"If you complete all three trials, you’ll naturally find out what it is." Elder Qing regarded him calmly. "If you fail, knowing about it ahead of time will only distract you." He paused briefly before adding, "I’ll tell you just one thing. The Phantom Deity Armor is a treasure that even Dao Resonance Realm powerhouses covet. Whether you can obtain it will depend entirely on your own ability."
"Yes, Senior."
Li Yun nodded solemnly. Elder Qing had not explained what the armor could actually do, but the simple fact that Dao Resonance Realm powerhouses wanted it was enough to reveal its astonishing value.
Cultivators who reached the Dao Resonance Realm had already begun to touch the laws of the Great Dao. Their strength could shake mountains and overturn rivers, and even their most casual movements carried terrifying power, so ordinary treasures no longer caught their attention at all.
Something as valuable as Ancient Phoenix Blood, which could drive countless cultivators at the 9th level of Spirit Manifestation Realm into a frenzy, held only limited value for someone who had already entered the Dao Resonance Realm. For the Phantom Deity Armor to tempt even those supreme experts, its true worth had to be beyond imagination.
"Alright. You may go."
Elder Qing waved his hand, and Li Yun bowed respectfully before turning to follow Elder Mu Cang out of the secluded chamber.
Once they were outside, Elder Mu Cang glanced at him with a complicated expression.
"Li Yun, Elder Qing truly thinks highly of you," he said, his tone carrying a deeper meaning. "I hope you won’t let him down."
"This junior understands."
Li Yun nodded. Even without the reminder, he could already feel how much Elder Qing expected of him, and he naturally had no intention of disappointing him.
After parting ways with Elder Mu Cang, Li Yun returned to his stone residence, where he found Huang Tianlin, Huang Tianze, and Bai Yuchen waiting for him. After what had happened earlier, his relationship with Huang Tianlin had naturally grown much closer. He had barely spoken with Huang Tianze or Bai Yuchen before, yet both of them treated him with great courtesy.
That was hardly surprising, since anyone who could comprehend a Sword Domain while still in the Heavenly Core Realm had an astonishing future ahead of him, and only a fool would go out of his way to offend a genius like that.
The four of them chatted for a while and traded several cultivation insights, and afterward Huang Tianlin and the others took their leave.
Li Yun wasted no more time and threw himself straight back into cultivation. Of the Six Great Secret Realms, he had already experienced the Enlightenment Pagoda, Radiant Gold Mountain, and the Puppetwood Corridor, which left three more to explore.
These were Heavenly Torrent Falls, the Blazing Earth Cavern, and the Thousandfold Gravity Hall.
He chose Heavenly Torrent Falls first. The place reminded him somewhat of the waterfall he had encountered years ago inside the Chaotic Heaven Secret Realm, though the force here was far more terrifying. The falls did not suppress a cultivator’s realm, but the sheer weight of the descending water was astonishing.
Anyone below the Spirit Manifestation Realm would find it nearly impossible to stay on their feet, and even a cultivator at the 1st level of Spirit Manifestation Realm could usually last no longer than a single breath. Those at the 2nd level fared better, though most of them still struggled to endure beyond ten breaths.
Li Yun did not bother training in the easier outer areas. He went straight into the deepest region of Heavenly Torrent Falls.
Boom!
An unimaginably powerful torrent crashed down on him with a force that felt like a mountain falling from the heavens. His body shook violently, and his muscles tightened on instinct as he drew on his physical strength to bear the pressure.
Every breath became a struggle, and every movement demanded tremendous effort, yet he stayed beneath the falls. Again and again he endured the relentless impact, and although the water kept driving his body downward, each time he forced himself upright and carried on.
Half a month passed this way. By the time Li Yun finally left Heavenly Torrent Falls, he could hold his ground in its deepest region for one hundred breaths without being swept away.
He then headed for the Blazing Earth Cavern, which was a completely different world. Enormous volcanoes stood everywhere inside the cavern, and rivers of magma flowed between them, bathing the whole underground space in crimson light.
The heat was terrifying, and simply staying inside was a torment in itself. It seeped into the body without pause, the surrounding spiritual energy itself seemed to be burning, and even breathing felt like inhaling flames.
Worse still, the volcanoes erupted without warning, spraying waves of molten rock across the cavern each time. The protective formations of the secret realm kept cultivators from being killed outright, but a direct hit from the magma still meant several miserable days of recovery.
Li Yun cultivated there for another half month. The process was painful, but the gains were just as substantial, since his control over his body grew more refined, his endurance improved, and his ability to circulate essence qi under extreme pressure became significantly stronger.
After leaving the Blazing Earth Cavern, he entered the final secret realm, the Thousandfold Gravity Hall. As its name suggested, this realm could manipulate gravity freely. The weakest chamber began at fifty times normal gravity, while the highest setting reached an astonishing two hundred times.
Ordinary cultivators between the 1st and 3rd levels of Spirit Manifestation Realm could never withstand two hundred times gravity, and anyone without strength at least comparable to the 5th level might be crushed into a lump of flesh within a single breath.
Li Yun chose the two-hundred-times setting right away.
Boom!
The moment the chamber activated, an indescribable force crashed down on his entire body and slammed him against the floor. He could not stand, and he could barely move at all, since even lifting a finger had become extraordinarily difficult.
His bones creaked under the pressure, his muscles trembled without stopping, and every breath felt as though a mountain were sitting on his chest.
Even so, he did not lower the gravity, and he simply endured it. At first all he could do was lie there and circulate his cultivation technique. After several days he slowly managed to raise his body, and later he could sit.
After that he could kneel, then eventually stand, and after still more time he could finally move normally inside the chamber. The whole process took nearly a month.

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