Chapter 698: New Secret Seal Inheritance Points

From Nian Cangsheng, Ye Feng obtained three martial arts techniques he lacked. Together with the four he already had, he now had seven in total, with just two more needed.
For these three martial arts techniques, Ye Feng used his insight privilege only once. One use of this privilege granted him three days, enough time for him to master all three techniques. Although he had mastered new techniques, he did not merge them immediately, as each merger took too long and required the use of a special permission to speed it up—something unnecessary at the moment. There was no need to use the insight privilege just for merging these three new techniques; Ye Feng planned to wait until he had gathered all the other techniques before merging them together, which would undoubtedly improve efficiency.
Of course, what Ye Feng obtained from Nian Cangsheng was not just martial arts techniques. For him, the most useful thing was the information about the virtual realm secret realms provided by Nian Cangsheng.
After reviewing the materials hidden in the Refinement Realm, he finally found three secret realms set to open in the near future, after three years, 59 years, and 128 years respectively. Ye Feng planned to visit the coordinate point given to him by the Heavenly Dao during this interval to receive the secret seal inheritance.
To prevent unexpected events from preventing him from leaving before the secret realms opened, Ye Feng only took Jin Wen with him, leaving Luo Yan and the others behind. This way, Luo Yan and the others could go to those secret realms on his behalf to collect the items he needed. It also allowed them to take care of the Situ family during this time. Initially, he didn’t even want to take Jin Wen, as the inheritance locations provided by the Heavenly Dao were usually such that only he could enter safely.
The coordinate given to Ye Feng by the Heavenly Dao was a desolate place.
A desolate place was even more dangerous than a perilous one. Usually, such places were areas within this realm where even the strongest individuals would almost certainly perish if they entered. Thus, basically no one dared to set foot there.
However, logically speaking, in this virtual realm, at most only those who had reached the True Realm level could cultivate there. And Ye Feng could easily defeat even those at the True Realm level, so the threat posed by such individuals to him should not be significant.
But when Ye Feng arrived, he changed his mind.

He stood at the edge of that desolate area and, upon seeing the extremely well-hidden giant trap, immediately understood why so few people could emerge alive from this place.
That trap was not a conventional one but a formation drawn using secret runes. Without sufficient mastery of those secret runes, even those with extraordinary skills in formations would be unable to break free. Apart from those like himself who had expertise in both secret runes and formations, the only way to break it was through force.
After careful observation, Ye Feng noticed a few peculiar secret runes within the formation—these runes seemed out of place and created a sense of disharmony. After all, a trap was meant to draw people in, while these runes were of a repulsive nature, signaling a refusal to enter. Though they seemed out of place, what puzzled Ye Feng even more was that these runes somehow integrated into the entire formation in a strange way, without causing any actual conflict.
Ye Feng guessed that these runes might impose certain conditions on those who entered. Only after Jin Wen entered the refining realm did Ye Feng step in as well. The process of entering was surprisingly smooth, without any unexpected troubles, and he didn’t feel anything blocking his path.
Once inside the formation’s range, the environment around him suddenly changed. The endless void turned into an upward staircase with just over a hundred steps.
Ye Feng frowned slightly and observed closely before realizing that delicate, faint secret runes were carved on the sides of each step—these runes were barely visible unless looked at closely. Their function seemed to be related to teleportation.
“Could stepping on each step teleport me to a different place?” Ye Feng speculated.
Looking up at the large door at the top of the stairs, he saw several clearly visible secret runes, clearly indicating a ban on flying and spatial teleportation.
Ye Feng had no desire to try flying or spatial teleportation, as the penalties for violating such bans could be severe—someone might even be exiled to another space with no way back.
With a sigh, Ye Feng stepped onto the first step.
The moment he stepped on it, the world spun around him. When he regained his senses, he found himself still on the first step. “What exactly happened? Is that it?”

Ye Feng stepped onto the second step with skepticism, but as soon as he did, the first step collapsed. Looking back, there was nothing but emptiness, and the ground beneath his feet was pitch black. Upon checking his own body, he found that his dantian seemed to be sealed by something, preventing him from even flying. If that was the case, he didn’t know what would happen if he fell. He had no choice but to climb upward.

After climbing three or four layers of stairs, Ye Feng suddenly realized he might still be inside a illusionary trap. With this thought, he continued to flee upward while observing his surroundings.

It was only then that he noticed the secret patterns above the gate at the end had turned into a trapping formation. From a distance, he shot his finger at them, targeting the connection points of several of the patterns. His aim wasn’t to destroy them but to activate a special passage within the trap.

Normally, anyone who creates a trapping formation leaves a special passage for emergencies. Ye Feng took advantage of this feature—it was the fastest way to escape the trap. In fact, if he directly destroyed the magic patterns on the gate, it would have the opposite effect, trapping him there forever, something Ye Feng was well aware of.

Once the connection of the special passage was completed, the endless number of stairs finally decreased, and the gate opened. Ye Feng rushed out like an arrow. The moment he passed by the gate, he returned to the space where it all began. He was still standing on the first step, as if nothing had happened.

Taking a deep breath, Ye Feng calmed himself down. He hadn’t expected to fall for a trick like that. Although he discovered the problem quickly, it showed that his cultivation was still insufficient.

With his vigilance raised to 100%, Ye Feng finally took his second step onto the stairs.

The moment he stepped on them, he was transported to another space…