Immortality Begins With Internal Breathing

Deep within a desolate mountain forest, two burly figures were busy working on something. Waves of powerful energy spread outward from them, rippling through the air in expanding circles.

"Uncle Shuo, still no luck?" Woo Yiyan asked, frowning slightly as he looked at the shattered dharma artifacts.

The ground, blanketed with dead branches and fallen leaves, was littered with fragments of broken dharma treasures. They were all tools Woo Shuo had used in an attempt to open the Shamanic Clan secret realm. Unfortunately, every attempt had failed.

"Tsk, tsk... This Shamanic Clan secret realm is something else. Judging from its construction methods, style, and the energy particles it gives off, there's a good chance it was created more than ten thousand years ago. Little Yan, how did you find this place?" the burly middle-aged man asked with an intrigued smile.

His gaze remained fixed on the entrance to the Shamanic Clan secret realm, his eyes gleaming with unprecedented excitement. A Shamanic Clan secret realm from over ten thousand years ago! Truly extraordinary. For a secret realm created in ancient times to have survived until the present and still remain operational, its creator must have been an astonishing figure indeed.

"I tracked an enemy here. Xiao Yu of the Martial Alliance... I suspect Little Xuan's death is closely connected to him," Woo Yiyan said calmly.

His expression remained composed. He had little interest in this Shamanic Clan secret realm, even if it had endured for over ten thousand years. All Woo Yiyan wanted was to enter the secret realm, find Xiao Yu, uncover the murderer of Woo Yixuan, and avenge Little Xuan.

"Xiao Yu? The name rings a bell. I heard he's a peerless genius who only recently joined the Martial Alliance. People even insisted on calling him the strongest below the Shackles realm. Did he kill Little Xuan? Did you sense the aura of the bloodline curse on him?" Woo Shuo asked, frowning as he turned toward Woo Yiyan after hearing that the person inside might be connected to Woo Yixuan's death.

Although Woo Yixuan had been an arrogant wastrel, his bloodline talent was extraordinarily formidable. Within the Woo Family over the past thousand years, only Woo Yiyan possessed greater natural talent than he did. As such, the family had placed enormous expectations upon Woo Yixuan.

"No. Although the bloodline curse follows the laws of karma, there are always people who can evade it through special means, or even remove it entirely. I sent Woo Yijie and Woo Mingkun to accompany Little Xuan. According to the information they sent back, Little Xuan had been lying in wait, preparing to assassinate Xiao Yu before Xiao Yu died. Then all three of them were killed. They died so quickly and so silently that none of them had time to send back even the slightest bit of information," Woo Yiyan explained.

Woo Shuo had only recently returned from exploring an ancient ruin, so he was not particularly familiar with the details of the incident.

"I see. Don't worry. That brat isn't getting away." Woo Shuo sneered, a flash of killing intent passing through his eyes.

Patting his storage pouch, he took out a shriveled, desiccated finger. Though it resembled the finger of a mummy, it was still recognizable as the severed little finger of a hand.

"I found this in an ancient ruin years ago. It belonged to a Shamanic Clan expert from ancient times. That expert cultivated the Central Earth Ancestral Shaman branch, the same lineage as the master of this secret realm. Just watch..." Woo Shuo said calmly, his eyes filled with confidence.

His right hand clenched tightly as an immense surge of violet bloodline power poured from his body into the severed finger. A vast and heavy force spread outward from his fist, rippling through the air in waves of yellow light. Woo Shuo slowly closed his eyes, pushed his spiritual sense to its limit, and merged it into those ripples, sensing the resonance between them and the secret realm.

If it had been some other secret realm, Woo Shuo might have found it somewhat troublesome. But a Shamanic Clan inheritance secret realm that had existed for over ten thousand years was manageable. At most, it would require more effort and a greater price. Time was the sharpest blade in existence. Before the endless passage of years, even the mightiest cultivators would eventually become fragile.

This inheritance secret realm, preserved for more than ten thousand years, had long since been greatly weakened by time. Then came the invasion of the demon realm, which drastically altered the world and caused its environment to deteriorate, dealing an even heavier blow to the secret realm.

Under the combined effects of these upheavals, the contingency rules built into the secret realm had already been triggered. One of those rules was the gradual relaxation of the restrictions imposed upon those seeking entry.

"Let's go!" Suddenly, Woo Shuo's eyes snapped open. Grabbing Woo Yiyan by the shoulder with his left hand, he leaped forward. The two of them plunged into the void like stones dropped into a still lake, sending invisible ripples spreading through space.

"We're finally in. What thin spiritual qi... Even so, after surviving for more than ten thousand years, the fact that this place has retained this much spiritual qi is already astonishing," Woo Shuo said with a smile as he looked up at the white waterfall.

The first thing he noticed upon entering was the broken stone stele. Woo Yiyan, however, paid it no attention. His figure rose into the air as he spread out his spiritual sense, searching for Xiao Yu's whereabouts.

"Traces of a fierce battle remain here, and they can't be more than a month old. Xiao Yu's trail ends at this point. It's obvious he entered this place and never left. Otherwise, the Sky-Patrolling Mirror would never have failed to detect him. But... where is he?" Woo Yiyan murmured.

No matter how thoroughly he searched, he could not find Xiao Yu's whereabouts. Once inside the secret realm, the Sky-Patrolling Mirror had become useless. Here, Woo Yiyan could rely only on his own abilities to locate Xiao Yu.

"Stop looking. An experienced expert has already swept through this secret realm. There probably isn't much left here. I think that Xiao Yu has already entered the inheritance trial," Woo Shuo said calmly as he appeared beside Woo Yiyan.

As a seasoned explorer of ruins and treasure hunter, Woo Shuo had already pieced together a great deal from the clues before him.

"So all we can do is wait for him to come out?" Woo Yiyan asked with a frown.

"We wait. There's nothing else we can do. A Shamanic Clan inheritance secret realm only allows one inheritor to enter at a time. We'll have to wait outside until he comes out on his own," Woo Shuo replied with a smile.

He lowered his head and looked toward the roaring white waterfall below.

"I think I've figured out where the entrance to the inheritance trial is. This secret realm is rather interesting. It allows only three people inside at a time, and only cultivators below the Nascent Soul realm may enter. If you want to confirm whether Xiao Yu is still here, bring someone else over and see whether they can enter," Woo Shuo said with a smile as he surveyed the picturesque secret realm.

Despite having entered only moments ago, he had already gained a general understanding of the secret realm.