Amidst rugged mountains, two sheer, towering peaks pierced the sky like sharpened swords. Between them lay a deep, straight gorge. The valley floor was choked with towering trees, plunging the space into dimness, layered thick with fallen leaves, and permeated by a heavy, fetid odor.

"Rustle!"

A cautious footfall echoed in the silent gorge as two figures threaded their way along.

Leading the way was a young man with a rugged face and a formidable build. Trailing behind was another young man, perhaps twenty years old, with a refined appearance that suggested a scholarly nature.

These two were Tai Hong and Nie Kong.

Since their chance encounter outside the "Spiritual Cultivation Illusionary Realm," upon discovering they had both broken through to the Spirit Transformation stage, they had begun making preparations. Preparation, however, involved little more than gathering medicinal elixirs to heal wounds, dispel poisons, or restore spiritual energy. Afterward, Nie Kong sought out Gu Changgong.

According to the rules of the Inner City, unauthorized departure at this time was forbidden. Nie Kong had anticipated significant trouble, but to his surprise, as soon as he mentioned his and Tai Hong’s desire to venture to the Sirius Mountain Range for training, Gu Changgong agreed without hesitation. The ease of the approval left Nie Kong quite taken aback.

With Gu Changgong’s assent, Nie Kong and Tai Hong successfully left the Inner City.

By now, they had been trekking through the Sirius Mountain Range for three full days. Along the way, Nie Kong had heard Tai Hong recount fragments about the shattered Illusionary Realm. However, Tai Hong knew little, and a true understanding would only come upon reaching their destination.

Yet, one detail Tai Hong mentioned deeply stirred Nie Kong: the shattered realm contained not only the "Crescent Moon Green Hook" but also a vast array of other medicinal herbs.

If only I could find a few herbs comparable to the Lightning Vine Moon or the Red-Backed Sky-Loom Spider, Nie Kong mused internally.

During this period, with the supply of poisonous herbs sent by Long Xuechan as a backup, Nie Kong's immediate need for toxins was not critically intense. Instead, what he urgently required now were various precious spiritual herbs.

It was only in the last few days that Nie Kong observed that the scarlet fluid secreted by the "Fire Tree Silver Flower" after absorbing the medicinal power of poisonous herbs, while highly effective in increasing the little one’s innate medicinal power, did not show a particularly obvious benefit for its advancement.

This was precisely why, even after consuming dozens of rare poisonous herbs, the little one still relied on the "Phoenix Feather Illusionary Immortal Flower"—which cost eighty thousand points—to advance to the fourth tier. The little one was still blissfully unaware, content as long as it had something to eat; it didn't care about poisonous or spiritual herbs. Only when encountering a crucial spiritual herb like the "Phoenix Feather Illusionary Immortal Flower" did it display an extremely strong desire.

The little one was simple-minded, and Nie Kong, as its master, could not ignore this. If not for the current urgent need for spiritual herbs, Nie Kong might have waited until Miao Ge, Tai Ji, Bai Yuqing, and the others had also broken through to the Spirit Transformation stage before seeking out this shattered Illusionary Realm with them.

After all, spiritual herbs were not the same as poisonous herbs!

The gold coins in the spirit card Nie Kong entrusted to Long Xuechan could purchase large quantities of poisonous herbs, but if exchanged for spiritual herbs, perhaps four or five herbs would deplete the gold. Moreover, other spiritual apothecaries demanded such precious spiritual medicines that they could not be bought even with gold.

“It’s just ahead!”

Tai Hong suddenly grinned, quickening his pace.

Nie Kong looked up and noticed the light around them had brightened considerably. The long, narrow gorge underfoot seemed to abruptly end tens of meters ahead.

“Wonderful!”

A faint joy flickered across Nie Kong’s brow, and he too quickened his steps.

After winding through the gorge for a short distance, Nie Kong suddenly felt an expansive openness. The gorge indeed terminated here, opening into a massive, abrupt pit twenty to thirty meters deep, hundreds of meters wide and long, completely barren of any vegetation.

“Look ahead!”

Tai Hong clapped Nie Kong on the shoulder, his smile mysteriously knowing.

