The Heavenly Sword Sect disciples listened carefully to the divination. They exchanged glances, then turned their eyes toward the secret realm entrance. The entrance had already been probed when they first discovered this secret realm, and it only allowed cultivators of the Nascent Soul Realm to pass through.
Not higher and not lower. This supported Shi Zhun's divination result. The blood demon needed the blood of strong prey to fuel its power, but it also did not dare let cultivators who were too strong enter, fearing they might eradicate it.
That was why the blood demon only allowed Nascent Soul cultivators to enter. They were strong enough to provide the necessary blood power, yet weak enough for the demon to handle.
"Senior Brother, I think we need to contact an elder, or at least the vice leader, to help us eradicate this demon. With only our strength, it's not enough to face it," one of the Heavenly Sword Sect disciples said to the blue-robed disciple.
"You're right, Junior Brother! Let's contact the sect immediately." The blue-robed disciple nodded and began sending the message at once via the usual communication jade.
After half a day of waiting, a group of elders from the Heavenly Sword Sect arrived. They wasted no time on pleasantries and immediately began forcibly unrestricting and unsealing the realm.
Among the group of elders, there were also cultivators from other sects. Shi Zhun recognized them, as they were not from the main orthodox paths. These cultivators specialized in dealing with souls, ghosts, and evil entities. Against normal opponents, their combat strength was considered much weaker. But when facing evil entities, they could fight as if they were one or even two realms stronger in certain extraordinary cases.
"What are they doing, Master? Isn't this…?" Li Jingsuan asked.
It was well known that forcibly unsealing and breaking the restrictions of a secret realm was considered taboo. Not only did it waste enormous amounts of spiritual qi and spirit stones, but it could also worsen heavenly tribulation.
Shi Zhun watched the elders' actions, thought for a while, and finally understood.
"I see… they are trying to invade and plunder this secret realm," he answered.
"But wouldn't that incur the wrath of heaven?"
"No," the master shook his head. "In fact, it's the opposite. This action will actually help the Heavenly Sword Sect's master lessen heaven's wrath when he faces tribulation. Because this is what that vagabond Wei Chen called a Scam Realm. It exists solely for the realm creator to harm innocents. Its existence is evil, so destroying it aligns with the way of heaven. By eradicating it, the sect will not only gain merit but also obtain the resources hidden within the realm."
"But if doing this brings so many lucrative rewards, why didn't they do it long ago?" the disciple asked in confusion.
The master let out a faint smile. "Because until recently, no one had ever survived a Scam Realm and revealed its truth. Everyone believed these realms were legacies left behind by seniors for later generations to inherit. Invading such a legacy would bring karmic retribution, so no one dared to tempt heaven."
At this point, his disciple caught on. "I see… if people thought the realms were inheritances, invading them would be considered sinful and attract karma. But now that Wei Chen has proven most of them are Scam Realms, the Heavenly Sword Sect hired us to confirm it."
"That's right," the master added.
While Shi Zhun was speaking with his disciple, the elders finished unlocking and unrestricting the realm. Next, the cultivators specialized in exorcising evil entities stepped forward and entered. They quickly located the blood demon's soul and engaged it in battle.
After a day of fierce fighting, they finally vanquished the demon and eradicated all dangers within the realm. With that, all the resources and artifacts inside fell into the hands of the Heavenly Sword Sect.
After everything was done, one of the elders approached Shi Zhun.
"Master Shi Zhun, we of the Heavenly Sword Sect are honored to invite you to become an elder in the Secret Realm Divination Department. The department was just founded and does not hold much authority yet, but you would still have the rights of an elder and enjoy access to the Heavenly Sword Sect's resources for your own use, so…"
"Say no more, Elder. I agree. Where is the elder uniform?" Shi Zhun replied.
This was something he had looked forward to all his life. Some might say that being a dog's head is better than being a dragon's tail, but they forget that stray dogs often starve.
