Chapter 15: Rules of the Secret Realm

The afterglow of the setting sun gradually faded, and the small courtyard was enveloped in twilight.

Lin Chuan placed the last spirit stone into his spatial pouch, his fingertips lightly twisting the pouch’s opening to tighten the cord. The faint patterns on the pouch’s surface shimmered as the weight of four thousand five hundred lower-grade spirit stones vanished instantly.

“Brother Zhang, continue telling me about the secret realms,” Lin Chuan lowered his voice, casually glancing at Pan Yu’s tightly shut door.

Zhang Lin rubbed his rough palms and whispered, “The Cangxuan Continent has exactly three thousand three hundred and thirty cultivation cities. Some of these cities are on land, others float above the seas, some lie underground, and there are even rumors of cities drifting high above the Nine Heavens.”

“Wait,” Lin Chuan interrupted suddenly, “Three thousand three hundred and thirty? Why such a precise number?”

Zhang Lin was momentarily taken aback. “That’s what the Daoist archives record. As for why, I don’t really know.”

In Lin Chuan’s mind, the voice of Little Fatty sounded proudly, “I set that number—three times three is nine, nine times nine returns to one, aligning subtly with the Heavenly Dao.”

Lin Chuan rolled his eyes silently and signaled Zhang Lin to continue.

“These three thousand three hundred cities, scattered across the Cangxuan Continent, all share one common feature: each city connects to at least dozens of secret realms through teleportation arrays.

Tianyun City alone connects to one hundred and nine secret realms—eighty-one of these are spirit-level, twenty-seven are profound-level, and there is a single earth-level secret realm.

That sole earth-level secret realm is what we commonly refer to as the core secret realm of Tianyun City.”

“To enter a spirit-level secret realm, besides paying a thousand spirit stones as a teleportation fee to the Daoist Court, you must also pay an ‘entry fee’ to the factions within the realm.”

Zhang Lin’s brow furrowed deeply as he spoke.

“Entry fee?” Lin Chuan deliberately raised his voice, “What kind of rule is that?”

The voice of Little Fatty suddenly rose in indignation, “Nonsense! I never set up such a thing back in the day!”

Zhang Lin made a shushing gesture and lowered his voice further.

“This rule has only been around for a few thousand years. Seven thousand years ago, as various secret realms’ resources were increasingly exploited, the number and quality of cultivators on the Cangxuan Continent saw a significant rise compared to thirty thousand years prior. Consequently, countless factions rose in prominence within the major cultivation cities.

But as cultivators and factions multiplied, there simply wasn’t enough territory to divide.”

“So the factions that dominated these cities shifted their sights to the secret realms instead.

These factions then transferred all their members into the secret realms, attempting to develop them into their own private domains.”

Those factions ransacked the secret realms like locusts, nearly depleting the resources entirely to strengthen their own power.”

Zhang Lin shook his head before continuing.

“This behavior soon drew the attention of the Daoist Court, which could not tolerate the factions’ reckless exploitation. The Court immediately issued a rule: no one may stay in a secret realm longer than seven days.

Anyone who remains beyond this limit faces penalties of tens to hundreds of times the teleportation fee.”

Upon the rule’s announcement, the previously frenzied factions quickly calmed and began withdrawing from the secret realms according to the Daoist Court’s demands.”

Li Yu interjected, “But those factions only withdrew on the surface. Secretly, they left behind many members under the pretext that some had died within the realms.

Although these remnants were fewer compared to the factions’ original numbers, they still numbered in the hundreds at least.

Other large factions maintained their own territories and avoided entering realms controlled by others. Only lone cultivators—wanderers—ventured in, and they were powerless against the hundreds of faction members, forced to pay the entry fees.”

“The entry fee is at least a thousand lower-grade spirit stones—worse than bandits!”

Wang Tiezhu muttered, “I heard last year a lone cultivator refused to pay and was thrown into the Poisonous Swamp within a secret realm...”

Lin Chuan frowned deeply.

The voice of Little Fatty inside his mind was filled with anger, “These parasites! When I established the secret realms, it was for the benefit of cultivators on Cangxuan Continent, yet now they’ve become tools for profiteering!”

“Doesn’t the Daoist Court care?” Lin Chuan asked.

Zhang Lin smiled wryly. “As long as they don’t completely plunder resources, the Court turns a blind eye. After all, these factions all have powerful backers—some of whom might be high-ranking officials within the Daoist Court itself…”

Lin Chuan pondered thoughtfully.

It seemed the waters of the Cangxuan Continent ran deeper than he had imagined.

“Brother Zhang, are the spirit-level secret realms dangerous?” Lin Chuan changed the subject.

“Spirit-level realms mainly host spirit martial beasts; profound-level beasts are rare,” Zhang Lin counted on his fingers, “As long as your cultivation is mid to late spirit martial stage and you’re careful, you should be fine. Lucky ones can earn two to three thousand lower-grade spirit stones in a single trip.”

Li Yu suddenly grabbed her husband’s arm. “Old Zhang, you wouldn’t be thinking…”

Zhang Lin patted his wife’s hand. “I’m just talking. With our current cultivation, going in would be suicide.”

A gleam flashed in Lin Chuan’s eyes. “Are there soul-nourishing treasures in the secret realms?”

“There are!” Zhang Lin nodded firmly. “Last year, the ‘Qingming Realm’ yielded a Qingming Grass, said to be greatly beneficial to earth martial stage cultivators’ souls. It eventually sold on the black market for an astronomical three hundred thousand lower-grade spirit stones!”

The voice of Little Fatty grew excited instantly.

“Chuan’er, we must go! Though the Qingming Grass isn’t high-grade, it’s perfect for my current condition!”

Lin Chuan already had plans brewing in his mind.

Just as he was about to ask more, he caught a faint footstep from behind Pan Yu’s door.

“Thanks for your guidance today, Brother Zhang,” Lin Chuan deliberately raised his voice. “It’s getting late; I’ll head back to my room.”

The three exchanged polite words before parting ways.

Back in his room, Lin Chuan set up the soundproof array taught by Little Fatty, then asked, “What’s this ‘entry fee’ really about? Back then, you…”

“Don’t ask me!” Little Fatty’s light form fumed, jumping with frustration.

“My system before slumber wasn’t like this at all! It’s definitely the work of those unfilial descendants!”

Lin Chuan raised an eyebrow. “Didn’t you say the Daoist Court was established by your disciples?”

“That doesn’t mean it’s all my fault!” Little Fatty’s form flickered, “When I activated the ‘Heavenly Chaos Soul Seizing Array’ with all my strength, I was struck back by the Cosmic Heavenly Dao, forcing me into slumber—I had no time to care about these details!”

Lin Chuan ceased pressing and asked instead, “If you obtained a Qingming Grass, how much could your strength recover?”

“If only one…” Little Fatty pondered, “My soul could recover to the peak of earth martial stage.”

“So quickly?”

Lin Chuan was pleasantly surprised; he hadn’t expected a single Qingming Grass to have such a profound effect on Little Fatty.

“I was drained by the heavenly backlash, which used up all my power, but that was the limit. The true reason for my soul’s weakness is the exhaustion of soul force—like a pond dried up by external forces.

Others use soul-enhancing treasures to strengthen their souls, like washing the pond’s edges to expand it while filling the pond with water—this process consumes a great deal of water.

But my soul is one of the universe’s largest and deepest ponds. Before it’s full, there’s no need to waste resources expanding it. As long as no external interference occurs, the more water flowing in, the higher the water level rises.”