Secret Realm

Biodata

Known Secret Realms

“Secret Realm” refers to several distinct locations encountered by Xu Changxing, rather than one continuous setting 19 35 40.

Demonwood Secret Realm

Origin and Discovery

The realm was originally the cave abode of Shi Haoyan’s friend and became a secret realm after its owner’s death. Shi Haoyan had explored it previously but had been unable to understand its restrictions 33 38.

In an early simulation, Xu Changxing learned through a black market of a deceased Spirit Transformation cultivator’s realm. The cultivator reportedly knew how to repair damaged cultivation foundations, but demonized plants had overgrown his abode. Xu Changxing entered seeking a cure, discovered the Spring Renewal Art, and was killed when demonized vines revealed the art had been used as bait 5.

After offering the Spring Renewal Art to the Setting Sun Sect, Xu Changxing received an invitation from Shi Haoyan to explore his friend’s realm. He eventually entered it outside the simulations alongside Shi Haoyan and Liu Chenyu 33 37 38.

Environment

• Twisted ancient forest: Trees dozens of meters tall appear repeatedly broken and reassembled, rather than naturally grown 38.
• Conflicting forces: Intense killing intent threatens living things, while extraordinarily rich vitality counteracts it. Xu Changxing identifies this imbalance as the cause of the vegetation’s warped forms 38.
• Demonized plants: Hostile trees and vines occupy the realm; some vines retreat when Shi Haoyan clears a path 38.
• Jade-root plaza: Interlocking roots turned to jade form a platform rich in wood-aspected spiritual energy 38.

Access and Formations

Treasures

• Spring Renewal Art — Obtained in Xu Changxing’s fatal early simulation and subsequently selected as a system reward. It can nurture a wood spiritual root up to fifth grade 5 6.
• Emerald Crystal — Given to Xu Changxing by Shi Haoyan. It raises his wood spiritual root to first grade in one simulation and later further improves an existing first-grade root 15 35 40.
• Rootless wood — Shi Haoyan gives Xu Changxing a mid-grade piece during the expedition; Xu Changxing later gathers several more lengths 38 39.
• Spirit fruits — Xu Changxing alone harvests hundreds, including three Spirit-Nourishing Fruits worth thousands of low-grade spirit stones 39.
• Root-type treasures — Collected alongside the fruits and rootless wood 39.
• Two exceptionally valuable spirit plants — Taken by Shi Haoyan after helping Xu Changxing gain ownership in a simulation 15.

Killing Intent

• Xu Changxing suspects that becoming the cave abode’s master exposed his simulated self to the influence that helped produce killing-intent Golden Cores and Slaughter Nascent Souls. This remains his interpretation, not a confirmed mechanism 38.
• Shi Haoyan considers the realm’s murderous intent potentially useful for a sword cultivator, but warns that it differs from true sword intent and should not be studied too deeply 39.
• Many harvested fruits carry traces of killing intent. Xu Changxing estimates that this contamination could reduce their refined-pill sale value from at least 100,000 to roughly 70,000–80,000 low-grade spirit stones 39.

Ownership and Expedition Outcomes

Cultivation and Combat Uses

Cloudglow Secret Realm

• With a third-grade wood spiritual root, Xu Changxing spends three months trying unsuccessfully to condense an eighth Cloud Pattern before beginning Foundation Establishment 13.
• With a first-grade wood spiritual root in another simulation, he condenses his ninth Cloud Pattern after two months, completes Foundation Establishment, and later leaves at Foundation Establishment Middle Stage 15.

Li Changge’s Battlefield

Li Changge recruits Xu Changxing as the missing wood-attribute member of a Five Elements Sword Formation. Training with the Core Formation sword cultivators lets Xu Changxing unleash approximately seventy to eighty percent of the formation’s power while still at Foundation Establishment 17 19.

A Nascent Soul ambush kills two companions and forces the survivors to break their Golden Cores. Li Changge returns and leads a hundred-day campaign that kills five Nascent Soul old devils. Afterward, Xu Changxing forms a sword core and continues fighting in other realms 19.

