Zhou Ming found an extremely concealed spot on the ridge above the valley.

He restrained his aura completely, carefully spread his Divine Sense across the entire valley, and began to observe patiently.

He observed for two consecutive days.

Everything within the valley seemed to be running precisely according to some pre-programmed routine.

Qi Refinement Stage Cultivators would rise before dawn every day, enter the mountains in groups to hunt wild beasts, and after carrying the prey back, designated people would be responsible for cooking it, with the cooked meat being delivered to the iron cages on time.

No one slacked off, no one chatted, and no one even displayed any unnecessary emotions.

They each guarded their posts, their eyes as numb as a group of puppets whose Souls had been extracted.

At night, they would inspect the cages, confirm the chains were secure, and gather at the outermost perimeter of the blood pool.

They would sit cross-legged and begin to Cultivate by absorbing the thin blood Qi overflowing from the blood pool.

As for the Golden Core Stage Cultivator in the center of the blood pool, he had no fixed time for Cultivation.

When Zhou Ming first discovered him, he was meditating in the blood pool.

After Cultivating for about two hours, the blood Qi in the pool visibly thinned, and the water faded from a thick dark red to a translucent light red.

He then rose, left the blood pool, and walked into the largest Immortal Cave on the cliff face.

The furnishings inside the Immortal Cave were extremely simple: a stone bed, a meditation cushion, a stone desk, and on the desk lay a few Jade Slips and a palm-sized bronze incense burner.

He sat cross-legged on the cushion, picked up a Jade Slip, pressed it against his forehead, and closed his eyes in contemplation.

At times, his brows were tightly furrowed, as if troubled by some difficult problem.

At times, he would suddenly open his eyes, rise to pace back and forth in the Immortal Cave, muttering to himself.

At times, he would walk to the stone desk, pick up a brush to sketch a few rune patterns on paper, look at them, and then irritably crumple them into a ball and toss them aside.

Zhou Ming had watched silently from the ridge for two days, and countless thoughts had already turned in his mind.

Continuing to watch like this was not a solution. The blood pool, the chains, the imprisoned Marquis of Yongning.

It was not that he felt so much pity for those imprisoned below.

The gale Formation at the edge of the forest, as well as the various problems encountered in Qi Refining Cultivation, were all things Zhou Ming urgently needed someone to clarify for him.

Now that he had finally encountered a Golden Core Stage Cultivator, how could he let such a good opportunity slip by?

Zhou Ming stood up, stretched his stiff neck, and decided to take the initiative.

He rose to his full height, no longer concealing his figure, and slowly ascended from above the ridge into the clouds above the valley.

Purple-gold mana circulated in his Dantian.

Zhou Ming deliberately released a trace of his aura; that aura was extremely weak, but it was enough to startle the people in the valley.

Inside the Immortal Cave in the valley, the Golden Core Stage Cultivator, who was frowning and staring at a Jade Slip, gave a violent jolt.

He first furrowed his brows tightly, set the Jade Slip on the stone desk, and looked up toward Zhou Ming's direction.

He seemed to be judging whether the trace of aura he had just sensed was an illusion.

A moment later, that wisp of aura appeared again, clearer than it could possibly be.

His brows suddenly relaxed, and a look of near-ecstasy appeared on his face.

It was the kind of ecstasy felt when one suddenly sees hope after being trapped in a desperate situation for a long time.

He didn't even bother to put away the Jade Slip; he flew on his sword, transforming into a streak of green light that rushed out of the Immortal Cave and streaked toward the sky.

He saw Zhou Ming.

Beneath the clouds, the mountain wind howled, and Zhou Ming, dressed in a navy blue robe, stood suspended in mid-air with his hands behind his back.

There was no spiritual light shield around him, no Magical Artifacts circling him; he was just standing there, simply.

Yet it was precisely this simplicity that made Emperor Liu Jun's pupils constrict.

The opponent looked unremarkable, not using any tools, yet he was suspended in mid-air.

The mana fluctuations were faint, yet unfathomably deep.

Judging from this suspension in mid-air and the slight aura being emitted, this was the Nascent Soul Stage, and not just an ordinary Nascent Soul Stage.

Emperor Liu Jun hurriedly stopped his figure a hundred meters away and straightened his robes.

He raised both hands to his chest, bowed deeply to the end, his voice suppressing indescribable excitement:

"Junior, Inner Sect Disciple of the Qingyun Sect, Emperor Liu Jun, greets Senior."

