Chapter 290 - 155: The Division of Secret Realms

Chapter 290: Chapter 155: The Division of Secret Realms

Su Mu cupped his hands. "Lord Chu, your bravery is peerless. If I should encounter trouble in the Secret Realm, I hope you’ll lend me a hand, for the sake of the bond we’ve formed over tea today. Of course, while I’m not proficient in fighting, my skills in identifying poisons and medicines, as well as providing support with arrays, mean I can certainly do my part."

Chu Bai nodded.

Before entering a Wild Secret Realm where the Law Net could not reach, befriending a meticulous, veteran Perfection Realm Cultivator with knowledge of unconventional Secret Techniques was certainly far more advantageous than making an enemy.

In a corner of the bustling inn, sharing tea and a meal, the two found a rare sense of camaraderie on this grim eve.

Chu Bai watched the retreating figure of Su Mu, burdened by his heavy book trunk. ’In Dayuan Prefecture City,’ he thought, ’aside from Bureaucrats from Noble Races like Wei Chuan, there are countless Ascetics like Su Mu—as tenacious as old tree roots. It’s a shame that most of them are destined to be eliminated.’

Steam curled up from their cups as Su Mu poured Chu Bai more tea. Their conversation gradually shifted from personal cultivation to the broader situation of the upcoming Celestial Examination.

"Lord Chu, even though you registered in Dayuan Prefecture, don’t assume your only competitors are from this city and this area."

Su Mu set down the teapot, his expression turning grave. "Qingzhou of the Great Zhou Immortal Dynasty oversees the Thirty-Six Prefectures, and each prefecture’s Examination Department is assembling candidates as we speak. Although we are departing from the Prefecture City, the Celestial Examination Secret Realm is vast and boundless. What’s more, it’s never just one Secret Realm that opens for the examination."

As Chu Bai listened to the intel Su Mu shared—rumors circulating within the Prefecture City—he mentally cross-referenced it with the notes Zhang Cheng had left him.

Indeed, the Qingzhou Celestial Examination was the highest-level test for selecting bearers of the Cyan Talisman, open to tens of thousands of Qi Cultivation Perfect Cultivators from across the entire province.

The Thirty-Six Prefectures of Qingzhou were unimaginably vast.

Even though Dayuan Prefecture City was currently overflowing with people, they represented but a small fraction of the total number of examinees in all of Qingzhou.

"According to past conventions, on the day the examination begins, the lord of the Examination Department will activate a Magical Treasure to randomly ’deploy’ the tens of thousands of us talented individuals."

Su Mu pointed to the sky outside. "The lucky ones will land in ancient grounds rich with Spiritual Mechanism; the unlucky ones could fall straight into a Demon Beast lair. Even though we are both here in Dayuan Prefecture, the chances of us ending up in the same Secret Realm are, I fear, minuscule."

Chu Bai nodded, but his mind turned to the most crucial entries about the "Secret Realms" in Zhang Cheng’s notes.

The Great Zhou Immortal Dynasty was incredibly domineering. These so-called examination grounds were not gardens cultivated by the Royal Family. Rather, they were Wild Secret Realms that a supreme Great Power, using world-altering abilities, had forcefully "captured" from the void between heaven and earth.

As these Secret Realms had not been fully refined by the Great Zhou Law Net, they retained their most primitive and violent Spiritual Mechanism and Laws.

And precisely because they were captured, the number, type, and size of the Secret Realms available for each Celestial Examination were always uncertain.

’Lord Zhang made a special annotation in his notes...’ Chu Bai mused. ’The fewer the Secret Realms, the higher the difficulty of that year’s examination.’

The logic was brutally simple.

If the Immortal Dynasty failed to capture many Secret Realms in a given year, tens of thousands of Cultivators desperate for a Cyan Talisman would be packed into a limited space.

Cultivation resources were finite, and the number of spots for those who would emerge from the Secret Realms to receive a Cyan Talisman was fixed.

As a result, the frequency of encounters between Cultivators would skyrocket.

It would no longer be a simple hunt for herbs and treasures, but a genuine meat grinder.

"I’ve been asking around the Prefecture City these last few days. The latest whispers suggest that the haul of Wild Secret Realms wasn’t ideal. There are even rumors that we might only have three large ones this year."

Su Mu lowered his voice, a hint of worry lacing his tone.

Chu Bai’s eyes narrowed. "If there are only three, then on average, each Secret Realm will be crammed with over ten thousand Qi Cultivation Ninth Layer Cultivators. A hundred people vying for a single talisman... I’m afraid this Celestial Ladder will be paved with blood."

"Precisely."

Su Mu sighed. "What’s more, once the Secret Realms open, the Law Net temporarily seals the entrances and exits. No one can leave early, not until the very moment the examination concludes."

"In there, there is no surrender, no admitting defeat. The only way to save your life is to hold out until the instant the Secret Realms reopen and you are guided out by a Judge."

Chu Bai was silent.

In that savage land—a world unto itself, utterly devoid of the Immortal Dynasty’s laws—everyone had to contend not only with nature and with Demon Beasts, but also be wary of every peer who might suddenly turn on them for the sake of a single spot.

After all, a Secret Realm was not like a Spirit Realm. There were no rules, and any and all methods were permitted.

The two sat in silence for a long time amidst the fragrant steam of the tea. Chu Bai felt the perfect, flawless Five Elements Circulation within his body, and his fingers slowly tightened around his teacup.

’Tens of thousands of people vying for just three Secret Realms...’

’I wonder how many spots there will be in the end.’

He gazed toward the southeast. The fighting spirit he had long suppressed did not shrink back in the face of this greater challenge. Instead, like a blade on the verge of being drawn, it was only honed to a keener edge by the mounting pressure.

’Then let’s go and see just what the prodigies of Qingzhou’s Thirty-Six Prefectures are really made of.’