The experience changes Xu Changxing’s attitude toward risk so dramatically that, after the simulation, he calls Li Changge’s realm “poison” and resolves to refuse the invitation. He later becomes less opposed to realm combat, while still refusing to enter too early 20 23.

Other Training Realms

• Shi Haoyan’s training route: Xu Changxing develops his swordsmanship and movement techniques through repeated survival battles. He also obtains an Immortal Lotus from a Demon Pool but delays Core Formation to pursue a first-rank Golden Core 35.
• Rogue-cultivator route: Finding suitable realms requires Xu Changxing to gather information himself. Some offer little useful training, while companions sometimes attempt to rob or kill him 40.
• Zhou Lechi revenge route: After discovering Zhou Lechi’s remains, Xu Changxing returns to slaughter the realm’s beasts. Li Changge rescues him from a Nascent Soul-level pursuer, and their subsequent campaign helps Xu Changxing reach Core Formation Middle Stage 50.
• Escalating challenges: Once weaker realms can no longer test him, Xu Changxing seeks more dangerous ones. In a simulation, his eventual killing of a Nascent Soul demon causes high-level demons to mark him for death and prepare repeated ambushes 50.
• Core-breaking ascension through battle: In the continuation of that simulation, Xu Changxing deliberately enters a trap laid by three Nascent Soul-strength demon beasts. Fighting them for a day produces the insight needed to form his Nascent Soul, after which he kills one and allows the other two to flee 51.
• Guiding Xu Yuansi: Acting as Xu Yuansi’s “Pocket Grandpa” in a simulation, Xu Changxing guides him through repeated dangers in a secret realm. Xu Yuansi obtains a top-grade earth spirit root, condenses his sixth Cloud Pattern, and achieves Foundation Establishment before fighting his way out 101.
• Specialized cultivation restrictions: Some realms favor particular cultivation paths. A realm that severely suppresses spell arts but is lenient toward Body Tempering causes its explorers to invest in body cultivators and creates increased demand for Body Tempering materials 174.

Realm Ecology

Secret realms isolated from the outside world can breed demon beasts over time. Xu Changxing compares such a realm to stagnant water in a pond. The beasts’ numbers and strength depend on both the concentration of spiritual energy and how frequently cultivators enter; frequent exploration can prevent even a high-grade realm from developing powerful beasts 53.

The Starsea Secret Realm demonstrates the danger of prolonged isolation. After remaining unopened for several hundred years, its monsters have become powerful enough to injure a party of talented Nascent Soul cultivators almost immediately upon their arrival 81.

Zhou Lechi’s Rescue Realm

Simulated Death and Actual Investigation

In a simulation, Zhou Lechi becomes unsettled by Li Changge’s advancement and Xu Changxing’s sword core, abandons his usual steady training, and enters a dangerous secret realm. Xu Changxing and Liu Chenyu arrive too late to save him, leading to Xu Changxing’s revenge campaign against its beasts 50.

In reality, Xu Changxing uses his memories of the simulation footage to reach the entrance and follow the route toward the place where Zhou Lechi was supposed to die. He senses Zhou Lechi after traveling only a short distance inside 53.

Xu Changxing follows him for several days and notices that he is pursuing a definite destination rather than wandering in search of combat experience. Even when demon beasts force him to detour, Zhou Lechi returns to his original route, prompting Xu Changxing to suspect that someone has lured him there 54.

Plot Against Zhou Lechi

• Li Hong’s invitation: Li Hong, a direct disciple of the Nine Immortals Sect, tells Zhou Lechi that the opportunity which enabled his own Core Formation was found in this realm 55.
• Delayed rescue: During the confrontation, Li Hong stalls while awaiting his master, Wu Chuan 56.
• Nascent Soul intervention: Wu Chuan arrives and accuses Xu Changxing and Zhou Lechi of attacking his disciple to steal his treasures. Xu Changxing fights him, cutting through his attacks and cracking his treasured bone artifact 56.
• Sect connection: Xu Changxing confirms that the Nine Immortals Sect is secretly colluding with the Yin Corpse Sect 58.
• Actual outcome: Zhou Lechi returns alive with Xu Changxing and tells Liu Chenyu that he was tricked into entering the realm. Xu Changxing states that he has already slain the chief culprit 61.