Nie Kong cast a suspicious glance at Tai Hong, then looked straight ahead, realizing there were four deep, dark gullies stretching directly out opposite them. To the left of the pit, another deep trench slanted away into the distance, its depth comparable to the pit itself.

Tai Hong asked with a chuckle, “What does it look like?”

“A palm print?”

Nie Kong’s eyes swept across the five deep trenches, a flash of insight illuminating his mind, and he gasped in disbelief. The pit and the five connected trenches formed the shape of a gigantic right palm print, as if a palm, magnified countless times, had slammed heavily into the earth.

Tai Hong seemed to have anticipated Nie Kong’s reaction, laughing heartily: “Correct, it’s a palm print. When I first found this place, I reacted exactly as you did. If I’m not mistaken, an expert fought a fierce battle here many years ago.”

“I understand now!”

Nie Kong suddenly recalled the canyon they had just traversed, realization dawning. “No wonder the peaks on either side of the gorge look so strange, as if they were split in half by a single blade. With a palm print here, it’s certainly possible the peaks were cleaved apart forcefully.”

Looking back at the two sheer mountains, Nie Kong’s spirit trembled. His mind involuntarily flashed back to the scene earlier that year when he stole the "Fire Tree Silver Flower." At that time, though Nie Shen Gong did not appear, he caused the heavens and earth to shake and the clouds to change color, treating the Spirit Divine Hall’s Cave Spirit Master like a child.

It was the same here!

A handprint stamped the ground, a blade split the mountain, creating this enormous hand mark and the towering peaks. Such power meant the combatants here must have been Heaven Spirit experts.

“One day, I too will stand at the peak of this world!” Nie Kong took a deep breath, suppressing the awe in his heart, his chest swelling with resolution. He laughed: “Brother Tai, the shattered Illusionary Realm should be in the pit below, right? Let’s go down!”

“Wait!”

Tai Hong quickly stopped Nie Kong. “Nie Kong, didn’t you see how bare it is down there? At noon, it releases vast clouds of poisonous fog that linger for a very long time. Last time, if my sister hadn't noticed something was wrong early, and if we hadn't fled quickly enough, we might have died in that fog. Look at the white ash on the ground—it’s all the bones of spirit beasts. That fog corrodes even bones; you can imagine its toxicity. It’s almost noon now, the fog will emerge soon. Descending now would be courting death!”

“I guessed as much. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have asked me to refine so many detoxification elixirs back in the Inner City.”

Nie Kong smiled slightly, unsurprised by Tai Hong’s words. To Nie Kong, since the fog contained toxins, it could serve as nourishment for the "Fire Tree Silver Flower," perhaps even saving a few poisonous herbs.

“Those detoxification elixirs are basically useless against the fog here. Carrying some is just to give myself some peace of mind,” Tai Hong chuckled.

Nie Kong nodded slightly, about to speak, when he saw Tai Hong’s expression change.

“It’s coming!”

Tai Hong’s face grew grave as he uttered two words.

Nie Kong followed his gaze and saw that thick black mist was spewing simultaneously from the five fingers of the palm print, rolling towards the deep pit like churning black dragons. In the blink of an eye, the black dragons surged out of the wide trenches, intertwining, their dark energy towering.

In that instant, the world seemed to grow significantly dimmer.

Nie Kong’s pupils contracted. The mist was as black as ink, resembling a fierce beast baring its fangs and claws; a single glance induced a sense of extreme oppression.

“Ah-yah-yah!”

The little one clearly sensed the presence of the poisonous fog and cried out excitedly.

When Tai Hong mentioned the fog, Nie Kong had initially considered absorbing it. But now, he couldn't help but change his mind. Upon seeing the inky black mist, Nie Kong had a faint intuition that the fog seemed almost like a living entity, profoundly bizarre. It was best to be cautious around such things.

“This fog is extremely strange. It only moves down below, never leaving the confines of the pit, as if being controlled!” Tai Hong frowned deeply. “Fortunately, the entrance to the Illusionary Realm is over here. If it were at the five fingers, I would absolutely not have brought you.”

