Young Noble Be Monster Slaying

Chapter 652: Xuan Yinzi's Hidden Realm

Shing.

Chu Liang sheathed the Sound-Slaying Sword, and Wen Yulong quickly applied three yellow talismans to seal it before sitting down in relief.

"Senior Brother Chu, it's been years, and you remain as impressive as ever," Wen Yulong said with a smile. "Where have you been all these years...?"

Chu Liang smiled helplessly and briefly recounted his experiences once again.

Since his return, he had found himself telling the same story to everyone he met. It was exhausting, but these were close friends and family—he couldn’t simply refuse.

If only there were some way to share daily updates here as well. He could post what had happened, and his close friends would see it immediately, sparing him from the endless retelling.

"Huh?"

As he thought about this, a sudden idea struck him.

"Junior Brother Wen, do you know anything about the Soul Subjugator Token from the Dark King Sect? Do you know the secret to crafting an interdimensional domain for housing souls?" Chu Liang asked.

Tools that enabled long-distance communication were rare in the immortal realm.

The United Hearts Jade he shared with Jiang Yuebai could only be used between two people, and its rarity made it impractical for widespread use. In fact, most divine tools in the immortal realm capable of long-distance communication were limited to connecting only two high-level cultivators.

The Dark King Sect was the leader in this technology. The Soul Subjugator Token allowed multiple users to communicate in real-time. When Chu Liang had held it before, he hadn't given it much thought, but now, reflecting on it, he realized the craftsmanship was extraordinary.

"Soul Subjugator Token?" Wen Yulong furrowed his brows, thinking for a moment before answering. "I don’t know much about it. All I know is that it’s crafted by extracting a wisp of soul flame. If you have a divine technique to extract soul flames, forging the token itself shouldn’t be too difficult. If you have a finished one for me to examine, I can give you an answer right away."

"Here," Chu Liang said, handing over a Soul Subjugator Token.

However, the soul flame within the token had already been extinguished, which meant that this soul had been kicked out of the Interdimensional soul domain.

Wen Yulong examined the token for a while before looking up and saying, "I can craft this. The difficulty lies in the Dark King Sect’s divine technique for extracting soul flames. Are you planning to create a Soul Subjugator Token for our sect?"

"Not just for the Mount Shu Sect..." Chu Liang replied. "If there were a tool that connected the Divine Nine, the Terrestrial Ten, and even the entire immortal realm, you could send a message, and everyone within the interdimensional soul domain would see it..."

"Of course, you could also choose to contact someone privately, as long as you both enter your own soul domains."

"This..." Wen Yulong, with his sharp mind, instantly grasped Chu Liang’s idea. His imagination ran wild, and he envisioned countless scenarios. "That’s truly impressive..."

But after some thought, Wen Yulong shook his head and said, "This is too difficult. I haven’t encountered that kind of technique yet, but storing soul flames must require highly complex formations. Even the Violet Gold Marquess only had seventy-two Soul Subjugators under his command. To house that many cultivators' soul flames, the spiritual energy needed for the formation would be thousands of times greater..."

"We will connect as many souls as you can. If we can only connect a few, we’ll find ways to make it work with a limited number in the domain. If we can have many, all the better. Anyway, just start researching," Chu Liang said. "I’ve already handed over the Violet Gold Marquess’ cultivation legacy to the Hall of Conservation. I’ll go retrieve it later."

"Alright," Wen Yulong said, rubbing his hands eagerly.

Now that Chu Liang was back, it meant that his funds had returned.

Now that Chu Liang was back, it also meant that the one who recognized his talent had returned.

Only Chu Liang could fully embrace his wild ideas, provide support, and even inspire him creatively.

"Oh. I got distracted and strayed too far from the main reason I came," Chu Liang said, taking out the enchanted storage ring from Xuan Yinzi. "The reason I came to find you this time is for this."

...

"This formation inscription isn’t too difficult to unlock, but it connects to a hidden realm," Wen Yulong said in surprise. "Could this be an enchanted tool belonging to an eighth realm Eminent One?"

"Something like that," Chu Liang replied with a smile. "He likely has his own hidden realm."

Chu Liang then explained what happened with Xuan Yinzi, and while Wen Yulong was astonished, he also felt a strange sense of familiarity.

That’s right. The overwhelming feeling he always got when seeing Chu Liang return.

Even though he had seen so much more nowadays, he realized that Chu Liang could always reveal something new to him.

