The secret land was not large, approximately the area of six or seven football fields.
The sky was overcast, somewhat resembling the environment under the ghostly realm. The grey mist was not as dense, but the other landscapes were far more peculiar.
The plants and trees looked nothing like they should.
Fang You maintained his 'Detect' skill, his gaze sweeping over them one by one. "Treasures everywhere."
Mysterious materials that were difficult to find elsewhere, only possibly discovered in deep mountains and old forests where strange entities gathered, were abundant here.
The Investigation Bureau actually possessed such a treasure trove.
It seemed he could "milk" the Investigation Bureau for more resources.
"Ghost Crystal Vein · Miniature"
"Detect: Precious veins, often born at convergence points or other special regions."
Fang You pondered.
Perhaps there were also veins in the ghostly realm. After all, the strange entities killed in the ghostly realm did not dissipate into smoke but remained intact.
With ghost crystals and mysterious materials, this conjecture was reasonable, though on his last exploration of the ghostly realm, he hadn't ventured more than a few dozen meters.
Now? He was in his third awakening, and Brother Black Blade was also in his third awakening, but there wasn't a leap in improvement compared to his second awakening. Trying again wouldn't change the outcome.
As he mused, the imposing and tall Director Tang was explaining some of the situation here.
"This place, no less than several hundred strange entities are spawned daily, including large and extra-large ones."
"That's normal," Fang You said. "If we compare our Blue Star to a sieve, cities are where the holes are small, forests are where the holes are slightly larger, and secret lands are already huge gaps, capable of letting all sorts of large strange entities pass through."
"Passing through from the ghostly realm."
Director Tang and Huang Hongtian exchanged glances.
Indeed, Xin Huo had much knowledge about that world!
Initially, the Investigation Bureau was uncertain about the origin of these strange entities. The most mainstream speculation was that these monsters were born from the world's changes and negative emotions.
However, this conjecture was shaken after the 'Gate of Hell' incident.
And not long ago, the mirage that appeared above the White Wood Forest, the more terrifying scene presented in the mirror, made Director Tang and the others more certain of another conjecture.
Strange entities did not appear from nothing but 'leaked' from another world!
But what kind of world was it?
"The ghostly realm, it's a world that relies on the real world but is filled with strange entities."
"And the strange entities in the ghostly realm are far more dangerous than those spawned on our Blue Star," Fang You said.
He slowly raised his head. A thin layer of grey mist drifted above him, and he could see several faint, almost transparent grey rivers flowing and converging overhead.
The intersection of reality and the ghostly realm was like a membrane; he seemed to be able to cross this membrane with a single thought.
No, not "seemed."
He had seen through An Jianyou's perspective and had also entered the ghostly realm. He was familiar with the process of entering. Now, as long as he dispersed his mental power and touched that switch, he could enter the ghostly realm, just as An Jianyou had used the back door.
When he tested the threshold, the Salvation Game even popped up a prompt: "Do you wish to enter the ghostly realm?"
Confirmed!
As expected,
The secret land was the true entrance and exit to the ghostly realm!
And the condition for entry, while not requiring a one-in-a-billion prodigy like An Jianyou, was still not easy. It required sufficiently strong mental power.
An Jianyou and Yin Ling both had over ten points of mental power, yet they were unaware, clearly far below the minimum requirement.
Director Tang and Director Huang, despite being top-tier powerhouses in the world, were brutish. Their mental power was even lower, so it was impossible for them to touch the switch.
If he had come in his main body, he probably wouldn't have sensed the core convergence point. But who made him possess the Little Illusion now?
With a full sixty points of mental power!
The switch was right in front of him, within reach. He no longer needed to go through An Mei's back door... He was currently in a phantom spirit state, safer alone, and could come and go freely.
He looked at Director Tang and Director Huang and said, "As long as one possesses sufficiently strong mental power, one can enter the ghostly realm from here."
"Wait here for a moment, I'll be right back."
With that, Fang You dispersed his mental power. An invisible force brewed around him, stirring up the wind and blowing away the mist.
Under the pressure, An Jianyou and Yin Ling's faces turned red, and they were forced to retreat more than ten meters.
"As expected of the mentor!" An Jianyou thought.
Yin Ling's eyes shone brightly, eager to study that man's body.
Director Tang and Director Huang were even more astonished.
Seeing is believing, but experiencing it up close was even better.
Only by personally experiencing it could they understand the immense pressure this man exerted on them!
He was truly unfathomable!
And at this moment,
In Fang You's eyes, the grey mist gradually thickened, and the roars of strange entities could be heard. The world grew even darker.
However, the difference was not significant; the secret land was already a place with one foot in the ghostly realm.
In just a moment, his figure disappeared before An Jianyou and the others, stepping into the other side.
The ghostly realm.
