The basic Primordial cultivation method was improved by Li Heng, combining it with the contemporary Dharma Methods of Dongqi.
After some time, the Beast Taming Sect transformed into the Beast Taming Sect once again.
And Li Heng, now the Sect Leader, also learned that the Mountain God, who had protected the Li family for generations, was a legendary giant dragon.
There was no act of ingratitude or extracting the dragon's tendons.
Li Heng still treated the village with respect and even collected spiritual medicine and secret treasures to help the village recover from its injuries.
Until one day, some things changed.
But the problem didn't lie with Li Heng; it was with the village.
That day, the aged and near the end of his lifespan Li Heng brought the giant turtle he had named Zhu Luo to chat with the village.
Mostly trivial matters, like family gossip about nephews and nieces, ridiculous edicts issued by the Emperor of Dongqi, a chance meeting with a Sword Cultivator surnamed Chen, and their evenly matched fight.
Usually, the village enjoyed listening to these, but today was different.
Because the village suddenly felt very hungry.
It looked at Li Heng and Zhu Luo, feeling hungry.
The village wanted to eat them.
And at that moment, the village suddenly remembered why it was injured.
It had done it to itself.
In the past, there were times when the village had this urge, an urge to devour everything in the world.
And it became even stronger.
Not wanting to succumb, the village tried to kill itself back in the Primordial era.
But it seemed the death wasn't quite clean, and it came back to life.
After realizing this, the village had a long private conversation with Li Heng before he passed away.
It didn't disclose the truth to Li Heng, only said that it needed to build a Secret Realm to heal.
With Li Heng's help, the village set up three major arrays at Dragon Viewing Mountain, creating the Secret Realm beneath Wolong Marsh.
Li Heng thought it was a Life Array that could help the village recover.
But the village didn't reveal everything and made some manipulations, reversing the array.
The Life Array turned into a Death Array, draining its life force to nourish the land.
The village wanted to trap itself to death this way.
Then it gave two dragon scales to Li Heng, saying they could be used to visit it when the Secret Realm opened again.
But it was actually just wanting Li Heng's descendants to collect its corpse.
The village's vast memory did not impact Zhang Ze's Divine Sense. Just as he was about to continue, Li's voice echoed in Zhang Ze's ear.
"Ah, no wonder Li Jue and Bai Xiao ran into trouble; this is the reason."
The statement startled Zhang Ze.
It was like suddenly seeing the homeroom teacher standing behind you in an English class while reading a novel.
The village's memories paused, and Zhang Ze started chatting with Li.
"Could you pause before speaking? You startled me."
"Blame me then." Li was innocently.
"Who else would I blame? So, what did you see?" Zhang Ze asked.
"The village nourished this land of Cang Mountain, and the heart method of the Beast Taming Sect traces back to the village.
The creatures living within Cang Mountain's reach were more or less affected by the village; you could say they are its descendants.
That's why Li Jue and the others were so affected when they entered this Secret Realm.
And Li Jue surviving after being struck by the village is likely due to the dragon scale in that Longevity Lock." Li analyzed.
"You Dragon Descendants are really reckless, huh?" Zhang Ze didn't understand.
"The issue lies with the village, not me. I don't farm. Different species," Li didn't explain further, unsure if forgotten or unknown.
"Yeah, you're round, all you do is eat. By the way, back in the Primordial, was the village your chef?" Zhang Ze speculated.
Chatting with Li diverged again, and Zhang Ze suddenly thought of a question.
"Why did the village become , and what's with Yimu?"
"Keep watching." Li fast-forwarded.
Countless years passed.
The village closed its eyes, its body withering slowly under the power of the array; it felt this time it could truly die.
The village lost consciousness, a dragon tear fell.
Within the dragon tear was its remnant soul.
It might take many more years for this body and that fragment of soul to completely wither and dissipate.
However, in the next moment, a barely detectable crack appeared in the Secret Realm.
The village, which should have died, 'lived' again.
The divine sense perished, but the physical body remained, for this is the Ancestral Dragon.
A new, hungry divine soul was forming over the village's dragon corpse, and that dragon tear became Yimu.
Yimu escaped from the Secret Realm.
And the 'village' that revived instinctively attracts a batch of demon beasts every so often, pulling them into the Secret Realm to devour.
"Wait, pause. Li, can you return to the part about the village discussing the Secret Realm with Li Heng?"
After reviewing that segment, Zhang Ze discovered the problem.
It's all Brother Feng's fault.
Despite changes over time, the center of the Wolong Marsh Secret Realm still pinpoints the locations of those three array eyes.
And one of them, which should have gone unnoticed.
Was dug up by Lin Feng.
After Lin Feng mistook that array eye for a regular Secret Realm and dug it up, the Wolong Marsh Secret Realm cracked.
Then Yimu escaped, and the village's dragon corpse revived.
That's why Brother Feng came back to the Thousand Mechanism Pavilion and bragged about seeing a dragon.
Lin Feng saw the escaped Yimu.
Zhang Ze thought it was a mess.
"Actually, this is still your fault," Li suddenly said unexpectedly.
"How is it my problem?" Zhang Ze felt wrongly blamed.
"Let me explain, listen.
If you hadn't made up that little story for Qiu Jidan.
Would he have gone to Wangyang City?
If he hadn't gone there, you and Lin Feng wouldn't have gone either.
If none of you went, Lin Feng and Qiu Jidan wouldn't have passed by Dragon Viewing Mountain on their way back.
If they didn't pass by, Lin Feng wouldn't have mistaken that array eye for a Secret Realm.
The Secret Realm under Wolong Marsh wouldn't have had any issues.
You see, everything matches up.
It's all your responsibility."
Li's analysis was well-reasoned.
Zhang Ze wanted to retort but couldn't find a reason, helplessly changing the subject.
"Forget it, let's first solve the village issue, and I have many questions to ask Mr. Yimu."
With that, Zhang Ze and Li exited the village's memories.
Though the memories were long, only a moment passed in reality.
As soon as he opened his eyes, Zhang Ze turned into a golden light, using three escape techniques simultaneously, tugging Li along to escape into the distance.
There was no need to hide their presence.
Because the village's lone eye, which had always been closed, was now open, the scarlet dragon eye fixed dead on Zhang Ze.
Death spread around the village; the entire Secret Realm was withering.
Its dragon corpse had completely 'awakened'.