Chapter 231 (Part 1): As Expected

The Demonic Cultivators stationed on the Ice Plain did not sense the approaching crisis.

But when the earth trembled and black tree trunks, like dragons in the earth, tore through the ice and snow and broke out of the ground, their defeat was already certain.

Wanling Sect launched a very successful ambush, attacking at the moment when the Demonic Cultivators were most relaxed.

In one wave, they killed or wounded most of the Demonic Cultivators in this area.

The remaining Demonic Cultivators were nearly all frightened out of their wits and fled the area in panic.

After this wave, Wanling Sect had eliminated a small portion of its opponents.

Unfortunately, this kind of sneak attack could only be carried out once.

After they defeated this strongest group of the Magic Path, the other Magic Path cultivators became alert, and it would be very difficult to ambush them successfully again.

Actively hunting down the remaining Magic Path cultivators would bring more harm than good.

The environment on the Ice Plain was not suitable for this kind of operation.

Once the Demonic Cultivators ran into the endless Extreme North Icefield’s Blizzard, their tracks would quickly vanish across the Ice Plain, making it impossible to track them.

Wanling Sect could only accept this reality. Although they had defeated the strongest Magic Path group on the Ice Plain, other Demonic Cultivators still existed there.

When the day the Secret Realm opened arrived, these Magic Path cultivators would still enter the Secret Realm to compete with them for Treasures.

“Unfortunately, we cannot finish it all in one battle,” sighed the Ling Emperor of Wanling Sect who had proposed the ambush.

The results of this ambush were quite good. Unfortunately, it did not achieve a decisive victory; it only raised their own odds of victory a little higher.

“It is already quite good. Next, let us prepare to enter the Secret Realm. We cannot disappoint the Fengzhu.”

Another Ling Emperor was fairly satisfied with this result.

“To resolve such a major hidden danger before entering the Secret Realm is truly great news. It will make their chances of obtaining the Spirit Item even higher.”

“Even so, I still feel a little uneasy. This Secret Realm will probably not be peaceful.”

“Relax. This is the Secret Realm where You Xue Lian grows, a wonder ranked in the top twenty of the Hundred Flowers List. Of course it would not be easy for us to obtain. Ever since they learned that their target this time was You Xue Lian, these Ling Emperors of Wanling Sect had already prepared to encounter all kinds of trouble.”

There is a common truth known to everyone in this world: the higher the rank of a Spirit Item, the greater the difficulty of obtaining it.

Tianhan Youxuelian ranks at the forefront of the Hundred Flowers List.

It is a wonder in the first tier after those legendary Spiritual Flowers.

The difficulty of obtaining such a Spirit Item could not possibly be low.

If it could be obtained so casually, would it deserve its deadly rarity?

“That is true. I hope nothing too unexpected happens…”

Perhaps the prayers of the Wanling Sect’s Ling Emperors were heard by Heaven.

Over the next few days, the Ice Plain was calm and peaceful; even the Extreme North Icefield’s Blizzard lessened considerably.

Even the long-absent Sunlight appeared for half a day on one occasion, as if telling the anxiously waiting Cultivators on the Ice Plain that this Secret Realm would not be difficult.

As time gradually approached the estimated opening time of the Secret Realm, the calm atmosphere on the Ice Plain was finally broken.

After a certain point, illusions of You Xue Lian appeared across the Ice Plain almost explosively.

At the same time, space on the Ice Plain began to become fragile. Even Ling Wang Realm Cultivators could feel the space around them growing unstable.

In some places, highly unstable Space Passages began to appear.

Colder, more bone-chilling winds and frost poured out from these Space Passages, making the Cultivators’ moods burn even hotter.

Cold? Cold is exactly right!

Only such severe cold could give rise to a rare Spirit Item like Tianhan Youxuelian.

If it were not that cold, they would instead suspect that the You Xue Lian in this Secret Realm was fake.

Even Ling Wang Realm Cultivators had to focus their energy to resist the severe cold surging from the Space Passages.

A single misstep would leave them frozen stiff or frostbitten.

As for Ling Shi Realm Cultivators… children should just go play off to the side.

The cold wind on the Ice Plain was already bone-chilling, but the cold wind in this Secret Realm was even colder and more deadly than on the Ice Plain.

This made all the Cultivators who wanted to enter the Secret Realm raise their guard to the utmost.

This Secret Realm was very dangerous.

If they did not want to be frozen into popsicles inside, they had to make complete preparations.

The current Space Passages had not yet fully formed.

It was estimated that these passages would need one to two days to stabilize.

Moreover, the passages formed at different speeds, and there was a good chance of a considerable time difference in their formation.

This was not good news for the Wanling Sect Cultivators.

It meant someone might enter the Secret Realm before them.

But they had no better option now.

They could not exactly scatter their people all over the Ice Plain to monitor every Space Passage that was forming, could they?

They did not have such ability.

They could only stay where they were and silently pray that the Space Passage on their side would not be among the last batch to form.

Perhaps Wanling Sect’s luck this time was truly very good.

Although the Space Passage on their side was not among the earliest to form, it was not much later than the earliest ones either.

Moreover, the Space Passage on their side was larger than the others and could accommodate more Cultivators entering and leaving.

This allowed Wanling Sect to send people into the Secret Realm at the fastest speed.

Everything looked so perfect.

