As highly valued disciples of the Moon-Reflecting Sect, Duan Mingyu and Zhai Bairong stepped into the entrance of the secret realm one after the other.
The Misty Secret Realm lived up to its name; even the entrance was shrouded in a thin, lingering haze. The figures of the two men vanished into the fog in quick succession. With the Moon-Reflecting Sect leading the way, the cultivators following behind cast aside their restraint and swarmed inside, as if terrified that a single moment’s delay would cost them a heaven-sent opportunity. There were also some cultivators clearly at the Qi Refining stage who, lacking the confidence of their Foundation Establishment seniors, trailed at the back, entering with cautious steps.
Nie Shiyun dared not waste time. He waved goodbye to Nie Li and hurried away.
It was estimated that the Misty Secret Realm could accommodate several hundred cultivators; once it reached saturation, the entrance would automatically close. Cultivators at the Golden Core stage and above were unable to enter. The realm would remain open for approximately three years. Once the time limit was reached, any surviving cultivators would be automatically teleported out. If one died within the realm, unless someone was there to retrieve the body, they would remain there forever.
Even though the path ahead was fraught with uncertainty, cultivators still scrambled for a spot in the secret realm. Such was the path of cultivation: one must either advance or retreat.
Upon entering the realm, Nie Shiyun immediately went on high alert. In the nearly one year since he had arrived in this alien world, he had never left Yunqing Pavilion. This was his first time truly facing this dangerous world, hidden beneath a beautiful exterior, on his own.
The novel only provided the general location of the grotto. Having been randomly teleported into the realm, Nie Shiyun had no idea where he was, and the pervasive mist only made navigation more difficult.
Moving swiftly, Nie Shiyun pulled out a pre-prepared Jasper Compass.
The Jasper Compass was a very common Grade 3 magical tool, not at all rare; almost any cultivator with a bit of savings owned one. Secret realms were not part of the standard map of the cultivation world, so ordinary compasses often failed to determine direction. In such cases, the Jasper Compass, driven by spiritual energy, served as a substitute.
While in the artifact refining room of Yunqing Pavilion, Nie Shiyun had used this common compass to practice his skills. He had experimentally combined Flower Demon Dew and Seven-Colored Clam Pearls bought from the market, fusing them into the grooves of the compass face. This created a tool that, in addition to identifying directions, could guide a cultivator to the nearest body of water. Nie Li had marveled at it when he saw it; although a cultivator wouldn't die of thirst without water, making the function somewhat redundant, he still praised his son’s creative thinking.
The definition of a "body of water" was broad. It could be a spiritual spring, a waterfall, or just a common small pond. Nie Shiyun only remembered the book mentioning that the grotto was hidden behind a small waterfall. Fortunately, there weren't many bodies of water in this secret realm, so he had time to check them one by one.
Following the compass's guidance, Nie Shiyun arrived at two incorrect springs in succession. Upon discovering the errors, he didn't pause for a moment, immediately turning to set off again. Along the way, whenever he grew tired, he took Spirit-Restoring Pills to recover; when he became excessively weary, he entered the Chaos Space to meditate for a while, resuming his journey once he had regained his focus. During this time, he crossed paths with other cultivators a few times, but since the realm had only just opened and resources were still plentiful, no one was so deranged as to start a fight upon a chance encounter.
About twenty days after the realm opened, while other cultivators were likely still searching for their way through the mist, Nie Shiyun successfully reached his destination.
The trees of the Misty Forest were lush, and sound seemed to be partially absorbed by the foliage and fog. It wasn't until he was extremely close to his goal that Nie Shiyun finally heard the sound of the waterfall. Had he not gradually felt the moisture in the air, he might have stopped trusting the compass in his hand. Probing his surroundings, Nie Shiyun sensed no trace of other cultivators. Steeling his nerves, he quickly passed through the waterfall and arrived at the platform behind it, just as described in the novel. He then descended the inconspicuous stairs leading downward.
Standing at the entrance, Nie Shiyun extended his palm and injected the power of his three spiritual roots into the stone sphere at the grotto's door.
The stone sphere rotated, emitting a faint glow, but it did not light up completely. Understanding the requirement, Nie Shiyun quickly pulled the Wood Essence and Earth Essence from his storage bag. The moment the stone sphere touched the essences, it radiated a brilliant light, which then turned perfectly transparent.
Even though he knew it was unlikely anyone would come by at this moment, Nie Shiyun was still deathly nervous. If the master of the grotto wanted to set a security measure, fine, but why make it so flashy? It was like stealing data from someone's computer; just as the copy reached 99%, the screen set off a special effect of exploding fireworks just for you.
The door to the grotto finally opened, and Nie Shiyun slipped inside.
If someone was already inside this grotto, an outsider could not open it under any circumstances. It wasn't until the door closed again that Nie Shiyun finally breathed a sigh of relief. This breath had been held since the secret realm opened nearly a month ago—no, it had been held since he decided to strive for this Spirit-Cleansing Pill over half a year ago. Hard work had paid off; he had finally arrived here before Duan Mingyu.
Surveying the grotto, Nie Shiyun found a bottle containing pills on a bookshelf, along with a manuscript from the grotto's master tucked beneath the porcelain bottle.
