Forbidden Grounds

Biodata

Background / History

According to the Scripture Pavilion’s elder, ancient cultivators created medicinal secret realms after declining spiritual energy made cultivation breakthroughs harder and unrestricted harvesting depleted the herbs needed for Foundation Establishment Pills. These realms preserved medicinal resources for later generations. How they repeatedly produced centuries-old herbs between harvests remained unknown 8.

The Covering Moon Sect discovered the Blood-Colored Forbidden Land first and used its resources to strengthen itself. Once the other six sects learned of the realm, negotiations and political maneuvering forced the Covering Moon Sect to share control with them 8.

The Covering Moon Sect later developed the Moon-Yang Treasure Pearl, allowing Qi Refining disciples to disperse the fog blocking the realm’s richest medicinal region. It initially enjoyed another substantial harvesting advantage, but news of the treasure leaked. Under pressure from the other six sects, it agreed to rotate custody of the pearl among all seven 26.

Access and Restrictions

Wind Blade Array

The realm’s outer protection manifests as an immense wall of blue-green wind blades capable of cutting intruders to pieces 19.

• Opening cycle: The restrictions weaken approximately every five years, allowing the seven sects to force a passage open 8.
• Opening procedure: During Xiao Yu’s expedition, seven Golden Core cultivators attacked the array with their magical treasures for several hours to create a circular opening roughly ten feet high 19.
• Cultivation limit: Tests showed that Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, and Nascent Soul cultivators were forcibly expelled; ordinary entry was restricted to Qi Refining disciples 8.
• Arrival: A functioning teleportation formation scatters entrants to different parts of the grounds. Destinations can include herb-rich areas, beast encounters, or—rarely—immediately fatal traps 19.
• Exit window: The passage reopened on the fifth afternoon. After that day, the restrictions would abruptly strengthen beyond the sect leaders’ ability to reopen them 33.
• Missing entrants: Disciples who failed to leave before closure never reappeared during later openings; the reason for their disappearance was unknown 35.

Fog and the Moon-Yang Treasure Pearl

Dense fog seals the ring-shaped mountains throughout the year. Within it, visibility falls below ten feet, and spiritual sense is obstructed 25 26.

• The Moon-Yang Treasure Pearl can disperse the fog and, unlike most suitable treasures, can be activated by Qi Refining cultivators 26.
• Each expedition assigns the fog-clearing responsibility to the sect holding the pearl 26.
• During Xiao Yu’s trial, a Blade Transforming Dock disciple activated it on the third morning 26.
• Safe mountain routes were discovered through earlier disciples’ losses. They are distributed equally among the eastern, southern, western, and northern approaches 26.

Geography

The central region occupies well over one-third of the Forbidden Grounds. A circular stone wall encloses it, with four bronze gates providing access to three concentric layers 25.

Notable Sites

Medicinal Resources

• In Yue Kingdom, the three primary Foundation Establishment Pill ingredients grow only inside the Forbidden Grounds 7 30.
• No seeds are available outside. Even seedlings Xiao Yu removes and accelerates to maturity produce no seeds, making the number of plants collected important 30.
• Most entrants prioritize mature herbs. Xiao Yu instead gathers immature ingredients first because he can force-ripen them afterward 26 30.
• Disciples can exchange qualifying herb harvests for Foundation Establishment Pills. The sects’ total harvests also affect their future pill-allocation quotas 8 33.

Dangers

Demonic Beasts

The ring-shaped mountains contain numerous grade-one beast species, including Flame Mice, Wind-Chasing Rabbits, Golden-Light Pythons, and Ice-Fire Wolves. Their reported cultivation ceiling is peak grade one, apparently because of the realm’s restrictions 25.

• Beast populations show little lasting decline between trials despite repeated large-scale hunting; the cause is unknown 25.
• Herb sites may have powerful guardians, including the cliff’s Flame Mice, the waterfall cave’s spider, and the underground cavern’s Golden-Light Python 27 29 31.
• Free aerial travel exposes cultivators to beast attacks. Earlier disciples died attempting it, although Xiao Yu uses brief flights to reach cliffs and cave entrances 19 26 29.

Cultivator Violence

The Scripture Pavilion’s elder identifies slaughter between disciples—not beasts—as the greatest danger. Even members of the same sect cannot necessarily be trusted once inside 8 19.

• Early trial: Elites purge weaker cultivators, particularly near the center. By the second day of Xiao Yu’s expedition, only sixty or seventy entrants remained alive—less than half the starting number 23 24.
• Harvesting period: Competitors often avoid prolonged fights unless they can overwhelm an opponent, conserving time for additional herb gathering 29.
• Final day: Loaded returning cultivators become targets for robbery and ambushes across the outskirts 29 34.
• Gate intimidation: Xiao Yu finds four cultivators impaled on posts outside a bronze gate, apparently as a warning from stronger entrants 24.

Story Role / Major Arcs

Xiao Yu’s Blood Trial

Final Survivors

• The Covering Moon Sect achieves a survival rate of nearly forty percent; every other sect returns fewer than thirty percent of its entrants 35.
• Qingxu Sect produces three more medicinal herbs than Yellow Maple Valley, winning Fuyunzi’s wager against Li Huayuan and earning him the staked iron essence 18 35.
• A Scent-Detecting Mouse fails to detect the herbs Xiao Yu concealed in his Mysterious Space during the post-trial inspection 35.
• Xiao Yu’s foreknowledge leads him to expect that the seven sects will lose control of the Forbidden Grounds after a Demonic Path invasion in a little over a decade; this is an anticipated future event, not an outcome shown during the trial 30.