“...” As he spoke, the five thick black masses interwove and crept to the center of the deep pit, then rapidly spread outwards, instantly filling the entire hollow. Just as Tai Hong had said, the fog churned only within the deep pit like mist, not dissipating outward.

When the black mist touched the surrounding sheer walls, it would invariably surge back. For a moment, the fog inside the pit resembled a massive mouth yawning open to the heavens, swallowing all light, leaving the surroundings dim.

Though the blazing sun hung high in the clear sky, Nie Kong and Tai Hong, standing so close, felt a strange sensation of being unable to see their own hands, as if plunged into night. Unconsciously, both settled down at the edge of the woods. Silence reigned.

About half an hour later, the black mist began to recede, shrinking back toward the positions of the palm’s fingers, like a receding tide—and much faster than when it emerged!

In just a few seconds, all five streams of black fog retreated into the gullies and vanished without a trace. Clarity returned to the world.

“Let’s go!” Tai Hong sprang up, pulled a white pill from his robe, popped it into his mouth, and chewed vigorously. He then walked to the edge of the pit, his arm faintly luminous, and slid rapidly down the earthen wall using handholds.

Nie Kong followed closely. He didn't eat that third-grade detoxification elixir. As Tai Hong had mentioned, if any toxic gas truly remained in the pit, that pill would be ineffective at neutralizing it; taking it would, at most, serve a psychological purpose.

A moment later, the two landed on the bottom.

The poisonous fog had indeed vanished completely, leaving no residue in the air. Following Tai Hong’s lead, they walked along the cliff face to the right for several dozen meters. Nie Kong noticed that the earth wall gradually gave way to stone.

Continuing forward a short distance, Tai Hong finally halted.

Here, the breaks in the stone wall were highly irregular.

Tai Hong looked up, then suddenly leaped, landing on a jutting, cut stone block ten meters above. He then beckoned vigorously to Nie Kong below.

“There are signs of artificial carving on this stone!”

Landing beside Tai Hong, Nie Kong quickly surveyed the area, a flicker of surprise crossing his eyes.

“That’s right!”

Tai Hong chuckled wickedly and unleashed a punch brimming with spiritual energy, striking a slightly protruding small stone in front of him. Under Nie Kong’s astonished gaze, the stone actually sank into the stone wall following Tai Hong’s right fist. A crunching sound immediately emanated from within.

“A mechanism?”

Nie Kong startled. The slightly flattened stone surface before him began to move slowly, and a crack gradually appeared before Nie Kong’s eyes.

Accompanying the crack was a beam of dazzling white light. Several seconds later, a rounded archway, three meters high and two meters wide, was revealed. The ceiling was embedded with some kind of gem, emitting a white glow that brightly illuminated the passage. Nie Kong and Tai Hong exchanged glances, feeling a touch of wonder; they hadn't expected such a wide passage behind the stone wall.

“It’s inside,”

Tai Hong walked in cheerfully, a look of relief on his face. “Last time, we happened to descend this way, and my sister accidentally triggered that mechanism. Otherwise, even if we searched here for ten or half a month, we might never have found this passage.”

Nie Kong nodded. The stone walls were covered in thick layers of dust and sediment. Even with signs of artificial carving, they would have been invisible. The only reason he could see it was because Tai Hong and the others had opened the passage previously. Furthermore, the mechanism of this passage lacked engraved spiritual patterns. If the shattered Illusionary Realm had been placed inside a room constructed of "Absolute Spirit Jade," even a Heaven Spirit expert searching for it would have difficulty detecting its existence. Not long after the two entered the tunnel, the stone door, several meters thick, slammed shut behind them with a grinding sound. Nie Kong and Tai Hong continued forward, their footsteps echoing loudly in the passage.

Several hundred meters later, another stone door blocked their way.

“Indeed, it’s Absolute Spirit Jade!”

After examining the stone door for a few moments, Nie Kong chuckled.

