Heavenly Chasm Formation's Breath · Secrets of the Return to the Sect
With the final tribulation severed, the insurmountable barrier subsided.
As all things return to nothingness, the secret realm constructed by the remnant seal of the Heavenly Dao is ultimately shattered.
The disciples of the Thousand Realms Sect returned one after another, but only three knew that the true price of this "Trial of the Heavenly Chasm" was not just a battle for a secret realm, but a complete killing trap.
Zhang Hao and the two Realm Consciousness Realm experts were forever lost in that forgotten, shattered realm.
Boom--!
The entire floating array platform of the Heavenly Chasm Secret Realm completely collapsed under a divine soul-shaking roar far exceeding its Limit.
Tens of thousands of beams of light rose up simultaneously, sweeping out all the sect disciples within the secret realm one by one, like a shower of stars, and returning them from the sky to the Firmament Plaza outside the sect's mountain gate.
That is the origin of an ancient formation belonging to the Thousand Realms Sect. Only when the trial is completely over and the core of the formation collapses will all disciples be forcibly recalled.
At this moment, figures appeared one after another, some seriously injured, some with disordered minds, and some with eyes full of horror, clearly having encountered extraordinary hardships in the secret realm.
Of all the disciples, only Qin Yu and Zhou Yu returned with no change in their aura and without any disturbance.
They exchanged a glance, neither of them mentioning a single word about the final battle.
"Disciple Zhou Yu, return to the sect."
"Disciple Qin Yu, return to the clan."
The two walked side by side down the main steps of the sect, where elders were already leading the disciples back to the array hall.
Elder Xuan Sheng of the Main Array Division walked over slowly, glanced at everyone, and nodded softly. "You have all returned Anran, and have fortunately fulfilled your mission."
He noticed nothing amiss, simply recording the trial results and gains of each of his disciples without asking any further questions.
Meanwhile, deep within Qin Yu's soul, the Boundless Tribulation Heart Pearl lay dormant in the deepest recesses of his sea of consciousness.
The black and gold light had completely subsided, not even a trace of its aura was leaked, as if it had never existed.
Within the core of the pearl, the Ninth Abyss Pattern remained unactivated, like a silent core sealing Annihilation of heaven.
Qin Yu understood that this was a side effect of Azure Ring severing the rules. This item was no longer affected by the remnants of the secret realm's seal, and even the sect could not detect that its ownership had changed.
The fact that it is not manifest now does not mean that it is Eternal Silence.
And he will be the sole witness.
After the disciples returned from the secret realm trials, the sect began to compile a list of returning disciples.
But soon after, a steward delivered a list to the main peak of the sect and presented it to the council of elders.
The record clearly states: Zhang Hao has not returned.
"How could this be? Each of them was a mid-to-high-level disciple. Could they have perished in the secret realm?"
"No remains or remnants of a corpse were found, and the transmission interruption signal was not received..."
The sect's higher-ups fell into a brief silence, temporarily classifying one person as "missing".
The three who truly know the truth each have their own agendas:
First, Qin Yu.
He neither brought it up nor showed any unusual reaction. He had personally witnessed that battle; the deaths of Zhang Hao and other prominent figures in the Shang Lineage world were not worth mentioning.
They shouldn't have left alive in the first place.
-
Secondly, Zhou Yu.
Although he witnessed everything, he acted as if it had never happened.
His silence was not out of fear, but because he knew that if this matter were made public, it might not receive a just trial, but would only invite greater suspicion and unrest within the sect.
-
Thirdly, Shang Kui.
When he received the news, he simply stood on the main peak corridor, gazing at the abyss below in the Heavenly Abyss, without uttering a word.
Zhang Hao... failed.
The two Shang Lineage who were also Realm Consciousness Realm failed to complete the "cleansing" task.
He sighed softly, then raised his hand and slowly burned a page of the Soul Book:
"From this day forward, Zhang Hao, Shang Yan, Shang Mu... are added to the sect's list of missing persons."
"No further investigation needed."
⸻
The disciples returned to the sect, and the sect resumed its former order, as if the trial had completely come to an end.
But no one noticed that on a quiet platform in the back mountain of the sect, a young man wearing the robes of an inner disciple stood alone, spinning an inconspicuous gray-patterned ring in his hand.
--Qin Yu.
He closed his eyes and sensed that within his sea of consciousness, the Boundless Tribulation Heart Pearl was quietly rotating, while the wisp of green light that had long since dissipated seemed to have left some kind of "mark" that shouldn't exist deep within his soul.
That strike severed the rules...
"It also opened the door to the next realm."
He didn't tell anyone, including Zhou Yu.
Because he knew that the true end of this "Trial of the Heavenly Chasm" was not the collapse of that secret realm, but rather the Boundless Tribulation Heart Pearl pointed him to...
--The 'Gate of Realm Origin' that has not yet been opened.
000
The floating island has fallen silent, and the Guizong Formation Platform has returned to stability.
The Trial of the Heavenly Chasm seems to have come to a successful conclusion, yet in the hearts of a few, an inexplicable vortex still lingers.
At this moment, several days after returning to the sect, Zhou Yu sat Zhou Yu in his courtyard, the heavy, unmoved pill in his palm, emitting a faint bluish-gray light, still unswallowed.
--That was the Life-Exterminating Spirit Pill given to me by Qin Yu, a semi-transcendent-level pill that even sects don't easily distribute.
He did not use it.
Even at the most critical moment in the secret realm, when his soul was about to disintegrate, he still chose to ignite his soul and draw his sword instead of using the pill.
"I know that this kind of thing... shouldn't be wasted easily."
"It should remain in a truly hopeless situation, in an abyss where even the possibility of survival cannot be predicted."
He gently sealed the pill into his spirit pouch and placed it inside his inner garment, so that it would no longer be visible.
His gaze became calm and profound.
He had already vaguely realized that the path Qin Yu was taking was by no means the path of an ordinary cultivator;
If I were to walk alongside them, it would mean that the battlefield I would be stepping into in the future would be one that the "Thousand Realms Sect" could not protect.
At the same time.
At the summit of the sect's main peak, the elders in the hall have officially recorded the method for handling the "ownership of the Boundless Tribulation Heart Pearl" in the annals:
"This item is the essence of a secret realm, a rare treasure that can only be encountered by chance."
"The spoils obtained by previous masters of the secret realm have priority in disposal, but they must go to [Ancestral Palace Terrace] within ten days of returning to their sect to receive a personal appointment from the sect leader."
No need to hand over the money, no mandatory registration, just report it.
Whoever gets it, it belongs to them.
Only Qin Yu himself knew that what was hidden within that bead was not just a treasure of the realm, but rather—an evolutionary path that contradicted the entire plane system.
He will go to see the sect leader.
But that will not be a request for instructions.
That will be a... confirmation.
A path he had to embark on, a path from which there was no turning back—a path of destiny.