MJWCATFPITWOC Chapter 23

Chapter 23: Things Went Wrong

Chapter 23: Things Went Wrong

Three days later, above the border town in the Eastern Region, a massive vortex suddenly opened, deep and bottomless, swallowing all the cultivators within sight.

Shen Yucheng felt the world turn upside down. A powerful spiritual force swept him towards the end of the vortex. In a moment, his feet were firmly on the ground.

The unique marks worn by disciples of each sect were meant to prevent them from being scattered during the transfer into the realm, but the spiritual power within was boundless, eroding the marks and rendering them useless.

Shen Yucheng lightly brushed the stone chips from his shoulder. Fu Junxuan and Mo Yifeng were beside him. Looking around, this was indeed the legendary Ling Danbo Realm.

Emerald green peaks pierced the clouds like swords. Wisps of immortal clouds and mist drifted lazily. The horizon was filled with dark green hues, reflected on the vast lake, like a meticulously crafted painting by nature. Towering trees completely obscured the faint light, creating an impenetrable darkness.

“This is the secret realm? It’s completely different from what I imagined.” Not far away, Shi Wen strolled over from the forest, Cai Ji closely following. Having grown up in the sandy desert, he had never seen such scenery: “Green pines and verdant cypresses, such artistic conception.”

Shen Yucheng raised an eyebrow, not expecting this kid to be so cultured.

Shi Wen scratched his head, “That’s how my master wrote it on the bamboo slips.”

Shen Yucheng shifted his gaze. Not bad memorization, but don’t recite it again next time.

At this time, the five disciples of the Lingfeng Sect had gathered here. It seemed the other sects had indeed been randomly scattered to different locations.

“Ding–”

Suddenly, a crisp bell sound broke the surrounding silence, and a cold, emotionless voice announced:

[Secret Realm – Ling Danbo Realm, open for one month. In the last week, this magical artifact will transmit the disciples out in batches, in the following order -]

Among the names of hundreds of sects, Lingfeng Sect was listed last.

[Above, I wish the disciples a fruitful harvest. This magical artifact will record the treasures acquired by each disciple and the number of Demon Beasts killed, providing a reference for the ability ranking. I hope everyone will do their best.]

The voice stopped abruptly. Cai Ji frowned in dissatisfaction, “That’s it? I thought they’d give some hints.”

Before the words finished, the stone ground beneath their feet suddenly trembled. Shen Yucheng clearly felt a wave coming from under his feet, and the ground immediately became soft. The five of them sank into it, unable to move, as if caught in a sesame paste.

“What’s going on!” Cai Ji supported himself with both hands, but it was useless, and he could only be sucked in with them.

Fu Junxuan pondered the earlier announcement. The secret realm had begun, and based on his experience: “This secret realm should be multi-terrain transforming.”

Shen Yucheng and the others were confused.

Was it what he thought it meant? That the terrain would constantly change?

Mo Yifeng tried his best not to move on the soft ground to avoid sinking further. “Multi-terrain transformation is a high-level area in the secret realm. It is said that only secret realms with extremely strong spiritual power have this kind of change. The terrain changes periodically to prevent intruders from hiding or easily finding treasures.”

Shen Yucheng imitated Mo Yifeng’s movements, slowing his descent, and looked at the ground that had risen to his waist. That meant a change in terrain was happening now.

Suddenly, Cai Ji exclaimed, followed by Shi Wen’s hysterical voice: “Yucheng! See you later!”

The sound disappeared at one end. Shen Yucheng turned his head sharply, but they were gone. The two of them had disappeared into thin air in the soft ground.

“They should have been affected by the terrain change and sent to other places.” Fu Junxuan frowned. Losing manpower at the start was extremely disadvantageous for the Lingfeng Sect.

After a while, the soft ground slowly returned to its original state. Shen Yucheng looked in the direction where Shi Wen disappeared: “Will they be okay?” He didn’t care about Cai Ji, but Shi Wen was too upright and would probably be tricked by Cai Ji until he had nothing left.

“It doesn’t matter. Let’s worry about ourselves first.” Fu Junxuan turned around, looking around. The completely new environment surrounded the three of them.

Shen Yucheng looked up, looking at the peaks that were about to pierce the clouds. He thought of a saying, “When there is no road, heaven provides one.”

But sometimes, there really is no road to take in life.

Mo Yifeng sighed, “Follow me this way.” After speaking, he began to climb one of the peaks.

Shen Yucheng was wondering why they didn’t fly with their swords. His fingers lightly touched the side of the mountain wall, and his hand was full of dry sand and gravel, extremely unstable. A small pit immediately appeared where he touched.

… Indeed, he shouldn’t fly with his sword.

If he activated his spiritual power here, these fragile peaks would probably collapse instantly, turning into a sea of sand.

[Qionghua Sect – Lingyi, obtained Green Wood True Pill (High Grade) *1]

[Qionghua Sect – Nie Yue, killed a peak Wild Green Wolf *1]

The three, with their strong competitive spirit, silently climbed, and the atmosphere instantly turned gloomy. Even the spiritual birds flying in the sky were pressured to lose their balance.

Although the secret realm lasted for more than a month, the number of treasures was limited and gradually decreased as time went on. Therefore, the real competition time was only a short week. If they failed to seize enough treasures during this period, they would be destined to fall behind.

Some new disciples, due to lack of experience, failed to understand the deeper meaning and treated the secret realm as a picnic. By the middle of the journey, they would wake up to find that the treasures and Demon Beasts had already been swept away.

The three of them traveled day and night, crossing one mountain after another. Time passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, two days had passed.

