No one knew how much time passed, but they finally arrived at the location of the Liúshā Small Secret Realm.
Compared to the entrance of the Fengyue Small World, the entrance to the Liúshā Small Secret Realm appeared shabby and crude.
The entrance to the Fengyue Small World was both luxurious and spectacular, like a massive water-mirror gate, with a majestic boundary stele standing at its doorway.
The entrance to the Liúshā Small Secret Realm, however, looked like a whirlpool in the ocean, or a spatial rift in the vast heavens, irregularly shifting and changing.
The Fengyue Small World was a property with an owner, so its entrance had naturally been artificially embellished. This Liúshā Small Secret Realm, on the other hand, was a wild secret realm, likely untouched by anyone. Moreover, this irregular rift entrance didn't seem to have split open on its own, but more like it had been cleaved apart by some immense power.
Gu Qingfeng lingered at the entrance for a moment, then, together with Horse King, he drove the nine-headed Firecloud Crimsonflame Tiger Grand Carriage straight inside.
Inside the Liúshā Small Secret Realm, there was no sun or moon. Everything was shrouded in a grey haze, and the natural environment was exceptionally harsh, thick with foul smoke and miasma. Looking out, it resembled an endless desert, desolate and barren. Fierce winds swept through, bringing with them a faceful of sand.
Gu Qingfeng looked around. Near the entrance, faint points of starlight twinkled. Upon closer inspection, these starlights were actually flickering formations. Inside these formations were not only buildings but even simple, excavated cave dwellings.
"People actually live in this godforsaken, barren hole?"
"Great Lord, although the Liúshā Small Secret Realm is dangerous, it excels in its abundant resources. The major immortal domains of the Dual-Pole Celestial Domain all establish outposts here. If any resources gestate inside or an ancient cave dwelling manifests, they can act immediately."
"I see."
Gu Qingfeng nodded, then shook his head. "But trying to eke out a living in this dump, who knows when your little life might just vanish."
Although the entrance to the Liúshā Small Secret Realm didn't have much spiritual energy, the benefit was that a lot of the poison mist drifted out through the entrance. Therefore, the poison mist near the entrance wasn't too severe. Ordinary immortals could usually withstand it, but that was only 'usually'. The natural environment here was extremely unstable. Who knew when a mutation might occur? Not to mention anything else, if a major natural disaster struck, these people wouldn't even be able to run away in time.
"Great Lord, are you heading inside?"
"What's the matter?"
"How about... I wait for you here? The further in you go, the stronger the poison mist becomes. With my level of cultivation, I simply can't withstand it."
"There are formations protecting the inside of the Grand Carriage. Just go in with it."
"Great Lord..."
Horse King said with a face that looked like he was about to cry, "Although there are formations protecting the carriage, what if... what if the resources powering the formation core run out? How would we get back? And... most importantly, even our Firecloud Crimsonflame Tigers can't withstand the poison mist inside."
"Easy."
Gu Qingfeng tilted his head back and took a swig of wine, then spat it out with a *pfft*. Immediately, a fine mist of fine wine enveloped the Firecloud Crimsonflame Tiger Grand Carriage.
"Let's go. As long as this layer of fine wine mist is shrouding us, forget about this damn poison mist, even if this whole Liúshā Small Secret Realm explodes, you don't need to worry."
What kind of technique was this?
Horse King didn't know.
He only knew that after Gu Qingfeng sprayed out this layer of fine wine mist, it seemed like a mysterious power was protecting the Firecloud Carriage. This mysterious power seemed to isolate everything outside. Forget poison mist, even the wind and sand seemed unable to penetrate.
Fortunately, during his time following Gu Qingfeng, Horse King had seen far too many bizarre, inexplicable, unfathomable, and incomprehensible things. He was already used to it.
And so, Horse King continued brandishing the Firecloud Whip, driving the Firecloud Crimsonflame Tiger Grand Carriage as it raced through the Liúshā Small Secret Realm.
Gu Qingfeng sat in his chair, drinking wine while looking around. Along the way, he saw many people clad in immortal armor and capes, wielding immortal weapons and flying swords, cautiously flying deeper in groups of three or five. He asked, "What are all these people going to do?"
"They're all going inside to take risks and seek treasures."
"This dump is all desert. It can't even gestate a single hair, can it?"
"Great Lord, further ahead is a swamp. There are quite a few resources there, only... the poison mist there is also much stronger. If you accidentally get contaminated by the poison mist, your fleshly body will rot. Besides, the swamp is also home to some demon beasts, demonic creatures, and evil spirits... It's just terrifying."
Although Horse King had been to the Liúshā Small Secret Realm a few times, he had only ever played around near the entrance. As for the swamp inside, he had never once entered. He'd only heard it was terrifying, and with the slightest misstep, one could die inside.
Gu Qingfeng raised his eyes to look ahead. Sure enough, he saw a swamp area ahead. The poison mist there did indeed look more severe.
Generally speaking, any world not bathed by the sun and moon had a harsh natural environment. Wherever the natural environment was harsh, poison mist would form.
The term 'poison mist' was just a common way of saying it. In truth, so-called poison mist wasn't actually poisonous vapor. Not only was it non-toxic, you could even say this stuff was a kind of spiritual energy.
It was just that due to environmental factors, this spiritual energy gradually became impure. The harsher the environment, the more turbid the spiritual energy became. Over time, the spiritual energy turned into turbid qi.
Immortal cultivation emphasized purity; what they absorbed was pure spiritual energy. Affected by turbid qi, the immortal spirit within their fleshly bodies naturally couldn't endure it. So, in the eyes of immortals, the so-called turbid qi became poison mist or poisonous gas.
Turbid qi and spiritual energy were like light and darkness, or yin and yang. Worlds illuminated by the sun and moon were simply places where yang energy flourished, while places without the sun and moon's illumination had heavier yin energy.
Of course.
Immortals emphasized purity and absorbed pure spiritual energy. They couldn't endure turbid qi, but that didn't mean other existences couldn't endure it either.
For example, demons, devils, ghosts, and so on. These existences were the exact opposite of cultivating immortals. The more turbid the spiritual energy they absorbed, the more nourishing it was for them.
Moreover, most importantly, some heavenly treasures and earthly resources that gestated under the shroud of turbid qi weren't all 'poisonous' to immortals. Not only were they non-toxic, many of these treasures, whether used for refining elixirs or crafting immortal weapons and treasures, were indispensable.
However.
Turbid qi was, after all, turbid qi.
If turbid qi grew increasingly turbid, it would gradually give rise to turbid miasma. Under the shroud of turbid miasma, it often gestated things like demon spirits, devil spirits, evil spirits, malevolent spirits, and so on. If someone died a miserable death in such a place and their soul was contaminated by the turbid miasma, they could also turn into ghost spirits.
Although when these things first gestated, their minds were unenlightened and their strength was weak, if they grew up, they would absolutely be terrifying existences. Since their minds were unopened, they had no concept of good, evil, or morality. They ate whatever seemed tasty. An immortal's immortal spirit was fatally attractive to them. Therefore, when those devil spirits and evil spirits killed people, they were extremely cruel—ripping open chests, directly pulling out your immortal spirit, and swallowing it raw.