I tamed beasts and achieved immortality in the world of cultivation.

The next day, at noon.

Chen Qing stood beneath the crack near the Blood Spirit Abyss, looking up.

The pale green crack stretched across the sky, much larger than it had been a month ago, about thirty feet long. The pale green light at its edges was so intense it was almost tangible, like a green waterfall flowing through the sky.

Below the crack, some people went in, and some people came out, with various colors of spiritual light intertwining in the sky.

The rogue cultivators who emerged from the secret realm were covered in dust and dirt, some even bearing injuries, but they dared not utter a single complaint and obediently walked towards the magnificent hall.

Chen Qing's gaze swept across the main hall.

The imposing, dark blue-green hall sat directly beneath the crack, its doors wide open, array patterns swirling, emanating a spiritual pressure as imposing as a mountain. Lu Chenxing was naturally inside, but with Chen Qing's cultivation level, he couldn't see through the situation within the hall at all, only vaguely sensing a soul-stirring pressure emanating from within.

Outside the main hall, there were about twenty Lingyun Sect disciples guarding the entrance.

They were all dressed in identical blue disciple robes, with tokens hanging from their waists. Most of them possessed the aura of late-stage Qi Refining, and each had a cold expression and piercing gaze. Their mission was simple—to stop all the rogue cultivators and disciples from other sects emerging from the secret realm and collect taxes.

Seventy percent!

This is the rule of Lingyun Sect.

The secret realm opened on Lingyun Sect's territory requires you to hand over 70% of your spoils upon exiting. Whether you like it or not, the formation is blocking your way, and you can't leave without paying, or you'll have to find another way out.

Of course, Lingyun Sect's own disciples are an exception.

This is considered a benefit of the sect.

Chen Qing withdrew his gaze, not looking at the main hall any longer, but instead scanning his surroundings.

Every now and then, a few people would emerge from the crack. Some were covered in wounds and looked exhausted, as if they had just crawled out of the gates of hell; others were radiant and beaming, clearly having gained a lot of benefits; still others came out with pale faces and empty hands, obviously having suffered a great loss inside.

But even more people are constantly moving in.

In just a short while, Chen Qing saw seven beams of spiritual light rise from the ground and disappear into the pale green crack.

"It's really lively."

Chen Qing muttered to himself, touched the silver scale soft armor on his body, and then reached into his storage bag to press it. After confirming that everything was ready, he took out the Azure Leaf Boat from the storage bag and threw it into the air, where it transformed into a boat about ten feet in size.

Chen Qing leaped onto the boat and steered the Green Leaf Boat toward the crack.

The moment the Azure Leaf Boat entered the pale green light, a tremendous suction force surged out from the crack, swallowing the entire boat along with Chen Qing, and instantly disappearing into the pale green light.

……

Deep inside the main hall.

Lu Chenxing slightly opened his eyes, his star-like pupils seemingly able to penetrate the palace walls, looking directly at the direction of the crack.

"This kid... is even more cunning than I was back in the day."

Lu Chenxing smiled slightly and muttered to himself.

He had lived for nearly four hundred years and had seen all sorts of younger generations, some sharp and ambitious, some worldly and shrewd, some ambitious and some complacent, but someone like Chen Qing was truly rare.

"I hope you can reach the Golden Core stage."

Lu Chenxing said something in a low voice, then closed his eyes again, no longer paying attention.

……

In the secret realm.

Chen Qing felt a blur before his eyes, and a tremendous tearing force surged from all directions, as if to tear his body to pieces. Chen Qing gritted his teeth, and his spiritual power surged wildly into the Azure Wind Boat. The azure spiritual light enveloped his entire body, like a thin light shield, isolating him from the tearing force.

This feeling lasted for about three or four breaths. Suddenly, Chen Qing's eyes lit up, and his feet found solid ground as he landed on a huge platform.

The platform was several hundred feet in circumference, and the ground was paved with some kind of unknown bluish-black stone, so flat it was almost unbelievable, as if it had been slashed flat by some great force. But at this moment, the bluish-black ground was covered with mottled bloodstains, red, black, dark green, and various other colors of blood mixed together, staining large areas of the ground a colorful mess.

Scattered across the platform were stark white bones, some no bigger than a finger joint, others thicker than a human leg, their broken ends revealing grayish-white marrow. There were also many severed limbs of demonic beasts, some still twitching slightly, emanating a strong stench of blood.

