Chapter 118: Teleporting to the Miracle Secret Realm

Chapter 118: Chapter 118: Teleporting to the Miracle Secret Realm

Chu Fan, of course, couldn’t possibly know about the events unfolding in the Shuoyue Kingdom and the Xin Yue Kingdom. Even if he did, he wouldn’t have gotten involved.

For the past few days, he and Yun Xi had been in Peach Blossom Valley on Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, spending most of their time on Cultivation.

After all, his Cultivation had suddenly jumped three Tiers, and he needed time to adapt to controlling his newfound Realm Power.

Besides Cultivation, he spent his time accompanying Yun Xi, scouring the nearby mountains for Spirit Medicines.

The reason for this was Yan Jiuxuan’s description of the Miracle. She had said that after entering the Secret Realm, the amount of time one spent inside would vary depending on the specific location they entered.

She had entered three times in total. Once, she came out after only seven days. Another time, she stayed for a full three years and was only ejected because she had exceeded a time limit, forced out by the Secret Realm’s expulsion Array. Otherwise, there was no telling how long she would have remained inside.

The reason for the different durations wasn’t that she was captivated by something inside and didn’t want to leave, but rather that the time rate varied in different parts of the Secret Realm.

Chu Fan understood the concept of a variable time rate quickly. After all, he had experienced it once before at Dingfeng Slope. He had clearly only been there for a few days, but over two months had passed in the outside world.

To prepare for the possibility that he might be inside for a full three years, Chu Fan naturally wanted to spend more time with Yun Xi these last few days.

On the fifth day of the fifth month, Chu Fan finally bid farewell to Yun Xi and set off on the path to the Secret Realm.

Not even Yan Jiuxuan knew the Secret Realm’s exact location. She only knew that there was a Teleportation Array within an Ancient Pool on Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain. One simply had to activate the Array and stand within it for about a quarter of an hour to reach the Secret Realm.

Of course, before he left for the Secret Realm, Yan Jiuxuan had described her own experiences and what she had seen of the realm to Chu Fan, so that he wouldn’t be wandering around like a headless chicken after he entered.

The Ancient Pool was just over three hundred li from Peach Blossom Valley. At Chu Fan’s current speed, the journey took less than half an hour.

Arriving at the edge of the Ancient Pool, Chu Fan was once again stunned by the scenery.

This was also a valley, one encircled by three mountains. The peaks were enchanting and perilous, the vigorous pines a lush green. Fresh moss adorned the surfaces, a hundred flowers vied for beauty, and numerous streams meandered through, their babbling faint and constant.

Nearly a hundred babbling brooks flowed from the three mountainsides, converging into a Water Pool in the valley that was less than an acre in size.

The pool’s water was a full, vibrant green, so clear that one could not see the bottom. Strange rocks encircled its edge, and green willows trailed their branches toward the surface.

"Sink to the bottom of the pool, and you will see a raised rock engraved with a pattern. Press your palm where the lines of the pattern intersect. With your current Cultivation, channeling your True Qi into it with all your strength will activate the Array. Inside the Miracle, it’s possible you might touch something and be instantly teleported out. If you wish to leave on your own, find a place inside with the same engraved pattern and perform the same action to return here. However, after entering the Miracle once, you must wait at least ten years before entering a second time, and your Cultivation cannot exceed the Soul Emergence Realm."

Yan Jiuxuan instructed Chu Fan as they stood by the edge of the pool.

"Thank you. While I’m gone, I’ll have to ask you to look after Yun Xi," Chu Fan said, clasping his hands in respect to Yan Jiuxuan.

Having spent this time together, he had developed a very favorable impression of Yan Jiuxuan. ’Like the King of Ten Thousand Beasts depicted in the murals on Zao Ying Mountain, she is a truly remarkable woman.’

’Although her every move and the sound of her voice are filled with a deep allure, I’ve come to realize she’s actually a very pure person. She doesn’t seem to understand romantic love at all; in that respect, she’s even more of a blank slate than Yun Xi.’

’Her captivating aura is simply a result of her sect’s inherited Cultivation Technique and her own unparalleled beauty.’

"You have some connection to my lineage, and besides, I felt an instant kinship with Yun Xi. I’m very fond of her, so there’s no need for such pleasantries. I hope you gain much from your time in the Secret Realm!"