It was unknown how long ago this senior had passed away in meditation. He wrote that he had worked harder than anyone at cultivation, but could not overcome his poor natural talent. He possessed four miscellaneous spiritual roots, and even after cleansing one, he remained a triple-root cultivator with many limitations. A Spirit-Cleansing Pill only worked once for any given cultivator. After that, he failed to break through to the Nascent Soul stage and eventually died with regret, living for less than five hundred years.
He left behind an extra Spirit-Cleansing Pill, stating that if a fated person could enter this grotto, they might be a cultivator troubled by multiple spiritual roots just as he had been. This pill could not change his own fate, but it could help someone else.
*What a good person,* Nie Shiyun thought to himself.
Perhaps this was the true intention behind the grotto's master setting such a mechanism. If one had five miscellaneous spiritual roots, entering this grotto alone would have been easy. However, the spiritual energy of the world had gradually thinned; while it might have been possible a thousand years ago, where could one find a person with five miscellaneous roots today who could reach this stage?
The master of this grotto could never have anticipated that there would be someone like Duan Mingyu, surrounded by a harem that gathered every type of spiritual root. Together, they would open the restriction to gift the treasure to him alone.
"Regardless of the outcome, thank you, Senior."
Facing the empty grotto, Nie Shiyun bowed sincerely in gratitude.
A Spirit-Cleansing Pill could only randomly remove one spiritual root at a time. The main problem with this body lay in the conflict between the Water and Fire roots; cleansing either would be beneficial. But if, after coming all this way, he happened to cleanse the Metal root instead, Nie Shiyun felt he would have done all he could and would have nothing more to say.
Thinking of the various ways of this world's Heavenly Dao, Nie Shiyun took the Spirit-Cleansing Pill and reflected for a moment. He decided to swallow it immediately, but rather than accepting the effects on the spot, he entered his space to digest it.
Compared to other high-level pills, the Spirit-Cleansing Pill looked quite plain—colorless and odorless, a true return to simplicity. Nie Shiyun entered the Chaos Space, closed his eyes, and sat in quiet meditation.
At first, Nie Shiyun still had the strength to monitor the state of the spiritual roots within his body, hoping to see which one was being cleansed. However, the process of cleansing a spiritual root was more painful than he had imagined. Soon, he had no capacity for distraction. Large beads of cold sweat poured down the back of his head, and his inner robes were soaked through.
Knowing there was no one else in the space, Nie Shiyun couldn't help but cry out in pain. Although it didn't alleviate the agony of his internal organs feeling as if they were being ground to pieces, it at least made him feel better psychologically.
Time passed very slowly within the space. Mentally speaking, this suffering lasted for about three days. Just as Nie Shiyun had become numb with pain and his vision was a complete blank, his body suddenly felt light as a feather. The wooden board that had seemingly capped his cultivation was instantly shattered. Before Nie Shiyun could even check his spiritual roots, his cultivation uncontrollably broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage. The overflowing spiritual energy forced him to quickly sit upright, focusing his mind to begin cultivating.
Another ten full days passed in meditation before Nie Shiyun reached the early stage of Foundation Establishment and his body finally settled into a state of calm.
Leaving the space and stepping back onto the floor of the grotto, his entire spirit had undergone a world-shaking transformation. He hurriedly checked the spiritual roots within his body and confirmed that the Water root had been cleansed; he was now a Metal-Fire dual-root cultivator. Nie Shiyun couldn't help but cheer for his luck. Cleansing the Fire root would also have been viable, but the Fire root was the most suitable for an artifact refiner. While refining wasn't a necessity for cultivation, Yunqing Pavilion was a family of refiners, and Nie Shiyun was quite skilled in it. It would have been a pity to lose that advantage.
Nie Shiyun hadn't initially believed that the Heavenly Dao would favor him so much as to leave exactly the roots he wanted. Though he remained half-skeptical, in his heart, he believed this was the result of moving his location to the space. From every perspective, that place seemed to be an anomaly beyond the reach of the Heavenly Dao.
Now that he had cast off the greatest limitation of the original body, Nie Shiyun felt incredibly lighthearted. As expected, as long as he was willing to fight for it, his fate was not yet set in stone.
Keeping the Wood and Earth Essences wouldn't be of much use, and his cultivation wasn't high enough to consume them directly, so he decided to use them to nourish the space as he had done before. Nie Shiyun tossed the essences into the jade pendant and soon felt them being devoured until nothing remained. Recalling his previously rejected spirit stones, he once again confirmed the fact that this space had very picky tastes.
Entering the jade pendant again to investigate, the cramped space that had originally been only half a foot wide had become slightly more spacious. It was just as he thought: the space would gradually grow as it consumed resources. Furthermore, the space seemed to be bound to his soul; as it grew, his own cultivation also rose slowly.
However, after devouring two essences worth 500,000 spirit stones each, the space had only grown by a small margin. Nie Shiyun had a faint inkling that for the rest of his life, he would likely be running himself ragged just to feed this bottomless pit.
| Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation |
| :--- | :--- | :--- |
| 映月派 | Moon-Reflecting Sect | The sect of the original protagonist and Zhai Bairong. |
| 碧玉罗盘 | Jasper Compass | A common
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Transmigrated into a Total Shou Novel as a Cannon Fodder, but Ended Up 1v1-ing the Male Lead | Chapter 6 | Cleansing the Roots | Novela.app | Novela.app
