As immortal light engulfed everything, Li Yang felt the world spin. The intense sensation of weightlessness left him dizzy, as though his flesh were about to be torn apart.
His arm, however, felt extremely comfortable, sinking into something soft.
But soon, a peculiar power of rules emerged around him, stripping away all his cultivation.
His divine sense could not extend outward, his spiritual energy gradually dried up, and his meridians sealed themselves layer by layer...
By the time his feet found solid ground, Qin Feng had already been flung away.
Ning Xi, however, clung so tightly that her chest was squashed out of shape.
Li Yang looked down. The visual impact was overwhelming.
With his body reduced to that of a mortal, his blood rushed to his head, and a warm trickle flowed from his nose.
"Oh! Senior Brother, you're hurt!"
Ning Xi feigned surprise, but suppressed laughter lurked in her eyes.
"The teleportation must have unsettled my body." Li Yang casually wiped away the nosebleed, acting as though nothing had happened.
Ever vigilant, he immediately surveyed his surroundings to make sure they were safe.
"The spiritual energy here is so sparse!"
The spiritual energy between heaven and earth was thin, and even the vegetation grew sparsely.
There were no signs of human habitation, only a primitive, desolate wilderness.
Yet Li Yang breathed a sigh of relief.
This meant that exceptionally powerful creatures would not easily arise in this greater world.
"Don't waste time. First, cultivate to the first level of Qi Refining so we can open our storage rings."
The three sat cross-legged, and soon a wisp of spiritual energy appeared in their meridians.
Li Yang immediately opened his storage ring, took out a Spirit-Gathering Array and spirit stones, and began cultivating.
"Shouldn't we look around and seize some sort of early advantage?" Ning Xi asked.
Li Yang answered offhandedly:
"First, recover our Foundation Establishment cultivation and get enough strength to kill people."
Ning Xi had guessed that would be his answer.
She was used to it by now.
Although their cultivation had been stripped away, their foundations remained, allowing them to cultivate swiftly.
Having also undergone flesh nirvana, he successfully returned to the first level of Foundation Establishment after half a month.
Beside him, Ning Xi had already established her foundation and reached the fifth level of Foundation Establishment, an astonishing speed.
Qin Feng was also exceptionally gifted. As the young lineage head, he too had reached the first level of Foundation Establishment.
"Let's go!"
The three flew on their swords and finally began exploring the area.
They had already encountered several cultivators during this time, but the others clearly wanted no conflict and left without interacting with them.
"Fellow Daoists, please wait." They had barely set off when a voice came from behind.
Hearing those words, Li Yang nearly turned around and slashed out with his sword.
In the cultivation world, those words were every bit as dangerous as "Fellow Daoist, this treasure is destined for me."
The newcomer was a dark-skinned, weathered middle-aged male cultivator at the Foundation Establishment middle stage.
"What do you want?" Li Yang asked with a frown.
"You three are so young. I assume you're also prodigies from the main world outside, here for the trial?"
The middle-aged cultivator smiled with an air of simple honesty.
Li Yang was somewhat surprised.
He had not expected the trial world to have native humans.
Still, it made sense.
Who said the natives could only be demonic beasts and the like?
"What do you want?" Li Yang repeated.
He neither confirmed nor corrected the assumption.
"Well, here's the situation-
"You've only just arrived, so you don't yet understand the situation in this world or the strength of its cultivation community.
"In short, the strongest people in our world only reach the Nascent Soul Realm and can advance no further.
"The righteous and demonic paths have fought endlessly for years. In recent years especially, orthodox cultivators have advanced slowly while the number of demonic cultivators has surged, plunging all living beings into misery.
"Recently, the nearby righteous stronghold of Rockhold Commandery came under attack by the demonic path. It is one of the Heavenly Origin Dynasty's important defensive passes. If it falls, countless mortals will die at the hands of demon cultivators and become resources for their cultivation."
He cupped his hands, his tone sincere. "That is why I'd like to ask you three to accompany me, resist the demonic invasion together, and protect the common people!"
"Oh? Something like that has happened?!" Li Yang looked startled and immediately urged him, "Hurry, lead the way!"
Ning Xi gave Li Yang a puzzled look but said nothing.
The middle-aged cultivator bowed deeply with his hands cupped. "Thank you, fellow Daoists, for your righteous assistance!"
Then he turned and headed straight in one direction.
But the instant he turned-
Clang! A sword's cry erupted!
Li Yang, who had looked so anxious moments before, now wore an utterly cold expression, scarlet killing intent gleaming in his eyes.
"You...!"
In a single breath, the middle-aged cultivator at the Foundation Establishment middle stage was slain before he could deploy any of his trump cards.
"What are you doing?!" Qin Feng had not even caught up with what was happening.
Smack! Li Yang slapped him, then unhurriedly went to loot the corpse.
Just as his hand was about to touch it, he sensed something wrong and released a strand of sword qi from his sword fingers.
When the sword qi touched the corpse, a great cloud of poisonous mist erupted from it. The vegetation and grass instantly dissolved, leaving a deep pit.
