At first, no one responded.

  But soon, a second voice broke the silence.

  “Feng Wuya. Luoshan City.”

  Immediately afterward, the three-eyed disciple spoke.

  “Ghost Pupil. Blood Feast Valley.”

  As his voice fell, the burly Blood Feast Valley disciple added in a thick tone, “Shi Meng. Blood Feast Valley.”

  Then the woman in the green dress—who had previously shown hostility toward Qin Yi—swept her cold gaze across the room and said icily,

  “Mei Ji. Xuanmu Sect.”

  “I am Jin Suan, from the Three Talents Workshop. If any of you fellow Daoists require business dealings in the future, feel free to seek me out.”

  The sharp-looking man cupped his hands politely, wearing a professional smile. Even in a place like this, he had not forgotten to promote himself.

  As soon as he finished, a figure standing in the shadows spoke in a voice that seemed to drift up from the Nine Netherworlds.

  “Nether Shadow. Luoyou City.”

  With each introduction, the atmosphere in the stone chamber grew stranger.

  Gradually, everyone realized a shocking fact—

  Every single person present belonged to the Great Dao Demonic Sect.

  Not a single righteous cultivator stood among them.

  This was far too abnormal.

  They clearly remembered entering the secret realm in mixed batches—righteous and demonic disciples interwoven together.

  And yet now, it was as if an invisible hand had carefully filtered out every demonic disciple and gathered them here.

  What was its purpose?

  “Su Xiaoxiao. Xuan Sect.”

  At last, a petite girl softly reported her name.

  When all introductions were complete, Qin Yi calculated silently in his mind. His brows slowly drew together.

  The situation was even more coincidental than he had imagined.

  Not only were they all from the Great Dao Demonic Sect—

  Each of the four major mountain branches was represented by exactly five disciples.

  No more. No less.

  That meant, including himself, there were twenty cultivators in this chamber.

  Twenty people.

  Perfectly divided into four equal groups.

  The result left everyone stunned.

  Even the dullest among them could immediately recognize that this could not be random.

  Coincidence?

  Chance?

  Impossible.

  You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

  The probability of such an arrangement occurring naturally was infinitesimal.

  Silence deepened.

  Qin Yi’s voice broke it.

  “Among those who entered the secret realm, there were fifty righteous cultivators and forty from the demonic sect.”

  “In this chamber, twenty of us—and every one of us is demonic. Not a single righteous cultivator is present. The probability of that happening by chance is nearly zero.”

  “And that’s only considering identity. Add to that the fact that each mountain branch has exactly five representatives—the probability becomes so small it is practically incalculable.”

  He paused.

  “We can now safely assume that all of this was deliberately arranged by the secret realm.”

  Unease spread across the chamber.

  “But the question is—why?” Qin Yi continued. “Why gather all the demonic cultivators together? What is its purpose?”

  “Wait!”

  A voice suddenly interrupted.

  “If I’m not mistaken, this is a Decline-of-Dharma secret realm, isn’t it? Spiritual energy exhausted. Laws collapsed. All extraordinary power reduced to nothing. In such a decayed realm, how could it possibly still possess the ability to filter and arrange us like this?”

  His words struck the crowd like a hammer.

  They had forgotten the most crucial point.

  This was a Decline-Phase Secret Realm.

  Within such a realm, spiritual energy no longer existed. Formations and restrictions should have long since lost their function.

  So how could it possibly manipulate their placement?

  However, in the face of that challenge, Qin Yi merely smiled faintly.

  “It does,” he said calmly. “This Decline-Phase secret realm still has spiritual power.”

  “That’s impossible!” someone immediately retorted.

  Qin Yi ignored him and turned instead toward Ghost Pupil.

  “Others may not know,” he said evenly, “but this fellow Daoist should be aware that beneath our feet lies a formation.”

  A few gazes instinctively shifted downward.

  “If I told you that the spiritual energy drained from our bodies was absorbed by these formations?”

  “That our own spiritual power has become the fuel sustaining this secret realm?”

  A chill crept into the chamber.

  “Perhaps from the very moment we stepped into the realm, a formation had already activated upon us.”

  “It absorbed the spiritual power of everyone who entered… perhaps for a single purpose—”

  His eyes sharpened.

  “To transmit us precisely here. Together.”

  “That’s absurd!” someone protested, still unwilling to believe it. “Even if such a formation exists, how could the realm know in advance where we would appear? What if we had emerged somewhere without such a formation? How would it operate then?”

  “Idiot.”

  Before Qin Yi could respond, Feng Wuya snapped angrily.

  “Have you forgotten what kind of secret realm this is? Or did your senior brother fail to explain it properly?”

  “This is the Hai-Suan Secret Realm! If it wishes to calculate where we would appear, that would be effortless. As long as preparations were made beforehand, we would naturally fall into its design!”

  Feng Wuya’s words made every person present frown deeply.

  Calculated in advance?

  Everything foreseen before they even stepped inside?

  Was this truly the kind of secret realm they had come to explore?

  It seemed impossible.

  Yet the evidence lay before them.

  Just as their thoughts churned in shock, Qin Yi spoke again.

  “I understand now.”

  Feng Wuya immediately looked over. “Understand what?”

  “This is the first clue the secret realm intends to give us.”

  Qin Yi’s gaze swept across the five glowing orbs rotating before the stone door.

  “Yes—the realm can calculate everything about us. That is the power of its Dao. If we wish to leave, then naturally, we must use the same method.”

  “We must calculate which orb should be destroyed.”

  His voice was steady.

  “This trial is not testing our luck. There must be something—somewhere—that allows us to deduce which orb is the correct one.”

  After a long silence, someone sighed bitterly.

  “So we’re back where we started. Where do we find the clues? I’ve already turned this cursed place upside down. There’s nothing here.”

  Once more, the group sank into deep contemplation.

  Though they still had no concrete lead, no one questioned Qin Yi’s reasoning anymore.

  Even if his guess was wrong, at worst they would waste time sitting here.

  But if they attempted to unlock the door and failed—

  They would lose one precious opportunity.

  Fail twice—

  No one dared imagine the outcome.

  Thus, all would rather sit in silence than mention “breaking the lock” again.

  And yet—

  Without warning, Qin Yi suddenly stood up.

  Under everyone’s startled gaze, he walked straight toward the stone door.

  Slowly, deliberately, he raised his hand—

  And reached toward the yellow orb glowing with a warm, earthen light.

  “What are you doing?!”

  Shi Meng was the first to notice. He roared instantly,

  “Have you calculated something?”

  Qin Yi shook his head.

  But his hand did not stop.

  It continued forward, unwavering, as though in the next instant he intended to crush the orb completely.

  Seeing his fingers draw closer and closer to the glowing sphere, the others finally lost their composure. They leapt to their feet and rushed toward him.

  “Stop!!!”

  “You don’t know anything—why are you destroying it?!”

  “Weren’t you the one who said not to touch the orbs until we found clues?!”

  Their shouts echoed violently through the stone chamber—

  And Qin Yi’s fingertips were already less than an inch away from the yellow light.

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