"As expected, it's the ghostly realm, but the environment is somewhat different."
"When entering through the normal back door, the environment of the ghostly realm fully relies on reality. Plants, rocks, buildings are almost identical, just withered."
"But entering from the secret land, the scene before me is quite different from the outside."
There were still rolling hills, but the low buildings constructed by the Investigation Bureau in the secret land were completely gone.
The strange trees growing around and the ores also differed... Fang You had even specifically asked Little Illusion to perform a detailed comparison, revealing a difference of 86.4%.
It could be said there was no connection.
"Little Illusion, continue scanning the surrounding environment, record everything, and create a separate file."
"Yes, master~!"
"Scanned 6 types of unknown crops. Buried minerals underground cannot be scanned."
"The concentration of grey mist is not high, only level 2."
"There aren't many strange entities around either, currently only three two-star and twenty-six one-star have been detected."
He had also noticed.
Although the grey mist was denser than in the outer secret land, it was far less so than when he explored with An Jianyou last time. The strange entities were also fewer.
If it were like last time, he would have been swarmed by many strange entities as soon as he entered, and they would have kept coming, endlessly.
But now,
"Zzzt—"
"Zzzt—"
"Zzzt—" x27
As he shot out small lightning bolts, controlled to be just enough to instantly kill the strange entities, the world fell silent.
Although he could still hear the roars of strange entities in the distance and see colossal shadows flickering in the dense grey mist far away, at least there were none nearby.
Surprisingly, there were none.
And,
"Ding!"
"Notification: Your Mystery Value +0.1!"
The intake of Mystery Value was also reduced, significantly so, only popping up after a long time.
But this environment was indeed much safer.
"Does the density of the grey mist also relate to the activity level of strange entities and their self-healing speed?"
"If other parts of the ghostly realm could maintain this level, exploration would be feasible."
"Is it due to the special nature of the secret land's surroundings, or some other special influence?"
Fang You slowly ascended, treading on the Illusionary Void Steps.
Maintaining an altitude of ten to twenty meters provided a wide field of vision without being too conspicuous, allowing for a timely descent in case of danger.
He stopped, his gaze sweeping, and his pupils flickered with detection light.
Detect! Detect! Detect!
He began to scan the crops that Little Illusion had labeled as 'Unknown,' and the investigation yielded a pleasant surprise.
"Luminous Tree"
"Detect: A special tree that only grows at convergence points of the ghostly interface. Its characteristic is a faint diffused light that can dispel grey mist and has a certain repelling effect on strange entities."
He broke off a branch.
"Detect: The branch of the Luminous Tree has a weaker dispelling effect on grey mist, and there seem to be more efficient ways to utilize it."
He had obtained a key item!
And the number of Luminous Trees around was very large; taking a few would have no impact, cough, he wouldn't take too many.
"Fortunately, I had the foresight to give the Heavenly Net Hand to An Jianyou yesterday and instructed her to carry it with her."
At this moment, this glove was worn by his avatar.
Of course, he had cleaned out the glove's space before giving it to An Jianyou. It was empty now and could hold quite a bit.
He broke off some branches and stored them. After thinking, he gently dug up a few Luminous Trees to try and transplant them—even though the detection skill stated that only the environment of the convergence point and the ghostly interface was suitable, it wouldn't hurt to try, who knew if it would work.
He also found some Luminous Tree seeds nearby and picked up other local specialties. During this time, strange entities naturally appeared and were all killed by him.
After a circle, he confirmed that the areas with faint grey mist were only around this side of the secret land.
Further out, it was still dense grey mist and strange entities everywhere.
He had tried to venture out. This time, his strength was greater, and he didn't need to look after An Jianyou. He moved more freely, but still felt pressure after venturing only a thousand meters.
To avoid attracting calamity-level strange entities, he quickly retreated after killing some powerful ones.
Returning to the entrance of the secret land, he eliminated the pursuing strange entities one by one. After a patrol to ensure everything was in order, Fang You lightly touched the convergence node.
With a gentle step, his feet touched the ground.
The roars of strange entities completely disappeared from his ears. An Jianyou's face appeared before him, and he almost bumped into her.
Both of them were startled.
"The mentor is back!"
At this point, his life energy had been heavily consumed, and he had been possessing Little Illusion for nearly an hour. Fang You's head began to feel swollen.
He briefly described the situation on the other side.
"It's not particularly dangerous."
"There are only a few three-star strange entities."
After thinking, he took out some materials unique to the other side from the Heavenly Net Hand and gave them to the Investigation Bureau.
He then handed the glove back to An Jianyou and gave a few more instructions.
"I'll leave the matters here to you to handle yourselves."
With that,
The figure, shrouded in a faint golden light, gradually faded before everyone's eyes until it disappeared.