Chapter Ninety-Eight: The Small World and the Great World

In the northernmost reaches of the Kunlun Secret Realm stood a majestic mountain. The realm itself had existed for untold millennia, yet within a thousand miles of this mountain, no living creature had ever dared to intrude. It was the heart of the entire Kunlun Secret Realm, a forbidden zone.

Today, after countless years of silence, the forbidden zone suddenly dispatched an envoy to the territories of the eighty-nine tribes within the realm, issuing a decree from the forbidden land. This command was delivered exclusively to the tribe leaders—the chiefs or grand elders. Instantly, every tribe began discussing the meaning of the decree.

As Yang Fan and his companions, blades pressed to their throats, were marched into the territory of the Kunpeng Tribe, the envoy from the forbidden zone was just departing. From afar, the envoy glanced at Yang Fan and the others, but with only a single look, Yang Fan, Hu Dao, and Li Xianyi felt their skin crawl with goosebumps.

The young woman leading them sensed something strange as well, puzzled by the figure emerging from her tribe, her heart filled with questions. The envoy did not come closer, but turned and soared away.

The girl dismissed her doubts and pushed Yang Fan and his companions into the tribe.

The Kunpeng Tribe—one of the top ten most powerful tribes among the eighty-nine of the Kunlun Secret Realm. They worshiped the Kunpeng as their totem and their faith.

Upon entering the tribe, Yang Fan realized he had underestimated these seemingly primitive people. The gates they passed through appeared to be made of an alloy, gleaming with brilliance—clearly not ordinary material. Inside, instead of the muddy ground he had expected, the floor was paved entirely with obsidian.

Obsidian was renowned for its defensive qualities and was ideal for building cities. Even the ancient Dragon City ruins were constructed from obsidian, though the stone was so hard that cutting it without special machinery was nearly impossible.

Yang Fan had seen nothing resembling technology in the Kunlun Secret Realm—certainly no obsidian cutting machines—yet the tribe had managed to lay the obsidian so smoothly, which was nothing short of astonishing.

He looked around the so-called village, the tribe’s settlement. This was no village; whose village was ever so vast? Whose village had walls over thirty meters tall?

They were half-pushed, half-dragged forward, able only to glance around in passing. The conclusion was clear—this was a formidable village, or rather, a city.

From the entrance to their destination, everyone over eighteen they saw was a cultivator, without exception. Powerful figures soared overhead from time to time, unmistakable marks of seventh-tier mastery—flight.

Soon, they reached their true destination. The young woman’s attendants kicked Yang Fan and his companions into a cell, locked the door, and left without a word.

Yang Fan frowned at the slender iron chains, then reached out to touch the bars with his mischievous hands. The moment his fingers brushed the metal, blue light flared, and a force slammed him against the back wall, leaving a human-shaped imprint in the spacious cell.

Li Xianyi, Hu Dao, and the others smiled silently, but a shadow lingered in everyone’s heart. They had been imprisoned here—what would happen next? How would their captors deal with them? No one had any answers.

...

After leaving the cell, the girl dismissed the others and walked alone toward the central building of the tribe.

There, she would find the person she cherished and respected most—her father.

The Kunpeng Tribe was powerful now, but even the greatest forces began in weakness. Once, the tribe was small, its territory insignificant within the Kunlun Secret Realm. But after her father became chief, he expanded their lands, fought fierce beasts, and elevated the tribe from near the bottom of the rankings to the top ten. To the girl, her father was the greatest hero.

When she entered the chief’s residence, a burly middle-aged man was already waiting in the hall.

“Lily, I heard you brought some people back?” he said, looking at his daughter.

Kun Li grinned and nodded. “Yes, Father. I found them on the Azure Plain. They were besieged by beasts, so I rescued them. But when I asked which tribe they belonged to, they wouldn’t answer. Their clothes are strange—I’ve never seen anything like them!”

Kun Sha listened thoughtfully, then smiled indulgently at his daughter. After a pause, he remarked, “You saw a strange person on your way back, didn’t you?”

Kun Li hurriedly nodded, “Yes, at the edge of our territory. He looked at us and I felt as if everything about me was laid bare before his eyes. It was such a strange feeling, Father. Who was he? Why did he come to our tribe? Is there something important?”

Kun Sha replied, “You know there’s a forbidden zone in the Kunlun Secret Realm—the Northern Mountain at the world’s end. That’s our forbidden land. The man you saw was the envoy from there. The forbidden zone hasn’t issued an order in so many years that everyone thought it had faded away, but today it has awakened and taken control again.

He came to deliver the forbidden decree, saying that many people never before seen will soon appear in the realm. We are to help them, or at least look after them, and if we have surplus resources, we should nurture them as appropriate.”

As Kun Sha spoke, Kun Li sprang to her feet. “Father, we can’t do that! Our tribe has just risen to power, and our resources are still scarce. The Day of Revelation is approaching, and without enough resources we’ll struggle to survive. We can’t change our strategy for the sake of a forbidden zone that disappeared for so many years! Please reconsider!”

Her anxious expression made Kun Sha smile fondly. He stroked her head and said, “Let me finish.” He motioned for Kun Li to sit, then continued, “My dear, do you know what kind of world we live in?”

Kun Li shook her head—she truly didn’t know. Everyone simply called it the Secret Realm.

Kun Sha sighed and went on, “You can think of our world as a small world, a very small one, attached to a larger world outside. Our ancestors of the eighty-nine tribes were once subjects of the master of this small world. Then, due to certain events—details I don’t know—the connection between the two worlds was severed, and we lost all news from the greater world outside. I suspect that the people suddenly appearing now may be from that greater world, here to explore our Secret Realm. The envoy from the forbidden zone hinted as much, saying the day of returning to the light is near. Those words are worth pondering deeply.”