Cultivation begins in Qingfeng Market.

The moment the Holy Son of All Spirits obtained the Three Lights Treasure Bottle, slight tremors occurred throughout the secret realm.

The sky above the secret realm darkened for a moment, and then the remaining seven holy lands began to shine brightly.

Seven beams of light shot into the sky from seven directions, each a different color and dazzlingly bright, even dimming the daytime sun.

Tiancheng. Luo Wen, the head of the Luo family, stood at the highest point of his mansion. Feeling the tremor, his expression changed instantly, and he looked into the distance.

Pei Yue stood beside him. He could tell from Luo Wen's expression that something serious had happened, and asked, "What happened?"

"Someone has passed the trial and broken the sacred ground's restrictions," Luo Wen's voice was deep. "They obtained a fourth-tier treasure."

Pei Yue's mind raced. "How difficult are the trials in the Holy Land?"

"It's very difficult." Luo Wen withdrew his gaze. "No one has been able to pass through this secret realm for tens of thousands of years. The Luo family only managed to break through one section by relying on the legacy of the Luo Tian Sect and a thousand years of painstaking effort."

He paused, then continued, "Yan Feng tried another holy city's holy site, spending a month there without any progress, before turning to us for cooperation. Now that the cooperation has failed, he's probably gone to another holy site."

Pei Yue remained silent. He was pondering a question—who broke into the sacred ground?

The Holy Son of All Spirits? Possibly. Xia Jin? Also possible. Qin Tianjun? Lin Zhao? All are possible.

The message arrived quickly.

It was delivered by the Hundred Arts Immortal Alliance. Or rather, they had been waiting in Tiancheng, conducting business while simultaneously gathering intelligence: the Holy Son of Ten Thousand Spirits, blood sacrifice, and a fourth-tier magic weapon—

The Hundred Arts Immortal Alliance also attached a condition: they wanted the most detailed information on a sacred site, and in exchange, the Hundred Arts Immortal Alliance would remain neutral in the secret realm and not participate in the conflicts between the parties.

Pei Yue listened and remained silent for a while. "The Hundred Arts Immortal Alliance truly lives up to its reputation as an alliance composed of merchant guilds; they're really adept at this trick of getting something for nothing."

In the end, he persuaded Luo Wen to agree.

There's no other way. The Holy Son of Ten Thousand Spirits has displayed astonishing methods and strength. If the opposing side were to add the Hundred Arts Immortal Alliance, the situation in the secret realm would likely collapse instantly.

By then, he would be helpless. Even the most powerful methods require strength to support them. If the secret realm falls, everyone will be gone, and what meaning will the agreement between the Luo family and True Monarch Qingyuan have?

However, Pei Yue also sensed that Luo Wen's attitude towards him had become somewhat distant.

The reason is simple—the disciples of the Yunhai Cangming Sect have not yet displayed any particularly amazing skills in the secret realm.

A weak nation has no diplomacy.

This principle applies everywhere.

His words carried weight with Luo Wen, depending on the performance of the Cangming Sect disciples in the secret realm.

Pei Yue thought to himself: Lin Zhao, Qin Tianjun, Xia Jin, you guys need to work harder. The harder you work, the more resources I can leverage to help you.

The Church of All Souls is becoming increasingly active.

They created a special substance using forbidden techniques—the Three Deadly Poisons. It spreads in three ways: through water, air, and even the mind.

The most terrifying thing is the transmission of mind power—as long as you develop a fear of demons, that fear itself will slowly erode your will, making you yearn to become stronger and become one of the demons, amplifying the malice in your heart.

Three wonders unfolded simultaneously.

Within a month, the number of demons in the secret realm exceeded ten million.

Another ancient city has fallen. The mortals in the city were first transformed into demons, and then the city gates were opened. Overnight, the ancient city fell.

The scourge of beasts has begun to spread throughout the entire secret realm. All cities are facing a test.

Countless mortals and cultivators began to converge on the remaining ancient cities, hoping to use their powerful energy to survive the catastrophe.

