The Space Within the Heart of the Secret Realm

Looking at the scene within the Heart of the Secret Realm, Lin Xiao's eyes gradually reddened.

He first looked up at Sun Yigao, then turned to look at Venerable Pantu, his eyes filled with an indescribable heaviness.

Venerable Pantu was completely bewildered.

"What's wrong with you all of a sudden?"

Lin Xiao took a deep breath, opened a gap in the space of the Heart of the Secret Realm, and stepped aside to speak to him:

"See for yourself."

Venerable Pantu was puzzled, and Sun Yigao was also wondering what had happened. The two of them looked at the spatial entrance that had suddenly opened beside Lin Xiao.

Inside the entrance was a space of moderate size, where a dozen or so people were lying haphazardly on the ground.

Most importantly, all of these people were emaciated, and some even looked like mummies!

On the ground, there were also many fish bones and human bones scattered around.

Tooth marks can still be seen on the human bones.

Those still alive inside are all barely breathing.

The one who looked most human inside slowly turned his head to look when the portal opened.

Then he saw Venerable Pantu outside. His originally numb and lifeless eyes suddenly flashed with a strange light, which made Venerable Pantu, a well-informed Nascent Soul Cultivator, feel a chill run down his Venerable Pantu!

Apart from this person, no one else inside had the energy to pay attention to anything. They all lay on the ground, barely clinging to life by their last breaths and the Spiritual Power within their bodies.

Like Lin Xiao, upon seeing this scene, Sun Yigao's eyes reddened, and he felt a deep sorrow in his heart.

The scene was absolutely horrific!

Anyone who sees this scene would feel a tightness in their chest.

What kind of despair must these people have endured...?

Having mastered the Heart of the Secret Realm, Lin Xiao already knew the reason behind the scenes recorded by the Heart of the Secret Realm.

The Heart of the Secret Realm can record all the scenes within the entire secret realm, including its own space. If Lin Xiao wants, he can view everything that happens here every year.

And those lying in the Heart of the Secret Realm right now are all Qi Refining cultivators who were thrown into the lake by Venerable Pantu over the past few decades!

They were suddenly thrown into the lake and then unconsciously sucked into the small space of the Heart of the Secret Realm.

This space, no bigger than a few rooms, was completely empty; apart from the four walls, there was nothing there.

After being sucked in, they could only survive on the occasional fish and shrimp sucked in and the lake water.

If this space hadn't been opened by someone manipulating the Heart of the Secret Realm, it would have been a completely inescapable place, a place one could only enter but never leave!

Thus, these people, living here, rely on fish and shrimp, and on the humans who are sucked in the following year...

Of the dozens of people, more than a dozen are still alive.

But they were basically just barely breathing.

At first glance, the place was already deathly still; they could only lie on the ground and breathe.

The cultivator who still had the strength to turn around and look at Venerable Pantu was now staring at him with bloodshot eyes, looking as if he wanted to devour him alive.

He hated it so much!

This is the person who caused them to eke out a living in this despairing space, where they kill each other.

When he came in last year, he was stunned by the scene, which was not much different from what it is now.

At first, he still had the mind to feed and water the people on the ground who were still alive, but later, he was too busy taking care of himself to care anymore.

On one occasion, he was almost bitten off a large chunk of flesh by someone who thought he was completely exhausted.

Although they were all Qi Refining cultivators, they wouldn't easily starve to death even if they didn't eat regularly.

But they were ultimately just Qi Refining cultivators.

They cannot survive without food for an extended period.

They will be hungry and thirsty.

He would never forget crawling on the ground like a dog, licking up the bits of lake water that occasionally got sucked into the space.

Nevertheless, looking at the stark white bones on the ground, the clearly visible teeth marks, and the people on the ground who were nothing but skin and bones, he still managed to suppress his urge to devour his own kind.

The others endured it, waiting until someone stopped breathing before swarming in and devouring them completely.

They will only have bones left, so that one day, if they can go out again, they can take their ashes for burial.

This is an agreement between each new entrant and those who came before them.

For the past year, despair has been consuming him every moment.

He thought that if he hadn't been a cultivator, without the support of his belief in cultivation, he might have already succumbed to his own despair and committed suicide.

And the source of all the tragedy within this cramped space was that inhuman, ghostly thing outside!

Lin Xiao remained silent for a moment.

He manipulated the Heart of the Secret Realm to release these people, along with the skeletons.

Then Lin Xiao turned to the still-shocked and bewildered Venerable Pantu and said in a deep voice:

"I'm sorry, I don't think I can unblock you."

Looking at the tragic scene before him, which could be said to have been caused by Venerable Pantu, Lin Xiao suddenly felt that it was only right that he had been sealed here for so many years.

Although their sect might really need such a knowledgeable senior.

But he couldn't accept someone who had caused all of this.

Venerable Pantu was shocked. He looked at these people and asked Lin Xiao:

"What are they doing...?"

Lin Xiao took a deep breath and said:

"After you threw them into the lake, they were all sucked into this space by the Heart of the Secret Realm. If they hadn't been able to get out today, perhaps that place would be their grave."

It's like a living graveyard.

Upon hearing this, Venerable Pantu fell silent.

Since he began cultivating, fighting and killing, taking lives, and the victor taking all—it's all perfectly normal for him.

But he never considered torturing others inhumanely.

However, faced with a situation that he had indeed created, he could not refute it.

He had originally intended to say that it wasn't his fault; if they hadn't encountered the Heart of the Secret Realm and been sucked in, wouldn't everything have been fine? Besides, the Heart of the Secret Realm wasn't under his control, and it wasn't his intention to do so.

But in the end, he chose to remain silent.

Seeing that many of them were wearing the same red robes as the two men they had encountered before, named Yuan Qing and Xu Juan, Sun Yigao said to Lin Xiao in a somewhat hoarse voice:

"I'll go find their fellow disciples."

Upon hearing this, Lin Xiao walked to the side of the person who had been staring resentfully at Venerable Pantu; this was the only one who was still conscious.

He said softly:

Do you have any token? We'll need it to help you find your fellow disciples.

Only upon hearing his voice did the man reluctantly look away from Venerable Pantu.

He slowly turned his head, glanced at Lin Xiao and Sun Yigao, then lowered his head to look at his waist.