As long as nothing unexpected happened, Wanling Sect would smoothly obtain Tianhan Youxuelian.

But would there really be no accidents?

……

“Something happened!”

When Hua Jian heard these three words, she was not surprised.

Instead, she showed an expression of relief.

‘I told you something would happen,’ the expression on her face roughly meant this.

Huaxinyuan, who had originally wanted to see Hua Jian’s shocked reaction, was suddenly a little disappointed.

She had thought she would get to see Hua Jian turn pale with fright, but Hua Jian instead wore an expression that said she had long anticipated today.

Surely this little one could not also know fortune-telling, could she?

“What happened? Have the Magic Path cultivators colluded together to wipe out Wanling Sect inside the Secret Realm? That can’t be right. If that were the case, Sister Xin Yuan, you would have hinted to me long ago.”

If the Magic Path wanted to collude together against Wanling Sect, the movements would definitely be considerable.

Given Wanhuagu’s degree of infiltration into the various Magic Path forces, such a major event could never escape Wanhuagu’s eyes.

So what happened should have little to do with the Magic Path.

At least, the crisis was not caused by the Magic Path.

“Let me guess, is there a problem with the Secret Realm itself?”

Since it was not a problem with the Magic Path, it could only be a problem with the Secret Realm itself.

Huaxinyuan nodded. Hua Jian’s guess was correct; this time, there really was a problem with the Secret Realm itself.

“We all misjudged the strength of Tianhan Youxuelian. None of the Cultivators who entered the Secret Realm have successfully come out, and the Secret Realm is accelerating its fusion with the cultivation world. Once the fusion succeeds, the situation will become impossible to handle.”

The situation would become impossible to handle?

The first thing Hua Jian thought of was that in the various movies she had watched in her previous life, when the world encountered this kind of crisis, it seemed to start with world destruction, right?

But she quickly denied this idea.

If a Secret Realm merging into the world really produced such a huge impact, then when the Fengzhu and Huaxinyuan talked about the Secret Realm before, they would not have been so casual and unconcerned.

A Secret Realm merging into the world should be a fairly commonplace matter.

This time something went wrong probably because a large number of Cultivators were trapped in the Secret Realm and could not get out?

“What will happen after the fusion succeeds? Will the Ice Plain be directly destroyed by the aftermath of the fusion?”

Although Hua Jian knew this possibility was unlikely, she still asked conservatively.

“That is not likely. After a Secret Realm merges with the world, it usually erupts with a relatively intense Spiritual Energy Tremor. In a densely populated place, it would be very dangerous, but in a place like the Ice Plain, it can almost be ignored.”

Huaxinyuan spread her hands and gave Hua Jian a simple demonstration of the effects caused after a Secret Realm merged into the world.

“In such a great Spiritual Power explosion, most of the matter in the Secret Realm will transform into the purest Spiritual Power and merge into the world. A small portion of Spirit Items that can withstand the great explosion will arrive in the cultivation world in their original form. A Spirit Item like You Xue Lian can passively control the power of the Secret Realm to protect itself, so it will hardly be harmed in such a fusion.”

“But the other people in the Secret Realm are different. If they cannot successfully leave the Secret Realm before it completely fuses with the world, they will turn into dust along with the Secret Realm in that great explosion.”

This was the irreversible consequence Huaxinyuan had spoken of.

Everyone who entered would die completely. This consequence was already deadly enough.

Especially for Wanling Sect, which had sent many people in, such a loss would hurt a bit.

“You probably won’t need to go to Wanling Sect for the next few days. They are probably so busy their feet don’t touch the ground right now.”

Huaxinyuan wore an expression of watching a show.

Wanhuagu had not gotten much involved in this Secret Realm.

Even if there were people from Wanhuagu inside, it was personal behavior.

And Wanhuagu would never take responsibility for personal behavior.

Expecting them to enter the Secret Realm to rescue people was even more impossible.

In Wanhuagu’s own words, if you chose your own path, do not blame others for not saving you.

So Huaxinyuan had a completely detached attitude of “it’s none of my business.”

If a large swath of Wanling Sect died, then so be it.

Wanting to obtain such a high-rank Spirit Item was never that simple.

This kind of price was nothing.

Back then, in order to obtain a certain Spirit Item, Wanhuagu paid a price far greater than Wanling Sect’s now, and spent far more time as well!

How much time had Wanling Sect spent?

Back then, Wanhuagu spent many, many years and paid an incomparably huge price before settling that matter.

“High-rank Spirit Items are dangerous to begin with. Wanling Sect should have been prepared.”

Huaxinyuan continued, “Besides, now that things have reached this point, it no longer has much to do with us.”

Wanling Sect had sent several Ling Emperors into the Secret Realm.

Yet even such a luxurious lineup had run into trouble. What could Hua Jian, a little Ling King, do?

Clever little tricks for dealing with people could not be used against Spirit Items.

Moreover, Wanling Sect could not possibly lower its face to ask Hua Jian, this little Ling King girl, for help.

“Eh?”

“Could it be that you still want to risk yourself and go into the Secret Realm?”

Huaxinyuan stared and leaned close to Hua Jian, her eyes fixed intently on Hua Jian’s shifting eyes.

“I won’t even mention matters of identity. You are only a Ling King, but Wanling Sect sent several Ling Emperors into the Secret Realm. Do you think you can solve what they cannot?”