Inside Flowing Overlapping Mountains, strange rocks stood in groves.
Those strange rocks varied in form, seemingly shaped by continuous river erosion.
The strange rocks ranged in height, with the lowest being only one or two light-years, and the tallest reaching tens of thousands of light-years, resembling sharp swords piercing the Void.
Upon first entering this strange rock area, Ender specifically conducted an experiment.
He used the Domain of 'Golden Glitter Domain' as a Spirit Weapon, unleashing the most powerful Fusion Secret Technique, 'Life and Death Duality,' to strike the strange rocks, but found it had no effect.
This meant that the strange rocks were as sturdy as top-tier flying palace Arcana treasures.
...
"Something is strange..."
Ender, riding the Pinnacle flying palace Arcana treasure 'Dark Ember Palace,' continuously delved deeper into the strange rock area, his Divine Power covering a one-light-year radius, recording the terrain and features along the way for mapping.
"There's clearly no water flow in this internal area, yet wherever my Divine Power extends, I feel an extreme sense of dampness."
He couldn't help but think, "This place is extremely far from the river at the mountain's waist, so why is this happening?"
As he gradually went deeper, Ender could feel the dampness becoming more pronounced, just like a Hidden Cloud before a rain.
"Something's not right!"
Ender had a faint feeling of unease, so he immediately teleported back according to the map he had just made.
Soon after he left the strange rock area, he heard the sound of rushing water, accompanied by a powerful shockwave.
Boom!
he saw an turbulent azure current with whitecaps rush out of the strange rock area and merge into the vast water body outside.
On the surface of the water body, an incredibly huge wave appeared, spreading further into the distance.
Even though the 'Dark Ember Palace' that Ender was riding had retreated into the water body, he still felt a powerful impact.
Each impacting drop of river water had a mass exceeding that of a star, and with the acceleration of dozens of times the speed of light, it was enough to instantly annihilate the Divine Body of an Immortal!
Even a Universe Venerable would likely suffer severe damage to their Divine Body under the impact of these terrifying water droplets.
And with countless drops of river water converging, the intensity of the impact was unimaginable!
"Such a powerful impact. If one were exploring the strange rock area in a high-grade flying palace Arcana treasure and encountered such danger, they would likely perish on the spot!"
Ender looked at the power of the turbulent current's impact and silently said, "Having just entered the strange rock area, I've already encountered such danger. The three great perilous lands truly live up to their reputation."
Flowing Overlapping Mountains was quite peculiar. Whether it was the outer water body or the internal area at the foot of the mountain, theoretically one could enter from the sky.
However, the space in the sky above Flowing Overlapping Mountains was extremely stable, like Original Star, making teleportation impossible; one could only fly slowly!
Moreover, the gravity within Flowing Overlapping Mountains's range was extremely strong, and the further away from the ground, the more terrifying the gravity became.
It was as if an invisible force constantly pulled one downwards, allowing for flight or teleportation only on the surface of the outer water body at most.
The internal strange rock area also allowed only flying and teleportation within it.
"The water current's impact is too strong..."
Ender, riding the 'Dark Ember Palace,' arrived at the surface of the water body and used his Divine Power to investigate the continuous huge waves on the water's surface.
"However, for now, only this area has river water impacting."
He flew a long distance along the boundary between the strange rock area and the water body.
He saw that only the area just now had river water impacting, and other areas showed no abnormality, nor did he feel that dampness.
"I'll go in from here."
Ender sensed the summoning feeling coming from deep within Flowing Overlapping Mountains, slowly flew into the strange rock area, and recorded the terrain and features along the way for mapping.
...
A thousand years later.
"Finally, I've reached the core area."
Ender, riding the 'Dark Ember Palace,' flew above a slowly flowing river.
During the hundreds of years exploring the internal area, he encountered many dangers.
For instance, water currents would suddenly shoot out from ground fissures, with power comparable to a full-strength attack from a sixth-tier Pinnacle Universe Master!
Or water currents would surge from underground, continuously forming powerful and terrifying whirlpools, whose continuous twisting impact power was enough to damage even a top-tier flying palace Arcana treasure caught within them!
There were also swallowing sinkholes, ground fire eruptions, and so on...
In short, the internal area of Flowing Overlapping Mountains was full of dangers, and the terrain had many similar features.
If one didn't distinguish carefully, it was like falling into a maze and getting lost within it.
However, in these hundreds of years, Ender was not without gains.
Besides obtaining some precious Artifact Refining Materials, he also acquired a damaged top-tier Arcana treasure armor, with a total value of approximately 800 Arcana Treasure Points.
"For the internal area of Flowing Overlapping Mountains, our Human Race still has some map markings, as well as some warnings and reminders."
Ender's Divine Power covered a one-light-year radius, and he silently said, "Now that I've arrived at this core area, I'll have to explore it slowly on my own."
