In the extreme northern region, a cold world of ice and snow.

The chilling wind howled and swept across the frozen land, causing snowflakes the size of grinding discs to fall continuously. Soon, a thick layer of snow, about several zhang deep, accumulated on the ground, covering everything beneath it.

This place is not suitable for ordinary humans to survive. It is a primitive area where no one has set foot for millions of years, and only a few powerful exotic beasts and spirit birds roam. However, deep within the layers of ice and snow, there are still rare and precious mineral veins buried.

At this moment, with the Heavenly Boat Tower as the center, a golden light curtain with a diameter of thousands of zhang enveloped the opened rift in the sky, keeping the snowflakes and cold outside.

In the rift, Yu Lingzhou and other elders were busy digging out a black crystal-like ore with silver patterns from the rock layers, and then storing it in a large-capacity spatial artifact.

This is the Profound Silver Secret Crystal, one of the main materials used to forge high-grade innate spirit treasures in the Great Void Starry Sky. It is also an extremely rare type of spiritual ore.

“… Only fifteen days left!”

On the Heavenly Boat Tower, Luo Wanqing looked up at the continuously falling snowflakes in excitement, but also with a hint of melancholy. “I wonder when we will be able to come in again. There are just too many good things inside.”

Qing Muling’s expression turned serious. “My intuition tells me that perhaps we won’t have to wait too long this time. The Misty Illusion Secret Realm will reopen to the cultivators of the Great Void Starry Sky.”

Xuebing Xuan asked with interest, “Why do you say that?”

“It’s simple. The Heavenly Human Clan’s gains this time are not much,” Qing Muling explained. “Since their goal is to harvest the invisible resources such as the qi, luck, and fate of the cultivators in the Great Void Starry Sky, and the bait is the many rare resources in this world, then the cost and benefits are fixed. Sometimes more, sometimes less, it’s normal.”

“But if the cost they paid this time is too high, far exceeding the maximum benefits, the higher-ups of the Heavenly Human Clan will definitely not be satisfied. They will need to reopen the secret realm in a short period of time to attract more cultivators from the Great Void Starry Sky to come in and die, in order to earn enough profits to make up for the losses.”

“That makes sense, and it’s all because of us, right?”

The senior sisters pondered. In the millions of years that have passed, every time the Misty Illusion Secret Realm opened and closed, the resources that the cultivators in the Great Void Starry Sky could obtain were actually very few. Most of the gains were stripped away and left in the secret realm by the higher-ups of the Heavenly Human Clan through various means. So, it was always the higher-ups of the Heavenly Human Clan who profited the most.

But this time, with Qing Muling, Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace secretly brought back so many benefits. Perhaps in the past, even if the secret realm opened a thousand times, the total amount of resources obtained would not be comparable to this time.

It can be imagined that when the hidden powerhouses of the Heavenly Human Clan start counting the gains after the secret realm entrance is officially closed and learn of this unbelievable result, what kind of expression they will have.

Luo Wanqing frowned. “If they become suspicious because of this and start investigating on a large scale, will we be in trouble?”

Qing Muling smiled. “There’s no need to worry about that. We can simply stop going in, or if we do go in, we’ll just be honest. They won’t find anything.”

The resources obtained from the secret realm this time are enough for Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace to use for many years. So, it doesn’t matter if they lay low for a while. As long as they are not caught in the act, Qing Muling doesn’t think he will be exposed.

“Alright, let’s leave it at that.”

The senior sisters felt relieved. After all, there are so many Dao Lineage forces in the Great Void Starry Sky, and there are billions of cultivators. As long as they don’t reveal themselves, who would know that it was Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace’s doing?

Two days later, with the last batch of Profound Silver Secret Crystals being mined, this giant vein also dried up.

“That’s enough, sisters, let’s return!”

Yu Lingzhou said, “We don’t need to transport these ores back to the sect. Let’s go to the nearest city of the Heavenly Human Clan and exchange them for a batch of quotas from their officials, which will be convenient for the next opening of the secret realm. Then… we can just leave. Whatever happens in the secret realm next, it has nothing to do with us.”

“Alright.”

Qing Muling agreed, and the senior sisters had no objections to this arrangement. So, the Heavenly Boat Tower changed direction, ascended into the sky, and quickly left.

Because they ventured too deep into the wilderness this time, it took the women four days to reach a city of the Heavenly Human Clan.

After entering the city, they chose an inn. Yu Lingzhou asked all the elders to return to the Great Void Starry Sky directly, including Qing Muling. Only Xuebing Xuan and her stayed behind to meet the local city lord.

In the blink of an eye, Qing Muling’s consciousness was restored, and he found himself in a familiar cave. His master, Mu Yinghua, was walking towards him gracefully with a slender and charming figure. However, her facial features were still hidden in a haze of clear air and radiance, making it difficult to see clearly.

Should he use the Heavenly Secrets Technique to see his master’s true appearance?

Such thoughts involuntarily surfaced in Qing Muling’s mind, but he quickly suppressed them. The difference in cultivation level between them was like a chasm that couldn’t be crossed. No matter how strong his luck was, he couldn’t make up for it. If he dared to act recklessly, his master would definitely sense it, and then he would have no excuse to deny it.

