Chapter 481: Legend of the Spirit Realm, Sect-Wide Ascension |
"Guesswork?"
Wei Tu raised his eyebrows slightly at the words, muttering to himself, 'As expected.'
According to what Huang Ju Zhi had said, the Cloud Marsh Secret Realm was first discovered several thousand years ago when the founding ancestor of the Huang Clan used the Nine-Yuan Flying Star Pearl to pinpoint its spatial coordinates, making the realm manifest.
But that wasn’t how the Heavenly Maiden Sect saw it.
As far back as the last righteous-versus-demonic war—10,000 years ago—they had already set their sights on the spiritual treasure inside the Cloud Marsh Secret Realm: the Heaven-Mending Bowl.
From that alone, the two sides clearly had a massive discrepancy in their timelines.
Even if they went by the Huang Clan’s discovery as the standard, then why did the Heavenly Maiden Sect wait until just these last few hundred years to make a move on the Heaven-Mending Bowl? Why not several hundred years earlier? Or even several thousand?
Wei Tu couldn’t figure it out.
He suspected that the Heavenly Maiden Sect’s upper echelon knew something deeper about the Cloud Marsh Secret Realm—some hidden truth that kept them waiting almost 10,000 years before finally planning to seize the Heaven-Mending Bowl in just the past millennium.
Someone like Bai Zhi, still at the Golden Core stage, wouldn’t know a thing about it.
Otherwise, she wouldn’t have fallen into the trap of the demon soul and ended up so gravely wounded and unable to recover.
Now, what Ancestor Chìlóng said—the so-called "guess" that most late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators knew—was probably closely tied to this hidden truth the sect leaders were guarding.
Wei Tu’s thoughts weren’t something Ancestor Chìlóng could read.
After a brief pause, the old ancestor continued with what he hadn’t yet said.
"We suspect the thing imprisoned in the Nanhua Sect’s four great herb gardens might not be from our world at all, but rather something sent and sealed here by cultivators from a higher plane—the Spirit Realm."
Ancestor Chìlóng spoke with a solemn expression.
"Spirit Realm cultivators?" Wei Tu was shocked and couldn’t help feeling a spark of yearning.
For immortal cultivators, aside from climbing the ranks of cultivation, the ultimate goal was to ascend to the Immortal Realm and attain true immortality.
But making that leap in a single bound was nearly impossible.
Most cultivators first had to ascend to the "Spirit Realm," the world above this one. Only after cultivating there for a long time would they have a chance of entering the Immortal Realm.
The sad truth was, up to now, neither the Great Cang Cultivation World nor the Guixu Sea Cultivation World had produced any confirmed cases of ascension to the Spirit Realm.
It was as if the pathway had been permanently sealed off.
"And it was exactly because they sealed that person that the Nanhua Sect suddenly declined. No, ‘decline’ isn’t the right word. It should be—they caught the attention of the Spirit Realm and their entire upper echelon was taken up in a sect-wide ascension."
Ancestor Chìlóng went on.
"Sect-wide ascension?" Wei Tu was stunned. He found it hard to believe.
He wasn’t exactly ignorant about the Spirit Realm.
Although it was a higher plane, not all its cultivators were superpowerful beings above the Nascent Soul stage.
Even a Nascent Soul cultivator was considered a high-tier practitioner there.
So for the Spirit Realm to lift the entire upper echelon of the Nanhua Sect, that envoy must’ve been a truly terrifying powerhouse—far beyond the Divine Transformation Realm.
Which also meant the "demonic powerhouse" sealed inside the Cloud Marsh Secret Realm had to be an equally terrifying existence.
"That’s right. According to our guess, this demon’s cultivation was at least at the Void Refinement Realm."
"Even though his strength has clearly declined by now, a starving camel is still bigger than a horse. There are still very few late-stage Nascent Soul cultivators who dare to provoke him."
At this point, Ancestor Chìlóng’s eyes were filled with deep fear.
"Void Refinement Realm…"
Wei Tu’s face changed immediately.
Thankfully, after getting the Nine-Yuan Flying Star Pearl, he hadn’t rushed to open the other herb garden in the secret realm. Instead, he’d focused on improving his cultivation, planning to deal with it later.
If he had charged in right away, his fate would probably be uncertain now.
He could easily imagine it: decades ago, when the demon soul possessed Bai Zhi and suddenly ambushed him, it was likely just a lure. They were baiting him, a newly advanced Nascent Soul cultivator, to step into the trap.
