Chapter 235: Secret Realm

“Tulips? But that can’t be. How are tulips purple?” Seeing such a vast stretch of flowers, Su Lun furrowed his brows tightly.

“Who would plant tulips here?”

Ordinary tulips weren’t deadly on their own, but they released a special poison. Staying in such a flower sea for a while caused poisoning: dizziness, headaches, nausea, vomiting. If not left quickly, a person could fall unconscious and finally become fertilizer for this flower sea.

But this patch of Purple Tulips before him was clearly not ordinary. If Su Lun hadn’t guessed wrongly, their poison would be stronger and more potent.

Although this flower sea grew thick, it seemed untended for a long time, because Su Lun found many seed-like things on the ground nearby. Probably for some reason, these seeds hadn’t taken root or sprouted. Some patches of flowers grew obviously messily.

Also, Su Lun could vaguely see the outlines of broken buildings beyond the flower sea. But they must have weathered too much, their original forms lost. Su Lun’s heart grew hotter. Clearly, this was an undiscovered relic.

But even after observing for a while, Su Lun found no entrance to the relic. Yet this was normal. Not every relic had an entrance. Some badly damaged relics were just broken walls.

Many relics were actually dug out by various adventure teams. Of course, such relics held many dangers. Su Lun didn’t act rashly. Just as he prepared to go back the same way, he suddenly saw something different at the weathered walls on the edge of the flower sea.

Su Lun carefully avoided these plants, observing from the side.

“A space fold?”

Su Lun looked surprised. The abnormality viewed sideways resembled a wrinkled piece of paper; it looked very odd.

“Could this be a Wizard’s Secret Realm?” A possibility suddenly surfaced in Su Lun’s mind. Thinking this, Su Lun felt his guess more and more correct. But confirming it needed a professional’s look.

Su Lun didn’t act further. Wizard Secret Realms were not something to enter recklessly. Wizard Secret Realms were one of the glorious masterworks of the ancient Wizards. Those ancient Wizards mastered knowledge of space, planes, etc., creating this wondrous technology through research.

During the Arcanum Empire era, this Wizard Secret Realm technology peaked. Some powerful Wizards even opened an entire plane as their Territory. Some Wizards, after finding a Demiplane in the Astral Plane, linked that Demiplane to the Prime Material World.

Secret Realms also had sizes. The earliest utilized spatial magic to hide areas of the original Prime Material World. These were the most common and contained the smallest spaces. As far as those Secret Realms using altered Demiplanes or entire planes, they were now extremely rare.

Moreover, Secret Realms could contain ancient and dangerous creatures, even various magical traps. Without full preparation, things could go wrong. Some Secret Realms might even have ancient familiars or trained Magical Beasts left by Wizards.

It must be known, some Magical Beasts lived very long lives, and many used long periods of dormancy to slow aging. Within Secret Realms sealed for a thousand years or more, who knew if such monsters lurked. With a bit of bad luck, if there was a Dragon inside—even the weakest Chromatic Dragon, the White Dragon—a few thousand years was enough for them to grow into an Ancient Dragon.

Facing that level of Dragon, an average Legendary Power was just cannon fodder.

After scouting once, Su Lun returned the same way to the camp outside the Thorn Forest. Kite had nearly finished building the camp. Back at camp, Su Lun immediately sent people to report, urging Heatherway to come quickly.

Suspecting this was a Secret Realm, Su Lun started blocking information. News of a Wizard Secret Realm appearing, once spread, would draw Wizards across the continent to explore. Then, even Su Lun couldn’t stop them. Though he was a Legendary Power, there were many Legendary Powers on this continent.

An undiscovered Secret Realm contained resources enough to stir the hearts of these Legendary Powers. All the Soldiers were quickly dispatched to clear monsters from this Wasteland. No monster or person could approach this forest.

Waiting a day in camp, on the second day Su Lun saw Heatherway rushing over.

“Where is the Secret Realm? Take me there, fast.” Meeting Su Lun, Heatherway didn’t even rest first, directly asking about the Secret Realm.

“The Secret Realm’s not going anywhere. Calm down first.” Seeing her state, Su Lun had to forcibly calm her. This state wasn’t suited for relic exploration.

After Su Lun’s advice, Heatherway finally held back her feelings. Then she started resting, preparing various tools for the coming exploration.