“Finally back?”

Mu Yinghua gently placed her hand on Qing Muling’s shoulder, slightly sensing the state within his body. She nodded in satisfaction. Her closed-door disciple indeed had extraordinary talent. Not only was his cultivation rapidly increasing, but his foundation was also incredibly profound. When she was a core disciple, her achievements in all aspects couldn’t compare to his.

Qing Muling said, “Disciple has successfully completed the mission. The journey to the Misty Illusion Secret Realm has ended. Next…”

“Next, of course, you should retreat and consolidate your cultivation,”

Mu Yinghua interrupted, “Except for here, you are not allowed to go anywhere else! If my prediction is correct, there will be a significant disturbance in the Great Void. Those forces that suffered losses in the secret realm might do something, and the remnants of the Heavenly Human Clan in the Misty Illusion Secret Realm probably won’t stay quiet.”

“Understood,”

Qing Muling agreed. At this critical moment of undercurrents, it was indeed inappropriate for him to go out. It was right to focus on improving his cultivation.

After a while, Qi Yalan, Luo Wanqing, and other women around also opened their eyes one after another, got up and saluted Mu Yinghua.

……

In the city of Yuezhou.

As the city with the highest concentration of foreign cultivators, the atmosphere here was exceptionally high, especially in these days when the Misty Illusion Secret Realm was about to close, various overt and covert transactions were unprecedentedly booming.

Many rare resources that cultivators were reluctant to sell appeared on the market one after another at the last moment. After all, they would soon be cleared by the laws of heaven and earth in the secret realm. Instead of gaining nothing, it was better to exchange them for something beneficial.

The inns in the streets and alleys were full of people. Those lucky ones who had obtained the necessary spiritual medicine resources through transactions began to retreat and refine the medicinal power, trying to improve their cultivation as much as possible.

“All the hustle and bustle in the world is for profit.”

On the rooftop terrace of a guesthouse, several core female disciples of the Huaqing Divine Palace leaned against the railing. They were all in ragged clothes, full of charm, and so beautiful that it made people’s hearts beat faster.

They casually looked at the endless stream of people on the street below, their eyes slightly mocking, with a hint of regret, and whispered:

“I heard that the losses of the armillary sphere Star Palace this time are a bit exaggerated. When they entered, there were more than ten thousand disciples, which was a grand and domineering scene… Unfortunately, most of them were lost in the secret realm, even the two monster-level talents, Yan Lingji and Yin Xuemei, had accidents.”

“Who made them so high-profile and flamboyant? It’s not unjust that they aroused public anger and were deliberately targeted by many forces. I guess their quota might be halved next time.”

“Yes, this trip to the secret realm seems to have yielded average gains for all the Supreme Dao Lineages, but there were quite a few deaths, especially those poor loose cultivators.”

“If you really want to talk about steady profits, it’s probably only the Calamity Fate Palace, right? Their people have always been low-key and mysterious, with many cunning plans, especially since they are said to have established a relationship with the high-level remnants of the Heavenly Human Clan, so they can always get some extra benefits!”

Speaking of this, the female disciples fell silent unanimously. It seemed that the gains of the Huaqing Divine Palace this time were also very limited. Nearly half of the thousands of disciples who entered had fallen, and perhaps the quota would be significantly reduced next time the secret realm opened.

As for the Calamity Fate Palace, any force with a bit of foundation and roots understood their true face. But because their strength was strong enough and their methods were mysterious and unpredictable, no one dared to openly question anything.

There were unconfirmed rumors that the Calamity Fate Palace had the ambition to unify the entire Great Void, and had been silently working towards this goal for the past hundreds of thousands of years. Many Supreme Dao Lineages and super families that they saw as stumbling blocks had already declined or disappeared for various reasons.

“…By the way, this time in the secret realm, it seems that we didn’t see many disciples from the Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace? Where did they hide? I originally wanted to clean up the house!”

“Did they fall into the lake? The Cloud Dream Heavenly Palace has long declined, and each generation is worse than the last. How many quotas do they have to enter the secret realm? I guess they got at most a few hundred quotas this time!”

“Tsk tsk! A Supreme Dao Lineage, but only a few hundred quotas? Even the several affiliated sects that depend on us are better than them, it’s really pitiful!”

“Hmph! If this continues, they will soon completely decline. By then, our Huaqing Divine Palace will take over their foundation!”

“That’s right, our Huaqing Divine Palace is the orthodox inheritance, they are only fit to be our vassals!”

……

The last few days passed in a flash. As the sky of the secret realm gradually dimmed and fell into eternal darkness, everything in Yuezhou City was frozen.

All the foreign cultivators still in the city gradually faded and turned into a rain of light, disappearing into the air. This scene was also happening in other places in the secret realm, only the remnants of the Heavenly Human Clan were unaffected.

－－－－－－Author’s Note－－－－－－

Unconsciously, it’s already the 100th chapter. Please vote for monthly tickets and recommendation tickets. I will continue to update tonight.