After finishing all this, Yunxi flashed out of the courtyard because she had noticed something approaching her Dharma House.
Yunxi appeared before a red panda that was poking its head around and asked with a smile, "What do you want?"
The fourth-rank red panda was startled by Yunxi's sudden appearance. It turned and ran, only to crash headfirst into the giant tree behind it. The tree fell, but it was unharmed. Then it stood upright, trying to put on a show of strength.
The corner of Yunxi's mouth twitched. "You're fourth-rank, at least a local tyrant of this Secret Realm. How can you run at the sight of a human cultivator?"
She could see that the red panda carried neither killing intent nor malice, which was why she felt like teasing it.
The brownish-yellow-furred red panda finally cracked a little and said, "You human cultivators are too awful. Every so often, you come in to plunder resources, using all sorts of schemes to contract my companions. We could endure all that.
"But the cultivators this time are even worse. They captured many of our companions, tortured them to death alive, and used their flesh and blood to refine strange things. The vitality here is rapidly draining away. Before long, this place will become a wasteland and no longer be suitable for us to live in."
Faced with the fourth-rank red panda's accusations, Yunxi could only listen patiently. Once its emotions had settled somewhat, she explained, "The place you inhabit is a Secret Realm within the Weiyu Realm. Every so often, the passage into this place opens on its own. Human cultivators enter to train, gather spirit plants, and contract spirit beasts.
"Of course, doing so also indirectly lessens the burden on the Secret Realm. The growth of spirit plants and