They reached the sect’s courtyard soon enough, where a few servant disciples were guarding the gate.
The disciples here were not Inner or Outer disciples of the sect but instead servants that they had recruited from the surrounding empires.
Shen Yuan and the others showed their identity token before entering inside, where the Grand Elder was waiting for them.
As soon as she saw the group entering, she hurriedly made her way towards them and bowed towards Shen Yuxin. “Senior Yuxin, I was waiting for you. Now that you are here, we can discuss the details of the competition.”
Shen Yuxin calmly nodded her head. “Bring all the disciples who will be participating in the main hall; we will discuss further there.”
Shen Yuan and the others followed her inside the main hall of the courtyard.
Once inside, Shen Yuxin took the main seat at the rectangular table while Shen Yuan and Bing Rong sat on both sides of her. Wan Ling moved beside Shen Yuan.
“So how long will we be inside the secret realm for?” he curiously asked.
Bing Rong smiled and took the initiative to explain, “The secret realm will be open for a month each time, and everyone will be teleported out once the time is up.”
Wan Ling and Shen Yuan listened silently. “The secret realm is divided into three major zones. The forest zone is the first zone, and it takes more than half of the entire secret realm. The second one is the Grave of a Thousand Treasures—it’s a vast land filled with broken weapons.”
“It’s speculated that a large array was used to resist the power of Jiao Heng using the combined strength of all the weapons or all the users. But in the end, it wasn’t enough, and all the weapons were destroyed while all traces of the cultivators were gone. That’s how that place came to be.”
Shen Yuan’s eyes shined. ‘Such an array… I wonder how strong it was at its peak? And is it a one-man array or a group array?’
“Did someone manage to find the array there?” he quickly asked.
Bing Rong paused and shook her head. “How can it be so easy? In all this time, no one has been able to find the array, even after searching that place inch by inch. But there are still places where cultivators couldn’t reach due to insufficient strength or absurdly strong formations. So we can’t be sure if the array legacy is there or not.”
Shen Yuan and Wan Ling nodded their heads. If it was so easy, then it wouldn’t be their turn to look for the array. Moreover, since no one has been able to find the array since the distant past, it’s either not there or the formations are still not loose enough to allow others to take them.
He continued to ask a few questions, and Bing Rong patiently explained while the other disciples began entering the main hall.
But they didn’t disturb Shen Yuan and Bing Rong as they saw him asking questions. Most of the questions were either something they already read about from the sect archives or heard from their masters.
They still intently listened to their conversation, hoping to gain something new.
Yuxin didn’t interrupt them, seeing that the disciples were still coming. After a few more minutes, everyone gathered inside the hall.
Ten core disciples, including Shen Yuan and Wan Ling, sat at the rectangular table with Shen Yuxin at the main seat, with the Grand Elder and Bing Rong at one side of her.
“Alright everyone, since everyone is here now, let’s discuss the World Raiser Secret Realm that you all will be entering tomorrow.” Shen Yuxin spoke in a calm and authoritative voice, befitting her status as a Core Elder.
The disciples didn’t ask why the Grand Elder was sitting at a lower position than a Core Elder, as their masters had already warned them to show proper respect to Senior Yuxin. All of them knew she was one of the peak powerhouses of their sect.
The first-ranked core disciple, Yu Qing, stood up and bowed towards Yuxin before saying, “Senior Yuxin, what are our main targets during this expedition towards the secret realm?”
Yuxin looked at her and replied, “Of course, the first priority is to stay safe.”
The disciples paused, but all their expressions softened at the sect’s care for them.
“And secondly is to search for the legacy of the World Raiser Sect. That sect was a true giant even during the Old Era. It had a lot of good stuff, so even if you obtained a little bit of it, you would gain enough to cultivate freely for a long time.”
Hearing this, the disciples’ eyes lit up; this is why they wanted to raise their strength to the max before the secret realm opened.
But Yuxin’s following words made their expressions freeze, “But of course, whatever the cultivators could find in the open or in relatively accessible places has been ransacked already.”
Hearing this, the expression of all the disciples, including Shen Yuan, darkened. They knew this but still didn’t want to hear it. All those who came before had already taken most of the good stuff, and whatever they didn’t take was due to its perilous situation.
Nearly none of them had the confidence to get those things either, except Shen Yuan. His eyes showed a hint of determination; he wasn’t about to get defeated by mere restrictions.
He wouldn’t admit defeat without at least giving it his all.
Shen Yuxin internally shook her head, looking at the disciples’ dejected expressions, but her expression softened upon seeing Shen Yuan’s resolved gaze.
“Anyways, what you need to be mindful of is not only the restrictions and traps of the secret realm but the threat of other disciples as well as the Secret Realm beasts.” She slowly said.
The disciples nodded solemnly; they knew the dangers of the secret realm were not limited to those formations alone. The true danger was the other cultivators.
“And as usual, you guys will compete under the old rules. Everyone will have a badge, and you will need to steal or rob others’ badges. As soon as someone’s badge is destroyed, they will be teleported out, and you will gain a point. Killing is mostly avoided, but you guys need to be vigilant about assassination attempts.”
Yuxin continued talking about what they needed to look out for as well as what they should aim to get inside the secret realm.
Shen Yuan and the others listened closely, asking questions once in a while. Even though most of the disciples had read about this event in the sect archives, they still wanted to learn the details from Shen Yuxin herself.
…
After a few hours of discussion, everyone left the hall, leaving Shen Yuan and his group.
“So the competition is basically a race to see who can get the most resources. And if someone gets some kind of legacy from there, then it’s a bonus,” Shen Yuan slowly said.
“Yes, anyways there isn’t much time left for morning,” she said, looking at the moon outside the window.
Shen Yuan also raised his head and smiled, “Time really moves fast when we are invested in something.”