Lower-World Sword Tomb Secret Realm

The lower-world Sword Tomb contains several thousand broken swords, each preserving a portion of Sword Dao insight. In a simulation, Xu Changxing returns there after reaching Core Formation Late Stage and gathers insights from the swords before later advancing to Nascent Soul 68 77.

Xu Changxing subsequently hears market reports that the Star Cloud Sect and Yin Corpse Sect are fighting over the realm. Both sides have dispatched several Core Formation elders, and observers expect that the conflict may eventually draw Nascent Soul cultivators. Rumors claim that comprehending all the swords’ insights could reveal an ancient Sword Flight art. Xu Changxing suspects this is the Sword Tomb from his simulation but decides not to visit the dangerous site 77.

Starsea Secret Realm

Ownership and Access

The Starsea Secret Realm belongs to the Star Cloud Sect. It is rumored to connect to the vast starry heavens and to contain a Star Pool capable of repairing Nascent Souls and rapidly improving cultivation. According to these accounts, numerous talented Star Cloud Sect Nascent Soul cultivators previously reached Spirit Transformation through the pool 81.

Environment and Restoration Mechanism

• Dense Astral Power: Xu Changxing senses it immediately upon entering 81.
• Dangerous native monsters: Packs of monsters repeatedly attack the expedition, and later exploration reveals Astral Monsters comparable to Spirit Transformation cultivators 81.
• Astral Power from kills: Xu Changxing discovers that killing monsters releases Astral Power which merges into his damaged Nascent Soul. This produces visible recovery even though the party has not found the Star Pool 81.
• Astral apertures and lightning meridians: Continued fighting produces 108 Astral Force apertures within his Nascent Soul. Residual lightning links them together, allowing it to absorb stellar Astral Power on its own 81.
• Increased sword-intent capacity: The reconstructed Nascent Soul can withstand dozens of times more sword intent than before, although Xu Changxing’s physical body limits the strength of the sword light he can normally release 81.

Simulated Expedition

Tianyan Sect’s Secret Realm

Identity and Origin

Initially encountered as mysterious ruins coveted by the Heavenly Demons, this realm is eventually identified through fragmented jade slips as the remains of the Tianyan Sect, an immortal cultivation sect renowned for divination 146 152.

The jade slips describe the sect’s creation of a supreme divination treasure capable of divining the Myriad Worlds and projecting the Immortal Realm. Several Immortal Venerables attacked, erased the sect, and shattered the newly forged treasure. The sect had anticipated this possibility: the treasure’s projections merged into the myriad realms, awaiting someone qualified to inherit its legacy 152.

Access and Restrictions

Environment and Landmarks

• Overwhelming Sword Intent: Sword Intent hidden within the realm’s killing intent far surpasses Xu Changxing’s own when he first examines it through the simulation 146 147.
• Killing-intent monsters: Roaming monsters condense from killing intent and remain difficult opponents even for his powerful simulated self 146 147.
• Outer ruins: Contain sealed pills and surviving formations, including a Trapping Formation that delays deeper exploration 146 149.
• Mountain-Guarding Grand Formation: A barrier that Xu Changxing eventually crosses during repeated simulated expeditions 150.
• Outer Sect cultivation grounds: Preserve objects left behind by the sect’s disciples, though many are of little use to Xu Changxing by the time he reaches them 150.
• Deep pit: Contains a damaged Storage Bag and fragments of a high-quality jade slip recording the sect’s history 150 152.
• Sword Tomb: A vast tomb filled with broken swords associated with Tian Zhu and his trial 160.
• Heavenly Gate: An exit sealed with immortal jade, later opened by Xu Changxing as he departs toward the Immortal Realm 170.

