As everyone descended, the pressure emanating from the gate intensified.
The group gathered before the golden gate, sensing the aura around it.
"It appears we'll need to break open this gate together to enter the secret realm," Ye Yun said faintly, looking up at it. After all, there were no other mechanisms in sight.
Qian Kong nodded and addressed the group, "In that case, let's not delay. Let's all strike together to open the gate." He then looked at Qian Ling beside him and smiled. "How about it, little girl? Any objections?"
The address made Qian Ling uncomfortable, but with the secret realm opening before them, she could only snort coldly. "Then let's all attack together and open the gate!"
Following this, the two groups who had been guarding the area, along with the newly arrived exploration team, surrounded the tightly shut golden gate.
Qian Kong looked at everyone and smiled faintly, "Let's count down from three and strike together."
"Three, two, one, force!"
As the words fell, everyone attacked simultaneously. Over a hundred dazzling beams of divine power shot directly towards the golden gate. The moment they struck, the golden gate first vibrated violently, and then, as if a switch had been flipped, a deafening roar echoed. The massive golden gate slowly creaked open, revealing a chaotic entrance within.
"It seems we've succeeded," Qian Ling let out a sigh of relief. This marked the successful completion of the first step. Seeing the golden gate open, everyone retracted their divine power. Afterward, the teams from the Lingluo Domain and the Qianyuan Domain looked at each other, seemingly waiting for the other's move.
"Since you discovered it first, the people from the Lingluo Domain shall go first." At this moment, Qian Kong acted with humility. The reason was simple: the secret realm was said to be dangerous, and it was better to have someone scout ahead. Even if they encountered trouble, they could serve as a temporary shield for them.
Seeing his smiling face, Qian Ling couldn't help but snort. "So cowardly. I'll go then." After all, there was no point in arguing here, and entering first had its advantages. She simply summoned the Lingluo Domain members and entered the golden gate ahead of everyone else.
Ye Yun, holding Xiao Ai in one hand and Xiao Meng in the other, flew straight in as if taking children along. "A secret realm constructed by the will of the Great Thousand Worlds, I wonder what kind of sights it holds..."
Just as the entire Lingluo Domain team entered, Qian Kong, outside, waved his hand to his group. "Prepare yourselves, let's go in too."
"Yes!" Everyone agreed, and then, a minute later, under his leadership, they all rushed into the gate.
After both sides had completely disappeared, another team gradually gathered on a distant planet. They displayed no flags, but each of their auras was exceptionally powerful, with a full ten Heavenly God-level cultivators present. The leader was a woman in a black robe, who, looking at the golden gate from afar, revealed a smile. "It seems this is the place. Truly a peculiar thing, and it didn't escape our notice even from the Wind Domain."
The moment Ye Yun stepped through the gate, he felt as if he was about to be torn apart. Fortunately, the painful sensation didn't last long. Afterward, an incredible scene appeared before his eyes. As the teleportation ended, most of the Lingluo Domain team found themselves in a different space. However, in terms of numbers, only a very small portion had been teleported together; others seemed to have been sent to different locations. Fortunately, their luck was good, as they were accompanied by a Heavenly God-level expert, and Xiao Meng, Xiao Ai, and even Qian Ling were still by their side. But compared to this, there was a more pressing issue at hand.
"The things around here are so strange," Qian Ling looked around, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion. Although everyone present had seen much of the world and encountered many peculiar secret realms, the scene before them still surpassed their understanding. Many people stared at their surroundings in astonishment, exclaiming, "What are all these things? Such a strange place..."
However, the most incredible thing was not them, but rather Ye Yun. He wasn't shocked by having never seen this place; rather, he was so familiar with it that he was utterly dumbfounded. How to put it, they had been teleported to a city, with towering buildings everywhere. Yes, towering buildings, not palaces. Wide asphalt roads, like intricate blood vessels, crisscrossed between buildings cast in steel. Especially in one part of the city, stood a familiar landmark, the Oriental Pearl Tower!
"What the heck... what's going on?" Ye Yun stared blankly at everything so familiar around him. The reason for his familiarity was that this was the city where he had lived for one or two decades before his transmigration. His true hometown, Hai City! Every blade of grass, every tree, every building, every road, gave him a strong sense of familiarity, constantly stirring up his past memories.
"Where is this place? It feels so strange!" Xiao Ai looked at the peculiar urban landscape around her and voiced her confusion. The others were the same. They had always lived in a world of cultivation, so they naturally couldn't understand this city of technology. Especially the iron boxes parked on the road; they had no idea what they were for.
"Master, do you know what this place is?" Perhaps out of trust, Xiao Meng instinctively felt that her master would recognize these things. The problem was, Ye Yun actually did know this time. Xiao Meng's words brought him back to his senses. He took a deep breath and nodded. "Uh, I do recognize this place..."
As soon as he said this, all eyes were on him. Qian Ling immediately asked, "Hmm? You know where this is?"
"I suppose so, but I'm not entirely sure if it's the one from my memory..." Ye Yun didn't dare to be too certain. Although every plant and tree around them was the same as in his memory, they had been told before entering that this was a secret realm, so it was highly likely to be a place replicated from Earth's scenery. After all, under his divine sense search, which had evolved with his spiritual perception, he found no other people, clearly indicating it wasn't a return to Earth.
Just then, a clear voice sounded nearby. "Welcome, honored guests, to the City of Doomsday. You will gain experience and seek treasures in this doomsday!"
"Seven marked points have appeared. Please find your targets and resolve them to receive corresponding treasure rewards!"
"When the seven trials are completed, the final test will commence!"
As the voice faded, blue pillars of light one by one appeared in the distance. They were irregularly distributed across this vast continent, and even from an immense distance, the location of each blue pillar was clearly visible.
"What was that voice just now?" Qian Ling frowned within the team and exchanged glances with the others. Only Ye Yun, who had experience with systems, remained somewhat calm. After a brief pause, he said, "Regardless, let's follow what it said and see what those pillars of light are about." He then looked at the several blue pillars around them and casually chose the closest one. "Let's go with this one; it's closer."
"Okay, we'll do as you say." Qian Ling immediately agreed. Since there was no way to tell which of the seven pillars was better, she decided to pick one randomly. Having said that, she was about to fly up, but as soon as her body left the ground, a powerful pressure directly bore down on her, forcefully pressing her back to the ground. This left her stunned.
"What's going on? I can't fly?" Hearing this, Ye Yun also tried and found that he indeed couldn't leave the ground too far. Not only him, but even the Heavenly God-level experts in the team could only stand firmly on the ground. If they intended to fly away, they would be forcibly suppressed by a mysterious power! Clearly, the rules here directly prohibited flight.
Ye Yun frowned but could only say helplessly, "It seems there's a 'no-fly' zone here. We'll have to travel on the ground." Once the 'no-fly' rule was confirmed, everyone's expression turned serious. Although traveling on the ground wouldn't be much slower, the problem was that they couldn't fully grasp the subtle changes in the surrounding space. If they encountered any great danger, they might not have time to react in extreme situations.