After losing three drops of his origin power, Pingtu's strength was greatly diminished, and he soon fell into a deep sleep. And the cultivators of this secret realm continued their year after year, day after day of cultivation. Slowly, these people discovered something different. After thirty thousand years, these cultivators had not seen that unfathomably powerful, terrifyingly murderous True Lord for a long time. And even his disciple, who occasionally showed his face, had also never appeared again. So, they slowly grew bolder, no longer confining themselves to the designated areas. Instead, they secretly tried to step out of the previously demarcated zones. At first, they used the demonic beasts they raised for these attempts, fearing that if that True Lord were still here, he would immediately discover the intrusion of a living being, which would bring down his thunderous wrath. At that time, they could have an excuse, saying that the demonic beast they raised had unintentionally escaped. They thought the True Lord's anger would still be within a tolerable range.
After the demonic beasts had escaped their designated areas and lived leisurely for a period of time on several occasions, their courage grew. They even intentionally or unintentionally had their disciples enter the zones under the pretext of capturing the escaped demonic beasts. After continuous small moves like this, and with no one appearing to stop them, the cultivators of the various sects became bolder and bolder. Slowly, they began to expand in all directions and continuously brought in more family or sect members from the outside to expand their territory and raise demonic beasts on a large scale. They broke one restriction after another, establishing one cave abode and cultivation sect after another. At that time, Pingtu was in a long, deep sleep. There were only two places in the secret realm that human cultivators could never break into, no matter how much their cultivation improved, even if someone later cultivated to the Void Refining realm, which shouldn't exist in the Mortal Realm. Those two places were the Wheel of Life and Death and True Lord Qianchong's cave abode.
Just like that, another four hundred thousand years or so passed. One day, Pingtu temporarily awoke from his deep sleep. When his Divine Sense swept across the secret realm, he was both shocked and enraged. This secret realm, apart from the True Lord's cave abode and the Wheel of Life and Death, had become a cultivation ground with sects dotting the landscape. The passages connecting the secret realm to the Mortal Realm had also increased from one to ten, causing the spiritual energy here to drain away faster. At the same time, the peripheries of the True Lord's cave abode and the Wheel of Life and Death had been divided into three major regions, occupied by two top-tier sects and one top-tier cultivation family respectively. They had set up a dense array of various formation flags and formation artifacts outside these three areas, clearly having laid siege to these two places for a long time. Some of the outer restrictions of these two places had already been broken by them. It seemed that in another few hundred thousand years, they would be able to open these two places.
Enraged, a killing intent rose in Pingtu. He was a killing weapon that had followed True Lord Qianchong for hundreds of thousands of years. His own killing intent was extremely heavy. Seeing his master's secret realm in such a mess caused by these ants, who even intended to occupy his master's cave abode, his anger soared. Disregarding that he was only temporarily awake, he immediately began a great massacre. First, Pingtu completely destroyed the ten external passages. This cut off these people's retreat and also prevented a continuous stream of reinforcements from entering. He knew that his strength had been greatly reduced after losing three drops of his origin power, equivalent only to a late-stage Spirit Transformation human cultivator. So, his first move was to cut off the retreat and support here.
Pingtu's action triggered a heaven-and-earth-shattering battle. For a time, corpses littered the secret realm, and rivers of blood flowed, turning the entire secret realm into a sealed slaughterhouse. But soon after, he also encountered five top-tier human cultivators. They were all at the Void Refining realm. Faced with Pingtu's sudden internal sneak attack, the five were filled with a towering rage. Under Pingtu's explosive assault, only twenty to thirty percent of the human cultivators were left.
These five Void Refining cultivators joined forces to surround Pingtu. Any one of them was stronger than Pingtu at the time, so Pingtu was at a disadvantage. But he withstood their attacks with his body, which was so hard it made the five Void Refining cultivators' faces change color. The battle between them caused a great change in the secret realm. The world changed color, strong winds blew, countless high mountains collapsed, rivers flowed backward, and large tracts of forest were razed to the ground, with vast plains turning into bottomless abysses.
