After a quick search, Chu Mu didn’t dare to venture too deep, but he still managed to gather more than ten Jade Boxes sealed with Array Prohibition Inscriptions.

He meticulously checked that the seals on the Jade Boxes were intact before carefully placing the ten or so boxes into a newly opened Storage Talisman.

After confirming everything was in order, he turned his gaze back to the long, narrow Spatial Rift. He contemplated for a moment, then slowly raised his hand. The broken bamboo dragonfly from his Storage Talisman materialized in his palm.

He gazed at the bamboo dragonfly for a moment, then wasted no more time. He turned decisively and headed back. Before long, he reappeared in the mountain cave.

Chu Mu casually retrieved a Storage Talisman. With a slight stir of his Divine Sense, several types of Spiritual Materials materialized before him.

As he looked at the broken bamboo dragonfly, his thoughts drifted to the tide of Black Fog Energy in the Spatial Rift and its potent corrosive effects.

’The primary function... must be to resist the corrosion!’

’It can be bigger. I’ll inscribe a Positive and Negative Five Elements Array...’

After a moment’s thought, he put the broken bamboo dragonfly away. With a wave of his sleeve, a pile of Spiritual Charcoal appeared before him.

A spark ignited, and a raging Spiritual Fire blazed to life before him.

His objective was clear.

It needed to be capable of flight, reconnaissance, and recording. It had to be able to travel long distances, remain hidden, and resist the corrosive Black Fog Energy.

With these main requirements set, Chu Mu didn’t fuss over the minor details. A rough design quickly formed in his mind.

Beneath the searing Spiritual Fire, piece after piece of Spiritual Material melted. Under Chu Mu’s control, the molten materials fused, stretched, and transformed, finally taking the shape of a dragonfly nearly a meter long.

Chu Mu hadn’t overthought the design; he basically just scaled up the previous bamboo dragonfly’s design by more than ten times.

In other words, it was a classic case of One Force Subdues Ten Techniques.

A larger size meant it could hold much more Spiritual Power. More Spiritual Power meant the Defensive Array could hold out longer. It also meant there was more surface area to inscribe Artifact Pattern Array Prohibitions...

Of course, this meant sacrificing its most important quality... stealth.

However, in this Secret Realm, Chu Mu didn’t have the luxury of time for meticulous design. As long as it was functional, it would have to do.

After several hours, the two giant dragonfly reconnaissance Magical Artifacts were complete. Chu Mu took a moment to regulate his breathing, then grabbed both artifacts and leaped back into the lava lake.

’I hope five Lower Grade Spirit Stones are enough to power it and hold out...’

Chu Mu muttered to himself, a knot of unease in his stomach.

He inserted five Lower Grade Spirit Stones into the dragonfly artifact’s abdomen and piloted it out of the sea of fire. It finally plunged into the river of surging black fog.

’It’s holding on!’

Feeling the Magical Artifact’s Defense holding up against the corrosive black fog, Chu Mu breathed a sigh of relief.

’At this rate of consumption, five Lower Grade Spirit Stones should last for about a quarter of an hour.’

’Judging by its speed, that’s enough time for the giant dragonfly artifact to reach the other side of the Spatial Rift and make a return trip.’

About seven minutes passed. Just as his connection to the first giant dragonfly abruptly vanished, Chu Mu waved his hand. The second giant dragonfly artifact lifted out of the sea of fire and plunged into the roiling black fog.

All that was left was an anxious wait.

’The connection is gone. That means the giant dragonfly artifact has entered another world, and my senses are being blocked.’

’Now it all depends on the Spatial Rift. If it’s fixed in one spot in the world on the other side...’

’...then according to its simple logic programming, it should be able to return to me by retracing its path.’

’But if the Spatial Rift is only fixed on this side... then these two giant dragonflies are probably gone for good.’

’And given the malevolent chaos of the Black Fog Energy, if any creature on the other side is drawn to the giant dragonfly...’

Chu Mu was on high alert. He had already taken out all his Magical Artifacts, and even clenched the Talisman Treasure in his palm.

At the slightest sign of trouble, he would unleash a thunderous assault.

Time trickled by. Though only a short while had passed, to Chu Mu, it felt like an eternity.

Before him, black flames and black fog intertwined, seemingly endless and eternally unchanging.

Immersed within it, one could hardly feel the passage of time.

If not for the occasional flicker of fiery red, his entire world would be endless black.

’It’s coming!’

The moment the lost connection returned, Chu Mu’s senses sharpened, and he stared intently at the surging black fog.

A moment later, the giant dragonfly Magical Artifact appeared in his line of sight, wobbling precariously.

’The crudely made thing didn’t seem to have fully withstood the corrosion from the Black Fog Energy.’

Chu Mu wasn’t too concerned. After confirming the Memory Stone hidden in its abdomen was undamaged, he casually tossed the wrecked dragonfly artifact into the roiling black fog.

Images from the Memory Stone slowly materialized within his Divine Sense Perception.

The footage showed that after the dragonfly artifact passed through the Spatial Rift, it entered a world of... endless, silent desolation!

The ground was dead still, devoid of any vegetation. The soil and rocks were a demonic, inky black.

The sky was dim, with a visible shroud of swirling black fog.

Looking down from above, as far as the eye could see in the footage, there was not the slightest sign of life.

