CHAPTER 221: CHAPTER 217: IN THE SECRET REALM

The old man surveyed the crowd with his gaze and said to everyone, "The Secret Realm of the Xuanyuan Arena opens once a year. Presumably, you are aware of some of the rules inside, but I will repeat them here."

"In this Secret Realm, only cultivators below the Condensed Core Realm can enter. Once inside, any treasures above Foundation Establishment cannot be used and will be suppressed. There is realm suppression in this Secret Realm."

"Moreover, upon entering the Secret Realm, the main task is to compete for the special ’Sword Intent’ within. This Sword Intent can be directly refined for one’s own use or used as an attack method. The more ’Sword Intent’ collected, the greater the opportunity; this depends on your fortune."

"However, there is one thing: upon exiting, whatever you obtain must be shown to me. If it is a Sword Scripture, a copy must be made for future Sword Cultivators to share."

The entrance to this Secret Realm is provided by the Xuanyuan Sword Dojo. As long as the Xuanyuan Sword closes the dojo, they naturally won’t have this opportunity.

Therefore, it is not unreasonable for the Xuanyuan Sword to want to observe the opportunities they bring out, as they are not seizing those opportunities.

Li Fan showed a peculiar expression. In that case, even the Xuanyuan Sword is restricted by the Secret Realm and cannot enter. Otherwise, why would they need them to collect the opportunities?

Could it be that this Secret Realm is really related to the legendary ’Immortals’ and was left behind by Sword Immortals?

Furthermore, the Xuanyuan Sword Dojo wanting to observe the opportunities they bring out, even though not seizing them, still shows that even the world’s first Xuanyuan Sword is curious about the opportunities they can bring out.

What kind of opportunity would even the world’s first Sword Cultivator be curious about?

"There are some other things you should understand yourselves. Now, you can enter the Secret Realm," the old man said, and everyone focused their gaze on the giant sword entrance. Then, some people used Sword Control to move towards the ’Sword Gate.’ As they rushed into the Sword Gate, their figures instantly disappeared.

The gateway to the Secret Realm.

One figure after another rushed into the Sword Gate. Quite a few Sword Cultivators couldn’t wait any longer; they had long looked forward to this Secret Realm.

The Xuanyuan Sword Dojo is renowned as the world’s second Sword Dao Sacred Land, second only to Li Mountain Sword Valley, primarily because of this Sword Dao Secret Realm. Da Li Sword Cultivators from all over come here for this purpose.

"Let’s go," Li Fan said, as he and Lu Yuan moved forward, followed by Lu Yuhuan and members of the Lu Family. The group directly passed through the Sword Gate and disappeared from the spot.

When Li Fan and his party reappeared, it was as if they had arrived in another world, a world of swords.

The entire world seemed to be permeated with Sword Intent, stronger than at the Xuanyuan Sword Dojo, with omnipresent Sword Intent seemingly hidden in every breath.

The arriving crowd took a deep breath, their gazes somewhat greedy.

If they could always cultivate Sword Dao here, wouldn’t it be twice the result with half the effort?

Their Sword Dao should progress rapidly, right?

At this moment, the crowd dispersed, some sitting cross-legged on the ground, others standing on swords in midair, closing their eyes as if to sense the presence of Sword Intent.

"Brother Zuo, try to see if you can condense the Sword Intent from this Secret Realm," Lu Yuhuan said to Li Fan.

"Okay."

Li Fan nodded and then closed his eyes, extending his Divine Sense. Instantly, he captured the flow of Sword Dao currents in the world.

Under the effect of his Divine Sense, those Sword Dao currents gathered with his Divine Sense, creating a substantial strand of Sword Intent under Li Fan’s influence, which seemed to outwardly radiate sharpness and moved toward Li Fan.

"Hmm?"

Quite a few people looked in the direction of Li Fan, clearly sensing that he had condensed a strand of Sword Intent.

This guy’s talent is indeed terrifying—he condensed a strand of Sword Intent in such a short time.

Lu Yuhuan also showed a look of surprise.

Li Fan quickly refined this strand of Sword Intent for his use, and suddenly, Li Fan felt a slight enhancement, though minuscule. However, being able to improve even slightly in such a short time far surpassed the cultivation speed outside.

"This place is very suitable for cultivation," Li Fan opened his eyes and said to Lu Yuhuan.

"Relying on condensing Sword Intent is too slow. It is said that everywhere in this Secret Realm, this kind of ’Sword Intent’ exists, and moreover..." Lu Yuhuan’s expression was solemn as many people’s eyes were fixed on Li Fan at this time.

"Young Master Zuo, this Sword Intent can be plundered from people. If you obtain Sword Intent, others can plunder it from you," Lu Yuhuan reminded Li Fan.

In Chi Xiao City, everyone would have scruples.

But in this Secret Realm, to compete for Sword Intent, many people would kill without hesitation.

Li Fan nodded and said, "Thank you for the reminder, Miss Lu."

"Young Master Zuo, be careful, for this place is no longer within Chi Xiao City," Lu Yuhuan added; inside this Secret Realm, one cannot think as they would outside.

Each year’s competition within the Secret Realm is said to be extremely brutal.

