Eternal Life: I Can Control My Essence Qi-Chapter 245 - 188: The Secret Realm Finally Opens (Part 2)

Secondly, he delved deeper into the memories and knowledge left by Yu Wen Tai, learning not just one new Daoist technique, which significantly increased his strength once again.

It must be said:

Having extremely detailed memories as a reference, practicing Daoist techniques was as easy as revising old lessons. In just one year, he made as much progress as he would have in decades, allowing Zhang Yao's skills to make great strides.

Finally, and most importantly—

With the help of Yu Wen Tai's memories and his own personal inspection and adjustments, he became extremely familiar with the entire secret realm, maximizing his home field advantage and preparing to 'open the door and welcome guests.'

Being from the same Array Refining Body lineage, now even if the Five Elements Wanderer Liu Cang were to be reborn, he might not instantly seize control of the array from the outside. This was the source of Zhang Yao's confidence.

"Whoosh!"

With a thought, he took a step and directly vanished from the outer small world, returning to the core palace.

Outside a quiet chamber within the palace:

On a glazed jade pendant, a spiritual light revealed a transparent hourglass, faintly filled with five-colored sand that filled half of the hourglass.

"Already accumulated forty percent, leaving sixty percent remaining..."

Zhang Yao caressed the glazed jade pendant, his eyes flickering:

"If everything goes smoothly, it might take less than a month to complete the accumulation of the Soul Thought Aura."

The Soul Thought Aura already accumulated was slowly left behind during the explorations by the five major Golden Core Influences back in the day.

It's just that the personnel each clan dispatched was limited, and although the exploration teams kept changing, the total number of people who entered the secret realm was just over a hundred, never gathering the required number.

This time, with the secret realm reopening, Lingyang Sect and the other two would surely go all out for a final battle, and even if they hoarded resources, they could gather the necessary personnel.

"Hmm?!"

At this moment, Zhang Yao's expression shifted slightly, and he turned to look towards the outside world, his gaze deep:

"They've finally arrived..."

......

Outside the Secret Realm Gate, within the rolling lava.

"Rumble..."

Endless magma roared, repelled by an invisible force to form a large expanse of clean land.

At the core of this clean land, True Yang Ancestor, clad in a red robe and wearing a purple gold crown, stared grimly at the bronze gate:

"Someone destroyed the seal?!" 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Seeing that the secret realm was about to reopen, he came a step earlier to check, ensuring nothing would go wrong.

But unexpectedly, a routine inspection revealed that the seal on the Secret Realm Gate had been broken, with someone having already infiltrated!

"Yu Wen Tai! It must have been him!"

True Yang Ancestor's expression was sullen, immediately suspecting Yu Wen Tai.

He, along with the Three Mountains Ancestor and Dugu Tianyi, had previously speculated about the mastermind behind the Celestial Treasure Tower massacre, suspecting either Yu Wen Tai or an external hidden Golden Core cultivator.

But now it seems, there wasn't any hidden Golden Core Ancestor; it was Yu Wen Tai all along!

Golden Core realm cultivators couldn't enter the Five Elements Secret Realm, but Yu Wen Tai happened to possess an unknown number of Third-grade Secret Treasures, enough to forcefully break the seal of the Secret Realm Gate.

"This is bad..."

True Yang Ancestor felt a bit troubled:

"Being caught off guard allowed this person to gain the upper hand. What should we do?"

Abandoning the opening of the secret realm was clearly impossible; an arrow on the string cannot not be fired.

But Yu Wen Tai's threat was too great, equivalent to a Golden Core realm cultivator when facing ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivators. How could they compete with him inside the secret realm?

"Seems like I'll need to discuss with them..."

True Yang Ancestor had no choice but to hastily return, leaving Prison Gate Mountain quickly.

An hour later:

The three Golden Core Ancestors reconvened at the top floor of the Celestial Treasure Tower, discussing how to counter the threat from Yu Wen Tai:

"This person is truly reckless!"