Luo Wen began to recruit mortals into the three ancient cities controlled by the Luo family: Tiancheng, Hanshuangcheng, and Qingmucheng—the three cities combined absorbed tens of millions of people. The streets of the cities were filled with countless temporary shacks.

When Pei Yue proposed sending troops to fight against the Wanling Sect, Luo Wen hesitated.

The Wanling Sect's actions were too fierce and ruthless. They used the Three Deadly Poisons, millions of demons, and sacrificed them to destroy the city.

The Luo family did want to save the mortals in the secret realm, but the prerequisite for saving them was to protect themselves first.

Pei Yue understood his hesitation, but he still felt a little regretful.

-----

Perhaps feeling the immense pressure from the Holy Son of Ten Thousand Spirits, Xia Jin took the initiative to contact Qin Tianjun. In the fifth month, Xia Jin and Qin Tianjun joined forces to break through the restrictions of a holy land.

There are no magical treasures in the holy land. Instead, there are five fourth-tier inheritances: one each of fourth-tier cultivation techniques, secret arts, pill formulas, formations, and weapon crafting.

Its value is naturally extremely high; any Nascent Soul cultivator would be envious if it were in the outside world. However, it is not a magic weapon and cannot be directly converted into combat power within the secret realm.

Not everything in Luo Tianzong's relics was a magical artifact.

When the news came out, Pei Yue finally breathed a sigh of relief. The Cangming Sect had finally made its first decent gain in the secret realm.

The Church of All Souls then performed a blood sacrifice on five million people.

The second holy land was breached. The Holy Son of All Spirits obtained a mid-grade fourth-tier treasure—the Celestial Wood, a dark golden piece of wood as thick as an arm, with naturally formed growth rings on its surface. Each growth ring represents a thousand years, making it even more valuable than the Three Lights Treasure Bottle.

But that's not what the Holy Son of All Spirits wants either.

Of the nine sacred sites, four have already been opened. Five remain.

The Myriad Spirits Cult, having sacrificed too many people, began to face a backlash from cultivators in secret realms.

Those forces that had been observing could no longer sit still—if they didn't resist, the demonic calamity would completely engulf the secret realm, and they would be the next to be sacrificed.

When the Church of All Spirits was preparing to conquer the ancient city where its third holy site was located, cultivators from all directions rushed to the scene.

Xia Jin somehow persuaded the ruler of the ancient city he was in—he led the entire city's army out to join forces with the garrison of another ancient city, and the two ancient cities joined forces to build a defensive line outside the holy city.

We cannot allow the Myriad Spirits Sect to expand any further. They can use the power of these demons to unleash forbidden techniques. If this continues, the secret realm will be completely controlled by the Myriad Spirits Sect in less than a year. At that time, it will be hard to say whether the sect disciples can even keep their lives, let alone obtain fourth-tier treasures.

Luo Wen finally made up his mind.

First, the disciples of the Cangming Sect finally demonstrated the strength befitting a dominant force—Xia Jin and Qin Tianjun joined forces to destroy a sacred land.

Secondly, if the Wanling Sect pushes forward any further, the next target will be the three ancient cities controlled by the Luo family. Rather than passively taking a beating, it's better to take the initiative.

Luo Wen led tens of thousands of powerful members of the Luo family and the fourth-tier magic weapon, the Luo Emperor Cauldron, to the front lines.

The Luohuang Ding is a three-legged round ding, with a bluish-black body and engraved with the sun, moon, stars, mountains, rivers, birds, and beasts on its surface.

The cauldron emitted a bluish-gold light, which fell to the ground. The demons afflicted by the Three Deadly Poisons screamed and collapsed as if burned, turning to ashes. The light fell on the guards, and their wounds began to heal, and their fatigue began to subside.

This is the power of a fourth-tier magic weapon; it single-handedly dispersed the demons and suppressed a defensive line stretching for hundreds of miles.

In response, the Holy Son of All Souls was sent to the front lines.