First Encounter

"Bullshit!!!"

Hearing Su Zixuan's words, Ah Long, who had been holding back a bellyful of words, took the opportunity to curse:

"If this is really a death trap with no chance of survival, then explain to me, what's going on with that guy inside? Isn't he leisurely cultivating in there?"

As soon as these words came out, Su Zixuan's face instantly turned pale. He slumped onto the ground, muttering to himself:

"What? How is that possible? How could he still be alive? Damn it, what on earth does it take to kill this idiot!!!"

"This is a place of absolute death, even an immortal wouldn't be able to come out once they enter. That idiot Lin Bei, how could he possibly still be alive?"

Seeing Su Zixuan in this state, Ah Long and Ah Hu exchanged a glance, then simultaneously pointed at their heads, implying that this guy might have a screw loose, and ignored him.

Qin Hao, on the other hand, curled his lips into a playful smile upon hearing the name Su Zixuan just mentioned. Lin Bei? Isn't that the peer my old man mentioned? He's here too? Then I have to go meet him.

Thinking this, Qin Hao stepped into the secret realm, with Ah Long and Ah Hu following closely behind.

The moment Qin Hao stepped through the stone gate, he felt his vision spin.

Purple light surged from all directions, wrapping his entire body within it.

This light wasn't ordinary light; it was an unknown organism with weight, temperature, and a temper. It was like countless invisible snakes drilling into every pore of Qin Hao's skin, into his meridians, his blood, his bone marrow. Wherever it passed, his spiritual energy seemed to be gnawed on by something, melting away bit by bit.

Qin Hao's body stiffened slightly. Soon, he urged the Nirvana Divine Fire to cover his entire body.

The moment the purple light touched the Nirvana Divine Fire, it violently shrank back as if burned. It wasn't just retreating; it was in fear.

That light—the things that drilled into his pores like snakes—let out faint hissing sounds under the burning of the divine fire, like ice cubes dropping into boiling oil. They frantically surged out of Qin Hao's body, scrambling over each other as if fleeing for their lives.

"Dual Pupils, open!"

Qin Hao shouted in a low voice. In his eyes, the phantom of the Dual Pupils appeared. At that moment, the entire world changed.

The purple light was no longer light; it was countless tiny, translucent bugs, looking like jellyfish, like octopuses, like some kind of creature that shouldn't exist in this world.

They had no fixed shape. Their bodies were like flowing purple slime, their surfaces covered with dense tentacles, and the end of each tentacle had a pinprick-sized sucker. Those suckers attached to a person's skin, drilled into their pores, and went deep into their meridians, greedily sucking out their spiritual energy, destiny, and life force.

"It's actually the Destiny-Devouring Leeches! No wonder that guy at the door said this was a land of absolute death. For a place like their Lower Three Heavens where the strongest are merely immortals, Destiny-Devouring Leeches can indeed be considered a fatal menace."

Ah Long recognized the origin of these transparent little bugs, which made him even more curious. Even someone as strong as the Imperial Son only managed to disperse the Destiny-Devouring Leeches relying on the Nirvana Divine Fire. How was that kid deep in the secret realm cultivating in here?

"That guy is also deep in the secret realm, don't let him snatch my Destiny Dao Beast. Let's hurry over and take a look."

Qin Hao spoke, and the two did not dare to delay. They hurriedly dispersed these Destiny-Devouring Leeches, clearing a path for Qin Hao.

When Qin Hao found Lin Bei, he didn't recognize him as a human at first glance.

In the deepest part of the secret realm, beneath a nest piled with purple crystals, there was a sunken depression.

The depression was densely packed with crawling Destiny-Devouring Leeches, so purple they looked black, like a boiling pot of magma. Those bugs were piled on top of each other, layer upon layer, so thick the bottom couldn't be seen. They were squirming, tumbling, and frantically squeezing in one direction—towards the person buried in the pile of bugs.

That person only had a face exposed. It was ashen gray, like a corpse.

The Destiny-Devouring Leeches drilled into his eye sockets, nostrils, ears, and the corners of his mouth. They drilled in, sucked their fill, crawled out, and another batch took their place.

His face was covered in tiny wounds, and purple light flickered inside each wound. The bugs ate, and that power healed. Eat and heal, heal and eat. Over and over again, without end.

Seeing how Lin Bei cultivated, the expressions of Qin Hao and the other two changed.

"Are you sure this is cultivation? This is clearly self-mutilation!" Qin Hao had seen dead people, he had seen cultivators suffer qi deviation, but he had never seen this—a living person being gnawed on by tens of thousands of bugs. Every inch of skin, every piece of muscle, every bone was being chewed, swallowed, and digested, only to regrow, heal, and become food for the bugs once again under the effect of some power.

He wasn't cultivating; he was undergoing torture!

"The Immortal and Indestructible Sutra... He is cultivating the Immortal and Indestructible Sutra!" Ah Long recognized the origin of Lin Bei's technique.

"The Immortal and Indestructible Sutra is a divine ability created by the Fifth Ancestor of our Qin family. Those who cultivate this sutra will have an indestructible physical body and an undying soul. As long as there is a breath left, they can regenerate infinitely. It sounds good, but because cultivating it is far too painful, there are hardly any in the Qin family who can persevere in cultivating it."

Qin Hao raised his eyebrows slightly. The Fifth Ancestor? Kexin's father? Interesting.

"Lord Imperial Son, should we step in and save him? He is about to give out. Although he recovers quickly, the Destiny-Devouring Leeches here are endless. They can continue to gnaw on him for eternity."

Qin Hao was silent for a moment, then shook his head. "No need to intervene, let him solve it himself. If he can't even handle this bit of trouble, saving him would be a waste of effort."

After speaking, Qin Hao looked deep into the purple crystal nest. Lying there was a snow-white little beast, which was exactly Qin Hao's target for this trip—the Destiny Dao Beast.

Qin Hao had just taken a step forward when that white little beast vanished. It didn't run, it didn't hide, it disappeared—like a drop of water melting into the ocean, like a breath blown away in the wind, without leaving even a shadow. Qin Hao's footsteps paused in place, and Ah Long and Ah Hu were also stunned.

"Where did it go?"

Qin Hao looked at Ah Long and Ah Hu, the corners of his mouth twitching uncontrollably. "You're asking me? You two Immortal Lords just let such a little thing slip right under your noses?"

Ah Long and Ah Hu scratched their heads apologetically. "Lord Imperial Son, you can't blame us. We truly didn't feel a thing. It suddenly just disappeared, leaving no trace behind at all."

Qin Hao sighed helplessly. "Bringing you two along was a waste. What are you still standing there for? Find it for me."

"Yes!"

Both Ah Long and Ah Hu were experts at the Immortal Lord level. Their divine sense easily covered the entire secret realm, but strangely enough, even after covering the whole secret realm, they still couldn't find the whereabouts of that Destiny Dao Beast. It seemed to have truly gone missing.