Chapter 254: Ownerless Secret Realm
“An emotion-related disorder brought about by bloodline… resulting in a sense of superiority?”
Inside an extremely luxurious room, Zhou Ming informed the Scorpion-Lion of the intelligence he had obtained.
After hearing the reason for Dulag’s betrayal, the Scorpion-Lion was clearly somewhat incredulous.
“What else could it be? If another force had truly intervened, we wouldn’t have resolved Dulag so easily. Instead, we would have had to face many more powerful enemies.”
Zhou Ming leaned back against the soft sofa, both hands pressing against his temples.
Over these three days, he had been like someone taming a hawk—using every method available to break Dulag’s will. Even he felt somewhat fatigued.
Although Bloodline Warlocks did not need to worry about their bloodline will eroding them, the influence brought by the bloodline itself could make them extraordinarily stubborn in certain aspects.
Perhaps for this very reason, very few who walked the path of the Bloodline Warlock advanced to the Legendary Rank.
Thus, whenever certain matters were involved, Dulag had appeared abnormally obstinate—so much so that Zhou Ming had almost believed his methods were no longer effective.
Compared to the drawbacks brought by bloodlines, the advantage of walking the bloodline path was that one could easily grasp Transcendent power without expending too much effort.
Improving one’s strength was also relatively simple and did not require excessive resources.
In the end, choosing this path depended on one’s personal circumstances.
If one could rely on bloodline power to advance to Transcendent Master or Legendary Saint, then there was no need to overthink it. After all, for most people, gaining Transcendent power through other means usually meant stopping at Official Rank Profession.
After hearing this, the Scorpion-Lion analyzed it briefly and silently agreed with Zhou Ming’s reasoning.
Black Reef Island was remote, and with the protection of the Sea Race in these waters, major forces generally would not come here looking for trouble.
If a major force had truly intervened, they would not have given the Duanmu Family any time to react. They would have simply destroyed the small Dimensional Rift.
“There’s more, isn’t there? You called me here so solemnly—it’s not just because of this, right?”
“There’s also a secret realm.”
“A secret realm?”
“Dulag was only influenced by his bloodline; he wasn’t completely irrational. The reason he dared betray your Duanmu Family, aside from wanting to turn the tables and become the master himself, was because he discovered an ownerless artificial secret realm. From it, he obtained partial knowledge on how to destroy a small Dimensional Rift.”
It was precisely because of this that, after advancing to a High-level Bloodline Warlock and stabilizing his rapidly surging power, Dulag had been unable to wait any longer and had wanted to destroy the small Dimensional Rift.
Had Zhou Ming and the others arrived even one day later, the century-long foundation painstakingly built by the Duanmu Family would have been reduced to nothing.
Upon hearing this, the Scorpion-Lion immediately understood Zhou Ming’s meaning—he wanted him to accompany him in exploring this secret realm.
“In the Tamu World, we can remain for at most one month. Beyond that, the suppression brought by the World Will will not only intensify severely, but misfortune may also cling to us.”
“That ownerless secret realm is on Black Reef Island. Dulag discovered it accidentally while gathering resources. Aside from the core area, there is nothing inside capable of threatening us.”
Zhou Ming understood the Scorpion-Lion’s concern and briefly explained the specific situation of the secret realm.
“When do we depart?”
“Tomorrow. I’ll leave after my condition recovers.”
Although he had already learned about the secret realm’s situation from Dulag, Zhou Ming knew that when facing unknown risks, one must make thorough preparations.
No matter how great the benefits were, without one’s life, everything would be meaningless.
At dawn the next day, as the first light rose, Zhou Ming and the Scorpion-Lion quietly left the castle at the mine.
Black Reef Island was high in the west and low in the east. The western side was filled with undulating mountains and crisscrossing gorges. Aside from the complex environment, there were various ferocious beasts and low-tier Ferocious Beasts.
As for high-tier Ferocious Beasts and the like, the Duanmu Family had long cleared them out to ensure the safety of the mine.
Precisely because of this, in this place that ordinary people could hardly enter, no one had discovered that an ownerless secret realm was hidden there.
If Dulag had not gone there to gather resources for advancing to High-level Bloodline Warlock, he would never have obtained the inheritance of a Rune Mage.
After all, Dulag had no background or inheritance. The Rune Mage path was not some roadside stall commodity that anyone could casually acquire.
Knowing the exact location, Zhou Ming and the Scorpion-Lion headed straight for their destination.
Though the path was rugged, with towering mountains, dense forests, and all manner of Ferocious Beasts and venomous insects, both of them possessed powerful Beast mounts. These obstacles were trivial to them.
Thus, under the blazing midday sun, the two arrived at a valley shrouded in clouds and mist.
“This is the ownerless secret realm Dulag discovered?”
The Scorpion-Lion sat cross-legged atop his mount, extending his Spiritual Power to probe the surroundings, yet he found nothing unusual.
Perhaps the only suspicious aspect was that even at noon, the mist in the valley showed no signs of dispersing.
“It’s within this valley. Dulag discovered it by accident. Otherwise, beings at the Professional Rank wouldn’t have been able to find it.”
“Let’s go.”
Zhou Ming did not elaborate further. He directly guided the Dark-gold Purple-patterned Python beneath him into the valley.
Seeing Zhou Ming enter, the Scorpion-Lion followed without hesitation, showing no doubt in the information.
The mist-shrouded valley before them was fairly large. Inside, it was nearly a hundred meters wide and stretched two to three kilometers in length.
Vegetation grew luxuriantly within, and traces of low-tier Ferocious Beasts and wild beasts could be seen everywhere.
However, as the mounts of Zhou Ming and the Scorpion-Lion arrived, those creatures had long fled in fear, not daring to provoke beings capable of crushing them.
As the Dark-gold Purple-patterned Python pressed down the weeds in the valley, carving out a rugged path, the two passed through the gauze-like drizzle of mist and smoothly arrived at a pond covering roughly an acre.
The cool pond lay against a sheer cliff face. With sunlight barely able to penetrate the valley’s interior, the surroundings felt unusually refreshing.
“This is the place?”
“Yes.”
In response to the Scorpion-Lion’s question, Zhou Ming gave a brief acknowledgment and began following the method he had learned from Dulag to open the entrance to the ownerless secret realm before them.
With a stretch of his right hand, a blood-colored snake head suddenly emerged from his palm. As its body extended, it began entering the pond.
After several breaths, where the blood-red snake shadow touched the water’s surface, ripples spread outward like blooming lotus flowers.
When the ripples expanded into a vortex several meters in diameter, a pitch-black passage appeared before the two.
“Be careful.”
Zhou Ming withdrew the Dark-gold Purple-patterned Python into his body. Revealing his Serpentfolk Form, he turned back to remind the Scorpion-Lion.
Although he wished to obtain benefits from this ownerless secret realm, he did not want the Scorpion-Lion to encounter any mishap because of it.
“Don’t worry.”
At this moment, there was none of their usual banter. Instead, their expressions became solemn—just like the first time they had cooperated to hunt a Wyvern.
Seeing that the Scorpion-Lion was ready, Zhou Ming immediately leapt down. The Scorpion-Lion drew out his Golden Great Spear and rode the Scorpion-Tailed Lion closely behind.