Imperial Cultivation

Encountering such strange beasts rendered the Grandmasters' greatest strengths useless.

They couldn't sense them, and their speed was inferior.

If not for the protection of their spiritual energy, they would be vulnerable to a single blow.

Even with the protection of spiritual energy, they could only withstand their attacks for a dozen or so breaths.

Within those dozen breaths, they would be attacked countless times.

Their speed was unbelievably fast.

Their movements and palm techniques were as slow as an old ox in comparison.

Facing them, they could only passively take a beating.

"Young Master, what kind of demonic beasts are these?" Qu Ying asked, increasingly curious.

Chu Zhiyuan shook his head and looked at Lu Donghu.

Lu Donghu examined the two small cats, pondered for a moment, and shook his head: "I've never seen them before. Young Master, are there many of them in the secret realm?"

Chu Zhiyuan said, "They travel in packs, likely a species, like monkeys."

"Then how are we supposed to enter?" Qu Ying asked.

They were practically invincible; no one could deal with them.

"We can only figure out their habits and actively avoid them," Lu Donghu said. "Demonic beasts all have territories; avoiding their territories should be fine."

Chu Zhiyuan nodded.

Lu Donghu's words made sense; these demonic beasts indeed had territories.

"Young Master, what are their habits?" Qu Ying asked Chu Zhiyuan curiously.

Chu Zhiyuan said, "They like sunlight and wind, so they probably come out during the day and rest at night."

"At night..." Lu Donghu and the others exchanged glances.

Entering the secret realm at night was too dangerous.

The secret realm at night was a world of demonic beasts; they were the kings and masters, and even Grandmasters had to cower in fear.

A Grandmaster's spiritual energy could not withstand the attacks of demonic beasts; they relied on their keen senses.

At night, their senses remained, but their five senses couldn't keep up, and their strength was greatly reduced.

Even if these strange beasts were gone at night, there might be other, even more powerful demonic beasts.

"Then do these demonic beasts have any weaknesses?" Lu Donghu asked.

Chu Zhiyuan shook his head: "Perhaps we should take them back and see, or would you like to stay and study them?"

Lu Donghu quickly said, "It's best if the Young Master takes them back. Just inform us of the results."

No one could control these two little things; a slight mistake would lead to endless trouble.

If they were to run rampant within the sect, how many people would survive?

Only Chu Zhiyuan was bold enough to bring them out.

A slight mistake could lead to a bloody storm, killing countless people.

These two, however, were pure white and had no Yin energy, indicating that they had never killed anyone.

Those who had never killed anyone could hopefully be tamed.

Those who had killed were difficult to tame, their ferocity hard to quell, and they would eventually kill again.

Such demonic beasts were too dangerous to keep around, as they could kill someone accidentally.

"Young Master, you've worked hard," Lu Donghu said. "If you don't mind the simplicity of our sect, how about staying here for the night?"

"Very well," Chu Zhiyuan smiled.

The small courtyard of the guesthouse halfway up the mountain.

Zou Fang and the Flying Heaven Sect disciples in charge of the guesthouse asked for more lanterns.

The small courtyard was brightly lit, as if it were daytime.

Chu Zhiyuan stood with his hands behind his back in the center of the courtyard, surrounded by afterimages of flying knives and the occasional glimpse of the two small cats.

The two small cats seemed to be playing with the four flying knives, chasing each other.

But in reality, the four flying knives were surrounding the two small cats, preventing them from escaping and preventing them from attacking Chu Zhiyuan.

The four flying knives seemed to have intelligence, completing their task without Chu Zhiyuan's direct command.

Chu Zhiyuan had initially worried whether they could handle it.

Now, he was completely at ease.

He was contemplating his experiences in the secret realm today, comparing this secret realm to the Inviting Moon Palace's secret realm and wondering what the difference was.

He had not seen the imperial court's four great paradises and secret realms, so he didn't know how they differed from the Inviting Moon Palace's secret realm.

Only Grandmasters could enter the imperial court's paradises and secret realms, while the Inviting Moon Palace and this secret realm did not necessarily require Grandmasters.

Such secret realms were more helpful to sects, but their upper limit might be lower.

As a newly discovered secret realm, this place was more dangerous than the Inviting Moon Palace's.

The demonic beasts were denser, everywhere you looked, and they were also more powerful.

Exploring such a secret realm was even more dangerous; was this why the imperial court didn't send anyone over?

Chu Zhiyuan felt that there might be other reasons.

The biggest possibility was that there were not enough Grandmasters; they were spread too thin.

Masters and Xiantian cultivators could also enter, but according to the imperial court's experience, it was best not to go in below the Grandmaster level.

Now it seemed that the imperial court's approach was correct; the Flying Heaven Sect had lost many experts for the sake of this secret realm.

If this continued, they would lose even more experts.

But looking at Lu Donghu's expression and the attitudes of the Flying Heaven Sect elders, they clearly would not rein themselves in.

They were determined to go all the way.

Thinking of this, he shook his head.

This was a case of greed blinding reason.

Lu Donghu was also a top-notch intelligent person, but he would become muddle-headed when it came to secret realms.

Secret realms were an unparalleled temptation; in Lu Donghu's and the others' eyes, with the natural treasures of the secret realm, they could improve the strength of their disciples.

They could create more Masters and more Grandmasters.

Chu Zhiyuan secretly shook his head.

The cultivation resources of a secret realm were primarily for improving aptitude and cultivation level.

Improving aptitude was the best, but extremely rare.

Improving cultivation level was mostly for those who had no hope of becoming Grandmasters.

Nowadays, the role of secret realms had actually been weakened.

Since the establishment of the Martial Arts Hall and the Phoenix Camp, Masters would appear in large numbers.

The most important thing was actually Xiantian disciples, the lower-level disciples with good aptitude.

Ensuring a sufficient number of Xiantian disciples would lead to a sufficient number of Masters, and with more Masters, there would naturally be more Grandmasters.

However, very few people could see this at present; the Flying Heaven Sect clearly had not seen the trend.

Chu Zhiyuan had no intention of reminding them.

If it were the Inviting Moon Palace, he would definitely remind Xiao Ruoling.

This was the Flying Heaven Sect's business; he didn't need to interfere and would let them be.

This newly opened secret realm indeed had many good things.

Two crimson fruits appeared in his sleeve; the scent invigorated his spirit, and then he put them back in his sleeve. Then, a golden flower appeared, as if cast from gold, with a golden shimmer.

It disappeared, and then a jade-green fruit appeared, as if carved from jade, crystal clear and warm.

These three were all natural treasures, but he didn't know what they were. He wanted to ask someone or look them up.

He put them back in his iron finger ring and looked at the two cats that were entangled with the four flying knives in the air.

The two cats' figures flickered, incredibly fast, and the four flying knives were also blurry, extremely fast, constantly blocking their path.

They had been suppressed by the four flying knives for half the night, but still showed no sign of surrender, their willpower far exceeding that of humans.

What was originally an advantage had now become a disadvantage; he couldn't make them submit, so he couldn't tame them and couldn't keep them by his side.

He knew the art of sacrifice and refinement, but it was for treasures, inanimate objects.

What he needed now was a method of taming beasts.

If he could tame them, keeping them by his side would be a great help.

Even Grandmasters would suffer against them, and a slight mistake could lead to serious injury.

Moreover, they could help explore the secret realm.

He finally decided to try the Soul Connection Talisman.