Tai Hong nodded: “Without it to isolate the Illusionary Realm, this place would have been discovered long ago. Nie Kong, based on our previous observations, this Illusionary Realm also belongs to the ‘Spiritual Cultivation Illusionary Realm’ type, but the spiritual energy element is only double that of the outside world. Moreover, its environment is different from the Inner City’s ‘Spiritual Cultivation Illusionary Realm’; it’s more similar to the Outer City’s ‘Illusory Space.’ Inside, there are flowers, trees, and spirit beasts, which should generally be restrained below the fourth tier.”

Pausing here, Tai Hong shifted his tone, “However, after the realm shattered, some parts connected with the outside world, and the realm’s containment effect has long dissipated. There might be powerful spirit beasts that wandered in, and some beasts might even advance on their own, so we must be especially cautious.”

“Understood!”

As Nie Kong nodded, Tai Hong shoved open the stone door crafted from “Absolute Spirit Jade.” Inside was a stone chamber dozens of meters long and wide, its walls entirely separated by “Absolute Spirit Jade.” In the center of the chamber, a smooth, round piece of jade was exposed, crystalline and translucent, about a meter in diameter, radiating brilliant white light.

Nie Kong quickly noticed dense cracks covering the surface of the realm’s vessel. If the vessel was in this state, the realm itself must also be shattered. Once this mass of jade shattered, the Illusionary Realm it supported would completely collapse and vanish.

To the left of the jade, a patch of void several meters square shimmered faintly.

“This is also an entrance formed after the realm shattered. We can enter directly; no Illusion Spirit Stones are needed.” Tai Hong strode over and plunged into that shimmering void. His formidable figure gradually faded, and in an instant, the man vanished from the room.

Watching where Tai Hong disappeared, Nie Kong was somewhat surprised. He hadn't expected that after the realm shattered, one could enter directly with the physical body, without extracting the soul using an Illusion Spirit Stone.

Scattered within this stone chamber were over a hundred Illusion Spirit Stones. It was likely that this was once the site of a small-scale spiritual master sect, but some unknown change caused the Illusionary Realm to shatter. Perhaps this sect had some connection to the powerful expert who left the palm print and the gorge outside.

With a thought, Nie Kong also walked toward the rippling void.

“Ah-yah-yah?”

The little one suddenly bounced excitedly in the Yaochi Acupoint, its voice tinged with suspicion, as if it had detected something uncertain.

This was the first time Nie Kong sensed such an intention transmitted by the little one. He paused, momentarily stunned, then quickly stopped and circled around the void to a corner opposite, where a pile of Illusion Spirit Stones lay. Besides the stones, there seemed to be nothing else.

“Ah-yah-yah?”

The little one tilted its leaves and buds, appearing utterly bewildered.

Could it be concealed by the Illusion Spirit Stones? A thought flashed in Nie Kong’s mind. He quickly knelt down and carefully moved the Illusion Spirit Stones aside piece by piece. A moment later, a faint black, lusterless light entered his vision. Nie Kong accelerated, moving the remaining stones away in just a few swift movements.

The black glow revealed its full form: a small black tablet, two fingers wide and one finger long. It seemed like stone but wasn't, like jade but wasn't, like wood but wasn't. Nie Kong turned it over and over several times, unable to identify its material. Engraved upon it were five small red characters: Beast Taming Sect!

A Beast Tablet! A Beast Tablet from the Beast Taming Sect? Perhaps the former owner of this shattered Illusionary Realm was the Beast Taming Sect. But what was this Beast Tablet? Since the name of the sect included "Beast Taming," perhaps this tablet was used to command spirit beasts? If so, why did the little one make that noise?

Nie Kong’s interest piqued. He injected a stream of spiritual energy into the tablet, but it yielded no response.

With a shift of his mind, a wisp of the little one’s innate medicinal power leaked from the Yaochi Acupoint and flowed into the tablet, but still nothing was discovered. Logically, if the tablet contained some medicinal substance that would attract the little one’s attention, its innate power should be able to draw it out.

However, the opposite was true.

The little one also seemed greatly puzzled. It retracted its innate power back into the Yaochi Acupoint, its two leaves crossed and drooping behind the stem, floating above the dark green liquid. The two upper leaves and the small flower bud were crookedly oriented, giving the appearance of deep thought—a sight highly amusing.

