30: Blood Demon Secret Realm!

The next day, you arrived in the capital of Qin and quickly found the location of Tianqi Academy.

Upon entering Tianqi Academy, you found it to be a bit different from what you had imagined.

The academy before you was very small; rather than an academy, it was more like a larger quadrangle courtyard.

As soon as you and Gu Xinyue stepped into the small courtyard, Fang Jingchun walked out, looking at you with a smile.

"You've arrived?"

Just as you were about to speak, Gu Xinyue stepped forward, speaking first.

"Sixth Junior Brother! You don't seem worried at all that we might die in the Secret Realm?"

"With Senior Sister's capability, how could she be trapped by a mere Fallen Immortal Secret Realm!"

Fang Jingchun said this as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

At this moment, you looked at Fang Jingchun and asked him about the whereabouts of Ye Chuxue and Lin Qi.

"Little Junior Brother, you mean them? They're Cultivating in the backyard!"

Upon learning that Ye Chuxue and Lin Qi were currently in the academy, you briefly exchanged pleasantries with Fang Jingchun and then walked towards the backyard.

Arriving in the backyard, you immediately saw the two people sitting at a stone table, drinking tea.

Ye Chuxue, seeing someone had arrived, turned and looked in your direction.

"Su Ming? You're finally back!"

You walked up to Ye Chuxue with a solemn expression, not greeting her excessively, but directly getting to the point.

"After I left last time, until the incident at the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm three years ago, did you enter the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm during that period?"

Ye Chuxue rarely saw you with such a serious expression, so she put away her smile and recalled.

"Hmm... we went once, half a year before the incident at the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm three years ago."

Upon hearing this answer, your heart immediately sank; this was the result you least wanted to face.

Before coming here, you had always hoped they hadn't gone to the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm, so the problem wouldn't be near you.

And now, you had to re-examine the identities of Ye Chuxue and Lin Qi.

You knew Ye Chuxue best; you had the most contact with her during all the simulations.

So Lin Qi became your primary suspect. Of course, in your opinion, Ye Chuxue couldn't be completely ruled out either.

Ye Chuxue saw your expression growing increasingly grim and couldn't understand what this had to do with their visit to the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm.

"What exactly happened, Su Ming?"

You saw both of them looking at you with confused expressions, and for a moment, you felt a little dazed, subconsciously wondering if you had made a mistake.

After adjusting your emotions, you told them it was nothing, just that you were worried about them after returning and discovering the Secret Realm was contaminated.

Ye Chuxue and Lin Qi, hearing you say this, clearly didn't believe your explanation, but they didn't press further.

After leaving the backyard, you immediately found Fang Jingchun and Gu Xinyue.

"Apprentice-Brother Fang, Senior Sister Gu! I'd like to ask if there are any other ruins similar to the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm in Youzhou?"

Fang Jingchun and Gu Xinyue exchanged glances after hearing your words.

"Little Junior Brother, why are you asking this?"

"Yes, Little Junior Brother! You're still far from a Breakthrough to the Soul Transformation Stage!"

Seeing that they didn't explicitly say no, your face immediately brightened.

"So, there really is a Secret Realm in Youzhou?"

Gu Xinyue, seeing that you were still persistent, finally had no choice but to tell you.

"There is indeed another Secret Realm in Youzhou, but we won't go there to Cultivate unless it's absolutely necessary."

You asked them why they couldn't Cultivate there, wondering if the Spiritual Qi there had severely depleted.

Gu Xinyue nodded, then shook her head.

"The degree of depletion in that Secret Realm is similar to the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm, but the situation there is special..."

"Special situation? Senior Sister Gu, what's wrong with that Secret Realm?"

Seeing you kept asking, Fang Jingchun, who was by your side, spoke up to explain.

"Little Junior Brother! There's a blood stele in that Secret Realm, and beneath it, a powerful ancient Weird Insects is suppressed!"

"Five thousand years ago, after the previous Sword Pavilion Master accidentally discovered it, he used his powerful strength to drive away all humans and sent people to guard it, preventing outsiders from entering."

At this point, Gu Xinyue suddenly spoke with a cheerful smile.

"Little Junior Brother! Our Third Senior Sister is guarding that place now!"

After listening, you didn't expect the true situation to be so complex. You were also very puzzled as to why the Weird Insects would be suppressed alone.

You voiced your confusion to Fang Jingchun.

"Apprentice-Brother Fang, don't Weird Insects die when their host dies? Why would it still..."

"Weird Insects below the Soul Transformation Realm will die directly if their parasitic body is killed. At this time, their true consciousness has not fully awakened, so they are easy to kill."

"What about above the Soul Transformation Stage?" You looked at Fang Jingchun curiously, asking impatiently.

"Above Soul Transformation, even if the host is killed, they can escape the body and seek a new host."

Gu Xinyue also reminded you at this moment.

"That's right, Little Junior Brother! You know, Weird Insects have extremely strong vitality, so we must attack their Dantian, that's their weakness."

"Exactly. The strongest aspect of Weird Insects is their Soul Power. If you don't kill their Dantian at the same Realm, and they escape, it's basically a Possession outcome."

Su Ming felt a headache coming on as he read this.

"How did these Weird Insects come about? They're so abnormal!"

Fortunately, he learned about this from the simulation; otherwise, if his cultivation had been higher and he went to kill those Soul Transformation powerhouses, being ambushed by this move would have been the end for him.

At this point, Su Ming saw in the simulation that Fang Jingchun was explaining the Secret Realm issue to him.

"The blood stele is constantly absorbing the Spiritual Qi in the Secret Realm to suppress the Weird Insects' true body, and the Spiritual Qi in the Secret Realm will eventually be exhausted."

"All we can do now is try to reduce the use of Spiritual Qi, and buy as much time as possible for humanity."

After hearing all the explanations, you fell into deep thought.

For a moment, you didn't know whether to take Ye Chuxue and Lin Qi with you.

If there was indeed a problem with the two of them, going now might prematurely release the Weird Insects suppressed under the blood stele.

However, if they didn't go, the consequences of them continuing to contaminate the Secret Realm would also be severe.

You now faced two choices: either kill them directly, or take them to the Secret Realm.

Ultimately, you decided to take them to the Secret Realm first. The last time the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm had an issue, you weren't with them, so you couldn't confirm if anyone else had entered.

You pressed for a long time and finally learned from Fang Jingchun that the Secret Realm was called the Blood Demon Secret Realm, named after the blood stele.