498: Chapter 143 Who Outwitted Whom 498: Chapter 143 Who Outwitted Whom “Master, what kind of heaven-defying abilities do you actually possess?”

However, if an accident were to happen along the way, causing someone else to arrive here instead of him, then what?

Moreover, even if it were Zhou Yan who seized the Yuan Ci Secret Realm, what would he do if he ultimately couldn’t defend it?

After the initial shock in Zhou Yan’s heart, naturally, more doubts arose.

These doubts, though unasked, were immediately seen through by the Secret Realm Soul, who explained with a slight smile, “First of all, all maps are actually false, because a map is simply a standard for judgment.”

“If someone else got their hands on the main map, their journey would be filled with many dangers.”

“In fact, entrances to the Yuan Ci Secret Realm have appeared on many Ancient Stars.

All the genius Cultivators who obtained the Primordial Magnetic Aurora Map have died.”

“This is the method of ‘nourishing war with war’.

The death of a genius transforms into energy to be refined by the Secret Realm.

The top treasures left by these deceased geniuses, among other things, will become part of the Secret Realm’s reserves.”

“And this Secret Realm is shaped like ‘Sacrificial Heaven Ancient City’ because it contains a Space-Time Array capable of traversing the Void, so the model of the Secret Realm is crafted after the pattern of Sacrificial Heaven Ancient City.”

“Thus, it can manifest information about the Secret Realm in various parts of the Nine Origin Universe, attracting geniuses to come forth.”

“If you still did not exist this time, then the Secret Realm would continue to manifest itself, letting Cultivators know of this Secret Realm.

Generations of geniuses would die here, becoming fertilizer for the Secret Realm’s own growth.”

The Secret Realm Soul explained.

This explanation made Zhou Yan’s heart skip a beat.

This tactic was to lure geniuses into a trap using a peerless Secret Realm, using them as nourishment for the Secret Realm…

Such a method was truly ruthless!

Zhou Yan inhaled sharply and said, “So that’s how it is.

I understand now.

But, now that I am the master of the Secret Realm, where would I find the ability to protect this Secret Realm?”

Zhou Yan wondered.

“For that, you will truly need to refine me.

Your master must have left you the Void Flame Purple Flame, as well as the Purple Flame Void he derived.

This is specifically meant for the true Soul of the Yuan Ci Secret Realm.”

“The Purple Flame Void is the Soul of the Yuan Ci Secret Realm?”

Zhou Yan was shocked.

“Mm, you could say that, but it’s not comprehensive.

The Secret Realm consists of a Child and a Mother Secret Realm, separated by Yin Yang, containing Chaos.

It’s truly a top-level Secret Realm.

Hence, the Purple Flame Void is not sufficient on its own, and only Soul Consciousness, even the Soul itself, can enter, but the physical body cannot.

That is the key.

“Here in the Yuan Ci Secret Realm is the Child Secret Realm, just a part of the Secret Realm.

“Later, as you refine me with Purple Flame, once I merge with the Purple Flame, the Purple Flame Gate will open, initiating a Space-Time Channel.

The power of the Child Secret Realm will diminish, and the Mother Secret Realm will become perfect.

However, you will need to split your Soul in two, one part stored in the Purple Flame Void to refine and guard the Mother Secret Realm.

“The other portion of your Soul will refine the Child Secret Realm.

This way, even if the Secret Realm is seized, the loss will not be significant.

Later on, using the Mother Secret Realm, you can easily reclaim the Child Secret Realm and complete the fusion of both.”

“That is to say, the part of your soul that possesses the Child Secret Realm can go to meet its death, deceiving everyone and performing an empty escape.”

The information from the Secret Realm Soul left Zhou Yan utterly dumbfounded.

All of a sudden, as he carefully considered this series of experiences, he couldn’t help feeling a chilling awe.

This terrifying grand scheme nearly made him gape in shock.