When Zhou Ming heard the two words "Emperor Liu Jun," his heart instantly churned with turbulent waves.

Emperor Liu Jun? The founding emperor of the Great Xia Dynasty? The Grand Ancestor of the Great Xia Dynasty?

The Emperor Liu Jun that Grand Duke Su spoke of, who had lived for over six hundred years and could become an ancestor of Immortal Ascension in the Cultivation world?

Yet he called himself an Inner Sect Disciple of the Qingyun Sect?

A Golden Core Stage Cultivator who had lived for over six hundred years, and he was still just an Inner Sect Disciple in his Sect?

Could it be that the Golden Core Stage was just an ordinary Disciple in the outside Cultivation Sects?

What surprised Zhou Ming even more was another layer of meaning in Emperor Liu Jun's words.

A six-hundred-year-old Golden Core Cultivator? Zhou Ming had always judged Cultivators according to the knowledge he gained from reading novels in his past life.

He had originally thought, according to the settings of the novels he read in his past life, that the Lifespan of a Golden Core Stage Cultivator was only five hundred years.

Now Emperor Liu Jun had popped up, already over six hundred years old, and his Cultivation was still only at the Golden Core Stage.

Could it be? The Lifespan of the Golden Core Stage was more than five hundred years?

Zhou Ming's face did not reveal a single change; his gaze swept calmly across Emperor Liu Jun's face, and he nodded slightly.

His tone was as flat as a Senior passing by who was just asking for directions:

"How did you come to this place? And where is this?"

Emperor Liu Jun also sensed Zhou Ming's curiosity, and in his heart, he merely assumed that the Senior before him was also an outside Cultivator who had stumbled in, just like him.

He replied respectfully: "Replying to Senior, Junior accidentally stumbled into a Forbidden Ground in the Western Regions over six hundred years ago, and after fainting, I woke up here."

"After Junior woke up, I realized the unusual nature of this place."

"The Spiritual Qi here is extremely thin, and Cultivation is suppressed to death. Junior currently has the Golden Core Stage Realm, but my mana is not even as good as a Qi Refining Perfection Cultivator from the outside world, and my Divine Sense is almost non-existent."

"The way out is blocked by gales; with my meager Cultivation, I have absolutely no way to deal with it."

"Senior must have also felt the suppression this place has on us, right?"

He sighed, and a trace of deeply suppressed bitterness flashed in the depths of his eyes.

Zhou Ming did not speak, only nodded at him.

Seeing Zhou Ming nod, Emperor Liu Jun looked up again, gazing at Zhou Ming with burning eyes, his voice carrying a hint of earnestness and anticipation:

"Junior has relied on a Cultivation Technique accidentally obtained over these years that converts blood Qi into mana, barely managing to survive until now. Junior's Lifespan is running out, and I do not wish to die in a foreign land."

"Senior's Cultivation is profound; if you can find a way out, I implore you to take Junior along."

"Junior will be eternally grateful, and after getting out, I will definitely report to the Sect, and there will be heavy gifts offered."

Zhou Ming listened to these words, every single one, and quickly dissected the vast amount of information contained within.

A Forbidden Ground? This is a Forbidden Ground?

Not Great Xia, but the entire world where Great Xia, Great Yuan, and Dayan are located is a Forbidden Ground in the Cultivation world?

Or is it that he only arrived here after entering a Forbidden Ground?

Since he knew it was a Forbidden Ground, why did he enter here?

Thin Spiritual Qi? Cultivation suppressed; a Golden Core Stage is not even as good as a Qi Refining Perfection Cultivator.

Zhou Ming had previously suspected that he was practicing fake immortality; the purple-gold Nascent Soul was sitting in his Dantian, yet his Divine Sense was only a few dozen miles.

The power of his Spells was also barely satisfactory; a Fireball Technique could only leave a scorched mark on a wall, unable to even blast down a wall.

It was far from reaching the level of destroying the heavens and extinguishing the earth as described in novels.

Zhou Ming had even wondered if it was a problem with his Cultivation Technique; it turned out the problem was not with him, but that this world itself was suppressing the Cultivation of all Cultivators.

Zhou Ming pondered for a moment, his face still wearing that calm and indifferent expression, and he replied in an unhurried tone.

"I have just arrived here and have very little understanding of this place. I also tried to leave, but was bounced back by the gales."

"Tell me in detail about the situation here."