Chapter Thirty-Five: The Secret Realm Opens

Half a month slipped by in the blink of an eye.

On this day, as dawn barely broke, a long line had already formed outside the forbidden grounds behind the main peak. More than two hundred inner and outer sect disciples stood in two neat rows, having gathered here early in the morning. Confidence and pride adorned every face—some sat with eyes closed, conserving their energy, others whispered quietly among themselves, while a few carried an air of careless nonchalance.

At this moment, disciples from other peaks were also watching enviously—some from courtyards, others from their cultivation chambers—all casting longing gazes toward the forbidden grounds behind the main peak.

A bell sounded.

Several towering figures flashed into view; all the peak masters had arrived.

“Elder, please open the forbidden ground’s secret realm,” the sect leader, Nangong Kang, led the other peak masters in a respectful salute toward the forbidden grounds. The two hundred disciples followed suit, bowing in unison.

“Granted.”

At that single word, the formation sealing the forbidden land opened, revealing the entrance to the secret realm. The spiritual energy swirling within was so dense it seemed almost liquid, rushing forth to envelop them. All present disciples seized the moment, taking deep breaths as the true energy within their bodies began to circulate of its own accord.

The entrance to the secret realm appeared utterly ordinary: just two spatial illusion stones set on either side of the ground.

“Begin.”

Though the Elder’s figure was nowhere in sight, his command rang out once more. The two illusion stones flared with light, weaving a mysterious, man-sized portal between them.

“Enter.”

At the order, the two hundred disciples moved like a dragon’s tail, streaming through in single file. Already well briefed on what to expect within the secret realm, they entered with shouts and laughter, excitement barely contained, each one terrified of lagging even a moment behind the others.

Watching these eager disciples, the peak masters stroked their beards and laughed heartily, as if recalling the days, more than a century past, when they themselves had been young.

As each disciple set foot within the portal, they were whisked away—some to towering peaks dense with spirit plants, some to the depths of barren deserts, others directly into the vast and boundless sea. Each was transported according to the unique, yet random, affinity of their spiritual roots.

The longed-for relics and inheritances of their forebears were also hidden accordingly in the most elusive corners.

With the commencement of the transmissions, countless corners of the secret realm stirred; flocks of ferocious birds and mystical beasts of all ranks grew restless and agitated.

A drawn-out scream echoed—

Gu Xiaopang tumbled from the portal, landing at the mouth of a towering volcano, momentum carrying him toward its fiery depths. Thick, choking fumes of sulfur stung his nose and eyes; the omnipresent heat and flames instantly reduced his clothing to ash.

“Damn it, can’t you treat me a little more gently?” Gu Xiaopang cursed furiously as he drew his precious Firehorn Rhinoceros Horn, scrambling desperately—stabbing the horn into cracks in the volcanic wall, kicking at jagged rocks, clawing his way up with all the strength he could muster.

Only at the Qi Refining stage, not even having reached Foundation Establishment, Gu Xiaopang knew full well that if he kept falling, he’d be roasted alive before ever hitting the bottom—there wouldn’t even be ashes left for Old Gu to mourn.

“Too dangerous! It’s really too dangerous…” he gasped, finally dragging himself out of the volcano, collapsing spread-eagled and utterly disheveled on the ground outside the crater, gulping in air that, compared to inside the volcano, felt fresh as spring.

“I’ve searched everywhere and haven’t found a single trace of any legacy! Why was I sent here…? Could the inheritance be at the bottom of the volcano?” Once he’d caught his breath, Gu Xiaopang searched up and down, left and right around the volcano, but found nothing. Doubt gnawed at him.

“Such a hard life for one like me!” he wailed.