Annihilation Is the Norm

The Secret Land, located Depths of Starry Sky, holds rare treasures that can Extend Life, making it the object of envy for major financial magnates, who constantly send people to explore it.

"Since there are Earth Immortal Grass there, could there be powerful primates, or even truly extraordinary beings?" Wang Xuan pondered.

The rare herb, Earth Immortal Grass, is clearly recorded in ancient books of the Old Earth, and mentioning it easily evokes associations with mythology.

There's an information asymmetry now; the specific details are all in the hands of the chaebols, and he knows far too little about it.

The hidden realm is likely far more dangerous than he imagined. Various groups have been organizing expeditions, but how many wondrous items have they actually unearthed?

Old Chen's Secret Path Exploration Organization has a branch in Yuan City and is also collecting information about the secret location. However, they only know the achievements of some exploration teams, but have no idea where the secret location is or what the specifics are.

In the Zhong family's antique study, many of the collections are shrouded in mystery, some related to myths and legends, and others being artifacts once used by the most powerful Daoist Master.

Zhong Yong sat on a vine chair that was as green as jade. Behind the chair back, two fresh, tender leaves were growing on a vine.

An Auspicious Beast covered his legs, exuding a sacred aura and radiating a rich life force.

He sighed softly, summoned his second son, Zhong Changming, and said, "I may not have much time left. You must be prepared and make the right moves in the future."

Zhong Changming had just sat down when he suddenly stood up again. What was wrong with his father? He was usually most afraid of death, so why was he saying such things today?

Behind Zhong Yong, on the bookshelf, were Five-Colored Jade Book, Golden Bamboo Slip, a jade vase radiating a hazy glow, and a stone slab engraved with nine human figures...

This is only a small part of his collection; the artifacts in his archives are countless.

Even if the strongest ancient warriors were to be resurrected, they would be horrified to see some of his collections, as some of these items had already disappeared in the distant past and become legends.

"Sit down and listen to me."

Wang Xuan rested for two days, pondering how to enter the secret realm and which company to cooperate with.

"Or, I could skip the secret realm and continue studying the inner landscape." Wang Xuan felt that he couldn't be stuck on one path; if he couldn't go to the secret realm, he would still have other options.

Such a special case as his, where he could open the Inner Scenery Realm before reaching the transcendent level, might be recorded in the secret scriptures of some great religions.

He was pondering whether it was possible to effectively utilize the Inner Scenery Realm without revealing the ancients. Were there any Ancient Method to restrain this?

"Can the Old Covenant Lock True Word' be used to lock away those ancient traps?"

There are a large number of ancient books and artifacts in New Star, almost completely emptying the Old Earth. This is one of the reasons why Wang Xuan came to New Star.

Three days later, Dingwu Organization contacted him, their special client, and told him that he needed to go to the Yuan City branch to register some information.

He quickly understood what was going on: the New Star team needed to input some basic information from people in both the New Arts and Old Arts fields, supposedly to better serve the cultivators.

Was Wang Xuan lost in thought to serve the cultivators, or to better control everything about them?

He immediately realized that New Star was taking precautions in case a real Supernatural Practitioner appeared, and was already making preparations in advance.

If this trend continues, various restrictions may be imposed on them in the future, such as requiring them to report their travel plans after reaching a certain level.

He figured that people like Chen Life Soil would now be under special "attention"!

Wang Xuan felt resistant and said, "I'm not a member of New Star. I was temporarily transferred here from Old Earth, and I'll have to go back after a while."

"There's no way around it. As long as you're in New Star, you need to register. Of course, don't overthink it. It's just about entering your name and cultivation level, nothing else."

Upon hearing this, Wang Xuan knew there was no way to avoid it. The information entered so far was limited, essentially a "census" of cultivators; what would happen in the future was uncertain.

He had no choice but to go to the Dingwu Organization's branch in Yuan City.

"Actually, the reason I asked you to come all this way is that there are some things that are inconvenient to discuss over the phone and I need to tell you in person."

The person in charge of registration was a middle-aged woman. She was not from the Dingwu Organization's branch, but was sent in from above, which clearly showed that she attached great importance to this matter.

Wang Xuan didn't speak, he just looked at her.

"It's a good thing," the middle-aged woman said to herself, lowering her voice mysteriously, "You're a special guest, you must have heard of the secret place, right?"

Wang Xuan's expression remained unchanged, but a ripple appeared deep in his eyes. He had been studying the secret place recently, and now an outsider had actually brought it up to him.

"Although some cultivators know about the secret location and are searching for it throughout New Star, they will never find it without a guide," the middle-aged woman said with a smile.

Wang Xuan had a painful realization after wandering aimlessly on the Cloud Mist Plateau for more than half a month!

The middle-aged woman smiled and said, "Please don't look at me like that. I don't know exactly where the secret place is either. However, after you enter your information this time, you will have the opportunity to enter the secret place."

