After saying that, the talisman paper burned quickly and disappeared in a burst of flames.
Chen Yan took a deep breath and also infused his primordial qi into the talisman paper, shouting loudly, "I, Wang Chuyi, swear to the Heavenly Dao..."
He quickly recited the words Ouyang had told him, and after the infusion of primordial qi, the talisman paper also rapidly burned away...
Will using a false name be detected by the Domain Realm Heavenly Dao?
Chen Yan wasn’t worried, as it was impossible for the Domain Realm’s Heavenly Dao to cross over here.
Unaware of Chen Yan’s trick, Ouyang’s gaze softened a bit after the oath was sworn: "Brother, now let’s discuss our cooperation.
My only requirement is that on the second night we switch rooms—when the time comes, we switch!"
This request didn’t surprise Chen Yan. He had already determined the crucial value of switching rooms while analyzing with Chu Keqing earlier.
"Alright!" Chen Yan nodded, "However, since we were accidentally dragged into this place, please enlighten me about this secret realm and the trial’s content, especially the dangers mentioned by that puppet, Ouyang Daoist!"
Ouyang’s expression turned serious. He glanced at the hourglass and then spoke quickly.
Ouyang first explained the source of this secret realm—he was an Inspector, well, an Assistant Inspector (intern), but his duties were similar to what Chen Yan knew about Domain Realm Inspectors, tasked with patrolling this world and investigating cultivators from the Domain Realm causing trouble here.
According to Ouyang, he highly suspected the secret realm’s master was from the Domain Realm. This secret realm must have been created by some kind of magical artifact brought from the Domain Realm.
Due to the world’s Heavenly Dao suppressing cultivation, any high-level cultivation coming here would be suppressed below the Celestial Human Realm, so this secret realm couldn’t have been simply created by spells—below the Celestial Human Realm, that’s impossible.
It could only be concealed by relying on smuggled magical artifacts.
Ouyang was investigating this because many cultivators of this world had died in this secret realm!
Logically, if it weren’t for the deliberate actions using a magical artifact from the Domain Realm, those people would not have died, and the cause-and-effect relationship would be accounted for by the Domain Realm’s Heavenly Dao—preventing such events is an Inspector’s duty.
"I don’t know all the details of this secret realm; the information I’ve gathered came from questioning others.
I personally interrogated a person who survived the last trial held in this secret realm and gathered some valuable information from him..."
According to Ouyang, this secret realm opens approximately once every three years. The secret realm’s master randomly sends out messages to the cultivation realm in Japan, and those who receive the message can participate in the trial when it opens.
The successful trial participants receive a reward: perhaps a set of spells, a magical artifact, or some genius earth treasure materials.
Why the secret realm’s master does this is unknown.
Ouyang speculated that the secret realm’s master might be an evil cultivator who attracts cultivators here to collect their souls for cultivation when they die in the secret realm.
Finally, concerning the "danger" that Chen Yan was most concerned about, Ouyang’s answer made Chen Yan frown.
"I originally guessed that the trial in the secret realm would just involve fighting some demons or supernatural entities, which could be dealt with if one’s mana was strong enough.
But after questioning the trial survivor, it seemed not to be so.
The exact dangers were unclear; before leaving the secret realm, everyone was placed under a spell prohibition, preventing them from divulging trial details or processes."
Chen Yan frowned, "Then isn’t that basically useless information?"
"Not entirely useless," Ouyang quickly added, "From what I gathered from the interrogated person, there were six groups participating in that trial, with the strongest being at the Ascension Realm, followed by two in the Guiyuan Realm, and three in the Inner Room Realm.
The trial resulted in three survivors: one from the Ascension Realm and two from the Inner Room Realm. The others, especially the two from the Guiyuan Realm, died."
Chen Yan’s expression shifted slightly.
This means... the trial isn’t all about strength and cultivation level!
The fact that the Ascension Realm survivor made it wasn’t surprising.
But if the trial’s danger were merely evil creatures, strong enough mana should have ensured success—so why did the two from the Guiyuan Realm die while the two from the Inner Room Realm survived?
Could it be that passing the trial doesn’t directly correlate with one’s strength?
"The secret realm’s master won’t reveal himself until the trial ends. I’m worried that if I reveal my identity and make a move directly, he might escape... So I have to wait until the trial ends, and the master shows up, to have a chance to subdue him!" Ouyang’s tone was very confident.
Chen Yan looked at him: "Isn’t it actually because you can’t break the secret realm created by the magical artifact?"
When Ouyang left, there were about ten minutes of sand left in the hourglass.
Chen Yan closed the door and turned back to see Chu Keqing looking at him with a complicated expression.
"Senior... you’re really not from this world? The place you mentioned, the Domain Realm..."