"Not good." Xiao Yi’s pupils shrank.

This time, he felt it more vividly.

The overwhelming flames, just the aura coming at him, was enough to crush any thought of resistance.

These flames were just ordinary flames.

Yet they forcibly suppressed his six kinds of powerful worldly flames, preventing them from even forming.

"Pfft." Xiao Yi spat out another mouthful of bloody spittle.

Simply the oppressive aura of the flames was already more than he could bear.

"Hmm?" The elder was shocked.

The overwhelming flames suddenly dissipated in an instant.

"Are you alright?" The elder looked at Xiao Yi, his face showing a mix of fear and genuine concern.

"Pfft." The elder suddenly withdrew the flames, and the pressure vanished, causing Xiao Yi to spit out another mouthful of bloody spittle.

"I’m fine." Xiao Yi wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Senior, next time you flare up, give me a heads-up, and when you retract the flames, tell me first too."

"Otherwise, I’m afraid I wouldn’t know how many times I’d have to spit blood."

"Uh, heh heh." The elder chuckled awkwardly, then his expression grew more satisfied, "Not bad, keeping your cool in a crisis, and still knowing how to joke with me."

"Tell me, what’s the matter with the dissolution of the Eight Palaces?"

The elder was clearly not an ordinary person.

For such matters, Xiao Yi had no reason to deceive him, to tell lies.

Just now, he was simply too surprised and excited.

"This..." Xiao Yi frowned, hesitating.

As for why the Eight Palaces fell apart, he didn’t know where to begin.

The history and records of the Eight Palaces, if all recorded in books, would probably be stacked into dozens of small mountains.

The Ancient Eight Halls had existed since the Ancient Times.

During that period, the Eight Palaces fought against the rampaging demon beasts of the continent, finally killing the Beast Emperor in the last battle, thus eliminating the demon beast menace and achieving victory.

It was that final battle that marked the end of the Ancient Times.

Since then, a million years have passed.

In other words, the true establishment and existence of the Ancient Eight Halls far exceeded a million years.

As for the dissolution of the Eight Palaces, Xiao Yi only knew it seemed to have happened some unknown millions of years ago.

Whether it was several million years or even longer ago, Xiao Yi was not sure.

Such a long past, Xiao Yi hadn’t had the time to slowly delve into historical records.

In any case, it’s a fact.

"I really don’t know, probably some grudge at play." Xiao Yi shrugged, only giving a rough explanation of what he knew.

"An unknown number of millions of years ago?" The elder murmured, falling into a brief silence.

After a while, the elder’s face returned to normal, a faint smile appearing.

"Don’t know? Oh well."

"If I didn’t guess wrong, you’re the type who’s rarely in the Main Hall, always out executing missions, or traversing various perilous places as a monster."

"A monster like you can’t be bothered with Main Hall affairs, let alone know about this long and arid history."

"Of course, a monster like you is more pure, more extraordinary."

Xiao Yi pouted, "Senior, you haven’t told me who you are?"

"Me?" The elder shook his head, "I’ve been trapped in the Ancient Emperor’s Mansion for so many years, even I don’t remember."

"Even if I told you my name, you wouldn’t know it."

"When you leave the mansion someday, go back to the Flame Hall and slowly check through the mountain of records, and you’ll know who I am."

"Uh." Xiao Yi touched his nose awkwardly.

The elder chuckled, "Besides, the time you spend asking about my identity would be better spent on the upcoming mansion trials."

"You came here not to chat idly with me."

Hearing this, Xiao Yi instantly realized.

Yes, he was in the Ancient Emperor’s Mansion and had to continue exploring its secrets.

The elder’s sudden appearance had startled him, and the elder’s power had frightened him to the extreme, making him forget for a moment.

Xiao Yi cast a cold look around the room.

The elder noticed Xiao Yi’s reaction and the clear, bright eyes in that cold gaze, nodding and smiling repeatedly.

"Senior." Xiao Yi surveyed the room and slightly frowned, "This room is empty, the trial..."

The elder chuckled softly, pointing, "Get closer to the bed and you’ll understand."

Xiao Yi nodded, with no doubt, and moved toward the bed.

He didn’t believe the elder would deceive or harm him.

Even though the elder was in a Spiritual Sense state, for some reason, he could manipulate Primordial Power.

In other words, the elder could unleash his formidable power from before his death.

If the elder wanted to harm him, Xiao Yi couldn’t resist at all.

There was no need for such.

Xiao Yi approached the bed.

The room wasn’t large, only ten or so steps, and Xiao Yi reached the bed quickly.

As he neared the bed, Xiao Yi already sensed an incredible force of Prohibition at its edge.

"Such strong Prohibition force." Xiao Yi was shocked.

In his perception, the Prohibition before him far exceeded the eighteen layers of Prohibition he had felt before in the main game.

This, indeed, was the true resting place of the Ancient Emperor.

At this moment, three streams of ancient-flowing light appeared out of thin air on the bed.

Of the three streams of light, two were empty, only one seemed to hold something.

"What’s this?" Xiao Yi showed a confused expression.

"That’s the reward." The elder laughed gently from behind, "It’s the reward given by the Ancient Emperor to those strong enough to reach here."

"Reward?" Xiao Yi was first taken aback, then clearly caught the unusual nature of that statement.

He remembered something.

Right, to be able to reach here...

"Senior." Xiao Yi quickly turned around, looking at the elder, "I heard that in the Ancient Emperor’s Tomb, throughout countless ages, no one has broken the main game."

"Could it be, the rumors are wrong, that someone broke the main game before?"

"No." The elder shook his head, "Although I don’t know what the current rumors outside are, in the Ancient Emperor’s Tomb, no one has ever broken the main game."

"Throughout countless ages, you are the first."

"Hence, you have surprised me so greatly and satisfied me so much."

Xiao Yi’s face changed, "If I’m the first, then how did you get here, Senior?"

"Could it be, you could come here without passing the main game?"

Xiao Yi suddenly realized.

Previously, upon entering this room, the sudden emergence of the elder had disturbed his mind, and being in constant fear and the brink of life and death had caused him to overlook these details.

Now, he remembered.

The restriction of the Ancient Emperor’s Mansion was that only young Heavenly Talents could enter to take part in the trials.

But this elder, it was clear that even when he entered the mansion alive, he must have been very old, not possibly a young Heavenly Talent.

How did the elder appear here?

Could one arrive at the end of the Ancient Emperor’s Mansion without breaking the main game?

The elder chuckled and nodded, "Indeed."

"As long as one has deep mastery of Space Dao, they can bypass external trials, pathways, and the main game to reach the end of the mansion directly."

"Of course, those who have just entered the Legend realm and merely dabbled in Space Dao can’t, they can’t even find where the Ancient Emperor’s Mansion is hidden."

"However, as long as one’s cultivation and control over Space Dao are strong enough to disregard space limitations, they can come directly here."

"So," Xiao Yi’s face changed, "someone was here before and took the mansion’s rewards?"

The elder nodded, "Exactly."

"Including me, there were a total of three people."

"But, I don’t recall how many years ago it was specifically."

"The first time, a guy named Luo took a bell, it was an Ancient Treasure, the Dawn Bell."

"The second time, a little girl took something else."

"The three rewards by the bed, now only one remains, and it’s the most useless, the least valuable one."

...

Second update.