CHAPTER 222: RUTHLESS CULTIVATION: PRELUDE TO THE TRIALS

Jun Laoye let out a strange laugh. "Heh... still not yielding? Then I'll just have to beat you into submission."

Another lightning sphere formed in front of him.

"Another one?!" The cultivators watching from afar gasped. "Run! Run now! This isn't a place we can stay! Our lives matter more!"

They hastily channeled their spirit qi and retreated.

The two cultivators who had been about to attack froze at the sight of the new lightning spear. Without hesitation, they grabbed their fallen comrades' storage bags and rings, turned tail, and fled, leaving their corpses behind without a second glance.

The ones lying on the ground, gravely injured, watched in disbelief as their companions abandoned them. Trembling, one cried out, "Big brother, don't leave us! Take us with you!"

Another begged in despair, "Big brother... all my resources are yours. Just take me with you, please..."

But they could no longer move. Without someone to carry them, staying in this place, surrounded by corpses and bones, meant certain death.

The two fleeing cultivators never looked back. The only time they turned around was to pick up a few spirit stones they had dropped.

That final, cold action shattered the last shred of hope for the wounded. Watching their comrades vanish into the distance, the dying cultivators slowly closed their eyes in despair.

Seeing how things had turned out, the surrounding onlookers stopped watching as well. Each of them quietly chose a different direction and left to seek their own fortunes.

"They just left? Did they even care about their comrades?" Nantian Yijian frowned at the retreating figures. "They even took their storage bags. At a time like this, shouldn't saving their companions come first?"

Jun Laoye looked at the despairing cultivators and sighed. Unwilling to continue, he dispelled the lightning spear. "Little Jian, this is the reality of the cultivation world. People kill for resources. There's no room for sentiment here."

Nantian Yijian fell silent, his mood sinking. "So it's like when I found the treasure in the secret realm, only to be hunted by my sect over false charges?"

He put away his flying sword. "Boss, what should we do now? Should we fight for hidden treasures or search them ourselves?"

"This place feels too strange. Let's move ahead first and see what's going on," Lu Chen said.

He dispersed his divine ability and landed on the ground with Nantian Wan'er. "From above, the secret realm seemed barely a hundred zhang deep, but standing here... it feels endless, like it's at least tens of thousands of zhang."

"There's something stranger I've noticed. I'm not sure if you saw it," he added, pointing to the pit Jun Laoye had struck earlier. "Look there. The hole Little Jun caused has already filled itself in. And those injured cultivators... their life essence is completely gone."

The pit was now packed with ashen soil. The vitality of the cultivators that had been gravely injured had already vanished, and the color of their skin was nearly the same pale gray as the ground, as if they had been dead for years.

"An expanding space is normal. Most secret realms have spatial enchantments. But devouring a cultivator's life essence? How could that happen here?"

Jun Laoye dispersed the lightning giant and landed beside them. "The ancestor had mentioned that this secret realm existed several great eras ago. Maybe its laws have mutated. It could be consuming cultivators' life essence to sustain itself."

Lu Chen maintained his composure as he stared at the sea of corpses. "I think it's the terrain. I've sensed these bones moving on their own, but whenever I focus on them, they seem still."

Red Fox nodded. "Exactly. A place shrouded in corpse qi for so long is bound to give rise to something sinister."

She activated her Divine Eye, peering into the essence of the surroundings. "From what I know, there are creatures that live within corpse qi. They can only cultivate by absorbing the core essence of cultivators. You'd better leave before they notice you."

"Absorb core essence?!" Nantian Yijian's eyes widened, chills running down his spine. "Is the terrain here that terrifying? We should go! If those things appear, we're doomed."

"Creatures that absorb core essence? That's interesting," Lu Chen said, narrowing his eyes. "Aside from the Green Sovereign Divine Tree, I've never seen anything like that."

He glanced down at the sword in his hand. "What do you think, Wind Dragon? Keep exploring here, or move elsewhere?"

"We should move on," Wind Dragon replied through the Hunyuan Greatsword. "This area is too close to those venerables above the cliff. If danger strikes, we won't be able to intervene freely. If you truly want to study such creatures, there will be other places to find them."

