“Oh, it’s over?”

When he returned from Yuanjiao Mountain, Ling Xuanzi stood there dazed, a strange hollowness swelling in his chest. After all, he and Lin Xun had spent nearly three full months sweeping through the five sacred mountains: Yingzhou, Penglai, Fanghu, Daiyu, and Yuanjiao.

The Blood Soul Wraiths, Eternal Fiend Corpses, Undying Fierce Souls, Dao Spirit Monsters, and Eternal Demonic Armaments they had hunted...the sheer quantity was staggering. It was a fortune so immense it defied belief. Such a fortune could only exist in this abandoned Dao Burial Ground.

To Ling Xuanzi, it felt unreal, like a dream he was afraid to wake from. In less than three months, they had utterly emptied the five sacred mountains. Before today, he would never have dared imagine such a thing was possible!

Only after returning to the cavern did he slowly regain composure. Then his eyes blazed, and he stared at Lin Xun with unconcealed excitement. “Junior Brother...with fortune like this, do we need to worry about failing to attain eternity?”

Lin Xun was equally overjoyed. He had never imagined that investigating the upheaval in the Return Dominion would instead grant him such a heaven-defying stroke of fortune.

Furthermore, everything had gone so smoothly from start to finish that they had never faced any true fatal danger.

“Senior Brother, wait here a moment. I’ll enter the Gate of Exile and take a look,” Lin Xun said, activating its power.

“Wait! Take me with you!” Ling Xuanzi blurted. Having seen the terrifying power of Lin Xun’s forbidden innate ability, he had long been curious about the Gate of Exile.

Lin Xun was momentarily stunned. “Fine, but you must stay close to me. Otherwise, a single misstep here could lead to disaster.”

A moment later, the two figures flickered and vanished into the Gate of Exile.

The Realm of Exile.

The instant they stepped inside this hazy, gray world, Ling Xuanzi’s expression changed dramatically. A crushing pressure descended on him, hurling his body uncontrollably through the air. With a thought, Lin Xun dispersed the binding force that had seized Ling Xuanzi.

Still shaken, Ling Xuanzi murmured, “Junior Brother, what kind of hellish place is this?”

“The Realm of Exile,” Lin Xun replied calmly. “As for where it is...even I do not know.”

“You don’t know?” Ling Xuanzi stared in disbelief.

Lin Xun nodded. The Realm of Exile was incredibly mysterious. Only by grasping the power of the Gate of Exile could one open this realm and control it. However, its true origin remained unknown to him.

Before long, the two arrived at where the Corpse Severing Millstones hung suspended in the void. In the next instant, a flood of dazzling and brilliant dao radiance filled their vision. Around the Corpse Severing Millstones, treasures were heaped like mountains, countless, resplendent and overflowing with divine brilliance.

Ling Xuanzi sucked in a sharp breath, shock etched across his face. Even Lin Xun found himself stunned by the sight. From the moment he began sweeping Yingzhou Mountain, every captured creature had been thrown into the Realm of Exile, but he had never stopped to take stock.

Now, faced with this sea of treasures, the sight was almost overwhelming. A moment later, as Ling Xuanzi stepped forward to collect them, his body suddenly convulsed, struck by a terrifying force. If Lin Xun hadn’t intervened at once, he would have been swept straight into the revolving black and white millstones and crushed to dust.

“This...this is principle power!”

Ling Xuanzi stood frozen, staring wide-eyed at the Corpse Severing Millstones. “Junior Brother, this Realm of Exile of yours is simply too heaven-defying!”

His voice trembled with shock. He simply couldn’t fathom what kind of realm could contain such mysterious, unfathomable principle power. Moreover, within this realm, Lin Xun could effortlessly command and wield all its power! It was nothing short of unbelievable.

Lin Xun had no idea how to even begin explaining it, so he didn’t bother. He flicked his sleeve.

Swoosh! A tide of treasures surged forth, cascading through the air. Ling Xuanzi’s eyes immediately widened, drawn in as if by a spell.

After a careful count, the results were astonishing: four hundred and ninety-three Eternal Bloodstones, twenty incomplete Eternal laws, eighteen Eternal Dao Stones, and three thousand four hundred Eternal Soul Crystals. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Among them, the most precious were without question the Eternal laws, the condensed law power of an Eternal Realm being. Even in their damaged state, each one was still comparable to flawed Divine Rank law.

As for the Eternal laws Lin Xun had refined earlier from those corpse fragments, they were merely slivers of the law power an Eternal being possessed. They couldn’t compare at all to the Eternal laws refined from the Eternal Fiend Corpses.

“With these...I should be able to refine my Immortal law to its absolute limit.” Lin Xun murmured inwardly, heart stirring.

Ling Xuanzi, meanwhile, held up a palm-sized translucent Eternal Dao Stone shimmering with primal chaos light. “Junior Brother, look at this. These Eternal Dao Stones are condensed from the cultivation base of Eternal beings. The power inside them is terrifyingly vast. Think about it...an Eternal Realm cultivator’s entire lifetime of cultivation compressed into a small stone.

“To put it plainly, refining an Eternal Dao Stone is like absorbing the cultivation of an Eternal Realm figure. Of course, it isn’t the entirety of their power, but even a fraction is enough for us to reap immeasurable benefit.”

