Chapter 154: Entering the Secret Realm
Chapter 154: Entering the Secret Realm
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Yes, just like that, out of nowhere, no message, no information about where she had gone, nothing at all. One day she vanished, and from then on no one ever knew anything about her again.
At first, people thought she had gone wandering around the world, which wasn’t unusual, but she usually kept in touch with the Pavilion. That time, however, she didn’t, and even after several years, nothing was ever heard from her again.
By then, he had already reached the rank of Grandmaster Forger, and he returned to the Pavilion to take control before things slipped out of hand. He and the other key members of the Pavilion searched far and wide, but they never found anything more about her.
The idea that she had finally ascended to the higher realms never crossed anyone’s mind, because they all knew she still had to reach the peak of the Spirit Realm.
He, in particular, being the one closest to her, knew that she had been stuck at a bottleneck for many years that prevented her from advancing any further.
And even if she had somehow broken through and successfully reached the peak of the Spirit Realm, her ascension to the higher realms would have caused a huge stir. No one could simply ascend without leaving any trace.
There would have been visible effects, perceptible to all living beings across the continent.
But none of that happened, which only added to everyone’s concern.
Some thought she might have died, but that possibility was even harder to accept, especially because it implied that out there was someone capable of killing a Spirit Realm cultivator, something no one dared imagine.
For Zhu Rong, those creatures found inside the cocoons could very well have had something to do with it, especially since, at that time, the three empires had joined forces to find a solution against that threat hiding in the frozen lands, which had begun spreading its roots beyond the mountain chain that separated them.
But in the end, nothing was ever confirmed, and over the following centuries, he could only accept it and move on with his own path.
That said, such was not the case in this life. He didn’t know exactly what had happened to her back then, but in this one, he had no intention of letting things go the same way as before.
He had the strength to become stronger, much stronger than his old self, and also the strength to protect the people close to him.
He had no intention of letting anything happen to her in this life.
The conversation between the two of them went on for a while before she returned to her group.
He noticed that she hadn’t tried to take him as her disciple. He was sure she was tempted, but she had likely held back for the moment, most probably because of that supposed ’master’ backing him.
He was certain that it wouldn’t take her long to discover there was no master at all, but for now, things were better left as they were.
Little by little, everyone began talking with others. Some remained apart the whole time, and even Zhu Rong didn’t have much further interaction after that.
He had also spotted Liang Yuexin’s group, which, as he had thought, was together with her family.
He gave her a nod, and she responded in kind.
They didn’t say anything to each other, there was no need, but one person in the Liang family group couldn’t help but notice their brief exchange of greetings.
He looked at Liang Yuexin with a smile before saying:
"Looks like your relationship with that Zhu boy isn’t all that bad, sister," said a tall man with long black hair tied behind him, a calm and composed demeanor, but one that didn’t hide the sense of superiority he felt toward others.
It was Liang Zhan, Liang Yuexin’s older brother, and the prodigy of the Liang Family.
She, hearing her brother’s words, didn’t say anything and ignored him.
Liang Zhan didn’t seem to care, as if he was already used to such treatment, so he didn’t pay much attention to it.
And so, time passed, and finally, after about an hour, the bluish gray vortex was stabilized, and one by one, everyone began rushing toward the entrance.
"It’s time for you to go as well. Remember, stay with your instructors and don’t get separated, or it could cost you your life," said the Headmaster.
Everyone nodded in agreement. They knew very well how dangerous these places could be, and stories of cultivators who died or never returned were not few. In fact, even careful and well prepared cultivators often failed to come back, so none of them dared take his warning lightly.
That said, one by one, they too entered, already prepared to face whatever situation awaited them. No one knew where they would be transported.
It had happened in the past that the portal opened in midair, a good distance above the ground, and that alone had caused the death of many with just a single step inside.
Not to mention that others had already entered before them. If those people decided to set up an ambush right at the entrance, it could spell trouble.
Of course, no one would be so stupid to try something like that, not with all these people from important factions present, but you never knew.
That said, as Zhu Rong stood in the middle of the group and was about to step inside, he suddenly felt a strange tightness in his heart, and for a moment, he stopped, sensing something was wrong.
He looked around as if searching for something, anything, that could explain that strange feeling.
He had experienced this feeling before, but he couldn’t remember when.
Just as he hesitated to enter, wondering if the secret realm had something to do with that sensation, he felt a shove from behind along with a voice echoing:
"Hey dont stand there, can’t you see there are others behind you?" rang out a familiar male voice, Li Daniu, who was standing right behind him.
Zhu Rong wanted to turn and say a few words to him, but his foot had already stepped inside the portal, and the rest of his body was sucked in automatically by the pull of the energy vortex.
’Damn it-’
He tried to resist the portal’s suction, but failed, and could only surrender as he was dragged away from where he had been standing.
He didn’t have much time to think as he felt his mind spin for a moment before finally no longer sensing the portal’s pull,
it was clear he had been spat out of it.
He fell onto his back, still a little dazed, but immediately regained his composure, standing up while finally focusing his eyes and searching for the rest of his group who had entered before him.
"B*stard... I’ll deal with you later-" he thought, raising his head, still a little angry from the push from behind, but as he did and looked around for his group, his mind froze.
His expression darkened as he stared straight ahead.
"Where the hell is everyone?" he asked himself, his eyes landing on a series of giant trees in front of him, seemingly surrounding him from every direction.
He moved his gaze to examine the spot and realized he had ended up in some kind of forest.
But that wasn’t the problem. The problem was that no matter how hard he tried to scan the area with his spiritual senses, he couldn’t sense the presence of a single person, his teammates, the instructors, or the other teams who had entered before him.
No one. He was alone.
"Sht... I knew something was off," he muttered, cursing his luck as he began to understand his situation.
Although there hadn’t been case like this in the past, the probability that the secret realm would separate the groups and send each individual to different locations was not small at all.
Every secret realm had its peculiarities, so one could expect anything upon entering, even if he had never heard of a realm that scattered everyone to different places individually, it wasn’t entirely inconceivable.
He could only set aside his frustration and use all his Qi to expand the radius of his spiritual senses by several miles.
He might be far from the others, but at least he could get a sense of the surrounding environment and form an idea of where he was and where to move.
As he did this, he perceived a presence coming from his right, and when he focused his attention there, he felt a gaze staring at him.
He barely had time to locate the creature when it lunged in his direction.
Zhu Rong immediately stopped concentrating on his spiritual senses and, with a quick sidestep, moved just in time to see a strange black claw appear out of nowhere, right where he had just been a second ago.
’That was close,’ he thought, not losing his composure.
Despite being caught off guard by the beast’s sudden speed, he didn’t panic, and as soon as he saw the creature appear he unleashed his strike.
Immediately, with his Qi flowing through his body, he clenched his right palm into a fist and thrust it forward at the creature.
Boom!