The Foremost Close Attendant

The Secret Realm is a floating region, hidden from view yet connected to the world, like a satellite orbiting its host star.

Zhang Xuezhou sometimes wondered if the secret place was located in some subspace, like a storage bag, and sometimes he wondered if it was a remnant of a failed invasion from a higher dimension.

Whatever his guess was, the secret place of Shanglin Garden had begun to lose its floating properties and was slowly embedding itself into the Zhongnan Mountains.

After the mirage pearl of the secret realm was removed, the powerful extraction of the four gates of the bottom array generated a huge suction force, which also caused the secret realm to collapse and continuously merge into it.

Inside the secret realm, the sounds of the sky collapsing and the earth splitting open were incessant, and landslides and collapses occurred frequently below the high mountains.

"Croak! The world has been created!"

"Master Jin has truly seen something new today!"

In the secluded mountains, Jin Wanliang carried Huo Qubing on his back and hung from an oak tree. His body swayed back and forth like a swing, yet he maintained his balance despite the constant tremors of the secluded place.

The Imperial Shuttle flew back and forth in the air above the secret realm, locating Jin Wanliang and Huo Qubing, but its search for Wei Qing proved difficult.

The developments in the secret realm were clearly not as the new emperor had imagined, but far exceeded expectations.

Before the new emperor could even light a fire to search for Wei Qing by turning over leaves and rotting matter, a great fire broke out in the ground below the secret location.

At this point, the new emperor's heart sank completely.

Secret locations are wonderful, but even the best secret locations need someone to use them. Without someone to use them, having more of them is useless.

The new emperor ignored Jin Wanliang's clamor and only urged Zhang Xuezhou to pilot the Imperial Shuttle to continuously patrol and fly around, to see if they could spot Wei Qing in any direction.

"We must find Wei Qing. I took ten Law Power Fortune Pill from the Armory a few days ago. Don't worry about using up your Law Power; there are plenty of pills!"

Normally, the new emperor would have to calculate in his mind whether Zhang Xuezhou needed so many Fortune Pill and whether he could continue to take them continuously.

But when lives are at stake, there's no need to calculate the cost. He had no time to think about such things, let alone consider the most economical or practical approach.

"Wei Qing!"

The emperor placed the brocade box containing the medicinal pills and fragrant wood into Zhang Xuezhou's palm, and couldn't help but stand up and shout down.

His voice was barely audible amidst the piercing sound of the ground collapsing.

Even Zhang Xuezhou, who used the Demonic Sound Technique, was affected by the noisy environment, and his voice was difficult to carry through the surroundings.

The ignited decaying debris eventually turned the entire area at the foot of the mountain into a circular ring of fire.

Even if Wei Qing were buried in the debris at the bottom of the mountain, Zhang Xuezhou would tremble if he were buried in there.

"Can we reverse the windmill?" the new emperor asked loudly.

"It should still be possible right now!"

What are the consequences of the adjustment?

"The water flowing underground in Zhongnan Mountain could reverse its course and rise upwards, perhaps preventing the secret passage from falling into Zhongnan Mountain, and possibly blowing the flames burning at the bottom in all directions!"

Zhang Xuezhou's response silenced the new emperor. The repeated adjustments to the Four Gates Encirclement Formation would cause changes, but these changes seemed to offer little help to Wei Qing.

In this unexpected incident, Wei Qing's biggest problem was not his individual strength, nor was he trapped under the fallen leaves, but rather the high probability of him falling into a coma due to choking on water during the other party's hallucination. This would leave Wei Qing powerless to resist and unable to speak up or rejoin the others.

The deafening roar of the earth splitting apart made the reunion even more difficult, leaving everything almost entirely to fate.

Damn it!

For once, the new emperor's guard was breached, and he couldn't help but utter curses.

If he could do it all over again, he would find that he couldn't change anything.

This is his private territory, and only his closest and most capable people can come here. He has been busy for years, and he cannot let someone hand it over in the name of righteousness.

This meant he couldn't mobilize too many people; even with Zhang Xuezhou and Huo Qubing missing, he could only call upon three formation masters.

Everything is now almost perfect, and the losses from opening a secret realm are minimal.

But the new emperor did not want to accept this consequence; it was not what he desired.

"Wei Qing!"

As they continued to explore the secret realm, the black smoke from burning withered branches and fallen leaves began to envelop the sky, with flames below accompanied by thick smoke, making it almost impossible to see.

The new emperor felt increasingly uneasy, but after shouting repeatedly, he only vaguely heard a loud roar.

