"We only want the information that you have on the secret realm. After all, you treasure hunters would never enter a secret realm without ample preparation and knowing where the treasure inside is located…" Walking up the alchemist treasure hunter, Chi Hu narrowed his eyes as he asked the treasure hunter with a certain look on his face.
Xuan Hao on the other hand stood a bit farther away and observed as Chi Hu began interrogating the treasure hunter. Not wanting to interfere in what he was doing. After all, Xuan Hao had never tried to interrogate anyone before, and Chi Hu seemed to know what he was doing at the very least…
"So, do you know anything about the treasures inside the secret realm or perhaps where some of the important places inside are located?!" Standing a bit back after finishing his question, Chi Hu waited for the treasure hunter to respond. Preparing to use some more questions in case he was unwilling to answer truthfully to those few simple ones.
"Ah yes of course I do! Take the temple as an example, there was supposed to be a few pillars made out of rare metals inside according to one of our sources. Apparently, it is the temple of an ancient god that ceased to exist long ago. The temple should be one of the last few from that ancient god left on the continent." Not hesitating in the slightest, the treasure answered truthfully as he even described the precious metal pillars inside of the temple.
"I-I see, what about other important locations inside the secret realm or some of history behind it...?" Not expecting for the treasure hunter to answer without even trying to plead for his own life or ensure his own safety, Chi Hu was momentarily shocked as he soon began to question the treasure hunter further.
"I don't really know much outside the temple, as it was supposed to be the only place we raided before leaving the secret realm. After all, we would not want to stay too long and wait for the entrance to get blocked off by those bigshots from the surrounding empires and strong entities…
But outside of the temple, we also found out about a small palace located at the border the testing area holding an ancient artifact from the temple. However, going there would be suicide with our strength. So, we ended up deciding to just raid the temple." Shaking his head as he explained this, the treasure hunter had a regretful look on his face as talked about the small palace.
"Why would it be suicide for you?" Thinking about it, Chi Hu realized that there were a bunch of dangerous demon beast along the way. Some even close to the Domain Lord Realm!
"Hah… The seal of the demon beast would expire before we even managed to reach the area and the entrance to the secret realm would have been sealed off by the bigshots of the different empires and other powerful entities by then…" Sighing regretfully at the thought of those bigshots taking away his treasures upon reaching the entrance of the secret realm, the treasure hunter became a bit depressed.
The number of times he had ended up looting an ancient ruin. Only to have someone come over and take away all the artifacts because it was the "territory" of one of those bigshots…
The treasure hunter knew very well that he could not afford to offend someone like that, so he was forced to give up his artifacts in order to keep his life safe. Truly a painful experience!
"Seal on the demon beast…? What do you mean, we have seen several demon beast since entering the secret realm…" The confused voice of Xuan Hao echoed out from behind Chi Hu before he could ask.
"Ah, it is only the demon beast at the Nascent Soul Realm and above that are sealed, though… From what I know, the seal should naturally release one week after the opening of the secret realm. The core area should also become accessible at that point. Most secret realms work like this, and this is also the reason why most bigshots only start appearing around one week after a secret realm opens.
Treasure Hunters like me use this time period to get as many treasures as possible. Leaving before the bigshots arrive to seal off the area!" Answering confidently to Xuan Hao's question, the treasure hunter proudly waited to see Xuan Hao and Chi Hu's response.
"But… We have just seen a group of Nascent Soul Realm demon beasts…" Smiling wryly, Chi Hu could not help but question the treasure hunter as he still vividly remembered the terrifying wolf howl from earlier along with the group of Nascent Soul Realm wolves playing with the barrier between the Core Formation and Nascent Soul Realm area of the secret realm.
"Hm!? W-wait… A-are you sure…?" Freezing in place, the treasure hunter began to look nervous all of a sudden as he asked in a shivering voice.
"Yes? Perhaps the secret realm had already been open, and we just couldn't enter it earlier…" Not understanding why, the treasure hunter looked so scared and nervous all of a sudden, Chi Hu could not help but ask him while thinking about the probability of the entrance already being open even though the gate leading inside was closed.𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦
After all, nobody went up and tried to open the gate manually during the time that they waited around for it to open by itself…
"…"
How do you think a secret realm works…? Is it something that can just be opened so easily without gathering an enormous amount of qi…?
"The secret realm was not opened before the entrance opened up by itself… This can only mean that this secret realm's seal on the demon beast somehow weakened significantly..." Shaking his head a bit as he brushed aside Chi Hu's idea. The treasure hunter narrowed his eyes upon reaching the last part.
"Meaning…?" Feeling the serious and nervous tone in the treasure hunter's speech, Chi Hu could not help himself from Urging for him to continue.
"Meaning…"