Chapter 1: Absolute Secret Talent
Over three thousand years ago, the Great Qin Iron Cavalry swept across the world. Emperor Ancestor pursued the art of immortality, seeking out Cave Heaven Blessed Land Secret Realms, gaining insight into supreme Secret Methods, acquiring Secret Treasures, taming Mystic Spirits, and using these to unify the eight directions and six unions, establishing the Great Qin Ancestral Court. From then on, everything under heaven was the king's land, and the four seas and eight directions were the ancestral territory.
Emperor Ancestor, who cultivated Secret Methods, achieved immortality and eternal youth, remaining like a strong man even at a thousand years old. He presided over the Ancestral Court for over two thousand years. With unified carts and standardized writing, ingenious craftsmanship flourished, quickly entering the industrial age. At the same time, everyone could enter Secret Realms, cultivate Secret Methods, and obtain Mystic Spirits. The world greatly prospered, with technology and Secret Arts coexisting. Human civilization entered an unimaginable era, and the Emperor was revered by the world as Emperor Ancestor.
Over a thousand years ago, a strange Secret Realm appeared in the sky, like a heaven-obscuring palace covering the firmament. Countless anomalies manifested in the world, as if immortals were hidden within, and various unusual changes occurred throughout the Divine Continent.
The sky had no sun, the night had no stars, yin and yang were indistinguishable, seasons were unclear, all things withered, and no grains grew.
Emperor Ancestor personally led a million Great Qin Iron Cavalry who had achieved cultivation, fighting against heaven and entering the Secret Realm. They fought until the world changed color, wind and clouds became turbulent, sounds of battle echoed through the sky, and a torrential blood rain washed the Divine Continent for ten days, finally restoring clarity to the world.
The Sky Secret Realm dissipated, the sun and moon reappeared with light, and the world returned to normal. However, Emperor Ancestor and the million Great Qin Iron Cavalry never returned and were never seen again.
The world fell into chaos, heroes rose together, and the Ancestral Court collapsed. After over two hundred years of turmoil, the Divine Continent finally welcomed an era of peace again. The Ten Heavenly Kings reorganized the Ancestral Court and became the first generation of Ancestral Court Elders.
There were no longer Emperors in the world, only the Court Leader of the Ancestral Court and the ten Ancestral Court Elders who held the right to elect the Court Leader.
"Awakening my innate Absolute Secret Talent... Lala Team Soul..." Chen Guan froze on the spot, unable to regain his senses for a long time.
Ever since becoming a cultivator, Chen Guan had fantasized countless times about what kind of innate talent he would awaken after entering a Secret Realm for his coming-of-age ceremony at eighteen. For cultivators, innate talent was enough to affect their entire life's destiny.
He had fantasized about awakening some top-tier innate talents, such as the legendary Peerless innate talents like "Peerless Dao Body," "Heavenly Vein Sword Bone," "Ten Directions Martial Dao Battle Soul," and so on.
Chen Guan had also thought that he might not be able to awaken a Peerless talent, as that was a top-tier talent with only a one-in-a-billion chance of awakening. For each type of Peerless talent, perhaps only one or two people in the world could obtain it.
Innate talents have five qualities: Ordinary, Rare, Uncommon, Unique, and Peerless, with Ordinary being the worst and Peerless being the best.
Awakening a talent is also very simple: reach the age of eighteen, achieve introductory mastery of a Secret Method, enter a Secret Realm for the first time, sense the existence of primal energy, and naturally you can achieve the Heaven-Man Induction and awaken your primal energy talent.
Chen Guan had fantasized about countless possibilities, but he never expected that he would awaken such an innate talent.
Just by looking at the name, he knew that this innate talent had no enhancement effect on the cultivation of Secret Methods or the use of Secret Skills. It seemed more like a talent ability to boost morale, likely a support-type talent.
This was an era where personal martial power was extremely prominent. Everyone took pride in becoming a strong person, and surviving within a Secret Realm also required strong martial power as support.
No matter how good a support talent was, it ultimately required depending on others and living at their mercy. This was a result Chen Guan could not accept.
"Even if I awaken a support innate talent without the enhancement of a self-strengthening talent, I can still cultivate Secret Methods to the top level and bridge the gap between innate talents. I can still control top-tier Mystic Spirits and compete with those top-tier cultivators." Chen Guan didn't dwell on it too much, carefully sensing the innate talent he had awakened.
Chen Guan: Cultivator (Level 1).
Primal Energy: 1.
Innate Talent: Lala Team Soul (Absolute Secret).
Secret Method: Level 1 Longevity Skill (Ordinary).
Secret Skill: None.
Mystic Spirit: Level 1 Five-Red Dog (Ordinary).
The world rules within a Secret Realm are different from the outside world. Within a Secret Realm, cultivators practicing Secret Methods can inwardly examine themselves, obtain their own information, and everyone can have a clear understanding of their own cultivation status.
Chen Guan had just entered the Secret Realm and just awakened. The Longevity Skill he cultivated before was also an Ordinary Secret Method that everyone could cultivate. After awakening, he only had 1 point of primal energy, which was also the starting point for most cultivators.
