Chapter 407

Chapter 407: Entrance to the Middle Layer

“Hmm?”

“It seems you are sensible; I will take these secret silver mines.”

Ji Yang accepted the storage bag and examined the secret silver mine inside, nodding in satisfaction.

He was not a bloodthirsty maniac; these few posed no threat to him, and Ji Yang disregarded them.

“Get lost.”

As the words fell, the group felt a sense of relief and hurriedly fled the area.

After settling the current matter, Ji Yang scanned his surroundings, looking at the secret silver mine behind him. He felt no attachment and swiftly departed into the distance.

…

Cultivation Level +1

Looking at the high-level spiritual plants he had just harvested, Ji Yang beamed with joy.

As expected from a secret realm, spiritual plants were everywhere, and there were quite a few high-level spiritual plants.

Along the way, Ji Yang, using his powerful primordial spirit energy, harvested numerous spiritual plants, but he only picked high-level ones, not wanting to waste time on those below that grade.

Most spiritual plants were guarded by spiritual beasts, which was not surprising.

Rather than guardians, these spiritual beasts treated the spiritual plants as their possessions, preparing to devour them once they matured to enhance their own strength, an instinct inherent to spiritual beasts.

After storing the spiritual plants in the Heaven’s Secret Pearl, Ji Yang glanced at his cultivation points.

[ cultivation points: 948/999 ]

His recent gains had been quite good, and he only needed a few more points to reach his limit.

Then Ji Yang took out the booklet and looked at the directions.

The entrance to the middle layer of the secret realm was only a few miles away.

The Ancient Realm of Yuan Kong was divided into three layers, each with a fixed entrance, which meant that cultivators wanting to ascend to the middle or upper levels had to pass through this entrance.

This was a distinct feature of the Ancient Realm of Yuan Kong compared to other secret realms.

According to information collected by the Major Sects, those powerful cultivators who originally opened this realm attempted to create a world encompassing the mortal, spiritual, and immortal realms.

Moreover, the spiritual energy from the heavens and earth contained in each layer increased as one ascended, indirectly proving the truth of this claim.

Ji Yang put away the booklet and flew toward the entrance to the middle layer of the secret realm.

He entered the secret realm mainly for mining, for the spiritual plants, and finally, to observe what kind of essence of the Way existed within the realm. He also wanted to have the chance to experience other essences of the Way and see how they differed from his own understanding.

Now that he had mined enough of the secret silver, his gains in cultivation points were excellent, and with little time remaining, Ji Yang decided not to visit other mines.

He could collect spiritual plants along the way, so they did not need to be his main focus.

Next, Ji Yang only needed to concentrate on finding the essence of the Way.

The upper levels of the secret realm were where the essence of the Way was most frequently manifested, and Ji Yang planned to check it out.

Given his current cultivation level, he felt confident about his safety.

Unfortunately, he still could not actively use the essence of the Way he comprehended, but the good news was that during his recent harvesting, he had triggered it passively a few times, and his essence condensation had now reached one percent.

Ji Yang was uncertain at what percentage of essence condensation he would be able to use it actively. The power of the essence of the Way made Ji Yang look forward to this moment; once he could use it actively, he wouldn’t have to worry about damaging the quality while mining.

After flying low for a while, Ji Yang soon reached the entrance to the middle layer of the secret realm.

However, before getting close, he sensed the presence of many cultivators.

This puzzled Ji Yang; why were so many cultivators gathering here?

After all, this was only the lower layer of the secret realm, and since it had been opened for a long time, those going to the middle or upper layers should have already left, not waited until now.

Cultivators aware of their insufficient power would seek their opportunities in the lower or middle layers of the secret realm, not waste time gathering here.

Even though he sensed a lot of cultivators ahead, Ji Yang did not back down.

With his strength, wasn’t he striding through the lower layer of the secret realm with ease?

So what if there were more cultivators?

Moreover, having spent years at Jingtan Peak without making any enemies, not many people recognized him, so there was even less to worry about.

With this thought, Ji Yang fearlessly charged forward.

But when he saw the attire of the many cultivators ahead, his previously calm expression changed slightly.

He indeed had some enemies, like the disciples of the Heaven Demon Sect.

It seemed most of the cultivators here were disciples of the Heaven Demon Sect.

Though Ji Yang was not afraid of the Heaven Demon Sect, he did not want to engage in any unnecessary conflicts.

His arrival attracted the attention of many, but once they noticed Ji Yang’s Golden Core Stage, they quickly turned away, clearly not taking him seriously.

Because Ji Yang rarely revealed his appearance, some disciples from the Heaven Demon Sect didn’t recognize him as the person on their wanted list.

Furthermore, since Ji Yang had already concealed the emblem of the He Dao Sect on his clothing, nobody paid him any further attention.

“Humph! Your Heaven Demon Sect is too overbearing. This entrance to the secret realm does not belong to you; how dare you block it?”

“Exactly! If it weren’t for my senior brother having already gone to the upper layers of the secret realm, you wouldn’t dare to act so arrogantly here!”

…

Listening to the remarks of the surrounding disciples, Ji Yang understood why so many disciples of the Heaven Demon Sect were gathering here.

At the same time, he wore a look of disbelief.

Why do the factions in the Cultivation World act like they own the place? They either control the mines or block the entrances to the secret realms to exploit other cultivators.

If this is how it is even in the secret realm, what about the rest of the Cultivation World?

It seems scattered cultivators struggle quite a bit.

Fortunately, he had joined a sect like the He Dao Sect and didn’t have to worry about such matters.

However, Ji Yang could understand this behavior; rather than seeking opportunities within the secret realm, it’s quicker to snatch opportunities from other cultivators without facing unknown risks.

As long as one has some strength to suppress others, if one is not strong enough, just bring along a few fellow disciples!

This is the advantage of a large sect!

If Ji Yang needed cultivation points instead of spiritual plants or minerals, he would probably be tempted by this situation.

With a simple scan, Ji Yang sensed several late Void Refinement stage cultivators among the disciples of the Heaven Demon Sect.

With their strength, coupled with some Spirit Transformation stage disciples, they could easily block this exit and profit from it.

Additionally, they had chosen the timing perfectly; the capable cultivators had already gone to the middle or upper layers of the secret realm, leaving mostly weaker cultivators in the lower layer, making it easy for these few to dominate.

“Silence!”

Just as the crowd was chattering, a figure wearing the inner sect disciple’s attire of the Heaven Demon Sect stepped forward.

The aura of a Mid Void Refinement stage cultivator immediately pressed down upon the group.

Under this powerful aura, the previously noisy crowd fell silent instantly.

The Heaven Demon Sect was already a top sect, not to mention that the speaker was a Mid Void Refinement stage cultivator, who could even rival late Void Refinement stage cultivators from other large sects.