Chapter 16

If one were to take a single stone, pick up a single leaf, they will not come out of that secret realm without losing a piece of their body.

They decided against splitting up, fearing that the Devilish Sects would ambush them. When the Sect Leader arrived at one of the secret realm entrances, two groups belonging to two different sects had already arrived along with their Sect Leader.

Coincidentally one of these groups originated from the Jingyi sect, and another from the Wuhe sect. The Wuhe sect was the owner of the "Heavenly Compass" and the Jingyi sect was the sect Feng Delun was once affiliated with. The Sect Leader had a bad premonition at that very moment.

"Sect Leader Hua, of the Jinlong sect." The Sect Leader of the Jingyi sect greeted.

Sect Leader Hua returned the greeting courteously, then he went directly to the matter of the Da dynasty secret realm without further ado. "Was the opening of the secret realm the work of your Jingyi sect's Feng Delun, and as I recall the holder of the heavenly compass, Wuhe sect's Jie Qiqiang?"

Both Sect Leaders had a sour face.

The Wuhe Sect Leader began, "I'm afraid that Jie Qiqiang had cut ties with our sect, he had relinquished all of his items, treasures, belongings. Including the heavenly compass to our sect."

"Feng Delun had also cut ties with our Wuhe sect."

If the news of Jie Qiqiang cutting ties with the Wuhe sect was not astounding enough, then Jingyi Sect Leader's news of Feng Delun would be telling Sect Leader Hua, that one day the Devil Venerable would ascend to the heavenly realm.

Sect Leader Hua was speechless. Both Feng Delun and Jie Qiqiang were cultivators at the latter layers of Nascent Soul Stage. Feng Delun was renowned to be a genius array master, born once in a few thousand years. Jie Qiqiang was renowned for his smithing skills, creating many magical tools and weapons. Even their sect's Golden Crowned Lord's spiritual weapon was forged by Jie Qiqiang.

Sect Leader Hua asked, "Has any of your sect members detected Feng Delun's residual spiritual energy?"

"I'm afraid neither of our sect members detected any residuals of his spiritual energy. If Feng Delun was here he would have erased any trace for us to track him down." The Jingyi Sect Leader confessed.

"Forgive me beforehand for my rather overstepping question, Sect Leader Hua." The Wuhe Sect Leader started, "Has any of your sect's Nascent Soul stage members… cut ties with your sect, in the recent days?"

Sect Leader Hua laughed in a good natured way. "Ah, in fact one of our sect members had ascended to the heavens. Our sect had yet to spread this news, as it was a recent development."

The Jingyi Sect Leader did not mask his surprise. "That thunder tribulation and premonition in the sky we saw and felt a few days ago, it was your Golden Crowned Lord, Ming Weilong, ascending?"

Sect Leader Hua proudly answered, "Yes, that was Ming Weilong, ascending." He noticed the subtle way both Jingyi and Wuhe Sect Leader's faces were twitching, it could only be from jealousy.

The two Jingyi and Wuhe Sect Leaders had to congratulate Sect Leader Hua, of Ming Weilong (or as those who were close enough to him, called him as Ming Yongnian) successful ascendence, with a sour heart.

"This is certainly an extremely happy occasion for your sect, Sect Leader Hua." Jingyi Sect Leader said, through his gritted teeth.

"Yes, extremely so." Sect Leader Hua continued to spread salt to these two Sect Leaders' hearts.

The two Jingyi and Wuhe Sect Leaders were able to press down their jealousy, because there were far more pressing matters to discuss.

"Sect Leader Hua these few days had not been the happiest of times for other, many major sects. Each one of our sect's Nascent Soul stage cultivators… began to cut ties, there are at the very least five known nascent soul cultivators from five different major sects who had cut their ties from their sects." Jingyi Sect Leader said, rather grimly.

Wuhe Sect Leader continued, "There is a potential that there were more. If these three Da dynasty secret realms were not opened, and attracted many of the major sects' attention. We would not have gathered here today and discovered that other sects' Nascent Soul cultivators had cut their ties simultaneously."