Only on the third day did Su Lun bring Heatherway into the Thorn Forest. The two quickly reached where Su Lun had slain the Solarwheel Flower before. Here, Heatherway started casting spells on them both.

“Invisibility!”

“Hide Traces!”

“Eliminate Odor!”

“Energy Shield!”

“Resist Elements!”

“Resist Poison!”

“Bear’s Endurance!”

“Cat’s Grace!”

…

A series of buff spells flowed from Heatherway. Su Lun clearly felt his strength jump up a step. As a Third Tier Wizard, Heatherway managed these easily.

Next, the two went deeper along the path Su Lun had taken. Entering this place, Heatherway soon spotted the strangeness.

“That’s Moon Spirit Grass. That’s Bloodsucking Thorn. That’s Ghostly Soul Flower…” Plants Su Lun hadn’t recognized before, Heatherway knew easily, looking very excited.

“The Magical Plants here are so rich!” Heatherway exclaimed.

“This forest wasn’t unusual before. I don’t know why, but it changed suddenly recently,” Su Lun said while walking. This place wasn’t too far from Zhenbei City—about fifty kilometers. No abnormality showed before; it appeared just in the last month or two.

Heatherway pondered, then said, “I suspect it might have some connection to the Elemental Tide.”

“This is related to the Elemental Tide?” Su Lun widened his eyes.

Heatherway pushed back her hair and continued, “Yes, the Elemental Tide.”

“The initial surge of the Elemental Tide was somewhat sudden. By your account, this Secret Realm hadn’t been maintained for at least a thousand or two thousand years. The sudden incoming surge of Elemental Energy caused malfunctions in the Secret Realm’s energy nodes.”

“Probably, the energy hub broke from disrepair over the years. The spatial overlay on the Secret Realm thus developed cracks. These formerly Secret Realm Magical Plants, the flower field, etc., became exposed.”

“You can likely feel it too. The Elemental Energy in this forest is dense, far richer than other places outside.”

“I suspect this Secret Realm emerged because the Elemental Tide appeared. It made the Elemental Energy spike suddenly. The energy transfer systems inside couldn’t cope, broke, and this Secret Realm manifested.”

“It seems we owe thanks to the Elemental Tide,” Su Lun joked.

“Don’t celebrate too soon. Though the Secret Realm appeared, getting inside profiting is hard. Not one relic left by ancient Wizards is easy to deal with.”

The best exploration partner had great luck, usually a Halfling Rogue. Small bodies, agile, sharp senses, and better luck than ordinary folks made Halfling Rogues popular explorers. With a treasure-finding trait like a pet rat? Perfect.

Soon, the two reached that flower sea Su Lun discovered before. Purple flowers swayed in the wind, looking like a purple ocean.

“So many Purple Tulips!” Seeing the flower sea, Heatherway was equally amazed.

“These tulips feel alive,” Su Lun said beside her.

Heatherway nodded. “They are indeed alive. They are a form of living plant, usually the outer protection of a Secret Realm. Their matured fruits also brew Magic Potions. Plus, doesn’t this sea of flowers look beautiful?”

“Three purposes at once,” Su Lun frowned. “So how do we get in?”

“No great way. We need to force our way. Plus, even if we knew the passphrase here, these Magical Plants have changed crops several times. It’s questionable whether the phrase would still work.”

“After all that, we still have to force our way,” Su Lun rolled up his sleeves, ready to act.

“Not necessary,” Heatherway quickly stopped him seeing him prepare. “I checked just now. The Rune Formations arranged here have basically failed. These tulips attack only by instinct. That makes things much easier.”

Had the original Rune Formations been intact, these tulips would have acted as one unit. Naturally, that was hard to deal with.

Applying defensive spells, Su Lun and Heatherway entered the flower sea. Entering, Su Lun instantly smelled strong sweet fragrance. A faint singing echoed near his ears. Tulips blew in the wind, their petals and surrounding foliage slicing at them like sharp blades with swift motions.

Frequent clinks sounded against their Energy Shields, which reliably blocked every blow. But soft pings kept sounding in his head.

“Host subject to charm poison attack. Forcing body check… Physical check passed…”

“Host subject to mind attack. Forcing spirit check… Willpower check passed…”