Yan Kai Long stood as immovable as a mountain. Violet and blue lightning still crackled intermittently across his meridians, weaving a defensive aura around him that caused even the most seasoned Elders to hesitate. He stared at the heir, his expression devoid of any tremor, his voice cold and cutting. "Your cultivation stage is far too shallow to grasp who I am. But remember this: if you dare to insult the people of Sanmiao City as 'vermin' again, next time, these Thunder Dragons won't just slice through your attack—they will shatter your golden spine in two."
When Murong Yun and Shi Mao of the Long Tian Sect witnessed this manifestation of Yan Kai Long, a streak of pride crossed their faces. Commander Zheng and Wang Mei let out breaths of relief. However, this peace was fleeting. In the cultivation world, displays of power earn respect, but they cannot satiate greed.
As the initial shock of Yan Kai Long's counter-attack subsided, the embers of ambition within the other sects flared once more. The portal was now fully open, and the ancient red and golden flames erupting from its core licked the heavens like a massive torch. Mesmerized by this boundless energy, the cultivators' minds were once again overtaken by madness.
"Hmph! So what if you possess Thunder Dragon Veins? No single sect can claim this entire Secret Realm!" shrieked the white-eyed elder sitting atop the colossal black chariot of the Blood Coffin Sect. The foul, rotting stench surrounding his chariot intensified. "If the children of the Jiang Clan prove weak, that does not mean the Blood Coffin Sect will retreat! Our cultivators shall be the first to step through this portal. Whoever stands in the path of our chariots shall have their soul extracted and ground into the soil of this valley!"
"Know your place, old man!" a behemoth of a warrior aboard the iron chariots of the Iron Fort Sect roared, striking his chest. His aura was as rigid and impenetrable as an iron wall. "Your rotting coffins cannot block the path of our chariots! The first right to the Ancient Fire Emperor's legacy belongs to the sect with the strongest defensive power. Warriors of the Iron Fort Sect, advance! Crush whoever stands before you!"
"You are all fools," came a sharp, melodic, yet venomously toxic voice from the midst of the Mystic Fog Valley's female cultivators. She sat upon a massive pink lotus drifting through the air, her fingers tracing complex, arcane mudras. "On this mountain of fire, iron chariots and rotting coffins will melt into ash. Only the magical mist of our Mystic Fog Valley can contain this ancient energy. The first step into the portal belongs to us; let anyone who dares touch our lotus petals rot to death without ever tasting the afterlife."
"Silence, all of you!" The two Elders at the pinnacle of the 'Golden Core' stage from the Jiang Clan, who had remained silent until now, stepped forward, waving their golden blades. As they advanced, the temperature of the entire valley spiked sharply. "To insult the heir of the Jiang Clan is to insult the entire sect. As for this Secret Realm, it is clearly written in our ancestors' texts that the descendants of the Sun hold the primary right to every ancient legacy on this continent. Sanmiao City and other minor factions—retreat, or we shall turn this entire valley into a graveyard!"
"No! The first right is ours!"
"Back away, or our swords shall do the talking!"
"Warriors of the Blood Coffin Sect, initiate the massacre!"
Chaos erupted in the valley. Thousands of cultivators began to brawl, pointing their blades at one another. The violent collision of auras caused pebbles and debris to hover in the air. Everyone screamed, desperate to prove their superiority. The Sanmiao City contingent was on the verge of being swallowed by the fray when suddenly, everyone froze in place.
Something occurred that no cultivator in the history of the Tianxia Continent had ever imagined.
'Whoosh...'
Suddenly, the red and golden flames pouring from the massive ancient portal vanished in a single instant. The ferocious heat that had been scorching the cultivators' flesh transformed into a chilling, icy cold.
Words died in their throats. The cultivators ceased their shrieking, gazing at the portal in bewilderment.