"What a vicious trick." Li Yang narrowed his eyes.
"How did you realize something was wrong with him?" Ning Xi approached and asked curiously.
"I didn't." Li Yang shook his head.
"Uh..."
Li Yang explained, "But he had killing intent toward me. A stranger who pretends to be friendly while harboring killing intent toward me naturally can't be allowed to live."
That was the principle Li Yang followed out in the world.
"Aren't you afraid of killing an innocent person by mistake?" Qin Feng demanded, holding his cheek.
Another smack answered him.
"This is a secret realm. You won't be held guilty for killing people."
He looked at Qin Feng's swelling cheek. "You're welcome to ask questions without being ashamed of whom you ask. But if you keep using that accusatory tone, I'll answer you-and slap you once for every answer."
Just then-
Some unseen power of rules descended.
A number appeared between Li Yang's brows-1.
Li Yang felt that the spiritual energy between heaven and earth seemed to have grown somewhat denser.
A voice rang out in his mind-
[If you would inherit my Dao, slaughter your way through this world.] [The greater the slaughter, the greater heaven's might.] [Remember only this: do not become slaughter's slave.]
The voice came abruptly and vanished just as quickly.
Its message was brief but utterly direct.
In short, this Ancient Immortal Secret Realm had just one core rule-
The more you killed, the stronger you became!
This was no ancient immortal inheritance. It was plainly the inheritance of a god of slaughter!
Li Yang believed his master had been right. This Ancient Immortal Secret Realm truly held a Slaughter Dao inheritance.
That made it all the more imperative to keep it out of an evil fiend's hands. Otherwise, it would surely nurture a demon lord who would bring disaster upon all living beings!
His earlier impression had not been an illusion. The spiritual energy between heaven and earth really had grown denser.
In other words, as the slaughter increased, his cultivation would only grow faster.
Li Yang even felt his mind becoming clear and lucid, as though his understanding of heaven, earth, and nature had deepened.
Li Yang told Ning Xi what had just happened.
"How brutal!" Ning Xi's expression grew grave, and she lowered her eyes in thought.
Li Yang watched her delicate hands flutter, sending profound seals flying toward the dead middle-aged cultivator.
Then he sensed a fluctuation of soul energy gathering.
"Hm?!"
Li Yang was startled.
Ning Xi had actually gathered the fallen cultivator's remnant soul and then searched it directly!
It looked simple, but it required exceptionally strong control over the soul and an unfathomably strange secret art.
In the cultivation world, ordinarily only Golden Core cultivators could perform the Soul-Searching Technique.
The souls of those in the Foundation Establishment Realm were still too fragile, though there were rare exceptions whose souls were particularly powerful.
"Are you a soul cultivator?" Li Yang eyed her suspiciously.
He had already given up suspecting that Ning Xi was Ning Qingfeng.
"The Ning Lineage is an Ancient Immortal Lineage. Don't judge us by your limited horizons." A trace of disdain appeared in Ning Xi's lovely eyes. "Want to learn? If you're lucky enough to become a son-in-law of the Ning Lineage, I could consider it."
Li Yang paused.
"You're too much trouble, and Third Senior Sister is too stupid."
Ning Xi's lovely eyes widened.
Li Yang even deliberately paused for a moment, as though seriously considering the matter.
"Keep dreaming your grand dreams! The men pursuing me form a line from Kun Province all the way to Qian Province. Don't think killing a few people makes you impressive. What are you so smug about?"
"You were the one who joked first." Li Yang shook his head. "Women who can't take a joke are such a turnoff."
Watching Li Yang chat so freely with Ning Xi, Qin Feng instinctively compared himself to him...
An utter defeat!
Li Yang did not care at all whether she liked him, but neither did he offend her with his words.
He did not need to dominate the conversation or throw out incisive opinions to prove his worth. He seemed composed, with an easy, relaxed manner.
Most importantly, even when facing a breathtaking prodigy of Ning Xi's caliber, he did not flatter or ingratiate himself with her as though she were an elder.
His indifference was not a deliberate act. He treated everyone that way.
Could it be... that Father's deeper purpose in having me follow him was to help me improve myself and escape my instinctive need to please my five senior sisters?
Following the memories Ning Xi obtained through soul-searching, Li Yang went and killed the middle-aged cultivator's accomplices as well.
Rockhold Commandery truly was under demonic attack, but this group were demon cultivators too.
Through a complete soul search, Ning Xi uncovered an important piece of information and told Li Yang:
"Besides us trial participants beginning the slaughter challenge, the natives of this greater secret realm world are also eligible to obtain the inheritance.
"Moreover, under evenly applied rules and independent heavenly laws, any creature born in this world can randomly inherit a trial participant's physique, cultivation methods, divine abilities, secret arts, and so on after killing them.
"After all, this greater world's level of cultivation is far too low to compare with our Nine Provinces."
Hearing this, Li Yang immediately found it interesting.
"So it can work like that? Looks like the death rate in this secret realm may exceed fifty percent!"
Before you continue