Yin Haoran, the third prince of the Yin Long empire, felt utterly bewildered as he arrived at the secret realm near the capital of the Baihu Empire.
From what he remembered of the future, this year’s opening of the Secret Realm was supposed to be a relatively calm affair if you could call the massacre of nearly 40% of the young geniuses sent into it a ‘calm affair’.
Sadly, such things are indeed considered nothing much on the path of cultivation.
He still remembers clearly, of his experiences from a future that is no longer of any concern to him.
He remembers how he was sent into this secret realm as an attempt made by his sister to both appease the Baihu Empire and to try and get some use out of him instead of indulging in his debauchery.
He still remembers how the people of the Baihu empire cleanly stabbed his forces in the back once they crossed the threshold of the secret realm, instantly reducing him to a helpless man at the mercy of his enemies.
For a time, he was convinced that this was exactly his sister’s plan, to end him and tie up the last loose end that would pose a threat to her status as the Empress, following their cruel and heartless mother’s teachings perfectly.
Of course, those assumptions would be proven wrong later on but that is not of concern to Yin Haoran.
What he is truly concerned about, is the fateful meeting with the woman he fell for in that secret realm.
When he was trapped in a helpless situation, being assaulted by the forces of the Baihu Empire for his heritage and the hatred that the Baihu Empire held for the Yin Long Empire since the war between the two empires had already begun and was in full swing in that timeline, she had appeared out of nowhere and saved his life.
She had used her techniques to spirit him away to her hiding place within this secret realm where she was hiding from her father and his forces.
An ancient ruin that housed not one, but two Natural Treasures, one of which happened to be the Starlight Essence Dew, the treasure that allowed him to escape the destruction of his empire at the hands of the stupid mortals and that demon while his family and everyone he cared for succumbed to his schemes.
But now, after finally finding the time to arrive at the fateful place that changed his future, he found that things were completely different from what he remembered.
Gone were the sparse warriors that protected the entrance to the secret realm. Gone was the small collection of cultivators and mortals that bought and sold goods found from within the secret realms. Gone are the lazy elders of the various forces in the Baihu Empire who were there to overlook the life and death of their disciples.
In their place was a powerful force of cultivators, all of whom were in the Core Formation realm at the very least. Aside from them, He also spotted a large collection of Nascent Soul realm masters, which was already a ridiculous number for this region of the continent.
The area around the secret realm had been cleared out, removing the traders, both mortal and cultivators, along with pushing the Elders of the various forces out. A feat that should not have been possible since this was the territory of the Baihu Empire, the home territory of these forces.
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Finally, as Yin Haoran and his followers finally got close enough for their enhanced eyes to catch the attire of these forces, he could not help but swallow nervously.
‘What the hell are the Autumn Fang Holy Land’s people doing here??’
He was not the only one whose mind held this question as his followers, which consisted of various warriors who he knew from his future knowledge and that girl, Yun Xin, who still served as his maid.
Initially, he had planned to discard her the moment he had his revenge on Huxing Xiang, that demon. But, as time went on, he finally decided to keep her by his side for now.
Her cultivation potential was relatively high, with her single attribute spirit root which specializes in the Ice element. This meant that she could become a reliable fighter under his command with proper grooming.
It also helped that she was pleasing to the eye and he could use her to provoke Huxing Xiang when he finally ran into that demon again because he knew how much the broken marriage between those two affected the demon’s mentality during these years when the memory was still fresh in that demon’s memory.
As his airship approached the secret realm, the people of the Holy Land instantly locked in on his forces with a squad directly flying to his ship.
“This place is currently restricted. Turn around and retreat for ten Li or don’t blame us for being rude.”
Yin Haoran knew that these people were not joking and really would kill them all if he did not comply, that was just how the Holy Lands operated. Anyone who opposed them even slightly would be annihilated along with every living member of their family.
He bowed to the men and spoke in a tone unfit for a prince.
“I understand. But, before I retreat, can I trouble the seniors to tell me why this place is currently restricted? I was hoping to enter the secret realm to hone my skills along with those of my followers.”
The men were clearly pleased with the way the prince treated them so they relaxed slightly.
“Well, we can’t tell you too much but we can tell you what is already known to everyone above a certain level. We are currently searching for the heir of the Hidden Heavens Holy Land who is inside the Secret Realm. We are going to invite him back to the Autumn Fang Holy Land for getting acquitted before he is sent back to his homeland.”
Instantly, Yin Haoran felt his stomach drop at those words since he knew that there were only three heirs for the Hidden Heavens Holy Land that were deemed suitable enough to inherit the position of the Master of the Holy Land, two of which would never leave the holy land due to their personal circumstances.
This meant that the last heir, the demon who haunts his nightmares every night, Huxing Xiang, was here.
‘That demon is in the secret realm. The same secret realm where Mo Qingyin is supposed to be hiding.’
‘He is where he is not supposed to be in this time….HE IS NEAR THE WOMAN I LOVE!! HE IS GOING TO KILL HER AGAIN!!’
Sheer panic consumed the prince’s mind as he instantly operated the Royal Family cultivation technique, the Radiant Light Art, and used one of its techniques, the Illuminating Aura, to turn into a stream of light, directly reaching speeds that no one below the Void Refinement Realm could hope to reach.
The forces of the Holy Land instantly became alert and tried to chase him but they could do nothing but watch helplessly as he disappeared into the secret realm.
It has to be said that the followers that Yin Haoran picked up were truly worthy of his attention.
The moment they saw their master make a break for it, they realized that staying here any longer would be detrimental to their health, prompting them to directly abandon the airship and use the escape artifacts given to them by the prince to directly shoot into the distance at similar speeds to the Prince.
The end result was a group of Core Formation realm and Nascent Soul realm experts who could do nothing but fume in pure rage, taking out their anger on the poor airship and reducing it to dust.
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