The portal, which had been glowing with golden and red ancient runes, had completely transformed in the blink of an eye. Its color had deepened to a pitch-black, as if all the darkness in the universe had concentrated into a single point. It no longer looked like a magical gateway; it had mutated into a real, terrifying Black Hole.
From the center of that black hole, a horrifying silence and gravity emerged, and the air of the valley was instantly sucked inward.
'Crack... Crack... BOOM!'
Massive nearby crags, which had stood immovable for centuries, were uprooted and flew toward the black void. But the devastation was not limited to stones.
"This... what is happening?! Why is my spiritual energy not responding?!" the white-eyed elder of the Blood Coffin Sect suddenly screamed. His colossal chariot, pulled by four-winged demon beasts, was ripped from the ground and pulled toward the black hole despite all his brute force.
"Help! My sword... my flying sword is pulling me inside!" The arrogant young heir of the Jiang Clan tried to grip his own blade, but the black hole tugged him like a blade of grass.
"Activate your defensive techniques! Shi Mao, raise your shield!" Murong Yun shouted, attempting to drive his massive blue sword into the ground to anchor himself. But the gravity of the black hole respected no boundaries of cultivation stage. Whether one was at 'Qi Refining,' 'Foundation Establishment,' or the pinnacle of 'Golden Core'—before that black hole, all were equal.
'Zhoooosh!!!'
A terrifying, invisible, and boundless suction force took hold. Every single cultivator in the valley, their chariots, their swords, their magical shields—all began to float in the air. It felt as if an invisible Great Demon were swallowing the entire valley in a single breath.
"What is this?! Is this a trap?!" Commander Zheng's thunderous voice was smothered by the pressure of the air.
Wang Mei and Wang Ling held onto each other in terror, but their grip loosened as they too were lifted into the air. Yan Kai Long tried to anchor his Thunder Dragon Vein energy into the earth, but the power of the black hole drained his lightning in a heartbeat.
Everyone was in a state of shock. Their eyes were wide with disbelief. These so-called titans of the cultivation world, who moments ago were talking of bloodshed, were now flailing helplessly like children in the air.
"What is happening! What is happening?!" screams echoed throughout the valley.
Amidst this grand, cataclysmic pull, if there was one person whose face bore not terror but intense curiosity and excitement, it was—Ye Fang.
As his body lifted from the ground and he began to drift toward the black hole, the God-Demon power within him began to pulse in a strange rhythm. The 'Meridian Pill' he had consumed the previous night had forged his meridians to be as tough as diamond. While the bodies of other cultivators were on the verge of rupturing under the gravitational pressure, Ye Fang's body withstood the heavy load with ease.
Behind his closed eyes, the blue screen visible only to him shimmered. The Little System appeared, floating upside down in the air, her tiny hands on her hips, a wide grin across her face.
'DING!'
[ The Inverted Gravity Law of the Ancient Secret Realm has been activated. ]
"Host!" the System's voice echoed in his mind, characteristically playful. "Didn't I tell you the real game was about to begin? These idiots were busy fighting over rights out there, and the rules of this ancient realm didn't like it. It decided to pull everyone inside at once! Get ready—this ride is going to be a stormy one!"
Ye Fang replied internally with a crooked smile, 'Stormy? Little System, I'm enjoying this. Look at the faces of these arrogant fools; it looks as if they have seen Yama himself in the flesh.'
'BOOM!!!'
With one final, earth-shattering roar, every single cultivator in the valley—thousands of them—were consumed by the black hole in unison. The black void of the portal snapped shut in an instant, and the valley of Hao Huo Mountain fell silent and desolate once again, as if no one had ever set foot there.
'Aahhh...!'
'Thud!'
'Crash!'
Sounds of falling cultivators and colliding artifacts erupted from all sides.
As soon as Ye Fang opened his eyes, he found himself on an incredibly soft, grassy meadow. His body was completely unscathed; his diamond meridians had absorbed the shockwaves of the fall. He stood up slowly and dusted off his attire.