He then picked up an Eternal Soul Crystal the size of a pigeon egg, its surface rippling with ethereal, dreamlike light. His eyes blazed with excitement. “This treasure is even more astonishing. It’s condensed from the spirit power of an Eternal being. Once one steps into the Eternal Stage, this is the perfect treasure for forging and tempering an Eternal Will Dharma Form."

Lin Xun was also examining the treasures. Like the Eternal Bloodstones, they could temper one’s blood and qi, and were indispensable for refining an Eternal physique.

“Hold on, where are the Eternal Demonic Armaments?” Ling Xuanzi blurted out. He swept his gaze across the surroundings, but not a single armament was in sight.

“Senior Brother, follow me.” Lin Xun said, stepping forward through the air.

Before long, they arrived at a cliff overflowing with radiant light: Treasure Drop Cliff. Suspended in the air before it were forty-five kinds of Eternal Divine Materials, each glowing brilliantly, illuminating heaven and earth. The sight was magnificent.

Eternal Divine Materials were nothing like ordinary divine materials.

Each piece had been refined from a different Eternal Demonic Armament, terrifying weapons forged from countless rare and peerless divine materials, then tempered and nurtured by Eternal beings through endless years of battle.

Although these Eternal Demonic Armaments had long since been shattered and their spirituality extinguished, the Eternal Divine Materials born from them were still priceless treasures of the world.

Ling Xuanzi explained that each of these forty-five Eternal Divine Materials was in essence a ‘weapon embryo,’ a seed from which an Eternal weapon could be born!

Such an embryo had already stepped into the realm of Immortal-grade weapons. With a sweep of his sleeve, Lin Xun collected all forty-five Eternal Divine Materials.

Just as they were about to leave, Ling Xuanzi suddenly asked, “Junior Brother, what kind of principle power governs this Treasure Drop Cliff?”

“Naturally, the Treasure Drop Principle. Cultivators swallowed by the Gate of Exile are ground to nothing by the Corpse Severing Millstones, but the treasures they carried are taken in by the Treasure Drop Cliff.” Lin Xun explained patiently.

Ling Xuanzi couldn’t help exclaiming, “The Principle of Treasure Drop...such a bizarre principle power actually exists in this world! If someone ascended to the Eternal Realm and refined this principle into their own Eternal Law, wouldn’t they be able to strip an opponent’s treasures right out of their hands in battle?”

Lin Xun paused, startled. Ling Xuanzi’s words struck him like a jolt of lightning. He’s right. Once I set foot upon the Eternal Path, I could completely comprehend and refine the Principles of Annihilation and Treasure Drop within the Realm of Exile!

“Junior Brother, are there other principle powers in this place?” Ling Xuanzi asked.

“Yes.” Lin Xun’s heart stirred. Taking Ling Xuanzi with him, he shot off into the distance.

Before long, a vast white waterfall came into view, plunging down as if it flowed from beyond the ninth heaven. Its radiant glow and billowing white mist spread outward like drifting clouds. In this gray, hazy world, it looked magnificent beyond comparison.

Flow of Time!

This was a waterfall entirely condensed from the principle laws of time, plunging through heaven and earth like an endless river of ages!

Ling Xuanzi was utterly stunned, his eyes wide with disbelief. Time! A supreme, near-forbidden dao had now manifested in the form of a waterfall, unfolding into a principle power visible to the naked eye!

If any Eternal Realm existence were here, they would be utterly dumbstruck. After all, Emperors might be able to faintly perceive the power of time, but such insight was only superficial, simply an impression within the heart.

Immortals could study and probe the mysteries of time, but truly grasping or commanding it remained almost impossible. Only Eternal beings could truly comprehend and wield the power of time. However, even among them, those who could refine the power of time into their own Eternal law were extremely rare!

“Junior Brother, do you really not know the origin of this realm?” Ling Xuanzi finally asked after a long silence.

A single mysterious realm contained three different principle powers: Annihilation, Treasure Drop, and Time. It was nothing short of unbelievable. This was no different from a world housing three Divine Rank laws at once!

Even the mighty Eternal Divine Clans of the Ninth Heaven Domain each only possessed one Divine Rank law.

Lin Xun shook his head. He understood his fourth senior brother’s shock. When he first saw all of this, he too had been shaken and wondered what kind of place this Realm of Exile truly was.

Ling Xuanzi stood silent for a moment, then let out a sigh of awe. “With so many fortunes swept into your hands and with three principle powers under your control, if you step into eternity, Junior Brother, you’ll soar straight to the top of the Eternal Path.”

Eternal Dao Stones, Eternal Divine Materials, Eternal Soul Crystals, Eternal Bloodstones, Eternal Laws...every single one was a treasure countless Eternal beings dreamed of obtaining. Moreover, the principle powers within the Realm of Exile could be used to further temper and perfect his Eternal law. Once he set foot into eternity, nothing would be able to hinder his rise.

Lin Xun said with a soft smile. “Fortune may be many, but only one’s heart decides one’s dao. That is the true root of cultivation.”

Ling Xuanzi froze for a moment before realizing that his junior brother was reminding him not to let greed cloud his mind. Warmth rose in Ling Xuanzi’s chest. He chuckled and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t repeat the mistakes of Martial Uncle Kong Jue.”