The moment he stepped into the Heaven-Reaching Tower, the Azure Dragon's Horn he carried dissolved back into white light, enveloping Jiang Chen.
No one else was around.
Inside the Tower, each person once again faced their own separate space.
Jiang Chen's first thought was that he no longer needed to worry about Wang Yiwu's threat. Only then did he relax his mind and sink into that vast, boundless world.
The human body has four seas.
The spine is the first sea.
The Dao meridian lies dormant within the spine, nurturing Dao essence and accumulating resources.
Before the Soaring Dragon stage, it overlapped and merged with the spinal sea.
So in truth, the spinal sea at this stage could also be considered the Celestial Palace itself.
The Celestial Palace was simply another name for the Dao meridian.
Once the Gate of Heaven and Earth was opened, the meridian would soar like a dragon. At that point, the dragon would enter the second sea — the Sea of the Body.
The human body is vast and infinite. Within the Sea of the Body, five palaces floated.
The Dao-Dragon of the meridian must explore the Sea of the Body completely, fully grasping the body's mysteries.
Only then could one knock open the five palaces in succession and explore the hidden treasures within.
Every Inner Palace was a vast world. Whatever secret treasure one obtained was the cultivator's gain.
And the greatest Inner Palace treasure was called a divine skill.
Now, entering the Heaven-Reaching Tower, aided by the power of the Azure Dragon's Horn — before soaring like a dragon, he had already entered the sea.
In truth, every extraordinary cultivator had the potential to discover a divine skill seed. But it was so difficult that fewer than one in ten thousand succeeded.
The Heaven-Reaching Tower existed to help cultivators undergo countless explorations, allowing them to experience the process of grasping a divine skill in advance.
After leaving the Secret Realm, they would forget the events within, but the divine skill would be remembered by the body.
When they eventually knocked upon their Inner Palaces, it would naturally emerge.
The Celestial Residence Secret Realm could be seen as a dream between reality and illusion. The experiences might be false, but the results were real.
The "Heaven-Piercing" of the Heaven-Piercing realm referred to how extraordinary cultivators at this stage were closest to the Gate of Heaven and Earth.
The "Heaven-Reaching" of the Celestial Palace signified that it carried every cultivator's resources for "reaching heaven" — it was the foundation of the extraordinary.
And the "Heaven-Reaching" of this Tower in the Secret Realm meant a single step to reach heaven!
Time lost all meaning inside the Tower. As Jiang Chen immersed himself in the Sea of the Body, within his First Inner Palace, he could no longer perceive the passage of time.
Only at this moment did he truly appreciate the value of the Celestial Residence Secret Realm.
While drifting through the world of divine skills, he came to understand the Secret Realm's origins.
The entire Celestial Residence Secret Realm was a complete divine skill seed — Mirror Flower, Water Moon.
The Old Man of the Celestial Residence had long since perished, his Dao dissipated. But his flawless divine skill seed had somehow been preserved, merging with the methods he left behind to form and evolve the Secret Realm.
Flower in the mirror. Moon in the water. All are dreams and illusions.
Yet the Old Man's Mirror Flower, Water Moon reflected another world entirely.
Everything experienced here was neither fully real nor fully illusory. But death was truly death, and the divine skills explored would be remembered by the body, waiting to be awakened.
The Secret Realm contained nine keys in total.
The five underwater Dragon Palaces encouraged cultivators to compete and slaughter each other.
In the distant mountains and old forests, besides competing with fellow cultivators, they faced the Secret Realm's own dangers — a ninety-percent chance of death.
And along the small river, both upstream and downstream, it took an entire lifetime to reach the end, representing birth and old death respectively.
The Old Man had left this Secret Realm to find the strongest genius — one who would claim all nine keys and inherit his life's work.
To fulfill this condition meant nine supreme geniuses had to obtain all nine keys, with one among them standing above the rest, unmatched in their era.
But clearly, even Wang Yiwu breaking through the mountains and striding to the Tower was not the person he sought.
It wasn't that the cultivation world had declined, failing to produce the geniuses the Old Man required.
In terms of absolute strength, Wang Yiwu had already met the standard.