With that feeling, Wen Yulong unlocked the ring. Storage tools belonging to very powerful cultivators were often much easier to unlock. These cultivators never expected anyone to be able to take anything from them, so they rarely paid attention to security.

As the formation inscription broke, the ring emitted a dark glow, shooting into the air and expanding until it grew to the size of a doorway. The opening was deep and shadowy, leading to an unknown destination.

"I’ll send a clone to check it out," Chu Liang said.

He took out a Puppet Pill and used the Army of Beans technique. Then, he controlled a clone to charge into the opening.

With a rumble, the clone entered the hidden realm.

Through the clone’s eyes, he saw nothing but a vast, three-zhang-wide black space, filled with emptiness. Three items floated within, and scattered across the ground were clusters of dark impurities.

"This is the first time I’ve seen such a poor eighth-realm cultivator," Chu Liang said, curling his lips. "This hidden realm is smaller than a regular storage tool."

"Based on your story about him, I think it’s likely he used up everything in the hidden realm," Wen Yulong replied with a laugh.

Powerful cultivators typically infused their hidden realms with spiritual energy, which could serve as a power source in critical moments. This was similar to how the Blue Dragon's Hidden Realm sacrificed most of its living beings to summon the power needed to restore the Dragon God's throne.

When Xuan Yinzi had no access to the spiritual energy in the world to replenish himself, he had likely absorbed every bit of spiritual energy in his hidden realm. That was how he managed to accumulate almost enough spiritual energy to break Jin Mucuo's seal.

With that in mind, the lack of items within the hidden realm made sense.

Judging by his pitiful state, it seemed anything with even a trace of spiritual energy—conscious souls, spirit plants, or materials—had been devoured. If iron had spiritual energy, he probably would’ve eaten that too. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

In the end, everything became spiritual energy once digested.

This suggested that the remaining items were extraordinary—beyond even what an eighth-realm cultivator could digest.

With nothing left to inspect, Chu Liang controlled the clone to bring out all three items.

With a clattering sound, three items fell to the ground—a token, a scroll, and a jade slip.

Chu Liang picked up the jade slip and examined it. "This is the complete cultivation legacy of the Dark King Sect. It has the lowest level to the highest level. Even the Violet Gold Marquess didn’t have a full set like this. Now, this saves me the trouble of searching for materials for you to study. You can study this."

Wen Yulong glanced at it and said, "The traditional arts of the Dark King Sect actually fall under the Heavenly Star Secret Arts. It is not actually very diabolical. The Dark King Sect simply focused on glorifying the strange soul-refining techniques and discarded the actual traditional cultivation path outlined in the technique."

"Once these diabolical cultivators have tried taking shortcuts, they naturally won’t walk the righteous path again," Chu Liang remarked.

It was unavoidable. Those lacking talent couldn’t outpace others even on the righteous path. If they refused to accept it, their only option was to dabble in forbidden techniques.

Of course, there were exceptions—like himself.

Although Chu Liang’s talent was lacking, he neither took shortcuts nor followed the righteous path... he simply stayed put, making his Large-Headed Dolls work hard and advance forward on his behalf.

Wen Yulong picked up the token and examined it. "This looks like the token of the Dark King Sect’s leader..."

The front of the token bore the words "Dark King," while the back featured a terrifying carving of the Ksitigarbha’s face.

"The Dark King Sect's command token?" Chu Liang inspected it. "It seems authentic. Does that mean the token of the current Dark King Sect’s leader is a fake?"

It made sense. After all, Xuan Yinzi had been overthrown—there was no way he would have willingly handed over the token.

Still, possessing the Dark King Sect's command token held little value on its own.

The real treasure was the legendary artifact.

As long as the current sect leader possessed the True Form of Ksitigarbha, his token would be treated as the real one, even if it wasn't.

The one who ended up losing would be the one with the fake token. Even if it was the real one, it wouldn’t matter—it would still be deemed as false.

Chu Liang tucked the token away, then untied the string binding the scroll and slowly unfurled it.

Whoosh.

The scroll unfurled, revealing a painting of a serene woman with a soft, gentle smile. Her age was difficult to determine, but her expression exuded such warmth, stirring a quiet sense of reverence. Yet, beneath that facade of kindness, Chu Liang couldn't shake the faint chill that lingered in her smile.

But it was impossible to look away.

She was wreathed in divine light, lotus flowers blooming at her feet—like the goddess of some sort of religion.

The longer Chu Liang stared, the heavier his head felt, as if the painting itself was pulling him in.

Suddenly, Wen Yulong collapsed beside him.

Thud!