Entering the secret realm, General Liu soon caught up with the Imperial Teacher and the two people from the Onyx Empire as he began asking about why they suddenly began to work together with the Onyx Empire.
But his question fell on deaf ears as the Imperial Teacher did not answer even a single question and instead just continued further into the secret realm as the two people from the Onyx Empire followed closely behind them. Not getting too close and not falling too far behind.
Like this, the group of four made their way through the secret realm at a fast pace as all of them could fly at their current cultivation realm. Making traversing the secret realm easy and fast.
During the entire time, General Liu kept sending hateful looks in the direction of General Zhang as the latter just smiled at him in return.
"This should be the first part of the formation…" Coming to a stop after flying above the ancient forest of the secret realm for a few hours, the Imperial Teacher of the Sky Empire looked up at a giant pillar piercing through the sky above as he muttered this to himself.
The most shocking thing to General Liu was the fact that there were many more similar pillars in the distance as they seemed to form a circle around the secret realms entrance.
Even the Sky Empire would find it difficult to create such a large formation! And the Imperial Teacher only said this was the first part of the formation!?
Filled with disbelief and surprise at the giant pillars, General Liu was not the only one as General Zhang from the Onyx Empire opened his mouth with an equally shocking expression on his face after seeing the giant pillar towering far into the sky of the secret realm.
"Imperial Teacher, what is this formation for… I have never seen anything like it, and you said this was only the first part?!" Looking over at the Imperial Teacher, General Liu had manged to hear him muttering this to himself and could not stop himself from asking.
"Indeed… This is only the first part of the formation and from what I know, this should be the first out of three parts of this formation! As for what it is used for… Even I don't know!" Shaking his head as he flew over and put his hand on the formation pillar before quickly closing his eyes, the Imperial Teacher answered with a somewhat confused expression on his face.
"Don't bother trying to figure it out, the formation was set up by a formation master in the Soul Ascension Realm. Not something we will be able to understand at our current realm… Let's hurry or others will begin to show up" The person covered in darkness from the Onyx Empires side came in from the side and said this before hurrying the group to continue. Clearly not wanting to waste too much time admiring the giant formation pillars.
"True… If we don't make it to the core area before the others begin showing up, we won't have a chance when it comes to getting the things hidden inside… After all, when those people discover who this place belonged to in the past, Soul Ascension Realm Expert would begin showing up…𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚
Our best chance is to clean up the core area and collapse this secret realm before those people show up in the first place. That way we would at least be able to avoid having them find out…" Nodding his head in agreement with the person from the Onyx Empire, the Imperial Teacher had a serious expression on his face as the group resumed their journey deeper into the secret realm.
It was also at this point in time that both General Liu and General Zhang realized the seriousness of the matter.
Anything that could attract the attention of someone in the Soul Ascension Realm to move out personally could bring enormous benefits to an empire or in worst cases an empire ending calamity!
Even the Sky Empire only had a handful of Soul Ascension Realm Experts and most of them were in closed door seclusion all year long. Never moving no matter what secret realm showed up in the world.
Normally only Domain Lords would move whenever a secret realm appeared on the Ewaria Continent… For this secret realm to cause Soul Ascension Realm Experts to flock to it… Both General Liu and General Zhang understood the seriousness of the matter!
At this point, General Liu no longer kept sending angry looks over in the direction of General Zhang and instead decided to faithfully follow behind the Imperial Teacher as the group of four quickly made their way through the Nascent Soul Realm Area and into the Domain Lord Realm Area.
Not even stopping when they passed by the second layer of formation pillars as the group only cast a few glances at them before continuing forward.
…
Most of the Domain Lord Realm demon beast were smart? enough to avoid the group of four as they travelled through the Domain Lord Realm area.
The reason for this, was that the Imperial Teacher and the person from the Onyx Empire released their aura of high-level Domain Lords to scare away the nearby Domain Lord demon beast, but even then, a few weaker demon beasts still decided to attack them from time to time. Luckily they were nothing to worry about.
Like this, the group of four soon made it to the third and final circle of formation pillars without encountering too much resistance.
