Secret Realm

Everyone said the cause behind this joint mission was most likely an unusual phenomenon involving Demon Beasts or a cultivator advancing.

Whenever the emergence of a secret realm was mentioned, they all shook their heads. "Absolutely impossible."

Even Chai Yanghui himself had thought so.

But the truth lay before them. Even if the odds were one in ten thousand, once it happened, it was a certainty for the disciples carrying out this mission.

In the valley of Hidden Moon Pool, the cultivators were thrown into chaos.

Tang Lin had been meditating to regulate his breathing, but the sudden upheaval interrupted the circulation of his spiritual power. Now it flowed backward, his meridians hurting as though they were burning.

Gu Qingqing's little face was deathly pale, her hair disheveled. Pursing her lips, she clung desperately to an old pine growing in a crack in the rock, her skirts whipping in the gale.

At this point, Chai Yanghui could no longer concern himself with their operational arrangements or which of the three sects the disciples belonged to. As the disciple with the highest cultivation here, he felt he needed to shoulder the responsibility of command.

With a loud shout, he deployed the talisman flowing with azure-jade light once more, enveloping all the disciples in the valley and leaving a passage toward Silent Valley.

"Dongyuan Sect disciples, leave Hidden Moon Pool and return to Silent Valley!"

Lu Ziye had seen his share of the world. Despite the urgency, he led the outer disciples in an orderly fashion.

He grabbed Gu Qingqing, whose cultivation and combat strength were the weakest, then shouted several times to Shao Sichao, Song Yan, and the others.

Unfortunately...

Although Chai Yanghui was already driving the Azure Jade Spirit-Screen Talisman with all his strength, it still could not withstand the fluctuations from the secret realm's emergence. Before long, the flowing azure-jade light on the talisman dimmed.

The cultivators in the valley abruptly felt a powerful suction sweep over them.

Lu Ziye's Daoist robes billowed, and seven copper coins flew from his sleeve, landing in a Big Dipper formation to protect the Dongyuan disciples. Chai Yanghui released more spiritual power, drawing three spirit talismans in the air in succession.

But both the copper-coin spirit formation and the three spirit talismans dissolved like accumulated snow meeting boiling water.

Everything happened too quickly.

Song Yan had been meditating to restore his spiritual power. At a disturbance in his Divine Sense, he raised his eyes to the sky.

In the time it took for that single glance, the Azure Jade Spirit-Screen Talisman had dissipated.

Amid the chaos, the suction of the spatial fluctuations swept up several cultivators in the valley, carrying them inside along with rocks, grass, and trees. Then the rift vanished as though someone had wiped it away, falling silent.

Above Hidden Moon Pool, calm gradually returned.

"Zhang Quan! Count the disciples!"

"Tang Xu! Notify the sect immediately!"

What had happened was done. Chai Yanghui and Lu Ziye did not lose their composure and immediately took action.

"Fellow Daoist Wang!"

"Where is Wang Xi?"

The two intended to meet with Wang Xi to discuss this sudden upheaval, but no response came for a long while.

"Senior Brother Wang... he..."

One of the Xuanyuan Sect disciples said somewhat timidly, "He was swept inside..."

"What?!"

Chai Yanghui and Lu Ziye exchanged a glance.

Each read a hint of suspicion in the other's eyes.

The spiritual power fluctuations and the secret realm's pull just now had not been particularly strong for Late Qi Refining Stage disciples. They could easily have endured by circulating their spiritual power and offering a little resistance.

Thus, Chai and Lu had even been able to spare some attention and spiritual power to protect their weakest disciples while keeping themselves safe.

Why had Wang Xi been unable to?

Had he been swept inside to protect his disciples?

Would he really be so kindhearted...?

Cloud Forest Secret Realm.

Within a lush forest, the scent of vegetation filled Song Yan's nostrils. A dead branch snapped beneath his foot, its crisp crack especially piercing in the deathly silence around him.

Liquid dripped from ferns several dozen feet tall, whether dew or something else, he could not tell.

Song Yan pushed aside enormous shrub leaves and extricated himself from the edge of the muddy swamp behind him.

He was covered in dew rubbed off the leaves.

Crack-

The sound of a branch breaking came from overhead, and Song Yan hurriedly rolled to the side.

Half a beast skeleton crashed down where he had been standing. A rusty shortsword was embedded in its skull, its hilt wrapped in faded red-and-white talismans.

