber will easily restore us to complete health," Balthazar agreed, causing Tierus to involuntarily reveal a sneer of contempt.
"However, what happens if your immortal construct is damaged to the extent of being unrecognizable? Simply existing as a broken agglomeration of thoughts or desires, how can that be life?"
"That…"
"Hah. Hey, Divine Palace's elder, can we get moving already?" complained Balthazar, ignoring Tierus' attempts to refute. "Didn't they say the gateway should open in half an hour from now? Why are we still here?"
"Then let us go. Hall of Templars Royal Immortals, the Divine Palace will have a word with you soon."
The supervising elder spoke, his words directed at the three Royal Immortals hiding their presence. Gesturing for Jun Meng Chen to follow, the elder led them through an adjacent exit, and the crowd began to slowly disperse.
-
Jun Meng Chen and the others found themselves in a long dark corridor, the only light source being a tiny speck at the far end.
As they walked, Jun Meng Chen swept his gaze to find that other than himself and Balthazar, the cloaked immortal and the supervising elder were completely suited to the dark and suppressing corridor. In fact, it seemed as if they were reveling in every moment they walked through it.
"Who is the other person you brought?"
Jun Meng Chen sent a divine essence transmission over to Balthazar, causing the lavishly-dressed youth to suddenly panic, then release a light sigh of relief.
"Just a guard father sent, handpicked from within the Divine Palace" he replied, before turning to the supervising elder. In a complaining tone, he dully questioned, causing the elder to look at Balthazar in surprise then understanding.
"Divine Palace's elder, just what is this corridor? We've already walked for several kilometers, and yet the light hasn't changed at all. Besides, why is the atmosphere here to creepy and chilly, like someone's attempting to devour my soul?"
"That's right, it is your first time here. Listen well, this is the entrance to the Ghost King's Domain."
The elder explained. Gesturing towards his sides, he began to speak, occasionally stopping to describe in further detail.
"This corridor is usually only about a kilometer in length, but the actual distance travelled can differ depending on the domain's occupancy or stability. Right now, it should take about thirty kilometers or so before we actually reach the gates, as the Ghost King's survival is unknown. "
"As I speak, the rest of the Pavilion Heads are doing their best to maintain this corridor, but even then, the entire structure will only remain for about two hours at most."
Following his suggestion, the group accelerated their pace, the elder continuing his introduction as they traversed the dark and chilly corridor.
"The Ghost Feast, Banquet, and Mirage are the three primary avenues for training in the Divine Palace," he began, looking at Jun Meng Chen.
"Every five hundred years, the Pavilions will select three talented, young immortals and allow them to partake in either the Feast, Banquet, or Mirage."
"The Ghost Feast allows for an immortal to completely restructure their immortal construct, most cases into a far more defined and expanded construct compared to the original. This greatly increases their overall capacity for divine essence and usage of the Divine Script."
"In certain cases, an anomaly will occur where the immortal's construct will adopt completely different attributes."
"Restructuring their immortal construct completely?" echoed Balthazar, suspicion and concern laced within his voice.
"Such an act would be defying the natural laws of the Immortal Realm! There has to be an opposite consequence of some kind, especially for an act of defiance on that scale. Otherwise, the Divine Spiritual Vein would have annihilated the Ghost King already!"
"The Ghost King's construct is odd, in that it can cause the constructs around him to undergo slight warping, which initiates the recovery process that all immortals experience when in a slumber. However, whenever the immortal leaves the Domain, their construct will instantly return to the initial state alongside of the 'recovered areas'; if consolidated well, an immortal can easily double their maximum strength without much difficulty!"
"As for any repercussions, it's been validated that except for a few bouts of pain and an unstable construct, there are no detrimental consequences."
"Pain?" Balthazar instantly jerked at the word. "How much pain? Physical, or purely the soul?"
"It's a mix of both at the start. However, once the initial phase is complete, then pain is an occurrence of the past. "
"After completing either the Feast, Mirage, or Banquet, although we are prevented from entering once more, simply roaming this corridor is enough to truly invigorate yourself." The elder lightly sighed, his expression of comfort and joy well hidden within the darkness.
"Ai, I should explain the Ghost Mirage and Banquet, given the two of you's worried expressions. Tsk, tsk, the Ghost King's Domain is perfectly safe despite the rumors you heard of from who knows where!" the elder sighed, rubbing his scalp as they ran.
"The Mirage and Banquet are more indirect enhancements of strength for an immortal as instead of directly reconstructing their immortal construct, they instead fight against mirror images of themselves. With each battle, the immortal's faults become directly apparent, far more so than any other method of enhancing battle ability."
"The Mirage targets their direct combat ability, whereas the Banquet aims for improving one's mastery over the Divine Script."
