Free Web NovelChapter 1891: Chapter 21: The True Immortal Realm
The Immortal Realm was once the ultimate pursuit of mortal cultivators, with countless magnificent myths invariably featuring its shadow. To the minds of people, this should be a beautiful, ethereal, and spiritually rich place.
However, reality often diverges from ideals, and Zhang Xiaoman didn’t know what the original Immortal Realm was like, but upon arriving here, he found that it would be more accurate to call this place the Demon Realm rather than the Immortal Realm.
Looking around, there wasn’t a single ray of twilight across the entire Immortal Realm; black demonic energy enveloped the sky, even the sea water was murky. Although the spiritual energy was abundant, it was extremely volatile. Ordinary cultivators who dared to cultivate here would likely have their meridians burst and die.
Initially, Zhang Xiaoman could hardly believe this was the Immortal Realm. The so-called Immortal Realm bore none of the legendary features; it only brought an endless sense of oppression.
Besides, what astonished him the most was that he saw countless demon clans here, those beings the locals called Heavenly Demons. Aren’t they the demons from the Second Universe?
The demon clans densely occupied the entire world, even Ni Yang was surprised.
Since being hunted by the Immortal Palace and fleeing to the Mortal World, it had not returned to the Immortal Realm for nearly seven thousand years, and could never have imagined it would be occupied by Heavenly Demons.
Though this situation seemed reasonable, considering the appearance of the apocalypse caused all immortals in the Immortal Realm to fall, allowing the Heavenly Demons to seize the opportunity to invade and completely occupy this world.
Upon learning its homeland was overtaken by this group of Heavenly Demons, Ni Yang was furious, the direct consequence being the deaths of countless demon clans. This time, Ni Yang came with its true form, completely different from the previous divine soul status.
It was Zhang Xiaoman’s first time witnessing Ni Yang’s true form in action, and he was awed by such earth-shattering strength.
Despite Ni Yang’s power not having fully recovered, its injuries had pretty much healed with the treatment from Zhang Xiaoman and members of the Star Alliance.
Through Ni Yang’s attacks, Zhang Xiaoman confirmed its powers should be at the Middle Extraordinary Level, as he had initially speculated.
Comparing his own capabilities with Ni Yang’s, Zhang Xiaoman’s little pride from his enhanced strength vanished without a trace.
He had almost consolidated the realm of Peak Lower God and could use part of the Middle-level God’s abilities, considered as the level of a Fake Middle-Level God.
However, fake is ultimately fake, and can’t be compared to the real deal, let alone an old master like Ni Yang, who is prominent even among Middle-level Gods. Otherwise, several divine beasts and the Immortal Emperor wouldn’t have needed to join forces to suppress it back then.
Originally, Zhang Xiaoman planned to explore the Immortal Realm, unravel a few deeply buried mysteries, and opportunistically seek some fortuitous encounters to further enhance his power.
Yet this time, he miscalculated, as the Immortal Realm had been entirely taken over by the demon clans, leaving him to constantly battle these guys.
Even though Zhang Xiaoman’s power now reached the heavens, and with Ni Yang accompanying him, the sheer number of demon clans was too overwhelming. No sooner is a batch killed, another surfaces rapidly. Although they posed no threat, the constant disturbances were indeed vexing for both him and the dragon.
As a result, the exploration progress slowed down significantly, during his years in the Immortal Realm, he hadn’t found any useful clues, all energy consumed by the battles with the demon clans.
However, the benefits of this were evident.
The number of battles Zhang Xiaoman experienced over the past few years nearly equated to a lifetime’s worth for ordinary immortals.
Amidst numerous battles, he experimented and tested many new abilities, occasionally suppressing his own strength to engage the demon clans to hone his combat experience.
Over the years, Zhang Xiaoman leveled up significantly here, and was pleasantly surprised when in the final year, approximately one percent of the demon clans he killed could provide him with System Points.
Providing System Points meant these demons had just come over from the Second Universe, thus proving a previous suspicion that there was indeed a method here linked to the Second Universe.
"Returning Ruins!"
The term instantly surfaced in Zhang Xiaoman’s mind; he had heard Ni Yang mention it before. Among the entire Immortal Realm, it was the most mysterious, even Ni Yang knew little about it.
The existence of Returning Ruins was shrouded in mystery; it was merely a legend, believed to be the place where the first Heavenly Emperor last appeared. Ni Yang once traversed the Immortal Realm without finding it, ultimately unwillingly giving up.
Zhang Xiaoman’s exploration journey in the Immortal Realm intends to locate these Returning Ruins, for by finding them, he could uncover the secrets of the Immortal Realm.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to search aimlessly like Ni Yang did.
Now the Immortal Realm is vastly different from before, with endless demon clans turning it into a place akin to the Demon Realm.
Moreover, Zhang Xiaoman’s method of search was straightforward: killing his way through, eliminating every demon clan he encountered, and observing where the new demons providing points appeared, leading directly to finding Returning Ruins.
