Rules Spread, the Desolate Wilderness Forest

"Master isn't a Diviner, so how did he learn when the Qigu Secret Realm would open and what its rules were before the Diviners of the great powers in the Southern Domain of Qitian?"

"News of it hasn't even spread through the Southern Region yet."

"As expected of Master!"

The three marveled inwardly.

Mo Lingyuan and Lü Liu exchanged a glance. They were thinking the same thing.

"Go cultivate," Li Moqing said.

He saw the looks on their faces but could not be bothered to explain.

"Yes, Sect Master!"

"Yes, Master!"

The next day.

The Southern Domain of Qitian.

"It's out! It's out!"

"What's out?"

"The opening date and rules of the Qigu Secret Realm have been divined!"

"Oh? When will it open, and what are the rules?"

"After days and nights of calculations, the Proud Sword Sect's Diviners determined that the Qigu Secret Realm will open in twenty-three days. Cultivators under forty years old at the eighth level of the Foundation Establishment Realm or below can enter!"

"As expected of the Proud Sword Sect, the greatest power in Heaven-Opening! They worked so fast they left every other power in both domains far behind!"

"Indeed. They'll surely claim most of the treasures in the secret realm this time, won't they?"

"Of course! But what treasures are inside? Did the Proud Sword Sect divine that too?"

"No. Even their Diviners couldn't see inside the Qigu Secret Realm. They barely managed to work out when it would open and the rules for entry."

"What? Even the Proud Sword Sect's Diviners couldn't see inside? Could there be some supreme treasure hidden there?!"

"That must be it! We at Wind and Smoke Pavilion must pour our resources into training disciples to enter and seize that treasure in one stroke!"

"Wind and Smoke Pavilion? Hah! Step aside. Leave it to Light Elephant Gate. Our sect ranks thirteenth among Heaven-Opening's powers!"

"You..."

As the opening date and rules of the Qigu Secret Realm spread, powers across both domains guessed that a supreme treasure lay within. The winds rose and clouds churned!

The Desolate Wilderness Forest.

The Desolate Wilderness Forest lay on the border between Search Province and the Northern Domain Calamity Wilderness. It stretched on and on, beyond the reach of the eye.

Like the Northern Domain Calamity Wilderness, known as the "Northern Calamity," it was thick with poisonous miasma and crawling with shadowy things. Demonic beasts appeared there often, too.

Rumor held that no one who entered survived—not even cultivators!

"Get in! All of you, get in!"

Today, however, a clamor rose outside the Desolate Wilderness Forest.

Looking toward the noise, one would see over a thousand elite Martial Warriors wielding long blades and cracking whips as they drove more than forty thousand people forward.

They were the Martial Warriors of Cloudmoor City, driving the Yang Household into the Desolate Wilderness Forest.

Behind them trailed a huge crowd of onlookers eager for a spectacle.

"No, please! I don't want to go into the Desolate Wilderness Forest!"

"No! I don't want to go in! We'll die! We'll all die!"

The Yang clanspeople stared at the forest. It felt cold and terrifying, as though it might swallow them alive, and they wailed to heaven and earth.

"I don't want to die! I don't want to die!"

Some even broke into a run, desperate to escape.

"Ah!"

Their cries ended as merciless blades plunged into their bodies.

Their eyes remained wide open in death, their grievances unresolved.

"Lin Kui, let me go! Don't you remember? This old man once treated you to a meal!"

"Please, let my child and me go home. I'll serve you as a slave for the rest of my life!"

"I have money—so much money! It's all yours if you let me go!"

"Xiang Pinglong, save me! We're sworn brothers! We vowed to be born on the same day of the same month of the same year, and die on the same day of the same month of the same year!"

"..."

Seeing what had happened, a great many Yang clanspeople fell to their knees, weeping and begging for mercy.

Crack!

But the thousand Martial Warriors showed no sympathy or pity. Their whips lashed mercilessly across the kneeling people's bodies.

"Enough talk! Get in!"

The Martial Warriors' faces were cold as ice as they brandished their blades and barked orders.

"No, please..."

The Yang clanspeople kept sobbing.

The onlookers felt not a shred of sympathy either. Instead, they sneered. Hmph. If they knew this day would come, why did they do it in the first place?

"Enough!"

A deep shout suddenly rang out from among the Yang clanspeople.

Yang Xiaosheng's face was stern and expressionless as he ordered, "Are the people of my Yang Household cowards who cling to life and fear death? All of you, get in!"

He carried an authority that needed no anger. With resolve in his eyes, he looked like an entirely different man from the Yang Xiaosheng who had slumped in his great chair yesterday, muttering in a daze.

The Yang clanspeople stared at him. The crowd fell silent.

"Yes, Patriarch!"

After a moment, the Yang clanspeople stopped resisting and pleading. One after another, they entered the Desolate Wilderness Forest.

"Hmph! What a performance. They're getting what they deserve!"

"Exactly. They deserve to die!"

"Heaven's justice sees all. Retribution never misses!"

"Hahaha..."

The onlookers watched coldly. Some laughed aloud.

Among the Yang clanspeople, Yang Xiaosheng looked at them with boundless hatred blazing in his eyes.

He turned without a word and walked fearlessly toward the Desolate Wilderness Forest.

Laugh. Laugh all you want!

If I survive today, one day I'll make you pay for that laughter!

He clenched his fists until his nails dug deep into his palms. He did not care that blood seeped out.

The Desolate Wilderness Forest.

The eastern region.

Every last Yang clansperson entered the Desolate Wilderness Forest, terrified with every step. Yet they found no poison gas or miasma, encountered no demonic beasts, and were not swallowed by anything lurking in the shadows.

"Patriarch, we're alive!"

"What luck! This seems to be just an ordinary forest!"

Yang Shengyu, an elder of the Yang Household, hurried to Yang Xiaosheng's side and reported the news, wild with joy.

"Hahaha! Wonderful! We're all right! We're all right!"

The other Yang clanspeople were beside themselves with excitement.

They embraced one another tightly, celebrating their survival.

"Patriarch, there's a cave up ahead! We can live there!" an eagle-eyed clansperson called out.

"Good." Yang Xiaosheng nodded calmly. "A few of you, go in and take a look. Be careful."

"Yes, Patriarch!"

Several Yang clanspeople took torches and ventured cautiously into the cave.

"Patriarch, it's safe inside! And it's huge—large enough to hold tens of thousands!"

Before long, their excited voices rang out from within.

"Wonderful! The Yang Household survived this calamity. Good fortune is sure to follow!"

"Exactly! Destroying the Yang Household won't be so easy!"

"Hmph! If the Yang Household rises again, we'll wash Cloudmoor City in blood!"

"And Clearwind Town!"

"Yes! Spare none of them!"

The Yang clanspeople grew even more excited, pouring out all the hatred in their hearts.

"Everyone, go inside," Yang Xiaosheng ordered calmly.

"Yes, Patriarch!"

The Yang clanspeople entered the cave with joy.

Only Yang Shengyu looked at Yang Xiaosheng beside him in surprise. He felt that Yang Xiaosheng had changed. He had become utterly still—frighteningly so.