Chapter 007: Mystery

The platform appeared to be about the size of Du Fan’s football field from his past life. At its edges, there were countless glowing spots. Du Fan focused his gaze on them and was even more astonished—those spots turned out to be various kinds of gold, silver, and jewels. Any one of them, if it appeared in the Imperial Capital, would surely cause a sensation.
Du Fan sighed inwardly. It was absolutely impossible for humans to create such vulgar things. Only those dragon clans who were obsessed with gold and jewels would do such a thing. It seemed that this so-called Divine Palace was likely related to the dragon clans to some extent.
Apart from that, there was nothing else noticeable on the platform. After observing for a while, Du Fan finally noticed a dull-colored stone tablet in the center of the platform. It was almost fused with the ground, and it would be hard to spot unless one paid close attention.
Du Fan took a deep breath and slowly walked up to the stone tablet. There wasn’t anything particularly eye-catching on it, except for several large characters carved in a language Du Fan had never seen before.
After looking for a while, he found no other clues. It seemed that all the secrets of the Jade Dream lay in those characters.
Hesitantly, he reached out with his finger, intending to touch them, but at that moment, a scream was heard!
“Don’t!!”
Chenchen’s voice came from afar, and she appeared beside Du Fan like a shadow. She placed her right hand on his wrist. Her fingertips felt soft and delicate, exuding an indescribable allure.
Du Fan was momentarily stunned.
The two humans and the dragon watching the scene sensed something and instinctively turned their faces away.
After a moment, Du Fan sighed softly and asked, “Chenchen, what’s wrong?”
Chenchen shook her head slowly. “Those characters can’t be touched. Not even I can. Aside from that useless dragon, no one else here can touch this tablet.”
Du Fan asked, “What are these characters?”
“Jade Dream, boundless paradise, dragon god bloodline, the essence of divinity…”
Chenchen recited slowly, then a hint of disgust flashed across her face. “Those dragon clans really still like to act mysterious. Boundless paradise… Do they really think they’re superior?”

Du Fan was slightly surprised. Although he knew Chenchen’s background was extraordinary, he never expected her to have some connection to the dragon race as well. But since there were many such questions, he naturally wouldn’t ask. Instead, he smiled and said, “Is this the language of the dragon race?”
Chenchen sneered and replied, “The language of the dragon race? Ridiculous! The dragon speech magic of the dragon race is powerful, but it’s after all their innate talent. Among the dragons, the transmission of dragon speech magic always relies on a method similar to ‘inheritance.’ This language is completely useless to them. But these monsters with oversized brains always think they’re superior, so they try to appear cultured. But how could they possibly create a language with their brains? These characters are ancient scripts from the Human Empire. People of your era naturally don’t know much about them. So when they appear here, it seems mysterious. Those who don’t know might really think the dragon race is something amazing.”
“Enough, Chenchen,” Du Fan said with a faint smile. “Let’s not worry about the dragon race. But from these few words, it seems that this Divine Origin really does exist… Anyway, exactly how to proceed depends on you.”
Chenchen nodded. “Of course. But… to open this door, it’s not me who will do it, but my useless mount… I’m starting to understand why such a dragon guards the entrance to this space. Although it’s strong, it’s of no use to true powerhouses. And to open this ‘door,’ we need its blood. It seems the people who built this place really went to great lengths to protect it. Powerhouses above level nine can’t enter here, while those below level nine can’t deal with Isella. Hmph… What a clever trick…”
“Alright,” Chenchen said. It seemed she realized her emotions were getting out of control. After taking a slow breath, her usual seductive smile reappeared on her face. “Let’s not talk about these things. If you’re interested in the future, I’ll tell you more. For now, let’s focus on what’s at hand. Only those with dragon god blood can touch the Divine Origin? Ridiculous! The reason this Divine Origin is hidden so deeply… is because anyone can touch it…”

As she spoke, Chenchen gave Du Fan a strange look, smiled faintly, and said, “As for this Divine Origin, it’s not very useful to me. But if you get it, your strength will surely improve rapidly… But there are others watching you behind…”

Du Fan replied calmly, “There’s no need to mention Feri—he wouldn’t dare betray me even if given ten times the courage. As for Tasia… I have my ways to deal with her. Don’t worry about it. Just hurry up and bring out that so-called Divine Origin.”

“Bring it out?” Chenchen sighed bitterly. “I’m afraid it won’t be that simple. Alright, you all step back for now. I’ll handle the rest. And you, watch carefully—you might need these skills in the future.”

Du Fan nodded slightly and stepped back a few paces. He gave a few more gestures, waving at Feri and Tasia, before stopping at the edge of the platform.

Even so, everyone’s gaze remained fixed on Chenchen. She stood beside the stone tablet, raised her right hand slightly, and a streak of silver holy flame flowed into the tablet. But in less than a moment, the flame seemed to be “kicked” out, yet the tablet showed no signs of damage.

Chenchen took a deep breath, waved her hand to draw the holy flame back into her body, then glanced at the green dragon Isela and said, “Come here.”

Although Isela had a vague idea of what was about to happen, it obediently flew over to Chenchen. Chenchen looked at it, then reached out and touched its back. Moments later, a blood-red liquid was drawn out of Isela’s body. Though trembling in pain, Isela dared not move.

After a while, the liquid coalesced into a mass about the size of a football. Chenchen waved her hand again, pushed Isela away, and said in a low voice, “That’s enough!”

Next, she formed a strange gesture with her hands in front of her chest. The dragon blood gradually dispersed with her movement, eventually turning into something resembling cloth.

Soon, under Chenchen’s command, this cloth-like substance wrapped around the entire stone tablet. With another wave of her hand, as if shedding something hot, she grabbed Isela, who was not far away, and retreated rapidly, reaching the edge of the platform in no time.

At that moment, a fierce red glow burst forth from the stone tablet surrounded by blood. Then, with a crisp sound, the entire platform collapsed except for the edges. Although the collapse happened silently, everyone present was inevitably shocked by what they saw. Though shocked, no one dared to move. The collapse gradually stopped, but strangely, the collapsed ground seemed to have been calculated with great precision, forming a spiral staircase inside the circular stone shelves. Yet this staircase had no handrails, and there was no connection between the steps—each one simply hovered in the darkness, evoking a sense of awe. However, Chenchen sneered at this sight and said, “Just trickery!” Seeing her expression, Du Fan asked in confusion, “What do you mean?” Chenchen glanced at Du Fan, thought for a moment, and then explained, “Look closely at these spiral stairs. Hmph, each step is made up of books. If I’m not wrong, all the books from these shelves have been gathered here to form these steps. If anyone had been greedy earlier… Hmph… even just one missing book would have prevented the stairs from forming, and probably caused the entire structure to collapse due to disrupted spatial order. What else could such an ostentatious thing be but trickery?” Despite her words, Chenchen still showed a hint of fear on her face. Du Fan, on the other hand, felt fortunate—had he been even slightly greedy, he would have been in real trouble! Moreover, the place was set up so mysteriously, with extremely strict entry requirements, and activating the magic array required dragon blood as a catalyst—everything was thought through to the extreme. With those priceless books and invaluable gold, silver, and jewels everywhere, who could say they had nothing to do with the entire mechanism? The person who designed this place truly understood human nature—ordinary people crave wealth, while powerful beings value art. With such treasures on display, few could remain unmoved. The fact that their group had managed to reach this place safely was nothing but luck.