Chapter 214: The First Secret Realm In The World
But now, they no longer had the obsession with cultivation or the fear they felt before, mainly because they realized that neither would give them what they wanted.
Instead, they started to build their own peaceful lives and began to enjoy it, which was a good thing for them, as any kind of conflict could disrupt this delicate balance.
After a few hours of wandering around the city, he made his way toward the city's outskirts. During this time, Xu Qianghua reflected on the year's developments.
In the old timeline, the Central Continent had been in a sad state, with not many people like their family. Instead, they focused solely on their cultivation without caring about anything outside.
This led to most of the commoners who did not have any force supporting them barely staying alive, and because of this, there were not many high-level cultivators among this group of people.
But everything was different now, as the few cultivation families able to set up their bases on this continent had followed their lead and were now actively trading.
This boost in trade had improved the economy and made the lives of the commoners much better than before.
Satisfied, Xu Qianghua decided it was time to continue his journey toward the Empyrean Harmony Sect.
He started down a winding road leading out of the city, blending seamlessly into the steady stream of travelers and adventurers.
However, he did not take the fastest route, as there was still quite a bit of time before the Spiritual Vein Ceremony.
He could roam around different parts of the continent before teleporting to the Sect.
So he went, visiting many different places, both human-occupied areas and those with beasts living similarly to the Silverpeak Mountains.
Still, he did not touch anything unless something caught his eye. He did this because he did not want these places to soon become hunting grounds or something similar in the future.
This was not out of compassion but because he wanted to speed up the growth period, which, without his help, would have taken hundreds of years.
However, as he walked, a faint disturbance in the spatial energy around him caught his attention. Curious, he paused and spread out his spiritual consciousness.
The disturbance wasn't massive; it was even a little too quiet, as if trying to hide. But with Xu Qianghua's cultivation, it was a piece of cake to sense.
'A spatial anomaly?' he thought, intrigued. Although he had some guesses as to what it was, he did not come to any conclusions, as most of his guesses would not occur in this world right now.
So he knew that whatever it was, it was not really dangerous, but this did not lower his guard.
Xu Qianghua then adjusted his path, following the faint spatial trail as it led him toward a quieter area farther away from the well-kept path.
The path he was walking on appeared to be a low-level project that someone must have done, and the project seemed to have been abandoned.
Nevertheless, the path led him to a valley surrounded by towering mountains, its entrance hidden by dense vegetation.
As he stepped into the valley, the air became thick with energy as it tried to flow toward the center of the valley.
The valley was silent, save for the gentle rustling of leaves. Yet, the silent noise of Spiritual Qi that only cultivators could hear buzzed through the air.
He expanded his consciousness, and as he did, he felt an area where his conscience could not penetrate, which narrowed his guesses to a few.
Following the flow of energy, he made his way toward the source—a lone stone pillar partially hidden by twisted vines and moss.
The stone pillar was filled with symbols etched into its surface. Although they appeared old, they were likely not; it's just that, without any Spiritual Qi infused, they had started to fade.
Not much faded, as Xu Qianghua could still read the symbols clearly, but from the moment he saw the pillar, he knew what it was and could not help but comment.
"Now, I have a good gift for the two Sect masters," he murmured as he approached the pillar to see if his guess was right.
This pillar was the anchor point to a secret realm that had either been created by the Supreme Will, the World's Will, or a high-level cultivator.
But the chances of it being made by the World's Will were high, as the Supreme Will would not bother itself with creating a secret realm for a small world like theirs.
Similarly, it couldn't be a man-made one, as there were no such cultivators in this void sector. Even if there were, they would make the anchor point stay in their own planets.
But then again, Xu Qianghua could not help but doubt this, as he did not expect the World to enter the era of Secret Realm diving so soon.
Although he referred to it as an era, he used the term lightly, as it was during this period that the calm world started to resemble the cultivated worlds found in novels.
You see, these secret realms are similar to treasure troves filled with vast amounts of heavenly materials, which could allow a low-level family to level up a few tiers without breaking a sweat.
These secret realms have a function where they can rest after a certain amount of time.
This made these pillars strategic resources that every top family wanted to own.
Although achieving these kinds of feats was hard, it was still possible, which caused most cultivators in the world to flock to the secret realms.