The young girl glanced at Chen Yuyang beside her, feeling a bit guilty.
Fortunately, Chen Yuyang was currently fully focused on observing the area, attempting to probe inward with his spiritual sense.
He didn’t notice the girl’s strange behavior.
Yan Luo breathed a sigh of relief, suppressing the palpitations and nervousness in her heart.
She cleared her throat, put on an expression of pleasant surprise, and tugged at the boy’s sleeve.
“Yuyang, this… this looks like a newly emerged ancient secret realm! Let’s hurry in and take a look. We might find some great fortune!”
Hearing this, Chen Yuyang’s brow furrowed slightly.
He withdrew his gaze and turned to look at Yan Luo.
Compared to the girl’s excitement, he was much more composed, considering far more factors.
If this were one of his previous lives when he was dirt poor, he would have charged into such a secret realm without hesitation.
But now, after accumulating through 100 lives, he basically lacked for nothing.
In other words, even if there truly was a great fortune inside, the benefit to me would be negligible.
On the contrary, entering would mean taking on unnecessary risks.
Throughout his 100 lives of cultivation, Chen Yuyang had always adhered to a principle of steady and solid development, taking things one step at a time.
After thinking seriously for a moment, Chen Yuyang slowly shook his head.
“No.”
“The situation inside the secret realm is unclear and filled with hidden dangers. No one knows if there are any restrictions, demonic beasts, or other unknown threats inside.”
“With our current strength, it’s quite a gamble to barge in recklessly.”
“Fortune is all well and good, but having a life to enjoy it is fundamental.”
“Oh, why are you being so cowardly!”
Seeing the boy refuse so bluntly, Yan Luo suddenly became anxious.
“Think about it, Yuyang! It’s only the two of us right now. If we go in, all the good things will be ours!”
“On the other hand, if we hesitate and just watch from the sidelines, what’s going to be left for us once other people notice the commotion and rush over?”
The logic was sound, but to be honest, compared to the potential risks, the rewards weren’t worth the gamble for Chen Yuyang.
Seeing that the boy remained unmoved, the girl bit her lip hard.
“Fine! If you’re afraid to go in, forget it. I’ll go by myself!”
With that, Yan Luo made a move toward the crack.
“Wait!”
Seeing this, Chen Yuyang sighed helplessly.
Letting an impulsive girl like Yan Luo enter this secret realm alone would be a recipe for disaster.
If something happened to her, how could he, as her companion, explain it to the Yan family or Yan Dangmo?
On the other hand, since he was teaching her fire control techniques, he was technically her half-master.
Having established this karmic bond, he couldn’t just ignore her.
Yan Luo stopped and looked at the boy.
Chen Yuyang didn’t speak.
He extended his spiritual sense into the crack once more, carefully sensing the aura emanating from within.
The laws within this secret realm were not particularly refined.
The laws themselves weren’t violent either, so the environment inside should be relatively stable without any major threats.
Judging by the overall strength and stability of these laws, the creator of this secret realm should be somewhere between the peak of the Great Transcendence stage and a half-step into the Tribulation Crossing stage.
While they were certainly powerful, the danger level of a secret realm they left behind should still be within a controllable range.
Even if there was real danger, with his methods, it shouldn’t be a problem to retreat safely with Yan Luo.
‘In the worst-case scenario, I can just break through to the Golden Core stage, form a Nascent Soul, and project my own small world to clash with it.’
At this thought, Chen Yuyang’s gaze sharpened, and he made up his mind.
He finally nodded and said to Yan Luo, “Fine. Since you insist on going, I’ll accompany you.”
“But remember, once we’re inside, you must follow my lead in everything. You are not allowed to act on your own. Do you understand?”
Seeing him relent, Yan Luo immediately beamed with joy.
‘Hehe, he’s willing to go just because I said I wanted to. As expected, he does care about me.’
“I know! I’ll listen to you, Yuyang!”
Chen Yuyang said no more.
With a solemn expression, he carefully inspected the surroundings of the crack’s entrance.
After confirming there were no formations, restrictions, or hidden dangers, he took the first step and entered the irregular rift shimmering with a silver glow.
Yan Luo followed closely behind.
The scene before their eyes changed instantly.
In the next moment, the two of them appeared in a completely unfamiliar world.
Surrounding them was a dense forest that felt almost suffocating.
The sky was completely obscured by a thick canopy, preventing even stray beams of sunlight from penetrating through.
The ground was covered in rotting leaves, and the air emitted a strong, musty smell.
As soon as he stepped into the secret realm, Chen Yuyang felt that the world laws here were different from those of the outside world.
His spiritual sense was greatly restricted here, only able to probe about 50 yards around him.
“This small world is so crudely constructed,” Chen Yuyang muttered under his breath as he observed the environment.
Although his voice was very soft, it reached the ears of Yan Dangmo, the master of this small world, causing his brow to twitch.
However, he simply assumed the junior didn’t understand the complexities of the craft and was making random comments, so he didn’t pay it much mind.
Yan Luo followed him into the secret realm.
Unlike Chen Yuyang’s solemnity and seriousness, the girl’s face was full of curiosity.
First, she knew this was her grandfather’s small world, so there wouldn’t be any real threat.
Second, this was her first time stepping into this place, and everything around her felt novel and intriguing.
“Where are we going now? Should we explore the surroundings? I’ve heard that since secret realms evolve independently, they can produce many heavenly treasures that are hard to find in the outside world.”
However, Chen Yuyang shook his head.
“The builder of this secret realm was clearly lacking in skill, or perhaps didn’t put much effort into maintaining it. The balance of the entire realm is poor. Never mind the harsh ecological environment; even the concentration of spiritual energy inside is lower than the outside world.”
