Chapter 78: Re-entering the Witch-Ghost Realm

One month later, Skeleton Mountain.

Lu Yang rode his escape light, meeting no obstruction along the way; after all, with his current strength, he no longer even deigned to notice ordinary cultivators at the Great Perfection of Qi Condensation.

Even though he now possessed only a Yin Spirit refined from a single soul fragment, relying on his higher status, dealing with a Great Perfection Qi Condensation cultivator was merely a matter of flicking his sleeve; only if the opponent, like Yun Yun Miaozhen of old, had mastered a Great Divine Ability or possessed a rare treasure would they stand a chance of fighting Lu Yang.

Of course, this applied only to bullying the weak.

After losing his physical body, Lu Yang's condition was actually at its absolute lowest ebb; were he to encounter even a single cultivator of equal status, he would have no choice but to flee for his life.

Soon, Lu Yang halted his escape light.

In the distance, a black mountain range brimming with Yin qi that surged toward the heavens came into view.

"Very good, it seems Daoist Yinshan has not yet arrived."

Lu Yang perceived the karmic threads, confirming that the Witch-Ghost Secret Realm had not yet emerged and that people from the Shenwu Sect had not yet arrived, before transforming into a clear breeze and vanishing into the mountains.

In his previous life, when the Witch-Ghost Secret Realm emerged, Lu Yang had memorized its location, so finding it in this life was easy; before long, Lu Yang arrived before a mountain cave, paced inside, and after walking dozens of paces through an initially narrow passage, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a vast underground lake.

"This is the place."

Lu Yang gazed at the lake, sensing a powerful fluctuation of void energy, but instead of entering directly, he lingered at the entrance of the Secret Realm.

Even though circumstances were different from the past, his Dao Heart remained firm.

Haste makes waste; patience brings peace. No rush, let's play with it for a while.

Lu Yang took out the Myriad Souls Banner, gave it a gentle shake, and Chen Chen Xinan's figure immediately materialized, only to be promptly thrown by Lu Yang into the entrance of the Witch-Ghost Secret Realm.

He had not forgotten that there was still a Golden Core sword qi inside the Secret Realm.

In his previous life, he had not cultivated any techniques from the Holy Sect, so he was not slain by the sword qi, but in this life, he had cultivated the Holy Sect's body-refining technique, the Sage Thief.

Under these circumstances, heaven knows whether that sword qi would spare him or not.

To be on the safe side, it was better to let Senior Brother Chen scout the path first.

Chen Chen Xinan: "..."

Boom!

The next second, ripples spread across the underground lake before his eyes; borrowing Chen Chen Xinan's perspective, Lu Yang quickly saw the scene within.

What came into view was none other than a brilliant sword qi.

However, the sword qi did not strike down; instead, it locked onto Chen Chen Xinan from afar, as if marking something, and then surprisingly allowed him to enter the Secret Realm.

"So straightforward?"

Lu Yang looked surprised, then formed hand seals, intending to recall Chen Chen Xinan.

Zeng! Zeng—!

Almost simultaneously, the sword qi, which had already settled, suddenly trembled, and Chen Chen Xinan, who was just about to leave the Secret Realm, instantly exploded into a cloud of white vapor.

Seeing this, Lu Yang raised an eyebrow; first, he checked Chen Chen Xinan's true spirit within the Myriad Souls Banner to ensure he could summon him again after some time, and only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, before taking out another banner spirit and throwing it into the Secret Realm; after repeating this test several times, he finally drew a conclusion:

"Entry permitted, exit forbidden, huh..."

Lu Yang pondered thoughtfully: "Of course, the purpose of this sword qi is to exterminate the lineage of the Witch-Ghost Path, so it will not allow anyone to leave the Secret Realm."

"As for why entry is allowed... damn it, this is setting a trap!"

Thinking of this, Lu Yang's eye twitched instantly: "This is clearly using the Secret Realm as bait to lure demonic cultivators in seeking treasures, only to slaughter them all together!"

The righteous path's heart is too black!

Although Lu Yang was not sure if this guess was correct, if it were him, he would definitely do exactly that; judging others by himself, he felt the truth was likely close to ten out of ten.

Thinking of this, Lu Yang became even more cautious.

