A few minutes before Xuan Hao arrived at the valley where the secret realm was located, he was flying as fast as he could when a large earthquake suddenly appeared and shook the surroundings. The earthquake in itself was not anything to scuff at as the few villages nearby saw a few houses collapsing under the sudden earthquake.
"Is the entrance to the secret realm opening already?" Looking in the direction that the earthquake stemmed from, Xuan Hao quickly found out that it was the same location as the entrance to the secret realm that Chi Hu had told him about.
Whoosh~
The sound of a violent wind could be heard as the qi between heaven and earth suddenly began in a hundred-mile radius around the secret realms entrance.
This was one of the most common ways to identify a secret realm opening as the amount of qi they devoured in the process of opening was large enough to be sensed from far away. Xuan Hao even believed that he would have been able sense such a large change in the qi between heaven and earth even if he was far outside the Heavenly Sky Kingdom… Let alone when he was already inside it.
"Looks like the entrance is indeed opening… The Black Rose Sect is located nearby, I should hurry so I can enter before they arrive." Muttering this to himself, Xuan Hao glanced over in the direction where the Black Rose Sect was located before flying in the direction of the secret realms entrance as fast as possible.
…
Flying for another few minutes, Xuan Hao soon spotted the giant gate entrance to the secret realm along with Chi Hu standing nervously a few meters away, seemingly waiting for someone.
Xuan Hao smiled a bit when he saw this as he chose a location a bit away before descending down from the sky without any of the still remaining cultivators seeing him in the process.
"Hah… Seems like I was a bit too slow to inform Elder Xuan…" Upon closing the distance, Xuan Hao managed to hear Chi Hu mutter to himself, clearly regretting the fact that he had not informed him about the secret realm earlier.
"Oh, I think I arrived just on time!" Walking up behind Chi Hu, Xuan Hao called out to him as Chi Hu promptly reacted by turning around turned around.
"Elder Xuan! It's great to see you managed to arrive, I was just about to enter the secret realm myself before some bigshot came and blocked the entrance!" Chi Hu greeted happily before he complained a bit about the fact that someone would most likely come to block people from entering soon.
"Indeed, we should hurry inside, or we might really end up being blocked from entering the secret realm." Shaking his head upon thinking about this, Xuan Hao and Chi Hu quickly made their way inside the secret realm and was greeted by a majestic ancient forest spreading out as far as the eye could see in all directions.
"Hm… It's most likely a forest used to nurture demon beasts." Looking up at the different ancient trees reaching for the sky above and rich foliage below, Chi Hu muttered to himself as he began inspecting the surroundings that they found themselves in.
"A forest used to nurture demon beasts?" Hearing what Chi Hu said, Xuan Hao began to observe the surrounding environment as well and there were indeed a few marks left behind indicating the true use of the forest.
Looking around, Xuan Hao deducted that the large ancient forest was most likely not only used to nurture demon beasts but was also used like a test of sorts. Similar to how the Flying Sword Sect sent their new disciples into the demon beast forest that they kept under their control.
"Only, how strong would the power behind this secret realm be for their tests to be so hard…?" Looking down on the corpse of the unlucky lion demon beast from earlier, Xuan Hao very clearly noticed that it had the strength at the Peak of the Core Formation Realm when it was still alive!
For someone to keep demon beasts like this and rear them to be used in a test…? Xuan Hao clearly felt that the power behind this secret realm was not something ordinary. Maybe it was from a past long fallen empire or maybe the testing ground of one of a past sect that could rival a kingdom?
"Elder Xuan, look over here!" Interrupting his train of thought, Chi Hu excitedly called out to him as Xuan Hao moved his sight over in the direction that Chi Hu was pointing.
"A road?"
"Yes! It must lead to somewhere important in the secret realm! Let's hurry, the ones who entered before us should have already found this road. If we are not fast enough, there might not be anything left for us when we arrive!" Still full of excitement, Chi Hu hurried Xuan Hao as both of them soon made their way down the road leading deeper into the ancient forest.
Keeping vigilant for any demon beasts that might attack them along the road.
…
"Hm? This is… In the territory of the Sky Empire? A new secret realm appeared and from the looks of it, it should be from someone at the early stage of the Soul Ascension Realm… But when did someone at that stage appear on the borders of the Sky Empire?" Inside a dark and gloomy room big enough to put the throne room of Heavenly Sky Kingdom to shame, an elderly man covered in a pitch-black robe had a thoughtful look on his face as his divine sense spread out and moved in the direction of a large pair of doors leading outside the dark and gloomy room.
At the same time, a person standing outside guarding the large pair of doors immediately felt a shiver go down his spine as he felt the tremendous divine sense bearing down on him.
Stopping himself from shaking, the guard knew what to do and made his way inside the dark and gloomy room, as he kneeled down in front of the elderly man sitting in a meditative position at the centre. Waiting for him to speak.
"A new secret realm appeared at the borders of the Sky Empire. Go and check out where this secret realm stems from, if it is anything worthwhile, inform me about it. If not, just ignore it and let the Sky Empire have it for themselves…" Hearing the elderly man's order, the guard quickly bowed before taking his leave through the giant pair of doors as a new person soon appeared in front of them to replace him.
Similar scenes like this could be seen happening in the different empires and powerful sects surrounding the Sky Empire as all of them sent someone over to check the appearance of the new secret realm.