’So they were from the Xie Family...’

As he walked along the lakebed, Chu Mu took stock of the items in the Storage Talisman. After confirming the two men’s identities, he suddenly stopped and looked back at the underwater mountain range, lost in thought.

Inside the Storage Talisman, apart from the tokens that proved their identities, there was no other useful information.

It seemed perfectly normal, but that was precisely what made it so strange.

Since entering this Secret Realm, he had killed quite a few clan Cultivators. He had yet to meet anyone who entered a Secret Realm without a Map Jade Scroll containing information about it.

Especially here in East Lake... ’How could disciples of the Xie Family enter this Secret Realm without any information about it?’

It was clearly impossible.

If there wasn’t one in their Storage Talismans, then that meant...

Chu Mu pursed his lips. He suspected the two Cultivators from before were the very Core Disciples from the great clans and sects that Chang Hong’Er had spoken of.

’Their purpose for entering the Secret Realm...’

The mountains stretched endlessly, a web of ravines crisscrossing the lakebed.

’Who would have guessed that an Inheritance Land of an Ancient Sect was hidden here?’

’And the arrival of those two Xie Family Cultivators... plus that fluctuation he had sensed just before they left...’

His mind raced, but in the end, Chu Mu suppressed the eager impulse stirring within him.

Although he had only lingered in a few spots since coming to this Secret Realm, his gains had been immense.

He only had a few days left before he had to leave the Secret Realm, so it was better to be cautious.

Besides...

From one of the Storage Talismans, Chu Mu took out a small metal ball, about the size of an Elixir Pill. He stared at it for a moment, his expression thoughtful.

The small metal ball was a dull silver, and at its center was a grayish-white oval, about the size of a fingernail.

At a glance, it looked just like a metal eye.

And in fact, it was an eye.

’A... surveillance eye. And what’s more...’

Chu Mu closed his eyes slightly. With his Divine Sense, he could perceive that the eye was still emitting a nearly undetectable fluctuation toward some unknown location.

He was not unfamiliar with this fluctuation.

Back in Water Heaven Workshop and the former Jade Emperor Valley, the Memory Lamps had used similar fluctuations to transmit the visual information they monitored...

As an Artifact Refiner, the function of the metal eye before him was perfectly clear.

It was the equivalent of a recorder from his past life, and a networked one at that!

All the information this metal eye recorded was undoubtedly transmitted via that fluctuation to be stored on the terminal Magical Artifact of some Xie Family Cultivator.

The Secret Realm and the outside world were separate realms; it was unlikely this fluctuation could penetrate the barrier between them. Therefore, the Xie Family Cultivator—or rather, the terminal Magical Artifact for this metal ball—had to be inside the Secret Realm as well.

Such a Magical Artifact might seem technologically advanced to an ordinary Artifact Refiner, but for the major clans and the Longevity Sect, it was clearly nothing special.

If the Xie Family’s Core Disciples brought these into the Secret Realm, then it was obvious the Core Disciples of other clans and the Longevity Sect would be carrying similar devices.

If he clashed with anyone else, he would have to hope those Cultivators from other clans and sects were as crafty as the two he just dealt with.

Within his Divine Sense Perception, he saw that both metal eyes were encased in a transparent barrier of light.

This transparent barrier was itself an incredibly ingenious little Magical Artifact.

Its sole purpose was... isolation and simulation!

In other words... it blocked the metal ball from monitoring real-world information, while simultaneously feeding it simulated information to record instead...

Those two Xie Family Cultivators were clearly quite self-serving. To go to such lengths to block the surveillance device meant they must have been secretly pocketing a lot of good stuff.

This, in turn, worked out conveniently for him.

After all, he had just killed two of the Xie Family’s Core Disciples. If the metal ball had actually recorded it, he would likely have another Wanted Order on his head from the Xie Family after leaving the Secret Realm.

While he wasn’t too concerned about so-called Wanted Orders or being labeled an Evil Cultivator, if he offended the Longevity Sect and was also wanted by the Xie Family, there would truly be few places left for him in the Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World.

’The haul... is definitely not small.’

Chu Mu’s lips curved into a slight smile as he glanced at the Spirit Materials and Spirit Medicine he had just inventoried.

Judging from the spoils, it was clear that the two Xie Family Cultivators had indeed profited handsomely from their efforts to block the surveillance.

There were dozens of aged Spirit Medicines and a large pile of Demon Beast carcasses. They were mostly Tier One Middle to Late Stage Demon Beasts, and their bodies, inside and out, were all high-quality Spiritual Materials.

The two Cultivators had even managed to find several Soul Condensing Stones.

On top of that, there was a large heap of other items like Spirit Stones, Elixir Pills, and books.

Right then and there, Chu Mu couldn’t be bothered to do a detailed inventory. He checked the few Storage Talismans, confirmed there was nothing amiss, and stuffed them into his robes.

As for the two metal eyes twirling on his fingertips, with a mere thought and a surge of Magical Power, he instantly crushed them to dust.

With a flick of his hand, the fragments were swept away into the dark by the lakebed’s undercurrent.

He began to walk, ascending through the water as if climbing a flight of invisible stairs, making his way from the lakebed to the surface.

Though he was just taking one step after another, the Divine Wind Boots made it seem as if he were teleporting, ascending toward the surface at a speed difficult for the naked eye to track.