The five of them were all a major realm higher than Pingtu. After a round of fighting, Pingtu's continuously solidifying "Five Elements Dao-Defiance Pearl" was riddled with holes. If not for the fact that the material of the "Five Elements Dao-Defiance Pearl" was a top-grade item in this world, it would have long since collapsed and dissipated. Pingtu relied on the formidable hardness of the "Five Elements Dao-Defiance Pearl" to protect his main body from being directly blown apart. This made Pingtu's vicious nature erupt. Disregarding the risk of the permanent destruction of his artifact spirit, his viciousness flared up and he instantly self-destructed a drop of his origin power. This caused a doomsday catastrophe in the secret realm in an instant. Large areas of the secret realm collapsed everywhere, and space from the outside swept in. Turbulent flows immediately flew about, and spatial rifts flashed in and out. Everything that appeared around the spatial rifts was instantly devoured. The self-destruction of one drop of origin power had destroyed two-thirds of the realm, and the remaining space was also on the verge of collapse.
The self-destruction of that one drop of origin power had killed two high-level Void Refining grand cultivators and countless cultivation disciples on the spot. This left only one-tenth of the original human cultivators. The remaining three Void Refining cultivators were all heavily injured. Faced with such a ferocious artifact spirit, they were terrified and also hated Pingtu to the bone.
At this point, Pingtu's cultivation was about to drop again. Unless he detonated his last drop of origin power, causing this secret realm space to completely collapse along with all the living beings here and everything else, he would be unable to fight anymore. In his vicious state, Pingtu no longer cared about the consequence of his eternal destruction. With a grim laugh, he once again summoned his last drop of origin power. This action made the three Void Refining cultivators' souls fly out in terror. But all escape routes had long since been destroyed by Pingtu. In the end, out of desperation, the three of them took the few remaining survivors and stepped into the collapsing spatial rifts. If they were lucky, they might survive there. If their luck was extremely bad, they would be instantly killed by the turbulent flows of the spatial rifts, ground up without even a speck remaining. But at least there was a sliver of a chance of survival.
Seeing the human cultivators choose to hide in the spatial rifts, Pingtu, in his condition, was naturally unable to pursue them. So, he withdrew his last drop of origin power, gathered the residual origin from the self-destruction from the heavens and earth, and with his knowledge of space from following True Lord Qianchong for hundreds of thousands of years, he sealed all the spatial rifts one by one. He then used a great magical power to condense the remaining one-third fragment of the secret realm into a small space and placed countless restrictions around it. Only then did he preserve this last fragment of the secret realm. However, this secret realm space was thus cut off from all contact with the outside world and has been floating aimlessly in space ever since. According to Pingtu's memory, the secret realm used to be near the Forsaken Continent. The cultivators there were mostly ancient sects from the ancient era, but later, something happened to their connection with the Spirit Immortal Realm, and for some reason, the ascension passages became fewer and fewer, as if they had been abandoned, hence the name Forsaken Continent.
After sealing the last fragment of the secret realm, Pingtu fell into a deep sleep. He was extremely weak. This sleep lasted for millions of years. And during these millions of years, some of the low-level demonic beasts left behind by the original cultivators in this secret realm slowly cultivated and gained intelligence with the help of the two remaining top-grade spirit veins, eventually becoming stronger and stronger, and finally becoming the masters of this place. The various resources in the secret realm became the cultivation resources for the demonic beasts. In the end, they even discovered the Wheel of Life and Death. Because Pingtu had used his last divine art to reinforce the seal on True Lord Qianchong's cave abode before falling asleep, he no longer had the power to open the outer restrictions of the Wheel of Life and Death. In the end, it had become a kind of training tool. But at this time, Pingtu was already in a deep sleep. Everything in the Wheel of Life and Death was operating on its own according to the rules set by True Lord Qianchong. It wasn't until Li Yan entered the Wheel of Life and Death this time that the special aura of the Five Immortal Sects on him slowly awakened the sleeping Pingtu.
This was also only possible because Li Yan had participated in the Wheel of Life and Death and entered the main body of the "Five Elements Dao-Defiance Pearl," creating a resonance with Pingtu. Otherwise, if Li Yan had only stayed in the secret realm and not entered the Wheel of Life and Death, Pingtu would have continued to sleep.
Li Yan silently listened to Pingtu's faint recounting of all this, his heart also in turmoil. He never thought that the Five Immortal Sects would have such a difficult existence, with only a few people in each sect. Compared to a sect like the Malevolent Spirit Sect, with thousands upon thousands of members, it was pitifully shabby.
'To think that this is the origin of the secret realm. It turns out to be a series of cave abodes established by a group of cultivators who betrayed the Five Immortal Sects. But the tragedy is that the final masters of this place were the low-level demonic beasts these people raised.'
