"Rookie, stop brooding out here," the System Elder's voice seeped out from the bronze ring. "Keep dragging your feet and Everett Li will lose patience with you — you really think that old fox is going to shield you from the fallout? He's dying for you to break through so he can use you as a chess piece to check Baizhen Pavilion."

I pressed my fingers to my temple. Spiritual energy circulated slowly through my meridians, yet it couldn't wash away the exhaustion that had been building for days.

"I know," I replied quietly. "That's exactly why I need to enter seclusion. But every spirit-gathering formation in the East Sea area has been carved up by the Xuanmen Regulatory Bureau, and Baizhen Pavilion's informants are everywhere. Where am I supposed to find a place rich in spiritual energy with no one breathing down my neck?"

"Find Elder Kai." The System Elder kept it short.

As if summoned by those words, Elder Kai's cough drifted over from behind me. He leaned on his dragon-headed walking staff, his eyes gleaming beneath the brim of his bamboo hat in the fading dusk. "Kid — looking to enter seclusion?"

I turned and cupped my hands in salute. "Elder Kai, that is indeed my intention. The situation has grown complicated. Only by breaking through to the Foundation Establishment stage will I have enough standing to weather the storms ahead."

Elder Kai walked to the edge of the cliff and tapped the surface of the water lightly with his staff. Rings of spiritual energy rippled outward. "At least you know your own limits. In front of a Foundation Establishment cultivator, someone at the Qi Refinement stage is nothing but a grasshopper with a slightly better vertical leap."

"Looking for a seclusion ground? Deep in the heart of the East Sea there is a place called the Guixu Secret Realm — located in an abyssal trench on the ocean floor. When the Demon Demon Suppression Bureau first surveyed it over thirty years ago, they measured the spiritual energy concentration at the core to be a hundred times that of the outside world. It also has natural restrictions that block spiritual sense from probing within."

"The Guixu Secret Realm?" My pupils contracted slightly. "I've never heard of it."

"Naturally," Elder Kai said with a sigh. "More than thirty years ago the Demon Demon Suppression Bureau lost several veteran brothers there — all at the late Foundation Establishment stage. After that it was designated forbidden ground; even the maps were sealed away in a classified vault. If you weren't being pushed this hard, boy, I'd have no desire to bring it up again."

The System's notification chimed at just the right moment:

Ding! Hidden information triggered: Guixu Secret Realm. Danger Rating: Five Stars. Contains an ancient water-attribute spirit vein. Unknown sea demons have taken up residence within. Cultivators at Foundation Establishment or above are advised to enter in groups and must not venture into the core.

"Dangerous?" I tightened my grip on the Warlord Wave Blade. "How dangerous?"

"Back then we were hit by 'Ink-Scale Merfolk' even in the outer reaches of the realm — those things spit an ink that corrodes spiritual energy," Elder Kai's voice dropped low. "The core zone is rumoured to contain a 'Sea Eye.' The spiritual energy there rages so violently it can tear a Core Formation cultivator to shreds. But that's precisely what makes it hidden — makes it quiet."

I fell silent. A hundredfold spiritual energy concentration in the core meant cultivation speed could increase tenfold or more — but the pitch-black ocean floor, the unknown sea demons, the raging spirit vein... every one of those words struck my nerves like a hammer blow.

"I'll go." I forced the two words through gritted teeth. There was no way back, and I didn't need one. Jade Lin and Xiaochen were waiting for me at home. Baizhen Pavilion's bounty still hung over my head. At any moment, the Azure Dragon Hall could pull me out as a sacrificial offering in its power struggle against the White Tiger Hall.

Elder Kai studied me for a long moment, then reached into his robes and produced a jade slip, black as ink. "This is the scouting map from back then — it marks the relatively safe routes. Remember: the moment you enter the realm, activate your Breath-Concealing Art. Do not startle any living creature. I will hold vigil for you on the sea surface for three months. If three months pass and you still haven't come out..."

He left the sentence unfinished, but I understood what it meant.

Three days later, fully prepared, I followed the jade slip's directions and submerged beneath the surface at Luoxia Bay, the most remote inlet along the East Sea coast. The pressure of the water increased sharply with every metre of depth. By the time I reached a thousand metres down, the spiritual energy shield of my eighth-layer Qi Refinement stage had begun emitting a strained, crackling hiss.

The little old man was uncharacteristically serious. "Rookie, focus. Use the Tide Saint Body Art to guide the water currents — convert the pressure into cultivation fuel."

I did as he said. Channelling spiritual energy into the Trident Sea Jade pendant in my palm, a pale blue halo spread outward. The surrounding water seemed to come alive, flowing gently along my meridians — and to my genuine surprise, it offset a portion of the water pressure. I lost track of how long I descended. Then, without warning, a band of deep blue light appeared before me — the entrance to the Guixu Secret Realm.

It was an enormous membrane of light, suspended within the ocean trench, its surface swirling with seven-coloured radiance — like an aurora wrapped in seawater.

The markings on the jade slip indicated this was the realm's natural barrier. It could only be entered through resonance with water-attribute spiritual energy. I drew a deep breath, pushed the Tide Saint Body Art to its limit, and fired a jet of water from my palm directly at the membrane.

Hum.

The membrane shimmered with ripples, like a pond disturbed by a thrown stone. I seized the moment, twisted my body, and dove through — simultaneously activating the Breath-Concealing Art. A bone-piercing cold and a surge of violent spiritual energy crashed into me at the same instant, as though I'd been flung into the boundary between ice water and boiling water.

"Find the spirit vein node — now!" The little old man's voice carried an edge of urgency.

Forcing down the searing pain that wracked my body, I activated Sea God's Vision. The world before me snapped into sharp clarity: the interior of the secret realm was a vast underwater cavern. Tens of thousands of stalactites hung from the ceiling, each one radiating dense spiritual energy. Along the cavern floor wound a deep blue "river" — not water, but liquid spiritual energy.

"There!" I locked onto a massive reef deep within the cavern. Its surface was covered in spiralling engravings — unmistakably the Calm-Heart Reef marked on the jade slip: a secondary node of the spirit vein, where the spiritual energy was comparatively gentle.

End of Chapter 51: The Guixu Secret Realm