First achieve immortality, then cultivate immortality.

"Then, let's confirm the plan first," Ye Chen said.

Everyone nodded and gathered around him, ready to follow his instructions.

He casually drew a circle on the ground, and then drew three concentric circles inside it.

"The state of the secret realm is like this: we are invaders, and the secret realm naturally rejects us. So when we enter, no matter how we are randomly teleported, we will only be in the outermost circle."

Next, we need to head towards the center of the secret realm. The further we go, the greater the resistance we'll encounter, but the easier it will be to sense the Dao's essence. Therefore, we should try to stay as close as possible.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Their primary goal is to comprehend the Dao and successfully establish their foundation, so they must prioritize actions towards this goal.

"Let's go then, let's explore carefully," Ye Chen said.

Xu Mu nodded and followed them discreetly.

Soon, wild mirages appeared.

The mirage is a gray-black creature that can take on both animal and human forms, standing out starkly in the lush green jungle.

After the mirage beast is killed, it will turn into ashes, leaving only a crystal called "shattered crystal", which can be used directly as a spirit stone and is also an important resource.

They need to defend themselves against the attacks of the mirage beasts while plundering the rare treasures within the secret realm; in reality, it's an invasion mode, plundering the world's resources.

To the secret realm, they are invaders, so the "Dao" of this world wants to eliminate them.

The mirage beasts do not possess life; they are merely defensive mechanisms evolved from the immature Dao of this world.

The desire to avoid destruction seems to be an instinct of this world.

But the world is but a bubble, and in the end it will be ruthlessly crushed by the Great Dao.

Its destruction was a cause for celebration among the cultivators.

When the bubble of the world bursts, the Dao will be revealed more clearly, and cultivators will be able to more easily perceive or retain the breath and essence of the Dao.

Like a whale fall, all things come to life.

The cycle of Heaven is ever-present.

"This is a low-level secret realm. The Dao can only accommodate the power of the Qi Refining stage. The strength of the Mirage Beasts is also within the Qi Refining stage, but there are differences between the Qi Refining stages, so we still need to be extremely careful."

The deeper one goes, the stronger the mirage beasts become, and there may even be mirage beasts carrying miasma, which poses a huge challenge to cultivators.

At this moment, Xu Mu and the others were still on the outer perimeter, proceeding cautiously and not daring to fly on their swords rashly.

Compared to those on land, the mirage beasts in the air are much more difficult to deal with.

Fortunately, mirage beasts don't just appear out of thin air. After all, it takes time and effort to gather spiritual energy and condense fragments of crystal to create a mirage beast.

Xu Mu worked alongside the five of them, each maintaining their own level of readiness, making the situation relatively easy.

"Which direction is the center? Don't go the wrong way. It's said that the space inside the secret realm is like a maze," Liu Yan said.

Even if there seems to be no problem right now, you might end up back where you started.

This might also be the way the secret realm uses to drive them away.

"This requires using the Qimen Dunjia formation technique to determine the location; Xu Xing can handle that."

Ye Chen looked at the chubby man in the group.

Xu Xing nodded.

Of the five of them, only he knew the art of Qimen Dunjia, so they needed him to observe the layout of the secret realm and find the route.

As for Xu Mu? They had no expectations of him, a rogue cultivator, so Xu Mu didn't bother to mention that he knew Qimen formations. It was better to keep a low profile and follow along, and then decide what to do next.

……

"Xu You, why are you pulling weeds?" asked Yuan Xiangqin, a middle-aged woman, with a puzzled look.

"It has its own merits," Xu Mu said with a faint smile.

Seeing that he wouldn't say anything, the others didn't bother to investigate further.

They figured it was just weeds anyway, and didn't think it would be of any use. Maybe they'd take it back to feed the rabbits.

Regardless of what they thought, Xu Mu would scrape the ground whenever he had free time and put all the spiritual herbs into his storage bag.

Soon, everything in this world will be destroyed along with the world's collapse. It feels like such a waste; how much fertilizer would that make?

"If only I could have such a world, I could definitely grow lots of fields," he muttered to himself.

It is said that such a small world does exist.

A typical world bubble can only last for about a month before it bursts naturally, but some world bubbles can last longer and are more stable, thus becoming small worlds.

With his current abilities, he certainly couldn't create his own little world, so it was just a dream.

……

The group continued their exploration.

We eat one meal a day at noon, which consists of dry rations brought in from outside.

During the night, they need to take turns keeping watch in pairs to prevent attacks.

Xu Mu and Ye Chen teamed up for night watch. They had intended to chat, but Ye Chen smiled politely and then closed his eyes to cultivate.

Their attitudes were all the same; they seemed polite, but in reality, they were drawing a line, as if they were just strangers who had met by chance and didn't want to get too involved with a rogue cultivator like him.

It's even possible that his presence prevented his fellow disciples from speaking freely; he was the one who was out of place.

Xu Mu could only sigh helplessly and give up trying to win him over.

When they found the elixir, they said they would give it to Ye Chen for safekeeping and distribute it later. In reality, he knew very well that he would not get anything.

Fortunately, he didn't care.

This is a low-level secret realm, with at most second-grade spiritual herbs. He would keep the seeds if he had them, but he didn't insist on getting anything else.

In this way, they could be considered to have gotten along harmoniously, without any conflicts.

He only hoped to maintain this state, successfully enter the depths of the secret realm, and hold out until the secret realm was destroyed.

……

Half a month later, as the group ventured deeper into the secret realm, they encountered more and more people.

The emerging mirage beasts grew stronger and stronger.

Suddenly, the ground rose up and transformed into several mirages made of earth and stone.

Xu Mu is manipulating the six flying swords and is not under much pressure at the moment. The Six Harmony Imprisoning Dragon Sword Formation alone is enough to deal with most crises.

After all, he had practiced this technique for eighty years, and his control over spiritual energy and flying swords was exquisite.

Furthermore, his mental strength has been increasing year by year, and he is now able to control up to eighteen flying swords.

However, he did not appear too relaxed. Instead, he matched Ye Chen and the others, displaying combat strength similar to theirs.

Of the five, Ye Chen was the strongest, having cultivated swordsmanship and comprehended sword intent related to water.

Liu Yan is second only to Liu Yan, who is skilled in water-based magic and has comprehended the Dao of Water.

The other three are Yuan Xiangqin, Xu Xing, and Lu Yonglin. They are slightly weaker and rely more on magic weapons, making their battles somewhat dangerous. They need the others to take care of them.

Especially these earth and stone mirage beasts, every move they make involves launching earth spike attacks, and they can also use earthen walls to block.

Earth overcomes water, and the Hongshan Sect, skilled in water-based magic, will find it even more difficult to deal with them.

"Ah!" Lu Yonglin cried out in pain as a stone thorn pierced his thigh.

Xu Mu immediately came to his rescue, severing the stone spike with his sword and blocking further attacks for him.

Ye Chen exerted his strength and swiftly killed the mirage beast.

Throughout the battle, Xu Mu acted as the actor, mostly using the Six Harmonies Imprisoning Dragon Sword Formation to imprison his opponents, while Ye Chen's swordsmanship was the main source of damage.