Chapter 799, Opening the Door

Translator: Jon

Translation Checker: Silavin

“It’s finally over.” In the room on the top floor, Zhou Yulong let out a breath. It seemed that he was relieved.

The people from the bases who were struggling to survive felt that the cultivators from the Hidden Realm were powerful and noble. Those people wouldn’t know the hardship they had to go through.

Forced by the rules set by the ancestors, they had no choice but to leave the Hidden Realm to take in suitable candidates. Certainly, they were not willing to leave the safe Hidden Realm.

In this apocalyptic era, nowhere else was safe except for the three Hidden Realms.

Although they had the Spirit Boat, they had come across several Corpse Race members along the way. They got into fights with them and were almost eliminated.

There had been incidents of Spirit Boats getting destroyed and people killed by the Corpse Race members in history.

To cultivators like them, who had been living luxuriously since a young age, leaving the Hidden Realm posed a huge threat to their lives.

To those who were not from the Hidden Realm, being a representative looked like a fabulous job. Wherever they went, they would be welcomed with hospitality. However, none of the cultivators from the Hidden Realm were willing to take on such a task.

Unfortunately, if they wanted to climb up the social ladder in the Hidden Realm, they had to be a representative at least once. That was because the first-generation ruler of the Hidden Realm had declared that only when they experienced the hardship of the people in the outside world would they treasure everything in the Hidden Realm.

The Zhou Family was an influential Family in the Hidden Realm. They controlled the Hidden Realm along with other major Families. Zhou Yulong was talented. Despite his young age, he was already fairly powerful. He was the biggest hope for the future of the Zhou Family.

Following his experience as a representative, he would secure a good job when he returned. In the next ten years, he might even have a chance to become the next patriarch of the Zhou Family. By then, he would have all the glory.

The Peerless Continent had broken into pieces. Outside the Hidden Realm, the people were struggling to survive. Inside the Hidden Realm, they indulged in luxury and entertainment. When the cultivators reached their limit, they no longer had the desire to keep cultivating. Chasing after power became their favourite activity.

People were unaware that the Hidden Realm, which was often touted to be a paradise, was a place rampant with corruption and immorality. If they knew that, they might not even want to come to the Hidden Realm.

Although Zhou Yulong had to go out there and endure some hardship because of the teachings of their ancestors, the trip was an eye-opener for him.

The people in the outside world lived miserably. There were times when he had the urge to take all the people from the bases with him.

Unfortunately, the Hidden Realm’s capacity was limited, so it couldn’t accommodate so many people.

It only remained an idea in his mind. If he did that, he would break the rules.

The Hidden Realm was indeed expansive and could still accommodate a lot of people, but it couldn’t take in all the Humans in the world. Even if all three Hidden Realms were to open up, they still couldn’t achieve that.

Therefore, Zhou Yulong could only take in as many young people and kids as he could.

As for what would happen to them after they arrived in the Hidden Realm, he wasn’t in any place to worry. At the very least, the Hidden Realm was much safer than the outside world. As long as they didn’t make a huge mistake, they could stay alive.

In this era, being alive was more important than anything else.

Suddenly recalling something, Zhou Yulong ordered, “Someone, come in!”

A beautiful female cultivator immediately opened the door. She was a maidservant of the Zhou Family. She lowered her head and cupped her fists. “Sir.”

“Since we’re going back, tell them to prepare some warm water and let the kids take a shower. I want them to be clean when they reach the Hidden Realm. They’re too dirty now.”

“Yes,” the female cultivator replied and went to execute his order.

A moment later, the door to the bottom of the boat was opened. The young people and kids watched as the cultivators brought in ten wooden buckets filled with water, after which they were placed in a row.

A middle-aged man stepped forward with his hands behind his back and said, “Sir Yulong takes pity on you, so he’s told us to give you water to clean your bodies before you enter the Hidden Realm. You only have one hour, so hurry up.”

With that, he turned around and left, clearly impatient. The bottom of the ship was dirty to someone like him. If he hadn’t received an order, he wouldn’t have come here.

The cultivators whirled around and left as well, leaving the young people and kids to look at each other in puzzlement.

In the apocalyptic era, all the resources were scarce, including water. For people like them, the water they drank had to be rationed, not to mention water used for showers. They might take a shower once every two to three years.

As such, when they saw these ten buckets of water, they didn’t know what to do.

A moment later, someone finally stepped forward and scooped up a handful of water before drinking it. Seconds later, people were seen drinking water from the buckets.

Zhou Yulong didn’t expect that half of the water he had given them for showers ended up in their stomachs.

It wasn’t until all of them were done quenching their thirst that they started taking showers.

The water was at room temperature. Zhou Yulong had told them to prepare warm water, but no one was willing to exert themselves for these insignificant people. Zhou Yulong wouldn’t come down here to have a look anyway.