"Whew..."

He glanced overhead and, only after confirming nothing was amiss, circulated a little spiritual power to dispel the moisture on his body.

"Hss..."

Suddenly, a sharp pain struck. His right arm stretched backward, and there were signs of a fracture in his shoulder blade...

He chose a relatively level spot to sit in meditation and took several low-grade Qi and Blood Pills and Bone-Nourishing Pills from his Heaven and Earth Bag.

These two pills were ordinary medicines for injuries, with effects similar to wound salves used in the mortal martial world. As such, they were not worth much; a single Spirit Stone could buy quite a few.

"Luckily, I went to the market to buy a few things before setting out..."

The Bone-Nourishing Pill dissolved into a bitter slurry in his throat. He forced himself to swallow, the veins at his temples throbbing with the surge of his Qi and Blood.

After recovering briefly, Song Yan rose and looked around.

There were many ancient trees in these mountain woods, and clouds and mist wreathed the mountains. He did not know whether there were Demon Beasts...

Song Yan gave a bitter smile. "Is my luck really this bad?"

Even a cultivator like Song Yan, who knew little about secret realms, was utterly astonished by this earth-shaking upheaval.

Secret realms and grotto-heavens could actually be divided into many types.

One type could be completely controlled through certain mediums. Such grotto-heavens were closer to the Law Treasures of mighty cultivators.

For instance, Song Yan knew that the Dongyuan Sect possessed a grotto-heaven secret realm controlled through a treasured painting scroll.

Spiritual Qi was abundant within, and it held many treasures. The Dongyuan Sect's leader, Daoist Li Jun, only used it to reward outstanding disciples or conduct activities such as sect selections.

The second type was an ownerless secret realm.

Legend had it that secret realms and grotto-heavens were formed from the mountains and seas within certain ancient true immortals and wandering immortals when they perished. Thus, they existed independently of this world, appearing in it only through chance coincidence.

Some grotto-heavens were relatively stable and would not disappear once they emerged.

Some secret realms appeared and vanished intermittently, but their appearances followed certain patterns and could roughly be predicted.

Others followed no pattern whatsoever. When and where they would appear were both unknown.

Song Yan pondered this. Clearly, the one before him should be the third kind.

He had simply been too unlucky, encountering something like this on his very first official mission outside the sect.

"The most pressing matter is to see whether there's an exit."

As for the dangers within this secret realm, Demon Beasts and spirit beasts were manageable. At worst, he would have to act carefully. If he encountered a third- or fourth-rank Demon Beast and died beneath its claws, that would be his own bad luck...

Fighting between unfamiliar cultivators, silencing witnesses, and killing for treasure were also definite dangers.

But if this secret realm did not open again for hundreds or thousands of years, would he not be trapped here until he died?

A fear of his uncertain future welled up...

To humans, the unknown was always the most frightening thing.

Song Yan steadied his thoughts and, with several leaps, reached the top of a giant tree to survey his surroundings.

Bzzz-

Hm?

A sound came from nearby. Song Yan sprang backward and down, using several towering ancient trees around him to land on the ground. He brought two fingers together in a sword gesture, the Peachwood Gengjin Sword hovering beside him.

The sound suddenly drew closer. A dead leaf by his feet rose into the air, transforming into a burning paper butterfly that lunged toward his face!

He was just about to direct his sword to block it when a closer look revealed that it was an unfamiliar Sound Transmission Talisman.

A Sound Transmission Talisman?

Song Yan was somewhat puzzled.

If it came from an acquaintance, the Sound Transmission Talisman would bear their mark. But if it came from a stranger, how could they transmit their voice across a thousand miles?

There was only one possibility. That person had been nearby just now and had already seen him.

"By the looks of it, rashly climbing a giant tree really is rather dangerous."

Song Yan made a mental note.

After a moment's thought, he opened the Sound Transmission Talisman nonetheless.

The talisman contained only three sentences.

"This secret realm will exist for only one hour, and there are low-rank Demon Beasts within."

"Someone is controlling this secret realm."

"You and I are both targets of the hunt. If either of us encounters that person alone, death is certain."

Song Yan froze, then felt waves of cold creep up his back.

Who sent this message?

Was what he said... true?

He instinctively directed the Peachwood Gengjin Sword to hover beside him, then suddenly realized his palms were soaked, whether with dew or cold sweat, he could not tell.

Most importantly, who wants to kill me?