Chapter 1029: Forbidden Air Domain, Unexpected Hosts and Guests

As Xia Duo entered the gradual boundary between the Princess's Shenguo and the Boundless Wilderness, drawing closer to the core, the scenes within the Shenguo he could see became increasingly clear.

It was not until he crossed a certain limit that the scene before Xia Duo's eyes suddenly sharpened, and looking out, the entire scope of the Shenguo was almost entirely visible.

Perhaps because she had only recently achieved Ascension to Godhood, the scope of the Princess's Shenguo was far less vast than the Kingdom of Radiance; Xia Duo made a rough estimate, and it was likely not even as large as the Daxia Territory on the Main Plane.

Within the entire scope of the Shenguo, only the Nether Palace in the very center could be considered a proper Shenguo structure; the other farmland and farmhouses were still too crude.

Xia Duo tried it out, and 【Cloud-Stepping】 was still usable within the Princess's Shenguo, so he directly rode the clouds and mist to fly toward the Nether Palace in the center.

If nothing went wrong, the Princess should be there.

……

Originally, Xia Duo thought he would be able to fly all the way to the plaza outside the Nether Palace, but he did not expect that as he flew, he would discover his altitude getting lower and lower.

By the time he reached the outskirts of the plaza, his height from the ground was less than a foot; this height was about the same as walking normally.

During this process, apart from the perception of decreasing altitude, he did not feel any abnormality; everything was natural, as if the space here had gradually lost the attribute of height.

And from the moment he took his first step onto the plaza, not only was Cloud-Stepping unusable, but even the surrounding Magic Net lost all operability.

In other words, at this moment, Xia Duo had almost completely lost his ability to perform Spellcasting.

The reason he said "almost" was only because the Arcane Fire combined with his will could still be deployed, but—

Here, including outside the Shenguo, even if the Arcane Fire was linked to the Magic Net, it could not obtain a continuous stream of energy from it to convert into Arcane Energy.

That is to say, in the Outer Planes, if Xia Duo wanted to perform Spellcasting, he could only operate the external Magic Net; if he wanted to deploy Arcane Fire for Spellcasting, he had to provide his own energy, which meant preparing Arcane Crystals in advance.

The Arcane Energy stored within the Arcane Fire itself was only enough for him to cast one 8th Circle Spell (or 100~200 1st Circle Spells; for the consumption ratio of other circle spells, see Chapter 1019).

Once used up, the Arcane Fire would struggle to maintain its own existence and might face disintegration, which would be a huge loss; he had to prepare Arcane Crystals in advance.

And inside the Princess's Shenguo, specifically after entering the plaza area outside the Nether Palace, he could only perform Spellcasting via Arcane Fire.

But the Arcane Energy Xia Duo had prepared was limited; in a situation where he was unsure how long he would stay in the Outer Planes, unless he encountered a few extremely unfavorable situations, he would not consider using Arcane Fire for Spellcasting at all.

However, there is a saying on Earth: "Man thinks, and God laughs." For Xia Duo, from the moment he entered the scope of this Shenguo, whether he could perform Spellcasting was actually no longer important.

If any extremely unfavorable situation could still occur here, then even if he could still perform Spellcasting, what could he change?

……

Crossing the plaza, Xia Duo arrived before the Nether Palace.

The entrance was very deserted, without a single guard, forming a sharp contrast to the scene he had seen outside the Nether Palace in the Old City District of Seventon—where two squads of fully armed soldiers were stationed at all times.

"Hmm?"

Xia Duo did not actually care whether there were guards, but without guards, he did not know how to contact those inside. If it were on the Main Plane, he could at least use Magic for Sending, but now—

On one hand, performing Spellcasting required consuming limited Arcane Energy; on the other hand, sending a message to a person and sending a message to a god were very different.

Additionally, Xia Duo also thought that he had been within the scope of the Shenguo for so long, yet the Princess had not reacted at all; was she unable to perceive what was happening within the Shenguo, or was she not "home" right now?

……

Just as Xia Duo was hesitating whether to enter the Nether Palace directly, wait outside the plaza for a while, or ask the citizens of the Shenguo, two bright light orbs the size of fists suddenly flew out from the deep courtyard.

The light expanded and contracted as if breathing, accompanied by bursts of ethereal, melodious instrumental music.

"Holy, holy, my God invites you to enter!"

The two "Shenguo atmosphere team members," the Holy Light Divine Envoys, circled above Xia Duo's head a few times before flying toward the interior of the Nether Palace.

They would fly a distance and then stop, seemingly waiting for Xia Duo to follow their "pace."

Seeing this, Xia Duo could not help but find it amusing, but he still followed quickly. The layout inside the Nether Palace in this Shenguo was very similar to the Nether Palace Niya had described to him while on the Main Plane.

However, Xia Duo had never entered the Nether Palace on the Main Plane, so he could only vaguely feel a sense of familiarity and was not entirely certain.

And by comparing Niya's description with his limited architectural Knowledge, the place these two Holy Light Divine Envoys were taking him to should be the main reception hall of the Nether Palace.

This made Xia Duo quite surprised; generally speaking, even before the Princess achieved Ascension to Godhood, she would not have received him with such high specifications.

"Is it because of my unexpected visit, or are there other guests?"

Thinking this, he arrived at the reception hall. The two Holy Light Divine Envoys "whooshed" and flew in quickly, with no intention of waiting for Xia Duo at all.

Xia Duo did not mind; he slowed his pace slightly, adjusted his emotions, and only then took a deep breath and walked into the reception hall.

But the divine might that one could not look directly at, or the Princess's approachable avatar form, which he had anticipated, did not appear!

Instead—

"Master Bailun?!"

Xia Duo almost exclaimed in surprise. At this moment, in the reception hall, the person sitting in the main seat was none other than Master Bailun, who had been missing from the Main Plane for over half a month.

And as for the guests, besides Xia Duo himself, there were two others: one was the Divine Envoy Kafa he had encountered in the Kingdom of Radiance last time, and the other was unexpectedly an Elf dressed as a Mage—or more accurately, a Moon Elf among the Elves.

But what surprised Xia Duo even more was that the style of the Mage Robe and ornaments on this Elf actually originated from Maiyelita, and the Maiyelita Wang Guo on the Main Plane had been destroyed by Aryvandaar several thousand years ago.

Could this Elf be a survivor of the Ancient Maelita? Or perhaps they had died at the time and had lived in the Elf God Kingdom ever since?

Xia Duo had transformed into an Elf in the Projection Plane many times, especially in the most recent Projection Plane where he had become the Cormanthor Crown King; he naturally knew the descriptions of the afterlife in Elf culture.

Almost all Elves believed that after death, they would go to their true Homeland, and then live there in peace and tranquility forever, until eternity.

In 【Projection Plane: Cormanthor Birth】, the afterlife Homeland of the Elves was called "Faruier Jiayuan," while on the Main Plane, the afterlife Homeland of the Elves was called "A Fanduo Homeland."

The difference between these might contain some secret of the Elf Main God, but now was not the time to investigate this.

Xia Duo only wanted to know who this Elf was, what they were doing here, as well as why the Divine Envoy Kafa from the Kingdom of Radiance and Master Bailun were here, and where the Princess, the true owner of this Shenguo, had gone!