"Hm? Who is there!" The moment the group came to a stop before the pillars, the person from the Onyx Empire suddenly shouted out as his dark aura began boiling violently. Prepared to attack at any moment necessary.
The other three also got ready as they looked towards one of the formation pillars where a lonely figure could be seen sitting quietly meditating all by himself with a wooden staff planted into the ground beside him.
But this did not make the group of four calm down as the aura of a Domain Lord could clearly be felt from the seated figure, though not as strong as the Imperial Teacher and the person from the Onyx Empire, he should still be in the middle stages of the Domain Lord Realm!
The person before them was indeed the wanderer that had entered the secret realm before them, and he had even been lucky enough to breakthrough from the early stages of the Domain Lord Realm and reach the middle stage of the realm!
This would allow for him be considered strong even when it came to the entire Ewaria Continent as most of the people exploring and moving around like himself were mostly at the early stages of the Domain Lord Realm if not weaker!
W-what is this!? Are these the people from the Sky Empire!?
However, currently he was panicking as he felt the aura of two high-level Domain Lords along with two early-stage Domain Lords bearing down on him.
Earlier he had thought that even if people from the Sky Empire showed up, he should be able to escape with his current cultivation, but the two terrifying auras above him proved that he was wrong and made him regret staying to comprehend the formations hidden inside of the formation pillar in front of him.
"H-hello, I did not expect to meet people from the Sky Empire here…" Awkwardly getting up and flying into the air to meet the group of four.
"You are?" Staring at the unfamiliar person, all four people did not bother correcting him as the Imperial Teacher walked forward and asked.
"Ah, haha, I-I'm just a humble wanderer who happened to come upon this secret realm and decided to explore it. I-I had no idea that the Sky Empire would be in charge of it! I will just take my leave now!" Nervously stating this, the wanderer was just about to leave when the Imperial Teacher of the Sky Empire flew over to block his path.
"Hold on… Do you know anything about the area ahead or the formation pillars…?" Asking this, the Imperial Teacher narrowed his eyes as he decided to interrogate this person.
If he knew about who the secret realm belonged to and spread it outside…
"Ah, it seems like the secret realm ends after this row of formation pillars, but there is an underground part to the secret realm that can be entered from the edge of the secret realm… As for the formation pillars… Hm… From what I can tell, they act to supress and split up the different demon beasts, but that should only be an accidental feature as the formation pillars are stronger the closer to the secret realms entrance they are, therefore the suppression is the strongest around the secret realms entrance…
The true use of the formation pillars still elude me, but it should have something to do with the underground part of this secret realm…" Explaining everything he had found out so far without holding anything back, the wanderer sincerely hoped that the people from the Sky Empire would let him go.
"I see, you can go now. Leave the secret realm and we won't pursue this matter!" Listing to what the wanderer said, the Imperial Teacher quickly deduced that he had no idea who the secret realm belonged to and just told him to leave.
Having someone other than their Sky Empire and Onyx Empire explore the secret realm as well would allow for the other powers to be less suspicious if the secret realm suddenly collapsed…
With that in mind, letting the wanderer go could be benifeical to them…
The person from the Onyx Empire also understood this and did not interfere as the wanderer quickly felt like he had gotten a new lease on life, thanking the Imperial Teacher happily before using his top speed to fly back towards the entrance of the secret realm.
"The core area should be somewhere in the underground part of the secret realm… Let's go!" Seeing that the wanderer had disappeared, the Imperial Teacher hurried the group of four as they made it to the edge of the secret realm and? saw the sky disappear. Instead, being replaced by the black void that stretched on infinitely where the ground of the secret realm ended.
Going over the edge would mean they entered the void between worlds…
None of the four focused on the endless void that had suddenly appeared and instead focused on the giant underground world that became visible the moment they reached the edge of the secret realm.
The secret world was like a giant island floating in the endless void as it was split into two different layers. One was the ground above, while the other was the underground part of the secret realm.
Looking at each other, the four soon entered the underground area and made their way towards the entrance of the secret realm where the core area would be located.
ROAR!
However, things would not always goes as planned as a loud roar echoed out from the distance. Forcing the group of four to stop as they took out their weapons and looked deeper into the underground world where a giant figure slowly began approaching them…