Sage of Humanity

The mystery of the doppelganger lies in that section of Talent Tree roots stored within the doppelganger's body. It makes the doppelganger lifelike, indistinguishable between true and false, and maintains a close connection with the original body regardless of distance.

The main body can propel the Split Shadow and construct the Single-Stalk Twin Lotus within the Split Shadow, but the Talent Tree cannot extend another root into the Split Shadow to further condense into a doppelganger.

Lu Ye faintly felt this related to the transformation degree of the Talent Tree.

The Talent Tree underwent one metamorphosis, hence it can split one root outward, but unable to split a second. If the Talent Tree undergoes several more metamorphoses, the number of doppelgangers Lu Ye can condense will undoubtedly increase.

This made him realize the preciousness of his current doppelganger.

Previously, he only subconsciously felt the doppelganger should not be casually lost. The loss of blood Qi, spirit force, and mental consciousness power were secondary. If the Talent Tree root stored within the doppelganger was lost, the loss would be significant.

But now it seems, if the doppelganger were truly to be lost, the loss could be far more serious than he imagined, possibly never again able to condense a new doppelganger.

Time passed.

When Lu Ye had been trapped in this secret realm for over two months, his cultivation had reached True Lake Level 7.

During this time, Yu Daiwei came once again, still seeing Lu Ye's doppelganger sitting at the entrance, Dao Thirteen quietly guarding beside. Since then, she never returned.

Presumably, she considered it as Lu Ye accepting his fate, with no possibility of escaping the secret realm, thus she saw no need to waste time paying much attention.

Another half month went by in the blink of an eye.

One day, as Lu Ye was activating the Talent Tree's power to absorb the Power of the Spirit Vein, he suddenly felt his form slightly sway, as if the sound of muffled thunder came from deep underground, followed by a series of tremors.

He quickly opened his eyes, expanded his mental consciousness, and meticulously sensed the surroundings.

After a while, he revealed a delighted expression.

Having struggled cultivating here for two and a half months, continuously absorbing the Power of the Spirit Vein, a sign of success finally appeared! The anomaly just now was the clearest sign.

At the secret realm's entrance, Dao Thirteen also noticed the anomaly, but his mind was not sharp. Though his expression showed some uncertainty, he did not understand what had happened.

If Yu Daiwei were here instead, she would definitely investigate all around, and even if Lu Ye had set up a covering big array above the pit, might not be able to elude her discerning eyes.

With the abnormal commotion subsiding, Dao Thirteen also calmed down, continuing to stand there like a stake.

Closely monitoring his movements, the doppelganger slightly sighed in relief. He had already decided that if Dao Thirteen showed any signs of movement, he would immediately do something to attract his attention.

The plan was showing initial success, indicating success was not far ahead.

Needless to say, the Power of the Spirit Vein in this secret realm was still very rich and ample. Lu Ye truly wanted to devour the Spirit Vein entirely, but it could not be done quickly. He only needed the Spirit Vein to reach a critical point, a point that could not sustain the secret realm.

If the secret realm was a house, then the Spirit Vein was its foundation. Lu Ye did not need to destroy all the foundation, only damage a part, and the house would collapse on its own.

In the following days, the frequency of anomalies in the secret realm grew more and more frequent, with humming sounds from deep underground echoing from time to time, causing tremors throughout the secret realm.

Even the perpetually murky sky of the secret realm began to show some unusual phenomena.

It was evidently a sign the secret realm was about to collapse.

Dao Thirteen was affected, showing some abnormal emotions. Being a Divine Sea Realm cultivator, he subconsciously sensed some danger, but had to follow Yu Daiwei's instructions to stay close to Lu Ye, making it difficult for him, as his dull mind had no idea how to handle the situation.

Every time the doppelganger opened its eyes to look at him, it saw an expression of impatience and unease on his face, with some sounds resembling beast roars occasionally coming from his throat.

Until a certain moment, when a great humming sound rang out, dramatic changes swept through the secret realm, and the murky sky shattered like a broken mirror, even the scenery within the entire secret realm started to distort and change.

The secret realm was about to collapse!

Having gone through a similar experience in the Sword Weapon Sect's secret realm, Lu Ye was naturally familiar with it.

Once the secret realm collapsed, both he and Dao Thirteen would leave this prison, and he merely needed to reclaim the doppelganger then escape Dao Thirteen.

At the same time, at the secret realm's exit, a portal faintly appeared.

Due to the imminent collapse of the secret realm, the once tightly sealed exit showed signs of opening. Through that exit, he could vaguely see some of the outside scenery.

Dao Thirteen watched with undisguised bewilderment, not understanding why this was happening.

The doppelganger sitting beside him suddenly opened its eyes, and Dao Thirteen immediately lowered his head to look at it.

The doppelganger smiled at him, "Farewell!"

As soon as the words fell, spirit force was activated throughout its body, pouring into the array beneath.

A teleportation array had already been set up beneath, only finalized yesterday, not daring to set it up too early, lest Yu Daiwei suddenly rush in and sees it.

