Chapter 35: Secret Realm: Nameless Ruins

No Life Town had indeed changed quite a bit.

Lin An walked along the town’s main street.

On both sides, several shops he had never seen before had appeared.

What caught his attention most was a store with a few talismans displayed outside—clearly a business catering to cultivators.

Opening a shop like that in this small town? That took some nerve.

The town wasn’t large; walking from one end to the other took less than half an hour.

There weren’t many people on the street—just a few scattered groups, most of them familiar faces.

Someone recognized Lin An and greeted him with a smile.

“Lin An, you’re back? Your Aunt Yan has been asking about you for a while.”

“Lin boy, you’ve grown taller. Did you eat well out there?”

“Lin An, your Aunt Yan mentioned you the other day. Said you’d made something of yourself, working at the Yamen.”

Lin An nodded to each in turn, not slowing his steps as he headed toward Liu Tailor’s place.

“Oh, Lin An’s back?”

Liu Tailor was a thin old man in his fifties, with graying hair and a face full of wrinkles when he smiled.

“The colored threads your Aunt Yan ordered arrived yesterday. I was just about to find someone to send them over to her. Good timing.”

He pulled a cloth bundle from under the counter and handed it to Lin An.

Lin An took it, thanked him, and turned to leave.

“Wait,” Liu Tailor called after him.

He hesitated, then lowered his voice.

“Lin An… has your Aunt Yan… seemed off at all?”

Lin An blinked.

“Off? No. Why?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Liu Tailor waved his hand and forced a smile.

“Probably just my imagination. When you get back, tell her to take care of herself and stop staying up so late.”

“Sure, I’ll tell her.”

Lin An walked out of the shop, tucked the cloth bundle into his coat, and felt a flicker of doubt.

‘What did he mean by “imagination”? Liu Tailor didn’t seem like he was just saying it.’

He pushed the thought aside, wandered the street a bit longer, and bought two sticks of candied hawthorn—one for Aunt Yan, one for himself.

When he reached the south end of town, he spotted the wall of his own courtyard from a distance and quickened his pace.

He pushed open the gate and stepped inside.

The first thing he saw was Aunt Yan sitting on a stone stool in the yard, holding something black and fuzzy in her arms.

She was looking down, murmuring softly.

As he got closer, Lin An made it out: a cat.

Jet black, not a single stray hair, curled up in Aunt Yan’s arms.

When it saw him approach, it stirred a little, but a gentle stroke from Aunt Yan settled it again.

“Aunt Yan, where did the cat come from?”

Lin An handed her a stick of candied hawthorn.

Yu Zhiyan took it with a smile.

“I found it at the door this morning. It looked pitiful, so I kept it.”

She scratched the black cat’s head, and it let out a Meow.

Lin An crouched down and reached out to pet it.

The cat’s half-closed eyes suddenly widened, and its body stiffened noticeably.

But a moment later, it relaxed again, letting Lin An’s hand rest on its head.

“Pretty well-behaved.”

Lin An scratched under the cat’s chin, and it began to purr.

“Let’s give it a name.”

Lin An thought for a moment.

“It’s black. How about Little Black?”

The cat’s purring stopped.

It looked up at him with what seemed like a hint of disdain.

“See? It doesn’t like it.”

Yu Zhiyan laughed.

“Think again.”

“Then… Coal Ball?”

The cat turned its head away, clearly not a fan either.

Lin An twitched the corner of his mouth.

“Heh.”

Yu Zhiyan let out a soft laugh.

“How about… Huan Xing?”

“Huh?”

Lin An blinked, not understanding why a cat needed such a poetic name.

The kitten then settled back onto Yu Zhiyan’s lap, its tail twitching idly.

“Hmm, that’s not bad.”

Lin An didn’t really care—whatever Aunt Yan said was fine.

“Aunt Yan, you said this morning the town had changed a lot. To me, it just looks like a few new shops.”

“There’s more than that,” Yu Zhiyan said, holding the candied hawthorn without eating it.

“A new teahouse opened on the west side, and a small square was built in the south. You haven’t seen those yet, have you?”

“No, I’ll check them out another day.”

Lin An sat down on the stone stool across from her and handed her the cloth bundle.

“Liu Tailor said the colored threads arrived yesterday. He also asked me to tell you to take care of yourself and not stay up too late.”

Yu Zhiyan took the bundle, opened it, and glanced inside.

“Liu Tailor is a good man, but he worries too much.”

“He cares about you. He’s known as a kind soul in town.”

Yu Zhiyan smiled but didn’t reply.

Instead, the black cat in her arms stirred and shifted positions.

The kitten buried its face in the crook of Yu Zhiyan’s elbow, leaving only one eye visible as it stealthily watched Lin An.

Lin An noticed that eye—amber-colored, very bright, with a pupil narrowed into a thin vertical slit.

Something seemed to lurk within it.

“This cat has nice eyes. Pretty intelligent too, huh?”

“Right?”

Yu Zhiyan looked down at the black cat, her tone gentle.

“I think so too.”

The black cat Meowed, as if in agreement.

Lin An was about to say something else when the ground suddenly trembled beneath his feet.

It wasn’t his legs shaking—the entire ground was moving.

An earthquake?

Lin An quickly stood up, trying to steady Yu Zhiyan, but he lost his balance and ended up being caught by her instead.

“Careful.”

The shaking grew more intense.

