The poorest member of the Imperial Guard, the Empress begged me to embezzle.

"Next, please have your names engraved on the merit stele."

Venerable Wunian stepped aside.

"I'll come first!"

Behind Wan Jianhou, several disciples of Lingtian Sword Sect stepped forward and rushed to the Merit Stele. After some bickering, they finally decided on the order and placed their palms on the Merit Stele in turn.

Before long, the names of each person in a different color appeared on the merit tablet.

To Chu Xiu's surprise, the names of every disciple of the Lingtian Sword Sect were in gold.

Chu Xiu raised an eyebrow and asked, "What is the reputation of the Lingtian Sword Sect in the Eastern Continent?"

Ye Wujiang smiled slightly: "It's a complete mess."

"The Lingtian Sword Sect is a subordinate force of the Heavenly Nature Sect, a top-tier sect of the Northern Continent human race. Everyone in the sect adheres to the cultivation principle of 'liberating one's nature and acting as one pleases.'"

Some people commit all sorts of evil and act recklessly, while others take it upon themselves to uphold justice.

Marquis Wan Jian had also entered the secret realm before, and naturally knew the requirements of the realm's cultivation level for those who wished to enter. Therefore, he selected some righteous disciples to come, just as you see.

Chu Xiu nodded: "I see."

After the Lingtian Sword Sect disciples finished engraving their names, disciples from other sects also stepped forward.

The vast majority of them are named Jin (金), and only a very small number are named Hei (黑).

Ye Wujiang cautioned, "Once you enter the secret realm, I will be unable to protect you. You can befriend those with the title 'Gold' and work together, but be wary of those who cultivate appearances but not character."

"Those on the blacklist, knowing full well that entering this place would not bring them the protection of the secret realm's laws, were still dispatched here, which is enough to prove that they possess some extraordinary abilities."

Be careful and try not to antagonize multiple blacklisted individuals at the same time.

Chu Xiu's expression turned serious, and he nodded slightly.

Soon, everyone present except Chu Xiu had finished engraving their names, and all eyes were focused on Chu Xiu.

At the same time, countless probing divine thoughts surged in like a tide, but they all failed to reach Chu Xiu, who deliberately concealed his strength by using the Breath Concealment Technique.

For a time, there was a lot of discussion.

"Who is he? Why is he standing with the Night Gate Master?"

"You don't know? He is the young sect master of the Demon King Sect, and currently the most prominent person of his generation in the entire Demon Realm."

"Strange, according to the information brought back by the elders of our sect who participated in that Heaven-level trade fair, the young sect master of the Demon Yan Sect should be at the early stage of the Qiankun Realm... Why would he come to participate in this secret realm?"

"Could it be that he is also going to enter the depths of the secret realm with the other sect leaders?"

"How is that possible! Over the past ten thousand years, many even those at the peak of the Qiankun Realm have perished deep within that secret realm. How could someone who is suspected to be at the early stage of the Qiankun Realm have the audacity to participate in it?"

Chu Xiu slowly approached the monument of merit, ignoring the noisy discussions around him and focusing all his attention on the monument in front of him.

"This ranking isn't based on cultivation level or strength, but on merit..."

Chu Xiu smiled and slowly placed his hand on the stone tablet.

"When it comes to merit... I fear no one!"

A flash of golden light appeared on the monument of merit.

Chu Xiu's gilded name gradually appeared in front of the stone tablet. After a brief disappearance, it appeared directly at the very top of the stone tablet, above the name of Venerable Wunian!

Instantly, the entire audience erupted in an uproar.

Not only the disciples present, but even several experts at the Great Perfection of the Qiankun Realm were taken aback.

Venerable Miaoyin narrowed his eyes slightly, and a beautiful smile with a unique meaning appeared on his lips.

Ye Wujiang first widened his eyes, then shook his head helplessly.

The mountain lord of Qingqiu in Xizhou sat up straight and cast a curious glance at Chu Xiu, who was bathed in golden light.

Wan Jianhou, the sect master of the Lingtian Sword Sect in Zhongzhou, opened his eyes. The sword box behind him trembled slightly, and his eyes were filled with a chilling sword intent.

Venerable Wunian clasped his hands together, uttered a Buddhist chant, and bowed slightly to Chu Xiu, who had his back to him.

Unsurprisingly, Chu Xiu's so-called merits were those of the first person in ten thousand years since the birth of this secret realm.

Many of those present may have performed many good deeds, but in this celestial continent where practitioners are everywhere, those they are helping are also practitioners.

Cultivators are going against the will of Heaven by practicing cultivation. Even if they follow the righteous path, the merits they gain will be greatly reduced because of their practice of defying the will of Heaven.

