Hidden Grounds

They were stunned.

Not just the three that the revenant pointed at but everyone else as well.

What did it mean, that only these three young ones could enter? What about the rest of them?

"An opportunity for the younger generation, something that we of the older generation would squander, hah" some sighed, accepting the result and began to leave. Evidently, their time was over and the younger generation would take the spotlight.

Of course, there were those who chose not the accept such orders from the revenant.

"What is this? I refuse to be given such a result!" one such person spoke out with indignity, a scrawny old man wearing dark green robes and numerous rings on his fingers.

"I, the poison master, Gu Tian, refuse this result! Give me an answer you filthy corpse or I will make you!" he said.

His rat-like face had a ghastly expression of rage, his large nose flared up in anger. If anything, he seemed more like a filthy corpse than the revenant did.

"Gu Tian!? Fuck, we better leave quickly" someone whispered and many tried to retreat.

Gu Tian was not a very amazing cultivator, stuck at the first level of the Earth Realm for the past thirty something years. However, he was a gifted alchemist and created a number of poisonous concoctions. He gained a fair amount of wealth and fame from selling these poisons as their potency was incredibly strong.

It has been rumored that one of them was used to kill a cultivator who was only a step away from reaching the Sky Realm, an existence that numbered in the hundreds out of the trillions of cultivators within the Human Continent.

Not to mention, the way that these poisons worked were nothing less of disgusting. Some of them would corrode the body from the inside, turning its victims into a bloody puddle of sizzling slime. Some could cause flames to erupt, burning their bodies, others would cause boils to appear on their bodies before exploding into a mess of pus and filth.

"Not so fast!" he said, "Anyone that leaves will die from my poison, including you three!"

Staring at Ming Yue and the others, he gave them a wicked glare before looking back at the revenant who continued to ignore them.

"I do not believe that you have the power to stop me. One drop of my poison and your body will melt in seconds!" arrogance was written all over his face as he walked forward, entering the secret realm.

They were all watching him stride forward, some believing that he would face backlash while others wanted to see what would happen.

Several steps later, he entered the realm, secretly surprised. He had thought that there would be some repercussion for entering without the revenant's permission but nothing happened.

He smiled and boasted to everyone else.

"Hah!" he laughed, "This stupid corpse has no power over the hidden realm. Trying to scare us? I think not. What are you waiting for? Let's enter!"

Gu Tian walked forward, his heart full of greed and desire. What treasures could this realm hold? How much were these statues worth? He could not wait to find out.

On his very next step, an invisible force shook the halls before smashing into his body. Sent back into the tunnel, his body flew past everyone and out of the realm. In the few seconds they saw him, some had already noticed the numerous injuries to his bones and organs. In those few moments, they had already decided to leave. Even if they would not die from such an attack, being sent to the entrance and having to walk back in such shape was already enough to deter them.

As for Gu Tian, his desires disappeared as soon the invisible force came. It caused all sorts of mayhem on his body: broken bones, ruptured organs, his energy had gone beserk as well. Such injuries would take months to fix. It felt like he was being smashed down by a giant fist.

The group started leaving one by one, disappointed that this journey held no benefits, but satisfied that they had found the secret realm of the Bloody Plains. How many others were fortunate enough to find something like this? This experience qould be a fine story to tell.

The only ones that stayed were the Six Pillars, the youngest disciple of Clear Spring Mountain, and Lei Jiang's comrades. All of them had walked in stopping just inches where Gu Tian was repelled and sat, waiting for everyone to return.

After that little show, Ming Yue, Xuan Yin, and Lei Jiang felt a bit apprehensive, afraid that the revenant would lie and they would experience backlash. They slowly approached that invisible line, bracing themselves for any impact. Yet it never came, to their surprise, they walked in without much effort.

A noticeable breath of relief came from all of them as they began exploring the hall.

Rows and rows of sculptures lined up. If Ming Yue had to guess, there were at least a thousand of them, each one different from the last but all were made with masterful skill.

"What are these?" Xuan Yin asked curiously.

The revenant turned around, hearing her question and explained.

"This space is a graveyard, a memorial to all past heroes and legends. Depictions of their final battle on this land. Each statue is an ode to their power and reputation. Every century or so, one of us are to be revived and tend to the halls, making sure that it is protected. Furthermore, we are given a duty to find good seedlings in order to impart some knowledge onto the future generation. When this place was created and who created it is beyond my knowledge. As for all of you, you must find a statue here and immerse yourself into their final battle, gaining some sort of enlightenment. I cannot help you in this, you must do it yourself."

The three of them listened carefully to his explanation, shocked by the origins of this space. It was practically an ocean of knowledge. All of them quickly split apart looking around for a suitable statue to choose.

It was hard to choose. Each one had their own aura and style, some were compatible while others were conflicting. They wanted to choose the best one and continued looking.

Xuan Yin was the first, sitting in front of the sculpture filled with grace. An elegant archer who seemed to flutter about, a bow in their hands and an arrow nocked on the string. In front of it was a fearsome beast, a six winged tiger that emanated great power. It had six eyes and large fangs, a vicious face with claws that looked sharp enough to cut down steel.

Following her was Lei Jiang who sat in front of the statue of a charismatic warrior who wielded a great hammer. The head of the hammer was ginormous, its face was large enough to crush another person. The warrior was dressed in full plate armor and held the hammer up towards the sky, as if he was calling down the wrath of the heavens. He faced towards a large army, one man alone against hundreds of thousands.

As for Ming Yue, she had yet too find one that she liked. It was not as if there were statues to fit her but she felt that there was something better.

She looked and looked but to no avail.

This one was too fierce.

This one did not have much power.

This one used a pipa.

As she traveled deeper into the halls, she found these statues to be quite relaxed but each one had a slight feeling of danger. Just as she was about to give up, one statue caught her eye.

The statue or a young and beautiful woman.

The stars, the sun, and the moon all seemed to accompany her. She stood in front if it and could not help herself from looking. In a blink of an eye, her consciousness was taken to another realm!