Treasures and Inheritances

Guardians and Parallel-Plane Awareness

The guardians are initially described as the Heavenly Demons Tian Zhu and Wan Ren. Tian Zhu later explains that both are broken immortal swords whose true bodies lie within the Sword Tomb, and that he awakened with orders to await someone acknowledged by the Tianyan Pearl 148 160.

Tian Zhu can perceive more than an ordinary realm guardian. During Xu Changxing’s first-person viewing of a simulation, a voice notices another Divine Sense within his simulated body. Later encounters show awareness of previous visits across simulations, and Tian Zhu’s interference can interrupt or alter the simulation’s presentation 147 148 149 151.

In one simulation, Xu Changxing’s parallel-plane self repeatedly enters the realm and emerges with greater power and treasures. He ultimately spends a thousand years gathering resources and transforming the world’s earth veins into a Domain Formation, preparing for a confrontation connected to Tian Zhu and the observing Xu Changxing 151 152 153.

Sword Tomb Trial

Tian Zhu challenges Xu Changxing to locate his and Wan Ren’s true bodies among the broken swords. The tomb contains countless swords resembling Tian Zhu in both appearance and aura. Xu Changxing realizes that Tian Zhu has gathered versions of his sword body from numerous parallel planes, then senses a sword with a subtly different aura and begins to suspect Wan Ren’s involvement in the trial 160.

This Sword Tomb is located within the Tianyan Sect’s Secret Realm, whereas the lower-world Sword Tomb contested by the Star Cloud Sect and Yin Corpse Sect is encountered much earlier 77 160.

Domain Formation and Tian Zhu’s Defeat

Xu Changxing prepares a world-spanning Domain Formation using the earth veins, with martial artists stationed at its nodes to stabilize the flow of power. He then forces open the realm and directs the formation inside. Its power crushes the killing-intent monsters, and within a few months every area except the Heavenly Gate and Sword Tomb is incorporated into it 163.

Tian Zhu allows the formation to approach without intervening and questions why Xu Changxing has undertaken such preparations rather than simply locating his true body to complete the trial 163.

Xu Changxing eventually breaks the Broken Sword, causing the swords throughout the Sword Tomb and Tian Zhu himself to shatter and disappear. The system confirms Tian Zhu’s death and announces that its stolen authority will return, but begins a ten-year upgrade that suspends its functions. Xu Changxing must consequently search for the sealed Wan Ren without the system’s divination assistance 167.

Heavenly Gate and Departure

After further cultivation and preparations, Xu Changxing reenters the Tianyan Sect’s Secret Realm, shatters the immortal jade sealing the Heavenly Gate, and steps into the resulting spatial fissure 170.

Beyond the gate lies a silent, starry space filled with bubble-like parallel planes. Xu Changxing can see these apparent planes, but his Divine Sense cannot enter them 170.

Seven Star Island Patriarch’s Disappearance Realm

Nature and Purpose

In a simulation, Bu Yufeng brings Xu Changxing to the secret realm where Seven Star Island’s founding patriarch disappeared. Several of Bu Yufeng’s senior brothers have also entered and perished. With Heavenly Demon Blood Essence corroding his body, Xu Changxing accepts the risk in the hope that the patriarch’s legacy may offer a means of survival 201.

After entry, Xu Changxing finds a silent starry space containing more than a dozen visible bubble-like worlds. He recognizes that the location is not a conventional secret realm but a Void Passage connecting dozens of Small Worlds. Touching one of these bubbles transports him into its corresponding world 201.

Explored Small Worlds

After the simulation, Xu Changxing chooses the Life Crystal as his reward rather than an increase in cultivation, since he lacks time to stabilize a higher realm before the Apprenticeship Ceremony 201.

Passage Through the Eye of the Great Dao

After exploring the Eye of the Great Dao for more than two hundred years, Xu Changxing reaches a secret realm within the Small World where he has spent much of that time cultivating. He checks that its exit is safe and enters it bodily, reappearing in the Immortal Realm near the Eye of the Great Dao 470.

The Small World serves as a buffer against the Eye’s chaotic laws. Xu Changxing concludes that, without it, his exploration would have been tens of thousands of times more difficult 470.