One month later, at Skull Mountain. Lu Yang rode his escaping light, his journey completely unimpeded. After all, with his current strength, he would not even give an ordinary Qi Refining Perfection cultivator a second glance.
Even though he was now left with only a yin soul refined from one of his souls, his higher status allowed him to deal with a Qi Refining Perfection cultivator with a mere flick of his sleeve.
Unless the opponent, like Yun Miaozhen in the past, had mastered a Great Divine Ability or possessed a wondrous treasure, only then would they have a chance to fight Lu Yang. Of course, this was limited to crushing weaklings. Having lost his physical body, Lu Yang was actually at his lowest point.
If he were to encounter a cultivator of the same status, he could only flee. Soon, Lu Yang stopped his escaping light. In the distance, a black mountain range with yin qi soaring to the heavens came into view.
"Very good, it seems Daoist Master Yinshan has not arrived yet."
Lu Yang sensed the karma and confirmed that the Witch Ghost Secret Realm had not yet appeared and the people from the Divine Martial Sect had not yet arrived. Only then did he transform into a clear breeze and enter the mountains.
When the Witch Ghost Secret Realm appeared in his last life, Lu Yang had memorized its location, so it was very easy to find this time. Before long, Lu Yang arrived before a mountain cave. He paced inside.
It was extremely narrow at first, but after a few dozen more steps, it suddenly opened up into a vast underground lake.
"This is the place."
Lu Yang looked at the lake and felt a strong spatial fluctuation, but he did not enter directly. Instead, he lingered at the entrance of the secret realm. Although today was not like the past, his Dao heart remained firm.
Patience leads to success, and composure leads to safety. No rush, he would play with it for a bit first. Lu Yang took out the Myriad Spirits Banner and shook it lightly.
Chen Xin'an's figure immediately appeared, and was then promptly tossed into the entrance of the Witch Ghost Secret Realm by Lu Yang. He had not forgotten that there was still a strand of Golden Core sword qi inside the secret realm.
In his last life, he had not cultivated any Saint Sect techniques, so he was not slain by the sword qi. But in this life, he had cultivated the Saint Sect's body-refining technique, The Sage's Theft. Under these circumstances, who knew if that strand of sword qi would still spare him.
Just in case, it was better to let Senior Brother Chen scout the path first. Chen Xin'an was speechless.
Boom!
In the next second, ripples spread across the underground lake before him. Through Chen Xin'an's perspective, Lu Yang quickly saw the scene within. What greeted his eyes was a brilliant strand of sword qi.
However, the sword qi did not strike down. Instead, it locked onto Chen Xin'an from afar, as if marking something, and then actually allowed him to enter the secret realm.
"So straightforward."
Lu Yang looked surprised. He then formed a hand seal, about to recall Chen Xin'an. Zheng zheng— Almost simultaneously, the sword qi, which had already fallen silent, suddenly trembled.
Chen Xin'an, who was just about to leave the secret realm, instantly turned into a puff of white Qi and dispersed. Seeing this, Lu Yang raised an eyebrow. He first glanced at Chen Xin'an's true spirit within the Myriad Spirits Banner to ensure he could summon him again after some time, then he breathed a sigh of relief.
He then took out another banner spirit and threw it into the secret realm. After experimenting several times, he finally came to a conclusion: "Entry is permitted, but exit is forbidden, is it?" Lu Yang was deep in thought, "That's right.
The purpose of this sword qi is to extinguish the Dao lineage of the Witch Ghost Sect, so it will not allow anyone to leave the secret realm."
"As for why entry is permitted... damn it, they're chumming the waters!"
Thinking of this, the corner of Lu Yang's eye twitched, "This is clearly using the secret realm as bait to lure demonic path cultivators in to search for treasures, and then trap and kill them all together!" The hearts of the righteous path are too black!
Although Lu Yang was not sure if this guess was correct, if it were him, he would definitely do it this way. Judging others by his own standards, he felt he was pretty close to the truth. Thinking of this, Lu Yang became even more cautious.
So he waited patiently for a few more months. Only after his Innate Primordial Qi clone had once again cultivated to the Martial Dao Celestial realm did he send it into the secret realm. This time, he no longer thought about leaving, but delved deep into the secret realm.
