Urban Extraordinary Immortal Doctor
Chapter 1335: The Legend of the Lotus Pool Secret Realm

Chapter 1335: Chapter 1335: The Legend of the Lotus Pool Secret Realm

To the average martial artist, a sect like Ruoshui Palace, an Innate Sect, is mysterious and powerful, a legendary existence.

However, for an elder like Gu Yan, who comes from an Innate Sect himself, Ruoshui Palace holds no secrets.

Through Rou Ling’s martial arts techniques, Gu Yan saw through her identity, which was anything but unusual.

"Does Senior have some kind of connection with our Ruoshui Palace?"

Rou Ling, her eyes wide and full of curiosity, asked this after Gu Yan mentioned her background and even knew the name of her Palace Master.

In Rou Ling’s mind, since Gu Yan knew so much about Ruoshui Palace, he was either a friend or a foe. And since there was no intent to kill or hostility after Gu Yan learned of Rou Ling’s background, he was likely not an enemy of the palace, if not a friend.

Therefore, Rou Ling and her sisters only maintained the necessary caution toward Gu Yan and his companions, without feeling anxious or panicked.

"Speaking of connections, our Divine Fire Sect does have some with your Ruoshui Palace..."

Gu Yan said to Rou Ling with a smile that was not quite a smile: "Little girl, you should know about the ’Heaven’s Pride Ranking’ held every five years in the True Martial Realm, right?"

As Core Disciples of an Innate Sect, Rou Fu and her sisters of course had heard of the Divine Fire Palace, a sect located in the Land of Extreme South with overall power comparable to that of Ruoshui Palace, and this elder before them was a high-rank Innate Expert, presumably an elder of the Divine Fire Palace.

The Divine Fire Sect and Ruoshui Palace are separated by more than a hundred thousand miles, with a vast ocean in between, seemingly making it hard for them to intersect, but in reality, all the Innate Sects within the True Martial Realm have some connections with each other.

To outsiders, Innate Sects appear extremely mysterious, and their disciples seldom travel the world for experience, but this is only surface level.

The truth is, regardless of the sect, each Innate Sect has numerous disciples hidden within various other sects’ influence, with their tentacles stretching across the True Martial Realm, thus weaving a terrifying network of intelligence that allows any happening within the realm to be promptly passed on to those Innate Sects.

The primary purpose of Innate Sects establishing such intelligence networks is naturally for Cultivation Resources; upon finding resources suitable for their disciples’ cultivation, they will act with full force, whether to seize or to possess them.

However, the clashes between disciples of Innate Sects mostly occur in the shadows, unknown to the common martial artist.

The Essence Stone Vein beneath the Eternal Death Zone has a strong allure to martial artists below the Innate Realm, but it does not catch the eye of Innate Sects, which is why none have formally intervened in it.

The Rou Fu sisters were only passing by for their training and thought of getting involved, rather than being dispatched by Ruoshui Palace.

Divine Fire Sect and Ruoshui Palace had once cooperated over the ownership of a cultivation treasure land, eventually satisfying the needs of both; the "connection" Gu Yan spoke of was referring to this event.

As for the "Heaven’s Pride Ranking" mentioned by Gu Yan, not only did Rou Fu and her sisters know of it, but it is practically known to every disciple of the Innate Sects.

The so-called "Heavenly Prides" refers to the exceptionally talented young men and young women of the Innate Sects.

And the "Celestial Ranking" is a strength ranking established jointly by the Innate Sects of the True Martial Realm. It is held once every five years, during which each of the major Innate Sects sends out talented junior disciples to gather together and compete for the rankings on the "Celestial Ranking".

The rankings on the Celestial Ranking not only concern the face of the various Innate Sects, but are also related to crucial interests that are highly important to them.

To speak of these crucial interests, it’s a long story.

It is unknown how many years ago, an Innate Martial Artist stumbled into a secret realm during his training, and this secret realm was veritably a Minor World with exceptionally rich Heaven and Earth Origin Energy, far superior to other areas in the True Martial Realm.

In that secret realm, the Innate Martial Artist discovered seven pools of the same size, with each pool growing a lotus of a distinct color.

The seven colors of the lotuses were white, blue, black, red, yellow, gray, and purple, corresponding to the elemental colors of gold, wood, water, fire, earth, wind, and thunder respectively.

The lotuses of seven colors were constantly absorbing Heaven and Earth Origin Energy, which then permeated the water of the pools through the lotuses without evaporating or dispersing.

Over the years, the water in the seven pools also became the same color as the lotuses, and the water became thick like porridge.

The Innate Expert, who cultivated the Wood System Skill, soaked in the blue pool for forty-nine days and discovered that the water had the miraculous effect of Marrow Cleansing and strengthening bones and muscles. After emerging, he felt like he had been reborn, with his physical body much stronger than before and his cultivation level significantly improved.

Later, that Innate Expert named the seven interconnected pools the "Seven-Colored Lotus Pool," and the secret realm was named the "Lotus Pool Secret Realm".

It is said that Universe Level Martial Artists achieve the best cultivation results in the Seven-Colored Lotus Pool. Over ten thousand years, many Universe Level Martial Artists from various Innate Sects have entered the Lotus Pool Secret Realm to cultivate in the Seven-Colored Lotus Pool, with not a few breaking through to the Innate Realm.

Therefore, the Lotus Pool Secret Realm has become a coveted place of cultivation for all Sect Disciples of the Innate Sects.

However, oddly enough, the entrance to the Lotus Pool Secret Realm opens on its own only once every five years, each time lasting for forty-nine days, and each time it can only accommodate exactly one hundred Martial Artists.

In the Innate Sects of the True Martial Realm, each Sect has tens of thousands of Universe Level Realm Disciples. To compete for these one hundred slots available only once every five years, the major Sects have had no shortage of fierce conflicts.

Later on, the high-ranking members of the various Innate Sects in the True Martial Realm realized this was not the solution, so they gathered together to make a rule. They agreed that every five years, each Sect would send their most talented Heavenly Sons and Heavenly Daughters to fight for the one hundred slots based on their strength at the entrance of the Lotus Pool Secret Realm. Thus, the "Celestial Ranking" came into existence.

Inside the Lotus Pool Secret Realm, what attracts the Innate Sects are not just the Seven-Colored Lotus Pool for Universe Level Disciples to cultivate in, but also the "Heavenly Ladder" for Innate Experts.

The so-called "Heavenly Ladder" refers to a series of stairs located at the very top of a mountain near the Seven-Colored Lotus Pool.

This mountain is called Heaven-Reaching Peak, towering thousands of feet high, with its peak reaching into the clouds, and the "Heavenly Ladder" extends from the top of the peak diagonally upwards into the sky. No one knows what it is made of, and no one knows where it leads to.

It is said that only Innate Experts can ascend the Heavenly Ladder, and with each step, the pressure doubles. If one cannot withstand the pressure and cannot continue to ascend, they may stay where they are and meditate. After forty-nine days, depending on each person’s fate and talent, their cultivation level will improve to varying degrees.

Consequently, a portion of the one hundred slots to enter the Lotus Pool Secret Realm is taken by the high-ranking officials of the major Innate Sects, making the competition even more intense.