The issue was that the Old Man hadn't anticipated that as cultivation evolved and eras changed, the Secret Realm — while still attractive — no longer offered enough danger-to-reward ratio to draw all the top geniuses.
The current generation of supreme geniuses had more cost-effective options.
Forget about distant foreign states — even Wang Yiwu of Qi wouldn't have come this time if not for Chong Xuan Sheng. He already had a divine skill secured; there was no need to return.
The Celestial Residence Secret Realm might become an eternal regret.
Or perhaps, when the cultivation world underwent another qualitative leap — when ordinary cultivators were strong enough to pass the Secret Realm's trials — then the Realm could truly be mastered.
But by then, the Old Man's legacy would likely be long obsolete.
Still, in this present age, the Secret Realm remained a top-tier inheritance. Its special nature simply kept its true value unknown to the world.
A single Azure Dragon's Horn could help a cultivator lock in a divine skill in advance.
If someone collected all nine keys, it meant they could achieve divine skills in all five Inner Palaces — a complete Celestial Residence!
And their five great divine skills would be chosen from nine options, handpicked.
A person like that, once they reached the Inner Palace realm — how terrifying would they be?
Of course, knowing this now was useless. After leaving the Secret Realm, they would forget. Perhaps they would instinctively feel the place was precious, but the specific details would be gone.
This time's winners were all strong. But three keys were still missing.
The only one who had a chance to collect more than five was Wang Yiwu.
But he had been stopped by the combined efforts of five.
For Chong Xuan Sheng, this was the best possible outcome. He had achieved his original goal — securing a divine skill for his Inner Palace — and prevented an even stronger, more terrifying Wang Yiwu.
...
The Moon Gate's light shimmered.
Jiang Chen, Li Longchuan, Xu Xiangqian, Chong Xuan Sheng, and Zhang Yong appeared outside the Full Moon Pool.
They had all forgotten what happened inside the Secret Realm, but each knew they had become victors.
Chong Xuan Sheng was deeply satisfied, Xu Xiangqian was inspired to compose poetry, Li Longchuan offered a slight smile, and Jiang Chen accepted fortune and disgrace with equanimity.
Zhang Yong... amid his usual timidity and softness, there was now a glimmer of confidence and strength. This was only natural — as a victor of the Celestial Residence who had successfully secured a spot for a divine skill in his Inner Palace, anyone could reclaim some confidence.
Before them, only two others had emerged: Lian Que and Fourteen.
By tradition, they were those who had survived but been eliminated.
The moment Jiang Chen appeared, Lian Que's gaze locked onto him.
"My Life Token is with you."
"Ah?" Jiang Chen looked at this ugly face that had suddenly drawn close and was momentarily stunned.
He had no memory of what happened in the Secret Realm.
But after searching his person, he indeed found a square, dark metal token.
As he pulled it out, someone gasped quietly in the background — clearly, this item was extremely precious.
Lian Que stared at the token. "This is my Life Token. It's important to me. Even at the cost of death, I won't surrender it — unless I promised you something in the Secret Realm."
"Return my Life Token," Lian Que said. "In exchange, I'll personally forge a weapon for you."
Jiang Chen was about to speak when Chong Xuan Sheng pressed his hand down.
Ignoring Lian Que's expression, he said directly to Jiang Chen: "Brother Jiang, you need to understand this thing's value. With the Life Token in your hand, Lian Que's life is in your control. The Lian clan of Red Sun Prefecture is the greatest weaponsmith family in all of Great Qi, and Lian Que is the finest of his generation. This token's value goes far beyond a single weapon."
Setting aside the status implications, simply possessing the token meant having an endless supply of weapons from a master smith. Its value was obviously not limited to one blade.
The calculus was simple.
Lian Que said nothing, only watching Jiang Chen.
Though he didn't remember the Secret Realm, giving up his Life Token must have been his own choice. And if it was his choice, he would bear it himself.
Chong Xuan Sheng added: "Brother. Think carefully before deciding. With me here, you needn't fear any pressure from the Lian clan."
Jiang Chen smiled, stepped forward, and placed the Life Token back in Lian Que's palm.
"In the Secret Realm, you chose to trust me. That means I'm someone worth trusting."