"That summoning feeling is getting stronger, but it's still far from the intense summoning I felt when I first entered Primal Chaos City."
"It seems the treasure summoning me is deep within the core area."
Ender thought, "I'll fly along one side of the mountain and make map markings."
Thus, he controlled the 'Dark Ember Palace' to fly, eventually taking decades to cross the river and reach one side of the mountain.
This side of the mountain had terrain and features that made it easier to make map markings than the river encircling Flowing Overlapping Mountains, which had no reference points.
Flying along, Ender occasionally felt a shock!
Because in the river, he discovered massive black shadows, nearly a light-year long, swimming in the depths of the azure river.
There was more than one of these massive black shadows; sometimes they swam upstream, sometimes downstream, as if guards on patrol.
The strange thing was...
These black shadows seemed to ignore him. He had once seen from afar an ancient strong practitioner from the first Reincarnation Era being attacked by one of those massive black shadows, forcing him to teleport away to escape!
But Ender dared not risk it, to gamble that those black shadows wouldn't attack him, so he could only continuously fly upwards along the mountain body and the river surface.
...
Decades later.
Ender, riding the 'Dark Ember Palace,' was still flying along the mountain body and the river surface, using the mountain body as a reference to record his flight path as map markings.
Upon reaching the core area of Flowing Overlapping Mountains, there was almost no possibility of getting lost; as long as one followed the few rivers encircling Flowing Overlapping Mountains, they would eventually reach the river source or the foot of the mountain.
As for whether one could arrive safely, that was another matter entirely.
Rumble--!
The sound of rushing water came from ahead. Ender stopped flying and looked through the 'Dark Ember Palace' door, seeing that in the distance was the confluence of two azure rivers.
Whoosh!
The turbulent currents continuously impacted each other, causing a huge whirlpool, dozens of light-years in diameter, to form. Its swallowing and twisting forces tore at everything passing through the two rivers.
However, Ender saw a massive black shadow, enduring the whirlpool's swallowing and twisting forces, forcefully swimming upstream.
"That whirlpool doesn't seem that terrifying."
Seeing this, his vigilance towards the whirlpool lessened a bit.
But immediately after, Ender realized something was wrong...
Because the 'Dark Ember Palace' he was riding was now slowly accelerating towards that whirlpool!
"I'm keeping the palace still, so why am I continuously flying towards that whirlpool?!" Sensing the abnormality, Ender immediately brought the 'Dark Ember Palace' to teleport backward, timely escaping the whirlpool's pull.
"That whirlpool is not simple. It can pull the 'Dark Ember Palace' from tens of thousands of light-years away, and that's with me maintaining control."
He teleported to a safe river surface and mused, "If one accidentally enters it, even a Pinnacle flying palace Arcana treasure might not be able to withstand that twisting and tearing force."
"Now that I've escaped danger, how do I get past it?"
"Should I perform a long-distance teleportation, or fly up along the mountain to bypass it?"
Ender gazed into the distance, his vision passing over the whirlpool at the confluence of the two rivers, vaguely seeing the two rivers in the hazy mist.
"With the mist obstructing vision, I can't see clearly from a long distance. If I perform a long-distance teleportation, I might accidentally enter some dangerous place."
Finally, his gaze turned to the mountain body of Flowing Overlapping Mountains, and he thought, "I'll fly along the mountain body to bypass that whirlpool!"
Having made up his mind, Ender controlled the 'Dark Ember Palace' to climb upwards along the mountain body.
Initially, there was nothing unusual, but as the climbing height continuously increased, he discovered incredibly dense water droplets, impacting the mountain body at dozens of times the speed of light and merging into it.
At first, the number of those water droplets was extremely small, and he didn't pay much attention to them.
But as he got further and further from the river, he found that the frequency of the water droplets' attacks became increasingly dense!
At the same time, the 'Dark Ember Palace' climbing along the mountain body also suffered attacks from the water droplets.
Boom!
A water droplet impacted the 'Dark Ember Palace,' directly slamming the dark red palace onto the mountain body of Flowing Overlapping Mountains. That power, more terrifying than a full-strength attack from a Sixth-rank Universe Master, almost made him lose control of the Arcana treasure.
"Such powerful might, I can't resist it head-on!"
Ender's expression was solemn. His Divine Power covered a one-light-year radius, and he controlled the palace to avoid the water droplet impacts while flying upwards.
"These water droplets come from an extreme distance, suspected to be formed by mist pulled by Flowing Overlapping Mountains's gravity, and their power is extremely strong after long-distance flight."
After observing, he quickly discovered why the water droplets appeared, "I didn't encounter these water droplets when flying along the river. Perhaps the river absorbs those mists or water droplets."
He flew upwards for several more days.
"I can't fly any higher."
Ender controlled the 'Dark Ember Palace' to fly along the mountain, parallel to the river.