Soon, buildings appeared in Lu Yang's vision. Most of them had turned into white bones, with only broken magical artifacts scattered on the ground. Lu Yang looked around.
The entire Witch Ghost Secret Realm was different from the outside world. There was surprisingly no spiritual energy left, only an intensely thick Earthly Killing yin qi. Ordinary cultivators without a corresponding technique would not even be able to practice their breathing exercises here.
Over time, even their physical bodies would be eroded by the yin qi.
"Could there be any cultivators in a place like this?"
Lu Yang pondered in his heart, but his movements did not stop. He looked around with great interest. He could already tell that he seemed to be in a city.
Just then, a cry, suppressed to the extreme, suddenly came from not far away.
"Damn you... what are you doing?"
Lu Yang turned his head and saw a human face peeking out from a corner of the ruins, roaring in a low voice, "Don't you want to live? It's already night!" Immediately after, that face first showed hesitation and struggle, then gritted its teeth and crawled out of the ruins.
It was a youth, no more than fourteen or fifteen years old. He strode quickly to Lu Yang's side, grabbed his hand, and crudely tried to drag him away. Seeing this, Lu Yang raised an eyebrow and did not resist.
However, in the next second, the youth's expression suddenly froze. He turned his head, and a look of despair appeared on his handsome face.
"I shouldn't have saved you... we're doomed... we're all going to die."
Da, da da… Almost at the same time, the sound of footsteps echoed in the empty ruins. Lu Yang looked toward the sound and saw an old man dressed in yellow clothes with lifeless eyes.
The old man's eyes were grayish-white, his pupils dilated and completely unfocused, yet they were fixed straight on Lu Yang and the mysterious youth. As his gaze fell upon them, a patch of visible darkness slowly closed in on the two, carrying with it a thick stench of corpses.
"Yellow-robed! How can it be a yellow-robed one!?"
Following Lu Yang's gaze, the youth also noticed the old man's presence. However, upon seeing the color of the old man's clothes, his face instantly turned deathly pale. Behind the youth, Lu Yang watched all this with great interest.
In truth, he had not understood a single word the youth had just said, but that did not stop him from being interested in the suddenly appearing yellow-robed old man. The next second, Lu Yang had already placed his hand on the youth's head. He had no interest in wasting time talking to people and slowly gathering intelligence.
As a Saint Sect disciple, a direct Soul Search was more to his liking.
"You!?"
The youth never expected that Lu Yang would repay his kindness with enmity. He let out a miserable shriek on the spot, and then Lu Yang's spiritual sense pierced directly into his mind. A short while later, a large amount of information flooded into Lu Yang's mind.
Language, culture, values, and even all the intelligence about this "Witch Ghost Secret Realm" were all meticulously searched out by Lu Yang. A hundred ghosts walk at night, the mortal world is like a prison! Within the secret realm, a strand of sword qi hung overhead, so no one could set foot on the path of cultivation.
They were all mortals. Only by devouring ghosts to offer to Yama could they seek a sliver of life... White-robed ghosts, yellow-robed ghosts, black-robed ghosts, red-robed ghosts...
The Listening Nether Cult, ghost messengers... Lu Yang digested the massive amount of information piece by piece. While he clicked his tongue in amazement, doubts also arose in his mind, "The secret realm in my last life was not like this."
The Witch Ghost Secret Realm in his last life was almost completely empty. Until Daoist Master Yinshan destroyed it, not a single living creature was seen. However, in this life, there was clearly still life in the secret realm.
The cultivators of the Witch Ghost Sect from the past had not only survived but had also found an alternative path of cultivation.
"Could it be because of that strand of sword qi?"
Recalling that strand of Golden Core sword qi entrenched in the secret realm, Lu Yang felt a bone-chilling cold in his heart, "Don't tell me they were all slaughtered by that sword qi?" But on second thought, Lu Yang felt that was not right.
After all, the Golden Core sword qi had been docile in the secret realm for so many years. What could possibly happen in the future to make it directly slaughter the entire secret realm?