The three at the valley entrance each took out an ancient, triangular object from their person. It was brown, and the bottom edge of the triangle was curved. Forming hand seals, the three of them tossed the objects into the air. From the other two sects, Great Master Yisong and Immortal Elder Hangwu stepped forward and stood behind the trio at the entrance, but they did not offer any items of their own.
Li Yan kept his eyes fixed on the elders. He saw that Great Master Yisong and Immortal Elder Hangwu produced nothing, but he noticed a sharp glint in their eyes when Elder Peng took out the brown object. Li Yan sensed a trace of greed in their gaze. Being a sharp person, he thought about the origins of the Secret Realm and quickly guessed the reason.
This Secret Realm had originally been discovered and its passage opened by the Ten-Pace Courtyard and the Malevolent Spirit Sect. Later, they reached an agreement with the peak-level demonic beasts within. These three brown objects must be the magical artifacts needed to open a certain area in the Secret Realm. Since the Supreme Mystery Teachings and the Pure Land Sect had joined later, they did not possess these items. Without these opening artifacts, it was a fatal disadvantage for the two sects. It meant that even if they were allowed to use the Secret Realm, there might be certain places they could not enter.
Li Yan's guess was correct. The three brown objects rapidly assembled in the air, forming a round, compass-like object in the blink of an eye. Light flowed and radiated from it. At this moment, Elder Peng's trio, along with Great Master Yisong and Immortal Elder Hangwu behind them, all formed hand seals. Each of the five pointed a finger, and five beams of different colored light shot towards the small, compass-like object. The small compass instantly spun like a whipped top. As its volume increased, its rotation gradually slowed. The spinning compass slowly moved to a position directly above the valley entrance, eventually growing to the size of a giant sun hanging over the valley.
At this point, the five withdrew their magical power. The giant compass stopped spinning and hovered there in the air above the entrance. Elder Peng glanced at Sword King Xiahuà, who nodded and turned to face the Foundation Establishment cultivators. "The harvesting area is open. You will enter in batches according to your sect. As each of you passes beneath the Heaven's Heart Compass, it will leave a mark on you. You can sense this mark with your divine sense. If you encounter danger, shatter this mark with your divine sense, and you will be teleported out. If the mark disappears and the person does not come out, they are dead."
Li Yan found this fascinating. He never thought this treasure, called the Heaven's Heart Compass, could not only open the area but also serve as a lifesaver.
"This Heaven's Heart Compass is also a map. Once activated, it displays a map of the harvesting area within. However, you can only see the number of personnel and their approximate locations; you won't know which light dot represents whom. To protect those who enter later, upon entry, the Heaven's Heart Compass will automatically move them to a specific zone. While in this zone, neither demonic beasts nor cultivators can leave it. This prevents those who enter first from ganging up on those who enter later. Only after everyone has entered will the elders outside officially activate the Heaven's Heart Compass, which will then remove the restrictions in the harvesting area, allowing demonic beasts and cultivators to move freely," Li Wuyi's voice transmission promptly sounded in Li Yan's mind.
Li Yan smiled and nodded at Li Wuyi, knowing he was sharing his experience. There were still some things he didn't quite understand, but he didn't need to ask. He began to grasp Li Wuyi's meaning as he watched people start to enter.
First, the Tier-2 demonic beasts from Yin Congfeng's team went in. These beasts were incredibly excited, roaring and howling, but under Yin Congfeng's cold gaze, they managed to form a line and walk towards the green vine trellis at the valley entrance. When the first wolf-headed, female-bodied demonic beast entered, at the very instant it passed the threshold, a green light shot from the Heaven's Heart Compass above, passed through the trellis, and struck its body. The beast, completely unaware, had already plunged into the green vines and vanished. The demonic beasts behind it followed suit, and each was struck by a green light from the compass upon entering. A moving green dot then appeared on the Heaven's Heart Compass, which made Li Yan begin to understand what Li Wuyi had said.
After this batch of demonic beasts had entered, their green dots gathered and moved within one area, but they were unable to move beyond a certain boundary.
Next, the Daoists from the Supreme Mystery Teachings began to enter. This seemed to mollify the previously ill-tempered Daoists, as the order of entry clearly gave them some face. However, as the Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Supreme Mystery Teachings passed through the valley entrance, the Heaven's Heart Compass shot down a red light. A moving red dot then appeared on the compass and quickly gathered in another area, keeping a certain distance from the green dots.
Li Yan finally understood. The Heaven's Heart Compass could be controlled for each batch entering, and the color of the light it emitted was different, allowing for the differentiation of sects. How it was controlled, however, he had no way of knowing.
Following this pattern, the demonic beasts, the Pure Land Sect, more demonic beasts, the Malevolent Spirit Sect, and the Ten-Pace Courtyard entered in batches. The entire process took nearly a quarter of an hour. Once the colored dots had gathered in seven distinct areas on the compass, the five Golden Core cultivators once again shot five beams of colored light into the Heaven's Heart Compass hanging in the air. With a humming sound, the compass shot seven massive pillars of light into the sky. The seven pillars soared high before swiftly plummeting like arrows into the valley. Then, the colored dots in the seven areas on the compass began to swarm. Some moved towards each other, while others shot off rapidly towards the outer peripheries.
Li Yan stared at the giant Heaven's Heart Compass above the valley entrance. He remembered that the Malevolent Spirit Sect's color was black. In one area of the compass, among the forty-nine black dots, three or four were clustered together, charging in one direction. Four or five other dots were moving slowly together, appearing very cautious. There was even a lone black dot that had broken away, heading off in a different direction. They were all moving outwards, apparently trying to put some distance between themselves and their enemies before making their next move.
