"What do you imagine the Immortal Realm to be like?" Wan Qianxin asked without looking up.
"In my imagination, the Immortal Realm should be a vast, boundless continent with many powers, and several super-powers keeping each other in check. These major powers are the strongest in the Immortal Realm, but none of them are willing to submit to the others. There are Daoist sects, Buddhist sects, and demon races, divided into various factions and regions, all scheming against each other. I would navigate between these major powers, grow step by step, and eventually become a supreme expert in a region. Alas, what a shame, I never imagined the Immortal Realm to be a unified dynasty. This has left me with no environment to fish in troubled waters and maneuver freely."
Wan Qianxin was stunned for two seconds, then burst into laughter. "Then you're fifty thousand years too late. Before the third Immortal-God War fifty thousand years ago, the Immortal Realm was indeed as you described. The Great Tang Empire was at odds with the Northern Sea Heavenly Court, the Western Desert Buddha Ancestor and the Eastern Land Great Sage were always fighting, Bodhi Old Ancestor stayed away from the disputes and did not participate in these matters, Sword Saint and Heavenly Emperor also fought, and the two strongest sects in the Immortal Realm, the Ancient Sect and the Cold Sect, were engaged in endless scheming, creating a chaotic atmosphere. What a shame, you didn't come at a good time."
"Then why aren't they fighting now?" Wan Lei asked, then he figured it out himself, "Is it because of the Immortal Venerable?"
"That's one aspect. Earlier, it was because of the invasion of the God Race, which forced the Saints to unite and resist the enemy. Later, the Five Elements Hall was established, and the Immortal Venerable appeared. With the Immortal Venerable suppressing them, the Saints couldn't make much of a fuss. Moreover, the Demon Race, as an external enemy, consumed most of their energy, so they couldn't fight even if they wanted to."
"Alas, Immortal Venerable has ruined my plans." Wan Lei sighed, feeling that he was born at the wrong time. The four little ones covered their mouths and giggled. "Esteemed sir, who are you? Does the Immortal Venerable even know about a minor figure like you?"
In a world with a complete and unified order, Wan Lei had much less room to maneuver; he could only be a law-abiding citizen!
The journey was mostly quiet. The four little ones were reading, while Wan Lei and Fang Xiaoyu idly browsed information from the Andromeda Forum on spirit slips. Qing Wu discovered a fun game, Huofeng was checking information about the Northern Sea Demon Race, and Yuan Jun was playing the role of a queen on a dating app. All of them were shirking their duties, except for Dada, who was squatting in a corner, diligently and wholeheartedly learning the highest form of human… knowledge!
The twin-winged spaceship shuttled through the starry sky. Stars, both bright and dim, large and small, flashed by rapidly. A day later, they finally arrived at their destination: Andromeda Galaxy, Qigan Star System, Liuda'er Star.
Like Di Huang Star, Liuda'er Star was a small planet on the edge of the star system, far from other planets and even farther from other star systems. It emitted a faint light in the corner. Ordinary spaceships or rogue cultivators passing by would likely not even glance at it. The environment here was much harsher than Di Huang Star. The spiritual energy was thin, there was no oxygen, not even an atmosphere. There were no signs of life on it; the entire Liuda'er Star was a frozen world. There was no snow; the whole planet was a giant ice ball, but it had mountains and hills. They had encountered many such planets on their journey, and if they hadn't known it was their destination, they wouldn't have paid any extra attention.
"Feiyu, enter stealth mode," Xia Yubing ordered.
Soon, the entire Feiyu spaceship turned transparent and merged into the dark starry sky.
"It can go invisible? This way, we can catch the enemy off guard," Wan Lei exclaimed in surprise.
"This stealth mode is invisible to the naked eye and can also block radar detection, but it cannot defend against the divine sense of high-level cultivators. Attacks and being attacked will reveal it, after all, it is just concealed, not non-existent," Xia Yubing explained.
The spaceship flew around the planet and found the location of the Qi Yu Sect.
"That mountain valley ahead is it. We can't see it, so there must be some formation protecting it."
"An evil organization like this would surely have basic defenses and concealment. If we go in, we will have to attack the formation."
"But this way, our surprise attack plan is ruined, and we'll have to confront the enemy head-on."
"There's no other way. If we break the formation, we will definitely alert the enemy, and they will discover us. Even if Wan Lei breaks the formation, the enemy will still see him; it's the same principle. This formation might not be very strong, but its existence eliminates the hidden danger of being ambushed."
Wan Qianxin frowned, looking at the mountain valley in front of him, lost in thought. After a moment of reflection, he turned to look at Wan Lei, but Wan Lei's state startled him. Wan Lei's eyes had turned into dual pupils, his expression was serious, his brows were furrowed, and his eyes were filled with flames of anger.
Wan Qianxin was confused for a moment and asked, "The formation eye that can see through all formations?"
Wan Lei nodded.
"What did you see?"
"Hell!" Wan Lei said word by word, his throat filled with suppressed rage.
Above the valley, there were two formations, one illusion formation and one defensive formation. Inside the formations, this wide valley contained many buildings. Wan Lei took a quick look; there were at least tens of thousands of people below. Because his divine sense could not penetrate, he could not discern their cultivation levels.
Wan Lei saw many scenes. Outside some rooms, women were being brutally abused and whipped. Some young boys, completely naked, were being slapped by secular cultivators dressed as servants. Some girls, covered in bruises, were trembling and cautiously serving the beasts in front of them. In some rooms, a group of beasts was surrounding several women, lewdly laughing. There were also many emaciated people performing strenuous chores. The most infuriating scene for Wan Lei was on top of a small hill, where a large pot was placed. Boiling water was in the pot, and above it was a rack from which a peeled person, whose gender could not be distinguished, was hanging. Blood dripped into the pot and quickly congealed, and the peeled person was still alive. With every cut, he (she) would twitch and let out a hoarse moan. In front of the pot knelt a group of trembling girls still dressed in clothes. It seemed they had only recently been captured and were not yet familiar with the environment, nor could they accept what was about to happen to them, so they were brought here to be forcibly watched and educated. The peeled person was a living example, showing them the consequences of disobedience.
"We must kill all these dog-thieves!!!" Wan Lei gritted his teeth.
He had never witnessed such a dark scene in the human world. Even in the apocalyptic environment of the Golden Immortal Realm, such heinous acts had not occurred. Furthermore, this was the Immortal Realm, the pinnacle of planes! These people had no humanity left!