"Then, for Senior to have brought this junior here, is there something you need this junior to do?" Li Yan looked up at Pingtu. Although he knew that the middle-aged man before him was just an artifact spirit, and that the one appearing here might not even be the artifact spirit's main body but most likely just a wisp of divine will, he was still exceptionally respectful. Although the strength of the person before him had dropped severely, he was a genuine, unparalleled killing weapon. But just Pingtu's devotion to the Five Immortal Sects was worthy of his respect.
Although Li Yan had joined the Malevolent Spirit Sect, and the Little Bamboo Peak lineage had treated him extremely well, apart from immortal arts, everything he had learned had come from the Gui Water Immortal Sect. Even his Fragmented Poison Body was a result of a mutation from the True Scripture of Gui Water. It was the cultivation manual of the Five Immortal Sects that had allowed him to survive Strategist Ji's grasp. In his bones, he still considered himself a person of the Gui Water Immortal Sect, but at the same time, he would not deny the fact that the Malevolent Spirit Sect had nurtured him.
"Heh heh, as I said before, your arrival here will bring you a great fortune. This is not given by me, but by the Five Immortal Sects. The five immortal sects have been like branches of the same tree since ancient times. Their cultivation manuals are similar, and they are close to each other. Their origins are so intertwined that it would not be an exaggeration to call them one sect. Therefore, although the five sects each manage their own affairs, they have long had an agreement that whenever they first meet a disciple from another sect below the Spirit Transformation realm, they will present three great gifts. That is why after True Lord Qianchong established a temporary foothold in the secret realm, he left behind a measure in anticipation of a fateful encounter, so as not to break his promise if people from the other four immortal sects came here in the future.
The first is to help the visitor, when they reach the peak of any stage below the Spirit Transformation realm, to advance to the next realm. The second is to gift a spatial magical treasure. The third is to bestow a circular rhomboid crystal.
This first great fortune, I advise you not to use it now. Save it for when you are forming your core or your nascent soul, or even when you are advancing to the Spirit Transformation realm. I can see that the magical power in your body is abundant. Even without the Five Immortal Sects' pills, you will likely be able to break through to Foundation Establishment through your own cultivation.
This second item is a precious, top-grade storage magical treasure for you. The space within can store living beings, but it is far beyond the Spirit-Storing Pouches you use. It can also be used for spirit beasts. The space within will slowly change as your magical power grows. When you one day comprehend the true meaning of space, you can even create a small world inside it. This is its most precious aspect. It is only because the Five Immortal Sects have so few disciples that you have this opportunity to obtain this top-grade magical treasure. Otherwise, they would not refine such a top-grade magical treasure as a gift. At the same time, when you one day reach the mid-stage of the Body Integration realm, you must also go to the Pure Nirvana Domain in the outer starry sky to obtain a few grains of Primordial Chaos Earth to refine a similar magical treasure and place it back in the sect, to be left as a gift for other fated individuals from the other four sects or your own. Therefore, you must drip your blood and sign a 'Blood Oath Incantation'.
As for the last item, the circular rhomboid crystal, it is a spatial passage to come and go from this secret realm, but the distance cannot exceed ten thousand li. The place you arrive at is this very secret room you are in now."
After Pingtu finished speaking, he looked at Li Yan. At this moment, Li Yan's mouth was wide open, his eyes filled with shock and ecstasy.
All of Li Yan's expressions fell into Pingtu's eyes. He was not surprised. Of these conditions, apart from the last one which seemed optional, if the other two were offered in the outside world, it could be said that even Nascent Soul Old Monsters would risk their lives and stir up a bloody slaughter to seize them. He knew that the highest cultivation level in the Mortal Realm was only the Spirit Transformation realm, and in this vast, boundless Mortal Realm, only a handful of people had reached this realm. For various reasons, they had failed to ascend to the Spirit Immortal Realm and were stuck in the Mortal Realm. If nothing unexpected happened, they would spend the rest of their lives in the Mortal Realm. Affected by the worldly rules and spiritual energy, their cultivation would not advance an inch. So, these conditions had less appeal for them. At most, they would obtain them and leave them for their descendants. But for Nascent Soul Old Monsters, the temptation was fatal. Just the first condition, which could help them advance to the Spirit Transformation realm, was something every Nascent Soul cultivator dreamed of. Some of them had been stuck in the Nascent Soul realm for over a thousand years, trying every possible way to either ascend or advance to the Spirit Transformation realm to give themselves a better chance of ascending, or to attempt the slim chance of ascension with their Nascent Soul realm strength. To obtain these, these Nascent Soul Old Monsters would probably be willing to offer a wisp of their soul to become a servant.