Li Yan also saw areas of red, brown, and purple dots. Most of the dots of these colors were charging directly towards the areas of other colors. If he remembered correctly, these were the colors of the three demonic beast teams. It seemed they planned to eliminate the human cultivators first. However, among these three colors, many dots had also broken away from the main group and headed for the periphery. Li Yan guessed these were the more intelligent demonic beasts, who had entered with treasure hunting as their main goal.
"Alright, once inside, life and death are determined by fate. We will wait outside for one month," Elder Peng said as he walked back to the group of Qi Condensation cultivators. He then joined the other seven Golden Core elders to one side, conversing via voice transmission. Li Yan noticed their gazes frequently shifting towards the other sects and the three demonic beast teams. The Golden Core masters from the other sects similarly returned to their own camps and began discussing matters, their gazes also sweeping around with a guarded look.
Li Yan didn't know why so many Golden Core masters from each sect had come. Besides the minimum of five Golden Core cultivators needed to open the passage, were the extra ones there to put on a show of force or to guard against any foul play from the other sects?
In the Secret Realm Harvesting, ever since Foundation Establishment cultivators became the main force, the opening of the passage had been presided over by Golden Core cultivators. But the difference between Golden Core and Nascent Soul was like heaven and earth. At least ten mid-stage Golden Core cultivators were needed to open a single passage. The initial agreement was that each sect would only send five mid-stage Golden Core masters or higher to accompany the Foundation Establishment disciples to each of the two passages. But unexpectedly, a very strange incident occurred. During a harvesting tens of thousands of years ago, nearly half of the Golden Core masters who entered ended up perishing. Every Golden Core cultivator was extremely precious to a sect; the losses were devastating.
The Supreme Mystery Teachings and the Ten-Pace Courtyard each lost three Golden Core cultivators in the Secret Realm. The Malevolent Spirit Sect and the Pure Land Sect each had two elders severely injured, almost unable to even open the passage to return. In the end, the four sects had to gather together and muster ten Golden Core cultivators at the Ten-Pace Courtyard's passage to jointly open it for their return.
According to the elders who returned, one night after the Foundation Establishment cultivators had entered the harvesting area, the twenty elders and the three enemy Tier-3 demonic beasts were guarding the area beneath the Heaven's Heart Compass when a thick fog suddenly rose, swiftly enveloping the area. Visibility dropped to less than a meter, and even divine sense was obstructed. The divine sense of a powerful Golden Core master could only extend about a zhang. What happened next was that these twenty Golden Core masters were ambushed. Fortunately, the Pure Land Sect and the Malevolent Spirit Sect, upon realizing something was wrong, formed a small Arhat Subduing Formation and a small Four Symbols Formation. Although no one died, four elders were severely injured. The Ten-Pace Courtyard, initially relying on their sharp attacks, had split up to engage the enemy, while the Supreme Mystery Teachings Daoists had formed a Lesser Heavenly Dipper Formation. One sect was too arrogant, the other's defensive formation was breached. Their losses were tragic: six Golden Core masters died, including four at the mid-stage and two at the late-stage.
The fog came quickly and dissipated just as fast, lasting less than half a quarter of an hour before vanishing completely. The attackers within the fog also disappeared without a trace. The remaining cultivators from the four sects were furious, believing it was the work of high-level demonic beasts from the Secret Realm. The three Tier-3 demonic beasts that had appeared, though covered in injuries, were all still alive. This was highly unreasonable. No matter how strong the three of them were, they couldn't be stronger than twenty Golden Core cultivators. The human cultivators were on the verge of surrounding and attacking them. The three demonic beasts initially tried to explain, but when they saw the humans didn't believe them, their ferocious nature flared up, and they prepared to fight to the death without any fear.
At that moment, a Buddha from the Pure Land Sect spoke up and stopped the fight. A Golden Core master from the Malevolent Spirit Sect also stepped forward to mediate. After all, these two sects had not suffered major losses and were therefore much calmer. If they fought here, even if they killed these three high-level demonic beasts, not only would the remaining Golden Core cultivators be unable to escape, but none of the Foundation Establishment disciples they brought in would get out alive. This was the enemy's territory. Starting a fight would only attract more high-level demonic beasts and might even provoke the wrath of a peak-stage Tier-4 demonic beast. They were not Nascent Soul old monsters.
And so, for the following days, the four sects gathered together, taking turns to stand guard. Though they fought endlessly among themselves outside, at this moment, they were united. The three demonic beasts were extremely displeased with them but surprisingly did not call for reinforcements. This made the cultivators even more vigilant. Recalling the beasts' earlier fearlessness, they suspected that a peak-level demonic beast might be hiding in the shadows.
Until the end of the harvesting, the strange fog never appeared again, nor did the demonic beasts launch the attack they had anticipated. When all the Foundation Establishment cultivators came out, the Golden Core masters of the four sects dared not linger. They didn't even take stock of the harvest results. After a quick headcount of the survivors, they gathered all the Foundation Establishment cultivators and rushed towards the Ten-Pace Courtyard's exit. The journey was filled with anxiety, but fortunately, they were not intercepted by demonic beasts. This made them begin to doubt their own judgment. After they were completely out, they immediately reported to the Nascent Soul Ancestors of the Ten-Pace Courtyard, who then gathered the ancestors from the other three sects for a council. This kind of thing had never happened before when Nascent Soul cultivators presided over the harvesting, and it had been over a hundred years since Golden Core cultivators took over, with six or seven entries and exits, and such a bizarre event had never occurred.