Chu Fan gave Yan Jiuxuan a deep bow, then leaped directly into the Ancient Pool.

It was early summer, but the pool’s water was bone-chillingly cold. The instant Chu Fan, a Nascent Soul Realm Tier Six Cultivator, entered the water, he couldn’t help but shiver from the intense cold.

Even using his True Qi for defense was useless. The deeper he dove, the more profound the chill became. Eventually, icicles the length of chopsticks began to form on his body.

Just when Chu Fan felt his body had become so numb with cold that it no longer seemed to belong to him, he finally reached the bottom of the pool.

Drawing on his superhuman willpower, he swam along the bottom until he found the rock Yan Jiuxuan had described.

The pattern on the rock was strikingly conspicuous in the faint light at the bottom of the pool.

The overall pattern was hexagonal, but the lines were not actually lines. Instead, they were formed by rows of characters that Chu Fan did not recognize.

Since Chu Fan knew nothing about Arrays to begin with, he certainly wasn’t going to try and study this thing while enduring the unbearable cold. He followed Yan Jiuxuan’s instructions directly, pressing his palm onto the center of the design and pouring his True Qi into it with all his might.

The next moment, a faint light flashed from the pattern, gradually forming a vacuum bubble underwater that enveloped both the rock and Chu Fan.

A powerful crushing sensation then descended upon him, causing the bones throughout his body to creak and groan. Even when he used his Nascent Soul Realm True Qi Shield to resist, he still felt squeezed to the point of suffocation, and the pain all over his body was beyond description.

This went on for more than a quarter of an hour. ’No wonder Yan Jiuxuan said that the True Qi of Cultivators below the Nascent Soul Realm was completely incapable of withstanding the Array’s Power of Heaven and Earth!’

’If a Cultivator below the Nascent Soul Realm were in this Array, that quarter of an hour would have been enough to crush them into dust.’

The moment the intense pressure on his body vanished, his first sensation was one of transcendent relief, as if he had just ascended to become an Immortal.

It was as if every cell in his body was cheering with joy.

Then, he was completely stunned by the scene before him.

It wasn’t because he saw a landscape more beautiful than the depths of Ten Thousand Beasts Mountain, nor was it a celestial paradise of jade pavilions. It was a world in utter ruins.

Even with his current Level 25 Spiritual Power, Chu Fan’s Divine Sense couldn’t probe the full extent of this place.

But as far as the eye could see, he could still make out the former splendor of this Secret Realm.

He didn’t know what catastrophe had befallen this place, but halls and pavilions had collapsed, and signs of scorching and smoke were everywhere.

The sky was dim and overcast, and though the ground was a mess of wreckage, the weeds grew with incredible vigor.

From the looks of it, the former palaces and halls here alone were at least a hundred times more numerous than those of the Lingyun Sect, and the overall area was thousands, even tens of thousands of times larger.

Stone pillars had toppled, and the timber used to build the halls had all been burned, leaving behind only pieces of unconsumed charcoal.

Even broken, the stone pillars used to construct the halls looked immense. Moreover, the stone itself was pure white, clearly of inestimable value.

Looking closely, he could still see mottled stains of blood on the ground.

Chu Fan swept the area with his Spiritual Power but found no trace of corpses or bones.

’At some unknown time, long, long ago, a great battle must have occurred here. It’s possible this place was besieged by countless powerful forces. Not only were its inhabitants slaughtered to the last person, but even the halls and pavilions were looted bare before being put to the torch.’

’And yet, judging from the ruins alone, I feel like even with the furthest stretch of my imagination, I couldn’t begin to grasp a fraction of this place’s former glory.’

’For a place that had flourished so magnificently for countless ages to fall into such ruin... I truly can’t fathom how powerful its enemies must have been.’

’And why did it decline to the point of being uprooted so completely?’

At this moment, besides the shock in his heart, Chu Fan also felt a sense of sorrow and melancholy.

"Hey, you think that guy’s an idiot?"

"SHH, don’t talk nonsense. Maybe that person came from a different Teleportation Array!"

"What’s there to be scared of? The guy clearly doesn’t have a shred of Cultivation. He probably just stumbled in here by accident."