However, the righteous path Chu Xiu followed and the people he saved were mostly ordinary people, ordinary people whom cultivators regarded as ants.

There is a saying in Zen Buddhism: Saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda.

Chu Xiu once saved an entire era in the ancient world, allowing mortals to turn their lives around in a world where cultivators acted recklessly.

His name should rightfully surpass that of Venerable Wunian, the ruler of the Demon Zen Kingdom, and be ranked first!

Chu Xiu turned around calmly and returned to Ye Wujiang's side.

He had expected this result and was not too surprised.

He did good deeds without caring about any merit or reward.

For just two words—peace of mind.

As Chu Xiu finished engraving his name, the entrance to the secret realm shone brightly, signifying the official opening of the secret realm.

Five peerless experts at the Great Perfection of the Qiankun Realm appeared one after another, arriving at the entrance of the secret realm. Each of them displayed their supernatural abilities to completely stabilize the turbulent entrance.

Venerable Wunian turned around and waved his hand, enveloping all the Great Perfection Realm cultivators except Chu Xiu in his magic power and sending them into the secret realm.

Chu Xiu was taken aback and looked at Venerable Wunian with confusion.

Ye Wujiang raised an eyebrow and said, "Wu Nian, what kind of tricks are you up to now?"

Venerable Wunian ignored Ye Wujiang's words and instead smiled at Chu Xiu.

"This... Benefactor Chu, with your accumulated merits, it's a bit of a waste to fight with those juniors on the periphery..."

"How about you join the five of us and venture deeper into the secret realm together?"

Before Chu Xiu could even consider it, Ye Wujiang immediately rejected the idea:

"You know better than anyone how dangerous it is there!"

"Chu Xiu is only at the Great Perfection of the Reincarnation Realm. With the protection of the secret realm's laws, he can enter the depths without worry, but if he enters the ruins of Mount Sumeru where all laws have been lost, he will only face death!"

"The former headmaster of the Zen Divine Academy of your Demon Zen Kingdom, who was at the same Great Perfection of the Qiankun Realm as you, and whose merit ranking was second only to yours, still died unexpectedly as soon as he entered the ruins of Mount Sumeru?"

Unfazed by Ye Wujiang's disdain, Venerable Wunian simply cast a questioning glance at Chu Xiu once more.

Chu Xiu slowly shook his head, and Venerable Wunian finally gave up.

“Amitabha, since that’s the case, please enter, Benefactor Chu.” Venerable Wunian sighed, stepped back, and made way for him.

Chu Xiu and Ye Wujiang exchanged a glance. Ye Wujiang nodded slightly and silently warned them to be careful.

Chu Xiu nodded slightly and stepped into the entrance of the secret realm.

The next second, he lost his footing, and the scene before him changed rapidly in a split second, finally settling on a seemingly endless expanse of land.

At this moment, Chu Xiu was atop a mountain ten thousand meters high.

He silently pulled his foot back from the ground, took a few steps back, and only then did the feeling of solid ground return to his mind.

Chu Xiu closed his eyes, used the Observational Qi Technique to expand his divine sense, spreading it to a radius of thousands of miles.

After memorizing the terrain and topography of the surrounding area spanning thousands of miles, Chu Xiu finally withdrew his divine sense.

His brows were furrowed and his nose was slightly twitched.

This world is permeated with an unusually strange spiritual energy, which is different from the spiritual energy of the Southern Continent and the demonic energy of the Eastern Continent.

On the contrary, it was similar to the aura around the dragon-shaped skeleton he had encountered when he entered the Dragon Secret Realm with Ye Wujiang and Long Xue.

"This aura... could it be demonic energy... or perhaps, the spiritual energy of the demon realm?"

The so-called demonic energy and demonic spiritual energy are the spiritual energy of heaven and earth that only demons can absorb and refine for cultivation. In the entire Tianlu Great World, only the Western Demon Realm possesses this energy, hence the Western Demon Clan is at its peak.

With such a dense concentration of demonic energy in this realm, it is undoubtedly an excellent place for cultivators with demonic bloodlines to cultivate.

"Unfortunately, after the bandits left, Long Xue chose to temporarily leave the Demon Zen Kingdom. According to her own words, it seems that she had some grudges with the Zen God Academy in the past, and it was inconvenient for her to stay in the Demon Zen Kingdom."

"Otherwise, if she could cultivate here, perhaps she could break through that cultivation barrier..."

Chu Xiu thought for a moment and decided to try to absorb the surrounding demonic energy into his body and refine it to see if it would be beneficial to him.

After all, his ability to use demonic magic had already proven that he possessed demonic blood within his own lineage.

Perhaps I can use this demonic energy to further solidify my magical power.