Hearing Wind Dragon's words, Nantian Yijian quickly urged Lu Chen forward.

Jun Laoye took out his Heavenly Spirit-Gathering Disk and channeled spirit qi into it. "Areas rich in spirit qi always hold more treasures. Let me locate one before we move."

The disk reacted immediately. A streak of radiant spirit qi shot out, flickering briefly before settling firmly toward the north.

"North? We just jumped off the cliff from the east. Logically, we should head west," Lu Chen muttered, staring at the needle on the disk. "That's the entrance to the Giant's Tomb. With the cliff and pit in that direction, it should be packed with hidden treasures. Why would the disk point north?"

"This is a high-grade Heavenly Spirit-Gathering Disk. It is far more sensitive than the crude versions ordinary cultivators use," Jun Laoye explained. He flicked the needle lightly, gazing north. "If it points that firmly in this direction, there must be something valuable there."

"So we're heading north? But that area looks eerie and dangerous," Nantian Yijian muttered, clicking his tongue as he eyed the pointer. "Look at the density of corpses. Most treasure seekers went south or west. Hardly anyone ventured north. How could anything worthwhile be there?"

Lu Chen rubbed his head, staring toward the north. "There must be a reason behind this."

"Little Lu, stop overthinking," Jun Laoye said, interrupting him. "If the disk points north, then there's something there. We don't have a clear direction anyway, so we might as well check it out."

He pulled Lu Chen along, heading north. "This Heavenly Spirit-Gathering Disk was passed down tens of thousands of years ago from the Seven Children. It can link a cultivator with the Heavenly Emperor Spirit-Gathering Disk, sensing fluctuations in the continent's spirit qi and drawing continuous energy from it.

"You must know that the Seven Children were envoys sent by the Green Emperor himself. The Grand Heavenly Spirit-Gathering Mantra was originally used by the Green Emperor. After countless years of refinement, it can't possibly be wrong."

Jun Laoye continued speaking as he led Lu Chen forward. "And besides, why do you think the continent still holds so much spirit qi and so many Heavenly Pool Lakes? It's all thanks to the disk's ability to sense and balance spirit qi. Without it, the continent would have long entered an era of declining cultivation."

Lu Chen gave an awkward smile at the mention of the Heavenly Emperor Spirit-Gathering Disk. "Uh... if that's the case... Then let's go north. We may really find something valuable."

All the treasures Jun Laoye mentioned, from the Grand Heavenly Spirit-Gathering Mantra and the Heavenly Emperor Spirit-Gathering Disk, to the Yuanyang Twin-Fish Disk, were already in Lu Chen's possession. Deep down, he knew none of these had anything to do with the Green Emperor.

The one responsible for their creation was Feng Tiancheng, and their purpose was to help him locate the Dao of Reincarnation. As for the Seven Children, Lu Chen had read about them in manuals and heard from Wind Dragon that they were simply cultivators who followed the Second Ancestral Avatar.

"Boss..." Nantian Yijian sheathed his flying sword and followed closely. "Why do you look so... unimpressed? Are these things not worth your attention, or have you already seen them before?"

Lu Chen didn't want anyone to know he already possessed those items. He shook his head quickly and walked faster, his tone evasive. "No, no... Little Jun just said they're powerful treasures. How could I have seen them before?"

Nantian Yijian pressed on. "But you're clearly acting guilty. Don't tell me... didn't Lord Wind Dragon once serve under the Green Emperor? Did he tell you anything?"

"I really haven't seen them..." Lu Chen brought Nantian Wan'er along and quickened his pace, pulling ahead of Nantian Yijian, careful not to reveal his expression.

"Little Lu, is there something you know that we don't?" Jun Laoye asked with a mischievous grin, walking beside him. "Lord Wind Dragon once served under the Green Emperor. He must have known some secrets. Given how long you two have been together, he must have shared a few with you, right?"

"Uh..." Lu Chen finally sighed under their persistent questioning. "When we were reading the ancient manuals, we came across a record from tens of thousands of years ago."

He cleared his throat. "It said, 'From the Eastern Pole came the Seven Children, striking down demonic spirits and restoring spirit qi.' Wind Dragon happened to be beside me at the time, so he told me a bit about their past."