Chapter 594: Heaven's Secret Reward

**The Wind Rises in Kyushu**

Returning to Fox Immortal Valley, his state of mind was completely different.

"So this is Fox Immortal Valley, it's quite beautiful," Feng Yuechan remarked, standing in mid-air and looking down below.

Purely in terms of scenery, Fox Immortal Valley was indeed pleasant. After all, it was a place where fox demons had long resided, so how could it be anything but good? However, it still paled in comparison to the Spirit Land.

Having grown accustomed to the beautiful scenery of the Spirit Land, Fox Immortal Valley was merely "quite beautiful" in Feng Yuechan's eyes.

"What are you doing back here, Junior Brother?" Li Baxian asked.

"There's a place that interests me," Lu Ye said, leading the way with the others following.

A moment later, they arrived at a location enveloped by a large formation.

Li Baxian looked thoughtful. "Is this... a forbidden area?"

Although he and Lu Ye had only stayed in Fox Immortal Valley for a little over a month, he had certainly heard of the forbidden area. More than one cultivator had told him that while any other part of Fox Immortal Valley was accessible, two specific places were strictly off-limits.

One was the fox demon's sleeping quarters, where unauthorized entry was forbidden without an invitation.

The other was the forbidden area located deep within Fox Immortal Valley.

While there was at least a chance to enter the fox demon's sleeping quarters, no cultivator in Fox Immortal Valley knew anything about the forbidden area. Not even Xie Yunhan, who had previously been in charge of all the formations in Fox Immortal Valley, was aware of its secrets. This was because the fox demon had explicitly forbidden anyone from setting foot there; even approaching within a hundred zhang was strictly prohibited.

Li Baxian now understood why Lu Ye had returned.

To be honest, he himself had some interest in this forbidden area; after all, the unknown is what sparks curiosity.

Lu Ye stood before the grand formation, his eyes enhanced by the Insight spirit pattern as he observed the formation's nodes. A moment later, he raised his hand and sent out several formation flags.

Last time, he had infiltrated this grand formation by relying on his mastery of formation arts, thus causing no damage. But this time, such caution was unnecessary.

Strictly speaking, the formation here wasn't very strong, and breaking it wasn't difficult for him.

One by one, formation flags shot out and embedded into the nodes. Lu Ye then placed his hand on the grand formation, and as he channeled his spiritual power, the flow of spiritual energy on the formation's light barrier grew progressively slower until it completely stagnated.

The weapon box at his waist hummed, and nine streaks of light shot out one after another, striking a specific point on the grand formation.

Accompanied by cracking sounds, as if a mirror was shattering, spiderweb-like fissures immediately appeared on the grand formation. Three breaths later, it completely disintegrated.

The area previously covered by the grand formation was now revealed to their sight.

A lone grave and an ancient altar.

"How can there be a grave here?" Feng Yuechan asked curiously as she stepped forward to investigate. She saw a tombstone standing before the grave, with a line of large characters inscribed upon it.

"Tomb of Master Lei Zhengyin?" Feng Yuechan murmured softly.

"This Lei Zhengyin should be the original master of the fox demon," Lu Ye casually explained. "For some unknown reason, he was killed by that rampaging giant ape. That's why, twenty years ago, the fox demon began its revenge plan and has been gathering cultivators all this time, leading up to today."

Li Baxian looked thoughtful. "Junior Brother, have you been here before?"

"Once, out of curiosity, I snuck in," Lu Ye replied. "I happened to encounter the fox demon mourning here and overheard some things."

"I see," Li Baxian nodded.

"This grave was made by the fox demon; there's nothing special about it," Lu Ye said, stepping forward onto the altar. "What interests me is this altar. Senior Brother, Senior Sister Feng, can you tell what this altar is used for?"

Li Baxian and Feng Yuechan stepped forward together and examined it carefully. After a long while, Li Baxian shook his head. "I can't tell, but it has four grooves, which should be for placing spirit stones. Perhaps if enough spirit stones are placed, something can be activated."

"Activate what?"

"A secret realm?" Feng Yuechan ventured a bold guess.

At her words, both Lu Ye and Li Baxian grew excited. If this altar could indeed activate a secret realm, it was something they absolutely couldn't miss.

Given that the Cloud River Battlefield had many secret realms, Feng Yuechan's conjecture was highly likely to come true.

"Let's try it!" Lu Ye said excitedly.

Immediately, the four of them took a corner each, pulling spirit stones from their storage bags and placing them into the grooves.

A shocking sight unfolded: one by one, the medium-grade spirit stones placed in the grooves were drained of their spiritual energy in an extremely short time, turning into mere waste stones.

After absorbing the spirit stones' energy, the intricate patterns on the altar's surface subtly illuminated a small area. Though this area was only an insignificant part of the entire altar, it made Lu Ye and the others' eyes light up.

They exchanged glances, then each took out more spirit stones to place into the grooves.

One by one, the spirit stones turned into waste stones, their spiritual energy completely drained by the altar. The illuminated area of patterns on the altar grew progressively larger.

Finally, after the four of them had consumed a full thousand medium-grade spirit stones, the altar's surface burst into brilliant light, and all its patterns were fully illuminated.

At the same time, Lu Ye felt a slight warmth on the back of his hand. He quickly looked down to see the golden mark on his hand suddenly shoot out, transforming into a golden ray that plunged into the altar.

In an instant, only dazzling golden light remained before their eyes, blinding them.

After several breaths, when Lu Ye and the others' vision recovered, an oval-shaped golden light barrier had appeared before them.