"Combat, or a <Debate>?" mused Balthazar.
"If the <Debate> is called out as such, then it should be fine…but what happens if an immortal is defeated in the Ghost King's Domain? It can't be that they're ejected upon losing, right?"
"Hm…there's only been three cases that an immortal was unable to complete the trials within the Ghost King's Domain. Since the gateway can only be opened at the exact middle of each season on the continent once every five hundred years, they haven't been found, not even their immortal construct."
"However, except for those three, the selection process enacted by the Divine Palace is far too rigorous, the immortals permitted to enter the Ghost King's Domain are fully capable of passing the trial."
The elder assured Balthazar. Jun Meng Chen couldn't help but appreciate Balthazar's efforts to obtain information, warmth blooming in his chest.
In actuality, the grape-loving, frivolous immortal would lack any interest in the Ghost King had it not been for Jun Meng Chen's relatives trapped within at the time of the Ghost King's collapse.
Suddenly, the light shining from the other end of the long corridor exploded forth, covering all four with a blinding radiance. When his vision had restored, Jun Meng Chen opened his eyes to be greeted by a surprise.
Directly before them was a massive gate more than fifty meters tall. Comprised of a brown, rusted metal, the gate had carvings and sculptures of demonic monsters, wraiths, and screaming ghosts jutted outwards every meter.
Roiling from the gate was a faint, barely perceptible smell of blood. Unfortunately, the solid doors were sealed shut, and was even locked with an ancient padlock.
"Oh? This is the entrance of the Ghost King's Domain?" remarked Balthazar, exploring the beams of the gate with an expression of interest.
"And to think it's sealed as well with something on par with the <Curse of Heaven>! But what's with this smell of blood?"
"It shouldn't be like this…"
The supervising elder frowned, muttering to himself underneath his breath. As he investigated the inscriptions faintly engraved onto the door's surface, the elder's countenance underwent a myriad of changes, before morphing into a dark expression.
Turning back, Jun Meng Chen could see that the elder's shoulders were slightly shaking, the cause unknown.
"Fully sealed," the elder spoke.
"To break through, we would require brute force to tear through the locks on the door to even think of opening it. Just that, do we even have enough firepower with us four to even attempt such a thing? Just from the looks of it, piercing techniques would be required to even dent such powerful chains."
"Break through a restrictive curse? As long as they aren't a part of the natural laws of the Immortal Realm, it should theoretically be possible via the assistance of a spiritual core." Balthazar mused, before stepping back.
Darkness-attributed divine essence gathered around his feet and surged towards his right fist, the black radiance emitting shrieks of despair and a fierce desire for revenge. As the others quickly retreated, Balthazar thrusted his fist into the air before relaxing his hand, and the divine essence extended to form a slender javelin.
Hovering above Balthazar, the javelin was a deep violet, with white inscriptions racing down the shaft.
"Let me try. Pierce through, <Balzurg>!"
With Balthazar's cry, the javelin raced at the padlock sealing the gate. Upon contact, the javelin pierced through the hole in the lock, but was unable cause the chains to dissipate.
However, Jun Meng Chen and the others could see the inscriptions on the javelin's shaft transfer to the double doors, slowly expanding to cover the entire doors in white letterings of the Divine Script.
"Explode. I want to see exactly what this seal is."
Boom!
The moment Balthazar spoke, the white letters covering both doors violently swelled, before fiercely erupting, washing over the entire area with a brilliant light. The gate groaned as the doors slightly warped from the force, heavily slamming against the connecting pivots.
However, the padlock and chains held fast, unaffected by the explosion.
"Bombard the doors? Let's try that, and aim for the two doors instead of targeting the padlock."
"<Bloom, Azaelphera>."
"<Tempest>."
"<Balzurg>, <Oblivion>!"
"…<Caladbolg>. For my resentment, I cry."
Without any further prompting from the elder, the four immortals quickly unleashed their most powerful attacks onto the double doors leading to the Ghost King's Domain. Balthazar unleashed multiple javelins that caused the doors to fiercely shake each explosion, in addition to conjuring several wraiths to ram against the gate.
The cloaked immortal conjured a massive lotus of fire of which bathed the entire gate with a scorching, pale-blue flame, and the supervising elder formed a tempest to slowly force the doors apart.
Jun Meng Chen even called for the <Seven Falls of Tribulation>'s first spear, silently whispering the incantation to reduce attention to himself. Explosions constantly rocked the doors and grated on their hinges, and eventually blew away the right set of hinges and pivots connecting the door to the beams.
The resulting force from the attacks forced the door to rotate on its surviving hinge, revealing the Ghost King's Domain before their eyes.
And as for what they could describe it as, Jun Meng Chen could only think of one word.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone