historical

"Eh! Did she just call out Leyla?" Davion thought and went inside curiously to see what had caused Elder Liliana to react this way. He saw one of the rooms had a broken door and an unusual aura coming out of it.

Inside the room, a beautiful girl was sitting cross-legged on the floor with her eyes closed. Her face was pale, and traces of blood could be seen on her lips.

"So, it's really her," Davion murmured and looked at what was happening.

Elder Liliana was putting her hands behind Leyla's back and injecting her Qi into her body. Thus, the unstable aura was getting controlled, and Leyla slowly regained color on her face.

"Didn't I tell you not to be so rash when breaking through?" Elder Liliana scolded.

"Mom, but I didn't want to loose to her," Leyla replied.

"Cough, cough-" But suddenly she started coughing out blood and the aura became unstable again.

"Don't talk anymore and just focus on guiding my Qi into your Dantian. Then steadily compress your Golden Core," Elder Liliana ordered.

Leyla didn't say anything this time and only nodded her head.

Only after half an hour, did Elder Liliana finally come out. Seeing Davion, she sighed, "Kids these days have no patience."

Davion smiled and said, "I didn't know that you had a daughter." However, he was shocked inside as he couldn't believe that their relationship could be so close.

"Is it strange?" she asked.

"Yes, a bit. After all, you look quite young." Davion praised her in the hope of trying to get into her good side. Even if Leyla told her about that incident, he might get pardoned if he was successful.

"Humm, you sure know how to talk. But this is not how you should be talking to your elders. I'm already old enough to be your grandmother." She scoffed.

"Eh!" Davion scratched his head and felt that his plan had backfired.

She shook her head and waved her hand, "Let's go outside. We might disturb her here."

Both of them disappeared and reappeared in the field.

"Elder, why was your daughter injured?" Davion tried to change the subject immediately since it became somewhat awkward earlier.

"It's not the case. She had a cultivation deviation due to becoming hasty and trying to break through to the middle-stage of Golden Core State by force. You can call her Leyla by the way." She answered.

"Oh! It's my first time hearing it," Davion exclaimed and then asked, "So, what happens to her now?"

"I have helped her to break through with my Qi. Thus, she should be good to go after a few hours. But it's bad for her in the long run as it is not her Qi. So, she has to refine it, and this process takes a long period of time. If one doesn't refine it then they will never progress in the future. This is also the reason why the cultivators refrain from taking others' help to break through." she explained.

Davion finally understood what she meant by it. Cultivation is a long and tedious journey where one could only depend upon themselves.

"Talking about Leyla, the person whom I wanted you to help is her," she said.

"Are you telling me that the task is related to her?" he asked.

"Yes, every five years our secret realm opens and all the inner court disciples must participate. There are many rare treasures of heavens and earth found inside there and thus this is a good opportunity for the disciples to benefit from." She was hinting into something.

"Secret Realm?" He was a bit confused. Even though he had heard a lot about them in the novels from his previous life, they were only just imaginations. So, he wanted to know more.

"Eh! How could I forget that you are from the Outer Region and must not have heard about them?" She shook her head and continued.

"Secret Realm is an independent space constructed by the experts who have mastered the power of laws where life can exist. Although this is a topic that you can't touch right now, you just need to know that only the cultivators above the Domain Realm can create one. As a result, it is impossible for us elders as well as the sect master to create one."

"Now you must be wondering why there is one in our sect, don't you?" She had even anticipated what he would ask.

"Of course," Davion nodded.

"We also don't know much about it. This secret realm was already here way before we established our sect. The same goes for the other middle-grade sects. They also possess their own secret realm which opens every five years like us." She had a confused look when talking about it as all the secret realms opened at the same time.

"Is it a coincidence or there are some things that they didn't know?" This was the question that had been bugging her and every expert in the Inner Region. But they couldn't find any clues to it and could only let it slide.

After listening to all this, Davion had a general understanding of Secret Realm. So, he asked about his task, "Elder, is my task about accompanying Leyla and helping her to get some treasures."

"Yes, this was what I had thought previously. But now I've changed my mind." She smiled mysteriously.

Seeing this smile, he felt that the task should not be easy as it sounded. Thus, to be prepared he asked, "Elder, will core disciples be participating this time?"

"No. I said that only the inner court disciples could just a few seconds ago. This is because the Secret Realm would deny entry to everyone except the Golden Core Stage," She replied.

"What? Doesn't this mean that I will be rejected?" Since he couldn't cultivate, he was sure that he would be able to enter easily. But he still asked as he had already shown that he was in the Nascent Soul Stage earlier in the battle.

"Haha, why are you scared? Don't you believe in the ability of your holy physique?" She mocked.

"Oh yes, yes. I forgot about that," He gave an embarrassing look.

"If you can't enter then, it is also fine. I will be there in case something happens." She reassured him and inwardly was really curious to see what would happen.

"It seems like I will be depending upon you," He bowed respectfully.

"No problem. Now I will tell you what you need to find thereafter." She finally became serious now.

Davion straightened his back and also became serious like her. He didn't want to miss a single word she would say.

"Do you know why our Sect is named as the Thunderbolt Sect?" she asked first.

"No," Davion replied as he was completely clueless.

"As I thought so, you don't know about it." She nodded and began to explain.

"It's all because of this Secret Realm. As the name suggests, bolts of lightning fall from the sky frequently and strike everywhere on the ground. Thus, lightning is the most concentrated element there and especially in the center there is a domain filled with it."

"That region is so strong that only someone in the Nascent Soul Stage could enter. Then at the center of it, there is a large tree that is thousands of feet tall. This tree has been baptized with lightning for who knows how many years. So, your task is to cut a branch of it and bring it to me."

"Is this it?" Davion felt that the task was very easy.

"Yes. But I think that there will be powerful demon beasts there." She thought for a while.

"What if I can't bring it?" Davion asked as one should always be prepared for the worst-case scenarios.

"Then you can just gather a large number of lightning pearls which are hundreds of years old with Leyla. This was actually the task I was planning to give you. Although they are not as useful as the branch of that tree, they still have some use for me," she said.

"So, how much time is left for the Secret Realm to open?" Davion questioned.

"Only the Sect Master knows it as it is located at the top of his Peak." She pointed her index finger towards the peak in the middle which had reached the sky.

"This means.."

Davion was about to say something when she interrupted him, "Although we don't know the actual time, it should be opening soon as it's already the fifth year since the last time it opened. The Sect Master will immediately notify us after he sees some signs."

"I understand," Davion replied.

"But if you can bring the branch of that tree, I will promote you into a core disciple. However, you have to hide your identity," She smiled.

"Thank you, elder." Davion thanked her and was excited about this reward. After becoming level 30, there were not many things that could interest him in the inner court disciple's peak. But that problem would be solved after he could become a core disciple. Maybe he would even be able to get his hands on the pills that would be effective for him.. Thus, this reward came at a perfect time.