Five Immortal Sects
Chapter 154: The Origin of the Secret Realm

The middle-aged man who had appeared slowly approached Li Yan and continued to speak in a measured tone.

"Before bestowing this fortune upon you, allow me to briefly explain the origin of this place." Subsequently, as Li Yan listened, the veil over the secret realm slowly began to lift.

This secret realm, just as Li Yan had sensed, housed the Five Elements spiritual qi in an orderly fashion, arranged in the sequence of Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, and Fire. Its creator was True Monarch Qianchong, the Sect Master of the Jitu Immortal Sect within the Five Immortals Sect.

This middle-aged man was the artifact spirit of a treasure that True Monarch Qianchong carried, named Pingtu. He had followed True Monarch Qianchong for hundreds of thousands of years and possessed extensive knowledge of the Five Immortals Sect's affairs.

True Monarch Qianchong had also arrived in the mortal realm a long time ago, with the same purpose: to seek a successor for the Jitu Immortal Sect.

At that time, the various branches of the Five Immortals Sect had sparse populations of successors. The Jitu Immortal Sect had four cultivators, the Guishui Immortal Sect had three, the Yimu Immortal Sect only two, the Dinghuo Immortal Sect had five, and the Xingin Immortal Sect had three.

These individuals, upon cultivating to at least the Soul Transformation stage, would choose whether to go out and seek successors for their sect. Once they reached the Unity stage, they were compelled to go out and assist the sect in finding successors.

At that time, True Monarch Qianchong, the Sect Master of the Jitu Immortal Sect, was already at the mid-Unity stage, and the other two members of his sect had also reached the early Unity stage. They constantly dispersed to seek successors for the sect, leaving only one Void Refinement stage cultivator to guard the sect's mountain gate.

The Guishui Immortal Sect was even more powerful at that time. Among their three members, the Sect Master, Black Water Immortal Monarch, had reached the late Unity stage, a formidable individual whom even ordinary Mahayana stage cultivators would dread.

Below the Black Water Immortal Monarch were two junior brothers: one was a cultivator who had just entered the early Unity stage, named Shiligui, and another junior brother who had joined later, Dong Fuyi, who only had a mid-Soul Transformation stage cultivation. The other sects were largely similar.

Cultivators of the Five Immortals Sect who reached the Mahayana stage all chose to ascend to the Ascension Platform, or ventured out to seek that elusive chance of ascending to true immortality. However, since ancient times, all who embarked on this path had vanished one by one, never returning to the Five Immortals Sect.

It was unknown whether they truly ascended to the True Immortal Realm or had perished and passed away in distant lands.

True Monarch Qianchong also came to the mortal realm after searching fruitlessly in the Immortal Spirit Realm. He remained in the mortal realm for several millennia, still without success.

Because the mortal realm was too vast, his divine sense could not cover the entire realm, making it impossible to ascertain whether any newborn mortals in places he had previously visited were suitable for the Jitu Immortal Sect.

Thus, he slowly began to control a portion of the mortal realm's high-level cultivators and sects. With his cultivation, accomplishing this was naturally an effortless task.

True Monarch Qianchong instructed these cultivation families and sects in different regions to continuously search for suitable candidates. As for himself, due to the suppression of the mortal realm's heavenly laws, which restricted his various divine abilities and cultivation,

If he stayed for too long, it would affect his own cultivation stage. So, he used a great divine ability to draw a space from beyond the stars. After True Monarch Qianchong modified this space with his great divine ability, it became even more like an immortal realm.

The Five Elements spiritual qi within was exceedingly rich, and he had even drawn five supreme-grade earth-attribute spiritual veins from an unknown location beneath the ground. Cultivating here for one day could be equivalent to four or five years of arduous cultivation in the outside world.

He established a passage between this space and the mortal realm, and True Monarch Qianchong himself cultivated within. The cultivators he controlled in the mortal realm could regularly enter the passage to report to him.

If True Monarch Qianchong deemed the reported information to be of certain value, the reporting individual could cultivate within the secret realm space for a period. When the first batch of cultivators who had trained here returned to their families and immortal sects, the effect they brought was like unleashing a storm.

If not for True Monarch Qianchong's heaven-and-earth-shaking divine abilities, which completely stifled any thought of resistance in them, they would have long since moved to seize the opportunity.

In this way, the cultivators he controlled in the outside world worked even harder for him. Although they didn't know why this all-powerful great being was searching for mixed spirit roots, no one dared to ask.

Because anyone who leaked information or discussed it privately, no matter where they were, would disappear from the human world at different times.

Slowly, these reports included not only information about mixed spirit roots but also clues to various rare natural treasures, ancient relics, and more, all transmitted to True Monarch Qianchong.

And as long as True Monarch Qianchong found it valuable, he would allow the person to cultivate within the secret realm. Gradually, the search for mixed spirit roots became just one of many types of clues, which True Monarch Qianchong did intentionally to confuse onlookers.

However, during those years, True Monarch Qianchong truly obtained many treasures through various clues. With his mid-Unity stage cultivation, if he took action, who in this mortal realm could be his match, and where would he not dare to go?

Pingtu, as the artifact spirit of True Monarch Qianchong's frequently used magic treasure, constantly accompanied him and thus became privy to some secret affairs. Of course, these were all things True Monarch Qianchong allowed him to know; otherwise, all the artifact spirit's senses would have been sealed.

Thus, after True Monarch Qianchong had spent two hundred thousand years in the mortal realm, he indeed found a sect successor and secretly brought him back to be his disciple. The "Flying Stream Sect" that transmitted this news was completely annihilated overnight.

And several sects near this sect said they seemed to hear some explosive sounds at night, but they were suppressed by a powerful pressure and could not leave their homes. It wasn't until dawn the next day that some brave individuals slowly approached the "Flying Stream Sect." The scene they witnessed made them feel as if they had fallen into a Shura hell.

The once glorious and seemingly immortal behemoth, in their eyes, was now nothing but ruined walls and shattered buildings, with corpses strewn everywhere, dismembered limbs, and spilled intestines and brains splattered about, like a vast Shura hell.

A single glance would tear one's heart and liver. Nothing of value remained there; only corpses covered the mountains and fields. The perpetrators left no trace, and for a time, this incident spread like wildfire throughout the cultivation world.

Many believed that the "Flying Stream Sect" had offended some powerful super-force and thus had their entire sect slaughtered.

Pingtu only briefly mentioned these events, but the bloodshed and chaos surged towards Li Yan. Li Yan remained silent, listening quietly, which made Pingtu give him a profound look.

Li Yan naturally guessed that everything was orchestrated by True Monarch Qianchong. What "super-force," what "valuable items swept clean" it was all a smokescreen.

If True Monarch Qianchong truly wanted to leave no trace, that place might have become like pure spring snow, with everyone mysteriously disappearing without a trace. Only then would people not associate it with him.

Pingtu looked at Li Yan a few times and, seeing him remain silently throughout, secretly nodded.

True Monarch Qianchong truly went to great lengths for this disciple. Besides annihilating the "Flying Stream Sect," even the relatives of this mixed spirit root disciple, including everyone in the surrounding area, had a segment of their memory erased and replaced with new memories.

In their altered memories, one day a Taoist priest arrived in their town. This child with the mixed spirit root, upon seeing him, insisted on following him to cultivate immortality. The child's parents, who were quite wealthy in the town, pleaded bitterly, and finally, the Taoist reluctantly agreed.

For this, they even held a grand three-day banquet in the town.

However, neither the child's parents nor anyone in the town knew that they had never actually attended that banquet. And with the passage of time, this incident became mere memory and dust.

After True Monarch Qianchong brought this disciple into the secret realm, he planned to take him back to the Immortal Spirit Realm once he reached the Nascent Soul stage. At the same time, he began to open up certain areas within the secret realm.

He allowed the families and sects he controlled to enter and cultivate, letting them slowly immerse themselves in cultivation advancements, gradually neglecting and forgetting certain matters.

This small portion of open areas was confined to a specific region, and outside this region was a forbidden zone, where no one was allowed to step. Otherwise, their family or sect would be directly annihilated by True Monarch Qianchong.

Yet, even so, those families and sects were ecstatic. They could only enter for cultivation through drawing lots or engaging in duels. In the end, several major sects or powerful cultivation families each occupied certain areas, cultivating, planting herbs, refining pills, raising spirit beasts, and so on, for extended periods.

True Monarch Qianchong at that time was entirely focused on his disciple and paid no attention to these matters. Creating such a secret realm space was not a difficult task for him.

Furthermore, he intended to bestow this place upon these mortals of the realm once his disciple reached the Nascent Soul stage, considering it a reward for them having found him many precious treasures, especially for finding his successor, even though the "Flying Stream Sect" no longer had any successors.

The Wheel of Life and Death was a magic treasure True Monarch Qianchong used to temper that disciple. Its true name was the "Five Elements Dao Malice Orb."

It was a top-tier magic treasure already close to the Immortal Tool level. With another million years of nurturing, it could potentially advance to the Immortal weapons level, the type of item that only Mahayana stage cultivators could possibly possess.

Pingtu was the artifact spirit of the "Five Elements Dao Malice Orb." When this magic treasure was successfully refined by True Monarch Qianchong, it was considered a high-grade magic treasure, and similar magic treasures were numerous in the Immortal Spirit Realm.

