Cultivation: Immunity to Negative Effects

BAM!

After a quick inventory, Zhang Chi transferred all of Senior Brother Ning’s cultivation materials into his Storage Ring, then immediately destroyed the man’s Storage Bag, Identity Token, and other such items.

He even used a Fire Bomb Technique to incinerate Senior Brother Ning’s corpse, burning it directly to ash.

Afterward, Zhang Chi quickly reached the other side of the passage, only to find the gateway wide open with no one outside.

Moreover, the other passages were open as well.

Evidently, the array restrictions in this area had changed.

This change, however, had not yet been discovered by the other cultivators, which explained why the area was deserted.

Senior Brother Ning must have been nearby, which was why he was the first to enter the passage—only to have the misfortune of running into him.

SWOOSH!

Naturally, Zhang Chi was pleased that no one was around. He immediately flew off to continue his search for Spirit Medicine.

Although by now, most of the Spirit Medicine in the outer areas had been harvested by other cultivators, he still managed to reap a great harvest thanks to his map and superior strength.

***

"Damn it, how can this be? How could a Foundation Establishment Peak Cultivator from my Cyan Cloud Sect have fallen?"

"Impossible. Absolutely impossible! What in the world is happening inside this Secret Realm? Could there really be a Tier Three Demon Beast in there?"

Meanwhile, outside the Secret Realm, the Golden Core powerhouses from the Ten Great Immortal Sects were waiting and chatting idly aboard a Floating Airship.

This was when two Golden Core Powerhouses from the Cyan Cloud Sect suddenly cried out in disbelief.

A great many cultivators had entered the Secret Realm this time, and the elders paid little attention to the fates of the Qi Cultivation disciples.

However, they kept Life Tokens for all the Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Foundation Establishment cultivators from various sects had already fallen, and while the numbers were not small, it was a loss they could grudgingly accept.

After all, exploration was always a gamble, trading one’s life for a chance at great fortune.

Foundation Establishment Peak Cultivators, however, were a different matter. Every one of them had a high chance of reaching the Golden Core realm.

"Calm yourselves, fellow Daoists. Perhaps a special array inside has severed the connection between the Life Token and the cultivator. It’s not a given that Nephew Ning has truly fallen!"

"Exactly! Let’s wait until the exploration of the Secret Realm is over before jumping to conclusions."

The other Golden Core cultivators were startled as well, but they rushed to offer words of comfort, unable to suppress a hint of schadenfreude in their hearts.

At the same time, however, a flicker of worry crossed their minds; what if their own Foundation Establishment Peak disciples were to fall as well?

***

"Little Sis, you have to go! I’ll hold them off!"

"I’ll stay with him. We don’t have time to recover. We’ll go out and lure the demon beasts away. You all must use that chance to escape!"

Inside the Secret Realm, several cultivators from the Cangwu Sect were hiding in a narrow cave.

Among them were Chen Bufan and Zhong Yu.

The other three Foundation Establishment cultivators from their party had already split off from them and were not here.

A few Qi Cultivation disciples, including Chen Ling’er, were also present.

But their current situation was dire; the two Foundation Establishment cultivators among them were heavily injured.

The rest of the group was also covered in wounds and utterly exhausted.

This was all because they had encountered a pack of Demon Wolves shortly before, while attempting to harvest a Tier Two Spirit Medicine.

Each of the Demon Wolves was at Tier Two Early Stage, and their Wolf King possessed strength equivalent to a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage cultivator.

Worse, there were a great number of them.

As a result, they had exhausted most of their techniques but still failed to kill the entire pack. They were hunted relentlessly and finally forced to take refuge in this cave.

In their heavily injured state, they couldn’t even muster the strength to activate powerful items like Talisman Treasures.

"No, I’m not leaving! Eat some healing elixirs. You’ll get better, I know you will!"

Chen Ling’er said through tears, shaking her head again and again. She took out a bottle of healing elixirs, wanting to give them to Chen Bufan and Zhong Yu.

"Sigh..."

Chen Bufan and Zhong Yu sighed and shook their heads. They had already taken healing elixirs, but to little effect.

Or rather, the elixirs were working, but far too slowly. They didn’t have the time for a gradual recovery.

Besides, they had already used up most of their high-quality healing elixirs.

The healing elixirs Chen Ling’er was offering were merely Tier One Middle Grade Small Rejuvenation Pills.

In fact, because the bottle was so exquisite, it looked familiar. They recognized it at a glance as the one Zhang Chi had given to Chen Ling’er.

"Hm? Is this... a Little Soul Reviving Pill?"

But the next moment, as Chen Ling’er tipped one of the pills out, both men froze. Their eyes instantly lit up, and they snatched the pill to examine it more closely.

"It really is a Little Soul Reviving Pill! We’re saved! Haha!"

"Exactly! This is a Tier Two Middle Grade healing elixir, and a precious one at that! Its healing effects are outstanding, and it works incredibly fast—it’s perfect for our current situation!"

"Little Soul Reviving Pill?"

Chen Ling’er and the others were dumbfounded.

"Aren’t these Rejuvenation Pills? How did they become Little Soul Reviving Pills? I don’t have any healing elixirs this precious," Chen Ling’er said, confused.

She peered into the bottle and saw that they were indeed not Rejuvenation Pills, but some other kind of pill she didn’t recognize.

These pills were perfectly round and emerald green, shimmering with spiritual light. Both their appearance and their medicinal fragrance far surpassed those of Rejuvenation Pills.

"Silly girl, don’t you understand? These are life-saving treasures that Zhang Chi left for you!"

"Exactly. I never would have thought that kid had such resources and was so thoughtful. We really underestimated him."

"Indeed. An entire bottle of Soul Reviving Pills... that’s not a small sum. He could have easily kept them for himself."

"Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. First, we deal with those beasts outside. We can thank him properly when we get back!"

"Alright!"

Zhong Yu and Chen Bufan laughed, their voices filled with emotion. Their fighting spirit was instantly restored.

’Zhang Chi...’

Chen Ling’er froze at their words, and her eyes began to turn red.

She finally remembered Zhang Chi giving her the pills, and how he had specifically instructed her to use them immediately if she was ever injured.

She hadn’t paid it much mind at the time, but now she understood the true weight of his words.

Then, Zhong Yu and Chen Bufan each took a Soul Reviving Pill. As expected, they recovered the majority of their strength in short order. With their abilities usable once more, they easily overcame the crisis.

***

Time flew by, and twenty days passed in the blink of an eye. One day, as the cultivators were busy with their exploration, they suddenly felt an invisible, gentle, yet irresistible force envelop them.

Then, amidst a ripple of spatial energy, they all vanished, reappearing a moment later outside the Secret Realm.

It turned out the time limit for the exploration had been reached—ten days earlier than the Ten Great Immortal Sects had anticipated.

And the moment they were out, the Secret Realm collapsed and disintegrated amid a series of deafening rumbles.

"What a shame!"

Zhang Chi was in the crowd that had been teleported out. Seeing the destruction, he couldn’t help but feel it was a pity.

He also suspected that the Secret Realm’s premature collapse was likely connected to his taking of the Cave Mansion Stele.

However, the exploring cultivators had already collected most of the Spirit Medicine and other resources within the Secret Realm, so it made little difference whether it collapsed sooner or later.

As for him, he had already gained more than enough. This exploration could be considered a complete success.

SWISH! SWISH...

A moment later, he followed the others and flew down onto the Floating Airship they had arrived in.

The Golden Core cultivators immediately flew over to meet them.