When I entered the secret realm, I didn’t let them come with me. Teleportation was random, and their cultivation was weak. As members of the demon race, they would be in serious danger. Besides, I had my own plans. I wanted to explore the secret realm and see if I could find any clues about how to return.
After gathering a few essential medicinal herbs from the outer ring, I stood motionless for a long while in front of the entrance to the inner ring. Should I go in or not? They said no one had ever made it back alive. The danger inside had to be extreme.
As I hesitated, a cold voice suddenly came from behind me. “Ngân Linh, you crippled me. Today, I’m taking your life!”
Before I could even turn around, I was shoved into the inner ring. What a small world. I hardly ever went out, and when I finally did, I ran into an enemy. Fine by me. That made the decision for me.
I spat the dirt out of my mouth and slowly got to my feet. The moment I steadied myself, a gigantic spirit butterfly appeared in front of me. Its wings, each about two meters wide, spread open and whipped up a gale that sent me spinning around. Whose spirit butterfly was this, and how had it gotten so huge?!
Stranger still, before I could even close my mouth, a giant frog that had been hiding nearby swallowed the butterfly whole. I held my breath and stood perfectly still. The frog was as tall as a small building. It puffed out its cheeks and leaped, shaking the ground—and my pupils shook right along with it.
“Ribbit, ribbit.” The frog slowly turned, its enormous golden eyes reflecting my tiny figure. If I made it out alive, I’d make sure that despicable little man never cultivated the Heartless Dao for the rest of his life!
For three days in here, I’d been barely surviving. I didn’t dare dream of finding magical weapons. Just avoiding those bizarre spirit beasts would be a blessing. I’d only just sat down to take a drink when a swarm of bees chased after me.
The bees’ incessant buzzing made my head feel like it was about to explode. I ran and shouted, “I only drank a little of your honey! Why are you chasing me like you mean to kill me?!”
This secret realm suppressed cultivation, and the inner ring did so even more strongly than the outer ring. My perfected Golden Core cultivation had been forced down to barely the Foundation Establishment stage. After a while, of course I got hungry and thirsty. And I didn’t have any fasting pills.
With no other choice, I had to find food for myself. Who could’ve guessed that the moment the honey went down, they’d come after me in force and chase me for two days and two nights.
The bees filled the sky, buzzing like a roiling black cloud that blotted out the sun. I gritted my teeth, took the Tishui Pearl out of my storage pouch, and jumped straight into the lake ahead. But these bees were unusually fierce. A few stubborn ones even dove right in after me.
“Damn it!” I hurriedly dove deeper. The lake was bottomless. The deeper I went, the dimmer the light became, and the colder the water grew.
A crack began to appear in the Tishui Pearl. My heart sank. I hadn’t expected it to break so quickly. For some reason, in this inner ring, every magical treasure I took out stopped working before long.
The moment my attention wandered, the Tishui Pearl shattered. The icy lake water rushed into my nose and mouth. A churning current swept me deeper. I bit down hard on my lip, intending to form a blood seal and fight those bees with everything I had.
Suddenly, a flash of white light appeared, and a voice like thunder boomed in my mind: “I’ve found you, Chosen One.”
The legendary ancient magical treasure, the Book of Heavenly Secrets, had saved me. Its shape—why did it look exactly like the cultivation novel I’d been reading on the bus?
“Aren’t you…?” I stopped short. The white cover with its gold trim was crystal clear in my mind, but the title had slipped away. Had I really forgotten it, or had it never existed in the first place? If I hadn’t transmigrated, then… where was I?
A pale-faced youth with silver hair and a slender build hovered in midair, exuding a cold, noble air. He looked fifteen or sixteen. Standing beneath the blazing golden sunset, he seemed like a god descended to earth.
The youth seemed to see the confusion in my eyes. “You’re in the past.”
I stared into the youth’s light brown eyes and repeated each word. “I… am in the past?”
The youth nodded, gazing toward the lake’s sparkling ripples. “One hundred thousand years before your era. Everything you see has already happened.”
Fragments of the plot I’d read on the bus suddenly came rushing back. I’d stopped reading after the villain died, assuming the rest was just the male and female leads’ romantic entanglements.
Who would’ve thought this wasn’t a romance novel at all, but a real world that had once existed—in the same dimension as mine, on the same continent? I might even be able to find the ancestors of the Shen family here!
I suddenly regretted badly injuring those two cultivators. Could that set off some unpredictable butterfly effect?
Thankfully, the Book of Heavenly Secrets reassured me. “Don’t worry. Those two won’t have any children.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, then suddenly remembered something. “What about Ngân Linh? Where is Ngân Linh now?”
“She’s still inside this body, but she’s fast asleep. When you return, she’ll naturally wake up.”
I nodded and listened as the Book of Heavenly Secrets continued its tale of what happened after the male and female leads defeated Giang Úc. Though favored by the Heavenly Dao, they weren’t saints. The Book of Heavenly Secrets had guided them to the spirit-vein gate, where they borrowed the earth’s spiritual energy to force a breakthrough, reaching a level at which they could fight Giang Úc.
But mankind’s greed knew no bounds. Once the spirit-vein gate was opened, it couldn’t be closed again. The various factions fought over the spirit veins, eventually damaging them. The earth’s spiritual energy grew increasingly thin, and cultivators gradually stagnated, finding it harder and harder to accumulate spiritual energy.
Many years later, in the future, few people could fly on swords. Magical treasures and artifacts had become mere decorations. Without spiritual energy to fuel the furnaces, no one could refine any more high-grade pills.
“I slept for countless years, until one day the Heavenly Dao informed me that the Chosen One would descend and change everything.”
The youth stared at me, his expression serious. I scratched my head, a little embarrassed. This sudden prospect was enough to stir anyone’s blood a little. But I answered honestly: “I can’t beat Giang Úc.”
“When you descended, you already changed his fate.”
“You mean Giang Úc won’t turn demonic anymore?”
The Book of Heavenly Secrets neither confirmed nor denied it. “Everything has already been decided. When the time comes, you’ll know what you need to do.”
“Huh?” I furrowed my brow, even more confused. The Book of Heavenly Secrets gave me an affirmative look, then reverted to its original form and drifted gently into my arms.
I held up the book and gave it a shake. “Hey, could you be more specific? Where am I supposed to go to get my mission?!”
The Book of Heavenly Secrets’ voice rang out again. “Take me with you. The creatures in here won’t dare come near. Just head west, and you’ll reach the exit.”
Hmph! These ancient things really do love to speak in riddles! I hugged the Book of Heavenly Secrets, grinding my teeth.
As the Book of Heavenly Secrets sank into a deep sleep, the barrier around the lake gradually faded, too. The Transmission-Exchange Talisman on me suddenly flashed. It lasted only an instant, but the urgent call came through crystal clear: “Ngân Linh! Where are you?!”
It was Giang Úc. The Transmission-Exchange Talisman had a limited range inside the secret realm, yet Giang Úc had managed to use it, which meant he was very close to me. I clutched the extinguished talisman in astonishment. He… had gone into the inner region of the secret realm!