From everything the Black Dragon was saying, Yang Chan could tell that he truly wanted to enter this Secret Realm.
"Why do you want to enter this large Secret Realm so much?"
Yang Chan looked directly at the Black Dragon and suddenly asked.
The Black Dragon had listed many benefits of the Secret Realm, and while they seemed reasonable, Yang Chan had a feeling that the dragon wanted more than just that.
The more the Black Dragon spoke, the more Yang Chan felt that something wasn’t right.
The Black Dragon was being far too eager—uncharacteristically so.
On the surface, it seemed normal, but to Yang Chan, it was anything but.
Ordinarily, such eagerness would definitely mean something was wrong. He was a cautious person by nature and always thought things through carefully. He rarely acted on impulse, preferring to be fully prepared before taking any action.
The few times he had left the Cyan Yuan Sect in the past, he had done so only after extensive preparation.
The weaker one’s Cultivation, the more preparation was necessary, as danger lurked everywhere.
Although his Cultivation was no longer so weak, he still had to think things through and prepare accordingly.
Besides, Yang Chan’s Tai Chi Health Cultivation Skill was on the verge of advancing. Even if he were to enter the Secret Realm, he would only consider it *after* the skill leveled up. He had a premonition that a massive transformation would occur once it did.
Yang Chan was currently waiting for this transformation in his Tai Chi Health Cultivation Skill. He had been focusing his expenditure of Potential Points on it, so he certainly wasn’t going to give up now.
The opportunities in a large Secret Realm might be great, but if he went in unprepared and died, it simply wouldn’t be worth it.
The same went for getting trapped inside.
"There might be members of the Dragon Race in the Secret Realm!"
the Black Dragon said seriously.
"I don’t have a physical body right now. If there’s a member of the Dragon Race in the Secret Realm, I might be able to seize its body and obtain a Dragon Body for myself! Then, my Soul Body could use that Dragon Body to grow even stronger!"
"Right now, I’m just the Artifact Spirit of the Profound Yin Hanging Bead, but I still want a physical body to command. My Combat Power would be significantly stronger that way."
"And if we run into danger, I can have the Dragon Body take the brunt of the attack."
As the Black Dragon said this, he gave Yang Chan a complicated look. The incident with the Taixuan Sacrifice Array had forced him to face the threat of death once more—and that time, it had felt like complete and utter annihilation.
It was an experience the Black Dragon never wanted to repeat.
"Furthermore, with a Dragon Body, I might have a chance to return to the Divine Acupoint Realm."
"Within the Profound Yin Hanging Bead, I can feel that my limit is the Peak of Body Tempering. With a Dragon Body, I might be able to break through that restriction."
As the Black Dragon spoke, a resentful gleam flashed in his eyes.
All living things in this world strive to climb higher. If a path forward exists, they will push onward, even if it’s covered in thorns.
Weren’t the many disciples of the Cyan Yuan Sect who pressed onward, despite knowing the dangers, doing the very same thing?
Did Sect Leader Gu An not know this large Secret Realm was dangerous? No, he knew, but he went anyway—all to fight for that one sliver of a chance.
This was true even for those who couldn’t see the path before them.
If it weren’t for his panel and Potential Points, Yang Chan would have been the same, for he was not one to resign himself to a life of mediocrity.
He would only give up if the path forward was completely cut off.
The reason he could be so cautious now was that he had an out that others lacked. He didn’t mind if his progress was a little slower as a result.
Sometimes he would get antsy, but after calming down, he would return to his usual calm and cautious self.
"You have to understand, if there is a member of the Dragon Race in this Secret Realm, we probably won’t be a match for it!"
"You’re a long way from your prime. The Combat Power you can muster is only at the Peak of Bone Marrow Cleansing. Even if the dragon in the Secret Realm isn’t an adult and hasn’t reached the Divine Acupoint Realm, you’ll be helpless against it as long as it’s at the Peak of Body Tempering."
"At that point, *we’ll* be the ones who need to run, otherwise we might become its prey!"
"Have you even considered that? Or do you have some other way to deal with dragons?"
Yang Chan stated the facts calmly. The gap in their Cultivation was right there before them; it couldn’t be ignored.
A Dragon Race member at the Peak of Body Tempering would have the Combat Power of someone at the Peak of the Blood Exchange Martial Saint Realm, making them incomparably stronger than the likes of Yang Sheng, the Grand Ancestor of Great Zhou, or Ouyang Qingtian, the Dragon Slayer.
Furthermore, the Dragon Race possessed powerful Dragon Bodies, making them inherently strong. Their Combat Power far surpassed others of the same realm, and their massive forms made them even more difficult to handle. How in the world was he supposed to fight such a powerful creature?
This was precisely why Yang Chan hadn’t chosen to enter the Secret Realm, despite knowing a dragon might be inside.
While the Dragon Tamer class had an affinity for the Dragon Race, it wasn’t particularly attractive to mature dragons. Adults rarely chose to form contracts. With a dragon at the Peak of Body Tempering, the chances were about fifty-fifty. In contrast, the younger a dragon was, the higher the likelihood of forming a contract.
The instinctual sense of affinity was most alluring to young dragons.
This was all information that had been fed back to him after his Dragon Tamer class advanced to Tier One. Knowing this, Yang Chan was in no rush.
It was better to gather more information before making a decision than to rush in recklessly now.
"I have a Dragon Race Secret Technique. Although my current Combat Power isn’t great, the essence of my Soul Body is much stronger than that of an immature dragon."
"The Taiyu Divine Continent has no Divine Veins right now, so the dragon in the Secret Realm is likely not an adult. When the time comes, I can use a Secret Technique to forcibly seize its Dragon Body. Then I’ll have a body comparable to the Peak of Body Tempering, and I’ll be able to help you even more, Master."
"Of course, with my Soul Body being nourished by a Dragon Body, I’ll become stronger as well. At the very least, I’ll be able to return to the Peak of Body Tempering much sooner."
"And if my Soul Body can transform and reach the Divine Acupoint Realm, the Profound Yin Hanging Bead will advance along with me, transforming into a true Divine Weapon."
In response, the Black Dragon began to reveal his secrets, which were also his preparations for entering the Secret Realm.
He even dangled the prospect of upgrading the Profound Yin Hanging Bead to a Divine Weapon, which was...
"Right now, the Profound Yin Hanging Bead is just a Treasure Weapon, but the Profound Celestial Divine Monarch originally intended to forge it into a Divine Weapon. He just never expected that so much would happen to me, and that my Soul Body would weaken so much over tens of thousands of years."
"Later, I had to sacrifice a great deal to escape, and after that, the Profound Yin Hanging Bead drained even more of my power. This caused my Soul Body to grow weaker and weaker, which is why the Bead only ever reached the Treasure Level."
"However, the space within the Profound Yin Hanging Bead is immense. This is because the fundamental material of the Bead is incredibly strong. Otherwise, an ordinary Treasure Weapon would have been smashed to pieces by the Netherworld Abyssal Creatures from the Taixuan Realm back then!"
"Even with its power greatly weakened in the Taiyu Divine Continent, the force of a being like that is not something a mere Treasure Weapon could withstand. Only an object with a foundation as strong as the Profound Yin Hanging Bead could get away with just a few cracks and slowly recover afterward!"
The Black Dragon continued, revealing more secrets about the Profound Yin Hanging Bead. These were things Yang Chan had never known. He may have had his suspicions, but he didn’t know enough to grasp the full extent of the situation.