Finally, the three escaped the giant mountain maze, covered in dust and dirt, not at all like the immortal cultivators imagined by the common people. They were more like village children playing in the mud, getting themselves into a mess.

Shen Yucheng hadn’t rested for two days, and his eyes were bloodshot. As soon as he stepped on solid ground, his eyes suddenly widened, staring in shock at the ground. The other two also showed the same expression. The three muddy figures stared at the sandy ground in unison.

They couldn’t help but think, “This is impossible.”

The peaks shook violently, and countless gravel fell like rain, hitting the heads of the three people. The familiar soft ground attacked again.

Shen Yucheng couldn’t believe it. His mood at this moment was like when he was hungry as a child, desperately snatching food from vicious dogs, covering himself with scars, only to find that what he was holding tightly in his hand was bone.

He felt like he was dying on the spot.

At this time, a huge circular array appeared above the soft ground where the three were standing. Chuan Lingxuan stood coldly in the center of the array, purple light radiating in all directions. At the same time, a “whoosh–” of metal colliding came from the left. Mo Yifeng gathered green and blue sword energy around his body; on the right, Shen Yucheng forcibly condensed golden threads into a golden heavy hammer with his powerful spiritual power.

For a time, the disciples throughout the secret realm felt the vast spiritual energy somewhere, as if a demon lord had descended, making people tremble with fear. Disciples with low cultivation levels were even forced to kneel by the pressure, unable to move an inch.

“Damn it, did someone release a Nascent Soul stage Demon Beast?”

Nie Yue was waiting for the terrain to change when she sensed the huge spiritual power in the distance. Excitedly, she reminded her senior sister, “Senior Sister Lingyi, look at this, did someone discover a powerful Demon Beast?”

She was still thinking of subduing all the monsters in the realm with her senior sister.

Lingyi, with a green leaf in her mouth, leisurely pondered this amazing power, sniffing twice in the air: “Hmm, how come there are three annoying smells in this spiritual power?”

As the soft ground began to sink, the purple light of the formation became more intense. The three men’s eyes reflected the killing intent of piercing through the formation eye. Their spiritual power was only directed to one spot locked in the formation, pouring out without reservation.

The nearby brittle stone peaks were impacted by the aftermath of the spiritual power. Several adjacent giant peaks collapsed one after another. In an instant, sand and dust rose everywhere. The disciples in the distance saw that a battle must have occurred here, and no one dared to approach.

The dust dissipated, and the weapons that the three had launched straight into the ground flashed with white light, returning to their original positions. From a distance, the ground where they stood had cracked into a huge deep pit. Stone chips on the edge of the pit kept rolling to Shen Yucheng’s heels. He looked at the combined attack of the three, which had forcibly pushed the terrain change back into the womb, and the corners of his eyes couldn’t help but twitch.

The secret realm returned to silence, as if what had just happened was an illusion. The three of them had not arrived at the ground after climbing the mountain on foot for two days and one night, only for the terrain to change and then furiously suppress the secret realm with spiritual power.

However, the fact was that the three of them stared at the cracked pit under their feet, their faces full of astonishment.

After an unknown amount of time, someone suggested: “Why don’t we keep walking?”

“Okay.”

“Good suggestion.”

They turned around mercilessly, their eyes lost their luster, and they jumped onto the ground without any expression. They cast a Cleansing Spell, removed all the dust, and strode lightly forward. Reborn, they were still handsome young men.

[Three days have passed in the Ling Danbo Realm, and the Lingfeng Sect has gained nothing.]

.

“Brother, is this really the way to go?”

“Don’t talk, just follow me.”

“But we’ve been walking in this dark place for days since entering the realm–” The boy felt a violent collision of two powerful spiritual forces on the ground, as if standing on a soft ball, making it difficult to stand firm: “Earthquake?”

The young man on the opposite side identified a familiar scent in the spiritual power, and his pupils shrank: “Fu Junxuan?”

The two were in a mysterious place where they couldn’t see their fingers. The tremors forced them to stay in place, watching what happened.

After the aftershocks, the boy waited for a few moments, touching the rock wall on the side, muttering: “It should be fine now, right?”

There was silence in the dark environment, and there was no response. The boy tensed his body, his voice trembling slightly: “Brother, are you there?”

The only thing that responded to him was the echo reflected from the rock wall.

“Don’t scare me, scaring people scares them to hell.” The boy muttered nervously, only daring to move slowly along the wall. Suddenly, he bumped into something thick and solid. He covered his dizzy head, and felt that the person in front of him was his own brother in the corner of his eye: “Brother, why aren’t you answering me?”

The young man faced forward in silence. The boy suspiciously leaned forward to look. At the end of the darkness, there was a slight tremor, and gravel rustled down. As the tremor intensified, the darkness finally revealed a trace of golden light, revealing the bright side as if reborn.

The bright light was dazzling, and the boy couldn’t adapt for a while, and his eyes narrowed into slits. The light revealed the dark passage they were in.

The young man who had been standing still frowned, and when he saw the figure in the light, he said in a deep voice: “As expected, it’s you.”

As the young man spoke, three figures appeared in the white light.

Three naughty boys who had just dug a pit and were now digging a cave, looked around the cave. The man in the red and gold robe looked into the depths of the dark hole and said playfully: “Found it.”

The man in the green robe and black hair held a golden hammer and said helplessly: “We don’t need to dig anymore, right?”

The man in the ink blue robe who controlled the formation under his feet saw the people in the cave and asked in confusion: “Li Yuan, why are you here?”

At this time, behind the boy in the cave, stood a huge creature that was one with the darkness.