"Dongfang Shuo, did you hear that? Isn't Wei Qing down there?"

"Let's go take a look!"

The sounds the new emperor could hear, Zhang Xuezhou could also hear.

He steered the Imperial Shuttle downwards, and as thick smoke and flames Shengteng, the new emperor conjured a fire-repelling talisman.

A fire-repelling talisman can protect against some degree of burning from flames, but it cannot prevent the production of thick smoke.

Zhang Xuezhou had no choice but to hold his breath, while the new emperor coughed repeatedly, choked by the fumes.

But the shouts below continued unabated, becoming clearer the closer one got. Even with the constant landslides at the bottom of the secret place and the grating, grayish sounds of the rocks being melted by the collision of the Geomagnetic Primal Light, the shouts still rang out.

"It's Spiritual Qi!"

As he peered upwards through the thick smoke and flames, directly into the burning material, Zhang Xuezhou felt a familiar aura envelop him.

The collapse and fracture beneath the secret realm seem to have revealed the core source of Spiritual Qi within it.

This Spiritual Qi was not as impactful as the teleportation array of the Xieluosi River Holy Land, but the energy it infused into the body was enormous.

Even though Zhang Xuezhou's cultivation level made it difficult for him to move, he still felt his acupoints bulge and burn from the oncoming impact.

"It's Wei Qing!"

After rushing into the fire beneath the pile of debris, Zhang Xuezhou and the others saw that the underground boulders seemed to be cut by a giant machine, with large chunks of black stone falling continuously and being dissolved by the Geomagnetic Primal Light.

Like falling meteors, these enormous black stones were reduced to the size of a fist after passing through the Geomagnetic Primal Light, or even turned into nothingness and grayness.

Using the brilliant colors of the Geomagnetic Primal Light, Zhang Xuezhou and the others also saw Wei Qing, occasionally leaping up by stepping on the fallen black boulders.

The martial artists' ability to levitate was indeed far inferior. Wei Qing's repeated leaps failed to extricate him from his predicament, as he struggled to break through the pile of burning debris dozens of meters high.

Can the Sky Shuttle briefly levitate three people?

The new emperor asked a question, and when Zhang Xuezhou nodded, he reached out and pulled at his belt.

After the incantation was recited, the belt was wrapped around Wei Qing below.

"Rise!"

As Wei Qing used the momentum to leap upwards again, Zhang Xuezhou's Sky Shuttle had already soared into the sky.

The violent force broke through the pile of burning debris, and the scene of the secret place came into view once again.

Compared to the previous frustration and agitation, everything still turbulent in the secret realm seemed endearing.

"Wei Qing, your Qi and Blood are reddish-black, does that mean you've become completely Only Me?"

When the new emperor stepped out of the underground area with Wei Qing in his arms, he noticed the aura of Qi and Blood and qi surrounding Wei Qing.

Compared to the complexion of his Qi and Blood and qi, Wei Qing's was noticeably heavier, appearing more resilient and stronger.

"I practiced my sword for a long time in a daze, when I was suddenly awakened by the sound of mountains collapsing and the earth splitting. Then I realized that I had entered the Sole Self Realm!"

Wei Qing's response left the new emperor speechless, and even Zhang Xuezhou was surprised.

Clearly, Wei Qing may have experienced a series of unforeseen circumstances, and his body may have leaped to a higher realm due to the Spiritual Qi emanating from the collapse of the secret realm.

Zhang Xuezhou felt that Wei Qing's ability to continue practicing swordsmanship even in a world of illusions was beyond words, and that even if others were in the same situation, they would find it difficult to replicate Wei Qing's achievement.

This is like Luo Burang using illusions to make deductions; only a very few people can produce such cases on rare occasions.

As for the problems of being crushed by weight and choking on water, the solutions may be related to Wei Qing's cultivation method, or they may be due to the influence of the formation. Wei Qing did not suffer major injuries.

Despite Wei Qing's seemingly effortless victory, Zhang Xuezhou felt no jealousy whatsoever.

"To still have such good luck after beating me up, Wei Qing must be a man of great fortune!"

Among the group of young close advisors to the new emperor, the first cultivator at the Sole Self Realm has emerged.

Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help but consider many related factors.

There are many people in the world who have great fortune without cultivating Fortune Technique, and Zhang Xuezhou felt that he had broadened his horizons today.

It's hard to say how much Wei Qing can improve his strength, but the fact that his opponent's luck is so strong is definitely real.