"Are there no other punitive measures?" Yan Chihuo asked curiously.
"Yes. It merely means that the trials here will become more difficult to pass in the future," Ouyang Zhi replied.
That made no sense! Yan Chihuo immediately reached a conclusion in his heart. He did not believe anyone would leave behind such a treasure ground for later generations without holding anything back. There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world; that saying applied equally well to the world of cultivation.
Ouyang Zhi continued, "Sure enough, the difficulty of going there increased drastically afterward. In order to pass the trials, from the time we advanced to the Dao Integration Stage onward, we invited friends to join us each time. Yet although we passed the trials and advanced successfully, some of our friends still fell. The most dangerous time was when both friends we brought along perished. Though my brother and I advanced successfully, we were severely injured as well and spent a full three years recovering."
"Did people die every time?" Yan Chihuo asked.
"That's right. Since my brother and I began advancing to the Dao Integration Stage, we brought friends along every time. Although the secret realm's trials became harder as more people joined, we and the friends participating with us would anticipate every possible situation beforehand and practice accordingly, so we still passed the trials. Overall, across these five trials, we invited seventeen friends. Twelve fell, while the remaining five all advanced smoothly as well. But to this day, not one of those five friends has wanted to go a second time."
Well, at least five of them had actually survived.
Yan Chihuo sneered inwardly. Such a crucial secret ground was something the Ouyang brothers absolutely would not want to share with others. Of those