The moment Hui Shuo Zi stepped into the Great Hua Secret Realm, his heart sank.
A wave of deathly stillness struck him first. Then he saw the Hanging Peaks floating silently, without wind or ripple.
Beneath them, the vast land lay just as lifeless. Not a sound, not a trace of vitality!
An Immortal Sect's Secret Realm did more than separate inside from outside. It was no mere sect residence, but held a Lesser Cosmos within, a world unto itself!
The Great Hua Secret Realm, for instance, was home to many mortals.
Generation after generation, they had lived here, the men farming and the women weaving. Without the dynastic struggles of the outside world, their ordinary lives were all the more peaceful. Outsiders who stumbled into this place saw it as a paradise beyond the mundane world, an immortal realm from a dream.
In the past, when members of Mount Taihua returned to this Secret Realm, they could sense the bustle of everyday life even without visiting the settlements below. All they had to do was look out.
Over thousands of years, countless birds, beasts, flowers, and fish had also flourished here, filling the Secret Realm with life.
That bustle and vitality had been as commonplace as air and water, too familiar to notice. Once gone, however, their absence felt glaring!
"The Mist Aura has dispersed, the barrier between inside and out is gone, yet Master's Sect has made no move. Something really has happened here. This aura..."
His heart heavy, Hui Shuo Zi focused his senses. With all five senses and his Divine Sense, he soon surveyed most of the Secret Realm.
"They've all fallen asleep!"
In his perception, every mortal and every other living creature on the land below was fast asleep, sunk into a deep dream from