Lu Gang stood together with several members of the Crimson Hall near the center of the gathering area, speaking with Chen Yuze while occasionally glancing toward the enormous crowd filling the clearing.
As one of the representatives sent by the Crimson Hall to oversee the opening of the Violet Heaven Secret Realm, his status here was naturally high. Even powerful sect elders treated him politely, not because of his personal strength alone, but because of the organization standing behind him.
The Artifact Refiners Union might rank among the top five most powerful organizations in the Immortal Realm, but their influence was primarily centered around commerce, artifact refinement, and economic control. They rarely interfered directly in territorial disputes or governance.
Meanwhile, the Crimson Hall controlled vast regions spanning multiple galaxies, including this planet itself. So, cooperation between the two powers was normal, especially during important events like the opening of a secret realm.
Lu Gang had been speaking respectfully with Chen Yuze regarding the arrangements inside the realm when movement near the arriving ship caught his attention. His eyes shifted casually toward the group descending from the artifact vessel.
And the moment he saw Arthur step down from the ship, Lu Gang's expression froze.
His pupils contracted slightly as memories from the forest resurfaced instantly. The sword formed entirely from Light elemental energy… the overwhelming pressure… the calm indifference Arthur had shown even after learning they belonged to the Crimson Hall.
'Why is he here with the Artifact Refiners Union…!?'
The sudden change in Lu Gang's expression didn't escape Chen Yuze's notice. The older man glanced toward Arthur briefly before looking back at Lu Gang with slight confusion.
"Do you know Master Liu?" Chen Yuze asked.
Lu Gang hesitated for a split second before replying carefully, "W-Why is he with you?"
The question only confused Chen Yuze further. "Master Liu is an extremely adept artifact refiner," he explained calmly. "So I invited him to come with us to the location of the secret realm's gate."
Lu Gang's thoughts immediately connected the pieces together. 'An expert from the Celestial Sect hiding his identity as an artifact refiner…'
The explanation somehow made sense in his head. After all, someone from the Celestial Sect possessing extraordinary skills in multiple fields didn't sound strange at all. In fact, it felt more believable than the alternative.
Still, remaining near Arthur now made him deeply uncomfortable.
If Arthur truly belonged to the Celestial Sect, offending him even slightly could create consequences far beyond what Lu Gang wanted to deal with. More importantly, he still remembered Arthur casually taking away the corpse of the Lightning Sovereign Eagle while completely ignoring the Crimson Hall's authority. That was not the behavior of someone afraid of consequences.
Lu Gang quickly cupped his fists toward Chen Yuze. "Lord Chen, we will not disturb you any longer. Please excuse us."
Before Chen Yuze could respond further, Lu Gang immediately turned around and left together with the Crimson Hall members accompanying him.
Chen Yuze watched them leave with a puzzled look before eventually turning toward Arthur, who had quietly walked closer with Fu Chengde.
"Master Liu," Chen Yuze began thoughtfully, "do you know Lu Gang? He was acting strangely after seeing you."
Arthur simply shrugged lightly. "Yeah, I met him some time ago in the Desolate forest."
That answer only deepened Chen Yuze's curiosity, but seeing Arthur clearly uninterested in continuing the topic, he wisely chose not to pry further. Someone like Arthur obviously carried secrets, and forcing questions onto such people usually wasn't a wise decision.
So instead, Chen Yuze simply nodded and changed the subject. "The realm should open soon. Once inside, remember that the Violet Heaven Secret Realm is unstable in certain regions. Avoid spatial distortions if you encounter them."
"I'll keep that in mind," Arthur replied calmly.
After that, the group simply waited for the gate to appear. The atmosphere throughout the clearing gradually became heavier as time passed. Thousands of cultivators stood scattered throughout the area, some conversing quietly while others sat cross-legged cultivating to remain in peak condition before entering the realm. The sky itself seemed to grow darker with each passing minute.
Then nearly an hour later, the environment suddenly changed. Dark clouds rapidly gathered above the desolate forest, swirling unnaturally across the sky like a giant vortex. Violent spiritual energy fluctuations spread through the atmosphere, causing many cultivators to immediately rise to their feet.
Arthur narrowed his eyes slightly while observing the sky. He had been about to ask Chen Yuze where exactly the entrance would appear when…
CRACK!
Space suddenly fractured and a massive vertical tear ripped open beneath the storm clouds, stretching across the sky like a wound carved directly into space itself. The spatial crack was enormous, so huge that even from over a hundred kilometers away it remained clearly visible. Violent spatial turbulence surged around its edges while ancient spiritual energy leaked outward from within the opening.
Arthur's eyes sharpened slightly while analyzing the structure of the tear. 'Interesting…'
The spatial stability inside the crack was surprisingly balanced despite the violent appearance outside. Whoever created this realm had terrifying mastery over space.
The moment the tear stabilized completely, the entire clearing exploded into motion. Hundreds of cultivators immediately shot into the air, transforming into streaks of light as they rushed toward the entrance with excitement, greed, caution, or ambition visible on their faces.
Arthur rose into the air as well, following behind the crowd without rushing unnecessarily. Beside him, Chen Yuze flew calmly while observing the enormous spatial tear ahead.
It didn't take long for them to approach the entrance itself. The closer Arthur got, the more clearly he could sense the dense spiritual energy leaking from inside the realm. It was several times richer than the energy outside.
Chen Yuze glanced toward Arthur one final time before the entrance.