"Junior Brother, what was that just now?" Li Baxian asked, a mix of doubt and surprise in his voice.

He had clearly witnessed the unusual phenomenon of the golden mark on Lu Ye's hand suddenly flying into the altar, but he didn't know what the mark truly was or why it had gone into the altar.

Lu Ye suddenly understood.

So this was the reward bestowed by the Heavenly Secret!

He had previously noticed that the golden mark was identical to the one he received in the hunting ground last time, and he had assumed he would need to find a Heavenly Secret Pillar to check his reward. He never imagined it was actually meant to activate this altar.

In that case, even if the cultivators from Fox Immortal Valley returned here, found the altar, and placed enough spirit stones, they would never be able to activate it without his mark.

"It's a reward from the Heavenly Secret, bestowed after I killed the fox demon," Lu Ye explained simply.

Li Baxian was utterly astonished. "Killing a fox demon, and the Heavenly Secret bestows a reward?"

Such a thing was unheard of.

Lu Ye recounted his previous speculations and the words the fox demon had spoken before her death. After listening, Li Baxian nodded. "In that case, Junior Brother, your killing of the fox demon indeed eliminated a great scourge from the Cloud River Battlefield. It can be considered a boon to the region, so the Heavenly Secret bestowing a reward is understandable."

Feng Yuechan's expression shifted slightly. "Since it's a reward from the Heavenly Secret, it must bring good fortune. Junior Brother Lu, it truly shows that good deeds are rewarded."

Lu Ye chuckled. His primary goal in killing the fox demon had been to save Li Baxian. If Li Baxian hadn't been mentally enslaved by the fox demon, Lu Ye would have secretly fled long ago. Now, with all these encounters, it seemed to be a fortunate twist of fate.

Feng Yuechan gazed at the golden light barrier, her eyes sparkling. "I wonder what's behind this?"

"You said it brings good fortune, so there definitely won't be anything bad," Li Baxian said. "Junior Brother, shall we go in and explore?"

Lu Ye nodded, then suddenly remembered something and said, "Ju Jia, have the wolf pack guard the surroundings."

Ju Jia nodded, raised a hand to his mouth, and blew a loud whistle. The next moment, a large pack of demonic wolves, led by their alpha, rushed over with impressive momentum.

Ju Jia casually drew a circle and said concisely, "Watch."

The wolf pack immediately fanned out left and right, completely encircling the area.

Lu Ye watched in amazement. Although he had a decent relationship with the wolf pack, he could never command them with the effortless ease that Ju Jia did.

"Ju Jia, scout ahead!" Lu Ye instructed.

Although this was a reward from the Heavenly Secret and likely held no danger, it was always better to exercise caution.

Among the group, Ju Jia had the strongest physique, so it was naturally best for him to lead the way.

Without a word, Ju Jia took large strides towards the golden light barrier. In just a few steps, he reached it and plunged in without hesitation.

Lu Ye's gaze remained fixed. He watched as a ripple spread across the golden light barrier, which then completely swallowed Ju Jia's figure.

Lu Ye followed closely behind Ju Jia, then came Feng Yuechan, with Li Baxian bringing up the rear.

Stepping into the golden light barrier, they instantly entered another world. This world, however, was shrouded in a hazy mist. Ju Jia, who had entered first, was not far ahead, but beneath the swirling mist, Lu Ye couldn't clearly discern his figure, seeing only a vague silhouette.

Lu Ye stood still, his eyes wide with surprise.

This was because the surrounding environment felt incredibly familiar to him.

Soon, Li Baxian's low gasp came from behind: "Heavenly Secret Baptism?"

Among the four present, only Ju Jia had never ascended the Spirit Creek Ranking; the other three had all done so. Thus, the monthly Heavenly Secret Baptism was naturally not unfamiliar to them.

The baptism bestowed by the Heavenly Secret would draw cultivators on the Spirit Creek Ranking to a completely independent and unique environment. Within this special environment, cultivators' physiques and minds would undergo a certain degree of tempering, thus being strengthened.

It could be said that cultivators who had ascended the Spirit Creek Ranking had different future prospects than those who hadn't.

Wei Que was a ninth-layer Cloud River Realm cultivator, and Tan Sheng and Xia Liang were also at the ninth layer. Furthermore, all three had, without exception, advanced to the Cloud River Realm with 360 apertures. Yet, comparatively speaking, Wei Que's strength at the ninth layer was significantly inferior to that of Tan Sheng and Xia Liang.

The most fundamental reason was that Tan Sheng and Xia Liang had both ascended the Spirit Creek Ranking, and their ranks were not low.

The Spirit Creek Realm was considered the initial stage of a cultivator's practice, a foundational realm for their entire cultivation journey. Receiving the Heavenly Secret's baptism at this stage undoubtedly solidified a cultivator's foundation and broadened their future prospects. The higher one ranked on the Spirit Creek Ranking, the greater the benefits received from the Heavenly Secret Baptism.

When Lu Ye was in the Spirit Creek Realm, he could generally only defeat opponents one minor stage above him. However, upon reaching the Cloud River Realm, defeating opponents two minor stages higher was no longer difficult. While this was partly due to the varying strengths of Cloud River Realm cultivators, it was undeniably also a result of the benefits he gained from ranking first on the Spirit Creek Ranking. It's important to note that the higher a cultivator's cultivation level, the more challenging it becomes to defeat opponents beyond their stage, because each minor stage improvement at higher levels brings a proportionally greater increase in strength.