Sign-In System: Starting With Invincible Physique

Chapter 48: False Hollow Realm

At the core of the Hollow Realm, the barren wasteland was eerily silent.

Roughly thirty people, combined forces of the Ironpeak Sect and the Barlowe family. were gathered in the desolate, blackened expanse.

Seris stood among them, staring ahead with a blank expression.

Four Azure Cloud elders beside her. Their cultivation ranged from the sixth to the eighth level of the Essence Condensation Realm, yet they were battered, bloodied, and forced to be chained.

Just a few paces ahead, Torin was free, but he was as helpless as those in the chains.

Despair crashed over her.

If these pillars of the sect could not save themselves, who else could save her now?

Perhaps, she will never get to see Rhain again...

These kinds of thoughts uncontrollably popped up in Seris’s state of mind.

But a glint of determination quickly flashed through her pale purple eyes.

She will definitely find a way to escape. If not... she would rather end her own life.

A few steps away, Valerius stood with his arms crossed.

His gaze never left Seris.

Her flawless, ice-tinged beauty and defiant glare only fueled his obsession. He watched her every breath with undisguised fascination.

"Young master," Drask beside him warned in a low voice.

Valerius’s hopelessly smitten behavior was a disgrace.

He wasn’t like this before. Could the cold that froze him have damaged his brain as well?

Valerius merely waved him off, his eyes still glued to Seris.

Drask scoffed and walked toward the front of the formation.

At the very edge of a massive crater, three figures stood shoulder to shoulder.

Vargas, his scarred face twisted into a cruel grin.

Byron, from the Barlowe family, his eyes burning with malice.

And Vespera, the female Level 9 elder of the Ironpeak Sect, she had a devilish smile on her face.

Drask, stepped up to join them.

They stood before a smooth, circular stone slab embedded in the rocky earth.

Intricate, ancient runes covered its surface.

"It is time," Vargas said. His dull eyes gleamed.

He raised his hand, holding a black dagger.

He sliced his own palm.

Byron, Drask, and Vespera mirrored his action.

Four streams of blood dripped onto the ancient runes.

The thick blood flowed into the carved grooves, filling the patterns with a sinister red glow.

The ground began to tremble.

The vibration rapidly escalated into a violent, deafening rumble that shook the Hollow Realm to its core.

Then...

A blinding pillar of purple light erupted from the center of the stone slab.

It pierced the clouds, shooting straight into the sky.

Within that blinding purple pillar, the very fabric of space began to fracture like shattered glass.

Wrapped in that light, a colossal shadow slowly descended from the void, ripping its way into reality.

When the light finally stabilized, the thirty gathered experts, along with Torin and the Azure Cloud captives, stared forward with dumbstruck expression.

Sitting perfectly within the massive crater was a colossal, ancient golden palace.

Towering bronze doors, easily a hundred feet high, stood tightly shut at the top of a grand staircase.

An aura of supreme, ancient majesty rolled off the structure, carrying an oppressive weight that forced everyone in the valley to hold their breath.

Torin stared at the palace with widened eyes.

A palace?

How could there possibly be a palace here?

For thirty years, the Azure Cloud Sect, the Ironpeak Sect, and the two major families had explored this space.

They had always believed it was a Natural Hollow Realm.

Years ago, the Azure Cloud Sect had spent a massive amount of resources investigating the true nature of Hollow Realms.

Through an extremely fortunate encounter, they had managed to ask a supreme Core Formation Realm expert about the origins of these independent spaces.

Natural Hollow Realms were born from volatile spatial disturbances.

They were self-sustaining, naturally formed ecosystems.

The dangers inside were entirely natural—ferocious beasts, toxic miasma, and traps formed independently by creatures in the Hollow realm.

The rewards were similarly organic, limited to rare natural treasures and pure essence.

But if it’s a False Hollow Realm...

It’s entirely different. They were artificially forged.

They were independent pocket dimensions meticulously created by the hands of a cultivator.

Because they were man-made, False Hollow Realms did not just contain natural treasures. They housed man-made rewards—peerless martial techniques, weapons that could shake the world, and priceless artifacts.

But there were also human made hazards.

Lethal arrays and inescapable traps designed to slaughter intruders without a single shred of mercy.

Torin clearly remembered asking that Core Formation expert just how powerful a man must be to create a False Hollow Realm.

The answer he recieved was simply two words.

"Unimaginably powerful!"

Torin still remembers the look of profound reverence that had flashed across the Core Formation expert’s face—an existence that could have annihilated the entirety of Greymist Town with a single wave of his hand.

And it was created by such a unimaginably powerful expert!

This ancient Black Hollow Realm... was actually a False Hollow Realm!

Seeing Torin’s bewildered face, Drask let out a mocking laugh.

"Surprised, Torin?" Drask sneered, his face showing a gloating look.

Torin fiercely glared at Drask.

"Five years ago, one of our elder stumbled upon that stone slab by accident," Drask explained, gesturing toward the towering bronze doors. "We realized the truth. This place isn’t a natural formation. It is a False Hollow Realm." 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The captive Azure Cloud elders gasped, their minds buzzing with sheer terror and disbelief.

A False Hollow Realm!

Drask threw his head back and laughed loudly.

"But an ancient powerhouse’s palace is not a place you can just casually stroll into. It is undoubtedly filled with unimaginable traps that could possibly kill all of us."

Drask’s cruel gaze slowly swept over the chained Azure Cloud elders, before finally resting heavily on Torin.

"That is exactly why we went through the immense trouble of capturing you and your elders alive, instead of slaughtering you on the spot!"

Vargas stepped up beside Drask, his scarred face twisting into a sadistic grin.

"We knew we couldn’t just walk in," he said,

"We needed a few people strong enough to survive the initial triggers and clear the path, but disposable enough that their deaths wouldn’t matter to us."

He casually patted Torin’s shoulder.

"That what you will do for us. You will lead the way for us."

Rumble—!

Before Vargas could utter another threat, a vibration ripped through the crater.

The colossal bronze doors, standing a hundred feet tall, suddenly opened, and a wave of essence surged out from depths of the golden palace.

The exhausted Azure Cloud elders suddenly felt their dry meridians greedily absorbing the energy.

Their fatigue melted away in an instant.

"It’s purer than anything in Greymist Town! Just breathing the air here is equivalent to swallowing Uncommon-Grade pills!"

Vargas’s dead eyes burned with a fanatical light.

The legends were absolutely true.

Vargas withdrew his gaze from the gate and turned to Torin.

"Move."

He pushed Torin sharply in the back.

Torin staggered, forcibly catching himself before his knees hit the stone.

He turned his head, his bloodshot eyes locking onto the bound Azure Cloud elders and Seris.

He had no choice.

If he refused, Vargas would slaughter them right here.

His only hope was now that Roderick and others would be attracted by that purple light, and come to save them.

And Rhain...

A trace of hope flashed in his eyes.

He will have to delay and keep everyone alive until they come.