The interior of the Holy Shrine was even more majestic than Xie Feng expected. Walls of pure white, tall pillars holding up the top with golden dragons surrounding them from beginning to end, paintings of creatures that Xie Feng had never seen, landscapes of beautiful gardens and mountains so high that their peaks pierced the clouds.
Xie Feng could even feel his body unconsciously relaxing. Somehow, he had lost all desire to fight; it was as if the mere thought of conducting a battle in this place was defamation. The most surprising thing is that Xie Feng did not fight against this feeling and simply let himself be dragged along without a fight. He even kept the Blood Sword in his inventory and approached one of the murals.
Xie Feng looked at the painting hanging on the mural and was enchanted by the view. The painting was a few meters long and wide, big and small stars, galaxies illuminated with different colors, planets of different sizes, even black holes and white holes; the painting was simply too beautiful to be the work of a human being.
At least, Xie Feng did not believe that an Earth person has the ability to create something as vivid, realistic, and beautiful as the painting in front of him.
After observing the first painting, Xie Feng advanced slowly and observed the rest. Each painting was different from the previous one, some of them were about outer space, others about different landscapes, races, species and there were even some simple paintings in which a white cloud was painted; but even the simplest painting in this place gave Xie Feng a strange feeling that he could not describe with words. But if he had to describe it… It would be a kind of pulsing feeling in his body and soul. As if he felt a premonition that something was about to happen, or as if something was resonating with him.
In short, somehow he felt that he had " returned at home " while looking at the paintings, one by one and in detail.
*Ta... ta... ta... ta...*
The sounds of Xie Feng's footsteps clearly rang out in this quiet world.
Time passed quickly, but Xie Feng continued to advance at a slow pace. He took the time he thought necessary to observe the site in detail; he even circled each pillar and paid careful attention to the Eastern dragons that surrounded them.
After advancing for an unknown period of time, Xie Feng gradually realized that the Holy Shrine was actually like an Emperor's palace. The palace of the Eminentis City King was simply too pitiful in comparison.
Finally, after a long time which seems like an eternity, Xie Feng arrived at a great hall. In the center of the great hall was a round table made of an unknown type of stone and adorned with all kinds of jewelry, chairs with diamonds embedded and there was even a small river that ran through the center of the place with different colored fish swimming inside.
However, what most caught Xie Feng's attention was the throne that was in the innermost part of the hall. The throne not only looked majestic, but it also imposed a feeling that demanded respect and fear at the same time; from the edge to the center it was golden with red decorations, the throne chair was ruby red and on the sides a pair of black and white wings.
"What an amazing throne..." Xie Feng murmured unconsciously. However, what happened next left him stunned.
*Swoosh!*
With a flash of golden light, the Ring of the God of Destruction that had been fixed in his right hand since the first step he took in this world, left Xie Feng's right hand and flew away!
Xie Feng was scared. Although he was dissatisfied with the two debuffs the Ring of the God of Destruction had, it was actually the most important and powerful item he had! How could he stand still while it escaped? Without hesitation, Xie Feng ran behind the golden light that enveloped the Ring and pursued it relentlessly!
But Xie Feng's concerns soon proved to be unfounded because after the Ring arrived just above the throne, the Ring of the God of Destruction stopped and the light around it disappeared, revealing it once again.
The Ring of the God of Destruction began to flash slightly, as if inviting Xie Feng to come closer. Xie Feng only hesitated for a second before starting to walk with a determined look. He stepped up slowly and step by step each stairway to the throne:
1 Step
2 Steps
3 Steps
...
After 6 steps, all Xie Feng had to do was sit on the throne to finally reveal one of the secrets surrounding the Ring of the God of Destruction. However, a powerful voice made his movements stop the next second.
"Are you sure about this?"
The voice was not loud, but it was like a heavy stone crashing into his heart. Xie Feng could not help but feel his heart and body trembling. The last step stopped and he raised his head, narrowing his eyes to a corner on the right, he could finally see... The person who had talked did not hide and simply showed himself... A few steps away, right in the right-hand corner of the hall, behind him.
Apparently, without noticing Xie Feng's surprise, the person approached slowly. His steps made no sound and his breath seemed to be one with the environment. This person was wearing a white cape and also had a silver magic staff in his right hand; his face had some wrinkles, his hair was pure white which gave him the appearance of a man of about 45-50 years old.
Surprise and vigilance in the heart of Xie Feng were at the top. He only experienced something similar for once in the Beginner's Village against Lucifer, so after taking a deep breath, he asked:
"Who are you?"
"Did you forget where you are? That's the question I should ask. Who are you, human?" The middle-aged man's voice was quiet and flat, like a lake of stagnant water that was not agitated by anything. However, Xie Feng was not tricked; only by the aura escaping from this man's body did he know he had no hope of survival... Not even to escape.
"Light Saint Dragon?" Xie Feng's pupils contracted to the size of a needle. In fact, he had relaxed too much because of the feeling of peace and tranquility that this place gave to his heart; therefore, he eventually forgot that this was the resting place for an existence that should not be provoked!
Seeing that Xie Feng did not answer his question, the Light Saint Dragon sighed and waved his hand:
"It has been hundreds of thousands of years since I have stepped outside this place and except for a few old friends, no one has visited me. Because they know that I prefer to be alone... Although I am surprised and do not understand how you could get in here, I will not make things difficult for you, kid. Go back to where you came from immediately. There is nothing valuable here for you," the Light Saint Dragon's eyes looked directly into the eyes of Xie Feng.
Xie Feng's eyes opened wide. Not by the words of the Light Saint Dragon... But because he could feel his body slowly trembling. The Light Saint Dragon had not even liberated his pressure, had not even made a threatening move... But Xie Feng could feel his body trembling with fear.
'Fear? Am I scared?', Xie Feng was stunned. He couldn't remember when the last time he was scared was... No, he had probably never felt scared in his life before today. When he looked down and saw his right hand shaking slightly, it was a big shock to him.
Xie Feng bit the edge of his lower lip so hard that if it were the real world, he would certainly have hurt himself badly. Although the pain in the Samsara world was reduced to only 5% so as not to completely lose the stimulus of reality, that small percentage still caused a considerable amount of color.
"I am sorry, Mr. Light Saint Dragon... But in fact, there is a naughty ring that I must recover," said Xie Feng after he became well. He looked forward again and continued: "It seems that unless I sit on this throne, my Ring will not follow me home. But I promise to leave when I get it back again."
After his response, Xie Feng could clearly feel an aura change in the Light Saint Dragon's body for a moment. During that split second, Xie Feng could feel everyone around him becoming muddy and heavy in which even taking a simple step forward would be a challenging task. But everything went back to normal a second later.
"If you sit on that throne, you will die". The voice of the Light Saint Dragon echoed in the hall: "I know that you and the other human beings who come from another world call themselves 'Players'. I also know that you, players, cannot really die even if you are killed a thousand times..."
The Light Saint Dragon's voice stopped for a moment and since Xie Feng was turning his back on him, he didn't know what kind of expression the middle-aged man had on his face.
"But... If you sit on that throne... You will absolutely die!... Do you still want to sit on it?" Words that Xie Feng did not expect were pronounced by the Light Saint Dragon, making his inner world tremble once again.