Any sect would pride themselves on having a Nascent soul stage cultivators in their sect. And when it comes to losing those cultivators they would naturally be ashamed. They would usually hide this sort of news until it could not be hidden any longer, but with the surprise of the Da dynasty opening so suddenly, and the pressure it created they were forced to reveal it.

Sect Leader Hua frowned. "Who were the five cultivators that cut ties to their sects, and from which sects?"

"Apart from Feng Delun and Jie Qiqiang. So far there was Lan Jianhong from Xiulan sect. Jiang Xiaotong from Yiwen sect. And Wu Jinjing from Yaling sect."

These names alone could move mountains and rivers, they were the cultivation world's finest and brightest cultivators. The ones who were hailed to have the potential to ascend to the heavens.

Lan Jianhong is the eldest son of Xiulan Sect's Leader, the only thing in the way for Lan Jianhong to inherit the Sect Leader position was the man's eccentric hobby, building buildings! If there were an infrastructure that Lan Jianhong saw and found intriguing, the man would — although it was too ridiculous — lick the building itself. The same could be said for rare building materials.

Jiang Xiaotong was well known as a one man army. Feared throughout the realms for his mastery over legendary beasts. He had once held off an entire Demonic Sect on his own. Like Lan Jianhong, Jiang Xiaotong was especially eccentric, from his way of speech, to the clothing he wore. Everything about Jiang Xiaotong screamed foreign.

As for Wu Jinjing… She was known as the "Goddess of Life". Reviving a person on the brink of death was a simple task for the woman. Though there were rumours about, asking for Wu Jinjing to heal a wounded person would lead the injured begging for death. Many disregard these rumours as it was impossible for a gentle woman like Wu Jinjing to perform something that would leave people's stomach churning.

"Like you Sect Leader Hua, their Sect Leaders had come to question us. Whether the Da dynasty secret realms opening were Feng Delun and Jie Qiqiang's doings. Of course at first we didn't want to reveal that one of our sect's strongest cultivators had cut their ties with us without preparations, it would leave us vulnerable. But it may have sent the wrong message to the others, so we had to reveal the situation with Feng Delun and Jie Qiqiang. Then they too revealed that one of their nascent soul stage cultivators had cut their ties with their sect." The Jingyi Sect Leader said.

The Wuhe Sect Leader then said, "We were also taken aback when we learned these cultivators had cut their ties to their sects. It began to seem rather obvious that there was something strangely wrong happening, for many renowned Nascent Soul cultivators to suddenly cut ties."

But the only sects, Sect Leader Hua had seen were the Jingyi and Wuhe sects. "And where are the Xiulan, Yiwen, and Yaling sects currently?"

Both the Jingyi and Wuhe Sect Leaders seemed tired all of a sudden. The Jingyi Sect Leader said, "There was also another… problem, the secret realm, we found it emptied."

"What?!"

***

"Why are they holding hands?"

The very first thing Jiang Xiaotong saw when he came back was a newly built modest house, which was not surprising, it was definitely Lan Jianhong's artwork — as the man insisted they call any buildings he built as artworks. Then there was the budding grass surrounding the once desolate village, it gave the almost dead looking village a livelier look. What was surprising was Lan Jianhong and Li Jiayi's intertwined hands.

Jin Liwei solemnly sorted through the treasures they brought back from the secret realms. "Wu Jinjing happened."

"Oh…"

"Oh indeed."

Yes, that explained everything. Just say Wu Jinjing's name and everything to anything that made no sense, made sense. Or bring a dead man to Wu Jinjing, and she would teach that dead man to fear death itself, to the point that they were revived in the next second. That woman was truly something, no words could describe her.

Jiang Xiaotong had noticed how Feng Delun had been on edge ever since their trip to the first Da dynasty secret realm. At first Jiang Xiaotong thought it was because they finally truly understood just how strong they were for the first time in hundreds of years. Compared to those or things who were not standing at the same heights as they.

Those ancient Elders in their former Sects had never allowed them to venture into the Da dynasty secret realm ever since they cultivated the latter layers of Golden Core stage. They should be aware that it would be far too easy for someone of the Nascent Soul stage to hoard all the treasures within the Da dynasty secret realm.