Chapter 24: Secret Realm
It was said that the cause of this joint mission was most likely a demon beast anomaly or a cultivator’s breakthrough. When it came to the appearance of a secret realm, everyone shook their heads at the mere mention. “Absolutely impossible.”
Even Chai Yanghui himself had thought so.
But the facts were right before them. Even if it was a one-in-ten-thousand probability, as long as it appeared, for the disciples carrying out this mission, it became one hundred percent real.
In the Hidden Moon Pool valley, the cultivators were thrown into chaos.
Tang Lin had been meditating and regulating his qi, but the sudden anomaly interrupted his spiritual energy circulation. Now his spiritual energy was flowing in reverse, and his meridians burned with pain.
Gu Qingqing’s small face was deathly pale, her hair disheveled. She bit her lip and clung tightly to an old pine growing from a rock crevice, her skirt hem fluttering wildly in the gale.
At this moment, Chai Yanghui could no longer concern himself with any battle plan, nor did he care about the identities of the disciples from the three sects. As the disciple with the highest cultivation here, he felt he needed to shoulder the responsibility of command.
With a great shout, the jade-green flowing-light talisman from before was summoned once more, enveloping all the disciples in the valley while leaving a passage leading to Silent Valley.
“Eastern Abyss Sect disciples, leave the Hidden Moon Pool and return to Silent Valley!”
Lu Ziye had seen the world as well. Although the situation was urgent, he led these outer disciples in an orderly fashion.
He grabbed Gu Qingqing—whose cultivation and combat ability were the weakest—then shouted several times toward Shao Sichao, Song Yan, and the others.
But alas…
Although Chai Yanghui was already pouring his full power into the Jade-Green Spirit Screen Talisman, it could not withstand the fluctuations of the secret realm’s manifestation. The jade-green flowing light on the talisman dimmed before long.
The cultivators in the valley suddenly felt a tremendous suction force sweeping over them.
Lu Ziye’s Daoist robes billowed as seven copper coins flew from his sleeve, landing on the ground to form a Big Dipper formation, shielding the Dongyuan disciples. Chai Yanghui then unleashed his spiritual energy once more, drawing three spirit talismans in the air in rapid succession.
But whether it was the copper coin spirit formation or these three spirit talismans, all melted away like snow meeting boiling water.
Everything happened far too quickly.
Song Yan had been meditating, recovering the spiritual energy in his body, when his divine sense flickered with a disturbance. He lifted his gaze toward the sky.
In the mere instant that he looked up, the Jade-Green Spirit Screen Talisman had already dissipated.
Amid the chaos, the suction force of the spatial fluctuation swept up several cultivators in the valley, carrying along some rocks and trees, and pulled them into the rift. Then the rift was as though erased by an unseen hand, leaving no sound behind.
Above the Hidden Moon Pool, calm gradually returned.
“Zhang Quan! Count the disciples!”
“Tang Xu! Notify the sect immediately!”
The event had already occurred. Chai Yanghui and Lu Ziye did not lose their composure and immediately sprang into action.
“Fellow Daoist Wang!”
“Where is Wang Xi?”
The two prepared to regroup with Wang Xi to discuss this sudden upheaval together, but there was no response for a long while.
“Senior Brother Wang… he…”
One of the Profound Abyss Sect disciples said timidly: “He was swept in…”
“What?!”
Chai Yanghui and Lu Ziye exchanged a glance.
Both read a trace of suspicion in the other’s eyes.
The spiritual energy fluctuation and the secret realm’s gravitational pull just now were not particularly strong for late-stage Qi Refining disciples. With a slight circulation of spiritual energy for resistance, one could easily endure it.
Thus, both Chai and Lu had even been able to set aside some of their mind and spiritual energy to protect their weakest disciples while keeping themselves safe.
How could Wang Xi not have been able to do the same?
He got swept in while trying to protect his disciples?
Would he be that kind-hearted…
…
The Cloud Forest Secret Realm.
In a dense, verdant forest, the scent of grass and trees filled his nostrils. The dry twig under Song Yan’s foot snapped with a crisp crack, especially jarring amid the surrounding dead silence.
Ferns several zhang tall dripped liquid from their fronds—whether dew or something else, he could not tell.
Song Yan pushed aside enormous shrub leaves and pulled himself free from the edge of the muddy swamp behind him.
His body was drenched with dew shaken from the leaves.
Crack—
The sound of a tree branch breaking came from overhead. Song Yan immediately rolled to the side.