The array setup process encountered no interference, Dao Thirteen merely observed, following Yu Daiwei's orders to prevent him from attempting to open the portal, caring little about array setups.

With the big array activated, light shone brilliantly, and in the distortion of space, the doppelganger vanished.

Dao Thirteen was stunned for a moment, and then he roared, a torrent of visible air waves spewed from his mouth, blasting out over ten zhang. He swiftly rushed to the spot where the doppelganger disappeared, clawing frantically with both hands, and in the blink of an eye, he dug a big pit, but there was no trace of Lu Ye.

Only then did he remember to urge his Mental Consciousness to search around for Lu Ye's whereabouts, but still found nothing.

The place where Lu Ye was had a big array concealing it, and at this chaotic moment within the secret realm, spirit force was surging. Even a Divine Sea Realm cultivator like Dao Thirteen couldn't hope to find any clues in a short time.

Over a hundred zhang underground, the doppelganger returned through the teleportation array, and Lu Ye raised his hand on the doppelganger, urging the Talent Tree's power to retrieve it.

Just after he finished all this, the secret realm suddenly collapsed.

A huge crack suddenly appeared in the sky, deep like an abyss.

Lu Ye shot skyward, darting towards the crack. As long as he rushed through, he could return to the Nine Provinces. As for how to shake off Dao Thirteen, he would have to improvise. No matter what, it was better than being trapped in this secret realm.

Just as his figure appeared, Dao Thirteen sensed it, roared angrily, and leapt from his spot, closely pursuing Lu Ye.

At this moment, Lu Ye had already rushed into the crack, but in the next instant, his expression changed.

Because the expectation that rushing into the crack would return him to the Nine Provinces was not realized. Instead, Lu Ye felt as if he was falling into a bottomless abyss, continuously plummeting downward.

This feeling... was a bit similar to teleportation, and it was a long-distance teleportation because the whole process brought a most unpleasant experience.

Dizzy and disoriented, Lu Ye only felt his consciousness ascending infinitely.

In a mysterious way, it was as if he was in a nameless void. In this special environment, neither the eyes could see nor the mind could sense, yet peculiar images imprinted themselves in his heart.

It was a giant gourd-shaped landmass, drifting in the void, arriving from nowhere and heading to nowhere.

Like a lonely boat sailing in an endless sea, it seemed desolate and forlorn.

Lu Ye initially couldn't react to what this was, but soon he was startled and became aware.

This giant gourd-shaped landmass was actually a world!

Was this the true appearance of the Nine Provinces?

He thought to himself.

Slightly amazed, how could the Nine Provinces be shaped like this? What puzzled him more was that he had merely tried to escape the collapsing Nameless Secret Realm, yet his consciousness elevated to perceive the whole Nine Provinces.

But he was quickly shocked because he suddenly realized this might not be the Nine Provinces.

He hadn't seen the ten-part map of the entire Nine Provinces, but he did possess the ten-part map of Bingzhou.

Comparing both, he couldn't discern any familiar signs from the giant landmass before him.

This was most likely not the Nine Provinces!

But if this wasn't the Nine Provinces World, then where was it?

Just as his mind wavered with doubt, that giant gourd-shaped landmass rapidly enlarged in his vision.

The mysteriously elevated consciousness suddenly returned to his body!

Only then did Lu Ye realize his situation, where he was plummeting towards that gourd-shaped world at an extremely fast speed, with meteors crashing down alongside him, blending into the falling meteors, appearing quite unremarkable.

What astonished him even more was that an inexplicable force shielded his body, so even though he was descending rapidly, he didn't feel any discomfort.

Lu Ye's eye twitched slightly, and he had some suspicions in his heart.

His current predicament was probably orchestrated by the Nine Provinces Heaven's Augury!

The inexplicable force protecting him was the most obvious evidence. This force couldn't appear out of thin air. He hadn't activated any spirit force, so besides the mysterious Heaven's Augury, who could silently place such a force on him?

With his past experience on the Unparalleled Continent, Lu Ye naturally knew that the Nine Provinces wasn't the only world, so that gourd-shaped massive landmass must be another world unknown to him.

What he couldn't understand was, what did Heaven's Augury want him to do here?

There was no indication beforehand. He merely wished to escape from the Nameless Secret Realm, but as a result, after leaving the Nameless Secret Realm, he didn't return to the Nine Provinces but came to such a place and arrived in this manner.

It was simply baffling.

However, considering everything before, Heaven's Augury wouldn't act without purpose. Sending him here was clearly because Heaven's Augury wanted him to accomplish something here.

When the cart reaches the mountain, there will be a road; thinking too much now is futile.

Below was the rapidly approaching ground, and around him were meteors burning fiercely.

Seeing that there were only about a hundred zhang left to the ground, Lu Ye was about to activate spirit force to travel through air, but just as he did so, he suddenly discovered that all his spirit force was confined within his body, unable to be activated.