"Good luck, Master Liu," he said sincerely. "I'll wait for your return in the city."
Arthur gave a small nod. "Thank you."
Then without hesitation, he flew directly into the spatial tear.
…
Arthur felt a brief sensation of weightlessness as distorted spatial currents passed around him. The transition only lasted for a moment before his feet touched something solid.
He immediately stabilized himself and looked around carefully. The environment was vastly different from outside.
The sky above carried a reddish hue, while the surrounding terrain consisted entirely of jagged black mountains stretching endlessly into the distance. The air itself felt heavy with dense spiritual energy, far richer than anything outside the realm.
Arthur quickly realized he was standing atop what appeared to be a massive jagged boulder. But the next second his expression changed slightly. Because the "boulder" beneath him possessed an incredibly strong lifeforce. Without hesitation, he teleported nearly a kilometer away.
BOOOOM!
The place where he had stood exploded apart as an enormous pair of jaws snapped shut violently. Arthur hovered in the air while looking toward the creature fully now emerging from beneath the rocky terrain.
It was a gigantic salamander-like monster nearly a hundred meters long and over thirty meters tall. Its scales resembled black volcanic stone, rough and jagged enough to blend perfectly with the mountain range itself. And the "boulder" Arthur had landed on earlier had merely been one of its scales.
The creature immediately locked onto Arthur again, its fiery orange eyes glowing intensely. Moments later, lines of orangish energy spread across its scales before gathering inside its throat.
FWOOOOSSHHH!
A massive beam of fire erupted toward Arthur, but he remained completely still.
The inferno swallowed him instantly, enough heat to turn ordinary Great Unity realm cultivators into ash within seconds. Yet inside the flames, Arthur calmly activated Energy Absorption.
The surrounding fire rapidly lost nearly half its power as the energy was forcefully absorbed into his body and converted through the Aether Energy Reactor. And the remaining flames washed over him harmlessly.
He tilted his head slightly while observing the attack. The salamander roared angrily, seeing Arthur unharmed.
SKREEEEE
He then slowly raised one hand causing the mountain range to start trembling instantly.
Dozens of enormous boulders ripped themselves free from the surrounding cliffs before floating high into the air around the salamander. Arthur's eyes glowed faintly as he activated his Divine Domain: Density Manipulation.
The rocks compressed rapidly, and their mass increased dramatically. And used the full force of Telekinesis to drop them on the salamander.
BOOOOM! BOOOOM! BOOOOM!
The reinforced boulders crashed down onto the salamander like falling meteors. Entire sections of the mountain range collapsed under the impact while shockwaves spread throughout the surrounding area.
SKREEEEEEEEEEEONGK!
The salamander released an ear-piercing screech as it became buried beneath the enormous mass of stone.
But Arthur didn't stop there. He activated Matter Manipulation instantly. And the high-density rocks suddenly softened and flowed like viscous liquid around the salamander's massive body before hardening again, trapping it completely beneath layers of compressed stone with only its head exposed outside.
The creature struggled violently, sparks of fire leaking from its mouth as it screeched toward Arthur in fury.
Arthur descended slowly until he hovered near its gigantic head. "You understand what I am saying?" he asked calmly.
The salamander only screeched louder while trying to bite him. Arthur observed it silently for a moment before concluding, "So you're not intelligent."
That matched what he had sensed earlier. Unlike the immortal beasts outside the realm, this creature lacked higher intelligence despite its strength. It behaved more like an extremely powerful animal driven purely by instinct.
Without wasting more time, Arthur casually crushed its skull using telekinesis. The salamander's body twitched briefly before going still.
Arthur extracted the blazing fire-attributed core from inside its chest before storing the corpse directly into his Sea of Consciousness. Since there was no concept of time within the white space surrounding the Spear of Heaven, the body would remain perfectly preserved indefinitely.
Even outside, the corpse of such a powerful monster could remain fresh for years due to the dense spiritual energy contained within it.
Arthur glanced across the mountain range afterward before flying away. His objective inside the Violet Heaven Secret Realm wasn't simple exploration. He wanted resources, herbs, monster cores, rare materials, biological samples, anything useful for his research.
Unfortunately, the volcanic mountain range itself lacked vegetation and higher monster concentration.
Still, it didn't take long before Arthur encountered more salamanders throughout the area. Some were weaker than the first one while others radiated slightly stronger auras, but they all belonged to the same species.
Arthur quickly reached a conclusion. 'This entire mountain range is probably their nesting territory.'
Instead of fighting them directly now, Arthur began quietly observing their movements from a distance. After several minutes, he noticed multiple salamanders repeatedly traveling toward the same location deeper within the mountains.
Curious, Arthur followed them discreetly. Eventually, he arrived before an enormous pit carved into the mountain itself. The opening alone measured over two hundred meters in diameter, descending endlessly into darkness below. The salamanders climbed inside without hesitation.
Arthur narrowed his eyes slightly while observing the abyss. Then he suppressed his aura completely and cast an invisibility spell around himself before following them downward into the pit.
The deeper he descended, the hotter the environment became. The rocky walls glowed faintly red from the intense heat while the tunnel itself extended far beyond what ordinary vision could perceive.
Even with his enhanced vision, Arthur still couldn't see the bottom in this darkness.
But he continued descending silently behind the salamanders anyway.
Because whatever existed beneath this mountain range… was probably the real reason these creatures gathered here in such numbers.
***
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