Scattered: Speculations About the Secret Realm

Put simply, an ancient secret realm was a kind of subsidiary plane attached to a main plane like Douluo Continent. Dragon Valley was such a place.

Generally speaking, only deities could create a stable, living small world.

After stepping out of the circular portal, the first thing Xu Tianchen saw was an enormous mountain range. Its outline vaguely resembled that of a dragon.

Although a sun hung high in the sky and looked no different from the one outside, Xu Tianchen somehow found it strange. It did not give him the same warm, welcoming feeling as the sun outside.

Yet it still allowed this world to flourish with the breath of life and brought light to it.

He stood there quietly staring at the sun. After watching it for a long time, he seemed to see a winged humanoid creature within it. But it lasted only an instant before disappearing again.

Thinking of the dark purple scythe hanging above the circular portal, Xu Tianchen formed a few guesses about the creator of this secret realm.

"Alright, let's go. We'll head toward the center of this secret realm."

As soon as Xu Tianchen spoke, no one answered him. He turned around and looked. Sure enough, the two people who should have been following behind him had vanished.

Xu Tianchen began recalling what had happened when they entered.

When he had stepped through the doorway, all he felt was darkness before his eyes. Then came a wave of dizziness, and in his daze, he seemed to have seen light flowing around him. It now appeared to have been a teleportation formation designed to scatter people apart.

The two of them were probably somewhere in this secret realm. Trying to find them now would be like searching for a needle in the ocean.

Forget it. Their strength was not bad, and as long as they were careful, they would not encounter any danger. Besides, even if they did, didn't they have life-saving tokens? Their lives would not be at risk.

Xu Tianchen no longer dwelled on his two newly recruited underlings and turned his gaze toward the enormous mountain range ahead.

It was the only place nearby that might contain life, and the core of the secret realm should also be within the mountain range before him.

Xu Tianchen summoned his martial soul, drew the level-five soul tool ray gun from earlier, and began circulating his soul power.

In an ancient secret realm like this, enormous opportunities came with equally immeasurable dangers.

Even with a life-saving token, he could not afford to lower his guard. Who knew what corner danger might spring out from? If he were sent out too early, not only would he fail to obtain an opportunity related to the gods, but he and the imperial family would likely lose all face as well.

As Xu Tianchen entered the mountain range, the trees around him grew more numerous and taller. After walking for a while, he realized that it was strangely quiet.

Whoosh

A black shadow darted past Xu Tianchen's eyes at an astonishing speed. Even with his powerful spiritual power, he could not lock onto it immediately.

Xu Tianchen instantly became wary. His spiritual power then spread outward in all directions with him at its center.

Whoosh

There came another sound. Although Xu Tianchen's eyes still could not catch it, his spiritual power had already locked onto it.

It looked like an entirely black Netherworld Leopard, but unlike an ordinary Netherworld Leopard, it had silvery-white markings across its body. The greatest difference was that its eyes were not the round pupils of an ordinary leopard, but vertical pupils similar to those of dragons.

It also carried a faint dragon's might. Xu Tianchen sensed that this Netherworld Leopard possessed Dragon Clan blood, and the silvery-white markings might indicate that its bloodline came from the Swift Dragon branch.

However, its cultivation was not high, only around two thousand years. With that kind of speed, it might even be able to escape from ten-thousand-year soul beasts, but it had the misfortune of encountering Xu Tianchen.

He raised his gun, locked on with spiritual power, and fired in one fluid motion!

Before the gunshot had fully faded, a bang followed. The Netherworld Leopard collapsed to the ground, a black hole piercing from its eye straight through its skull. Immediately afterward, a purple Millennium Spirit Ring floated above its corpse.

As usual, Xu Tianchen checked whether it had produced a Soul Bone.

No. Forget it, then. The odds of obtaining a Soul Bone had never been that high.

Xu Tianchen ignored the corpse and continued onward.

He had not considered storing the corpse as food reserves for later. The food in his soul tool was more than enough to sustain him in this secret realm for over half a year.

Before he had gone far, Xu Tianchen encountered another soul beast.

It was a Scarlet Fire Hound of around three thousand years. Unlike ordinary Scarlet Fire Hounds, however, this one was covered in yellow scales, and its eyes were vertical dragon-like pupils just like those of the previous Netherworld Leopard.

This Scarlet Fire Hound could no longer be called by that name. It should be called a Scarlet Fire Dragon Hound.

Had I guessed wrong? Is this secret realm related to the Dragon Clan? Xu Tianchen pondered inwardly.

Seeing Xu Tianchen disregard it so completely, the Scarlet Fire Dragon Hound let out a roar and pounced at him.

"You're courting death!"

Four Spirit Rings appeared around Xu Tianchen. His right hand transformed directly into a dragon claw, densely packed purple dragon scales covering it as a terrifying aura of destruction radiated from between its claws.

The purple second Spirit Ring lit up, and the power in the surrounding space gathered upon his right claw. At the instant the Scarlet Fire Dragon Hound lunged before him, the dragon claw came crashing down.

Accompanied by the sound of shattering bones, the ferocity in the Scarlet Fire Dragon Hound's eyes completely vanished. It fell to the ground, and a purple Spirit Ring slightly darker than the previous one emerged above its body.

Out of habit, Xu Tianchen searched the Scarlet Fire Dragon Hound for a Soul Bone. Unfortunately, there was still none.

He was not particularly disappointed. After all, he had long been mentally prepared for it.

Before he knew it, Xu Tianchen had walked for several more hours. During that time, he encountered several more soul beasts. The strongest was a six-thousand-year Ironclad Stone Bear with Dragon Clan blood. Its bloodline should have come from the Earth Dragon branch.

Its defense was extraordinarily powerful. Even a level-five penetrating soul tool ray could not break through it. However, its spiritual power was extremely weak, and Xu Tianchen ultimately killed it instantly with a single Annihilation Soul Tribulation.

Every soul beast he had encountered possessed Dragon Clan blood. One or two might have been a coincidence, but could so many still be coincidences?

This secret realm had to be related to the Dragon Clan. However, nearly all the ones he had encountered so far belonged to the Earth Dragon and Swift Dragon branches. He did not know whether it was only like this for him or whether it was the same everywhere.

Xu Tianchen leaped onto a tree with thick branches, leaned against it, and took out the prepared jerky from his storage soul tool ring. He ate as he rested.

But he had not rested for long before trouble arrived.

Crack.

The sound of a branch snapping beneath someone's foot reached Xu Tianchen's ears, followed closely by running footsteps and the panting produced by rapid movement.

Xu Tianchen, who had been resting with his eyes closed, immediately opened them and looked in the direction from which the sounds came.