A few days later.
At the entrance of the Secret Realm.
Once again, the situation was turbulent.
A group of people dispatched by the major forces gathered here once more.
However, different from the representatives at the peak Ninth Layer of Fanxu Realm from before, this time, those sent were mostly failed Hedao practitioners like Wu Qiyuan and Ji Ran, who forcefully condensed a Broken Pill.
There are actually quite a few of these experts in such a unique realm within each major force, though they are unknown to outsiders.
They all believe these individuals failed their tribulation and thus died.
But in truth, they are still alive, albeit with slightly weakened Qi-Blood, always searching for a way to re-refine a Golden Core from the Broken Pill using their bodies as a furnace.
Therefore, they rarely appear and are not exposed to the grassroots cultivators of major forces, leading others to think they truly perished in their tribulation failures.
They can be considered as a sort of "heritage" of the Super Clans and Hidden Sects.
The reason for dispatching them here is that the major forces had already learned of Mu Jinyu's strength from the last image on the Remaining Shadow Life Token of their heirs; even the strongest at the peak of the Ninth Layer of Fanxu couldn't match Mu Jinyu.
True Hedao experts cannot enter the Secret Realm because doing so would cause the realm to collapse under the pressure of their laws.
For various reasons, allowing a Hedao expert to enter the Secret Realm and be destroyed along with Mu Jinyu is a last resort due to the Hedao Fruit and the rare Heaven's Pride still alive within.
Thus, the major forces had no choice but to first send in False Merged Path Realm experts with Heaven-reaching spiritual treasures, or Incomplete Heaven-reaching spiritual treasures, to encircle and kill Mu Jinyu, paying blood with blood!
After several days, they finally obtained three more keys.
The forces that successfully found the keys were eager to enter the Secret Realm today to surround and kill Mu Jinyu.
"Buzz!!"
The key was already placed into the groove of the stele. After a distortion in the void, a rotating light screen appeared, allowing entry.
A white-haired man, holding a Jade Ruler, stepped forward to enter the passage.
The Jade Ruler he held was called the Heaven-Measuring Ruler, a true Heaven-reaching spiritual treasure, born with an Artifact Spirit, a miraculous life originating from a weapon.
It is the Sect Treasure of the Boundless Sect, the great sect behind the white-haired man.
Today, the white-haired man was to use the Heaven-Measuring Ruler to eliminate Mu Jinyu within it.
Unfortunately, as the white-haired man's body was halfway into the light screen, a section of the Heaven-Measuring Ruler also entered, causing the spatial passage to become unstable, on the verge of collapse.
The distortion was even stronger than when Mu Jinyu attempted to enter while being suppressed by Wu Xiongfei.
"As expected, it still doesn't work."
The Sect Hierarch of the Boundless Sect, a peak Hedao Realm top-grade expert, sighed lightly upon witnessing this scene. With a wave of his hand, the Heaven-Measuring Ruler in the white-haired man's hand autonomously radiated light and flew back to his grasp.
As a result, the spatial passage stabilized, and the white-haired man's figure disappeared within the light screen.
Witnessing this scene, the forces all sighed lightly, their sighs filled with regret.
They had predicted that the Heaven-reaching spiritual treasure might not be allowed into the Secret Realm when the white-haired man attempted to enter.
A complete Heaven-reaching spiritual treasure not only contains an Artifact Spirit but also intertwines laws and inscriptions of the Heaven and Earth Laws. When the magic treasure attacks autonomously, it doesn't fall short of a full-force strike by an Early Stage Hedao Realm expert.
Therefore, the likelihood of a Heaven-reaching spiritual treasure being allowed into the Secret Realm is very low, although they still wanted to try.
If it truly wasn't possible, they would bring in an Incomplete Level Heaven-reaching spiritual treasure.
There was a precedent for this; when Mu Jinyu entered the Secret Realm, he had demonstrated the might of the Bi Fang Cauldron. Everyone knew that the Bi Fang Cauldron was not a Heaven-reaching spiritual treasure but a top-grade spiritual treasure intertwined with some laws and principles.
Such power was similar to an Incomplete Level Heaven-reaching spiritual treasure.
So if Mu Jinyu could bring the Bi Fang Cauldron into the Secret Realm, they could do the same with an Incomplete Level Heaven-reaching spiritual treasure.
Before he attempted to enter the Secret Realm, the white-haired man had already hidden an Incomplete Level Heaven-reaching spiritual treasure in his Storage Bag.
As expected, after the Heaven-Measuring Ruler was removed, he smoothly entered the Secret Realm.
Following the white-haired man's entry into the Secret Realm, two other False Merged Path Realm experts, with killing intent in their eyes, each holding an Incomplete Level Heaven-reaching spiritual treasure, inserted the keys and stepped into the spatial passage.
One of them hailed from the Divine Formation Sect, and the other from the Wu Family.
"Just waiting for their good news now."
The forces sighed softly, the flames of hatred in their hearts still unextinguished.
Only the true news of Mu Jinyu's death could extinguish their hatred.
...
Inside the Secret Realm.
In the prohibited zone.
Mu Jinyu was unaware that three more False Merged Path Realm experts had entered the Secret Realm, each holding an Incomplete Level Heaven-reaching spiritual treasure.
He had been cultivating in Dragon Lake for more than two days.
His cultivation had already reached the peak Eighth Level Fanxu Realm, about to advance to the Ninth Layer of the Fanxu Realm.
The further he cultivated, although lacking bottlenecks, with enough nature's spiritual energy, he could break through continuously, yet his cultivation speed inevitably began to slow.
Reaching this stage, it was no longer a matter of simply absorbing nature's spiritual energy, converting True Yuan from gaseous to liquid, or comprehending Sword Intent, Intent Domain, and Domain…
These were no longer sufficient to increase the power of a peak Ninth Layer of the Fanxu Realm expert.
What they needed to do was use their bodies as a furnace, integrate all they had learned, and add a new kindling by using heavenly tribulation to further refine a Golden Core, thereby stepping into a new realm and gaining control over a small portion of the Heaven and Earth Laws.
This threshold was exceedingly difficult, far more challenging than moving from Energy Transformation to the God Realm, harnessing Heaven and Earth Vital Energy for personal use, or advancing from the Divinity Transformation Realm to the Fanxu Realm to condense a Domain from Heaven and Earth Vital Energy.
If it weren't so, from ancient times to today, only a handful of Heaven's Pride from the Kunlun Ruins had ascended to the Unity Realm Stage, with most only able to condense a Broken Pill and end in obscurity.
Mu Jinyu was about to cultivate to the Ninth Layer of the Fanxu Realm and was not far from the Unity Realm Stage, and he naturally had to start considering it.
Although he had nine Hedao Fruits in his possession, consuming a Hedao Fruit would only help the user attain a state of Unity of Heaven and Man and gain deeper insights into the laws of nature, not necessarily guaranteeing entry into the Unity Realm Stage.
It would significantly increase the likelihood, and any absolute Heaven's Pride could mostly achieve integration upon consumption.
Yet... it wasn't without exceptions.
A hundred years ago, there was a supremely gifted individual who suffocated his peers, making numerous Supreme Sect Leaders believe he was destined to become the peak of the Hedao Realm, break the shackles, and ascend in glory.
However, he failed at this crucial juncture, ending in regret, life and death unknown.