Wangcai followed close behind. In just a dozen breaths, the man and his beast surfaced.

He surveyed his surroundings, his eyes moving as he cross-referenced his location with the information about the Secret Realm in his mind.

The benefits he’d gained over the past twenty-odd days had already far exceeded his expectations.

In the few days he had left, he had no other grand plans, nor did he wish to clash with other Cultivators.

He certainly didn’t want to stir up any more trouble.

’In that case...’

Chu Mu looked at Wangcai, who was close by his side. Its aura as a Tier One Late Stage Demon Beast was distinct.

With a wave of his hand, a Jade Scroll from his recent spoils appeared in his palm.

The Jade Scroll didn’t contain some profound Divine Skill Manual, but rather a Demon Beast Atlas.

It documented over a hundred species of Demon Beasts, explaining their various bloodlines and providing information on how to raise Spirit Beasts.

The description of one particular Demon Beast within it was a perfect match for Wangcai.

The Black Mountain Wolf!

A Wolf-type Demon Beast that once roamed the northern regions of Great Chu. Its fur was glossy black, adults grew to the size of a calf, it excelled at tearing and biting with its sharp claws, and it was as fast as a thunderclap...

According to the Demon Beast Atlas, the Black Mountain Wolf possessed an ordinary bloodline with extremely low potential. Its bloodline aptitude was essentially equivalent to a Wasted Spirit Root in a human Cultivator.

Chu Mu had expected as much.

After all, Wangcai had started out as nothing more than a common mongrel.

It was only natural that its bloodline aptitude would be low.

What he cared about was the information in the Demon Beast Atlas regarding the cultivation of Spirit Beasts and Demon Beasts.

According to the atlas, a Demon Beast’s bloodline wasn’t immutable like a human’s Spirit Root.

Every time its Cultivation advanced by a Grand Realm, its bloodline had a chance to undergo a metamorphosis.

This metamorphosis, the Demon Beast Atlas called it Ancestral Return!

In other words, every time a Demon Beast successfully advanced a Grand Realm and transformed, it would take a step closer to the ancient Demon Beast at the origin of its bloodline.

A carp leaping over the dragon’s gate, a serpent molting into a flood dragon...

For Demon Beasts, these legendary phrases weren’t just myths; they were tangible realities.

However, the chances of this tangible reality occurring were incredibly low—so low that they had become the stuff of legend.

Take Wangcai, for example. As a common mongrel, he never would have transformed into a Demon Beast without Chu Mu’s help.

Even after becoming a Demon Beast, could it have advanced so rapidly to its current state of Tier One Perfection in just a year or two without him?

Clearly impossible. The low Spiritual Wisdom of Demon Beasts below Tier Four meant their path of transformation was inevitably paved with blood and bone.

Every battle, every hunt, was a life-or-death struggle.

This was true for clashes between Demon Beasts, and even more so for clashes between Demon Beasts and Cultivators.

Furthermore, the atlas described the chances of a Demon Beast’s Ancestral Return as appallingly low.

The atlas stated that for a Demon Beast to transform through normal advancement, it would require immense luck and a great fortuitous opportunity, or an exceptionally outstanding bloodline aptitude to begin with.

Otherwise, a transformation would result in little to no real progress, at most making its bloodline slightly purer.

However, if one wanted to increase the chances of a cultivated Spirit Beast’s transformation, the best method was to find a higher-level Bloodline Essence of a corresponding species before the Spirit Beast’s promotion.

Having the Spirit Beast consume it before its promotion would increase the chances of its bloodline undergoing an Ancestral Return transformation.

As for how much the chance increased... that would depend on the quality of the prepared Bloodline Essence.

If the essence was from a bloodline far superior to the Spirit Beast’s current one, the chances would be quite high. If it was just so-so, the chances would naturally be lower.

’A Wolf-type Demon Beast...’

Chu Mu gently stroked Wangcai, muttering to himself as he recalled the Demon Beasts he had encountered since entering the Secret Realm.

After thinking for a while, he couldn’t come up with anything conclusive.

His knowledge of Demon Beasts was clearly still very limited.

If it weren’t for this Demon Beast Atlas, he wouldn’t have even known Wangcai was a Black Mountain Wolf.

All this time, his assessment of Wangcai’s transformation had stopped at the four words "Wolf-type Demon Beast."

He had no idea about its specific species.

And this particular Demon Beast Atlas had very few entries on Wolf-type Demon Beasts.

"It’ll all depend on your luck."

Chu Mu sighed, ruffling Wangcai’s fur.

It would be best if he could find a Demon Beast with a superior bloodline in this Secret Realm to help Wangcai transform.

If not, then there was nothing to be done.

In the Great Chu Cultivation Immortal World, Demon Beasts were nearly extinct.

Only the Vast Sea was said to be teeming with Demon Beasts, but... the Vast Sea was an ocean. Would there be wolves in the ocean?

Having this dog, Wangcai, around was certainly useful.

In the constant fighting after leaving Water Heaven Workshop, and even here in the Secret Realm, Wangcai had been a huge help.

The pup was indeed very useful.

An assistant this capable was worth investing in. If he could help it grow stronger, he would do his best...

Lost in thought, Chu Mu didn’t stop. He led Wangcai toward the sprawling mountain range on the far side of the lake...

...