"What do you mean?" Wang Xuan asked her.

The middle-aged woman said, "After discussions among all parties, it was agreed that the secret place should be opened to some powerful cultivators, giving them a valuable opportunity."

She smiled and added, "As I said, this registration is to better serve cultivators. Just wait for good news. I estimate that someone as powerful as you will be given priority to be invited into the secret realm."

Wang Xuan left expressionlessly. What service to cultivators? This was entirely for the benefit of large organizations, making it easier for them to find suitable people to go on adventures.

Sure enough, two days later he received his first phone call, an invitation from the Qin Family, a super conglomerate, to join their expedition team.

Wang Xuan listened quietly, learning the information he wanted through the customer service representative's introduction. In the end, he didn't refuse outright, but said he would consider it.

In the following days, he received calls from more than a dozen expedition teams, including one from an intermediary.

This agent was quite interesting; he told Wang Xuan that he wouldn't charge him an agency fee, but would only charge the employer's fee, so he could rest assured.

"Brother, it's not just big organizations exploring the secret realm; others also want to get involved and invest there. The roads have already been cleared. How do those tycoons and Exploration Organization split the profits with the explorers? They take 70%, and you get 30%. You have to understand that those are rare treasures you risked your life to collect in the secret realm, things you traded your life for, yet they take the lion's share. The employer I'm introducing is different; it's a 50/50 split!"

Wang Xuan remained in no hurry to express his opinion; his contact with such people was merely to gather more information.

The intermediary was very enthusiastic. He added him to his deep space signal and pulled him into a group with more than a dozen practitioners like him.

"Never join the expeditions of big conglomerates! What kind of strange things are they aiming for? Rare and divine objects like Mountain Snail and Earth Immortal Grass. They often wipe out the entire expedition team. Only a few people survive each expedition!"

"Have you heard? Last time, all three of the Song Family's expedition teams were wiped out. Now they can't recruit anyone, and nobody dares to go!"

"I've already told you, although our Xinyuan Exploration Team is newly established, it's safe and offers high rewards. Last time, out of eight people in the team, four came back alive, a survival rate of fifty percent, the highest among all organizations!"

Wang Xuan watched them chat quietly without saying a word. He sneered, wondering if it was a group of swindlers trying to fool him.

He immediately contacted the Yuan City branch of Old Chen's Secret Path Exploration Organization, told the person in charge there about the situation, and asked him to check on the Xinyuan Exploration Team.

Wang Xuan received feedback that same day, and the news surprised him.

This newly formed Xinyuan Exploration Team indeed had the highest survival rate, with half of its members emerging safely from the secret realm.

Other expeditions indeed have alarmingly high mortality rates; most of the time, it's considered good if 20% of them survive. Recently, however, expeditions from large conglomerates have been completely wiped out several times.

"What about the Zhao Family, the Wu Family, and the Zhong family?" Wang Xuan asked.

"I don't know anything about the Zhong family; I don't know anyone there. The Wu Family has always wanted to cooperate with us and has been in close contact with us. I heard they were wiped out twice recently, and in another instance, the survival rate was less than 15%. The Zhao Family is in a similar situation."

Wang Xuan was stunned when he heard this. He had thought that if things got really bad, he would go and seek refuge with Goddess Zhao and Wu Yin, but they all died one after another. Even someone as strong as him couldn't stand it!

He had long anticipated that the secret place would be very dangerous, and now it seemed that the place was a killing pit, with the super-rich tycoons' teams constantly suffering defeats.

Then, Wang Xuan went to the Dingwu Organization branch to ask someone about the situation of the Xinyuan expedition team and why their survival rate was relatively high.

"They set their sights low, not aiming for Earth Immortal Grass or Mountain Snail, but staying in the outer areas, and knowing when to quit while they were ahead, returning home in no more than a week."

Other expeditions typically stay in the secret realm for more than ten days, sometimes even close to a month, before leaving.

Wang Xuan nodded, it seemed that it wasn't a group of swindlers trying to fool him.

"Has anyone ever dug up the Earth Immortal Grass?" he asked.

"How could that be? That's Immortal Medicine. In ancient times, it was guarded by a being at the level of an Earth Immortal. Anyway, many people have died there, but no one has ever been able to get close."

Although Wang Xuan's knowledge of the secret realm was limited through various channels, he gained a growing understanding of the situation of each team.

"It's almost the end of the month, and all the teams should be back soon. We'll soon know the results and see if the big conglomerates' expedition teams have been wiped out again."

"Xinyuan's second expedition is also coming back; we're waiting to learn about the battle damage."

"If the survival rate is still fifty percent this time, then I'll go all out and sign up for the next Xinyuan expedition!"

Deep space signal cluster, those people are talking.

Wang Xuan was also waiting, wanting to see the situation of Zhao Qinghan and Wu Yin's respective family expedition teams, as well as the general situation of the large organizations. Could those teams have been wiped out again?