After observing for a while without discerning any clues, Nie Kong decided to store the Beast Tablet in his pet inventory to ponder later; entering the Illusionary Realm was the priority now.

He returned to the rippling void and stepped in.

His vision dimmed briefly, then brightened. The time lapse was less than a second, but the scenery around Nie Kong had completely transformed. The stone chamber was gone, replaced by green hills and clear waters, the fragrance of birds and flowers. The surroundings were dense with vibrant vegetation, brimming with life—a scene of perfect harmony.

“Ah-yah-yah!”

Xiang Xiang stopped its “contemplation,” its stem and roots whipping around crisply and happily. Its excitement clearly transmitted to Nie Kong’s mind through telepathy.

“Found good medicine so quickly? Tai Hong didn't deceive me!”

Nie Kong was overjoyed and immediately scanned his surroundings. He was standing at the edge of a dense forest. Ahead lay a valley overlooked by a fan-shaped, towering cliff. Within the valley was a deep pool whose water was clear and azure. Even from a hundred meters away, Nie Kong could feel a refreshing coolness radiating from it.

“It’s over there!”

As Nie Kong looked toward the valley, the little one cried out immediately. This was a rapport developed through long-term cooperation between Nie Kong and the little one. Only when Nie Kong’s eyes looked in the correct direction upon discovering a valuable herb would it call out; if the direction was wrong, it remained silent.

Knowing the herb’s location, Nie Kong quickly shifted his steps.

“Screee!”

Suddenly, a piercing, crystalline cry echoed across the sky, sharp enough to pierce human eardrums. Immediately following, a tiny white dot appeared on the horizon, speeding toward them like lightning.

Nie Kong’s heart skipped a beat. Judging by the power of the cry, the spirit beast must be formidable.

Perhaps... a fifth-tier spirit beast!

“Retreat!” Nie Kong made his decision instantly. He turned and shot back, his figure vanishing into the dense woods in a flash. Swiftly, Nie Kong climbed the top of a towering tree like an ape, where the thick foliage offered excellent concealment. Then, Nie Kong suppressed his breathing.

Even so, Nie Kong felt it might not be completely secure. Contemplating this, he concentrated his spirit, and nine gold needles materialized in his hands, which he pricked into his nine major hidden acupoints with extreme speed. Nie Kong held the thinnest needle, the Sky Needle, and gently manipulated it.

This time, there was no violent buzzing, nor was any spiritual energy utilized. Under the control of the nine gold needles, Nie Kong’s respiration and heartbeat gradually weakened. In mere seconds, although his eyes remained open, his body seemed devoid of any life signs, akin to a corpse.

“Oh!”

Another sharp, piercing cry rang out.

The spirit beast approached at a breakneck speed. The small white dot in the sky quickly expanded to the size of a millstone, and its physical size continued to grow at a rate imperceptible to the naked eye. After more than ten seconds, the beast’s massive body descended above the valley.

Nie Kong took in the spirit beast's appearance completely: its body stretched nearly five meters long, covered in pristine white fur as bright as ice and snow, yet atop its head sat a dark, fleshy crown the size of a washbasin, its layered folds resembling a fully bloomed, inky black rose. Its wings were even more astonishing, stretching almost twenty meters each when fully extended, vast enough to blot out the sun, and with a mere flap, an incredible wave of energy roared forth.

It was a "Ink Snow Thunder Eagle"!

As Tai Hong had predicted, it truly was a Fifth Grade spirit beast!

Nie Kong felt a surge of surprise. Spirit beasts like the "Ink Snow Thunder Eagle" possessed haughty temperaments and were exceptionally magnificent; very few existed across the entire Heavenly Spirit Continent. The vast majority were concentrated within the "Ink Snow Sect," with only one or two sighted sporadically elsewhere. To think he would encounter one in this shattered Illusory Realm was unexpected. Rumor had it that this type of flying spirit beast possessed exceptionally keen senses; thankfully, he had the Nine Revolutions Golden Needle Technique, or it surely would have detected him!

Ps: This is a double update, released more than half an hour later than anticipated. My apologies.