A half-beast skull crashed down where he had just been standing. A rusted short sword was embedded in the cranium, its hilt wrapped with faded red-and-white talisman paper.
“Phew…”
He looked upward to confirm there was no further danger, then circulated a bit of spiritual energy to disperse the moisture from his body. “Sss…”
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through him, extending from his right arm toward his back. His shoulder blade showed signs of a fracture…
He chose a relatively flat spot to sit and meditate, then took out a few low-grade Qi-Blood Pills and Bone-Nourishing Pills from his cosmic bag.
These two types of pills belonged to common medicinal remedies. Their effects were similar to the wound medicines of the mortal martial world, so they were not worth much—one spirit stone could buy quite a few.
“Fortunately, I went to the market to buy some things before setting out…”
The Bone-Nourishing Pill dissolved into a bitter paste in his throat. He forced himself to swallow, the veins at his temples bulging and throbbing as his qi and blood surged.
After resting and recovering for a moment, Song Yan stood up and looked around.
This mountain forest had many ancient trees, with clouds and mist winding through the peaks. He did not know whether there were demon beasts here…
Song Yan smiled bitterly: “Is my luck really this bad?”
Even a cultivator like Song Yan, who did not know much about secret realms, was astonished by this shocking anomaly.
Secret realm grotto-heavens could actually be divided into many categories.
One type could be fully controlled through a particular medium. These grotto-heavens were closer to the magic treasures of powerful cultivators.
For example, Song Yan knew that Eastern Abyss Sect possessed a grotto-heaven secret realm, controlled by a painting treasure.
It was filled with dense spiritual qi and abundant treasures. Eastern Abyss Sect’s sect master, Daoist Lijun, only used it to reward outstanding disciples or when conducting sect selection events.
The second type was the unowned secret realm.
Legend held that grotto-heaven secret realms were formed from the internal worlds of ancient true immortals or rogue immortals when they perished, and thus existed independently from this world. They would only appear in the mortal world by sheer coincidence.
Some grotto-heavens were relatively stable—once they appeared, they would not disappear again.
Some secret realms, while appearing and disappearing intermittently, followed certain patterns in their timing, making them roughly predictable.
And yet other secret realms followed no pattern whatsoever. The time and place of their appearance were complete unknowns.
Song Yan mused that clearly, the one before his eyes was of the third type.
He was simply too unfortunate. On his very first official mission outside the sect, he had encountered such a situation.
“The most urgent task now is to see if there is an exit.”
As for the dangers within this secret realm, demon beasts and spirit beasts were one thing. At worst, one could be cautious. Encountering a third or fourth-tier demon beast and dying to its claws—that would just be his bad luck…
Conflict between unfamiliar cultivators, silencing witnesses, killing for treasures—those were also certain dangers.
But if this secret realm did not open again for hundreds or thousands of years, would he not be trapped here to starve to death?
A sense of dread about an uncertain future surged within him…
For humans, the unknown was always the most terrifying thing.
Song Yan suppressed his emotions. With several bounding leaps, he jumped to the top of a giant tree and surveyed his surroundings.
Hummm—
Huh?
A sound came from nearby. Song Yan flew backward, using the surrounding towering ancient trees to redirect his momentum, and landed on the ground. His sword fingers came together, and the Peach-Wood Metal Sword hovered at his side.
The sound suddenly drew closer. A withered leaf at his feet leaped into the air, transforming into a burning paper butterfly that dove straight at his face!
He was about to command the sword to block, but when he looked closely, he realized it was an unfamiliar voice-transmission talisman.
A voice-transmission talisman?
Song Yan was somewhat perplexed.
If it were an acquaintance, the voice-transmission talisman would naturally bear their mark. But for an unfamiliar cultivator, how could there be a thousand-li voice transmission?
There was only one possibility—just now, this person had been nearby and had already seen him.
“So it seems, climbing that giant tree so rashly was truly somewhat dangerous.”
Song Yan noted this to himself.
After a moment’s thought, he still opened the voice-transmission talisman.
Inside the talisman were only three sentences.
“This secret realm will only exist for half a shichen. There are low-level demon beasts within.”
“This secret realm is being manipulated by someone.”
“You and I are both being hunted. If that person encounters you alone, there is no escape.”
Song Yan froze, then felt a chill run down his spine.
Who was the sender?
Was what they said… true?
He instinctively commanded the Peach-Wood Metal Flying Sword to hover at his side, then suddenly noticed his palms were soaking wet—whether from dew or cold sweat, he could not tell.
Most importantly, who wanted to kill me?