But the moment he glanced at his surroundings, his feet froze. His eyes widened in awe.
"This... what is this?" the words escaped Ye Fang's lips automatically.
The scene before him was the polar opposite of the dry, scorching, rocky valley of Hao Huo Mountain. This was no pit of fire. It was a paradise that even the most imaginative cultivator could not have conjured.
The sky was a deep shade of blue and light violet, where two small, golden suns shone simultaneously. Yet, their light was not hot; it provided a pleasant sensation to the body. Everywhere, there were massive, lush green fields dotted with flowers that pulsed like fireflies. The air was so pure and saturated with spiritual energy that if a mere mortal were to take a single breath here, their cultivation base would naturally reach the first stage of 'Qi Refining.'
But the most breathtaking and wondrous features were the waterfalls.
Surrounding the valley were gargantuan, crystal-clear cliffs, from which hundreds of waterfalls cascaded. Yet, they were not composed of common water. A soft golden and blue aura emanated from these falls, and as the water splashed into the vast lakes below, it created echoes like divine music. A mist of pure, distilled spiritual energy hovered around the falls.
"Aah... my head..." Yan Kai Long rose, clutching his spine. His Thunder Dragon Veins had gone dormant. But as he witnessed the scene before him, he lost his composure. "This... where have I arrived? Am I dead? Is this the heaven of cultivators?"
Wang Mei and Wang Ling stood up as well. Wang Ling rubbed her eyes and reached out to touch the glowing flowers. "Sister... look! How beautiful this place is. The air here... the spiritual energy is so dense that I feel my 'Foundation Establishment' base strengthening on its own."
Wang Mei's face mirrored the awe, but it was accompanied by a deep sense of suspicion. She gripped her sword firmly and scanned the area. "This place is truly marvelous... but it breeds doubt."
Soon, the others from the various sects began to regain consciousness. The chariots of the Blood Coffin Sect lay shattered, and their demon beasts, accustomed to darkness, grew restless upon sniffing the pure air. The warriors of the Jiang Clan, who had been shouting with arrogance moments ago, cleaned the dirt from their golden robes, staring at the wonder before them.
"How is this possible?!" The elder of the Jiang Clan, who was at the pinnacle of the 'Golden Core,' stepped forward. His white beard swayed in the breeze. "We entered the interior of Hao Huo Mountain, known for its destructive fire energy and volcanoes. But this place... this place is like an ancient 'Healing Paradise'!"
Murong Yun and Shi Mao also moved closer to Ye Fang. Murong Yun strapped his massive blue sword back onto his back and asked Ye Fang, "Brother Ye Fang... what do you think of this place? Is this truly the Secret Domain of the ancient Fire Emperor? How can the realm of a Fire Emperor be so cool, tranquil, and beautiful?"
Ye Fang listened to Murong Yun, but his focus remained on the waterfalls and the mysterious mist floating in the air. While everyone else was enchanted by the beauty and spiritual energy, the 'God' part of Ye Fang warned him to remain vigilant, and his 'Demon' half sensed a great danger lurking beneath this extreme tranquility.
He folded his arms across his chest, took a deep breath, and spoke in a calm, steady voice. "Brother Murong... there is an old saying in the cultivation world: the more beautiful something appears, the deeper the trap it conceals. This place may look like heaven... but do not forget that we were pulled here by a black hole. If the Fire Emperor could place such a great threat at the threshold of his realm, why would he create this paradise within? Is this truly his Secret Domain, or is it an ancient illusion woven to ensnare us cultivators?"
Hearing Ye Fang's logical and profound words, a shiver ran through the hearts of Yan Kai Long and Wang Mei. They realized that death could be hidden in every corner of this beautiful paradise.
Golden rays of the sun struck the waterfalls, creating rainbows, but in the depths of this heaven, the true test for the cultivators of the Tianxia Continent was about to begin.