The vast world truly presented a straight line.
And the location where Kong Tai and the others were at this moment was at the very center of this seemingly boundless world.
Kong Tai knew they were inside the body of a void beast, but since they had never truly seen the beast’s本体, they couldn’t ascertain their exact position within its body.
Gazing at the colossal gate before them, at the intricate and mysterious black inscriptions etched upon it, Kong Tai glanced at Robin, his eyes filled with inquiry.
"I don't recognize it, nor can I translate it at all. These characters don't belong to this world."
Robin shook her head and stepped forward, her eyes filled with excitement as she looked at the inscriptions on the stone gate.
She slowly traced the inscriptions on the stone gate with her right hand, her fingertips grazing the cold, massive stone with a faint rustling sound, as if the extreme passage of time were revealing the history recorded on the gate to her.
But not knowing was still not knowing; the characters had form, but without a fundamental logic, even a god couldn't discern what was on the gate.
"If we can't figure it out, then so be it. Judging by the antiquity of this stone gate, it must be beyond our comprehension."
No longer dwelling on what the inscriptions recorded, he had asked Bi An earlier, and even Bi An couldn't make sense of it.
After all, the universe was vast, and Bi An had said that this void beast had drifted from the depths of the void and inadvertently connected with this world.
The void was infinitely large, and who knew which world this void beast had drifted from.
Gazing at the colossal gate, Kong Tai pushed inward with force as he rubbed it with his right hand.
*Creak!*
After countless ages had passed, turning into an eternal stone gate, it now shattered its eternal silence under Kong Tai's hand.
As the colossal gate swayed, dust fell from its seams, and then an incredibly powerful shockwave abruptly surged forth from behind the gate.
This shockwave carried no malice; it was merely an energy surge temporarily formed by the imbalance of energy between the outside and inside of the gate.
Everyone closed their eyes, allowing the shockwave to pass by them.
"Ah-choo!"
Just then, A Luo let out a loud sneeze. He then opened his eyes and fanned the air around him, "Why does this aura feel so decayed to me!"
"Considering the grandeur of this place, it should at least be a dwelling of a god. Even if time has passed, it shouldn't be this decayed!"
With doubt in their hearts, as the dust settled, everyone looked up towards the world beyond the gate’s seam.
There was no magnificent splendor or golden opulence that they had imagined. Instead, perhaps it was due to their arrival that the eternity of the world behind the gate was broken, causing everything within to turn to dust the moment it came into contact with the outside air.
Thus, what they saw of the world behind the gate was nothing but cold walls, steps, and a throne. All other objects had turned to dust, forming a thick layer on the ground.
"It seems the master of this place left far longer ago than I imagined."
On Kong Tai's left shoulder, Bi An looked at the grand hall behind the gate and sighed with disappointment.
"Let's go! Since we're here, let's at least see if anything was left behind!"
Despite holding no hope, Kong Tai still took the lead and stepped through the gate’s seam.
Just as they had seen from outside the gate, although the entire hall was enormous, it contained nothing but coldness and decay.
Walking across the central flat ground and ascending the steps, they reached the platform at the end of their sight. Looking at the colossal throne before them, everyone could imagine that in a very distant past, a king who ruled all heavens had sat here, gazing out at the world, at all the realms, achieving eternity.
To be honest, except for Robin, everyone was somewhat disappointed. They had initially thought that even if there weren't infinite treasures, there should at least be something.
But looking at the current state, unless they could somehow move this castle, whose material they couldn't discern but whose immense solidity they could feel, it seemed unlikely they would gain anything.
"Kong Tai, look over here."
Just then, Robin, who had not followed Kong Tai to the throne but was instead examining the murals and inscriptions on the stone pillars and walls in the hall, called out, attracting everyone's attention.
"Did you discover something?"
The disappointment on his face vanished. Ah Hua was the first to jump down from the throne and run towards Robin.
Watching Ah Hua's eager back, Kong Tai shook his head with a chuckle. He wasn't disappointed at all. As long as there was no danger that he couldn't overcome, or couldn't protect his companions from, he was content.
After all, the experience of coming here, while devoid of danger with him present, was still a rare adventure.
And this time, by coming here, they had gained a ship for their future travels across the universe – the "void beast."
Arriving beside Robin, he looked up in the direction she was pointing.
On the massive stone wall, a painting came into full view.
It was a worm, a worm with only one eye, its body resembling an earthworm but without the earthworm's length.
What drew everyone's attention wasn't the worm itself, but its eye.
For within the worm's field of vision, they saw galaxies encircling the entire eyeball. If they looked closely, wasn't that the Milky Way world they had experienced at the beginning?
"It, it, it is the Milky Way world."
Fei De stared at the lifelike worm on the wall, his face filled with astonishment. Even with his resilient heart, tempered by the passage of ages, it was on the verge of collapsing at this moment.
If what was depicted in the mural was true, it would completely shatter his long-held worldview.
No one spoke.
Ah Hua and the others had already learned from Kong Tai before entering this place that they would be facing an unprecedented being.
And because they knew of Bi An's existence, while equally astonished, they were mostly filled with awe.
Awe at the madness of this world, and at their own ignorance.
"If the Milky Way world we experienced is the eye of a giant beast, then where we are now..."
Gu Yina murmured thoughtfully, "is it the head, or the body?"
Upon hearing Gu Yina's question, everyone looked at the mural again. Looking closely, some details in the mural this time allowed them to know their current location.
"It's the head."
Behind the giant worm's eyeball in the mural, faintly, they saw a white sphere. And within that white sphere, shrouded in mist, a castle was vaguely visible.
Looking even more closely, wasn't that precisely the castle they were standing in?
"Kong Tai."
If there was anyone here who knew what the worm in the mural was, it could only be Kong Tai. No, not Kong Tai himself, but Bi An, who had been following Kong Tai and had not reappeared since they left that monochromatic red world.