Preparations Before Departure

Watching them, the other members of the sect couldn't help but intensify their own cultivation.

Every night upon returning home, Lin Xiao would hurriedly finish his dinner. Instead of taking a bath, he used a simple Cleansing Spell to take care of everything, then locked himself in his room to study and create spells.

He wanted to create more spells to ensure his ability to protect himself after entering the secret realm.

This way, if they encountered danger, they wouldn't be left without any means to cope.

Lin Xiao envisioned many scenarios, and based on these hypothetical situations, he pondered what kind of spells would be needed to resolve them, thereby creating spells with specific targets in mind.

Thus, over the past few days, he created a lot of spells.

Some were useful, but others were temporarily of no use.

The reason some were temporarily useless was that, while many of these spells were actually very powerful and highly practical, Lin Xiao's cultivation base was insufficient to cast them.

Eight days passed in a flash.

During this time, driven by Lin Xiao's momentum, everyone in the sect made significant progress in their cultivation.

The newest disciples, Yang Jinshu, Liu Shengsheng, and Lin Ying, had all successively reached the first level of Qi Refining.

However, apart from Lin Xiao himself and Sun Yigao, no one else was above the fourth level of Qi Refining.

Moreover, Lin Xiao discovered that a higher aptitude did not necessarily mean faster cultivation.

For instance, Jiang Youfu, who had recently switched to cultivating the Origin Heart Sutra, was experiencing an incredibly fast increase in his cultivation base.

Although he was the earliest to join the sect, it was actually only by a few days.

Yet, with an aptitude that was merely average, his cultivation had already advanced to the third level of Qi Refining.

Most of the others in the sect were still hovering around the first or second level of Qi Refining.

After trying out the Origin Heart Sutra, most of them felt that they were not quite suited for this mental cultivation method, so they stuck with the original Peach Source Void Art.

Currently, within the entire Lingxian Sect, the only people who had switched to the Origin Heart Sutra, aside from Lin Xiao and Sun Yigao, were Jiang Youfu, Lin Yun, and Liu Yunan.

From the very beginning of his contact with the Origin Heart Sutra, Jiang Youfu felt that he could handle its cultivation with ease.

Therefore, he immediately decided to switch to this mental cultivation method personally created by his Brother Xiao.

As for Lin Yun and Liu Yunan, they felt that cultivating this method was not vastly different from their previous practice of the Peach Source Void Art, so naturally, they switched to the more advanced Origin Heart Sutra.

Lin Xiao had also pondered over this phenomenon.

Perhaps, even if everyone's aptitudes varied, under the influence of a highly compatible mental cultivation method, this gap in aptitude could be greatly narrowed or even surpassed.

This showed that aptitude was not the deciding factor for everything.

Lin Xiao could already foresee that the future of their sect would be one where heroes were not judged solely by their aptitude.

It would not make everyone feel like they had lost at the starting line.

Lin Xiao highly approved of this trend and prospect in his heart.

However, he also felt that the burden on his shoulders had suddenly become a bit heavier.

He needed to hurry up and create more mental cultivation methods that were suitable for everyone...

Alas, as the master of a sect, there really were too many things to worry about.

Lin Xiao now wished he could split himself in half.

One half to cultivate and improve himself, and the other half to build and worry about the various affairs of the sect's development.

During these eight days of diligent cultivation, Lin Xiao and Sun Yigao didn't even go home at night; the two of them simply slept on the floor in the cultivation room.

Through such day and night cultivation, Sun Yigao's cultivation base finally skyrocketed, reaching the seventh level of Qi Refining.

It also allowed Lin Xiao's cultivation to successfully advance to the eighth level of Qi Refining, and he was on the verge of breaking through to the ninth level.

It had to be said that as one's cultivation grew higher, the speed of breakthroughs became slower and slower.

In the same amount of time, even with Lin Xiao's idle cultivation combined with his active practice, he only rose to the eighth level nearing the ninth, whereas Sun Yigao made a quadruple jump straight from the third level to the seventh level of Qi Refining.

During this period, Lin Xiao had also been keeping in mind the strange sensation he had felt earlier at Tomb Mountain.

He had taken the time to go over there and investigate twice more, but he still found nothing.

Therefore, on the evening of the eighth day, after concluding the day's cultivation, Lin Xiao gathered everyone in the sect and said to them:

Recently, our sect acquired an entrance to a secret realm. Only those in the Qi Refining stage can enter this secret realm, but right now we don't know what the situation inside is like. Therefore, I have decided that Yigao and I will go in first to investigate.

Hearing this, everyone was thoroughly confused, as they did not understand what a secret realm meant.

Sun Yigao, who had been assigned to the task, was also completely unaware.

So, everyone asked Lin Xiao about it.

Faced with everyone's doubts, Lin Xiao explained to them:

As for this secret realm, I am actually not too clear on the specifics either, but you can understand it as an independent small world. Many things inside might be quite different from our outside world, and it may be filled with various unknown dangers and opportunities. It could be a sea of fire and a mountain of blades, or it could be littered with treasures everywhere, or perhaps both.

Our trip this time is firstly to explore the truth of this secret realm and prepare for everyone else to enter it in the future. Secondly, it is to see if we can bring out any resources or materials that our sect needs.

Because this secret realm cannot be opened at any time. It only opens every year from the Awakening of Insects to the Beginning of Summer, which is the only time we can go in and come out. Yigao and I certainly cannot wait until next year, so this year the two of us will go in and lead the way.

Hearing this, Lin Yun, who usually spoke very little, was the first to ask:

But you haven't been inside either and don't know the situation in this secret realm. What if there is danger and you don't even have a helper in there?

Knowing that he was caring for him, Lin Xiao gave him a reassuring smile and said:

Don't worry, big brother. Since we have the key to enter this secret realm, we can naturally leave at any time. After we go in, the Key of the Secret Realm will issue each of us a one-time exit connection key. If we really encounter danger, we can open the exit and come back at any time.

With this, Lin Yun felt slightly relieved and nodded.

Lin Xiao looked at the crowd again and spoke:

Actually, my main purpose in gathering everyone is not to introduce this secret realm, but to entrust you with another important matter.

Lin Xiao paused, and seeing that everyone had their ears pricked up and was listening carefully, he continued:

In two days, we will enter the secret realm, and there will be twenty days left until the secret realm closes. I don't know how many days we will stay in the secret realm. It might be very small, and we could come out after just a few days of exploration, or we might keep exploring until the very last day...

What I want to say is that during the time we are in the secret realm, I hope everyone can be more vigilant and pay close attention to the situation in our village.