However, the refining materials used for the "Five Elements Dao Malice Orb" were extremely precious. True Monarch Qianchong, through persistent coaxing, gambling, and even outright trickery, obtained Netherworld Shadow Water from the Guishui Immortal Sect, Vajra Geng Metal from the Xingin Immortal Sect, Southern Flame Yellow Flame from the Dinghuo Immortal Sect, and Azure Dragon Drool from the Yimu Immortal Sect, four rare materials along with his own sect's Great Post Thick Earth for its refinement.

Any one of these five raw materials, if it appeared in the Immortal Spirit Realm, would spark boundless slaughter and bloodshed, with even Unity stage grand old monsters vying for it. Yet, when this treasure was refined, True Monarch Qianchong was only in the early Soul Transformation stage.

In the eyes of outsiders, this was undoubtedly a waste of heavenly resources, but to the people of the Five Immortals Sect, it was quite normal. The Five Immortals Sect's artifact refining techniques had their own set of ancient inheritances. The artifacts they refined would continuously upgrade as the owner nurtured them, and this was an indefinite process. This kind of refining art might only exist in fragmented texts even in the top-tier artifact refining sects of the Immortal Spirit Realm.

The "Five Elements Dao Malice Orb" was one of True Monarch Qianchong's two most famous magic treasures, aside from his natal magic treasure. It had accompanied him through countless life-or-death battles, large and small.

It possessed its own intrinsic space. As long as it enveloped an opponent, they would be automatically drawn within and then refined by the Five Elements within, even if they were an Unity stage grand old monster, they would struggle to escape death.

According to Pingtu, if the "Five Elements Dao Malice Orb" could continue to be nurtured by True Monarch Qianchong and once it ascended to the Immortal Tool level, not to mention Mahayana stage cultivators, even an all-encompassing True Immortal enveloped by it would likely find it hard to escape their doom.

True Monarch Qianchong cherished his three magic treasures, including his natal magic treasure, constantly nurturing them daily. And in those years, he even brought out the "Five Elements Dao Malice Orb" to transform it into the Wheel of Life and Death to temper his disciple, showing the immense importance he placed on this disciple.

He transformed the Guishui Immortal Sect's Netherworld Shadow Water into the gigantic black shadow in the sky, the Southern Flame Yellow Flame into the colossal yellow sphere ten li away, and the other three supreme-grade elemental materials into various attack methods.

At the same time, he also left some specific backdoors within the Wheel of Life and Death for the Five Immortals Sect disciples, to ensure that his disciple wouldn't simply focus on relentless killing, but would learn to think, observe, and utilize the environment.

And these backdoors were the shortcuts that the Grand Profound Sect's Core Formation cultivator inadvertently discovered.

Thus, True Monarch Qianchong paid no mind to the battles and struggles of the cultivators within the secret realm. Even if he knew, he believed that without experiencing a heaven-defying path, how could cultivators go further?

Later, he even progressively opened up more areas within the secret realm, allowing these sects and cultivation families to compete and proliferate within.

However, a few decades later, just as that disciple successfully formed his Nascent Soul, and True Monarch Qianchong was about to take him to the Immortal Spirit Realm, he received a jade slip one day.

True Monarch Qianchong's expression instantly turned unpredictable after reading it, and for several days thereafter, he remained silent, seemingly pondering something important.

So, several days later, he instructed Pingtu to remain, still transformed into the Wheel of Life and Death, with the main task of protecting and looking after that disciple. He needed to leave for a period, and upon his return, they would return to the Immortal Spirit Realm together.

However, unexpectedly, he left and never returned. Meanwhile, under Pingtu's care, that disciple cultivated all the way to the Soul Transformation stage in less than a century.

At this point, that disciple no longer wished to remain in this secret realm and insisted on going to find his master, and also to fulfill the Five Immortals Sect's duty of seeking the next generation of successors.

After much earnest persuasion, Pingtu was still unable to change his mind. Moreover, when the "Five Elements Dao Malice Orb" was transformed into the Wheel of Life and Death, some of its internal rules had been altered by True Monarch Qianchong. With this disciple's cultivation, he was unable to restore it and take it out of the secret realm.

Finally, Pingtu could only offer three drops of his origin power, painstakingly cultivated as an artifact spirit, for the disciple to carry as a last resort for self-preservation.

Although a Soul Transformation cultivator in the mortal realm was already a top-tier combatant, Pingtu still remembered True Monarch Qianchong's entrustment and knew the importance of this disciple to the Jitu Immortal Sect. He resolutely took out three of his five drops of origin power, which he had painstakingly cultivated for hundreds of thousands of years, and handed them to that disciple.

However, this greatly diminished Pingtu's strength. After obtaining the three drops of origin power, the disciple respectfully bowed to Pingtu and then drifted away.

And this disciple's name was Pei Buchong!

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