Thus, he waited patiently for several more months until his Innate One Qi avatar had once again cultivated to the level of a Martial Heavenly Being, before deploying it into the Secret Realm.

This time, he no longer thought about leaving, but instead ventured deep into the Secret Realm.

Soon, buildings appeared in Lu Yang's field of vision, most of which had turned into white bones, with only broken magic treasures scattered everywhere.

Lu Yang looked around; the entire Witch-Ghost Secret Realm was different from the outside world, containing absolutely no lingering spiritual energy, only an extremely dense Earthly Sha Yin qi; ordinary cultivators without a corresponding technique could not even breathe and cultivate here, and over time, even their physical bodies would be eroded by the Yin qi.

"In a place like this, could there be cultivators?"

Lu Yang pondered in his heart, but his actions did not stop; looking around with interest, he realized he seemed to be inside a city.

Just then, a suppressed shout, pushed to its extreme limit, suddenly came from nearby:

"Bastard... what are you doing?"

Lu Yang turned his head and saw a human face poking out from a corner of the ruins, roaring in a low voice: "Do you want to die? It's already night!"

Immediately after, that face first showed hesitation and struggle, then gritted its teeth and crawled out of the ruins, revealing a youth no older than fourteen or fifteen, who quickly rushed to Lu Yang's side, grabbed his hand, and roughly tried to drag him away.

Seeing this, Lu Yang raised an eyebrow and did not resist.

However, the next second, the youth's expression suddenly froze in place; turning his head, despair instantly surfaced on his otherwise handsome face:

"I shouldn't have saved you... we're dead... we're all going to die."

Clack, clack-clack.

Almost simultaneously, the sound of footsteps echoed within the empty ruins; Lu Yang looked toward the sound and saw an old man dressed in yellow robes, his eyes dead and lifeless.

The old man's eyes were gray-white, his pupils dilated and completely unfocused, yet they stared fixedly at Lu Yang and the mysterious youth; as his gaze fell upon them, a visible darkness slowly advanced toward the two, carrying with it a strong stench of corpses.

"Yellow robes! How can it be yellow robes!?"

Following Lu Yang's line of sight, the youth also noticed the old man's presence, but upon seeing the color of the old man's clothing, his face instantly turned deathly pale.

Behind the youth, Lu Yang watched all this with great interest.

In truth, he had not understood a single word the youth had just said, but this did not hinder his interest in the suddenly appearing old man in yellow robes.

The next second, Lu Yang had already placed his hand on the youth's head.

He had no interest in wasting time talking to people and slowly gathering intelligence; as a disciple of the Holy Sect, directly searching the soul was far more to his liking.

"You!?"

The youth never expected Lu Yang to 'repay kindness with enmity'; he let out a miserable scream on the spot, and then Lu Yang's spiritual sense directly pierced into his brain.

Before long, a massive amount of information flooded Lu Yang's mind.

Language, culture, values, and even all intelligence regarding this "Witch-Ghost Secret Realm" were meticulously extracted by Lu Yang in an instant.

A hundred ghosts roam the night; the human world is like a prison!

Within the Secret Realm, sword qi hangs overhead, so no one can step forth to cultivate; they are all mortals, and only by devouring ghosts to offer to Yanluo can they seek a sliver of hope for survival...

White-robed ghosts, yellow-robed ghosts, black-robed ghosts, red-robed ghosts...

The You Sect, ghost officers.

Lu Yang digested the vast amount of information one by one; while marveling at it, doubt also arose in his heart: "The Secret Realm in my previous life was not like this."

In the previous life, the Witch-Ghost Secret Realm was almost completely empty; even until Daoist Yinshan destroyed it, not a single living creature was seen, yet in this life, the Secret Realm clearly still held vitality; the cultivators of the former Witch-Ghost Path had not only survived but also found an alternative path of cultivation.

"Could it be because of that sword qi?"

Recalling that Golden Core sword qi coiled within the Secret Realm, Lu Yang felt a bone-chilling cold in his heart: "Could it be that it was all slaughtered by that sword qi?"

But upon second thought, Lu Yang felt something was wrong.

After all, the Golden Core sword qi had remained quiet within the Secret Realm for so many years; what exactly would have to happen for it to slaughter the entire Secret Realm in the future?

(End of Chapter)