Cultivation is the act of going against heaven, shedding mortality, and thus requires vast amounts of resources to nurture oneself and surpass the mortal state. Such a thing could never be achieved with the meager pay he earned from daily life.
He also had a disciple who was more talented than him in cultivation. Could he really hinder his disciple's future prospects because of his own stupid pride?
Yes, it was a selfless reason. It was definitely not because he wanted to become an elder of the Heavenly Sword Sect.
…
Situations like this also happened in many prefectures. The long-neglected diviner and exorcist path cultivators finally received their long-overdue limelight, since their specialties were tailor-made for this kind of situation.
These kinds of sects and cultivators were all small sects. Before Wei Chen's stream, no one gave them any credit. People only thought these cultivators were good for exorcisms and performing useless divinations, since they could not reveal much of heaven's secrets due to being too weak.
But after the stream, everything changed for them. They were headhunted by major sects and forces, made the heads of newly founded departments dedicated to divination and exorcism, and tasked with helping conquer more secret realms.
That's right. Because of Wei Chen's stream, a "Scam Realm Hunting Fever" had erupted.
Once everyone realized most secret realms were actually traps, the major powers of the Azure River Province abandoned their pretense and began raiding them openly. In the process, some genuine legacy realms were also discovered. The forces that found them declared ownership, which in turn led to conflicts across the province.
Still, the power balance was clear, stronger sects kept their finds, and weaker ones had no choice but to retreat.
This shift reduced the loss of life significantly. No one fought inside Scam Realms anymore, and since they were more common than genuine ones, the overall distribution of resources became far better. The abundance of materials caused market prices to drop sharply, leaving many merchants heartbroken.
But amidst all these changes, the one who had sparked it all; Wei Chen, was sitting alone in a lakeside pavilion not far from the Heavenly Sword Sect, chatting with the Lord of Death.
"I must say, you are very good at what you do. Even though the conflicts in the mortal realm among the great powers still lead to death, the changes you brought have saved far more people through the exposure of scam realms than the number lost. If you keep giving me results like this two more times, I'll consider you to have passed your probation period," said the Lord of Death before sipping his tea in a relaxed manner.
Wei Chen squinted his eyes looking at the Lord of Death, even now, talking with this skeleton who makes tea disappear into nothingness after drinking, despite being nothing but bones still made him feel like he was looking at a living mystery.
Even though he pondered about this strange mystery in his mind, on the outside he maintained his usual straight face and asked,
"Probation period? Don't tell me those eight years you gave me…"
"Yes, those eight years were the probation period I gave you," the Lord of Death replied, then continued.
"Anyway, since this time you've been working for me and even surpassed my expectations. The souls saved by your actions will be displayed through the broadcasting orb. If you wish to redeem something, simply choose it as if you were shopping online in your previous life. I must go now; there are many rats who have been hiding from me in these scam realms and was sent down here that I need to judge."
With that said, the Lord of Death cut the connection.
Wei Chen opened the UI of the redeeming shop through the broadcasting orb screen and saw countless enticing items available. Moreover, the souls he had saved from their destined deaths were recorded like a currency at the top right corner.
Underworld Employee Reward Redeem Shop
UGC (Underworld Gold Coins): 2,435,701
Wei Chen checked the UI and noticed that the system used a currency called Underworld Gold Coins. There was also information about the exchange rate between the souls he had saved from destined death and this UGC currency.
Mortal Soul = 1/1
Qi Refining Realm = 1/10
Foundation Establishment Realm = 1/100
Core Formation Realm = 1/1,000
Nascent Soul Realm = 1/10,000
Soul Transformation Realm = 1/100,000
Void Refining Realm = 1/1,000,000
Looking at the exchange rate, Wei Chen realized that the stronger the soul, the more coins he earned. This aligned with what he had heard from the Lord of Death rant when he first arrived in this place.
It seemed that dealing with stronger souls was truly a pain, no wonder the Lord of Death set this kind of exchange rate to make him focus on saving those in higher realms since they were more troublesome.
Wei Chen then begin to peruse the reward, He chek from the most expensive one first.