"The higher I go, the denser the water droplets' impacts become, and their power also increases!"
He silently said, "If I had a flying palace type Xeon Arcana treasure, perhaps I could withstand the dense impacts of the water droplets and directly enter the river above."
"But with my 'Dark Ember Palace,' I can't do that yet."
"Now, I'll just fly along the river; that should be able to withstand the whirlpool's swallowing and pulling force. If not..."
Ender thought, "Then I'll just have to teleport past it."
Thinking this, he controlled the 'Dark Ember Palace' to fly quickly while dodging water droplet attacks, to resist the whirlpool's pull from below.
Perhaps due to sufficient height, or perhaps the pulling force above the whirlpool was weak, Ender, after a long period of focused flight, successfully passed the whirlpool at the river confluence.
Subsequently, he landed at the junction of the river and the mountain body, continuing to fly upwards along the river.
Compared to above the mountain body, the river surface was clearly much safer!
...
Ten thousand years after entering the core area.
Cautious and flying at only near light-speed, Ender finally reached the end of the azure river.
Even though he was very careful along the way, he still almost accidentally entered dangerous places multiple times. Fortunately, his flight wasn't too fast, and he retreated in time.
These dangers were still encountered even when those massive black shadows wandering in the azure river completely ignored him.
This clearly showed how terrifying the core area of Flowing Overlapping Mountains truly was!
Boom...
The continuous sound of the waterfall's impact constantly echoed in Ender's mind, will, and even his Soul!
"This is!"
Ender's eyes showed some shock.
Because he sensed his Soul will was being impacted, but it was largely blocked by the 'Molten Crystal,' a Soul Xeon Arcana treasure.
The remaining Soul will impact, for his True God level will, could not shake him in the slightest.
But the problem was, when he first arrived here, he didn't feel any Soul will impact.
It was only after listening to the sound of the waterfall's impact for a moment that his Soul will began to feel the impact!
"This place is too dangerous!"
Ender frowned and quickly added a note to his map markings.
Even he, with a Soul Arcana treasure, could feel the Soul will impact. Other Universe Masters in the Human Race, if they came here, would probably perish directly!
Just as he was about to fly towards the direction of the summoning feeling, he saw an massive black figure emerge from a lake beneath a waterfall in the distance.
"That is..."
Ender saw the massive black figure and couldn't help but be slightly stunned, "Demon Beast Ancestor, why is he here?"
...
Whoosh!
The Demon Beast Ancestor's massive black figure emerged from the lake, his eyes filled with joy.
"Haha, this 'Immovable Seal' truly lives up to its reputation as the strongest Arcana treasure born on Original Star, it's really useful."
He was quite joyful in his heart, "With this 'immovable seal,' the Soul will impact of the Three Thousand Waterfalls has much less effect on me."
"After adapting for so long, I can now freely explore the Three Thousand Waterfalls area."
"The only drawback is that although I've obtained two Pinnacle Arcana treasures, I still haven't obtained an Arcana treasure."
The Demon Beast Ancestor couldn't help but sigh, "Without an Arcana treasure, it's impossible for me to defeat those three traitors."
"Hmm? Is that..."
Soon, he discovered a dark red palace in the distance, hovering at the source lake of the azure river.
The dark red palace faintly had bright red flowing within it, as if flames were burning.
What surprised the Demon Beast Ancestor was that the dark red palace didn't sway, as if its owner didn't feel the Soul will impact of the Three Thousand Waterfalls.
"A flying palace type Arcana treasure I haven't seen before. Is it a Pinnacle top-grade flying palace Arcana treasure, or an Arcana treasure?"
Seeing this, the Demon Beast Ancestor silently said, "Judging from it being unaffected by the Three Thousand Waterfalls, the owner of this palace must at least have a Pinnacle Soul Arcana treasure like the 'Immovable Seal' for protection."
The environment of the Three Thousand Waterfalls was special; even a True God, upon first arrival, would not be accustomed to the Soul will impact here.
So the Demon Beast Ancestor made the judgment that the other party was a True God and had visited the Three Thousand Waterfalls more than once.
There weren't many True God in the Universe Ocean, and he knew almost every one of them.
Without contact with the other party's Divine Power from a distance, he couldn't identify their identity.
"Should I follow?"
The Demon Beast Ancestor watched the dark red palace disappear into the lake, somewhat hesitant.
Ultimately, he shook his head, "No, I'd rather not cause unnecessary misunderstandings."
Without an Arcana treasure for protection, his strength was clearly much weaker than a True God who possessed an Arcana treasure.
Especially those ancient True God from the first and second Reincarnation Eras, each of them had Arcana treasures, and some even had multiple in hand!
The Demon Beast Ancestor re-entered the lake...
But not long after, he emerged again and chased in the direction Ender had left!