Compared to his Master’s grand scheme, the perfect plan he thought he had was laughably small and narrow-minded.

However, as he searched through the memories that seemed to be inherited, Zhou Yan couldn’t find any recollections related to his master’s post-Ascension planning or strategizing.

This absence included a small part of his memories on Earth as well.

Before, Zhou Yan had always believed that he had absorbed all of his master’s memories, but now it seemed that ‘all’ might only be the totality of the Residual Soul’s memories, while the entire Soul’s memories were not fully absorbed.

As a result, there was still much he did not know.

“So, that’s how it is.

However, I’ve already taken care of dividing my Soul,” Zhou Yan hesitated slightly and revealed his division of the Soul to the Secret Realm Soul.

The Secret Realm Soul, lacking in Realm but very powerful, could shatter Zhou Yan’s Soul with a single piece of information.

Therefore, Zhou Yan did not think the other could be scheming against him, thus he maintained a sufficient level of trust.

“The fact that you could lay out so much ahead of time shows that you are indeed cut from the same cloth, both equally cunning and tricky.”

The Secret Realm Soul actually seemed somewhat moved, and then it began to guide Zhou Yan in refining the Secret Realm.

Zhou Yan did not hesitate and immediately followed the method provided by the Secret Realm Soul to refine the Soul of the Secret Realm with Purple Flame.

Sure enough, after Zhou Yan refined most of the Soul of the Secret Realm with Purple Flame, the Purple Flame Void became visibly more complete.

He no longer felt any physical constraints, but at the same time, a part of the Purple Flame Void could now be separated.

“Once the Child Secret Realm is refined, the Yuan Ci Secret Realm will be able to break free from the Purple Flame Void.

The integrity of the Purple Flame Void will not change but will only become more perfect.

Meanwhile, the Yuan Ci Secret Realm can exist in the gaps of the outer Void.

This is the power to divide the Innate Yin Yang Chaos.”

After Zhou Yan refined most of the Soul Power, the Secret Realm Soul explained.

Zhou Yan’s only concern was that if the Purple Flame Void detached itself, he would lose his trump card.

Hearing the explanation from the Secret Realm Soul, Zhou Yan finally felt at ease and refined the entirety of the Secret Realm Soul in one go.

The Soul of the Secret Realm had vanished, leaving behind only a ball of light that no longer possessed the overwhelmingly invincible will of before, yet it still retained an Artifact Spirit-like consciousness.

Transformed into a little boy, resembling a young child, he said, puzzled and respectfully, “Master, the Secret Realm ‘Yuan Ci’, has met master.”

“Rise,” Zhou Yan said.

Zhou Yan felt he could access all the benefits within the Yuan Ci Secret Realm through Yuan Ci, but he refrained from doing so for the time being, opting instead to follow the instructions of the Secret Realm Soul, allowing the Soul of the Purple Flame Void to take Yuan Ci and lie dormant within the Void.

Whereas the Soul that had been in the outside world was now refining the remaining traces of the empty Secret Realm Soul.

The Secret Realm Soul is divided into Mother and Child.

The Mother, combined with the Purple Flame Power of the Purple Flame Void, evolved into ‘Yuan Ci’; the Child, which lacked consciousness, was transformed into a Soul Token by Zhou Yan’s refining, and immediately the Yuan Ci Secret Realm in the external world could be controlled by Zhou Yan.

However, Zhou Yan could clearly feel that the external Yuan Ci Secret Realm had become desiccated and sluggish, hardly alive with spiritual energy.

The hidden Origin Power could no longer be sensed.

Some of the top treasures had also been directly extracted from there, entering into the Mother Secret Realm.

Zhou Yan had previously visited the Spiritual Lotus Secret Realm, and now the Yuan Ci Secret Realm, in comparison to the Spiritual Lotus Secret Realm, was on a completely different level.

It was in a different league altogether.

Such a Secret Realm, although still coveted by Saints, Zhou Yan believed it wouldn’t lead them to fight to the death over it anymore.

