Yet despite his internal anger and the gnawing feeling of being exploited, Xiao Lingyun had no choice but to reluctantly agree to Wen Ran's shaless demands. From his spirit pouch flew a small pill furnace, the very sa one Wen Ran had used to craft the Soul nding Pills. The artifact glead beautifully as it erged, imdiately releasing a rich dicinal fragrance that lingered in the air. This was no ordinary pill furnace—it was a high-grade artifact, an item a cultivator might spend their entire life seeking without success. Giving it away made Xiao Lingyun's heart bleed so deeply that, for a mont, he genuinely wished he had quietly passed away earlier rather than part with this treasure.
However, Xiao Lingyun was a man of honor. He knew Wen Ran deserved a proper reward for saving his life. Especially after encountering Ling Shuangqian again, an event that had rekindled old mories—no matter how bittersweet—they brought happiness to his aging heart. Even if sorrow and longing were intertwined with those feelings, just the glimpse into those cold, beautiful eyes had been enough to make him feel that everything he suffered was worth it.
"Thank you very much! It's a pleasure doing business with you." Wen Ran swiftly snatched the furnace, not wasting even a single breath, and stuffed it securely into his spirit pouch, afraid the old man might regret his decision and demand it back.
"You greedy little…" Xiao Lingyun nearly cursed out loud but restrained himself with a sour face. "I've already removed my spiritual imprint from it. When we return to the sect, I'll teach you how to create your own imprint so that the artifact will respond only to you or anyone you allow to use it." He paused aningfully, raising an eyebrow at Wen Ran. "Unless… of course, you already know how to do it yourself?"
There he goes again, probing into my secrets. Wen Ran scoffed internally. This old fox really thinks I'd reveal anything so easily.
"That would be wonderful!" Wen Ran's eyes sparkled innocently, feigning shock and excitent. "Master, I hope you'll teach thoroughly about spiritual imprints when the ti cos!"
He's too good at acting… Xiao Lingyun sighed in resignation.
"In the anti," Wen Ran continued, genuine curiosity appearing in his expression for once, "could you explain more clearly about this place and the sects around? From what I can tell, there's one powerful sect in the center—the one whose idiots we killed earlier—and the others are surrounding them, right?" The more he understood about this region, the better prepared he would be to face any future troubles.
Xiao Lingyun suddenly laughed softly, realizing his own oversight. In his haste to get this troubleso brat out of his sight and prevent further destruction of precious resources, he had completely forgotten to educate Wen Ran about the political landscape and the current state of affairs within this pocket dinsion.
"Sit down, brat," Xiao Lingyun said tiredly, shaking his head with a resigned sigh. "This will be a long talk."
Taking another Soul nding Pill, the old man rotated his energy briefly until the dicine's soothing effect washed over him. Once settled, he began explaining everything in detail, weaving a story of their world's complex history.
From Xiao Lingyun's explanation, Wen Ran learned that this pocket dinsion had been created by ancient ancestors roughly a million years ago—though the exact date had long since been lost to history. Back then, this entire realm had been dominated by a single, overlord-level sect called the Sovereign Blood Immortal Hall. Its founder, an immortal warrior whose na had faded into myth, was legendary. His bloodline alone was so powerful it could birth immortals, and his cultivation was said to have been so great that even the world itself trembled beneath his feet.
Then, one day, the sect mysteriously vanished without a trace. From the ashes of its disappearance, five smaller sects erged, each specializing in their unique cultivation thods. They rose from the ruins during a turbulent era known as the Age of Silence, a period about which very little was known.
Around ten thousand years ago, a rift appeared in the dinsional boundary, reconnecting their isolated realm to the main world. But by then, the sects had grown comfortable within this hidden dinsion, rich in spiritual energy and abundant resources. Moreover, the sects of the main world rejected them outright, fearing these new rivals would threaten their dominance and steal their precious resources. Thus, the five sects remained hidden, secluded, only occasionally recruiting new disciples from outside.
Of these original five sects, two stood out as particularly troubleso: the Black Venom Sect and the Scarlet Inferno Pavilion. These two were aggressively expansionist, frequently provoking conflicts, and slaughtering disciples from rival sects at the slightest provocation. Wars erupted frequently, but none of the conflicts ever reached a decisive conclusion—mostly because the leaders of each sect feared taking that final step, wary that a full-scale war would risk the stability of the entire pocket dinsion itself.
Xiao Lingyun sighed deeply as he concluded his story. Wen Ran absorbed the information carefully, quietly contemplating his next steps in this dangerous ga where he was both hunter and hunted.
"So, this world is slowly dying," Wen Ran muttered under his breath, the weight of realization settling on his shoulders, though Xiao Lingyun was close enough to overhear his remark. The old man's brows furrowed deeply. After all, he had spent nearly his entire lifeti in this world; watching it wither away pained him more than he could express.
"Sadly, that's true," Xiao Lingyun admitted reluctantly. "If nothing is done soon to stabilize this dinsion, it won't last long. But that's not sothing a junior like you should be concerned about. In the worst-case scenario, we elders will send all the younger generation back to the main world."
Xiao Lingyun's voice was filled with conviction, yet he remained tragically unaware that the dinsional passage was already broken, and this place had beco a prison with no clear way out—trapping everyone inside forever unless a miracle occurred.
However, another thought suddenly arose in Wen Ran's mind, sothing that had been bothering him ever since he arrived.
"But there's sothing else puzzling ," Wen Ran spoke up, turning his sharp gaze toward his master. "If this world has been here for so long, where are the mortals and children? How co I've never encountered any villages or towns?"
Xiao Lingyun's eyes widened slightly, caught off guard by Wen Ran's astute question. He hadn't expected the young man to delve so deeply into their world's mysteries.
After a short silence, Xiao Lingyun sighed heavily, resigned to revealing yet another secret. "That's because all the mortals and their families are secluded from society in a hidden town. Only a select few elders even know of its existence. That hidden village is the source from which we choose our disciples. Its inhabitants are strictly forbidden from ever leaving, bound by an ancient law—its origins lost to ti, yet sacred enough to never be broken."
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