As Chen Yuyang observed their surroundings, he continued his critique.
“With such thin spiritual energy, even if this place existed for 1,000 or 10,000 years, I’m afraid it would struggle to nurture any truly top-tier heavenly treasures.”
As he spoke, the boy slightly closed his eyes, carefully sensing the flow of laws unique to this small world.
“As for the flow of laws in the entire realm…”
A moment later, Chen Yuyang opened his eyes, his gaze sharp. He raised his hand and pointed toward the front-left.
“The core area of this small world should be in that direction.”
“From our current position, the distance won’t be very far — at most 100 miles away.”
“If there’s anything good, the highest probability is that it’s there. And if there’s nothing good there, then this secret realm isn’t worth exploring.”
Seeing Chen Yuyang make such a precise judgment and speak with such authority, Yan Luo couldn’t help but show a look of surprise on her pretty face.
This was the first time she had learned there was such depth to understanding secret realms.
The problem was, she had been born and raised in the Yan family.
Her master was the Vice Sect Master of Sword Gate Mountain.
Since childhood, she had been able to browse ancient texts containing secrets that many cultivators could never touch in their entire lives.
Yet, she knew nothing about any of this.
Meanwhile, he, who came from the Hehuan Sect, actually understood it so well.
At the same time, Yan Dangmo, who was observing from the shadows, was equally surprised and shocked upon hearing Chen Yuyang’s words.
‘This kid actually has some skill!’
His small world was indeed not very well constructed.
Yan Dangmo himself was aware of some of its flaws, but after all, this was a small world.
Achieving various balances within it was no easy feat.
‘Not only did he point out some of the problems at a glance, but he can even clearly sense the flow of the world’s laws…’
This was not a skill just anyone could possess.
How on earth did this kid do it?
Amidst his surprise, Yan Dangmo immediately sent a voice transmission to Yan Luo.
‘Ask this kid how he knows all this.’
Receiving her grandfather’s transmission, Yan Luo nodded slightly.
She was also curious about this herself.
So, she leaned in and asked curiously, “Yuyang, how do you know all this so clearly?”
“I’ve been cultivating for so long, but I don’t know anything about this. This ‘flow of laws’ you mentioned — I can’t feel it at all. Is there some special method?”
Chen Yuyang gave the girl a faint look.
It wasn’t that he had some special method; it was simply because he had personally created dozens of small worlds himself and was intimately familiar with the process.
Combined with the rich experience he had accumulated from exploring numerous secret realms over his 100 lives, he could make such judgments with ease.
“Actually, it’s not some special trick.”
Chen Yuyang paused and offered a casual explanation.
“Look, rotting leaves have piled up here, the air is murky, and there are no birds or beasts in the vicinity.”
“In terms of environment, this place is too lifeless. The spiritual energy is stagnant. If you sense it carefully, you’ll find that the five elements are deficient here, and spiritual energy of various attributes cannot circulate naturally.”
Chen Yuyang spoke casually.
He knew that this was still a bit premature for Yan Luo.
However, giving her some concepts now might be of some help when she eventually had to construct her own small world in the future.
In the shadows, Yan Dangmo’s casual attitude had now changed as he listened to all this.
This small world was something he had created himself.
Initially, he had only sought for it to take shape and remain stable, without considering much else.
Although he knew about these problems, once a small world’s construction was complete, making changes was not easy.
Yan Dangmo immediately began urging Yan Luo through a voice transmission.
‘Quick! Ask the kid if there’s any good way to change the current state of this small world!’
Receiving her grandfather’s transmission, Yan Luo was somewhat surprised.
She hadn’t expected her grandfather to care so much.
However, she still obeyed, putting on a curious expression as she asked, “Then, Yuyang, if this small world is so terrible, is there any good way to change its current state?”
Chen Yuyang seemed a bit startled that Yan Luo would ask this, but he quickly replied, “The method to change it is actually quite simple.”
“First, this small world is still a bit too large. To improve it, one must compress its space and preserve the core.”
“In addition, the five elements must be completed. Using heavenly treasures that contain the pure origin of the five elements as a foundation and distributing them in various locations will allow the five elements’ spiritual energy to circulate. In the early stages, even if the flow is sluggish, direct intervention doesn’t matter, as long as the world’s spiritual veins are allowed to develop naturally.”
Chen Yuyang spoke eloquently.
“On this basis, one needs to organize and refine the laws so that spiritual energy can nourish all things, and all things can in turn feed back into the spiritual energy.”
“Furthermore, a natural ecology needs to be constructed. In the initial stage, one can introduce some highly adaptable spiritual herbs and trees, and release some low-level spiritual beasts. Let them live and breed here naturally to form a preliminary ecological cycle.”
“Once the five elements are balanced, the spiritual veins are clear, the laws are refined, and the ecology is formed, the scale of the small world can then be expanded bit by bit. It will then naturally develop and grow, and it might even nurture heavenly treasures and native creatures unique to this small world.”
Chen Yuyang spoke simply, and to him, these were just some of the most basic lessons from his experience.
He hadn’t even mentioned a word about how to construct secret realms with unique attributes and effects.
But to Yan Dangmo’s ears, these words were like a divine revelation!
He had lived for hundreds of years and considered himself well-traveled and knowledgeable.
However, when it came to the construction of a small world, he had never had such a clear train of thought.
The more he thought about it, the more profound it seemed.
The look of satisfaction in Yan Dangmo’s eyes intensified, and he couldn’t help but nod repeatedly.
‘This kid… is not simple. Not simple at all… Yan Luo has really hit the jackpot.’
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