When Chen Guan saw the words "Absolute Secret" after his innate talent, he was initially happy. He thought that although his talent was only a support type, if it were a Peerless talent, it should still be of great value.
After looking closely, the joy on his face turned into confusion.
Among the five qualities: Ordinary, Rare, Uncommon, Unique, and Peerless, there was no quality level called "Absolute Secret" at all. It looked somewhat like a pirated version of Peerless.
"Innate talents can also be pirated goods?" Chen Guan was filled with shock and uncertainty. He contemplated even more carefully, trying to figure out what his innate talent was all about.
Lala Team Soul (Absolute Secret): Words of praise overflow, capable of stimulating the potential of life and liberating the shackles of the soul. It can make the praised person feel refreshed and ecstatic, as if aided by gods. The more ornate the words, and the more they point directly to the true self, the more significant the effect.
The more Chen Guan looked, the more confused he became. He had never heard of the quality "Absolute Secret" and didn't know what was going on.
From the literal meaning, the information about Lala Team Soul should be similar to what he had thought before: it was an ability to boost morale or inspire fighting spirit. It seemed this ability could be activated through words or certain actions beyond words, and the more intensely one praised, the better the effect.
Chen Guan didn't know how this ability differed from the methods used by superiors to motivate people and boost morale. He would only know how significant this talent's effect was after experimenting.
"Although I've never heard of the name 'Absolute Secret,' it doesn't look like an ordinary talent no matter how I see it. Moreover, it's so rare, never heard of before, maybe it's a quality better and rarer than Peerless. If that's the case, even if it's a support-type talent, it should be able to play a huge role, incomparable to ordinary support talents..." Chen Guan suppressed the excitement in his heart and looked around, thinking about how he could test the effect of Lala Team Soul.
He was in a valley. No grass grew in the valley, but it was piled high with various strange and bizarre white bones, like a huge sacrificial pit.
Currently known Secret Realms are divided into two main categories: Cave Heaven and Blessed Land. Cave Heaven are high-level Secret Realms; unless one cultivates to a certain level, they cannot enter them at all. Many cultivators never enter a Cave Heaven in their entire lives.
Blessed Lands, relatively speaking, have fewer restrictions. Humans can enter a Blessed Land after reaching eighteen years of age. If one is not yet eighteen, the Blessed Land, even if right in front of them, will be invisible. Even if others pull them, they cannot enter; they can only watch others pass through the mountain while they themselves will hit the mountain wall and be unable to enter.
Practicing Secret Methods outside a Secret Realm can only strengthen the body and spirit. Because there is no primal energy in the outside world, one cannot accumulate primal energy through cultivating Secret Methods to strengthen the physical body.
Only by entering a Secret Realm and having the body absorb primal energy can one awaken their innate talent and truly embark on the path of cultivation.
Every Blessed Land is like a boundless, vast different world. Up to now, no human has been able to fully explore a single Blessed Land.
When entering a Blessed Land for the first time, one will appear randomly at any location within the Blessed Land, which is uncontrollable. However, usually, the first time is transmitted to an area frequented by low-level Mystic Spirits. It's unclear if this is due to the influence of some mysterious power or if it's the inherent rule of the Secret Realm.
Chen Guan didn't know where he was. Before entering this Blessed Land called "Pingdu Mountain," he had done enough preparation, but he still didn't know what this place was.
Some of the white bones were larger than dinosaur bones, while others were as small as toothpicks. They were bizarre and clearly did not belong to the same type of creature.
Just as he was observing, he suddenly saw something moving among the white bones. Taking a closer look, it turned out to be a creature that was entirely snow-white, resembling a polar bear.
Focusing his gaze to look carefully, he found that it was not a polar bear at all, but a giant snow-furred rabbit with a body size comparable to a polar bear.
Although he called it a rabbit, it was somewhat different from a real-life rabbit. Its head-to-body ratio was completely opposite to reality; its head was larger than its body. It was squatting there, its front paws not touching the ground, standing like a human.
Although he hadn't seen its face yet, its fluffy body and round head, coupled with a pair of long rabbit ears, made it look very much like a personified rabbit from a cartoon.
At this moment, a crunching sound could be heard coming from the rabbit, making Chen Guan suspect that the giant rabbit was perhaps gnawing on a carrot.
While Chen Guan was observing, the giant rabbit suddenly turned its head to look at him. Indeed, it had a personified rabbit face. Its face was round, its fur was long, and its eyes were very large, giving it a somewhat cute look.
But Chen Guan didn't feel it was cute at all now, because its exposed pale white rabbit teeth and the snow-white fur around its mouth were stained with bright red blood. One paw held a large, blood-stained butcher knife, and the other paw held a raw bone stick that hadn't been fully gnawed yet, with scattered bits of meat and bloodstains on it.
The rabbit's blood-red eyes looked at Chen Guan. On its face, which was clearly very cute and adorable, there was an evil expression. In Chen Guan's view, its entire body seemed to exude an evil, bloody aura.