The surroundings around Mingyue began to change as Vesa manipulated the formation, transporting her to the core area.
Mingyue now found herself in a brightly lit room with rough rock as the walls and ceiling.
But before she could analyze her surroundings more, she suddenly felt an overwhelming presence enter her body.
'I don't know how you entered, but don't blame me for this. Everyone is out for themselves,' a melodic voice reverberated in her mind.
Mingyue felt her mind starting to turn blank as something began gnawing at her consciousness, but it only lasted for a moment.
The voice screamed in despair, and then the presence from her mind disappeared.
[It's done, Queen. It will take me some time to extract the information, but for now, I have already taken control of the secret realm.]
"What can you do now with this place?"
[My understanding of formations is not that good yet.
I could only use existing traps to open or close the secret realm.
I also had access to all the treasures prepared in this secret realm.
It seemed the previous owner saved quite an amount for her rise back to the Golden Core stage.]
Hearing about the many resources now at her disposal, Mingyue felt elated.
In theory, she could just stay inside the secret realm and cultivate, but she knew she needed understanding and experience to grow.
Then, an idea came to her mind.
Since the secret realm was practically hers now, she should be able to use it as a secret hideout.
However, her sect already knew the place.
"Can you move the secret realm's position, Vesa?"
[I could not, but wasn't a secret realm usually closed after being completed, Queen?
I could close it and then hide it from prying eyes.
Even with my current capabilities, I was sure no one in this region could find out.]
"That's good, but that means I need to let Lianhua out, letting her think she got the inheritance."
[Queen, in one of the treasures, there was an artifact that allowed you to change your appearance.
My suggestion was, why not fake your death and see how things turned out?
This way, you could confirm your speculation and see who benefited and who wanted your demise.]
Mingyue thought Vesa's idea was not bad, but the problem was the life talisman in her family.
As long as she was still alive, the talisman wouldn't break.
Hearing her concern, Vesa then gave an idea to falsify her death.
The talisman worked because part of her life force was saved by it.
When it felt the main source was snuffed out, the talisman would then break.
As Mingyue was undergoing the transformation into a Progenitor, her life force would be completely transformed at some point.
Vesa could trigger this transformation for a moment.
Hearing that it was possible, Mingyue quickly agreed.
She wanted to know what would happen after her 'death.'
Meanwhile, on the eighth island, a beautiful woman moved gracefully among many horrifying monsters.
A two-headed dog, twice the size of a normal lion, barked at the woman.
Its four legs tensed for a moment before it pounced, but the woman spun on her body, her long blue hair fluttering in the air as a wind started to manifest, boosting her agility.
SLASH!!!
Her sword slashed down vertically, creating a single red line right in the middle of the dog.
Blood rained down as the woman moved with a deadly dance, creating wind with every movement.
One sword to the left, one to the right, a duck, then a low sweep.
After many attacks, the island was finally cleared out.
Lianhua fell to her knees, her body covered with sweat.
With heavy breaths, she mumbled, "Finally, it's over. Just how many islands are left…"
Unlike Mingyue, Lianhua couldn't see how many stages existed.
Every time she finished an island, a reward materialized, and then she had some time to take a break.
Afterward, stairs suddenly appeared, showing the path to the next island.
Lianhua speculated this was done to ensure the inheritor's instinct.
She never wasted time when a path forward appeared, feeling she needed to quickly finish the secret realm.
In the first few stages, she obtained herbs that helped her cultivation and even a sword manual teaching her the style she had just used, 'Echoes of the Wind Dance.'
According to the manual, if she truly mastered it, she should be able to create wind blades with every slash of her sword.
'I didn't know the grade of this technique, but it should be very high,' Lianhua thought.
In her world, techniques were also split into six ranks: Mortal, Earth, Mystic, Celestial, Heaven, and finally, Ancient.
Ancient techniques were the most mysterious, as they were usually very strong and seemed to come from another world.
Some even provided a completely new power system, multiplying the abilities of their holder.
It was rumored that some secret clans had monopolized all these ancient techniques.
This time was no different; a green pill appeared in front of her, exuding a mysterious aura.
Linhua could sense some healing properties from it, but she hesitated to consume it, unsure of its effects.
Propping her body up with the sword, Linhua took the pill.
As she put it in her storage, stairs to the next island appeared, causing her sapphire blue eyes to widen in surprise.
She hesitated for a moment but decided to move forward, taking the last healing pill she had in her storage.
The pill's effect was not potent, but it was enough to at least restore part of her stamina.
Soon, she found herself on the next island, which was smaller compared to the previous ones.
This gave Linhua a sense of relief, thinking this island wouldn't require her to massacre wave after wave like the last one.
The first three islands had only tested her resolve and potential, but the rest had forced her into fights against monsters, with the last one being the hardest battle she had faced.