Within the Steward's Residence hall, sandalwood incense curled through the air as light filtered through the carved windows, casting mottled shadows across the bluestone floor.
Chong Changming, Hu Xiongsha, and the others took their seats one after another, solemnly recounting the changes that had occurred in the outside world over the past twenty years.
Lin Yi sat upright in the seat of honor, his dark blue-black robe utterly still. His calm gaze swept across the group as he patiently listened to their reports.
Only after they had finished did he slowly nod.
Over the past twenty years, the situation outside had undergone earth-shaking changes, far more complicated than he had anticipated.
The first was the dramatic change within the Heavenly Palace Secret Realm.
After several peak Emperor Realm experts joined forces to reinforce the stone bridge and straighten out the Secret Realm's internal rules, its level of danger had greatly decreased.
Emperor Realm experts could now basically enter and leave safely. It was no longer the certain death trap where entering meant never returning.
This change directly made the Heavenly Palace Secret Realm the focus of the Source Realm. Countless Emperor Realm cultivators flocked toward Heavenly Palace Small City, all seeking the opportunities within the Secret Realm.
Then, around five years ago, a group of Emperor Realm experts exploring deep within the Heavenly Palace Secret Realm accidentally discovered an entirely new region.
It was called "entirely new" because no force had ever recorded this region. Even the records left behind by the Heavenly Palace force that had controlled the Secret Realm in the previous era contained no related clues whatsoever. It was as though the place had appeared out of nowhere within the Secret Realm.
"Rumor has it that this region is sealed layer upon layer by six completely different