Chapter 153: The Forbidden Little Mountain Village

To use an analogy, space can be considered as a vast and boundless ocean, and the countless lower realms are like small islands existing within that space.
There are numerous spatial rifts between these islands.
Some islands are located quite close to one another, so close that one could seemingly touch them with a hand.
Others are situated at a great distance, separated by tens of thousands of miles.
Those turbulent vortexes appear right along the paths connecting them.
Each of these turbulent vortexes is an immensely terrifying place.
Paths always exist between any two lower realms, allowing passage back and forth.
However, the exact degree of danger lurking along these paths remains entirely unknown.
For beings from the Immortal Realm to descend into the lower realms is an extremely arduous task. This is because the boundaries between the Immortal Realm and the lower realms are exceptionally formidable; attempting to cross them by force demands an enormous price!
Yet, the travel between different lower realms is quite different.
As long as one can successfully navigate through the turbulent vortexes, these boundaries become as nothing to them, rendering the journey remarkably simple.
At this moment, a streak of light flashed across space.
In the blink of an eye, it spanned a distance of a thousand miles, appearing as though it could command both time and space itself.
Very quickly.
This radiance came to a halt at a certain location.
Here lay a world enshrouded in a layer of white mist.
"So the Tianwu Realm is located right here," Elder Chen Sang muttered to himself.
As he gazed at the boundless white mist before him, he understood it completely in his heart.
This white mist marked the boundary of the Tianwu Realm, and once one crossed through it, the existence of the Tianwu Realm would be revealed!
Following that, he stepped forward out of the space-time rift.
In an instant! In the mere time it took to close and reopen his eyes, a vast and boundless land materialized before him!
The sky was clear, and white clouds drifted leisurely.
Everything was brimming with vitality and boundless vigor.
"Did I cross the boundary just like that, with such ease?"
Elder Chen Sang still found it somewhat hard to believe.
Yet the reality lay right before his eyes; crossing the boundary had been remarkably effortless.
Based on his previous experience, the Tianwu Realm was merely a low-tier lower realm, at best only slightly superior to the Huang-grade realms.
However, the maximum tier of such a realm should only be at the Mysterious Immortal stage; how could it possibly allow him to cross over with such ease?
He was no Mysterious Immortal; he was a personage of the Celestial Immortal tier!
Previously, he had anticipated that making such a journey would be exceedingly difficult, and that at the very least, his cultivation would be somewhat suppressed.
Elder Chen Sang had even prepared himself mentally for that outcome.
Yet matters had unfolded with such suddenness...
He never expected that he would be able to cross over directly.
"It seems the intelligence we held regarding the Tianwu Realm has diverged from reality; the tier of this place is by no means the Mysterious Immortal level we imagined. For me to pass through unhindered, it must be at least at the Celestial Immortal level!"
Only in this way could it be explained why his cultivation had not been suppressed upon entry.
At this thought, Elder Chen Sang's heart couldn't help but skip a beat.
He released his divine sense into his mind, projecting the surrounding landscape into his consciousness, and soon, a sect appeared in his awareness.
Though it was merely a small and insignificant sect, it would suffice for his purposes.
With a single thought, Elder Chen Sang's physical body vanished and instantly arrived within the territory of that sect.
Before long, he learned the current state of affairs in the Tianwu Realm from the mouths of its members.
"The Southern Barbarian Region actually harbors someone capable of slaying ten Mysterious Immortals in a single stroke!"
As these words left his mouth, his footsteps had already carried him forward.
Within the span of a breath, Elder Chen Sang had manifested within the Southern Barbarian Region.
"To think that such abundant spiritual Qi exists within this heaven and earth. In my view, this world is no longer a lower realm starting with the Heavenly grade; it must be at least of the Earth grade..."
Such a thought involuntarily arose in his mind!
All worlds were either constantly growing or regressing!
Now, Chen Sang finally understood why he had been able to pass through the boundary of the Tianwu Realm so effortlessly.
Judging solely from this aspect, it was evident that the Tianwu Realm was already capable of accommodating the existence of Celestial Immortals!
Yet Chen Sang remained thoroughly perplexed as to how the Tianwu Realm could have evolved at such a rapid pace.
He found it utterly incomprehensible.
Guided by the information he had gathered from that sect, Chen Sang rapidly sped away in the direction of the Nanling Mountain Range.
His speed was astonishingly swift.
In the blink of an eye, he arrived above the Nanling Mountain Range.
"What kind of place is this Nanling Mountain Range? It actually evokes a sense of extraordinaneity within me... It feels as though... as though there is some extraordinary entity concealed within these mountains!"
Hovering high in the sky and looking down at the earth below, the entire landscape spread out before his eyes, yet it filled him with a profound sense of shock and trepidation.
Could this place truly have some connection to the Primeval World?
Could it be that this mountain range harbored something related to the Primeval World?
Following that, Chen Sang cast his gaze directly upon this domain.
He began to search through it meticulously.
Soon, shock filled his eyes.
His pupils even constricted into pinpricks as he discovered that nestled within this mountain range lay an exceptionally serene and quiet little mountain village.
"What place is that?"
"Could it be a forbidden zone? Just a single glance at it is enough to make my heart pound and prevent me from finding peace!"
Chen Sang was completely plunged into shock.
For he felt this was an absolute impossibility!
Such a sensation was rarely experienced even within the Immortal Realm itself.
A feeling that should only arise when confronting some terrifying forbidden ground in the Immortal Realm was actually being felt here, in an utterly ordinary little mountain village in the Southern Barbarian Region of the Tianwu Realm!
One must remember that this was not the Immortal Realm, but merely a very simple lower realm beginning with the Heavenly grade!
Elder Chen Sang's eyes widened in disbelief, as if silently declaring that such a thing was simply impossible!
He had to go and take a look.
He had a premonition that this small mountain village was by no means ordinary, and perhaps even harbored some heaven-shaking secret!
With this thought, Chen Sang suppressed the astonishment in his heart, and despite a lingering trace of fear, he plunged directly toward the small mountain village.
The closer he drew to the small mountain village, the heavier the fear and dread grew in Elder Chen Sang's heart.
He felt as though he had stepped into some perilous domain.
A place where his life could be snuffed out at any given second.
The moment he landed and his foot touched the soil before him, an awe-inspiring pressure descended upon his shoulders.
The closer he walked toward the small mountain village, the more intense this sensation became!
"This is most certainly a terrifying forbidden ground! Such dreadful power can only be felt in places of taboo."
"Only those with profound and lofty cultivation can truly comprehend such immense power!"
He couldn't help but exclaim in shock.
A forbidden ground must certainly be connected to an Immortal Monarch!
Furthermore, every single such place was a terrifying existence!
The most frightening part was that such an entity actually existed within this minor world as well!
And he had happened to stumble right into it.
Beads of sweat covered Elder Chen Sang's forehead as he struggled every step of the way until he finally reached the entrance of the village!