Many talented Sword Cultivators are forever left inside the Secret Realm, never able to get out alive.

"Furthermore, the collected Sword Intent can be used directly for cultivation, for attacks, but more people prefer to accumulate it to gain opportunities," Lu Yuhuan reminded once again.

"Understood," Li Fan nodded.

While they were talking, one figure after another had already flown quickly through the air, heading off in different directions using Sword Control.

"Miss Lu, we will go our separate ways. Take care," Li Fan said, having fulfilled his promise to the Lu Family and repaid their favor.

But upon entering the secret realm, he had his own matters to attend to, so he didn’t take Lu Yuhuan and the others with him.

"I wish Young Master Zuo good fortune in obtaining great opportunities of the Dao in this secret realm and further advancing his Sword Dao." Lu Yuhuan cupped her hands and said.

"Farewell." Li Fan stepped onto his flying sword, and Lu Yuan joined him. With a thought, the flying sword broke through the sky, and the two traveled together.

The two of them maneuvered their flying swords and shot into the sky. By this time, the people who had entered the secret realm had already dispersed in all directions, and no one came directly to deal with Li Fan. After all, there were more important things to do.

"This feels like a real world." Lu Yuan gazed downwards, finding that it seemed not much different from the outside world, very realistic.

"Rumor has it the secret realm is related to the Sword Immortal. Could it be that this is the world where the Sword Immortal cultivated?" Li Fan speculated: "And that Sword Gate was the place of transmission that sent us into the Sword Immortal’s cultivation world?"

"If that is the case, is this world within the Da Li Dynasty?" Lu Yuan said.

Li Fan fell silent upon hearing Lu Yuan’s words.

If his guess was correct, then this place was likely not within the Da Li Dynasty.

So, where could it be?

Li Fan had heard that the world they were in was not only the Da Li Dynasty.

It’s just that the Da Li Dynasty was already extremely vast, that the vast majority of people, even many Great Cultivators, could not set foot outside its borders in their entire lives.

However, this was not what he was concerned about.

"There are demons."

At that moment, Lu Yuan looked downward, only to see a human-shaped tiger-headed demon walking below, seemingly having sensed something as well, as the Tiger Demon glanced up at the sky.

"There is Sword Intent within this demon." Li Fan said, and as his words fell, with a thought, he rushed downward swiftly, his sharp sword unsheathing and shooting toward the Tiger Demon.

The Tiger Demon let out a low growl, its sharp claws slashing downward at the sharp sword, encircled faintly with Sword Aura.

"Pchi..." The sharp sword pierced through the claw, impaling the Tiger Demon’s body, killing it instantly.

Li Fan’s figure swooped downward, his sharp sword weaving through, a Demon Core suspended in the air. Li Fan reached out and grabbed the Demon Core, taking a firm breath, as he saw Sword Intent continuously flow from the Tiger Demon’s Demon Core, a total of ten Sword Intents.

"Such peculiar Sword Intent, existing even in demons." Li Fan extended his hand to hold the ten Sword Intents, as if they were ten illusory flying swords.

"It must be a special existence of this world." Lu Yuan said: "As if deliberately left for cultivators who arrive. If this is an Immortal’s cultivation ground, then why would the Immortal do this?"

"The amount of Sword Intent determines the opportunity. Is it to find someone to inherit the Sword Dao?" Li Fan said.

As the two pondered, they continued forward.

Soon they encountered other demons and, after successive hunts, discovered a pattern.

The demons within this secret realm, at the Initial Foundation Establishment, had ten special Sword Intents.

At the Middle Foundation Establishment, there were a hundred special Sword Intents.

They hadn’t yet encountered demons at the Late Foundation Establishment. Would there be a thousand special Sword Intents?

"Huh?"

Just then, Li Fan felt as if he were being watched. He glanced toward the sky, the sword light on his forehead instantly blooming, as a flying sword shot high into the air, heading straight up.

Above in the heights, a Peng Bird with piercing eyes looked down, only to see a flying sword shooting up, and the Peng Bird let out a sharp cry, swooping down to slay that Sword Seed.

"Bang..."

A burst of explosive sound, the Peng Bird’s body shattered into fragments, pierced by the Sword Seed, pulverized.

Li Fan and Lu Yuan controlled their swords to arrive at this place, and the Sword Seed returned to Li Fan’s forehead. A ferocious glint flashed in his eyes.

"No Demon Core, no special Sword Intent." Li Fan opened his mouth and said: "This wasn’t a demon."

"Mana manifestation?" Lu Yuan said.

"Yes." Li Fan nodded: "Ren Yuzhi’s Dharma Form is of the Peng Bird, right?"

"Yes." Lu Yuan nodded, recalling how during her earlier fight with Ren Yuzhi, he had demonstrated this Dharma Form ability.

"Looks like they’ve set their sights on us." Li Fan held a trace of killing intent in his eyes.

Meanwhile, in another direction, Ying Ze and Ren Yuzhi were traveling together with a few others.

At this moment, a sharp murderous intent flashed in Ren Yuzhi’s eyes.

"We’ve been discovered." Ren Yuzhi said.

"No matter." Ying Ze said: "First, seize the Sword Intent, and let him gather some Sword Intent for us in the meantime."