You promised yourself to be a caged bird, but you became the supreme young master?

Chapter 102 Secret Realm Trial, Hell Difficulty

"Senior, you've recognized this secret realm."

On the surface, Lu Heng remained nonchalant, but he was secretly delighted.

Because talking to himself in front of the Heavenly Demon Jade Pendant in public would easily expose him, he asked the remnant soul for a method to conjure his voice into his mind out of thin air.

Surprisingly simple.

Because this method is not about the use of the soul or consciousness.

If the remnant soul could still use its divine sense, it wouldn't be completely unable to interfere with the outside world.

It is merely a special, unorthodox technique that uses the causal relationship between Lu Heng and the Heavenly Demon Jade Pendant to communicate.

For true powerhouses, as long as they have cultivated abilities related to cause and effect, such as divination and have a certain understanding of them, then cause and effect are not something ethereal or illusory to them.

Because of his karmic connection with the Heavenly Demon Jade Pendant, Lu Heng also learned this technique.

That's right.

"If I remember correctly, this secret realm did not actually originate from the Heavenly Demon Sect," the remnant soul within the Heavenly Demon Jade Pendant replied.

"Then, senior, how did you come to know about this secret realm?" Lu Heng asked, feeling that there was some inconsistency in his words.

"This secret realm did not originate from the Heavenly Demon Sect, but the reason is that this secret realm originated from an even more ancient sect."

"When the Heavenly Demon Sect took over this secret realm, it was already ownerless," the remnant soul replied helplessly.

"Is there something wrong with this secret realm?" Lu Heng asked immediately.

Although we are about to enter the secret realm and it's too late to regret it now, knowing in advance what problems the secret realm may have and being prepared is a way to remedy the situation.

However, Lu Heng was still more inclined to believe that there was nothing wrong with this secret realm. If there really was a problem, there would have been anomalies every time the secret realm had been opened in the past.

"There is no problem. This secret realm should have been left behind by a sword sect, who would not bother to leave any hidden tricks."

This was the case thousands of years ago when my Heavenly Demon Sect took over this secret realm.

"The rest is as you know," the remnant soul replied.

Before Lu Heng arrived here, Lu Qingyan had already informed him of the relevant matters concerning the secret realm.

Before entering the secret realm, everyone, regardless of their identity, is subject to restrictions, including not being allowed to damage the environment, use the rare and precious materials within, or kill each other.

No matter what, those who entered the secret realm were all from the local aristocratic families of Qinghe City, not independent cultivators.

Furthermore, those qualified to enter the secret realm are all cultivators who have reached the peak of the Body Refining Secret Realm and are ready to break through to the Qi Refining Secret Realm at any time.

Once they break through, they would be considered elites among the prominent families of Qinghe City.

Even members of a branch family of the Lu clan, after breaking through to the next level, can be called stewards and are no longer insignificant.

It's not something you can just kill on a whim.

When powerful families are evenly matched, they often run into each other. On the surface, they maintain a harmonious relationship, but underneath, there are undercurrents of conflict.

When they're not exposed, the people below can mingle without any problems, but clearly, the development of the secret realm doesn't fall into that category.

As for the so-called rare and precious materials, these are the main gains that can be obtained from the development of this secret realm in Qinghe City.

Because the concentration of spiritual energy in the secret realm is far greater than that in the outside world, the growth rate of spiritual herbs is much faster in the secret realm. In addition, each opening takes decades.

This is enough to allow the secret realm to develop an astonishing amount of spiritual medicinal resources for the Qinghe City families each time it opens, without depleting its resources.

Therefore, in addition to harvesting mature medicinal herbs, some scions of noble families who enter the secret realm are also responsible for sowing medicinal herb seeds within the realm.

Besides, there are also a considerable number of monsters in the secret realm.

The entrance to the secret realm in Qinghe City may seem small, but the actual size of the secret realm may even exceed the entire Qinghe City.

Each time, only a few dozen Body Refinement Realm cultivators enter, making it impossible to completely clean up the secret realm.

Not to mention, not all the monsters in the secret realm are first-tier monsters; there are even second-tier monsters among them.

The secret realm in Qinghe City only requires cultivators to have a certain level of cultivation to enter, but once inside, one can directly choose to break through to the next level.

The same applies to demonic beasts.

However, while cultivators can break through to the Qi Refining Secret Realm, among these second-tier demonic beasts, due to their unique cultivation environment, there are even powerful demonic beasts that have reached the peak of the second tier, equivalent to a cultivator at the peak of the Qi Refining Secret Realm.

Faced with such a demonic beast, even if all the cultivators from the noble families who entered the secret realm broke through to the Qi Refining Secret Realm, they would not be a match for it.

They would be easily slaughtered.

If the upper limit for existence in the secret realm were not limited to the peak of the second tier, even the birth of a third-tier demon beast would not be entirely impossible within the secret realm.

Once they reach that stage, they are already demons whose intelligence is no less than that of any human cultivator, and can be called great demons.

In that case, the entire secret realm of Qinghe City would probably become a death trap for anyone who enters, due to the limitations of the cultivators' cultivation levels.

Third-tier demonic beasts are equivalent to True Immortals of Divine Refinement. In a secret realm that is only the size of Qinghe City, as long as there are no beings of the same level, this place is like their own room.

It's the same everywhere; any cultivator below the Refining Mystic Realm who enters will face certain death.

However, since they knew in advance, they only needed to break through the Qi Refining Realm as soon as they entered the secret realm.

With the divine sense born from this secret realm, as long as one is careful and not particularly unlucky, it is almost impossible to encounter a peak second-tier demon beast.

After all, even in secret realms, there are probably no more than a handful of beings at this level.

Besides these, Lu Heng also learned that this secret realm, in addition to the development of rare and precious materials and the harvest from hunting second-tier demonic beasts, also contained a trial.

The trials simulate opponents for the power of the secret realm; each level presents opponents of varying strengths, with each level's opponents becoming increasingly powerful.

"Then what about the trial in the secret realm?" Lu Heng asked curiously, suddenly remembering this.

Since the secret realm of Qinghe City was once taken over by the Heavenly Demon Sect, and the remnant soul knew about this secret realm, it was impossible that he did not know about the trials within it.

"I know about the secret realm trials you mentioned, but not much of it."

All I can say is that this trial was never intended for anyone to pass.

In the tiny city of Qinghe, I can only say that even you would not be able to pass this trial.

This trial is only open to cultivators in the Body Refinement Realm, while the final opponent is a Qi Refining Realm cultivator simulated by the power of the Body Refinement Realm.

Unless one has prior knowledge of the power of the Qi Refining Realm, no one can clear it.