In addition, there were some strangely shaped corpses—some like skeletons, pale white all over, with the eerie green flames in their eye sockets extinguished; some like giant bats, with wingspans of over ten feet, their bodies covered with sword and knife wounds; and some like rotting corpses, completely black, emitting a nauseating stench.

These are all creatures from the secret realm.

Chen Qing's gaze swept across the platform, and he pondered to himself.

It seems that the first group of cultivators to enter the secret realm withstood immense pressure over the past month. After all, the creatures within the secret realm also try to escape through the cracks, and this place serves as both the entrance and the exit, indicating that a fierce battle had taken place.

Currently, there are no other people on this platform besides ten disciples dressed in Lingyun Sect robes.

The ten people, all dressed in blue disciple robes and with tokens hanging from their waists, were all at the late stage of Qi Refining. They stood around the platform with cold expressions.

They saw Chen Qing emerge from the crack. He was dressed in a black robe and wore a mask. He did not bear any insignia of the Lingyun Sect, so they paid him no further attention. They merely glanced at him briefly before looking away.

Chen Qing felt a little relieved and looked up straight ahead.

Beyond the platform lay a dense, grey-green forest. The trees were tall and twisted, their branches gnarled and twisted, like withered, ghostly hands reaching out from the earth. A thin layer of greyish-white mist permeated the forest. Above the forest, several beams of light flew towards the distance—the seven figures who had entered the secret realm before him. However, they were clearly heading towards the central area, showing no intention of lingering on the periphery.

Chen Qing thought for a moment and then looked away.

Central area?

That's a dangerous place; you mustn't go there.

He looked around, identified the northwest direction, and with light steps, quietly descended the platform and disappeared into the gray-green dense forest.

As he walked, Chen Qing recalled the information in the jade slip he had bought from the black market.

This mysterious realm, known as the Lin Yuan Secret Realm, is a vast expanse of land with a flat, round sky. It is home to a multitude of unique creatures, each with its own distinct form and bizarre appearance.

The most common of these is a creature shaped like a skull.

These skeletons varied in size, some as small as a normal person, others several feet tall, all deathly white with eerie green flames flickering in their eye sockets. They possessed no intelligence, only the most primal instinct to kill, and would attack any living thing that came into their sight.

Besides skeletons, there is something called "blood bats".

Blood bats are not large, with wingspans of only about a foot, but their numbers are extremely high. When they move, hundreds or even thousands of them will cover the sky, like a blood-red dark cloud. A single blood bat is only equivalent to the early stage of Qi Refining, but when hundreds or thousands of them surge up together, even a late stage Qi Refining cultivator would be unable to withstand them.

There's an even more troublesome one—the Corpse Monster.

This thing looked like a corpse contaminated by something; it was completely black, reeking of a strong stench of decay, with thick, rough skin and immense strength. A mid-tier first-order corpse monster, its defense was comparable to a high-tier first-order demonic beast, making it extremely difficult to defeat.

Besides the creatures unique to these secret realms, there are also quite a few monsters.

These demonic beasts are quite different from those in the Canglan Domain. Most of them are larger in size, more ferocious in nature, and carry a strong bloody smell, as if they have been contaminated by something.

The most crucial entity within the secret realm is a special being that is said to possess some kind of authority over the realm. This authority is known among the cultivators of the Canglan Domain as the "Origin Core of Myriad Phenomena," and it is said to be of great help in breaking through realms. Lu Chenxing guards the outside for this very reason.

Once this creature is killed or taken out of the secret realm, the secret realm will gradually collapse and eventually disappear.

As for where he went after he disappeared, no one knows.

A thought suddenly flashed through Chen Qing's mind: This kind of secret realm could actually be used by the sect to control the core creature and thus keep the secret realm under their control for a long time, making it their own backyard.

But he immediately shook his head—the cultivators of the Canglan Domain aren't stupid; surely someone has thought of and tried this kind of thing.

Putting aside other things, the Lingyun Sect alone has tried it several times.

A thousand years ago, in that Spirit Abyss Secret Realm, it was said that the sect controlled the core creature for more than ten years and conducted various experiments. But in the end, for some unknown reason, the entire secret realm, along with the core creature, disappeared, leaving only the Blood Spirit Abyss, which stretched for hundreds of miles from north to south and thousands of miles from east to west.

Thinking of this, Chen Qing couldn't help but shudder.

Although he had never been inside the Blood Spirit Abyss, just a glimpse of its surroundings from afar was enough to send chills down one's spine with its overwhelming malevolent aura.

The disappearance of a secret realm has created such a large and desolate wasteland, which shows how unreliable the control core is.

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