Thinking of this, Wei Tu looked at the green wine jar on the table—the one used to seal Bai Zhi—and shook his head.
If the danger weren’t so overwhelming, he might’ve considered helping Bai Zhi for old times’ sake. But now that this involved a Void Refinement demon cultivator… he didn’t dare take any risks.
He had no choice but to abandon the plan to explore the other herb garden in the secret realm.
"By the way, Fellow Daoist Wei, the way you asked me just now—did you actually run into that demon?"
Ancestor Chìlóng eyed Wei Tu suspiciously.
He didn’t believe for a second that Wei Tu would ask about this without a reason.
Given Wei Tu’s experience, there was no way he’d know about something sealed inside the secret realm herb garden unless he had encountered that demon himself.
"It was Bai Zhi…" Wei Tu thought for a moment, then told Ancestor Chìlóng about how Bai Zhi had been possessed by a demon soul decades ago.
He also shared the doubts that had been bothering him—why the Heavenly Maiden Sect had only begun planning to seize the Heaven-Mending Bowl around 300 years ago, and why the Cloud Marsh Secret Realm had been first discovered by the ancestor of the Huang Clan.
"I don’t know about that Heavenly Maiden Sect plan you mentioned. But this secret realm herb garden isn’t something easy to find. If it really were that easy, the Nanhua Sect wouldn’t have needed to go through the trouble of sealing that demon inside it."
"Right now, out of the four great secret realm herb gardens, aside from this Cloud Marsh Secret Realm, only one other has been discovered by cultivators in our world."
Ancestor Chìlóng’s tone was full of irritation.
Only now did he realize just how deep and steady Wei Tu’s mind truly was. Somehow, the man had hidden so much from him without making a sound.
And yet, Ancestor Chìlóng still didn’t know the full truth.
Although Wei Tu had mentioned the Heaven-Mending Bowl, he had deliberately left out the most crucial part—that he had already obtained it.
"Not easy to find?"
Wei Tu’s eyes flickered when he heard that. He guessed that high-ranking cultivators like Ancestor Chìlóng probably didn’t know about the existence of the Nine-Yuan Flying Star Pearl.
Or perhaps, more likely, the secret realm herb gardens weren’t all that valuable to cultivators at Chìlóng’s level, so they simply weren’t interested in exploring the rest of them.
"As for Bai Zhi being possessed by a demon soul, this might not require a trip to the secret realm herb garden. The Yuanyang Blessed Land in the Zunwang Palace Secret Realm could still save her life."
Ancestor Chìlóng offered this reminder.
"Yuanyang Blessed Land?" Wei Tu’s eyes lit up, and he quickly pressed Ancestor Chìlóng for more details about this place.
After a short while, as Chìlóng explained, the tight furrow in Wei Tu’s brow slowly eased, and he let out a sigh of relief.
The Yuanyang Blessed Land was a special zone inside the Zunwang Palace Secret Realm, where all kinds of yang-element spiritual herbs grew. It was a top destination for righteous cultivators exploring the secret realm.
But of course, Ancestor Chìlóng wasn’t suggesting Wei Tu pick yang-type herbs to cure Bai Zhi, a ghost cultivator.
Rather, the place had unique restrictions that heavily suppressed demonic cultivators. Even the most sinister demonic entities would gradually be converted into pure yang-element spiritual energy within the Yuanyang Blessed Land.
This conversion process would be extremely damaging to Bai Zhi’s vitality, but compared to preserving her life, that was a small price to pay.
"Zunwang Palace Secret Realm…"
Wei Tu lightly tapped his finger against the table, letting out a long sigh.
Until now, he had thought the secret realm herb garden was something he absolutely had to explore, and that the Zunwang Palace Secret Realm was just an optional opportunity to chase in a century or so.
But now, if he wanted to save Bai Zhi’s life, a trip to the Zunwang Palace Secret Realm had become unavoidable.
"Over 160 years—that should be enough."
Wei Tu thought to himself.
There were still more than 160 years until the Zunwang Palace Secret Realm would open.
He was confident that, with that time, he could reach mid-stage Nascent Soul Realm.
Once he got there, unless he ran into someone like Lüqiu Jinyuan—one of those special Nascent Soul cultivators—even against a late-stage Nascent Soul opponent, he’d at least be able to protect himself.