A few tiles slid off the courtyard wall and shattered on the ground.

Shouts and cries rang out from the town—someone yelled “Earth Dragon Turns Over!” someone else shouted “Get out of the houses!” and children were crying.

Once steady, Lin An grabbed Yu Zhiyan’s hand.

“Aunt Yan, let’s get out of here. Don’t stay in the yard.”

Walking ahead, he didn’t see Aunt Yan’s expression.

It remained perfectly calm, not a trace of panic in her eyes.

She merely tilted her head slightly, glancing toward the edge of town.

The shaking lasted about ten seconds, then gradually subsided.

Outside, many people had already streamed out of their houses, gathering in small groups on the street, patting their chests as they recounted the close call.

Then someone shouted.

“Look over there! What is that?”

Lin An followed the voice.

To the southeast of the town, beyond a few fields and a small grove of trees, stood a massive white stone gate.

Its surface was covered in dense, intricate patterns.

He couldn’t make them out clearly, but he could feel those patterns flowing, as if alive.

Lin An’s brow furrowed.

A thought came to him.

Gift…

This thing—it didn’t look like anything good.

Instinctively, he wanted to go check it out.

“Aunt Yan, go inside. I’ll take a look.”

“Don’t go.”

Yu Zhiyan’s voice came from behind him, noticeably firmer than usual.

Lin An turned around.

Her expression had already softened back to its usual gentleness.

She walked over and pressed the black cat into Lin An’s arms.

“It’s too dangerous. Don’t get mixed up in it. Let the authorities handle it.”

Lin An looked down at the cat in his arms.

The cat looked up at him.

Meow.

“Well… okay.”

Lin An stepped back, holding the cat.

But he didn’t go inside.

Instead, he stood at the courtyard gate, watching the gate from a distance.

—

Grey Wastes City.

In the courtyard of the official residence, the people from the various Righteous Path sects had already gathered.

When that gate appeared, Grey Wastes City had also felt the tremor.

Though not as violent as in No Life Town, the ripple of spiritual power had still carried over.

Anyone with even a trace of cultivation could sense it.

It was a foreign yet overwhelmingly powerful ripple of spiritual energy—ancient, heavy, carrying an indescribable pressure.

Lu Mingyue stood on the highest terrace of the residence, gazing in that direction.

From this distance, the gate was just a tiny speck, but the ripple of spiritual power felt close enough to press on everyone’s chests.

Mu Qinghan stood behind her, hand on her sword.

Qu Hongling stood a bit farther away, her face unusually devoid of its usual playful expression.

Soon, the disciple sent to investigate returned.

“Reporting to all seniors, that is the entrance to a Mystic Realm.”

The disciple’s voice carried an excitement he could barely contain.

“A Mystic Realm? Its name and origin?”

“Unknown for now. We’ve only deciphered a small part so far, including the entry conditions and some rules.”

“What?”

“Entry condition: below the Spiritual Martial Realm. Rules: You may trust their faces, but do not trust their words. No matter how familiar the voice sounds, no matter how true the secret it tells—do not turn back, do not answer, do not stop walking.”

The sect masters exchanged glances, each seeing unease in the others’ eyes.

A Deception-path Mystic Realm…

There were many Mystic Realms in this world—some born from nature, some left behind by powerful beings.

Among them, Deception-path Mystic Realms were the most difficult to solve and had the highest death rate.

Those rules seemed unrelated and contradictory on the surface, but they held hidden profundities.

One misstep and death would follow.

However, the opportunities within such Realms were often the greatest.

A silence spread through the crowd, not only because of the Mystic Realm, but…

“Did this… appear too conveniently?”

No one refuted it.

The Heaven Origin Sect wasn’t the only one attacked by the Demonic Path.

Other sects had been hit too.

They had all received the same message: Gift.

“It’s a trap,” someone stated bluntly.

“A trap set by the Demonic Path. They’re using the Mystic Realm as bait to lure our disciples in.”

“But the Mystic Realm is real,” another voice argued.

“That kind of spiritual power fluctuation, that ancient aura—it can’t be faked.”

“A real Mystic Realm can still be a trap. Who knows what tricks they’ve played inside?”

“Then we don’t go?”

“Not go? What if the Demonic Path gets whatever’s inside? What will we fight them with then?”

The debate yielded no conclusion.

But everyone knew: one way or another, they had to enter this Mystic Realm.

Whether out of greed or because they couldn’t afford to let the Demonic Path claim what was inside.

If the Righteous Path didn’t go, the Demonic Path would.

If the Righteous Path didn’t enter, the Demonic Path would.

They had no choice.

Lu Mingyue stood on the terrace, silent the whole time.

She gazed southeast, her eyes fixed on that gate, murmuring to herself in a voice only she could hear.

“No Life Town… that place…”

Not far away, Shen Qishuang stood among the crowd.

She glanced at Lu Mingyue, then looked at the distant gate.

‘Tch. Why did it have to be there? What are they up to?’

News of the Mystic Realm quickly spread through all of Grey Wastes City, reaching even the rogue cultivators who hadn’t yet entered the city.

Anyone below the Spiritual Martial Realm could enter.

This news stirred a thousand waves.

Everyone’s attention converged on that spot.

No one noticed that, at the same time the gate appeared, a faint, barely visible ring of light had formed around the base of the White Tower in Grey Wastes City.