After handling the matters of the outside world, the constraints and shielding powers left by the Secret Realm Soul had still not dissipated.

The Soul of Zhou Yan, within the Purple Flame Void, was attentively perceiving the changes in ‘Yuan Ci’, pondering to himself.

After the Secret Realm Soul was refined, its intelligence had greatly diminished, many memories also vanished into oblivion, and it began a process of self-evolution and transformation, like a newborn starting a new growth.

As a result, Zhou Yan could not extract any secrets from ‘Yuan Ci’.

Only as time passed and the Secret Realm evolved and transformed, could Yuan Ci grow from a boy to a man again, similar to the evolution of an Artifact Spirit.

Once a certain realm was reached, the memories of Yuan Ci would awaken, and it would remember this refining process by Zhou Yan, as well as everything about its former master.

But this was not something that could be achieved in a short time.

Zhou Yan, within the Purple Flame Void, after understanding the situation of Yuan Ci, knew that Yuan Ci had now become somewhat dull and slow-witted, like an Artifact Spirit, and he felt a trace of regret.

With the wisdom and experiences of the Secret Realm Soul, it could have been an excellent master, able to impart a great deal of knowledge at critical moments.

However, if it were not refined, Zhou Yan knew, he would definitely be unable to preserve the Yuan Ci Secret Realm, and the Secret Realm Soul would surely not agree.

He intended to communicate with Yuan Ci, but seeing the bewildered and naïve look in Yuan Ci’s eyes, he resignedly retreated.

…

The aura shielded by the Secret Realm Soul disappeared, and Zhou Yan stood beneath the Ancient City.

On the altar of the Ancient City, the Secret Realm Soul seemed still to linger there, but as instructed by the Soul of the Secret Realm, Zhou Yan took out the Primordial Magnetic Aurora.

The Primordial Magnetic Aurora Map flew out, immediately merging with the Soul of the Secret Realm, and then, a beam of light entered into Zhou Yan’s body, and the ‘Soul of the Secret Realm’ had disappeared.

Zhou Yan stood in place, carefully sensing, as if he were experiencing the benefits of the Secret Realm.

But at this moment, the Extreme Jade Cold Light Ring that Zhou Yan was carrying suddenly ‘popped’ and shattered, a dark shadow burst forth, and an awful energy instantly locked onto Zhou Yan’s soul.

Zhou Yan’s soul couldn’t move.

“Not bad, everything is as I expected.”

The Evil King, carrying the phantom of Twelve Scythes, had managed to open the space within the Qiankun Ring, the Extreme Jade Cold Light Ring, and escaped into this place.

Not only that, but he had locked onto and shielded the Heavenly Mechanism at the moment Zhou Yan refined the Yuan Ci Secret Realm, simultaneously imprisoning Zhou Yan’s Soul.

It seemed this attack had been long in the making.

Zhou Yan’s soul was forcibly sealed, surprisingly not erased but compressed into a ball of light, confined in the rune of the Evil King’s ring.

The Evil King’s Soul Phantom rapidly transformed just like Zhou Yan, eventually deriving Zhou Yan’s appearance, and the ‘Extreme Jade Cold Light Ring’ in his hand also took on its original form.

Within the patterns on the ring, Zhou Yan was suppressed there, completely immobile.

The true power of a Saint, when striking unexpectedly, leaves no chance for a Cultivator below the rank of Saint to resist.

Even Zhou Yan, who had sensed a glimmer of danger, was powerless against the Evil King’s attack.

This was the might of a Saint.

With such a vast difference in realms, even with the partial souls of Ni Chang Fairy and Zhou Lingyao within this avatar, they could not escape and were utterly suppressed.

If unprepared, Zhou Yan would have truly seized and refined the Yuan Ci Secret Realm, this time facing an outcome of certain death.

But since he was prepared, the Evil King fell directly into the calculation instead.