After sensing the changes in the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm, Lin Zhantian's emotions became incredibly complicated.
When he had first heard Su Ming say that his son Lin Qi would pollute the spiritual energy, he would never have believed it.
For thousands of years, from the Ancient Era until now, no one had ever been capable of such a thing. In his understanding, not even the Bizarre Insects possessed the ability to pollute spiritual energy.
But now the truth lay right before him, and no matter how unwilling he was, he could not deny it.
And the moment he thought about how it was his own self-righteousness that had led him to bring Lin Qi into the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm for treatment, overwhelming regret surged through him.
Not only had Lin Qi failed to be saved, but the secret realm had also fallen because of it. A deep sense of guilt immediately rose within him.
"Kill me! All of this happened because of me!"
There was no longer any light left in Lin Zhantian's eyes. Only endless dead silence remained.
He wanted to die and atone for his sins, so that after death he could reunite with Lin Qi.
When Su Ming heard those words, fury immediately appeared on his face.
"You want to die? Do you think your death can wipe all this away?"
"Do not worry, I will not let you die. I will extract your soul and imprison it here forever, so you can watch with your own eyes what kind of road the human race of Qingzhou will walk because of your mistake."
A trace of fear appeared on Lin Zhantian's face.
He would rather die than suffer that kind of torment every single day. To make him personally witness the consequences of his mistake was even crueler than killing him.
His entire life had been spent fighting for the future of the human race, trying to carve out a path for humanity in this era filled with Bizarre Insects.
And now, because of him, that path had been personally buried by his own hands.
For Lin Zhantian, there could be no crueler punishment.
Su Ming directly imprisoned Lin Zhantian's soul on Sword Mountain, then left the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm with Ye Chuxue and Fang Jingchun.
At this point, the secret realm being polluted was already an unchangeable fact. Fang Jingchun felt they first had to return to the Sword Pavilion and report everything to the Pavilion Master.
Su Ming had no objections, and followed Fang Jingchun aboard a spirit boat toward Youzhou.
The spirit boat would take one month to reach Youzhou. Su Ming only waited until the fifteenth day after leaving Qingzhou for the simulator's cooldown to finally end.
After Deity Transformation, the simulator's cooldown had been extended from fifteen days to thirty days.
"Begin simulation!"
[Random talent drawing in progress]
[Congratulations, you obtained orange talent: Demonic Dao Sacred Body!]
[Demonic Dao Sacred Body: Natural comprehension speed for demonic cultivation techniques +200%, cultivation speed +200%, divine power bonus +100%.]
[Half a month later, the three of you returned to the Sword Pavilion. Fang Jingchun hurried off to meet the Pavilion Master, while you were stopped by Lin Tian.]
["Little Junior Brother, Little Junior Brother! What exactly is going on? Why has Sixth Senior Brother come back too?"]
[In Lin Tian's impression, Fang Jingchun rarely returned to the Sword Pavilion. Every time he did, it was because something extremely important had happened.]
[Seeing this, you briefly explained the fall of the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm to Lin Tian. To your surprise, he reacted especially strongly.]
["What? The Fallen Immortal Secret Realm has been polluted? How could such a thing possibly happen?"]
[You were not surprised by Lin Tian's reaction. After all, spiritual energy pollution had never happened before.]
[At that moment, Lin Tian also realized the gravity of the matter and turned around to run toward where the Sword Pavilion Master was.]
[You and Ye Chuxue followed right behind him, and before long you reached the Sword Pavilion Hall.]
[Inside the hall, both Fang Jingchun and the Sword Pavilion Master looked rather grim.]
["Little Junior Brother, you are here!"]
[You nodded to Fang Jingchun and turned your gaze toward the Pavilion Master.]
["Pavilion Master! Does Youzhou still have a secret realm like the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm?"]
[You deliberately acted as though you did not know about the Blood Demon Secret Realm, wanting to see what sort of attitude the Sword Pavilion Master would take.]
[Upon hearing your words, Lin Tian and Fang Jingchun both looked toward the Sword Pavilion Master.]
[They naturally knew that there was a Blood Demon Secret Realm in Youzhou, but that secret realm was extremely special and could not be used unless absolutely necessary.]
[Inside the hall, the Sword Pavilion Master took a deep breath, slowly closed his eyes, and said nothing.]
[The hall became frighteningly silent. You could even hear the breathing of everyone present.]
[After a long while, the Sword Pavilion Master slowly opened his eyes.]
["Yes."]
["There is a Blood Demon Secret Realm in Youzhou that you may temporarily use for breakthroughs and cultivation."]
[As soon as those words fell, Lin Tian was about to ask something.]
["Pavilion Master, but..."]
[Before Lin Tian could finish, Fang Jingchun raised a hand to stop him.]
["Lin Tian, since the Pavilion Master has made this choice, he naturally has his reasons. There is no need for us to concern ourselves with the rest."]
[Lin Tian looked as though he wanted to speak, but in the end he only let out a long sigh and fell silent.]
[The Sword Pavilion Master looked at you, dismissed Fang Jingchun and the others first, and began explaining the special nature of the Blood Demon Secret Realm.]
[After explaining everything, the Sword Pavilion Master gave you a long, deep look.]
["Su Ming... I still underestimated your talent. I did not expect your concealment technique to deceive even me. Late Deity Transformation... is that truly your real cultivation?"]
[Faced with the Sword Pavilion Master's question, you chose silence.]
[You tried to change the subject.]
["Pavilion Master, do you know anything about the Taixu Sword?"]
[When you thought of how you had been targeted by a Mahayana cultivator because of the Taixu Sword, you knew it had to be far more extraordinary than it appeared.]
[At your question, the Sword Pavilion Master frowned, as though trying to recall something.]
["The Taixu Sword... no, it should be called the Taixu Immortal Sword!"]
["It was the number one immortal sword in terms of killing power during the Remote Ancient Era!"]
["Unfortunately, no one knows how it later broke into nine sections. It is said that whoever obtains the acknowledgment of the nine broken Taixu Sword fragments can restore it into the Taixu Immortal Sword."]
["And within the Taixu Immortal Sword, legend says there is an immortal opportunity—a chance for someone to become an immortal!"]
[After hearing the Sword Pavilion Master's explanation, you were shaken to the core.]
[You finally understood why Chu Wudi had kept pursuing you so relentlessly, and why he had been so determined to obtain the Taixu Sword.]
[At the same time, the Sword Pavilion Master noticed your abnormal reaction and asked,]
["Did you obtain the Taixu Sword from the Fallen Immortal Secret Realm?"]
[You did not hide it and directly took out the Taixu Sword that had already fused three times.]
[Some time ago, when you imprisoned Lin Zhantian on Sword Mountain, you had conveniently taken down that Taixu Sword as well.]
[Originally, you had not wanted to fuse it directly into your own Taixu Sword, but there seemed to be an attraction between them. Once they drew close, they fused automatically.]
[Even after a simulation ended, the Taixu Sword fragments you received as rewards behaved the same way.]
[After this fusion, you knew Chu Wudi would come after you even earlier. As for how much earlier, you had no way of knowing.]
["You actually encountered such fortune? You have already gathered four Taixu Swords?"]