Dead silence. Dead silence. Dead silence!

Everything was dead silent!

It was as if the entire world was dead.

When the second dragonfly returned, it was just as battered. The footage from its Memory Stone was the same: a scene of dead silence, with no anomalies whatsoever.

Chu Mu put down the two Memory Stones and stared at the Spatial Rift before him. After a moment’s contemplation, he suppressed the impulse rising within him.

’At my current level, even if I can dispel the Black Fog Energy, being constantly immersed in it would mean being constantly subject to its corrosive influence.’

’It’s best not to go looking for trouble.’

He took one last, deep look at the Spatial Rift. Without further hesitation, he turned decisively. With a surge of Magical Power, he put more and more distance between himself and the black-fog-spewing rift.

Back in the mountain cave, Chu Mu stood beside the lava lake. He contemplated for a moment, and the Minghong Saber materialized before him. With a stir of his Divine Sense, the blade flashed.

As the saber’s light flashed, the once-towering mountain cave began to visibly collapse.

Boulders crashed down, and within a few dozen breaths, the lava lake was buried beneath the collapsed peak.

With the obstruction of rock and earth, a Qi Cultivation Realm Cultivator would find it impossible to detect the lava lake’s existence unless they specifically broke through the collapsed rubble.

Then, Chu Mu threw a few more punches, creating the illusion that the area had been hit by a major battle. Only then did he and Wangcai swiftly depart.

For the next few days, Chu Mu continued to travel throughout the Secret Realm. He avoided conflict with other Cultivators while searching for Wolf-type Demon Beasts, preparing for Wangcai’s bloodline transformation.

As for the Spatial Rift, Chu Mu had already put it out of his mind. It involved an entire world—be it a Small World like this Secret Realm or a vast one like the Cultivation Immortal Realm—and was clearly beyond the reach of a mere Qi Cultivation Realm Cultivator like him.

Not to mention the terrifying and malevolent Black Fog Energy.

He buried the memory deep in his heart, pretending it had never happened.

「On the thirtieth day in the Secret Realm.」

On this day, Chu Mu didn’t hunt any Demon Beasts. Instead, he went to the outskirts of the valley where he had first arrived in the Secret Realm.

After a brief observation confirmed the presence of the two-headed giant snake, any clever ideas Chu Mu had harbored instantly vanished.

’Forget it.’

Chu Mu glanced up at the sky. No longer bothering to dwell on it, he led Wangcai to a hidden spot near the valley, sat down, and waited for the thirty-day limit to arrive.

He had spent more than half of the thirty days in the Inheritance Land, his nerves constantly on edge and with no time to relax. The rest of his time was spent either fighting other Cultivators or hunting Demon Beasts.

Even for him, a practitioner of both Dharma and Body Cultivation with a powerful physique, thirty sleepless days and nights had left him feeling somewhat exhausted.

"Come on, Wangcai, over here!"

He beckoned to Wangcai, and the shiny black pup immediately scampered over, obediently lying down beside Chu Mu.

Chu Mu leaned back against Wangcai and dozed lightly. A moment later, he raised a hand, and with a flick of his wrist, a stack of Storage Talismans appeared.

’This trip to the Secret Realm has been quite fruitful.’

’But I really haven’t had time to take a proper inventory.’

’The most precious things are, without a doubt, the two inheritances in my Sea of Consciousness.’

’One is the Great Sun Scripture. The other is the first volume of the Immortal Dao Sect’s Artifact Refining General Outline, which covers the art of Artifact Refining from Tier One to Tier Three.’

’Then there are the two bottles of Bell Stone Spiritual Milk, a so-called Body Refining Holy Medicine, and that pile of corroded Spatial Attribute Spiritual Materials I got from the Spatial Rift a few days ago.’

’There’s also the Tier Two Upper Grade Red Flame Iron I got from Chang Hong’Er, the Tier Two Lower Grade stalactite from this two-headed giant snake’s nest, and half of the giant snake’s head—all of which are extremely rare Spiritual Materials.’

’From the ancient battlefield at the bottom of the lake, I also dug up a large pile of junk. Including loot from my victories, I’ve accumulated over twenty Soul Condensing Stones.’

’The rest is just some Demon Beast Spiritual Materials from beasts I’ve slain, along with some looted Spirit Medicine and Spiritual Materials, Spirit Stones, and a few Jade Scrolls and books.’

’Of course, those twenty days of frantic Artifact Refining were an invaluable experience in themselves. An unlimited supply of all kinds of Spiritual Materials to practice with... accumulating that kind of experience in the real world would be incredibly difficult!’

After taking inventory, Chu Mu sorted the various Spirit Medicines and Spiritual Materials into different Storage Talismans. All that remained was a pile of Jade Scrolls and books.

They were all spoils of war. He couldn’t quite recall which unlucky soul they had come from.

He casually picked up a Jade Scroll and sent his Divine Sense inside, leisurely browsing its contents.

In fact, ever since he’d made some progress in his Cultivation, a considerable portion of his knowledge about the Cultivation Immortal Realm had come from such loot.

Cultivators carried almost all of their possessions with them. If you killed one without destroying their Storage Talisman, you basically claimed their entire fortune.

These were all Qi Cultivation Realm Cultivators, so their belongings were unlikely to contain any rare treasures. However, books and Jade Scrolls like these sometimes held pleasant surprises...

...