No one plunged into the buckets. They stood around the buckets and only took a small amount of water to clean their dirty clothes and bodies. The habit of saving on everything was ingrained in them.

“Don’t you want to wash up, Big Brothers?” The young girl, whom Lu Ye had saved, returned with wet hair. When she saw that Lu Ye and Ying Wuji remained seated, she couldn’t help but persuade them, saying, “You’d better wash up. They said that being clean would leave a good impression on the big shots in the Hidden Realm. Perhaps they’ll take us on as disciples.”

“We don’t need to wash up.” Ying Wuji looked smilingly at the innocent young girl. “We’re too old compared with the rest of you, so those big shots won’t have their eyes on us. You’d better perform well.”

The young girl was instantly expectant.

One hour later, those cultivators returned and retrieved the wooden buckets. The middle-aged man who had spoken earlier entered and shouted, “Get ready, brats! We’ve reached home!”

Upon hearing that, everyone in that place became clamorous.

The man yelled, “Stop being noisy and naughty. When you leave this boat, you have to behave yourself. I’ll teach anyone who dares break the rules a lesson.”

In an instant, all of them kept quiet. Following his threat, the young people and kids lined up and left the place, though they were somewhat disorganised.

The young girl wanted to beckon to Lu Ye and Ying Wuji, but when she turned around, they were already nowhere in sight. She was shocked, thinking that they might be ghosts.

The Spirit Boat had been parked on a barren peak. Zhou Yulong was with the woman who had always been by his side. He looked intently at the golden disc in his hand.

Before leaving the Hidden Realm, the patriarch of the Zhou Family had told him to come to this place and wait at a specific time.

That was because the Hidden Realm would arrive in this place at that particular time. With the help of the specially made Spirit Artifact in Zhou Yulong’s hand, he could open the door to the Hidden Realm.

If they missed the time and location, even Zhou Yulong, who came from the Zhou Family, would have a hard time returning to the Hidden Realm.

The golden disc in his hand was used to open the door to the Hidden Realm. There were two golden discs, one Yin and the other Yang. When Zhou Yulong activated the golden disc’s power, the person holding the corresponding golden disc in the Hidden Realm would detect it. Only upon making sure that nothing was wrong outside the Hidden Realm would he open the door.

They had to be cautious just in case the golden disc had fallen into the hands of the Corpse Race.

If they opened the door without looking at what was going on outside the Hidden Realm first, they would be doomed in the event of an attack from the Corpse Race.

On the peak, Zhou Yulong waited impatiently as he shifted his attention between the golden disc and the weather.

It wasn’t until noon that he became energised and let out a breath. “It’s time.”

Upon finishing his words, he infused his Spiritual Power into the golden disc. In an instant, a golden light radiated from the peak, causing all the cultivators to squint.

The golden light flowed around as if it were tangible. There seemed to be a crack in the Void as the golden light flew into it and became dimmer.

Zhou Yulong stared anxiously at the spot where the golden light disappeared.

A moment later, the dim light suddenly became brighter. Zhou Yulong was relieved, knowing that someone had responded to him from the Hidden Realm.

The golden light continued to flow as it soon turned into a door and stood on the peak. The small door could allow three to four people to enter at the same time shoulder-to-shoulder. Golden light flowed around the frame, making the door look majestic.

“All of you have worked hard. I’ll go in first,” Zhou Yulong said and led the woman beside him to pass through the door.

Like the mouth of a beast, the door disappeared as soon as the duo stepped into it.

In the Hidden Realm of Silver Snake Valley, there was ample World Spiritual Qi. The cultivators from the major Families were already waiting in front of the golden door. Besides them, many cultivators had hidden in the dark. The place was also covered in a Grand Ward.

Inside the Hidden Realm, the entrance was the most heavily guarded. Many cultivators would stand guard there, either conspicuously or secretively, all year round. Although there hadn’t been any mishaps, they had to be cautious.

Several hundred years ago, there were five times more cultivators standing guard at the entrance than the number of people now. As time passed, they became somewhat complacent.

“Yulong!” When a towering middle-aged man saw Zhou Yulong, he approached him. The way he called out to Zhou Yulong showed that he was also from the Zhou Family.

“Third Uncle.” Zhou Yulong saluted the middle-aged man.

Third Uncle Zhou helped him up and examined him with a look of approval. Then, he patted his shoulder and said, “It must’ve been exhausting for you.”

Zhou Yulong replied, “It’s what I’m supposed to do, Third Uncle.”

While they were having some small talk, the woman who had returned with Zhou Yulong was also greeted by her Family members. Her name was Ning Tongtong, and she came from the Ning Family, one of the major Families in the Hidden Realm.

The Zhou Family and the Ning Family had been on good terms over the generations, and there had been many marriages between the two Families. Now, the Seniors of the two Families wanted Zhou Yulong and Ning Tongtong to get together. As such, they made the two of them representatives so that they would go out there and take in suitable candidates.

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