Wake up! Fellow cultivator, wake up!

  A hurried, suppressed voice echoed beside Qin Yi’s ear.

  His eyelids felt as heavy as lead. After struggling for what seemed an eternity, he finally managed to pry them open a crack.

  A blurred face filled his vision the most striking feature being the third eye on the person’s forehead, vivid and alive, blinking faintly as if observing his soul.

  It was the three-eyed fellow disciple from his sect.

  Then, like a rushing tide, Qin Yi’s memories returned. He remembered entering the secret realm.

  Slowly, he sat up, rubbing at his throbbing temples. As his gaze swept across the unfamiliar surroundings, he deliberately adopted a look of confusion.“Where are we? Have we… already entered the secret realm?”

  The three-eyed cultivator exhaled in relief and nodded quickly.“Yes, we’re inside. But… have you noticed it yet? Our spiritual power it’s completely gone.”

  He didn’t need to say it.Qin Yi had already realized it the moment he awoke.

  His dantian was hollow; not a trace of qi remained in his meridians.That feeling the utter emptiness where his power once flowed made his heart instinctively uneasy.

  Even the strength of his body, tempered through the Blood Banquet Technique, had been stripped away, leaving him as frail as an ordinary mortal.

  Still, he followed the man’s lead, his tone showing just the right amount of shock and disbelief.“How could this happen? Didn’t Senior Brother Zhou say that the ‘End of Dharma’ secret realm only suppresses our cultivation to the Qi Refining stage, and that our spiritual power would only gradually dissipate? Why is it gone the moment we entered?”

  “Under normal circumstances, that should be true.”The three-eyed disciple nodded grimly, then tapped the glowing eye at his forehead.“But I checked with this and something here is not normal.”

  Seeing Qin Yi’s puzzled look, he explained, “This is a secret art I practice Ghost Eye Piercing Vision. It has no combat use, but it can see through illusion and track the flow of spiritual energy. I took a look just now the ground beneath this chamber is covered in formation lines. Do you know what these formations are for?”

  Qin Yi blinked, saying nothing.

  Even if he had already been awake for some time, he hadn’t sensed anything unusual below them — not until the other mentioned it.

  Fortunately, the three-eyed man didn’t expect an answer. Lowering his voice, he continued, “Honestly, I can’t tell what kind of formation it is. Its structure is far beyond my understanding. But it does resemble a Spirit Gathering Array in some ways. If my guess is right, it may serve a similar purpose to collect spiritual energy. As for what it’s used for exactly, I”

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  “I have a guess,” Qin Yi interrupted softly.

  The other paused, surprised, as Qin Yi rose to his feet, scanning the stone chamber with a thoughtful expression.

  “I think I understand what these formations are doing.”He pointed to the floor. “You’re right that it gathers spiritual energy but not the free qi of heaven and earth. These arrays are drawing power from us. The reason our spiritual energy vanished… is because the formation drained it away.”

  The three-eyed cultivator froze, then realization dawned on his face.“You’re right… that makes sense. No wonder we became this weak the moment we arrived. Not a shred of qi left in our bodies.”

  Qin Yi gave a faint, indifferent glance, then began circling the chamber, examining the walls.

  Indeed it was almost identical to Wen Shan’s tomb chamber.

  Aside from the heaps of dust-covered bones piled in the corners, the room was empty.

  Only one way out existed: a massive stone door, sealed shut by an enormous bronze lock.

  Around the lock floated five faintly glowing orbs, each radiating a different hue — gold, green, blue, red, and yellow the colors of the Five Elements.

  It was obvious without breaking the lock, they would never leave this place.

  By now, the other unconscious cultivators had begun to stir.Groans echoed through the chamber as one by one they woke.

  The three-eyed disciple hurried to rouse them fully, explaining their situation in brief.

  Qin Yi paid no attention to the commotion behind him; his entire focus remained on the bronze lock before him.

  Soon, everyone had gathered, their faces pale and grim.

  They were all geniuses the brightest among their sects yet now they stood powerless and shaken, stripped of their strength like mortals.

  “The inscription said to choose one among Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth?”A harsh, irritated voice rang out. “Is this secret realm toying with us? One in five how are we supposed to pick correctly? And if we fail twice, the chance is gone forever? You’re saying our survival depends on luck?”

  Before his words faded, another voice spoke low and cold.“I don’t know if it’s luck… but this test won’t be simple. Otherwise why would there be so many bones lying here?”

  At that, everyone’s eyes turned toward the corners toward the piles of skeletal remains.

  Just imagining those who had come before them trapped in this chamber, drained of qi, starving and dying in endless silence made their skin crawl.

  Were they destined to share the same fate?

  The thought filled them with dread and disgust.

  They had only just entered the secret realm not even glimpsed the fabled “Hai Suan” inheritance and already faced the possibility of dying here, forgotten.

  No one wanted to become a joke whispered across the sects or worse, to die so quietly that no one ever knew.

  “Maybe we should search the room,” someone finally muttered. “There could be clues hidden somewhere.”

  It was then that Qin Yi’s calm, measured voice broke through the rising anxiety.

  “With what we currently know,” he said, “our chance of opening this lock is less than forty percent.”

  “I don’t believe this secret realm would present a trial based purely on chance. That would serve no purpose.”

  He paused, his gaze sweeping across the group.

  “My guess is this chamber contains hidden clues. If we can find and correctly interpret them, we’ll know which of the five orbs we need to destroy.”

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