After walking out of the wasteland, what Mu Jinyu saw was a stretch of Cong Ridge, lush with vegetation, cascading waterfalls and streams, vibrant with life, like a secluded Immortal Realm.
The only thing similar to the wasteland was the prohibition against flying still existed outside, making flight impossible.
"Let's go over and take a look..."
Mu Jinyu observed the Cong Ridge from a distance for a while, not sensing any terrifying killing formation aura, and finally decided to go and check it out.
Upon walking on the Cong Ridge, Mu Jinyu saw many small animals playing nearby, such as little rabbits, sparrows, hedgehogs, etc. These small animals quickly fled in panic upon seeing him.
Feeling a bit hungry, Mu Jinyu happened to see a pheasant sluggishly passing by him. He smiled and caught it.
"Cluck cluck cluck..."
Quickly, Mu Jinyu sacrificed the pheasant to the five viscera temple, and after feeling his belly, he felt much more comfortable.
Afterward, Mu Jinyu slowly walked towards a place where he sensed an extremely dense Spiritual Energy.
"Splash splash..."
Before long, Mu Jinyu heard the clear sound of water from afar, with a hint of moisture spreading in this direction.
Taking a deep breath, his nostrils filled with Spiritual Energy.
"Could it be a Land of Creation?"
A hint of curiosity flashed in Mu Jinyu's eyes as he then stepped forward.
Soon, he came closer, seeing a nearly hundred-meter-high waterfall cascading down like a curtain of clouds, gathering at the bottom into a shimmering Emerald Lake.
The lake water was a verdant green, bright and clear, like an emerald embedded in the ground, with mist steaming upwards, dreamlike and illusory.
"Such rich Spiritual Energy..."
Standing in front of the lake, Mu Jinyu took a deep breath, closed his eyes, his face filled with intoxication.
The Spiritual Energy contained in this lake wasn't at all inferior to the Blood Essence Pool of the Blood Sword Sect or the Heavenly Sword Pool of the Heavenly Sword Faction, and was even a bit stronger.
Mu Jinyu opened his eyes, intending to heal here, completely restore his cultivation body, and if possible, take it a step further, advancing to the Eighth Level of Fanxu Realm, or even the Ninth Layer!
Then, Mu Jinyu carefully reached into the lake water to test if there were any restrictions within.
There weren't any.
A hint of joy flashed in Mu Jinyu's eyes, and without hesitation, he leapt into the lake, starting to crazily operate his Profound Skill, absorbing the massive Spiritual Energy to mend his injured cultivation body.
After most of the day.
The countless hidden wounds left in Mu Jinyu's body by Wu Xiongfei's attacks were all healed; not a single hidden ailment remained.
Mu Jinyu then entered into deep cultivation, aiming to break through to the Eighth Level of Fanxu Realm as soon as possible.
In the blink of an eye, three days passed.
Mu Jinyu had been cultivating madly all the while. Luckily, with his unique physique, he had never encountered any bottlenecks, charging all the way up and finally breaking through to the Eighth Level of Fanxu Realm.
His cultivation now matched that of Ji Changxin in their previous battle.
Mu Jinyu believed that although the Hidden Dragon Conference ended and a group of Heaven's Pride each had their own gains, Ji Changxin couldn't have possibly broken through a Minor Realm so quickly to reach the Ninth Layer of Fanxu Realm.
"Eighth Level of Fanxu Realm, almost there..."
Mu Jinyu opened his eyes and murmured softly.
If Gentle Sword Jian Ruyan and the others were around, perhaps Mu Jinyu could have continued cultivating here without a worry, making a push to reach the Peak Ninth Layer of Fanxu Realm.
But having landed here without explanation, unsure if he had entered a Secret Realm, Mu Jinyu was always uneasy about them, so after healing and cultivating to Eighth Level of Fanxu Realm, he couldn't focus on cultivating any longer, planning to explore the area a bit more before heading outside to look for Wen Rou and the others.
"Gurgle..."
Mu Jinyu was about to get up and exit the Emerald Lake when his stomach suddenly growled.
Only then did he realize he was very hungry, likely needing to replenish some Blood Essence after the breakthrough?
Mu Jinyu caught four or five fish from the lake, which looked a bit like mackerel, but more like a sword, with an intimidating edge.
After grilling and eating them, Mu Jinyu's expression suddenly changed slightly.
It wasn't that the fish were poisonous, scaring him.
With his Green Emperor's Wood Emperor Body, he was virtually immune to any poison.
Instead, after eating these fish, they turned into vast amounts of Blood Essence, flowing into his limbs and bones.
Causing his Power of Nine Elephants to faintly approach the Power of Ten Elephants, almost touching the Strength of One Jiao!
"These fish... are peculiar..."
After his expression changed a few times, Mu Jinyu raised his head to look at the waterfall a hundred meters high.
If both the lake water and the fish had big issues, then surely the waterfall at the source had something strange.
Prepared to leave directly, Mu Jinyu hesitated for a moment, then decided to go up and take a look.
Although the prohibition against flying still existed, making it impossible to fly up, Mu Jinyu's physical strength was formidable; a mere hundred-meter height, he could climb up with his bare hands without expending any energy.
Climbing up the mountain, Mu Jinyu traced the river upstream, finally being stunned by its source of creation.
At the river source, a Flood Dragon the size of ten feet... was coiled?!
The dragon's body didn't seem very large, far smaller than Mu Jinyu's hundred-foot Dragon Soul.
But the terrifying Dragon's Might emitted from the dragon's body, cast like molten gold-iron, made even Mu Jinyu's body tremble.
This dragon had been dead for many years, yet its corpse hadn't decayed, with its fine and intact dragon scales still gleaming with an intimidating cold light under the sun.
Its dragon horns, dragon eyes, dragon claws, all exuded a terrifying aura.
Mu Jinyu had no doubt that if this dragon were still alive, a swipe of its claw would result in his miserable death.
"Strange, there is actually a Flood Dragon here almost infinitely close to a True Dragon..."
Mu Jinyu's heartbeat gradually calmed down, speaking in astonishment to himself.
At the same time, an endless worry arose within him.
He realized that this Flood Dragon, just one step away from becoming a True Dragon, was a fearsome Great Demon Emperor at the Peak Hedao Realm!
If that's the case, the place he was now in practically couldn't be that Secret Realm.
After all, Zhuo Yue had long said that strong individuals of the Merging Paths were not allowed entry into that Secret Realm, otherwise, the Secret Realm couldn't withstand the pressure of the Merging Paths and would directly collapse.
And yet here lay the dragon corpse of a Merging Paths stage flood dragon; how could it possibly be that Secret Realm?
"What to do? Wen Rou and the others are still in the Secret Realm. The Wu Family members, failing to kill me, definitely wouldn't spare them and would continue to send people into the Secret Realm to hunt them down..."
Mu Jinyu's eyes filled with uncontrollable worry.
The only comforting thing for him was that he didn't feel "a whim" or a suffocating pain.
Once having cultivated to a certain level, if close family encountered trouble, it would certainly cause a reaction or a whim, sensing the crisis.
When Xiang Mantang and others had incidents, Gu Xiyan felt those reactions.
And Mu Jinyu hadn't felt such whims, proving that currently, Wen Rou and Jian Ruyan were not in any mortal danger.
"Can't hold on to wishful thinking; I must find a way to leave here quickly, obtain a key, enter the Secret Realm, and rescue them."
Mu Jinyu murmured softly to himself.