The Three Mountains Ancestor cursed angrily:

"He killed so many people and thinks hiding in the secret realm means we can't touch him?"

"In my opinion, we should set a heavenly net outside. If he dares to step out of the secret realm, he'd be dead!"

The massacre in the council hall still irked him, and he was eager to kill Yu Wen Tai.

Not to mention, Yu Wen Tai had now broken the seal and hid inside the Five Elements Secret Realm, marking himself as their enemy.

"Strange..."

Dugu Tianyi frowned, speaking:

"What on earth does Yu Wen Tai want to do?"

During their last discussion, he had doubts about Yu Wen Tai's motives.

Now going over it again, Yu Wen Tai's actions still baffled him, leaving him puzzled about his goals.

He could only speculate that Yu Wen Tai had possibly discovered new clues critical to his breakthrough to the Golden Core and chose not to flee but to hide within the Five Elements Secret Realm?

"What he wants to do no longer matters."

True Yang Ancestor's expression was cold, his voice chilling:

"He is now a direct threat and must be eliminated!"

"Otherwise, our painstaking efforts over a hundred years to nurture the Realm Breakers would benefit him instead!"

"How do we eliminate him?"

The Three Mountains Ancestor retorted:

"It's easy for you to say, but who can kill him hiding inside the Five Elements Secret Realm?"

True Yang Ancestor's expression remained unchanged, his eyes suddenly deepened:

"It depends on whether you are willing..."

Hearing this, both the Three Mountains Ancestor and Dugu Tianyi paused, then suddenly realized, their expressions slightly changed:

"You mean... using that method?"

The second half of the Three Mountains Ancestor's sentence instinctively shifted to Divine Thought transmission.

They ceased speaking aloud after that, switching entirely to Divine Thought communication. From their expressions, they seemed to have argued, but eventually, they compromised with each other.

"...What's the matter?"

In the underground palace, Yu Wen Tai, who was eavesdropping on their conversation, frowned.

He had concealed his Divine Thought within the array to evade detection by True Yang Ancestor and others, but the Divine Thought exchanges among Golden Core cultivators were beyond his spying.

"Buzz!"

He withdrew his Divine Thought and, leveraging the power of the Celestial Treasure Tower's third-level array, scanned the Foundation Establishment chiefs of the three sects, probing their memories.

Having served as Tower Master for decades and wielded great power, he had secretly infiltrated the entire Celestial Treasure Tower system, leaving ingenious traps on each long-term member of Foundation Establishment in the headquarters, making them his pawns and slaves.

Through these spies, he could remain indoors, yet be fully aware of external changes and investigate the incident details initially, identifying Lord Qingxu as the real culprit.

Yet, this time, his methods failed.

He probed the memories of many, but couldn't find the desired answer, clearly showing a significant secret behind True Yang Ancestor and the others' tacit agreement.

"It seems these people have cards I'm unaware of..."

Yu Wen Tai considered this without much surprise in his heart.

Centuries-long legacies, with multiple generations of Golden Core cultivators, weren't unusual.

"Who wins or loses is still uncertain."

Yu Wen Tai withdrew his Divine Thought, continuing to meditate and refine Qi, familiarizing himself with every aspect of this body.

With the great battle impending, he didn't have much time left.

......

The wait for each party became particularly long.

Finally, after a month's deadline passed, all forces gathered at the Celestial Treasure Tower Headquarters in Qian Province.

Led by Lingyang Sect, Shanhe Sect, and the Dugu Family, followed closely by the Taihe Sect, Xuanmen Association, Du Sect Zeng Clan, Changshan Yin Family, and a dozen other second-rate forces.

Nearly three hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators were present, marking a rare grand event for Da Li in a century.

"Rumble..."

Escape Light slashed through the sea of clouds, with hundreds of brilliant streaks flashing.

After a brief announcement, the three Golden Core Ancestors led the hundreds of Foundation Establishment cultivators southwards, heading straight for Liang Continent.

The Five Elements Secret Realm, sealed for over a hundred years, finally awaited its reopening.